News of the death of Fr Austin Hind must have come as a shock to a wide circle of Amplefordians. By modern standards he was not old, his physique was outstanding and illness had never dogged his footsteps. His name brings to one's mind a person brimming over with activity, ever looking forward into the future with plans for development and for new enterprises. It is hard to imagine that this activity is stilled, and that his body rests in peaceful death. In the last few months a few of his intimates saw with sadness the inroads of a deadly disease, but even against their better judgment they were almost persuaded by the invalid's confidence to look forward to the coming of the warmer weather, which would give him back his health and enable him to be up and about amongst his people. Only in the last week or two of his life had he come to realise that his work was finished, but it was characteristic of his spirit that on the very morning of the day on which he died he commissioned one of his relatives to buy a new watch for him. He was determined to note the hours as they passed. Death came as the midnight hour was striking on Holy Saturday.
Thomas Hind was born on August 9th, 1871, in Warrington, where his family was held in high esteem. They were staunch Catholics who had made their contribution to the revival of the Faith that has taken place in this ancient borough in the last hundred years. The environs of Warrington and the town itself have been a centre of the Benedictine Apostolate from the early years of the eighteenth century. Hence when the growing boy's evident piety marked him out as one of God's chosen souls, he was sent to the college attached to the Benedictine monastery of St Lawrence at Ampleforth in Yorkshire, in the expectation that his vocation to the monastic life and the priesthood would ripen in those congenial surroundings. To quote from the words of the preacher of his funeral address, 'Even in his early years his aspirations were towards the priesthood, and the idea of being a priest shaped his character and his interests. Of course this does not imply that there was anything singular or abnormal about him. He was a sound, healthy English schoolboy, a keen athlete and a hard worker. Though he was the youngest in his class he kept his place at the top, and he was only just seventeen when, after six years in the school at Ampleforth, he received (at Belmont) the habit of St Benedict in 1888.' He passed through his year's novitiate to all appearances without a shadow of doubt about the certainty of his call, and was professed at the end of the year; in the Juniorate he gave himself wholeheartedly to the new life with its varied interests. He was an exemplary monk, he continued to come out of the ordeal of examination in the first place, and he still shone when the comparatively rare opportunities of displaying athletic prowess fell to his share.
This peaceful round of duties was broken when he was summoned back to Ampleforth, before the four years' course at Belmont was completed, to give a helping hand to the overworked staff in the college. At once he was thrown into the busy life of ecclesiastical studies and school work. Prior Burge had been associated at Woburn with Lord Petre in the endeavour to give a new stimulus to Catholic education, and his election to the Priorship of St Lawrence's gave Fr Burge the opportunity to try some of these experiments on his old school. The somewhat leisurely methods and self-contained character of the past gave way to bustling activity and a wider contact with the outer world. Ampleforth was passing from the cloistered shade into the full light of day. Public examinations for the whole school were introduced, a school Parliament with its government presided over by a captain was inaugurated, inter-school cricket and football matches were played, time was found for modern subjects, and the Hall at Oxford was opened for the training of the monastic staff of Ampleforth. Br Austin had a hand in many of these activities. A Board of Studies was formed and he was made its secretary. This meant that the arrangement of the school horarium fell on his shoulders. His organising ability and prodigious industry had full scope, and all the time he was occupied with class work. His pupils testify that he was an energetic and inspiring teacher, who had a way of getting the best from his boys. They felt moreover that they could talk to him, could tell him anything, and that he understood them. His bent was mathematical and scientific; literature as such made little appeal to him. He could 'get up' a play of Shakespeare as well as anyone, but he had no feeling for poetry. He used to remark that when he could say all he wanted to say in straightforward prose, he saw no use for poetry.
And so the years passed. Br Austin was ordained priest in 1896, and when Prior Smith succeeded to the office of Superior in 1897, Fr Austin was continued in his position in charge of the studies. The culmination of the various reforms appeared in the appointment of a Rector of the school, who was made responsible for the whole management of the boys, with the Prefects of Discipline and of Studies under his control. The first occupant of the new office of Rector was Fr Wilfrid Darby, but the bulk of the work fell to the share of Fr Austin, and after a year or so he was appointed Rector, in 1900. For three years he bore the burden manfully, the organization of the school was perfected, he won the confidence of parents and of boys, and everything seemed to point to a long tenure of office. However the strain of eleven years' work had told on his constitution; the time of transition was a difficult one; old traditions had disappeared, ingrained prejudices had been fought, and the material was often intractable. Fr Austin had expended more nervous energy than his system could generate and he felt compelled to ask for relief from his work. He considered that he had accomplished his task, that he had made the opening for a new phase of life for Ampleforth and that he could leave the fashioning to other hands.
He passed to parochial work in October, 1903. His first appointment was as assistant priest at St Anne's, Liverpool, and it is on record that he made a lasting impression on the people of the parish. From there he went in 1909 to take control of St Mary's, Merthyr Tydfil, in South Wales, where he found abundant scope for his energy. He decorated the newly built church, erected the high altar and set about organising the parish. He never spared himself, in fact he overworked, and after three years of rectorship his untiring zeal resulted in a breakdown of health. Returning to Liverpool, he was stationed first at St Anne's and later at St Peter's, until the call came to him to take up the position of head priest of St Mary's, Warrington, in 1915. It was for him a return home and he gladly answered the call. His health had improved and he threw himself with ardour into the duties that fell to him. St Mary's people have every cause for a grateful remembrance of his name. He was responsible for the installation of electric lighting, he had the war memorial chapel built, and in 1928 celebrated the Golden Jubilee of the church, which had been beautifully decorated. Every detail of parish life was familiar to him. He knew and sympathised with all his people's needs and with their sufferings; his sermons were an inspiration to his flock; he was the consoler and adviser of countless souls; in particular the sick were his constant care. In addition to his strictly parochial work he was the Catholic representative on the Education Committee and he made a brave fight for the recognition of Catholic Principles in education. Thanks to his zeal the Catholics of Warrington are now prepared for the developments in education that confront them.
