Patrick Gabriel McNally died a few hours after completing his 74th birthday on 14th December. He claimed to be Irish in virtue of his parents having come from Northern Ireland - he was temperamentally Irish - but his friends would remind him that he was born in Workington, one of five brothers.
Possibly at the suggestion of Fr Clement Standish, he was entered at St Joseph's, Dumfries in 1915. He came to Ampleforth as a postulant in 1920, and received the Habit in the following October making his Simple Vows on 5th October 1922. He was regarded as having a good brain and he was sent to Sant Anselmo in Rome in 1923. His health, however, was not good, and he was recalled to Ampleforth in 1926; here he taught for three Years - extra Maths at which he was good, and, surprisingly German; he claimed to have started the first German class in the School; he had a flair for languages and at one time he spoke Italian fluently. He returned to Workington for Ordination by the Benedictine Bishop of Lancaster on 2nd June 1929.
Almost immediately Fr Gabriel was sent to Brownedge which he loved and where he remained until June 1931 when he was sent to St Benedict's, Warrington. Here his popularity with young men, so many of whom were unemployed, enabled him to do much to keep them together. In 1934 he was sent to Leyland and then, after a very brief stay in Cardiff, he returned to Brownedge for the second time as assistant priest in 1937.
When the war seemed inevitable he was anxious to enlist as a chaplain in the Navy, but it was the Army which claimed him from 1939 to 1945. His war record was impressive; he was in the retreat to St Malo after Dunkirk and later he was with the Eighth Army in Africa, in Italy and in France. It was typical of Gabriel that he would not bother to apply for War decorations - a friend applied for them on his behalf and was surprised to receive five medals including the three Campaign Stars.
Leaving the Army in 1945 he took charge of St Mary's, Knaresborough where he lived in considerable poverty, though he managed to build the primary school there. Again his health was not good and he was moved to Brownedge in 1950 for the third time but as parish priest. St Mary's, Brownedge owes a lot to him. He built the Secondary School, reorganised and enlarged the Junior School, built the Sacred Heart Altar contributing to this with money from his army gratuity, bought and installed the large pipe organ taken from Cannon Street Preston, installed the coloured windows taken from the old church at Ampleforth and left a large credit balance.
While at Brownedge he took over at very short notice the work of Sub-Economus and later - with great reluctance - the work of Economus. This he loved and Ampleforth - both the Abbey and the Missions - are greatly in his debt for his devoted service and careful investing of funds; he built up the Ampleforth Mission Fund to a surprisingly high figure. When he left Brownedge in 1964 he took the work of Economus with him - first to Abergavenny and then in 1970 to Goosnargh. These were very happy days for him though his health was clearly deteriorating during the last two years of his life.
A friend of Roman days writes
People remember his cheerful laugh and bonhomie; but one needed to know him well to realise that behind what seemed a carefree and at times a casual approach to life lay an over-conscientious nature - gentle - too gentle - and refined, together with a deep spiritual life characterised by deep devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and a meticulous observance in saying the Latin Office. The day he died he would have recited the whole of his Office and on the very rare occasions when this was omitted he would say the Rosary, sometimes fifteen decades. He was grateful and a little proud to consider himself an Ampleforth monk. He had no wish to be anything else and he would not wish to be remembered by any other token.
PATRICK GABRIEL MCNALLY 15 Dec 1976
1902 14 Dec Born Workington
1915-19 Educ St Joseph's Dumfried
1920 Sep Postulant at Ampleforth
1921 4 Oct Habit Abbot Smith
1922 5 Oct Simple Vows " "
1925 25 Sep Minor Orders
6 Oct Solemn Vows Prior Bede Turner
1923-26 Studies S Anselmo Rome
1925 19 Dec Subdeacon Rome
1928 29 Jul Deacon Ampleforth Bishop Shine
1929 2 Jun Priest Workington Bishop W Pearson
22 Jun Assistant at Brownedge
1931 13 Jun Assistant at St Benedict's Warrington
1934 May Assistant at Leyland
1937 Feb Assistant at Cardiff
Sep Assistant at Brownedge
1940 Sep Army Chaplain
1945 Sep Parish Priest at Knaresborough
1950 Mar Parish Priest at Brownedge
1957 Sep Sub Economus
1964 Sep Assistant at Abergavenny
1970 Assistant at Goosnargh
1971 Jan Economus
1976 15 Dec Died at Preston General Infirmary
20 Dec Buried at Brownedge