When Friar James McCurry, OFM Conv., first visited the site where a fellow friar lost his life in the closing months of World War II, there were hundreds of veterans present.
D-Day anniversary celebrations have always drawn large numbers of veterans and survivors, locals and visitors, alike. But, as more years pass, the number of witnesses to that historic day has dropped significantly in the more than a dozen trips Fr. James has made to Normandy.
As an example, Friar Ignatius Maternowski, OFM Conv., the fallen friar Fr. James travels to France to honor, would be over 110 years old today.
As it happens, Fr. Ignatius was the only American chaplain to be killed in action on D Day. He was described by Fr. James as “a Catholic priest from America who gave his life for freedom.”
While the two men were not contemporaries, they share common roots in the Franciscan Friars Conventual tradition. Fr. James previously served as Minister Provincial of Our Lady of Angels Province which has custody over St. Francis High School in Athol Springs, New York. Fr. Ignatius was a graduate of that high school.
“He brought Franciscan fraternity into comradery with his fellow soldiers,” Fr. James said. “Of course, he was with them on D-Day – from the night before, to the parachute jump, through whatever came next.”
A Fallen Friar
Fr. Ignatius was the son of Polish immigrants to the United States who greatly supported his call to Franciscan ministry. At the same time, his parents’ background would have instilled in him a sense of duty and service.
“He brought to his chaplaincy the whole ethos and mentality, ‘for God and country,’” Fr. James said, referring to the motto of the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps.
On the morning of the infamous assault on German forces that led to the liberation of Western Europe in 1944, thousands of soldiers stormed the beaches of Normandy in the North of France. In addition, on that same morning of June 6, more than 13,000 others parachuted behind enemy lines as part of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions.
Fr. Ignatius landed as part of the 82nd Airborne Division in the occupied territory of the hamlet of Guetteville in the town of Picauville.
With so many wounded paratroopers and gliders, Fr. Ignatius worked quickly after landing to negotiate with the Germans to establish an American medical facility protected by the Geneva Convention. He could speak German and ventured towards the enemy, unarmed, with his chaplain’s insignia to meet with a German medic to make the arrangements.
After meeting with the German, Fr. Ignatius was shot in the back as he made his way back to his unit. He was 32 years old.
The Next Chapter
In 2022, Our Lady of the Angels Province, with the help of the Office of Mission Advancement and countless donors, commissioned a stained-glass window depicting Fr. Ignatius in Cauquigny Chapel near to where he died. Three years later, Fr. James joined many others in a candlelight vigil service in that chapel on the eve of the anniversary.
For Fr. James, who championed the cause for sainthood for St. Maximillian Kolbe – another Franciscan Friar Conventual who died during WWII – Fr. Ignatius represents a friar who lived out St. Francis’s call to be a missionary for the world.
“St. Francis had a global outlook, and we have the same impulse to bring the core teachings of Jesus to others,” Fr. James said. “Fr. Ignatius left the comfort of his Franciscan community life to take on this singular apostolate.”
Once the final remaining survivors of D-Day are no longer able to be present, Fr. James wonders what anniversary celebrations will look like.
“Now that the new page has turned, what will the new narrative be?” he said.
He’s hopeful he will be in Normandy for many more anniversary celebrations to find out.