First President, 1918-1921
Birth: June 24, 1877, Killorglin, Cty. Kerry, Ireland
Death: March 20, 1940, in Columbus, OH
[In the] "Religious Orders, at least in the old days, there were certain men in the Province who would be sent to a job as men who would have experience in building the place and opening the place…Casey was of that type."
-Rev. William A. Hinnebusch, O.P., '30, Dominican historian and author and former member of Providence College Department of History
In 1910, after years spent establishing numerous parishes and schools, Matthew Harkins, D.D., Bishop of the Diocese of Providence, felt the time was right to pursue his dream of establishing a Catholic college in the Diocese. He was familiar with the seven-century teaching mission of the Order of Preachers, popularly known as the Dominicans, and invited the Fathers of the Province of St. Joseph to establish a new college in the City of Providence.
In 1911 the Provincial reported to the Master General in Rome that the Council of the Province had accepted the Bishop's offer but asked that foundation be postponed until the Province could provide an adequate staff of professors. In 1911 and 1913 the Bishop purchased property in northwest Providence on which to build the college. But the necessary ecclesiastical permissions from the Master General and the Pope were slow in coming.
Negotiations did not progress until the elections of Louis Theissling, O.P., as Master General in 1916, and, especially, of James Raymond Meagher, O.P., as Provincial in 1913. Both shared the Bishop's commitment to Catholic education. In 1915 Father Meagher and Bishop Harkins began the pursuit of formal permission from Rome in earnest. Even before all the founding documents were received in February 1917, the energetic Father Meagher made several moves to start making the Bishop's dream a reality.
The Casey Years at Providence College
In March of 1916, Father Meagher sent Dennis Albert Casey, O.P., President of Aquinas College High School, to be the on-site Dominican representative in meetings with the Bishop and others on practical steps necessary to inaugurate a new college, including drawing up a charter, organization and curriculum. He was named temporary chaplain to the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, who operated a home for educating and reforming "wayward girls" on property close to that acquired for the proposed college. At the Bishop's suggestion, Father Casey moved into the Sisters' convent, where he stayed until the living quarters in the first building, Bishop Harkins Hall, were ready in the Summer of 1918. He also served at St. Raymond Parish in Providence from 1916 to 1918.
At the first Corporation Meeting, held on March 10, 1917, Father Casey was elected Corporation Treasurer, one of the first three corporate officers. He became increasingly visible throughout the state by participation in the fund drive for the new venture. As a member of the executive committee, he was immediately involved in planning the first building and actively supervised construction, which began by the first week of June 1917. He kept the people of the Diocese informed of plans and progress through parish visits, talks and information for a 30-issue, March 1917 - 24 May 1918, front-page series in The Visitor, the diocesan newspaper. Father Casey had been performing the duties of chief administrative officer well before July 22, 1918, when the Corporation elected him as the first President of Providence College.
Father Casey's additional assignments as head of the Dominican community and/or parish pastor were the usual pattern for PC presidents for many years to come. He became the first head of the College's Dominican community on July 22, 1918. The Dominicans accepted Bishop Harkins' invitation to found a parish to care for the religious needs of the people in the area around the college, and Father Casey was named Pastor on October 16, 1918. Harkins Hall Chapel, presently the executive office suite, served as St. Pius V Parish church from October 1918 to Spring 1929. The busy president also taught Latin.
By the beginning of the third academic year the College lost two prime movers. Founder and benefactor Bishop Matthew Harkins died on May 25, 1921, the second anniversary of the dedication of the building named in his honor. The resignation of the well-liked and capable first President, Dennis Albert Casey, O.P., was announced on September 21, 1921. Father Casey remained a member of the Corporation until 1933.
Education
Emigrating from Ireland with his parents, Martin and Ellen (Russell) Casey, and six older brothers and sisters, Albert Casey attended St. Patrick's parochial school and Central High School in Columbus, OH. In 1897 he began his training as a Dominican novitiate and professed the following year at St. Rose Priory in Springfield, KY. He pursued his education in philosophy and theology at St. Joseph's Priory in Somerset, OH, from 1900 to 1905 and was ordained there on August 2, 1903. He earned his S.T.Lr., the Lectorate in Sacred Theology, at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington in 1906 and did post-graduate work at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, from 1906 to1908.
Other Assignments
Father Casey's first assignments were in the Washington, DC, area, as a philosophy professor at The Catholic University of America and as Assistant Master of Studies at the Dominican House of Studies. In 1911 he began teaching mathematics and languages at Aquinas College High School in Columbus. He served as President of Aquinas from November 191l until his departure for Providence.
Father Casey's building and opening skills were put to use again in his assignments after he left PC, as pastor of St. Pius Parish in Chicago from 1921 to 1925 and as Prior and Director of Studies at the Dominican House of Studies in River Forest, IL, from 1925 to 1927. He served as pastor of several parishes, St. Thomas Aquinas in Cincinnati (1927-1929), Holy Innocents' in Pleasantville, NY (1929-1935), and St. Thomas Aquinas in Cincinnati (1935-1939). He retired in 1939 and spent his last year at St. Thomas Parish in Zanesville, OH.