Circular No 378

Newsletter for past alumni of The Abbey School, Mt. St. Benedict, Trinidad and Tobago, W.I.

Caracas, 31 January 2009 No. 378

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

Dear Friends,

This is the third issue on Fr. Benedict, the emails that were received and did not fit into No. 375 or 376.

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

Fr Benedict's article taken from Pax Abbey website

Fr Benedict finally joins the STARS!

The Abbot and Monks of the Abbey of Mount St Benedict report the sad news of the passing away of Fr Benedict Simons, OSB, on Thursday 01 January 2009 at 6:20 pm at the age of 89 years. Cornelius Benedictus Maria Simons was born in The Hague in Holland on 18 June 1919 and joined the Abbey of Mount St Benedict on 08 December 1947, where he was given the name “Benedict”. He was professed as a monk on 21 March 1949 and ordained to the Priesthood on 28 October 1952. Fr Benedict was one of the most loved and sought after monks at the Abbey and always radiated a spirit of joy. He will be greatly missed by the monks and by the many pilgrims who sought him out as a ready confessor, confidant, adviser and friend. Please remember him in your prayers. The funeral of Fr Benedict took place at the Abbey Church at 10:00 am on Saturday 03 January 2009. The funeral homily is given below:

Soon after Fr Benedict passed away on Thursday, we found a note in his room, written in his own handwriting. It read as follows: “Goodbye, Dear Brothers and Sisters! May God richly bless you and me, AMEN! (Signed) Fr Benedict”. He had actually shown one of the brothers this note before he was taken to the hospital on Wednesday and told him where to find it. Benedict knew that his time was fast approaching. Co-founder of the Trinidad and Tobago Astronomical Society and editor of the Astro News for several years, one may be tempted to say that he read his fate in the stars. However, Benedict always took time to clarify the difference between astrology, which he detested, and astronomy, which he loved dearly. He spent his entire life pointing out the stars to all who crossed his path.

His love for the stars and for astronomy was indicative of the man we are burying today. He always pointed away from himself. And he always pointed out the lovely - the beautiful - the true. In so doing Benedict was very much like John the Baptist in today’s Gospel, who pointed others away from himself and to Jesus: “Look, there is the lamb of God …”

And if there was no beauty, no truth, it made him very sad. On his last visit to his native Holland in 1976, Benedict was very disturbed about a trend towards materialism and hedonism that he had found there.So saddened was he, that when he returned from his vacation 33 years ago, he vowed never to return to “pagan” Holland. And this was but one of the vows that Benedict kept.

The word, Benedict, means “blessed”. And, indeed, he was blessed in many ways. Fr Benedict would always introduce himself to people whom he met for the first time, as the man after whom Mount St Benedict was named. He had a lovely sense of humour and a way of always pointing to the good, the true and the beautiful. This was most manifest in his great love for photography. At Mount St Benedict we have thousands of photographs that he had taken over his long life as a monk. And each of these photographs tell us a story. They tell us a story about God’s presence in our midst. Whether it was God in the midst of Liturgy School at Benet Hall, or in a group retreat at Mount St Benedict, or merely about the homely presence of a God who dwells with our community at the Mount in our prayer, our work and in our common recreation, there was Fr Benedict with his camera, capturing Jesus’ presence on film and pointing him out to others. This was the John the Baptist in our Community. Sometimes we wonder … if digital cameras were invented when he was in his heyday, what would have been the result – maybe millions and not thousands of photos left behind?

At the Abbey School, he was the great scientist, always up to some new invention. He was known to all the students as “Fr. Voosh”. Always up to something, never an idle moment, he took St. Benedict’s words to heart: “Idleness is the enemy of the soul.” In the waiting room at the Doctor’s Office, on his bed waiting for the nurse to bring his medication, his mind was always racing – always thinking and writing – never an idle moment!

Today’s Gospel from John is indeed very appropriate for our funeral celebration. John the Baptist was always seeking to decrease in importance so that Jesus could be more visible to others. This was the way of John, it is the way of the Christian, it is the way of the monk, it is the way of Fr Benedict. In all his varied interests and activities as a monk over the past 60 years, Fr Benedict was merely doing what John taught us to do – pointing the way to Jesus.

God has blessed the Mount with a beautiful person, with a beautiful life and with a wonderful example for the younger ones, like me, who have been left behind. Thank you, Fr Benedict, for a life well lived, thanks for the love, thanks for the passion, thanks for the energy and thanks for the witness! Yes, you have seen and you are the witness that Jesus is the Chosen One of God!

