Born: Cork, Ireland, December 26, 1826
Took the habit: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, February 16, 1849.
Vows: Ottawa, March 15, 1850 (No.274)
Priestly ordination: Ottawa, May 25, 1850
Died: Maniwaki, Canada, July 4, 1864.
William Corbett was born in Cork, Ireland, on December 26, 1826. He was still a child when he emigrated with his parents to the United States. He was studying in the major seminary of Pittsburgh when he encountered Fathers Adrien Telmon and Augustin Gaudet who were staying in the city. He began his novitiate there on February 16, 1849, and continued in Ottawa under the direction of Jean-François Allard. He took vows on March 15, 1850. He had been admitted in the meeting of the general council held on the preceding January 29. On that occasion the secretary general noted that “this novice is about to finish his trial period in the novitiate of the Congregation and will have completed it on the 16th of next month. The 17th is the anniversary of the establishment of the Institute as a regular Congregation. The notes provided by the novice master on this candidate are favourable and there is no reason seriously opposed to his admission to perpetual vows. Judging by his qualities and his adequate capabilities, it seems that he will be able to serve the Church and obtain the salvation of souls by living as a religious in the bosom of the Congregation.”
He was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Guigues on May 25, 1850. At first, he taught Greek in Ottawa and then he ministered in the parish of Holy Angels in Buffalo from 1851 to 1859. There he was superior from 1851 to 1855. At the beginning of 1855 he was recalled to Ottawa to be pastor in the parish of Saint Joseph. However, it seems that he did no ministry there. In a letter to Father Fabre in March 1859, Father Adolphe Tortel wrote that “Father Corbett, plagued with scruples, resides in bishop’s house in Bytown. We miss him very much because it seems that wherever he has been he has left excellent memories of his good qualities.”
After a brief sojourn in Saint-Pierre-Apôtre, Montreal, in 1860-1861, he was sent to Rivière-au-Désert, Maniwaki, where he remained until his death on July 4, 1864. His condition continued to deteriorate and, during the last four months of his life, he completely lost his reason. On July 14, 1864, Father Tabaret wrote to Father Fabre: “All the Fathers of the Province who have known Father Corbett are convinced as I am myself that that the Lord will take account of the virtues he practiced before his illness, and also of his long period of suffering, because I am convinced that he often had moments when reason and faith overcame his suffering and like a true Oblate he made his sacrifice and offered himself to the Providence of God.”
Yvon Beaudoin
and Gaston Carrière, o.m.i.
