Deceased Friars

Bernard Trainor, OFM

Bernard Trainor

1911 – 1969

Fr. Bernard Trainor, OFM, was born in Jamestown, N.Y., on Aug. 5, 1911. He attended St. Bonaventure College in Allegany, N.Y., and entered the novitiate at St. Bonaventure Church in Paterson, N.J., on Aug. 12, 1936. He professed temporary vows Sept. 14, 1937, and made his profession of solemn vows Sept. 17, 1940. Fr. Bernard was ordained a priest at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., on May 28, 1942.

Fr. Bernard volunteered for the new mission in Brazil and arrived in Goias in 1943. For 13 years, he worked among the poor, the sick and the illiterate, and is considered one of the “Founding Fathers” of the Brazilian mission of Holy Name Province. He worked in Catalao for two years and then in Anapolis, where he planned and built a parish plant.

After 13 years in Brazil, he returned to the United States and worked at St. Francis of Assisi Church in New York City and St. Elizabeth Friary in Denver. In 1953, he returned to Brazil for 12 more years of dedicated missionary work, and from 1958 until 1965 was a counselor of the Brazilian Commissariat.

Fr. Bernard was a friar of deep faith with a visible compassion for the poor. He died in his sleep at St. Francis Hospital in Miami Beach, Fla., on May 14, 1969. He was 57 years old, a professed friar for 31 years and a priest for almost 27 years.

Each of us should be called a lesser brother, a Friar Minor. Each one of us should wash the feet of the others.”

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Bernard Trainor, OFM

Bernard Trainor

1911 – 1969

Fr. Bernard Trainor, OFM, was born in Jamestown, N.Y., on Aug. 5, 1911. He attended St. Bonaventure College in Allegany, N.Y., and entered the novitiate at St. Bonaventure Church in Paterson, N.J., on Aug. 12, 1936. He professed temporary vows Sept. 14, 1937, and made his profession of solemn vows Sept. 17, 1940. Fr. Bernard was ordained a priest at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., on May 28, 1942.

Fr. Bernard volunteered for the new mission in Brazil and arrived in Goias in 1943. For 13 years, he worked among the poor, the sick and the illiterate, and is considered one of the “Founding Fathers” of the Brazilian mission of Holy Name Province. He worked in Catalao for two years and then in Anapolis, where he planned and built a parish plant.

After 13 years in Brazil, he returned to the United States and worked at St. Francis of Assisi Church in New York City and St. Elizabeth Friary in Denver. In 1953, he returned to Brazil for 12 more years of dedicated missionary work, and from 1958 until 1965 was a counselor of the Brazilian Commissariat.

Fr. Bernard was a friar of deep faith with a visible compassion for the poor. He died in his sleep at St. Francis Hospital in Miami Beach, Fla., on May 14, 1969. He was 57 years old, a professed friar for 31 years and a priest for almost 27 years.