Ruane, Father Joseph

1983, September 28

Date of Birth: 1904, October 11

Joseph Ruane was born in Cohoes, New York, in the Diocese of Albany, on October 11, 1904. He was ordained from St. Bonaventure’s Seminary (Rochester, New York) on May 25, 1929. A year later Father Ruane sought admission to the Society of St. Sulpice in September 1930. He was assigned to St. Charles College. In 1931-1932 he made his Solitude at Catonsville. After Solitude he was sent to the Catholic University of America for studies in American Church History. He achieved his M.A. in 1933 and two years later the doctorate was conferred on him. His doctoral dissertation was The Beginnings of the Society of St. Sulpice in the United States (1791-1829). Since its publication it has become the standard reference for early Sulpician history in the United States. The year of the publication of the dissertation (1935) saw Father Ruane return to the faculty of St. Charles College. In 1936-1937 he was on the faculty of St. Edward’s Seminary in Seattle. Family problems brought him back east in 1937, and the Externat Classique in Montreal profited from his teaching in 1937-1938. Father Ruane applied for a commission in the United States Army in 1940 and became an army chaplain. Some time later he attempted marriage. After some years he was reconciled. He resumed priestly functions in the Diocese of Albany a few years before his death.