Father Frank Devlin, O.S.A. was born on November 27, 1947 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Francis X. Devlin, Jr. and Margaret (O’Leary) Devlin, the only son in a family of six girls. He was educated in Catholic grammar schools and attended Monsignor Bonner High School, in Drexel Hill, from which he graduated in 1965. It was at Bonner that young Frank Devlin met the Augustinians, who then administered and staffed a student body of over 3,000 boys. At the time the Augustinian community at the school counted 45 friars. Such exposure led Frank to consider a religious vocation, and upon graduation he entered the Order as a novice, joining 42 other candidates for a year of initial training in the Augustinian way of life at Good Counsel Novitiate in New Hamburg, New York. At the completion of this year he professed the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience as an Augustinian and became a member of the Province of Saint Thomas of Villanova. There began then four years of undergraduate studies at Villanova University, from which he received his BA degree in Philosophy, followed by theological studies at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. where he received the STL degree.
“When I saw at Bonner that religious priests could be teachers,
I knew that was what I too wanted to do with my life. And I did.”— Father Frank Devlin, O.S.A.
Father Frank sealed his commitment to the Augustinian way of life through the profession of solemn vows on September 11, 1971 and was ordained to the priesthood on October 6, 1973 at Villanova. Father Frank Devlin’s principal ministry has been in the field of education. “When I saw at Bonner that religious priests could be teachers, I knew that was what I too wanted to do with my life. And I did.” He was first assigned to his Alma Mater, Monsignor Bonner, where he taught religion and Latin for a total of 26 years over three different periods. During one interval he returned to Washington to pursue graduate studies at the Catholic University of America, and during another he taught at Villanova University.
In 2009 the Augustinians withdrew from Monsignor Bonner High School, where Father was at the time. Since then he has been teaching at Saint Augustine Preparatory School in Richland, New Jersey. Like most Augustinians, Father Frank has also been engaged throughout his teaching and graduate studies’ years in weekend parish ministry wherever he has been.
In the classroom, Father Frank is at his very best. He is dedicated, meticulous, generous and demanding. And over the course of many years he is happy both to be teaching the sons of some former students and serving as colleague and mentor of others.
