Father Anthony P. Hodgins, MM

Born: June 6, 1885
Ordained: June 14, 1919
Died: May 23, 1922

Anthony P. Hodgins was born on June 6, 1885 in Brooklyn, N.Y. After a short career in the legal profession he entered Maryknoll in December, 1915. Following four years of study he was ordained on June 14, 1919. He was assigned to Yeungkong, China the following year.

Father Hodgins arrived in Yeungkong in September of 1920 where his close friend and relative, Francis X. Ford, was also laboring. Completing a short stay at the language school, Father was assigned to a portion of Yeungkong called Chiklung. Upon arriving he found no traces of Christianity there but he quickly responded to the difficult task ahead of him. He started to build a school where the youth of Chiklung could be grounded in the rudiments of Christianity. In the early days of the development Father James A. Walsh visited the mission and was impressed with the thriving activity that Fr. Hodgins had begun. Father Walsh wrote of his visit in the Field Afar, complimenting Fr. Hodgins on the work he had been able to accomplish in so short a time and in such an economical manner.

The life of this young missioner was taken away at a time when it was so vital to the mission he had started. He fell ill and died in St. Paul’s Hospital, Hong Kong on May 23, 1922. At the Requiem mass at the major seminary Father Walsh delivered the eulogy, speaking of Father Hodgins and the work he had been able to do as a man of judgment, ability, strength of character and vigor for God.

At the Cathedral in Hong Kong a Solemn Requiem Mass was offered on May 24, 1922 and Father Hodgin’s body was laid to rest in Happy Valley Cemetery beside that of his fellow-missioner Father Thomas F. Price.