Father Linus Lombard, C.P., St. Paul of the Cross Province (1902-1979)

Born Richard Hayden Lombard on January 3, 1902 in Everett, Massachusetts, he professed his vows on September 9, 1923 and was known in religious life as Linus. He was a missionary in Hunan, China where he was vicar general in the 1950s when Bishop Cuthbert O’Gara was imprisoned. It was his alertness to the Chinese political scene and culture that helped facilitate the release of Bishop O’Gara from prison in 1953. In 1954 Father Lombard was back in the United States yet his heart remained peacefully in China. For twelve years he was the secretary of Bishop O’Gara and lived with him in Union City, New Jersey. Upon the death of O’Gara, Farther Lombard was transferred to West Springfield, Massachusetts in 1968 and then on to West Hartford in the early 1970s. Known with respect as “Sen Fu” he died of congestive heart failure on the anniversary of his ordination.