New Orleans-Santa Fe District, 2012
Christian Brothers—Pioneer Educators in the South and
Southwest since 1851 who died in October
1. 1876: Brother Alfred of Jesus (William
Haughey) died in Westchester, New
2. 2005: Brother Anthony Brendan
(Richard Hayden) died suddenly at De La Salle in
York, at the age of 32. He was born in
Ireland in 1844 and entered the novitiate
in Montreal in 1861. During his 15 years
as a brother he spent two in the Deep
South S one at Pass Christian College in
Mississippi 1869-1870 and one in St.
Joseph’s parochial school in Baton
Rouge, Louisiana. His assignment in the
second was a historic event: teaching
African-American boys in segregated
classes in a parochial school operated by
an all-white parish in the Deep South.
Lafayette, Louisiana, at age 72. He was born on May 4, 1934,
in New Orleans, Louisiana,
entered the junior novitiate
at De La Salle in Lafayette
on June 18, 1947, and
received the brother’s garb
in the novitiate there on
August 14, 1951. He was
sent to the scholasticate at
St. Michael’s College in
Santa Fe, New Mexico,
1952-1955, to get the
bachelor’s degree. The next
20 years he taught in
Louisiana at St. Paul’s
High in Covington, 19551957, Landry Memorial
High in Lake Charles,
1957-1960, Christian
Brothers in New Orleans, 1960-1971 (except for attending the
renewal program at Sangre de Cristo Center in Chupadero,
New Mexico, spring, 1970), and Rummel High in Metairie,
1971-1975. He spent the rest of his life in administration and
other services—principal of Cathedral-Carmel High School in
Lafayette, 1975-1979, and of Rummel High in Metairie, 19791984, executive secretary of Christian Brothers Services in
Romeoville, Illinois, 1984-1988, and the district’s executive
secretary at De La Salle in Lafayette from 1988 until January
1991. He was community director and school principal at
Cathedral High School in El Paso, Texas, from January 1991
until August 1997. He then returned to Lafayette and was the
district’s director of education and bursar until his death.
2. 1995: Brother Benjamin Alfred (Thomas G.
Kane) died on an airplane traveling from San Diego,
California, to Houston, Texas, at age 73. He was born in
Denver, Colorado, on May 22, 1922, and entered the junior
novitiate at Sacred Heart Training College in Las Vegas, New
Mexico, in 1935. He received the brother’s garb in the
novitiate at De La Salle in Lafayette, Louisiana, on August 14,
1938, and went back to Las Vegas for his college studies in the
scholasticate at Sacred Heart, 1939-1943. His first teaching
assignments were in Louisiana—Cathedral High School in
Lafayette, 1943-1944, St. Peter’s College (high school) in New
Iberia, 1944-1947, St. Paul’s College (high school) in
Covington, 1947-1948, Landry Memorial High School in Lake
Charles, 1948-1952, and the junior novitiate at De La Salle in
Lafayette, 1952-1954. He attended a special program at the
brothers’ international motherhouse in Rome in 1954-1955 and
was then sent back to Landry in Lake Charles as community
director and school principal, 1955-1959. He was dean of
students at St. Michael’s College (renamed College of Santa
Fe in 1966) in Santa Fe in New Mexico, 1959-1972, and then
had a year off for studies. He taught at the University of San
Diego, California, 1973-1977, was on the district’s formation
team in Santa Fe one year, was the district’s director of
education one year with residence in the Benilde community
in New Orleans, Louisiana, 1978-1979, and the district’s
director of continuing education, 1979-1981, with residence in
the community at St. Paul’s in Covington. He went back to
San Diego in 1981 to teach in the diocesan seminary, to
Washington, D. C., in January 1984 to give workshops on
human development and life planning for the United States
Conference of Catholic Bishops, and to the North American
College in Rome in December 1984 to continue this
apostolate. He was called back to the district in 1985 and
appointed vocation director for the western part of the district
with residence in the community at Mullen High School in
Denver, Colorado, 1985-1988. He taught in the school parttime until January 1992. He was the brother visitor’s secretary
at De La Salle in Lafayette from 1992 until his death.
3. 1912: Brother Botthian (Peter Schneider) died
in Ammendale, Maryland, at age 82. He
was born in Niederzissen, Germany, on
March 3, 1830, one of four boys and a
girl. After migrating with the family to
Canada in 1851, he and his younger
brother Joseph (Br. Botulph) entered the
novitiate in Montreal on November 11,
1852, and received the brother’s robe
there on December 24. Their brothers
later became Christian Brothers too. He
was assigned to Manhattanville, New
York, and soon appointed subdirector. He was sent to the
brothers’ school in Singapore in 1862 as pro-director. In 1864
without approval of Brother Facile, assistant to the superior
general, the community sent him and another brother to Perth,
Australia, in response to the Vatican-appointed apostolic
administrator’s plea to start a school there. It failed after two
2
years, and he was brought back to New York as director of St.
Theresa school. Among his many assignments as director in
the New York District schools until 1905, he spent 1896-1897
as subdirector under Brother Botulph, president of St.
Michael’s College (high school) in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
3. 1918: Brother Isidore Josephus
(Theodore Darnand) died in Athis-Mons, France. He
entered the novitiate in Pass Christian, Mississippi in 1867 and
remained at the school until 1872.
4. 1884: Brother Turibe (Cyprien Pommier) died
in Marseilles, France, at age 72. He was born in Montemilard,
France, on April 18, 1812, and entered the novitiate in
Avignon, France, in 1827. He served in schools in France until
Brother Facile, visitor of the District of North America,
appointed him director of Christian Brothers College in St.
