Seeing the anniversary date of the death of the former Archbishop of Baltimore, Francis Patrick Keough (Dec. 8, 1961), I prayed for his dear soul. While still a child, I met the archbishop’s mother, and then many years later, met the Archbishop upon his arrival in Baltimore. Both were happy memories. My grandmother, Mary Griffin, was his aunt. My dad, George Griffin, and Francis Patrick played together as children. When Francis was Archbishop of Baltimore and we spoke with him at St. Mary’s in Govans, it pleased me to see how happy my dad was to see him as they happily hugged each other.
Dad said, “Frankie how are you? it is good to see you.” They both had tears in their eyes. They had good memories of their childhood together. A sad memory, however, is that my dad and the archbishop both died just 10 months apart. Archbishop Keough had much of the grace of God in his face. May he rest in peace.