Deceased Friars

Roch Knopke, OFM

Roch Knopke

1906 – 1999

Fr. Roch Knopke, OFM, was born Aug. 22, 1906 in Denver. He was baptized Francis at St. Elizabeth Church by Fr. Pius Manz, OFM, first rector of St. Joseph’s Seraphic Seminary, Callicoon, N.Y. Fr. Roch graduated from the parish elementary school and Regis Jesuit High School before enrolling at St. Joseph’s Seraphic Seminary in 1924. He entered the novitiate at St. Bonaventure Friary, Paterson, N.J., in 1924, professing temporary vows one year later. Fr. Roch made his solemn profession in 1928 and was ordained in 1931.

His first priestly assignment in 1932 was to St. Francis of Assisi Parish in New York City. One year later, he was sent to the Province’s mission in China, where he served for the next 13 years, except for one year spent in the States, 1939 to 1940, recovering from typhoid and malaria. When he returned to China, he successively served as rector of three missions. While at the third mission, he was betrayed by a parishioner to the occupying Japanese army as a collaborator of the Chinese communists. The military police arrested and imprisoned Fr. Roch for four years, mostly in solitary confinement, where he maintained sanity by performing muscle-control exercises with his hands and feet, and by solving mathematical and geometric problems in his head.

After the war, in 1946, Fr. Roch pursued graduate studies in canon law at The Catholic University of America in Washington. After attaining the doctorate, he was assigned as teacher and prefect to Christ the King Seminary, Allegany, N.Y., for the next 12 years. From 1963 to 1969, he taught at Holy Name College in Washington, then spent a couple of years in shrine ministry in Providence, R.I. Fr. Roch moved back to his home parish in Denver, where he did pastoral work at St. Elizabeth’s and worked in the archdiocesan marriage tribunal.

In 1982, he retired to St. Anthony Residence in Boston, then moved to St. Anthony Friary, St. Petersburg, Fla., for a few years before entering Holy Name Friary, Ringwood, N.J., in 1996. While being transported to Ringwood in an air ambulance, Fr. Roch was accompanied by his younger brother, Fr. Kenneth Knopke, OFM, who suffered an in-flight heart attack and died.

Fr. Roch died on March 27, 1999 in Ringwood. He was 92 years old, a professed friar for 73 years and a priest for 67 years.

Each of us should be called a lesser brother, a Friar Minor. Each one of us should wash the feet of the others.”

Main Content

Roch Knopke, OFM

Roch Knopke

1906 – 1999

Fr. Roch Knopke, OFM, was born Aug. 22, 1906 in Denver. He was baptized Francis at St. Elizabeth Church by Fr. Pius Manz, OFM, first rector of St. Joseph’s Seraphic Seminary, Callicoon, N.Y. Fr. Roch graduated from the parish elementary school and Regis Jesuit High School before enrolling at St. Joseph’s Seraphic Seminary in 1924. He entered the novitiate at St. Bonaventure Friary, Paterson, N.J., in 1924, professing temporary vows one year later. Fr. Roch made his solemn profession in 1928 and was ordained in 1931.

His first priestly assignment in 1932 was to St. Francis of Assisi Parish in New York City. One year later, he was sent to the Province’s mission in China, where he served for the next 13 years, except for one year spent in the States, 1939 to 1940, recovering from typhoid and malaria. When he returned to China, he successively served as rector of three missions. While at the third mission, he was betrayed by a parishioner to the occupying Japanese army as a collaborator of the Chinese communists. The military police arrested and imprisoned Fr. Roch for four years, mostly in solitary confinement, where he maintained sanity by performing muscle-control exercises with his hands and feet, and by solving mathematical and geometric problems in his head.

After the war, in 1946, Fr. Roch pursued graduate studies in canon law at The Catholic University of America in Washington. After attaining the doctorate, he was assigned as teacher and prefect to Christ the King Seminary, Allegany, N.Y., for the next 12 years. From 1963 to 1969, he taught at Holy Name College in Washington, then spent a couple of years in shrine ministry in Providence, R.I. Fr. Roch moved back to his home parish in Denver, where he did pastoral work at St. Elizabeth’s and worked in the archdiocesan marriage tribunal.

In 1982, he retired to St. Anthony Residence in Boston, then moved to St. Anthony Friary, St. Petersburg, Fla., for a few years before entering Holy Name Friary, Ringwood, N.J., in 1996. While being transported to Ringwood in an air ambulance, Fr. Roch was accompanied by his younger brother, Fr. Kenneth Knopke, OFM, who suffered an in-flight heart attack and died.

Fr. Roch died on March 27, 1999 in Ringwood. He was 92 years old, a professed friar for 73 years and a priest for 67 years.