Robert J. Fox (priest) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Robert J. Fox was an American priest and a prolific author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

of Roman Catholic religious books. As well as his writings, Fox worked as a priest in a number of rural towns in South Dakota

South Dakota

South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...

. He was the Director of the national Fatima Family Apostolate

Fatima Family Apostolate

The Fatima Family Apostolate is a U.S. based Roman Catholic Apostolate that is headquartered in Hanceville, Alabama. Founded in 1986 by Fr. Robert J. Fox and named after Our Lady of Fátima...

and Youth for Fatima Pilgrimages as well as the editor of the Immaculate Heart Messenger

Immaculate Heart Messenger

Immaculate Heart Messenger is a Roman Catholic international quarterly magazine which brings its readers teachings of sound Catholic faith and morals in harmony with the teachings of the Universal Church. It has been endorsed by the last two presidents of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for the...

and had written frequently for a number of Catholic publications in the US. The Fatima Family Apostolate organises the national Annual Marian Congress attended by thousands of people.

Life and career

He was born in Watertown, South Dakota

Watertown, South Dakota

Watertown is a city in and the county seat of Codington County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 21,482 at the 2010 census. It is also the principal city of the Watertown Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Codington and Hamlin counties...

in 1927. His father, Aloysius Fox, was a farmer. Fox was raised in a religious family and developed a vocation at an early age. After graduating from Watertown High School

Watertown High School

Watertown High School may refer to:*Watertown High School in Watertown, Connecticut*Watertown High School in Watertown, Massachusetts*Watertown High School in Watertown, New York...

Fox studied at St John's University

College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University

The College of Saint Benedict , for women, and Saint John's University , for men, are partnered liberal arts colleges respectively located in St. Joseph and Collegeville, Minnesota, USA. Students attend classes and activities together, and have access to the resources of both campuses...

, an all-male Benedictine

Benedictine

Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...

liberal arts college in rural Minnesota between 1947 and 1950. Fox graduated from the St Paul Seminary in 1955.

After being ordained, Fox served as an Associate Pastor in several congregations where some of his supervisors suggested that he start working as a writer. He started sending in letters and articles to Catholic publications and they were published. He eventually became a weekly columnist for the National Catholic Register

National Catholic Register

Not to be confused with the National Catholic Reporter or the Catholic RegisterThe National Catholic Register is the oldest national Catholic newspaper in the United States. It was founded on 8 November 1927 by Msgr. Matthew J...

and has written regularly for a number of other publications.

Fox became the pastor of St Anthony's parish based in Bristol, South Dakota

Bristol, South Dakota

Bristol is a city located in western Day County, South Dakota, United States. It lies in Section 25 of Bristol Township, on the main line of what is now the BNSF Railway alongside U.S. Route 12....

in 1962. He was the pastor in a number of parishes in South Dakota between 1961 and 1971. He became the pastor at St Bernard's Church in Redfield, South Dakota

Redfield, South Dakota

Redfield is a city in and the county seat of Spink County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 2,333 at the 2010 census. The city is not to be confused with the surrounding Redfield Township, which encompasses unincorporated areas outside of the city limits.-Geography:Redfield is...

in 1971.

In 1971, Cardinal John Wright, the Prefect for the Congregation of the Clergy asked him to write six books as part of the General Catechetical Directory kept at the Vatican

Vatican City

Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...

. Fox did so and started a prolific career with well over 50 books to his credit as at 2005. In 2005, he published an autobiography A Priest is a Priest Forever.

As thanks for the request, Fox built the first shrine commemorating the Virgin Mary in Redfield in 1972. He took his first pilgrimage group to Our Lady of Fatima

Our Lady of Fatima

Our Lady of Fátima is a famous title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary as she appeared in apparitions reported by three shepherd children at Fátima in Portugal. These occurred on the 13th day of six consecutive months in 1917, starting on May 13...

in Fátima, Portugal

Fátima, Portugal

Fátima is a city in Portugal famous for the Marian apparitions, recognized by the Catholic Church, that took place there in 1917. The town itself has a population of 7,756 and is located in the municipality of Ourém, in the Centro Region and Médio Tejo Subregion...

in 1974 for six weeks and has been doing so ever since.

Fr. Fox gave talks at many conferences across the globe, often appeared on television making appearances on EWTN and produced a quarterly magazine Immaculate Heart Messenger

Immaculate Heart Messenger

.

Listed among his many conference presentations are sound Catholic faith teachings that are Mariological which took place in Fatima, Australia, Poland, Syria, Mexico, Italy, and the United States.

Among Fr. Fox’s numerous television and radio appearances are several Mother Angelica

Mother Angelica

Mother Mary Angelica of the Annunciation, PCPA is an American Roman Catholic nun who founded the Eternal Word Television Network. In 1944 she entered the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration, a Franciscan religious order for women, as a postulant, and a year later she was admitted to the order as a...

Live Shows; an appearance on Johnette Benkovic’s The Abundant Life; EWTN Doug Keck's Bookmark

Bookmark

A bookmark is used to keep one's place in a printed work. It can also refer to:* Bookmark , a pointer in an Internet Web browser* a marker of one's place in an electronic document...

; Daily Mass

Mass

Mass can be defined as a quantitive measure of the resistance an object has to change in its velocity.In physics, mass commonly refers to any of the following three properties of matter, which have been shown experimentally to be equivalent:...

; WEWN

WEWN

WEWN is the shortwave radio outlet of the Eternal Word Television Network, a large Catholic international broadcaster. The station broadcasts from the city of Irondale, Alabama, on the outskirts of Birmingham with a high transmitter power of 500 kilowatts...

shortwave radio and Sirius Satellite Radio

Sirius Satellite Radio

Sirius Satellite Radio is a satellite radio service operating in North America, owned by Sirius XM Radio.Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Sirius was officially launched on July 1, 2002 and currently provides 69 streams of music and 65 streams of...

; Relevant Radio

Relevant Radio

Relevant Radio is a trademark of Starboard Media Foundation, and is the largest Catholic talk radio network in the United States, with 20 stations and 18 affiliates in 15 states...

Fr. Fox was responsible for having built three shrines to the Virgin Mary since that date. He began the Fatima Family Apostolate in 1986 and has been the director of that body since then as well as the editor of its newsletter. In 1987, he began the first National Marian Conference in Alexandria, South Dakota

Alexandria, South Dakota

Alexandria is a city in Hanson County, South Dakota, United States. It is part of the Mitchell, South Dakota Micropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 615 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Hanson County.-History:...

in June of each year with an annual average attendance of 8,000. He celebrated 50 years in the priesthood in 2005.

After Fr. Fox's retirement, he offered daily Mass

Mass (liturgy)

"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...

only at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament, which is part of Our Lady of the Angels Monastery Hanceville, Alabama

Hanceville, Alabama

Hanceville is a city in Cullman County, Alabama, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 2,951.-Geography:Hanceville is located at .According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all of it land....

. He continued to write books and was the editor of the Immaculate Heart Messenger Magazine and could be seen on EWTN

Eternal Word Television Network

The Eternal Word Television Network is an American cable television network which presents Catholic-themed programming. It was founded in 1980 by Mother Mary Angelica of the Annunciation, PCPA...

.

He died on Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 2009.

Life and career

Further reading