How did the Passionists end up in St. Paul, Kansas?
An Historical Reflection on the Osage Mission.
by Father Rob Carbonneau, C.P.
Hugh K. Barr, C.P.
Father Hugh K. Barr, C.P. had the exciting assignment of writing Passionist history in the United States during the last decade of the nineteenth century. This led him to visit Osage Mission, Kansas September 8 to October 22, 1894. Information gained was compiled in a hand-written history which concluded in 1898 as it appears that information continued to be sent to him after he had visited Kansas. This document is located at the Passionist Historical Archives, Union City, New Jersey.
The article below offers some key historical events taken from the Father Barr narrative. Before the information can be taken as gospel, Barr's facts would have to be compared to other sources: the Kansas State Historical Society and Kansas Highway Commission Roadside Marker K-7; Osage Mission Sesquicentennial, 1847-1997: Celebrating 150 Years. St. Paul, Kansas. Mary Frances Van Leeuwen Casey, 1997; Sister M. Lilliana Owens, S.L. "The Early Work of the Lorettines in Southeastern Kansas," Kansas Historical Quarterly, 14 (August 1947): 263-276; likewise documentation at the Passionist Archives, Holy Cross Province, Chicago, Illinois, and assorted Jesuit, Catholic, and Kansas state directories and archives. What a great dissertation topic!
The 2002 Passionist Sesquicentennial history Celebrating 150 Years allows us to set the historical stage. We learn this Passionist mission in the Kansas plains began in 1894. From 1936 to 1966 this was home to Holy Cross Province novitiate. The Passionist presence at St. Paul, Kansas ceased in 1987 when Father Luke Connolly, C.P. completed his assignment as local pastor. Today, Father Carrol Thorne, C.P. upholds the Passionist presence as a civilian chaplain for the Department of Pastoral Care at the nation's maximum security prison for military offenders convicted of serious crime at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
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