Fr. Eddie – as we always called him – was an Irishman through and through. By the time of his death on July 6, 2020 in Maryland, he had come to be a professed religious, a priest, and a real man of prayer through and through as well.
As a priest of the Institute of the Incarnate Word (IVE), the male branch of our Religious Family, Fr. Eddie was also for us a brother in our charism, a father at the altar, and a dear friend in his last illness.
In this post we wish to share some of our special memories of him, and thus to compliment the more detailed chronicle about his early life in Ireland and the journey of his vocation can be found on IVEAmerica.org.
Though he entered religious life in Italy as an older vocation, he soon came to the United States in 2012 to continue his studies in English – as opposed to Italian. Fr. Eddie became a cheerful and much loved figure at the seminary and in his apostolates. He made professed final vows on May 8, 2015, and was ordained to the priesthood in Washington, DC on May 28, 2016.
View from the Sisters
In last year of his life, Fr. Eddie’s mounting health problems kept him from his apostolate at the local nursing homes and from celebrating public masses. As he became more and more physically weak, our sisters began to share in certain aspects of his care with our IVE brothers. We share with you some of their memories and reflections.
A Creative Approach for One in Need
During the weekdays, two sisters would head over to the seminary and accompany Father for lunch, tidy up a little and pray with him. For some time, Father Eddie was having difficulty eating and building up his strength. We needed to make sure he ate and ate well. He had a special diet, so we had to be creative in the ways we cooked. At the beginning, we tried offering different dishes but he struggled through the food, until one day we had a breakthrough! We found out that his favorite meal was Chinese duck, so we ordered Chinese take-out, brought it over, and he cleaned his plate! He thought that the sisters had prepared the duck themselves and from that day on, he was always ready for the sisters’ “home cooked” meals. Needless to say, we all became Chinese food experts and found the key to get him to eat even when he didn’t feel well.
The sisters not only prepared food, but also shared lunch with Father Eddie at the dining room table in his residency on the IVE Seminary grounds. Part of these visits aimed at cheering him up amid great physical suffering (he had kidney failure, shingles, and emphysema). The sisters also prayed a perpetual Divine Mercy novena with him. Each pair of sisters would mark in the booklet where they had left off. As the new schedule continued, Father Eddie brought his own priestly ministry to bear on these midday visits.
The Table Was His Mission Field
The lunch table quickly became his new field of mission. Sitting around that table, we would ask him questions about his vocation, family, time in seminary and the missions he had visited or dreamed of. As we asked about him, he asked about us. He asked about our family, our apostolates and always took interest in our stories. Father was very attentive and always assured us of his prayers.
One day there appeared a small notebook on the dining room table. The first time I noticed it surrounded by the Divine Mercy novena devotionals, I thought nothing of it. As we were getting ready to leave, one of the IVE brothers gave a gentle reminder to Fr. Eddie about the notebook lying there. Father, without skipping a beat, asked us to write down any intentions we had. He promised that he would celebrate the Holy Mass for them. My fellow sister and I were touched, and wrote down a few intentions. The next time we went, the same thing happened, only then we saw the notebook was filling up line by line with different prayer intentions from all the sisters.
Promise of Prayer Brought to the Altar
It was surprising for us to think that Father would offer a private mass just for our intentions. If you mentioned anything that was troubling you or someone in your apostolate or anything that you were excited about, he would say, “Sister, don’t forget to write it down, I’ll offer my next mass for you!” He would even encourage you to stop and write it down in that moment, lest he or you forget later.
In this way, Fr. Eddie became a hidden spiritual father for all of the souls in our apostolates, our families, and our friends! At the lunch table, he bore our burdens and joys as he listened, and later he would carry them all to the Table of Sacrifice. We would often find the little notebook still on the altar in his private chapel when we got there. It quickly became clear to us that this apostolate was for us and for him. The sisters brought him food and kept him company, and he suffered and offered the daily sacrifice of the Mass for our souls, and those we loved.
We give thanks to God for the blessing of Fr. Eddie’s religious vocation to our Religious Family of the Incarnate Word which made him our brother, and of the call to the priesthood which made him our father.
Please join us in offering prayer for him, as he did so often for many of you – perhaps even by name!
At the end of each visit, Father Eddie would send us home with a blessing. We entrust the soul of Fr. Eddie to our Heavenly Mother and the Merciful Heart of Christ using the words of his blessing to us in his Irish brogue, “May Our Blessed Mother, who loves you so much, wrap her mantle of protection around you, until you see Her Son face to face.”
SSVM Sisters in Washington, DC
Province of the Immaculate Conception
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