Father Benjamin F. Madden, OFM Cap, died at St. Augustine Friary in Pittsburgh, PA, on Friday, 14 July 2023. He was 90.
He was born on March 10, 1933 in Cumberland, Maryland. At his baptism at SS. Peter & Paul Church he was given the name Francis. After attending the parish grade school, Francis was accepted into St. Fidelis Seminary in Herman, Pennsylvania.
On 13 July 1952, Francis was invested in the Capuchin habit and received the name Benjamin. One year and a day later, Brother Ben made his first vows as a Capuchin friar at St. Conrad Friary in Annapolis, Maryland. His death was exactly 70 years to the day since his first profession of vows.
He professed perpetual vows on 14 July 1956 and was ordained to the priesthood on 7 June 1958.
Father Ben began his missionary service in the Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea in 1960. He arrived only four years after the first Capuchins had begun missionary work in the region. For many local people, living as their ancestors had for thousands of years, the missionaries were their first experience with outsiders. Father Ben and his contemporaries were true missionary pioneers in the Southern Highlands.
Father Ben served in Mendi and Det and then for ten years as rector of the country’s minor seminary in Madang.
In 1995 Father Ben began graduate studies at Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. Two years later with a degree in canon law, he returned to Papua New Guinea and served as judicial vicar of the Diocese of Mendi, as well as administrator of the Cathedral parish.
After 50 years of mission work, Father Ben returned to the US and ministered in West Virginia at Saint Anthony Parish in Charleston and Our Lady of the Hills Parish in Elkview. However, his skills were needed in Papua New Guinea, and he was asked to return for one year.
Father Ben returned to the US for good in 2013. For seven years he was parochial vicar at Saint John the Evangelist Parish in Center City Philadelphia. He offered daily Masses and heard many confessions at the parish. Due to failing health and need for medical attention, Father Ben moved to Saint Augustine Friary in Pittsburgh three years ago.
Father Ben is remembered gratefully at Saint John’s for his seven years of exemplary priestly ministry. We will hold a memorial Mass for Father Ben on Wednesday, August 2 at 12:05 in the lower church.