Published in 1920
by Virginia Mission Aid Society

Foreward….

I am especially pleased to heartily approve of your Virginia Aid Society, because it makes so evident the zeal that inflames the hearts of our Catholic laity. Did not Christ say, "I have come to cast fire on earth, and what do I wish but that it blaze forth?" Your organization shows the flame blazing forth, and its active, zealous labors encourage me to hope for even greater things. The help you give my good priests in the lonely country missions touches me deeply and makes me feel that priests and people are drawing closer to one another for the advancement of the faith we so dearly love. The idea, too, of holding up our seminarian, Frank Parater, as a model for our people is indeed praiseworthy.

I give this Society my blessing, with the hope and prayer that its labors to date are but signs of greater and more useful work for Christ and His Church in the years to come.

+ D. J. O'Connell
Bishop of Richmond

An Appreciation

Frank Parater was always one who impressed those who met him as a quiet, strong character. Beneath the modest bearing, you realized that there was a deep sense of duty. Even as a boy he was especially likeable, and early manifested those qualities of leadership which were later so pronounced.

Well do I recall how faithful an altar boy he was along in his 'teens. Every morning at Monte Maria, Frank would be ready to serve Mass at 6:40 o'clock, and this was done faithfully while he was a student at our Brothers' School, and even later when at the Benedictine College.

His training at these two schools and at Belmont made deeper that spirit of piety and sacrifice for duty, and though he had the idea of the priesthood in his mind for many years, only those knew it who shared his intimate secrets. While at Belmont, he thought of joining a religious order, and pondering the pros and cons seriously, determined, after consultation and prayer, that Virginia needed him most; that his life work was to be the saving of souls in the Old Dominion and especially the conversion of Virginia to the true faith. His aged mother he felt he would never see again - and how it must have wrung his heart! - yet he went ahead as a courageous soldier of Christ, cheerfully. In the providence of God, he was to be the first to cross "the great portal to the real life," preceding his sweet mother by only nine weeks.

As an altar boy, faithful; as a student, seriously laborious; as a Boy Scout, "a four-ply scout, a scout of scouts;" as a seminarian, praying and laboring that God would grant "the greatest desire of my life - to die for love of Him and of my fellowman," Frank Parater was indeed a saintly leader of boys and men - one whom the "Lord looked upon and loved" - because, unlike the Gospel youth, Frank gave up all and followed the Master in spirit and in truth.

He died beautifully, peacefully in Rome, the Eternal City. And when the details reached us we fully realized that, though we had lost a sincere friend, a real Christ-like man, Virginia had gained a powerful advocate in the heavenly courts.

I must close this little tribute with one hope and prayer: that Richmond and the diocese may, by God's grace, give us more boys and young men after the mold of Frank Parater. "Requisat in Pace."
Anon.

"To Be Only A Little Boy"

Frank Parater's name has been mentioned before in this newspaper. He was one of the first Boy Scouts in Richmond and, from the day he enlisted, scouting was an object close to his heart. He was not quick to qualify for some of the difficult physical tests, for he was not strong; but he devoted himself so faithfully to exercise that he became in time one of the most powerful and proficient of all the scouts.

When he was about seventeen, he went to Belmont Abbey, in preparation for the priesthood, but every summer's vacation found him back in Richmond. Last year he was made director of the scout camp in Chesterfield County - a distinct honor for one who was still, in years, a boy. The season of the camp was inexpressibly a joy to him, not merely because it brought him opportunities for service, but also because he knew it was the last summer during which, for many years at least, he would be privileged to live in the Virginia woods. He was bound for Rome in the autumn to continue, in austerity to ordination, his studies at the American College.

How deeply Frank Parater felt both the separation and the duty that journey involved, few of the scouts knew. Even those men to direct this great movement in Richmond did not observe in Frank a deep spiritual struggle - a struggle between the desire to remain a boy and to become a man of larger service.

With all good wishes, at the end of summer Frank sailed for Rome. Arriving, he wrote regularly of his new work, and in almost every letter there was a message of love for the scouts - the scouts with whom he was still one in spirit.

In December, Frank must have had a season of very earnest prayer. There was no holding back in his heart from the priesthood - he considered it the one calling in life - but there must have been a very deep regret at the thought that his boyhood of dreams and hopes was slipping away from him. Finally, on December 8, 1919, he sat down and wrote a letter, which he placed in an envelope and sealed. On the envelope he wrote: "In case of death, to be sent to Mr. Charles L. Weaver, for the Richmond Scouts, 14 North Eighth Street, Richmond, Va." He added, but later marked out, the words, "and copies and -."

A few days ago the sealed envelope came to Richmond, and, as directed, was turned over to Mr. Weaver. Here is what the letter contained (read it slowly to appreciate it, and remember that the writer was a boy just becoming a man):

One can reproduce the mind of the boy from this letter. One can think his thoughts.

