Mission Accomplished: Iwo Jima Veteran Who Became a Franciscan Missionary Comes Home. Mission Accomplished: Iwo Jima Veteran Who Became a Franciscan Missionary Comes Home (1387) At the age of 91, Father …More
Mission Accomplished: Iwo Jima Veteran Who Became a Franciscan Missionary Comes Home.
Mission Accomplished: Iwo Jima Veteran Who Became a Franciscan Missionary Comes Home (1387)
At the age of 91, Father Bede Fitzpatrick is retiring after 55 years of priestly service in Japan.
by ALASTAIR WANKLYN 08/05/2013 Comment
Franciscan Father Bede Fitzpatrick
– Courtesy of Alastair Wanklyn
TOKYO — A former U.S. Navy officer who served in the Pacific War and commanded a flotilla of landing craft during the invasion of Iwo Jima subsequently became a Franciscan missionary in Japan, ministering there for 55 years.
Father Bede Fitzpatrick, 91, retired in Tokyo on Aug. 1 this year. He can still recall the surge of emotion prompted by his first glimpse of the Japanese mainland in 1945, during a voyage to Sasebo Naval Base. “I can remember a certain excitement, because this is where Xavier went,” he said. St. Francis Xavier, co-founder of the Society of Jesus, arrived in Japan in 1549 at Kagoshima, about …More
Mission Accomplished: Iwo Jima Veteran Who Became a Franciscan Missionary Comes Home (1387)
At the age of 91, Father Bede Fitzpatrick is retiring after 55 years of priestly service in Japan.
by ALASTAIR WANKLYN 08/05/2013 Comment
Franciscan Father Bede Fitzpatrick
– Courtesy of Alastair Wanklyn
TOKYO — A former U.S. Navy officer who served in the Pacific War and commanded a flotilla of landing craft during the invasion of Iwo Jima subsequently became a Franciscan missionary in Japan, ministering there for 55 years.
Father Bede Fitzpatrick, 91, retired in Tokyo on Aug. 1 this year. He can still recall the surge of emotion prompted by his first glimpse of the Japanese mainland in 1945, during a voyage to Sasebo Naval Base. “I can remember a certain excitement, because this is where Xavier went,” he said. St. Francis Xavier, co-founder of the Society of Jesus, arrived in Japan in 1549 at Kagoshima, about …More