Father Patrick T. Cronauer, O.S.B., has been named to the faculty of Saint Vincent Seminary. The Summerhill, Pennsylvania, native, who recently received his doctorate in Sacred Scripture (S.S.D.) from École Biblique et Archéologique Francaise, Jerusalem, will be an assistant professor of Sacred Scripture and Biblical Languages at the Seminary. He was also named Director of Solemnly Professed Benedictine Seminarians.
He is a son of Harold Thomas Cronauer and Marion Gloria (McCartney) Cronauer of Summerhill and is the fourth oldest of ten children.
He attended elementary school in the Triangle Area and Forest Hills school districts. He was enrolled in Saint Vincent Preparatory School from 1969 to 1971 and is a 1973 graduate of Forest Hills High School. Father Patrick attended Rider College, Lawrenceville, New Jersey, and graduated, cum laude, from Assumption College, Worcester, Massachusetts in 1981 with a bachelor of arts degree in religious studies and a minor in philosophy. He earned a master of divinity degree from Weston School of Theology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, with distinction, in 1984 and a Master of Theology degree, with a focus in Scripture, in 1985. He has studied at Saint Vincent Seminary, Centro Studi Italiani (Urbania, Italy), and the Pontifical Biblical Institute, Rome, Italy, from which he received a Licentiate in Sacred Scripture (S.S.L.) in 1994. He also did advanced studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1993-1994). From February of 1996 to May of 1999 he worked on his Doctorate at École Biblique. His dissertation is titled “The Stories About Naboth (in the Book of Kings): A Search for Sources and Origins,” and was directed by the Rev. Francolino Gonçalves, O.P., and was successfully defended on April 26, 1999, summa cum laude.
Father Patrick’s home parish is St. John, Summerhill. From 1972 until 1973 he lived and worked in a small Benedictine community in Israel, under the direction of Father Isaac Jacob. From 1974 until 1976 he was a member of the Benedictine Abbey of the Dormition, Mt. Zion, Jerusalem, Israel. He joined the Augustinian of the Assumption congregation in 1977. He made simple profession of vows on August 27, 1978 in Boston, and perpetual profession of vows on August 28, 1982 in Worcester, Massachusetts. He was ordained a priest by Bishop Bernard Flanagan in Worcester, Massachusetts on November 17, 1984. Father Patrick returned to Saint Vincent Archabbey on July 1, 1989 and his official transfer of perpetual vows was made at Saint Vincent on May 26, 1992.
Prior to his arrival at Saint Vincent Archabbey, his service included working on archaeological digs in Mount Zion, Jerusalem, Israel (1972); teaching in the Diocesan Learning Center for Mentally and Physically Handicapped Children, Trenton, New Jersey (1973-1974); organizing and directing youth volunteers to work at St. Anne and St. Patrick Parish/Shrine, Fiskdale, Massachusetts (1978) ; organizing, recruiting and assisting in the directing of the Lay Volunteer program at St. Peter Gallicantu, Mount Zion, Jerusalem, Israel (1981); volunteering at Samaritans: A Suicide Prevention and Crisis Intervention Center in Boston, Massachusetts (1982-1983); spending his diaconate summer at St. Anne and St. Patrick Parish/Shrine, Fiskdale (1984); serving as associate pastor of St. Anne and St. Patrick Parish (1985-1989) and as a member of the Assumptionist Vocation Team (1985-1989).
Father Patrick taught at Saint Vincent College and Saint Vincent Seminary (1990-1992), worked in Campus Ministry (1990-1992); was a senior dormitory moderator (1990-1992); member of the Monastic Schola (1990-1992), member of the Monastic Ridge Committee (1992) and a member of the Formation Committee.
