Brother Barnabas O’Reilly, OSB, is the son of Lawrence and Eileen O’Reilly of Johnstown, PA. He has two brothers, Russell and Patrick; and two sisters, Shannon and Kathleen. He is a 2008 graduate of Bishop McCort High School. He earned a bachelor of arts degree in biology in 2012 from Saint Vincent College.
Prior to entering the monastery, he was employed as a laboratory technician at the University of Pittsburgh and then worked for two years with a Catholic Missionary group known as St. Paul’s Outreach ( SPO) at West Virginia University.
He entered the novitiate at Saint Vincent Archabbey on July 1, 2015 and made simple profession of monastic vows on July 10, 2016. Following simple profession in 2016, he was assigned as assistant to the director of Campus Ministry, St. Vincent College, and a Benedictine resident in Gerard Hall. He began studies at Saint Vincent Seminary in 2016. In 2018, he received the master of arts degree in Catholic philosophical studies, cum laude.
After spending a year as a novice and three years in temporary vows, Br. Barnabas professed solemn vows on July 11, 2019 at St. Vincent Archabbey before Archabbot Douglas R. Nowicki, OSB. He was ordained as a deacon by the Most Rev. Larry J. Kulick, J.C.L., Bishop of the Diocese of Greensburg, on May 22, 2021 in the Saint Vincent Archabbey Basilica.
He has served Mary, Queen of Saints Parish as a deacon since the Summer of 2021. On May 14, 2022, Deacon Barnabas was ordained a priest by the Bishop of the Diocese of Greensburg, in the Basilica of Saint Vincent Archabbey.