Louis, Missouri, in 1853, and then of a school in Canada.
When Br. Facile was elected assistant to the superior general
in 1861, Brother Turibe was appointed to succeed him as
visitor. When the new District of the United States was created
in 1864, Br. Turibe returned to France but came back to teach
at Pass Christian College, Mississippi, 1868-1871. He then
returned to France and stayed until his death.
4. 1963: Mr. Edward Heid, BFSC, died in El
Paso, Texas. He was a long-time friend and benefactor of the
brothers at Cathedral High School in El Paso.
4. 2011: Brother Brendan Damian
(Clarence J. Fioke) died suddenly in a local hospital in
Lafayette, Louisiana, after a fall in the brothers’ retirement
community at De La Salle in that
city. He had suffered nearly eight
years from kidney failure and
needed dialysis three times a
week most of these years. He
was born in New Orleans,
Louisiana, on January 14, 1936,
and was taught by the brothers
two years at De La Salle High
School in that city. He entered
the junior novitiate at De La
Salle in Lafayette on August 28,
1952, in the eleventh grade and
received the brother’s robe in the
novitiate on the same campus on
August 14, 1954. A year later he began his college education
in the scholasticate at St. Michael’s College in Santa Fe, New
Mexico. He taught at J. K. Mullen Home for boys in Fort
Logan, Colorado, 1958-1962, St. Paul’s High School in
Covington, Louisiana, 1962-1966, and was subdirector and
teacher in the junior novitiate in Lafayette. He was subdirector
of the scholasticate at College of Santa Fe in New Mexico,
1968-1969, and director until 1974, while also teaching
courses in the college. In 1974 he joined the Hilary House
community on campus and became a full-time professor. He
had three years off, 1978-1981, to get the doctor’s degree in
higher education administration at the University of New
Mexico in Albuquerque. He was appointed director of the
Hilary House community in 1981and resumed his
professorship. In 1986 he was the first executive director of the
newly-opened College of Santa Fe campus in Albuquerque. In
1988 he accepted the presidency of Presentation College in
Aberdeen, South Dakota. He returned to Hilary House in 1990
to accept an appointment as auxiliary visitor of the New
Orleans-Santa Fe District, while teaching part-time at the
college. He was appointed visitor in 1996 and moved to De La
Salle in Lafayette, where he remained until his death. He was
appointed to a second term in 1999 and a third in 2002.
Physically and mentally exhausted from dealing with lawsuits
against the district for sexual abuse of minors, he resigned in
2004 to deal with his failing health. He took on the position of
district finance director and bursar and then the direction of the
district’s annual fund-raiser, the St. La Salle Auxiliary. He
relinquished the last of these jobs in the spring of 2011.
5. 1922: Brother Isaac Patrick (Joseph Quinlan)
died in Kansas City, Missouri, at age 71. He was born in
Rahone, Clare, Ireland, on May 6, 1849, and migrated to the
United States. In 1873, at age 24 he entered the novitiate in
Carondelet, Missouri. Among his many assignments were
these in New Mexico: St. Mary’s College (high school) in
Mora, 1881-1884, subdirector of St. Michael’s College (high
school) in Santa Fe, 1884-1908, and 1910-1916.
5. 2000: Brother Anthony Leo (Paul
Gilsdorf) died in Santa Fe, New Mexico, at age 74, after
several years of heart problems. He was born in Fort Collins,
Colorado, on July 8, 1926, and entered the junior novitiate at
Sacred Heart Training College in Las Vegas, New Mexico, in
1941. He received the brother’s garb in the novitiate at De La
Salle in Lafayette, Louisiana, on August 14, 1944. He studied
in the scholasticate at Sacred Heart in Las Vegas, 1945-1947,
and at the newly-opened four-year college degree program at
St. Michael’s College in Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1947-1948.
He taught at these schools in Louisiana: Hanson Memorial
High in Franklin, 1948-1949, Landry Memorial High in Lake
Charles, 1950-1953 and 1955-1957, and De La Salle High in
New Orleans, 1963-1965. Also at St. Nicholas in Bernalillo,
New Mexico, 1949-1950, Mullen Home for Boys in Fort
Logan, Colorado, 1953-1955, and at its successor, Mullen
High School in Denver, Colorado, 1968-1970 and 1976-1978.
He taught in El Paso, Texas, at Cathedral High, 1965-1966 and
1978-1984, in Santa Fe at College of Santa Fe, 1970-1976, and
St. Michael’s High School from 1984 until 1995, when his
heart problems forced him to reduce his teaching load. He was
a brilliant student in mathematics and physics. Brother Paul
Walsh, his community director in Santa Fe, says that as a
teacher he was “stern and demanding, ... but also
compassionate ... caring for his students and others with whom
he had to deal. ... Many letters from former students attest to
his influence on his students.” Brother Paul also says: “He was
such an accomplished person in crafts and was so adept in
carpentry, electricity and electronics, and most elements of
construction, that early on he was dubbed ‘The Master.’ He
3
was very generous with his talents.”
