Rt. Rev. Monsignor Michael Joseph Martin - 1896-1989

MARTIN, GALLAGHER

Posted By: Connie Ellis (email)
Date: 10/6/2011 at 22:14:49

SOURCE: Waukon, Iowa WAUKON STANDARD, December 5, 1989
Contributor: Connie Ellis (Not related)

Funeral services for Monsignor Michael Joseph Martin, age 93, of Dubuque, Iowa, were held at 1 p.m. Saturday, December 2, at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Dubuque, Iowa. Burial was in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Key West. Monsignor Michael Joseph Martin holds the distinction of being the first President of Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa.

Martin, a native of Dorchester, Iowa served in the Navy during Wold War I and graduated in 1926 from Columbia College, which changed its name in 1938 to Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa. He studied theology at St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore, Maryland and St. Paul's Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. He was ordained into the priesthood on June 14, 1930 at St. Raphael's Cathedral in Dubuque, Iowa. Father Martin served briefly as an associate pastor at St. Cecelia's Catholic Church in Ames, Iowa before returning to Dubuque, Iowa in October 1930 where he remained until his death.

After a two year stint as associate pastor at St. Raphael's, Martin taught from 1932 to 1939 at Columbia Academy, the high school affiliated with Columbia College (present day Loras College). He was named the president of Columbia College in 1936 and president of the renamed Loras College in March 1939. Father Martin was named a monsignor in 1946 and retired as college president of Loras College in 1947. He served two years as pastor at Sacred Heart parish in Fillmore, south of Dubuque, Iowa, then in November of 1949 he organized and helped build St. Joseph's parish church and school in Dubuque. He retired in October 1969.

As president of Loras College, Martin brought in a Navy training program to boost enrollment during World War II and was influential in having the Dubuque airport moved from an often-flooded island on the Mississippi River to its current location south of the city. "During World War II, there was a steel shortage and Monsignor Martin made a trip to Washington D.C. to get steel to help complete the building of a bridge across the Mississippi River," said the Rev. Tom Ralph of the Archdiocese of Dubuque Center. During his final years, Martin lived in a private home in St. Joseph's parish.

In 1984 Monsignor Michael Martin was inducted into the Loras College Varsity Athletics Hall of Fame in recognition of him being the first President of Loras College. It was stated that he was considered to be the greatest president of Loras. He planned and supervised the construction of the Rock Bowl Stadium during his nine years as president of Loras College.

Monsignor Michael Joseph Martin died Wednesday, November 29, 1989 of pneumonia at Mercy Medical Center in Dubuque, Iowa. He is survived by a brother, Leo J. Martin of Dubuque, Iowa and nieces and nephews.

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NOTES:
1) Loras College evolved from four previous schools in Dubuque, Iowa going back to 1839 when it was Saint Raphael's Seminary, then Mount St. Bernard's College and Seminary, into Saint Josephis College and then Columbia College before finally being named Loras College in 1939. Monsignor Michael Joseph Martin served as the last President of Columbia College (1936 to 1939) and was the first President of Loras College from 1939 to 1947. There would have been 14 other men who served as the Presidents going back to 1839 through 1936.

2) Michael J. Martin was the first priest to be ordained from St. Mary's church, Hanover.

3) He was born July 7, 1896, the son of James and Elizabeth 'Liza' (Gallagher) Martin of Hanover twp. Allamakee co. Iowa

4) Sometime in the 1960's Monsignor Michael Joseph Martin received the honorary title of Protonotary Apostolic which in the Roman Catholic Church is the title for a member of the highest non-episcopal college of prelates in the Roman Curia or outside of Rome. This is an honorary prelate on whom the Pope has conferred the special privileges and the higher title of Rt. Rev. Monsignor.

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