Fr. David Kinish (1902-1984)

Father David Kinish passed away June 3, 1984.

Father David is known for his devoted service in the Abbey Library, as Chaplain to the Sisters of Mount St. Scholatica Monastery for 38 years, and for his long-time cultivation of irises and later, orchids. In fact, he discovered a new species of orchid in Brazil, the Orleanesia mineriosensis, which the Oakes Ames collection at Harvard University allowed him to name.

Father David had a very dry sense of humor, perhaps captured by this anecdote. One day in the Recreation Room, he announced to Father Cornelius Caples that the U.S. Navy had developed a clock that lost only a thousandth of a second each century. He suggested that Father Cornelius might like to have one. Father Cornelis replied that before he acquired one he would wait until the Navy worked out the “bugs.”

Father Blaine Schultz has this reflection on the life of Father David:

“One of my favorite monks! We had one thing in common, our love for Classical Music. He taped hundreds of radio broadcasts of Classical Music and shared them with me. Father David was an exemplary monk.”