author
Francis A. (Francis Aloysius) Baker
1820–1865
A 19th-century American priest, missionary, and preacher, he helped found the Paulist Fathers after a spiritual journey that took him from Methodism to the Episcopal Church and then to Roman Catholicism. His life and sermons reflect the energy of religious debate and reform in the United States before the Civil War.
1 Audiobook
Sermons of the Rev. Francis A. Baker, Priest of the Congregation of St. Paul With a Memoir of His Life
by Francis A. (Francis Aloysius) Baker
About the author
Born in Baltimore on March 30, 1820, Francis Aloysius Baker—better known as Francis Asbury Baker—was educated at Princeton and first entered the ministry as an Episcopal clergyman. Influenced by the Oxford Movement, he was received into the Catholic Church in 1853, a turning point that reshaped the rest of his life and writing.
After becoming a Catholic, he joined the Redemptorists and was ordained a Catholic priest in 1856. In 1858 he became one of the founders of the Missionary Society of St. Paul the Apostle, better known as the Paulist Fathers, a community devoted to preaching and missionary work in the United States.
Baker became known for his sermons, spiritual instruction, and pastoral work, and his published writings kept his voice alive after his early death in New York City on April 4, 1865. For listeners interested in American religious history, his work opens a window onto conversion, preaching, and Catholic life in 19th-century America.