Fr. Matthew Joseph Baran was born on November 22, 1905, in Arcadia, PA. His parents moved to Detroit, MI and enrolled as parishioners of St. Hedwig Parish. After his primary education he attended Holy Redeemer High School in Detroit. Motivated by the grace of a religious vocation, he joined the Conventual Franciscans and was sent to Corpus Christi Parish, Buffalo, NY, where in the Friary of St. Anthony of Padua, on August 19, 1922, he received his Franciscan habit and after one year of probation in the Novitiate, professed his simple vows on August 19, 1923. For one year he was sent to St. Francis College in Athol Springs, NY. The major superiors then sent him to Rome, Italy, for his philosophical and theological studies at the Seraphic College from 1925 to 1930. In 1929 Fr. Matthew received a Doctorate in Philosophy from the Lateran University, and in 1930 the Doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Seraphic College. On January 8, 1928 he professed his solemn vows at the Seraphicum. He was ordained to the priesthood on July 7, 1928 by Cardinal Pompilji, the Vicar General of Rome, at the Basilica of St. John the Lateran. Returning to the States, Fr. Matthew's first assignment, which lasted 10 years, was as an instructor at St. Francis High School, Athol Springs, NY. In the summers he attended the Catholic University in Washington, DC, earning a master's degree. The Provincial Chapter of 1939 voted to petition the Minister General to grant him the Magisterium in Sacred Theology. From 1941 to 1943 Fr. Matthew served as the Secretary for the Matrimonial Tribunal for the Diocese of San Diego, CA. In 1943 Fr. Matthew was appointed the first Novice Master of the Province of St. Bonaventure, which office he held until 1957. In 1958, after one year as guardian and instructor at St. May Minor Seminary in Crystal Lake, IL he was elected Assistant General and Socius to the Minister General, Fr. Vittorio Constantini, a position he held until 1966. Upon his return to the Province of St. Bonaventure in 1966, he was appointed guardian of St. Bonaventure Novitiate in Lake Forest, IL. In 1970, Fr. Matthew became Chaplain to the Felician Sisters Infirmary, Chicago, IL and remained there until he suffered a stroke in September of 1981. Suffering from aphasia as a result of the stroke, Fr. Matthew was transferred to the Lourdes Nursing Home in Pontiac, MI, on May 3, 1982. He died there on September 29, 1987 in his 82nd year of age, 65th of religious profession and 60th as a priest. Fr. Matthew was buried from the Church of St. Hedwig in Detroit, on October 2, 1987. The mortal remains were laid to rest in St. Hedwig Cemetery in Dearborn Heights, MI.