St Johns Community mourn the passing of two Brothers

St John’s Community, St Helens, is mourning the loss of Br. Matthew Sasse and Br. Anthony Brunning who both passed away this month.

Br. Anthony Brunning

Br. Anthony Brunning

Warm tributes have been paid to Br. Anthony Brunning following his passing at St John’s House, St Helens, on October 15th at the age of 81.

A native of Stanmore, Middlesex, he was born William Brunning on August 18th, 1941. At the age of 18, he joined the Novitiate at Dogmersfield College near Basingstoke, where he took his First Vows a year later in 1960.

In 1962 he began teaching at Xaverian College while based at Brighton Community, before moving to Southbourne Community in 1962 and teaching at St Peter’s School.

In 1967 Br. Anthony took his Final Vows at District Annual Retreat, Coloma Convent, W Wickham, and in 1974 joined the Ipswich Community while teaching at St Joseph’s College Birkfield.

From 1971 he spent 10 years as District Bursar before being appointed Generalate Accountant in Rome.

From 1996 Br. Anthony returned home, taking on the role of Bursar while based at Beulah Hill Community, before moving to Oxford the following year where he took on the role of District Accountant. He moved to Clayton Court as Bursar in 2003 where he became Community Director in 2015 until 2016.

In 2021 he retired to St John’s Community in St Helens.

Br Matthew Sasse

The District of Ireland, Great Britain and Malta is mourning the loss of Br. Matthew Sasse who passed away at St John’s House, St Helens, on October 5th, at the age of 82.

Born, Stuart Sasse, on January 14th, 1940, in Surrey, Br Matthew joined the Novitiate at Dogmersfield College near Basingstoke in 1962, where he took his First Vows the following year.

Br. Matthew Sasse

Br. Matthew began teaching at De La Salle College, Jersey, in 1965, and returned to his studies the following year before taking his Final Vows at District Annual Retreat, Coloma Convent, W Wickham in 1969.

He returned to De La Salle College, Jersey, before his teaching career took him to St Joseph’s College (Oak Hill), Ipswich, where he spent six years. He then spent time on Individual Student Support (ISS) while based at Half Moon Lane Community (1981), Kensington Community (1982) and St Joseph’s College Birkfield (1983).

From there Matthew went to Beulah Hill Community where he was ISS and also on the British Dyslexia Association (BDA) Helpline, and had the same roles after moving to the Southsea Community from 1995 to 1998.

His next post was at Liverpool Community where he was ISS at the Bartimaeus Centre and in 2004 Br. Matthew moved to the Oxford Community where he was on the BDA Helpline.

In 2008 Br. Matthew retired to the Clayton Court Community in Hampshire before retiring to St John’s Community, St Helens, in 2021.