NOTE: Enjoy this excerpt from The American Daily Reader, by CatholicVote president Brian Burch and Emily Stimpson Chapman. To order the complete volume, visit the CatholicVote store today!
In 1848, when the Swiss Jesuit Father Johannes Bapst arrived in the United States and received his first assignment—pastoring the Penobscot in Maine—he had two concerns. First, he spoke neither English nor Penobscot. Second, 10 of his predecessors, including the most recent had been killed in the course of their duties.
As it turned out, though, Bapst quickly mastered both languages and passed three peaceful years with the Penobscot. Those were his last peaceful years in Maine.
In 1851, Boston’s Bishop John Fitzpatrick expanded Bapst’s mission territory to include numerous cities with Catholic immigrants. In one city, Ellsworth, Protestant leaders forbade Catholic children from using Catholic Bibles in public schools.
They were only permitted to use Protestant Bibles. When Bapst couldn’t change their minds, he built a Catholic school. Then, the Know-Nothings intervened.
In June 1854, the anti-Catholic group hatched a plot to kidnap Bapst. They only failed because the priest was in Bangor. A few months later, the same party blew up the Catholic school in Ellsworth and tried (but failed) to blow up the Catholic church as well. Finally, on October 14, 1854, a large mob successfully kidnapped Bapst and attempted to burn him alive. When damp weather prevented the fire from catching, they instead beat the priest, then tarred and feathered him, leaving him for dead.
He wasn’t dead, though, and local Catholics soon found him and nursed him back to health. After that, Bapst could have left. But he didn’t. He remained in Maine five years more, building churches and schools in defiance of Protestant objections.
After Maine, Bapst went to Boston, where in 1863 he became the founding president of Boston College. He served there until 1869, when the Jesuits named him superior of New York and Canadian Missions. Ten years later, the 64-year-old priest suddenly developed dementia. He spent the last eight years of his life mentally reliving the night of his kidnapping.
Peace came with death in 1887.
