(From an account in the Parish Magazine of St Mary's, Warrington.)
Fr Benedict came of a good Lancashire family, in fact we may say a priestly family, as two of his brothers also were ordained priests, the late Fr Bernard Hayes, for many years Novice Master at both Belmont and Ampleforth, and Fr Leo Hayes, at present parish priest at Warwick Bridge, near Carlisle. We first knew Fr Benedict in 1901. He had just returned to Ampleforth a young monk from Belmont, and in addition to his ecclesiastical studies and preparations for the priesthood was teaching junior forms mathematics. Four years later he was ordained a priest and until he went to St Mary's, Warrington, in 1916 he was one of the hardest worked members of the teaching staff at Ampleforth. Looking back in middle age at Fr Benedict's life during those fifteen years, one can appreciate the drudgery he so gallantly and cheerfully did. He was not what would be called a clever man; but the fact that for fifteen years he was kept to the task explains that in the ordinary slang phrase he did deliver the goods. It was not easy or showy work. Not preparing bright boys for scholarships or high examinations, but just year after year taking middle school boys of the duller sort through the elements of mathematics. For most of these years he acted as curate to the priest in charge of the village church. But to us boys he was something of a hero by his prowess as an athlete. At cricket he was more than a useful all-round man. A serviceable medium pace bowler, a really good batsman with powerful scoring strokes on the off-side, he was a splendid fieldsman. As a centre half-back at soccer he was an untiring worker and a nasty man to play against as he seemed all knees and elbows.
Going to Warrington in 1916, he soon established himself as an indefatigable worker. A relentless visitor, he had charge during his years there of the Guild of the Sacred Heart and of the Children of Mary. The same characteristics he displayed as a schoolmaster, he showed as a parochial priest, an unlimited capacity for hard work and a tireless zeal. A naturally shy man, he concealed it beneath a certain boisterous and quaint form of humour. It may be comparatively easy for a priest to attain a certain popularity by being too ready to accept a low standard of morality and religious practice. But the popularity that Fr Benedict enjoyed did not arise from that cause. He was as uncompromising when a principle was at stake as he was unsparing of himself in his devotion to duty. The one vice that he ever fought ruthlessly, was disloyalty and lack of esprit de corps. He simply could not understand such an attitude of mind.
Leaving Warrington in 1924 he passed on to work as an assistant priest first at St Peter's, Liverpool, and later at Cardiff. It was about six years ago that the mysterious disease that ultimately killed him first attacked him. It was a terrible complaint, and one that brought him much suffering. These last half dozen years of his life were indeed a via dolorosa. In nursing homes, in hospitals, operation succeeded operation; then came periods when he seemed to have recovered sufficiently to do light work, only to break down again. During the last five years there was never an hour when he was free from pain. It was for a sensitive man, as he was, a humiliating affliction, for a man of such physical strength and energy most irksome to have his activity so restricted. But it was this last sickness that brought out the essential greatness of Fr Benedict. He never flinched or bemoaned his fate. He met suffering with a smile on his lips. Nor did he lose his interest in life. Meeting him at intervals during this period, we realised that he had willingly embraced the Apostolate of Suffering. Quite simply he took it as his job, just as he had taught boys and laboured as a priest in a busy town parish. He grew day by day in the love of God. His faith became more vivid, his hope firmer. At first we wondered why the Good God had allowed such a zealous and active priest to be stricken when still in the prime of life. But gradually we began to understand that God had given him a higher vocation, had indeed by his affliction allowed him, in the bold words of St Paul, to 'fill up those things that are wanting in the sufferings of Christ.' Nor did Fr Benedict fail in the high vocation to which he was called. We rejoice in his fidelity, we thank the Good God for the nobility of his life, and we in our turn beg you to remember this good priest in your prayers.
AUSTIN BENEDICT HAYES 25 March 1934
1880 3 Feb Born Liverpool
1894 Jan to Jul 1898 Educ Ampleforth
1898 3 Sep Habit at Belmont Prior W Raynal
1899 6 Sep Simple Vows
1900 10 Jun Minor Orders Bishop Hedley
1902 13 Nov Solemn Vows Ampleforth Abbot Smith
1903 19 Mar Subdeacon Bishop Ilsley
1904 24 Apr Deacon Bishop Lacy
1906 25 Mar Priest Bishop Lacy
Taught at Ampleforth
Served Ampleforth village
1916 Sep St Mary's Warrington
1924 May St Peter's Liverpool
1927 Jan St Mary's Canton Cardiff
1928 Aug Severe illness began
1929 Merthyr Tydvil
1930 Nov Returned to St Mary's Canton
1931 Jun Nursing Home Windsor
St Mark's Hospital London
1932 Jan St Mary's Brownedge
1934 25 Mar Died after operation in hospital Preston
Buried at Brownedge