{"id":83544,"date":"2025-06-11T12:30:50","date_gmt":"2025-06-11T10:30:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/ricordo-di-fra-ignatius-maternowski-vittima-del-d-day\/"},"modified":"2025-06-11T12:51:44","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T10:51:44","slug":"ricordo-di-fra-ignatius-maternowski-vittima-del-d-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/ricordo-di-fra-ignatius-maternowski-vittima-del-d-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembering Friar Ignatius MATERNOWSKI, OFM Conv., a Casualty of D-Day"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>June 5, 2025, marked the 81<sup>st<\/sup> anniversary of the allied invasion of Normandy, an event that signaled the beginning of the end of World War II. To commemorate the occasion, a ceremony was held in Gueutteville, France, at the monument marking the site where Friar Ignatius MATERNOWSKI, OFM Conv., was killed just hours after parachuting into France with the U.S. Army\u2019s 82nd Airborne Division. Friar MATERNOWSKI is believed to be the only U.S. military chaplain to have lost his life in the invasion.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For this year\u2019s commemoration, the U.S. Navy and Marine Brass Ensemble played the national anthems of the United States, Germany, and France. Among the speakers was Helen PATTON, granddaughter of the famous WWII General George PATTON. A French woman named Marguerite shared a story, recounting how her mother, Marie, was the first to hear the gunshot that killed Friar MATERNOWSKI.<br \/>\nLater, during a vigil at Cauquigny Chapel in Amfreville, (Normandy), Friar James MCCURRY, OFM Conv., had this to say: <em>\u201cThe humble Father MATERNOWSKI would never have imagined that three quarters of a century later his memory would be enshrined on a stained-glass window here in this Norman chapel where all of us are gathered in tonight\u2019s vigil. May the candles which we have lighted symbolize our remembrance of Father MATERNOWSKI and all the heroes of D-Day. May they enflame our hope for freedom, justice, and peace in the world.\u201d<br \/>\n<\/em>Friar James, the former Minister Provincial of the Province of Our Lady of the Angels in the USA, has been at the forefront of his Jurisdiction\u2019s efforts to honor Friar MATERNOWSKI\u2019s memory and has participated in many D-Day commemorations in Normandy over the years.<br \/>\nAt this years\u2019 service, the chaplain of the 82<sup>nd<\/sup> Airborne Division offered an exceptional reflection on the link between Friar MATERNOWSKI and the <em>Canticle of the Creatures<\/em> by St. Francis of Assisi. He distinguished between the \u201cfirst death\u201d (spiritual conversion and self-renunciation) and the \u201csecond death\u201d (physical death). He praised God that Friar MATERNOWSKI\u2019s \u201cfirst death\u201d during his life as a friar prepared him to meet his \u201csecond death\u201d without fear.<br \/>\nFriar James continued: <em>\u201cA great theme of reconciliation, peace, and unity pervaded the whole ethos of these D-Day commemorations, lauding our heroes as instruments of peace and justice, and expressing the hope that respect for the dignity of every human person, and the integrity of all creation will be the ultimate legacy of those who offered to God and country their \u2018last full measure of devotion.\u2019\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\">Kevin A. KEENAN<br \/>\nDirector of Communications, Province of Our Lady of the Angels in the USA<\/p>\nngg_shortcode_0_placeholder\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>June 5, 2025, marked the 81st anniversary of the allied invasion of Normandy, an event that signaled the beginning of the end of World War II. To commemorate the occasion, a ceremony was held in Gueutteville, France, at the monument marking the site where Friar Ignatius MATERNOWSKI, OFM Conv., was killed just hours after parachuting [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":83540,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[105,132,148],"tags":[2917,906],"class_list":["post-83544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cff-en","category-federations","category-news","tag-ignatius-p-maternowski-ofmconv-en","tag-usa-ola-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83544\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}