 Fr. Merrill Sulzman, 1931 |
Francis M. Sulzman Juneau, AK QCWA # 750 |
Rev. Fr, Lt. Col-US Army Francis Merrill Sulzman (b. March 16, 1906, d. March 1966)
Francis Merrill Sulzman (son of Francis Malcolm Sulzman, M.D. and Helen Jane Daley) was born March 16, 1906 in Waterford, New York, and died March 1966.
Notes for Francis Merrill Sulzman:
Two Young Men of Albany Diocese to Receive Orders
On Saturday, February 14, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, the Rt. Rev. Edmund F. Gibbons, D.D., Bishop of Albany, will Ordain the Rev. Merrill Sulzman of Troy for the Vicariate of Alaska, and the Rev. James Walton of Amsterdam for the Diocese of Kansas City. Several members of the Franciscan Order and of the Missionaries of La Salette will be ordained to the orders of subdiaconate and deaconate. On Saturday, February 7, in the chapel of St. Anthony-on-the-Hudson, Rensselaer, the Rt. Rev. Bishop will raise to the deaconate the Rev. James Walton and the following friars of the Order of Minor Conventuals to the. subdiaconate: Fraters Berard Murphy, Egbert Manny, Gilbert Hertvik, Bonaventure Imhoff, Mark Nolan, Walter Sterner, Cyprian Terwood and Arthur Nazic. These members of the Franciscan Order, together with Messrs. Leona Martel, Vincent Ryan, Joseph Balgenorth and Theodore Morin of the Missionaries of La Salette will be advanced to the deaconate on the 14th in the Cathedral
Rev. Merrill Sulzman is the son of Dr. and Mrs. Frank M. Sulzman, 1831 Fifth Avenue, Troy, N. Y., and a member of St. Peter's Church, Troy. He was born on March 16, 1906. He graduated, from LaSalle Institute, Troy, and Manhattan College, New York. His theological studies were made at St. Augustine's Seminary, Toronto, Canada. Father Sulzman will sing his first High Mass in St. Peter's Church, Troy, on February 15. Two priests of the Vicariate of Alaska, to which Father Sulzman belongs, will assist him at his first Mass. The arch-priest will be the Rev. Edgar Gallant and the deacon the Rev. George Woodley. The Rev. John Nestor of the Church of St. Rose of Lima, New York city will preach the sermon.
The Rt. Rev. Joseph R. Crimont, S.J., Vicar Apostolic of the Alaska Vicariate, has assigned Father Sulzman to the Mission of Skagway in Alaska. Father Sulzman is the third secular priest to volunteer for missionary work in Alaska and he is the first from the diocese of Albany. The missionary field covers an area of 586,400 square miles. There are twenty-six priests working in this large area. Twenty-four priests are members of the Jesuit Order and two are secular priests.
Rev. James Walton is the son of Dr. and Mrs. James L. Walton of Amsterdam. He was born in Amsterdam on October 19, 1900. He graduated from St. Mary's Institute, Amsterdam, and later attended Niagara University and St. Bonaventure College, Alleghany, N. Y. Father Walton will sing his first High Mass at St. Mary's Church, Amsterdam, on Sunday, February l5. He will be assisted by his brother the Rev. John W. Walton, assistant pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, Schenectady.
February 16, 1931
SOLEMN SERVICES MARK FIRST MASS OF TROY PRIEST
Rev. Father Sulzman Celebrated Solemn, Mass Yesterday at St. Peter's Church.
Rev. Merrill F. Sulzman, son of Dr. and Mrs. Frank M. Sulzman, who was raised to the Roman Catholic priesthood by Bishop Gibbons at Albany Saturday, celebrated his first solemn mass yesterday morning at 11 o'clock in St. Peter's Church. A congregation which taxed the capacity of the church witnessed the solemn ceremonies and received the young priest's blessing.
Rev. John Nestor of the Church of St. Rose of Lima, New York, delivered the sermon of the occasion, extolling in an eloquent manner the dignities of the priesthood and the life of sacrifice which it entails. Rev. George Woodley of the Vicariate of Alaska, for which Rev. Father Sulzman was ordained, acted as deacon of the mass and' Rev. Robert C. Murphy of St. Peter's Church was the subdeacon. Rev. George E. Gallant, pastor of the church at Skagway, Alaska, to which the newly ordained-priest has been appointed, was archpriest.
