Br. Leopold Gregory

James Toole was born on October 1, 1886, in Dublin, Ireland, of a well educated and well-to-do family, and the son of an Irish pawnbroker. During his secondary education he also was employed in a photo-engraving shop. At age eighteen he responded to a Cork Examiner advertisement about the Christian Brothers. He entered the Novitiate at Castletown on June 14, 1906. He emigrated to the Novitiate at Glencoe, Missouri, in 1907. In July of 1907 he was sent to Las Vegas, New Mexico, where he volunteered as a working Brother who cooked for the community. In 1915 he fulfilled this same function at Bernalillo. He returned to Glencoe in 1916 and served in the kitchen there using his skills to feed the Brothers daily. He was assigned to De La Salle Academy Community in 1918 and to the St. Alphonsus Rock Church in 1921. Brother Leopold Gregory returned to serve as infirmarian in the Community of Ancients in August of 1922 and remained there until his death in 1951. He is most noted for his gentle care of Brother Gerardus. His mental capacity declined at age sixty-five when he died, having been a De La Salle Christian Brother for forty-five years.