Fr. Peter Putnam Roberts of the Holy Face died on December 1, 1995, at the Discalced Carmelite monastery in Washington, DC.

Born on June 30, 1924, in Brooklyn, New York, he was the third of nine children of Clarence and Ruth (Dowd) Roberts. He completed his primary education at St. Ignatius Loyola Parish School in 1938 and graduated from high school at St. Ann’s Academy in 1942.

After a semester at Providence College, he entered the Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites at the beginning of 1943, part of the class to receive the habit at the new novitiate house in Brookline, Massachusetts. He was professed on February 28, 1944, and from 1944 to 1947 studied philosophy in the Discalced Carmelite minor seminary at Holy Hill in Hubertus, Wisconsin. He was then sent for his theological studies to the order’s International College in Rome where he was ordained on April 22, 1951, and received his S.T.B. degree in 1952.

After his return to the United States, Fr. Peter taught Italian and other subjects at Holy Hill from 1952 to 1958. He was then assigned to the Discalced Carmelite Monastery in Youngstown, Ohio from 1958 to 1972 where he engaged in wide-ranging retreat ministry, preaching, work with Secular Carmelites, AA groups and parish help-outs. These ministries continued during his later assignments in Brookline Massachusetts (1972-1976) and Washington DC (1976-1984). From 1984-1990 he was again at Holy Hill where he was assigned to assist at the Shrine of Mary, Help of Christians. In 1990, he returned to the Discalced Carmelite monastery in Washington, DC where he continued in a variety of pastoral ministries until a short illness resulted in his death. Fr. Peter is buried at the Carmelite Cemetery in Hubertus, Wisconsin.