Thomas Frederick Price
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Thomas Frederick Price, MM (August 19, 1860 - September 12, 1919) was the American co-founder of the Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America, better known as the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers.


Youth and education

Thomas Frederick Price was born in Wilmington,
North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...
, the eighth child of Alfred and Clarissa Bond Price. His parents were converts to the
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
faith, and he was raised as a devout Catholic amid Southern apathy toward Catholicism. As a youth, Price was deeply influenced by his parish priests (St. Thomas, Wilmington, North Carolina). One cleric who figured prominently in his early life was
James Gibbons James Cardinal Gibbons (July 23, 1834 – March 24, 1921) was a senior-ranking American prelate of the Catholic Church who served as Apostolic Vicar of North Carolina from 1868 to 1872, Bishop of Richmond from 1872 to 1877, and as ninth ...
, newly appointed the first
Vicar Apostolic A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...
of
North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...
. Gibbons established his headquarters at St. Thomas Church; Price often served Mass for Gibbons and accompanied him on official trips throughout the Vicariate. With his religious background (especially the deep devotion of his mother to the
Blessed Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jews, Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Jose ...
), Price soon felt an attraction to the priesthood. He confided his interest to the parish priest, Mark Gross, and arrangements were made for him to enter St. Charles College at Catonsville, Maryland, in August 1876. En route to the seminary by ship, Price escaped death in the shipwreck of the ''Rebecca Clyde''. Price attributed his survival to the Blessed Virgin Mary's intercession. After the accident, he returned home until January 1877. Price attended St. Charles College from January 1877 until his commencement on June 28, 1881. In September 1881, he entered St. Mary's Seminary in
Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
. He was ordained to the priesthood on June 20, 1886, by Gibbon's successor, Henry P. Northrop, at the pro-cathedral in Wilmington, North Carolina. (Both of Price's parents had died before his ordination.) Price was the first native North Carolinian to be ordained to the priesthood, and he was assigned to missionary work in the eastern section of his home state.


Early priesthood

Within the first year of his ordination, Price was appointed pastor of the few Catholics in Asheville and New Bern. He later obtained permission from Leo Haid, the current Vicar Apostolic, to begin a statewide evangelization program. His methods were influenced by Walter Elliott, a famous Paulist preacher. One of Price's tools for evangelization was the publication of the magazine ''Truth'', which he began to edit and publish in April 1897. In 1912, the magazine passed into the hands of the International Catholic Truth Society, with the guarantee that the Truth Society would enable the publication to reach its full potential. Fr. Price's active role in the Foreign Mission Seminary by this time made his continued involvement in the publication impossible. A second tool was the establishment of Nazareth Orphanage in 1898. Price's plan was first to help the underprivileged of an area and thereby win the general population's favor, who would then be more inclined to listen to the missioner's message. Following the success of the Nazareth Orphanage, Price organized summer catechizing teams of seminarians. Finally, in 1902, Price opened a missionary training house at Nazareth. It was a preparatory seminary whose sole purpose was the education and formation of missioners for the home missions. It was called Regina Apostolorum. Price directed the Regina Apostolorum and acted as its primary teacher and spiritual director.


Plans for a foreign mission seminary

As time went on, Price began to emphasize more and more often, in the pages of ''Truth'', the need for a seminary to train young American men for foreign missions. At the same time, James Anthony Walsh, of Boston, was developing the same idea in the pages of ''The Field Afar''. At the Eucharistic Congress in
Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...
in 1910, the two priests met and began to formulate plans for the establishment of a seminary for foreign missioners. With the American hierarchy's approval, the two priests traveled to Rome in June 1911 to receive final approval from Pope Pius X for their project. After meeting with the Pope, Price traveled to Lourdes for the first time. During his stay at Lourdes, Price had a spiritual experience that he refers to in his diary: he maintained a special devotion to
Our Lady of Lourdes Our Lady of Lourdes (french: Notre-Dame de Lourdes) is a title of the Virgin Mary. She is venerated under this title by the Roman Catholic church due to her apparitions that occurred in Lourdes, France. The first apparition of 11 February 1858, ...
and to
Bernadette Soubirous Bernadette Soubirous (; ; oc, Bernadeta Sobirós ; 7 January 184416 April 1879), also known as Saint Bernadette of Lourdes, was the firstborn daughter of a miller from Lourdes (''Lorda'' in Occitan), in the department of Hautes-Pyrénées in ...
until his death. Returning to the United States, Price and Walsh began establishing the new seminary and the foreign mission society. After a brief stay at Hawthorne, New York, the property was purchased at Ossining, New York, for the site of the new foundation, the Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America (popularly known as Maryknoll).


