Matthew Edmund Shaughnessy, fourth son and ninth child of John and Anna
Shaughnessy, was born on November 16, 1929 in Rochester, Pa. He was baptized on
November 24, 1929 at St. Cecelia's Church in Rochester. For eight years he
attended school there under the guidance of the Sisters of Divine Providence and
graduated in 1943. Upon graduation, he entered St. Fidelis College and Seminary
in Herman, Pa. which was staffed by the Capuchin-Franciscan Friars of the St.
Augustine Province where he earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Liberal Arts.
Audio of Father Angelus
A
talented and capable athlete in his youth, Father Angelus turned down an offer
to play professional baseball as a left- handed pitcher for the Cleveland
Indians to enter the Capuchin Novitiate in Cumberland, Maryland. On July 14,
1953, Father solemnly professed his perpetual vows as a Capuchin Friar.
Father’s theological studies took him to Capuchin College in Washington, DC for
four years where he received a Master’s Degree in Religious Education. On June
4, 1955, Father Angelus was ordained to the priesthood at the hands of Bishop
John McNamara in the crypt of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
From 1956 until 1966, Father Angelus served as the Director of the Secular
Franciscan Order (S.F.O. ) at St. Augustine Church in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania.
During that same period, he was Commissary Provincial for the St. Augustine
Province. He also assisted Rev. Urban Adelman, O.F.M. Cap., who was the retreat
master at St. Francis Retreat House in Pittsburgh.
In October of 1966, Father Angelus volunteered to work as a missionary in Papua
New Guinea (P.N.G.) where he was spiritual director and teacher in the
Pontifical Seminary of Madang for eleven years.
For
three years, Father Angelus did pastoral work in the Mendi Diocese of the
Southern Highlands. As a major part of his parochial ministry, Father and his
parishioners built eleven permanent churches and three bush churches.
While ministering to the needs of the people of P.N.G., Father was privileged to
baptize 1,227 men, women, and children. It was there also that Father's fondness
for swimming led to his mastery of walking in deep water for any distance - an
unmatched record that was submitted to the Guinness Book of Records in London.
Results of his physical examination revealed that his cardiogram was
unsatisfactory and in the summer of 1980, Father was reassigned to Western
Pennsylvania. Under the auspices of St. Fidelis Retreat Center, he maintained a
rigorous schedule of parish mission and renewals, preached and directed
retreats, accepted parish help-outs, days of recollection and appointments for
personal individual counseling. He continued this work for nine years out of St.
Mary's Friary, Export, PA and four years with St. Paulinus Church in Clairton,
PA.
From 2001 - 2007, Father Angelus was stationed at EWTN in Birmingham, Alabama.
There he served as Minister General to the Franciscan Missionaries of the
Eternal Word. Father Angelus was happy to be a part of the apostolate of the
Eternal Word Television Network where he was able to preach to 128 million
households throughout the world.
At the present time, Father is the National Executive Director of the
Archconfraternity of Christian Mothers, 220 37th Street, Pittsburgh, PA.,15201.
After circling the globe four times and traveling thousands of miles over barely
navigable terrain, Father delights in characterizing his present ministry as "
the good life - a taste of the hundredfold here on earth".
