Date of birth: January 1, 1919
Place of Birth: Pittsburgh, PA
Investiture: July 13, 1939
Temporary Profession: July 14, 1940
Perpetual Profession: July 14, 1943
Priesthood Ordination: May 22, 1945
Date of death: January 11, 2012
Burial: St. Augustine Cemetery, Millvale, PA
"He was the friendliest friend over everybody."
Cletus Blockinger, OFM Cap.
Anselm was a brother. Perhaps, it was because he grew up with none of his own. He died, instead, with thousands of them, scores of whom were proud to call him their own.
Born "George" Martin in the Lawrenceville section of Pittsburgh, PA, Fr. Anselm was raised in the shadows of his parish church, St. Augustine, the motherhouse of the St. Augustine Province of Capuchins. His parents, Philip and Eleanora (Melchior) Martin, were members of the local parish and familiar with the brown-robed Capuchin brothers and priests who served the area's schools and hospitals. George was their only child, but the neighborhood was filled with others' his age, including boys who would eventually find themselves in the Capuchin Order like classmate Fr. Christian Fey, OFM Cap. Perhaps it was in the "air" of growing up with Capuchin heroes that moved the young man of 14 in 1933 to attend St. Fidelis Seminary in Herman, PA, where he would find himself among more brothers than he ever imagined.
He was a towering figure as a youth and a natural leader. He was a good student, but never haughty or conceited. He loved a good argument, but he stayed away from disputes that were inflammatory or heated. He would shrug off any display of temper and move the discussion along to a common memory or a different issue. His slow and measured cadence coupled with his way with an anecdote resulting in his hearty laugh could defuse any argument.
After four years of high school and the requisite two years of college, he was invested with the Capuchin habit in 1939, and given the name Anselm, professing his first vows on July 14, 1940. Three years later he made his Solemn Profession as a Capuchin friar and completed his theological training at Capuchin College in Washington, DC. Ordained in Washington, DC, at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on May 22, 1945, by then Bishop John McNamara, Fr. Anselm celebrated his first Mass at St. Augustine Church on June 3 with a homily offered by Fr. Aurelius Nickel, OFM Cap.
After a year as a "simplex priest," Anselm began his life in the western part of the Province when he was assigned to attend St. Louis University for graduate studies in Education. He received his Masters in Education in 1948 and was immediately assigned as a member of the faculty and Prefect of Discipline at St. Joseph Military Academy in Hays, KS. Within four years, in 1952, Fr. Anselm became the President of the Military Academy where he would serve the next eighteen years.
Tragedy was to strike his life and that of the Province in 1957. Anselm was seriously hurt in an explosion which killed two of our confreres, Frs. Cornelius Heim and Brice Schratz, on June 17. These two friars, both in their early forties, had entered the convent of the Sisters of St. Agnes in Munjor, KS, because of serious flooding which had caused the evacuation of the compound the day before. A group of friars including Fr. Anselm, Fr. Canice Froehlich and Fr. Benedict Pope, accompanied some workers to Munjor to inspect the compound and to remove the Blessed Sacrament from the church. Cornelius and Brice entered the convent with the custodian of the Munjor parish, Ted Pfannenstiel.
The archived report of the incident reads: "Fr. Anselm followed them but stepped out again on the porch to say something to the others who were approaching the convent. It was then that the explosion occurred. Fire shot out the door. Fr. Anselm was blown off the porch and burned on the arms and the head. Screams came from inside the convent." The three who had entered were burned over 90% of their bodies and died within 48 hours. The funeral was the cause for much grief at such an unexpected loss, but Anselm was to be hospitalized until June 28, a week after their burial.
In the midst of these tragedies and the under the weight of his administrative duties, Fr. Anselm was always a jokester and loved a good laugh. Pranks seem to have been his favorite sport (though he would always be a Steelers fan despite living outside of his hometown more than within it). The pranks were varied and they were unexpected, but always, they were done with those whom he admired and respected. One friar in Philadelphia was led to believe that he had left a bag of groceries at the supermarket. He promptly returned to the market and was able to get the items he had sworn to have left. On his return to the friary, Anselm chuckled that he had hidden the bag from him (we will let it to posterity to discover if the supermarket was ever the wiser for this escapade). It took a while for the friar to take it "all in fun."
Other friars would receive letters on official diocesan stationery, purportedly from Bishops or Chancery officials, sometimes from the Provincial himself, which were, let's say, "less than factual." Once scheme even involved a flag appearing or disappearing from a friars' casket, only to be found after the funeral in another friars' room. It was Anselm's general strategy to make sure that the friars were taken off guard and that the ruse was believable. Whether it was secretly substituting a basketball film for a psychology film to be viewed by a teacher, or connecting telephones to wrong intercom lines, Anselm was a master.
Despite his teasing and game-playing, Anselm was somehow elected to three consecutive terms (9 years) as Definitor (Councillor) of the Province from 1965 to 1974. His terms oversaw the closing of the St. Joseph Military Academy and the creation of Thomas More College Preparatory High School ("Thomas More Prep") which continues to this day in Hays, KS. Anselm was able to reconcile the tensions over the closing of the High School Seminary and the concerns about the closure of the Academy.
But that wasn't his only job. In 1970, as President of St. Joseph Military Academy, he was elected to the 7-member state committee of the Secondary Commission for the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools where teams would evaluate the quality and effectiveness of various high schools and colleges. At the same time, he was the first friar to be the "Vicar Provincial" for the western end of the Province, all in preparation for our eventual division in 1978. Finally, he also took the helm of the newly formed Thomas More Prep, seeing the new school through its transitional years as President. In 1974, Anselm expressed his desire to return to his roots in the east and to pass on the torch to a generation he had helped to educate and form.
