20th Century Marist Martyrs

THREE MARISTS WHO CHALLENGED THE EMPIRE OF DEATH IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

In the latest edition of “Today’s Marists,” published by the Marist Fathers and Brothers of the United States Province, an article written by Fr. Tom Ellerman, s.m., the publication’s history editor, remembers three Marist Fathers from the 20th century who were specially called by God to make the ultimate sacrifice in their ministries.

By Fr. Tom Ellerman, s.m.
Today’s Marists Editorial Board

In her opening talk to the International Congress on Consecrated Life in Rome in 2004, Sr. Therezenha Joanna Rasera, s.d.s., said: “We are aware that those who follow in the footsteps of Jesus of Nazareth also challenge the empire of death and the power of the oppressors of this world, and will risk and accept the loss of their own lives for others, so that they may have ‘life’ and have it abundantly” (Jn 10:10).

These words make us think of martyrs such as Saint Peter Chanel and the Marist Brother Martyrs of Spain, but we must also call to mind the ever growing multitude of clergy, laity, and consecrated persons who have been caught in and are victims of the violence of “the empire of death and the power of the oppressors of this world.”

While all the followers of Jesus are called to “lose their lives for others,” most of them experience this loss a little at a time, on a daily basis, not without resistance and complaint while their egocentrism. undergoes a slow and painful death. Some, however, who are specially called by God to do so, offer up their lives in one final, heroic act.

The Marists we remember with love and admiration in this article made such a final sacrifice because they firmly believed that God was calling them to remain faithful to the commitment to the people of God. Although we are aware that many others of the Marist Family have made such sacrifices, we have chosen to remember three United States Marist Fathers: Fathers John Conley, Arthur Duhamel and Robert Brett. In each case the big, final sacrifice simply brought to a dramatic end a religious life of daily self-sacrifice and devotion to duty.

Fr. John Conley, s.m., was born in 1898 near Philadelphia. He was professed as a Marist in 1920 and ordained to the priesthood in 1925. He spent his entire ministerial life in the Vicariate of the North Solomons, with the exception of one year off to make his second novitiate. His own written accounts of his life in the missions show him to be a happy, dedicated missionary despite all the sacrifices, difficulties and dangers he endured.

Conley was the first member of the newly established Washington Province to be sent to the missions. He was the uncle of Fr. John Weiglein, s.m. Practically nothing is known about the details of his death except that sometime in 1943, after the American landing in Tarokina, Fr. Conley was beheaded by the Japanese in Niota.

Fr. Arthur Duhamel, s.m., of Lawrence, Massachusetts, was born in 1908, professed a Marist in 1931, and was ordained a priest in 1937. Like Conley, he too spent his entire ministerial career in the missions at Ruavatu, Guadalcanal. According to his own accounts, his mission was a difficult one. He had great difficulty in learning the native language and those whom he served were less than grateful and cooperative. Furthermore, he was afflicted with not infrequent bouts of malaria. On the positive side, however, Duhamel was a talented and respectful builder and provided a solid infrastructure for his mission station. He suffered from feelings of failure and little sign of success but continued to be faithful in serving his people as best he could.

While we do not know a great deal about his death, we do know that sometime in September of 1942 at Ruavatu he was bayoneted to death, along with two Missionary Sisters of the Society of Mary, Sr. M. Odilia and Sr. Mary Sylvia. Their bodies were discovered by an American military chaplain, who rendered a complete recounting of what he found. Eventually the local inhabitants gave further information. The three victims were reburied and given all the honors for the dead the Church has to offer.

A year before Fr. Duhamel was ordained, Fr. Robert Brett, s.m., was born in 1936 in South Philadelphia. He was professed a Marist in 1956 and was ordained a priest in 1962. Brett was not assigned to the missions but received a degree in Latin, and then was sent to perhaps a more perilous ministry of teaching teenage boys at Chanel High School in Bedford, Ohio. After facing years in Cleveland’s “snow belt,” he was sent to the swampy climate of southwestern Louisiana to teach at Immaculate Minor Seminary.

At his own request, Brett became a United States Navy chaplain in 1967 and arrived in Vietnam on September 29 of that year. In January 1968, he was assigned to the Khe Sanh area of the country. There he did his best to minister to as many military personnel as he could by bringing them the consolation of the sacraments. On February 22, 1968, he was killed by a direct hit on the bunker where he was offering Mass.

Fr. Brett was buried with his Marist confreres in Philadelphia. The chaplain school at Newport, R.I., was renamed “Brett Hall” in his honor. The United States recognized his bravery with the posthumous award of the Purple Heart and the Legion of Merit with V for valor. In 1998, the remains of Fr. Robert Brett were reinterred on Chaplain Hill in Arlington, Virginia.

The true story, the real sacrifice, of these men is not their deaths, but rather the story of their lives steeped in the spirit of selfless love. While their deaths are well known by us, their lives remain “hidden and unknown” except to God, who sees us all. By accepting earthly death, they chose eternal life.