See also:

• ISAAC (Hebrew for " he laughs," on explanatory references to the name, see ABRAHAM)

ISAAC See also:

• THOMAS
• THOMAS (c. 1654-1720)
• THOMAS (d. 110o)
• THOMAS, ARTHUR GORING (1850-1892)
• THOMAS, CHARLES LOUIS AMBROISE (1811-1896)
• THOMAS, GEORGE (c. 1756-1802)
• THOMAS, GEORGE HENRY (1816-187o)
• THOMAS, ISAIAH (1749-1831)
• THOMAS, PIERRE (1634-1698)
• THOMAS, SIDNEY GILCHRIST (1850-1885)
• THOMAS, ST
• THOMAS, THEODORE (1835-1905)
• THOMAS, WILLIAM (d. 1554)

THOMAS See also:

• HECKER, FRIEDRICH FRANZ KARL (1811-1881)
• ISAAC THOMAS HECKER (1819-1888)

HECKER (1819-1888)  , See also:

• AMERICAN

American See also:

• ROMAN

Roman See also:

• CATHOLIC (Gr. KcaBoXuK6s, general, universal)

Catholic See also:

• PRIEST (Ger. Priester, Fr. pretre)

priest, the founder of the "Paulist Fathers," was See also:

• BORN, IGNAZ, EDLER VON (1742–1791)

born in New See also:

• YORK
• YORK (HOUSE OF)
• YORK, EDMUND OF LANGLEY, DUKE OF (1341-1402)
• YORK, EDWARD
• YORK, FREDERICK AUGUSTUS, DUKE OF (1763-1827)
• YORK, RICHARD, DUKE

York See also:

• CITY (through Fr. cite, from Lat. civitas)

City, of See also:

• GERMAN
• GERMAN, DUTCH AND SCANDINAVIAN

German immigrant parents, on the 18th of See also:

• DECEMBER (Lat. decent, ten)

December 1819 . When barely twelve years of See also:

• AGE (Fr. age, through late Lat. aetaticum, from aetas)

age, he had to go to See also:

• WORK

work, and pushed a See also:

• BAKER, HENRY (1698-1774)
• BAKER, SIR BENJAMIN (1840-1907)
• BAKER, SIR RICHARD (1568-1644/5)
• BAKER, SIR SAMUEL WHITE (1821-1893)
• BAKER, THOMAS (1656-1740)
• BAKER, VALENTINE [BAKER PASHA] (1827-1887)

baker's See also:

• CART (A.S. crcet, Gaelic cairt; connected with " car ")

cart for his See also:

• ELDER (0. Eng. ellarn; Ger. Holunder; Fr. sureau)
• ELDER (Gr. 1rpev(3iTepos)

elder See also:

• BROTHERS, RICHARD (1757-1824)

brothers, who had a bakery in Rutgers See also:

• STREET
• STREET, GEORGE EDMUND (1824-1881)

Street . But he studied at every possible opportunity, becoming immersed in See also:

• KANT, IMMANUEL (1724-1804)

Kant's Critique of Pure See also:

• REASON (Lat. ratio, through French raison)

Reason, and while still a lad took See also:

• PART

part in certain politico-social movements which aimed at the See also:

• ELEVATION

elevation of the working See also:

• MAN
• MAN, ISLE OF (anc. Mona)

man . It was at this juncture that he met See also:

• ORESTES

Orestes See also:

• BROWNSON, ORESTES AUGUSTUS (1803-1876)

Brownson, who exercised a marked See also:

• INFLUENCE (Late Lat. influentia, from influere, to flow in)

influence over him . See also:

• ISAAC (Hebrew for " he laughs," on explanatory references to the name, see ABRAHAM)

Isaac was deeply religious, a characteristic for which he gave much See also:

• CREDIT (Lat. credere, to believe)

credit to his prayerful See also:

• MOTHER

mother, and remained so amid all the See also:

• READING

reading and agitating in which he engaged . Having grown into See also:

• YOUNG
• YOUNG, A
• YOUNG, ARTHUR (1741-1820)
• YOUNG, BRIGHAM (1801-1877)
• YOUNG, CHARLES MAYNE (1777–1856)
• YOUNG, EDWARD (1683–1765)
• YOUNG, JAMES (1811-1883)
• YOUNG, THOMAS (1773-1829)

young manhood, he joined the See also:

• BROOK

Brook See also:

• FARM

Farm See also:

• MOVEMENT

movement, and in that See also:

