A Monk and a Saint to me

During my stint as a seminarian for the Diocese of Charlotte in the late 1990s, I had the privilege of getting to know someone I considered a living saint.

Brother Anthony Costello, O.S.B., was a Benedictine monk at St. Vincent Seminary in Latrobe, Pa. The Benedictines who taught at the seminary lived at St. Vincent Archabbey, located next to the seminary grounds.

Brother Anthony became one of my best friends.

Formerly known as Tom Costello, Brother Anthony entered St. Vincent Seminary as a seminarian for the Diocese of Youngstown, Ohio, in 1997. However, Tom felt called to the monastic life and began his novitiate at St. Vincent Archabbey about two years later.

Brother Anthony was a man of intense and constant prayer. Every time I asked him to pray for somebody, he would say, “Let's pray right now!” And we would pray right then.

Anthony was a guileless man and had no unspoken thoughts. But perhaps his greatest attribute as a Christian also became his greatest cross. Brother Anthony had an “in-your-face” spirituality, and he was not afraid to call a brother seminarian out in charity if necessary. However, some of my peers did not appreciate Brother Anthony's zeal and at times misunderstood him as being self-righteous.

I'm convinced that the secret to Brother Anthony's sanctity was his faithfulness to the three pillars of the Church: a sincere and fervent devotion to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, a filial devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and an unquestionable adherence to the pope and the Magisterium.

Brother Anthony could always be found at the break of dawn in the seminary chapel making a “Holy Hour” in front of the Blessed Sacrament, rosary beads in his hand. As a student of the School of Mary, Brother Anthony loved to pray the rosary, with anybody and everybody, several times a day. He was also committed to the pro-life cause, and, as a seminarian and then as a monk, he drove with other seminarians to Pittsburgh on every first Saturday to pray the rosary in front of a local abortion mill.

October is the month of the rosary, and it's also designated as Respect Life Month. I don't believe it's a coincidence that Brother Anthony died instantly of a massive heart aneurysm, when his heart literally burst, on Oct. 18, 2000 – the feast of St. Luke the Evangelist. Brother Anthony was only 31 years old when he passed on, but in his short life he touched the lives of everyone around him.

As word of this holy monk's life spreads further among Catholics, I believe the Church will one day canonize Brother Anthony. Then, if I'm still around, I will tell everyone I know that “Saint” Anthony Costello was my friend.