Father Hildebrand's death on September 19th was marked by a circumstance that rarely happens. He died within an hour of finishing his Mass. It is hardly a presumption to see in this the reward given him for bearing a lifelong trial, keenly felt.
He was born in 1877, one of the youngest of a large family. His father, grandfather, and three of his brothers were doctors. An elder brother, Father Stephen, also a monk survives him with Dr Edward. Another brother died when a subdeacon at Oscott. Two of his many sisters became Benedictine nuns.
The six brothers were at school at Ampleforth, and in 1896 Vincent left to enter the novitiate at Belmont, returning to his monastery after the usual four years. As a boy and a man he possessed a vigour and enthusiasm which made him wholehearted in all his occupations and interests. A love for tradition and the past was another strong trait. It led him sometimes to make suggestions and criticisms that were amusing to his contemporaries, if not to others.
Almost on the eve of his Solemn Profession the complaint which afflicted him for the rest of his life began suddenly. The difficulty there is in making certain of the disease at its beginning, and the constant hope that it may pass away, made it possible for him to be professed and in due course to be ordained a priest. He himself never allowed the trouble to curb his energy. He threw himself into his monastic duties and his teaching with characteristic earnestness, and when he was sent to work on one or other of the Ampleforth parishes he did so with the same interest and zeal. He worked at St Mary's, Warrington, Merthyr Tydfil, Warwick Bridge and Goosnargh. Perhaps the happiest years of his life were those from 1919 to 1936, which he spent in charge of the small country parish of Lee House, near Stonyhurst. For him it was not a place of quiet retirement. In the summer months he organized Sunday afternoon expeditions from parishes in Preston and the neighbourhood for Benediction at Lee House, followed by tea and entertainment in the hut he had erected near the church, and he was surprised when his enterprises were not always welcomed by his fellow priests. With the funds thus raised he was able to make improvements in his little church. During most of these years he edited the Benedictine Almanac, a work in which he took great interest.
His complaint had necessitated his spending some short periods in the monastery, and the last eight years of his life were spent at Stillington Hall with the Alexian Brothers, a few miles from Ampleforth. He came to the Abbey often for feast-days, and was there for the annual retreat last September. After it he had the satisfaction of keeping his jubilee in the habit with his brethren. A few days later death came quickly and mercifully, sparing him the trial of being bedridden and inactive. That his great desire to work had been constantly checked and thwarted would seem to have been trial enough. May he rest in peace.
VINCENT HILDEBRAND DAWES 19 September 1946
1877 6 May Born Longton Staffs
1888- Educ Ampleforth
1896 3 Sep$$ Clothed at Belmont
1897 8 Sep Simple Profession Prior Raynal
1898 29 May Minor Orders Bishop Hedley
1901 14 Sep Solemn Vows Ampleforth Abbot Smith
1902 11 May Subdeacon Bishop Hedley
1903 19 Mar Deacon Bishop Ilsley
1904 24 Apr Priesthood Ampleforth Bishop Lacy
1906 25 Apr Assistant at St Mary's Warrington
1907 13 Apr Invalided back to Ampleforth
11 May Temporarily to Merthyr
1908 Jan Dowlais
1 Feb Back at Ampleforth
1909 Assistant at Warwick Bridge
1914 May Assistant at Goosnargh
1918 Aug Assistant at St Anne's Liverpool
1919 Feb Back at Ampleforth
Jun Le House Longridge
1936 Feb Cheadle Hospital
May Returned to Ampleforth
Aug to Oct Chaplain to Miss Selby
1937 Dec Chaplain to Stillington Hall
1946 19 Sep Died suddenly at Stillington
Editor Benedictine Almanac 1921-38