Franciscan Friars • St. Louis-Chicago
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SACRED HEART PROVINCE Franciscan Friars • St. Louis-Chicago |
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 Circa 1931 - New St. Anthony Friary/Provincial House replacing old. St. Anthony of Padua Church - St. Louis - in background. |
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acred Heart Province had its beginning in 1858 in Teutopolis, Illinois.
Nine friars (eight friars and one tertiary) were sent from the Franciscan Province of the Holy Cross in
Paderborn, Westphalia, Germany, (Saxony Province) by Fr. Provincial, Gregory
Janknecht at the request of Bishop Henry Damian Juncker of the Diocese of Alton, Illinois.The friars sent were: Fr. Damian Hennewig, Fr. John Capistran Zwinge, Fr. Servace Altmicks, Bro. Irenaeus Drewes, Bro. Paschal Kutsche, Bro. Marianus Beile, Bro. Edmund Wilde & Herman Uphof, a tertiary. The friars embarked from Bremen, Germany, August 27, arriving in New York City, September 14, the feast of the Holy Cross. They left New York by train the evening of September 15, arriving in Alton, Illionis, September 21. And finally arrived in Teutopolis, Illinois, at 10:30 p.m., September 23. The friars formally took charge of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Teutopolis, Illinois on October 3, 1858. |
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- November 26. Second group of Franciscans from Germany, consisting of six friars, arrived at Teutopolis. During the years 1860-1876, a new group of friars came from Germany each year, except in 1861, 1868, and 1874. - December. St. Francis Solano Friary at Quincy, Illinois, was established.
- March. St. Francis Solano College (Quincy University) was founded. - October 4. A novitiate was established at St. Francis Friary, Teutopolis, and the first brother novice was admitted to the First Order. The first cleric novices, three in number, with another brother novice , entered the novitiate on December 18, 1862.
- June 10. With the arrival at Teutopolis of Fr. Mathias Hiltemann, first commissary, the American mission became a dependent commissariat of the German Province of the Holy Cross. - September 15. St. Joseph's College was opened in a new building at Teutopolis.
- February 5. St. Anthony's Friary in St. Louis was founded, and two priests and a brother occupied a temporary residence.
- The first friary in the south, St. Mary's at Memphis was founded.
- September. St. Francis Solano College (Quincy University) occupied a building of its own and became a boarding school. It received a legal charter from the state of Illinois, permitting it to confer degrees, in 1873.
- The first of three yellow fever epidemics claimed many lives in Memphis. The second and third occurred in 1878 and 1879. Three priests and three brothers died while helping others.
- July 3 and 4. The first group of Franciscan, exiled from Germany by the Kulturkampf and numbering 65 friars, arrived at Teutopolis. The second group, 24 in number, came on July 12. Two more small groups followed in 1876.
- A Poor Clare Monastery was founded in Cleveland, and another the following year in Omaha, Nebraska.
- April 26. The Franciscan Province of the Sacred Heart was canonically established by decree of the general minister of the Order of Friars Minor, Most Reverend Bernadine of Portu Romantino. - July 2. The first Provincial Minister, Fr. Vincent Halbfas, and his council were installed in office at Teutopolis: and the first provincial chapter was held.
- The first member of the province to go to the missions in China, Fr. Athanasius Goette, left for China.
- Old Mission Santa Barbara in California, the only one still remaining in the hands of the friars, was made a friary of Sacred Heart Province.
- The friaries of Sacred Heart Province in the Far West were organized into a dependent commissariat.
- St. Joseph College at Teutopolis, hitherto a diocesan institution, was made a seraphic college, or exclusively Franciscan preparatory seminary.
- August 12. The first cleric novice was admitted to a novitiate at Santa Barbara, California. - St. Anthony's College, a seraphic college or preparatory seminary, was opened at Santa Barbara, California.
- Fr. Athanasius Goette, O.F.M., missionary in China, was appointed vicar apostolic of northern Shensi, and on November 30 he was consecrated titular bishop of Lampa.
- Our Lady of Angels Seminary at West Park, Cleveland, Ohio, was completed and opened its first school year.
- A friary was founded at Oak Forest, Illinois, and the Franciscans began to serve as chaplains at Oak Forest Hospital.
- November 7. The friaries of Sacred Heart Province on the west coast and in Arizona were canonically established in the Province of St. Barbara. Fr. John Vaughn, O.F.M., of this province, was elected General Minister of the Order of Friars Minor in 1979.
