Rev. John W. Padberg S.J.

Rev. John William Padberg, S.J., was called to eternal life on Saturday, December 25, 2021, at Saint Louis University Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri. He was 95 years old, a Jesuit for 77 years and a priest for 64 years.

John was born in St. Louis on May 22, 1926 and baptized at St. Anthony of Padua Church on the same day. He attended Our Lady of Sorrows grade school 1931-40 and St. Louis University High School 1940-44; upon graduating he entered the novitiate at St. Stanislaus Seminary in Florissant on May 21, 1944. Because he contracted a form of polio in the novitiate and had to spend months in hospitals, he pronounced first vows late, on February 3, 1947. He completed his Juniorate studies in 1948, having already demonstrated his considerable intellectual gifts, fine work ethic, and patience during his long illness and recovery. John proceeded to studies at Saint Louis University, earning a B.A. in Latin and Greek in 1949 and a Ph.L. in 1951. He taught Greek, Speech, and history at St. Louis University High 1951-53 and returned to studies 1953-54 at the University, where he earned an M.A. in History in 1954. From 1954-58 John studied Theology at St. Mary’s Kansas and was ordained to the priesthood there on June 19, 1957. After Fourth-Year Theology he did tertianship at St. Joseph’s Hall in Decatur, Illinois 1958-59, and proceeded to Harvard University to begin work on his doctorate. John pronounced final vows in Boston on August 15, 1961.

From 1959 to 1964 John worked on his doctorate, studying not only in Boston, but also at the Institut Catholique 1962-63 and in Chantilly, France, where he did archival research. He was awarded the Ph.D. in Intellectual History by Harvard in 1965. In 1964 he had been assigned back to Saint Louis University as a professor of history; he also served as Academic Vice-president 1969-73 and as Acting Executive Vice-president 1972-73. His life took a turn when he was sent to the Jesuit Conference in Washington, DC, 1973-75 as a research associate, and then to the Weston School of Theology in Cambridge, Massachusetts as its President, in which capacity he served from 1975 to 1985. According to Fr. John O’Malley, he turned around a school that had moved to the city from the old “Weston in the woods” and was still trying to establish itself. During these same years, 1975-85, John was the founding Chair of the National Seminar on Jesuit Higher Education and Editor of Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education.

In 1986, John took the reins as Director of the Institute of Jesuit Sources in St. Louis, begun by Fr. George Ganss, as the Chair of the Seminar on Jesuit Spirituality, and as the Editor of Studies in the Spirituality of Jesuits. He gave up his work on the Seminar in 2002, but continued with the IJS until 2014, when it moved to Boston College as the Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies. Of course, John continued his research, study, and writing up until the time of his final illness. If this were not enough. he had also served as Rector of Jesuit Hall 1998-2004.

It is clear that John was one of the most influential American Jesuits of the last 50 years. A citation for an honorary degree given to him mentioned, among other achievements, that “Fr. Padberg has lectured extensively about the history and spirituality of the Society of Jesus and Jesuit education. Over the years,

he has given presentations at all twenty-eight U.S. Jesuit colleges and universities and in the d’Arcy Lectures at Campion Hall at the University of Oxford.” Among his works are Colleges in Controversy: The Jesuit Schools in France from Revival to Suppression, 1814-1880 (Cambridge, MA, 1969); Together as a Companionship: A History of the Thirty-First through Thirty-Third General Congregations of the Society of Jesus (Saint Louis, 1994); as author and co-editor, For Matters of Greater Moment, (Saint Louis, 1994), a history and translation of the decrees of the first thirty Jesuit General Congregations, 1558-1957; and, as editor of Jesuit Life and Jesuit Mission Today, a translation of the documents of the thirty-first through thirty-fifth General Congregations, 1965-2008 (Saint Louis, 2009).

In spite of his tremendous learning and numerous accomplishments, John was always a pleasure to be with. He had the historian’s flair for a good story and demonstrated unfailing courtesy and friendliness. He was a delightful companion and will be greatly missed.

John was preceded in death by his parents, John F. and Emily Albrecht Padberg, as well as by his brothers William and Charles, and his sisters Mary Frances, SSND and Marie Xavier, SSND. He is survived by his sister, Carol Padberg and his sister-in-law Rosemary Padberg, as well as by his nephew John F. Padberg, nieces Christine and Emily Padberg and Elizabeth Danis, and nine great-nieces and -nephews.

SERVICE: Funeral Mass will be celebrated in the College Church in St. Louis on Thursday evening, January 13, with visitation from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. and the Mass of the Resurrection at 7:15 p.m. Interment will be on Friday January 14 at 9:00 a.m. at Calvary Cemetery. The Mass will be live-streamed: go to YouTube and search for “Father John Padberg Mass of Christian Burial.”

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