Received an indirect notice that a Roman Catholic Salesian Priest who started a Parish--Holy Rosary-- in Birmingham's Gate City-- when he was a Salesian "Brother", has passed. The note is as follows:
Fr. Adelard "Del"Labonte, SDB, of our Community here in Orange, NJ, who passed away during the night at St. Joseph's Senior Center in Woodbridge. Fr. Del was a WW II navy vet who often spoke of his experiences on the battleship USS Arkansas off the coast of France on D-Day. He spent decades as a brother down in Birmingham, first with Fr. Aloysius Trifari and then with Fr. Pat Corcoran. Del became a priest late in life.
That was all well before my time, but as a former Salesian student, I thought I would pass it on. R.I.P.
Tim, I went to Salesian Jr Seminary in Goshen too in 1977_78. Bro Del was my earliest spiritual mentor. I spent practically every Sat & Sun with him from agr 12-16 visiting the poor and aged in the most out of the way places in Bham. He taught me to see Christ in the poor and abandoned. He is truly the most innocent man I've ever known, as Jesus said of Nicodemos "in whom there is no guile". If I've ever known a saint Bro(Fr) Del Labonte is the one.
ReplyDelete-Fr Ignatius Crockett
Thanks Father, for the comments about Fr. Del...I'm confident there are many others who also were touched by him!
ReplyDeleteTim
I did not know Michael Crockett had becoma a priest. My name is keith,the grandson of mrs.jenni hatch. She was the housekeeper for bro.del for many years at holy rosery.
DeleteHi Ivan,
ReplyDeleteMany Salesians become brothers before they are ordained. Thanks for adding to the information about him!
Tim