James Kent Stone (1840-1921)

Born in Massachusetts to a prominent family, James Kent Stone attended Harvard before joining the Union Army as a lieutenant during the American Civil War. After leaving the service in 1863, he became a professor of Latin at Kenyon College in Ohio. That same year he married Cornelia Fay, with whom he had two daughters. Not long thereafter, he was ordained an Episcopalian priest. In 1867, at age 27, he became president of the college. From there he went on to become President of Hobart College in upstate New York. Attracted toward the Oxford Movement which led many Anglicans to Rome, he converted to Roman Catholicism. By that time his wife had died. After he arranged for the care of his daughters, he joined the Paulist Fathers, at that time a community made up primarily of converts. A few years later he joined the Passionists, taking the name Father Fidelis. As a Passionist, he oversaw the order’s missionary efforts in South America. He was reunited with his daughters toward the end of his life. (For more on Stone click here.