During the mass a special program of devotional music was given by the choir under the direction of Prof W. Leo McCarthy. A musical program was given by William T. Lawrence, violin; Willard Lawrence, cello, and Paul Holtz, clarinet. John J. Fogarty, baritone, gave vocal solos.
After the mass Rev. Father Sulzman celebrated benediction of the Blessed Sacrament and then came to the altar rail to impart his blessing to his relatives and friends.
Seated in the sanctuary during the ceremony were Rev. John Fox of East Greenbush, Rev. Jules J. Burrick, pastor of the Church of the Sacred Heart, Cohoes; Rev. John A. Kavanaugh, chaplain of the House of the Good Shepherd; Rev. Edward A. Heenan of the Catholic Central High School faculty, Rev. Richard R. Mason and Rev. James Pritchard, of St. Peter's Church, and Rev. Edward F. Dalton of Waterford.
A column that appeared here in October on the influence that people of this area have had on Alaska has prompted Paul Sulzman to point out that his late uncle, the late Rev. F. Merrill Sulzman, also had a positive influence on the nation's 49th state long before it became a state in 1958.
The irony of the situation is that Father Sulzman was born just a few doors from The Record to Dr. and Mrs. Frank Sulzman in 1831 Fifth Ave. He died in March of 1966 at the age of 60.
The pioneer priest first saw Alaska in 1925 when he went there on vacation with his parents. In 1931, he was ordained at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Albany for the Diocese of Alaska and was assigned to Seward where his parish included Kodiak Island, the Aleutians and Bristol Bay.
Father Sulzman was then assigned an assistant pastor of Pius X Mission in Skagway, and in 1935, he accompanied the first contingent of American Midwest Dust Bowl victims who went into the Matanuska Valley. He was one of the first priests to enter the valley and he lived through terrible blizzards. He occupied a tent that winter when the mercury dropped to 50 below zero.
It was during that winter that young Father Sulzman recruited volunteers to go into the forests and cut logs for the construction of a church and farm dwellings. In the spring, he designed and helped to build St. Michael's Church at Palmer, a log structure.
During his years in the Matanuska Valley, he made two trips to Washington, D.C., to secure land grants for his church. He also lectured about his church in fund-raising efforts.
In 1939, Father Sulzman was called back to Skagway and he remained there until he was assigned to a lonely island off the Alaskan coast where troops were stationed. In 1943, he was commissioned a lieutenant in the U.S. Army Chaplains Corps and served in the Aleutians. He became battalion chaplain of the 53rd Infantry Regiment which took part in the invasion of Kiska.
His military achievements also included service with the 65th Division, 3rd Army which made the breakthrough in the Sarr Valley in the race with Gen. Patton's army to Germany and Austria.
In 1947, Father Sulzman returned to Alaska as pastor of St. Gregory's Church in Sitka. Although still assigned to Bishop of Alaska, Father Sulzman had been in semi-retirement for several years before his death. He spent his last days writing in the Matanuska Valley.
Father Sulzman was born in St. Peter's Parish in Troy and graduated from La Salle in Troy, Manhattan College and St. Augustine's Seminary in Toronto, Canada.
His nephew Paul calls my attention to an article in a February 1994 edition of the Albany Catholic Diocese newspaper Evangelist which concerned one of Father Sulzman's former parishioners.
It was about skier Tommy Moe who won two Olympic medals that year. Moe was wearing another kind of medal in the competition, a medal of St. Christopher that was given to him by his grandmother Valerie T. Moe of Whitefish, Mont.
The article stated that the Olympic skier had been a member of St. Michael's Parish in Palmer, the log church built by Father Sulzman back in 1935.
Photograph taken for his ordination in 1931, there is a copy of it in a photo grouping of former pastors on either side of the sanctuary at St. Michael's Church in Palmer, Alaska (it seems to be the only portrait they have up there).
More About Francis Merrill Sulzman:
High school graduation: LaSalle Institute, Troy, New York.
Holy orders: February 16, 1931, Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Albany.
Military service: Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Chaplains Corps and served in the Aleutians.
Military service2: 65th Division, 3rd Army which made the breakthrough in the Sarr Valley in the race with Gen. Patton's army to Germany and Austria.
Military service3: Battalion chaplain of the 53rd Infantry Regiment which took part in the invasion of Kiska.