Background
He was born on December 17, 1815 in Fribourg, Switzerland.
He was born on December 17, 1815 in Fribourg, Switzerland.
At 12 he began his studies at the college of Fribourg, and on 30 September 1835, entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus. He was ordained priest, 31 December 1846, after the usual course of studies and teaching.
He was destined for missionary work in North America, where about the time he arrived at Baltimore, the Abnaki Indians of Oldtown, Me. , were asking for the services of a "Black Robe, " in memory of the Jesuits, who had visited them two centuries earlier. Bapst was thereupon sent to these Indians, although then ignorant of their language and also of English. After two years' service among them he found it necessary to supplement his meager stipend by ministering to the Catholics of the nearby towns.
In 1850 he was at Eastport, and somewhat later he became priest at Ellsworth, an intensely Protestant town, then seething with the excitement that the "Know-Nothing" party was causing in Maine. Bapst felt called upon to protest against the religious exercises used in the public schools in which the children of his parishioners were required to participate. He went so far as to instigate a lawsuit against the school committee, which so wrought upon the feelings of the town meeting that resolutions were passed for the expulsion and punishment of the priest. Whereupon a mob visited him at his home, tarred and feathered him, and drove him from the place (July 1854). This cruel treatment undermined his health, and it was some time before he recovered sufficiently to carry on his work.
In 1858 ground had been broken at Boston for a college, which two years later was assigned to the Jesuits as a training-school. Father Bapst was placed in charge, and maintained the institution for scholastics for about three years; then as Boston College, the school was opened for lay students. As first rector he laid the foundation of this college, and gave it the advantage of his scholarly direction until 1869. After this period he served several New England parishes; and built St. Joseph Church, Providence, in 1877. This was his last parish, as his mind began to fail, due, it was believed, to his afflictions. He retired to the home of his order at Woodstock, where he was cared for in his declining years.
He was a deeply religious man, known for his fanaticism and piety.
He was a member of the Society of Jesus.
He was something of a zealot, learned, pious, and entirely devoted to the traditions of his order and to the upbuilding of the church of his choice.
