 Fr. Lawrence Edward Jagoe, OP
Fr. Lawrence was born of Robert H. Jagoe and Elizabeth Innd on August 18, 1875 in San
Francisco. He was baptized in August of 1876 in St. John's Church in San
Francisco. He was one of twenty-one children. Edward grew up and went to
school in San Quentin, California, the state prison, where his father was a guard.
He only attended the primary grades there 1882-1884 when his family moved to Healdsburg,
California where he attended school from 1884 to 1890. As was usual in those days
for most boys, his education stopped after the eighth grade, for we have no record of
other studies after 1890. Instead of studies, young Edward worked on cattle ranches
and became a "cow puncher" as well as rider and marksman. Not only did he
get acquainted with the tamer animals, he also encountered the wild kind. He was
known to have captured wild cats and other wild animals with his bare hands. He
recorded these adventures and some of these adventures even went out over the radio.
In 1897 when at the age of 22, he came to Benicia to attend the preparatory
seminary, studying three years making up the study of Latin, math, literature, history and
other studies required before reception of the habit.
He received the habit of the
Dominican Order on November 1, 1900 from the hands of Fr. Pius Murphy, O.P., Vicar General
of the Dominicans in California, at St. Dominic's in Benicia. He made his profession
of simple vows there exactly a year later. On November 1, 1905 he made his solemn
profession. After ten long years of study he was ordained in San Francisco by Most
Reverend Patrick William Riordan, Archbishop of San Francisco.
Fr. Jagoe was then assigned to Benicia as an assistant pastor from 1907 through 1910,
preaching in such places as Lodi and St. Helena. For one brief year he was in
Portland, Oregon. His other assignments were as follows.
| Antioch, California |
1912-1925 |
| Ross and Benicia, California |
1925-1927 |
| Pittsburg, California |
1927-1930 |
| San Antonio, Texas |
1930-1938 |
| Antioch, California |
1939-1940 |
| Ross, California |
1940-1941 |
He served mainly as assistant pastor in these parishes. He was at
Our Lady of Sorrows, a Dominican parish in San Antonio to serve as one of the few English
speaking priests in the area. From 1942-1944 he served in various parishes in
Northern California allowing the local and lonely country pastors to go on vacation:
Woodland, Dunsmuir, Willows, Sacramento, Weaverville, etc.
He then served as chaplain to a convent and school for girls in Mission San Jose,
California from 1944-1949. From there he went to reside at Ross, which was the
Novitiate. There he spent his remaining days until his death at St. Joseph's
Hospital in San Francisco on June 18, 1951.
Fr. Jagoe was a magician which endeared him to young and old alike. He was a
popular chaplain at children's summer camps, not only for his magicianship, but also for
his childlike qualities. Even when he was working with the girls at Mission San Jose
at the age of 72, he could still entertain. He had with him a toy shepherd, Flop,
which he liked to show off. He trained the dog to walk a rope blindfolded, do card
tricks, dance, put on a one-dog circus, and even amazingly demonstrate its knowledge of
the alphabet.
He carried with him his talent as a marksman. In 1912 he was the champion in
California of fancy and trick rifle shooting. For all the years he was in Antioch
and Pittsburg in Eastern Contra Costa county, which was known as one of the nut capitals
of the world, he was something of a savior to the local farmers, putting away squirrels by
the thousands.
He was also a hero. On the evening of August 8, 1910, barely three years after
ordination, he encountered a train wreck. A passenger train heading for Santa Rosa
from San Francisco hit a work train at thirty-five mph. Fr. Jagoe was heading back
to his parish from a home visit in Healdsburg at the time. As soon as he got to the
scene of the accident he took out his axe and cut his way into the passenger car.
From there he pulled out eleven of the dead. He cut a hole from another car and
removed four other badly hurt passengers. In one instance he had to take his knife
and cut through one of the dead in order to rescue a living man who was just out of
reach. All who saw him felt admiration for such a heroic task. But Fr. Jagoe
was not a hero only for that day. As he was rescuing the injured, he was giving them
words of comfort, words of Christ which they could carry with them through the after
effects of tragedy.
This was a preacher devoted to his people. He continued his heroic act of comfort
and care with all those entrusted to him, in parishes across California. This was a
preacher who did not exalt himself, but worked in the everyday life of people, offering
hope and giving aid. May he rest eternally with Jesus whom he loved.
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