Cardinal Manning, in his great book The Eternal Priesthood, says that the death of a fervent priest, though it may be sudden, is never unprepared.
These words are a consolation to us who are mourning the loss of Reginald Basil Primavesi, monk of St Benedict and priest of Jesus Christ. To him death came with an awful suddenness, without apparent warning, swiftly, in the silence of midnight. Up to a late hour on Tuesday he appeared to be in normal health - conversing, jesting, laughing with his brethren; on Wednesday morning his body was found stretched lifeless and cold across his bed. He, who in the exercise of his priestly ministry had been so assiduous in his service of the sick, and had succoured and consoled so many souls in their passage to eternity, was destined to die alone, unfortified by those holy rites which God in his mercy has given to the Church to blunt death's sting.
But, after all, it is not from a sudden death merely that holy Church prays the Lord to deliver us, but rather from a death which, besides being sudden, is also unprovided: 'a subitanea et improvisa morte libera nos Domine.' And when we review the life and work and character of Father Basil, and strive to penetrate the motives of his deeds and conduct, we cannot fail to experience a holy confidence that the good God, who decreed for him this sudden passage to eternity, found him not unprepared for the great journey. For if ever there was a priest to whom was applicable the word 'fervent,' that priest was Father Basil.
Father Basil was sixty-three years of age. His father was an Italian, whose family came from the shores of Lake Como; his mother was Welsh; and he himself was born in South Wales. His school days were spent at Ampleforth. He joined the monastic community there, and consecrated himself to God by the holy vows of religion. For his ecclesiastical studies he was sent to Rome, where his closest friend and fellow-student was Father Cuthbert Jackson, whom God called, a few months ago, from earthly darkness into eternal light.
In 1900 Father Basil was ordained to the priesthood. After a brief period of teaching in the Abbey School, he was sent to take part in that extra-claustral missionary work which has been entrusted to the English Benedictine Congregation by the Holy See. He served for many years as an assistant priest at St Mary's, Warrington. From 1915 to 1918 he was an assistant priest at St Anne's, Liverpool, with Father McDonald, the present Archbishop of Edinburgh, as his superior. He was then given charge of the parish of Cockermouth in Cumberland. In 1920 he was transferred as Rector to St Peter's, Liverpool; and there he remained until he died (as I think he would have wished to die) in the midst of the flock whom for so many years he had loved and served.
As is the case with most of the sons of St Benedict, Father Basil's career was devoid of all that the world would term greatness. He was raised to no high ecclesiastical dignity; he held no outstanding office of administration; he was not remarkable as a preacher: and though he possessed unusual linguistic gifts which enabled him to speak some half dozen languages, he attained no eminence in the field of scholarship. His merits lay in a higher plane - in the fidelity of his priestly life, and in the example which he gave of the virtues which go to make a true minister of Jesus Christ.
To me Father Basil appeared as one who had waged a long and arduous conflict, in which, while retaining perhaps certain superficial scars, he had achieved the greatest of all victories - the victory over self. The mingling of Latin and Celtic blood within him, together with his thoroughly English upbringing, left clearly marked traits in his composition, and made of him a somewhat complex character. He had the exuberant animation of the southerner, the imaginativeness and the sensitiveness of the Celt, the pertinacity of the Englishman. He impressed me as being a man of naturally fiery temperament, who might easily be moved to violent wrath, assailed perhaps by swift tempests of passion, like to the sudden storms which transform the placid sunlit waters of his ancestral Como into a dark and angry sea. Capable of intense and loyal affection, he was profoundly sensitive to injury, slight or opposition. Often holding strong views, he possessed a dogged determination and unwearying energy and driving power, which might, if unchecked, have made him a difficult colleague with whom to live, and, still more, a difficult superior under whom to work.
