The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1911-07-01
A WELL-DESERVED TRIBUTE TO
a NOBLE PIONEER PRIEST OF
THE DIOCESE OF ST.
PAUL.

Through the courtesy of the st.
Paul Catholic Historical Society we
are permitted to reprint, from the ad-
vance sheets of its official publica-
ton, the "Acta ct Dicta," the follow
ing beautiful tribute to the late Father
Genis, one of the pioneer missionary
priests of Minnesota:
The Reverend Claude Gems died in
St. Mary's Hospital, Minneapolis, the
evening of July 9th, 1910. He was
buried in Calvary cemetery, st. Paul
At the funeral services in the Cathe-
dral, the mass was chanted by the
Right Reverend Thomas O'Gorman,
Bishop of Sioux Falls-the Reverend
Thomas J. Gibbons, of st. Luke's
Church, ST. Paul, serving as assistant
priest; the Reverend John Slevin, Of
Faribault, as deacon; the Reverend
Joseph Guillot, of the Church of Our
Lady of Lourdes, Minneapolis, as sub
deacon. The Most Reverend Arch
bishop preached the sermon.
The participants in the funeral cere-
monies typifed much of the career of
the deceased. Archbishop Ireland and
Bishop O'Gorman had been his fellow
students in the Seminary of Mexi-
mieux, France. Rev. Joseph Guillot
had also been a student, though at a
later date, in the same Seminary.
Rev. John Slevin was the pastor of
the Church of the Immaculate Concep-
ton in Faribault, to which Father
GEMS had devoted many years of his
sacerdotal life Rev. Thomas J. Glib
bons had been one of Father GEMS
most faithful friends.
The universal esteem merited by
the labours and the virtues of Father
GEMS was betokened by the large
number of priests and people present
in the Cathedral.
In Calvary cemetery Father Gems
was laid to rest alongside of the Rev
erend Joseph Cotton. During the
Seminary days of Claude Gems,
Father Cotton had been assistant
pastor in the Parish of MeximieuX-
the special protector and counsellor
of the young seminarian.
Though dying in Minneapolis, where
he had spent his last years as resi-
dent chaplain of st. Mary's Hospital,
Father GEMS was buried from the
Cathedral in st. Paul. 1t had been
thought fit that one who had served
the Diocese of St. Paul so long and
so well should have the late rites of
Holy Church celebrated over his NOR
tai remains in the chief temple of the
Diocese, amid all the solemnity that
religion could afford. A more faith
full priest of the Diocese of st. Paul
had not lived: it's most grateful fare
well was due to him: it was given in
undisguised sincerity.
Claude GEMS was born in the Burgh
of Meximieux, Department of Ain,
France, October 4, 1888. In his ear
liest youth he aspired to be a priest,
and he enrolled himself among the
pupils of the seminary, distant only
stones throw from the paternal
home. There he was noted for his
piety and his attention to study, as,
also, for that frankness of character
and kindness of manner which were
to feature him SO cOnspicuously
throughout his subsequent career.
In his classes he held an honorable
rank. In October, 1858, two boys
from distant Minnesota appeared in
the halls of the Seminary, John Ire
land and Thomas O'Gorman, sent
thither for their classical studies by
the first Bishop of st. Paul, Joseph
Cretin, who himself had been a stu
dent of the "Petit-Seminaire" of Mexi-
mieux. With the two Americans
Claude quickly entered into close
friendship, resulting in the decision,
from which he never afterwards wav-
cred, to spend with them his priestly
years in the Valley of the Mississippi.
His classical studies terminated in
Meximieux, Claude went to Brou, the
Grand -Seminaire" of the Diocese of
Belley, for his studies i'm theology, and
there in 1851 he was ordained to the
priesthood. He would at once have
taken his departure for St. Paul, had
not his parents SO steadfastly refused
their consent. For two years he was
professor i'm the "Petit-Seminaire" Of
Meximieux. America, however, he
was not forgetting, and when in Sep
tember, 1868, Thomas O'Gorman was
homeWard bound, he broke all ties in
his native land and set out for st.
Paul.
Missionary Labors in Minnesota.
Shortly after his arrival in Mime
sofa, Father GEMS was assigned to
the mission Of Dayton, in Hennepin
County, whence his pastoral care ex-
tended to the neighboring missions of
Corcoran, Osseo, Medicine Lake, Buff
falo Lake and Anoka. Later he was
sent to the mission of Mendoza, to
which were then attached the mis-
sions of Inyer Grove and Lakeville.