By Manuel C. "Manny" Correira
Monsignor Louis L. Brum made a triumphant return to his beloved town of Bristol Saturday night at his beloved St. Elizabeth’s Church, where he served as the main celebrant of 5 o’clock Mass. It was a great homecoming for this servant of God, who began his religious journey as a priest starting in 1974.
Celebrating his 50th anniversary in the priesthood this year, Monsignor Brum was joined Saturday by the Rev. William Foley of Maryland, who was a classmate of Monsignor Brum during their time in the seminary.
Thanks to the kindness of current St. Elizabeth’s Church pastor Vander S. Martins, Monsignor Brum was able to reacquaint himself with many of the faithful parishioners for whom he served during those years.
“Having Monsignor Brum at St. Elizabeth Church was a great pleasure for me and for the community,” said Father Martins. “For me, because I had the opportunity to meet a brother in Christ. We share the same faith and the same mission: spreading the gospel of Jesus throughout the world. For the community, this was a special opportunity to meet their former pastor, who stayed here for many years preaching the gospel and presiding the sacraments. St. Elizabeth Parish praises God for the 50th anniversary of priesthood for Father Louis Brum. May God keep him in his care and love.”
“It’s always a blessing to come back here to Bristol and to this beautiful church and say the Mass,” Monsignor Brum said. “I want to thank Father Martins for making this such a wonderful experience for me once again.”
It had been some six years since Monsignor Brum had visited Bristol, a town he holds special in his heart.
“When my family came here from Portugal,” he recalled, “I was just a young man and I remember living on Franklin Street above Batista’s Bakery. What a great experience that was.”
Now living in Texas, Monsignor Brum recalled his 25th anniversary Mass of his ordination to the priesthood at St. Elizabeth’s Church in 1999.
“It was such a wonderful and blessed time in my life,” he said. He also served as pastor of Resurrection Church in Alamo, Texas.
Monsignor Brum was ordained in the Diocese of Brownsville in 1974, and prior to migrating to this country from the Azores at age 19, he studied at the seminary in Angra, Terceira for five years and earned a degree in philosophy at St. Mary’s College Seminary in Kentucky and a degree in theology at Mary’s University Seminary in Baltimore, Md.
Following Saturday night’s Mass, it was wonderful to see Monsignor Brum being congratulated by so many of his former parishioners. He always had that magnetism of attracting people while listening and reflecting on their own problems and personal issues.
“Like I’ve always said,” he noted, “St. Elizabeth’s Church has a special place in my heart, and a lot of it has to do with all these beautiful people who live and pray here.”