5. Brother Anthony Alfred (William D.
Longnecker) died at age 90 in Lafayette, Louisiana, after
a long illness. He was born on June 28, 1919, in El Paso,
Texas, and was taught by the brothers at Cathedral High
School in that city. He entered the junior novitiate at Sacred
Heart Training College in Las Vegas, New Mexico, in 1934
and received the brother’s garb in
the novitiate at De La Salle in
Lafayette, Louisiana, on February
1, 1936. He studied in the
scholasticate at Sacred Heart in
Las Vegas, 1937-1939, and taught
in the junior novitiate there three
years and at the one in Lafayette
two years. In 1944, after a brief
stay in Santa Fe, New Mexico, he
joined the faculty of Instituto
Regiomontano in Monterrey,
Mexico. In 1951 he was sent to De
La Salle High School in New
Orleans, Louisiana, and in 1953 to St. Paul’s High School in
Covington, Louisiana. In 1954 he volunteered for the
American districts’ schools in Central America and taught at
Colegio San José in Bluefields, Nicaragua, 1954-1959. He
spent one year at St. Michael’s College in Santa Fe, New
Mexico, and four years as member of the St. Louis District.
He rejoined his home district in 1959 and at his earnest request
was re-assigned to Central America, this time to Colegio La
Salle in Chiquimula, Guatemala, and stayed 15 years, except
for a semester program at the brothers’ international
motherhouse in Rome in 1979. He was called back home and
was at Christian Brothers School in New Orleans, Louisiana,
1980-1996, except for three months at Cathedral in El Paso in
the fall of 1985. He spent the summer of 1996 at De La Salle
in Lafayette and at De La Salle in New Orleans, the year 19961997 at the College of Santa Fe, 1997-1998 at St. Paul’s in
Covington, and the next two years, at his request, back at
Instituto Regiomontano in Monterey. After spending the
summer of 2001 at De La Salle in New Orleans, he went back
to Monterey for one more year and was then sent to the
retirement community at the College of Santa Fe. In 2009 he
was moved to a nursing home in Lafayette several months
before his death.
6. 1926: Brother Baldwin of Jesus (Leopold
Witzleben) died in Chicago, Illinois, a few weeks short of
age 68. He was born in West Hoboken, New Jersey, on
October 25, 1858. The family went to St. Louis, Missouri, in
1866 in search of a relative and arrived in the midst of a
typhoid epidemic. Both parents died and their six orphaned
children were placed in St. Vincent’s Catholic Orphan Home
for German children. He entered the novitiate in Carondelet,
Missouri, in 1870. He had many assignments as teacher,
principal and director of novices in the Midwest. He was in the
Community of New Orleans, Louisiana, 1872-1874, teaching
first at St. Mary’s College and then at St. Theresa’s school.
He was supervisor of teachers at St. Michael’s College (high
school) in Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1910-1911, and visitor of
the District of St. Louis, 1916-1924. He managed the transfer
of his district’s three schools in New Mexico to the District of
Mexico in 1916.
7. None
8. 1864: Brother Ezekiel (Edouard Mercier) died
of yellow fever in Galveston, Texas, at age 43. He was born in
St. Anne, Montmorency, Canada, on June 28, 1821, and
entered the novitiate in Montreal in 1847 at age 26. He taught
in Canada and New York until 1861, when he was sent to
Galveston, Texas, to be in the founding community taking
over the operation of St. Mary’s College in January. The
building was severely damaged by the Union Navy’s
bombardment in January 1863 during the War Between the
States, and most of the population fled to the mainland. No
record has been found of what Br. Ezekiel did until that of his
death and burial
8. 1867: Brother Dorotheus of Jesus
(Thomas McGuire) died of yellow fever in Jefferson
City, Louisiana, at age 23. He was born in Ireland in 1844. He
migrated to the United States and entered the novitiate in
Carondelet, Missouri, in 1866 at age 22. He was assigned to
St. Mary’s College in Galveston, Texas, in 1867, but the whole
community was barred from entering the city by a quarantine
imposed to control yellow fever. They went back to New
Orleans, where he was assigned to St. Vincent’s Academy in
nearby Jefferson City and, ironically, died of the fever a few
weeks later.
8. 1876: Brother Leonidian (John
Kilkenny) died of a liver ailment in St. Louis, Missouri, at
age 37. He was born in Galway, Ireland, on April 29, 1839,
and migrated with his family to the United States. John entered
the novitiate in Montreal on December 6, 1854. He taught in
Canada, New York, and St. Louis, Missouri, until 1866, when
he was sent to teach at Pass Christian College in Mississippi,
1866-1872, while also being subdirector for two years. When
the college president left the brothers in 1871, Brother
Leonidian was appointed president and held that position until
the school went bankrupt and closed in 1875. He was the
founding director of the cathedral parochial school in Mobile,
Alabama, the same year. He was sent to Memphis, Tennessee,
in the summer of 1876 to preside over a St. Louis District
retreat and was then named community prodirector and
boarding school supervisor at Christian Brothers College in St.
Louis, Missouri. He became very ill shortly after his arrival
and died.
8. 2004: Brother Guy Philip (Paul A.
Murphy) died in Lafayette, Louisiana, at age 83 after a long
illness. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on
November 13, 1921, and received the brother’s garb in the
novitiate in Ammendale, Maryland, on September 7, 1940. He
taught in many of the Baltimore District’s high schools, 1943-
4
1969, and then spent two years at
Colegio San José in Bluefields,
Nicaragua. He taught at Hudson
Catholic High School in Jersey
City, New Jersey, 1971-1972,
Christian Brothers School in New
Orleans, Louisiana, 1972-1975,
and then went back to his district
for a year. In 1976 he joined the
New Orleans-Santa Fe District
and taught at Christian Brothers
School five more years. In 1981
he began working in the Latin
American Apostolate of the
Archdiocese of New Orleans,
while residing in the brothers’
community at De La Salle High School. He remained in this
position until he retired from it in January 1994. He taught at
Christian Brothers Academy in New Orleans until June 1996,
and then returned to the De La Salle High School community.
