Born in Ayr, Scotland on June 13, 1851, Thomas McMillan emigrated to the U.S. with his family while a child and settled on Long Island. A protégé of Fr. Adrian Rosecrans, C.S.P., he studied Latin at St. Paul the Apostle parish and, after attending Seton Hall, entered the Paulist Fathers in 1874. He made his profession on February 19, 1880 and was ordained on May 22nd of the same year with classmates Charles Crosson, Samuel Hedges and Alexander Doyle.
Fr McMillan briefly taught philosophy at the novitiate but in 1883 took charge of the parish Sunday school, renovating the church basement and turned the school into a local landmark…with over 2000 students and 200 teachers. In 1886 he founded the parish boys' school and a book club. For much of his life he was both a vocal leader of the temperance movement and a steadfast opponent of prohibition, which he saw as a gross infringement on individual rights.
Poor health forced Fr McMillan to resign from his school assignments in 1910 but he remained active as a founder, board member and summer resident of the Catholic Summer School at Cliff Haven, New York, outside Plattsburgh.
In 1930, increasingly frail, he traveled to Cliff Haven with his niece in early July and died there July 6 while preparing to celebrate morning Mass. At the time of his death he was 79 years old and had passed 50 years in the Paulist priesthood.
Fr McMillan briefly taught philosophy at the novitiate but in 1883 took charge of the parish Sunday school, renovating the church basement and turned the school into a local landmark…with over 2000 students and 200 teachers. In 1886 he founded the parish boys' school and a book club. For much of his life he was both a vocal leader of the temperance movement and a steadfast opponent of prohibition, which he saw as a gross infringement on individual rights.
Poor health forced Fr McMillan to resign from his school assignments in 1910 but he remained active as a founder, board member and summer resident of the Catholic Summer School at Cliff Haven, New York, outside Plattsburgh.
In 1930, increasingly frail, he traveled to Cliff Haven with his niece in early July and died there July 6 while preparing to celebrate morning Mass. At the time of his death he was 79 years old and had passed 50 years in the Paulist priesthood.
Born in Ayr, Scotland on June 13, 1851, Thomas McMillan emigrated to the U.S. with his family while a child and settled on Long Island. A protégé of Fr. Adrian Rosecrans, C.S.P., he studied Latin at St. Paul the Apostle parish and, after attending Seton Hall, entered the Paulist Fathers in 1874. He made his profession on February 19, 1880 and was ordained on May 22nd of the same year with classmates Charles Crosson, Samuel Hedges and Alexander Doyle.
Fr McMillan briefly taught philosophy at the novitiate but in 1883 took charge of the parish Sunday school, renovating the church basement and turned the school into a local landmark…with over 2000 students and 200 teachers. In 1886 he founded the parish boys' school and a book club. For much of his life he was both a vocal leader of the temperance movement and a steadfast opponent of prohibition, which he saw as a gross infringement on individual rights.
Poor health forced Fr McMillan to resign from his school assignments in 1910 but he remained active as a founder, board member and summer resident of the Catholic Summer School at Cliff Haven, New York, outside Plattsburgh.
In 1930, increasingly frail, he traveled to Cliff Haven with his niece in early July and died there July 6 while preparing to celebrate morning Mass. At the time of his death he was 79 years old and had passed 50 years in the Paulist priesthood.
Fr McMillan briefly taught philosophy at the novitiate but in 1883 took charge of the parish Sunday school, renovating the church basement and turned the school into a local landmark…with over 2000 students and 200 teachers. In 1886 he founded the parish boys' school and a book club. For much of his life he was both a vocal leader of the temperance movement and a steadfast opponent of prohibition, which he saw as a gross infringement on individual rights.
Poor health forced Fr McMillan to resign from his school assignments in 1910 but he remained active as a founder, board member and summer resident of the Catholic Summer School at Cliff Haven, New York, outside Plattsburgh.
In 1930, increasingly frail, he traveled to Cliff Haven with his niece in early July and died there July 6 while preparing to celebrate morning Mass. At the time of his death he was 79 years old and had passed 50 years in the Paulist priesthood.
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