Celebration of Life

Br. Bernie after his

perpetual oath in 1965

Today at Glenmary Headquarters we celebrate the life and 52 years of missionary service of one of our Glenmary brothers, Br. Bernie Stern. Br. Bernie who was born  in Dayton, Kentucky in  1937 professed his perpetual oath as a Glenmary Missioner in 1965! As a Glenmary Missioner he served in in missions in Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia. Among Glenmarians he is most remembered as Chef in the novitiate, serving up some of the best food to the young Glenmary students as well as teaching them how to cook. As chef he was able to recycle the 3 day old bakery bread raising up his infamous "Parusian Buns." Besides cooking, Br. Bernie also shared his gifts as a musician and artist in the missions he served. 

Br. Bernie head chef at the Novitiate

Always prayerful and faithful to his Glenmary Oath, Br. Bernie is remembered as a loving and simple man who dedicated his life to serving God as a Glenmary missioner. He quietly went about his work of serving the people of mission land USA using the gifts he had received. Fitting for him to find eternal rest on the day we celebrated the Feast of the Epiphany, the day the magi shared their gifts with God.

"The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God,

and no torment shall touch them.

They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead;

and their passing away was thought an affliction 

and their going forth from us, utter destruction.

But they are in peace." 

Wisdom 3:1-3