Born Louis F. Blair in Wallingford, Vermont on July 3, 1895, he was the son of Louis Blair and Catherine Reandeau. Before entering the Passionists, Brother Blair worked throughout New England as a caretaker and the tender of prize bulls and cows for Gurnsey Farms, Incorporated. In 1923 he visited St. Gabriel’s Monastery Church at Brighton, Massachusetts on the Feast of St. Gabriel and was moved by a sermon on that day so as to enter religious life. First he went to the Scranton, Pennsylvania monastery and then to novitiate at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He professed his vows on November 11, 1925 and received the name Aloysius.
Brother Blair had a strong belief in the maxim Labore est orare or “To labor is to pray.” In 1926 he worked in the Pittsburgh kitchen. From 1926 to 1944 he worked at the kitchen at Holy Cross Seminary, Dunkirk, New York. From 1944 to 1951 he worked at the kitchen in West Springfield, Massachusetts. From 1951 to 1959 he worked at the kitchen at St. Joseph’s Monastery, Baltimore, Maryland. From 1959 to 1977 he worked at the kitchen at Riverdale, New York.