BAKER
213
BAKER
the Italian Fathers in England as a member of the
Cassinese Congregation, but subsequently aggregated
to the English Congregation. At the desire of his
superiors he now devoted his time and the ample
means which he had inherited, to investigating and
refuting the recently started error that the ancient
Benedictine congregation in England was dependent
on that of Cluny, founded in 910. He was immenselj'
helped in his studies and researches for this purpose
by the Cottonian Library which contained so many
of the spoils of the old Benedictine monasteries in
England, and which its generous foimder placed
entirely at his disposal. In collaboration with Father
Jones and Father Clement Rejmer he embodied the
fruit of these researches in the volmne entitled
"Apostolatus Benedictinorum in Anglia". At Sir
Robert Cotton's Father Baker came in contact iNith
the antiquarj', William Camden, and with other
learned men of his day. In 1624 he was sent to the
newly established convent of Benedictine nuns at
Cambrai, not as chaplain, but to aid in forming the
spiritual character of the religious. Here he re-
mained for about nine years, during which time he
wTote many of his ascetical treatises, an abstract of
which is contained in the valuable work "Saneta
Sophia" compiled by Father Serenus Cressy. In
1633 he removed to Douai, where he wTote his long
treatise on the English mission, but he was nearly
worn out with his austerities before the order came
for him to proceed to the battle-field. During his
short sojom-n in London, Father Baker was forced
frequently to change his abode in order to avoid the
pursuivants who were on his track. It was not, how-
ever, as a martyr that he was to end his days, but as a
victim of the plague to which he succvimbed in the
sixty-sixth year of his age. Of upwards of thirty
treatises chiefly on spiritual matters written by
Father Baker, many are to be found in manuscript
at Do^Tiside, Ampleforth, Stanbrook, and other
Benedictine monasteries in England. An adequate
biography of this master of the ascetic life is still a
desideratum.
SwEEXEY. Life and Spirit of Father Baker (London. 1861); DoDD. Church History, III, 112; Wood, AthenTOxon, ed. Blis.s, III. 7; Cotton. MS.. JuliusC. III. f. 12; Ev.ixs, Portraits. 12.348 -12,349; Dublin Review, New Series, XXVII, 337; The Ram- bler, March. 1851. p. 214; Coxe, Cat. Codd. MSS. Collegii Jcsu. Oson., 2.5-30; Weldon, Chronological Notes; Catalogue of Raic- li-nson MSS.: Cooper in Diet, of Nat. Biog.
3. M. Stone.
Baker, Fr.^ncis Asbury, priest of the Congrega- tion of St. Paul the Apostle, b. Baltimore, Md., U. S. A., 30 March, 1820; d. 4 April, 1865. Father Baker was a son of Dr. Samuel Baker, a physician of note in Baltimore. He was graduated from Prince- ton College in 1839. His parents, whom he lost early in life, had been Methodists, but their sur%'i\ing cliildren joined the Episcopal Church. He took orders in that communion, and was ordained a presbyter in September. 1846. His career promised to be not only successful but brilliant. Possessed of many mental gifts, he had, moreover, refinement, wealth, and an engaging personality; he was deeply pious, thoroughly consecrated to his chosen work. He was assigned at first as an assistant at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Baltimore, and six years later was named rector of St. Luke's Church in the same city. He took rank at once as an eloquent preacher.
The Oxford Movement coincided with the years of his preparation and early ministrj'. and its in- fluence in the I'nited States resulted in the conversion of many distinguished men. It was not possible that an intelligent and sincere man Hke Baker could re- main unmoved amid the awakening and the return to Catholic principles which the study of primitive and patri.stic historj' and theology caused. The severance of intimate ties cost him much, but he obeyed the call and in .A.pril, 1853, made his profes-
sion of faith. Attracted to the religious state, he en-
tered the Redemptorist Order, was ordained priest in
the Cathedral of Baltimore. 21 September, 1856, and
began forthwith a laborious but most fruitful career
as a mi.ssionarj-. The Redemptorists had inaugurated
in 1851 the work of giving missions to the Lnglish-
spealdng CathoHcs of the United States, and the flood
of immigration, then at its height, made the work
exhausting and continuous. The missionarj' band
included Fathers Hecker, Walworth, Hewit, and
Deshon, all converts and all Americans, an unusually
strong and varied combination, and to them Father
Baker proved a welcome acquisition. He brought
to his work the zeal of an apostle, a matured and
persuasive eloquence, and the attraction of a char-
acter at once magnetic and saintly. Nor are these
the words of mere eulogy. The recollections of the
generation which listened to him, the judgment of
competent critics, the numerous conversions, the abid-
ing impressions he effected, the e\idences which his
printed sermons display of oratorical gifts — all en-
title Father Baker to a high place among Catholic
preachers.
In his sermons we find a blending of argumenta^ tion with appeal, a diction at once forceful and finished, and an apt and abundant use of Holy Scripture, which, combining with liis earnest and dignified deliverj', gave to liis message a powerful effect. Leaving the Redemptorists with Fathers Hecker, Walworth. Hewitt, and Deshon, for the purpose of organizing a special missionarj' com- mtmity for English parishes, he shared with them the labour of founding the Paulist Institute. It was he who gave the impulse and estabhshed the tradition of rubrical exactitude and ceremonial splendour which have continued to be a characteristic of that community. He died of tj^phoid pneumonia con- tracted in ministering to the sick.
Hewft, Memoir of the Life of the Rev. Francis .4. Baker (New York. 18155); Sermonsof the Rev. Francis .4. Baker (New York, 1896); W.ilworth, The Oxford Movement in the U. S. (New York, 1895).
Mich.o:l Paul Smith.
Baker City, Diocese of, comprises Wasco, Kla- math, Lake, Sherman, Gilliam, Wheeler, Morrow, Grant, Union, Crook, LTmatilla, Wallowa, Baker, Harney, and Malheur counties in the State of Oregon, U. S. A., an area of 65,683 square miles. It was es- tablished in 1903. The Rev. Charies J. O'Reilly, rector of the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Portland, Oregon, and editor of the "Catholic Sentinel" was named its first bishop and consecrated 25 August of that year. The diocese has a Catholic population estimated at about 4,000, whose spiritual needs are cared for by ten diocesan and seven Fran- ciscan and Jesuit priests. The Sisters of St. Francis, St. Dominic, and the Most Holy Name of Jesus and Mary conduct five schools and academies. At the Umatilla Indian reservation there are more than 500 Catholic Indians attended by the Jesuit fathers of the Rocky Mountain Mission, two Brothers of Christian Instruction, and eight Sisters of St. Francis. There are 13 churches and 36 mission stations in the diocese.
Bishop O'Reilly was bom 4 January, 1862, at St. John, New Brunswick, Canada, and educated at the Christian Brothers' school of St. John and at St. Joseph's College, Memramcook. He made his theo- logical studies at the Grand Seminarj', Montreal, and was ordained priest at Portland 29 June, 1890. He was then appointetl to the mission of Oswego and Tegardville, and in February, 1894 was made rector of the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Marj-, Portland.
Catholic Sentinel (Portland, August, 1903) files; The Catholic Directory (Milwaukee, 1907).
Thomas F. Meehan.
