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Fr. Zachary Hrisko, O.S.B.
Our confrere, Father Zachary, Hrisko, died at Edward Hospital, Naperville, on the evening of August 4, 2010, from complications following intestinal surgery the previous month.
Arrangements
The Reception of Fr. Zachary and Wake Service:
Sunday, August 8 at 7:00 PM in the Abbey Church
The Funeral and Burial:
Monday, August 9 at 10:00 AM in the Abbey Church (burial in the Abbey Cemetery following Mass)
Biography
The ninth of twelve children of an immigrant couple from Galicia, Michael Hrisko was born in Yonkers, New York, on September 11, 1923.
Inducted into the United States Army in March 1943, Michael rose to the rank of sergeant, serving in the finance department at bases in South Carolina, Texas, Honolulu, and New Caledonia. Following his honorable discharge in March 1946, he worked with General Electric for a time, and then began business studies at Marietta College in Ohio.
In early 1949, he came to St. Procopius Abbey as a lay brother candidate, but the following September he enrolled instead as a divinity student at St. Procopius College. Michael re-applied for admission to the community, this time as a clerical novice, and as Frater Zachary he professed monastic vows on June 24, 1951.
As a cleric, he finished undergraduate work at the College while teaching English at St. Procopius Academy. Since it was at first intended that he join Holy Trinity Monastery in Butler, Pennsylvania, he studied some years at Sts. Cyril and Methodius Byzantine Rite Seminary in Pittsburgh.
But he finally decided to remain a monk of St. Procopius, and in 1956 began a five-year assignment as registrar of the College. On May 19, 1957, Father Zachary was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Nicholas Elko at Sts. Cyril and Methodius Seminary. In 1961, he became director of admissions at the College.
Studying summers at Fordham University, he received a master’s degree in education in 1964. Two years later, Father Zachary volunteered to be a military chaplain, deciding at this time to transfer to the Latin Rite. He served at Army bases in Germany from 1967 until 1970, and then about a year in Vietnam, for which duty he was awarded the Bronze Star.
Leaving the armed forces, Father Zachary over the next years spent brief periods on assignments at the Abbey followed by longer periods of activity as a chaplain at military hospitals in Texas and Oregon. To prepare himself for the work with patients, he obtained a certificate in clinical pastoral education. Returning to the Abbey in 1985, he spent a year in the campus ministry program. He subsequently took on such duties as guestmaster and porter at the Abbey, retiring altogether only in 1999.
A man with many lively stories about his varied experiences, Father Zachary enjoyed sharing them with those he encountered, both in his assignments and in what was for many years his “second home” at the pool of the Rice Center on the University campus. With great determination, he accumulated what he calculated to be over two thousand miles of swimming in that facility. In his later years, ever greater troubles with his knees forced him to give up aquatic activity, though he remained a firm proponent of the value of exercise all his days.
Please remember Father Zachary in your prayers.
Abbot Austin and Community
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