1 October 2013 was a spectacularly beautiful October day that was sunny and dry. It included a sky with scattered puffy clouds and a gentle breeze. It could not have been any better. Two days after returning from an eight-day retreat at St. Joseph Trappist Abbey in Spencer, MA two days earlier I was waiting in front of the Campion Center infirmary to meet Adolfo Nicolás SJ, Father General of the Society of Jesus. He had just begun a visitation of the Society's educational institutions for Jesuits in formation in the U.S. At Campion he was going to visit the men in the infirmary, address the men of the New England Province, and celebrate Mass. During the Mass he would receive my final vows as a Jesuit.
Unlike other religious orders in which vows are pronounced after the homily a Jesuit pronounces his vows, both first and final, immediately before communion kneeling in front of the Body and Blood of Christ.
No more than thirty days before his final vows a man is required to make an eight-day retreat, a general confession, and write and probate his will, thus relieving himself of all property. He must also write three copies of the vows on special acid-free paper. Those who have experienced my penmanship will not be surprised to learn that I practiced a lot before writing on the papers that would be sent to the community file, the provincial file, and to Rome.
All the details had been checked and rechecked. The confession was made. (The notes I'd written for that 90 minute marathon were soaked in water, compressed into a ball, and hurled into the middle of a pond on the monastery grounds.) The retreat had been splendid. Everything was ready.
There are moments of the vows that I remember with clarity and others that seem, even now, a bit surreal. Fr. Provincial Sheehan and I concelebrated Mass with Fr. General. Just before the Our Father I moved from behind the altar to a prie-dieupositioned in front of the altar on which one of the three copies of the vows was resting. I knelt and, after the congregation of about 200 Jesuits and a few others recalled its unworthiness to receive the Body and Blood of Our Lord, began to read the vow formula. After receiving communion I returned to my chair.
Following Mass Fr. General, seven other SJs, and I returned to the sacristy where it was time to kneel for the "simple vows," five additional vows that are made in the sacristy in the presence of other Jesuits. Usually it is all the SJs in attendance. Given the number at the Mass that was going to be impossible. As I explained, getting two hundred Jesuits to be quiet at the same time would prove to be a difficult task anyway. After Fr. General, who received those vows as well, the most important witness was George Murray, SJ, MD who had been my fellowship director in consultation psychiatry at MGH some fifteen years earlier. He had accompanied me every step of the way from picking me up at Logan on entry day in 1997 to vesting me at ordination in 2007. Six weeks later he was dead. I celebrated and preached his funeral Mass.
There is one other 1 October anniversary to be noted. Today is the anniversary of the death of Fr. Jimmy Martin, SJ, a native of Plymouth, PA (yes, dear Old Shawnee). To my knowledge Jimmy and I are the only two men to have entered the Society from Plymouth. What makes Jimmy's death memorable is that he died at age 105 years, 1 month, and 1 day. He was mostly compos mentisuntil the last few months before his death.
Despite having moved from Plymouth to Hanover when he was nine and then later to Philly where he graduated from St. Joe's Prep, he retained fond memories of Plymouth. His mom had belonged to the Ebenezer Baptist Church on Gaylord Ave. According to him, his father was walking by one day and heard a woman's beautiful voice singing. He met her, they dated, and he proposed. His mom converted prior to marriage. In another conversation Jimmy told me how he had learned to play tennis on the courts behind the courthouse in Wilkes-Barre. I'd completely forgotten about those courts as they had been replaced by parking many years earlier.
There is much to write about Jimmy. He was a delight. His death was peaceful. He'd developed pneumonia over the weekend and remained unresponsive most of the time. At about 5:30 on Monday afternoon the nurses in the infirmary called. They felt that death was imminent. I examined him. It was. I went to the chapel where Mass was just ending to inform the superior. He announced Jimmy's impending death. Twenty men went from the chapel to his room (it was large). One of the men began the prayers for the dying. Just as Phil intoned the final amen Jimmy heaved a deep sigh and his soul departed. I pronounced him dead and then went for a walk, the better to mull over his long life.
I am grateful that the two anniversaries coincide as Jimmy's example of fidelity to Jesuit life for 86 years (!!!!!!) is an example inextricably bound to my final vow anniversary. I am grateful for both.
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Photos of final vows and the man who, at the time the photo was taken, was the oldest Jesuit in the world.
The vow program. Because Father General was receiving the vows there was a photographer present. He was excellent and completely unobtrusive. I don't remember seeing him in the sacristy despite the tiny size.
Provincial Myles Sheehan, SJ proclaiming the gospel during the Mass.
Father General giving the homily.
I may be the only Jesuit in the New England Province who pronounced first vows, celebrated his first Mass, and pronounced final vows in the same chapel.
Pronouncing vows.
Pronouncing the simple vows. Good view of the back of Murray's head
Father General signing the vow documents. By the time we were done each of us had signed six times.
Signing the documents.
Father General speaking with Murray. This is the last photo ever taken of him. The photographer's presence is only apparent in the flash in the mirror.
Jimmy Martin, SJ was only 103 when this photo was taken in 2005.
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