Born: Hautens, Germany, September 8, 1825.
Took the habit: N.-D. de l’Osier, December 28, 1851.
Vows: Marseilles, January 20, 1853 (N. 339).
Priestly ordination: Marseilles, June 8, 1856.
Dispensation from vows: July 14, 1872.
Heinrich Martens was born in Hautens, diocese of Munster, on September 8, 1825. He began his novitiate in Notre-Dame de l’Osier on December 28, 1851 and made his vows in Marseilles on January 20, 1853. He had been admitted to vows by the general council on the preceding December 18. The minutes of that meeting add: “the notes forwarded by the novice master about him are favourable both as regards his piety and his talents. Since he has been in Marseilles his report confirms this flattering note.” He studied theology in the major seminary in Marseilles (1852-1854) and at Montolivet (1854-1856). When he got to know him better, Father Antoine Mouchette, moderator of scholastics, discovered some of his faults. In his report for the year 1855, he wrote: “Martens, health excellent. He is an irascible and shady character and this always seems to predominate. Again, in 1856, he wrote: “He does quite well in general and yet he does not please… A good religious, but his character does not change.” Bishop de Mazenod ordained him priest on June 8, 1856.
Father Martens was given the responsibility of caring for the Germans in the church of the Calvaire from 1856 to 1861. On December 30, 1861 he received his obedience for England. He spent one year in Nancy and took part in some missions. Then he ministered to the Germans in Liverpool in 1863-1864. In February 1864 he was sent to Buffalo, New York, to minister to the Germans in Black Rock (1867-1868), then in Plattsburgh, New York, with responsibility for the missions of Dannemora and Redfort (1867-1868). Later he was stationed at the Ottawa University and assistant priest in the parish of Saint Joseph (1868-1871). From there he left for London. There he requested a dispensation from his vows in 1872. The official motive is stated in the minutes of general council on May 20, 1872: “Father Martens, who was responsible for ministry among the Germans in London, fostered division between his co-nationals and the Irish who frequented the church which was called the German church and which is in fact also for the Irish, This priest declared that he was totally opposed to Bishop Manning, Archbishop of Westminster. He wrote to Rome and he also wrote to some bishops in Germany complaining about the Archbishop of Westminster’s attitude towards the Germans in London. However, because his superior, Father Cooke, far from approving his conduct condemned this position absolutely, he requested a dispensation from his vows and obtained it.” In a letter to Father Joseph Fabre, dated February 6, 1872, Father Martens gives as the motive for his request for a dispensation, that for the past twenty years he was the only German in the Congregation and that, since the Franco-German war of 1870, his position had become untenable. By re of the Congregation of Propaganda, dated May 31, 1872, Father Fabre was authorized to dispense him from his vows. He did so in a letter dated July 14, 1872.
Father Martens joined the diocesan clergy of Newark, New Jersey (1874) and was pastor of St. John the Baptist, New Brunswick, New Jersey (1874-1889). He died in St. Augustine, Florida, in June 1889.
Yvon Beaudoin
and Gaston Carrière, o.m.i.
