We, Franciscans of the Sacred Heart Province, profess and live the Gospel within the Catholic Church. Living in fraternity and walking with God's people, especially those marginalized by society, we

are heralds of peace and ministers of reconciliation. Value from Province’s Mission Statement: Recognizing the gifts all friars bring at each stage of their lives.

WEEKLY NEWSLETTER OF THE PROVINCE OF THE SACRED HEART

shpatpstl@gmail.com - August 13, 2020

New Cancer Center In St. Louis, MO August 7th, Bill Cardy, OFM, was honored to bless the new $60 million Mercy Hospital South Cancer Center in St. Louis, MO. It is a two-story, 70,000 sq. ft. structure dedicated to

cancer detection and prevention. Construction took 23 months and many thousands of work hours. Mercy Hospital is the former St. Anthony Medical Center where friars have been chaplains on and off for some

125 years.

Submitted by William Cardy, OFM

Lambert Leykam, OFM

Fr. Lambert Leykam, OFM, suffered a mas-sive hemorrhage in his brain on August 5th, and died shortly after

6:00 am, on Monday, August 10th. The community at Blessed Giles Friary in Mani-towoc, WI, took advantage of their 9:00am daily Mass to offer a Mass for him.

Br. Donald Lachowicz, OFM, fixed up the altar area with these images above, re-flecting his great love for fishing. Fr. Pepe celebrated the Mass and shared with the community how Lambert had lived the gospel call to “be the grain of wheat that must fall to the ground and die in order to

produce fruit.”

Despite the COVID-19 situation, the four members of the staff were given permission to maintain a vigil for Lambert at Holy Family Memorial Hospital the last week of his life.

An important part of Lambert’s final week was permission that was given for a visit from his sister-in-law, Maxine Ley-kam, and three of her four children pictured here: Mary, Shanon, and Lance.

Maxine is the wife of Keith Leykam, Lambert’s only brother. Keith would be known to a number of friars in the Sacred Heart Province. They were able to be with Lambert the last day of his life.

Joseph O’Keefe , OFM 1843-1915

B orn in Mallow, County Cork, Ire-land, in 1843, Fr. Joseph O’Keefe, whose baptismal name was Jeremiah, came to the Unit-

ed States with his parents as a lad of ten years. At first they lived in Boston; and from there they moved to San Francisco. Jeremiah was sixteen years old when he joined the Franciscan Order at the Old Mission in Santa Barbara, which was then an independent Apostolic College. Fr. Jose Gonzalez Rubio clothed him with the Franciscan habit in 1860. He made his novitiate under Fr. Francisco Sanchez and took the simple vows in 1861. His solemn profession took place in 1864. Bishop Amat of Monterey ordained him a priest in 1868. He became a member of Sacred Heart Province when the Old Mission was incorporated into the Province in 1885;

and he was the last member of the Province to die before its Commissariat on the West Coast became the separate Province of St. Barbara in

1915.

As a priest, Fr. Joseph worked zealously at Mis-sion Santa Barbara both before and after it was made one of the houses of Sacred Heart Prov-ince. He wrote a short historical sketch of the Old Mission in English that was printed and acquaint-ed Californians as well as tourists in those early days with the story of the historic structure. In

later years he served as superior of the Mexican Franciscan refugees to whom Mission San Luis Rey had been allotted;

and here he also did some important restoration work.

The last three years of his live were spent at St. Francis Or-phanage in Watsonville, California. Here he died in 1915. He was buried in Santa Barbara.

From SHP Necrology

Around The Province—Weekly Newsletter of the Franciscan Province of the Sacred Heart Pepe Martínez, OFM—Office of Communications—1820 Grand Avenue—Manitowoc, WI 54220

815-272-3907—pepecheva@gmail.com

Remembering Our Brothers

PLEASE PRAY FOR

We ask all readers of the ATP to please pray with us

the following intentions for the month of July:

For God's healing presence for all of those affected

in any way by the coronavirus, and for all of those caring for them or working to bring about an end to its spread throughout the world.

Continue to pray for all the people who have been

affected by natural disasters † Lambert Leykam, OFM, died on August 10, at Holy Family Memorial Hospital in Manitowoc, WI. Lambert was a friar for 71 years and a priest for 64.

†May the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God

rest in peace.

August 16 Camillus Smith (92) August 18 Jose Antonio Posadas(56)

The new exercise room for the senior friars in Manitowoc, WI,

is on its way!

Adaptations from what was a garage started this past Mon-

day, August 10th.

The room is at the 1820 residence, but there will be a door so

that the friars from the 1920 residence will have access to the

equipment.

Br. Donald Lachowicz, OFM, commented that the room is ex-

pected to be completed, probably by the middle of September.