Great Catholic Priests III

[patriarch]

Francis Hamilton

A dedicated priest
By Bernard J. Canon Canning

The Very Reverend Francis Canon Hamilton was born in Rutherglen, Glasgow, on July 16, 1893, feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. He was taught by the Marist Brothers, Glasgow; then joined his father, Alexander, who had a small business in joinery work. His mother died when he was young, his father re-married and moved to Laconia, New Hampshire. While there World War I broke out and Francis joined the American Expeditionary Forces serving in France.

After the war he returned to Scotland before becoming one of the first class of Osterley House, London, a centre opened by the Jesuits to assist those needing Classics education preparatory to studying for the priesthood. He then entered St. Peter’s College, Bearsden, Glasgow to study for the priesthood for Glasgow Archdiocese. He was ordained priest on May 29, 1926 in St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Glasgow. He served as assistant in St. Augustine’s, Langloan, Lanarkshire, St. Joseph’s, Glasgow and St. Patrick’s, Shieldmuir. He became pastor of St. Conval’s, Linwood, near Paisley 1946-1949 and St. James’s, Renfrew, 1949-1974. He became a Canon of Paisley Cathedral Chapter in 1957.

It was in Renfrew that I first met him as a new assistant in Scotland. He was recovering from a serious illness. I was to spend twelve and a half happy years under him. He was a great example for a newly ordained priest to work under. He always valued his priesthood. He was there each morning making his meditation, doing his holy hour each week as a member of the Priests’ Eucharistic League, and ending his day with the Rosary.

Words of the American, Marie L. Weldon, on a priest’s jubilee could be applied to Canon Hamilton’s sharing of the priesthood of Christ:

Years of intimacy with the Eucharistic King,
Years of Growth in love of family and old friends,
Years of welcoming new friends in an ever widening circle,
Years when death of dear ones calls forth hidden fortitude,
Years of search and finding Christ in others,
Years when joy outweighed the stress of living
Years, when only the Living Bread brought peace,
Years of loving service to the Lord and to his people.

Canon Hamilton always displayed great concern for the underprivileged, the down and out, the improvident, in whom he tried to see the suffering Christ. His practical concern for those in need went even to the grave, never allowing anyone to suffer the indignity of a pauper’s grave.

As one beset with almost constant ill health, he knew how important it was to sympathize with the sick of his parish and beyond it. For most of his life he could scarcely eat at all but in his early 80s he had surgery. Thereafter he could eat anything and did until he died at the age of 85! He threatened to have something to say in Heaven to the doctor of his early priesthood who refused to operate on him.

Retiring in 1974 he went to Laconia, New Hampshire, where most of his family resided. Before his retirement he was so seriously ill that his doctor would not remove him to the hospital, thinking he was dying. He had gone unconscious. His housekeeper, a cousin, Miss Peggy McCabe, phoned me and told me he was seriously ill. I went immediately to him and there he lay unconscious. He had received the Sacraments of the Sick. I said the prayers for the dying ending with St. Paul’s own words about fighting the good fight to the end. He immediately opened his eyes and raised his hands to Heaven saying: I have always fought the good fight all my life and will fight to the end! He did. He recovered, retired and lived another five years.

At his golden jubilee in 1976 Bishop Stephen McGill of Paisley said:

You have been first, foremost and always a dedicated Priest of the Lord in the service of his people. The priestly Spirit which animated you was also shown in your work as diocesan director of the Priests’ Eucharistic League, as first diocesan director of the Union of Catholic Mothers and as first director of the diocesan branch of the St. Margaret of Scotland Adoption Society....

Canon Hamilton was Catholic in every sense. He was mission-minded, supporting with enthusiasm and zeal the Pope’s own missionary organization, the Propagation of the Faith, and Holy Childhood Society; was an advocate of the Catholic Press and the apostolate of the written word.

He died on March 15, 1979 and was buried in the family plot in St. Joseph’s Cemetery, Bedford, New Hampshire. The US Army was represented at the funeral in recognition of his service with the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I and formally removed the US Flag from his mahogany casket and gave it to his eldest sister, Miss Catherine Hamilton.

 

[patriarch]

Several of you have expressed gratitude for this series, and I appreciate that very much. It makes it worthwhile.

But you know, in reading the lives of these men I sometimes find myself full of gratitude that such men ever walked the face of the earth, and so recently. What a beautiful thing it is to be a Catholic and to have such saintly examples set before us.

But I wonder, if you are following this every day, when you come to the end of the story, could you make it a prayer, such as "O Lord, give us more priests like this!" Nothing more, but day by day you will be praying for vocations, we will be doing it together, the Lord will hear and will bless us, and much good will come from it.

