Nicholas Radelmiller, OHC
October 18, 1939 – September 27, 2014
The Rev. Nicholas Radelmiller, OHC, died at Sarah House Hospice in Santa Barbara on Sept. 27. He was 74.
Nick was prior of Mount Calvary Monastery in Santa Barbara from 2008 until June of this year. He led the community during the years following the November 2008 Tea Fire that destroyed the original Mount Calvary Retreat House, and presided over the 2013 acquisition of the present site of Mount Calvary Monastery, located next to the Old Mission in Santa Barbara.
Funeral services will be held on Sunday, Nov. 9, 4 p.m. at Trinity Episcopal Church, 1500 State Street, Santa Barbara 93101. A reception will follow the service.
Nick was born William Lawrence Radelmiller on Oct. 18, 1939, in Pasco, Washington, and grew up in Moses Lake, Washington, where his father was a farmer. He graduated from the University of Washington in 1962 and from Nashotah House in 1965. He was ordained a deacon in 1965 and a priest in 1966 for the Diocese of Olympia, serving as curate at St. Dunstan’s Church, Seattle, and then vicar of St. Mark’s Church, Oconto, Wisconsin. He remained canonically resident in the Diocese of Fond du Lac.
Nick joined the Order of the Holy Cross in 1970 and was life professed on April 5, 1975. He was stationed at Whitby House Monastery in Grapevine, Texas, from 1973 to 1977, serving as prior from 1975 to 1977, and was briefly prior of Mount Calvary in 1978. He was prior of Holy Cross Monastery in West Park, New York, from 1978 to 1981, then stationed at Mount Calvary from 1981 to 1983. He was a missionary priest in Quito, Ecuador, for two years, and then moved to Holy Saviour Priory in 1985. He returned to Mount Calvary in the early 1990s, and remained in residence there for the rest of his life.
Nick was a gifted spiritual director with a strong interest in the development of new monastic communities, particularly the Community of Divine Love in San Gabriel. He was also a talented watercolor painter, a dedicated student of the cello, and an avid reader of history and of detective fiction.
Memorial donations may be made to the Brother Nicholas Memorial Landscaping Fund at Mount Calvary Monastery or to Sarah House Hospice Care.