Foreign missions begin

Price made a countrywide tour of America to gain support for the new endeavor. By 1918, three young priests ( James Edward Walsh,
Francis Xavier Ford Francis Xavier Ford, MM was an American bishop of the Catholic Church and a Maryknoll missionary in China. Because of his torture by the Communist Chinese and death in prison in 1952, he is considered a martyr, and the cause for his canonization ...
, and Bernard F. Meyer) were ready for the foreign missions in China. On September 7, Price went with them as superior to the new mission. From the time of Maryknoll's foundation, Price had understood that Walsh was capable of administering and directing the seminary itself. Price himself had always hoped to be chosen as one of Maryknoll's first missioners, and his dream was realized. This group of the first four American missioners in China arrived in Hong Kong in October 1918. They then settled down in Yeungkong (now called Yangjiang) on the South China Coast. Because of his age and its complexity, Price had great difficulty learning the
Chinese language Chinese (, especially when referring to written Chinese) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in Greater China. About 1.3 billion people (or approximately 16% of the ...
Price also suffered from physical ailments. Towards the latter part of 1919, Price became seriously ill. As there were no adequate medical facilities in that area, he was brought to Hong Kong for hospitalization. After a trying trip, Price arrived in the British Colony and was immediately taken to St. Paul's Hospital in Causeway Bay, an institution conducted by the Sisters of St. Paul de Chartres. The long and arduous journey from Yeungkong to Hong Kong by primitive means of travel aggravated Price's advanced and serious case of appendicitis. He entered the hospital on 19 August 1919 and was operated on 8 September 1919. However, it was too late, and on 12 September, the Feast of the Holy Name of Mary, he died due to a burst appendix at five minutes past ten o'clock. His dear friend Father Tour had been with him at his side, as they recited the prayers for the commendation of Fr. Price's soul. His body was buried in the priests’ plot in St. Michael's Cemetery in Happy Valley, Hong Kong. The date of his death was rather significant, as he had a great devotion to Our Lady. He was only 59. A solemn requiem Mass was celebrated on 18 September 1919 at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral for his priestly soul's happy repose. At this ceremony, Bishop of the
Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong The Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong (; la, Dioecesis Sciiamchiamensis) is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church. The diocese takes its name from the see city, the metropolitan area where the bishop resides. The Roman Catholic Diocese o ...
, Pozzoni, gave the last absolution, and a large concourse of priests and Sisters attended In 1923, a French missioner returned to France with Price's heart and gave it to St. Bernadette's religious order, the
Sisters of Charity of Nevers The Sisters of Charity of Nevers (French: ''Congrégation des Sœurs de la Charité de Nevers''), also known as Sisters of Charity and Christian Instruction, is a Catholic convent founded in 1680 in Nevers, Nièvre department, France, at the inst ...
. It was placed in a niche in the wall near the saint's body in the Motherhouse of the Sisters of Nevers. It was Price's request, for he had a very great devotion to Sister Bernadette. Price's body was exhumed in 1936 and transferred to Maryknoll Cemetery in Ossining, New York. In 1955, his remains, together with James A. Walsh's, were finally interred in the crypt below the Maryknoll Seminary Chapel.


Writings

* Bernadette of Lourdes (2013) * The Lily of Mary (2013)


References


Bibliography

* John T. Sedden, ''When Saints Are Lovers. The Spirituality of Maryknoll Founder Thomas F. Price'', Liturgical Press (1997), 184 pages


External links

*
Maryknoll priests visit grave of Fr. Price in Hong Kong, China, 1923. from USC digital library Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Price, Thomas Frederick Founders of Catholic religious communities 1860 births 1919 deaths American Roman Catholic missionaries American Roman Catholic priests Maryknoll Fathers People from Wilmington, North Carolina American Servants of God Deaths from appendicitis Catholics from North Carolina