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John W. Beschter
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Main page John William Beschter[1] (born Johann Wilhelm Beschter;[2] May 20, 1763 – January 4,
The Reverend
Contents 1842) was a Catholic priest and Jesuit from the Duchy of Luxembourg in the Austrian
John W. Beschter
Featured content Netherlands, who immigrated to the United States as a missionary, where he ministered in
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rural Pennsylvania and Maryland. He was the last Jesuit pastor of St. Mary's Church in
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Lancaster, as well as the pastor of St. John the Evangelist Church in Baltimore, in addition
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Wikipedia store to being a priest at several other German-speaking churches in Pennsylvania. His
ministerial work was punctuated by a time as master of novices at the new Jesuit novitiate in
Interaction White Marsh, Maryland, as well as a brief term as President of Georgetown University in
Help 1829. While in Maryland, he aligned himself with the Continental European Jesuits in the
About Wikipedia United States, who endorsed a monarchist view of ecclesiastical leadership. Following the
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end of his presidency, he remained at Georgetown for a year as a professor of German,
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before returning to Paradise, Pennsylvania, where he lived out the last twelve years of his
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life as a priest.
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What links here Personal details
Related changes 1 Early life
Birth name Johann Wilhelm Beschter
Upload file 2 New World missionary
Special pages 2.1 Pennsylvania Born May 20, 1763
Duchy of Luxembourg, Austrian
Permanent link 2.2 Maryland
Netherlands
Page information 3 Georgetown University
Wikidata item Died January 4, 1842 (aged 78)
4 Later years
Cite this page Paradise, Pennsylvania, U.S.
5 Notes
Buried Conewago Chapel
Print/export 6 References
Denomination Catholic Church
6.1 Sources
Create a book
Download as PDF 7 External links
Printable version

In other projects Early life [ edit ]

Wikimedia Commons Johann Wilhelm Beschter was born on May 20, 1763,[3] in the Duchy of Luxembourg,[a][5] of the Austrian Netherlands, a part of the Holy

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Roman Empire.[6] While little is known about his early life, Archbishop John Carroll reported that before sailing for the New World from

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Amsterdam in 1807, he was a pastor and dean in Luxembourg.[7] Upon arriving in the United States, he was admitted to the Society of
Jesus on October 10, 1807.[8] He soon began anglicizing his name as John William Beschter.[1] On August 22, 1809, and again on April
21, 1814, he submitted petitions for naturalization while in Lancaster County.[6]

New World missionary [ edit ]

Pennsylvania [ edit ]

In the year of his arrival, Beschter was assigned as a priest to St. Mary's Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.[1] By the following year, he
had been made pastor of the church,[3] making him the only Jesuit pastor of St. Mary's following the restoration of the Society in
America.[9] Though assigned to St. Mary's, he drew the praise of Archbishop Carroll for simultaneously ministering to three congregations
in the area, which were comprised by Americans, Germans, and Irish.[2] His appointment quieted an existing quarrel within the parish over
the nationality and language of the pastor. His second-most immediate predecessor, Francis Fitzsimons, was an Irishman who could not
speak German, which ruffled the German majority of parishioners. Fitzsimons was quickly replaced by Herman J. Stoecker, who was not
proficient in English, to the consternation of the Irish congregants. Beschter's proficiency in English as well as his native German made
him a satisfactory solution to the dispute.[10]

During his pastorate, the church established a mission to Lebanon, Pennsylvania in 1810, as it had done in various other locations
throughout the state in the past. He celebrated the laying of the cornerstone of the mission church, named St. Mary of the Assumption,[11]
on July 23 of that year.[12] Presiding over the ceremony, he preached in both English and German to a congregation of Catholics and
Protestants,[13] which included one Moravian, three Lutheran and three Reformed pastors.[2] Beschter was described as having garnered
the support and attachment of the congregation as pastor.[14] Upon the end of his pastorate in 1812,[3] he was replaced by another
Irishman, Michael J. Byrne.[2] Though successful as a pastor and a "very holy man," Archbishop Carroll found him in "want of a better
education in the Society," as with many of the other foreign Jesuit missionaries in America.[15]

Maryland [ edit ]

Beschter then became involved in the establishment of the Jesuit novitiate in White Marsh, Maryland. Though the Jesuits had an
established presence in White Marsh dating to around 1741,[16] it was not until 1814 that serious efforts to establish a new novitiate there
were undertaken. Beschter escorted the first group of novices from Frederick, Maryland to the novitiate at White Marsh, arriving on July
12, 1814.[17] For some time during that year, he acted as master of novices at White Marsh.[18]

