Deceased Friars

Adalbert Callahan, OFM

Adalbert Callahan

1905 – 1949

Fr. Adalbert Callahan, OFM, was born in Passaic, N.J., on Dec. 26, 1905. He graduated from St. Joseph’s Seraphic Seminary in Callicoon, N.Y.

In 1924, he entered the Province’s novitiate at St. Bonaventure Friary in Paterson, N.J., professing temporary vows the following year. Fr. Adalbert made his solemn profession of vows in 1928 and was ordained a priest in 1931 at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.

He was assigned to St. Francis of Assisi Church in New York City and appointed director of the Secular Franciscans, a position he filled until 1936. During that time, Fr. Adalbert wrote Medieval Francis in Modern America, the history of the Franciscans in the eastern states — a work Fr. Thomas Plassmann, OFM, considered a “landmark in modern Franciscan and American History.”

Fr. Adalbert taught at Siena College, Loudonville, N.Y., for seven years and was then appointed provincial chronista and stationed in Paterson. He dedicated his talents and energies to the Provincial Annals, which he first published in 1936. Fr. Adalbert also gave many retreats to priests, religious and sisters during his final years.

He was viewed by the friars as a faithful, kindly and dedicated priest, a man with the instinct of an historian, imperturbable patience and a bee-like diligence. He lived a busy, holy and wholesome Franciscan life.

Fr. Adalbert died Sept. 4, 1949, at St. Michael’s Hospital in Newark, N.J. He was 43 years old, a professed friar for 24 years and a priest for 18 years.

Each of us should be called a lesser brother, a Friar Minor. Each one of us should wash the feet of the others.”

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Adalbert Callahan, OFM

Adalbert Callahan

1905 – 1949

Fr. Adalbert Callahan, OFM, was born in Passaic, N.J., on Dec. 26, 1905. He graduated from St. Joseph’s Seraphic Seminary in Callicoon, N.Y.

In 1924, he entered the Province’s novitiate at St. Bonaventure Friary in Paterson, N.J., professing temporary vows the following year. Fr. Adalbert made his solemn profession of vows in 1928 and was ordained a priest in 1931 at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.

He was assigned to St. Francis of Assisi Church in New York City and appointed director of the Secular Franciscans, a position he filled until 1936. During that time, Fr. Adalbert wrote Medieval Francis in Modern America, the history of the Franciscans in the eastern states — a work Fr. Thomas Plassmann, OFM, considered a “landmark in modern Franciscan and American History.”

Fr. Adalbert taught at Siena College, Loudonville, N.Y., for seven years and was then appointed provincial chronista and stationed in Paterson. He dedicated his talents and energies to the Provincial Annals, which he first published in 1936. Fr. Adalbert also gave many retreats to priests, religious and sisters during his final years.

He was viewed by the friars as a faithful, kindly and dedicated priest, a man with the instinct of an historian, imperturbable patience and a bee-like diligence. He lived a busy, holy and wholesome Franciscan life.

Fr. Adalbert died Sept. 4, 1949, at St. Michael’s Hospital in Newark, N.J. He was 43 years old, a professed friar for 24 years and a priest for 18 years.