Rev. Clement Sobr, 82, a monk and former teacher at St. Procopius Seminary in Lisle, died Tuesday, Feb. 19, in Meadowbrook Manor in Naperville of complications from a stroke. Born in Turtle Creek, Pa., the son of an immigrant coal miner, Father Clement was a monk at St. Procopius Abbey and also served for several decades in northern Wisconsin. At age 7, his family started a bakery in Chicago and he enrolled in St. Procopius Parish’s grade school. As a high school sophomore, Father Clement entered St. Procopius Academy in Lisle with the intention of joining the Benedictine order. He did so in 1941, but a desire to serve his country and see the world led him to obtain a dispensation from temporary vows in 1943 and join the Marines. He later said that the action he saw in the Solomon Islands succeeded in curing his wanderlust. After being discharged from the military in 1945, he came back to Lisle. The next summer, Father Clement rejoined the monastery and professed his monastic vows in June 1947. He was ordained by Bishop Martin McNamara on May 19, 1951. The next year, he completed his licentiate in theology at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. For 13 years, Father Clement was a popular teacher at St. Procopius Seminary, where he also was vice rector. In 1965, he was sent to St. Patrick’s Parish in Phillips, Wis., first as an assistant and then, from 1967, as pastor. In 1969, he was transferred to Sts. Peter and Paul Parish in Moquaw, Wis., from which he also served missions at Dauby and Ino in Wisconsin. In 1978, he was recalled to the abbey in Lisle for a term as procurator, looking after the business affairs of the monastery. He returned to Wisconsin two years later, this time as pastor of St. Mary’s Parish in Phillips. At age 67, Father Clement accepted the post of administrator of King of Martyrs Priory, near Fifield, Wis. He retired to the abbey in spring 2001 and lived there until suffering a major stroke in November. Services will be held at 7 p.m. Friday in St. Procopius Abbey, 5601 College Road, Lisle. Mass will be said at 10:30 a.m. Saturday in the abbey.
