Born May 16, 1911, he grew up in Holy Family Parish, Louisville, Kentucky. It is there that Benet first met the Passionists who assisted there on weekends. In September 1926 he entered the Passionist Preparatory Seminary, Normandy, Missouri. In 1930 he went to Louisville for novitiate and professed his vows on July 30, 1931. He was ordained on June 3, 1939 by Archbishop Floresh at Assumption Cathedral, Louisville. For several years he was director of students but it was said that the provincial replaced him because he was too easy. In Chicago, Illinois he promoted “Comrades of the Cross” and served as an assistant pastor at the Passionist parishes in Chicago and Louisville. In the mid-1960s he served as assistant superior in Houston, Texas. He was a preacher of parish missions and renewals. For the last thirty-two years of his life he was assigned to Sierra Madre, California and the Passionist community in Pasadena where he continued to be a preacher. He visited many in convalescent homes and assisted at St. Matthew’s Church, Long Beach, California. He died of heart failure after a sustained illness.
Birth Date:
May 16, 1911
Profession Date:
July 30, 1931
Ordination Date:
June 3, 1939
Death Date:
May 1, 2000