North - Holy Ghost Father, 'Br Fulbert'. Artist, Arr. Zanzibar from Reunion to decorate Zanzibar cathedral Feb 1906; Moved to Nairobi to decorate St. Austin's church, 1908; Returned to Europe 1909

Henry J. Koren, Spiritan East African Memorial, 1994: He learned painting in Munich's Academy of Fine Arts; then tried the Cistercians but left at the end of his first vows because he felt attracted to an active life as a missionary.   Thus he joined a new Benedictine missionary foundation in 1886. When this foundation failed, two of its former members directed his attention to the Spiritans in Chevilly.  Before his profession on March 19, 1892, he decorated the Orly chapel so beautifully that everyone was in ecstacy about it.  Now he was destined to paint all over the Spiritan world, first in the many houses of the Congregation in France and then across the seas. In Martinique he adorned the shrine of Notre Dame and the college chapel of St. Pierre, where his art perished in the Mt. Pele eruption of 1902.  Next, we find him decorating the cathedral of Reunion as well as another church.

In February 1906 he went to Zanzibar to decorate Bp. Algeyer's cathedral, a task that took about two and one half years and earned him much praise. After painting the St. Austin's church in Nairobi, he could return to Europe in 1909. We find him there painting in Dublin, Paris, Germany and Belgium, before returning to Martinique to adorn the cathedral of Fort-de-France. When World War One broke out, he took refuge in the U.S.A., painting chapels and churches at Duquesne University, Cornwells, Ferndale, Philadelphia, New York, etc.   In 1924 he could return to Martinique to continue his work on the cathedral.  He had barely finished it two years later when a fire destroyed his tools, drawings and papers.   It aggravated the heart condition from which he was suffering.  Going back to the U.S.A., he died there a few weeks later. Some of the work of this faithful Brother has survived to this day. The paintings of doctors of the Church in the sanctuary of the Duquesne University chapel are an example of his style.