'Go silent, friend, we do not begrudge you'

AUBURN - Hunting in the forest, his gardens' flowers, his family and, most notably, his faith in God, were the essential things for the Rev. Robert Egan.

"His story unfolds in the gardens of his parishes and at the bedsides of his parishioners, in the waters he fished in and on the lands on which he hunted his prey," said the Rev. Louis Vasile, during the homily at Egan's funeral Mass Monday at St. Alphonsus Church on Genesee Street.

Vasile lived with Egan at the St. Alphonsus rectory for several years after Egan semi-retired in 1997 and helped out at Holy Family and St. Alphonsus parishes.