chapter 3 | to love and serve
benemerenti medal The Benemerenti Medal, instituted by Pope Gregory XVI in 1832, is conferred on those who have exhibited long and exceptional service to the Catholic Church, their families and community. The word benemerenti means “to a well deserving person.”
Thomas P. Fay, S.J.
PIUS XII PONTIFEX MAXIMUS Numisma Decernere Ac Dilargiri Dignatus Est
rev. p. thomas p. fay, s.j. Virtutis Laude Benemerenti Eidem Facultatem Faciens Seipsum Hoc Ornamento Decorandi Ex Aedibus Vaticanis, Die 30 Aprilis 1947
Benemerenti medal in the collection of the Thomas P. Fay, S.J., Archives of the Society of Jesus of New England, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA
36 | the medals and the men
While serving as Chaplain with the Armed Forces of the United States of America in the European Theatre during two years, from July 1944 to July 1946, and particularly during the period from May 1945 to July 1946, as Chaplain attached to Western Base Headquarters, France, Thomas Patrick Fay, of the Society of Jesus, rendered signal service over and above the line of duty in administration of duties, not only to the American personnel in his charge, but also to the needy population of the war torn countries and in particular to the numerous clergy of all faiths among the prisoners of war held by the victorious American armies in various encampments in France and Belgium. Father Fay arranged and provided for spiritual retreats for Catholic priests and for Lutheran ministers among the prisoners of war and showed a devotion to his fellow men which richly deserves the recognition of the award of the medal “Benemerenti”. Father Fay’s services in this regard were unique and invaluable: the more so as they are evidence of a charity that is truly Christian and transcending motives merely human.
