Father Richard Saksons, who until recently served as chaplain to the chapel of the Most Holy Sacrament in Marton near Hull, died on September 11 after a short illness.
The son of Lily and Edward Saksons, Father Richard was born in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, on June 16 1957 and was baptised into the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church. He remained proud of his Latvian heritage.
He was received into the Catholic Church at the age of 23 in 1980 and shortly afterwards tested his vocation with the English Benedictine Congregation at Fort Augustus Abbey.
He was with them for three years before spending five years working in administration for Bradford City Council.
He was clothed in the habit of the Canons Regular of Premontre (Norbertines) at Storrington, West Sussex, during first vespers of the Nativity of Our Lady on September 7 1987.
He made his simple profession on September 8 1988 and studied for the priesthood at the Beda College in Rome.
He was ordained to the priesthood on Shrove Tuesday, March 3 1992, meaning his first Mass was on Ash Wednesday. After ordination, he was appointed assistant priest in the parish of Spalding, Lincolnshire.
In 1995, he asked to have some time outside the community and ministered in parishes in the Diocese of Baker, Oregon, USA, before returning to the community in 2002.
After a year as parish administrator of Sacred Heart, Gorton, Manchester, he served as chaplain to the Sisters of Jesus and Mary in Felixstowe, Suffolk. In 2006 he briefly returned to life in community before going to serve as chaplain to the Dominican Sisters in Lymington, Hampshire, where he remained until 2023.
He then moved to his native Yorkshire and spent three very happy years in Marton.
However, his health deteriorated during this last year and, after a month in hospital, he moved to a care home where he died with Abbot Hugh Allen praying at his bedside and administering the last sacraments.
Father Richard’s funeral took place at the Norbertine Priory of Our Lady of Sorrows, Peckham, before he was laid to rest at a Norbertine cemetery in Essex.
Please pray for the repose of his soul and for his friends and fellow Norbertine canons.
Father Richard dies after short illness
