Fitton, James
Fitton, James
Missionary, born Boston, Massachusetts, 1805 ; died there, 1881 . Ordained by Bishop Fenwick, 1827 , he carried on missionary labors in New England for nearly 25 years and was the founder of the academy which later became Holy Cross College, Worcester.
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Fitton, James
Missionary, b. at Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A., 10 April, 1805; d. there, 15 Sept., 1881. His father, Abraham Fitton, went to Boston from Preston, England; his mother was of Welsh origin and a convert to the Faith. His primary education was received in the schools of his native city, and his classical course was made at Claremont, New Hampshire, at an academy conducted by Virgil Horace Barber, an early New England convert to the Faith. His theology he learned from the lips of Bishop Fenwick, by whom he was ordained priest, 23 Dec., 1827. Thenceforth for nearly a quarter of a century the whole of New England became the theatre of his zealous missionary labours. Carrying a valise containing vestments, chalice, and all necessaries for offering the Holy Sacrifice, his breviary under his arm, he travelled, often on foot, from Eastport and the New Brunswick line on the northeast, to Burlington and Lake Champlain on the northwest; from Boston in the east, to Great Barrington and the Berkshire Hills in the west; from Providence and Newport in the southeast, to Bridgeport and the New York State line in the southwest. In the course of his ministry he was often exposed to insult and hardship, but he considered these as trifles when souls were to be saved. During his missionary career he was pastor of the first Catholic church at Hartford, Connecticut, and at Worcester, Massachusetts. He erected the church of Our Lady of the Isle at Newport, Rhode Island. In 1840, while pastor of the church at Worcester, he purchased the present site of Holy Cross College, and erected a building for the advanced education of Catholic young men. In 1842 he deeded the grounds and building to Bishop Fenwick, who placed it under the care of the Jesuits. In 1855 he was appointed by Bishop Fenwick pastor of the church of the Most Holy Redeemer in East Boston. Here he laboured for the remaining twenty-six years of his life, and built four more churches. In 1877 he celebrated the golden jubilee of his priesthood.
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ARTHUR T. CONNOLLY Transcribed by Gerald M. Knight
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VICopyright © 1909 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, September 1, 1909. Remy Lafort, CensorImprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Fitton, James
one of the founders of the Roman Catholic Church in New England, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1803, and was confirmed by the first bishop of Boston, Dr. Cheverus. He attended the first Catholic school in New England, under Reverend Dr. Matignoii, and was for a while teacher in the seminary attached to the old church in Franklin, where he had for one of his pupils, Dr. Williams, archbishop of Boston. He was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Fenwick, December 23, 1827. In 1829 he was sent on a mission to the Passamaquoddy Indians, in Maine, the same year to New Hampshire and Vermont, and soon established his headquarters at Hartford, Connecticut, where he purchased the first Catholic church, established the Catholic Press, and extended his labors to even county in Connecticut. He established what is now the College of the Holy Cross, at Worcester, Mass., and helped build the Catholic cause at Northampton, Providence, R.I., Newport, and other places in those two states. In August, 1855, he was transferred to East Boston, Mass., where he founded four parishes. He also established several schools. He died in Boston, September 15, 1881. Mr. Fitton compiled The Triumph of Religion, edited the Manual of St. Joseph, a prayer-book, and was the author of a History of the Catholic Church in New England (1872). “His work is seen in the whole history of Catholicity in New England. No page can be written without his impress upon it. Wisdom filled his works; wisdom completed them. In life he seemed to us what he really was, a model priest” (Bishop Healy). See (N.Y.) Catholic Annual, 1883, page 74.