 Br. Dominic John Donnelly, OP
John Francis Donnelly was born of William Patrick Donnelly and Ellen McKenna on March 15,
1878 in Eastport, Coos County, Oregon, where he lived for nine years. He was
baptized on March 24, 1878 in Marshfield, now Coos Bay, Oregon, by Father J. Heinrich,
M.P. While there he received thirty-two months of schooling. He did not go to
high school or college. He lived in Bandon for eight more years. He lived in
Gallup, New Mexico for six months in 1896 when he was seventeen years old. He
returned to Eastport, Oregon for three more years. After that he lived in Spokane,
Washington for eighteen years, then Seattle for two more years. At Ryde, California
in the Diocese of Sacramento he lived from 1920 to 1922. He was a blacksmith by
trade.
He came to St. Thomas Priory, Ross, California on June 12, 1922 and received the
tertiary donatus habit the following February taking the name Br. Dominic. He
received the habit of a lay-brother five years later. On September 16, 1934 in St.
Dominic's Church, Benicia, California he made his solemn profession in the hands of Father
Christopher Vincent Lamb, the Prior.
Brother Dominic was assigned to Oakland, California in 1932 in order to help prepare
the newly purchased property and buildings for use as St.
Albert's Priory and remained in Oakland until 1951. The children of the
neighborhood were fond of him and came to visit him as he worked. The bridge in the
garden of St. Albert's Priory is a monument to his love of working with concrete.
His massive wooden carts helped him haul debris from the garden. The workmen on the
new wing of St. Albert's in 1949-1950 remember him for keeping them supplied with fresh
water so they would not have to drink from the hydrants which drew from the creek.
On February 26, 1951 he was assigned to the College of the Immaculate Conception, Ross,
California. There he excavated much of the area under the chapel and built the
incinerator and some small bridges in concrete. None of these are now standing.
During his last illness he was assigned to St. Dominic's Priory in San Francisco in
1957. He died in 1960 at the age of 81. May God bless him.
Photo: Br. Dominic and his
bridge at St. Albert's Priory, Oakland
Photo: Br. Dominic and his
bridge at St. Albert's Priory, Oakland
Photo: Br. Dominic
officially opening the bridge
Photo: Br. Dominic with the
wagon he built
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