Francis Asbury Baker (March 30, 1820 – April 4, 1865) was an American Catholic priest, missionary, and social worker, known as one of the founders of the
Paulist Fathers in 1858.
Life
Francis Asbury Baker was born in Baltimore, Maryland on March 30, 1820, the son Samuel Baker, a prominent physician and
University of Maryland Professor of Medicine. His paternal grandfather, William Baker was a German immigrant; his paternal grandmother, a woman of Irish origin. William Baker was a successful merchant. His maternal grandfather, John Dickins, was an English Methodist preacher, who died in Philadelphia during a yellow fever outbreak. His maternal uncle was
Secretary of the United States Senate,
Asbury Dickins
Asbury Dickins (1780–1861) was a United States government official who served as Secretary of the United States Senate from 1836 until shortly before his death in 1861.
Originally from North Carolina, Dickins worked as a publisher and a boo ...
.
[McSorley, Joseph. ''Isaac Hecker and His Friends'', Paulist Press, 1972, p. 132]
Dr. Baker was a great admirer of
Francis Asbury, a popular Methodist bishop at that time, and named his son after his friend. Francis Baker graduated from
Princeton University in 1839, and was ordained an
Episcopal
Episcopal may refer to:
*Of or relating to a bishop, an overseer in the Christian church
*Episcopate, the see of a bishop – a diocese
*Episcopal Church (disambiguation), any church with "Episcopal" in its name
** Episcopal Church (United State ...
priest in 1846.
["Baker, Francis Asbury". ''New Catholic Dictionary''. 1910 ] He was assigned at first as an assistant at
St. Paul's Episcopal Church (Baltimore, Maryland)
St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church, more commonly called Old St. Paul's Church today, is a historic Episcopal Church (United States), Episcopal church located at 233 Charles Street (Baltimore), North Charles Street at the southeast corner wit ...
, and six years later was named rector of
St. Luke's Church (Baltimore, Maryland)
St. Luke's Church, is a historic Episcopal church located in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. It is a Gothic Revival-style church that follows the dictates of the Ecclesiological Society reflecting English medieval building principles. It ...
, where he became known as an eloquent preacher.
Baker had great respect for the ideals held by
John Henry Newman. His encounters with then Redemptorist Father
Augustine Hewit
Augustine Francis Hewit (Fairfield, Connecticut, U.S.A., 27 November 1820 – New York, 3 July 1897) was an American Redemptorist priest, and second Superior General of the Paulist Fathers.
Life
Nathaniel Augustus Hewit was born in Fairfield ...
and Archbishop
Francis Patrick Kenrick
Francis Patrick Kenrick (December 3, 1796 or 1797 – July 8, 1863) was an Irish-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as the third Bishop of the Diocese of Philadelphia (1842–1851) and the sixth Archbishop of the Archdiocese of ...
of Baltimore as well as the intellectual ferment fostered by the
Oxford Movement
The Oxford Movement was a movement of high church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the University of O ...
persuaded Baker to become Catholic in 1853, a conversion that created considerable stir at the time. He then changed his name to Francis Aloysius, in honor of
Francis de Sales and
St. Aloysius
Aloysius de Gonzaga ( it, Luigi Gonzaga; 9 March 156821 June 1591) was an Italian aristocrat who became a member of the Society of Jesus. While still a student at the Roman College, he died as a result of caring for the victims of a serious epid ...
.
[Hewit, Augustine Francis. ''Life of the Rev. Francis A. Baker'', The Catholic publication house, 1869]
/ref> He was ordained a Redemptorist Priest three years later.[ The Redemptorists presented week-long missions so that regular parish members and especially the poor could receive the religious instructions given by these traveling preachers.
Father Baker worked closely with Father ]Isaac Hecker
Isaac Thomas Hecker (December 18, 1819 – December 22, 1888) was an American Catholic priest and founder of the Paulist Fathers, a North American religious society of men.
Hecker was originally ordained a Redemptorist priest in 1849. With the b ...
on his missions and so after Hecker’s expulsion from the Redemptorists and subsequent permission to found the Missionary Society of St. Paul the Apostle, granted by Pope Pius IX
Pope Pius IX ( it, Pio IX, ''Pio Nono''; born Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878, the longest verified papal reign. He was notable for convoking the First Vatican ...
, Baker joined fellow missionaries Isaac Hecker
Isaac Thomas Hecker (December 18, 1819 – December 22, 1888) was an American Catholic priest and founder of the Paulist Fathers, a North American religious society of men.
Hecker was originally ordained a Redemptorist priest in 1849. With the b ...
, Augustine Hewit
Augustine Francis Hewit (Fairfield, Connecticut, U.S.A., 27 November 1820 – New York, 3 July 1897) was an American Redemptorist priest, and second Superior General of the Paulist Fathers.
Life
Nathaniel Augustus Hewit was born in Fairfield ...
, Clarence Walworth, and George Deshon
George Deshon (New London, Connecticut, U.S.A., 30 January 1823 – New York City, 30 December 1903) was an American Paulist Father.
Life
Deshon was born in New London, Connecticut, a descendant of Plymouth Colony elder William Brewster. He ...
in leaving the Redemptorists to found the new society.[
Father Baker divided his time as a Paulist between assisting at St. Paul the Apostle parish in New York City and giving missions throughout the eastern states. Baker was a zealous and effective missionary. The strain of both tasks took its toll on Baker’s fragile health and as early as 1861 he was forced to slow his activities because of throat ailments. THis was further complicated by pneumonia.][ In early 1865 Baker contracted typhoid fever from his work with New York’s poor and due in part to his already fragile health. He soon after died quietly surrounded by family and friends at the age of 45 just seven years after the founding of the Paulists.
He is buried at Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York.
]
See also
References
External links
*
The Sermons of Rev. Francis A. Baker
''Sermons of the Rev. Francis A. Baker, with a memoir of his life, by Rev. A. F. Hewit. (With a portrait)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Francis Asbury
Religious leaders from Baltimore
Princeton University alumni
Anglican priest converts to Roman Catholicism
American Episcopal priests
Paulist Order
1820 births
1865 deaths
19th-century American Episcopalians
19th-century American Roman Catholic priests