VANCOUVER—He served in Rome during World War II, stood up for minorities, trained future bishops, and championed the Legion of Mary on the west coast.

Daniel O’Reilly, a Vancouver postman who dedicated 99 years to his faith and social justice, died Dec. 11.

“He worked hard and accomplished so much,” said Rufina Amandiz, the current president of the Legion of Mary in Vancouver.

Early years

The future champion of the Legion of Mary in B.C. was born in Prince Rupert in 1915, but grew up in St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Vancouver.

He was introduced to hard work at a young age. His father died when he was 7, and 11 years later, his mother lay on her deathbed in St. Paul’s Hospital.

“At that time, the medical plan didn’t cover the hospital bills,” said daughter Geraldine King. O’Reilly and his brother took care of their mom and took on odd jobs at the hospital to cover the cost.

“One of the greatest influences in his life was Sister Gertrude at St. Paul’s Hospital,” King continued. The nun encouraged O’Reilly to study theology; he entered the Seminary of Christ the King, then the Servite Seminary in Hillside, Ill.

When World War II broke out, O’Reilly joined the Canadian forces and was stationed in England. There he married Mary Friend in 1943. Six months after the wedding, he was assigned to a medical detachment in Rome.

Legion of Mary

While serving at the Vatican, O’Reilly met Pope Pius XII and Archbishop William Mark Duke of Vancouver, who told him about the Legion of Mary, founded in Ireland in 1921.

The group’s members pray daily for the Church and visit local Catholics, the sick, and the poor. According to Legion of Mary records, the first Praesidium in B.C. was founded at Holy Rosary Cathedral in 1937.

When O’Reilly returned home in 1946, he reignited the enthusiasm at Holy Rosary Cathedral and got Vancouver College, Notre Dame Regional Secondary School, and others on board.

He then travelled across the province to start chapters in Kitimat, Prince George, and Nelson. King joined him on some of these trips and remembers scaling Pavilion Mountain in her father’s 1929 Model T Ford.

Norma Rivera, a former Legion of Mary president, travelled door to door in Prince George with O’Reilly. “That’s how we got big,” she explained. “We wanted people to be members; you get closer to the Church when you are a member of the Legion of Mary.”

Amandiz joined O’Reilly on a flight to Dublin for an international conference. “He practically devoted his entire life to the Legion of Mary.”

Though O’Reilly’s single biggest legacy is the Legion of Mary, he touched the lives of many others.

“He was a human being who did remarkable things because God was important to him,” said his daughter Monica. She said for him, social justice was paramount.

When O’Reilly found out many Filipino immigrants working in homes of wealthy locals were being ill treated, he stood up for their rights in court, she said.

Social justice

O’Reilly also had a heart for the poor and for native people. Monica will never forget the Christmas that a nearby shack, where a native family lived, burned down.

Her parents “made us choose which toys out of our Christmas gifts we would give to this family.” O’Reilly also filled a carton with vegetables, eggs, and chickens that had been slaughtered, then took his children to help deliver the goods.

The family often sheltered strangers. “When I woke up, I never knew who would be sleeping on our chesterfield and on the rug in the living room.”

Service

O’Reilly didn’t become a priest, but he put his studies to use. He trained altar servers for about 25 years, and at least one of them became a bishop: David Monroe of Kamloops.

He also served on the Catholic Charities board of directors, audited courses on faith at St. Mark’s College, was a lector, and attended daily Mass. He was presented the Benemerenti medal and the Papal Order of St. Gregory by Archbishop Adam Exner, OMI.

Poor Clare nuns received some of the produce from his quarter-acre garden. O’Reilly would also sell or give away eggs to neighbours and host many community picnics.

Avelina Obejas, the secretary of the Vancouver Comitium of the Legion of Mary, remembers these events. “Dan loved children and loved to gather around young people and have picnics with them, take them for rides in his car.”

Father Anthony Ho, spiritual director of the Legion of Mary, celebrated O’Reilly’s funeral Mass. He said O’Reilly was best known for his devotion to Mary and his playfulness. “He loved to bring people together to do good.”

Close to home

O’Reilly raised his family on Sea Island, where the Vancouver International Airport now stands. He and his wife had one biological daughter, Monica, and adopted three children.

Later in life, Mary suffered from Alzheimer’s. For 16 years before her death in 1991, he cared for her. He nursed her at home as long as he could, then he visited her at a care home at least twice a day for up to three hours at a time to feed her.

Monica said one incident at the care home says everything about what kind of person her father was.

“I came to see mom, and as I was going down the hall, this big crowd was standing outside the door,” she said. Worried, she passed through the group, composed largely of Filipino family friends, to see what was going on.

In the room, her father was sitting on a chair. He had picked up his wife, who had been completely immobile for two years, and rested her head on his chest. Oblivious to anyone around him, he began singing a love song he’d sung for her before their wedding day.

“He used to tell me often, ‘I never knew what love was until it could not be verbally and physically returned.'”

O’Reilly still shuttled himself between home and the cathedral until age 97, when he moved in with one of his daughters.

Steve DeJong brought Communion to O’Reilly when he became bedbound. “We prayed, we sang, we laughed, we agreed on many things. I never heard a complaint from his mouth.”

He died less than one month after his 99th birthday. Father Ho said hundreds of legionaries, friends, and relatives attended the funeral.