1920 Clerics' Picnic at the Lippold Camp near Deal PA

This photo is of Capuchin theology students in Cumberland in the summer of 1920. They are on a picnic at Mathilda (Shocky) Lippold's summer camp at Deal PA (not at Long's farm as claimed earlier). The friars indentified are: 4 Bertrand Brookman, 5 Ambrose Hegerle, 6 Nicholas Kramer, 7 Gerald Koehler, 8 Valentine Long OFM, 9 Alfred Carney, 10 Daniel Krahe, 11 Camillus Schmitt, 12 Francis Laing, 14 Herbert Schehl, 20 Ildephonse Roeckl, 21 Matthew Pekari, 22 Cuthbert Schoeppner, 25 Jordan Hammel, 26 Claude Vogel, 28 Hilary Liehr, 29 Marcellus Horn, 33 Patrick McGann, 34 Bernard Debef. Nos. 13 and 27 also seem to be friars, but they have not yet been identified. No. 3 is Ambrose Joseph Burkey (1897-1965), Blaine's father, and the rest are all Lippolds and Longs.

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Some of Fr. Mark's Many War Time Photos in Archives

Capuchin Fr. Mark Linenberger (1904-91) served as a military chaplain in the South Pacific during World War II, bringing consolation in many ways to the young men who were going in harm's way.

His first posting was to Manus Island off the northern coast of New Guinea, where Gen. MacArthur was making preparations for the return to the Philippines. Mark was within a few feet of MacArthur as he splashed ashore at Leyte on Oct. 20, 1944.

Mark was also just a short distance from Pulitzer-prize-winning War Correspondent Ernie Pyle when the latter was killed by enemy machine gun fire on Ie Shima on April 17, 1945.

Mark later celebrated Mass at the site. A photo of that Mass on boards thrown across two drums later appeared in Life and various other publications.

Mark celebrated Mass for the troups in many different situations, including the LSTs that brought the troops on shore in various places.

In 1979, Sr. Sion Yoko Nakagawa, a Japanese-born Franciscan Missionary of Mary visited Mark and Fr. Didacus Joseph Dunn at Atwood, Kansas, and reminisced over some of the artifacts Mark brought back from his time in the occupation of Japan.

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Four Faculty Friars Somewhat Stole the Show

A most unique appearance in Thomas More Prep-Marian's 1988 presentation of Meredith Wilson's "Music Man" was by four Capuchin friars on the faculty who played the school board and thrilled everyone with their barbershop quartet rendition of "Good Night, Ladies" and "Lida Rose." Left to right, the late Fr. Timothy Gottschalk, later general definitor Br. Mark Schenk, present 40-year jubilarian Fr. Earl Befort, and current provincial definitor Fr. Frank Grinko. Other members of the troupe remember how bad the group sounded at every practice — until at the last minute they pulled it all together at the dress rehearsal. In the background is senior John Balman, now an Army doctor at Ft. Hood, who as Pro. Harold Hill brought River City, Iowa, to new life.

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Munjor Photo Actually Taken in Hays

This photo found hanging on the wall of the Munjor, Kansas, rectory, was reproduced in Fr. Earl Meyer's 1976 history of the Munjor parish (p. 36) where it was understandably misidentified as "a group of friars at the main entrance of Saint Francis Monastery." Truth of the matter, however, is that the building shown is the friary built in Hays in 1898. The Munjor friary, built three years later, had no cornerstone near the front door as can been seen between the two friars on the right. The six friars shown — Fr. Richard Dei, Fr. Paul Werr, Fr. Emmeram Kausler, Fr. Leo Egger, Br. Burgardt Loesinger, and Br. Aegidius Schuermann — constituted the first fraternity of the new St. Joseph's Friary, and first occupied the Hays building on September 26, 1898. The year that followed was the only one in which the six friars were stationed together. (Thanks to Fr. Greg Beyer for field work: checking the main entrance in Munjor). (Fr. John Toepfer pointed out on 1-12-2010, a new mystery concerning this photo, first posted on 2-12-2009: Who is the person, seemingly a friar, looking out the window at the left of the photo?)

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First Photo of New Province of Mid-America (1977)

The Province of Mid-America was three days old when this photo was taken April 15, 1977, south of the St. Francis Renewal Center in Victoria.