We have received messages from all over the world supporting us at this crucial time. The family of Fr Benedict in Holland have sent special greetings, and although they are unable to be present with us in person, they are supporting us in spirit, with their prayer and concern. May God bless them abundantly! The brothers at our monastery in Guyana are also with us in spirit. Unfortunately they also are unable to be present. We particularly regret the absence of Bro Paschal Jordan, who Fr Benedict always said was his best music student. May the music that Fr Benedict taught at the Abbey now echo in the heavenly choirs of angels!

And may God bless all of you who have taken time to be present here and to support us with your love and your prayer. God bless you all!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.

tevelyn

Thursday, January 1, 2009 10:15:30 PM

Ladislao,

I today learnt of the death of Fr. Benedict and would let you know that he arrived at the Mount as a young cleric in 1948/49.

I remember him as a big guy and interested in science.

He along with all the others will be together again after all these years.

The wonderful memories I still have after 60 years it is a pity that we do not hear from some of the original students who are still alive today.

However my friend may GOD bless you for all you have to keep together the ones that care.

May I take this opportunity although late to Wish YOU and your family the very Best for 2009

Regards

Trevor Evelyn

1945 to 1949

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.

Re: Fr. Benedict RIP

Attila GYURIS

Friday, January 2, 2009 2:14:32 PM

Yes, May he rest in peace.

Good ol' Fr. Voosh... many of my Abbey School b&w photos were made by him, and also as my science teacher, he gave me a love for the sciences.

Attila Gyuris

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------.

Fr Benedict's funeral - Picture

Nigel P. Boos

Monday, January 5, 2009 6:46:13 AM

From: Peter Tang <peter.a.tang@gmail.com>

Date: January 4, 2009 6:42:28 PM GMT-05:00

Peter,

Thanks for the picture of Rughead, Jon Golding and Anthony Lucky.

It's a shame that more OB's couldn't make it to the funeral, but such is life, I guess.

It must be very hard on the old monks now, to see their numbers dwindling, with few, if any, new postulates, and wondering what went wrong..... if anything.

Best wishes to you and yours.

Nigel

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.

On 4-Jan-09, at 6:40 PM, Peter Tang wrote:

A peaceful and healthy 09 to you and your family.

Fr Voosh had a good send off.

Was very hard for the old monks left behind.

They are all old now .

Too me its very sad.

Didn't see too many old boys there.

Here's a phone photo of old, Ruggead ( Fr Augustine) John Golding (young gunk) and Anthony Lucky ( Justice )

Can circulate it to others.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------.

Nigel P. Boos

Monday, January 5, 2009 9:30:15 PM

Thank you very much for your additional insights, Attila.

I agree entirely with you.

Fr. Benedict was certainly a child at heart, filled with the wonder of creation and he made a fantastic contribution to our education and love for science.

God rest him.

Nigel P. Boos

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.

On 5-Jan-09, at 7:52 PM, Attila GYURIS wrote:

Dear old Fr. Benedict,... one of the few priests at the Mount who was loved by all and hated by none.

May he rest in peace among his many experiments in his lab in heaven.

He was my general science teacher on Forms I and II / III. 1965-66 and 1966-67

Also he took the class pictures and special events photographs in black & white with a huge tripod mounted reflex camera.

He developed the film himself.

I still have several of those pictures he took and developed.

Really nice guy, always willing to help.

He inspired me to like the sciences.

He probably influenced my choice of major at the University also. (perhaps as much as Miss Kitty Marcus did) .

He had a child's wonderment and awe about science that was contagious.

Once I remember, during one of the science classes, I had a question about the limits of heat and temperature.

He invited to go to his lab in the Monastery to discuss with him my seemingly logical (but erroneous) thesis that "if there was an absolute zero temperature limit.. then there must be an absolute maximum temperature limit as well".

And we stayed up talking about this for hours.

Of course back then we both had no knowledge of quantum mechanics, plasma theory or string theory...It was all classical thermodynamics stuff, and I came away with my brain hurting, with more questions than answers, but wonderfully inspired nonetheless.

At another time and during another visit to his lab to find out why some magnets were stronger than others.

He showed me how to measure the strength of magnets, and I will never forget the term, the strength of small magnetic fields are measured in Gauss, He taught me that term.

Attila Gyuris

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
--- On Sun, 1/4/09, gevelyn1@bellsouth.net wrote:

Date: Sunday, January 4, 2009, 3:38 PM

I bet he is on the board of antique electronic devices in Heaven----

The only other to equal him was Sonny Blar--- A Mount boy.

