Remembering … fr Dominic Jude Sire (1906-1971)

Francis Sire was born in London in 1906, and educated at Stonyhurst by the Jesuits: while his brother went on to join the Jesuits, Francis entered the Dominican Order at Woodchester in 1926, being given the religious name of Dominic Jude. He was professed the following year, and ordained priest at Oxford in 1932.

His 44 years of profession in the Order show the range of things a friar can often be called on to do in the course of his Dominican life. As a young priest he spent fourteen years teaching mathematics at Laxton, the (now closed) school in Northamptonshire run by the Order, where, as a keen cellist, he also took an interest in the musical life of the school. This was followed by ten years as chaplain to the Royal Infirmary in Leicester, work to which he took with equal enthusiasm.

In 1958 he moved to Hawkesyard, where laybrothers did their novitiate, in order to become their novice master, a role which he undertook with his customary devotion. Finally, in 1966, he moved to Woodchester to work on the parish, becoming parish priest in 1970: there, besides his pastoral responsibilities, his musical interests led him to help start the Stroud Arts Festival.

He died suddenly on 21^st November 1971, just after finishing Sunday Mass during which he had suffered a severe heart attack. He was 65 years old, with 44 years of profession and 39 of priesthood. As it so happened, his Jesuit brother Fr Henry Sire died at almost exactly the same time.

May he rest in peace.