• COLONY (Lat. colonia, from colonus, a cultivator)

colony he tarried some six months . Shortly after leaving it (in 1844) he was baptized into the Roman Catholic See also:

• CHURCH
• CHURCH (according to most authorities derived from the Gr. Kvpcaxov [&wµa], " the Lord's [house]," and common to many Teutonic, Slavonic and other languages under various forms—Scottish kirk, Ger. Kirche, Swed. kirka, Dan. kirke, Russ. tserkov, Buig. cerk
• CHURCH, FREDERICK EDWIN (1826-1900)
• CHURCH, GEORGE EARL (1835–1910)
• CHURCH, RICHARD WILLIAM (1815–189o)
• CHURCH, SIR RICHARD (1784–1873)

Church by See also:

• BISHOP (A.S. bisceop, from Lat. episcopus, Gr. irio-Korros, " overlooker " or " overseer ")
• BISHOP, ISABELLA (1832-1904)
• BISHOP, SIR HENRY ROWLEY (1786-1855)

Bishop See also:

• MCCLOSKEY, JOHN (1810-1885)

McCloskey of New York . One See also:

• YEAR

year later he was entered in the novitiate of the Redemptorists in See also:

• BELGIUM
• BELGIUM (Fr. Belgique; Flem. Belgic)

Belgium, and there he cultivated to a high degree the spirit of lofty mystical piety which marked him through See also:

• LIFE

life . Ordained a priest in See also:

• LONDON

London by See also:

• WISEMAN, NICHOLAS PATRICK STEPHEN (1802-1865)

Wiseman in 1849, he returned to See also:

• AMERICA

America, and worked until 1857 as a Redemptorist missionary . With all his See also:

• MYSTICISM (from Or. µuety, to shut the eyes; µuorrts, one initiated into the mysteries)

mysticism, Isaac See also:

• HECKER, FRIEDRICH FRANZ KARL (1811-1881)
• HECKER, ISAAC THOMAS (1819-1888)

Hecker had the wide-awake mind of the typical American, and he perceived that the missionary activity of the Catholic Church in the See also:

• UNITED

United States must remain to a large extent ineffective unless it adopted methods suited to the See also:

• COUNTRY (from the Mid. Eng. contre or contrie, and O. Fr. cuntree; Late Lat. contrata, showing the derivation from contra, opposite, over against, thus the tract of land which fronts the sight, cf. Ger. Gegend, neighbourhood)

country and the age . In this he had the sympathy of four See also:

• FELLOW

fellow Redemptorists, who like himself were of American See also:

• BIRTH (a word common in various forms to Teutonic languages from the root of the verb " to bear ")

birth and converts from Protestantism . Acting as their See also:

• AGENT (from Lat. agere, to act)

agent, and with the consent of his See also:

• LOCAL

local superiors, Hecker went to See also:

• ROME
• ROME (Roma)

Rome to beg of the See also:

• RECTOR (Lat. for " ruler," " guide," &c., from regere, " rule ")

Rector See also:

• MAJOR
• MAJOR (Lat. for " greater ")
• MAJOR (or MAIR), JOHN (1470-1550)

Major of his See also:

• ORDER
• ORDER (through Fr. ordre, for earlier ordene, from Lat. ordo, ordinis, rank, service, arrangement; the ultimate source is generally taken to be the root seen in Lat. oriri, rise, arise, begin; cf. " origin ")
• ORDER, HOLY

Order that a Redemptorist novitiate might be opened in the United States, in order thus to attract American youths to the missionary life .

In furtherance of this See also:

• REQUEST, LETTERS OF

request, he took with him the strong approval of some members of the American See also:

• HIERARCHY (Gr. iepos, holy, and apxe.v, to rule)

hierarchy . The Rector Major, instead of listening to See also:

• FATHER

Father Hecker, expelled him from the Order for having made the See also:

• JOURNEY (through O. Fr. jornee or journee, mod. Fr. journee, from med. Lat. diurnata, Lat. diurnus, of or belonging to dies, day)

journey to Rome without sufficient authorization . The outcome of the trouble was that Hecker and the other four American Redemptorists were permitted by See also:

• PIUS

Pius IX. in 1858 to See also:

• FORM (Lat. forma)

form the See also:

• SEPARATE

separate religious community of the Paulists . Hecker trained and governed this community in spiritual exercises and See also:

• MISSION

mission-See also:

• PREACHING (Fr. preecher, from Lat. praedicare, to proclaim)

preaching until his See also:

