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Dictionary of Miramichi Biography

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RYAN, FREDERICK CLAUDE (1876-1973)

RYAN, FREDERICK CLAUDE, Catholic parish priest, Red Bank, 1921-55, Indian school inspector, and medical practitioner; b. Lewisville, N.B., 18 Jan 1876, s/o Patrick Ryan and Anne Donovan; ordained 1904; d. Chatham, 9 May 1973.

Frederick C. Ryan spent his childhood at Kouchibouguac, where his father worked as a ship carpenter. He was educated at St Joseph's College and trained for the priesthood at Holy Heart Seminary in Halifax. After his ordination in 1904 he was assigned to Tracadie, N.B., as a curate. He was stationed there until 1906, when he was appointed priest of the Tobique Indian mission, near Perth. He remained at Tobique until 1921. He then became the parish priest at Red Bank, with responsibility for the Church of St Thomas the Apostle and, until 1945, for the mission church of St James at Sevogle.

In 1919 Ryan received an appointment from the federal Department of Indian Affairs as inspector of reserve schools in New Brunswick. Although he was an extremely controversial inspector, who was continuously embroiled in disputes with religious teaching orders, lay teachers, and others, he was retained in the part-time position for more than twenty years.

In addition to his pastoral and educational work Ryan conducted a medical practice at Red Bank. His preparation for this would appear to have consisted of studies of native medicine and of the publications of herbalists. His prescriptions for the treatment of common complaints called for the mixing together of such ingredients as Epsom salts, black pepper, turpentine, egg shells, and bear grease. For cancer of the throat or breast he prescribed prodigious quantities of hydrogen peroxide. Many of his patients swore by his cures. His services, for which there was no set charge, were in so much demand that he had to insist on fixed consulting hours.

In 1932 Ryan was granted an honorary MA by St Joseph's College. In 1950 he was honored by the Vatican, which made him a domestic prelate, with the title of "Monsignor." Later that year St Thomas College granted him an honorary LLD, and in 1952 St Joseph's University bestowed an honorary PhD on him. He retired in 1955 and lived privately at Sunny Corner until 1964. Being eighty-eight years of age, he then entered Mount St Joseph in Chatham, where he spent the last nine years of his life.

Sources

[b/d] church burial records / Advocate 16 Aug 1921, 17 Jul 1929; Commercial World 4 Jun 1942, 25 May 1950; Hamilton (FIDS); Hist. Red Bank Reserve; Lang; Leader 21 Jan 1965, 22 Oct 1975; Telegraph 12 May 1973


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