Not as much passion as Voooooosh but had a home built HAM radio back in the early 60's.

Could fix anything that plugged in the wall

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

Original message from Glen Mckoy <mckoy43glen@hotmail.com>:

Re: Fr. Benedict

Thank you for the email, best of the new year, I remember him as, a good man, always with a smile, even when we were not paying attention in class,

May God bless his soul, another light is out on our mountain, may the others shine brighter, Amen.

best regards,

Glen McKoy.

----- Original Message ------------------------------------------

From: Nigel P. Boos

Sent: Friday, January 02, 2009 1:00 PM

For all you OB's out there, perhaps you'd like to add your own memories as well.

Voosh's funeral is tomorrow - Saturday. Time - 10.30 a.m.

Nigel

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.

From: amickiew@comcast.net

Date: Sat, 3 Jan 2009 10:21:26 -0600

He was also a businessman.

He introduced us to the transistor radio when they were first introduced in Trinidad circa 1958.

He bought about 10 of them and then resold them at a small profit to some of us; I was one of his clients.

Pax Dominum.

May he rest in peace, forever and ever,

Amen.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------.

Re: Fr. Benedict's Heavenly Homecoming Photos‏

From: kazim abasali (kazim2u@gmail.com)

Sent: Wed 1/07/09 7:05 PM

Here is the last pic I took of Fr. Benedict at the last reunion we had after our church service.

Blessings to you...

Kazim

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------.

Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2009 08:58:21 -0500

Hi Abbey School Alumni,

These are the pics I took this last Saturday at Fr. Benedict's funeral service which I called his Heavenly Homecoming.

Kindly share with others.

Blessings to you all.....

Kazim Abasali

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------.

arthurxavierusa@aol.com

4 Jan (5 days ago)

Fr. Benedict died Thursday December 1st 2009 and was buried at the mount on Saturday 3rd.

All the best,

Arthur Xavier

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------.

RE. Circular No. 373, The Abbey School MSB

Dear Ladislao,

Happy New Year.

A few minutes ago I received an e- mail from Nigel Boos.

He received the sad news from Peter tang. Fr. Benedict ("Voosh") died at 6.30 pm today at the Abbey, Mt. St Benedict, Trinidad.

May his soul rest in peace.

The funeral will take place on Saturday 3 January 2009.

Regards,

Anthony.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.

Re: Memories of Fr. Benedict-Science Class

jongolding

Hey Ricardo

How 'bout if we go to the funeral tomorrow?

I have not been in the Ferrari yet!!

Let me know.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.

That is for now, till the next one

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

08DM5191REUNION2008, Norman Sabga and Jean De Meillac

09PT0002FAUGRP, Fr. Augustine, Jon Golding and Anthony Lucky.

08KA1183FBE, One of the last photos of Fr. Benedict.

09KA2012FBE, Final resting place of Fr. Benedict.

Circular No 377

Newsletter for past alumni of The Abbey School, Mt. St. Benedict, Trinidad and Tobago, W.I.

Caracas, 24 January 2009 No. 377

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

Dear Friends:

Arise, Lionel, and talk

Nigel P. Boos

Sunday, November 16, 2008 5:32:47 PM

Dear Lionel,

Well, you've sure led us a merry chase, you know.

Rumours abound, concerning your recent departure from the land of the living, and thanks to some interesting detective work (I'd like to hear more about THAT!) from David De Castro and Ron Bento, it appears that those rumours must have been a little premature.

We are (and I'm sure I speak for all the Old Boys of MSB) very pleased to know that you're still "with us" and that the good Lord hasn't yet called you up yonder.

One thing however, remains, and that is to hear from you yourself, and if you would oblige us by writing a short note of confirmation that you haven't yet gone to glory, I guess there'll be a whole lot of smiles around the globe, wherever an Abbey School Old Boy is to be found.

Over to you, Lionel. Arise and talk.

Nigel Boos

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.

Resurrexit, sicut dixit!

Nigel P. Boos

Friday, November 21, 2008 11:14:04 AM

Ah yes!

The dead has arisen.

This is the day that the Lord has made.

Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Welcome, Vince, to the land of the living; to the land of the MSB-Old Boys; to the land of immediate email connections and ol' blag.

Nice to have you with us.

We're happy to hear from you again, and happy too that you 'ent pushin' up daisies yet!

I'm sure that the OB's will be very happy to hear of your resurrection, and of your planned autobiography.

You have been an inspiration for many of us who were fortunate to be taken under your wing during our early days at MSB, and we wish you continued health, strength, faith and love in your Diaconate ministry.

