About Br. Luke:

Clarence Kirsch, Brother Luke, was born on October 22, 1912, to Stephen and Margaret (McDermott) Kirsch in Altoona , PA. He was baptized as a Roman Catholic at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Altoona five days later. He completed his secondary education in Altoona Catholic schools, and worked with his father on the family farm.

At 30 years of age, he was inducted into the army on February 4, 1943. He was part of the initial invasion of Normandy and during some of the bloodiest fighting of the Second World War he suffered severe mental trauma. He was treated for this in England and again in the United States after the war. He was honorably discharged on December 10, 1945. He returned to Altoona where he resumed his work on the family farm. He entered Gethsemani Abbey on April 7, 1953 and professed simple vows on November 21, 1955. He came to Mepkin shortly thereafter and professed solemn vows on November 21, 1958.

At Mepkin, he worked on the farm, in the blacksmith shop and with the chickens, both gathering eggs and grading them. In the grading house he worked the packers, one of the most demanding jobs, for many years. Even in older age he was faithful at the first candler position.

He loved solitude and from 1988 to 2002 he spent many hours each day in a little one-room structure down at the lake by the chicken houses. He never referred to it as a hermitage – as he never felt he was anything like a hermit. It was simply his place of solitude in which to pray and be in communion with the Lord Jesus. He was faithful throughout his life to the discipline of common prayer, both as a lay brother and later as a monk to choral prayer. His personal prayer revolved around the rosary, ejaculatory prayers and reading his copious notebooks of spiritual sayings from the saints and other Christian writers. Legend are the stories of bringing a petition to him and his quick response: “I will say a rosary for that intention or that person.”

For the last year and a half of his life, he was confined to his room in the senior wing, where he would pray up to 14 rosaries a day for various intentions. He was truly one of the “little ones,” the anawim of the Bible. During the last month of his life he grew weaker and weaker, but also mellower. Countless times he would say to the one who was helping him: “Thank you. I love you.” He slipped away quietly around 8:15 PM on Sunday evening, December 10. The Mass of the Resurrection was celebrated in the Abbey Church on Wednesday, December 13, and he is interred in our monastic cemetery.