Br. Andrew Allerman (1841-1914)

The life of Brother Andrewa is a saga in and of itself.  He was born in Westphalia, Germany, in 1841, received his schooling in his hometown and learned the art of the cabinetmaker.  At the invitation of the Missionary Apostolic of Sweden he was the superintendent of an industrial school for boys until April 1869.  He returned to Germany and became a traveling cabinetmaker apprentice.

One day he was sitting at an inn in Hamburg and read in a paper there that a ship was about to leave for America.  He had the money, bought a ticket, and landed in Baltimore, Md.  In a Catholic paper there he read a description of the life of a lay brother at St. Benedict’s Abbey written by Prior Louis Mary Fink.  The same prior welcomed him to the Priory on the corner of Second and Division in September of 1869. 

Brother Andrew soon learned many trades besides that of carpenter.  In 1876 Prior Oswald Moosmueller asked him to be among the founders of what was to be a foundation of the Priory called Monte Cassino, near present day Ashland, Kan.  The choice of location was not a wise one.  That coupled with increased demands in Atchison and with the Priory now and Abbey, brought Brother Andrew back home.

Brother Andrew in what seemed to be a pattern of all his monastic life put his whole heart and soul into the brothers’ daily schedule and into any work that would benefit the community.  He was a handyman of all kinds both in common tasks and specialized ones.  He died as a result of stomach ulcers at St. Margaret’s Hospital, Kansas City, Kan., the day after the feast of St. Andrew, December 1, 1914.