1933 – 2014 (January 26)
Roger Meril Hanouille was born on June 9, 1933, in Lawrence, Massachusetts, the son of Meril Hanouille and Lillian Perrault. He had one brother and three sisters, and was baptized in Saint Anne’s Church, Lawrence, on June 11, 1933. He attended Saint Theresa Parochial School, and Central Catholic High School, both in Lawrence, for two years. In 1949, he entered Augustinian Academy, Staten Island, New York as a postulant, completing his high school education there in 1951. He was received as a novice on September 8, 1951, at Good Counsel Novitiate, New Hamburg, N. Y., and professed simple vows on September 10, 1952. He then studied at Villanova University, obtaining his BA in Philosophy, in 1956, and professed solemn vows on September 10, 1955. He then went to Rome, Italy and to Collegio Santa Monica for his theological studies, from 1956 to 1960, and was ordained to the priesthood in Rome, on July 12, 1959.
Father Hanouille was assigned to Monsignor Bonner High School, Drexel Hill, Pa., where he taught Latin, Religion, and Mathematics, from 1960 to 1967. He then returned to Rome, Italy, as a member of the Collegio Santa Monica and attended classes at the Pontifical Oriental Institute, where he obtained a Licentiate in Eastern Patristic Theology. From 1971 to 1974 he continued with research work at the University of Munich. In 1974, he returned to Monsignor Bonner High School where he taught until 1981. From 1981 to 1984, he was assigned to Saint Thomas Monastery, Villanova, Pennsylvania, and from 1984 to 1989 to Saint James Parish, Carthage, New York. In 1989 he was assigned to St. Patrick Parish, Cambridge, New York, and in 1997 to Saint Mary Parish, Lawrence, Massachusetts. In 2007, Fr. Hanouille returned to Saint Thomas Monastery, Villanova, Pennsylvania.
Father Roger, in the spirit of St. Augustine, scholar, teacher and preacher, spent his life studying, teaching and ministering to God’s people. He studied the Fathers of the Church and their profound impact on our understanding of the central mysteries of our faith, sharing that understanding with those to whom he ministered. He died in Saint Thomas of Villanova Monastery on Sunday, January 26, 2014.
A wake was held in Saint Thomas of Villanova Church on Wednesday, January 29, 2014. His funeral Mass followed immediately, with principal celebrant and homilist Prior Provincial Anthony M. Genovese, O.S.A. Interment was in the Augustinian plot at Calvary Cemetery, Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.
