- ST.
NORBERT ABBEY
- DE
PERE, WISCONSIN, U.S.A.
- Rev.
Julian C. Resch, O. Praem.
- b. Sunday, Jan. 15,
1911- d. Saturday, Jan. 31, 2004
Our
brother Julian Resch was born in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin in 1911. After attending St.
Lawrence Seminary at Mt.
Calvary
and a year at St. Norbert College, he joined the Order in 1933. He
professed solemn vows in 1938.
From
1939 to 1943 he was secretary/treasurer and guidance counselor at Southeast
Catholic where he eventually became vice-principal, then principal and prior.
In 1946 he received an M.A. from Villanova and was elected a delegate to
the famous 1947 General Chapter of the Order.
This position afforded him the opportunity to visit many of the houses of
the Order in
Europe
and witness their lifestyle and customs.
In
1951, Julian acquired the Alexander Cassatt property, which was eventually to
become Daylesford Priory, and in 1954 was appointed the first prior and master
of novices. As a German and Latin
scholar, Julian instilled in his novices a love of the history of the Order and
Premonstratensian liturgy.
In
1961, after studying Spanish in
Cuernavaca
,
Mexico
, Julian founded the Padres Norbertinos in Lima, Peru
and became the first superior. As a
man of high culture and refined manners who loved to entertain and play bridge,
he became the “Father of the Nightly Cocktail.”
Returning
to the
United States
in 1967, Julian pastored the flock in Essexville and in 1971, the flock at
St. Joseph
in Alverno, where he was also chaplain to the sisters at Holy Family Convent.
After a long retirement at the abbey he died on Saturday, January 31, 2004 at the age
of 93.
