New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1904-02-24
THE PAULIsT ORDER
FATHER DEsHoN,s DEATH REMOVED
THE LAST OF ITS FOUNDERS.

THE LAST OF ITS FOUNDERS.
The Famous Quintet of Men Who
Were the Charter Members of the
OrEanization-How the Order was
Formed and the Work For which
1t Ii Famed.
The recent death In New York Of the
Rev. George Deshon, superior general
Of the Paulist fathers, closes one of
the most interesting chapters of Church
history in the United States. He was
the last Of that famous body of men
who constituted the charter members
of the organization known as the Paul
list fathers. Fathers Hecker, Hewitt,
Baker and Walworth, together with
Deshon. made up the quintet They
were all men Of striking personality
and of remarkable individuality.
The youngest of this group of men
was Deshon. practical man of af-
fairs, hard headed and logical, of a
mathematical and sentimental turn Of
mind, d lover of austerity and frugal
ity and yet profoundly -ligious spirit.
All these men came by different roads
to the Catholic Church and without any
previous arrangement found themselves
thrown together in religious commu-
nifty that offered to them the highest
ideals Of sanctifed manhood. with the
best opportunities for cultiyating the
higher life.
When the old ship of Professionalism
began to show signs of unseaworthi-
ness about the middle of the nineteenth
century the best spirits left it and
sought refuge in the bark of Peter.
The Tractarian movement in England
brought to the Church such men as
Newman and Manning and Ward and
a host of others. 1t had it's effect in
this country, and Baker and Hewitt
and Ives and Wadhams and Walworth
and many others were carried along
by it into the Church. But outside of
the Tractarian movement there were
other converts from the evangelical
bodies and even from rationalism.
From the latter came Hecker and
Brownson. However, the providence
of God cast five of these earnest spir-
it's into the Redemptorist community.
There they learned the principles of the
religious life, and there they plighted
their vows of obedience and poverty
and chastity, and there they consecrat-
ed their energies to the uplifting Of
their fellow men, and in it all they
found the supreme joy of simple,
chaste and holy living.
Many years went by, and their voices
We're heard in every corner Of this
country, from Quebec to New Orleans,
denouncing vice and exhorting sinners
to repentance. In the hard work Of
the missions they found their sweetest
JOY, and never a shadow of regret
crossed their minds for the emoluments
and the honors they had left behind.
But conditions arose in their own
household and by their own fireside
which made it imperative for them to
go out once again. They were all
Americans and stout believers in the
vocation of the American people, and
they were earnestly anxious to bring
the best people on the face Of the earth,
dS tucS SOuS1AS1Cu lAc a1uSIlCdu pSOpfS
to be, to a knowledge Of the truth in
the Catholic Church. A Teutonic spirit
| ruled among the Redemptionists at
that time, and an effort was made to
turn the work of these talented Amer
leans into German channels and thus
cut off their chosen field Of activity.
1t was a vital question. The useful
ness of their lives was to a large ex
tent wrapped up in it. The difference
of judgment was appealed to Rome,
and Rome bade Hecker, Hewitt, Wal
| worth, Baker and Deshon to separate
from the community they loved and
start afresh, SO that they might con-
tinue on the lines Of their chosen work
| It was all done in the best of spirit
The Paulists began without a cent,
but with stout hearts and a firm con-
| viction that their chosen lines were
| the best, and fifty years of labor have
not demonstrated the contrary.
/ They came to New York and made
a beginning at Fifty ninth street and
Ninth avenue. This was in November,
1858. For nearly fifty years they have
| lived there, and their life has been an
open book, and their work has been
known to all men. They gathered dis
ciples about them who became animat-
ed with their spirit. They continued
to carry on the missionary work in
which they had been trained.
With the profound conviction that
they could preach from the printing
press as well as they could from the
pulpit, they started a printing plant,
out from which have gone millions of
pages of literature to do their good
work of explaining and commencing
the doctrinal teaching of the Catholic
Church. An article in the American
Ecclesiastical Review says that the
activity of the PauIist fathers in the
fulfllment of their external vocation
has radiated chiefly in eight directions
and mentions these eight avenues OF
I uDrH fn ho