By AUSTIN SCOTT
January 25, 2006

Jude G. Cleary (1926-2005) was laid to rest in the Abbey cemetery after a funeral in the Basilica on December 12th. He passed away at the age of seventy-nine on December 9th

Abbot Placid was the principal celebrant, and Fr. James Solari was the homilist. Both were at Cleary’s side the night before he died in Hendersonville.

Mr. Cleary’s funeral mass attracted numerous priests from out of town, including the Abbey’s fourth Abbot (Fr. Edmund McCaffrey ‘54). Before being elected Abbot in 1975, Jude served as president of the college from 1967 until 1970. As the monastery’s fifth abbot, he was the last to reign over the monks’ diocesan territory. Abbot Jude resigned the abbacy in 1978 and was formally laicized.

He leaves behind his wife, Theresa, two daughters, and a son.