Sandal Prints

In the Capuchin Missions

Pope Pius XIII

An autobiographical sketch of his priestly life in the Capuchin Missions, when, as Fr. Lucian Pulvermacher, O.F.M, Cap., he served the people in the Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa from 1948 - 1970.

Magnificent Exchange:

a
Vocation
for 15¢

The boundless generosity of God is the oft repeated theme song of everyone who stops to think, but no everyone gets such a striking proof of it in his choice of a way of life as I did. I have been a Capuchin for 27 years now, a priest for 19 years, and 17 of those years I spent as a missionary to the Ryukyu Islands. And it all began with 15 pennies.

When I was in the fifth grade, the Sisters in school set up a mite box, into which we were to put our sacrifices for Lent. The money we saved by not buying candy and gum during Lent, and by staying away from the movies, was to go into the mite box, and after Lent our sacrifice would be used to help the missions.

One day I came to school with five cents in my pocket (I don’t remember where I got it from), and a dime I had found on the road on the way to school. I put the fifteen cents into the mite box in order to help the missions. When the Sister opened the mite box, all there was in it was that fifteen cents.

To this day, I am the only religious priest, and the only missionary, out of the whole class. And all for that first fifteen cents, and the continuous sacrifice to date, and I hope to continue to the end. Not much can be bought for fifteen pennies, in material things, but God’s ways are not our ways, as He told us so often. Because I gave to the missions everything I had at the time, God gave me the best of vocations, that of a Capuchin missionary priest, and He has followed up that first abundant gift by a continuous series of blessings for every little sacrifice I have been able to make for the missions.

The seventeen years in the mission among the Ryukyuan people have passed quickly; they have been filled with work, and loaded with God’s blessings as new buildings have gone up and the number of converts has grown steadily. By the providence of God, I am in construction work in some form nearly all the time. As I write this, I am building a railing near my church. Nearly every week I have the joy of baptizing a new convert. The work progresses more speedily at one time, and less so at another, but thank God, we have been moving along steadily.

It may be of interest that I preach at every Mass in my church every day of the year. I have done that for over two and a half years now. There is always more to preach about than I have time for, and it is a built-in occasion for deepening knowledge of the faith among my converts.

If I were to attempt to recount all of God’s blessings on my work in the mission during these 17 years, I would have to conclude like St. John that the whole world would not be big enough to hold all the books the story would take. But a picture is worth a thousand words, and I hope the picture story in the following pages will invite you to sing with me the song of gratitude to God for all His favors – the favors that began with a boy’s sacrifice of fifteen pennies.

Photos of the Early Days of Fr. Lucian Pulvermacher, O.F.M., Cap.		Editors Note: These photos, taken from the booklet entitled, "Sandal Prints," are of Fr. Lucian Pulvermacher, as his days as a layman, and also as a priest, serving the people of Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands, and Australia and England. The photos themselves, are Xerox copies of photos, probably 2nd or 3rd generation, and as such are not of true photographic quality. The images will, however, give you a good depiction of Fr. Lucian's service in the Missions ... for the greater honor and glory of God.
		Earl Joseph Pulvermacher Age 20 1938
		Fr. Lucian's work as a missionary began in 1948 when he arrived in Amami Oshima as a missionary to the Ryukyus Islands. Age 30 1948
		After six years on Amami Oshima, Fr. Lucian was transferred to the island of Okinawa. Missionary work in the Ryukyus is constantly aided by lay catechists.
		From the beginning, the missionaries to the Ryukyus have conducted a kindergarten. Father Lucian poses with the class of 1961.
		Father Lucian's gestures during his sermons point up the Christian ideas that are difficult to express in an unfamiliar language like Japanese.
		The lepers on the islands have been a special care of Father Lucian. He says Mass for them regularly in their cheery, carpeted chapel.
		Besides the abundant priestly work that faces a priest in a mission land, there is a constant need for construction of new buildings: churches, schools, convents and orphanages.
		Supervision of such construction occupies a great deal of the missionary's crowded days.
		A small boat was often the only means of getting from one small village to another. "When he boarded such craft," Father Lucian reports, "a missionary really took his life in his hands."
		Like Our Lord and the Apostles, the missionary must still seek his sheep on foot, carrying his few necessities on his back. In poverty and simplicity, he carries the word of God to a people still sitting in the shadow of pagan darkness. As he walks through their hills and valleys, the brightness of God's light penetrates the darkness because of his cheerful priestly zeal.
		Information classes and convert instructions enable a missionary to impart Christian doctrine while learning more about his people.
		At a luncheon, Father Lucian proves there is no tea in the pitcher.
		In order to reach a greater number of people, Father Lucian does street preaching with a portable transistor loud speaker and tape recorder. More recently, he installed a public address system in his car, so he can speak to the people from the car.
		At an Okinawan funeral, the cross to be placed on the grave is carried in the funeral procession from church to cemetery.
		In spite of the growning number of missionaries, there are countless people who never hear the name of God from childhood to old age.
		A walk down any street in the Orient fires the heart of any missionary with zeal to do more for the spread of Christ's kingdom: every unbaptized soul is a challenge to his priestly effectiveness.
		Fr. Lucian's family was blessed by God with four priestly vocations. In 1960, they gathered at St. Anthony Seminary in Marathon, Wisconsin, USA, for the Ordination of their youngest brother. From left to right: (1) Fr. Lucian, (2) Fr. Claude, superior at Sacred Heart friary in Baraga, Michican, USA, (3) the Most Rev. John P. Treacy, at that time Bishop of LaCross; (4) Fr. Pius, who works in Arabia, and (5) Fr. Carl, missionary to the Cheyenne Indians in Montana.
		Fr. Lucian Pulvermacher, O.F.M., Cap. Age 40 1958
		Fr. Lucian Pulvermacher, O.F.M., Cap. Age 65 1983
		Norm Hanlon and Father Lucian with the Hugh Williams family in Devon, England 1983