In truth, Father Brignac, 85, never 'retired'

By Peter Finney Jr.

Father Horace Louis (H.L.) Brignac Jr., pastor of St. Raphael the Archangel Parish in New Orleans from 1994 until his retirement just after Hurricane Katrina, was eulogized April 21 as a dedicated priest who cared deeply for the people he served.

Father Brignac, 85, died April 15 at Chateau de Notre Dame. He had served for 36 years as a priest after being ordained on May 14, 1983, by Archbishop Philip Hannan. 

Because of restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic, a Funeral Mass was celebrated April 21 by Archbishop Gregory Aymond for a handful of family members.

A Memorial Mass for Father Brignac will be celebrated at St. Benilde Church in Metairie when social distancing restrictions are lifted.

Father Bernie Terrebonne, a close friend who was a parochial vicar at Our Lady of the Rosary Church in New Orleans before Father Brignac entered Notre Dame Seminary, said he always remembered his friend’s spiritual nature. Before entering the seminary, Father Brignac had served for 18 years with the State Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, the last seven as a personnel officer.

Father Terrebonne joked that when he was a young priest hearing some of his first confessions, Brignac walked into his confessional and spoke about matters of the faith in a way that surprised him.

“I was getting comfortable by offering others absolution and a couple of Hail Marys and Our Fathers, and in walks this gentleman, and my response was, ‘What the heck am I doing here? He should be sitting where I am,’” Father Terrebonne recalled. “It was just a spiritual moment and an enlightenment for me.”

Father Terrebonne said he was impressed that his parishioner, who had never been married, would give up a comfortable state job to discern a vocation to the priesthood.

“I have to admire him for that,” Father Terrebonne said. “He obviously didn’t have enough years in there to get a state retirement, so he had to reject a very high-paying job and go into the seminary. He took a leap of faith. I told him, ‘You gotta roll the dice, bro.’”

Father Brignac entered Notre Dame Seminary in September 1979 at the age of 45. Before his ordination to the priesthood, he served as a deacon at St. Mark Parish in Chalmette in 1982. He was an associate at St. Mary Magdalen in Metairie from 1983-89 and at St. Benilde Parish in Metairie from 1989 to January 1993. 

He also served at St. Ann Parish from June 1993 to January 1994, when he was appointed pastor of St. Raphael. He retired from the active priesthood on Jan. 1, 2006, four months after Katrina had inundated St. Raphael Church. In his retirement, he actively served at St. Benilde.

“Father H.L. was a man who truly lived out his priesthood,” said Father Robert Cooper, who served as pastor of St. Benilde when Father Brignac helped out the parish in his retirement. “Even after retirement, I saw Father H.L. just about seven days a week. He would help out with everything, from celebrating Mass to counting the collection, helping with sacramental records, meeting with people and offering confessions. He was just an individual who lived out his priesthood in what I would not quite call his retirement.”

Father Brignac attended Our Lady of the Rosary School in New Orleans and St. Paul’s School in Covington and De La Salle High School in New Orleans. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business at Loyola University New Orleans.

In addition to his pastoral assignments, he was invested in the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem and received the Signum Fidei Medal from De La Salle and the St. Benilde medal. 

Father Brignac was the son of the late Horace L. Brignac and Ethel Marie Cocke Brignac. He is survived by brothers Ronald L. Brignac and George F. Brignac, and numerous nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his sister, Janice Grillot, and his brother, Jacques (Jack) Brignac. 

Peter Finney Jr. can be reached at pfinney@clarionherald.org.