The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1917-06-30
Father OF FED
GRAFTON" IS DEAD
Bishop McFauI, of Trenton, N. j.,
! Passed Away Last Saturday. Well
Known Throughout the Country for
Federation Work,

Rt. ReF. James A. Mcfaul, Bishop
Of Trenton, N. j.. died last Saturday
afternoon at his residence in Trenton.
Bishop McFaul had been in ill health
for year, but it was not until re-
Gently that he became seriously i'll. He
spent part of the winter in the south
in the hope Of regaining his health, but
returned to Trenton little improved.
| The fortieth anniversary of the
Bishops ordination to the priesthood
occurred about two weeks ago, but his.
health would not permit his participa-
tiOn in the exercises held to mark the
occasion.
Born in ireland.
Right Rev. Augustine McFaul was
the second Bishop of the diocese Of
O'Farrell on October 1S, 1894. He was.
born on June 6, 1850, near the small
town Of Larne, County Antrim, Ire
land. Before he was year old his
parents brought him to Trenton, where
he lived five years. He first attended
school in the basement of the Holy
Cross church in West Forty-second
street, and when he was his family
moved to farm between Bound Brook
and Milestone, N. ]. He was sent to
the nearest district school and, al
though the smallest of all the pupils,
he was usually found at the head of
his class.
Later he went to Milestone, where
Judge Robert S. Woodruff was his in
structor. He worked on the farm with
his father during the summer, but at
tended school in winter and struggled
along until he was Is, when he made
use of his knowledge of bookkeeping
by taking position in grocery store
near Bound Brook. The grocer moved
to New Brunswick and he remained
with him two years. Then he entered
st. Vincent's college, Westmoreland
county, Pennsylvania, with the inten-
tion of becoming lawyer, but while,
there he made up his mind to prepare
himself to be Benedictine monk.
,.-..,..,... Study Broke Health.
He studied SO hard his health broke
down at the end of three years and he
was advised by a physician to return
to his fathers farm. Life in the open
gave him new lease on life and he
entered st. Francis Xavier's college in
New York. He was graduated from
Seton Hall college, South Orange, N.
j., in 1873. Bishop O'Connor of the
diocese of Newark was one of his
classmates. He was ordained to the
priesthood on May 26, 1877. In 1873
he was sent to Trenton as assistant to
the late Rev. Anthony Smith at St.
Mary's Cathedral. He served as Sec
retary to the late Bishop O'Farrell of
Trenton from 1882 to and including
1884. He then had charge of St. Mary's
Union and for three years edited St.
Mary's Messenger, an annual paper
published in the interests of the
union.
In 1883 Bishop O'Tarrell assigned
him as pastor of the Church of St.
Mary Star Of the Sea at Long Branch.
He cleared off big debt on this
church and built St. Michael's church
at Elberon, after which, in 1890, he
was appointed chancellor of the do
Trenton. Two years later he was
made vicar-general of the diocese.
When on April 2, 1894, Bishop O'Far-
rell died after long and useful life,
the late Archbishop Corrigan selected
Vicar-General McFaul as administra-
tor of the diocese, and on the follow
ing October 18 he was consecrated as
Bishop of Trenton at an imposing
service in st. Mary's Cathedral, Tren-
tor ,l,1 ;,1,<
consecratOr.
Bishop McFaul was known as the
Father of federation," having
launched the movement resulting in
the formation Of all the Catholic So
cieties in the United States into an
organization known as the American
Federation of Catholic Societies.
Wrote and Lectured Much.
The Bishop wrote. and lectured
much on Christian education, on the
church, on the home and the school,
also on modern problems and the pre-
vention and cure of tuberculosis. He
was q member of the New Jersey
State tuberculosis commission, the.
United States Catholic Historical So
ciety and the Irish American Histori-.
cal society He reorganized the An
cient Order of Hibernians.
Among his literary works are his
pastoral letters on "The Christian
Home" "The Christian School" and
"Some Modern Problems" Widely dis
cussed articles he wrote were "Catho-
lies and American Citizenship and
Catholic Grievances and Their Rem
edy." 49,.
Burial took place at Morris Hall,
Lawrenceville, a home for the aged
which was one of the Bishops favotite
charities. Bishop McFaul is survived
by a brother, John J. McFaul of King
ston; a sister, Mrs. Mary O'Connell,
of Philipsburg, and nephew, DR.. Jas.
McFaul of Brooklyn.