Trappist Father Thomas Aquinas Bond of the Abbey of the Genesee in Piffard, N.Y., died June 10, 2006, at the age of 99.
Born in Washington, D.C., he tired of student and social life in California and Washington. He joined the Dominican Order in 1932 and was ordained a priest in 1939. Sent to the Philippines in 1940, he soon was captured by the invading Japanese army and held as a prisoner of war.
Upon his return, he taught at the college level. He discerned a call to the contemplative life and entered the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky at the age of 42 and made his solemn profession in 1950. He taught Latin, philosophy, moral theology and canon law for 14 years.
Father Bond arrived at the abbey at Piffard in 1964 to teach for five months, but remained for 41 years, teaching, working in the bakery and giving retreats at the guesthouse.
Relating that Father Bond’s favorite words were “well” and “wonderful,” Abbot John Denburger remarked that “he pursued his life very well and made wonderful entry to his heavenly home … just a month short of 100 years old.”
The Mass of Christian Burial for Father Bond was celebrated June 13, 2006, in the abbey church with interment in the monastic cemetery.
