October 01, 2018
Rev. Robert D. Myett, O.P. ’57; former College chaplain and Spanish teacher
Rev. Robert Damian Myett, O.P. ’57, who served Providence College for 11 years, including as chaplain, died on July 16, 2018, at Residence St. Antoine, North Smithfield, R.I., following a long illness. He was a member of the Order of Preachers (Dominican Friars) of the Province of St. Joseph and of the Dominican Community of St. Thomas Aquinas at PC.
A Dominican priest for 58 years, Father Myett was College chaplain in 1965-1966, served as an admissions counselor from 1991-1994, and taught Spanish and in the Latin American Studies Program until 2001. From 2001-2005, when his health began to decline, he served as the economic administrator of the Priory of St. Thomas Aquinas on campus.
Born Robert Eugene Myett in Boston, Mass., on Aug. 15, 1933, he was the son of the late Francis and Margaret (O’Neil) Myett. He attended schools in East Boston and graduated from Boston English High School in 1951.
Following two years of study in the Guzman Hall pre-ecclesiastical program at PC, he entered the novitiate of the Province of St. Joseph at St. Stephen Priory in Dover, Mass., in 1953, receiving the religious name Damian. He made his simple profession of vows on Aug. 16, 1954, and his solemn profession three years later. He was ordained to the priesthood by Most Rev. Egidio Vagnozzi, D.D., apostolic delegate to the United States, on June 16, 1960, at St. Dominic Church in Washington, D.C.
Father Myett’s philosophical studies took place at St. Rose Priory in Springfield, Ky., and St. Stephen’s Priory. He received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from PC in 1957. He earned his bachelor’s (1959) and licentiate (1961) degrees in sacred theology from the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C.
His first priestly assignment was at St. Catherine of Siena Priory in New York City from 1961-1965, serving principally as chaplain at New York-Presbyterian and Sloan-Kettering hospitals. In 1966, he attended the Maryknoll Language School in Cochabamba, Bolivia, before beginning a 17-year assignment with the Dominican Foreign Mission in Chimbote, Peru, where he served in various roles, including pastor, military chaplain, Caritas coordinator, and vicar provincial.
From 1983-1987, Father Myett served as staff chaplain at the University of Maryland Hospital in Baltimore, Md., and, from 1987-1991, as the director of the Dominican Friars’ Guilds at St. Vincent Ferrer Priory in New York, while assisting at St. Vincent Ferrer Church.
Father Myett was a warm, kindhearted, and charming gentleman — and a gentle priest. He was predeceased by his two brothers, Frank and Donald, and is survived by members of their families.
A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated for Father Myett on July 19 in the Chapel of Our Lady of the Rosary in St. Thomas Aquinas Priory on campus. Burial followed in the Dominican Friars’ Cemetery on campus.
Contributions in his memory may be made to the Dominican Scholarship Fund in care of Providence College, Office of Institutional Advancement, 1 Cunningham Square, Providence, RI, 02918.
