Anselm Barry Obituary, Death – On March 24, 1928, John Francis Barry was born in Roscrea, County Tipperary. He grew up in a number of Irish towns because his father worked as a bank manager. After attending Clongowes College with the Jesuits, he entered the monastery of Glenstal on March 11th, 1947, taking the name Anselm. He was ordained on February 2nd, 1949.
After completing his studies in Rome’s Sant’Anselmo and Maredsous, where he focused on philosophy, he was ordained a priest on July 31, 1953. He taught in Glenstal Abbey School over the ensuing years, serving briefly as the Novice Master’s assistant. On the request of the Catholic Bishop of Stockholm, he relocated to Upsalla, Sweden, in 1966. There, a Catholic department of theology was set to be established, and Fr. Anselm was expected to teach philosophy there.
Fr. Anselm relocated to the German town of Wald-Sigmaringen in 1970. He served as chaplain to the Benedictine Sisters of St. Lioba and the students at their school in an old Cisterian women’s monastery for forty-four years. He began serving as the parish’s curate in the middle of the 1970s; the parish’s church doubled as the monastery church. During this time, he acquired German citizenship.
He went back to Glenstal in 2014 as his health started to deteriorate. Prior to his health making it impossible a few months ago, he served as the monastery’s assistant librarian. He fell on March 24 of this year, breaking his hip. He was sent to St Anthony’s Nursing Home in Pallas Green, Co. Tipperary, following an operation in Limerick Regional Hospital. Only a few weeks later, on May 6, 2023, early in the morning, he passed away. Funeral arrangements: Tuesday, May 9, afternoon, Monastery Reception, with removal to the Abbey Church at 5 o’clock for the Office of the Dead. Wednesday, May 10, at 11.30 a.m., is the funeral mass.
