{"id":632,"date":"2015-01-12T09:54:12","date_gmt":"2015-01-12T09:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bkpdefunts.smainternational.info\/?p=632"},"modified":"2015-01-12T09:54:12","modified_gmt":"2015-01-12T09:54:12","slug":"le-pere-francis-weiss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.defunts.smainternational.site\/?p=632","title":{"rendered":"Le P\u00e8re Francis WEISS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 des Missions Africaines \u2013Province de Strasbourg<\/strong>
n\u00e9 le 23 avril 1881 \u00e0 Wittersheim<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"weiss<\/td>\ndans le dioc\u00e8se de Strasbourg, France
membre de la SMA le 5 octobre 1902
pr\u00eatre le 17 juillet 1904
d\u00e9c\u00e9d\u00e9 le 1er f\u00e9vrier 1946<\/td>\n		\n

1904-1908 Cork, professeur<\/p>\n

1908-1914 missionnaire \u00e0 la C\u00f4te du B\u00e9nin
1914-1918 mobilis\u00e9
1918-1930 missionnaire \u00e0 la C\u00f4te du B\u00e9nin
1920-1946 missionnaire en G\u00e9orgie, USA
\u00e9conome et conseiller de la pro province en 1938<\/p>\n

d\u00e9c\u00e9d\u00e9 \u00e0 East Saint-Louis, le 1er f\u00e9vrier 1946,
\u00e0 l’\u00e2ge de 64 ans<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Le p\u00e8re Fran\u00e7ois WEISS (1881 – 1946)<\/p>\n

Le 1er f\u00e9vrier 1946, \u00e0 East Saint-Louis (USA), retour \u00e0 Dieu du p\u00e8re Fran\u00e7ois Weiss, \u00e0 l’\u00e2ge de 64 ans.<\/p>\n

Fran\u00e7ois Weiss naquit \u00e0 Wittersheim (Bas-Rhin), dans le dioc\u00e8se de Strasbourg, le 23 avril 1881. Il fit ses \u00e9tudes \u00e0 Keer, \u00e0 Richelieu et au grand s\u00e9minaire \u00e0 Lyon. Ayant fait le serment en 1903, il \u00e9tait ordonn\u00e9 pr\u00eatre le 17 juillet 1904.<\/p>\n

Affect\u00e9 d’abord \u00e0 Cork, il partait en 1908 pour le vicariat de la C\u00f4te du B\u00e9nin. Rentr\u00e9 en Europe en mars 1914, il passa la guerre comme aum\u00f4nier militaire, et en 1919 retournait au B\u00e9nin. Il y resta jusqu’en 1931, sauf l’ann\u00e9e scolaire 1925-1926 qu’il passa comme directeur \u00e0 Saint-Pierre, d\u00e9ployant une grande activit\u00e9 pour l’\u00e9tablissement de la Province d’Alsace-Lorraine. Il aida ainsi le p\u00e8re Br\u00e9diger. Au moment de l’\u00e9rection de la Province (1927), le p\u00e8re Weiss \u00e9tait retourn\u00e9 au B\u00e9nin comme sup\u00e9rieur de l’\u00e9cole normale d’Ibadan. Assez bien dou\u00e9, d’une forte sant\u00e9, il aurait pu encore passer de longues ann\u00e9es en Afrique. Rentr\u00e9 en 1931 pour assister \u00e0 l’assembl\u00e9e g\u00e9n\u00e9rale, il partait l’ann\u00e9e suivante pour les missions des Etats-Unis.<\/p>\n

Le p\u00e8re Weiss devint conseiller du p\u00e8re Lissner, et travailla dans plusieurs paroisses, dont celles d’Atlanta et de East Saint-Louis.<\/p>\n

Father Francis Joseph Weiss (1881 – 1946)<\/p>\n

Francis Joseph Weiss was born in Wittersheim, Alsace-Lorraine, in the diocese of Strasbourg, on April 23, 1881.
He died in St. John\u2019s Sanitarium, Springfield, Illinois, USA, on February 1, 1946.<\/p>\n

Our knowledge of Francis\u2019s early history is scant. It is known that received his second-level education in Our Lady of Lourdes, at Keer, near Maastrict, and in the Petit Seminaire des Roch at Chamalieres (Puy-de-Dome), both colleges of the Society, Francis studied philosophy and theology in the Society\u2019s major seminary, at Cours Gambetta, Lyon. He was received as a member of the Society on June 5, 1903, and was ordained a priest in the seminary chapel at Lyon, by Bishop Paul Pellet SMA, on July 17, 1904. Ordained with him on that day was Alphonse Barthlen who was later to serve in America.<\/p>\n

