Dean Martin Gessner's priesthood encompassed the history of the American Catholic Church during the latter half of the nineteenth century. Given that the historical consensus defines the nineteenth century, culturally and politically, as lasting from 1815 to 1914, his eight and a half decade life largely was the nineteenth century. Gessner's beginnings were humble. Born into an obscure farming community in Bavaria, he rose to become one of the most significant American parish priests of his era. This book narrates the life of Dean Gessner in light of the nineteenth century Catholic Church. It...
Dean Martin Gessner's priesthood encompassed the history of the American Catholic Church during the latter half of the nineteenth century. Given that ...
