Heck'er, Isaac

THOMAS, ecclesiastic, was born in New York city, Dec. 18, 1819; joined the Brook Farm Society (1843); afterwards lived in a socialistic community at Fruit lands, Worcester co., Ma ., and for a time with H. D. Thoreau in his hermitage; became a Roman Catholic (1845); joined the Redemptorists in Belgium (1847), and was ordained a priest by Cardinal Wiseman (1849); returned to the U. S. in 1851. He obtained from the Pope (1857) his release from the Order of Redemptorists and (1858) founded the congregation of St. Paul the Apostle, known as the Paulist Fathers. The members of this order take no special vows, and can withdraw when they choose. He founded a periodical called The Catholic World, and was the author of Questions of the Soul; Aspirations of Nature; Catholicity in the United States, . Died Dec. 22, 1888. Hec'la, in Pennsylvania, a village of West more land co., on Penna. R.R.; has manufactures of brushes, baskets, and lumber. Pop . (1890) 610. IMG:content-0680.jpg:[graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed]