January 16 is the anniversary of Edward G. Dohan.

Edward George Dohan was born in Tory, NY, on January 9, 1870, of Timoth Dohan and Katharine Sheedy. He was a Christian Brother before joining the Augustinians (1889-1893). He was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree by Villanova College on June 27, 1894. He was received into the novitiate in 1895 at Villanova, and pronounced simple vows on May 4, 1896. In June 1897 he received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Villanova and a Master of Arts degree in 1903. He was ordained to the priesthood at Overbrook Seminary by Archbishop Ryan on May 27, 1899.

In 1899 Father Dohan was assigned to the then new parish, Our Mother of Good Counsel, Grymes Hill, Staten Island, and the new school, Augustinian Academy, both housed in the Villa de Sales, a former monastery of the Visitation Sisters. This building was to remain the parish church for 69 years, while the Academy included boys from the fifth to the twelfth grades.

In 1905 Father Dohan established a mission in the Bronx and was appointed the first rector. The first Mass in the new parish, Saint Nicholas of Tolentine, was offered in a temporary chapel there on April 22, 1906. At the Provincial Chapter in 1910 Father Dohan was made President of Villanova College, and was honored with an S. T. L. on July 24, 1911 and an S.T.B. on July 11, 1913 by the Order. He resigned from the presidency in 1917 and was named pastor of Saint Joseph, Greenwich, NY. Selected as the discreet from America he represented the province at the general Chapter in Rome in 1920. With the closing of the Villanova Preparatory Scholasticate, he was appointed prior and pastor of Our Mother of Good Counsel parish, Staten Island, and principal of Augustinian Academy there on January 5, 1921, which was now to be also a preparatory seminary for postulants to the Order. Father Dohan was greatly instrumental in purchasing the property and constructing the new Augustinian Academy further up Grymes Hill, which was occupied in December, 1925 with himself as the first pastor and rector of postulants at Mount Saint Rita.

On April 7, 1926 Father Dohan resigned from duties at Mount Saint Rita due to failing health and resided at Saint Joseph in Greenwich until 1929, when he was assigned to Troy. During these years he also served as definitor of the province.

A gentle, kindly priest, Father Dohan exercised a profound influence especially on the young postulants who greatly admired his deep spirituality clothed in such an appealing and friendly personality.

Father Dohan died at Troy, NY, on January 16, 1936, and is buried in the Augustinian plot at Saint John’s Cemetery there.

†