1900 – 1988 (August 12)
John Vincent Keegan was born to Daniel Keegan and Katherine Glynn on August 15, 1900 in the city of Lawrence, Massachusetts. Baptized in Saint Laurence O’Toole Church, he attended the local grammar school and began his secondary education at Lawrence High School. In 1916 was accepted at Saint Rita Hall, Villanova. Upon completing his secondary education he was received in the Order on June 17, 1919. He made his novitiate and professed simple vows on June 19, 1920. Three years later he professed solemn vows. John graduated from Villanova College with an A.B. in philosophy in 1923, and began theological studies. He was ordained to the priesthood by Denis Cardinal Dougherty on August 19, 1926. While continuing his theological studies he received a master’s degree in education from the Catholic University in Washington, DC.
Father Keegan was assigned in 1927 to teach English and History at Colegio San Agustin, Havana, Cuba, and later, in 1930 at the newly opened Cascia Hall Preparatory School in Tulsa, Oklahoma and at the Benedictine College of Monte Cassino. In 1935, he was appointed to the Augustinian Mission Band, with residence at Saint John the Baptist Parish, Schaghticoke, New York, and later at Saint Mary’s in Lawrence, Massachusetts. In June, 1940, he began preaching missions in California while resident at Our Mother of Good Counsel Church in Los Angeles. In 1947, he was assigned to Sacred Heart Church in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, where he was assistant chaplain at the Federal Penitentiary and worked with the Newman Club on the campus of Bucknell University.
In 1950, Father Keegan was assigned to Saint Rita Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Two years later he was transferred to Saint Augustine in Troy, New York, where he worked as assistant pastor and taught at Central Catholic High School. In 1954 he was appointed pastor of Saint John the Baptist in Schaghticoke, and later pastor and prior of Saint Augustine in Troy. In 1959 he returned as pastor and prior of Saint John in Schaghticoke where he remained until 1965, when he was appointed to Saint Mary’s Church in Lawrence, Massachusetts. He served there as assistant pastor until 1979, at which time he retired to Our Mother of Good Counsel Monastery on the campus of Merrimack College, North Andover, Massachusetts, and where he died on August 12, 1988, following an extended illness.
Father Keegan was a very popular preacher and teacher. He had a great interest in sports and was an excellent basketball and football coach. While at Cascia Hall his team won the Catholic championship of Tulsa.
A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at the Collegiate Church of Christ the Teacher on the campus of Merrimack College, on August 15, 1988. Father Keegan is buried in the Augustinian plot at Saint Mary’s Cemetery, Lawrence, Massachusetts.
