By Thomas F O'Neill
Father Ivan’s life was devoted to his church and his
Catholic faith and he always considered himself to be a rational person even
though some of his family members questioned the choice he made in becoming a priest.
It was sometime in 1930 that he was assigned to his first parish,
and he felt a little wet behind the ears. However, he was extremely popular
among the parishioners who recognized immediately his compassion and devotion
to the needs of others. He visited their homes, he attended to the sick, and he
administered the last rights to the dying; but most of all the Children loved
the attention he gave them after the Sunday services. He appeared to be understanding
in the confessional as he listened and consoled the parishioners as they
confessed their sins. He was not harsh or judgmental in what he heard and the
young ladies in the parish seemed curious and went out of their way to learn all
they could about him.
It was late on a warm September evening, that Father Ivan
was closing the church and looking forward to a good night's sleep after a long
and tiring day.
He heard a frantic knock on the church door and when he
opened the door, he saw a young man standing there, dressed very strangely.
Father Ivan thought to himself what an odd way to dress and he invited the
young man inside the church to find out what was bothering him.
“I am Boris Strobonoff,” said the man in a strong Russian
accent.
He seemed to be very frightened and confused as he stood in
the church and looked around as if he were seeing the church for the first
time. He told the priest that he was supposed to be married earlier that day.
Father Ivan told him that there were no marriages scheduled today.
He told the Priest that he was running late to meet Elaina
the girl he is to marry and as he was running across the street everything went
wrong and he is now confused. He went on to say that nothing looks the same and
he can’t find Elaina or his family.
“What is Elaina’s last name, Boris?” Father Ivan asked him.
“Bronotov, Elaina Bronotov,” Boris responded in a frantic
voice.
Father Ivan was convinced that there was something strangely
wrong with the young man and he asked him to wait in the Church.
“I must find her, Father, and I must find my Family,” he
yelled at the Priest.
“I will help you; wait here and be quiet the other Priests
are asleep,” said Father Ivan.
Father Ivan went into the rectory to see if there was a
family registered in the parish with Boris’s last name or the last name of
Boris’s fiancée. Father Ivan could not find any names in the Parish registry
that came close to the names that were given to him by that strange young man.
When he went back to the Church, the young man was gone so he closed the Church
and went to bed.
The next morning, he told Father Evans, the pastor of the
Church, of his experience with Boris.
“Oh him,” said Father Evans as he was drinking his morning
coffee with two of his brother Priests at the dining room table.
“He comes here every year around the same time,” said
Father O’Connor, a fellow Priest, “he always wears that same strange attire he’s
very weird.”
“He is some sort of kook,” said Father Evans, “and what is
even stranger he hasn’t seemed to have aged one day in twenty years.”
“This Boris Strobonoff said that he was supposed to get
married in our Church,” said Father Ivan.
“As I have said, I’ve been here twenty years, that person
doesn’t belong to this Parish,” said Father Evans.
“He comes here every year around this time, no one knows
him or even heard of the Strobonoff Family,” said Father O’Connor.
Later that day Father Ivan decided to search the parish
records once again. He went as far back in the Church records as possible with
the hope of finding some record of a Strobonoff or a Bronotov Family. The young
Priest, to his amazement, discovered that the young Boris Strobonoff had also
been seen by other priests on or about September 3rd during the last two
centuries.
Father Ivan continued in his search; he came upon the name
of Boris Strobonoff with a notation next to the name which says:
“On Boris Strobonoff’s wedding day, as he was running
across the street to get to his wedding on time, he was tragically trampled to
death by a runaway horse.”
Father Ivan also found among the death records that Boris
Strobonoff was buried on September 3, 1830; and that he was a Russian immigrant.
His funeral was paid for by his friends, family, and his fiancée Elaina
Bronotov, who was also a native of Russia.
Father Ivan also discovered that Elaina Bronotov later
married, Victor Igo, and her Great-Great-Grandchildren are members of the
Parish. Elaina Bronotov, later known as Mrs. Elaina Igo was born in 1806 and
died in 1888. She is buried in the Parish cemetery; also buried there is her
former fiancé Boris Strobonoff (1805-1830).
Father Ivan quickly ran up the stairs tripping over himself
to tell Father Evans of his amazing discovery. Upon hearing the news Father
Evans blessed himself and said, “So the young man is a Parishioner after all --
who would have known.”
Always with love from Suzhou, China
Thomas F O’Neill
U.S. voice mail: (800) 272-6464
China Cell: 011-86-13405757231
WeChat: Thomas_F_ONeill
Skype: thomas_f_oneill
Email: introspective7@hotmail.com
Blogspot: http://thomasfoneill.blogspot.com
Facebook: http://facebook.com/thomasf.oneill.3/
