QUEENSLAND Christian Brother Ambrose Purcell has died after falling ill in Sudan, where he worked with refugees and the marginalised.
Members of the brothers’ St Francis Xavier Province in Queensland and the Northern Territory received word on November 3 that Br Purcell had died after he was urgently evacuated to Nairobi in Kenya, following a suspected stroke.
He was declared dead on arrival at Nairobi hospital. He was 72.
An autopsy indicated he had contracted meningitis.
Br Purcell had a great passion for the marginalised, particularly the people of Sudan.
His years serving the refugees at Port Sudan were at times dangerous because of the unrest in the country, yet his wisdom coupled with a gentle and calm manner enabled him to deal with situations with diplomacy.
Br Purcell was born in Toowoomba on May 8, 1934 and completed his schooling at St Mary’s Christian Brothers’ College before entering the juniorate at Strathfield, Sydney, in 1952.
He also taught in Brisbane, Goulburn, Charters Towers, Rockhampton, Mackay and Toowoomba before going to work in Sudan in 1988.
After more than a decade in Sudan he returned for a short time to St Edmund’s, Ipswich, where he continued to work both in the school and with Sudanese people.
His love for Sudan moved him to return at the beginning of this year to minister there, this time in the remote town of Yambio.
