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Hudson, Rev Bernard

REV. BERNARD HUDSON

December 20, 1911

Personal Info

  • Date of Birth:  1844
  • Place of Birth in Ireland:
  • County: Longford
  • Education: All Hallows, Dublin
  • Date of Ordination: 1879
  • Place of Ordination: Leavenworth, KS
  • Ordained by: Rt. Rev. Bishop Fink

Diocesan Appointments:

  • Butler City, Kansas – 1880 to 1889
  • Perry, Kansas – 1889 to 1894
  • Olathe, Kansas – 1894 to 1896
  • Fleming, Kansas – 1897 to 1899
  • Pastor, St Bridget’s, Scammon, Kansas – 1897 to 1899
  • Chaplain, Mt Carmel Medical Center, Pittsburg, Kansas – 10/1/1903 to 12/20/1911

In 1880, Father Bernard Hudson was put in charge of completing the church and ministering to the needs of the parishioners. The Church in Clear Creek Township, Kansas was comprised mostly of tradesmen, clerks and others who had little money and limited knowledge of farming. Because of their limited resources, they had little with which to support their families or church and as a result, Father Hudson suffered many hardships along with the pioneers in this early colony.

In his early days in the ministry he was a zealous, energetic servant of the Master, as many church edifices bear testimony. Stricken with chronic invalidism in his later years he was obliged reluctantly to retire from active service. In 1903, due to failing health, Father resigned from active service and became chaplain of Mount Carmel Hospital in Pittsburg. He continued in that role until his death.

Father Hudson gained the respect of those he served because of his willingness to endure the physical hardships associated with living in a new frontier. In his printed obituary it was said that: “The fortitude, heroic patience, and stern determination which had characterized him in the many difficulties and trials to the Catholic ministry, were not absent during the last days of this faithful soldier of the Cross and the resignation with which he prepared to respond to the final summons was touching and edifying.”

The obituary printed in The Catholic Advance stated “The patience and resignation with which the deceased bore his sufferings and submitted to the final summons were characteristic of the man, one of the Old Guard in the development of Catholicity in Kansas, to whose heroic self-sacrifice we are indebted for the present standing of the Church in the West.”

  • Date of Death: 20 December 1911
  • Place of Death: Mt Carmel Hospital, Pittsburg, KS
  • Age of Death: 67
  • Cause of Death: Undisclosed chronic illness
  • Last Rites Administered by: Rev. Mennis of Frontenac
  • Funeral Celebrant: Rev. B. J. McKernan, Fort Scott
  • Burial: Catholic Cemetery in Pittsburg, KS

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