Fr. Lawrence Edward Jagoe, OP

Fr. Lawrence was born of Robert H. Jagoe and Elizabeth Innd on August 18, 1875 in San Francisco.  He was baptized in August of 1876 in St. John's Church  in San Francisco.  He was one of twenty-one children.  Edward grew up and went to school in San Quentin, California, the state prison, where his father was a guard.  He only attended the primary grades there 1882-1884 when his family moved to Healdsburg, California where he attended school from 1884 to 1890.  As was usual in those days for most boys, his education stopped after the eighth grade, for we have no record of other studies after 1890.  Instead of studies, young Edward worked on cattle ranches and became a "cow puncher" as well as rider and marksman.  Not only did he get acquainted with the tamer animals, he also encountered the wild kind.  He was known to have captured wild cats and other wild animals with his bare hands.  He recorded these adventures and some of these adventures even went out over the radio.   In 1897 when at the age of 22, he came to Benicia to attend the preparatory seminary, studying three years making up the study of Latin, math, literature, history and other studies required before reception of the habit.

He received the habit of the Dominican Order on November 1, 1900 from the hands of Fr. Pius Murphy, O.P., Vicar General of the Dominicans in California, at St. Dominic's in Benicia.  He made his profession of simple vows there exactly a year later.  On November 1, 1905 he made his solemn profession.  After ten long years of study he was ordained in San Francisco by Most Reverend Patrick William Riordan, Archbishop of San Francisco.

Fr. Jagoe was then assigned to Benicia as an assistant pastor from 1907 through 1910, preaching in such places as Lodi and St. Helena.  For one brief year he was in Portland, Oregon.  His other assignments were as follows.

Antioch, California 1912-1925
Ross and Benicia, California 1925-1927
Pittsburg, California 1927-1930
San Antonio, Texas 1930-1938
Antioch, California 1939-1940
Ross, California 1940-1941

He served mainly as assistant pastor in these parishes.  He was at Our Lady of Sorrows, a Dominican parish in San Antonio to serve as one of the few English speaking priests in the area.  From 1942-1944 he served in various parishes in Northern California allowing the local and lonely country pastors to go on vacation: Woodland, Dunsmuir, Willows, Sacramento, Weaverville, etc.

He then served as chaplain to a convent and school for girls in Mission San Jose, California from 1944-1949.  From there he went to reside at Ross, which was the Novitiate.  There he spent his remaining days until his death at St. Joseph's Hospital in San Francisco on June 18, 1951.

Fr. Jagoe was a magician which endeared him to young and old alike.  He was a popular chaplain at children's summer camps, not only for his magicianship, but also for his childlike qualities.  Even when he was working with the girls at Mission San Jose at the age of 72, he could still entertain.  He had with him a toy shepherd, Flop, which he liked to show off.  He trained the dog to walk a rope blindfolded, do card tricks, dance, put on a one-dog circus, and even amazingly demonstrate its knowledge of the alphabet.

He carried with him his talent as a marksman.  In 1912 he was the champion in California of fancy and trick rifle shooting.  For all the years he was in Antioch and Pittsburg in Eastern Contra Costa county, which was known as one of the nut capitals of the world, he was something of a savior to the local farmers, putting away squirrels by the thousands.

He was also a hero.  On the evening of August 8, 1910, barely three years after ordination, he encountered a train wreck.  A passenger train heading for Santa Rosa from San Francisco hit a work train at thirty-five mph.  Fr. Jagoe was heading back to his parish from a home visit in Healdsburg at the time.  As soon as he got to the scene of the accident he took out his axe and cut his way into the passenger car.   From there he pulled out eleven of the dead.  He cut a hole from another car and removed four other badly hurt passengers.  In one instance he had to take his knife and cut through one of the dead in order to rescue a living man who was just out of reach.  All who saw him felt admiration for such a heroic task.  But Fr. Jagoe was not a hero only for that day.  As he was rescuing the injured, he was giving them words of comfort, words of Christ which they could carry with them through the after effects of tragedy.

This was a preacher devoted to his people.  He continued his heroic act of comfort and care with all those entrusted to him, in parishes across California.  This was a preacher who did not exalt himself, but worked in the everyday life of people, offering hope and giving aid.  May he rest eternally with Jesus whom he loved.

Photo: as a young student

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