Name: Manna, Louis
Born: 09/16/1945
Where Born: Louisville, Kentucky
Ordained: 07/28/1973
Where Ordained: St. Anthony Church in Lorain, Ohio, by Cleveland Auxiliary Bishop William M. Cosgrove
Served From-To: 1979-2016 (1988-1991 Broken Bow, Nebraska as OFM)
Died: 12/23/2021
Where Died: Clarksville, Indiana
Buried: St. Joseph Cemetery, St. Leon, Indiana
Rev. Louis M. Manna, 76, of Clarksville, Indiana, passed away on Thursday, December 23, 2021. He was born on September 16, 1945 in Louisville, Kentucky to the late Louis and Pertonilla (Hutchins) Manna.
He attended St. Francis of Assisi grade school in Louisville, Kentucky. He attended high school at Mt. St. Francis in Indiana, followed by a year at the St. Anthony Novitiate in Auburn, Indiana, where in 1964 he made a simple profession in the Order of Friars Minor Conventual. He continued his education and formation at Our Lady of Carey Seminary in Carey, Ohio and St. Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1967 he made solemn vows in the Order of Friars Minor Conventual at St. Bonaventure Friary also in St. Louis. He completed his seminary formation at Assumption Seminary in Chaska, Minnesota and the Divinity School at St. Louis University. Fr. Manna was ordained to the priesthood for the Franciscan Province of Mount St. Francis on July 28, 1973 at St. Anthony Church, Lorain, Ohio by Bishop William Cosgrove, auxiliary Bishop of Cleveland.
His assignments for the Mt. St. Francis province included: 1973, retreat ministry at Prior Lake, Minnesota; 1975, associate pastor of Our Lady of Mercy, Potomac, Maryland; 1976, associate pastor of St. Anthony, Grand Rapids, Michigan; 1977, associate pastor, Broken Bow, Nebraska with mission churches in Ansely and Mason City; 1979, associate pastor of St. Benedict, Terre Haute, Indiana; 1982 associate pastor of St. Anthony of Clarksville, Indiana; 1988, pastor of Broken Bow, Nebraska, with mission churches in Ansely and Mason City.
His assignments for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis included: 1991, associate pastor, of St. Gabriel, Connersville; 1993, pastor, St. Joseph in St. Leon and St. John, Dover; 1995, incardinated in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis; 2000, pastor, St. Joseph in Corydon, St. Peter, Harrison County, and Most Precious Blood, New Middletown; 2005, pastor, Church of the American Martyrs, Scottsburg and St. Patrick, Salem; 2016, granted permission to retire.
A Funeral Mass will be celebrated by the Most Reverend Charles C. Thompson, Archbishop of Indianapolis on Thursday, January 6 at 2:30 p.m. in SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral, 1347 N. Meridian St., Indianapolis. Visitation will be held one hour prior to Mass starting at 1:30 p.m. in the Cathedral. The Funeral Mass will also be livestreamed at this link: https://youtu.be/9jK09iSYGLw. Inurnment will take place at a later time in St. Joseph Church Cemetery, St. Leon, Indiana.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made in Fr. Manna’s memory to the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, 1400 N. Meridian St., Indianapolis, IN 46202.
The Criterion – January 14, 2022
Father Louis Manna served in several parishes in southern Indiana
By Sean GallagherFather Louis Manna, a retired priest of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, died on Dec. 23, 2021, in his home in Clarksville. He was 76.
The Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on Jan. 6 at SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Indianapolis. Archbishop Charles C. Thompson was the principal celebrant. Conventual Franciscan Father John Elmer was the homilist.
Burial will take place at a later date at St. Joseph Cemetery in St. Leon.
Born in Louisville, Ky., in 1945, Father Manna first discerned a vocation to religious life as a member of the Conventual Franciscan Province of Our Lady of Consolation based in Mount St. Francis in southern Indiana.
He was ordained a priest as a Conventual Franciscan in 1973 and became a priest of the archdiocese in 1995 through a process called incardination.
Pat Cornwell and her late husband John became friends with Father Manna when he was their pastor at St. Joseph Parish in Corydon from 2000-05.
She recalled how, with few close relatives of his own, Father Manna saw the parishioners he served as his family.
“When he knew someone was scheduled for surgery, he offered the blessing for the sick without being asked,” Cornwell said. “When someone was widowed, he followed up with phone calls of encouragement. He was basically a shy person, but kept in touch with friends long after he left each of his many parishes.”
Father John, who entered the Conventual Franciscans at the same time as Father Manna, recalled how his friend maintained close ties to the community at Mount St. Francis even after he became an archdiocesan priest—again because of his value of family.
“Even though he was no longer a member of our community, he would always come to different celebrations of the community—a birthday, an anniversary of profession or ordination, the visitation or funeral of a friar who had died,” Father John said. “He had a love for family. It goes back to his own family.”
Father Manna’s love for the Italian roots of his family led him to take several trips to Italy to meet distant relatives there.
Cornwell sees in her former pastor’s love for travel “a good metaphor for the way he accompanied individuals on their own paths.”
“He cared about their lives and trials,” Cornwell said. “He kept track of people, like the Good Shepherd who went looking for the one sheep. When my husband died, he called periodically to see how I was doing … .”
Louis Michael Manna was born on Sept. 16, 1945, in Louisville, Ky., to the late Louis and Petronilla Manna.
After his elementary education at St. Francis of Assisi School in Louisville, he enrolled in 1959 at the former Mount St. Francis High School in Mount St. Francis. At the time, it was a high school seminary for the Conventual Franciscan Province of Our Lady of Consolation.
He graduated from the high school seminary in 1963 and entered the province’s novitiate, then located in Auburn, Ind.
Father Manna professed first vows on Aug. 2, 1964, at the novitiate and solemn vows on Aug. 6, 1967, at St. Bonaventure Friary in St. Louis.
In addition to the high school seminary, Father Manna received priestly formation at the former Our Lady of Carey Seminary in Carey, Ohio; the former Assumption Seminary in Chaska, Minn.; and at St. Louis University in St. Louis.
He was ordained a priest on July 28, 1973, at St. Anthony Church in Lorain, Ohio, by Bishop William M. Cosgrove, then an auxiliary bishop for the Diocese of Cleveland.
Father Manna’s first pastoral assignment was at the Franciscan Retreats and Spirituality Center in Prior Lake, Minn., where he served from 1973-75.
He then ministered for a year as associate pastor of Our Lady of Mercy Parish in Potomac, Md., and for a year as associate pastor of St. Anthony Parish in Grand Rapids, Mich.
From 1977-79, Father Manna served as associate pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Broken Bow, Neb., also ministering during that time at nearby mission churches. He later returned to Broken Bow to serve as pastor from 1988-91.
Father Manna began ministry in the archdiocese in 1979, serving as associate pastor of St. Benedict Parish in Terre Haute from 1979-82 and St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Clarksville from 1982-88.
In 1991, Father Manna began the process of becoming a priest of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, which is called incardination. It became finalized in 1995.
From 1993-2000, Father Manna ministered as pastor of the former St. Joseph Parish in St. Leon and the former St. John the Baptist Parish in Dover. The campuses of both those parishes are now part of All Saints Parish in Dearborn County.
Father Manna then served as pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Corydon, the former St. Peter Parish in Harrison County and the former Most Precious Blood Parish in New Middleton from 2000-05.
Father Manna next served as pastor of American Martyrs Parish in Scottsburg and St. Patrick Parish in Salem from 2005-16. He was granted permission to retire from active ministry in 2016.
Memorial contributions can be made to the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, 1400 N. Meridian St., Indianapolis, IN 46202. †