1892 – 1969 (January 28)
Peter Columbus Hufnagel, son of Peter and Catherine Hufnagel, was born in McSherrystown in the Dutch country of Pennsylvania on August 3, 1892. His early education was obtained in Locust Grove Public School and McSherrystown Parochial School. He entered high school at the Augustinian Preparatory Scholasticate, Saint Rita Hall, Villanova, and was received as a novice on June 20, 1912. He professed simple vows on June 20, 1913 and solemn vows on June 23, 1916, and graduated from Villanova College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in June, 1916. Following theological training at Villanova, he was ordained to the priesthood at Saint Charles Seminary, Overbrook, on June 8, 1919. Father Hufnagel’s first assignment in 1920 was to San Agustin Parish, Havana, Cuba, where he ministered until his return to the States due to illness in 1938. In 1940 he returned to Cuba to serve at San Agustin Parish, Marianao, and at Santa Rita, Miramar, where he was prior from 1956 to 1961. He was one of eighteen Augustinians expelled by the Communist Castro regime in 1961 from Cuba.
Back in the United States Father Hufnagel served at our parishes in Jacksonville and Dania, Florida until deteriorating health required his transfer to Saint Thomas Monastery, Villanova, in 1967. Known by his fellow Augustinians as being able and willing to do anything that should be done, he accomplished untold wonders in his own quiet way. Plagued by debilitating diabetes which eventually claimed both his legs, Father Hafnagel bore his cross with heroic fortitude until his death in Bryn Mawr Hospital on January 28, 1969. He is buried in the Augustinian plot at Calvary Cemetery, West Conshohocken, PA.
