Born in County Monaghan, Ireland September 22, 1877, Father Connolly came to America in early youth with his parents who settled in Buffalo N.Y. There he received his education in St. Agnes parochial school and in Lincoln High School, and then studied in St. Joseph's College, Baltimore, Maryland. He entered the Order at St. Rose Priory, Springfield, Kentucky, where he made profession on December 25, 1903, and there began his philosophical and theological studies. With the opening of the Dominican House of

Studies, Washington, in 1905, he was sent there and was there ordained on June 14, 1909.

His first assignment was to St. Joseph's Priory, Somerset, Ohio, where he was Socius to the Master of Novices, and in April 1911, he became Master of Novices. Elected Prior in August 1916, he served two terms during which he restored the historic Church and was called upon frequently to assist in preaching parochial missions. Upon the expiration of his term of office, he was loaned to the Province of the Holy Name in California to labor on the missions, but shortly after his recall in 1929 he was appointed Provincial of Holy Name Province by the Master General. His term of office having expired, he was assigned to Sacred Heart in Jersey City as a member of the Eastern Mission Band. Threatened with blindness in 1936, he was assigned to Holy Rosary, Houston, Texas, where he submitted to surgery for the removal of cataracts. After partial recovery he resumed the labor of preaching parochial missions, and with the erection of the Province of St. Albert the Great he became affiliated thereto.

In 1941, unable longer to withstand the hardship of the missions he was appointed Chaplain and professor of religion at Edgewood Academy of the Sacred Heart, Madison, Wisconsin. Four years later he was appointed Chaplain at the Motherhouse of the Dominican Sisters, Sinsinawa, where for nearly twelve years he zealously served the community, teaching religion classes for the novices, postulants, and the academy students at St. Clara's. In 1952, his year of dedicated preaching were recognized when he was honored with the title of Preacher General. In 1956 he was assigned to Blessed Sacrament Priory Madison, as special confessor, and there death came to him suddenly on October 13, 1964. His body was interred in the community cemetery of the Novitiate St. Peter Martyr Priory, Winona, Minnesota.