At this juncture a new work presented itself. To quote again from the funeral address: 'Always alive to the needs of the future, he saw that the growth of the town in the Padgate direction called for the foundation of a new parish. With the loyal assistance of the people of St Mary's he founded St Oswald's parish and six years ago took up his residence there. Was he under any illusion that he was settling down in a quiet place to end his days? He was much too far-seeing to imagine any such thing and much too zealous to desire it.' He bought the land, built the church, which later will become the hall of the new school, acquired Bruche Hall, now inhabited by the Sisters of the Cross and Passion, erected the schools, and secured a house for a presbytery. Rightly is he considered the founder of the new parish of Padgate.
Early last year he began to show signs that his activities were wearing him out. His blood pressure was much too high and his heart was tired. Characteristically he refused to give in, and after a course of special nursing he took up his duties. In the autumn he broke down and he ceased to say Mass, but his spirit remained keen as ever, and he was convinced that with the spring he would again resume his work. But it was not to be. Dropsy supervened on his other ailments and the end came with the passing of Holy Saturday, April 20th. During his months of weary sickness he had made his preparation for death. His faculties remained clear, a consolation vouchsafed to him for which he was particularly grateful, but he was worn out. The energy that had inspired his life gave out. Rest had never been congenial to him; holidays as such bored him. A few years ago he joined a party of hard-working priests who were recreating at a quiet holiday resort in the north of France. The morning after their arrival the party went to bathe in the sea, and after they had finished they settled down to enjoy the peace and quiet. Fr Austin asked what they were going to do next. 'Oh, laze about and have another bathe later on,' was the reply. 'But are you not going to do anything?' he urged. 'This is what we have come to do,' he was told. It passed his comprehension that they could find interest in an idle hour, and packing up his traps he returned to his parish.
Single-minded devotion to his priestly work was his characteristic. For this he lived, for this he spent himself. He considered no sacrifice too great for him to make in the interests of the people committed to his care, and his people responded wholeheartedly. They recognised in him a man of personal holiness, a wise counsellor, a devoted priest, one who lived for them and was prepared to work himself to death for them, and they feel that in his death they have lost someone who belonged to them, who was part of their lives. In keeping with his priestly vocation his spirituality was based on the Blessed Sacrament. His devotion to It was intense, and he never tired of exploring the theological mysteries that surround It. His piety was childlike in its simplicity; his strongly emotional character found full vent in the simplest Catholic devotions. If his heart was his strength, it was also the source of any sorrow that crept into his life. Any reflection on the Church or on his people cut him to the quick. Want of sympathy with his ideals, his aspirations, his projects even, wounded his sensitive soul; he could not work with those who would not or could not enter into his ideas. His single-mindedness made him downright in thought and expression; 'it is' and 'it is not' were the poles of his thought, and he was in his own mind unconscious of any intermediate region.
With a temperament such as this it was inevitable that he should feel at times impatient with the compromises, the hesitations, the questionings that life presents. They seemed to him to be thwarting the divine purpose. He was in the fullest sense a man of God, and that ideal shaped his mind and heart and inspired his every action. His end was ordered as he would have wished. With the dawn of Easter morn he went to meet the risen Christ. May he with Him enter into life eternal!
On Wednesday evening, April 24th, his body was borne to the confines of his parish by the congregation of St Oswald's, and from there was brought to St Mary's, where the Dirge was solemnized. On the following morning a Pontifical Requiem was sung by the Abbot of Ampleforth, and Fr Dominic Willson spoke the farewell words to his old master and brother in religion. He was buried in the Benedictine vault in the cemetery of Warrington on Thursday, April 25th, 1935. May he rest in peace!
THOMAS AUSTIN HIND 20 April 1935
1871 9 Aug Born Warrington
1882-88 Educ Ampleforth
1888 3 Sep Habit at Belmont Abbot Raynal
1889 9 Sep Simple Vows
1891 17 May Minor Orders
1893 16 Jan (repeated 1Feb) Solemn Vows Prior Burge
30 Apr Subdeacon
1895 31 Mar Deacon Bishop Lacy
1896 22 Mar Priest " "
1900-03 Taught at Ampleforth where he became Rector of the school
1903 Oct Assistant at St Anne's Liverpool
1909 4 Sep Parish priest at Merthyr Tydvil
1912 Jul Through ill health returned as Assistant at St Anne's Liverpool
1914 Jan Moved to St Peter's Seel St
1915 Oct Parish priest of St Mary's Warrington
From there he founded the new parish of St Oswald's
1928 Dec Appointed Rei Familiaris
1929 Aug Parish priest Padgate Warrington
1933 Oct Appointed Cathedral Prior of Durham
1934 Nov Resigned through ill health
1935 20 Apr Died at Padgate
Buried at Warrington