A Brother’s Brother
Teacher, greeter, leader. Brother Dominic Berardelli FSC, who died Dec. 28, 2017, embodied the spirit of John Baptist de La Salle. “He was a force,” said Brother Michael Meister, who added that when Brother Dom was healthy, they would tease “there wasn’t a thing that he wasn’t involved in at the College. His energy, his devotion,” Brother Michael quipped, “if he grabbed onto God, he—and those of us who knew him—would be in for the ride of our life.”
Brother Dom was born in Pittsburgh (to parents Charles Berardelli and Carmella Manfredi) on Jan. 6, 1938, and entered the novitiate in 1955, taking his final vows in Manila, choosing the name Brother Aquinas. He served nine years in the Philippines as a teacher, director, and principal, learning the language and culture during “a perennial Communist regime takeover,” according to former student and current De La Salle University Professor Luis Carmelo Buenaventura.
In the late 1980s, Brother Dom dodged a bullet—literally—while traveling on behalf of the Mission Office for the Generalate in Rome. Visiting Brothers who were under duress in civil wars, he found himself at the end of a machine gun barrel in war-torn Sri Lanka. Tamil Tiger rebels had accused him of carrying a bomb until one of Brother Dom’s traveling companions spotted a cousin in the ranks and called to him for help. The rebels put down their guns and let the Brothers pass through.
Working at De La Salle North Catholic High School in Portland, Ore., was another highlight in his life, according to Brother Michael. “You could feel his deep affection for the students and staff there when he talked about them, and those graduates from Portland who came to Moraga were his ‘kids.’ ”
But he said a wide-ranging circle of others were also the beneficiaries of Brother Dom’s personal and generous attention. “And this is what endeared him to so many. He was a Brother’s Brother, and everyone knew it.”
From 1995 until his retirement to Mont La Salle in 2017, Brother Dom served in several capacities at Saint Mary’s College, including director of parent relations, major gift officer, and special assistant to the president. SMC President James Donahue said Brother Dominic was an extraordinary ambassador of goodwill, working with students, parents, donors, friends of the school, the Moraga Town Council, and the Moraga Chamber of Commerce as the liaison to Saint Mary’s College.
A trademark of Brother Dom’s playful spirit was the golf cart—known as the Bromobile—he used to traverse campus, adorned with Italian and American flags. Brother Dom could often be seen giving motorized campus tours.
“Dominic was truly Lasallian in his embodiment of the virtue of hospitality,” said Brother Ron Gallagher, former SMC president.
“He was the official greeter at the College and showed up on the stairs of the Chapel or at the front door at almost every event.”
Brother Dom was not just the face of Saint Mary’s but of the entire Lasallian mission, said Carole Swain, vice president for mission. “He became an ambassador for Jesus among us.”
And the legacy he leaves will stretch to the heavens, said Brother Michael, who shared the words of John Baptist de La Salle during Brother Dom’s eulogy at Mont La Salle on Jan. 13. “Oh, what joy a Brother of the Christian Schools will have when he sees a great number of his students in possession of eternal happiness, for which they are indebted to him by the grace of Jesus Christ!”