THE RECIPIENT OF THE LETTERS

Fr. J. Joch

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Joseph Joch (1861-1944) was born on March 17, 1861 in Trebitsch, Bohemia. He began his theological studies in Linz, Austria, in 1883, but completed them in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1885, at the invitation of Bishop Flash of La Crosse. He was ordained a priest in 1886 in La Crosse. He first served in Auburndale, near Marshfield, Wisconsin, where, in 1890, he met the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother who had established St. Joseph’s Hospital, their third mission in the United States. Because his fragile health condition prevented him from fulfilling the needs of a parish,  he turned to parish priest Sebastian Kneipp in Wörishofen, Germany. There he soon regained his strength and learned the applications of the “Kneipp Cure”. On his return to America in December 1892, he was sent by Bishop Schebach of La Crosse to the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother in Marshfield, as Mother Frances requested him to be their chaplain. The Franciscan poverty, courage and the spirit of sacrifice of the sisters made a deep impression on him and he found that these values matched his spiritual attitudes. 

 

Father Joch, as he was called by the sisters, gave great impetus to the development of the works opened by the sisters in the United States of America, with a strong focus of combining strict observance with practical sense. He invested all his gifts and energy unreservedly, entirely at the service of the sisters, ensuring that the work of the foundress was clearly the Work of God. Mother Frances could be sure of his advice for business and organizational activities. It was thanks to him, for example, that the Congregation's first branches in the United States of America were quickly organized as hospitals offering state-recognized nursing schools. Fr. Joch, like Mother Frances, was animated by a great trust in Providence. In May 1895, along with seven sisters, he opened the St. Francis Health Resort in Denville, New Jersey. Here he celebrated his fiftieth year of priesthood and in 1942 his fifty years of service to the Congregation. On April 29, 1944, Fr. Joch died at the age of 83 in Denville where he was buried.