Father Otho served as teacher and chaplain at Maur Hill, and was assistant at St. Benedict’s Parish, Atchison, from 1935 to 1939. He was then a visiting professor at St. Peter’s Abbey Nullius in Saskatchewan, Alberta, Canada, and hospital Chaplain there as well. During World War II he served four years as an Army Chaplain in the South Pacific.

As a professor at St. Benedict’s College he served parishes at Troy, Bendena, Purcell and Doniphan. Sometimes during bad weather he rode an old draught horse, Tom, to St. John’s, Doniphan.

In 1961 Father Otho volunteered to go to Brazil. Along with Father Matthias Schmidt, later bishop of Ruy Barbosa, and Father Stephen Burns, he went to the new capital, Brasilia, to explore making a foundation. Later the three decided to accept the charge of Holy Spirit Parish, Mineiros, Goias, in Central Brazil. The foundation flourishes in Mineiros and in Goiania as well.

Brother Francis was born in Switzerland but later found himself a farmer across from the Abbey at Winthrop, Mo, (also known as East Atchison). He had to abandon his farmland because of flooding and other irregularities of the Missouri River bottoms. He came to St. Benedict’s and was hired because of his agricultural expertise. In 1892 he asked to be admitted to the novitiate and made vows a year later. After three months he was placed in charge of the College Farm. In 1910 old age caught up with him and he lived a retired life in the monastery. The last five years of his life he spent preparing himself for death and after a bout with influenza he died March 2, 1924.

After being educated in Milwaukee where he and his parents settled after coming from Germany, Father Neu was ordained for that archdiocese December 29, 1871. He served the Archdiocese for 17 years and was rector of Pio Nono College there, which he built into a first-rate training college for Catholic teachers. He had wanted to enter a religious order for many years and so came to St. Benedict’s Abbey in 1888.

Father Bertrand left Atchison to coach football at the newly founded school in Mexico City. The Abbey had attempted a foundation there near Tepeyac, near the site of the apparitions of Mary to Juan Diego. At a banquet on the night before he left for his new post, Father Bertrand offered the following piece of advice to all his players, which are on a plaque inside the lobby of the gym at Maur Hill: “Play the game as a gentleman should play it. It is not the game but how you play it that counts. And if you lose a battle be ready to accept it in the great spirit in which you fought. It is no disgrace to lose a ball game, but it is a disgrace if you do not live and play a clean and pure life.”

January 1, 1908, he was signed to St. Benedict’s Parish, Kansas City, Kan., and remained there until 1910, returning to the abbey for three years and then was reassigned to St. Benedict’s where he remained until his death. He was known as a very good pitcher at baseball and as an educator, but his chief claim to fame was as one who could direct young men to St. Benedict’s as candidates to our Monastery. Many of those listed in this Necrology within the entry about Bernard Sause, OSB, (cf. entry for February 7) are members because of his influence.

Father Cyril was born in Zurich, Switzerland, came to Kansas at age 14 to study for the priesthood at St. Benedict’s College. He made his first vows July 11, 1902, and was ordained 1907. He then began 22 years of service in parishes both in Iowa and Kansas. Most notable he served twice at St. Mary’s Parish, St. Benedict, Kan. While there he founded a high school and brought the schools of both Bailleyville and St. Benedict into the Kansas State educational system as public school district.

He was first principal of the newly purchased Midland College campus in south Atchison, where St. Benedict’s High School was moved to and renamed Maur Hill School, serving there from 1920-1924. The first four monks assigned there were: Bayer, Schier, Enslein, and Vonderstein. Quite a formidable line-up. Father Claude Enslein seemed to think that he was the first principal but though he served faithfully, the record says otherwise.

Brother Aloysius was born Matthew in Bliziva, Bohemia, September 21, 1859. He entered the novitiate and was sent to St. Vincent Archabbey. There he took ill and made final profession on his deathbed February 20, 1883, and died a day later.

Abbot Ralph Koehler asked Father Placidus to live at the Abbey, minister at St. Louis Church, Good Intent, and manage the outside yard work at the Abbey. This he did ably assigning the Brothers Anthony, Robert, and Francis and the novices to what were daily tasks. It seemed to be a rule that they did not rake leaves unless the wind was at least 30mph! His motto was, “We need to make this place look like somebody lives here.”

Joseph Koehn was born in what is now Germany in 1874. Shortly after the death of his mother he came to America to become a priest. Arriving in Atchison, he entered St. Benedict‘s College, and then the monastery. He was given the name “Athanasius,” and professed first vows July 1899. In 1900 he was made manager of the print shop, which first caught his interest as a college student. He managed the print shop even as he studied theology that led to ordination in 1905. Father Athanasius is credited with exploring the new methods of printing so that he brought The Abbey Student Press up to date. He spent one summer in Philadelphia studying printing.

Father Odilo was short, thin, and was very particular about how he looked. One could see him out for a walk in suit, hat, well-polished shoes, and very well groomed. As he said, “I like things nice.” He also loved cigars and used to start his day with one often at 3:00 am.

A bookbindery was started in 1896 in conjunction with The Abbey Student Press and Brother Clement was assigned to work there. And work he did. He and his crew bound magazines and books for the College Library and did consignment work besides. In the first four years of its existence the bindery bound and repaired 3000 books.

