Father Harold Stockert according to me, based on my brief relationship with him before he died on May 29th 2014, the feast of the ascension. Father Harold, or Father Hal or The Realized Eskaton as he called himself occasionally was known and loved by Many.

I will include his official obituary and a great article published in July 2014 at the end of this article, in addition I have a free download of a few articles Father had written and shared with me. His humor is dry and his wit is strong. You are sure to get a few chuckles here and there along with some profound theological insights from this brilliant priest.

In the advent of 2009 our parish priest, Father Russ Roide S.J at our Jesuit parish in Phoenix, Arizona, sent out an Advent letter encouraging all of his parishioners to celebrate all 12 days of Christmas.

Wait, wait, what… there really are 12 Days of Christmas and they do not begin on December 12 or 13th. That was news to me a cradle Catholic consumed by the pressures of my culture for the perfect hallmark Christmas for my perfectly imperfect family….

Father Roide reported that a “brother” priest had discovered 17th century letters written from a Jesuit in Dublin, Ireland to a Jesuit in Douay France. The letters enumerated the 12 Days Christmas as a song written by a “Wiley” Jesuit. The song was said to be a code from the late 1600’s. Father Stockert is that “brother” priest.

As reported by Father Stockert, he was researching in the Riggs Library at Georgetown Library in the 1960’s, his topic: The Role of The Byzantine Empire in the Rise of the Papal States. While researching he spied an interesting looking book. He pulled the book off of the shelf and out slid “letters” from the book.

Father Stockert found 17th century letters written between two Jesuit Priest. Father noted the contents of the letters on his yellow pad and then he placed the letter’s back in the book and put the book back on the shelf. (If there are any super sleuths at Georgetown who are interested in finding these letters, reach out to me I have a number of unpublished clues I would be happy to assist your efforts.)

My initial contact with Father Stockert was really hard to coordinate because he simply did not return any of my calls or emails. He had given up trying to communicate with the media as he had been maligned and misconstrued by almost every interviewer and had simply written off caring about media attention or the reporters themselves. He thought I was one of them, I was not. I was the author of the book “Our Father Gave To Us The 12 Days of Christmas “ and I needed him to review my text and give me feedback for accuracy.

I thought, I prayed, I hemmed and I hawed… Finally I came up with a solution. First thing I did was locate the closest Roman Catholic Church to SS Peter and Paul Byzantine Catholic Church, they had a part-time secretary.

Once I figured out their open days I connected with her and explained my plight in trying to contact Father Stockert. Her solution was to put me in touch with the local Cemetery representative, he worked with both congregations.

I was able to get a hold of him, so I shared my plight with him. Thankfully, he had mercy on me and he went and knocked on the elusive Father’s door and delivered my request for his review of my book and a video interview of his findings. Father Stockert agreed to review the materials and he agreed to my visit to interview him in person.

Father Stockert welcomed me and my beautiful friend Susan Carson who had traveled with me for the interview. It’s a good thing we had 2 camera’s and 3 microphones because wouldn’t you know there were multiple malfunctions.

Father proudly gave us a tour of his beautiful little church and we learned that he had carved most of the wood and painted most of the icons in the church. He was talented, humble and devoted to teaching people, especially his parishioners the faith.

We filmed our interview in his church and he re-told the story of him literally stumbling on the 17th century letters between two Jesuits. His very first post online records the exact content of the letters. This is most relevant because today history records the 12 Days of Christmas as a 18th Century Nursery Rhyme song, first song at King Pepin’s Ball. King Pepin, the short was from the 7th Century and had a son named Charalamange, the first Holy Roman Emperor. Hmmmmmm.

Father Stockert shared about the time he originally found the letters. It was pure chance. He stated that he saw a really interesting old book and out of curiosity he pulled that book from the shelf and that is when the Jesuit letters slid out of the book. Father Stockert being a good researcher in the 1960’s notated the contents of the letters and put them back in the book and the book back on the shelf.

It was not until the 1980’s when he would share the contents of the letters on "the Source” pre world wide web online gathering place of tech phonemes, priests and professors. Father said that he thinks he may have actually published the first book online. Father Stockert created his own modem and sent his manuscript to his publisher directly. The title of the book was something along the lines of the In exhaustible presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

In the 1980’s is when the 12 Days of Christmas controversy broke onto the stage. Father Stockert shared the Catholic Code and the world said prove it, and he said I cant. I don’t have the letters. The world called the brilliant, humble priest a liar, he was not, but he did not care about the world. He cared about Our Lord, Our Lady, the Saints, His family, His Parishioners and His Friends. So he stopped answering calls.

What I have is a first person, eyewitness account, admissible in court by the way, testimony from the Priest who found the 17th Century Irish Jesuit letters enumerating the song as a code. Watch his interview on my website.

One need only study the penal years to realize the need for codes were real. The brutal killings and punishments of the Catholics during this era are tragic. This period of time is probably the darkest season of Christendom, as Christians brutally murdered Christians.

More on the penal years and the code to follow.