He was sent to the Christian Brothers’ retirement community
in Lafayette in 2002. He was known among the brothers as a
great fan of the Mardi Gras celebrations in both New Orleans
and Lafayette and spent the day every year in costume
mingling with the people.
9. 2008 Brother Bonaventure Luke (Jacobo
Olivas) died in Santa Fe, New Mexico, at the age of 97 after
an extended illness. He was born in Santa Fe on August 19,
1911, and entered the junior novitiate at Sacred Heart Training
College in Las Vegas, New
Mexico, in 1925. He was robed
in the brother’s garb in the
novitiate at De La Salle in
Lafayette, Louisiana, on July 1,
1927, and returned to Las Vegas
to study in the scholasticate,
l928-1930. His first teaching
assignments were in Louisiana:
St. Peter’s College (high school)
in New Iberia, 1930-1938,
Landry Memorial High School in
Lake Charles, 1938-1940, New
Iberia again, 1940-1942, St.
Paul’s College (high school) in
Covington, 1942-1943, and Cathedral High School in
Lafayette, 1943-1948. After a year at Kirwin High School in
Galveston, Texas, 1948-1949, he was sent back to St. Paul’s,
1949-1951, De La Salle High School in New Orleans,
Louisiana, 1951-1957, and then to Cathedral High School in
El Paso, Texas, 1957-1959, as a teacher and assistant
principal. He had his second assignment to De La Salle in New
Orleans, 1959-1960, then to Hanson Memorial High in
Franklin, Louisiana, 1960-1962, his second to Lake Charles,
1962-1963, second to El Paso, 1963-1965, and then a 10-year
assignment to Mullen High School in Denver, Colorado, 19651975. He spent the rest of his active life in his home town,
Santa Fe, teaching at St. Michael’s High School, except for the
year 1977-1978, when he was on the staff at the brothers’
retreat and conference center in Parménie, France. As his
strength declined, he gradually asked for a reduced teaching
load and finally retired. He was an excellent teacher of
religion, science, math, and English. He was noted for
injecting lengthy quotations from Shakespeare into his
conversations, for his fluency in French and Spanish, and for
his knowledge of Latin. During several summers in the 1970s
he joined a group of brothers from the New Orleans-Santa Fe
District who built and remodeled Catholic churches and halls
in Alaska.
9. 1956: Dr. Paul Salles, DDS, AFSC, died
in Lafayette, Louisiana. As a dentist, he was generous in his
services to the brothers in Lafayette.
9. 1969: Brother Antel-Arsène “Arsenius”
(Aloys Josef “Louis Joseph” Macher) died at De La
Salle in Lafayette, Louisiana, at age 88 after a long illness. He
was born on June 11, 1881, in the agricultural village of
Oberhergheim in Alsace when it was part of Germany. (Since
the end of World War I it has been in France again in the
department of Haut-Rhin.) At home he learned the Germanic
language Alsatian, and he learned German when he started
school. He first heard of the Christian Brothers at age 14 when
one of them from the District of Paris came to town for a
family visit during summer vacation in 1895. Aloys went to
see him to find out what a brother’s life was like and decided
on the spot that he wanted to be one. He entered the brothers’
junior novitiate in Paris on November 2, 1895, and started
learning his third language,
French. He received the brother’s
garb in the novitiate in Paris on
October 24, 1897, and studied in
the scholasticate there, 18981899. He received the elementary
teacher’s license in 1899 and was
sent to care for the orphans and
teach them crafts at St. Nicolas
School in Vaugirard for three
years. He taught boys from
Alsace and Lorraine in a school
for them in Paris, 1902-1904, and
then again at St. Nicolas 19041909. The school was closed that
year as a result of the antireligious law of 1904, and he
took a special course in Spanish that fall with many of his
confrères in Caluire, near Lyon. He was in the group that left
for Mexico in December 1909 and arrived in time for the
beginning of the new school year in January 1910. He was
assigned to a newly-opened elementary school in the village
of Río Mixcoac (now a part of Mexico City). When the
brothers were forced to leave in August 1914 on account of the
Carranza revolution, he was among some 65 of the 175 French
brothers then in Mexico who accepted the offer to go back to
France. He was in a group of 27 that went by boat from Vera
5
Cruz to Galveston, Texas, and by train to New York City.
They were welcomed by the brothers at Manhattan College. At
that point Arsenius decided he would like to learn his fifth
language and within 24 hours got permission from the assistant
to the superior general to stay in New York. He was
immediately put to work teaching French and German at
Manhattan College, while earning a bachelor’s degree from the
college. Years later he wrote in his memoirs that he really
enjoyed teaching young adults and would have been happy to
do so the rest of his life. But that dream came to a sudden end
four years later in the summer of 1918, when he was shocked
to receive an appointment as the founding principal and
director of St. Peter’s College (high school) in New Iberia,
Louisiana, in September. He got the school off to a good start
and in 1922 was sent to Santa Fe, New Mexico, to be
community director and school principal of St. Michael’s
College (high school). He was appointed visitor of the New
Orleans-Santa Fe District in 1924, with residence at De La
Salle in Lafayette. He acted promptly when he had the
opportunity to open two more schools in Louisiana: Hanson
Memorial High in Franklin in 1925and Landry Memorial High
in Lake Charles in 1927, and one in Texas, Cathedral High in
El Paso in 1925. During his last year in office, 1930, he began
negotiations for the opening of J. K. Mullen Home for Boys in
Fort Logan, Colorado, and Kirwin High School in Galveston,
Texas. He returned to his former positions at St. Michael’s in
Santa Fe in 1930 but remained only one year. In 1931 he was
appointed the founding director of the community that took
over the operation of Kirwin High School. When his successor
as visitor, Brother Aimare-Auguste (Auguste Abrial), was
suddenly incapacitated by a life-threatening paralytic attack
while attending the brothers’ international general chapter in
Lembecq, Belgium, in 1934 and had to resign, Arsenius was
appointed to his third three-year term as visitor and
reappointed in 1937. He opened no new communities during
these six years but solved a major recurring problem: teacher
licenses for the brothers. Until then, Louisiana and New
Mexico had accepted the French brothers’ licenses and had
issued new licenses on the basis of degrees from the Christian
Brothers’ colleges in the United States. The problem arose
when the college accrediting associations banned the offering
of degrees based solely on extension courses off campus and
summer courses on campus, as the Christian Brothers’
colleges had done. Some of the French brothers and most of
the American brothers had gotten their degrees by this method.
Arsenius found the solution through a Marianist priest whom
he had met and who was president of their St. Mary’s
University in San Antonio, Texas. They would allow the
brothers to meet their residency requirements by taking
courses on campus during the summer. For some ten years
dozens of brothers lived in a dormitory at St. Mary’s each
summer while working for both the bachelor’s and the
master’s degrees. Arsenius’s fourth term came to an
unexpected end in 1940 after he had suffered so much pain in
one of his legs that he could no longer travel and asked the
superior general to appoint an auxiliary visitor. He sought
medical help and soon learned that he had cancer in his left
leg. It was amputated in July 1940, and he resigned his
position. He spent 1940-1949 at De La Salle in Lafayette as
his successor’s secretary. His cancer never returned. He was
director of novices at De La Salle, 1949-1952. He had worked
many years during and after his terms as visitor to get the
brothers re-established in New Orleans and had even identified
and organized the remaining graduates of the brothers’ 19th
century schools in the city. He asked to be assigned to the
community at De La Salle High School in New Orleans, which
had opened in 1949. He continued his work in public relations
and in alumni relations until his declining health led to his
return to De La Salle in Lafayette in 1968. At the suggestion
of the visitor, Br. August Raphael (Richard Bodin) he
completed a typescript of his memoirs in June 1969, four
months before his death. They were edited and published by
the New Orleans-Santa Fe district in 2011. His vision, energy,
and pro-active leadership undoubtedly had a strong influence
on the district’s growth during his lifetime and beyond.
.
10. 1870: Brother Anthelme (Antoine Savigny)
died in Paris, France, at age 73. He was born in France in 1797
and entered the novitiate in Lyon, France, in 1812. He was
assistant to the superior general for the North American
schools from 1844 to 1861 and visited them all.
11. 1938: Brother Lewis of Gonzaga (Joseph
McGiverin) died in Glencoe, Missouri, at age 74. He was
born on August 25, 1864, in Bellevue, Iowa, and entered the
novitiate in Carondelet, Missouri, in 1880. He was sent to St.
Mary’s College in New Orleans, Louisiana, 1881-1883, and
made an unsuccessful attempt to reopen it six years after it
closed. His later assignments included 15 years in New
Mexico: teacher at La Salle Institute in Las Vegas, 1889-1891,
and at St. Michael’s College (high school) in Santa Fe, 18911897, and then director of La Salle Institute, 1897-1904.
11. 1988: Brother Benjamin Pablo
(Luciano Ríos) died in Gómez Palacio, Mexico. He was
born in Mexico and entered the junior novitiate there. When
the Carranza revolution forced all foreign priests and religious
out of the country in August 1914, the French brothers decided
to move the junior novitiate to Cuba. Luciano’s parents gave
their permission, and he entered the novitiate there in 1915.
When it was finished, he and his classmates were sent to study
in the New York District’s scholasticate in Pocantico Hills. In
1917 he was sent to New Mexico, where he taught at La Salle
Institute in Las Vegas one year, St. Michael’s College (high
school) in Santa Fe, 1918-1931, and St. Nicholas school in
Bernalillo, 1931-1940. He then taught in Mexico, 1940-1951,
returned to St. Michael’s in Santa Fe, 1951-1952, and then
rejoined the District of Mexico.
11. 2007: Brother John Johnston (John
Calvin Johnston), superior general, died of cancer in
Memphis, Tennessee, a month short of age 74. He was born on
November 10, 1933, in Memphis, where he attended Little
Flower elementary school and Christian Brothers High School.
After graduating he entered the novitiate at La Salle Institute
6
in Glencoe, Missouri, and completed his undergraduate studies
at St. Mary’s College in Winona, Minnesota, in 1955. He
taught at several high schools and in the junior novitiate,
novitiate, and scholasticate. In 1972 he was appointed visitor
of the St. Louis District and in 1976, as a delegate to the
brothers’ international general chapter in Rome, he was elected
assistant to the superior general for the English-speaking North
American districts. He was elected superior general of the
Christian Brothers at their general chapter in Rome in 1986
and reelected in 1993. After the general chapter in 2000 he
was appointed special Lasallian consultant for the North
American region and was available for districts all over the
world.
12. None
13. 1867: Brother Arsenian (Patrick O’Flynn)
died of yellow fever at age 30 in Pass Christian, Mississippi.
He was born in Waterford, Ireland, on March 15, 1837, and
entered the novitiate in Montreal in 1852. He taught in Utica,
New York, and in Baltimore, Maryland, before being assigned
to Pass Christian College in 1867. He died shortly after the
school year began.
