Philip R. Swain

Philip Raymond Swain died on Saturday, August 4, 2018 at Nashoba Hospital, after a long illness.

Phil was born on November 30, 1929, and grew up in Meriden, Connecticut, coming to Massachusetts to attend Harvard College from which he graduated in 1950. From that time, he became closely associated with Saint Benedict’s.  For years, he ran the publishing and distribution house, Ravengate Press.  Thanks to Phil, who himself had a special devotion to Our Lady of Fatima, Ravengate Press was for a time the exclusive distributor for the English language version of Fatima in Lucy’s Own Words .  He also wrote the book Joh n Neumann, Saint of Philadelphia, for Ravengate Press.

Phil was also an expert on languages, especially Latin and Greek, and loved to teach, giving classes to friends, and anyone who was interested.

A born conversationalist, he could shoot the breeze on almost any topic.  You would often find him sitting with others exchanging ideas in his laid-back manner on whatever subject the flow of conversation took them.

The wake for Philip will be at Saint Benedict Abbey, 252 Still River Road, Still River, Massachusetts, on Thursday, August 9, 2018, from 9 AM – 10:45 AM.  The funeral Mass will be in the Abbey chapel at 11 AM, followed by the burial in the Abbey cemetery.