 Fr. Christopher Vincent Lamb, OP
By the time Fr. Lamb died, he was an institution in the Province and in the parishes he
served. Much of our archives are due to his work and his recollections. He was
born to Philip Lamb and Margaret Brady Lamb in Vallejo on July 28, 1871. At this
time, Vallejo was served by the Dominicans. Fr. Vincent was baptized by a pioneer
Dominican of the time, Fr. Louis Daniel, O.P. He
also had the honor of being confirmed by Archbishop Alemany, O.P.
Two years after
high school, he joined the Dominican Province. After his studies, he was ordained by
Archbishop Riordan of San Francisco at St. Mary's Cathedral (Old Church). He
immediately started work in our parish at Benicia, California. He continued for
three years until he was called to San Francisco for a year. He returned to Benicia
for another two years, and then became interim Pastor at Martinez for the year 1903. Finally he received a long assignment, being moved to Portland, Oregon for ten
years. During these years Holy Rosary in Portland became a Priory and he became the
first Sub-Prior. He then moved to be Pastor in Vallejo for two years and afterward
Prior and Pastor in Benicia for six years. In 1922 when the Postulants were moved to
Kentfield to study, Fr. Lamb went there to teach. When the school dissolved and the
postulants moved to Benicia, Fr. Lamb moved with them and became Prior and Pastor again
for two terms with a minor stint in Vallejo as assistant and in Berkeley as Pastor.
After his term as Prior and Pastor ended he moved back to Kentfield to teach, since the
Novitiate had moved from Benicia to Kentfield the previous year. During his stay in
Kentfield, he turned seventy years old. Therefore, in 1943 he took an easier job,
Chaplain to the Dominican sisters in Everett, Washington. He moved with them when
they moved to Edmonds, Washington, and died in Chehalis, Washington at St. Helen's
Hospital in 1962 at the age of ninety. |