Lee

 

[Avila]

But you know, in reading the lives of these men I sometimes find myself full of gratitude that such men ever walked the face of the earth, and so recently. What a beautiful thing it is to be a Catholic and to have such saintly examples set before us.

Amen!!!

But I wonder, if you are following this every day, when you come to the end of the story, could you make it a prayer, such as "O Lord, give us more priests like this!" Nothing more, but day by day you will be praying for vocations, we will be doing it together, the Lord will hear and will bless us, and much good will come from it.

Actually, I do pray that every day. Reading these reminds me to pray for vocations, but also to pray for those in the priesthood right now - not just the "good" priests, but also the ones hurting, shamed at a sin they can't rid themselves of, etc...

Thank you, Lee, for posting these wonderful stories!

 

[patriarch]

The Grunt Padre
Vincent R. Capodanno, MM, 1929 - 1967
What is a martyr?
Father Vincent Capodanno was born on February 13, 1929 in Staten Island, NY. He was ordained a priest on June 14, 1958 at Maryknoll, NY. Following his ordination he was assigned to Maryknoll missions in Taiwan. In 1965 he was granted permission by his Superiors to enlist in the U.S. Navy as a chaplain and in 1966 he was assigned to Vietnam, with the U.S.M.C. Third Battalion, Fifth Marine Regiment. On September 4, 1967 he was killed in action, in Que Son Valley, Quang Tin Province, South Vietnam, 30 miles south of Dan Nang. He was giving last rites to wounded and dying Americans in the heat of battle.
The following is an eye witness account of his final moments.

"We had a chaplain, a Maryknoll priest named Capodanno, who had been over here for 16 months. Usual tour of duty in Vietnam is 12 months but the good padre had it extended on condition that he would be allowed to continue with the "grunts" (term applied to marine infantry men) ... He appeared, in spite of his quiet unpretentious manner, to be a veritable thorn in the Division Chaplain's bald head. The D.C. wanted Fr. C. to live at Headquarters from where he could "spoke" out to all the battalions in the division - but Fr. C. would have none of that. His mission was to the grunts, fighting in the front lines whom he felt really needed a chaplain. His audience was always a small group of 20-40 marines gathered together on a hill or behind some rocks, hearing confessions, saying Mass. It was almost as though he had decided to leave the "other 99" in a safe area and go after the one who had gotten in trouble. Over here there is a written policy that if you get three Purple Hearts you go home within 48 hours. On Labor Day our battalion ran into a world of trouble. When Fr. C. arrived on the scene it was 500 marines against 2,500 N. Vietnamese. We were constantly on the verge of being overrun and the marines on several occasions had to "advance in a retrograde movement". This left the dead and wounded outside the perimeter as they slowly withdrew. Early in the day he was shot in the right hand - one corpsman patched him up and tried to evacuate him to the rear but Fr. C. declined, saying he had work to do. A few hours later a mortar shell landed near him and left his right arm hanging in shreds. Once again he was patched up and again he refused evacuation. There he was, moving slowly from wounded to dead to wounded, using his left arm to support his right as he gave absolution, when he suddenly spied a corpsman get knocked down by a burst from an automatic weapon. The man was shot in the leg and couldn't move. Fr. C. ran out to him and positioned himself between the injured boy and the weapon. The weapon opened up again and this time riddled Fr. C. completely, and - with his third Purple Heart of the day - Father went Home."
Father Capodanno's greatest desire was to remain with his troops and to experience their fears and give them moral support. As a 20-year-old corporal, quoted in the New York Times' September 9, 1967 edition, said, "Somehow he just seemed to act the way a man of God should act." Father Capodanno's death came during a week in which a total of 114 marines were killed and 283 were wounded in the parched hills and rice paddies near Tamky.
In January 1969, Lieutenant Vincent R. Capodanno, MM, became the second chaplain in United States history to receive our nation's highest military honor. "For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty ...", he was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. In addition, he was also awarded the National Defense Service Medal and the Vietnam Service Medal. The government of Vietnam awarded him the Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Silver Star and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal with device. Another lasting tribute was paid Father Capodanno when on February 7, 1968, the Newport Naval Base dedicated the Capodanno Memorial Chapel in his honor.
To many he was a great fellow, brother, man, priest, marine. And his only weapon was his faith. As Chaplain Eli Takesian, a Presbyterian chaplain with the Fifth Regiment, stated in his eulogy "His was a pilgrimage of a saint. Even to the end he faithfully held to the precept of Our Lord that 'greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.' For the life and Christian witness of Chaplain Vincent Robert Capodanno, thanks be to God. Amen"
Read Reflections on the Legacy of the Grunt Padre
Also of interest: Maryknoll in Vietnam West Point Retreats at Maryknoll

Sept. 4 Ceremonies Honoring Fr. Vincent R. Capodanno, MM, Class of 1958
• 11:00AM Mass followed by taps and fly-over at Fr. Capodanno's memorial statue
Ft. Wadsworth, Staten Island, NY.
• Book Signing by Fr. Daniel L. Mode author of The Grunt Padre.

