John Bapst

John Bapst (born Johannes Bapst at La Roche, Fribourg, Switzerland, 17 December 1815; died at Mount Hope, Maryland, United States, 2 November 1887) was a Swiss Jesuit missionary and educator who became the first president of Boston College.

The Reverend John Bapst
Portrait of John Bapst
1st President of Boston College
In office 1863–1869
Succeeded by	Robert W. Brady
Personal details
Born	Johannes Bapst 17 December 1815 La Roche, Fribourg, Switzerland
Died	2 November 1887 (aged 71) Mount Hope, Maryland, United States
Orders
Ordination	31 December 1846

Life

At 12, he began his studies at the College of Fribourg, and on 30 September 1835, he entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus. He was ordained priest on 31 December 1846 after the usual course of studies and teaching.

Father Bapst arrived in New York in 1848. He was sent to minister to the Native Americans at Old Town, Maine, who had been without a priest for 20 years after ten of his predecessor's were murdered. Ignorant of the native Abenaki language of the Penobscot Indian Island Reservation he was able to learn it over three (3) years time.

Father Pabst founded several temperance societies in Maine.

In 1850, he left Old Town for Eastport. His work immediately began to attract attention for its results among Catholics and for the number of converts who were brought into the Church. As his missions covered a large extent of territory, he became generally known throughout the state. When the Know-Nothing excitement broke out, he was at Ellsworth. Protestants were outraged when he denounced the public schools for forcing a Protestant Bible on Catholic children. He moved to Bangor, Maine.

The Ellsworth town meeting passed a resolution threatening him bodily if he returned. He returned on a brief visit in October 1854 and was attacked by ruffians, robbed of his watch and money, tarred and feathered, and ridden out of town on a rail. The incident was met with general condemnation across Maine and the rest of New England.[1]

In Bangor, Maine, Father Bapst built St. John's Catholic Church (Bangor, Maine), the first Catholic church in Bangor, which was dedicated in December 1856. He remained there for three years and was then sent to Boston College as rector of what was the house of higher studies for Jesuit scholastics.

He was afterwards superior of all the Jesuit houses of Canada and New York and then superior of a Residence in Providence, Rhode Island.

See also

• John Bapst Memorial High School
• Bapst Library

References

1. Maine Historical Society, Maine: a history, (1919) Volume 1 pp 304-5 online

External links

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Johannes Bapst". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.