Sixth Provincial of Region, 1956-1962
James E. Coleran was born in North Weymouth, MA on February 15, 1900. He was educated in Weymouth and completed his freshman year at Boston College before he entered the Society at Yonkers, NY on July 30, 1919, and completed two years of novitiate. Two years of classical studies followed at St. Andrew-on-Hudson, Poughkeepsie, NY, then from 1923 until 1926, he studied philosophy and sciences at Weston College, Weston, MA. From 1926 until 1929 he taught classics at the Ateneo de Manila in the Philippines, and then returned to Weston College, Weston, MA to study theology from 1929 until 1933 where he also was ordained on June 20, 1932. He studied ascetical theology in Cleveland, OH and studied at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome, Italy, completing graduate work in 1937.
In 1937 he returned to Weston College where he taught the Old Testament. During this time, he became a charter member of the Catholic Biblical Association and of the Catholic Theological Society. In 1947 he was named dean of theology at Weston College and in 1950 he was appointed rector of the school.
In 1956, he was named Provincial of the New England Province and served until 1962 when he was appointed spiritual director of the St. Philip Neri School for Delayed Vocations, Boston and Haverhill, MA. At the request of the Missouri and Wisconsin Province Provincials, he was appointed instructor of tertians in Decatur, IL from 1963 until 1966, returning in 1966 as tertian instructor for the New England Province at St. Robert’s Hall, Pomfret, CT where he served until his final illness. He died on October 2, 1968 in the infirmary of the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA.