Catholic Bishop of Savannah, Raymond W. Lessard, Dies at 85

WTOC
January 4, 2016

http://www.wtoc.com/story/30879609/catholic-bishop-of-savannah-raymond-w-lessard-dies-at-85


Bishop Raymond W. Lessard, Catholic Bishop of Savannah for 22 years, died on Sunday at his home at St. Vincent de Paul Seminary in Boynton Beach, FL.

Bishop Lessard served from 1973 to 1995. He has served at St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach for the past twenty years as a spiritual director and professor of ecclesiology.

A visitation will be held at the seminary at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 9. The Mass of the Resurrection will be celebrated at the seminary at noon.

Bishop Lessard's body will be transferred to Savannah, where he will be received at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist at 3 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 11. Visitation will be held from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. An evening prayer service including the Office for the Dead will be held at 7 p.m.

The Mass of the Resurrection will be celebrated at noon on Tuesday, Jan. 12 at the Cathedral. Bishop Gregory J. Hartmayer, OFM Conv. will be main celebrant; Bishop Emeritus J. Kevin Boland will be homilist.

Bishop Lessard will be buried in the Bishops’ Lot at the Catholic Cemetery, in Savannah. The last bishop buried at the Cemetery was Bishop Benjamin J. Keiley, who died in 1925.

Bishop Lessard was 85 years old.

"It's sad because we've lost a Bishop and we lost someone who made such a great contribution to our Diocese and to Savannah, but at the same time it’s very historic, we don’t know what it’s like to bury a Bishop. None of us were around the last time we buried a Bishop from here,” said Father Daniel Furman, Diocese of Savannah.