December 11, 1907
Father Anthony Abel
Father Abel was born on November 11, 1833 in Burgass, Bavaria, Germany. He served in the German Army for four years before coming to the United States where, he taught French, German, Greek, Spanish, Latin, and English in Cleveland, Ohio. He was ordained by Bishop Amadeus Rappe of Cleveland on June 28, 1863 for the Diocese of Cleveland. He later moved west serving in St. Joseph, Mo., Easton, Mo; Leavenworth, Kansas; Paola, Kansas; Golden, and Boulder, Colo., after which we returned to Kansas were he was assigned to Liebenthal, Tipton and Ost. In 1889 he came to Wichita where he was chaplain at St. Francis Hospital, first resident chaplain for the Sisters of St. Joseph at St. Mary’s Orphanage, and chaplain for the Precious Blood Sisters. “The immediate causes of Father Abel’s death were the injuries which he received in a collision of a buggy in which he was riding, and a street car in Kansas City last August, from which injuries he had never fully recovered.” (The Catholic Advance, Dec. 14, 1907) Father Abel died at St. Francis Hospital on December 11, 1907. Bishop Hennessy celebrated a Solemn Pontifical Mass of Requiem for Father Abel in the Pro-Cathedral. Father Abel was buried at Calvary Cemetery in Wichita.