1929 – 2007 (October 10)
Edward Vernon Hattrick was born on November 27, 1929, at Riverhead, Long Island, New York, the son of William J. Hattrick and Mary Hayes, and was baptized on December 15, 1929, in Saint John the Evangelist Church, Riverhead. He attended Riverhead Public Elementary and High School and in 1947 enrolled at Villanova College. He then applied for admission to the Order and was received as a novice on September 9, 1948, at Good Counsel Novitiate, New Hamburg, N.Y. He made simple profession of vows on September 10, 1949, and then returned to Villanova College to complete his BA degree, graduating in June 1952. He professed solemn vows on September 10, 1952. From 1952 to 1956 he studied theology at Augustinian College, Washington, DC, and was ordained to the priesthood on February 4, 1956, by Bishop John McNamara at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
From 1956 to 1958 Father Hattrick taught at Archbishop Carroll High School and obtained an MA in English from the Catholic University of America, Washington, DC. In 1958, after spending three months at Saint Nicholas of Tolentine Parish, Jamaica, New York, he sailed for Nagasaki, Japan, as part of the third group of friars to go the Japanese Missions. His first assignment in Japan was to Our Mother of Consolation Friary and Parish, Nagasaki, where he served from 1958 to 1979. From 1979 to 1982 he was assigned to Saint Augustine’s Friary and Parish in Fukuoka, where he was Director of Formation. From 1982 to 1989, he served in Nagoya at Saint Monica’s Friary and Parish. He returned to Nagasaki and served there from 1989 to 1997.
In 1997, after almost forty years of service in the Japanese missions, and, at the age of 68, Father Hattrick volunteered for the Province’s new mission at Botha’s Hill, in the Archdiocese of Durban, South Africa. There, he worked in the English-speaking parish of Our Lady of Mercy, Kloof, and in the two Zulu-speaking missions of that parish, St. Helen’s and St. Leo’s, both of which he was instrumental in establishing. After ten years of service there, because of failing health, he returned to Villanova and was assigned to Saint Thomas Monastery.
Father Hattrick passed over to the Lord in the early afternoon of October 10, 2007, at the age of 77. A funeral Mass was celebrated for Fr. Ed on October 15 at St. Thomas of Villanova Church, Villanova University. He is buried at Calvary Cemetery, West Conshohocken, PA.
Father Hattrick was dedicated to the living and the spreading of the Gospel. He did not allow the difficulty of language nor the adaptation to new cultures to be an obstacle to his zeal and dedication. He was involved in many building projects throughout the course of his ministry, but his most important concern and the focus of his ministry were the people he served, building up their faith by his tireless compassion, good example, and encouragement of all their efforts.
