Thomas Finbar Carroll, O.P.
Thomas Finbar Carroll, O.P.
Birth: July 11, 1922
Profession: August 26, 1952
Ordination: June 5, 1958
Died: December 8, 1998
Thomas Joseph Carroll was born in New York City the son of Thomas and Bridget (Cunningham) Carroll. From 1929-1937 he attended St. Vincent Ferrer Grammar School and from 1937-1941 Xavier High School both in that city. After High School he went to work for the B. Altman Co. as a salesman before entering military service as a medical corpsman serving in England, France, Germany and Austria from 1942-1945. After the war he returned to the Altman Co as well as taking courses at Fordham University in the Bronx, NY. In 1949 he entered the pre-ecclesiastical program of the Order at Providence College.
Thomas entered the novitiate of St. Joseph’s Province at St. Stephen Priory in Dover, MA (1951) where he received the name Finbar. A year later he made his profession there. His studied philosophy first at St. Rose Priory, Springfield, KY (1952-1953) and at St. Joseph’s Priory, Somerset, OH (1953-1955). From 1955 to 1959 he studied Theology at the Dominican House of Studies, Washington, DC. He was ordained a priest at St. Dominic’s Church, Washington, DC by Archbishop Amleto Cicognani, Apostolic Delegate to the United States.
Fr. Finbar’s first priestly assignment was as parochial assistant at St. Dominic’s Church, Detroit, MI (1959-1961). For the next seventeen years (1961-1978) he served as a missionary in Pakistan. He returned to St. Dominic’s Church in Detroit (1978-1981) before being transferred to St. Gertrude Parish, Cincinnati, OH where he died.
An obituary in the local newspaper sums up Fr. Carroll’s life. It read: “The 2,400 families who have been parishioners at St. Gertrude benefited from Father Carroll’s prayerful demeanor and quick wit.” A priest-colleague of his at St. Gertrude, Fr. Jim Sullivan, remarked: “He taught me to always be a man who is joyful and bring that into people’s lives.” To those who knew him, these qualities will always be remembered about him.
Following the Mass of Christian Burial, celebrated by Fr. Norman A. Haddad, O.P., Provincial, in St. Gertrude church, Father Carroll was buried in the Dominican plot at St. Joseph’s cemetery, Somerset, OH.
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