Eulogy given by
Br. Domenic Viggiani, FSC
Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. (Jn. 14:23)
As we celebrate this funeral Mass for Brother Vincent Hogan, I believe it is true to say that we are celebrating the life of one who could be truly called ‘a good and faithful servant’. As a young Brother, our Brother Vincent would have heard and read that the spirit of the Institute he would then dedicate himself to for over sixty years was first, a spirit of faith. With time and many varied experiences in community and in school, he would learn to look upon everything in his life with the eyes of faith, and not to do anything but in view of God, and to attribute all things to God. As the years passed, and Brother Vincent would live and work in different places and be given positions of responsibility, he would come to a deeper understanding of his religious consecration as a relationship between Jesus Christ and himself as a teaching Brother. It seems to me that, over time, but especially in his final years of committing himself to this particular community, Brother Vincent would come to understand that faithfulness means for the Brother, an acceptance of the reality that our first apostolate is the quality of our witness to the consecrated life. Any one – Brothers, students, colleagues, and those with whom he would work here – recognised that Brother Vincent took his religious consecration seriously, and by his example, that one’s faithfulness is best expressed by living for others. Wealth, colour, creed, age, and culture were never a factor for Brother Vincent. His life was very much a life lived for others, and we have all been recipients in one way or another, and in different ways, of the measure of his willingness to give without counting the cost. A love which is greater than one’s self, a love which is capable of giving until one is empty of self.
There is no doubt in my mind that it is faithfulness in its most practical and human expression that characterised Brother Vincent’s life as a Brother. In my many discussions with him over the years, and watching him as he would relate to others, it was evident to me that he understood we are responsible for each other. It is not an easy road. In fact, it is a hard road. If one wishes to be truly faithful, one must be prepared to put oneself, together with one’s pleasures, comforts, and interests, in second place. When I had the pleasure of living in community with Brother Vincent, I saw him do this daily and often. We all know he would be the first to show his concern, the first to offer his prayers, the first to lend a helping hand.
Brother Vincent’s teaching career spanned several decades and found him in many places across Ontario, Quebec, and in the West Indies. He fulfilled the roles of teacher, choir master, principal, and community director. We knew him to be an engaging and talented public speaker gifted with an excellent memory. In his day, he was quite a good hockey player, and as I found out being at the losing end – quite a fine billiard shark. His greatest attribute was that he was a consummate people person. A man of the people, one might say, devoid of pretense and conceit. We all know the place Brother Vincent gave to the importance of community. He strongly believed in this aspect of the vowed religious life. The religious community life does not, and in many ways, as I would remind him from time to time, hope to replace the intimacies of family life. Rather, the vowed individual, as we would often debate, is called to bring his or her uniqueness to a joint living experience in community and within the Church, so that the depth and breadth of Christ’s love can be manifested in all people. This is what Brother Vincent’s life was all about. The Rule of the Brothers reminds us that the Brothers are determined to live with one spirit to be brothers among themselves, brothers to the adults they deal with, and older brothers to the young people confided to their care. In all their relationships, they are concerned about persons in their deepest hopes and desires. It seems to me that Brother Vincent strove at all times to live out this aspect of our lives as Brothers.
Faithfulness is also the ability to stick with one’s choice, to struggle for it, and to turn the inevitable obstacles and setbacks into positive elements on one’s chosen path. No doubt, Brother Vincent, like all of us, faced his share of personal challenges and struggles. I know he learned that life requires not so much physical strength as strength of character, of soul, of spirit. The quality of one’s life consists in being faithful. Such a person strives to die to himself and to live for God in Jesus Christ. Always very faithful to the religious exercises of the community and to the daily celebration of the Eucharist, I think it is true to say that Brother Vincent learned to an extraordinary degree, to see the face of his Saviour and Redeemer in each person he met. Had this not been the case, we would not feel the loss of presence as much as we do this day. I was always taught at home and at school that people who learn to give their lives to others with such faithfulness and generosity go straight to one’s heart. It is in our hearts, too, that we are so grateful for knowing Brother Vincent, and it is in our hearts that today we feel not a little sadness at his passing. I am quite sure that such people go straight to the heart of God.
