Fr. Francis Martin: Humble Man and Spiritual Giant

Fr. Francis Martin was a great Scripture scholar, preacher, and long-time friend of Renewal Ministries. He was the priest who supervised Ralph Martin’s Licentiate in Sacred Theology thesis at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC. We came across the following article on Fr. Francis and wanted to share with you some highlights of his life.

The following post was originally written by Arina O. Grossu for the National Catholic Register Blog Dec. 28th, 2017.

Fr. Francis Martin’s holy life was punctuated by an equally holy and peaceful death.

Dec. 23, 2017 marks what would have been the 61st anniversary of Fr. Francis Martin’s priestly ordination. He was a humble man, not in need or want of awards or honors, but deserving of them nonetheless.

For those who were blessed to know him, he made a profound impact. I had the privilege of working very closely with him for three-and-a-half years as his executive director to help him realize his vision in founding The Word Proclaimed Institute (WPI), an organization dedicated to assisting clergy and lay people in the authentic teaching and preaching of Holy Scripture. On Oct. 21, one day after what would have been his 87th birthday, Fr. Francis’ WPI was awarded the Pope Francis Charity and Leadership Award by the Catholic organization, Caritas in Veritate International.

His life’s mission was to open up Scripture so as to know and love Christ more and to help others do the same. He accomplished this while exemplifying the love and mercy of God the Father to the people he encountered. He remained grounded in that Love, responded generously to the needs of others, and managed to do so with a heavy dose of Irish humor and storytelling.

Fr. Francis was born on Oct. 20, 1930 in the Bronx, New York to Arthur Francis and Jane Frances Ryan Martin. His father was an executive of a famous mid-20th-century shoe company, I. Miller & Sons in New York. Arthur’s studies at Columbia University were interrupted by his U.S. Army service during World War I. Jane graduated from a teaching college and taught in a public grammar school in New York. Fr. Francis had two sisters — Joan who was six years older and Ann who was three years younger.

His love of Scripture started around 6 years of age when he lined the neighborhood kids up to teach them Scripture, whether they wanted to or not. His passion for Scripture was sparked even more when his Jewish middle school teacher told him that the Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew. When he saw the Hebrew text for the first time, he knew that he would study Hebrew so that he could read the Old Testament in the original language. In addition to Hebrew he also became fluent in Aramaic, Greek, Arabic, Latin, French, German and several other languages. At WPI, I witnessed him regularly translating the Bible from Hebrew and Greek right on the spot in our weekly sessions creating video commentary on Scripture. I felt very blessed to sit at the feet of this Scripture scholar and spiritual giant and receive firsthand the fruits of his contemplation of Scripture.

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