In 1907, Hayes entered the Society of Jesus. On 29 June 1921, he was ordained priest. He moved to the Philippines to do missionary work in 1926. A year after, he already started serving as the Superior of the Jesuits in Mindanao. By 1930, he became Superior of the Jesuits in the Philippines, a position he held until 1933.[2]
On 20 January 1933, the new diocese of Cagayan de Oro was created by Pope Pius XI through the Papal bull "Ad maius religionis".[3][4] Hayes was appointed as the first bishop of the new diocese and ordained as bishop on 16 March 1933 and 18 June 1933 respectively.[1]
On 29 June 1951, Pope Pius XII, through the Papal bull "Quo Phillipina Republica", elevated the Diocese of Cagayan de Oro to an archdiocese and appointed Hayes as the first Archbishop.[5][1]
In 1956, in order to respond to the growing number of priests in the diocese, Hayes founded the San Jose de Mindanao Seminary.[10]
In recognition of Archbishop Hayes' role in the history of Cagayan de Oro, the road traversing from the north wing of the Cagayan de Oro City Hall to the St. John Vianney Theological Seminary was named after him.[11]
^"Xavier Magazine"(PDF). Xavier University. Archived from the original on 22 February 2017. Retrieved 22 February 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)