January 25 is the anniversary of John T. Sheehan.

John T. Sheehan was born in Philadelphia, PA in 1881. He entered the novitiate at Villanova, PA in 1898, and was ordained to the priesthood in Rome in 1903. He received his Doctorate in Canon Law there in 1905.

Father Sheehan taught at Villanova College until 1914, when he became definitor and Assistant at Saint Nicholas of Tolentine in Atlantic City, NJ. He was prior and pastor at Saint Nicholas of Tolentine from 1918 to 1926, from 1932 to 1938, and again from 1944 to 1949. He also served as prior and pastor at St. Laurence’s in Lawrence, MA, from 1926 to 1932.

Father Sheehan was elected Prior Provincial of the Province of Saint Thomas in 1938, an office he held until 1944. Following the death of Father Mortimer A. Sullivan in July 1949, he was Rector Provincial until the Chapter of 1950. In 1950, he was again named prior and pastor of Saint Nicholas of Tolentine. While serving as pastor of Saint Nicholas of Tolentine in Atlantic City, Father Sheehan, as conference moderator, presided at and conducted the monthly clergy conference of the Diocese of Camden, NJ.

Father Sheehan held these offices until he died on January 25, 1958 at the age of 75. He is buried in the Community Cemetery at Villanova.

Sheehan Hall, a dormitory on the Villanova University Campus, is named in his honor.

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