Rev. Father Henry F. Curtin (1866 - 1931)

Rev. Father Henry F. Curtin Appointed to Pastorate at Clark Mills

Utica Saturday Globe, August 1915

 

 

Rev. Father Henry F. Curtin

1866 - 1931

Norwich [Chenango Co., NY]:  The recent appointment of Rev Father Henry F. Curtin as pastor of the Catholic parish in Clark Mills meets the hearty approval of his many friends in Norwich, who remember with keen pleasure his record here while assistant for five years to Rev. Father John A. Hart, at whose death he remained for six months as pastor of St. Paul's parish.

 

Eight years ago upon the appointment of Rev Father Prendergast to the Norwich Chruch, Rev. Father Curtin was transferred to Boonville, at which place he is now succeeded by Rev. Father Flynn, of Binghamton, who is a native of Oxford. Rev. Father Curtin will always retain a warm place in the hearts of the Norwich parishioners.

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Obituary

Syracuse Journal, December 9, 1931

 

 

Rev. Henry F. Curtin

1866 - 1931

 

Rev. Henry F. Curtin, 64, pastor of St. Patrick's Church and widely known in the Syracuse diocese, died suddenly shortly before 7 o'clock, Wednesday morning at this home at 218 N. Lowell av.  He suffered a heart attack at 5 o'clock.  Father Curtin complained of feeling ill Tuesday.  His assistants, Rev. Robert P. Driscoll and Rev. Joseph I. Ritchie, summoned Dr. Raymond McCarthy. The physician prescribed a rest for Father Curtin and the pastor had arranged to follow the advise. At 5 o'clock Wednesday morning, Father Curtin called his assistants and told them that he was ill.   They called Dr. McCarthy, who later called in another physician for consultation.  Father Curtin died before the arrival of the second physician.  Father Curtin had been pastor of St. Patrick's Chruch since June 27, 1929, when he was named by Bishop Daniel J. Curley to succeed the late Rt. Rev. Mgr. James P. Magee, who at the time of his death was the dean of the Syracuse diocese.  In the two and one-half years of his Syracuse pastorate, Father Curtin did many things for the old West End parish.  He constructed a $100,.000 addition to St. Patrick's School, one of the oldest parochial schools in the city, and turned over the former home of Monsignor Magee to the St. Patrick's Auxiliary, an organization for girls of the parish.  Under his direction the first bazar in many years was staged in St. Patrick's parish, and $6,000 was netted for school equipment.

 

Born in Marcellus, July 23, 1866, Father Curtin was a son of the late Jeremiah and Maria Farley Curtin.  He attended Niagara university and then St. Joseph's Seminary in Troy. The latter is now the mother  house for St. Joseph's sisters.  Leaving Troy entered St. Bernard's Seminary in Rochester, where he completed his studies in 1900.  He was ordained on March 10, 1900. Following  his ordination, Father Curtin was assigned as assistant pastor of St. Paul's Chruch in Norwich, where he remained for eight years.  He was then given his first pastorate at St. Joseph's Church in Boonville.  Father Curtin was made the first resident pastor of the Church of the Annunciation in Clarks Mills in 1915.  In 1923, Father Curtin was named pastor of St. Ambrose Church, Endicott, remaining there until "Bishop Curley called him to Syracuse and St. Patrick's.  On Dec. 18, 1930, Father Curtin was named examinatores cleri, a member of the board of examiners for the diocesan examinations of the clergy.

 

Father Curtin is survived by three sisters, Miss Blanche Curtin, who acted as his housekeeper, Miss Alice Curtin, of Rochester, and Madame Curtin of the Order of the Sacred Heart.  The body of Father Curtin will be taken to St. Patrick's Church at 4 o'clock Friday afternoon and will lie in state there until 9:30 o'clock Saturday morning when priests of the diocese will begin chanting the office of the dead.  A solemn high mass of requiem will be sung by Rt. Rev. Mgr. Daniel Doody, vicar general of the diocese, Rt. Rec. Mgr. John J. Sheridan, L.L. D., a classmate of Father Curtin, and pastor of St. Lucy's Church, will be deacon, and Rev. William H. Purcell, pastor of St. James' Church, Johnson City, sub-deacon, Rev. David F. Cunningham, secretary of Bishop Curley, will be master of ceremonies, assisted by Father Driscoll.  The sermon will be preached by Rt. Rev. Mgr, James P. McPeak, rector of the Cathedral of the Immaculate conception.

 

Syracuse Journal, December 10, 1931

For the second time in two years, death struck a telling blow at St. Patrick's Church parish yesterday, taking the beloved pastor, Rev. Henry F. Curtin, on to his eternal reward barely two years after his accession to the post of duty so long held by the late Monsignor Magee.

 

It is a grave loss to the parish, thus deprived of its wise and kindly guidance for the second time in a comparatively brief period, but it is no less a loss to the community at large.  For Father Curtin was an outstanding citizen of Syracuse, an influence consistently and effectively exerted for its welfare.

 

A native of Marcellus, born in 1866, he served his apprenticeship in the priesthood in several of the smaller communities that cluster about the center-state metropolis--Norwich, Boonville, Clark's Mills and Endicott.  Onondaga recalled him in 1929 to fill the gap caused by the death of Monsignor Magee, and he was happily destined, it seemed, to round out his useful life amid the scenes familiar to his boyhood.

 

His success in the old west end parish was immediate and cumulative.  The addition to St. Patrick's School, the splendid home of St. Patrick's Auxiliary in the old rectory, the new church and school equipment--these are monuments which he built in less than 30 months.  He put into the work of upbuilding the parish a boundless energy and ambition, tempered by years of rich experience, that is reflected in its flourishing condition today.

 

St. Patrick's, of course, will miss Father Curtin most, and the west end, in which he labored for the glory of God, but in a far broader field than those, he will be greatly missed.