May God bless and keep you and yours, always.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.

On 21-Nov-08, at 9:43 AM, Lionel Roberts wrote:

Dear Nigel,

Greetings from beyond the grave!

I suspect that maybe I am one of a few persons who have had the opportunity of reading his own obituary in print.

Nevertheless it certainly had a huge deflationary effect on my ego.

For it appears that my apparent passing caused not even aripple or some expressions of shock on behalf of the MSB!

But enough of that! I thought that I would have some fun while it lasted.

No Nigel your dear “Brother Vince” had NOT died !

Thanks much for the concern, dear friends.

I think the misunderstanding might be partially due to my fault in as much as I had not corresponded with you or Ladislao for such a long time .

Yes, I have been receiving most of the newsletters; however I would glance through them and put them away until I have more time to read them.

You will be happy to know that I am contemplating beginning work on an autobiography, on the insistent urgings of my family.

In fact I have already begun writing snippets of it for I am no longer a Spring Chicken; I will be Eighty-three years of age next February 28^th.

One of the things I wanted to do was to give a brief overview or background of my life. Many of the “boys:” only knew a little bit about me, so these few lines will expand their knowledge, for those who care.

As you have seen from these lines Nigel, I am very much alive, and I believe, in fairly good health:, physically and. spiritually.

I am three times retired from different jobs and am now exceedingly busy mostly with ministry.

As many of you know, I am a catholic Deacon and this ministry, among other things occupy a considerable amount of my time here in St Petersburg ,Florida..

But more ot this later.

Many of you only knew me as Brother Vincent at the Mount.

However, I had a life before and after I had quite an eventful early Childhood.

I grew up in the jungles of then British Guyana, now Guyana.

I was taken there when I was nine months old, and eventually was taken to Georgetown around eight or nine years old.

All my friends were ‘bucs or aboriginal Indians.

Thus, my early childhood or lifestyle was exotic, to say the least.

So part of my youngest years was pent in The Northwest District on the Pomeroon and Moruca Rivers .

After my School days in Georgetown, Guyana I enlisted in the Royal Artillery of the British Army during World War II at around seventeen years of age, and served in Guyana and Trinidad until the end of the War.

Upon demobilisation, and about year after, I entered The Abbey of Mount St Benedict at the still tender age of twenty.

After one year of Postulancy and two years of the Novitiate, I made my first Trienniel vows for three years.

Culminating in Vows of Perpetual Profession three years later.

It was during the period of my first triennial vows, somewhere in 1950 or 1952 that I was appointed as The Bursar/Account of The Abbey School, taking over from Brother Anthony.

About three or four months after, I was asked to ‘hold on’ as Sport Master (Athletic Director) until a teacher (Mr Achong) returns from vacation in the United States, HE NEVER CAME BACK.

So it was that all students enrolling at The Abbey School at that time had the pleasure or misfortune to encounter the Brother Vincent.

This period at the Abbey was, to me one of the most fruitful, enjoyable and fulfilling period of my life.

It was hard.

I worked and prayed from sunset to sundown and beyond.

For I had to balance my monastic life, which took precedence, with the enormous duties of School Bursar/Accountant with those of the planning, developing and executing all the various sporting activities for the School.

But by the grace of God, I managed.

And I believe that the School benefited from it.

I also believe that this period was the golden era for Sports at the School.

One more point I want make before I leave this period.

One of the most important duties of the Bursar’s office that either fell to me or voluntarily appropriated by me was, for lack of a better word that of a Father/Mother relationship particularly with newly enrolled students.

Many of them leaving home for the first time , being in a strange country, some not able to speak English,.

Some arriving without clothes or required personal necessities and some terribly home sick .

You get the drift! Added to these situations were responsibilities for picking them up at the airport, returning them when its time to return home; booking Flights, obtaining visas, the whole nine yards!

Taking them in to the City to shop And oh yes !, keeping the canteen well stocked and more.

And you know what ?

I enjoyed it all And I derived much satisfaction from seeing them settling in and fitting in to normal school life.

In this process, I was able to make many, many life-long friends both among parents and students.

In April 1962, I obtained a dispensation from vows from Rome , after around Fifteen years as a Benedictine Monk and about twelve or thirteen years at the Abbey School.

It was one of the most wrenching separation of my life to say goodbye to the Monastery and goodbye to the School.

Of course I chose to leave while the School was on vacation, how could I do it otherwise?

Upon leaving, I arranged to emigrate to Brazil where I never visited and knew no one, not even a bird!

And to boot, the first time I heard Portuguese spoken was on the Varig Airline.

