This is the homily that was delivered at Our Lady of Peace Retreat House on August 3, 2020, an apostolate of Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Sorrows, Beaverton, OR.
My grandfather Larry Pattee arranged for his family to gift their son and brother with a silver chalice upon his ordination as a Catholic priest in 1925. My great uncle, Fr. Frank Pattee, (1893-1935) was ordained on June 6, 1925, for the Diocese Sioux City in Iowa. In 1930 however, Fr. Frank contracted tuberculosis that was so severe he had no choice but to move from his parish to St. Francis Hospital in Colorado Springs. Frank’s sister, my great aunt Sr. Mary Agatha Pattee, responded to a call from her superiors in the Franciscan Sisters of Dubuque to go on mission to China. During her preparations she visited Fr. Frank, aware of his short time on this earth, donated his chalice to China’s mission. Mary Agatha took the chalice, packed it up with her other things and brought it to China. She arrived at the missionary’s house by boat.