13. 1972: Brother Adrian Bernard
(Edward Gibson) died in Concord, California, at age 81.
He was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1891 and entered the
novitiate at De La Salle in Lafayette, Louisiana, in 1936 at the
age of 45. He taught at Landry Memorial High School in Lake
Charles, Louisiana, and St. Michael’s College (high school) in
Santa Fe, New Mexico. He transferred to the District of San
Francisco in 1947 and spent the remaining 25 years of his life
as a high school teacher there.
14. None
15. 1905: Brother Geramius (Jean Lavergne) died
in Montferrand, France, at age 73. He was born in Descalvata,
France, on April 22, 1832, and entered the novitiate in
Clermont-Ferrand, France, in 1851. During the brothers’
district retreat in 1859 he was one of four chosen from among
many who volunteered to go to Santa Fe in the Territory of
New Mexico, to establish St. Michael’s College (high school)
there that fall. They were moved by an appeal made during the
retreat on behalf of Bishop J. B. Lamy by his vicar general,
Msgr. Pierre Eguillon, who was in Europe that summer
recruiting priests and religious for the diocese. Brother
Geramius stayed 10 years—seven as a teacher at St.
Michael’s, one as the founder of St. Mary’s College (high
school) in Mora in 1866, and two as both director of St.
Michael’s and first visitor of the District of Santa Fe, 18671869. He was then sent to Ecuador, where he spent 28 years
establishing schools. In 1897 he was appointed to a position in
the brothers’ international motherhouse in Paris.
15. 1940: Brother Junien Victor (Auguste
Détharre) superior general, died in Mauléon-Soule, France,
at the age of 76. He was born on
August 19, 1864, in Bayonne,
France, and entered the novitiate
in Valence in 1882. In 1904 he
was sent to Spain to supervise the
reorganization and reopening of
schools. In 1923 he was elected
assistant to the superior general
for the districts and schools in the
Far East. On June 1, 1934, the
brothers’ international general
chapter elected him the brothers’
18th superior general. He
promptly undertook the task of
moving the brothers’ motherhouse from Belgium to Rome. He
then moved St. John Baptist de La Salle’s relics from France
and installed them in the chapel in the new motherhouse in
Rome. When the Italian government took over the
motherhouse for a hospital during World War II, Brother
Junien Victor and seven assistants set up temporary
headquarters in Mauléon-Soule, France. He died there.
16. 1911: Brother Jovinian (Richard Meehan)
died in St. Louis, Missouri, at age 76. He was born in
Bullooby, Ireland, on May 18, 1835, and entered the novitiate
in Carondelet, Missouri, in 1870 at the age of 35. He served
successively for brief periods at St. Mary’s College in New
Orleans and St. Vincent’s Academy, in Jefferson City,
Louisiana.
17. 1874: Brother Altinia (Bernard Tierny) died in
St. Louis, Missouri, two weeks short of age 34. He was born
in Boston, Massachusetts, on November 1, 1850, and entered
the novitiate in Carondelet, Missouri, in 1868. In July 1868 he
was sent to teach in Chicago, but his health failed in 1872 and
he was sent to New Orleans, Louisiana, to recover. His health
continued to decline, and he was sent to St. Louis, where he
died.
18. 1912: Brother Alarinus of Mary (Joseph
Powers) died in Ammendale, Maryland, at age 65. He was
born in Donhill, Ireland, on June 15, 1847, and migrated with
his family to the United States. At age 20 he entered the
novitiate in Carondelet, Missouri, on December 27, 1866. He
received the brother’s robe there in 1867. He was assigned to
teach elementary classes in St. Louis and St. Joseph, Missouri,
and in St. Mary’s and St. John’s schools in Chicago. In 1871
he was sent to the Community of New Orleans, Louisiana, and
taught in St. Mary’s Academy, St. Patrick’s parish free school
for boys, and St. Theresa’s parish school. Discouraged, he left
the brothers but returned in 1879 to make the novitiate again
in Westchester, New York. He joined the newly-created
District of Baltimore and served in it until his death.
19. 1907: Brother Bernard Maurice (Maurice L.
Tonvey) died of tuberculosis at Notre Dame du Rancher,
7
near Versailles, France, at age 28. He was born at Poissy, near
Versailles, France, on October 11, 1879, and was taught by the
brothers at St. Peter’s school in Versailles. He entered the
novitiate in Versailles in 1898 at age 19. He was sent to teach
in the school he had attended. When it was closed in 1904
because of the antireligious laws of that year, he volunteered
to go to the United States and was sent to St. Nicholas school
in Bernalillo, New Mexico, 1905-1907. A bad cold turned out
to be tuberculosis, and he returned to France, where he died
shortly after his arrival.
20-22. None
23. 1867: Brother Amedy Patrick (James Kenny)
died in Jefferson City, Louisiana, at age 23. He was born in
Wexford, Ireland, on July 24, 1844, and entered the novitiate
in New York in 1864. He first taught in St. Louis, Missouri,
and, already in poor health, was sent to St. Vincent’s Academy
in Jefferson City, Louisiana, in August 1867. He died within
two months of his arrival.
24. 1979: Brother Alberto Pedro “Peter”
(Francisco Sotomayor) died in Lafayette, Louisiana, at
age 87 after a lengthy illness. He was born in the city of
Yuriria (population 25,000) in the lowlands of State of
Guanajuato, Mexico, on October 6, 1892, and entered the
novitiate in San Borja, near
Mexico City, in 1913. When the
Carranza revolution forced all
foreign priests and religious to
leave the country in August 1914,
the brothers transferred the
novitiate to Cuba, and Brother
Pedro chose to go with them.
