 Br. Albion Benedict Robert Morris, OP
The only child of Edward Joseph and Mary Kate Fleming Morris, Robert Edward Morris was born in New York City on August 6, 1933. Both of his parents had emigrated from Ireland, and
had met at an Irish Dance in Atlantic City. His
father was serving at the time in the United States Cavalry, while his mother was a
“children’s nurse”—a euphemism
for a governess—in Philadelphia. The
future Brother Albion grew up in The Bronx, and he never lost his love for that
area—or touches of his characteristic accent.
He attended Holy Name Grammar School and Cardinal Hayes High School, from which
experiences he developed a strong love of religious Brotherhood.
After graduation he
wanted to enter the Society of Craymoor Friars as a brother candidate, but was told
instead to enter the seminarian program, which he did.
He received an A.B. in Modern and Classic Languages from Catholic University of
America in 1954, but instead of entering the
Craymoor Friars’ Novitiate, he went to work for the New York Central Railroad in the
Purchasing Department.
Within a matter of months he decided to apply to the Dominicans of the Eastern Province
and entered the brothers’ postulancy program at the House of Studies in Washington in
May of 1954. He was given the habit—and
the name of Albion Benedict—on January 9, 1955 by Father Maurice Conlan, and he
pronounced his first vows on January 10, 1956. As
was the custom at the time, he was then assigned to domestic work at St. Stephen’s
Priory in Dover, Massachusetts—which was then the only option open to a Dominican
Brother. His second vows were pronounced in
1959, and Albion was then sent to St. Dominic’s in Youngstown, Ohio, where he took
solemn vows in 1962 to Father Paschal Schaefer. In
Youngstown, he was also assigned to domestic responsibility, but then he was asked to
tutor students in Latin from the nearby Cardinal Newman High School. Thus began his many years of involvement in and
dedication to secondary education.
When sent to Columbia, South Carolina, to work in the Black missions, Albion taught in
the local grammar school and conducted high school C.C.D. classes. In February of 1964 he was sent to the Dominican
missions in Peru—almost ten years after first volunteering for the foreign missions. After four months in language school near Lima,
Albion went to Chimbote, where he became administrative assistant and notary apostolic to
Dominican Bishop James C. Burke, the Ordinary of the Prelature. Besides his administrative work, Albion also taught
in various public secondary schools in Chimbote, and conducted night school classes in
local colleges and at the Catholic University of Peru, from which he received his Spanish
Licentiate. Albion returned to the United
States in 1972 and was assigned to bilingual office work in New York City. He was then sent to St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in
Zanesville, Ohio, where he taught religion and Spanish at Bishop Rosecrans High School and
also founded and moderated the school’s swimming team.
During the summers, he began studies for an M.A. in Theology, which was awarded to him
in 1979 by Providence College in Rhode Island. In
the summer of 1978, he came to Los Angeles on vacation, where he stayed with the
Dominicans at St. Peter Martyr Priory-Daniel Murphy High School. Father Leo Tubbs and I showed Albion as much of the
Wild and Wacky World of Los Angeles as we could, and he was taken with the community.and
its spirit. At the end of his visit Father
Edmund Ryan, then the Prior, Leo and I invited him to think of coming to join us in our
community teaching ministry. This he did in
1979, having received permission to join us for two years.
When the Southern Province was founded in 1979, Albion opted to transfiliate, since
he said his roots were no longer in the East—though he never lived within the
Southern Province territory.
In 1981, he was part of the group who opened St. Raymond of Penyafort in Santa Ana,
Orange County, California, and he taught religion and Spanish at Mater Dei High School. In 1982, he was assigned to St. Thomas More in Eugene, Oregon, where he taught at
Marist High School for two years. In 1983, he
transfiliated to the Western Province, and so has the distinction of having been a
canonical son, at one time or another, of three of the four American Provinces. At his request, he returned to Santa Ana in 1985,
again teaching at Mater Dei, and just before Easter of 1986, he was diagnosed as suffering
from cancer of the stomach. After the first
shock, Albion expressed extraordinary cheer and confidence, as well as his customary
fierce streak of independence, saying he had his house in order. He continued teaching one day a week as long as he
could, and his illness helped his community gather together in concern for him.
Albion was both a simple and a complex individual: simple in that he had an honest
interest in and showed hospitality to his brethren, and those of us who were his
housemates remember his baking sessions, his Sunday brunches and his “NauYawk
Deli” lunches. He was complex in that he
remained fairly conservative theologically, and he took pride in that stance, for one
always knew what Albion thought! His pleasures
were simple: crime dramas and mystery novels,
some preprandials and his trips to the Southern California beaches in his “tourist
outfits” of colorful trousers and shirts complemented by white shoes. He was a devoted and dedicated religious, always on
time for liturgy and office, always impeccably habited and with an innate sense of
decorum. He took pride in being of the Old
School, but was also proud of having been able to see the Brothers leave a medieval
stereotype to engage in greater ministerial outreach; he told me before he died that this
was one of his best memories. Like most of us, Albion was not always easy to live with,
but he was always a brother in time of hurt or need, helping to make peace where he could
and never being afraid to speak his mind. Whatever
his faults he always made time when someone wanted to talk or just needed company.
His illness progressed inexorably, though he remained optimistic and in good spirits. He died suddenly but peacefully of a heart attack
on the feast of the patron of his house, January 7, 1987, his last words being
“I’m fine.” He had told a
number of people he was ready and that his life was in order. Coupled with his optimism was a resignation for
death, and this from one who loved life and his teaching ministry very much, for he was
very devoted to “his nippers” and looked forward to his daily exchanges with
them. Albion was not known to a great many in
the Province, for he was not with us very long, and while he did not do “great
things” or make great headlines, he nonetheless made history in that he remained
faithful to his vocation. In this, he
ultimately became an example for us all. A
funeral liturgy was conducted for his colleagues, friends and students at St. Anne’s
Church in Santa Ana on January 10th—which was the 30th
anniversary of his first profession. Office of
the Dead and rosary were held in the chapel of St.
Albert’s Priory in Oakland on January 11th. A funeral liturgy was concelebrated by over thirty
priests, with again as many in the congregation, and he was buried with the liturgical
ceremonies he loved so well from St. Dominic’s Church in Benicia on January 12th,
where he rests with the brethren in St. Dominic’s Cemetery. May he enjoy the rest granted to a good and
faithful servant!
--Brother Norbert Fihn, O.P. |
