The Denouement

by Brother André Marie July 11th, 2009

Since our announcement about Brother Francis’ health, our venerable Superior has had many visitors. Family from Canada and Ohio have joined friends and relations from the New England states coming to say their good-byes. A Benedictine Abbot and a retired Massachusetts State Supreme Court justice have been among the VIPs to see him. We expect the visits of priests, religious, and lay faithful who knew Brother to continue in a steady stream.

Brother is now on oxygen and is in need of more assistance than even a week ago. The brothers have stepped up our time with him, so that he is attended very closely during his waking and sleeping hours. Readers of our web site may have noticed the resulting lag in our publishing schedule. We have kept all our apostolates going during this time, but the web site — and the piling-up emails! — have taken the hardest hit.

We again ask your prayers for Brother Francis and his religious family during this time. As he lays ill, we at the Center are beset with challenges of various sorts. This is not surprising. One would expect that at the denouement of an old spiritual warrior’s combats, Heaven and Hell would both be particularly interested.

Times of trial are also times of grace — and those who help to bring us grace are the saints. Readers may be interested to know of Brother Francis’ particular devotion to Saint Thérèse of Lisieux and Saint Teresa of Avila (the patrons for his “American trip” from Lebanon, which ended up lasting almost seventy years!), in addition to his love of Saint Francis Xavier, his patron saint.

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(2 votes, average: 4.50 out of 5)

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This entry was posted on Saturday, July 11th, 2009 at 10:32 am and is filed under Announcements, Columns, The Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

http://crusader888.blogspot.com/ Leslie Higgins

Oh, I am just learning of this now. I will pray for him.
Lawrence Sutliff

Brother Francis’ writings and tapes have always been an inspiration to me. May Our Lord and Our Lady give him many graces and comforts in his time of need.
ED

I’m calling him BROTHER FRANCIS THE LOYAL…….few have been as loyal to JESUS , his teachings and to his friend and mentor Father Feeney!!!!! I also want to wish him an early HAPPY BIRTHDAY as #96 arrives Sunday. May JESUS give him the grace of perserverence.
Peter Conklin

God bless Brother Francis. He is in the thoughts and prayers of an admirer from Kentucky. And “hello” to all my old friends at St. Benedict’s Center. I hope everyone is doing well and is prospering spiritually during these gloriously difficult times.
David Brindle

Definitely will keep Brother in our family Rosary.
http://www.youtube.com/osanctissima Josemaria

Κύριε Ιησού Χριστέ, Υιέ του Θεού, ελέησόν με τον αμαρτωλόν.
Thomas Nelson

Why don’t they do an aortic valve replacement?
http://brotherandre.stblogs.com/ Brother André Marie

Mr. Nelson: At 96 years old, Brother Francis is not a candidate for this very invasive procedure. So say the cardiologists.
David E. Dowd

The privilege of friendship with members of the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary afforded me the opportunity to read much of Fr. Feeney’s works and the story of this remnant order.
Extra Ecclesia Nulla Salas, in my opinion, is a primary motivation for some of our beloved priest explorers from St. Francis Xavier SJ to Blessed Father Junipero Serra OFM to Saint Isaac Jogues. Seeking the salvation of souls, these men traveled great lengths to bring the good news.

Brother Francis is one of the last living remnants of the age in our Church before modernity uprooted our faith from our traditional bearings.

With the privilege of living in the house of Fr. Rosarias became acquainted with a good priest who has worked long and hard to preserve the treasures of our faith, (start your exploration at fetal-pain.com) Fr. Rosarias had been asked to say Mass for the community in NH where Brother Francis lived.

May your final sufferings, Brother Francis, in Christ, be offered in reparation for all the damages done to our reverence, our beloved faith, our hearts and our souls which took place after our faith was uprooted from her traditions.

Under the mercy,

In Christ,
Dave Dowd
Westbrook, Ct

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