My friend Fabian Radcliffe, who has died aged 90, was a Catholic priest who worked for many years as a teacher in schools before, later in life, taking on a role as a university chaplain.

Fabian, whose birth name was Patrick Herbert, was born in Suffolk to Cyril, a school bursar, and his wife, Barbara (nee Batson). He was educated at Wellington college, Berkshire, and after national service in the army went to Exeter College, Oxford, in 1948 to study theology. He became a Roman Catholic at university and in 1954 entered the Blackfriars Priory in Oxford as a novice. He was ordained as a priest in the Dominican Order in 1959, when he took on his new name.

In 1961 he went on to teach at the Blackfriars preparatory school for boys at Llanarth in South Wales. Between 1965 and 1967 he was student master back at the Blackfriars Priory.

He then moved to teach at Trinity school in Leamington Spa, a Catholic institution with an emphasis on religious freedom, where one former pupil described him as “the best kind of teacher – very few lessons, but a shining example of how to live”. In 1986 Fabian eventually moved to live in Holy Cross Priory, a Dominican house in Leicester, and took up the job of chaplain at Leicester University until 1996, when he retired. He continued in active ministry until 2018.

Fabian combined his religious activities with a love of walking by participating over many years in the Student Cross pilgrimage to Walsingham in Norfolk each Holy Week. With his friend John Knight he also completed the 2,000 miles of the Appalachian Trail in the US in 1995, and in 2005 he walked the entire length of the 900-mile Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route across France and Spain.

Fabian had many interests outside religion. He began taking part in archaeological digs in 1958 and became highly respected in the field, supervising excavations and writing reports on them. He also relished any opportunity to take in an exhibition, read a new book or enjoy a concert. His fine singing voice and talents as a cook were shared with a diverse circle of friends.

He is survived by his niece, Sarah, and nephew, Mark.