Father James David Parker died at Mount Street Hospital, Preston on [2nd] June in his 79th year, and was buried at Brownedge on the 52nd anniversary of his ordination. If he had lived until December he would have celebrated his diamond monastic jubilee. He was one of thirteen children born to his parents. His youngest brother is the Lord Bishop of Northampton. Two other brothers that also survived him are priests and monks and one of his deceased sisters became a Carmelite nun.
Fr David as a boy of ten entered the School at Ampleforth in 1886 and was there for nine years. When a young man of twenty, he joined the Benedictine monastery at Erdington near Birmingham. This was really a German Foundation and the inevitable troubles that came with the First World War led to the transference of the English members of the community to English houses, and eventually the return of the Germans to their own country. Fr John Chapman (who later became Abbot) and Fr Bede Campbell joined Downside, and Fr David and Fr Campbell went to Fort Augustus in 1913. For nearly a quarter of a century Fr David remained in Scotland. During the First World War he acted as a naval chaplain at various naval bases in the Highlands. Later he taught mechanics and drawing in the School. Fr David was an exemplary monk who delighted in the monastic life and never failed to be in his place in choir for the 'Opus Dei'. He was both a simple man and a spiritual man and for these reasons was ever in demand as a Confessor in monastery, school, and later in parishes. The latter part of his life was spent working in parishes belonging to Ampleforth. After nearly a quarter of a century at Fort Augustus his Abbot, knowing his zeal for souls, in 1936 asked him to do parochial work. This talent was discovered early in his priestly life, for while a young priest in Birmingham he was given charge of a large, as they were then called, Poor Law Hospital. Although the institution was some distance from the Abbey, day after day he tramped there and back to attend his sick, seldom missing a daily visit and often making more than one, during the nine years that he had charge. He served as an assistant priest at Warrington and Leyland and then he was for three years in charge of the small parish of Aberford, where he did much to renovate and improve the property, and nine years at Barton-on-Humber. The latter had indeed but a small flock, less than a hundred all told, but Fr David was indefatigable in his service. Near there during the Second World War were various groups of military forces and for several years, though a man in the sixties, he said three Masses a Sunday leaving his brother Edward, a delicate man, to say Mass in the church. They lived in great poverty. But the brothers' zeal and self-denial enabled them to liquidate a big debt.
A severe internal operation in 1947 left Fr David with a distressing and unusual nervous affliction. After a short spell as chaplain to Stanbrook Abbey he lived at Bamber Bridge. Unable to say a public Mass, he hardly ever failed to celebrate at a side altar privately. Nor was he able to preach but he still was able to visit and to hear confessions. It seemed as if God wanted him to continue this work as in the confessional his affliction was markedly less noticeable. One was filled with admiration for his courage and humility under this heavy cross and also for the great charity of his brethren at Brownedge who helped him with such cheerful devotion.
Perhaps someone, not knowing Fr David, might suspect that there was something fickle about a monk who twice changed his monastic home; from Erdington to Fort Augustus and from Fort Augustus to Ampleforth. But there is no truth in that suggestion; each time the change was made at the call of obedience. Fr David was a humble, obedient monk, a priest filled with zeal for souls. For himself he would have chosen to have passed his days in the monastery; the choir was always his joy; he had ample resources in himself to use his leisure, as he had a real talent for working with his hands at carpentry or mechanical contrivances. But his Superiors knew the other side of his character, his apostolic zeal and love of souls. He, Fr David, who valued obedience above all, accepted his Superiors' decisions. He will be remembered with gratitude by many in various places and positions and not least by his own Brethren. May he rest in peace.
JAMES DAVID PARKER 2 June 1955
1876 22 Aug Born Birmingham
1886-95 Educ Ampleforth
In business for one year
1896 28 Dec Clothed at Erdington
1897 29 Dec Professed Erdington (Simple Vows)
1898 24 Sep Minor Orders
1900 29 Dec Solemn Profession Erdington
1901 2 Mar Subdeacon
1902 22 Feb Deacon
1903 6 Jun Priest Erdington
1905-13 Workhouse Chaplain (B'ham)
1913 May Lent to Caldey by Erdington (together with D John Chapman & D Bede Camm)
Nov Fort Augustus
1914 Sep Affiliated at Fort Augustus
1918 May to Dec 1919 in France as CF
1919-36 Fort Augustus incl 3 years on Road Camps
1936 Feb On loan from Fort Augustus to Ampleforth Missions - Liverpool Leyland & Warrington
1938 22 Feb In charge at Aberford
1940 10 Sep Accepted by Ampleforth Conv Chapter as member of Community
25 Sep In charge at Barton-on-Humber
1941 20 Jan Affiliation sanctioned at Rome
1949 31 Oct Barton-on-Humber taken over by Bishop Ellis
12 Dec Assistant at Stanbrook
1950 24 Nov Assistant at Bamber Bridge
1955 2 Jun Died at Mount Street Hospital Preston
Buried at Brownedge