Frank Principe, a Past State Deputy of the Virginia State Council Knights of Columbus, and a Former Master of the Fourth Degree, died yesterday of lung cancer.
Frank was very active in ceremonials - the “degree” presentations by which we show new members of the Knights the principles on which the Order is founded. He and I worked together on degree teams many times; he and I were (I think) the only two in Virginia that knew all of the parts in the 3rd degree, and I always enjoyed the opportunity to perform a degree at his side. He was a kind and caring man, well-read and sharp of wit. During the break in the ceremony, we’d sit out in the hallway and discuss everything from Ed McBain and Robert B. Parker to Vatican politics to Redskins draft choices. He had the knack that few people have of immediately putting you at ease; he spoke in a calm, easy-going manner that just assumed you were friends, whether you’d known him five minutes or five years.
I met Frank in 1994, when I first became a Knight. His example led me to strive to be a better ceremonialist, a better Catholic, a better husband, a better man.
Such good men are too far between and I truely feel for you loss. I know you will keep his memory alive and given the honor it deserves.
He would ask nothing more.
I’m sorry.
I’m sorry to hear of your loss. It is good to hear of somebody who leaves people better than he found them. If you can do that for just a few people, then you will carry on his work.
My wife and son are in the DR for a couple of weeks; I couldn’t get away from work to join them, Now I’m glad, because I’ll be here for the funeral… but I wish my wife were here as well. She was stunned to hear the news… we talked about how strange it is to mourn - after all, we believe that the deceased is in a better place; he has the reward of a life well spent: an eternity with God. Why are we upset, then? It’s a selfish upset: we are upset because he’s no longer part of our lives.
I’m going to send a note to his wife, telling her how much he meant to me.
It’s a fraternal society for which a membership requirement is being Catholic. It has nothing to do with the Jesuits, nor is it a branch of Catholicism. It’s a lay society for Catholics.
The titles were redolent of the masons and yet the men were both Catholics, which intrigued me. Presumably, the Columbians would be anti-mason, with its bloody oaths and secret rituals, not to mention its views on religion.