Vincent J. McGarvey, O.S.A.

1917 – 1994 (February 2)

Vincent McGarvey was born in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, in 1917, and attended Saint Francis de Sales Parochial School in Philadelphia, He graduated from Augustinian Academy in Staten Island, New York, and entered Good Counsel Novitiate in New Hamburg, N.Y. Following profession of vows, he matriculated at Villanova College, and studied theology at Augustinian College in Washington, D.C. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1935 and completed a Masters Degree in education at Catholic University.

He was assigned briefly as assistant novice master in New Hamburg, N.Y., but was soon named associate pastor of Saint Patrick’s Church, San Diego where he became a mainstay of the parish for the next thirteen years. In 1956 he returned east to Saint Nicholas of Tolentine, the Bronx to be near his ailing mother. After her death he returned to California and was assigned to Our Mother of Good Counsel Church, Hollywood. He eventually became pastor when his predecessor was forced to step down due to health reasons in 1961.

He was appointed Vice Provincial while remaining pastor for the next six years. During the years of the Second Vatican Council, Father McGarvey oversaw a great deal of expansion in the Vice Province, including the sending of friars to the Peruvian missions, encouraging post-graduate studies, and taking on an additional high school in Modesto, CA. When his term as Vice Provincial ended he returned to Saint Patrick as pastor. In 1980, Father McGarvey was named pastor of Our Lady of Grace Church in Castro Valley, CA when the California Augustinians expanded into the Bay Area. He then moved to Central Point, Oregon where he served as pastor, and subsequently to Shady Grove, OR as pastor of another parish.

Eventually Father McGarvey retired to Saint Thomas Aquinas Church in Ojai. While there he traveled to San Diego to visit his doctor. During that visit he suffered a stroke resulting in his death on February 2, 1994. He is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery, San Diego, CA.