RINGWOOD, N.J. — Clement Healy, OFM, 89, a professed Franciscan friar for 68 years and a priest for 63 years, died Sept. 16 at Holy Name Friary here.
Clement was born on July 28, 1919, in New York, N.Y., and baptized Francis on Aug. 10 at the Church of the Immaculate Conception on East 150th Street in the Bronx. He attended Holy Cross Elementary School in the Bronx, and in 1933, he entered St. Joseph Seraphic Seminary, Callicoon, N.Y., where he studied until 1939.
Clement was received into the Order of Friars Minor, Holy Name Province, on Aug. 12, 1939, and given the religious name of Clement at St. Bonaventure Friary in Paterson, N.J. He professed his simple vows there on Aug. 13, 1940, before Jerome Dawson, OFM. He completed his philosophical studies in Croghan, N.Y., and Butler, N.J., and his theological studies at Holy Name College in Washington, D.C., where he professed his solemn vows before Bertrand Campbell, OFM, on Sept. 17, 1943. On June 17, 1945, Archbishop (later Cardinal) Amleto G. Cicognani, the apostolic delegate to the United States, ordained him a priest in the Church of Mount St. Sepulchre, Washington, D.C.
Clement’s first 12 years in active ministry were devoted to education, two years at Siena College, Loudonville, N.Y., one year at Bishop Timon High School, Buffalo, N.Y., and nine years as associate professor of physics at St. Bonaventure University, Allegany, N.Y. In 1958, Clement was assigned as the superior of the Province’s new mission at Our Lady of the Angels Parish, Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies, where he, along with Paul Walsh, OFM, established Our Lady of the Angels Prep School. In 1973, he was briefly assigned to ministry at St. Francis Chapel in Colonie, N.Y. He returned to Kingston in 1974 as assistant pastor until 1977, when he was assigned associate at St. Anthony Shrine in Boston, Mass.
From 1979 until 1987, he was director of the St. Francis Chapel in Colonie. For the next seven years, he served as associate at St. Francis Chapel in Providence, R.I., retiring in 1994 to St. Anthony’s Friary in St. Petersburg, Fla. Due to declining health, Clement transferred in early 2002 to Holy Name Friary in Ringwood.
A wake service was held on Sept. 17 at the Cortona Chapel of Holy Name Friary. The Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated Sept. 18 in Cortona Chapel where Provincial Minster John O’Connor, OFM, was the principal celebrant. Burial was at God’s Acre Cemetery in Ringwood.
Clement is survived by his cousin, Patty Healy, and her daughter, Patty, and nieces Patricia Dykens of East Falmouth, Mass., and Rita Gatehell of Panama City, Fla. Condolences may be sent to Patty Healy at 2 Spruce Street, Great Neck NY 11021.