Rev. Louis Funcken CR, DD

The Rev. Louis Funcken founded St. Jerome’s College in 1865 in the small Waterloo County village of St. Agatha.

A native of Holland, he studied to become a druggist, but decided to change his occupation and chose the priesthood. He entered a seminary and obtained his Doctor of Divinity degree in 1864. He came to St. Agatha in the same year.

St. Jerome’s was moved in 1866 to Berlin where the larger population seemed to promise faster progress. Father Funcken guided the College through years of great struggle and from 1871 to 1878 was the only priest at the institution. To ease its financial burdens he went on a six month lecture tour of the northern United States, raising a very substantial sum. He overcame great difficulties that would have intimidated a lesser man.

In later life, for health reasons, Father Funcken returned to Holland where he died.