On Oct. 4, the Jesuit Community, family and friends gathered in Dahlgren Chapel to bid farewell to Fr. James A. Martin, S.J., who had come to the end of his exceptionally long, varied and blessed life. We gave thanks for his life and the many ways in which he touched our lives and for the many acts of kindness with which he helped students, parishioners and friends. We shared sorrow, we shared hope and we shared memories.
Now easily the most memorable thing about Fr. Martin, whom we Jesuits called “Jimmy,” was his longevity. He reached the age of 105 years and one month, and for several years he has been the oldest Jesuit in the world. This was a pinnacle not easily or quickly achieved, and Fr. Martin in these last years rejoiced greatly with each birthday as it came along.
But there are two particular episodes from his life which give the best idea of the type of man he was for over a century.
The first is the time which he spent in Tokyo in 1928. He was en route to doing regency (three years of formation in the process of becoming a Jesuit) as a teacher at the Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines, which in those days required a very long sea voyage by way of Japan. The Jesuit college in Tokyo had lost its English teacher, and Fr. Martin was, shall we say, “shanghaied” by command of the local superior to take his place. But Fr. Martin retained and valued his memories of life in societies which have since been transformed by tragedy and technology.
The second is much more recent. One day in March, I proposed to go to Philadelphia on business. I was told by Dr. (Now Fr.) John Siberski that Fr. Martin was unlikely to see out the day. So we gathered members of the community to anoint him. Later I went off to Philadelphia because there seemed nothing that I could do to help the situation. I was happily surprised when I got back to find Fr. Martin sitting up in bed, singing cheerfully and asking for more food.
Over these many years Fr. Martin had been highly resilient, so we always suspected that he had one more life than the proverbial cat. His early accomplishments as a baseball player and his years as a coach had given him muscles and skills which would sustain him through his life.
For me the two special signs of his resilience were his smile, which was luminous and powerful, and his singing, which showed a tenderness of feeling and which brought back poignant memories of his family and the early years of his life. There was also a special glow of satisfaction which he felt when he was dressed up, when he looked his best and was ready to take on whatever the day might offer.
The two noteworthy accomplishments which were particular sources of pride for him were his service as a chaplain in the U.S. Army in the Mediterranean theater during World War II and the building of Loyola Retreat House in Faulkner, Maryland at the end of the 1950s. In both he was able to lead as a man of action and to guide as a man of Ignatian spirituality. They were both accomplishments which involved bringing men together to work for a good cause, and through which Fr. Martin best displayed his virtues and gifts in ways which sustained people in hard times.
The later years of pastoral activity at St. Mary’s in Alexandria, Va. where he is still esteemed, and the two decades of his life in this community were quieter. It seemed to me that Fr. artin’s life with us involved a kind of unspoken bargain. We would keep him alive, and he would keep us young. To live for so many years is a special grace, but it presents serious challenges to both the body and spirit. The very elderly require generous attention and care. For us it has been a great grace to be able to provide this for Fr. Martin, and we could not have done so without our caregivers’ help.
In return Fr. Martin kept us young. After all, no one, not even Fr. Marty Casey, who died last December at the age of 96, could be considered old when Fr. Martin was in the room. Fr. Martin lived with memories of times when most of us were young ourselves, and he made them real to us. Something in him, a simplicity and a trust, brought all of us back to earlier stages of our life in the Society. Fr. Martin lived among us as a priest, not a theologian, not an administrator, not a scholar, but a retired priest – a man whose life was marked by schools and sports, by songs and sacraments. And he gave us something very good, as he moved to the Father through the diminishments of age and the repetitions of prayer, especially the community Mass.
It was not all serene and easy, but it took depths of courage and patience and trust. As we ourselves grow older, we will appreciate more of what he brought to us and more of what God calls us to.
Fr. John Langan, S.J., is a professor in the Kennedy Institute of Ethics and rector of the university’s Jesuit Community.