But he always held these natural tendencies and impulses under strict control; and it was this which struck me most in Father Basil's character. It was the work of divine grace meeting with faithful correspondence in its recipient. The fierce volcano within him became the steady fire of apostolic zeal - a zeal ever ready to spend and be spent in the service of his divine Master. The promptings of the heart became chastened and purified and merged in a great love for souls, a boundless charity, which showed itself in his devoted self-denying care of his people, and especially of the young, upon whom he expended so much of his energy and solicitude. The pertinacious element in his character was ever directed to ends which had for their purpose the good of souls; and when once he had determined upon his goal, it was difficult indeed to deflect his steps. Thus it came to pass that in Father Basil nature became supernaturalised.
That this conquest of himself was no easy task we can well believe: at times indeed there were signs as of a certain internal strain or tension, which could be discerned in his external manner and deportment, seeming to indicate that the conflict which he sustained so courageously was by no means over. But he was always bright, always overflowing with cheeriness and kindliness; and his brethren who were privileged to work with him or under him can testify to his unfailing easy companionableness and his constant fraternal charity. He had a deep love for the monastery of his profession, and he was never happier than in the company of his monastic brethren.
I have referred to his extreme sensitiveness. One form of its manifestation was the intense natural shrinking which he had from physical suffering, not only in himself, but in others too. I have heard him say that when called to assist those who were dying from certain diseases or injuries, the spectacle of human agony and human blood almost made him faint; and that he felt that it was only with special aid given to him from above that he was able in such cases to fulfil his sacred ministry and to confer the Last Sacraments. Once, upon hearing of the sudden death of a good and devoted Catholic, he remarked: 'That is how I should like to die.' There can be no doubt that, whatever suffering or fate might befall him, he would have accepted it with true Christian courage and resignation. But may it not be that our divine Lord, who himself in the Garden of Gethsemane was borne down by the awful anticipation of suffering to come, has taken account of his servant's frailty, and for that reason has granted to Father Basil a manner of death from which pain and blood are absent?
And now Father Basil's task is finished. He has worked and suffered much for the souls confided to his care. He was conspicuous for his love of the Blessed Sacrament; and in season and out of season he strove to attract his people to more frequent Communion. He was remarkable for his love of the children; and his labours in the cause of 'after-care' - the task of protecting the adolescent and the young against the innumerable dangers which to-day threaten the purity of their faith and morals - took a very heavy toll of his time and strength. Not always have his efforts met with response or even with appreciation from those for whom he toiled; and I have intimate knowledge that such lack of support in those from whom he had most right to expect it was a heavy trial to his sensitive nature. He bore it, as he bore all things, with priestly patience and charity; and I refer to the fact now merely in the hope that all who have failed to help him during his life may perhaps strive at least to make amends by helping him after his death.
Yes, he may still need our help. With our memory of his devoted priestly life, and with our knowledge of God's unutterable love and mercy, we are confident that Father Basil's lot in eternity will be with the Blessed in Heaven. But we must not be unmindful of the immense responsibilities of the priestly office, nor of the demands that the divine holiness and justice must needs make upon all who are called to so high an estate. We know not what degree of purification must yet be fulfilled before Father Basil can enter into his rest. And so we should pray with holy Church:
'Receive, we beseech thee, O Lord, the Sacrifice which we offer for the soul of Basil thy servant: that he, to whom in this world thou hast given the priestly dignity, may be bidden by thee to enter into the company of thy Saints. Through Jesus Christ our Lord.'
REGINALD BASIL PRIMAVESI 7 July 1937
1874 13 Apr Born Swansea
1884-92 Educ Ampleforth
1892 2 Sep Habit at Belmont
1893 7 Sep Simple Vows
1894 Minor Orders Belmont Bishop Hedley
1894-97 Student at St Anselmo Rome
1897 11 Jul Solemn Vows
1898 29 Jun Subdeacon
1899 19 Mar Deacon
1900 10 Mar Priest
Teaching staff at Ampleforth
1902 Assistant at St Mary's Warrington
1915 Oct Assistant at St Anne's Liverpool
1918 Aug Incumbent at Cockermouth
1920 Incumbent at St Peter's Seel St Liverpool
1937 7 Jul Died at St Peter's Seel St Liverpool
Buried at Ampleforth