Iowa Heritage Digital Collections
State Library of Iowa

1921 Yearbook

1921 Yearbook

Title

1921 Yearbook

Description

To the Memory of Anthony J. Jaeger
Almost a year has passed since the Angel of Death, walking through
the ranks of our Alumni, chose one of the youngest and most promising
of young Seminarians to go with him before the throne of the Most High.
Those who knew Anthony Jaeger cannot but regret that God did not leave
him longer in this world to labor in the Vineyard of Christ, where he
longed to spend himself and be spent for the salvation of souls. But it is
not for us to question the inscrutable ways of God.
Anthony Jaeger came to St. Ambrose College in 1912. He was not
one to display his talents or thrust himself into the light of public notice ;
but, in spite of his reserve and modesty, he was soon known for his
endurance on the athletic field, for his scholarly wrork in the classroom,
and for his fine qualities of character and his piety. Because he realized
his personal responsibility to the Creator he developed body, mind and
soul to the best of his ability. As a boy he longed to consecrate himself to
the service of Christ; he never swerved from that sacred purpose. Had
the Priesthood not been his all-absorbing ambition, undoutedly his fiery
patriotism would have lured him, with his brothers, to the battle-scarred
fields of France. When, however, in 1918, he completed his college course
with high honors and entered St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, he rejoiced
at being a step nearer the priestly goal. But, like the Saints he loved,
Aloysious, and Stanislaus, and John Berchmans, he was called out of the
world in the flower of his young manhood before the consecrating oils had
touched his hands. Was it that his life's work was to be like that of these
Saints? In his self-consecration, fidelity to duty, and purity of life he was
not unlike them. He, too, looked to the foreign missions as his field of
labor, he was ready to give all to Christ. In his prayer book his mother
found a leaflet, much thumb-marked, with a prayer for a missionaries'
vocation. Was that his prayer in those vigils he was wont to keep when,
after night prayers, the other students had left the chapel? Perhaps.
But in any part of his Master's Vineyard he would have followed closely
the Divine Ideal. The death of Anthony Jaeger was a loss to the Diocese
of Davenport, to the Church, but who can tell the pain it brought to those
who loved him most, his brothers, his sisters, his noble and saintly mother?
May they find some consolation in the knowledge that Anthony will live
long in the memories of those who knew and loved him here, and that his
priestly work is to be a model and an inspiration to others.
Page 120

Date

1921

Rights

St. Ambrose University, 518 W. Locust St., Davenport, IA 52803

Identifier

http://cdm16810.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16810coll2/id/4029