Daly, George Thomas

• Daly, George Thomas, C.SS.R.
• Rev. George Daly, CSsR
• Daly, G. (Georges)

Born 5 September 1872 of William Daly and Josephine Morin in Montreal, Quebec. Professed 5 October 1890, ordained 10 September 1898, died 3 June 1956.

At the age of 16, George entered Novitiate in St. Trond, Belgium, where he was also ordained in 1898. Returning to Canada in 1900, Fr. Daly served for the next 12 years at the minor seminary at St.-Anne-de-Beaupre, where he was appointed to a series of positions as socius, prefect of students and finally, seminary director. In 1912, Fr. Daly returned to his home parish of St. Ann’s in Montréal as its first rector under the new Vice Province of Toronto. He organized an orphanage and kindergarten as well as supported St. Ann's Young Men's Association. As part of the English-Canadian Redemptorist expansion into Western Canada, he was sent in 1915 as rector of the newly-built Holy Rosary Cathedral in Regina, Saskatchewan. In 1918, he was sent to Saint John, New Brunswick as a missionary. Despite the change in assignment, he remained interested and concerned about the plight of immigrants and isolated settlers, meeting the immigrant boats at the city’s harbour and corresponding with Mother Mary McKillop’s missionaries in the outback of Australia. During this time, he also wrote Catholic Problems in Western Canada, a book as a result of his appointment in Regina.

Meanwhile Provincial Superior Arthur Coughlan with Catherine Donnelly and Toronto Archbishop Neil McNeil were planning the establishment of a women's religious congregation to provide the Church's presence among immigrants from the ports to the homesteads. For this new community of the Sisters of Service, the two tasks of finding money and candidates were assigned to Fr. Daly which he died via numerous speaking engagements across the country.

The Rule of the Institute of the Sisters of Service, also drafted by Fr. Daly, was based primarily on the theology and spirituality of St. Alphonsus “to serve the most abandoned.” On Fr. Daly’s office wall on the second-floor of the Sisters of Service Motherhouse in Toronto was a large framed motto: “Look at the Big Maps.” In these early years, Fr. Daly, who was appointed as their spiritual director and financial manager, strove to implement a broader vision through the ideals of the Rule. In the first 15 years the Sisters not only taught in rural public schools, but owned a Motherhouse and a Novitiate in Toronto as well as two hospitals in rural Alberta, two religious correspondence schools and seven women’s hostels. Mindful of the Redemptorists foundations, three of the Western Canadian hostels for immigrant women were purchased in the same cities of Winnipeg, Edmonton and Vancouver as Redemptorist parishes.

In 1937, the administration of the Sisters of Service changed when the Chapter delegates elected the Sister General and the Council. Previously, the administration had been appointed by the Toronto Archbishop on the advice of Fr. Daly. This change also coincided with the start of Fr. Daly’s term as consultor (1936-1942) for the Toronto Province of the Redemptorists. In this period, decisions were made to continue expansion in Western Canada, taking responsibility of new parishes of Dawson Creek, BC (1936); Williams Lake, BC (1938); Nelson, BC (1939); Athabasca, Alberta (1940) and providing temporary pastoral care in Wells, BC (1941) and Claresholm, Alberta (1941) during the Second World War. During the next decade, a gradual shift occurred with the Sisters’ elected council increasingly assuming more of the administrative duties. After the Chapter of 1948, Fr. Daly, then 76, relinquished most of his responsibilities.

When he died of cancer in St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Fr. Daly was the oldest confrere in the Toronto Province at the age of 83. Funeral mass was celebrated in St. Patrick's Church by Cardinal James McGuigan of Toronto. His body was buried in the Redemptorist plot of Mount Hope cemetery, Toronto.

Created by F Rousselle 23 April 2025.
Revised by F Rousselle 4 July 2025.

The Redemptorist Influence on the Institute of the Sisters of Service of Canada by MC Havey

Biographical Sketch from Archives of the Redemptorist Edmonton-Toronto Province