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Rev. Henry Gorganus Vande Castle (1895-1942)

Parents:    Edward Vande Casteele (1855-1914)

                Mary Elizabeth Dundon (1858-1905)

Step-mother: Minnie Kersten

Siblings:    Mary Esther Eleanor Vande Casteele (1883-????)

                Agnes Odelia Vande Castle (1885-1975)

                Raymond Ignatias Hubert Vande Casteele (1886-1932)

                Edward Francis Jerome Vande Casteele, Jr. (1888-1910)

                Clara Elizabeth Vande Castle (1890-1977)

                Louis Alphonse Vande Castle (1896-1938)

Henry Gorganus Vande Castle was born on September 8, 1895 to Edward Vande Casteele and Mary Dundon in De Pere, Wisconsin.  His mother died when he was about 10 years old in 1905, and his father remarried in 1907.  Around 1908, Henry moved with his father, stepmother, and younger brother Louis to Washington, D.C. where his father was on the police force of the U.S. Capitol building.  When his father and brother moved to Teutopolis, Illinois in late 1913, Henry stayed in Baltimore and was studying for the priesthood at St. Charles College.  His father Edward died in 1914.  Henry later studied philosophy at St. Norbert's College in DePere, Wisconsin and his theological studies were done at St. Francis Seminary in St. Francis, Wisconsin.  He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Green Bay by Archbishop Sebastian Messmer of Milwaukee (he had been the Bishop of Green Bay from 1891-1903) on May 21, 1921.

Father Vande Castle's first assignment was as an assistant pastor at St. Willebrord in Green Bay, Wisconsin beginning on June 11, 1921 and then for St. Mary's in Kaukauna, Wisconsin beginning on June 1, 1923.  On May 15, 1927 he began his first pastorate at Immaculate Conception parish at Custer and its mission at Sharon.  He was named pastor at St. Patrick's parish in Askeaton, Wisconsin on October 25, 1929 where he served until June 15, 1939 when he was made pastor at St. Augustine's in Chilton, Wisconsin.  On February 18, 1942, Ash Wednesday, just as he went to get the ashes in the sacristy for distribution Father Vande Castle suffered a stroke.  At ten minutes past eleven he was called by Christ to his great reward at the age of 46.  He is buried in St. Augustine's Cemetery in Chilton, Wisconsin

 My thanks to John L. LeDoux, Archivist for the Diocese of Green Bay, for his assistance in providing additional materials on Father Vande Castle from his diocesan file.