Father Francis J. Finn, (October 4, 1859 – November 2, 1928)[1] was an American Jesuit priest who has been called the "Catholic Horatio Alger".

[2] He wrote a series of 27 popular novels for young people, which contain likeable characters and adventure, and emphasize the important of prayer and keeping true to your faith values.

Eleven-year-old Francis was a voracious reader; he read the works of Charles Dickens, devouring Nicholas Nickleby and The Pickwick Papers.

Charles Coppens urged Francis to apply himself to his Latin, to improve it by using an all-Latin prayerbook, and to read good Catholic books.

In 1904 he served as the first director of the St. Xavier Commercial School for girls, which offered a two-year course of study including stenography, book-keeping, and typesetting.

Before 1865, most American Catholic Literature was either translated from French, German, or Flemish books, or reprints from English and Irish works.

One afternoon while supervising a class busy writing a composition, Mr. Finn thought of how they represented to him the typical American Catholic boy.

Finn is “universally acknowledged the foremost Catholic writer of fiction for young people.”[6] His books were available in Braille, and were translated into French, German, Flemish, Italian, Polish, Bohemian, Hungarian, Spanish, Caledonian and Portuguese.

Award on the member of the graduating class who best exemplifies qualities of Father Finn's fictional heroes: strong spiritual values, leadership and breadth of interest.