Evening star., 1938-04-17
Father Huber of C.. u. Faculty
Twice Decorated by Pope
Church History Professor Vas Called
to Rome in 1927 as English
COnfessOr at St. Peters.
BY JESSIE FAINT EVANS.

Savant of the Roman Catholic
Church, student Of world affairs and
wise and kindly humanitarian is the
Very Rev Raphael NJ Huber, S. T. D.,
o. F. M. c., who has come from the
post of English confessor in st. Peters
Basilica In Rome this year to occupy
the chair of church history at Catho-
lie University.
At the invitation of the Right Rev.
Msgr. Joseph Corrigan. rector of the
Catholic University, and with the con-
sent and wish Of his major superiors
in Rome and America, Father Huber
is the first rector of St. Bonaventure's
College to be associated with Catholic
University. The list of letters after
his name signify doctor of sacred
theology and Order Friars Minor Con-
ventuals.
During his 81 years as priest
Father Huber has followed his church
from the parish of his nativity in
Louisville, KY, into many sections of
his own land and to various parts of
the Old World
Twice decorated by Pope Plus xI
for distinguished services in connec-
ton with his recent post as an Eng
hsh confessor at the Vatican, this
eminent scholar and authority on the
history of the Roman Catholic Church
and its Franciscan Orders, whose
father was a non-Catholic and whose
first cousin was Methodist minister,
has the charm of that simple dignity
which finds itself at ease with prince
or peasant. Neither the rigors of the
cloister nor the burning of the mid
night oil in academic research have
lessened his friendly interest in his
fellow human beings.
Served as Chaplain.
Father Huber has been a soldier.
priest, too, having first served at the
request of captain, now Gen. Hugh
Drum. as a civilian Army chaplain al
Fort Benjamin Harrison near In.
dlanapolis, Ind l912-l5) and latel
Q923-2O at the War College here in
Washington.
The son OF George F.. and Anna
Hillmeyer Huber of Louisville, KY, hi
received his early education at st
Peters Parochial School in the city
OF his birth under the direction of tn.
Ursulne Nuns. He attended st. Fran.
els College. Trenton. N j., was in.
vested with the habit of the Friars
minor conventuals in 1899 and made
his profession of VOWS at Syracuse
N. Y, in 1900. At Innsbruck. Austria
he took a four years course in sacred
theology and, following a three years
postgraduate course, received his de.
gree In theology at the Imperial State
University of Austria May, 1909.
Ordained to the priesthood by the
Most Rev. Bishop AlterWeisel Of
Brlxen, Austria tnow italy, July Is
1906, he read his first mass at Aussee
Styrla, in the beautiful lake distric,
OF the Salzkammergut as the guest Of
the Rev. Albert Count Meran, grand.
son of the Archduke Johann of Aus.
trla, close relative of Emperor Fran;
Joseph.
Upon his return to America Fathe,
Huber was appointed master of cler.
ical students in philosophy and lee.
turer in languages at St. Franci.
College. Subsequently he became rec.
tor of the Church of the Immaculate X
Conception in Trenton.
His interest in young people has
always been a marked and continuing
one. During the course Of his paro-
chlal duties in New York State he
was made spiritual director of various
Holy Name societies and organized the
English branch of the Altar Society
Of the Church of the Assumption
Syracuse, NY. He also served as
first president of the Gonzaga Union
of Catholic Young Men of the State
Of New York.
Called to Rome in 1927.
In 1927 Father Huber was called to
Rome by the Most Rev. Alphonse
Orlch, minister general of the Friars
Minor Conventuals to serve as Eng
lish confessor at St Peters Basilica.
At the Catholic University Father
Huber is domiciled with other priests
and students of his order at St. Bon