Born: Cookstown, Ireland, July 30, 1835
Took the habit: Sicklinghall, May 30, 1857
Vows: Sicklinghall, May 31, 1859 (No. 484)
Priestly ordination: Victoria, B. C., November 15, 1863
Died: Vancouver, B.C., April 7, 1903.
James McGuckin was born in Cookstown, diocese of Armagh, Ireland, on July 30, 1835. His parents were James McGuckin, cloth merchant, and Bridget Trainor. After a period as accountant for his father, he entered the novitiate in Sicklinghall on May 30, 1857, and took vows on May 31, 1859. He studied theology for at least one year in the seminary in Montolivet (1860-1861) and then, it seems, continued his studies in Inchicore and Sicklinghall. In Marseilles, the moderator of scholastics, Father Antoine Mouchette, judged him to be “quite a good religious”, “excellent character, very religious”, “kind and docile”, but of delicate health. The scholastic left for British Colombia in the summer of 1863 and was ordained to the priesthood in Victoria, by Bishop Modeste Demers on November 15, 1863.
Apart from a few years in Ottawa, he spent all his life in British Colombia. He was appointed director of the Saint Louis College in Victoria (1863-1866), and from there he visited Esquimalt. He then became a missionary in the district of Cariboo, founded the mission in Williams Lake in 1867 and lived there from 1867 to 1873. In 1868 he founded the mission of Richfield. In 1870, he journeyed up the Fraser and Netchaco Rivers, visiting Fort George (Prince George) and Lake Stuart (Fort Saint James), where he lived for a time. In 1873 he founded the Indian school at Williams Lake and he remained there until 1882, when he went to New Westminster (1882-1889) as superior of the Saint Louis College, while at the same time he was pastor, master of novices and provincial treasurer. He was delegate to the General Chapter in 1887, Rector of the University of Ottawa (1889-1898) and later he became pastor of Holy Rosary parish in Vancouver (1898-1903), which had become the cathedral church of the Vancouver diocese.
He died in Vancouver on April 7, 1903 and he is buried in the Oblate cemetery in Mission City. Archbishop Dontenwill, writing his obituary note on April 7, 1903, described him as “Scrupulous in the exactitude of his obedience, and in all his duties as a priest and religious throughout his life, he did not need to worry when the supreme moment came. His life was a preparation for his death.”
Yvon Beaudoin
and Gaston Carrière, o.m.i.
