Rev. John S. Peterson, O.P.

Rev. John S. Peterson, O.P., 81, a Dominican Friar of the Province of St. Joseph and of the Priory of St. Thomas Aquinas at Providence College, died quietly in the Priory on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017, following a long period of disability. He was born on Oct. 13, 1935, in Newark, NJ, the third of three sons of William J. and Mathilda (Collins) Peterson. Educated at St. Antoninus Parish School and St. Benedict’s Preparatory School in Newark, he attended Providence College 1953-1955, as a Guzman Hall pre-ecclesiastical student. He entered the Novitiate of the Dominican Friars at St. Joseph Priory, Somerset, OH, in August 1955, making his simple profession of vows there on Aug. 31, 1956. He studied at St. Stephen Priory, Dover, MA, 1956-1959, receiving a B.A. in philosophy and making his solemn profession of vows there on Aug. 31, 1959. He then studied theology at the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception, Dominican House of Studies, Washington, DC, receiving the S.T.B. He was ordained a priest at St. Dominic Church in Washington on June 14, 1962, by Bishop John J. Russell of Richmond, VA. He then spent another year in Washington completing his theological studies. Fr. Peterson was assigned to St. Rose Priory and Church in Springfield, KY, 1963-1964, where he served as assistant pastor and taught religion in the parish school. In 1964, he returned to Providence College, where he would spend all but five of the following 52 years. He taught theology 1964-1988. He served as assistant bursar/assistant treasurer 1964-1974. He served as assistant director of the Guzman Hall pre-ecclesiastical program 1966-1969, director of financial aid 1967-1974, and College treasurer 1974-1988. In early 1988, Fr. Peterson was elected prior of St. Louis Bertrand Priory, Louisville, KY, and was appointed pastor. Four months later, he was assigned to St. Vincent Ferrer Priory in New York City, where he served for five years as Treasurer of the Dominican Friars of the Province of St. Joseph. In 1993, he returned to Providence College, where he served for one year as assistant dean of the School of Continuing Education and the director of the Summer School for Continuing Education. He then served 1994-2006 as assistant dean of Admissions. In 2006, he was named chaplain to the PC National Alumni Association, a position he held until the time of his death. Fr. Peterson was well known and even more cherished by PC students, faculty, staff, and alums over a period of 52 years. He was solicitous for those bearing illnesses, prayerfully present to those grieving the deaths of loved ones, and zealous in is commitment to Providence College. In 1984, he received the PC National Alumni Association Rev. Aloysius B. Begley, O.P., Award for Outstanding Faculty Service, and, in 2000, the PC National Alumni Association Mal Brown Club Very Rev. Vincent C. Dore, O.P., Award. He was pre-deceased by his parents and his two older brothers, Dr. William G. Peterson, and Rev. Thomas R. Peterson, O.P. (ninth president of Providence College 1971-1985). He is survived by his Dominican brothers and by nieces and nephews. His body will be received into the Chapel of Our Lady of the Rosary, Priory of St. Thomas Aquinas, Providence College, at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 17th. Visitation will follow, concluding with the Office of the Dead at 7:00 p.m. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated for him in St. Dominic Chapel on the PC campus on Wednesday, Jan. 18th, at 10:00 a.m. Burial will follow in the Dominican Friars’ Cemetery on campus. In lieu of flowers, donations in his memory may be made to Providence College, Office of Institutional Advancement, One Cunningham Square, Providence, RI 02918, for the Fr. John S. Peterson, O.P., Scholarship Fund, which was established in 2005. Arrangements by Russell J. Boyle and Son Funeral Home, 331 Smith Street, Providence, RI 02908. www.boyleandsonfuneralhome.com