Father John Gerard McMenamin, C.P., St. Paul of the Cross Province (1906-1952)

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Born on December 17, 1906 in Freeland, Pennsylvania, he was the son of John and Margaret Ferry McMenamin. After being educated in his own town he entered The College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts. At the conclusion of his first year he entered the Passionist novitiate in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and professed his vows on September 28, 1924. He was ordained on March 15, 1930. He then was sent for a graduate degree in philosophy at the Dominican University, the Angelicum, in Rome. Completed in 1934, he returned to the United States and began to teach in various Passionist monasteries. In the summer he took some courses at The Catholic University of America and preached retreats to religious and the laity. He was considered to be an excellent teacher. He was quite knowledgeable in St. Thomas Aquinas. In his later years Father McMenamin suffered from a debilitating illness.