Evidently, he had read, as his own ideal, the life of that youthful saint, John Berchmans, who had died at Rome in August, 1621, and who had as his motto, "If I do not become a saint when I am young, I shall never become one * * *. My penance is to live the common life * * *." There was much in common between Frank's life and that of St. John Berchmans. So was there between his struggle and that tradition which associates with St. Pancratius. Frank had been thinking, too, of Jack Williams, Randolph Williams' boy, who had given his life to serve others in Richmond in the influenza epidemic of 1918. Frank wanted to be like them. For that, on December 8, he prayed, and, strong in the faith that it would be given him, he wrote his "old scouts: this promise to welcome them "to the camp-fire of eternal life."

Two months thereafter, in infinite happiness, Frank Parater received, in death, the answer to his prayer. Always will he be "only a little boy."

A Four-Ply Scout

Many a man lives to four-score years and, dying, causes not a tithe of the regret that followed the announcement yesterday of the death in Rome of Frank Parater, who was still a boy.

Frank was a real scout, a four-ply scout, a scout of scouts. When the first troops were organized in Richmond, Frank was awkward, overgrown, and by no means of an athletic type. But he saw the possibilities of scouting, and after he had qualified as a tenderfoot, he worked his way patiently and painfully along the hard road of scout achievement. His merit badges did not come easily at the outset; he had to spend much time to prepare himself for every test. Conquering his mind by successive assaults and developing his body by exercise, he became ere many months had passed a competent scout, then an exceptional scout, and, at last, one of the very best the Richmond troops ever had.

Scouting was not selfish in Frank's eyes. He was cherishing dreams of the priesthood, and he believed that if he were a leader of boys he would be the more capable a minister. That was why, after he went to Belmont Abbey, he placed his vacations at the disposal of the Richmond Boy Scout Council and did a man's work at the camp in Chesterfield County. To those who knew by what earnest labor Frank Parater had risen to be an out-of-doors leader it was always inspiring to see how he sought to develop the boys who looked up to him as a scout to whom all the arts of the wood were known.

Some wondered whether, after all, the priesthood was the field of labor where a boy of such capacity could do the greatest good. He was so human, so overflowing with strength, so in love with nature that one had inevitable misgivings. Frank met all questions with a single, simple statement: "It's what I ought to do," he would say, "and I'm going to do it." In that spirit he went to the American College at Rome. In that spirit, no doubt, as a scholar, the brave boy died.

"Scholars, too," an ancient chronicler has written down, "are martyrs if they live in purity and labor with courage."

The Virginia Mission Aid Society

Late in January, 1920, a few Richmond Catholics determined to meet every Monday evening. Their purpose was to discuss doctrinal topics, especially those Catholic principles most misunderstood by our separated brethren. Mrs. Lyons' home, on West Main Street, was chosen as the most convenient meeting place, and, due to her kind hospitality, was so kept for a year. Father Brosnan was invited to be the spiritual guide of these discussions, and gladly accepted.

After Frank Parater's death, so noble and heroic, the ladies present voted to form a Society to help spread the true faith in our State and especially in the rural sections. The Right Rev. Bishop gave his hearty approval and so the Virginia Mission Aid Society had its beginning. On July 28, 1920, a constitution was adopted and approved. Twenty-six charter members then formed the Society, whose membership list now numbers close to three hundred. The officers are: President, Mary Meighan; Vice-President, Catherine Walsh; Financial Secretary, Nellie Hafling; Corresponding Secretary, Johanna Lyons; Spiritual Director, Father Brosnan.

As will readily be seen by reference to the financial report, help has been given to our country missions, especially to Woodslane, Ashland, West Point and Claremont. Literature such as the Sunday Visitor, Extension Magazine, Goffine's Devout Christian, has been widely and regularly distributed. This work, we trust, will grow as our membership increases.

In the spring a reception was held for all the last-year converts of the city and was a splendid success. The Boy Scouts under the direction of Mr. Edward Martin, were especially helpful on this occasion, and we gratefully mention the following boys: James Anthony, Caroll Hulcher, Cecil Ross, Edward Marrin, George Hanson, Jr., and Edward McCracken. Our thanks, too, are due to many benefactors for their gifts to us, and particularly to a gentleman of St. Peter's parish who very generously donated a fine set of the "Catholic Encyclopedia."

Already, though but an infant Society, have we had to mourn the loss of five members - Mrs. J. Brand, Mr. P. J. Foley, Mrs. R.W. Franklin, Mrs. M. Griffin and Miss Madge Sweeny. They, with our noble patron, Frank Parater, are helping, we hope, and will always help us, by their prayers and supplications before the great white throne.

May the V. M. A. S. have many other anniversaries, doing better and better the great work it proposes - the spread of the faith of Christ through the Old Dominion and especially among its rural inhabitants.

E.A.B.

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