John Willms
| Rev. John S. Willms, C.S.Sp. | |
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| 2nd Rector of the Pittsburgh Catholic College |
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In office 1885–1886 |
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| Preceded by | Rev. William P. Power |
| Succeeded by | Rev. John T. Murphy |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
March 22, 1849 Nideggen, Germany |
| Died | January 3, 1914 (aged 63) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
John S. Willms, C.S.Sp. (March 22, 1849 – January 3, 1914) was a German Roman Catholic priest in the Congregation of the Holy Ghost. He worked in a missionary capacity among the Catholic population in the United States, serving as the second rector of the Pittsburgh Catholic College of the Holy Ghost in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (known today as Duquesne University), and as the director of the Holy Childhood Association in America.
John Willms was born to a large family in Nideggen, a town near Cologne, Germany. Three of his brothers joined the Congregation of the Holy Ghost: Marie Antoine and Damase were both professed brothers in the order, and another died as a seminarian. Willms made preparatory studies for the priesthood in Marienstatt (Hachenburg), though because of the Kulturkampf and the subsequent expulsion of the Holy Ghost Fathers from Germany, he finished those studies in France.
In 1876 or 1877, after his ordination, he was sent to the United States, where he performed various pastoral duties in Morrilton, Arkansas and Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania, a community near Pittsburgh.
Willms succeeded Father William Patrick Power as the second rector of the Pittsburgh Catholic College in 1885. Willms led the fledgling college for a single year, before being transferred to a parish in Pittsburgh's suburb of Millvale.
Subsequently, Willms was one of two delegates from the American Province of the Holy Ghost Fathers to attend their General Chapter meeting in 1896; in 1897 he was appointed to the office of National Director of the Association of the Holy Childhood, a Catholic children's association for the benefit of foreign missions.
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