Biography of James Cullen

James Peter Cullen was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on April 6, 1911. He was baptized at Saint Thomas of Aquinas church on April 23 by Father John Vincent. He was raised in the nearby town of Bedford, where he learned his father’s trade, repairing various farming implements. He finished his schooling and with the blessing of his parents enrolled at Saint John’s Seminary in Brighton. Upon finishing, he was ordained and admitted to the apostolic succession in June 1934. In the following years, he attended to various chaplaincies in the New England area, ministering to inmates of both prisons and hospitals.

Before beginning his own ministry, he spent a year as assistant chaplain to numerous priests of various institutions. In 1942, Cullen was encouraged by his peers to enlist with the United States Army as chaplain. After grueling training, he was posted to the Seventh Army in France, where he was wounded by an enemy bullet that struck him in the leg. After his injury, he was treated by a medical hospice in Savoie, where he continued his ministry. After a short time, it became obvious he would never fully recover from his injury (indeed, he walked with a limp until the day he died). So, he was assigned somewhat permanently to the hospice. There, he attended to numerous injured and dying patients. In February of 1945, apparently suffering from severe stress, he was granted leave of absence and returned to his hometown. With the end of the war in sight, he was granted an honorable discharge from the Army in March. He had served with distinction but he desperately needed a respite from the troubles of the world. In April, he went to Saint Mary’s Abbey in New Jersey, where he committed himself to the daily work and prayerful life of a monk. He stayed with the Benedictines there until after Christmas, when he longed to return to his ministry.

From 1946 until 1955 he was chaplain at the State Reformatory at Concord, Massachusetts. He spent his time ministering to and counseling inmates, most of them lifelong felons and convicts. In 1955 the reformatory was transformed into the Massachusetts Correctional Institute at Concord, where Cullen continued his ministry. The following year, a maximum security prison was opened in Walpole. Many of Cullen’s prisoners were transferred there and Cullen himself asked to be transferred with them. There, he continued to minister to the hardest subjects of the prison system.

On January 7, 1968, during the sacrament of the Eucharist, he complained of chest pain and collapsed to the floor. Prisoners alerted the guards and a nurse was called but it was already too late. He was pronounced dead on the floor of the chapel. His funeral was attended by many former inmates and past and present workers of the Massachusetts Department of Corrections. The prison also held a special service to honor his memory. As a testament to his character, it was attended by several hundred inmates, who — to their credit — maintained a peaceful atmosphere throughout the service.

Daniel Quinn, Chaplain,
Walpole State Prison, Massachusetts

June 17, 1984