Huntington was ordained priest by his father on 30 May 1880. In 1880 James ministered to a working class congregation at Calvary Mission, Syracuse. The following year he went to Holy Cross Mission on Manhattan's Lower East Side. Soon after his ordination, Huntington attended a retreat at St. Clement's Church in Philadelphia and began to feel called to the monastic life. Rather than join the Society of St. John the Evangelist which had established a foundation in Boston ten years before, Huntington decided to found an American congregation, the Order of the Holy Cross with two companions, Robert Dod and James Cameron. They continued working in the poorest sections of the Lower East Side. The grueling hours and daily regimen of community life took its toll, and his companions left. On Nov. 25, 1884, at the Chapel of the Sisters of St. John the Baptist, New York City, Huntington made his profession as a monk.[1]
The Order of the Holy Cross chose Huntington as Superior for several non-consecutive terms.[1] However, he concentrated his time and energy on parish and missionary work. Under his leadership, the order moved to rural Westminster, Maryland, in the 1890s, and in 1902 to West Park, New York.[2]
Huntington died on 28 June 1935[2] and is buried in the Monastery Church of St Augustine in West Park. The order he founded remains active; several of the schools the order founded also continue teaching children. The Episcopal Church commemorates Huntington annually on the anniversary of his entry into monastic life, 25 November 1884.[4]