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Throughout the 2,000-year history of the Catholic Church, we have seen many persons who have followed Jesus’ servant-leader model of leadership. Today, we look at the life of one such man named Edward J. Galvin.
Edward was born on the feast day of St. Columban, November 23, 1882 in County Cork, Ireland. As a young boy, he had a desire to be a missionary when he grew up, and this desire never really left him.
He went to the seminary of St. Patrick’s College in Maynooth to become a priest of his home Diocese of Cork and was ordained in 1909.
Unfortunately for Fr. Edward, there there were too many priests in the Diocese of Cork. So, with some other newly ordained young men, Edward went to the Diocese of Brooklyn in New York City. There, he served as an associate at Holy Rosary parish. During that time, the desire to be a missionary still burned in his heart. Twice he asked to become a missionary – one time as a missionary to Africa, and another time as a missionary to Arizona. Both times, his offer was rejected.
For some reason, he began to think of China and what it would be like to be a missionary there. Soon, he found himself reading every book he could get his hands on about China. Then, one day, a Canadian missionary who was working in China came to visit Holy Rosary parish. The missionary, Fr. John Mary Fraser, later founded the Scarboro Missionary Society in Canada.
Fr. Edward asked if Fr. Fraser would take him to China with him, and Fr. Fraser gladly accepted. So, at the age of 29, Fr. Edward sailed to China where he would devote the rest of his life to the Chinese people.
In China, Fr. Edward lived the life of a missionary to the fullest. He was so excited by his life and the great needs of the people, that he invited other Irish priests to come and join him. And, little by little, more and more Irish priests come to China. Then, on June 29, 1918, the Holy See approved the Society of St. Columban. This society was the official missionary society of Ireland, much like Maryknoll is the official one for the United States of America. Soon, the society opened its own seminary to train men for the missions.
By 1920, just 8 years after Fr. Galvin went to China, the Society of St. Columban had 40 priests and 60 seminarians.
In China, Fr. Edward faced every kind of test imaginable: floods, bandits, kidnapping, deaths of fellow missionaries, hunger, civil wars, fires, and others. In 1927, Fr. Galvin was ordained as Bishop of Hanyang.
Bishop Galvin always put his priests and people first, and himself second. If there ever was a person who demonstrated Jesus’ servant-leadership model, it was Edward. He faithfully served the people of China until he was expelled from China in 1952 with other Catholic missionaries by the Communist government. He died in Ireland on February 23, 1956.
William E. Barrett, author of 2 books that became American movies – The Lilies of the Field and The Left Hand of God– wrote a magnificent book of Bishop Galvin called The Red Lacquered Gate.