A tribute was celebrated for Anselm before he made his return east. On May 26, 1974, Fr. Blaine Burkey, OFM Cap., a colleague and confrere, offered a humorous roast during the months of the Watergate Crisis and amid the denials of President Richard Nixon regarding the contents of various tapes which had been deleted or "lost." Referring to "missing parts" of various tapes of the "President" (Anselm) whose transcripts were made available to the gathered crowd, Blaine read:
"Certain reporters have said [that Tape #1 shows] clear evidence that the President participated in the plot to send Fr. Michael Scully a fake certificate of merit from the President of Fort Hays State College on May 20, 1967 . . . "Other reporters have said that Tape #2 proves that the President plotted the sending of post cards to Fr. Daniel Schartz from all over the country signed "Jim" . . . ."The same thing is true about Tape #3. How can this tape be used to show that the President sent Fr. Julian Haas a phony miracle pill, when Fr. Julian's name does not appear on the transcription?"
Returning to Pittsburgh, Anselm took up the task of Director of Financial Management, forming close bonds with two Provincial affiliates, William Milborn and Michael Myetich . They worked together to coordinate the financial affairs of the Province and begin the rudimentary stage of future planning through their experienced council. As guardian of St. Augustine Friary, he cared for the elderly friars and devoted his time and efforts at being among them and being patient with their unique personality characteristics. After assignments as Chaplain to the Veteran's Hospital in Pittsburgh and to confessional ministry at Pittsburgh's downtown parish, St. Mary of the Point, Anselm was the recipient of God's sense of humor: a new adventure for the final stage of his life.
In 1991, at age 72, Anselm would accept an assignment to Philadelphia's center city parish, St. John the Evangelist. He and a team of friars would be the first in the Province to serve in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, and the Provincial assignment letter indicated that "I know that this is also a first love for you in terms of ministry, and I'm sure you will find it rewarding." Fr. Anselm would finally be ministering full-time in a parish setting.
The parochial structure at St. John the Evangelist, however, was anything but typical. In Center City, its weekday Masses were numerous and well-attended while the weekends were more relaxed. The give and take of the ministry involved parishioners who were often visitors to the city or people who were searching for their religious roots. Confessions were frequent, Ash Wednesday was chaos and the work involved dialogue with people "along the way." But dialogue was no stretch for Anselm. He could talk to anyone and make them feel welcome"“ and he did. His invaluable talent at remembering names and faces proved an even greater asset.
Fr. Anselm frequently traveled back and forth by bus to Pittsburgh for time off and the chance to catch up with friars and friends. He would see a succession of confreres at St. John's throughout the next 21 years and was always appreciated as an important part of the fraternal support for the friars' lives together. As the years wore on, trips on his own by bus became less frequent, and Anselm came to require the same compassionate care from his brothers that he had administered to so many others. He hated to be on the receiving end of that care, but he was appreciative for the sensitivity of the friars as his health deteriorated.
Fr. Anselm died on Wednesday, January 11, 2012, at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, PA. He had been admitted to the hospital on his 93rd birthday, January 1. Survived by four first cousins (Mary Catherine Yost, Leo Einloth, Ursula Rectenwald and Margaretta Moeller, all of Pittsburgh), Anselm's loss was mourned by members of the laity and the Province both in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh who came to say their "goodbyes" and offer their prayers.
At his Funeral Mass at St. John the Evangelist in Philadelphia on Saturday, January 14, 2012, the celebrant was former student to Anselm and now Archbishop of Philadelphia, Charles Chaput, OFM Cap. Another former student and ultimate colleague, Fr. Charles Polifka, OFM Cap., preached the homily and could not hide his immense admiration and respect for his departed brother and friend:
"When I came to St. Joseph's Military Academy in 1959 as a skinny geeky freshman with a flat top haircut, using"˜Butch Wax' to keep it straight up, Father Anselm Martin was the president of the school. Thirteen years later when I came back to the school in 1972 after seminary training, Profession of Vows and Ordination, the name of the school was changed, but Anselm Martin was still there as president. In working alongside him as one of his faculty members, I was confirmed in what I experienced of him when I was a student. I found that he was a man admired by college professors, by educational administrators throughout the state of Kansas, by the leaders in the National Catholic Educational Association, and by both state and local government leaders. He was a man with connections. He was a man with credibility. He was a leader with integrity."
Anselm's leadership extended to his brothers, and Fr. Charles noted that:
Those of us who had the pleasure of living with Anselm knew a side of him that often didn't get beyond the walls of his life in Capuchin community"¦although I assure you that it sometimes did, and it caused lots of smiles and chuckles. Anselm had a "wholesome" sense of humor. He had a wonderful talent of putting excitement into friars' lives and making them laugh, mostly at themselves.
Last night, when Fr. Ben Regotti [Anselm's guardian] asked us to share a story and a word that we would use to remember him, I was sitting next to Fr. Bob McCreary [who] . . . used the word, "iconoclast."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
Bob told me, "Well, Anselm knocked people off their pedestals by making them laugh at themselves."
Fr. Anselm was laid to rest in the friars' plot of St. Augustine Cemetery in Millvale, PA, on Monday, January 16. Life without Anselm would never be the same. With him, a generation of friars who formed our roots and calmly led us through turbulent waters would make their transitus to see the Lord's face. Eternal rest would certainly be Anselm's inheritance, though our prayers for him continue. At the same time, it's not hard to imagine that, with all the added brothers and sisters Anselm gains in the Communion of Saints, any number of them will be surprised and fooled by one of Fr. Anselm's attempts at keeping all pedestals out of reach.
Brothers are like that.