January 30, 1976
Father Francis Maguire
Father Maguire was born on April 5, 1886 in Dromard, County Longford, Ireland. He attended St. Kieran College, Kilkenny; St. Patrick College, Thurles; St. Francis College, Brooklyn, NY; and St. Bonaventure Seminary, St. Bonaventure, NY and was ordained on June 6, 1914 in Old St. Joseph Cathedral in Buffalo, NY. He joined the Diocese of Wichita because, “when I was in my third year of theology at St. Bonaventure’s, Bishop Hennessy came and talked to the seminarians about his diocese and his people who were missing Mass on Sundays because he didn’t have enough priests.” (The Catholic Advance, Feb. 6, 1976) In the diocese he served at St. Martin Parish, Piqua; St. Patrick Parish, Fulton; St. Patrick Parish, Parsons; and St. Joseph Parish, South Mound. From 1918 until 1953 he was pastor at St. Anthony Parish in Wellington when he went to his final pastorate at Holy Name Parish in Tampa until 1966. His remaining years were spent at St. Francis Hospital Pavilion as resident chaplain and then as a patient. Bishop Maloney was the principal celebrant of Father Maguire’s funeral Mass in Tampa where he was buried in the parish cemetery.