Tuesday, February 19, 2013


My Mother's Red Shawl - El Rebozo Colorado
Brother Edwin Charles Reggio, C.S.C. - Mentor & Teacher

February 17, 2013

A personal, but random, glimpse into the life of Brother Edwin Charles Reggio, C.S.C.



Tuesday, January 15, 2013 8:40 AM

Hi Alex,

Thanks for the book. My health is not too good right now. I'm having problems focusing on things. Look forward to seeing you soon.

Bro. Edwin



"What is the difference between a cornet and a trumpet in a marching and jazz band? A cornet blends better with a B Flat clarinet."



Brother Edwin will you say, “gosh” for me?
“That’s going to take some time.”
February 15, 2013 at breakfast in St. Joseph Hall.



Brother Edwin entered our religion class in 1958 and asked the class while pouring water to the brim of a small glass and also that of a big glass, “Which is fuller?” The class answered predictably. Brother Edwin gently corrected us, “Both are equally full as I can not pour more water into either of them without overflowing them. But the bigger glass has more capacity. You need more water to fill it. The small glass can be easily filled. We can say the same about happiness. Some of us can be happy with little others with more. It is more difficult to be happy if you want more. A small happy person and a more-happy person are both equally happy.”



Standing next to Brother Edwin facing the sun on the barbecue deck of St. Joseph Hall, I asked him, “Are we making an imitation of the Great Egyptian Sphinx?”

“We are,” he answered.
February 17, 2013



Edwin is not doing well. Besides his normal illnesses, he has been diagnosed with having a rare infection in the brain that is causing him to lose some memory processing functions. He is not in any pain, but has trouble remembering and organizing his thoughts. Even though he is distressed at not being able to make the trains run on time, he is in fairly good spirits. We look forward to your arrival next Thursday.

Br. Bill



Sometime in 1959 I was stopped by Brother Edwin while waking between the Old Main and Holy Cross Hall. “I need a sax player for the school band. You are going to learn to play one. ”

“No, I don’t even know how to read music.”
“I will teach you.”
Gregory Sweeny, HS Class of 1963 learned to play the sax in the same manner.



“Why is the Easter Bunny the Easter Bunny,” Brother Edwin asked his religion class one day in 1959.

“If you are driving at night in the country your headlights might spot a hare. The hare will stop and stare and then scurry away and appear suddenly somewhere else. You shine your headlights on him and he will disappear and then appear somewhere else. In the same way, Jesus, after the Resurrection appeared to his disciples here and there. Thomas the Apostle had his doubts. The hare represents a Christ Risen.”



Back in 1958 at St. Ed’s we were young and our teachers were old men. At least that is what I thought. In 2008 I contacted Brother Edwin Reggio, C.S.C. via email (after all those years had passed) and I asked him how he was. His answer was precise and direct. He almost seemed insulted, “I feel just fine. I am not much older than you are.” That’s when it hit me that at age 16 our religion teacher was a young man of 26!


That 2008 I traveled with my wife Rosemary and granddaughter Rebecca (9 at the time) to Yucatán. When my wife noticed that our plane stopped in Houston she suggested we visit Austin and Brother Edwin. I could have never imagined back in 1958 that some day my granddaughter would meet and have a chat with Brother Edwin.

On our way to eat at the County Line (in a large Lincoln driven by Howard Houston, class of 1961, and his wife Lynne) Rebecca asked Brother Edwin, “How can it be that you and my grandfather can be friends?”

Brother Edwin explained to her that when I had been 16 and he 26 the quotient was 0.6. If we jumped to 36 for me and 46 for him the quotient was 0.78 and then at 2008 that quotient was 0.86. I really did not have a clue what Brother Edwin was saying but my Rebecca seemed to understand and she smiled. She had grasped that as Brother Edwin and I became older (and that quotient approached 1) our age difference was smaller and smaller and that explained that we now had lots in common and we could be friends! And without knowing, but I will tell her one day, Brother Edwin gave my granddaughter a first glimpse into the infinitesimal and calculus, a course of study which Brother Edwin taught.



“How tall are you, Brother Edwin?” I asked him as we stood before the sun in our Great Egyptian Sphinx imitation.

“I am five foot three.”

I don’t think that Brother Edwin is any taller than five foot one. Could he have been pulling my leg or even telling me a fib ?
February 17, 2013



My granddaughter Rebecca asked Brother Edwin in 2008 how he came to be a Brother of Holy Cross.

I was dating an admiral’s daughter, [the admiral must have been greatly impressed by that most intelligent man who was studying for two degrees, one in mathematics and the other in music] and he offered me the chance to be a cadet in Annapolis. He had connections and the minimum height would be waived. But I decided at about that time that I wanted to pursue a religious life.



In 1959 Byron Todd, a portly classmate of mine, was talking and misbehaving in religion. Brother Edwin went up to him and with his left hand lifted him up from the floor and shoved him against the wall. He then told him, quite firmly, “You be quiet.” Sometime later he did the same with another classmate, Richard Mosby. In 2008 I finally dared ask him how he had managed to do that while noting that he had unusually muscular arms and forearms. “My father, my brother and I practiced the sport of Olympic rings.”



“Brother Edwin, are you going to say ‘gosh’ for me?”

“You are going to have to wait.”
February 16, 2013



The Congregation of Holy Cross has a separate little corner in The Assumption, the Catholic cemetery, which is very near St. Edward’s. There are some nuns and priests buried there but the bulk of the graves are brothers.

I asked Brother Edwin where he was going to be buried. His answer had all to do and depending when he died. It could be in one corner or another. If someone preceded him that corner would be taken.
June, 2009



One day in 2011 I followed Brother Edwin in his rounds of the day at his office, going to pick up mail at the post office, dealing with the financial dealings of the Brothers in the in-university bank, feeding the squirrels in St. Joseph Hall, putting mail into the Brothers’ cubbyholes, etc. I was struck that his routine could have been measured with a stopwatch. I told Brother Edwin, “You remind me of Phileas Fogg in Around the World in Eighty Days.” His reply was, “He made a mistake.”


Brother Edwin, are you going to say ‘gosh’ for me?”

“You are going to have to wait.”
February 17, 2013



At lunch at St. Joseph Hall. I said to the Brothers at our table, “Brother Edwin has a sweet tooth and one day he said I should try frozen Snickers Bars. I find it difficult to accept that I cannot find them in Canada."

Brother Edwin reacted to my comment, “I don’t remember.”
February 18, 2013



In 2011 I was having lunch with Brother Edwin at St. Joseph Hall. I had just arrived. "Alex, you seemed to not had a haircut since the last one I gave you last year. Stand up and let's take care of it."



“Brother Edwin, do you remember my granddaughter Rebecca? She is now a 15-year-old teenager from hell.”

“Of course I remember her. Don’t do anything. The more your force her, the more she will go in the opposite direction.”
February 18, 2013



"Will you say “gosh” for me?”

“I can if you want but it does not mean anything to me, I can’t compute.”
February 18, 2013


Brother Edwin will shortly be moved to Holy Cross’s Dujarie House in South Bend, Indiana where he will have expert and 24/7 care. We must pray for his speedy recovery.


“Brother Edwin, will you miss Texas?”

“To miss Texas I will first have to remember it.”
February 18, 2013

Brother Edwin is going to be 81 on March 29

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