Information provided by Paulist Archives:
=============================================
Born March 1, 1898 in Chatham, Ontario, to French parents, Fr. Bert Robert, CSP, graduated from St. Francis Xavier College in Nova Scotia in 1918. His enlistment in the Royal Air Force was terminated by the Armistice ending World War I and he returned to law school in Toronto.
During his brief, "restless," career as a Canadian barrister in the early 1920's he became friends with Fr. John E. Burke,CSP, (then superior at St. Peter's parish) and soon decided on "trying" the Paulists. He entered the Society in 1922, was professed on June 11, 1925 and ordained on May 30, 1926 in Toronto.
Fr Robert was immediately assigned to the missions and spent the next fourteen years as a missionary in the Northwest, California, Canada, the Deep South and the East Coast before being appointed Superior of the Detroit mission band in 1940. Using his legal skills he successfully fought off a zoning challenge to the Paulists' Michigan house and managed the mission band for six years before an arthritic condition forced him into retirement in the late 1940's.
Crippled and wheelchair bound, he managed his illness well. He traveled south in 1949 to preserve his health and in 1952 was appointed superior at Saint Austin's parish in Austin, Texas. When his health worsened in early 1956 he stepped down as superior but remained in residence as a parish assistant for the rest of his life.
"Bert" was remembered as a terminal optimist and an energetic priest. He died in Austin at the age of 87 after 59 years as a Paulist priest.
=============================================
Born March 1, 1898 in Chatham, Ontario, to French parents, Fr. Bert Robert, CSP, graduated from St. Francis Xavier College in Nova Scotia in 1918. His enlistment in the Royal Air Force was terminated by the Armistice ending World War I and he returned to law school in Toronto.
During his brief, "restless," career as a Canadian barrister in the early 1920's he became friends with Fr. John E. Burke,CSP, (then superior at St. Peter's parish) and soon decided on "trying" the Paulists. He entered the Society in 1922, was professed on June 11, 1925 and ordained on May 30, 1926 in Toronto.
Fr Robert was immediately assigned to the missions and spent the next fourteen years as a missionary in the Northwest, California, Canada, the Deep South and the East Coast before being appointed Superior of the Detroit mission band in 1940. Using his legal skills he successfully fought off a zoning challenge to the Paulists' Michigan house and managed the mission band for six years before an arthritic condition forced him into retirement in the late 1940's.
Crippled and wheelchair bound, he managed his illness well. He traveled south in 1949 to preserve his health and in 1952 was appointed superior at Saint Austin's parish in Austin, Texas. When his health worsened in early 1956 he stepped down as superior but remained in residence as a parish assistant for the rest of his life.
"Bert" was remembered as a terminal optimist and an energetic priest. He died in Austin at the age of 87 after 59 years as a Paulist priest.
Information provided by Paulist Archives:
=============================================
Born March 1, 1898 in Chatham, Ontario, to French parents, Fr. Bert Robert, CSP, graduated from St. Francis Xavier College in Nova Scotia in 1918. His enlistment in the Royal Air Force was terminated by the Armistice ending World War I and he returned to law school in Toronto.
During his brief, "restless," career as a Canadian barrister in the early 1920's he became friends with Fr. John E. Burke,CSP, (then superior at St. Peter's parish) and soon decided on "trying" the Paulists. He entered the Society in 1922, was professed on June 11, 1925 and ordained on May 30, 1926 in Toronto.
Fr Robert was immediately assigned to the missions and spent the next fourteen years as a missionary in the Northwest, California, Canada, the Deep South and the East Coast before being appointed Superior of the Detroit mission band in 1940. Using his legal skills he successfully fought off a zoning challenge to the Paulists' Michigan house and managed the mission band for six years before an arthritic condition forced him into retirement in the late 1940's.
Crippled and wheelchair bound, he managed his illness well. He traveled south in 1949 to preserve his health and in 1952 was appointed superior at Saint Austin's parish in Austin, Texas. When his health worsened in early 1956 he stepped down as superior but remained in residence as a parish assistant for the rest of his life.
"Bert" was remembered as a terminal optimist and an energetic priest. He died in Austin at the age of 87 after 59 years as a Paulist priest.
=============================================
Born March 1, 1898 in Chatham, Ontario, to French parents, Fr. Bert Robert, CSP, graduated from St. Francis Xavier College in Nova Scotia in 1918. His enlistment in the Royal Air Force was terminated by the Armistice ending World War I and he returned to law school in Toronto.
During his brief, "restless," career as a Canadian barrister in the early 1920's he became friends with Fr. John E. Burke,CSP, (then superior at St. Peter's parish) and soon decided on "trying" the Paulists. He entered the Society in 1922, was professed on June 11, 1925 and ordained on May 30, 1926 in Toronto.
Fr Robert was immediately assigned to the missions and spent the next fourteen years as a missionary in the Northwest, California, Canada, the Deep South and the East Coast before being appointed Superior of the Detroit mission band in 1940. Using his legal skills he successfully fought off a zoning challenge to the Paulists' Michigan house and managed the mission band for six years before an arthritic condition forced him into retirement in the late 1940's.
Crippled and wheelchair bound, he managed his illness well. He traveled south in 1949 to preserve his health and in 1952 was appointed superior at Saint Austin's parish in Austin, Texas. When his health worsened in early 1956 he stepped down as superior but remained in residence as a parish assistant for the rest of his life.
"Bert" was remembered as a terminal optimist and an energetic priest. He died in Austin at the age of 87 after 59 years as a Paulist priest.
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