Also I did not speak nor understand the language.

Talk about a shot in the dark!

But by the grace of God upon whom I had complete trust I was able to survive.

By the end of April, I was able to get a job and two months later I managed to rent my own house.

And I was on my of becoming a full fledged Cariocan. (resident of Rio de Janeiro.)

Indeed God is good!

On December 22^nd ,1962 I was married to a beautiful, saintly, half-chinese girl from Trinidad .

God-willing, in four year’s time, we hope to be celebrating our golden anniversary of marriage.

We are presently parents of two wonderful sons.

Laurence ,who graduated from Princeton University as a Civil Engineer and works for the Xerox Corporation in Rochester, New York and Christopher, who graduated from Cornell University, New York as an Electrical Engineer and now works for JP Morgan-Chase as a Senior Architect..

Between them, Merlene (my wife) and I are blessed with six beautiful grand children.

In April (again) of 1965 we returned to Trinidad from Brazil, for about four years, finally emigrating to New York, USA where we lived until 1984 when I took retirement and moved to Florida where have resided ever since.

We were very active in New York .

While Merlene worked with the United Nations for eight years or more, I was busy working as Professional Pharmaceutical Representative in New York City for about fifteen years.

Additionally, during this time I worked almost day and night in completing my College degree .

I also studied intensively for five years in the seminary - weekends and nights – to prepare for ordination to Holy Orders - as a Deacon.

I was ordained for the Diocese of Brooklyn , on December 3^rd, 1977’

During these thirty-one years of service to the Church, I was blessed to have had the privilege to serve three dioceses here in the US, I also worked briefly with His Grace’ Archbishop Edward Gilbert Archbishop of Port of Spain, in the planning and laying the groundwork to begin the first Diaconate Program for Trinidad.

The first group of deacons will be ordained, hopefully, some time this coming year.

So as you may have noticed Nigel, The burst of energy that I displayed at the Mount continued since I left the Mount.

And you know what! I don’t think God is finished with me yet! .

So it was an enormous shock to have read of my own demise.

As I complete “these few lines” let me ask you please to give any of the Old Boys who still remember me, and would like write, E-mail or call me to do so.;

* Deacon Lionel Roberts

(home)_Telephone (727) 865-3993

2725 66^th Terrace South

St. Petersburg , Florida , 33712

Blessed Trinity Catholic Church

Telephone (727) 867-3663

1600 54^th Ave South

St. Petersburg , Florida, 33712

Formerly: Brother Vincent, OSB

Please feel free call me by any name Vince or just Lionel will do.

Nigel I will try and get this to Ladislao, but in any event you may forward this to him, as well

And Nigel, if you care, you may call me at any time, it would be great hearing from you

God bless you, my friend

Lionel

N.B. Incidentally, I do have a wealth of information about activities at the Mount and the Abbey School, from another perspective which I can share as time goes on.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------.

FW: BROTHER VINCENT--LIONEL ROBERTS IS VERY MUCH ALIVE

david decastro

HERE IS THE INFORMATION YOU REQUESTED. BRING HIM BACK TO LIFE.

"BANDIT"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.

From: RBENTO@tampabay.rr.com

Date: Sun, 16 Nov 2008 10:23:39 -0500

Dave,

Here is Lionel's e-mail address:

lrober17@tampabay.rr.com

Please notice that the first letter is an "ell" as in Lionel.

It is NOT a one (1). OK, now go resurrect him, bring him back alive (smile).

RON

----- Original Message --------------------------------------------------------------------

From: david decastro

Sent: Saturday, November 15, 2008 11:54 AM

HI RON, WOULD YOU ASK LIONEL FOR HIS EMAIL AND SEND IT TO ME TO FORWARD TO BRING HIM BACK ALIVE

DAVE.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------.

From: nigelboos@eagles-wings.ca
Date: Sat, 15 Nov 2008 07

David,

Have you been able to find any contact information as yet, to confirm that Br. Vince (Lionel Roberts) is still alive?

If so, would you please pass it on to me?

Thanks.

Nigel

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------.

From: "Nigel P. Boos" <nigelboos@eagles-wings.ca>

Date: November 2, 2008 5:26:52 PM GMT-05:00

The first indication that Lionel Roberts had died was given, so far as I can remember, in Ladislao's Circular #360, of 27 September 2008 where he stated:

"Dear Friends

Before I continue with the second part of the tales, I am inviting those who knew "Short Pants" MacIntosh, Llewellyn, to listen to TALK CITY 91.1 FM Trinidad, through Internet, he is the moderator of the daily calypso talk programme, you can call him at (868) 622.4911 for a direct contact.

