1895 – 1978 (March 1)
Joseph Edward Hyson, son of Edward Hyson and Mary Kennedy, was born in Mechanicville, New York, on August 16, 1895. He was baptized in the church of Saint Paul the Apostle, and received his early education at the Mechanicville Public School. In September, 1910, he enrolled at Villanova Preparatory School, Villanova, Pennsylvania. On June 19, 1913, he was received into the novitiate, professed simple vows on June 19, 1914, and made solemn profession three years later. In 1917, he received a BA degree from Villanova College, and there also pursued theological studies. On May 29, 1920, he was ordained to the priesthood by Dennis Cardinal Dougherty of Philadelphia, in the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul.
Father Hyson’s first assignment was to Villanova College, from 1920 to 1926, where he taught Theology and English, began the college newspaper, The Villanovan, and was the first faculty advisor to the yearbook, Belle Air. In 1920, he studied at the University of Pennsylvania, and taught summer school for the next five years at Villanova. In 1926, he was assigned as one of the three founding members of the Prep School, Cascia Hall, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and remained there until 1928, when he became a professor at San Agustin, Havana, Cuba. From 1931 to 1935, Father Hyson served as assistant pastor in Saint Mary’s Parish, Lawrence, Mass. Then, he returned to Cuba where he was appointed pastor of San Agustin Parish in Marianao.
In 1937, Father Hyson was assigned as an assistant at the parish of Saint Paul, Mechanicville, New York. In 1945, he became a member of the Province Mission Band, residing, first at Saint Rita Parish, Philadelphia, and then at Saint Thomas Monastery, Villanova. He continued the Mission Band ministry until his semi-retirement in 1956. He, then resumed a limited teaching schedule at Villanova College. Once, when Father Hyson was asked if he had ever received any awards, honors or signs of recognition, he proudly responded, “I wear my Augustinian habit!” It was this unbounded sense of pride in being an Augustinian that warmed many hearts in his service to the Church and to the Order.
Father Hyson died suddenly on March 1, 1978 at the age of 83. The Mass of the Resurrection was celebrated at the Villanova Church, after which he was buried in the Augustinian plot at Calvary Cemetery, Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.
