Tower Topics ~ Spring 2003

At about 9:35 in the evening, 5 November, 2002, our confrere

BRO. LEO PRICHARD, O.S.B.

peacefully passed to eternal life, fortified by the Sacrament of Anointing with confreres at his side in prayer. Many times in the last ten years, Brother Leo was close to death, suffering severe attacks of emphysema. He knew that one day, death would probably come for him in this way. We trust he was prepared to answer God’s call to the Kingdom when it came.

The future Brother Leo was born the son of Edward and Marie Prichard on 15 February 1930 in Wichita, Kansas. At his baptism he was given the name Paul Patrick, and was to be known familiarly as Pat. He grew up in Wichita, attending St. Mary’s Cathedral grade school for six years and St. Patrick grade school for two. He graduated from the Cathedral high school in 1948.

Upon graduation from high school he worked for a short time for an engineering company and then entered the military service. His tour of duty lasted four years during which he was stationed first with the Kansas Air National Guard and later with the 137th Fighter-Bomber Wing at Alexandria Air Force Base, Louisiana. In this latter assignment he served as a staff sergeant and apparently at that time honed his extraordinary skills as a typist which served him well in the many positions he held in later years.

Brother Leo was known for his blazing typing, a skill he
learned in the military.

It seems that, only after his discharge from the service in 1952, did he begin to consider a vocation to the religious life. He briefly investigated the religious life with the Holy Cross Brothers at Notre Dame, but then returned to secular life. He worked for an oil field manufacturing company in Kansas for a year, then for Continental Trailways in Los Angeles for a year, and finally for RCA Victor for two years.

In 1956, at the suggestion of his brother, Tony, a priest of the Wichita Diocese who had earlier been a monk of Conception Abbey, he entered the Abbey’s daughter-house, Pius X Monastery, Pevely, Missouri. He made simple profession there on 3 September 1958, and solemn vows in 1961. He served the community there as its procurator-treasurer from 1961 to 1963. In April of 1963 he came to Conception Abbey.

His first and longest assignment here was as assistant librarian. For more than twenty years, from 1963 to 1986, he helped make the library an institution that always mightily impressed the North Central Association visitators when they came to evaluate the Seminary College. During much of this time he was also the semi-official mail-man, going every morning to the post office in the “yellow bus,” a 1953 GMC panel truck which was designated as his “Tornado Mail Service” vehicle. Brother Leo outlasted that truck which eventually had to be put in retirement, the passing of an age.

Like most monks, he wore a number of hats in addition to his principal assignment: along the way he also served as an associate dean of formation, as an associate guest master, as a member of the Fire and Safety Team, and as a member of various committees which are never lacking in the monastery. All of these tasks he performed with an enthusiasm and good will-- that were fortified by his unique sense of humor-- that made him an example of monastic zeal to his confreres.

In 1986 he was involved in a general shift of personnel, left the library, and was appointed associate business manager, custodian of the house and the abbey workshop, and director of the vestry, all positions which he fulfilled until the end of 1991. In 1992 he was rewarded with a sabbatical, from January 1992 to September, a time which he spent working at the Anthony Shelter Center, a place for the homeless, sponsored by the Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Wichita.

In October 1992 he became the manager of the Abbey’s Benet Book Store, which immediately took on the semi-official name of Leo-Mart and began to offer items that formerly had not been considered. At the same time he was also named the Director of Oblates, a position which he performed with great relish, becoming a popular figure with our many lay-Oblates, especially those who came to attend the periodic retreats he arranged for them. He also became house manager in 1994.

It was about this time that Brother Leo’s rather heavy smoking habit began to take its toll: emphysema began to limit his energetic activity more and more over the years until it became necessary to retire from his position, to use oxygen much of the time. Finally, he was forced to move to the infirmary where he spent the last years of his life, experiencing many episodes of serious illness and showing a patience and resignation in his sufferings that would not have been suspected in his earlier years.

Brother Leo is survived by his sister, Mrs. Joan Leis of Mesa, Arizona, and her daughter Sr. Rebecca Leis, OSB of Clyde, Missouri, a brother James Robert (Bob) of Wichita, Kansas, two sisters-in-law, three nephews and nieces.

Vespers of the Faithful Departed was sung on Thursday evening, 7 November at 7:15 p.m. The Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on Friday morning, 8 November at 11:00 a.m. in the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, followed by burial in St. Columba's Cemetery. May he rest in peace.

Abbot Gregory and community