A. Schaefer

REV. A. SCHAEFER. Devoting himself consistently to the noble purposes of his spiritual work, Father Schaefer has for the past ten years been a zealous Catholic priest in Kansas, and is pastor of the Sacred Heart Church at Selden, one of the larger Catholic parishes in the northwestern corner of the state.

Father Schaefer comes from an interesting portion of the old German Empire. He was born in Silesia in the extreme southwestern corner of old Germany, and in a district where the dominating population is Polish. His birth occurred August 17, 1875. His parents were Julius and Francisca (Zytny) Schaefer, who spent all their lives in Silesia. The father was born in 1836 and died in 1901, and was a hard working, simple mannered peasant farmer. Both parents were devout members of the Catholic Church. Of their children the only one to come to America was Father Schaefer.

He received his preliminary education in the parochial schools, and in preparation for his professional career was sent to the important university city of Breslau, where he received his academic training and also took his philosophical and theological courses in that university. He was ordained a priest in 1902, and his first pastorate was at Winterthur in Switzerland. He remained there busied with his duties until he came to the United States in 1909. Father Schaefer was first engaged in pastoral duties in the United States at St. Isador's Church at Cuba, Kansas. He remained there until 1917 when he took up his present duties as pastor of the Sacred Heart Church at Selden. This church has been in existence for a number of years, having started as a mission when both Catholic and Protestant population was very sparse in all this section of Western Kansas. The handsome stone church was erected at Selden in 1906 and the parish includes a region of country for a distance of ten miles around.

Page 2115.