• DEATH

death in New York City, after seventeen years of suffering, on the 22nd of December 1888 . He founded and was the director of the Catholic Publication Society, was the founder, and from 1865 until his death the editor, of the Catholic See also:

• WORLD

World, and wrote Questions of the Soul (1855), Aspirations of Nature (1857), Catholicity in the United States (1899) and The Church and the Age (1888).project of Catholic enterprise . From the American priesthood, Father Hecker stood out conspicuous for sturdy courage, deep interior piety, an assertive self-initiative and immense love of See also:

• MODERN

modern times and modern See also:

• LIBERTY (Lat. libertas, from liber, free)

liberty . So they took Father Hecker for a See also:

• KIND (O. E. ge-cynde, from the same root as is seen in " kin," supra)

kind of See also:

• PATRON

patron See also:

• SAINT (lat. sanctus, " holy ")

saint . His See also:

• BIOGRAPHY (from the Gr. (3ios, life, and yp&4 , writing)

biography (New York, 1891), written in See also:

• ENGLISH

English by the Paulist Father See also:

• ELLIOTT, EBENEZER (1781–1849)

Elliott, was translated into See also:

• FRENCH
• FRENCH, DANIEL CHESTER (1850– )
• FRENCH, NICHOLAS (1604-1678)

French (1897), and speedily became the See also:

• BOOK

book of the See also:

• HOUR

hour . Under the See also:

• INSPIRATION (Lat. inspirare, breathe upon or into)

inspiration of Father Hecker's life and See also:

• CHARACTER (Gr. xapareri7p, from xap&crew, to scratch)

character, the more spirited See also:

• SECTION
• SECTION (Lat. sectio, cutting, secare, to cut)

section of the French See also:

• CLERGY (M.E. clergie, O. Fr. clergie, from Low Lat. form clericia [Skean, by assimilation with O. Fr. clergie, Fr. clerge,from Low Lat. clericatus)
• CLERGY, BENEFIT OF

clergy undertook the task of persuading their fellow-priests loyally to accept the actual See also:

• POLITICAL

political See also:

• ESTABLISHMENT (0. Fr. establissement, Fr. etablissement, late Norm. Fr. establishement, from O. Fr. establir, Fr. etablir, Lat. stabilire, to make stable)

establishment, and then, breaking out of their See also:

• ISOLATION

isolation, to put themselves in See also:

• TOUCH (derived through Fr. toucher from a common Teutonic and Indo-Germanic root, cf. " tug," " tuck," O. H. Ger. zucchen, to twitch or draw)

touch with the intellectual life of the country, and take an active part in the work of social amelioration . In 1897 the movement received an impetus—and a warning—when Mgr O'Connell, former Rector of the American See also:

• COLLEGE (Collegium)

College in Rome, spoke on behalf of Father Hecker's ideas at the Catholic See also:

• CONGRESS (Lat. congressus, coming together, from congredi; cum, with, and gradus, step)

Congress in Friburg . The conservatives took alarm at what they considered to be symptoms of pernicious modernism or " Liberalism." Did not the watchword " Aliens au peuple " savour of See also:

• HERESY

heresy ? Did it not tend toward breaking down the divinely established distinction between the priest and the layman, and conceding something to the laity in the management of the Church ?

The insistence upon individual initiative was judged to be incompatible with the fundamental principle of Catholicism, obedience to authority . Moreover, the conservatives were, almost to a man, See also:

• ANTI, or CAMPA

anti-republicans who distrusted and disliked the democratic abbes . Complaints were sent to Rome . A violent polemic against the new movement was launched in See also:

• ABBE (Serbo-Croatian Rai))

Abbe Maignan's Le Pere Hecker, est-il un saint ? (1898) . Repugnance to American tendencies and influences had a strong See also:

• REPRESENTATION

representation in the See also:

• CURIA

Curia and in powerful circles in Rome . See also:

• LEO
• LEO (THE LION)
• LEO, BROTHER (d. c. 1270)
• LEO, HEINRICH (1799-1878)
• LEO, JOHANNES (c. 1494-1552)
• LEO, LEONARDO (1694–1744)

Leo XIII. was extremely reluctant to pronounce any strictures upon American Catholics, of whose See also:

• LOYALTY

loyalty to the Roman See, and to their faith, he had often spoken in terms of high approbation . But he yielded, in a measure, to the pressure brought to See also:

• BEAR
• BEAR, BLACK
• BEAR, BROWN
• BEAR, GRIZZLY
• BEAR, ISABELLINE
• BEAR, WHITE

bear upon him, and, See also:

