Father Berchmans Lanagan, C.P., St. Paul of the Cross Province (1900-1975)

Born Joseph Aloysius Lanagan on March 28, 1900 in Roxbury, Massachusetts, he was the son of Thomas and Mary Jane Douglas. He attended John Winthrop School in Dorchester, Massachusetts for eight years and Boston College High for two. He then went to the Passionist Preparatory Seminary, Baltimore, Maryland. He had met the Passionists at their monastery in Brighton, Massachusetts. He professed his vows on August 15, 1920 at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His religious name was Berchmans. He was ordained on March 12, 1927 by Archbishop Diaz of Mexico City, Mexico. He was in exile at the time and the ordination took place at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Newark, New Jersey. After sacred eloquence Father Lanagan was named director of students from 1928 until 1932. He then became vice-rector of St. Mary’s, Dunkirk, New York. Three years later he was vice-rector of Jamaica, New York. He was elected rector there by the 1935 Provincial Chapter. In 1938 he was chosen to be master of novices. He held that post for three successive terms. For one term he was then provincial consultor, then rector of Jamaica in 1950 followed by an appointment as rector of Union City, New Jersey from 1953 until 1956. He then was transferred to Brighton where he lived for the last nineteen years of his life.On occasion he went to Burlington, North Carolina to assist at a parish.