ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A man who spent decades serving homeless people in Albuquerque could now be on his way to sainthood.

“The funny thing is, I don’t think Brother Mathias would want to be a saint. It wasn’t about him, it was about the homeless people he served,” Brother Charles Schreiner said.

Brother Mathias founded the Good Shepherd Center where volunteers carry on his name and spirit through a St. Patrick’s Day dinner every year.

It was 74 years ago that Brother Mathias, a man from Ireland, left his footprint in Albuquerque.

“He came here with nothing but the bishop asked him to reach out to the poor and the community because that’s what his passion was,” said Deacon Steve Rangel, chair of the board at the Good Shepherd Center.

In 1951, Brother Mathias started the annual corned beef and cabbage dinner to give back to the Good Shepherd Center. The center is a refuge for homeless men.

“It brings awareness to the homeless [people] and the poor [people] in our community. And that’s where his passion was, his heart was, to serve those [people],” Rangel said.

Now, the community is hoping the church will canonize Brother Mathias.

“Years ago, he would go to the St. Joseph’s Hospital [now Lovelace Hospital downtown]… he would go there back in 1951 and ask for used coffee grounds. Who asks for used coffee grounds? But he would. When you don’t have money, you make it work. And he would get the grounds and bring them here to the Good Shepherd and boil them away and have coffee for the homeless. So he had determination. He didn’t have money and gradually people started supporting them,” Schreiner said.

Canonization is a long process.

“It takes a lot of time because they have to do the research. One thing about the Catholic Church is they check out the individual. It’s very intensive,” Rangel said, adding it could take years – even a century – before he is named a saint.

Brother Mathias died in Albuquerque in 1990 at the age of 90.