On this date 114 years ago, Our Sunday Visitor founder John Francis Noll was ordained to the priesthood at Fort Wayne's Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, which was his home parish.
Normally,
young men were not ordained before they turned 24, but there was
a great need for priests in the diocese. Also, Noll's mentor, cathedral rector
Father Joseph Brammer, was gravely ill and worried that he would not live to
see the first seminarian from his parish ordained. Consequently, the 23-year-old Noll
was ordained June 4,1898. Father Brammer died two weeks later, on June 20.
Within a year, Father Noll was named pastor of St. Patrick Parish in Ligonier at age 24. His parish was 30 square miles, which he covered on foot or horseback.
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| Archbishop Noll during his seminary years. |
