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The Rev. Dom Henry Leonard Sargent, 87, Benedictine monk and founder of the Priory of St. Gregory the Great in Portsmouth and former Anglican monk who was co-founder of the Episcopal Order of the Holy Cross, of which he was one time superior, died Sunday at the Portsmouth Priory after a long illness.
Father Sargent was born August 19, 1857, in Boston, son of John Augustus and Mary (Higgens) Sargent. After graduating from Harvard in 1879, he taught in private preparatory school, later attending the General Theological Seminary in New York, becoming an ordained Episcopal clergyman. He was associated with the Rev. James O. S. Huntington in founding the Episcopal Order of the Holy Cross. In 1887 he went to Oxford, remaining with the Cowley Fathers, whom he hoped to interest in a community mission in the South. Before returning to America, he helped in churchwork around the London docks. Later, he did community work on the New York East Side and he was engaged in missions in the rural parts of Tennessee. When he became a convert to the Catholic Church in 1908, he made his profession of faith at Downside Abbey in England. After study at St. John's Seminary, Brighton, Mass., he was ordained to the priesthood by the late Cardinal (William H.) O'Connell.
He entered the Benedictine Abbey at Downside in 1914, and made his vows there October 15, 1916, just 25 years before his death. Again returning to America, he raised funds for the foundation of a monastery of the English Benedictine Congregation. He located in Portsmouth, which eventually became the site of the Portsmouth Priory, now under Fort Augustus Abbey in Scotland. The Rev. J. Hugh Diman, founder of St. George's School, was founder of the Portsmouth Priory School. Father Sargent returned to Downside for a visit, and was the chaplain of the Benedictine Dames of Stanbrook Abbey in Worcester, England, for a year. He then returned to Portsmouth to end his days.
Until his last illness, he attended most of the daily services in the chapel. Before he died, he received the apostolic blessing and plenary indulgence. All of his fellow monks were at his bedside when he received extreme unction, and all gathered Sunday morning for the commendation of his soul. The Priory church bell was tolled 87 times, the years of his age. Funeral services for the Rev. Dom Henry Leonard Sargent, Benedictine monk and founder of the Priory of St. Gregory the Great in Portsmouth, were held Wednesday with the Rev. Dom Gregory Borgstedt celebrant of the high requiem mass and the Rev. Dom Hilary Martin as deacon. Burial was in the Priory churchyard.
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