Br. Abban Philip

Philip Gagnon was born on the Island of Arichat, Nova Scotia, on September 23, 1871, and entered the Novitiate at Amawalk at the age of sixteen, where he received the habit and religious name of Brother Abban Philip. After his scholasticate, Brother Abban studied in Europe for four years and upon his return he taught and was Director of Fall River, Massachusetts, and later Director of La Salle Academy in New York. In 1912 he was appointed Brother Visitor of the Baltimore District and in 1921 he was appointed Visitor of the New York District. Two years later he was appointed Assistant. In 1925 Brother Abban Philip established the Manhattan College Extension Department for Religious and the Superior Scholasticate at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. During World War II, Brother Abban was given charge of the Western Hemisphere from England to Australia. In gratitude to him for the War Relief Services he organized for the stricken communities of Europe, the delegates to the Chapter of 1946 wanted to elect him Superior General, but due to ill health he declined. The same year he retired to Barrytown, where he died at age seventy-nine, having been a De La Salle Christian Brother for sixty-three years.