In Pace Christi

Bro. Martin Ploner was born on 6 January 1929 in San Martin Enneberg, South Tyrol, Italy. He took first religious vows in 1955 and perpetual vows on 9 September 1961.

Bro. Martin served the mission in three different countries: 6 years in Germany (1955-1960 and 1983-1984), 22 in Spain (1960 to 1982) and 37 in Mexico where he arrived in 1984, remaining there until the very day of his death on 10 January 2021.

In Spain, Bro. Martin belonged to the Palencia community. His work was to cultivate the land and look after the animals; he had great affection for the cows and knew each one of them by name. He was very sad when they were sold off.

In Mexico, his ministry as a Brother underwent a radical change. He was sent to work among the indigenous “Chinatecas” communities in the forest-covered mountains of Oaxaca. He worked as a builder and a carpenter and, at the same time, engaged in pastoral ministry. He conducted liturgies of the Word, visited the sick and looked after the poor. He was a true apostle of charity to the most vulnerable.

After more than ten years of service to the indigenous communities, he was sent to the Comboni seminary of San Francisco del Rincón, Guanajuato. There he was in charge of maintenance but also spent much of his time in pastoral ministry. He visited prisoners, took Holy Communion to the sick and carried out an apostolate ‘of his own’, that could only have been done in the Mexican context and, in particular, at San Francisco del Rincón. This city is very Catholic and most jobs there involve the manufacture of sports footwear: on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, all the factories have a celebration. Mass is celebrated, the factory is blessed and there is a feast for all the workers with food, drink, music and dancing; the same is done at Christmas.

This was the context. This was the apostolate of Bro. Martin: every weekday, he would visit a factory. At mid-day, when he arrived, work stopped and both workers – usually 20, 30 or more – and the factory owners gathered round him to pray the Angelus. Bro. Martin would pray with them, say a few words and bless them. This was how he evangelised the world of work.

Bro. Martin was a humble missionary, simple, happy, optimistic, sensitive and generous. He was truly a man of God: he dedicated his life to prayer, service to his community and his pastoral ministry. There was room for nothing else in his heart.

When he got sick and could no longer work, he became a great missionary animator for the Mexican missionaries working outside their country; he provided great spiritual support for them by his prayers. He devoted the last years of his life to writing letters to missionaries and praying for them. All his letters were written by hand in a beautiful style of handwriting. He never did learn to use a computer. While I was in South Sudan, he wrote to me a couple of times and his message had two themes: on the one hand, he spoke of the world in which he lived his sickness and, on the other, he expressed his solidarity with people who were suffering due to the war and with the missionaries accompanying the people.

The missionary life and death of Bro. Martin may be summed up by the expression: we have lost a great missionary here on earth but we have gained a holy missionary in heaven.
(Fernando Mal GatKuoth).