Father Donald Brice, a priest of The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington for more than 64 years, died March 7 at the Autumn Care Assisted Living facility in Farragut, Tennessee. He was 91 years old.
Father Brice was born Aug. 31, 1931 in Wheeling, West Virginia, to Thomas and Marie Brice, who were married in their native Lebanon. In 1910, the couple traveled to New York and then to Wheeling, West Virginia, where Thomas’s mother lived and worked as a dry goods peddler. Thomas died of leukemia when Donald was 7.
In a 2018 interview with the Catholic Standard as he celebrated the 60th anniversary of his ordination, Father Brice reflected on his family’s roots as Maronite Christians in Lebanon He said his grandmother grew up knowing how to speak Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus, and he remembers how she prayed the rosary each day. In Wheeling, the Brice family lived near St. Alphonsus Church, which was staffed by Capuchin priests.
“They were so likeable and examples to follow. I wanted to be a priest” like them, Father Brice, who served as an altar boy at the church, said in that interview.
He began his seminary education at St. Fidelis Seminary and College in Herman, Pennsylvania and at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He continued his seminary education at St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore, and at the North American College in Rome, where he was ordained a priest of The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington on Dec. 20, 1958.
He was first assigned as parochial vicar at the Shrine of St. Jude, Rockville, Maryland and then in 1963 at St. Patrick Parish, Washington, D.C. He was then assigned as parochial vicar at St. Margaret Parish, Seat Pleasant, Maryland in 1966 and also at St. Jerome Parish, Hyattsville, Maryland, and in 1967 at St. Jane de Chantal Parish, Bethesda, Maryland.
Father Brice was then named Pastor of St. John the Evangelist Parish, Clinton, Maryland in 1983. Then in 1984 he was given permission to serve as parochial vicar at Holy Spirit Parish in Annandale, Virginia. In 1985 he was assigned as parochial vicar at the Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament, Washington, D.C., and in 1986 at St. Peter Parish, Washington, D.C.
In 1989, he was appointed full-time to the Office of the Tribunal residing at Nativity Parish, Washington, D.C., then at St. Francis de Sales Parish, Washington, D.C., and finally at St. Peter Parish, Washington, D.C. In 1993, he was assigned to the Tribunal part-time and part time as parochial vicar at Annunciation Parish, Washington, D.C. He retired in December 2010. He was a resident of the Cardinal O'Boyle Residence before moving to Knoxville, Tennessee in 2019 to be near his relatives.
In his interview with the Catholic Standard, Father Brice said, “The greatest blessing has been the joy of celebrating the sacraments of our Lord Jesus.” He also noted that he kept a record of the names of the estimated 2,000 babies he baptized over the years and of the couples from the approximately 1,400 weddings that he presided at. “I read them through now and then and say a prayer for them,” he said.
An obituary in his hometown newspaper noted that Father Brice enjoyed traveling and attending performances of the Metropolitan Opera in New York and the Washington National Opera.
Father Brice was predeceased by five sisters and one brother. One of Father Brice’s sisters was a Benedictine nun who combined her parents’ first names in her religious name, Sister Thomas Marie. She taught at St. Gertrude’s School in Washington, which served children with intellectual disabilities.
Father Brice is survived by numerous nieces and nephews.
A Mass of Christian Burial was offered March 13 in Knoxville, Tennessee. A Rite of Christian Burial was also celebrated March 16at Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Catholic Church in Wheeling, West Virginia, followed by interment at Mt. Calvary Cemetery, also in Wheeling.
