Servant of God William Finnemann

William (Wilhelm) Finnemann (December 18, 1882 – October 26, 1942) was a priest of the Society of the Divine Word, auxiliary bishop of Manila and apostolic vicar of Calapan, the Philippines. He was martyred by the Japanese through being thrown into the sea near Verde Island off the coast of Batangas City, Batangas. Born in Büninghausen, Soest, North Rhine-Westphalia in the German Empire, to Bernhard and Elizabeth Nasse. Finnemann was the second oldest of fourteen children. He learned shoemaking from his uncle to help with the family expenses. The pastor of the Hultrop, Dr. Bernhard Köper, invited him to study in a Latin Catholic public school, where he proved a good student. Young Finnemann wrote to various missionary religious orders asking to be admitted. Arnold Janssen, founder of the Society of the Divine Word, accepted. With his parents' permission and a letter of recommendation from Köper, Finnemann entered the seminary in April 1900. Köper had also generously offered to cover the cost. Finnemann was ordained as priest on October 1, 1911. In 1912, Finnemann came to the Philippines. He was assigned to Abra, a province in the northern Philippines. For five years, he set about establishing parishes, building schools and handling pastoral care. He became a naturalized Filipino. With the outbreak of World War I, in 1918 he was taken into protective custody by the Americans and brought to the USA, winding up at the Society's St. Mary's Mission Seminary in Techny, Illinois where he remained for some years. He was made professor of Latin and Greek from 1920-1922. He later returned to Abra and from 1923-1926 he was made Procurator of the Society of the Divine Word in the Philippine Islands. In 1926, he became the parish priest of the new Espiritu Santo Parish (a.k.a. Holy Ghost Church, Holy Spirit Church, and later Archdiocesan Shrine of Espiritu Santo) which was put under the administration of his order.