Joseph Aloysius Malvey was born on March 5, 1914, m Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and received his elementary education at Holy Name School in Philadelphia. His secondary education was taken at Northeast Catholic in Philadelphia and at Aquinas High School in Columbus, Ohio. Following two years of study at Providence College, Providence, Rhode Island, he entered the novitiate at St. Rose Priory in Springfield, Kentucky, in 1934 and made his first profession on August 16, 1935, taking the name of Brother Bernard. Philosophical studies were taken at the House of Studies in River Forest, Illinois, and theological studies both at River Forest and at St. Joseph's Priory, Somerset, Ohio. He was ordained to the priesthood on June 7, 1941, in the chapel at the House of Studies in River Forest.

After completing the requirements for the Lectorate in Theology in 1942, Father Malvey continued living at the House of Studies in River Forest and later at St. Pius V Priory in Chicago while teaching philosophy at De Paul University. He spent 1948 taking additional studies in River Forest for the Licentiate in Philosophy before being assigned to teach at Loras College in I Dubuque, Iowa, from 1949 to 1953.

From 1953 to 1958, Father Malvey served as pastor and religious superior at Holy Rosary Parish in Houston, Texas. In 1958, he was sent to teach theology and phi! p b y at St. Theresa College in Winona, Minnesota, where he remained until 1962 when he returned to the faculty at De Paul University and the community at St. Pius Priory. From 1963 to 1967, Father Malvey served as an associate at St. Dominic Parish in Denver, Colorado. In all his assignments, Father Malvey also served as spiritual director of Third Order chapters.

Due to a serious loss of hearing and a degenerative respiratory condition, Father Malvey's parish activities were curtailed in 1975 although he continued to assist with services at the Shrine of St. Jude whenever possible. In January 1977. he underwent surgery and radiation treatment for cancer of the throat. Although the cancer seemed initially to have been arrested and a gradual return to health appeared possible. his condition grew worse during the summer of 1977. On September 23, 1977, he died of pneumonia at Loyola Medical Center in Maywood, Illinois. Following services at St. Pius V Church, he was buried in the Dominican plot in All Saints Cemetery, Des Plaines, Illinois.