1897 – 1962 (February 22)
Charles Henry Redding, son of John Redding and Ellen Clay, was born in Old Saint Augustine’s Parish, Philadelphia, on December 19, 1897. He was educated at Saint Augustine Parochial School and, from 1914 to 1918, at the Augustinian Scholasticate, Saint Rita Hall, Villanova. He was received as a novice on June 15, 1918, and professed simple vows on June 25, 1919, He made his solemn profession on June 25, 1922. After completing philosophical and theological studies at Villanova he was ordained to the priesthood in Saint Thomas of Villanova Church on August 2, 1925 by Bishop Thomas Walsh of Trenton, New Jersey.
Father Redding was assigned as a curate in our parishes of Saint Mary in Lawrence, Massachusetts, in 1926, Saint Paul, Mechanicville, N.Y., in 1928, and Saint Rita, in Chicago in 1929. He was elected discrete from the Saint Matthew Parish community, Flint, Michigan in 1932, and was transferred that same year to Saint Clare of Montefalco Parish in Chicago. In 1933 he was assigned to Saint Augustine High School, San Diego, California.
After serving as assistant pastor at Saint Rita Parish in Philadelphia from 1942 to 1946, Father Redding was appointed to Saint Nicholas of Tolentine Parish in Atlantic City, where he was made subprior in 1950 and was elected definitor in 1953. Father Redding was appointed pastor at Saint Denis, Havertown, in 1954, and was selected as prior of San Agustin, Marianao, Cuba, in 1956, but had to resign because of ill health later in the same year. From 1957 to 1961 he was associate pastor at the Assumption Parish, Lawrence, Mass., after which he retired to Saint Thomas Monastery, Villanova.
Stricken suddenly by a heart attack, Father Redding died in Hollywood Hospital, Florida, on February 22, 1962. He is buried in the Community Cemetery, Villanova.
