 Fr. Dionysius Joseph Mueller, OP
Joseph Mueller was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on July 27, 1894. During elementary school, he moved to Los Angeles
and went to St. Anthony’s High School in Santa Barbara. In 1915, he entered St.
Mary’s College in Oakland but left to enter the Novitiate after two years. Upon entering the Novitiate he took the name
Dionysius.
He was an excellent student of languages. In high
school he excelled in Greek, Latin and German, and soon added Spanish, Portuguese and
French. After his Novitiate in Somerset, Ohio, he was sent to the House of Studies
in Springfield, Kentucky and then to Washington, D.C.
While a student he wrote an article for Dominicana entitled “Some
Influences of St. Thomas on Piety”. He was ordained in St. Dominic’s
Church in Washington, D.C. on June 14, 1923.
He was
first assigned to Holy Rosary in Portland and then moved three times in four years:
Seattle, Eagle Rock, Seattle again, and Vallejo. In
1935 he moved to Ross, California, where he was to stay for 14 years. While there he
was chaplain of the San Raphael Sisters’ Novitiate, Master of Lay Brothers,
Sacristan, Subprior and Procurator. While at
Ross, he translated Denifle’s The Spiritual
Life from German. His final assignment was in Benicia, California, but due to failing
mental health he was sent to the best possible place, St. Bernard’s Hospital in
Council Bluffs, Iowa, where he died on June 9, 1962.
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