Brother Maurice Mansfield

Brother Maurice was born on January 9,1941 to Cecile and Elbridge Mansfield in Nashua, N.H.

He had a great desire for religious life and was professed into the Discalced Carmelite Friars on February 9,1965.

In the next years some of the Friars had a strong desire for a more secluded "Desert Community" Order - Hermits

of Mount Carmel. The first hermitage from this order was approved at Madam's Creek, West Virginia. The property

required a great deal of work to make it livable. Frs. Peter Bourne and Frederick Gast, with Brother Maurice, did

much of the work. The foundation was laid for two hermitages (St. John of the Cross and St. Brocard) which was

completed in 1970 along with several others in the East Coast.

The Carmelite newsletter Clarion states: "...with the increased cost of living, the departures of 40 religious, and the

declining number of vocations after Vatican II, the difficulty of maintaining a large monastery and its formation

program became increasingly more acute".

Moving west, several other smaller hermitages were then started by religious wishing to observe the strict

Carmelite life. One such hermitage of Mt. Carmel was founded in1985 in Lemhi, Idaho with Fr. Peter Bourne, HMC

(Hermits of Mount Carmel), prior, of Hermitage of St. Joseph. There he and several brothers lived the

contemplative Carmelite life - praying, growing their food, raising animals in the quiet countryside. Father Peter

Bourne passed suddenly into eternity on the morning of February 10, 2003, and according to his wishes, he was

buried that same day on the property. Brother Maurice eventually became the sole inhabitant of the hermitage.

With no priest at the hermitage to offer Mass, Brother began attending the Tridentine Mass at Our Lady of the

Bitterroot Chapel in Victor, Montana, served by the Society of St. Pius X. Later when his absence was noted at

Mass, parishioners went to his hermitage and realized Brother was in severely declining health. These same

parishioners notified the Priory at Immaculate Conception Church, Society of St. Pius X, in Post Falls, Idaho. The

pastor from the Bitterroot Chapel brought him to Post Falls in 2011 as his Carmelite order was unable to care for

him with his medical needs. Here, he was graciously cared for by charitable parishioners while his health continued

to decline. He passed into eternity on August 3, 2025, on the Carmelite feast of Our Lady, Ladder of Heaven, with a

constant vigil of Carmelite and Franciscan Tertiaries and parishioners praying by his bedside.

He lived the Carmelite Motto: "With zeal have I been zealous for the Lord God of Hosts".

He is survived by his sister Louella (Allen) Kennedy, Sister Marie, S.G.M., his brother Basil Mansfield, and brother-

in-law Allen Kennedy.

He was preceded in death by his parents, his sister Claire Allaire, and sister Susan Utter.

Donations can be made to Immaculate Conception Catholic Church for help to cover the remaining cost of his burial and for Gregorian Masses for the repose of his soul.