James A. Martin

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James Aloysius Martin

Washington, DC[1]

Early life

James A. Martin was born on August 30, 1902, in

Roman Catholic church. All three of Martin's sisters eventually became Catholic nuns.[1]

Martin was described as an accomplished youth athlete and was offered several college athletic

Society of Jesus religious order, which is more commonly called the Jesuits.[1] Martin began his studies to become a priest in the early 1920s. He initially entered a seminary in Yonkers, New York, before transferring later to another seminary in West Stockbridge, Massachusetts.[1]

Martin received a

Weston Jesuit School of Theology, in 1926.[1] However, he did not receive his bachelor's degree from Weston College until 1927, a year after earning his master's.[1]

In the Philippines

From 1928 to 1931, Martin taught

NCAA championships, an accomplishment he spoke of fondly until near the end of his life.[2] Among the players Martin coached on the Ateneo Blue Eagles was the future Senator Ambrosio Padilla.[3] He also coached the Ateneo de Manila High School's baseball team.[1]

He returned to the United States in 1931 to study theology at Woodstock College in Maryland from 1931 until 1934.[1]

Jesuits

James A. Martin was officially

St. Joseph's University, in Philadelphia for two years.[1]

Martin left St. Joseph's College after two years to serve as a chaplain for the United States Army Air Forces during World War II.[1] He served with the Army Air Forces in Italy, North Africa and France.[1] He remained in Europe after World War II to help raise money to rebuild damaged or destroyed Jesuit schools and churches.[1]

Martin returned to the United States in 1946. He worked as the

chairman of the Department of Theology at the University of Scranton from 1946 until 1949.[1] He simultaneously worked as a University of Scranton student counselor during this same time.[1]

He moved to back Washington in 1949 where he became a

spiritual retreat programs and meetings at churches around the Washington metropolitan area as part of a Jesuit "mission band" during the early 1950s.[1]

Martin became the founding director of the Loyola Retreat House, which overlooks the Potomac River in Charles County, Maryland, from 1955 to 1964.[1] He oversaw the planning and building of the retreat house, which sits on 235 acres (0.95 km2) of land.[1] He spent much of the rest of his priesthood conducting Jesuit led spiritual retreats and outreach programs.

Martin lived at the Jesuit residence on the campus of Georgetown University from 1974 until his death in 2007.[1] He worked as the director of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington's Apostleship of Prayer, which encourages daily prayer, from 1975 until 1983.[1] He also worked as a consultant for the Christian Family Movement.[1]

His last official assignment was as at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Alexandria, Virginia, as a pastoral assistant in 1983. Martin retired in 1989.[1]

Martin, along with 41 other

centenarians, were honored in 2006 at the city of Washington's annual celebration of residents over the age of 100.[1][4]

Death

James A. Martin died of pneumonia at the Jesuit Residence at Georgetown University on October 1, 2007.[1] He was 105 years old.

Just two weeks before Martin's death, he was visited by Ateneo de Manila University president Bienvenido Nebres, who gave him a jacket of the Ateneo basketball team that he had coached some 70 years earlier.[3] Martin was said to have worn the jacket to the evening community Mass.[3]

References

  1. ^
    Washington Post
    . Retrieved 2008-01-17.
  2. ^ a b c Bienvenido Nebres, S.J. (2007-08-05). A Homily Delivered during the Sesquicentennial Launch (Speech). Ateneo de Manila University, Quezon City, Philippines. Retrieved 2008-04-03.
  3. ^ a b c Bienvenido Nebres, S.J. (2007-10-03). "Fr. James A. Martin, SJ, 105". Ateneo de Manila University. Retrieved 2008-04-03.
  4. Washington Post
    . Retrieved 2008-01-17.

External links