• EARLY
• EARLY, JUBAL ANDERSON (1816-1894)

early in See also:

• FEBRUARY

February 1899, addressed to See also:

• CARDINAL (Lat. cardinalis)

Cardinal See also:

• GIBBONS, GRINLING (1648-1721)
• GIBBONS, JAMES (1834– )
• GIBBONS, ORLANDO (1583-1625)

Gibbons the Brief Testem Benevolentiae . This document contained a condemnation of the following doctrines or tendencies: (a) undue insistence on interior initiative in the spiritual life, as leading to disobedience; (b) attacks on religious vows, and disparagement of the value in the See also:

• PRESENT

present age, of religious orders; (c) minimizing Catholic See also:

• DOCTRINE

doctrine; (d) minimizing the importance of spiritual direction . The brief did not assert that any unsound doctrine on the above points had been held by Hecker or existed among Americans . Its tenour was, that if such opinions did exist, the See also:

• POPE (Gr. irarraas, post-classical Lat. papa, father)
• POPE, ALEXANDER (1688–1744)
• POPE, ALEXANDER (1763-1835)
• POPE, JANE (1742-1818)
• POPE, JOHN (1822-1892)
• POPE, SIR THOMAS (c. 1507-1559)

Pope called upon the hierarchy to eradicate the evil . Cardinal Gibbons and many other prelates replied to Rome .

With all but unanimity, they declared that the incriminated opinions had no existence among American Catholics . It was well known that Hecker never had countenanced the slightest departure from Catholic principles in their fullest and most strict application . The disturbance caused by the condemnation was slight; almost the entire laity, and a considerable part of the clergy, never understood what the See also:

• NOISE (a word of doubtful origin; O. Fr. nogse or nose; Prov. nausa, which points to Lat. nausea, sickness, as the origin; others take Lat. noxia, harm, as the source)

noise was about . The affair was soon forgotten, but the result was to strengthen the hands of the conservatives in See also:

• FRANCE
• FRANCE, ANATOLE (1844– )

France . (J . J . F.) The name of Hecker is closely associated with that of " American-ism." To understand this movement it is necessary to comprehend the tendency of events in Catholic See also:

• EUROPE

Europe rather than in America itself . The steady decline in the See also:

• POWER [WILLIAM GRATTAN] TYRONE (1797-1841)

power and influence of French Catholicism since shortly after 1870 is the most remarkable feature of the See also:

• HISTORY

history of the Third See also:

• REPUBLIC (Lat. respublica, a commonweal or common-wealth)

Republic . Not only did the French See also:

• STATE
• STATE, GREAT OFFICERS OF

State pass See also:

• LAWS

laws bearing more and more stringently on the Church, under each succeeding See also:

• MINISTRY

ministry, but the bulk of the See also:

• PEOPLE

people acquiesced in the policy of its legislators . The clergy, if not Catholicism, was rapidly losing its hold over the once Catholic nation . Observing this fact, and encouraged by the See also:

• ACTION

action of Leo XIII., who, in 1892 called on French Catholics loyally to accept the Republic, a See also:

• BODY

body of vigorous young French priests set themselves to check the disaster . They studied the causes which produced it .

These causes, they considered to be, first, the clergy's predominant sympathy with the monarchists, and in its undisguised hostility to the Republic; secondly, the Church's aloofness from modern men, methods and thought . The progressive party believed that there was too little cultivation of individual, See also:

• INDEPENDENT

independent character, while too much stress was laid upon what might be called the See also:

• MECHANICAL

mechanical or routine See also:

• SIDE
• SIDE (mod. Eski Adalia)

side of See also:

• RELIGION
• RELIGION, FOLKLORE, CUSTOM

religion . The party perceived, too, that Catholicism was making scarcely any use of modern aggressive modes of propaganda; that, for example, the Church took but an insignificant part in social movements, in the organization of clubs for social study, in the establishing of settlements and similar philanthropic endeavour . Lack of adaptability to modern needs expresses in See also:

• SHORT, FRANCIS JOB (1857– )

short the deficiencies in Catholicism which these men endeavoured to correct . They began a domestic apostolate which had for one of its rallying cries, "Allons au peuple,' —" Let us go to the people." They agitated for the inauguration of social See also:

• WORKS

works, for a more intimate mingling of priests with the people, and for See also:

• GENERAL
• GENERAL (Lat. generalis, of or relating to a genus, kind or class)

general cultivation of See also:

• PERSONAL

personal initiative, both in clergy and in laity . Not unnaturally, they looked for inspiration to America .