A 175th Anniversary

July 31, 2019

This year, we are celebrating the bicentennial of the birth of Servant of God Isaac Hecker (1819 – 1888), founder of the Paulist Fathers.

In addition to this birthday bicentennial, 2019 also is the 175th anniversary of Fr. Hecker’s entrance into the Catholic Church.

Fr. Hecker, the son of German Protestant immigrants, was born and raised on New York City’s Lower East Side. His mother was a Methodist.

After several years of searching and discernment, Fr. Hecker, age 24, was conditionally baptized and received into the Catholic Church on August 1, and August 2, 1844.

He received the Sacraments and made his profession of faith at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Mott Street in Manhattan (now the Basilica of Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral). Receiving Fr. Hecker into the Church was then-Bishop John McCloskey.

To celebrate this 175th anniversary, we are pleased to present this digital version of “The Paulist Vocation,” a book with many of Fr. Hecker’s writings and other materials related to our missionary society’s charism.