Father Jordan Black, C.P., St. Paul of the Cross Province (1896-1975)

Born December 28, 1896 in Boston, Massachusetts, he attended Boston public schools and Boston High School of Commerce. On September 29, 1916 he went to the Passionist Preparatory Seminary in Baltimore, Maryland. He professed his vows on August 12, 1919. On December 19, 1925 he was ordained a priest by Bishop O’Connor at Seton Hall, South Orange, New Jersey. He was sent to Hunan, China but returned in 1929 due to poor health and was assigned to the Jamaica, New York monastery. He was a professor at Holy Cross Seminary, Dunkirk, New York for a short time and then worked in the Marquette, Michigan diocese with Bishop Paul J. Nussbaum, C.P. In 1932 Father Black was assigned as assistant pastor of St. Ann’s, Scranton, Pennsylvania. He then served as vicar at St. Paul’s Monastery, Pittsburgh and Immaculate Conception Monastery, Jamaica, New York. From 1936 until 1943 he was at the retreat houses in West Springfield, Massachusetts; Jamaica; and Brighton, Massachusetts. In 1943 he became pastor of St. Ann’s, Scranton. He then lived in Pittsburgh and then was assigned to Brighton where he lived for twenty-seven years before his death. He served as a confessor.