He is next noted as having been an assistant curate to Fr. Louis De Barth in Conewago in Adams County, Pennsylvania in 1816.[19] As
the Catholic community surrounding Conewago grew, the initially dependent mission churches were granted greater degrees of
autonomy, though still retaining an association with Conewago. Beschter was placed in charge of one of these churches—Brandt Chapel
—in the Pigeon Hills area of Paradise in York County.[20] Later that year, he was stationed in Frederick, where he remained for two
years.[21] By 1818, Beschter had fallen ill, and became involved in disagreements with Bishop Michael Egan of Philadelphia,[2] and so
took up residence in Georgetown in Washington, D.C.[3] On account of the tercentenary of Martin Luther, a pamphlet was published in
Philadelphia under his name titled "The Blessed Reformation—Martin Luther portrayed by himself." In reality, the pamphlet was written by
Anthony Kohlmann, who used Beschter's name as a pseudonym.[22]

In 1820, he was appointed the pastor of St. John the Evangelist Church in Baltimore, Maryland, which was located on the site of the
present St. Alphonsus Church.[3] Succeeding F. X. Brosius,[23] he led the mostly German congregation,[3] until 1828 when he was
succeeded by Louis De Barth.[23] Beschter became involved in the tensions stemming from American Jesuits' skepticism of their
Continental European counterparts being put in charge of American institutions, when he defended the Jesuit Superior General, Luigi
Fortis', appointment of Polish-born Francis Dzierozynski in 1820 as socius, consultor, and admonitor to Charles Neale, the mission
superior for the United States, vesting him with broad authority.[24] He condemned the "curious" American view that "sovereignty rests
essentially in the people" and their opposition to monarchy.[25] On February 2, 1821, Beschter was conferred the status of gradus in the
Society of Jesus.[26] When Dzierozynski was later made provincial superior in 1823, Beschter again supported him.[27]

Georgetown University [ edit ]

The following year, Beschter was transferred to Georgetown University as minister.[3] When William Feiner was permitted to resign the
presidency in the late winter of 1829 (as he suffered tuberculosis, to which he would succumb by June), Beschter was appointed
President of Georgetown University,[28] assuming office on March 31 of that year.[29] His selection came as a surprise, and was met with
opposition by the Anglo-American laymen, who were wary of his lack of fluency in speaking and inability to write in English[30] (despite the
fact that he was competent enough to preach in English);[31] they further asserted that he had no knowledge of the operation of a
college. Likewise, nativist Jesuits opposed the leadership of Georgetown by such foreigners as Anthony Kohlmann, Stephen Dubuisson,
and Beschter.[30]

The school fared well during his presidency, compared to the several preceding years, and counted 45 students enrolled.[32] That year,
Georgetown opened St. John's Literary Institute as an offshoot in Frederick, which was placed under the charge of John McElroy, and
whose cornerstone was laid on August 7 of the previous year.[33] While at Georgetown, Beschter became a friend of Susan Decatur, a
convert to Catholicism and the widow of Stephen Decatur.[34] Following the end of his presidency, he was succeeded by Thomas Mulledy
on September 14, 1829. He remained at Georgetown in 1830 as a professor of German.[35]

Later years [ edit ]

After retiring from Georgetown in 1830, Beschter returned to the Brandt Chapel at Paradise, Pennsylvania, which continued to be a
mission of Conewago, where he lived out the remainder of his life.[3] In the last year of his life, Phillip Sacchi was appointed to assist him
and live in Paradise.[36] Beschter died there on January 6, 1842,[37] and his body was taken to the Conewago Chapel to be interred.[38]

Notes [ edit ]

a. ^ Some sources indicate that Beschter may have been born in the Duchy of Limbourg. [4]

References [ edit ]

