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By Msgr. Noel C. Burtenshaw
On Palm Sunday evening, after a lengthy illness, Brother Hugh
Reardon, famed gatekeeper at the Trappist Monastery in Conyers, died. He would
have reached his 93rd birthday in May.
“He had been in the hospital for some treatment,” says
Abbot Augustine. “However, he was feeling good and came home. Father
Cyprian, the infirmarian, was bringing dinner to him on Sunday night. He smiled
in his usual way and said, ‘I am not going to be bothering you
anymore.’ Before Father could answer, Brother Hugh died.”
Brother Hugh, who was born in Newport, Rhode Island, was the first
postulant received into the Conyers community after their arrival from
Kentucky. “On the day after Christmas 1945,” remembers Abbot
Augustine, “he arrived. He had read about the new foundation and decided
he wanted to be a part of it here in Georgia. He became a vital part of
it.”
The New Englander was 54-years-old when he joined the monastic
community. His first pre-occupation was helping to build the new monastery. He
would also become one of the shoemakers for the community. But the wise and
well-loved monk would become famous as gatekeeper at the monastery gate. In
1948 he was assigned to this duty and for the next 32 years Brother Hugh was
the greeting hand of the Trappist community to all who came to visit.
“His friends were legion,” says one of the brothers at
the monastery. “The famous and the most unknown, the Catholic and
non-Catholic, the high and the low, all got the same warm, friendly
greeting.”
His gatehouse became a well-stocked bookstore after some years and
soon he was joined by Brother Pius in his apostolate. Together they bantered
good humoredly and were well-known for the effort each made to have the last
word. “Brother Pius died about two years ago,” says Abbot Augustine.
“Brother Hugh missed him. Heaven will not be the same with both of them up
there.”
From childhood, Brother Hugh had a hearing impairment and in the
final years of his life, the well-known monk went totally blind. “But he
managed to get around,” says the Abbot. “And he never lost his quick
wit. One of the monks was doing a survey on the different nationalities we had
in the community. ‘Just put me down as Irish,’ said Hugh.
‘Reardon is the name’”
The funeral Mass for the famous Trappist took place on Tuesday,
March 29. The man who cared for Brother Hugh in his illness, Father Cyprian,
was the homilist. Two surviving nieces, Mrs. Natalie Candy from New York and
Mrs. Barbara Bowen from Virginia, were present.
The Trappist community, his brothers and helpers, gathered for a
last time around their old friend and then took him for burial on the monastery
grounds. In so many ways he had enriched their lives through the many
friendships he created at the monastery gate.
They expect a lot more help from Brother Hugh Reardon now that he
has heard the call to a higher and more lofty gate-place.
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