Today at 21:00 local time, he had an interview with Robert Elias "Mighty Trini" about calypso songs of our time (1960s).

He is promoting the rebirth of Calypso which has been run over by SOCA etc.

I decided to call him at the end of the programme, and to my surprise he picked up the telephone and we had about a 15 minute chat on Mount, and the Reunion in November and I even mentioned the JAM that Glen is trying to get going in Florida.

He give me a sad news, Bro Vincent, Lionel Roberts had died, maybe Salvador can get the details??

To my surprise I was put on the air and even though I never sang a song, I became a participant for at least of 15 minutes after calypso talk time.

If you have some information which would suggest that this is incorrect, I'm sure we would al be interested to know about it.

Please let us have his contact information.

Thanks.

Nigel Boos

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.

On 2-Nov-08, at 5:11 PM, david decastro wrote:

HI NIGEL,

WHO ADVISED THAT LIONEL ROBERTS HAD DIED?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------.

From: nigelboos@eagles-wings.ca

Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2008 17:26:05 -0400

David,

This is great news. Thanks for alerting us.

Can you get his contact information for us, please?

Nigel

------------------------------------------------------------------------.

On 31-Oct-08, at 3:54 PM, david decastro wrote:

HI LADISLAO,

PLEASE ADVISE EVERYONE THAT BROTHER VINCENT--LIONEL ROBERTS, IS VERY MUCH ALIVE. LIVING IN FLORIDA.

"THE BANDIT"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------.

That is for now, till the next one

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

Photos:

65UN0001DLRMAR, photo taken at the marriage ceremony.

06SC0009SCOGRP, Bro. Vincent and wife Marlene with Salvador Coscarart and Gina.

57LK0001BVIGRP, Bro. Vincent with kids at school.

57RB0001a6, Bro. Vincent with Isaias Farcheg.

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

Circular No 376

Newsletter for past alumni of The Abbey School, Mt. St. Benedict, Trinidad and Tobago, W.I.

Caracas, 17 January 2009 No. 376

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

Dear Friends,

Good to hear from you, Brian Gonsalves.

Also due to the large amount of articles on Fr. Benedict, I have included one more here in this Circular.

---------------------------------------------------------------.

Brian Gonsalves

Monday, August 4, 2008 7:58:56 AM

Dear Ladislao,

Many thanks for your email which I have just 'opened' in St Lucia, where I have been on holiday for the past 9 days .... my wife and I are due to fly back to the UK tomorrow (August 5th).

Although I left MSB (with several other 'boys from BG') over 63 years ago, I still cherish many happy memories of Trinidad in general and the Abbey School in particular.

I look forward to keeping in touch via your circulars.

Kindest regards

Brian

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.

From: laszlo kertesz [kertesz11@yahoo.com],

Sent: Monday, August 04, 2008 12:57 AM

Dear Brian,

Good to hear from you.

I am in contact with Clive but no luck with your address.

Hope you get this,

Ladislao

--------------------------------------------------------------.

Re: Memories of Fr. Benedict-Science Class

Richard Farah

Friday, January 2, 2009 7:24:27 PM

Jon,

I can remember that experiment vividly to this day.

And I became a gunpowder freak from that day on to the eternal annoyance of our cascade neighbours at holiday time as they had to endure bombs and rockets every week, as I used to buy the chemicals at Albert Phillips pharmacy corner Queen and Henry streets.

Its amazing that priests like father Benedict gave up their lives to pass on their knowledge gratis.

May god rest his soul.

Richard.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.

From: jongolding

Sent: Fri Jan 02 19:01:47 2009

Nigel,

Please add this to your circular if you think it OK.

I believe these are among the last photos of him which I took on a recent visit to his sick room in the monastery.

It is ironic he took so many pictures of the 'boys' and that the last ones of him should be from the 'boys'.

You might want to add this:

OUR MOST UNFORGETTABLE SCIENCE DEMO

=======================================

1957 - Form 1 class - held in upstairs large study hall - Science class.

I used to sit next to 'Mousey' (Richard Farah) - about 3 months before his mango tree accident which cost him his leg. Brave soul and another Mount Hero!

Fr Benedict was teaching us about gunpowder that day. To demonstrate, he made gunpowder in the class, a mix of Carbon, Potassium Nitrate and Sulfur. Mousey and I quickly wrote down the proportions (which we later bought on a dentist trip to PoS, and tried out in the bush near the reservoir. But we nearly killed Louis Lacour and my brother Geoff!!).

