Fr. Christopher Davis, O.S.B.

A scriptural reference from Second Corinthians has headed the monastery’s biographical page on Fr. Christopher Davis, encapsulating much of his character: God loves a cheerful giver. Fr. Chris’ long life, in the shimmering light of this passage, seems to have offered extended and inspiring evidence of God’s love for him. Father Chris had exhibited and expressed that joyful generosity throughout his ninety-four years, nearly all of which had revolved around the life of the monastic community of Portsmouth.

Dom Chris with his parents (1950’s)A young Bill Davis arrived at Portsmouth in 1944, eighty years ago, with a significant family connection to the School already in place. His uncle, Mr. Basil Harris, a shipping magnate serving as the head of United States Lines, had been a Catholic layman actively engaged in the development of the Church in the U.S. When Eugenio Cardinal Pacelli, soon to become Pope Pius XII, had visited this country in 1936, Basil Harris had been part of the American contingent to accompany him on a whirlwind tour of several American cities. Five years earlier, Harris had provided the critical contribution to the Priory School to make possible the construction of Saint Benet’s dormitory in 1931, the young School’s fifth year of existence. Harris would return to the Priory School to deliver the Commencement Address in 1946, in nephew Bill’s Fourth Form year. Fr. Chris remained cognizant and appreciative of this significant family legacy which came to prepare the ground for his monastic vocation. And reaching yet further back in his family lineage, he also remained an engaged member of the Society of the Cincinnati, open to those descended from an officer in the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War.
Much of the monastic community of Portsmouth in 1945, present when Bill Davis (Fr. Chris) arrived as a student (Standing, l to r: Aelred Wahl, Andrew, Hilary, John, Crepeau, Julian, Peter, David; Seated, l to r: Placid, Crenier, Richard, Prior Gregory Borgstedt, Hugh Diman, Wilfrid, Joseph).The monastic community he encountered and decided to join at Portsmouth was filled with “big personalities”, Fr. Christopher would note, including the School founder John Hugh Diman, as well as Doms Peter Sidler and Hilary Martin, so instrumental in the creation of the present monastery and grounds. He spoke most dearly of Dom Aelred Wall, whom he spoke of as a true witness of the gospel in his supportive presence as his dorm master while in the School. Upon graduation, he had been off to the University of Toronto to study theology, already with an active interest in monastic life and sustaining communication with Portsmouth about how he might pursue it. Fr. Chris took solemn vows in 1954 and was ordained to the priesthood in the Providence Cathedral in 1958. Father Chris joined in the growing monastic community’s active engagement in the School, teaching Christian Doctrine and assisting with the sailing team for twelve years.

Dom Chris sailing

Dom Chris with Dom Michael StaffordOver these years, however, Dom Christopher’s outgoing and social personality presented to him a calling beyond the cloister, and while remaining committed to obedience and stability, he began a journey spanning several decades that would take him across the country. In his ongoing discernment, he first served for over three years as chaplain in North Dakota to a community of Benedictine sisters. He then studied theology at the University of San Francisco for a year, being most impressed by his encounter with the Jesuit Paul Beauchamp, a noted Scripture scholar and exegete, a professor Fr. Chris repeatedly affirmed to be the best teacher he had ever encountered. And on completion of these studies in 1975, Fr. Chris was invited to Fort Worth, Texas and for two decades served the Diocese of Fort Worth in a variety of capacities, first in hospital ministry and then in parish life. In his “A Letter from Texas” provided for the Portsmouth Bulletin in 1983, Fr. Chris spoke of his sense that he had a “double calling” which was “to be both a monk of Portsmouth, and also a steady assistant to parish priests.” Each calling had its own character: “I believe it is the character of a monk to be something like a glass cruet used on the altar at Mass. The cruet is always near the altar; … I believe the character of a parish priest to be something like the little tree which is planted in a small square of soil within the sidewalk of a city street.… It is always surrounded by pavement and by people. So it is with the parish priest. He is always near the pavement, always surrounded by his people…” Upon his return to his monastery at Portsmouth in the late 1990’s, there remained much discussion as to which side of the “double calling” suited him best. Over the next decades, Fr. Chris served as chaplain at Roger Williams University and assisted in the School’s admission office, enthusiastically volunteered at the Yawgoog Boy Scouts Camp in Rhode Island and as chaplain for Saint Philomena School just across the lane from the monastery. He also relished the active social life provided by the School, attending sporting events, assemblies, receptions – as much as possible.
Fr. Chris in youth ministryFr. Chris had been deeply moved by pilgrimages to Medjugorje and Lourdes, often reflecting back on the impact of these experiences on his spiritual life. He had produced in 1990 a small collection of “Medjugorje Sermons” from that pilgrimage, which included this reflection on the Beatitudes: “One of the priests whom I met on the pilgrimage… said in one of his sermons that when we go on pilgrimage we take with us our faith and our love and our whole understanding of what God has done for us; and we bring all of these awarenesses of mind to a place which we believe is holy: either because Our Lord himself has been there or a saint has lived there, or, as in Medjugorje, because we believe Our Lady is appearing there. So what I wish to sketch in the brief minutes of this sermon are those Beatitudes, by which Our Lord has been teaching the Church how to live in holiness for almost 2000 years – which…, I feel, come to life at Medjugorje and are given glory and power by the tens of thousands of pilgrims which come to the place each year… [Bless the peacemakers]: Medjugorje is above all a place sanctified by Mary, Queen of Peace. Her earliest words to the visionaries, after telling them she was the Blessed Virgin Mary, were: “Peace, peace, and only peace!” …[Blessed those who mourn]: Medjugorje is a place of tears. Tears, in our Catholic tradition, are tears of contrition, tears of sorrow for sin. Monks down through the centuries have prayed for the gift of tears, a visible sign from the Holy Spirit that they are, in their lives of prayer, tasting the difference between their own sinfulness and the perfect holiness of God… Medjugorje, a place of simplicity and peace, and of holy tears. May God and Our Lady be blessed forever. Amen.”In addition to his “double vocation”, Fr. Chris had two notable avocations, photography and poetry. His photos have been exhibited in several galleries and he was a founding member of the Portsmouth Art Guild. He also took up the pen to compose poems, including a collection of sonnets. His “Sonnet XLVII”, with its theme of divine light, presents itself as a suitable offering here to conclude these brief notes on the life of this cheerful giver.

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