Obituary of Fr. Marianus Lieb

LIEB – Father Marianus, TOR, 91, died July 14, 2009, at St. Francis Friary, Loretto. Born May 12, 1918, in Colver, he was the son of the late Louis and Virginia (Soisson) Lieb. He also was preceded in death by his brothers, Father Aquinas Lieb, TOR, James Andrew, Louis J. Jr., William Howard and John B. Lieb; and sister, Virginia Waring. He is survived by sisters, Susan A. Kirsch, Ebensburg; Janet Zabrosky, Loretto; and Nancy Rupp, Erie; many nieces and nephews; and his Franciscan community. Father Marianus received his elementary education at St. Francis Xavier Church School in Cresson and graduated from Penn Cambria High School, also in Cresson. He earned his bachelor's degree in philosophy, with a minor in physics, from The Catholic University of America and completed his theological studies at St. Francis Seminary, Loretto, and pursued additional graduate studies in physics and math at The Catholic University. Father entered the Franciscan community at the former Mount Assisi Friary in Loretto as a postulant in 1936 and entered the novitiate of the Province of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis as a novice that same year. He professed his first vows of poverty, chastity and obedience in 1937 and made his solemn profession of vows into the hands of Father Benedict Determann, TOR, Minister Provincial, in 1940, also at Mount Assisi Friary. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1944 at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Altoona by the late Bishop Richard Guilfoyle, Bishop of the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown. Father's Franciscan and priestly ministry took various forms during his 72 years of vowed life and 65 years of priesthood. He served on the faculties of St. Francis Prep School in Spring Grove, Pa.; Bishop Carroll High School in Ebensburg; Bishop Egan High School in Fairless Hills, Pa.; and St. John Vianney Seminary in Steubenville, Ohio, having taught courses in math, geometry, chemistry, physics and biology, among others. Parish ministry was a part of Father Marianus's dedication to the church as well. He served as pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Ehrenfeld, pastor of St. Agnes Church in Pittsburgh, assistant pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Altoona and assistant pastor of Assumption Church in Keyser, W.Va. He also ministered as chaplain at Mercy Hospital and at John Kane Hospital, both in Pittsburgh. He also was a member of the Province's Ritiro Community, a retreat ministry, in Boston, Va., from 1980 to 1982. Father Marianus also held various positions of leadership in the Province, including assistant director of the Franciscan TOR Missions Office and assistant director of Post-Novitiate Formation in Loretto, as a member of the staff at St. Francis Seminary in Toronto, Canada, as Religious Superior of the friars in Pittsburgh, and as Vicar Superior of Mount Assisi Friary in Loretto. In 1952, Father Marianus was among the first friars of the Sacred Heart Province to be sent to India, where he served as a missionary for nine years. There, he held the positions of director of Vocations, director of Novices and director of Clerics in the Prefecture of Bhagalpur, as well as Religious Superior for the friars in Gokhla. The labors of the Sacred Heart Province missionaries in India have resulted in considerable growth of the church over the years, including the formation of two separate Provinces of the Third Order Regular, St. Thomas the Apostle Province and St. Francis of Assisi Province. After his retirement from active ministry, Father Marianus resided first at Sacred Heart Friary in Winchester, Va., and then at St. Francis Friary, Loretto, for the last years of his life. Whether engaged in educational, parish, hospital, missionary, retreat or religious formation ministry, Father Marianus remained a dedicated and faithful Franciscan friar and priest. He was a man of good humor and common sense who was not deterred by failing eyesight or the need to walk with a cane. He was a master storyteller, blessed with an amazing memory of people and events, recent and from the distant past. The evening before he died, he shared dinner with more than a hundred fellow friars of the Sacred Heart Province, gathered at St. Francis Friary in Loretto for their annual retreat. He was God's blessing to his brother Franciscans and to all others who benefitted from his ministry. Friends will be received Friday, July 17, at the chapel of St. Francis Friary, Loretto, from 3 p.m. until the vigil service at 7 p.m. Mass of Christian Burial will be concelebrated at 10 a.m. Saturday, July 18, at Immaculate Conception Chapel on the campus of St. Francis University, Loretto, with the Very Reverend Christian R. Oravec, TOR, Minister Provincial, as principal celebrant. Burial at the Franciscan Friars Cemetery on the campus of St. Francis University. Arrangements by Gibbons Funeral Home, 301 Church St., Gallitzin.