DUFFY, PETER V. (1859-1938)

DUFFY, PETER V., Catholic parish priest, Red Bank, 1892-1921, and Barnaby River, 1921-22; b. Halifax, 14 Oct 1859, s/o Edward Duffy and Bridget Quigley; ordained 1886; d. Gloucester, Mass., 11 Jul 1938.

Peter V. Duffy received his training for the priesthood at Holy Cross Seminary in Montreal and served for several years as a missionary in Gloucester County, N.B. In 1891 he was based at the bishop's residence in Chatham, and in 1892 he succeeded Father Simon J. Crumley as parish priest at Red Bank. He had pastoral responsibility for both St Thomas the Apostle Church there and St Anne's Church at Eel Ground. St Anne's was superseded in 1914 by a new church named St Joachim's, and Eel Ground was henceforth a mission of St Mary's parish, Newcastle. Meanwhile, Duffy was given much credit for the founding of St James Church in 1911 at Sevogle, which was henceforth a mission of Red Bank.

While he was stationed at Red Bank, Duffy began to lose his hearing, and when he entered the retirement ranks in the fall of 1922, after having been parish priest for a year at Barnaby River, he was almost completely deaf. During the last fifteen years of his life he made his home in Gloucester, Mass., where he had a sister living.