Richard Heffern

Fr. Colman Heffern, OSB oliv

It is with sadness that we announce the death of Fr. Colman Heffern, OSB oliv, a monk of the Pecos Benedictine Monastery. Fr Colman was 92, and died three days before his 93 birthday.

Fr. Colman was the eleventh of twelve children in a large Kansas farm family, growing up a hundred miles east of Wichita. Family legend has it that Fr. Colman was hitchhiking to join the army, when he got a ride from some Trappist monks who convinced him to try out the religious life instead. So off he went to New Melleray Trappist abbey, near Dubuque, Iowa. He was a brother there for about 25 years, until the early 1970s. 

He then transferred to the Pecos Monastery, where he was ordained priest in 1976.

He went on a mission to an orphanage in Queretaro Mexico for a few years before starting a school for boys near Comoapan.  He worked there for 15-20 years before returning to Pecos. He was fluent in Spanish.

After returning to the monastery Fr Colman was the monastery beekeeper - people came from far and wide to purchase the honey. Because he was fluent in Spanish, he helped out in the local parish and other places by offering the mass and hearing confessions for the locals.

He will be missed by many who came to know him as a very simple man, wanting to live a simple life serving in the vineyard of the Lord.

May God's angels escort him to the Heavenly Kingdom, and may he rest in peace for all his earthly labors.

Please forward any financial donations to the Berardinelli Funeral Home, to help those who need financial assistance when arranging a funeral for a loved one. 

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Richard Heffern, please visit our floral store.