Shown are 1 Jordan Hammel, 2 Alvin Werth, 3 Paschal Rywalski (general minister), 4 Simon Conrad, 5 Gilmary Tallman (provincial councilor), 6 Raphael Engel, 7 Vincent Rohr (provincial minister), 8 Aloysius Ward (general councilor), 9 Blaine Burkey, 10 Frank Grinko, 11 Michael Suchnicki, 12 Benedict Pope, 13 Valerian Brungardt, 14 Owen Schellhase, 15 Rene Bower, 16 Timothy Gottschalk, 17 Martin Geisslreiter (representing Bavaria), 18 Eric Lindbloom, 19 Daniel Conway (provincial councilor), 20 Earl Meyer, 21 Gene Emrisek, 22 Leo Leiker, 23 Gregory Beyer, 24 Ron Cunningham, 25 Harvey Dinkel, 26 Regis Scanlon, 27 Michael Scully, 28 Dan Schartz, 29 Christopher Popravak, 30 Charles Polifka, 31 Mark Mason, 32 Thaddeus Posey, 33 Duane Reinert, 34 Paulinus Karlin, 35 Fidelis McManus, 36 Chuck Wolfe, 37 Bennett Colucci, 38 Leonard Schreiner, 39 Richard Smith, 40 David Gottschalk, 41 Flavian Meis, 42 Callistus Rectenwald, 43 Finian Meis, 44 James Moster, 45 Felix Petrovsky, 46 Brendan Tighe, 47 Timon Kaple (Papua New Guinea superior regular), 48 Robert Meis, 49 Cyrus Gallagher, 50 John Cousins, 51 Julian Haas, 52 Neal Mahaffey, 53 Didacus Joseph Dunn, 54 Thomas More Janeck (provincial councilor), 55 Joseph Schreck (Puerto Rican missionary), 56 Camillus Schmitt, 57 Canice Froehlich, 58 Lloyd Schmeidler, 59 John Hovanec (English vice secretary general), 60 Earl Befort, 61 Bill Kraus, 62 Benignus Scarry, 63 Clement Naef, 64 Mark Linenberger, 65 Benno Strobach (representing Bavaria). Missing on the photo are the 11 missionaries then in Papua New Guinea (Donald Debes, Christian Fey, Myron Flax, Maris Goetz, Matthew Gross, Dunstan Jones, Malachy McBride, Peter Meis, Stephen Reichert, Firmin Schmidt & Berard Tomassetti), the two other Puerto Rican missionaries (Solano Lamson & Arthur Limbacher, and 13 other friars (Richard Bollig, Charles Chaput (provincial vicar), Simeon Gallagher, Ed Judy, John Lager, Louis Leon, Joseph McGlynn, Aquinas Patch, Eugene Pellegrino, Felix Shinsky, Dominic Unger, Harold Vogler & Valentine Young). [Photo from Newsletter of Province of St. Augustine, May 1977].

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XVIII-cent. Italian Master Hangs in Provincial Offices

The friars have had a 38" x 44" ancient oval oil painting of St. Francis of Assisi contemplating Christ Crucified for almost 50 years now. It was first at St. Charles Borromeo in midtown St. Louis and since 1981 at St. Patrick's Friary in downtown St. Louis. When the friars left St. Louis in late 2008, the painting came to the new provincial administration building in Denver. For years a small plaque was attached to the painting's 5.5" oval Italian ornamented gold leaf jesso pattern frame. The plaque said the work was by the "renowned Mario Ricci, born in Italy 1673, died in Venice 1729." This led me on a wild goose chase, as I discovered there is no "renowned Mario Ricci." It seemed likely, however, that a mistake had been made, and the artist might actually be Marco Ricci, who was indeed an Italian master, born 1676, died 1729. But we really had no proof as to whom the artist was, and all that I had discovered thus far showed the Marco Ricci was a landscape painter.

Late at night, May 11, while sorting through a large amount of otherwise rather pedestrian paper, also brought from St. Louis, I hit the jackpot. In the first of three letters, one written in March of 1949, Prov. Cav. C. Hautman, director of the Art Gallery of the National Association of Artists in Florence, Italy, authenticated the painting as being by Marco Ricci. It further noted that other studies of St. Paul and St. Francis by Ricci were in a museum in Bordeaux, France. The other two letters, dated 14 May 1961, were from W. M. McCaughen of McCaughen and Associations, an art restoration and appraisal service, indicating that Arthur J. Meier of Richmond Heights was the donor and Fr. Joseph Adams, O.F.M.Cap., on behalf of the Capuchins, was the recipient of the painting.

Further study revealed that Marco Ricci, while primarily a landscape painter, also painted biblical, mythological and historical subjects. His work is found in major museums all over Europe, as well as in Washington, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Canberra, etc.

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Mid-America's First Provincial Chapter (1979)

In the Spring 2009 issue of Provincial Porter, this photo was published very small and many people could not recognize the individuals shown. The copy which is show here can be blown up by clicking on the photo. Shown on the photo are: 1 Benignus Scarry, 2 Lloyd Schmeidler, 3 Dan Schartz, 4 Christopher Popravak, 5 Eugene Pellegrino, 6 David Gottschalk, 7 Earl Meyer, 8 Thomas More Janeck, 9 Julian Haas, 10 Earl Befort, 11 Neal Mahaffey, 12 Chuck Wolfe, 13 Finian Meis, 14 Duane Reinert, 15 Len Schreiner, 16 Valerian Brungardt, 17 Flavian Meis, 18 Ed Judy, 19 Valentine Young, 20 Bill Kraus, 21 Mike Scully, 22 Simon Conrad, 23 Dominic Unger, 24 Jerry Herrera, 25 Vincent Rohr, 26 Mark Mason, 27 Felix Petrovsky, 28 Camillus Schmitt, 29 Benedict Pope, 30 Harold Vogler, 31 Clement Naef, 32 Felix Shinsky, 33 Owen Schellhase, 34 Charles Polifka, 35 Paulinus Karlin, 36 Mark How, 37 Thaddeus Posey, 38 Fidelis McManus, 39 Joseph McGlynn, 40 Mark Linenberger, 41 Didacus Joseph Dunn, 42 Timothy Gottschalk, 43 Rene Bower, 44 Louis Daw, 45 Gilmary Tallman, 46 Gene Emrisek,47 Harvey Dinkel, 48 Alvin Werth, 49 Eric Lindbloom, 50 Blaine Burkey, 51 John Lager, 52 Mike Suchnicki, 53 Greg Beyer, 54 Regis Scanlon, 55 Charles Chaput, 56 Malachy McBride, 57 Jim Moster, 58 Ron Cunnigham, 59 Cyrus Gallagher. I originally thought the whole Province was there, but I found 25 friars missing, 12 of whom were in the missions at the time. The 10 friars missing who are still with us: Bennett Colucci, John Cousins, Don Debes, Myron Flax, Canice Froehlich, Simeon Gallagher, Frank Grinko, Matthew Gross, Pete Meis, Stephen Reichert. Eleven others are in the Eternity Fraternity.

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