Father Bernard died at Ampleforth on 25th May in his eighty-ninth year. He came of a Catholic family of Wolverhampton, owning for nearly 300 years a business of locksmiths and metalworkers which has never known a strike. Two of Fr Bernard's brothers became priests, and two of his sisters nuns. He came to the School in 1875, following his brother Frank, a great benefactor of Ampleforth, to whom we owe the gift of the High Altar in the new part of the church.
On leaving the School in 1881, Fr Bernard entered the novitiate at Belmont, returning to Ampleforth four years later and making his final profession in 1886. He was ordained a priest in March 1889. On this occasion his father and mother added very much to the decoration of the old Lady Chapel in thanksgiving for his priesthood. For some years he taught chemistry and drawing, and took an active part in the music of the School. He was, for instance, one of the pianists in the concerto for three pianos performed at the long remembered Mozart Centenary Concert in 1891.
For forty-five years from 1895 Fr Bernard worked in one or other of the parishes served from the Abbey. He was assistant at Merthyr Tydfil, at St Alban's, Warrington, St Mary's, Cardiff, and St Peter's, Liverpool. He was parish priest of Leyland, of St Peter's, Liverpool, and Clayton Green and, for the last eleven years of this period, of St Austen's, Grassendale, where he kept the Golden Jubilee of his priesthood. His care and kindness won for him the affection of his people in these various charges, as the letters to him in his old age, or written about him, have shown.
In 1940 Fr Bernard retired to the monastery broken in health, and suffering much. It was said of him that one hardly ever entered his room but to find him praying, or reading some spiritual book. His devotion to the Psalms and study of them was a marked feature of his life. In outdoor pursuits he had loved gardening, and he was an accomplished skater. An incident of his early life may be told here, in illustration of his character. Before entering the novitiate he went to ask for the blessing of Bishop Ullathorne, a family friend and the Ordinary of his native diocese. 'So you have been at Ampleforth, and are wanting to join the community. I never got any good out of Ampleforth,' was the Bishop's unpropitious greeting. The young man was annoyed, and boldly said, 'Whose fault was that, my Lord?' 'I suppose it was my own', the old man answered humbly. Very few people could claim to have got the better of the grand old Bishop, a rather formidable personage at times. (It should be explained that as a young monk the Bishop had been lent by Downside to Ampleforth when it had been nearly ruined by the exodus of the Superiors and many boys in 1830 to Prior Park. It was a difficult time, and there was trouble for the new prefect, Br Bernard Ullathorne.)
More than once in his last years, Fr Bernard was at the point of death. In the evening of Corpus Christi this year he was plainly so near the end that he received Holy Viaticum for the last time, and died a few hours later. His brother, Canon Gibbons of Birmingham, and his nephew, Paul Gibbons, were at Ampleforth for the Dirge and Requiem. R.I.P.
BERNARD JOHN GIBBONS 25 May 1951
1863 8 Apr Born Wolverhampton
1875- Educ Ampleforth
1881 3 Sep Habit
1882 7 Sep Simple Profession Belmont Prior W Raynal
1883 22 Dec Minor Orders Bishop Hedley
1886 12 Jan Solemn Vows Ampleforth Prior A Burge
1887 6 Feb Subdeacon York
9 Oct Deacon
1889 3 Mar Priest Bishop Lacy
1895 Assistant at Merthyr Tydvil
1900 Assistant at St Alban's Warrington
1905 11 Feb Assistant at Canton Cardiff
1908 23 May Assiatant at St Peter's Liverpool
1912 $$ or 1913? Parish Priest at Leyland
1917 Feb Parish Priest at St Peter's Liverpool
1919 $$ or 1920? Clayton Green (which has been leased to us for eight years by Downside)
1927 Dec Assistant at Grassendale
1929 Feb Assistant at Workington
21 Sep Parish Priest at Grassendale
1940 10 Oct Retired to Ampleforth
1951 25 May Died at Ampleforth