For more on Father Capadanno read The Grunt Padre by Fr. Daniel L. Mode. Foreword & Introduction by Col. Gerald H. Turley USMC (Ret.) & the Most Rev. Edwin F. O'Brien, Archbishop of the Military Services, USA.

Order The Grunt Padre through CMJ Marian Publishers Call toll free 1-888-636-6799.

 

[patriarch]

MY FAVORITE PRIEST

A priest for life
By Bill Foley

The local newspaper for Carroll County, Georgia, began its article on Monsignor Michael Regan: “Carroll County’s most well-known, and arguably most-beloved Roman Catholic, has died at age 77.” This good pastor was loved because he radiated the love of Christ, a result of his having died to self-love and of his becoming immersed in the charity of Jesus.

The heart of Monsignor Regan’s life was intimacy with Jesus, a result of a deep prayer life. When he was recruited from Philadelphia by Bishop Hyland to come to Georgia in 1950, he agreed, provided one condition could be met. He had to be allowed to continue his practice of spending one hour of daily mental prayer in front of the Blessed Sacrament.

When I became a member of his parish in 1973, Monsignor and I developed a very close bond. I would accompany him on many trips, usually to Atlanta, and he would always have us say the rosary coming and going.

I returned to Carrollton, Georgia, in May of 1996 for the celebration of Monsignor Regan’s fiftieth anniversary of his ordination. During the homily of the Mass, he stated that the fifty years of his priesthood had been a honeymoon with Jesus. This was not a self-centered honeymoon because he had allowed so many of us to go on it with him.

Monsignor Regan was a Priest for Life long before that organization had even been conceived. He convinced Louise Summerhill to bring Birth Right into the United States. He would drive several of us parishioners to local neighborhoods, where we would hand out pro-life literature as he was praying the rosary in the van. He was even unjustly put in jail for praying outside an abortion mill in Atlanta. Monsignor Regan’s hospitality rivaled that of Bethany. In 1973 a group of men from his former parish, Immaculate Heart of Mary in Atlanta, joined several of us in Carrollton to install a chain-link fence around two acres of land on the grounds of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church. About noon we heard a loud bell and the cry: “Come and get it.” Monsignor had cooked a large meal for all of us men. He did all of the cooking and housekeeping at the rectory himself until some parishioners finally persuaded him at a later date to have a lady come in a couple of days per week to help him.

Teenagers from his former parish would often come down for a weekend stay with Monsignor Regan. I once came by the rectory early on a Sunday morning and found several sleeping bags on the living room floor. These young people would do anything for this priest whom they loved so much.

I became friends with a young couple who moved into Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish. The topic of Monsignor Regan came up during a conversation, and they described how they first met him. After they had driven to the rectory and knocked on the door, Monsignor greeted them with a big smile and asked them to come in. He immediately gave them something to eat, told them that God had sent them to this church, and said that the parish was so blessed to have them. This couple said that they had never experienced such kindness and love outside their family circle.

A carnival came to Carroll County, and a couple who worked there were beaten up and robbed. Monsignor Regan allowed them to stay at the rectory until they mended and found work.

Monsignor Regan did not own a television, and he rarely took time off because he was the only priest for a parish that extended for a radius of fifty miles. His flock grew by leaps and bounds mainly because God was effecting numerous conversions by means of his docile, humble servant.

Monsignor Regan’s energy seemed boundless when it came to serving the sick and the bereaved. I once went with him to a rosary in Atlanta for a former parishioner. After he had recited the prayers, he consoled the surviving wife and her three young children on an individual basis in an adjoining room.

Monsignor Regan was totally faithful to John Paul II’s dictum: “There is no love without truth.” He always preached and taught the full doctrine of the Catholic faith. He was a papist who made the truth attractive because he lived it.

On August 8, 1999, the Holy Trinity answered the prayer on Monsignor Regan’s remembrance card for his golden jubilee: “My God, I give Thee thanks for what Thou givest, and for what Thou takest away. Thy will be done.”


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------