Notable events for the month of April include:
One Year Ago
April 26, 2014 — A fire company in Lima, Peru, dedicated several pieces of equipment in memory of Mychal Judge, OFM, who died on Sept. 11. (Christopher Dunn, OFM, serves as chaplain of Company 120 and the 24th Division – Lima South, composed of five battalions and 18 companies.)
Five Years Ago
April 8, 2010 — Provincial Minister John O’Connor, OFM, and Provincial Vicar Dominic Monti, OFM, participated in the closing ceremonies of the nearly 500-year-old St. Elizabeth of Thuringia Province in central Germany. (John and Dominic thanked the Fulda province for its “great contribution” to Holy Name Province. Roughly 90 friars from the Province of St. Elizabeth died as members of HNP — 65 were among the founding members of Holy Name in 1901 and later, approximately 25 skilled lay brothers were recruited between 1920 and 1935 to work in the U.S.)
April 25, 2010 — Three new buildings were dedicated at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Raleigh, N.C. — the Assisi Community Center, St. Mary of the Angels Chapel and Elizabeth Hall. (St. Francis Parish was founded on April 25, 1982.)
15 Years Ago
April 15, 2000 — Dominic Ternan, OFM, the first American Franciscan to die on a World War II battlefield, was inducted into the St. Bonaventure University Seneca Battalion Army ROTC Hall of Fame. A first lieutenant in the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps, Dominic was killed in action on June 19, 1944 near Valognes, France. He was administering the Last Rite to a wounded soldier when he was shot in the back by a German sniper.
30 Years Ago
April 7, 1985 — A mission in Cuthbert, Ga., staffed by the friars from Blakely, was opened.
April 25, 1985 — A departure ceremony was held at St. Francis of Assisi Church in New York City for the Custody of Brazil’s first contracted lay missioners – Arthur and Brenda Powers and their daughters, Cristina and Angelica.
— Compiled by Maria Hayes