2013
Date of birth: January 5, 1928
Place of Birth: Davis, WV
Investiture: August 1, 1961*
Dispensed of Perpetual Vows: October, 1970
Temporary Profession: October 14, 1990*
Perpetual Profession: August 21, 1993
Date of death: October 25, 2013
Burial: St. Augustine Cemetery
Millvale, PA
"I didn't feel free to tell anyone
what was going on inside.
They might think I was crazy or something."
No friar has become a Capuchin friar of the Province of St. Augustine so many times in his lifetime. Jim Allman did it three times -- that the third time was a 'charm' is no surprise.
In a revealing journal on the life of our brother Jim, Fr. Lester Knoll, OFM Cap., has compiled a remarkable array of events and Jim's own reflections that divulge the 'insides' of a man who seldom spoke about himself at all. In The Quest for a Niche: The Spiritual Journey of Br. James Allman, OFM Cap., Fr. Lester captures snapshots along the path of a fascinating faith journey. Few would use 'fascinating' to describe him, but the 'still waters' we encountered in this 'unassuming' and 'introverted' man ran deep indeed.
Date of birth: August 1, 1929
Place of Birth: Pittsburgh, PA
Investiture: July 13, 1949
Temporary Profession: July 14, 1950
Perpetual Profession: July 14, 1953
Date of death: September 8, 2013
Burial: St. Augustine Cemetery,
Millvale, PA
"All this leads to two questions:
 what am I to do
and where am I to do it?" (May 22, 1975)
It's a story that winds its way around the world. If Francis wanted his brothers to become 'itinerants,' pilgrims and strangers on a journey in this world, he had a real brother in Maurice Sheehan.
Pittsburgh was always his hub because it was the 'home' of the brotherhood, but the spokes emanated to Herman, PA; Olean, NY; Oxford, England; Lusaka, Zambia; and Wheeling, WV. Fr. Maurice loved History, and his passion for it would take him to places where he could share it. He wanted to be a teacher and researcher and, all along, to do it as a brother. Finding a place to settle for long didn't happen. Times would change, as would the institutions he served, and as the years passed, our brother Maurice would find options closing behind him as he forged forward to continue the path he knew best and loved best "“ all the while living the Franciscan story he would famously recount.
OUR BROTHER MAURICE DIED
From here he will enter heaven's hall
of those who served their Lord
through history's study and teaching.