They soon sent him to the New
York District’s novitiate in
Pocantico Hills, where he
completed the year-long program
on December 25, 1914. He
studied in the scholasticate there
and was assigned to the Catholic
Protectory in New York City. In
1916 he was called to New Mexico to be in the founding
community that took over St. Michael’s College (high school)
in Santa Fe, 1916-1918, taught at St. Nicholas in Bernalillo,
1918-1920, and in the junior novitiate at Sacred Heart Training
College in Las Vegas, 1920-1926. He taught in Lafayette,
Louisiana, in the junior novitiate at De La Salle, 1926-1927,
and at Cathedral High, 1927-1936. He spent another 10 years
in the West: again at St. Michael’s in Santa Fe, 1936-1942,
Instituto Regiomontano in Monterrey, Mexico, one year, and
in Santa Fe, again, until 1946. He transferred to the St. Louis
District in 1947, taught one year in Cuba, one in the
Dominican Republic, briefly in 1948 at Christian Brothers
College in Memphis, Tennessee, and Christian Brothers High
School in St. Joseph, Missouri, and the next 27 years at Cretin
High School in St. Paul, Minnesota. When declining health
forced him to retire in 1975, he asked to go to De La Salle in
Lafayette. He rejoined the New Orleans-Santa Fe District in
1977.
24. 1984: Brother Anselm Daniel (Gilles
Simar) died of pancreatitis in Crowley, Louisiana, at age 75
after a short illness. He was born in Lakeside, Louisiana, on
July 22, 1909, and entered the junior novitiate at De La Salle
in Lafayette, Louisiana, on June 14, 1924. He received the
brother’s garb in the novitiate at Sacred Training College in
Las Vegas, New Mexico, on October 31, 1925. He studied in
the scholasticate there, 1926-1928, and was assigned to teach
at Landry Memorial High School
in Lake Charles, Louisiana, for
10 years. He was sent to Rome
in 1938-1939 for special studies
at the brothers’ international
motherhouse. He returned to
teach at Mullen Home for Boys
in Fort Logan, Colorado, 19391940, and at Kirwin High School
in Galveston, Texas, 1940-1943.
He was community director and
principal at Cathedral High
School in Lafayette, Louisiana,
1943-1949, and dean of students
at St. Michael’s College in Santa
Fe, New Mexico, 1949-1953. He
was assistant principal at De La Salle High School in New
Orleans, Louisiana, 1953-1956, taught again at Landry in Lake
Charles, 1956-1960, was assistant principal at St. Michael’s
High School in Santa Fe, 1960-1964, and taught at St.
Michael’s College (renamed College of Santa Fe in 1966),
1964-1971. He was school principal and community director
at Catholic High School in New Iberia, Louisiana, 1971-1974,
and then taught at St. Michael’s High in Santa Fe, 1974-1981,
had a year’s sabbatical, and in 1982 retired in the brothers’
community at Marian Christian High School in Houston,
Texas. He enjoyed fishing with friends and visiting his many
relatives. He became ill in October 1984 while visiting a sister
of his in Iota, Louisiana, and was hospitalized in Crowley,
where he died.
24. 2004: Brother William Parsons died in
Covington, Louisiana, at age 57 after intestinal surgery. He
was born on July 7, 1947, in Galveston, Texas, and received
the brother’s garb on August 21, 1965, in the novitiate at De
La Salle in Lafayette, Louisiana. He studied in the
scholasticate at College of Santa Fe in Santa Fe, New Mexico,
1966-1970, and taught at Catholic High School in New Iberia,
Louisiana, 1970-1971, De La Salle High School in New
Orleans, Louisiana, 1971-1973, and again at Catholic High,
1973-1974. He was the district’s vocation director in the
southern part of the district, 1974-1975, residing in the Benilde
Community in New Orleans until 1976. He spent the next four
years teaching at Mullen High School in Denver, Colorado,
and was community director the last two. He spent 1980-1982
8
in London, England, taught at St. Paul’s High School in
Covington, Louisiana, 1982-1984, and at Notre Dame High
School, a school for African-Americans, in Shreveport,
Louisiana, 1985-1987. He began studies for the doctorate at
Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 1987
and taught at the College of Santa Fe in New Mexico, 19891990, while living in the brothers’ community at La Cienega.
He taught at St. Paul’s in Covington from 1990 until his
sudden death.
Lembecq, Belgium, elected him assistant to the superior
general for North America, Ireland, Australia and India. He
held the position until 1923. He was instrumental in reorganizing the District of Mexico by transferring the St. Louis
District’s schools in New Mexico in 1916 to the Mexican
District. These schools became part of the New Orleans-Santa
Fe District when it was created in 1921. He retired to
Castletown in 1923.
25. 1916: Brother Gabriel Marie (Edmund
Brunhes) superior general, died in Paris at age 82. He was
was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on April 27, 1851. He moved
with his family to St. Louis, Missouri. There John graduated
from Christian Brothers College with a degree in business. On
April 9, 1878, he entered the novitiate in Carondelet,
Missouri, at age 27. His many assignments in the St. Louis
District included St. Joseph’s Commercial Academy in New
Orleans, Louisiana, 1892-1895, St. Michael’s College (high
school) in Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1903-1905, and La Salle
Institute in Las Vegas, New Mexico, 1905-1911.
born in 1834 at Aurillas,
France, and entered the
novitiate in Clermont in 1850.
