Malachi Martin Biography Research Guide

The Reverend Dr. Father Malachi Brendan Martin was a Roman Catholic priest and a former Jesuit; (July 23, 1921 – July 27, 1999).

Fr. Malachi Brendan Martin Ph.d S.J. (b. 23 July 1921–d. 27 July 1999) was a former Jesuit priest, theologian, writer on the Roman Catholic church and professor at the Vaticans Pontifical Biblical Institute. He was also the author of sixty books which covered religious and geo-political topics. He was controversial commentator for the Vatican and other church matters.

He was also the brother of the late Irish cleric, historian and activist, F. X. Martin.

Early life and education
Martin was born in the village of Ballylongford, County Kerry, in the Irish Republic. He received his secondary education at Belvedere College in Dublin, and became a Jesuit novice on the 6th September 1939. Due to the Second World War and the inherent risks involved with travel during this time, Malachi remained in Ireland and studied at the National University of Ireland where he received a bachelor's degree in Semitic languages, Oriental History whilst carrying out concurrent study in Assyriology at Trinity College.

Upon completion in Dublin, Malachi was sent to the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium to continue with his scholarly learnings. During the four year stay in Leuven he completed degrees in Philosophy, Theology, Semitic Languages, Archeology and Oriental History. On the 15th August 1954, the day of the Feast of the Assumption, Martin was ordained a Jesuit Priest.

Father Martin commenced with parallel studies at both the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and at Oxford University, specializing in intertestamentary studies and knowledge of Jesus Christ from Hebrew and Arabic manuscripts. He undertook additional study in rational psychology, experimental psychology, physics and anthropology.


Work and ordination
Father Martin took part in the research of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and published twenty four articles on Semitic paleography in various journals.

He was summoned to Rome to work within the Holy See and act as the private secretary for Augustin Cardinal Bea S.J.. Whilst in Rome, he became a professor within the Pontifical Biblical Institute of the Vatican, where he taught Aramaic, paleography, Hebrew and Sacred Scripture.

According to his book Hostage to the Devil, he assisted in several exorcisms. Psychiatrist M. Scott Peck, author of The Road Less Travelled, developed a friendship with Martin and was influenced by the latter in the development of his theories of evil and exorcism.


Leaving the order
In 1965, Pope Paul VI (his close friend) gave Fr. Martin a dispensation from all privileges and obligations deriving from his vows as a Jesuit and from priestly ordination.[4] Martin himself claimed the dispensation did not apply to his priestly vow of celibacy. Father Charles Fiore, F.S.S.P. confirmed this shortly after Martin's death, stating in a letter to the New York Times that Cardinal Cooke allowed Martin the full faculties of the priesthood, though not functioning as a parish priest. For this reason, he did not wear the Roman collar. This was corroborated by Father Vincent O’Keefe S.J., former Vicar General of his order and a past President of Fordham University.

The leaving of the order and the priesthood has been explained by Martin's growing dissatisfaction with the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, but others argue that his traditionalist bent only came later and that he sought the release to pursue a literary career.


Communications and media
After a brief stay in Paris, Martin relocated to New York City in 1965, and was active in the communications and media field for the rest of his life. He received a Guggenheim fellowship, which enabled him to write his first bestseller, Hostage to the Devil.

Martin was also a member of the Vatican advisory council and was privileged to secretive information pertaining to Vatican and other world issues, which included the Third Secret of Fatima.

Martin worked closely with the paranormal researchers Dave Considine and John Zaffis on several of their independent cases.

He was an outspoken opponent of the alleged apparitions of the Virgin Mary at Bayside in the United States and Medjugorje in former Yugoslavia.

Martin continued to offer Mass privately and vigorously exercised his priestly ministry all the way up until his death. He suffered a stroke shortly before dying.

In a series of interviews with author Bernard Janzen, Martin repeatedly affirmed his allegiance to the Pope. Although he reserved personal opinions and traditionalist views, he always said no one had a right to pass judgment on the Pontiff. This has been affirmed in his non-fiction, such as Keys of this Blood and The Jesuits.


Writings
Martin produced numerous best-selling fictional and non-fictional literary works, which became widely read throughout the world.

His later fictional works, like The Final Conclave, Vatican: A Novel and Windswept House were novels with fictional characters. However, most of these characters were based upon real persons, and the story lines of his books closely relate to historical events he personally witnessed during his stay in Rome.[citation needed] He publicized detailed insider accounts of papal and church history during the reigns of Pius XII, Pope John XXIII, Paul VI, John-Paul I and John-Paul II.

His non-fictional writings cover a range of Catholic topics, such as demonic exorcisms, satanism, liberation theology, the Tridentine liturgy, Catholic dogma, modernism and the geopolitical importance of the Pope.

His books, both fictional and non-fictional, frequently present a dark view of the present state of the world, invoking dark spirits, conspiracy, betrayal, heresy, widespread sexual perversion, self-advancement, and demonic possession, each being asserted as rife throughout the Catholic Church, from its lowest levels up to its highest.

Martin was a regular guest on Art Bell's radio program throughout the 1990s.


Controversy
Malachi Martin was criticized most notably in the book Clerical Error: A True Story by Robert Blair Kaiser, Time Magazine´s former Vatican correspondent. Kaiser accuses Martin of having carried on an extramarital affair with his wife, of being a notorious womanizer during his time in Rome, and claims that Martin fled to the United States as a renegade from the priesthood. However, Martin's supporters claim that Kaiser was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic (which Kaiser admits on page 261 of his book). Kaiser also admits to a severe drinking problem, which lessens his credibility even more:

IN THE DAYS that followed, I lived mainly on gin, spent most of my nights staring at the ceiling in my bedroom, trying to process everything [Kaiser: 239] Throughout the book, Martin is presented as a liar and fantasist, claims backed by Fr. Richard Woods, OP, in the National Catholic Reporter.

Martin's supporters claim that Fr. Woods is merely regurgitating Kaiser's distortions and offers no real evidence of any wrongdoing on Martin's part[citation needed].

Father Martin was told not to live in solitude, and so was introduced into the home of the Kakia Livanos and her family. The practice of a priest living with a family, though well known in Europe, caused some scandal in the United States. After his death, the New York Times implied an affair between Martin and Mrs. Livanos by labeling her "his companion". Both she and Martin's interviewer and visitor, Bernard Janzen, have vigorously denied these claims.

In 2004, Father Vincent O'Keefe S.J., former Vicar General of the Society of Jesus and a past President of Fordham University, affirmed that Martin had never been laicized. O'Keefe stated that Martin had been released from all his priestly vows save the vow of chastity. It is claimed[citation needed]that attacks were mounted on Martin in retaliation for his book The Jesuits, which is hostile to the Jesuit order of which he had formerly been a member. In the book, he accuses the Jesuits of deviating from their original character and mission by embracing Liberation Theology.

With regard to the accusations that his non-fiction writings are suspect, Martin supporters say[citation needed]his writings concerning exorcism are in line with similar writings by Father Gabriele Amorth O.S.P.P.E., the senior Roman Catholic exorcist of Rome. Other supports point out that Martin refused considerable monetary offers from publishers to write about his encounter with serial killer David Berkowitz, better known as the "Son of Sam."[citation needed] The serial killer had requested a visit from Martin in jail, which Martin granted. He would not, however, fulfill the killer's request of publishing his story.