FINN, FRANCIS. - Jesuit, American novelist, b. at St. Louis (United States) on 4 Oct. 1859, d. at Cincinnati on 2 Nov. 1928. After a brief period of teaching literature at St. Francis Xavier College in Cincinnati, from 1899 he devoted himself to spiritual ministries in the same parish, especially directing the Marian Congregation.
He left twenty-two stories, which have won the sympathy of the world of boys both in the United States and in many other countries, for the immediate art of portraying their lives, of making them masters of themselves, of inspiring them to look to the future as a conquest to be achieved through their own energy and will, all within a religious spirit that is serene, not exaggerated, yet always vigilant and effective. The works have been reprinted and translated into almost every language.
Here are some titles: Tom Playfair, New York-Cincinnati 1860; Percy Wynn, ibid. 1899; Harry Dee, ibid. 1891; By Thy Love and Thy Grace, ibid. 1891; Claude Lightfoot, ibid. 1892; Mostly boys, ibid. 1893; Ethelred Preston, ibid. 1896; That Football Game, ibid. 1897; The Fairy of the Shores, ibid. 1913; The Cupid of Campion, ibid. 1916; Lucky Bob, ibid. 1917.