In 1900 Brother Clement was made the manager of the bookbindery. He had two, full-time workers and some students on work-study. These students were taught the art of bookbinding and in addition made paper boxes used for shipping. His workers and those associated with him apparently held him in deep respect.

Once called “The Black Beaver” for his immense literary productivity and just plain work, Father Bernard remains one of the memorable characters in the Abbey community. All the years of his monastic life after his first profession he remained a loyal and tireless member of the community. He served as canonist, professor in the School of Theology and St. Benedict’s College, took regular weekend supply, and gave over 300 retreats to various monastic communities and others of men and women. He consulted with many communities of women and helped some revise their Canonical Constitutions.

Brother Michael was born in Bavaria and then came to Atchison to enter the community. He made his final vows March 25, 1885. He was placed in charge of the College farm and remained in that position, but for illness, until his death. He did take rest and treatment at St. Margaret’s Hospital, and at one point, seemed to have regained his strength; however, he contracted pneumonia that hastened his death. Those students who helped him on the farm held him in high regard.

Father Fabian Harshaw was a lively person and full of mischief. As a teacher at Maur Hill be was noted for practical jokes such as electrifying the metal band that ran around the edge of the counter in the Raven Roost or firing a pistol loaded with blanks near some unsuspecting persons. He carried this disposition into the Army Air Force for three and one half years during World War II with a bomber squadron in Britain, and to the parishes he served at Purcell and Everest. At Maur Hill he was a teacher, counselor, theatrical director, and coach.

The last paragraph of his death notice relays: “The merry spirit he knew as a young seminarian, lasted through his Benedictine lifetime. He enjoyed life and he shared his warmth with students, soldiers and parishioners. He was hospitable.”

The Abbey news has this to say in its obituary: “Father Meinrad was a hard and patient worker. While still making his studies for the priesthood he became interested in biology. The progress he made in it gave promise of future work that would have made a name for him in this important branch of learning. As a confrere, Father Meinrad was genial and well liked, as a religious and a priest, conscientious.

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!

Both pastor and college professor, Father Callistus, died of a persistent heart condition at St. Margaret’s Hospital in Kansas City, Kan. He was born in Reuschendorf, Oldenburg, Germany, and continued his education at Sts. Peter and Paul Grade School in Seneca, Kan. He attended St. Benedict’s High School—forerunner to Maur Hill—and later graduated from St. Benedict’s College in June of 1917. After the novitiate at St. Vincent Archabbey he professed first vows in 1915 and final vows in 1918. Completing his theological studies in Atchison he was ordained by Bishop Ward in Atchison on June 27, 1921.

Father Callistus taught Latin, Greek and religion at St. Benedict’s and became assistant pastor at St. Benedict’s, Kansas City, Kan., and later pastor, but was recalled to the college in 1934. He later did pastoral work in Oklahoma at several places. He returned to Atchison and was successively pastor at Good Intent, assistant pastor and pastor at St. John’s, Burlington, Iowa, 1949-1955. He built the rectory there. A heart attack forced his return to the abbey, and after some time attempting recuperation death came in 1956.

Henry was quite cultured and was, in a way, the image of a polished Southern gentleman. Often he would dress up in straw hat, slacks, sport coat and cane and walk to the famous Atchison candy and pastry store, Dilgerts, for a part of an afternoon. He had a soft Mississippi accent and a sly sense of humor. Once, at table, he asked a cleric if he might use some if his (the cleric’s) peanut butter. The cleric rather roughly replied that it was not HIS peanut butter. To which Henry replied, “But you seem to be the only one who is using it!”

Father Denis was born in New York City and took his early education there. In 1875 he began studies at St. Benedict’s College, entered the monastery, and made simple profession in September 1881. He was ordained by Bishop Louis Mary Fink in 1889. He was assigned to the missions at Hiawatha, Kan., and Perrin, Mo. He was a member of St. Malachy’s Priory, Creston, Iowa, and from there ministered to mission stations in that state. He also served as pastor at Lenox, Iowa. With the closing of St. Malachy’s Priory, he returned to prefect at the college as he had done as a cleric. He was sent back to Iowa and was pastor at Creston until 1916. Returning to Kansas, once again, he ministered at Troy and Fanning.

In 1924 Father Denis was chaplain at the boy’s orphanage in St. Joseph, Mo., but because of illness he had to return to the abbey in 1932. He also worked at Maur Hill during this time while receiving periodic medical attention at the local hospital. After a stint at being hospital chaplain in Fort Scott, Kan., and Topeka, Kan., and beset with diabetes, he returned to the abbey in 1936 where he remained until a final series of strokes.

Father Augustine returned to the Abbey but was not idle! He kept up is amateur radio license, which he used readily, even before his retirement, as each Monday he would come to the Abbey to contact the community’s monks in Brazil and then phone-patch them to their relatives. He was an avid coin and stamp collector. In that hobby he and Father Roger Rumery were co-workers. Father Augustine was the curator of the Abbey Coin Collection which was auctioned in 1989 to help pay for the renovation of the ground and first floors of the monastery into infirmary floors.