Msgr. Lucius Barnett and I were named as Monsignors on this day in 1957 at St. Michael’s Cathedral. He had been my professor of Canon Law at St. Augustine’s Seminary. At this time, he was pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish. Cardinal McGuigan had Perpetual Help pay for my robes, since I did not have enough money. There was a fee from Rome which the Cardinal never paid, since he ran a tight budget. Rome kept sending the Cardinal the bill for five or six years. It was finally paid by Archbishop Pocock. Until then, I was not officially listed as a Monsignor in the Roman directory. I used to get the Annuario which did not include my name but I did not say anything. Years later, I noticed that they began to include my name. One of the Archbishop’s secretaries informed me of the situation.
When Providence Hospital was built, the Cardinal called the priests together and said: ‘I am going to raise your salaries. Curates will get $40 instead of $30 a month. Pastors will get $50 instead of $40 a month. But, for the first three years you will all voluntarily give that money towards building the new Providence hospital.’
Msgr. Vincent Foy, November 2015
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