Chancellor, Archdiocese of Detroit
1952
Citation:
From time to time it is proper for the University of Detroit to single out individual men and women whose lives illustrate what is meant by the achievement of an ideal. Tonight on the occasion of its 75th anniversary year, the University has chosen to be especially bountiful not only in the number of those whom it presents for emulation and for honor, but also in the wide diversity of the vocations in which they have made their dreams come true. I present, Very Reverend President, for the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws Right Reverend John A. Donovan, priest, pastor, Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Detroit, alumnus of the Gregorian University and of the Pontifical Athenaeum of the Lateran. He was ordained in Rome in 1935 and two years later was appointed Secretary to Archbishop Mooney. In 1945 he was again in Rome for graduate studies in Canon Law, and upon his return in 1947 resumed his post as Secretary to Cardinal Mooney. He became Vice-Chancellor and was made a Domestic Prelate in 1949, and in 1951 was named pastor of St. Aloysius Church and Chancellor of the Archdiocese. Monsignor Donovan's ecclesiastical career has been singularly fruitful, marked by the complementary virtues of piety and prudence, and by the traditional priestly esteem for the things of the intellect. Commencement, University of Detroit, June 11, 1952.