HEALY, PATRICK JOSEPH

Church historian and educator; b. Waterford, Ireland, July 26, 1871; d. Washington, D.C., May 18, 1937. After ordination (1897) for the Archdiocese of New York, he attended The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., for graduate study in Church history (B.Th. 1898, L.Th. 1899, S.T.D. 1903). His unpublished licentiate thesis, "An Inquiry into the Origin and History of Origen's Allegorical System," is available in the Mullen Library of Catholic University. His doctoral dissertation, The Valerian Persecution: A Study of the Relations between Church and State in the Third Century, A.D. (New York 1905), received wide acclaim. He did further study at the Universities of Bonn and Heidelberg.

After a short period as an assistant in Holy Innocents' parish in New York City, he returned to Catholic University as an instructor. In 1910 he was elevated to the Patrick Quinn professorship of Church history and was chosen dean of the faculty of theology, a post he held at various times subsequently. He offered courses in early Church history, patrology, the history of monasticism, and the history of Church-State relations. Healy was the editor (1911–14) of the Catholic University Bulletin in the final years of its existence as a scholarly publication. He contributed many book reviews to it, as well as articles on monasticism, on Constantine and toleration, on Constantinople, and on Justinian and Charlemagne.

Bibliography: The Catholic University Bulletin 5.4 (Aug.1937) 9. Archives, The Catholic U. of Amer., rector's files.

[a. k. ziegler]