Date of birth: July 28, 1920
Temporary Profession: July 14, 1949
Perpetual Profession: July 14, 1952
Ordination: May 29, 1954
Date of death: August 28, 2011
"All of my prayers to the BVM were answered.
I found another good job for the rest of my life."
Our Fr. Andrew Hohman used to relay the story of his mother who brought him to the Miraculous Medal Novena at St. Anthony's in East Wheeling when he was a teenager. These were the days of the Great Depression. In the stillness of the church, the two processed to Our Lady's altar where his mother lovingly prayed that Mary would take care of her Son and find him a good job. "Here is my son Andrew," she is told to have said. "He is too much for me to handle; you take care of him." And handle him she did.
Vincent Hohman was born on July 28, 1920, one of four sons and three daughters born to Robert and Gertrude (Dei) Hohman. From the family, there were to be two priests and a Sister of St. Joseph, Wheeling, so we are assured that their faith and its practice were central to the family's life. After attending St. Vincent and St. Alphonsus elementary schools (the latter parish staffed by our friars), he graduated from Wheeling Central Catholic High School in 1938. Training at the Elliott Business School followed, enabling him to do well on a Civil Service Exam (fortuitously, it followed the prayers to Mary mentioned above)!
Assigned to the US Army Corps of Engineers, he was involved in managing contracts for construction projects which dotted pre-war America, seeing that both the country and an individual's sense of human worth can be of lasting benefit to a depressed economy.
Since it was a civil service job, Vincent acquired permanent civil service status and official deferment from active military service. Despite enjoying his job, traveling from cities throughout the country, and the success which met him there, the young and loyal patriot felt called to military service. He entered the Army Air Corps, did his basic training in Lincoln, Nebraska, and attended special courses in aerodynamics and communications at the Montana State University in Missuola, MT. Finally, a course at Air Force Technical Radio School in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, enabled him to be part of a B-17 Bomber crew out of Fort McDill (Tampa, FL). The unit was called to active duty on the European front within weeks of its completion of training.
Fr. Andrew's particular fascination with his military years is dramatically illustrated a detailed account he wrote. Read at his Golden Jubilee of priesthood in 2004, the 7 page single-spaced document remains a precious part of our Provincial archives. His flights over Germany as a radio operator betray both the anxiety and determination of a young man whose loyalty outweighed his fears. Like so many of the veterans who returned from the war, however, the shock and sorrow swallowed throughout those heroic missions would leave an irreplaceable scar. Men with whom he worked and played, comrades in the airplanes and in the "mess hall," were to lose their lives as he continued to escape their fate. The unit to which he belonged received the Distinguished Unit Award, and the European-African-Middle Eastern Theater Ribbon. Vincent was also to receive the Air Medal of the US Army Air Force.
At the end of his tour of duty, the relief he felt was expressed with a sensitivity that would mark his pastoral future:
"My time was up so I left Germany for LeHavre, boarded a slow Liberty ship which took two weeks to cross the Atlantic -- two weeks of sunny days and peaceful rest. Arriving in NY, we boarded a train for Camp Kilmer, NJ. One of the wonderful sights in NJ was to see a group of boys playing baseball -- a contrast from seeing boys in Europe raiding garbage cans for food . . . The biggest surprise at home was to see that mother's hair had turned white. But now, her prayers had been answered -- her four sons were home safe."
The written saga ends rather abruptly: "Rather than go back to work in DC [with the Army Corps of Engineers], I chose to go to St. Fidelis Seminary and study for the priesthood. So . . . I found another good job for the rest of my life."
First came those harrowing and yet electrifying five years in the military, and they were followed, one would surmise, by an incredible 63 years of religious life which passed like a breeze in comparison -- "another good job". Given the name "Br. Andrew" at the beginning of his novitiate year in 1948, the new friar never appears to be as taken by the less dramatic (and certainly less perilous) life of a friar minor. After a few years to catch up with his Latin, Philosophy and Theology studies, Fr. Andrew was ordained on May 29, 1954 at St. Alphonsus Church in his beloved Wheeling. It's little wonder he left behind no parallel account of his religious life and priesthood. Maybe it's because this job took a lifetime to figure out.
