In Memoriam of Father Augustine Grady, my "Uncle Gus"

In Memoriam of Father Augustine Grady, my "Uncle Gus"

Uncle Gus was actually my "Great" uncle, my Grand Fathers older brother. Being the oldest of the oldest son (my youngest uncle is only 8 years my senior) my immediate aunts and uncles all preferred to be called by their first names and the "great ones" Gus, Teddy, Margie, Bob, Evy were all given the respectable prefix. I want this to become an evolving work in progress. I have many family members that I will, in the coming weeks ask for input, photos, stories, and any video we have about my uncle. In starting this, the first thing that I learned is that Gus's first name is actually Leander and he is a JR named after his father. I had no idea! So I am sure that there are lots more surprises!
In beginning this, I find myself a little miffed that I am doing this after his death; this would have been so much easier to just ask the questions. I also learned that Gus had an extensive collection of renaissance era musical instruments. I always knew he was a classical music fan and he owned over 1000 recordings from records to CD's.

Aside from teaching at Fordham University, he also said mass at St. James church in Bethpage for pretty much my whole life. Below is the obit. From the Fordham website. I will be adding more in the near future.

Augustine Grady, S.J., a member of Fordham University's Theology Department for more than 20 years, died on Sunday, Jan. 6, at Our Lady of Mercy Hospital, Bronx, N.Y. He was 91.

Father Grady, born on August 29, 1916, entered the Society of Jesus on Feb. 1, 1934. He taught Theology at Fordham from 1962 until 1988.

"Father Grady was a man of generous spirit, dedicated to his undergraduate students," said Mary Callaway, Ph.D., associate professor of theology.

Upon retirement, Father Grady became a Professor Emeritus and continued to live with the Jesuit Community at Fordham's Loyola Hall until his death.

In Memoriam Grady, L. Augustine SJ
posted by: jbourbon on Friday, January 18, 2008

Fr. Augustine Grady died on January 6, 2008, at Our Lady of Mercy Hospital in the Bronx, New York. He was 91 years of age. He had been a Jesuit for 73 years and a priest for 61 years.

Fr. Grady was born August 29, 1916 and spent his early life in Richmond Hill, Queens. After graduating from Brooklyn Prep he entered the Society at the old novitiate of St. Andrew-on-Hudson on February 1, 1934. After novitiate and juniorate studies there he became part of the ill-fated effort to adapt Mrs. Brady's mansion Inisfada to the needs of a traditional house of studies. After a difficult year there the scholastics were moved to the more traditional setting of Woodstock in the Patapsco Valley outside Baltimore where they completed their remaining years of philosophy study. Fr. Grady's three years of regency were spent as a high school home-room teacher at St. Peter's Prep in Jersey City. For theology he journeyed outside the home province to Weston College in New England where he was ordained on June 22, 1946 in the domestic chapel by Bishop Emmet, Vicar Apostolic of Kingston, Jamaica.

After tertianship at the Martyrs Shrine in Auriesville, New York, Fr. Grady began his long college teaching career in 1948 at St. Peter's College in Jersey City. He started as a lecturer in theology but soon became a student counselor, a position which he would hold for the rest of his stay in the Garden State. In 1962 he crossed the Hudson to join the Jesuit faculty at Fordham University where he would spend the remainder of his life. He began teaching theology in the College of Arts and Sciences in 1962 and persevered in that assignment, except for a single sabbatical year, until his retirement in 1987.

When he did retire, it was only from the classroom but not from apostolic work or travel. Fr. Grady covered several parishes on Long Island and even wrote a book on Sunday Homilies. He also served as a cicerone for tour groups visiting Mediterranean sites and cultural landmarks of Great Britain. Almost to the end he enjoyed good health. It was only a few days before the end that a sudden illness forced him to seek hospital care at Our Lady of Mercy Hospital. His funeral mass was celebrated in the Loyola Hall chapel on Fordham's Rose Hill campus where he had spent almost half his life.

F.J. O'Brien SJ