Born: Holycross, Ireland, June 1, 1835.
Took the habit: Sicklinghall, August 3, 1853.
Vows: Sicklinghall, August 22, 1855 (N. 395).
Priestly ordination: Ottawa, December 14, 1859.
Died: Albany, New York, January 13, 1898.
James McGrath was born in Holycross, diocese of Cashel, Ireland, on June 1, 1835. His parents were James McGrath and Sara Mandeville. According to the report of the novice master, Father Gustave Richard, and the minutes of the general council meeting held on July 10, 1855, James spent his boyhood days with an uncle in the Isle of Man. He met Father Patrick Hickey and went with him to Sicklinghall where he began his novitiate on August 3, 1853. After one year, Father Richard “did not consider him to be sufficiently grounded in his religious vocation and he was unable to judge his intellectual capability” and therefore his novitiate was prolonged. He took vows on August 13, 1855 and spent one year in the scholasticate in Sicklinghall. In 1856, the moderator of scholastics wrote: “McGrath; good health, studies zealously and is making sufficient progress. He is punctual, obedient, has his head somewhat in the clouds, speaks before thinking. Piety is sufficient.” He was sent to the United States where he continued his studies and, at the same time, taught in the college in Galveston, Texas in 1856-1857 and in Ottawa college in 1857 to 1866. Bishop Guigues ordained him to the priesthood on December 14, 1859.
Father McGrath was treasurer in Ottawa college and in charge of St. Andrew’s (St. Patrick’s) parish from 1861 to 1866. He was then a missionary-preacher and living in the parish of Holy Angels, Buffalo, New York (1866-1870). Afterwards he went to the parish of the Immaculate Conception, Lowell, Massachusetts (1870-1883), where he became pastor in 1870 and superior in 1878. He devoted much effort to the building of a beautiful church and, in 1880, he opened a parish school. He belonged to the group known to the people of Lowell as the Holy Fathers.
Having been appointed first Provincial of the American Oblate Province (1883-1893), he founded a number of houses. The author of his necrology note wrote: “How shall his administration be remembered? He knew that you cannot build without a foundation. Anchored as he was in the convictions of his novitiate, which were only strengthened by his twenty-eight years of experience, the foundation he wished to give to his young Province was the Rule, but the whole Rule, the only solid foundation.” Later, he was superior in Holy Angels Parish, Buffalo (1893-1898). He died suddenly in Albany railway station on January 13, 1898 and is buried in St. Patrick’s cemetery, Lowell.
Yvon Beaudoin
and Gaston Carrière, o.m.i.
