1850 – 1884 (April 16)
Peter Charles McGovern was born in Jeansville, North Carolina, in 1850, the son of Patrick McGovern and Mary Caffrey. He entered the novitiate at Villanova, Pennsylvania, on January 20, 1870, and made his first profession of vows on January 21, 1871. He was solemnly professed on January 25, 1874, and was ordained to the priesthood in Saint Augustine’s Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by Bishop Martin Crane, O.S.A. of Australia, on March 7, 1875.
After ordination, Father McGovern assisted at Villanova, at Saint Denis in Havertown, Pa, and at Immaculate Conception in Lawrence, Massachusetts. In July, 1880, he left Lawrence to become procurator at Villanova.
Father McGovern died after several weeks of sickness from rheumatic fever, while serving at Saint Mary’s on April 16, 1884. He was 34. At his Requiem Mass, Father Connolly, S.J. of Woodstock, Maryland, was the homilist.
Father McGovern is buried in Saint Mary’s Cemetery in Lawrence.
