He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on November 20, 1901. Having completed his elementary education in the parochial schools of his native city, he graduated from West Philadelphia Catholic High School in 1920. He then went to Providence College for two years in preparation for admission to the Order. He received the habit at St. Joseph's Priory, Somerset, Ohio, and there made profession on August 25, 1923. He made two years philosophical studies in St. Rose Priory, Springfield, Kentucky, and completed them in the newly erected Dominican House of Studies, River Forest, Illinois. In Washington, D.C., at the House of Studies he completed his studies in the Order and matriculated also at the Catholic University of America. He was ordained in the Crypt of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on June 17, 1929, and the following year he was granted the Master of Arts degree in the field of social science by the University.

Father Nugent's first and only assignment was to the newly completed Fenwick High School in Oak Park, Illinois. From 1930 until he became broken in health, he devoted himself unstintingly to the instruction of youth. For many years he was also the Director of Religious Activities and Director of Discipline, and for some time he taught in the night school of the College of Commerce at De Paul University, Chicago. During the summer months he was occupied in giving retreats. It is little wonder then that when his health broke in 1951, he was no longer able to continue his zealous and apostolic ministry. After a long and lingering illness he died of cancer in Mercy Hospital, Dubuque, Iowa, on June 5, 1968. His body was interred in the Dominican plot in All Saints Cemetery, Des Plaines, Illinois.