 Fr. Antoninus James Rooney, OP
Evangelizing across America, Fr. Antoninus was a famous preacher and teacher for his time.
He was born near Dundalk, Ireland and traveled with his parents to New York City as
a boy. He studied at Saint Xavier's College and developed his brilliant mind.
As a student in the Order, he studied at the Dominican house of studies in Somerset, Ohio,
St. Joseph's, and also helped teach at the secular college attached to it. After
ordination, he taught the novices and three years later became president of the
college in Sinsinawa, Wisconsin. When the college started to close, he went to teach
the student brothers, continuing for eleven years. During this time, he also went
throughout Kentucky acquiring a reputation for his eloquence. He was known as the
Lacordaire of Kentucky.
In 1878, in part to get away from a difficult
superior, he was allowed to go to California. He was stationed at St. Dominic's in
San Francisco and, when his voice permitted, he lectured up and down the coast.
Usually, at the end of his missions, he would set up a Confraternity in the parish, as he
did in Vallejo with the Rosary Confraternity. He returned to Kentucky in 1884, but
found that California suited him better and came back the next year to stay.
In
1893, his health gave out and he retired to Benicia until his death. Near the end of
his life, his eyesight failed him, and he had a special Mass that he memorized and
recounted the rosary continuously instead of the choral office. He was known as one
of the greatest orators of his generation. May God grant rest to his soul.
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