Henry W. McArdle, O.S.A.

1919 – 1969 (February 4)

Henry William McArdle was born June 8, 1919 in Masontown, Pennsylvania to Edward McArdle and Mary Ellen Ahern. He received his elementary and secondary education at All Saints School, Masontown, and earned his high school diploma in 1936. After a year of post-graduate studies at Augustinian Academy, Staten Island, New York, he was received into the novitiate on September 9, 1937. He professed simple vows on September 10, 1938, and solemn vows on September 10, 1941. Henry earned a B.A. in Philosophy from Villanova College, Villanova, Pennsylvania, in 1941, and then pursued theological studies at Augustinian College, Washington, D. C. He was ordained to the priesthood on May 18, 1944. He did additional studies at Villanova College, at Catholic University of America, Washington, and at DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois.

Father McArdle was assigned to parish and school ministries in Cuba, where he remained for five years. He then served at several parishes in New York and Massachusetts. In 1953, he requested affiliation to the Province of Our Mother of Good Counsel, Chicago.

In 1953 he was assigned to Saint Rita High School, Chicago, where he served as teacher, disciplinarian and band moderator. In 1960 he became rector of Saint Joseph Mission House, Fort Wayne, Indiana, but returned to Saint Rita High School in 1962, and served as prior of the Augustinian community there.

In 1966 he was appointed superior of the Augustinian Missions in Peru, South America. Ill health caused him to return to the United States in 1967. He died February 4, 1969 and is buried in the Augustinian plot at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Alsip, Illinois.