Father Silvester Mooney; Known as Oldest Catholic Monk
Father Silvester Mooney, who was believed to be the world’s oldest Roman Catholic monk, has died at age 102, a spokesman for Douai Abbey near London said Wednesday.
Popularly known as Grandfather Abbot, Mooney was deeply loved as a simple, taciturn man who never accepted any comfort that was not available to his fellow monks, said Father Oliver Holt, a community spokesman.
He did, however, accept a television set as a 101st birthday gift and enjoyed watching sports programs, Holt said.
His 100th birthday brought special greetings from Pope John Paul II, and Mooney marked the occasion by preaching a 20-minute sermon without notes.
Holt said recent checks of records indicated Mooney probably was the world’s oldest living Catholic monk and definitely the oldest Benedictine.
Born in Liverpool on June 14, 1886, Mooney was sent to Douai in northern France at age 11 to be educated by the English Benedictine community of St. Edmund’s. He was ordained a priest in 1911.
He returned to England with the 80-member-strong community, which established a new abbey called Douai. In 1929, Mooney was made its abbot, retiring in 1969.
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