[1943-2024]
Friar Joachim (Thomas) Anthony GIERMEK, OFM Conv., 80, a member of the Our Lady of the Angels Province in the USA, died peacefully on Friday, January 5, 2024, at Ellicott City, Maryland, USA.
Born in Buffalo, New York, USA, on April 2, 1943, he was a son of the late Joseph and Mary (née KOWALCZYK) GIERMEK. He is predeceased by his sister, Anne HOLMES, and brother Stanley.
After graduating from Bishop Ryan High School in Buffalo, he entered the novitiate of the Conventual Franciscans in Ellicott City and professed his simple vows on August 15, 1961. While completing his bachelor’s degree in philosophy, at St. Hyacinth College in Granby, Massachusetts, USA, he professed his solemn vows on August 15, 1964. After teaching for a year at Archbishop Curley High School in Baltimore, Maryland, he went to Rome, where he studied at the Pontifical Academy of St. Bonaventure (Seraphicum). He was ordained in the Basilica of the Twelve Holy Apostles on December 23, 1969.
From 1970-76, Friar Joachim served as a professor of philosophy and later as the Associate Director of Clerics at St. Hyacinth Seminary, in Granby. He then earned a master’s degree in Franciscan spirituality from St. Bonaventure University in Ocean, New York, a degree he used both as an instructor at St. Bonaventure and for a successful Franciscan retreat ministry.
In 1982, he was elected the Secretary and Regent of Studies for the then St. Anthony of Padua Province in the USA. In 1983, he was elected the Assistant General of the Conventual Franciscan Order, representing the friars from the English-speaking Jurisdictions. He served in that capacity until 1995, when he was elected the Vicar General. In 2001, Friar Joachim was elected the 118th successor of St. Francis of Assisi, becoming the third friar from the United States to serve as the Minister General of the Order.
Returning home from Rome in 2007, Friar Joachim moved to Ellicott City, where he remained assigned until his death.
Viewing and Wake:
Friday, Jan. 12, 2024, 4:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m.
Franciscan Wake Service, 7:00 p.m.
Shrine of St. Anthony
12290 Folly Quarter Rd.
Ellicott City, Maryland, USA
Mass of Christian Burial:
Saturday, January 13, 2024, 9:30 a.m.
Shrine of St. Anthony
May God grant Friar Joachim eternal life in His presence.
From https://www.olaprovince.org/
Pro Memoria: General Statutes, no. 24, §2:
The same suffrages which are prescribed in a Province or Custody for each friar are to be fulfilled in the entire Order for a deceased Pope, for a Minister General who dies in office, and for a deceased former Minister General.