- November 28 & 29. The first provincial convention of the Third Order (Secular Franciscan Order) in the United States was held in Teutopolis, Illinois, and the Tertiary Province of the Sacred Heart was organized.
- Franciscan Herald Press was founded in Chicago, Illinois. In 1993, it moved to the Quincy University campus and is now known as the Franciscan Press.
- Sacred Heart Province, together with three other American provinces, accepted the care of the mission territory of Wuchang in central China. |
- Sacred Heart Province received a mission territory of its own in China, namely that of Changtien in Shantung; and the next year the first two priests left for this mission field.
- January 1. The new St. Joseph Seraphic College at Westmont, Illinois, was completed. The first school year opened in September. And the theological seminary was moved from St. Louis to the old college at Teutopolis, Illinois.
 St. Joseph Seraphic College, Westmont, IL, 1927-1978
- Fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of Sacred Heart Province.
- Quincy College was accredited to the University of Illinois as a junior college. In 1939, it was affiliated by the Catholic University of America as a four-year college. In 1948, it was recognized as such by the University of Illinois. In 1954, it received full accreditation from the North Central Association. And in 1993, it became Quincy University.
- The old Franciscan Mission San Jose in San Antonio was placed in the care of Sacred Heart Province, and a friary was established there.
- Friars take over the care of Corpus Christi Parish in Chicago, Illinois.
- Father Ambrose Pinger, O.F.M., was appointed vicar apostolic of Chowtsun in China, and on September 21, he was consecrated titular bishop of Capitolias by Cardinal Mundelein in Chicago. Chowtsun became a diocese in 1946.
- The friary at West Monroe, Louisiana, was founded; and the Franciscans began to do missionary work in the northern part of the state, in the diocese of Alexandria.
- Sacred Heart Province accepted a new mission field in Brazil,a part of the prelature of Santarem, along the Tapajos River, a tributary of the Amazon; and the first four missionaries left for these missions.
- Province Brothers Trade School was started under the direction of Fr. Seraphin Tibesar, O.F.M. It was to be known as St. Paschal Brothers School and located on the southeast section of the Mayslake property. 280 candidates answered the call to the life of the Franciscan Brother between 1951 to 1966 when the program was moved to Our Lady of Angels Seminary in Quincy, Illinois. 48 persevered as Franciscans; four others joined the diocesan clergy.
- The new St. Peter's Church and Friary, in Chicago's "loop", was dedicated.
- Bishop Pinger was released by the Chinese Communists after five years imprisonment, and returned to the United States. The following year Fr. Fulgence Gross was freed after being held a prisoner for six years.
- Fr. James Ryan, O.F.M, of Sacred Heart Province, missionary in Brazil since 1943, was appointed ordinary of the prelature of Santarem; and on April 9, he was consecrated titular bishop of Margum by Cardinal Stritch in Chicago.
- Fr. Jude Prost, O.F.M., of Sacred Heart Province, missionary in Brazil also since 1942, was appointed auxiliary to the archbishop of Belem, Para, Brazil.
- The new Our Lady of Angels Seminary is opened in Quincy, IL. Our Lady of Angels Philosophy Seminary at West Park, Cleveland, OH is closed and moved to Quincy. Also the college section of St. Joseph Seraphic Seminary in Oak Brook, IL is separated from the high school and also moved to OLA in Quincy. Our Lady of Angels closed in 1987 and was sold to Quincy University to become the North Campus
- Province novitiate is moved from St. Francis, Teutopolis, IL, to St. Paschal's Friary, Oakbrook, IL. It returned to Teutopolis, IL but to St. Joseph's Seminiary in 1968 for one year and then returned to St. Paschal's in 1969. - The Province along with the Servites and Passionists, found Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, Il. St. Joseph Seraphic Seminary in Teutopolis, IL is closed and relocated at CTU in Chicago.
- Four friars set forth to a new missionary field in Zaire, Africa, but were soon forced to come home due to political upheaval. The province joined with the Belgian Province of Ste. Marie Mediatrice (Brussels) to form St. Benoit l'Africain in Zaire in the mid 1980's. Three friars from Sacred Heart Province joined the new province.
- April 26. The friars celebrated the centennial of the province. Three celebrations marked the occasion in April & May in Teutopolis, IL, Chicago, IL, and San Antonio, TX. And in June, the province held its first Chapter of Mats in Quincy, IL. |
