John Maher was born in Ireland in 1842. He emigrated to Canada and at fifteen sought admission to the Brothers Novitiate at Montreal. There he received the habit of the Brothers in 1857 and the religious name of Brother Reynold. Two of his uncles had become Christian Brothers earlier and were his vocation's inspiration. Brother Reynold was assigned to Christian Brothers College in Pass Christian, Mississippi. There he contracted tuberculosis and died at the age of twenty-four, having been a De La Salle Christian Brother for nine years.
