 Fr. Bertrand Frederick Clyne, O.P.
Father Bertrand Frederick Clyne, O.P., a native of Benicia, California was born on
March 23, 1877 and was baptized in St. Dominic’s Church there. He received the Dominican habit in St.
Dominic’s Priory, Benicia, and stayed there for his priesthood studies. He was ordained a priest on June 25, 1902, by
Archbishop Patrick William Riordan in St. Mary’s Cathedral, San Francisco.
During his sixty-one years as a priest Father Clyne served as Assistant Pastor in the
Dominican parishes in San Francisco, Antioch, Benicia, Vallejo, Portland and Eagle Rock. He was acting Pastor in the Dominican Parishes of
Crockett and Martinez and Pastor in Pittsburg, California and Benicia. His brother
provided him with a Stutz Bearcat car in which he provided transportation for the
acolytes.
During the First World War, Father Clyne was a Chaplain with the Marines and
distinguished himself for bravery, and retired as a Lieutenant Commander in the Naval
Reserve. He ended as the most decorated Chaplain in the military. Afterwards,
he was appointed Chaplain at the Little Sisters of the Poor in San Francisco. He was a favorite confessor at St. Dominic’s,
San Francisco, during his later years.
Father Clyne died at the College of the Immaculate Conception, Kentfield, on January
11, at the age of eighty-six. Solemn Requiem Mass was offered for Father Clyne at
St. Dominic’s Church, Benicia, on January 14, and he was buried at St. Dominic’s
Cemetery.
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