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V
3
A HISTORY
Catholic Church
WITHIN THE
LIMITS OF THE UNITED STATES,
FROM THE FIRST ATTEMPTED COLONIZATION TO THE PRESENT TIME.
WITH PORTRAITS, VIEWS. MAPS, AND FAC-SIMTLES.
BY
JOHN GILMARY SHEA.
NEW YORK:
JOHN G. S H EA.
1890.
COPYRIGHT, iSqo, by JOHN GILMARY SHEA.
The illustyations in this work are copyrighted^ and reproduction is forbidden.
HISTORY
CATHOLIC CHURCH
UNITED STATES
From the Division of the Diocese of Baltimore, 1808, and Death
OF Archbishop Carroll, 181 5, to the Fifth Provincial
Council of Baltimore, 1843.
JOHN GILMARY SHEA
NEW YORK
JOHN G. SHEA
1890
COPYKIGHT, iSgO, BY
JOHN GILMARY SHEA.
The illustrations in this zvork are copyrighted, and reproduction is forbidden.
THE MEKSHON COMPANY PRESS, RAHWAV, N. J.
REV. P. A. TREACY, OF BURLINGTON, N. J.,
His Eminence James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Balti- more ; THEIR Graces, the Most Rev. Peter Richard Kenrick, Archbishop of St. Louis : James J. Williams, Archbishop of Boston ; Patrick J. Ryan, Archbishop of Philadelphia ; Francis Janssess, Archbishop of New Orleans ; Most Rev. J. V. Cleary, Archbishop of Kingston ; their Lordships, Rt. Rev. Louis de Goesbriand, Bishop of Burlington ; Stephen V. Ryan, Bishop of Buffalo ; Francis J. McNeirny, Bishop op Albany ; John J. Keane, Bishop of Ajasso, and Rector of the Catholic Univer- sity ; Thomas McGovern, Bishop of Harrisburg ; James Ryan, Bishop of Alton ; Rt. Rev. Arthur J. Donnelly ; Very Rev. T, J. Campbell, Provincial of the Maryland-New York Province ; Very Rev. J. P. Frieden, Provincial of the Missouri Province ; Very Rev. H. Gabriels, President of St. Joseph's Seminary ; the Augustinian Fathers, Villanova : the Paulist Fathers, New York ; Rev. William P. Treacy ; Rev. Laurence J. Morris ; Rev. Patrick Hennessy ; Rev. J. Haa'ens Richards. S.J. ; Rev. John Scully, S J. ; Rev. John Morgan, S.J. ; Rev. Robert Fulton, S.J. ; Rev. E. A. Higgins, S.J ; Rev. D. A. Merrick, S.J. ; Rev. M. A. O'Kane, S.J. ; Rev. H. A. Schaapman, S.J. ; Rev. Thomas Taaffe ; Rev. E. V. McElhone ; Rev. James McKernan ; Rev. P. Cassidy, S.J. ; Rev. John Conway ; Rev. J. T. Harrison ; Rev. C. Corcoran ; Rev. Fr. Solnce ; Rev. James Gaughran ; George W. Childs, Esq ; James McMahon, Esq. ; John Boyle O'Reilly, Esq. ; the Proprietors op the Northwestern Chronicle ; Miss E. L. Drexel ; Mrs. L. D. Morrell ; Mrs. James J. Treacy
THIS VOLUME IS RESPECTFULLY AND HUMBLY DEDICATED IN GRATITUDE
FOB THE Memorial proposed by Rev. P. A. Treacy.
CONTENTS.
BOOK I.
PROVINCE OF BALTIMORE.
CHAPTER I.
DIOCESE OF BALTIMORE.
Most Rev. Leonard Neale, Second Archbishop, 1815-1817. Sketch of Archbishop Neale— Troubles at Norfolk— His firmness — Visitation Convent canonically established — Death of Very Rev. Mr. Nagot— The Pallium conferred — Charleston Troubles — Rome deceived — Dr. Neale's firm Letter — The Barber Family — Last illness— Death— Tomb 25
CHAPTER II.
DIOCESE OP BALTIMORE.
Most Rev. Ambrose Marechal, Third Archbishop, 1817-1830. _ Sketch — Prints the Synod — Visitations — Norfolk and a Jansen- ' ist Schism— Charleston — The Pallium — Resources — Father Edeler's Controversy — The Cathedral completed and dedicated — Death of Mrs. Seton — The old Jesuit Estate — Visits Rome — Results 39
CHAPTER III.
DIOCESE OF RICHMOND.
Rt. Rev. Patrick Kelly, First Bishop, 1820-1832. Protest of Archbishop Marechal — Bishop Kelly receives Carbry — Excluded from the Church — Opens a School — Progress at Wheeling — Transferred to Waterf ord 76
CHAPTER IV.
DIOCESES OF BALTIMORE AND RICHMOND.
Most Rev. Ambrose Marechal, Archbishop and Administrator, 1823-1828. Church in Virginia — Cure of Mrs. Mattingly — Of others — Jesuit novices remove to Missouri —Death of Rev. Mr. Moranville — Theological faculty — Mount St. Mary's — Oblate Sisters of Providence — Consecration of Bishops Fenwick and Du Bois — Visitation Nuns— A Coadjutor — Death of Dr. Marechal 84
xii CONTENTS.
CHAPTER V.
DIOCESES OP BALTIMORE AND RICHMOND.
Most Rev. James Whitfield, Fourth Archbishop and Admin- istrator, 1828-1829. Sketch — Consecration — Visitation — First Provincial Council — Vir- ginia 100
CHAPTER VI.
DIOCESE OF BOSTON.
