Fr. Matthew Hall (1904-1960)
Father Matthew Hall passed away November 12, 1960.
“Pappy” Hall, following his brother who was later Father Egbert, came to St. Benedict’s and graduated form high school in 1925 and from the college in 1930 with a major in philosophy. While in college he earned a varsity football letter. Matthew entered the novitiate at St. Vincent Archabbey and made vows as a member of St. Benedict’s Abbey July 2, 1928. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1933 and in 1934 was named assistant pastor of St. Benedict’s Parish, Atchison, where the special object of his ministry was the Black Community. Still the object of segregation they had their own place of worship in the basement (cafeteria) of the present ACES school building. Bishop Johannes and Pope Pius XI commended him for his generous service to these often-neglected Catholics.
Father Matthew was pastor at Sts. Peter and Paul, Seneca, 1944-1947, and then at St. Ann’s, Effingham, Kan., where he built the present rectory. He was transferred to St. Joseph’s, Atchison, where he built the church and rectory. Simultaneous to all this activity he was spiritual director to the Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women, State Chaplain to the Knights of Columbus, and the Atchison Elks Club.
Father Matthew was a truly colorful priest and much remembered and loved. He was clearly able to be heard without an amplifier and had no qualms about hailing a cleric, dressed as an Indian, who marching as a part of the camp St. Maur contingent in the Atchison Centennial Parade in 1954. Father Matthew called the young man to come up to the reviewing stand where he stood so Father Matthew could puff on the peace pipe the abbey monk was carrying!
Once he tried to scare some 120 campers by walking into their dormitory covered with a sheet and shouting, “No man sleeps tonight!” – being pummeled with pillows he narrowly escaped. Of course there is the famous statement supposedly made during a funeral homily, “There lies the shell, the nut is gone.” Somehow he was able to work in the value of the Sacrament of Penance in any homily he gave. On the feast of St. Joseph he rapidly moved from St. Joseph as carpenter, to confessionals are made of wood. Ergo! May he rest in peace.