Brother Francisco Valentin Martin

Br. Francisco Martin, FSC, was born on November 8, 1929, in Cuba and, following his Novitiate, took his Scholasticate education and teacher training at Havana CU and Guatao, Cuba. His first teaching assignment took him to La Salle School in Palatino, Cuba. He made his perpetual profession of vows in 1954 in Havana. He remained in Palatino for two years before being assigned to Colegio de La Salle del Vedado in Vedado, Cuba. In 1956 he was assigned to La Salle School in Marianao and in 1958 he taught at Sta. María del Rosario. He returned to Vedado to Colegio de La Salle in 1959 and remained there until 1961 when he was assigned to the Pedagogico in Managua, Nicaragua for a year. In 1962, Brother Francisco traveled to the Dominican Republic and the City of Higuey where he worked at the Escuela Liceo Jean XXIII de La Salle. In 1963, he came to Miami, Florida to work at the Children's Refuge Center for a year before moving to La Salle – Immaculata High School in Miami. He taught there for ten years before moving to Calvert Hall College High School in Baltimore, Maryland. In 1975 he was assigned to De La Salle University in Manila, Philippines. He remained there for seven years before coming to teach at Saint John's College High School in Washington, D.C. for one year.
His next assignment brought him to Christian Brothers University in 1983 in Memphis, Tennessee, where he spent the next thirty-three years of his life. Known for his beautiful calligraphy, visitors on campus were gifted with name tags printed by Br. Francisco. Aside from teaching, he was an avid supporter of athletics. Of course, he shared his love of baseball by introducing foreign students to the game. Each summer, he sponsored English immersion classes with children from Mexico and baseball was a daily exercise. In fact, Br. Francisco occasionally traveled to France where once again he shared his love of the sport. Many of the trees that beautify the campus were planted and watered daily by Brother Francisco.
In 2016, he moved to De La Salle Hall in Lincroft, New Jersey and lived there in residence until his death on September 25, 2025. At the time of his passing, he had been a De La Salle Christian Brother for eighty years. A funeral Mass was held at De La Salle Hall in Lincroft on October 7, 2025. A funeral Mass will be held in the Stritch (St. John's) Chapel on the campus of Christian Brothers University on Monday, October 27, 2025 at 9:00. A private burial will take place at Calvary Cemetery next to his Brothers.