Thomas Cooke Middleton (March 30, 1842 – November 19, 1923) was born into a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

family on March 30, 1842 in

Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania Chestnut Hill is a neighbourhood, neighborhood in the Northwest Philadelphia section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is known for the List of highest-income urban neighborhoods in the United States, high incomes of its residents and high real e ...

. At the age of twelve, he was

baptized Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost ...

into the

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

faith with his mother and five sisters. He became a

novice A novice is a person who has entered a religious order and is under probation, before taking vows. A ''novice'' can also refer to a person (or animal e.g. racehorse) who is entering a profession A profession is a field of work that has ...

in the

Order of St. Augustine The Order of Saint Augustine, ( la, Ordo Fratrum Sancti Augustini) abbreviated OSA, is a religious mendicant order of the Catholic Church. It was founded in 1244 by bringing together several eremitical groups in the Tuscany region who were fo ...

in Tolentine, Italy in 1858 and was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...

to the priesthood in 1864. In 1865, he returned to the United States and served Villanova College as a

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, prefect of studies,

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, Secretary and Socius of the Province, and, from 1865 to 1923, the college's first

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. He was the tenth president of Villanova College, from 1876 to 1878, as well as first president of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia, an organization he helped to found in 1884. Fr. Middleton wrote many essays on local Catholic history and the Order of Saint Augustine, including his ''Historical Sketch of the Augustinian Monastery, College, and Mission of St. Thomas of Villanova, Delaware County, PA: During the first half century of their existence, 1842-1892'', which was published on the college's fiftieth anniversary in 1893. Other documents by Father Middleton are viewable in Villanova University's Digital Library, including an article in the Catholica Collection on Keating Rawson, entitled “An Old-Time Catholic Pioneer of Lansingburgh, N.Y." Correspondence with Maria Daly Shea, who contributed many historical records to the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia,Griffin, Martin I. J. “Mrs. Maria Daly Shea.” Philadelphia Catholic Standard and Times. April 10, 1911. Newspaper clipping. http://digital.library.villanova.edu/Pennsylvaniana/Lloyd/Lloyd-00095.xml Lloyd Collection, Villanova University Digital Library is viewable in the library's Lloyd Collection. Fr. Middleton died at

Villanova, Pennsylvania Villanova is a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It straddles Lower Merion Township in Montgomery County and Radnor Township in Delaware County. It is located at the center of the Philadelphia Main Line, a series of Philadelphia suburbs lo ...

on November 19, 1923 at the age of eighty-one. He is buried in the Augustinian Community Cemetery on the grounds of Villanova University. Today, Middleton Hall, on Villanova's campus is named in his honor.

Notes

External links

Lloyd Collection at Villanova University

Catholica Collection at Villanova University

American Catholic Historical Society
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Middleton, Thomas Cooke 1842 births 1923 deaths American Roman Catholic priests Augustinian friars Converts to Roman Catholicism Educators from Philadelphia Villanova University faculty People from Lansingburgh, New York Catholics from New York (state)