Father Herman Frencken 1886-1956

FRENCKEN

Posted By: Sharon Elijah (email)
Date: 8/8/2019 at 06:22:58

11 October 1956 - The Tipton Conservative

Father Herman Joseph Frencken, 90, Mechanicsville, oldest priest in the Davenport diocese of the Catholic church, died Thursday afternoon in an Iowa City hospital.

Father Frencken, a priest for 64 years, was pastor of St. Mary's Catholic church in Mechanicsville for the last 29 years. He served as pastor at Victor for nearly 22 years, then briefly at Colfax before coming to Mechanicsville in June of 1927.

Funeral services were held Monday in St. Mary's church with a low mass at 7:30 a.m., a requiem high mass for the parish at 9 a.m. and a solemn pontifical mass for the clergy at 10:30 a.m.

Burial was in a Catholic cemetery at Davenport.

Born March 4, 1886, in southern Holland, he was one of a family of 13 children. In 1892 he came to America. He was then 26 and just ordained. He was assigned to the Davenport diocese in 1904. He served the Davenport cathedral for 15 months and then was transferred to Victor.

Father Francken claimed for his family a Catholic church record for clergy service. His family served a total of 224 years in the clergy. Three of his brothers were priests and two of his sisters were nuns. He was the last surviving member of the family.

While serving at Victor, he saw a new school built, saw an addition erected for a high school. When his church building was destroyed by fire, he raised $40,000 in a year toward rebuilding the church. Ill from overexertion at Victor, he was transferred to Colfax and then Mechanicsville.