January 14, 1940

Father Joseph Kirmer

Father Joseph Kirmer was born on January 5, 1907 in Odin, Kansas. His seminary studies were at St. Lawrence College in Mt. Calvary, Wisconsin, and Kenrick Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. He was ordained by Bishop Schwertner at the cathedral on May 26, 1934. His one and only assignment as a priest was as assistant pastor at the Cathedral Parish in Wichita for six years. During his brief life as a priest he worked zealously to seek and instruct converts, a work in which he had considerable success with 140 converts in five years. In August of 1940, while visiting his home in Odin, he became ill and spent his last five months at St. Rose Hospital in Great Bend, Kansas. He died on Jan 14, 1940 at 33 years of age. In the Mass of Requiem at the cathedral, Fr. John Moeder, who preached the sermon, said “that he had never met a priest that was as sincere and devoted to his work as was Father Kirmer.” Burial was in the Odin parish cemetery. “With the burial ended a priestly saga that was as beautiful as it was short.” Quotes from The Advance Register, Jan. 20, 1940.