The French spiritual writer, Leon Bloy, has written that “every Christian has within his grasp the power to become a saint. All he must do is to simply live his life in the daily call to be himself with the gifts that God has given him and in the place the Lord has put him.” Ultimately, as St. John of the Cross reminds us: “In the evening of life we shall be examined by love.” The love we have shown to one another. To those, who like our Brother Vincent, are sensitive to the needs of others, life offers innumerable opportunities to practise Christ’s commandment of love. It is not a question of doing big things. Nor, as we have learnt from Brother Vincent’s life among us and his good example, is it a question of giving things. Rather, it is a question of giving of oneself in little ways, of one’s time, of one’s energy, of one’s compassion for the other. Here is a lesson for us all. In Brother Vincent, God gave us a faithful brother, a friend to many, a gift to us all. Even though we are sad now that this gift has been withdrawn, we are grateful for all God has given us through Brother Vincent, and it is gratitude now that should govern our loss. Lord, may you support us all the day long, till the shadows lengthen and evening falls, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done; then in your mercy, Lord, grant us a safe lodging, a holy rest, and peace at last. As our Brother Vincent reaches the shore of eternity, we are thankful, for his sincere and good life. May the Good Lord take his faithful servant gently by the hand and lead him to the everlasting joys of the kingdom.
Please pray for the happy repose of the soul of
Br. Vincent Hogan, FSC
Born Vincent Augustine Hogan in Norwood, Ontario, CANADA, on October 10, 1928
Entered Aurora Juniorate on September 15, 1942, and Aurora Novitiate on June 30, 1945
Received the Religious Habit and Name, Brother Vincent, on September 5, 1945
Pronounced Perpetual Vows in Wexford, Ontario, CANADA on August 2, 1954
Brother Vincent died at La Salle Manor in Scarborough, Ontario, CANADA on January 11, 2012
FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS
Friday, January 13, 2012
Viewing from 2:00 – 5:00 pm and 7:00 – 9:00 pm
La Salle Manor
61 Fairfax Crescent
Scarborough, Ontario, CANADA M1L 1Z7
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Mass of Christian Burial at 11:00 am
La Salle Manor
61 Fairfax Crescent
Scarborough, Ontario, CANADA M1L 1Z7
Burial at Holy Cross Cemetery, Toronto, Ontario CANADA
SUFFRAGES FOR OUR DECEASED BROTHER VINCENT
District: 100 masses
La Salle Manor community: 30 masses
Each community in the District: 1 mass
Brother Vincent passed away peacefully at La Salle Manor on January 11 after suffering a stroke on the morning of January 9. Brother was being treated for cancer over the past few months. May he rest in peace!
Tour of Duty
1947-1948
teacher
Montreal
St. Anne School
1948-1950
teacher
Quebec
St. Patrick School
1950-1951
teacher
Toronto
St. Helen School
1951-1957
teacher and principal
Toronto
St. Clare School
1957-1958
teacher
Windsor
St. Angela School
1958-1959
principal
Windsor
De La Salle School
1959-1962
principal and director
Toronto
St. Mary School
1962-1963
teacher
Montreal
Cardinal Newman High School
1963-1965
teacher
Toronto
De La Salle “Oaklands”
1965-1967
teacher
Quebec
St. Patrick School
1967-1970
prefect
Uxbridge
St. John School
1970-1974
principal
Uxbridge
St. John School
1974-1975
teacher
Toronto
De La Salle “Oaklands”
1975-1978
principal
St. Vincent, WEST INDIES
St. Martin School
1978-1980
formation staff
Toronto
Formation Centre (Leeward Glenway St.)
1980-1983
vocation director
Toronto
Formation Centre (St. George St.)
1983-1985
studies
Toronto
O’Connor House
1985-1990
teacher
Toronto
O’Connor College School
1990-1994
retreat staff
Toronto
De La Salle “Oaklands” Retreat Centre
1994-1995
convalescence
Jackson’s Point
Del Camp
1995-1997
director
Scarborough
La Salle Manor
1997-2001
retired
Scarborough
La Salle Manor
2001-2011
director
Scarborough
La Salle Manor
2011-2012
retired
Scarborough
La Salle Manor
Brother Vincent (Nicholas) was most instrumental in the formation of my life.At St. Clare School he was personally responsible for initiating me into a love of sports,and especially music,But later,and most importantly,he single handedly saw to it that I found my way into a career as a teacher and future administrator in Catholic education in Toronto.
Thankfully, I did have the opportunity to express my appreciation to him personally for this at a function held by the brothers at Cardinal Newman High School sometime in the late 1980’s when I happened to be part of the musical entertainment that day.
I am now 74 years old and will remember Brother Vincent with deep fondness and thanks.until I myself leave this earth..
He was a truly remarkable man.