Paul Maurice Clogan, Emeritus Professor of English, fellow of the American Academy in Rome, and retired priest, died at his home in Austin, Texas on Sunday, July 29, 2012. He was 81 years old. Born in Milton, Massachusetts, he was the son of Michael Joseph and Agnes Josephine Clogan, and the brother of John and Margaret. He attended St. Sebastian's Country Day School, in Newton, Mass., graduating high school in 1949. Upon graduation, he attended Boston College graduating with an A.B. degree in English in 1956, having taken time off to study for a few years at Saint Michael's Seminary in Hoboken, New Jersey. Remaining at...
Paul Maurice Clogan, Emeritus Professor of English, fellow of the American Academy in Rome, and retired priest, died at his home in Austin, Texas on Sunday, July 29, 2012. He was 81 years old.
Born in Milton, Massachusetts, he was the son of Michael Joseph and Agnes Josephine Clogan, and the brother of John and Margaret. He attended St. Sebastian's Country Day School, in Newton, Mass., graduating high school in 1949. Upon graduation, he attended Boston College graduating with an A.B. degree in English in 1956, having taken time off to study for a few years at Saint Michael's Seminary in Hoboken, New Jersey. Remaining at Boston College, he received his A.M. degree in English in 1957. From 1957 to 1961, he attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to study for his doctorate in English, receiving his PhD in August of 1961. His dissertation was entitled Chaucer and the Medieval Statius. Prof. Clogan taught at a succession of leading universities, including Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, where he was an Assistant Professor of English from 1961 to 1965, as a Professor of English at Case Western Reserve University from 1967 to 1972, and as a Full Professor of English at the University of North Texas from 1972 to 1996. From 1965 to 1967, Prof. Clogan was a scholar in residence at the American Academy in Rome (Italy). During his academic career and beyond, Prof. Clogan was a specialist in medieval studies in language, with particular areas of interest being the work of medieval English poet Geoffrey Chaucer and the 1st century Roman poet Statius (Publius Painius Statius). A member of the Modern Language Association, he was a prodigious researcher and traveled throughout the world conducting research in original sources in the great libraries of the world and presenting papers at international conferences. Additionally, Prof. Clogan was also the recipient of numerous research grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities in Washington, D.C. He was the author of numerous works, including The Medieval Archilleid of Statius and Medieval Hagiography and Romance. For almost forty years, he was the Editor of Medievalia et Humanistica: Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Culture, the first scholarly publication in America to devote itself entirely to medieval and renaissance studies. Upon retirement from his university career, he realized a life-long dream and religious calling and journeyed to the Blessed John XXIII National Seminary, returning to complete the religious studies he first started in the 1950's. Upon completion of his studies and awarding of his M.Div. degree, he was ordained as Rev. Paul Clogan in May of 1999. He served as a diocesan priest in the Diocese of Portland and the Diocese of Austin in the roles of pastor, parochial vicar, and chaplain at various times. Although he began his pastoral career in the Northeast, he returned to Texas in 2001 to serve in a diocese closer to his family. He was married in June of 1972 in Phoenix, Arizona to the late Julie Sydney Davis, another medieval language scholar, upon completion of her PhD in English.
He and his wife had three children: Michael, Patrick, and Margaret. He was predeceased by his parents, Michael and Josephine, by his siblings John and Margaret, and by Julie Sydney Davis Clogan. Survivors include his son, Michael Clogan, of San Francisco, CA; his son, Patrick Clogan of Austin, Texas; his daughter, Margaret and her husband, Scott Dunn; and by his grandchildren, Jake and Dylan Dunn, all of Austin, Texas; by his brother-in-law, Okie Daukas of Milton, Massachusetts; and by his beloved cat, "Murphy".
Visitation will be from 6:00pm to 8:00pm, Sunday, August 5, 2012, with a rosary service at 7:00pm, at the Cook-Walden/Capital Parks Funeral Home in Pflugerville. Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 11am, Monday, August 6th, at St. Thomas More Catholic Church, 10205 RR 620N, Austin. Burial will follow at Cook-Walden/Capital Parks Cemetery in Pflugerville.
To share memories of Reverend Clogan, please visit his memorial at www.cookwaldencapitalparks.com.