Knuff, Father Justin Edward

1988, July 20

Date of Birth: 1915, September 15

August 19, 1988

Dear Confrere:

Our confrere, Justin Edward Knuff, who gave significant continuity to a Sulpician presence in Seattle, Washington, for forty years, died on July 20, 1988, after ten months of serious illness. During most of his priestly ministry there he also gave unusual talent to the management of seminary and church property in the Pacific Northwest.

Justin was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on September 15, 1915, the first son of William Bernard and Rose Mary (Reubelt) Knuff. A daughter, Carmelita, and two other sons, James and William, were also the children of that marriage. Justin’s father was accounts manager for the Republic Steel Corporation, and thus the family home was for a time in Massillon and then Warren, Ohio, depending on the location of the company’s head office. In later years the parents lived in University Heights in suburban Cleveland.

Justin was not quite twelve when he began high school at St. Charles College upon completing his elementary education in seven years at St. Mary’s School in Massillon. His excellent academic record won for him a scholarship at the Basselin College of The Catholic University, where he earned his M.A. in philosophy in 1937. In that same year Bishop Joseph Schrembs of Cleveland released the young seminarian to become an aspirant to the Society of St. Sulpice, and Justin continued in residence at the Sulpician Seminary (Theological College) while taking his theological studies at the University. He was in the first class that took all its courses on that campus rather than in the Seminary. He served as student master of ceremonies and earned his S.T.L. degree just prior to his ordination to the priesthood in Cleveland on May 31, 1941.

Father Knuff was to continue at the University for doctoral studies, but an opening occurred in the Sulpician formation year program, which took place that year for the first time at St. Mary’s Seminary, Paca Street. The following summer he was admitted to the Society and began work on his doctoral dissertation. In 1944, he received his S.T.D. and was assigned to St. Edward’s Seminary in Seattle to teach high school English, Latin, and religion, almost simultaneously with the call of his two younger brothers to war-time military service. It was a difficult time for their parents to have all three sons so far distant from home. The following summer Father Knuff was asked to transfer to St. Joseph’s College in Mountain View to fill a teaching vacancy in similar courses.

Father Knuff’s chance to teach in his doctoral field came in 1948 when a faculty member in Settle became ill. He began with moral theology, the Eucharist course, and liturgy, and also became the master of ceremonies for the Seminary, which included numerous liturgical ceremonies at St. James Cathedral.

The following year, to his considerable shock, the provincial council asked him to take on the duties of treasurer at St. Edward’s. It was a difficult assignment because there was hardly a time when finances were not a big challenge at the Seattle seminary. Tuition income never covered costs and endowment funds were hard to attract. By skillful management, nevertheless, Father Knuff brightened the fiscal situation considerably and, after the Archdiocese agreed to meet the annual deficit, the stressful situation eased for a few years. Enrollment grew at such an encouraging pace that plans were developed by the Archdiocese for a separate major seminary, and St. Thomas Seminary opened on the same property in 1958. The following year Father Knuff’s father died in Warren after several years of illness, which had begun soon after his wife’s death. Four years later, Father Knuff’s younger brother, William, died.