Franciscan Father Edward Sabo, 72, associate pastor of St. Gerard Majella in Brooklyn Park, died Aug. 22, less than two weeks before he had planned to retire.
Ordained June 8, 1968, he served in Minnesota during the 1970s at St. Patrick in Inver Grove Heights and in Little Falls as chaplain to the Franciscan Sisters at their motherhouse.
During more than 50 years as a member of the Franciscan Third Order Regular, Father Sabo also had served as a high school teacher, hospital chaplain and as a parish priest in West Virginia and Pennsylvania.
“Father Ed will be remembered for his wonderful Franciscan spirit,” said St. Gerard pastor Franciscan Father Brad Baldwin.
“He was a happy person in ministry and in life. He had a wonderful smile, a welcoming spirit and a warmth about him that was contagious. He was a gentle, compassionate priest.”
A funeral Mass was celebrated Aug. 26 at St. Gerard. Burial will be in the Franciscan Community Cemetery in Hollidaysburg, Pa.
Father Sabo was to begin his retirement in September at St. Bernardine’s Monastery in Hollidaysburg.
St. Gerard had planned a going-away reception for Father Sabo for Aug. 31.
A native of Conway, Pa., he was born Dec. 19, 1941, the only child of Joseph and Mary (Triska) Sabo. In 1959, he entered the Franciscan Preparatory Seminary in Hollidaysburg. He completed his undergraduate and theological studies at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and professed solemn vows as a Franciscan July 3, 1961, before his ordination seven years later.
