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Seminary schoolmate reflects on Pope Leo's humble beginnings at St. Augustine Seminary High School
Few people have known Pope Leo for as long as those who attended St. Augustine Seminary High School with him.
Seminary schoolmate Father Thomas Becket Franks saw the signs that Robert Prevost was special more than five decades ago.
Walking in to the St. Procopious Abbey in Lisle, Illinois, Father Thomas 'Becket' Franks is – in some ways – walking down memory lane.
Sifting through his yearbooks from St. Augustine Seminary High School in Holland, Michigan, he has found photos of his most famous schoolmate: Robert Prevost, the man who would become Pope Leo XIV.
'Probably the most humble person I've ever met and yet at the same time, the most helpful person,' he said.
Father Becket, as he's known in the abbey, was a sophomore when Prevost arrived in the St. Augustine dorms as a freshman in the fall of 1969.
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'We were away from family, away from neighborhood friends,' he said. 'Bob, as I still refer to him, was quiet but involved in everything.'
Prevost was a member of the student government, debate team, tennis team and patriotism club – a group that discussed U.S. politics, government and the nation's role in current events.
'When you spoke with him or talked to him, he listened intently. He would look right at you, and listen intently,' Father Becket said. 'What he was doing was formulating a response, or how to respond to you. It was never flippant, nothing really quick. He was never 'off the cuff.' Even in discussions you knew what he was saying he had been thinking about for a while.'
Prevost was a member of the Reader's Theatre. Each year, each class at St. Augustine would write a comedic play spoofing life at the seminary.
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'He liked to portray Father Jim Sheridan. Now, at the time and as a high school kid, Bob had a lot of hair, a lot of hair. I think even curly, or wavy I should say. But Father Jim Sheridan was bald. So, as part of that portrayal of Jim Sheridan, Bob would put a hat on and made his mutton chops on his face, because Father Jim Sheridan had big sideburns,' Father Becket said.
Pervost's outfit predated the Blues Brothers, but he was clearly 'on a mission from God.'
Father Becket said one of Prevost's favorite activities was singing and the school chorus.
'He's a great singer,' he said. 'You can hear it now when he chants at mass.'
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At the villa at St. Benedict Senior Living Community, Father Becket serves as chaplain. He celebrated mass in the century-old Sacred Heart Chapel, where he now quotes his own classmate.
'Everyday I've been adding some words from Pope Leo … so basically every day is a little teaching from someone I know and went to high school with,' he said.
He has known Pope Leo for 56 years. The two still correspond.
They'll always be connected by their shared experience at the seminary and in the pages of these yearbooks, which he signed with the same clarity and warmth that defines his priesthood: 'Tom, best of luck always, Bob Prevost.'
'I look back now 50-some years on and I see the beginnings of holiness and great maturity. A great thinker and a great gift to the world,' Father Becket said. 'I think he learned the way of holiness. I think we're going to encounter an extremely holy person, and every time I look at him now, I'm thinking I can see the beginnings of a saint way back in high school.'
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