Fr. Joseph X. Steffes, Detroit Native, Army Chaplain, Dies

DENVER, CO...Feb. 25, 2008...Fr. Joseph Xavier Steffes, C.Ss.R., a Detroit native and army chaplain, died Saturday evening, February 23, 2008 in Baton Rouge, LA, where he was a parish priest at the St. Gerard Majella Parish for the past nine years. He was 93 years old.

Fr. Steffes was born in Detroit, MI on October 24, 1914. After grade school, Fr. Steffes spent four years of high school and two college years at St. Joseph's College in Kirkwood, MO (1928-1934). The following year he entered the Redemptorist novitiate in De Soto, MO. Fr. Steffes professed his vows on August 2, 1935 and was ordained a Redemptorist priest on June 29, 1940.

During Fr. Steffes' nearly seventy years as a Redemptorist priest, he served as a parish priest, local superior and pastor in Chicago, IL; Baton Rouge, Crowley and New Orleans, LA; Houston, TX; in Carlisle and Versailles, KY for six years; and in San Antonio, TX.

Fr. Steffes served two terms as a United States Army Chaplain, from 1943-1946 in Chicago, IL at the St. Alphonsus Parish and again from 1950-1954 in Baton Rouge, LA at the St. Gerard Majella Parish.

Fr. Steffes died of congestive heart failure.

The visitation and funeral Mass will be held Wednesday, February 27, at St. Gerard Catholic Church in Baton Rouge, LA. The visitation runs from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.; the funeral Mass begins at 11:00 am.

On Thursday, February 28, the Rosary and a Vigil Service will be held at the St. Clement Health Care Center, in Liguori, MO. The Rosary begins at 3:00 p.m., the Vigil Service at 7:00 p.m. The following day, Friday, February 29, the funeral Mass and burial will be held at 10:00 a.m.

Please remember Fr. Joseph Steffes and his family in your prayers and Masses. May he rest in the fullness of the Redeemer's peace.

If you would like to make a donation in Fr. Steffes' memory, to help support the work of his Redemptorist brothers, please make your check payable to Redemptorists/Denver Province and mail it to:

Redemptorists/Denver Province
Development Office
1230 South Parker Road
Denver, CO 80231

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The Redemptorists are a religious congregation of Catholic priests and brothers founded in southern Italy in 1732 by St. Alphonsus Liguori, C.Ss.R., a doctor of the Church and one of her greatest saints. Redemptorists around the world celebrate this year the 275th anniversary of their founding.