Father John Joseph McKniff

Six Decades of Missionary Service

John Joseph McKniff was born on September 5, 1905, in Media, Pennsylvania. He entered the Order of Saint Augustine and was ordained a priest. His vocation would take him across three continents and through some of the most challenging missionary assignments of the twentieth century.

Father McKniff began his missionary career in the Philippines before being assigned to Cuba, where he served as pastor in Havana beginning in 1941. For twenty-seven years he ministered to the Cuban faithful, remaining through the turbulent years of revolution and political upheaval. His steadfast presence in Havana during decades of difficulty demonstrated the same commitment to his flock that would define his entire life.

When he finally left Cuba in 1968, most men his age would have accepted a quiet retirement. Father McKniff was not most men. In 1972, at the age of sixty-seven, he volunteered for missionary work in northern Peru. He spent the remaining decades of his life serving the poor in some of the most remote communities of South America.

Father McKniff died on March 24, 1994, in Peru, at the age of eighty-eight. A petition for his cause was made in 1999, and the diocesan process in Chulucanas, Peru, was solemnly closed on August 28, 2002. His body was later reinterred by the Midwest Augustinians. His life of tireless missionary service across six decades and three countries stands as an example of Augustinian dedication to the Gospel.

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