| On November 30, 1967, our confrere,
Brother Gerard Nilan, died. He was born in Louisville, Kentucky
on February 17, 1902. Br Gerard's education ended with the eighth grade and
he worked in a grocery store until the age of twenty when he entered St
Meinrad Abbey. At St Meinrad he did janitorial work in the seminary and
monastery. From 1929 until 1932 he was the sacristan. Then he worked in the
poultry house until 1936, the year he was assigned to Marmion Priory and
Military Academy in Aurora, Illinois. At Marmion he managed the bookstore
and served as sacristan and infirmarian. In 1951 he came to Blue Cloud as
our cook, an assignment for which he was ill-suited. He was later our
guestmaster and sacristan. In December 1965 he suffered a stroke which
incapacitated him for the rest of his life. Br Gerard was kind to the poor people who came to his kitchen looking for food and he befriended the youth who attended our summer camp. He often reminisced about his Marmion days and the students in the academy. Br Gerard was prudish in many ways, and scrupulous. Perhaps some Irish Jansenism had rubbed off on him. Although he was good-natured, there were times when his Irish temper flared. Once, brandishing a cleaver in his hand, he chased his assistant cook out of the kitchen. Cooking was a chore for him, but he accepted it as an act of obedience, a means of sanctification. He was known as a poor planner. Meals were often late in the early days of his cooking at Blue Cloud. Our pioneers recall the undercooked chicken dinner he once served them only an hour after the chickens had been still running around in the yard. More than anything else, Br Gerard wanted to become a saint. These resolutions were discovered in his personal papers after his death: "I will strive to observe the poverty of St Francis, the purity of St Aloysius, the meekness and patience of St Francis de Sales, the obedience of St Gerard, and the charity of all the saints." The last few years of his life, when he was totally helpless, were, no doubt, given to him as a further means of sanctification. He was hard of hearing and this was a cross he carried for many years. Even with his hearing aid on, he would cup his ear and say to us, "Whit? Whit?" Br Gerard's hearing was imperfect. There was no way of correcting it, but he strove all his days to perfect his life. On October 18, 1961, he wrote: "Each day I must strive to do better than the day before. I must work earnestly and sincerely if I wish to make up for losses. If I wish to become a saint, there is not time to loss. Now is the day of salvation. Now is the acceptable time. Now is the hour to rise from sleep." |