SPENCER – Brother Jerome Collins, O.C.S.O., a Trappist monk of St. Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, died
very peacefully in the monastery’s infirmary on Sunday, June 26, 2022. Born in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania on July 11, 1924, to Michael Joseph Collins and Ellen McCloskey, after graduation from
high school he served in the U.S. Army during World War 2 as a teletype operator and was honorably
discharged, having been awarded Army of Occupation and World War II Victory medals. He worked as a
traveling salesman for eighteen months and for three years as a precision tool grinder. He joined the
Society of the Divine Savior at the Salvatorian Seminary in St. Nazianz, Wisconsin as a postulant but later
left that religious order so that he could take up life as a Trappist at the Cumberland, Rhode Island
monastery of Our Lady of the Valley. When in March of 1950 that monastery burned to the ground he
transferred with the rest of the monks to help build a new monastery, St. Joseph’s Abbey, on the grounds
of the former Alta Crest Farm in Spencer.
He made temporary profession of vows in 1952 and solemn vows in 1955. At the Abbey, among other
duties, Brother Jerome worked as an electrician, cook and porter. For little over a year in the mid-1950s
he helped to build the monastery’s daughter-house of St. Benedict’s Abbey in Snowmass, Colorado.
Brother was noted for his simplicity of heart, his deep devotion, a serene and humble disposition,
enduring kindness and his tireless service to the religious life at the monastery.
The oldest of four children, Brother Jerome was predeceased by his brother Michael and his sister Mary.
In addition to his monastic brothers at the abbey, he is survived by his sister Peggy as well as numerous
nieces and nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews. The monks wish to thank the brothers and lay staff
at St. Joseph’s Abbey Resident Healthcare Facility, the abbey’s infirmary, for the benevolent and
compassionate care they gave to Brother Jerome in his final years. With gratitude for his gentle presence
among us, we commend his soul to your prayers. There are no calling hours. Services and burial are
private. J. HENRI MORIN & SON FUNERAL HOME, 23 Maple Terrace, Spencer, is
directing arrangements.