rothensteiner

REV. FATHER JOHN ROTHENSTEINER

Rev. Father John Rothensteiner, pastor of St. Michael’s Church, Fredericktown, Madison Co., Mo., was born in St. Louis, Mo., January 17, 1860, being the son of John and Magdalene Rothensteiner. They are the parents of three children: Elizabeth, Rev. Father John, and Aloysius, all of whom are living. John Rothensteiner, Sr., was born in the Tyrole, Empire of Austria. He immigrated to America when a young man and located in St. Louis, where he afterward married. In 1860, taking with him his family, then consisting of his wife and two children, he returned to his native country, and with them spent four years among the wonted scenes of his childhood and in the society of his earliest friends. His third child was born while on this visit, and in 1864, with this addition to his family, he returned to St. Louis, where he still makes his home and where he and his faithful companion are spending their declining years. Rev. Father John Rothensteiner, their second child and the subject of this sketch, attended school, first at the parochial school of St. Peter and St. Paul, St. Louis, Mo., and afterward at the Christian Brothers’ College in the same city. After leaving the last-named institution he studied classics privately for one year under the tutorship of Rev. H. Groll, of St. Louis. The then youthful John Rothensteiner resolved to become a Catholic priest, and spend his life as a laborer in the vineyard of Christ; but before holy orders could be taken he must first add a long period of laborious study to the years already spent as a student. In 1875 he went to work with this end in view and entered the St. Francis Seminary, Wisconsin, where he spent eight years. His classical course, in which he had already made unusual advancement, he completed in three years; the next two years were devoted to the study of philosophy and the next three were spent in the study of the various branches of theological science. After having received deaconship at the hands of Archbishop M. Heiss, of Milwaukee, he returned to St. Louis and was ordained priest by Archbishop P. J. Ryan, May 25, 1884. He first officiated as a priest at Portage, Mo., where, for three months, he filled the place of Rev. William Rensman, who was then absent on a trop to Europe. On his return Father Rothensteiner was sent to Jackson, Cape Girardeau County, where he remained for two years. At that time a temporary vacancy occurred in St. Agatha’s Church, St. Louis, which he was called to fill for four months. He was then sent to Riviere Aux Vases, Ste. Genevieve County, from where he was appointed pastor of St. Michael’s Church, Fredericktown, Mo., were he still remains and is revered and loved by all his flock.