 He was born Richard Henry Duerr in 1922 in Brooklyn, New York, the third of four children.He studied at St. James Diocesan High School in Loughlin and St. Joseph's Normal Institute in Barrytown, New York, graduating valedictorian from both schools.In 1935, at the age of 13, he entered the junior novitiate of the Christian Brothers in New York and began his postulancy on June 26, 1936.