1874 – 1942 (July 27)
Daniel Aloysius Herron was born at Buck Mountain, Pennsylvania on October 22, 1874, to John Herron and Nancy Burke. He entered the novitiate at Villanova, Pennsylvania, in 1895, and made his first profession of vows on September 20, 1896. He was solemnly professed on September 21, 1899, was ordained to the priesthood two days later, on September 23, 1899, by Archbishop Ryan in the Philadelphia Cathedral.
Immediately after ordination, Father Herron was assigned to teach in the Province’s newly founded high school on Staten Island, New York. In 1900 he was assigned to parochial work at Our Mother of Consolation Parish, Chestnut Hill, Pa. He was transferred in 1902 to Saint Mary’s Parish in Waterford, N.Y., and, in 1906, to Saint Mary’s Parish in Lawrence, Massachusetts. In 1910, he was appointed rector at Saint James in Carthage, N.Y. In 1916 he was appointed to serve in the same capacity at Saint Denis in Ardmore, and in 1918, to Our Mother of Good Counsel, Bryn Mawr, Pa.
In 1926, Father Herron was elected Prior Provincial of the Province of Saint Thomas of Villanova. In 1928, during the second year of his term of office, a disastrous fire destroyed most of the classroom and laboratory facilities of Villanova College. The building was completely rebuilt as Mendel Hall, which was later renamed Tolentine Hall. Three other structures were also erected within a few years, including Fedigan Hall; a Commerce and Finance Building which was later named Vasey Hall, and the gymnasium and stadium. Father was elected to a second term as Prior Provincial in 1929.
In 1932, Father Herron returned to Carthage as prior and pastor. He also served as prior and pastor of Saint Mary’s in Waterford, beginning in 1938. He died after a long illness, in Philadelphia’s Misericordia Hospital on July 27, 1942 at the age of 68. Requiem Masses were celebrated at both Waterford, New York and Villanova, Pa. Father Herron is buried in the Community Cemetery at Villanova.
