Rev. Francis A. Byrne, CM

September 22, 1934 - November 26, 2002

John Gagnepain, CM


	Rev. Francis A. Byrne, CM

Frank was born in the shadow of St. Vincent’s Church and DePaul University. He was the third of four sons born of Maggie and John Byrne. Frank’s younger brother, Neil died some years ago, while his older brothers, John and Charlie still live in the Chicago area. Frank went to St. Vincent’s grade school, where he got the idea to become a Maryknoll missionary. He later claimed that his pastor tricked him into thinking he was going to the Maryknoll seminary, but didn’t realize the deception until he got off the train in Cape Girardeau! Whatever really happened, we know that Frank entered the Cape in 1949. There he and his classmates were told by Fr. Charlie Cannon that only 10% of the freshmen class would eventually be ordained. Frank was one of the 10%.

Frank was one of the brightest students in the ordination class of 1962, and would probably have been assigned to doctoral studies, except for the fact that during his last few years of theology studies, his interest in the foreign missions surfaced again. After ordination, Frank was chosen to go to Taiwan. He worked as a parish priest in KangShan for 9 years, after which he returned to the US. These were good years for Fr. Frank, and he liked to reflect often on his days as a missionary. Most confreres were amazed at how many mementos he had in his room from his time in The Republic of China — Taiwan.

The next 31 years of Fr. Frank’s priesthood were spent in many and varied apostolates, mostly as a parish priest or as a hospital chaplain. He was assigned to retirement at St. Mary’s of the Barrens in August 1996. Frank carried the heavy burden of alcoholism throughout much of his adult life, and this greatly interfered with his pastoral work. He did many residency programs and many attempts at AA. To our knowledge, he died sober.

A short story about Frank. He had seen an ad on TV about a bicycle that would automatically shift gears as you rode it. He bought one and was amazed to find out that you still had to pedal it to make it go. This was just too much work for a man who spent most of the day smoking. So about twice a year, he would visit his bike and make sure that the tires were full of air. Riding such a bike was great in theory, but just a little more than he had bargained for.

Frank died at the hospital in Perryville of congestive heart failure, about 4:30 am on November 26, 2002. The last conversation with his superior, Fr. John Gagnepain, was about his health and the seriousness of his situation. He was aware that his systems were either failing or just holding on. When he was anointed, he wanted to talk about his illness, and he knew things were critical. Now, he is at peace with the Vincentian Community in heaven.

Vincentian is published bimonthly by the Midwest and Southern Provinces of the Congregation of the Mission, the Vincentian Priests and Brothers, to promote the apostolic works of its members and those of the larger Vincentian Family.

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