Brother Boniface (Patrick) Hicks, O.S.B., a monk of Saint Vincent Archabbey, will be ordained to the priesthood on Saturday, May 15, at the Archabbey Basilica, by Most Rev. Lawrence Brandt, Bishop of Greensburg.
He is the son of William and Mary Hicks of Burke, Virginia and the brother of Michael Hicks of Philadelphia. He attended Grafton Bethel Elementary School, Silvergate Elementary School and Correia Junior High School. He is a 1993 graduate of Lake Braddock Secondary School, Burke, Virginia.
He earned a bachelor of science degree in computer science and a master of science degree in computer science from Penn State University in 1997. At Penn State he was a member of the Tau Beta Pi Honor Fraternity and the Penn State Newman Club.
He became a Roman Catholic while attending Penn State, where he met Father Fred Byrne, O.S.B., then a campus minister at the University Park campus. Brother Boniface then joined the Benedictine community of Saint Vincent Archabbey, making simple profession of vows on July 9, 1999, and solemn profession, or vows for life, on July 10, 2002. Father Fred is now the vocation director for the Archabbey.
Brother Boniface earned a master of divinity degree from Saint Vincent Seminary in 2004.