Will County ILGenWeb Biographies..... Becher, Rev Gerardus
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File contributed for use by:
Dori Leekly & Margie Glenn

Author: History of Will County IL, 1878

Rev. Gerardus BECHER, Pastor of St. John the Baptist's Church and Superior of the 
Franciscan Fathers, of the Strict Observance, Joliet; was born in Rhineland, Germany, 
April 27, 1834; he received his preparatory education in the parish school of his native 
country, and then entered Warendorf College in Westphalia; in 1862, he came to this country, 
and completed his education in St. Joseph's College, Teutopolis, Ill., where is located 
the mother-house of the Order in this country; he was ordained a priest of the Franciscan 
Order about five years later by the Rt. Rev. Bishop Yunker of Alton; remained about a year 
longer, and was then transferred to Quincy, where he became a Professor in the College of St. 
Francis Solanus. and at the same time attended the congregation at Warsaw, Ill., and another 
in Gilman Tp.; from Quincy he returned to Teutopolis; and spent two years as Prefect of St. 
Joseph's College, and then became Superior of the Convent, of St. Francis, and Pastor of the 
congregation; after the death of the late Father Nolte, he was sent to Joliet in December, 1876. 
Father Gerardus' Chief Assistant, Father Symphorinus Forstmann, is one of the many victims of 
persecution under the present dynasty in Germany, having been expelled by Bismarck, together 
with eighty-four others of his brethren from Westphalia, in 1875; after completing his studies 
in the convent in St. Louis, he was assigned to Joliet in 1877. It was a desideratum of the 
Bishop in calling the Fathers to Joliet, that they might administer to the spiritual wants 
of the Catholic prisoners in the State Penitentiary, which, through the politeness of Warden 
McClaughry, they have been enabled to do. This duty is performed by Father Augustine McClory 
who is a native of Ppittsburgh, Pennsylvania., and came to Joliet in 1877. There are here 
four fathers and three lay brothers, who, besides attending the congregation, are the spiritual 
advisors of the Sisters of the Franciscan Convent and Academy and also give religious 
instruction to the pupils in the Academy.

Additional Comments:
HISTORY OF WILL COUNTY, ILLINOIS; Chicago: Wm LeBaron Jr & Co, 186 Dearborn Street, 1878.

File at: http://will.illinoisgenweb.org/bios/becherg.txt


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