Many mourned the June 18 passing of retired Bishop Daniel Reilly at age 96, few more than the Knights of Columbus.
Bishop Reilly is believed to have been the only bishop to serve as a Knights of Columbus state chaplain in three states.
Bishop Reilly became a Knight in 1956 and the Providence native served as state chaplain in Rhode Island from the mid-1960s through the mid-1970s. He later became state chaplain in Connecticut during his 19 years as Bishop of Norwich. After serving as Bishop of Worcester for a decade and retiring in 2004 at age 75, he served as K of C state chaplain for eight years.
“So when you went to a convention with Bishop Reilly,” former K of C district deputy Nino Giamei said, “you had to share him with the other states because they all wanted to spend time with him.”
Mr. Giamei, 57, of Sutton, is a parishioner and member of the Knights of Columbus at Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Our Lady of Loreto Parish in Worcester.
“He loved the Knights of Columbus,” Mr. Giamei said. “He believed in what they did.”
Mr. Giamei attended a supreme convention in Washington, D.C, with the bishop in 2010. The supreme council is an international K of C organization. Mr. Giamei brought his 11-year-old daughter, Arianna, and she told her father that she liked the bishop when they dined together. Mr. Giamei responded that everyone did. Mr. Giamei still has photos of his daughter with the bishop at the convention.
“He was a great bishop,” Mr. Giamei said, “but I think his impact on people was even greater when he was retired because he got to spend more time with people. If you want to see Bishop Reilly smile, just put him in a group of people, especially a group of Catholics. Especially the last part of his life, who didn’t love Bishop Reilly? He just got to be this big Irish grandfather to this big giant Catholic family. It was like the perfect job for him.”
Mr. Giamei said the Knights will miss Bishop Reilly.
“He’s irreplaceable,” Mr. Giamei said. “The man had a magnetism. First of all, he had a genuineness about him as a priest. His homilies were always spellbinding. As a person, unbelievable. A humble, humble man. Sweet man, giving man.”
Bishop Reilly presided at Mass at K of C state council at conventions and conferences.
John Litchfield, 69, of Shrewsbury, owns an impressive resume with the Knights. He is past Grand Knight and current Advocate at Adelphi Council 4181 in Shrewsbury. He is the Faithful Navigator for the Bishop O’Reilly Assembly 399 in Worcester. He will become president of the Worcester Diocese Chapter of the Knights of Columbus on July 1 after serving as treasurer for four years. He is a parishioner at St. Anne Parish in Shrewsbury.
Mr. Litchfield also enjoyed Bishop Reilly’s homilies.
“They were from the heart,” Mr. Litchfield said. “He made people feel part of the church. It was great to listen to him. He kept your interest and he was enthusiastic and realistic.”
Mr. Giamei pointed out that Bishop Reilly didn’t write out his homilies, he simply knew what he wanted to say.
When Bishop Reilly retired as state chaplain in 2012, the K of C state council held a dinner for him in Boxborough and presented him with a wide-screen HD television. Mr. Giamei set up the television for him and delivered it to him at his residence at the St. Paul Cathedral rectory. Whenever the bishop had a problem with the TV, he would call Mr. Giamei and he’d help him.
Mr. Giamei said he might tear up while telling this next story and he did. In November of 2012, he went through a rough stretch, including being a finalist for a job and not getting it, and a close friend dying. He remembers lying in bed and praying to God to send him some help that night.
While he was still praying, his phone rang. It was Bishop Reilly asking for help with his television again. The bishop told him he didn’t have to come over that night, but Mr. Giamei insisted.
After Mr. Giamei told Bishop Reilly about his troubles and fixed the television, the bishop gave him a rosary and a pouch, both of which Pope John Paul II had blessed and given him.
“I want you to put these in your pocket and carry them around every day,” Mr. Giamei recalled the bishop instructing him, “and I promise everything is going to turn out fine.”
Soon, Mr. Giamei found another job in wine distribution and his outlook did improve.
On All Saints’ Day, Nov. 1, in 2015, the Knights honored Bishop Reilly at Mechanics Hall during the Provincial Exemplification of the Fourth Degree, the only such ceremony with candidates from all six New England states on hand. Members of the Fourth Degree participate in color and honor guards and organize programs that promote Catholic citizenship. About 250 men attended.
“We marched from the cathedral down Main Street into Mechanics Hall,” Mr. Litchfield recalled, “and he (Bishop Reilly) beamed the entire time.”
On his 90th birthday, the K of C held a birthday luncheon at St. John’s High School in Shrewsbury, which was followed by a Mass and reception at Notre Dame du Lac Assisted Living in Worcester, where he lived at the time.
The Worcester Chapter of the Knights of Columbus and the Massachusetts State Council K of C presented Notre Dame du Lac with checks. Notre Dame used the donations to install a stained glass window in its chapel in the bishop’s honor. St. John’s dedicated a bench in front of the school chapel in his honor.
Mr. Litchfield helped plan the 90th birthday party. Bishop Reilly enjoyed his 90th birthday party, but he also pointed out to everyone who stopped by to see him that it was also the 40th wedding anniversary for Mr. Litchfield and his wife, Sandy.
A few Knights also celebrated his next few birthdays with him at Notre Dame but had to stop because of the pandemic. So the Knights sent him cupcakes. He didn’t want gifts.
“He was an unbelievable gentleman,” Mr. Litchfield said. “His memory right up to the end was fabulous. He was fun loving and caring, loved to be around Knights, loved to be around people, loved to tell stories about growing up and his family and his time in the priesthood, being overseas. We heard it all.”
At every event, he led everyone in singing, “Danny Boy,” – the lyrics written by Frederic E. Weatherly in 1913 are:
Oh, Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling
From glen to glen, and down the mountain side.
The summer’s gone, and all the roses falling,
It’s you, it’s you must go and I must bide.
But come ye back when summer’s in the meadow,
Or when the valley’s hushed and white with snow,
It’s I’ll be there in sunshine or in shadow,
Oh, Danny boy, Oh Danny boy, I love you so!
But when ye come, and all the flowers are dying,
If I am dead, as dead I well may be,
Ye’ll come and find the place where I am lying,
And kneel and say an Avé there for me.
And I shall hear, though soft you tread above me,
And all my grave will warmer, sweeter be,
For you will bend and tell me that you love me,
And I shall sleep in peace until you come to me!
Whenever Bishop Reilly was asked if he considered himself to be “Danny Boy,” Mr. Litchfield said, he just smiled.