{"id":1588,"date":"2012-09-05T18:33:00","date_gmt":"2012-09-05T18:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.library.depaul.press\/full-text\/?p=1588"},"modified":"2015-10-23T18:33:43","modified_gmt":"2015-10-23T18:33:43","slug":"felix-deandreis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.library.depaul.press\/full-text\/2012\/09\/05\/felix-deandreis\/","title":{"rendered":"Felix DeAndreis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Filled with letters, witness testimonies and biographies, the papers of Felix DeAndreis, a Vincentian priest, (1778-1820) tell an adventurous tale of a man who felt a calling from a young age.\u00a0 After almost drowning while crossing a river with friends, he wrote, What happened I dont know, this only I know, that I invoked St. Anthony, and that I saw extended to me a thick rope which I grasped with both hands, and found myself safe on the other banks.<\/p>\n

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\"DeAndreisDeAndreis’s deep faith was set against the drama of the French Revolution.\u00a0 He wanted to join the Vincentian order near his home in Italy, but was first told to wait a year to evaluate his options, and shortly after he started, the house closed as Napoleon invaded Italy. DeAndreis only took his final vows in 1800, after Napoleon had left Italy for Egypt.<\/p>\n

Known as a brilliant, deeply obedient man, with a mind like a steel trap, and a penchant for reminding others of their vow of poverty, DeAndreis spent the next several years traveling around Italy, teaching, praying and preaching. The files are sprinkled with stories from this time in his life: that he was charged with heresy, painted by Bernini, miraculously healed a sick man.\u00a0 While these claims are unsubstantiated, his writings reveal that DeAndreis harbored a desire to travel, far, far into infidel countries.\u00a0 He was sent to the United States, where he arrived in 1816. In this frontier land, DeAndreis worked with local communities in and around St. Louis, including trappers, Native Americans, and African Americans, to evangelize and open seminaries and schools, which laid the foundation for the Vincentian presence in the US.<\/p>\n

DeAndreis died at the age of 43 after a painful and lingering illness that plagued him most of his adult life. In 1837 his remains were moved to St. Mary’<\/span>s of the Barrens, the seminary he had helped establish, but had never seen.\u00a0 Since he had originally been buried in a plain box, all the larger bones and the skull were intact, and the priests reburied DeAndreis in a new coffin, Fr. Forriatore himself claimed the privilege of transferring the skull. Before doing so, he placed his skull cap on the ground, and went down on his knees out of reverence, honoring the man who led them to the United States.
\nMore information about DeAndreis or other Vincentians in the Western Province of the Congregation of the Mission can be found by browsing the Vincentian Heritage Collections <\/a>or by contacting<\/a> DePaul’s Special Collections and Archives<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Filled with letters, witness testimonies and biographies, the papers of Felix DeAndreis, a Vincentian priest, (1778-1820) tell an adventurous tale of a man who felt a calling from a young age.\u00a0 After almost drowning while crossing a river with friends, he wrote, What happened I dont know, this only I know, that I invoked St. <\/p>\n

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