Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

World’s Oldest Jesuit Dies at 105

To friends and family, he was Jimmy, the avid athlete with a passion for song.

To the world, at age 105, Fr. James Aloysius Martin, S.J., was the oldest living Jesuit.

But the life that spanned over a century ended on Monday, when, after battling pneumonia for several days, Martin died peacefully at Wolfington Hall.

Just three weeks earlier, Martin had enjoyed lunch off campus with friends, but after he was diagnosed with pneumonia on Friday, his health confined him to the Jesuit residence.

Martin’s wake was held on Wednesday in Wolfington, and his funeral was held on Thursday in Dahlgren Chapel. About 20 Jesuits co-celebrated the Mass, with Fr. William McFadden, S.J., presiding and Fr. John Langan, S.J., rector of the Jesuit community, delivering the homily. About 100 people were in attendance, including some members of Martin’s distant family.

During his long and varied career, Martin worked in many educational institutions. He began his career as a Jesuit scholastic in 1928, teaching history and catechism at the Ateneo de anila University in the Philippines. After being ordained to the priesthood in 1934 and teaching at several other universities and high schools, he served at Georgetown from 1939 to 1940 as assistant prefect of discipline. After a three-year stint as a chaplain with the U.S. Army beginning in 1942, he spent the next 45 years working in academia and service around the country, before returning to Georgetown after his retirement in 1989.

Martin was plunged into religion at a very young age. His Scottish father was the musical director of his childhood parish in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and seeing his older brother become an altar boy inspired Martin to do the same. In addition, his three sisters went on to become nuns – religious vocation ran in the family, his friends said.

“He was a rather conservative, quite devout priest,” Langan said.

After joining the Society of Jesus in 1921 at the age of 19, artin earned an M.A. and A.B. from Weston College in assachusetts, followed by theology studies at Woodstock College, a Jesuit seminary in Maryland.

Martin’s career was not limited to just education. In 1942, Martin joined the Air Force and served as a chaplain for the duration of World War II, during which his duties took him abroad to France, North Africa and Italy.

As a chaplain, Martin bore responsibility for the spiritual well-being of the troops he traveled with, saying Mass and hearing confessions but also offering support in a non-denominational approach for soldiers of all faiths.

Several priests said that Martin never initiated conversation about his time with the Air Force. “There’s no question that for two years he experienced unbelievable hardship,” said Fr. William King, S.J.

In a centenarian biography for the D.C. Office on Aging and Historical Society of Washington, Martin wrote, “My daily appearance as Chaplain during World War II indicated God’s presence among the men.”

Langan said that after looking at pictures of Martin from his war days, “you can feel a kind of tension in those pictures.”

Religion was not the only calling in Martin’s life; he was a gifted athlete ever since childhood. He excelled in high school athletics and even turned down an offer to play professional baseball in order to pursue his calling as a Jesuit.

But Martin was still able to put his love of athletics to good use during his career, as he coached a basketball team to championship victory in the Philippines during his early years of training as a Jesuit, and served as the director of athletics at St. Joseph’s College after helping out in the athletic department at Georgetown during his tenure as assistant prefect of discipline.

Many attribute Martin’s long life to the care he took in maintaining his health and fitness. Patrick McArdle, the university’s assistant to the athletic director for special projects, said that Martin was even lifting weights at age 99 when he met him. “Obviously, it wasn’t a heavy lifting [regimen, but] he understood how to live a healthy life,” cArdle said.

Martin continued to follow professional sports up until his death. A Philadelphia Phillies fan, Martin read the sports page “very faithfully” every day, King said.

Martin’s physical fitness instilled in him a positive outlook on life, King reflected. Jesuits on campus all remembered that Martin would walk around Wolfington repeating his favorite phrase: “Isn’t it wonderful?”

“Everybody says that he never complained. I never heard a word of complaint or annoyance from him,” King said. “He was always in a good mood, always courteous to everyone he dealt with.”

Martin also expressed a love and talent for singing, which began at an early age while his father served as choir director at a local church. Even in his eldest years, Martin’s singing voice was well-reviewed – Langan said that when Martin sang at his own 100th birthday party. “He had quite a nice voice … remarkably fresh for someone of his age,” Langan said.

Many of his friends said that Martin had a soft spot for the Irish tune, “Danny Boy.” King recalled that on one occasion, about two months ago, when Martin’s health was failing and he was thought to be unconscious, bystanders sang “Danny Boy,” which reportedly helped his disposition improve. The Georgetown Chimes once sang the song for Martin, by which he “was just charmed,” King said.

Charlotte Daniels, assistant to the rector at the Jesuit Residence, recalled that Martin would even burst into song at the dinner table on occasion.

Many Jesuits at Georgetown said that Martin also contributed significantly to the retreat aspect of Jesuit spirituality. As the chairperson for the building committee for Loyola-on-the-Potomac, he was the driving force behind the construction of this Jesuit retreat house in the 1950s. The retreat house sits on 235 acres of woodlands overlooking the Potomac River in southern Maryland.

Retreat participants attempt to grow closer to God through spiritual reading and meditation, aided by spiritual directors, a role that Martin often filled. McArdle recalled that after his father attended a retreat led by Martin, he raved that Martin was “the best retreat master he ever had.”

Martin led retreats at Georgetown from 1973-1994.

Martin was also remembered for his compassionate approach to those in need. “He would look out for people. There were various people who had been helped by him in the past … getting into schools, after losing family members,” Langan remembered. “He had a lot of sensitivity to people who were having a hard time.”

“He was never angry, never talked down to anyone,” King said. “He was so gentlemanly and kind and courteous that he had a real sense of how to do things.”

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