Obituary Notice
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Fr.. Bruno Townsend (1864-1944) « 2 . : FATHER BRUNO. r Eis BRUNO (TOWNSRND) 0.2. The Province of, Ste Joseph, hae ‘Lost & venerable figures in the person of Fit. Bruno, who.diedat St. Mary'a Retreat, Harborne, Birmingham, on Tuesday afternoon, 22nd Pebrmary 19. , : Hieonwin the world wae Charles Young Townsend, and hig parente, - ' who weite homwCatholics, gave their son, aoc ord ing to their lights, a 01d moral breining and grounling in virtue, whieh etood him in good etead through wlightly over 80 years of life. He wae born near Market Drayton in Shropshire, on February llth 186). His people were yeoman farmers, ard. in eaey circumstances, for we find that they were able to send theix sen in 1874 to Sts Chad's, Denatona College, in Staffordehire« an event whiclt had more #ignifieanse than appeare on the surface, for at Denstone the religious teaching, and indeed the whole atmosphere, wae strongly High Churehy though nob ritualletio. Tt cannot be doubted that the years at Denstone had a ‘definite influence / on the bey who was in a few years’ time to pase fron the shedowa of - Anglioantom into the light and certainty of the Catholic Church, . . A yeae later than Townserd, and yory much older, there came to the school @ young man. of 17, who aleoy in the event, became a Catholic and unier the pen-name of “John Aysacough", enriched hie: day and eneration with "Nerote” and "San Celestine", oto. Bub Mgr, — lokerataffe-Drewe « for that wae hie real name ~ wrote more than novela, however good. He wrote "Fernando", which was published in 1918, ad in whieh there ie mentioned (though not by meme) the youngster he bad meth ab Denstone, destined one day to be a Passionist Father. This to whet he seys on pege 226 of “Fernando” ¢ | ' "The School was steeped in the Anglicgen anti«fioman appirds so « « art Lt wae Just moh & sort of - "blot upon the esoutohem. of the Séhool ae tts -. Senemies would make the moat of, that one of its “leds would develop. inte a Passionist priest and “andther into a Prelate of the Romn Churehs . Though the epirit wae anti-Ruman, still the fubure Passtonist learnt there the sacramental principle ar the idea of a visible church. When schooledeay# were over, your Townsend wae sent to Liverpool as a clerk ‘in an insurance company's office. What led him finally inte the Catholic fold, we do not know, but the gift of faith did come, and he wan received inte the Churth, at Birkenhead, on December 7th 1862. . hereafter he wont to Dublin « again ee an inevrance clerk«+ and 1b was here that he seems to have come inbo personal contact with the Paseioniat Fathers at Mount Argus, above all with Pre Pleoid (Wareing), CoP. I6 wae undoabtedily the wise direction of Fr. Plaoid, which, under Gad, fostered to blossom and ripened to fruit, the latent vocation to
a 2 ow the priesthood and the Paastonist life, in the soul of his young convert friend. In 1886, he went to the Pasalonist Novitiate at | Broadway, where he was professed on 28bh January 18687. His student life was passed at our Retreatea in Dubling, Sutton and Highgate. He | . was ordained priest at St. Thomas! seminary, Hammeramith, in 1690, by ‘Bishop Weathers, end remained for aome time longer in the student-eship at St. Joseph's, Highgate and at Highgate he remained es professed priest tii2 1911... Those who Lived with him in those far-off days have —. only ome tale to tel of his quiet unobtrusive work for God and His Ohurth, There wae nothing spastatuler nor flamboyant about him. His daily round, his ¢omion task in ite quist perfection, reminds us of Browning's lines 1. oe | . "He Gid Oed'a will 3 to him all one "tf on the earth, or in-the dune. One feature of the Highgate periad ia worthy of speoieal note. For many yeare he edited and prodused the "HIGHGATS CATHOLIO AND PASSY ONTST RECORD", and, as we turn over the old e6 and muse on their contents grave and gay, we urmlerstand how endeared the publication became te | atheite 8 near and fer, and how ead many were when the "RECORD" came to at ods : in 1912 Fe. Bruno wae elected Restor of Harborne, in the Provincial Chapter held thet year. Hie Reator«ship lasted ti11 1914, and was followed by three years ae Vicar at Broadway. In 1917 he returned to Herborné a6 a meaber of the Comunity. Five yeara lator Lege in 1922 he wee nade Vicar an office which he held with marked success till 1932. After leaving office, he remained on ab Harborne, where he apent hie . dedlining yeara « ob in idleness, bit in the service of God and the Congregation he loved so well. | fn 1940, he received the crown of his priesthood, when ab the age of 76 he celebrated with great joy hia | Golden Jubilee. He had long passed the allotted span, but still he laboured on, ae health and tnoreasing infirmity allowed To . "ne man matured and fell away | "inte the season of decay. But with Fy. Bruno, there was no deony of fervour, and the life of his soul grew ever etronger, and we way truly say of him that : “The soul's dark cottage, battered and decayed, 7 "Lete in new light through chinks that tine hap mde and the end was “Pease, perfect Peace." _ | od ee
Source: Obituary Notices, Provincial Archive, St Joseph's Province. Passionist Congregation.