If the New York Mets ever win the World Series again, it will be in part through the heavenly intercession of their greatest fan, Br. Frederick Nickle.

Devoted as he was to the Mets, our brother was an even more devout Christian, and ultimately, saving souls was more important to him than saving baseball games. Our beloved “Father Fred,” who died on March 23 at the age of 87, was in a league of his own, coaching a generation of teenagers and young adults to become major-league saints.

He was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and grew up in Long Island. In eighth grade, a Capuchin, Br. Aidan Neenan, visited his parochial school in New Hyde Park, N.Y. He offered to take Fred to Garrison, N.Y., to see Glenclyffe, our high school for priest candidates. Fred went up with a couple of friends, and while the softball field and basketball court caught his eye first, it was the friars themselves that made the deepest impact. “I saw these men in these brown robes, and I was very impressed,” he said. Fred learned that these young friars were getting ordained, and only a month later some of them were being sent to Guam, Honduras, or Okinawa.

Their dedication inspired Fred. He marveled that they were willing to leave their families and not see them again for years. He was amazed that they would go so far from home so soon after being ordained.

He graduated from Glenclyffe in June 1957 and entered our novitiate at St. Lawrence Friary in Milton, Mass., that August. He was given the religious name of Theophane, after the French missionary martyr, St. Theophane Venard. After one year in Milton and four years in Hudson, N.H., to study philosophy, he returned to Garrison as one of those men in brown robes that he once admired from the high school. He was ordained on Nov. 13, 1965, after which he resumed the use of his baptismal name.

After a taste of parish ministry at Our Lady of Sorrows, New York City, Brother Fred returned to the friaries where he received his religious training. He was the assistant director of novices in Milton for six years, then guardian at the house of philosophy in Hudson for five years. He embraced the routine of religious life being modeled for the younger friars. “I loved it. I liked the regular prayer life. They were large communities. We had the gift of community.” Two assignments as pastor followed: first at St. Joseph Parish in Portland, Me., from 1987 to 1995; then St. Pius X Parish in Middletown, Conn., from 1995 to 2002.

In 1981, Brother Fred was first assigned to Capuchin Family Ministries. This brought him back again to Garrison, where his Capuchin journey began 30 years earlier with that first visit to Glenclyffe. He served until 1985 and returned in 2002 after his term as pastor at St. Pius X. He remained a youth chaplain for the rest of his life, providing spiritual care at countless retreats and service projects in the Hudson Valley and Appalachia.

Over the final two decades of his life, he became synonymous with our youth evangelization ministry. How did he do it? He embodied the joy of the Gospel for the teenagers, young adults, and parents whose lives were changed by their encounters with Christ at our programs.

“Father Fred had a disarming personality and infectious joy. He had a way of putting an apprehensive teenager at ease or instilling confidence in a nervous parent,” said Br. Lake Herman in a reflection at the wake service on March 27. “Father Fred took time with each individual. You truly felt seen and known in his presence. He had a genuine love, and people felt special in his presence. Many have commented over these last days how they felt God’s grace and mercy through Fred’s gentle presence. In a time where so many people are searching for their identity, Father Fred knew who he was. He wasn’t simply a Capuchin or a priest, he was the Beloved Disciple. His vocation was to let others know they, too, were God’s chosen and beloved ones—deeply loved and cherished. Tonight, Father Fred passes on that mission to us.

“What he did wasn’t very remarkable. It was how he did it that left a lasting impression on those he met.

”For most of his latter years he resided at St. Joachim Friary in Beacon, N.Y. From July 2022 until a month before he died, he lived at St. Conrad Friary in White Plains, N.Y., where he rounded third and began the final stretch, heading for home.

In the end, the secret of Brother Fred’s success at making saints was in his own imitation of the poor and humble Christ, making him visible to others. “At Capuchin Family Ministries, we give a definition of a Christian: a Christian is someone in whom and through who Christ lives. So when I first heard that, I said that was the heart of it, if we could all live that way,” he said. “And St. Francis did that so wonderfully.”

“Fred, you were meek and humble of heart; may you find your rest,” Brother Lake said. “You made me a better friar. You made all of us here better Catholics. St. Francis was known as the Christ of Umbria. You are the Christ of Garrison. We all thank you. We love you. We are praying for you. Pray for us!”