(November 5, 1864 - June 13, 1940)
Author: Brother Joseph L R Belanger, taken from various sources, 6 November
2002
Pierre and Marguerite (Coulaud) Marthouret gave birth to a baby boy on 5
November 1864 in Toumon (Ardeche) and named him Lucien. He took the Marist
Habit on 2 February 1879 at Notre-Dame de l'Hermitage, France, and in
September of that year was appointed cook in Perigneux. The next year he went to
cook again at St-Romain-en-Jarez. In April 1881 he is named "enseignant
auxiliaire" (any unspecified school position helping the educational process:
prefect, proctor, substitute, econome...) at Valbenoite until 1894, where he then
comes on board as "enseignant" at what was arguably the most renowned Marist
Brothers' school in France. At that time he had acquired the "brevet complet" or
"superieur," certifying him to teach all classes at the primary level.
During these many years of "enseignant auxiliaire" he cultivates himself. He had a
thirst for knowledge and was brilliant in math and science, all learned on his own,
He makes Perpetual Profession on 15 August 1887. In December 1903 he goes to
Dumfries, Scotland, for six months to study English, and in 1904 he takes over the
direction of St, Ann's Academy in New York City from Bro. Zepheriny, now charged
with looking for property on which to locate an English- language formation center.
Bro Zepherinye buys the MacPherson Estate in the town of Poughkeepsie on 28
February 1905.
In 1909 Bro. Ptolemeus again succeeds Bro. Zepheriny, this time as Provincial of
the North American province. In 1910 he decides to move the Scholasticate from
St. Ann's Academy in New York City to St. Ann's Hermitage in Poughkeepsie and
he appoints the 21-year-old Bro. Mary Florentius as Master of Scholastics. He also
opens three schools in Montreal, another in St. Boniface, Manitoba, and a fifth in
St-Jean-Deschaillon, Canada. When the United States becomes a separate
province in 1911 under the patronage of St. Ann, Ptolemeus stays on as Provincial
of the new Province and he establishes St. Ann's Hermitage as the Provincial
House. His dream of another province in Western Canada leads him to found three
more English- speaking schools in Manitoba, but these will all close within 10-15
years.
After his Provincialate Bro. Ptolemeus returns to teaching in Poughkeepsie at the
Novitiate and Scholasticate from 1914-1920, after which he once again is asked to
direct St. Ann's Academy in New York City, then St. Joseph's in Haverhill MA. From
1926 until his death in 1940 he is stationed at St. Ann's Hermitage in
Poughkeepsie. He does whatever teaching and manual work his failing health
allows him to do. The Student Brothers at Marist Normal School, chartered in
1929, treasure his intellectual and religious gifts as they interact with this awesome
autodidact Brother. Bro. Ptolemeus dies on 13 June 1940. Father Beat Gmur,
SSS, New York archdiocesan Spiritual Director and close friend of the Brothers
since 1910, celebrates the funeral Mass on Wednesday June 12 at the Hermitage
in Poughkeepsie.
marisfsau
Eulogy for
Brother Ptolemeus Marthouret


Bro. Ptolemeus is remembered as a model religious, a visionary administrator, and
a great educator. He filled with utmost zeal and unusual success various positions
of responsibility, requiring tact and firmness. For over 30 years he was a member
of the Provincial Council and in that capacity he effectively helped build up our
Marist educational apostolates and solidly established the Marist Brothers'
reputation for excellence in teaching tempered by family spirit. A stem exterior
masked a paternal heart, but his brilliant mind and broad outlook brooked
incompetence and sloppiness only with strenuous religious spirit and easy humor.