CUMBERLAND – Rev. John Linus Sullivan, O.P., 91, died Dec. 2 at Mount St. Rita Health Care Centre.
Baptized John Francis Sullivan, he was born in Providence, and was the son of the late Thomas and Johanna (Teehan) Sullivan.
He graduated from Central High School, Providence in 1939, before attending Providence College, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree. He entered the novitiate of the Order of Preachers, Province of St. Joseph, at St. Rose Priory, Springfield, Ky., in August 1942, and pursued philosophical and theological studies for the priesthood at both St. Joseph Priory in Somerset, Oh., and at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C.
Father Sullivan was ordained to the priesthood at St Dominic Church, Washington, D.C., by the Most Rev. Edward Celestine Daly, O.P., Bishop of Des Moines, Ia. on June 9, 1949.
After his ordination, Father Sullivan taught at Aquinas High School in Columbus, Oh., for eight years and then spent the better part of his priestly life in parochial ministry, serving in several different parishes of the province, including St Pius V Church, Providence. Beginning in 1979, he was appointed chaplain to the Dominican Sisters of Blauvelt, N.Y. In 1999 he returned to St Pius V Church, where he assisted until a decline in health resulted in his transfer to Mount St. Rita Health Centre in 2009.
Father Sullivan is survived by a nephew, Raymond Duffy of Boylston, Mass., and was the brother of the late Margaret (Rita) S. Heran and Mary S. Duffy, and Thomas Sullivan.
A Mass of Christian Burial was concelebrated Dec. 5 at St. Pius V Church. Burial was in St. Francis Cemetery, Pawtucket.