"Peaceful," "generous," "kind" and "understanding" are words which frequently flow from the mouths for whom and with whom Fr. Andrew was to serve -- a quiet man whose "still waters" ran deep indeed. He was not a man of many words, but when others spoke with him, one knew that he or she had his attention. His advice was often to the point, but it always contained a charity able to change hearts. One of his faithful fans upon his death put it this way: "We are remembering and celebrating the life of a beautiful, humble and most remarkable man. He was a loving confessor in life, and is truly our intercessor. We will miss his gentle ways . . . ." Another wrote, "Fr. Andrew was a powerful example. He said and did things which changed the way I live my life -- [he was] a loving and humble priest."
And that pretty much says it all for his 57 years of priesthood.
He loved the military, he loved West Virginia and he loved the Jesuits (who counted his much-loved younger brother, George, among its members) -- and not necessarily in that order. As a brother, Andrew's kindness was not lost on his fellow friars. He was able to offer an encouraging word without any solicitation, and he was known to many friars for his sensitive remembrance of them while he was reading the newspaper or one of the many Catholic publications he would peruse. If he thought of one of the friars while reading, he would photocopy the article and put it in the mail, thinking that it would be of interest to the brother who was on his mind.
At the same time, his "three loves" were never far from our fraternal experience either. The humorous story is told of our deceased Br. Leo Raible who, having sorted out in advance the sensitive topics he knew would "get a rise" out of any friar, was able to tease friars mercilessly. As Leo would make some comment about West Virginia, the Military or the Jesuits (depending on the day, we assume), Fr. Andrew would rise from table, rebuke him with a force reserved only to volcanoes, and promptly part company for the evening. It was not a one-time occurrence. Friars were not always even aware that some comments would raise his ire, never intending them to offend. In his own way, Fr. Andrew reminded us quite forcefully of the things he held dear with an undying loyalty, and he would guard and protect them against any foe or naysayer. There were no cheap jokes at the expense of West Virginians, Jesuits or the Military while Fr. Andrew was on the watch.
Fr. Andrew was honored to serve in West Virginia (Charleston) for the first five years of his priestly ministry, and he would return there often as life took him to various corners of the Province. Three years in Kansas were followed by three years in Dover, OH, before the Province asked him to become an instructor and confessor for the lay friars in Annapolis, MD's novitiate house. Another three years and he found himself returning to his home state, this time to work for eight years in Boone Country. His love for the minority Catholic population there is legendary.
After Boone County, Fr. Andrew spent 12 years as pastor to the small parish church of St. Patrick in Mineral City, OH. In 1988, he returned to West Virginia as pastor in Mason (St. Joseph Parish) before he accepted his final assignment as confessor in residence at the Conversion of St. Paul Shrine, Cleveland, OH, his longest assignment. St. Paul's is a place where men and women in downtown Cleveland come for Mass and confession in the midst of their workday. It is also home to a monastery of the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration, a community whose devotion to the friars is matched by the friars' dedication to them. As one of the sisters wrote on hearing of Fr. Andrew's death:
We loved him so much. Thousands upon thousands had gone to confession to him during [his time with us]. There were times when in the period for Confession, the line went towards the end of the church, so many came to have the guilt of their sins washed away by this holy confessor. When one thinks of [Fr. Andrew], one readily recalls Saint Pio (Padre Pio), who was a Capuchin, and St. John Vianney -- for each with joy brought prodigal children home to their Lord.
It was a sudden stroke which eventually took our brother on Sunday morning, August 28, 2012. His guardian, Fr. Bill Wiethorn, OFM Cap., found him as he lay helpless on the floor, trying to communicate his needs. The stroke was major, and within a short time, Fr. Andrew died in the hospital. Obviously, he was privileged to celebrate the feast of St. Augustine, our Provincial patron, in an extraordinary way.
After visitation of Andrew's remains on September 1, a Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated by our Provincial, Fr. David Nestler, OFM Cap., with Cleveland Bishops Richard Lennon and Roger Gries, OSB, in attendance. Fr. Angelus Shaughnessy, OFM Cap., was homilist. Those who loved Fr. Andrew in Cleveland were sorry to see him go, but Fr. Andrew was brought home to West Virginia where, with his remaining family and a military honor guard present, he was buried at Mt. Calvary Cemetery in Wheeling among his fellow Capuchins. It's hard to imagine that Fr. Andrew would have wanted it any other way.