Thomas Frederick Price

Thomas Frederick Price, MM (August 19, 1860 - September 12, 1919) was the American co-founder of the Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America, better known as the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers.

Early life

Childhood Thomas Price was born on August 19, 1860, in Wilmington, North Carolina, the eighth of ten children of Alfred and Clarissa Bond Price. Clarissa was a Methodist who converted to Catholicism when she was a girl, alienating her family forever. She had a special devotion to the Virgin Mary. When Clarissa married Alfred, a newspaper publisher in Wilmington, he was an Episcopalian. However, he also converted to Catholicism in 1866. Price attended the St. Thomas parish school in Wilimington, where his two older sisters, Margaret and Mary, served as teachers. They left the school after becoming members of the Sisters of Mercy. Mark Gross, pastor of the church, then took over the teaching.

In 1877, Price finally entered St. Charles College. He graduated from there in June 1881. Price then continued his formation for the priesthood in September at St. Mary's Seminary, the major seminary for the archdiocese in Baltimore.

Price then organized summer catechizing teams of seminarians. In 1902, Price opened Regina Apostolorum, a preparatory seminary for missionaries serving in the United States. The Regina Apostolorum was located in Raleigh, with Price serving as its primary teacher and spiritual director.

Foreign missions

Foundation of Maryknoll Society As time went on, Price began to emphasize more and more often, in the pages of Truth, the need for a seminary to train young American men for foreign missions. At the same time, James Anthony Walsh, of Boston, was developing the same idea in the pages of The Field Afar. At the Eucharistic Congress in Montreal, Quebec, in 1910, the two priests began to formulate plans for the establishment of a seminary for foreign missioners. With the American hierarchy's approval, the two priests traveled to Rome in June 1911 to receive final approval from Pope Pius X for their project.

After meeting with the pope, Price traveled to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in Lourdes, France, for the first time. During his stay at Lourdes, Price had a spiritual experience that he refers to in his diary: he maintained a special devotion to Our Lady of Lourdes and to Bernadette Soubirous until his death.

Returning to the United States, Price and Walsh began establishing the new seminary and the foreign mission society. After a brief stay at Hawthorne, New York, the property was purchased at Ossining, New York, for the site of the new foundation, the Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America (popularly known as Maryknoll).

Mission trip to China

Price made a countrywide tour of America to gain support for the new endeavor. By 1918, three young priests (James Edward Walsh, Francis Xavier Ford, and Bernard F. Meyer) were ready for the foreign missions in China. On September 7, 1918, Price went with them as superior to the new mission. From the time of Maryknoll's foundation, Price had understood that Walsh was capable of administering and directing the seminary itself. Price himself had always hoped to be chosen as one of Maryknoll's first missioners, and his dream was realized.

The four American missionaries arrived in the Crown Colony of Hong Kong in October 1918. They then settled in the city of Yeungkong (present-day Yangjiang) on the South China Sea. Price had great difficulty learning the Chinese language due to its complexity.

Death In August 1919, a serious illness forced Price to take the trip from Yangjiang to Hong Kong for treatment. Arriving in Hong Kong on August 19th, he entered St. Paul's Hospital in Causeway Bay He was diagnosed with an appendicitis and underwent surgery on September 6th. His friend Father Tour stayed with Price at the hospital and recited the prayers with him. Price died on September 12th at age 59 due to a ruptured appendix.

Bishop Dominic Pozzoni, the apostolic vicar of Hong Kong, celebrated a solemn requiem mass for Price on September 18the at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Hong Kong.. A large number of priests and religious sisters attended the service. Price was buried in the priests' plot at St. Michael's Cemetery in Happy Valley, Hong Kong

Writings Bernadette of Lourdes (1914) The Lily of Mary (1918)