1. ^a b c Sener 1894, p. 327 20. ^ Reily 1885, p. 68

2. ^a b c d e Häberlein 2009, p. 198 21. ^ Reily 1885, p. 200
3. ^a b c d e fg h Devitt 1911, p. 242 22. ^ Devitt1911, p. 243
4. ^ Buckley 2013, p. 127 23. ^ a b "St. Alphonsus Church" . German Marylanders. Archived
5. ^ Woodstock College 1901, p. 352 from the original on August 7, 2018. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
6. ^ a b "Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Naturalization Index 1800- 24. ^ Kuzniewski 1992, p. 54
1906" . Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Archived from the 25. ^ Kuzniewski 1992, p. 55
original on February 28, 2019. Retrieved February 28, 2019. 26. ^ Mendizabal 1972, p. 21
7. ^ Woodstock College 1901, pp. 350–351 27. ^ Burson & Wright 2015, p. 214
8. ^ Woodstock College 1901, p. 351 28. ^ Curran 1993, p. 99
9. ^ Devitt 1933, p. 185 29. ^ Shea 1891, p. 79
10. ^ Häberlein 2009, pp. 197–198 30. ^ a b Curran 1993, p. 101
11. ^ Nolt 2002, p. 185 31. ^ Lee 2010, p. 34
12. ^ Sener 1894, p. 337 32. ^ Easby-Smith 1907, p. 65
13. ^ Chinnici 1979, p. 727 33. ^ Shea 1891, p. 81
14. ^ Burson & Wright 2015, p. 210 34. ^ Warner 1994, p. 199
15. ^ Burson & Wright 2015, p. 213 35. ^ Shea 1891, p. 90
16. ^ Devitt 1933, p. 173 36. ^ Devitt 1932, p. 363
17. ^ Devitt 1933, p. 175 37. ^ Reily 1885, p. 69
18. ^ Devitt 1933, p. 181 38. ^ Devitt 1932, p. 344
19. ^ Reily 1885, p. 63

Sources [ edit ]

Buckley, Cornelius Michael (2013). Stephen Larigaudelle Dubuisson, S.J. (1786–1864) and the Reform of the American Jesuits .
Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America. ISBN 9780761862321. Archived from the original on March 30, 2019. Retrieved
March 30, 2019 – via Google Books.
Burson, Jeffrey D.; Wright, Jonathan, eds. (2015). The Jesuit Suppression in Global Context: Causes, Events, and Consequences .
New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107030589. Archived from the original on February 26, 2019. Retrieved
February 26, 2019 – via Google Books.
Chinnici, Joseph P. (Fall 1979). "American Catholics and Religious Pluralism, 1775–1820". Journal of Ecumenical Studies. 16 (4):
727–746 – via EBSCOhost.
 Curran, Robert Emmett (1993). The Bicentennial History of Georgetown University: From Academy to University (1789–1889) . 1.
Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press. ISBN 978-0-87840-485-8. Archived from the original on February 26, 2019.
Retrieved February 26, 2019 – via Google Books.
Devitt, E. I. (1911). "The Clergy List of 1819, Diocese of Baltimore" . Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of
Philadelphia. 22 (4): 238–267. JSTOR 44208941 . OCLC 15220148 . Archived from the original on February 26, 2019.
Retrieved February 26, 2019 – via Google Books.
Devitt, Edward I. (October 1, 1932). "History of the Maryland-New York Province: V, Conewago (1741—1901)" . Woodstock Letters.
61 (3): 335–374. Archived from the original on February 27, 2019. Retrieved February 27, 2019 – via Jesuit Online Library.
Devitt, Edward I. (June 1933). "History of the Maryland-New York Province: VII Goshenhoppen (1741—1889)" (PDF). Woodstock
Letters. 62 (2). Archived (PDF) from the original on February 26, 2019. Retrieved February 26, 2019 – via Jesuit Archives.
Easby-Smith, James Stanislaus (1907). Georgetown University in the District of Columbia, 1789–1907 . 1. New York: Lewis
Publishing Company. OCLC 633425041 . Archived from the original on March 4, 2019. Retrieved March 4, 2019 – via Google
Books.
Häberlein, Mark (2009). The Practice of Pluralism: Congregational Life and Religious Diversity in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 1730–
1820 . University Park, Pennsylvania: Penn State University Press. ISBN 9780271078137. Archived from the original on February
26, 2019. Retrieved February 26, 2019 – via Google Books.
Kuzniewski, Anthony J. (January 1992). "Francis Dzierozynski and the Jesuit Restoration in the United States". The Catholic Historical
Review. 78 (1): 51–73. JSTOR 25023700 .
Lee, Shin Ja (2010). The Practice of Spiritual Direction In the Life and Writings of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton (Thesis). 24. Vincentian
Digital Books. OCLC 703881028 . Archived from the original on February 28, 2019. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
Mendizabal, Rufo (1972). Catalogus Defunctorum: Numerical Range 0.1 through 1.600 (in Latin). Jesuit Archives: Central United
States. pp. 1–29. Archived from the original on March 27, 2019. Retrieved March 27, 2019.
Nolt, Steven M. (2002). Foreigners in Their Own Land: Pennsylvania Germans in the Early Republic . University Park, Pennsylvania:
Penn State University Press. ISBN 0271021993. Archived from the original on March 4, 2019. Retrieved March 4, 2019 – via
Google Books.
Reily, John Timon (1885). Conewago: A Collection of Catholic Local History . Martinsburg, West Virginia: Herald Print.
OCLC 16390452 . Archived from the original on February 26, 2019. Retrieved February 26, 2019 – via Google Books.
Shea, John Gilmary (1891). "Chapter XV: Father John William Beschter" . Memorial of the First Century of Georgetown College, D.
C.: Comprising a History of Georgetown University, Part 3. New York: P. F. Collier. pp. 79–89. OCLC 612832863 . Archived from
the original on February 26, 2019. Retrieved February 26, 2019 – via Google Books.
Sener, S. M. (September 1894). Middleton, Thomas C., ed. "The Catholic Church at Lancaster, Penn'a". Records of the American
Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia. 5 (3): 305–356. JSTOR 44208769 .
Warner, William W. (1994). At Peace With All Their Neighbors: Catholics and Catholicism in the National Capital, 1787–1860 .
Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press. ISBN 1589012437. Archived from the original on March 4, 2019. Retrieved
March 4, 2019 – via Google Books.
Woodstock College (December 1, 1901). "Father John Beschter" . Woodstock Letters. 30 (3): 350–352. Archived from the original
on February 27, 2019. Retrieved February 27, 2019 – via Jesuit Online Library.

