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Rev. Dom Michael Stafford, OSB, a monk of Portsmouth Abbey, died Wednesday, April 9, 2014, at the age of 82, at Mount Saint Rita Health Centre, in Cumberland, RI.
Michael Alcuin was born September 25, 1931, in Minnesota, and grew up in St. Cloud. He attended St. John’s Prep School, which is affiliated with St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, MN, from 1945-47. He then attended St. Cloud Cathedral High School and matriculated at St. John’s University, also in Collegeville, where he played in the university orchestra.
He entered the monastery of Portsmouth Priory in 1952 as a postulant, was sent to do undergraduate studies at St. Louis University, made solemn profession of vows in 1956, and was ordained a priest in 1958. After German language study at the University of Munich in Germany, for some years he taught German at Portsmouth Priory. He also served as sacristan in the Monastery.
In 1970, Fr. Michael became an Army Chaplain, and served in the USA, Germany, and Korea. He returned to Portsmouth only in 2006. In recent years Fr. Michael was in poor health and resided at Greenwich Bay Manor in East Greenwich, RI, until relocating to Mount Saint Rita. His interment took place in the Abbey cemetery on April 12, the day before Palm Sunday.
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