Father Francis Shea, C.P., St. Paul of the Cross Province (1896-1970)

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Born John Arthur Shea on June 24, 1896 he was the son of Daniel Shea and Catherine Grady. At fourteen John entered the Passionist Preparatory Seminary at St. Mary’s, Dunkirk, New York. After four years he entered the Passionist novitiate. He professed his vows on August 16, 1915 and received the name Francis. He was ordained on December 17, 1921 at the Cathedral in Baltimore, Maryland. Father Shea was a Lector at St. Ann’s Scranton, Pennsylvania, a hospital chaplain, an assistant editor of Sign Magazine, and an assistant parish priest in Scranton and Union City, as well as a moderator of the Confraternity of the Passion. In 1938 he was assigned to the Brighton, Massachusetts community to assist in monastery assignments. His health began to fail in the 1950s and 1960s.