After ordination Francis was sent to Cork to learn English and to teach in St. Joseph\u2019s College, Wilton, and an SMA Apostolic School. Knowledge of English was essential for work in the Society\u2019s missions in British territories. In the colonies of Lagos or the Gold Coast education, as well as day-to-day business was conducted through the medium of English. And it was to the former territory that Francis was sent in 1908. Assigned to the Vicariate of the Bight of Benin, a vast jurisdiction covering most of south-west Nigeria, his first placement was to Lafiaji, near Lagos. Francis showed an aptitude for the education apostolate and from 1910 was appointed supervisor of all the Catholic Schools in Lagos. In this capacity he had to ensure that standards were reached and maintained so that the schools could avail of generous government subsidies. In 1914, on the outbreak of the Great War, Francis returned to France and entered the French army as a chaplain. After the armistice, in 1918, he went back to Africa where \u2013 assisted by Edward Hill and Ernest Robbens – he was Director of a college for training catechists and teachers based in the city of Ibadan, about eighty miles from Lagos. During his period in Benin Francis was councilor to the Visitor whose task was to ensure the spiritual and physical welfare of the confreres.<\/p>\n

In 1926 Francis became Director of the Society\u2019s Apostolic College at St. Pierre near Eichhoffen in Alsace. This was on the eve of the erection of a distinct Alsace Province of the Society \u2013 it came in 1927 \u2013 and Francis took an active part in the preparations. In 1929 Francis returned to Africa where he was appointed to the senior position of rector of Holy Cross Cathedral, in Lagos. However, within a matter of months his health broke down and he was invalided to Europe. Although he recovered his health quickly and participated in the General Assembly of June 1931, his superiors decided that he was no longer fit for tropical conditions. Since 1907 the Society had missions in the Southern States of America which were mainly staffed by Alsatian members When George Brediger, the Alsace Provincial, asked him go to America Francis readily agreed. Reaching his mission in October 1931 he served briefly in St. Benedict the Moor Church, in Savannah, Georgia. He settled in quickly to the new way of life so much so that in the summer of 1932 Ignace Lissner, superior of the \u2018American Works\u2019 appointed him pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Church, in Atlanta. Fr. Lissner wrote in his letter of appointment that Our Lady of Lourdes was \u2018the most important Colored mission-parish in Atlanta\u2019. And indeed there had been much achieved since the foundation of the parish in 1912. When Francis took charge he found a fine three-storey combination church and school, a school, a convent with teaching Sisters, a social hall for meetings and a well-appointed rectory.<\/p>\n

Francis was to remain in this pastorate up to the time of his death. During these years he saw his congregation steadily increase in spite of the many obstacles posed by poverty and racial discrimination. The residential Bible classes which he ran attracted many converts to the Church. His ready participation in Catholic organizations was a further sign of his commitment. He served as spiritual director of the Colored Catholic Laymen\u2019s League of Georgia and was a prominent member of the Diocesan Council for Negro Parishes. Among the many practical acts of Christianity for which he was revered, Francis opened a \u2018Catholic Colored Clinic\u2019 in Atlanta, the first one of its kind, which was staffed by three Medical Mission Sisters. Francis had a talent for writing and frequently sat at his typewriter composing letters seeking support for his projects, or articles for various magazines and newsletters. Few samples of his work now remain. However the archives of the American Province at Tenafly holds a copy of an article he wrote in 1938 for the Echo des Missions Africaines de Lyon (the journal of the French Province) titled \u2018Chez les Noirs: Les Noces d\u2019Argent de la Paroisse N.D. de Lourdes d\u2019Atlanta\u2019. This contained a history of the parish sketched on the occasion of its silver jubilee. Although far removed from the center of the American Branch\u2019s administration, Francis was a keen advocate of an American Province and when this was established, in March 1941, he served as a Councilor to the Provincial, Fr. Lissner.<\/p>\n

Francis suffered a lot in the last months of his life. In December 1945 he was admitted to the Atlanta Hospital where he was Extraordinary Confessor to the Sisters. There he was diagnosed as having pulmonary tuberculosis of a virulent type. Before he fell ill Francis had decided to retire to his old country, Alsace, and to make his home with his only sister, married in Wolxheim. Subsequently he entered a sanatorium in Springfield where he died.<\/p>\n

Francis liked to tell stories of his experiences as a chaplain in the First World War. He also liked to sing the popular Volk\u2019s Lieder, from his school and college days.<\/p>\n

He is buried in the SMA plot in the Catholic Cemetery of Savannah, Georgia, USA.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 des Missions Africaines \u2013Province de Strasbourgn\u00e9 le 23 avril 1881 \u00e0 Wittersheim dans le dioc\u00e8se de Strasbourg, Francemembre de la SMA le 5 octobre 1902pr\u00eatre le 17 juillet…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":631,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-necrologe-sma"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.defunts.smainternational.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.defunts.smainternational.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.defunts.smainternational.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.defunts.smainternational.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.defunts.smainternational.site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.defunts.smainternational.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.defunts.smainternational.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.defunts.smainternational.site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.defunts.smainternational.site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.defunts.smainternational.site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}