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Archbishop
Anthony Gordon Pantin
August 27, 1929 - March 12, 2000
(A Sunday
Guardian Tribute - 19.3.00)
Anthony Gordon Pantin was born in Port of Spain in August 27, 1929,
the second son of Julian Andrew Pantin, a business executive and his wife Agnes, nee
Mazeley.
He received his primary education at Sacred Heart School and Belmont
Intermediate School (now the Belmont Boys’ Secondary RC School). From the latter he won a Government Scholarship,
(called a Government Exhibition in those days) to St Mary’s College. Also among the group of Exhibition winners from
that school was Ellis Clarke who would become first President of independent Trinidad and
Tobago.
He also took part in sports, playing cricket and football and was a
member of the Sixth Trinidad Sea Scouts, under the direction of the saintly Fr Cristobal
Valdez. At St Mary’s, Anthony Pantin was
in the top academic stream and although considered a strong contender for the open island
scholarship, the young Pantin decided to enter the priesthood at age 17 and was anxious to
begin his priestly studies.
His elder brother, Fr Gerald “Gerry” Pantin once observed
that “Tony” wanted to be a priest from the time he was seven years old. He had been an acolyte at St Patrick’s Church
from an early age.
He spent a short time teaching at St Mary’s College before
embarking for Canada.
Archbishop Pantin entered the novitiate of the Holy Ghost
Congregation in Canada in 1946 and attended the University of Montreal, graduating with
his BA degree. He returned to Trinidad in
1949 for a three-year teaching stint at St Mary’s College.
In 1952 he left for Dublin, Ireland, where he pursued studies in
Theology. He was ordained priest on the 3rd
July, 1955 and was sent to Guadeloupe as a missionary priest until 1959. He returned to Trinidad to teach at Fatima College
in Port of Spain until 1964.
In 1965 he returned to St Mary’s College where he was elected to
the post of Religious Superior, where he served until 1967.
In November of that year, he was requested to accept responsibilities as
head of the Archdiocese of Port of Spain, a post which was left vacant by the resignation
of the legendary Count Finbar Ryan. Father
Anthony Pantin’s Episcopal consecration took place on March 19, 1968.
As Archbishop he took the motto, “All things to all men”
which would today be translated, “All things to all people”. During his 32 years as Archbishop, he made
strenuous efforts to fulfill the expectations of that motto.
Bishop Galt, who was a close friend from school days remembers him as
having the ability to meet people of all classes on equal terms. He was also able to censure anyone if he thought
that that person had done something wrong, but his admonitions were always made in a
charitable manner.
He was especially concerned with enriching the lives of the
disadvantaged and underprivileged. He
insisted on seeing anyone who visited, took all telephone calls, and wrote innumerable
letters to people at home and abroad.
It was his great pleasure to visit the hospitals, and homes for the
elderly and destitute on Christmas Day, where he would chat and sing with the inmates.
He founded the Mary Care Centre to provide a home for pregnant
unmarried teenagers. In his sermons he usually called attention to the lot of the homeless
and the lonely.
He is remembered as a mediator in the troubled times of both the
Black Power crisis and the attempted coup.
Many people also refer to the encouragement they received from him
during times of personal crisis.
He was instrumental in forming the Inter-Religious Organization and
took an active role in that group. He also
took an active role in the activities of the Antilles Episcopal Conference, the
association of Caribbean Bishops.
He was a humanist, the people’s priest.
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