# Fridolin Pascalar

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**Fridolin Pascalar** (May 14, 1841 – February 12, 1899) was a German [Jesuit](/source/Jesuit) and [Catholic](/source/Catholic) priest. He served as the first permanent pastor of [St. Michael's Church](/source/Saint_Michael's_Church_(Rochester,_New_York)) in [Rochester, New York](/source/Rochester,_New_York) from November 1874 until his resignation in April 1896.

## Early life

Fridolin Piscalar was born on May 14, 1841, in [Stimpfach](/source/Stimpfach), [Württemberg](/source/Kingdom_of_W%C3%BCrttemberg),[1][2] to Joseph Piscalar and Crescentia Greiner. He was the oldest of five children, Johannes, Karl, Klara, and Johanna. His uncle was [Alois Urban Piscalar](/source/Alois_Urban_Piscalar), also a German Catholic priest.

He received his primary education in the local parochial schools, and he worked as a carpenter for four years after being [confirmed](/source/Confirmation).[1]

Piscalar went on a mission trip to [Bombay](/source/Bombay) on September 12, 1867.[1][2][3] He returned to Wurttemberg in 1870, for he was not well-suited to India's climate.[2] However, it was from his time in India which he wrote about the "impending angst and frustration sensed by so many Catholics" due to [Otto von Bismarck](/source/Otto_von_Bismarck) trying to make the [Second German Reich](/source/Second_German_Reich) into a Protestant nation.[4]

It is at the present time greatly reassuring for once to turn one's eyes away from the constant agitation against the Catholic Church, and to gaze across the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean to a heathen land, in which the fundamental principles of equity justice toward the Catholics are more familiar, at least better followed than in our modern Europe.

— Fridolin Piscalar, S. J., just before the [Kulturkampf](/source/Kulturkampf), *[5]*

He was ordained on July 30, 1872, in [Maria Laach Abbey](/source/Maria_Laach_Abbey).[1]

## Priesthood

Piscalar arrived in the United States in November 1873, in order to become the pastor of the newly-formed St Michaels Church in Rochester, New York.[1] The St. Michael's church was completed on March 8, 1874, and in November 1874, he was appointed to be the first resident pastor.[6] He was the pastor and treasurer there for twenty two years until his resignation in April 1896.[1][7][8][6] Early in his tenure, he assisted Polish families while overseeing the parish's construction of the church, which took two years to complete and cost $160,000 at that time.[7] He changed his last name to Pascalar not long after his arrival.

In 1891, he was sent by Bishop [Bernard McQuaid](/source/Bernard_John_McQuaid) to recruit young German and Polish women for the Sisters of St. Joseph for the [St. Stanislaus Kostka Church](/source/St._Stanislaus_Kostka_Church_(Rochester,_New_York)). Twenty-one young women returned with him to join, where they tutored newly arrived immigrant children in English, served as pastoral assistants, trained altar servers, instructed faith-formation classes, cleaned the church and directed the choir.[9]

In 1892, he patented a self-filling holy water fountain to be used in churches.[10]

Pascalar presented two young Virginia red-tailed deer to the [Genesee Valley Park](/source/Genesee_Valley_Park) in 1894.[11] At the time, it was the first and only official gift to Rochester Parks, now the Monroe County Department of Parks. One of them was fatally attacked by dogs.

## Later life and death

He resigned due to failing health in April 1896. He returned to Württemberg, and he died in [Untermarchtal](/source/Untermarchtal) on February 12, 1899.[1] His death was met with surprise and sadness from the attendees at St. Michael's Church. His likeness is embedded in the stained-glass window display on the church's south wall, where he is looking at Bishop McQuaid.[8]

## References

1. ["Unexpected Death of Rev. Friodlin Pascalar In Germany."](https://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=cath18990218-01.1.5&srpos=1&e=-------en-20-cath-1--txt-txIN-pascalar---------). *[The Catholic Journal](/source/Catholic_Courier)*. February 18, 1899. Retrieved July 4, 2024.

1. [Alfons Väth](/source/Alfons_V%C3%A4th) (1920). *Die deutschen Jesuiten in Indien: Geschichte der Mission von Bombay-Puna (1854–1920)* [The German Jesuits in India: History of the Bombay-Duna Mission (1854–1920)] (in German). Verlag Jos. Kösel & Friedrich Pustet.

1. [*Annalen der Verbreitung des Glaubens Monatsschr. d. Vereins der Glaubensverbreitung*](https://books.google.com/books?id=vp4AAAAAcAAJ) (in German). 1868. [Archived](https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_vp4AAAAAcAAJ) May 26, 2016 at the Wayback Machine.

1. [Perry Myers](/source/Perry_Myers) (March 7, 2013). ["Catholic Visions of India and Universal Mandates: Commandeering the Nation-State"](https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9781137316929_3). *German Visions of India, 1871-1918*. Palgrave Macmillan New York. p. 5378. [doi:10.1057/9781137316929_3](https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137316929_3). ISBN 978-1-137-29971-0. Retrieved July 4, 2024.

1. Fridolin Piscalar (1871). ["Indisches"](https://opendigi.ub.uni-tuebingen.de/opendigi/stml_1871_01#p=474) (in German). *[Stimmen der Zeit](/source/Stimmen_der_Zeit)*. Stimmen aus Maria-Laach. p. 466479.

1. ["Seventy-Fifth Anniversary of St. Michael's Parish, 1874-1949"](https://mcnygenealogy.com/book/st-michaels-1949.pdf). Retrieved July 5, 2024.

1. Kathleen Urbanic (March 12, 2019). ["The Story of the Society of St. Casimir"](https://www.friendsofsaintstanislaus.org/the-story-of-the-society-of-st-casimir). Friends of St. Stanislaus Foundation, Inc. Retrieved July 4, 2024.

1. ["Saint Michael's Church"](https://www.cabriniroc.org/saint-michaels-church). Cabrini Rochester. Retrieved July 4, 2024.

1. Amy Kotlarz (November 10, 2007). ["St. Stanislaus bids goodbye to sisters"](https://catholiccourier.com/articles/st-stanislaus-bids-goodbye-to-sisters/). Monroe County, New York: [Catholic Courier](/source/Catholic_Courier). Retrieved July 4, 2024.

1. ["Fountain"](https://patents.google.com/patent/US475146A/en). No. 475146.

1. ["Brief Local Notes"](https://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=cath18940609-01.1.5&srpos=3&e=------189-en-20-cath-1--txt-txIN-pascalar----1894-----). *[The Catholic Journal](/source/Catholic_Courier)*. June 9, 1894. Retrieved July 4, 2024."Rev. Father Pascalar has purchased two live deer for the lawn at St. Michael's church."

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Fridolin Pascalar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fridolin_Pascalar) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fridolin_Pascalar?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.