John J. Lamond, O.S.A.

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1909 – 1993 (October 13)

John Joseph Lamond was born on July 20, 1909, in Lawrence, Massachusetts to John J. Lamond and Margaret I. Hennelly. Two of his brothers, Bernard and Augustine, also became members of the province. Baptized on July 25 at Saint Mary’s Church, Lawrence, John attended the parish school, and graduated in 1922. He entered Augustinian Academy, Staten Island, New York, as a postulant, and graduated in 1926. He then was admitted to the novitiate and professed simple vows on August 16, 1927. Three years later he professed solemn vows at the collegiate seminary at Villanova College, Villanova, Pa. After graduation in 1931 with an A.B. degree, he began the study of theology at Augustinian College in Washington, DC. During the summer months he took courses in religious education at the nearby Catholic University of America, and on June 13, 1943, he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop McNamara in the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC.

Father Lamond’s first assignment in 1935 was to the University of Saint Augustine, Iloilo City, the Philippine Islands, where he taught English and public speaking. In 1939 he returned to the United States and was assigned to Saint Mary’s Church in Rockford, Illinois, where he served as an assistant and taught religion at the nearby Muldoon High School. In 1941 he served in Cuba as an assistant at San Agustin Church, Marianao, Havana, while also conducting adult education courses in Catholic Action. Returning to the States in 1944, he was assigned to Saint Laurence O’Toole Church in Lawrence, Massachusetts as assistant and hospital chaplain. The following year he was moved to Saint Mary’s Church and placed in charge of the Portuguese Catholic Community at the Church of Saints Peter and Paul. In 1956 Father Lamond was appointed pastor of Olde Saint Augustine’s Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Two years later he was assigned to the church of the Immaculate Conception in Hoosick Falls, New York as pastor and prior. In addition, as pastor he also served as principal of Saint Mary’s Academy, the parish high school. In 1962 Father Lamond returned to Lawrence and the Hispanic apostolate, which was to occupy so much of his efforts, first at Saint Augustine’s Church and in 1966, at Saint Mary’s, where he directed the Spanish Center. Upon his retirement in 1979 he was assigned to Our Mother of Good Counsel Monastery on the campus of Merrimack College, North Andover; however he continued his ministry to the Hispanic population of the Merrimack Valley.

In 1976 Father Lamond was honored with the Immigrant City Award citing his more than three decades of service to the Spanish and Portuguese communities. A member of Saint Mary’s parish remembered Father Lamond as a “great friend whom we could always count on, he not only spoke our language, but he knew our culture and understood us.” In addition to his work with the Hispanic community, Father Lamond worked to promote vocations to the priesthood and religious life. He was a regular contributor to Contact, the vocational magazine of the Archdiocese of Boston and co-authored a book Why I Became a Priest.

Father Lamond died suddenly on October 13, 1993 at Holy Family Hospital, Methuen. Massachusetts, at the age of 84. His brother, Father Augustine Lamond predeceased him in death by two years; his brother, Father Bernard, followed Father John in death one month later.

A Mass of Christian Burial, presided over by Bishop John R. McNamara, was celebrated October 17 at the Collegiate Church of Christ the Teacher on the campus of Merrimack College, North Andover. Interment was in the Augustinian plot of Saint Mary’s cemetery, Lawrence, Massachusetts.