Over the weekend, I read about the interesting lives of Franciscan Brothers Julian Riester and Adrian Riester: “Brothers’ 92 years end the lifelong way: as twins.” The twin brothers shared much of their life together in family and then in religious service. They both died last Wednesday. The Buffalo news story notes,

Indeed, in 2003 Brother Julian told the Bona Venture, the university’s student newspaper, that they confounded the friars’ seniority system by often claiming they “walked in the door together” and by never divulging which twin was born first.

“We don’t tell,” Brother Adrian told the newspaper. “We like to keep them guessing.”

I do not know if divine mercy, genetics, or both orchestrated the timing of the brothers’ deaths, but theirs is an extraordinary story. Memory eternal, Julian and Adrian!

Posted by Joseph on Monday, June 6, A.D. 2011
Religion | Roman Catholicism • Permalink