Our intrepid science teacher then produced a small cannon he had made from some lead piping, one end hammered flat, the other end a lethal open gun barrel anchored firmly onto a chunky mahogany 2 by 4.

He positioned the weapon at the hall window aiming it at a mango tree a mile away on the hill across the valley. His intention was to see if he could hit a mango from this distance.

In went the gunpowder followed by a ramrod stick from Brother Joseph's woodwork shop to pack it tight. He then inserted a marble he had confiscated from one the the Venezuelans in an earlier class. (These guys sometimes used to roll a few marbles onto the floor before the monks came in to teach, hoping they'd 'buss their ass' on the floor! But so far no hits. Fr B knew the game and caught one red handed the week before! Anyway he had his cannon ball for the demo and told us that is what he'd do with all the marbles he found on the floor!

Next step, he pulled out a length of Jetex fuse wire. We all held our breath realising this experiment was getting reeeel serious!!! You could hear a pin drop. No other monk/ teacher had ever exhibited such macho bravado in a class that any of us had attended in the prison on the hill.

He ran the wire along the window and inserted the end into a hole in the pipe cannon near the flattened end. He drew a sketch on the blackboard to show us what was going to happen and asked us to write down the chemical equation; C+S+PNi = BANG!!

He then stepped back and pulled out a cigarette lighter (he'd borrowed from Fr Paul, the walking Chimney!). We all began to talk loudly and nervously and duck under the desks. It was pandemonium!! I vividly remember that Mousey and I could not stop laughing - wide-eyed and in disbelief to relieve our anxiety.

"OK, boys, get down, here comes the countdown! Ten - nine - eight - seven .... we all chorused the countdown getting louder and louder. By this time everybody was ducking down below their desks --------------

" - two - one - ZERO!!!" -------------------

Dead Silence!

Nothing happened!

Actually it did!!

We looked up from under the desks and saw he'd just lit the Jetex fuse. I remember some of the guys sitting near the corridor were so scared they ran into the corridor. Others ducked down into the walkway between the desks and crawled to the back of the study hall. Mousey and I were in the second row from the front and we decided to stay put. We kept looking at the fuse hissing its way quickly towards the cannon and saw that our Voosh had moved behind the big desk at the front (where they used to sit to supervise us in study time).

When the fuse sparks were climbing up to the cannon we ducked down for certain this time and did not have to wait too long:

!!!!--------- BBBAAAANNNNGGGGGGGGG!!!----------------!!!!

The cannon let out such a loud bang we could not believe it. Heads slowly began appearing above the desks and we saw a huge amount of smoke coming from the cannon window- an after effect of the explosion.

The next thing I heard was someone starting to clap until we all quickly joined in the rousing applause! Our new military hero - Fr Benedict!!! We'd go into battle for him immediately, confident he knew how to blow away the enemy!!

Well the fun did not last long.

Next thing we knew was Fr Bernard coming rushing down the corridor into the study hall his face as white as a sheet and eyes wide open searching the room madly - as if to find an assassin hiding under a desk. He did not notice Fr Benedict at first since he and the big desk were camouflaged behind the smoke cloud.

Fr Bernard shouted out in near panic:

"What's going on here?"

We all sat frozen as we faced this unexpected after shock! Our dear headmaster had never looked so furious and lethal - as if to prepare himself for the battle that Fr Benedict had signalled with his opening round of cannon fire.

The tension broke when Fr Benedict, amazed at his resounding success (sorry about the pun), called out apologetically, "It's OK, Fr Bernard, it was only an experiment!"

I cannot remember the rest of the dialogue but it was not pretty. Fr Bernard laid into Fr Benedict about how irresponsible it was not to inform him and the rest of the school first. We found out later that the bang was so loud that most of the other classes were cut short as they all ran out into the corridors to see what had happened.

Eventually, Fr Bernard left in a huff and Fr Benedict looked sheepishly at his terminated science lesson, ducking his head down a little with a mischievous grin, but receiving a round of supporting laughter and light applause from his newly initiated class. Yes, this was an initiation - into science - that every one of us present that day will never forget!

From that day on, we all listened intently to every word in his science classes and I believe we all got record marks, never to be repeated again. I am sure someone in our class will get a Nobel Prize for science one day!

For me, it was a true positive initiation into science which I approached fearlessly from then on - I eventually got A's all the way through 'A' levels and university and it is to Fr Benedict I owe my motivation - gaining my BSc(Hons) in the UK eventually.

