Walter Jarvais papers

Msgr. Walter G. Jarvais, son of Walter and Catherine, was born on May 8, 1904 in Elizabeth New Jersey. During his early youth his mother died oftuherculosis and his father, overwhelmed by work, sent larvais affta boarding school in Caldwell. Walter Jr. attended Seton Hall Preparatory School where he discovered a vocation to the priesthood. Following high school, he attended Seton Hall University and entered Immaculate Conception Seminary. In 1926 Jarvais received his BA and in 1928 received his MA. Jarvais was ordained to the priesthood in 1930 and his first assignment was at St. Columba's Church in Newark. He was then reassigned to Blessed Sacrament parish in East Orange, New Jersey. In 1934, Fr. Jarvais became a faculty member at Seton Hall University where he taught English. In 1943 he entered the U.S. Merchant Marine Service as a chaplain. Fr. Jarvais continued in this post until the conclusion of the Second World War. After the conflict ended he returned to Seton Hall University and became both Chair of the Religion Department and Spiritual Director of Immaculate Conception Seminary. In 1953, Fr. Jarvais was named a Papal Chamberlain and received the title of Monsignor. Msgr. Jarvais left Seton Hall in 1962 to become pastor of Sacred Heart parish in Bloomfield. He would only stay as pastor for three years, before his return to Immaculate Conception Seminary. Beginning in 1965, Msgr. Jarvais served as Spiritual Director of the Seminary, a post held prior to his retirement in 1976.

Throughout the course of his life, Msgr. Jarvais received many honors and held an impeccable reputation as a priest and preacher. Msgr. Jarvais received honorary doctorates from Caldwell College and Bloomfield Theological College. Msgr. Jarvais was also a clergyman of firsts , He was the first priest to be ordained during the middle of the year, thereby being a seminarian and priest simultaneously. He was also one of the first two priests of the Archdiocese of Newark to enter the U.S. Maritime Service as a chaplain. Msgr. larvais' distinguished service to the Catholic Church and the Archdiocese of Newark did not end with retirement in 1976. He continued to remain active by his appointment to the Presbyteral Council of the Archdiocese of Newark. By the later half of the 1990's,

Msgr. Jarvais was the oldest priest in the Archdiocese. Msgr. Walter G. Jarvais died on February 3, 2003 as one of the most beloved priests in the diocese.