Fr. Simon (Leonard Anthony) Sansone, OCSO, 79, of St. Joseph’s Abbey, 167 North Spencer Road died peacefully Thursday, January 4, 2007, in St. Joseph’s Abbey Infirmary surrounded by the Father Abbot, members of the community, and his sister and brother-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Curtin of Plymouth. He was the son of the late Michael and Emma Sansone of Norwood, and brother of the late Marie Coughlin. He is survived by his sisters, Grace Curtin and Jean Ahearn and his brothers-in-law, Theodore Curtin and David Ahearn, his beloved nieces and nephews, and by his monastic family at St. Joseph’s Abbey.
Fr. Simon, was born in Norwood on January 10, 1927 and was a graduate of Norwood High School. He served as sergeant in the Army Air Corps from February 1944 to December 1946, functioning as Air Operations Specialist. After leaving the service he studied for one year in the Holy Ghost Fathers’ seminary in Pennsylvania, after which he attended St. Michael’s College in Colchester, Vermont for two years.
On August 21, 1950 he entered the Cistercian community of Our Lady of the Valley living, at the time, at a former CCC camp in Chepachet, Rhode Island, subsequent to the tragic fire which had destroyed its monastery in Valley Falls, Rhode Island some months earlier. On November 21, 1953 he pronounced his first vows as a laybrother at St. Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, to which the community had been transferred. His Solemn Profession followed on November 21, 1956.
On July 3, 1961 he was sent to the monastery’s daughter house at La Dehesa in Chile for a period of five months, and on January 19, 1964 he returned there for a period of two years.
Fr. Simon worked for several years in the abbey’s vestment department as tailor and, for a period, as its secretary. He later served as guestmaster in the abbey’s retreat house. His willingness to offer help wherever needed was eagerly accepted and, in this way, he engaged in a variety of other activities. But in later years he excelled as the abbey’s treasurer, a position which he held from 1990 until some months before his death.
An important milestone came for him when, after studies at Pope John XXIII National Seminary in Weston, he was ordained priest on July 15, 1989. This opened for Fr. Simon a new phase of priestly ministry to the community.
Beyond all that he did in the monastery, Fr. Simon was above all loved and admired as an authentic man of prayer, always eager to remain close to the community in all its activities. In April 2005 he was diagnosed with ALS, and although the disease had increasingly taken its toll, less than a week before his death he still appeared at work each day and even attended the early morning vigil service in church. He will be sorely missed by all his brothers and his loving relatives.
Fr. Simon’s funeral will be held Tuesday January 9 at St. Joseph’s Abbey, 167 N Spencer Rd, Spencer with a Mass of Christian burial at 2:30 PM in the abbey church.
J. HENRI MORIN & SON FUNERAL HOME, 23 Maple Terrace, Spencer, is directing arrangements.