Brother Harold Eccles, CFX

Brother Harry passed peacefully on March 8, 2021 at Nazareth Nursing Home in Louisville, his hometown. He had been a resident there for over a year and endured the hardship of no visitors during COVID-19 restrictions. He kept in touch through letters, emails, and even telephone calls until the very end.

Harry joined the Xaverian community after high school at St. Xavier in Louisville in 1945 and lived 76 years incarnating the charism of his beloved congregation, missionary evangelizers. He received the religious name Bernard which he kept until the late 60s, when he returned to his baptismal name. He completed his initial formation and university education in 1950, taking the good news of Jesus and proclaiming it with great conviction and integrity, whether in the classrooms of St. John’s Prep in MA, Good Counsel in MD, St. Michael’s, Xaverian or St. Brendan’s in Brooklyn or St. Joseph’s in Bardstown, KY. He was an inspiring English and Religion teacher, a faithful guide on student retreats and a pioneer in the Encounter Movement in Brooklyn. He is well remembered by his alumni as a “special presence” and a “blessing”; as someone who taught from his heart.