Alfie Lambe

Servant of God

Alfie Lambe
BornAlphonsus Lambe
(1932-06-24)24 June 1932
Tullamore, County Offaly, Ireland
Died21 January 1959(1959-01-21) (aged 26)
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Alfie Lambe, in full Alphonsus Lambe (Tullamore, Ireland, 24 June 1932 – Buenos Aires, Argentina, 21 January 1959), was an Irish-born Roman Catholic lay-missionary and envoy of the Legion of Mary to South America.

Background

Born at Tullamore, County Offaly to a farming family, as a youth he considered a vocation with the Irish Christian Brothers but had to leave due to chronic poor health and fainting attacks.[1] Alfie was described as a quiet boy who was shy, loved reading and going on hunting trips with his father.[2] Having to leave the Christian Brothers was devastating for him but he was soon introduced to the Legion of Mary by his brother. Alfie later found work in Dublin and spent time volunteering in the Morning Star hostel.[3]

Frank Duff chose Alfie to become the Legion's envoy to South America. He left Ireland on 16 July 1953 accompanied by Seamus Grace, on their way to Bogota.[4] He went to serve in Colombia, Ecuador, Uruguay, Brazil, as well as Argentina, where he died in Buenos Aires at age 26 from stomach cancer.[1] He is interred in the vault of the Irish Christian Brothers, in Buenos Aires's Recoleta Cemetery.[4] It is said that his missionary work for the Legion of Mary was greatly helped by his ability to learn languages as he quickly became fluent in both Spanish and Portuguese.[4] He was kidnapped, briefly, but his captors granted him a phone call to prove who he was so he called the Irish Ambassador to vouch for him and this resulted in his release. While in Argentina he also learned Russian with the intention of visiting the Soviet Union but he died before that intention could be realised. On each anniversary of his death there are celebrations throughout South America in his honour by the members of the Legion of Mary.[5]

Cause of beatification

The cause of beatification for Alfie Lambe was introduced by the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires in 1978[2] and concluded on 26 March 2015.[3] On 17 January 2020 the Ordinary Causes of Congress of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Brosel Gavila José Jaime being appointed postulator for the cause to take forward the process of the potential canonization of Alfie Lambe.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Servant of God Alfie Lambe". Legion of Mary. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  2. ^ a b "Info re Cause for Canonization for Lambe". Archived from the original on 17 January 2009. Retrieved 4 August 2013.
  3. ^ a b "Mags Gargan – Alfie Lambe's cause makes progress on the way to Rome, The Irish Catholic, 16 April 2015". Archived from the original on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 10 October 2017.
  4. ^ a b c "Profile of Alphonsus Lambe". philadelphiasenatus.com. Archived from the original on 27 March 2012. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  5. ^ "Excerpts from a talk by Noel Lynch". The Legion Of Mary New York Regional Senatus. Retrieved 29 March 2020.