I know I am joined by all those in the 1957 science class, and beyond, in expressing our utmost affection and admiration for our unsung hero of science education who put more than his best efforts into making our classes interesting and memorable. To top it all, he never needed to get heavy with us for discipline and had a lovely charm and gentle smile - identifying with the 'boy' in all of us - in a way that only few of the other teachers could!

The pictures attached, which I was fortunate to take before he went to be with the Lord, say it all!

Let us pray that one day we also will arrive and see him again at that Heavenly Place where he must be continuing his curious science experiments - since God most certainly would have rewarded him with the biggest science lab and endless gunpowder to shoot down the enemy of our souls.

May God rest our Fr Benedict, a true Benedictine par excellence, and exemplar for us to emulate while we still have the time!

Well done Fr Benedict and may the angels "Voooooosssssssh" you straight up into the Heavens like a cannon ball !!

Your grateful and admiring student

Jon Golding (1955 - 1962)

on behalf of all the science class of 1957

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.

arthurxavierusa@aol.com"

Thursday, January 8, 2009 6:09:01 PM

MSB photo 56DA0001DAMSCOUTs154_s327[1].JPG (253KB)

Ladislao,

Thank you for the prompt response.

Below are my answers (green letters) to your questions (black letters).

Dear Arthur,

I have been looking for news on Fr. Benedict demise.

I cannot find any, can you provide information??

What was his publish eulogy.

I met MSB's Abbot on Tuesday.

Tomorrow Friday, Jan 9^th at 1:30 pm at the mount, a follow-op service will be held for Fr. Benedict. All are invited. There will be a eulogy hand out. I plan to be there.

Was he your teacher?

Yes, I believe as a result I became an Engineer in the US and spent several years (US and international) in Project Management for the construction of Nuclear Power Plants.

Did he take a photo during his time.

I had a long face to face chat with Fr. Benedict a few months ago. I saw several of his old Abbey School photos, including one with me and his student team launching a home made hot air paper balloon (about 2 meters diameter). I was about 15 years old. I vividly remember the launch experience/experiment, it was my initial big turn on to science.

Fr. Benedict was kind enough to give me a run down on his exiting life from his 1933 departure from Holland on a cargo boat to the day we met. His end statement to me was: "I am blessed, I had a wonderful happy life." Ironically, I had a similar conversation with Fr. Illifonse just two weeks before he died. Now I stay away from older priests (smile)

You live in TT??? looking to the telf number.

I have homes in Briarcliff Manor New York, Ocala Florida and a place in T&T - one wife, two daughters and two dogs.

The names I recall on the attached photo are:

MSB photo 56DA0001DAMSCOUTs154_s327[1].JPG (253KB)

7 ? Gabriel (#13's brother),

8. David or Peter Ames,

11. ? Mc Laughlin,

12. Anthony Lucky

13. ? Gabriel (#7's brother),

14. ? Hutton,

16 Geoffrey Xavier (my brother) ,

17. Anthony Sabga,

19, Arthur Xavier (me)

20. Alix Devertille,

20. Luciano Savonijuan,

Maybe others can fill in the blanks. I believe there is a ? Goddard and a Richard Farah in the photo.

God Bless

Thank you! Happy New Year and God Bless to you as well.

Arthur

LAdislao, please acknowledge receipt of this e-mail.

----Original Message------------------------------------------------.

From: arthurxavierusa@aol.com

Sent: Mon, 5 Jan 2009 7:36 pm

Fr. Benedict died Thursday January 1st 2009 and was buried at the mount on Saturday 3rd.

All the best,

Arthur Xavier

Ladislao I will follow-up on your request.

-----Original Message-------------------------------------------------.

From: Ladislao Kertesz <kertesz11@gmail.com>

Sent: Sun, 4 Jan 2009 5:12 pm

Dear Arthur,

I have been looking for news on Fr. Benedict demise.

I cannot find any, can you provide information?? The Circular 375 shall be dedicated to him.

What was his publish eulogy.

Was he your teacher?

Did he take a photo during his time.

You live in TT??? looking to the telf number

God Bless

Ladislao

----------------------------------------------------------------------------.

2009/1/4 <arthurxavierusa@aol.com>

Fr. Benedict died Thursday December 1st 2009 and was buried at the mount on Saturday 3rd.

All the best,

Arthur Xavier

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.

That is for now, till the next one

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

Photos:

08LK0012AACBGO, Brian Goddard and Alberto Ache.

03UN0002GRP, Matias Fedak, Ladislao Kertesz, and Giuseppe Braggio

08GM1571GMIFAM, George Mickiewicz and Family.

08AM0001AMOFAM, Azizul Mohammed and Family.