DAVID FRANCIS GALLAGHER (priest)
Birth: Watertown, September 29, 1930
First Vows: July 2, 1953
Perpetual Vows: July 2, 1956
Priestly Ordination: March 14, 1959
Born to Eternal Life: June 21, 2023 at St. Patrick’s Manor, Framingham
Age: 92
On June 21, 2023, the Lord called back to His home Fr. Gallagher David Francis.
Born in Watertown (MA) on 29 September 1930, to Irish parents. With his perpetual profession in our Congregation on 2 July 1956, he became a Stigmatine forever. Subsequently, on 14 March 1959 he was ordained a priest by Pope John XXIII.
While still a teenager, he demonstrated his particular musical talent by building a pipe organ and conducting a choir for the first time.
He studied theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University. Upon returning to the United States, he obtained a Master's degree in Musicology at Boston University. In addition to music, he was also a Latin teacher at the Stigmatine College in Wellesley.
He lived in some of our communities: Milford, Concord, Dedham... With great regret he had to leave his last Stigmatine residence, that of Waltham, when the city municipality expropriated the entire Stigmatine property to build a large school complex. Since then, he retired to St. Patrick's Manor Retirement Home in Framingham (MA), where later on he died.
Fr. David had long suffered from diabetes, heart failure and sleep apnea, so much that, at night, before falling asleep, he had to be connected to the oxygen tank. He passed away peacefully at the age of almost 93. Now, his body rests in the Milford cemetery, along with all the other deceased Stigmatine priests and brothers in U.S.A.
Fr. Gallagher was a talented musician who loved his art and certainly wanted to share it with others. His “pastoral mission” was to reveal the beauty of creation through the beauty and transformative magic that can often only be found in music. He never hesitated to share his love for music, whether he was trying to instruct an unruly choir of teenage boys in Gregorian chant or performing a concert on his beloved organ. Father David expected the best from his students and from himself.
Fr David led a particular priestly and religious life in which he experienced both fulfillment and frustration. At times he saw himself as an “outsider,” as someone whose gifts and talents were underappreciated and misunderstood. He was friendly, sociable, curious to know, capable of compassion. At some moments he was in tension, especially when discussing political visions with other brothers. In any case, Fr. David was always faithful to the priesthood and consecrated life. He has not been abandoned by our merciful Lord.
