Father Maximilian Mary Dean Wins Best Marian Song in Inaugural Catholic Music Awards
Father Maximilian Mary Dean is a hermit priest in the Diocese of Harrisburg, immersed in prayer and silence within the walls of his hermitage in Orrtanna, Adams County.
While most of his hours are devoted to prayer, there is time for work, too, as a contemplative. As some hermits make cheese or altar linens or farm the grounds of their hermitage, Father Maximilian writes, records and produces music.
His work has taken off, evangelizing thousands worldwide through his website www.fathermaxmusic.com, and his social media accounts on Facebook, YouTube, Spotify, Instagram and iTunes.
At the inaugural Catholic Music Awards in Rome on July 27, Father Maximilian’s Song to Mary, Queen of All Hearts won the award for Best Marian Song, and his up-tempo You Walk on Water was a finalist for Best Rock Song.
A Hermit with an Electric Guitar?
Father Maximilian understands the visual dichotomy of a hermit playing an electric guitar, recording vocals in his studio, or hammering out a beat on his drum set.
But his music isn’t designed to make him famous. “It’s about sharing Catholic music for the salvation of souls,” he says.
“The goal is to contribute some Catholic music outside of the liturgy that can function as a soundtrack for people in their daily lives, whether they’re driving or working or washing dishes. While my music is not made for the liturgy, it does lead us back to the Mass and to Our Lord,” he told The Witness.
His musical venture is also consistent with the axiom of “prayer and work” which defines the contemplative life.
“Every monastery or hermitage has a time of prayer and a time of work. Some hermits work in gardens, produce altar wines, record Gregorian chant, cook, or do laundry,” Father Maximilian explained.
“My primary vocation is prayer – Mass, the Rosary, Adoration. I live alone, so I live in silence. My work is music,” he said. “What people see with my music is the active part of my vocation.”
The Soundtrack to His Life
Father Maximilian grew up in the pastoral countryside north of Indianapolis. By the age of 15, he had learned to play the piano, the guitar and the drums, and was singing in the choir at Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School. At 18, he was part of a successful high school rock band that was regularly playing shows at venues in Indiana, Michigan and Ohio in the mid-80s. As a guitarist, he was influenced by musicians like Eric Clapton, Joe Walsh and Jimmy Page.
“My senior year, the guys in the band wanted to take the show on the road but I had another year of school. I had the gift of prudence to say that if we don’t have a contract, then I can’t go,” Father Maximilian recalled.
He parted ways with the band amicably, but their departure left a void in his life; one that would ultimately be filled by God.
“I had good grades, good friends, a girlfriend, my family had money, I was at a private Jesuit school. I had everything the world could offer me at that point, but I was still feeling empty,” Father Maximilian said.
A good friend urged him to pray. Before long, he was reading the Gospels and finding himself mesmerized by Jesus’ countercultural teachings. It was a new experience for a young man who hadn’t been to Mass since he was 10 years old.
“I couldn’t read or learn or pray enough once I was given that gift of faith. I started going to Mass, praying the Rosary daily,” Father Maximilian said. “I was open at that point to whatever God wanted.”
After graduating from Franciscan University with a degree in Philosophy in 1991, he spent several years with the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal and was ordained in 2000 with the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate.
In 2007, the order started a contemplative branch in Italy and Father Maximilian was appointed the Father Guardian to lead those efforts. He soon found himself drawn to the contemplative life and, in 2017, was received as a hermit into the Diocese of Harrisburg by Bishop Ronald Gainer.
Beating the Drums for the Lord
Father Maximilian’s music has taken off in earnest during his years as a hermit.
“I had stopped listening to all secular music in 1988, so when the Lord started giving me songs in my hermitage, it was astounding,” he said. “I would hear chords and horn sections. The songs weren’t for me, but I was to record them. The dialogue I had with Jesus was, ‘I can record this, but I’m going to have to buy some equipment and educate myself to do it.’”
His Spotify channel averages 500,000 streams a year, with over 60,000 listeners and more than 8,000 followers. Nearly 9,000 people follow Father Maximilian on Instagram, and nearly 10,000 viewers have subscribed to his YouTube channel. On Facebook, he is connected to some 2,000 friends.
But he’s not on social media to collect “likes” or engage in banter. It’s all about evangelizing others with the gifts he has been given.
“I think my social reach is a combination of Divine Providence and human cooperation. Some of the donations I’ve received go into evangelization efforts. It’s organic but it’s also paid marketing for the sake of evangelization. No one will hear my music and its message if they don’t know it exists,” he said.
“It’s not about making myself famous. It’s about sharing Catholic music for the salvation of souls,” he added.
With this goal in mind, Father Maximilian entered “You Walk on Water” and “Song to Mary, Queen of All Hearts,” into the first-ever Catholic Music Awards, a joint effort of the Dicastery for Communications and the Dicastery of Evangelization. He is one of two members of the Diocese of Harrisburg to be nominated for the Catholic Music Awards. Parishioner Karen Rodriguez was also nominated for Best Song Production in Spanish.
“It’s humbling and it’s a great honor, but I’m ultimately happy that the Church is offering this platform for the music to be shared,” Father Maximilian said of the nominations. “There’s not a big platform for Catholic musicians, so we have to create our own fanbase and amplify our efforts for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.”
He also hopes his vocation story serves as a reminder that God calls us to use our talents in service to Him.
“In my case, God called a guitarist to be a hermit priest. I don’t cease to be a musician after I’m ordained,” he said. “We bring our gifts with us, like priests who are chefs, or religious Sisters who paint. Gifts and talents can and should be used in our vocation. I don’t want to be identified as a rock and roller. I want to be known as a priest who happens to be a musician for Our Lord and Our Lady.”
(Photos courtesy of Father Maximilian Mary Dean.)
By Jen Reed, The Catholic Witness