He taught in brothers’ schools
until 1882. That year, the
delegates to the brothers’
international general chapter
in Paris elected him assistant
to the superior general. They
elected him their 13th superior
general at the general chapter
in 1897. He promptly set about
the unpleasant task of
enforcing that same chapter’s
ban on the teaching of Latin in
the brothers’ schools in the
United States. He removed several prominent brothers from
office in the United States and gave them minor positions in
Europe. He donated $10,000 to the houses of formation in
Glencoe, Missouri, and the same amount to Christian Brothers
College High School in St. Joseph, Missouri. He had the final
word on the brothers’ withdrawal from St. Joseph’s
Commercial Academy in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1900. At
the personal request of Bishop Heffron of Winona, Minnesota,
he ordered Brother Emery, visitor of the St. Louis District, to
send brothers to open a school in Winona in 1910. This
eventually led to the Christian Brothers’ acquisition of St.
Mary’s College in Winona. Brother Gabriel Marie resigned as
superior general at the general chapter in 1913 to return to his
work as a mathematician in Paris, where he died.
25. 1928: Brother Benezet Thomas
(Thomas Roderick Kane) died in Lembecq, Belgium,
at age 80. He was born in Blackrock, Ireland, on August 25,
1848, to Sir Robert Kane, professor of chemistry at the Royal
Dublin Society, and Katherine Baily Kane, a noted botanist.
He received a degree in engineering at age 21 and took a job
for a railroad company in California. A year later he entered
the novitiate at age 22 in Oakland, California. He taught at St.
Mary’s College in California, 1871-1880, and was president
1880-1883. He taught at the New York District’s scholasticate
in Amawalk, New York, 1883-1886, and was president of
Manhattan College in New York, 1886-1891. He was director
of De La Salle Training College in Waterford, Ireland, 18911911. That year the brother’s international general chapter in
25. 1928: Brother Leonidas Henry (John
H. Brandeweide) died in Glencoe, Missouri, at age 77. He
26. 1935: Brother Lewis Ambrose (Thomas
Kennedy) died in Glencoe, Missouri, at age 72. He was
born in New Cambria, Missouri, on April 15, 1863, and
attended a Catholic school in Chillicothe, Missouri. He entered
the novitiate in Carondelet, Missouri, on April 21, 1877, at age
14. His 57-year tour of duty included St. Joseph’s Commercial
Academy in New Orleans, Louisiana, 1899-1900, and St.
Michael’s College (high school) in Santa Fe, New Mexico,
1903-1904.
27. 1874: Brother Luperius (Thomas L. Bray)
died in Santa Fe, New Mexico Territory, at age 26. He was
born in St. Louis, Missouri, on August 2, 1848, and entered the
novitiate in Carondelet in that state in 1868. He was sent to
Pass Christian College, Mississippi, in February 1874 and in
August of that year to St. Michael’s College (high school) in
Santa Fe, New Mexico, in hope that the climate would help
cure his consumption. The trip weakened him so much that he
had to stop for seven weeks of rest in Trinidad, Colorado, on
the way. He arrived in Santa Fe in September and lingered
until October 27. He was the first Christian Brother buried in
Rosario Cemetery in that city.
28. 1887: Brother Albian (George P. Dubé) died in
Troy, New York, at age 50. He was born on April 13, 1837, in
Riviere Quille, Canada, and entered the novitiate in Montreal
in 1853. He was the community director and teacher at St.
Vincent’s Academy in Jefferson City, Louisiana, 1869-1874.
29. 1874: Brother Charles of Mary (Anton Ficke)
died of smallpox in St. Louis, Missouri, at age 20. He was
born in Frelsburg, Texas, on February 2, 1854. He was a
boarding student at Pass Christian College, Mississippi. He
entered the novitiate in Pass Christian on Jan. 4, 1867, and six
months later received the brother’s garb in the novitiate in
Carondelet, Missouri, on July 1 at age 13. Two of his brothers
9
followed him. He was sent back to the South in 1868 to the
Community of New Orleans, Louisiana. He taught at St.
Mary’s Academy, 1868-1870, and St. John the Baptist School,
1870-1874. He was then assigned to Annunciation School in
St. Louis, Missouri, in August 1874. He was the first of three
victims of smallpox in the community.
30. 1901: Brother Immanuel of Mary (Bernard
Flynn) died in Westchester, New York, at age 67. He was
born in Longford, Ireland, on October 30, 1834, and migrated
to New York. In 1860, at age 26 he entered the novitiate in
Montreal, Canada. He served as a teacher and a director in
many schools in Canada, the Midwest, the Northeast, and one
in the Deep South—director of St. Joseph’s School in Baton
Rouge, Louisiana, 1871-1872.
30. 1981: Brother Jean (Ngoan Duong)
died at age 80 in Lafayette, Louisiana, after a long illness. He
was born on September 21, 1901, in Kinelong, Quongtri,
Vietnam, in a pagan family. He converted to Christianity and
received the brother’s garb in the novitiate in Hue, Vietnam,
on August 15, 1922. He spent 51 years, from 1924 to 1975,
teaching in brothers’ schools in Hue, Hanoi, Nam Binh,
Natrang, Thue Due, and Ving Tsu. When Saigon fell to the
invading Communists in 1975, he was among the thousands of
Vietnamese people who escaped from the country. Many of
the Christian Brothers sought refuge in the United States, and
Brother Jean, then 74 years old, found it in the retirement
community at De La Salle in Lafayette.
31. None.
Produced by Br. James N. Grahmann, FSC