External links [ edit ]

John W. Beschter at Find a Grave

Catholic Church titles

Preceded by Pastor of St. Mary's Church Succeeded by
Herman J. Stoecker 1807–1812 Michael J. Byrne
Preceded by Pastor of St. John the Evangelist Church Succeeded by
F. X. Brosius 1820–1828 Louis de Barth

Academic offices
Preceded by President of Georgetown University Succeeded by
William Feiner, S.J. 1829 Thomas F. Mulledy, S.J.

V ·T ·E Presidents of Georgetown University [hide]

Plunkett (1791–93) · Molyneux (1793–96) · Dubourg (1796–98) · L. Neale (1798–1806) · Molyneux (1806–08) · F. Neale (1809) · Matthews (1809) ·
F. Neale (1809–12) · Grassi (1812–17) · B. Fenwick (1817) · Kohlmann (1817–20) · E. Fenwick (1820–22) · B. Fenwick (1822–25) · Dubuisson (1825–26) ·
Feiner (1826–29) · Beschter (1829) · T. Mulledy (1829–37) · McSherry (1838–40) · Lopez (1840) · Ryder (1840–45) · S. Mulledy (1845) · T. Mulledy (1845–48)
· Ryder (1848–51) · Stonestreet (1851–52) · Maguire (1853–58) · Early (1858–66) · Maguire (1866–70) · Early (1870–73) · P. Healy (1873–82) ·
Doonan (1882–88) · Richards (1888–98) · Whitney (1898–1901) · Daugherty (1901–05) · Buel (1905–08) · Himmel (1908–12) · Donlon (1912–18) ·
Creeden (1918–24) · Lyons (1924–28) · Nevils (1928–35) · O'Leary (1935–42) · Gorman (1942–49) · Guthrie (1949–52) · Bunn (1952–64) ·
Campbell (1964–69) · Henle (1969–76) · T. Healy (1976–89) · O'Donovan (1989–2001) · DeGioia (2001– )

Biography portal Catholicism portal Maryland portal Pennsylvania portal Washington, D.C. portal

Authority control ISNI: 0000 0000 5470 1268 · LCCN: nr2005006105 · VIAF: 49182252 · WorldCat Identities (via VIAF): 49182252

Categories: 1763 births 1842 deaths Presidents of Georgetown University Roman Catholic missionaries in the United States
18th-century American Jesuits 19th-century American Jesuits Luxembourgian Jesuits People of the Austrian Netherlands
People from Lancaster, Pennsylvania People from Baltimore People from York County, Pennsylvania
Luxembourgian emigrants to the United States

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