Fr. Albert Sandor, OFM Cap., passed away from this life on July 24, 2024, at the age of 86.
Fr. Sandor was born on Jan. 6, 1938, in the Hungarian section of Delray, Detroit, Albert was the son of Albert and Olga (Nemeth) Sandor. He was a brother to his older sister, Elsie, and his younger brother, Edward.
Albert attended Holy Cross Grade School, graduating in 1952. At the age of 15, he went to St. Lawrence Seminary in Wisconsin to pursue his dream of becoming a priest, graduating in 1956. On his application form to join the Capuchin Order, he wrote: "I want to follow the poor, humble, and crucified Christ in the footsteps of St. Francis." He then entered the novitiate at St. Bonaventure in Detroit, taking the religious name "Melchior" upon his investiture on Aug. 31, 1957.
In March 1957, Albert continued his novitiate at Sacred Heart in Baraga, Michigan, making his first profession on Sept. 1, 1957. Later that year, he began his studies as a cleric at St. Felix in Huntington, Ind. Due to insufficient grades, he was transferred to the brothers’ novitiate at St. Bonaventure Monastery, Detroit, in the summer of 1958. Albert recalled this as “a devastating blow, I remained in a darkness of soul for three days” and “I heard clearly in my soul: ‘Don’t worry, your day will come.’” In 1959, he started post-novitiate formation as cook, porter, and tailor at St. Mary, Crown Point, Ind., making his perpetual profession on Sept. 1, 1960.
From 1960 until 1967, Albert served as friary staff, cook, and baker for the friary in Huntington, Ind. In 1967, he transferred to St. Bonaventure Monastery. In June 1967, Albert Sandor became co-director of the Soup Kitchen with Rock Janowski. Six months earlier, Albert was cooking in the monastery kitchen and had given out bags of produce once a week to the neighborhood women for their families.
During the riots of July 1967, the soup kitchen was designated an emergency site by the city, and three hundred bags of donated food were handed out every day. The food package program soon became a ministry in itself.
In 1970, the soup kitchen hired professional counselors, organized neighborhood youth activities, and started self-help groups. Albert, together with his brothers Rock Janowski, Ignatius Milne, and Philip Naessens, helped rehab a nearby house and used it as a halfway house program called “Meldrum Manor” for men coming out of prison. This program was reorganized in 1976 into “Jefferson House” at its current location at the corner of East Jefferson Avenue and Seminole Street.
From 1970 until 1975, Albert served as a porter at the monastery. In 1975, Albert started theology studies at St. Louis University, earning a bachelor’s degree in arts with a double major in philosophy and theology, intending to become ordained a priest. From 1978 until 1982, Albert attended Pope John XXIII Seminary in Weston, Mass., completing a master's in divinity. Albert was ordained a deacon on April 11, 1981, by Cardinal Medeiros, archbishop of Boston, at Holy Name Chapel, Pope John XXIII National Seminary, Weston, Mass. During a final semester at St. John's Provincial Seminary in Plymouth, Mich., he ministered as a deacon at St. Bonaventure Monastery.
Albert was ordained a priest at St. Mary Magdalen Parish in Hazel Park, Mich., on June 11, 1982, at the age of 44. In the same year, he celebrated his silver jubilee of religious vows. Bishop Walter J. Schoenherr, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Detroit, ordained four Capuchin brothers that day: John Guimond, Gerald Kessel, Peter Wolf and Albert Sandor.
After ordination, Albert was appointed associate pastor at St. Mary Magdalen Parish in Hazel Park for two years. He was a member of the parish staff at St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Saginaw until 1985, when he received a special assignment as chaplain at St. John’s Hospital in Harper Woods.
From 1990 until this past year, Fr. Sandor served in various ministries connected to St. Bonaventure Monastery. He worked in the front office, served as local vicar and guardian in the early 1990s, and served as guest master and spiritual assistant to the Secular Franciscans for many years. He also supported the local Church with help-outs on weekends, especially at Holy Cross Church, where he celebrated Mass in Hungarian. Albert will be remembered for his dedication to the confession ministry of St. Bonaventure Monastery and later at the Solanus Casey Center.
Fr. Sandor chose to stop hearing confessions at the Solanus Casey Center only a few months prior to his death. During a regular doctor's visit in April, he was taken to the hospital, where esophageal cancer was discovered. Fr. Sandor opted to enter hospice rather than undergo treatment. As his health declined further, Fr. Sandor received the sacrament of the anointing of the sick surrounded by his brothers on the feast day of St. Bonaventure, July 15. He died peacefully on the morning of July 24, 2024.
Fr. Sandor is preceded in death by his parents, Albert Sandor and Olga (Nemeth) Sandor, his stepmother, Erzsebet (Nagy) Sandor, and his sister Elsie Mergy. He is survived by his brother Edward Sandor, and a brotherhood of Capuchins with whom he lived, prayed, and ministered for over eight decades.
Visitation will be Thursday, Aug. 1, from 2-5 p.m. at St. Bonaventure Monastery, 1740 Mt. Elliott Street, Detroit, Michigan 48207. Funeral will be Friday, Aug. 2, in-state at 9 a.m. until time of the Liturgy of Christian Burial at 10:30 a.m. The funeral service will be live-streamed and will be made available online for viewing later at www.thecapuchins.org.
Obituaries for clergy and religious who have lived or served in the Archdiocese of Detroit may be emailed to [email protected]. Obituaries are printed as they are submitted, but may be edited for grammar and style. Detroit Catholic reserves the right to refuse or edit any submissions.
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