Obituary Notice
This obituary notice has been digitally processed from a scanned archival document. Some words may be imperfectly rendered.
22 November 2000 Death of Br. Alphonsus Miley, C.P. Word was received this afternoon of the death of Br. Alphonsus Miley who passed away peacefully while taking his customary "repose" at Nazareth House, Ditton, Widnes. He was 88. Born in Warrington November 9th 1912, he entered the Passionist novitiate in Broadway in 1934 and made his religious profession November 4th 1936. His religious life was spent for the most part in only two of our houses, St. Saviour's Retreat, Broadway and St. Anne's Retreat, Sutton. In both houses he held the office of "questor" and as such became well known throughout the two dioceses of Birmingham and Liverpool. It was while questing in the Birmingham area that he developed a relationship with the Kenney: family and notably with their only son, Leonard. It was as a result of this relationship that Leonard was inspired to become a Paissionist, taking the name William at his profession in 1963. Some 25 years later, in 1987, William was consecrated as Passionist Auxiliary Bishop of Stockholm. Alphonsus was a great devotee of the cause of Fr. Dominic Barberi and after Dominic's beatification, which he attended in Rome on October 23rd 1963, formed, with the help of a number of dedicated layfolk "The Friends of Blessed Dominic". This developed into a country-wide group of layfolk, clerics and religious, all dedicated to spreading devotion to Blessed Dominic and praying for his canonisation. Alphonsus was deeply attached to his elder sister, Winnie, and during his later years in Sutton was accostomed to spending much of his time with her at her home in Warrington. As both Alphonsus and his sister become more and more feeble with age, they were finally persuaded to give up their home and take up residence in Nazareth House. Within months Winnie died. Her loss affected him greatly and although he recovered somewhat to become his old cheerful self, it soon became obvious that the thought of his own death was not far from his mind. Twice, during the month before he died, he rang Bishop William in Stockholm asking him, if was at all possible, to come to Sutton to celebrate his funeral Mass. On Tuesday evening, November 28th, prior to the evening Mass, Alphonsus' remains were brought into the church to spend the night in the Shrine along with the remains of Blessed Dominic, Ignatius Spencer, and Mary Elizabeth Prout. Bishop William arrived the following day from Stockholm in time to be the main celebrant at the concelebrated Mass at 12.30. The Provincial, Nicholas Postlethwaite, preached the homily. After the Mass Br. Alphonsus was burried in our Passionist grave here at St. Anne's.
Source: Obituary Notices, Provincial Archive, St Joseph's Province. Passionist Congregation.