Apollinaris William Baumgartner

Apollinaris William Baumgartner, OFMCap, D.D., (24 July 1899 – 18 December 1970) was a prelate of the Catholic Church, serving as Bishop of Agaña, Guam, from 1945 to 1970.

Biography

Early life and education William Baumgartner was born in College Point, Queens, New York City, New York, United States, to William Lawrence Baumgartner and Elizabeth (née Wurtz) Baumgartner. He attended St. Fidelis School, the parochial elementary school of St. Fidelis Parish in College Point, and already had decided to become a Capuchin friar by the time he was to start high school. He boarded at St. Lawrence College in Mount Calvary, Wisconsin, a seminary high school run by Capuchins. He later received a Doctor of Divinity.

Priesthood and episcopacy Baumgartner was ordained a priest on 30 May 1926, taking the name Apollinaris in honour of many famous Catholic saints and bishops. who was leading the post-war military administration of the island. The apostolic vicariate was in ruins at that time, with most of Guam's churches damaged beyond repair. All American missionary priests were still captives in Japan, with only one Chamorro (native Guamanian) priest remaining, and zero Chamorro religious sisters.

Work in education Almost immediately after arriving on Guam, Baumgartner set to work reestablishing Catholic schools on the island, all of which had been destroyed in the war.

Santa Barbara Catholic School Santa Barbara Catholic School opened in September 1950 with grades 1-4 and 150 students. The school was part of Santa Barbara Parish and was run by the Sisters of Mercy.

St. Jude Thaddeus Junior High School & Cathedral Grade School (Bishop Baumgartner Memorial Catholic School)

In 1955, Baumgartner founded St. Jude Thaddeus Junior High School, a K-10 school staffed by six Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration from La Crosse, Wisconsin. Later, the ninth and tenth grades were eliminated, and in the 1980s, the school merged with Cathedral Grade School to form the new Bishop Baumgartner Memorial Catholic School, named in honor of the bishop who founded both of the merging schools.

Legacy Baumgartner is best remembered for creating Guam's Catholic education system, founding nearly a dozen schools in just a few years. Today, Bishop Baumgartner Memorial Catholic School, an elementary school created by a merger of two schools he founded, is named in his honor.

Coat of arms For his episcopal coat of arms, Baumgartner chose a phoenix as the main charge. The bird was chosen because of its mythological ability to be reborn out of ashes, which he believed would be representative of the future of his see on Guam.