Father Albert “Al” Babin, 95, Liguori
Father Albert 'Al' Babin, C.Ss.R., 95, of Liguori died July 4, 2022, at Mercy Hospital St. Louis in Creve Coeur. He professed temporary vows in De Soto on Aug. 2, 1947, perpetual vows in Pine City, Minn., on Sept. 2, 1950, and was ordained as a priest at Immaculate Conception Seminary in Oconomowoc, Wis., on June 26, 1952. He celebrated 75 years as a Redemptorist missionary and 70 years as a priest this year.. He was born Nov. 13, 1926, in New Orleans, La., and was baptized at St. Alphonsus Parish.
He served nearly two decades in the Redemptorist formation system and was named to the faculty. He was named a faculty member at St. Joseph’s College in Kirkwood in 1954; a faculty member at St. Joseph’s Preparatory College in Edgerton, Wis., in 1959; director and local community superior at Holy Redeemer Seminary in Lacombe, La., in 1961; novice master and local community superior at Blessed John Neumann House in Clinton, Iowa, from 1967 to 1968 and novice master and local community superior at Immaculate Conception College in Oconomowoc, Wis., from 1968 to 1972. He was parish priest and local community treasurer at Holy Ghost Parish in Houston, Texas; and in 1975, he was named vice provincial superior of the Vice Province of New Orleans. After two terms in that role, he was pastor and local community superior of St. Alphonsus Parish in New Orleans and then itinerant mission preacher from 1986 to 1987 and ordinary consultor from 1987 to 1990.
He was itinerant mission preacher for a decade and local community superior from 2000 to 2006 at St. John Neumann House in Biloxi, Miss. He also was vice postulator for the cause for canonization of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos from 1996 to 1999. He moved in 2006 to Liguori to serve at St. Clement Redemptorist Mission Community and other parishes throughout the area.
A rosary will be held at 3 p.m. Thursday, July 7, at St. Clement Redemptorist Chapel, 300 Liguori Drive, in Liguori, with a vigil that day at 7 p.m. A funeral Mass will be at 10 a.m. Friday, July 8, at the chapel, followed by burial in Redemptorist Cemetery on Liguori Drive and a luncheon. Arrangements are under the direction of Vinyard Funeral Homes.