[1] He then studied at Loras College in Dubuque, where he paid for his first year with the compensation he received from a railroad accident in which he suffered a broken leg.
[2] He worked as a geologist for the Union Pacific Railroad, as well as a junior meteorologist with the National Weather Service, before joining the Order of St. Benedict, more commonly known as the Benedictines, at St. John's Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota, in 1931.
[1] He developed a close relationship with Bishop John Kevenhoerster, who brought Hagarty with him on his collecting tours and later sent him to the University of Oxford for postgraduate studies.
[2] On June 25, 1950, Hagarty was appointed Vicar Apostolic of the Bahama Islands and Titular Bishop of Arba by Pope Pius XII.
[3] He received his episcopal consecration on the following October 19 from Archbishop Amleto Cicognani at the Church of Our Lady of the Holy Souls in Nassau.