Father Patrick E. Murphy, 60, a former principal at St. Rita High School, died May 14 in Texas.
The Rev. Murphy, OSA, who is a graduate of St. Rita, was appointed principal of the school in 1983.
A Memorial Mass for Father Murphy will be held at 7 p.m. tonight (May 23) at the school, 7740 S. Western Ave.
A priest since 1971, Father Murphy taught at St. Rita in 1971-72, and returned to the school as a teacher and chaplain before being appointed principal in 1983.
Born in 1948, he grew up in Chicago’s St. Agnes Parish, and graduated from St. Rita High School in 1966.
He was received into the Augustinian Novitiate later that same year, and professed his simple vows the next year. His solemn vows were professed in 1974.
He earned a B.A. in philosophy from Tolentine College in Olympia Fields in 1971, and he did his theological studies at Catholic Theological Union, Chicago, earning an M. Div. in 1976.
He was ordained a priest March 20, 1976.
Father Murphy did graduate studies in Industrial Relations and in Education at Loyola University, Chicago, which awarded him two advanced degrees — an M.S. in Industrial Relations and an M. A. in Education.