 Fr. Florent Gutierrez-Martin,
OP
Florent Gutierrez-Martin was born near Avila, Spain on March 21, 1911. He was raised
as a youth in his native Spain, but his entrance into the Dominican Order in 1926 launched
him into a life of travel. He entered the Province of the Holy Rosary in Avila, a
province primarily dedicated to missionary endeavors. He received the habit from the
hands of the Master General, Fr. Buenaventura Paredes on September 9, 1926. Later he
moved to the United States at the seminary in Ponchatoula, Louisiana, Staffed by Spanish
Dominicans of his province, who also staffed parishes in and around the city of New
Orleans. He made his solemn profession there, and on August 10, 1935 was ordained by
Archbishop Joseph Rummel of New Orleans.
His next move was to Manila where he obtained
his lectorate in Sacred Theology at the University of Santo Thomas in 1935. His
first assignment was as an instructor of Philosophy at the Studium in Tonkin, French Indo
China, operated by the Holy Rosary Province. After three years he entered the
doctoral program at Laval University in Quebec, Canada, successfully completing that
program in 1941. Because of the outbreak of World War II, he was unable to return to
the Far East, so was employed as Instructor of Philosophy at St. Albert’s College in Oakland for four
years. In 1946 he returned to Avila as an instructor for two years, then on to Hong
Kong, China for three years.
From 1951-1955 he taught at Providence College in Rhode Island, then to the Novitiate
of St. Albert’s province in Winona, Minnesota. On November 18, 1960 he was
assigned by the Master General to the Province of the Holy Name and spent his first two
years teaching once more at the House of Studies. In 1962 he moved to St.
Dominic’s parish in San Francisco and thus entered the parochial ministry that was to
occupy him the remainder of his life. In 1966 he was assigned to Holy Rosary parish
in Portland, where ultimately his traveling days came to an end. At Portland he was
active with the Third Order and with Spanish speaking persons who had emigrated from Cuba.
He died at the age of 62 while sitting at his desk preparing Sunday’s
sermon. He died on September 13, 1973 and was buried in the cemetery at Benicia,
California on September 19.
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