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

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Dear Friends,

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

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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!

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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--- 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

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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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.

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That is for now, till the next one

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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.