1888 – 1957 (September 24)
Paul Francis Healy, son of Michael Healy and Katherine Coan, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on January 29, 1888. Following his early education he was enrolled for two years at Roman Catholic High School before he transferred to Villanova Prep. He entered the novitiate at Villanova on July 6, 1908, and was professed on July 7, 1909. That same year he was sent to Italy to study at Viterbo and then at our International College of Saint Monica in Rome. He made his solemn profession there on September 22, 1912 and returned to the United States in 1914 because of poor health. He was ordained to the priesthood in Chicago, Illinois, at St. Michael’s Church, on July 25, 1914 by Bishop Paul Rhode.
After ordination, he served in our parishes of Saint Augustine, Troy and Saint Joseph, Greenwich, New York, and at Saint Nicholas of Tolentine in Atlantic City, New Jersey. In the Provincial Chapter of 1932, he was elected prior of Saint Mary’s Hall at Villanova. Three years later, he was elected prior of the Villanova Monastery.
Father Healy was admitted on several occasions, for extended periods, to tubercular hospitals for treatment, In 1948 he was able to accept an assignment as Professor of Philosophy at Villanueva University in Cuba. In 1950 he was reassigned to Atlantic City where he remained until 1953, when he was transferred to the Villanova Monastery.
Father Healy died in Bryn Mawr Hospital on September 24, 1957 after a long illness. He was 69. A Requiem Mass was celebrated on Friday, September 29 at Villanova by his brother, Father Francis Healy. Father Robert Russell, O.S.A. preached.
Father Healy is buried in the Community Cemetery at Villanova.
