Father Caspar Caulfield, C.P., St. Paul of the Cross Province (1908-1993)

Born October 17, 1908 in Woburn, Massachusetts, he was attracted to the Passionists by reading The Sign Magazine. He made a retreat at St. Gabriel’s, Brighton, Massachusetts and read the life of St. Gabriel. He decided to join the Passionists. He professed his vows on August 15, 1929 and was ordained on May 30, 1936. A few years after ordination he was assigned to Hunan, China. For fifteen years he worked there and built a two hundred bed hospital. He lived through the Japanese and Communist periods. In 1953 Father Caulfield was expelled from China by the Communists. Back in the United States he was discouraged but then had the opportunity to gain new excitement when he was assigned to Rome as Secretary General of Missions for the Passionists. After twenty seven years he returned to the United States and became archivist for St. Paul of the Cross Province in West Springfield, Massachusetts. Under his direction the archives in Union City, New Jersey was constructed. He wrote the book Only A Beginning which describes the first decade, the 1920s, of the Passionists in Hunan, China. He lived his final years in Union City, New Jersey.