Remembering local Prolife hero, Brother Patrick Ryan OSB: “To Jesus, through Mary, with a smile"

Cleveland has had many great voices for the unborn.  Today we look back at a special one, Brother Patrick Ryan, OSB.  It has been almost seven years since his death, but many in the pro-life community still fondly recall the humble, joyful Benedictine monk from St. Andrew's Abbey.   He helped save many unborn lives with his prayer and wise counsel outside abortion clinics.  “To Jesus, through Mary, with a smile" was his winning strategy.






The followng is an excerpt from the St Andrew Abbey magazine:


On Monday, January 12, 2015, shortly after the conventual morning Mass celebrated by the prior concluded in the abbey church, word was received that our beloved Brother Patrick Ryan, OSB, had been welcomed to the Supper of the Lamb as he passed away at 7:20 AM at Regina Health Center in Richfeld, Ohio where he had sufered with an inoperable tumor for the past year. Brother Patrick was 82 years old and had been professed as Benedictine monk for 62 years...

*****

...Brother Patrick is best remembered in recent years for his intense advocacy for the life of the unborn. Beginning in the 1990’s, he became associated with a lay group that took the name “Rosary for Life.” Meeting at the abbey on the frst Saturday of each month for a morning Mass, they still proceed today to nearby Shaker Boulevard and pray publicly in front of three facilities that provided abortions.

Brother Patrick preferred to go alone on weekdays and hold his own prayer vigils positioned in the parking lots behind these “abortion mills.” He reported many interesting conversations he had with staff members and patients who knew why he was there. At the time Brother Patrick stopped his daily prayer witness, two of the facilities had already been closed and third one [PreTerm] was under investigation by the state Health Department. 

Brother Patrick always had a twinkle in his eye when he explained his simple understanding of effective prayer, “To Jesus, through Mary, with a smile.” May our Blessed Mother, at whose grotto on our campus Brother Patrick spent many hours in her company, now lead her devoted servant under the folds of her mantle to her Divine Son, the author of life without end.

Brother Patrick’s funeral Mass was celebrated on Wednesday evening, January 14, 2015, at 7:00 PM in the abbey church. Burial was the next morning in Calvary Cemetery. Please remember Brother Patrick in the customary Masses and prayers.

 Abbot Gary Hoover, OSB and the community of Saint Andrew Abbey, Cleveland, Ohio

Taken from https://standrewabbey.org/documents/2015/3/SAA_OurJourney_Feb2105%20V4.pdf


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