Rt. Rev. John Cheverus, First Bishop, 1808-1823. Sketch — Catholicity in New England — Consecration — Conversion of Blythe — Visitation— French Testament — Dr. Matignou — Mr. Walley — Beginnings of Ursuline Convent — The Barber Fami- ly— Death of Rev. Dr. Matiguon — Of Rev. Mr. Romagne — Father Lariscy and St. Augustine's Church — Rev. John Thayer— Summoned to France 107
CHAPTER VII.
DIOCESE OP BOSTON.
V. Rev. William Taylor, Administrator, 1823-1825. His previous Labors— Conversion of Dr. Bowen Greene 132
CHAPTER VIII.
DIOCESE OF BOSTON.
Rt. Rev. Benedict Fenwick, Second Bishop, 1825-1829. Sketch — Consecration — State of Diocese— Convent at Charles- town — Schools — Cathedral enlarged — Indian Missions — Visita- tions— New Churches — Diocese in 1828 — The Jesuit 134
CHAPTER IX.
DIOCESE OP NEW YORK.
Rt. Rev. Richard Luke Concaueu, First Bishop, 1808-1801; V. Rev. Anthony Kohlmann, Administrator, 1801-1815. Sketch of Dr. Concanea — His Death — New York Literary In- stitution — Ursuline Convent — St. Patrick's Cathedral — The Confessional — Trappists and Trappist Nuns— Cathedral com- pleted 160
CHAPTER X.
DIOCESE OF NEW YORK.
Rt. Rev. John Connolly, Second Bishop, 1815-1825. Sketch — Consecration — Labors and Difficulties — Rev. Wm. Tay- lor— Sisters of Charity — New Churches — Death of Bishop Con- nolly 172
CONTENTS. XIU
CHAPTER XI.
DIOCESE OP NEW YORK.
Very Rev. John Power, Administrator, 1885-1826. Lacty's Directory — Truth Teller— St. Mary's Church — Rev. Peter
Malou 188
CHAPTER XII.
DIOCESE OF NEW YORK.
Rt. Rev. John Du Bois, Third Bishop, 1826-1829. Sketch — Consecration — Christ Church and Rev. F. Varela — Visita- tion— New Churches — Attempt to introduce Brothers — Sum- moned to Rome 193
CHAPTER XIII.
DIOCESE OP PHILADELPHIA.
Rt. Rev. Michael Egan, First Bisliop, 1808-1815. Sketch — A Franciscan Province projected— Provision for Support — Visitation— Troubles at St. Mary's— The Harolds— Death of Bishop Egan , = 206
CHAPTER XIV.
DIOCESE OP PHILADELPHIA.
V. Rev. Adolphus Louis de Barth, Administrator, 1814-1820. Sketch — Gallitzin's Defense of Catholic Principles — New Churches
— Rev. William Hogan — His last Days 219
CHAPTER XV.
DIOCESE OP PHILADELPHIA.
Rt. Rev. Henry Conwell, Second Bishop, 1819-1842. The Hogan Troubles— Dr. England's Attempt — Dr. Conwell at St. Joseph's — Trustees condemned by Pope Pius VII. — Inglesi — O'Meally — A Cathedral projected — Progress in other parts of Pennsylvania — Dr. Conwell makes Concessions — He is Con- demned— Summoned to Rome 229
CHAPTER XVI.
DIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA.
V. Rev. William Matthews, Vicar-General Apostolic 265
CHAPTER XVII.
DIOCESE OF BARDSTOWN.
• Rt. Rev. Benedict Joseph Flaget, First Bishop 1810-1829. Early History — Biographical Sketch — At Bardstown — Rev. C. Ner- inckx and the Sisters of Loretto — Dominicans — Visitation — Illinois — Michigan — Cathedral — Bishop David, Coadjutor — See proposed at Cincinnati — Sisters of Charity — Colleges — Vin- cennes — Death of Nerinckx — Sistei's of St. Dominic 266
xiv CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XVIII.
DIOCESE OF CHARLESTON.
Rt. Rev. John England, First Bishop, 1820-1839. Sketch — In Charleston — Visitation — Gallagher and Browne — Trustees — Classical Seminary — Florida — His Constitution for his Diocese— Intolerance — Sermon before Congress — Progress. 306
CHAPTER XIX.
DIOCESE OP CINCINNATI.
Rt. Rev. Edward Dominic Fenwick, First Bishop, 1821-1829. Early history — First Ohio Churches — Michigan — Indians — Ques- tions as to Marriage— At Rome — Death of F. Hill, O.S.D. — Cathedral — Seminary and College— German Churches 330
BOOK II.
CHAPTER I.
DIOCESE OF LOUISIANA AND THE PLORIDAS.
Rt. Rev. Louis William Du Bourg, Second Bishop, 1815-1826. Troubles — Ursuline Convent — The Lyons "Association for the Propagation of the Faith"— Bishop Du Bburg returns — At St. Louis — Ladies of the Sacred Heart — Death of V. Rev. Felix de Andreis — Progress of Religion — Visitation — At New Orleans — The Lazarists and their Labors — Florida restored to his Dio- cese—The Church there — Different dispositions by Rome — Bishop Rosati as Coadjutor — The Bishop secures the Jesuits — Sisters of Loretto — Bishop Du Bourg at New Orleans — The Ursulines — Difficulties at St. Louis — Arkansas — Bishop Du Bourg resigns 351
CHAPTER II.
DIOCESES OP ST. LOOTS AND NEW ORLEANS.
Rt. Rev. Joseph Rosati, First Bishop of St. Louis, 1827-1843 ;
Administrator of New Orleans, 1827-1828.
Visitation — Churches — Trustees condemned by the Pope 395
CHAPTER III.
VICARIATE APOSTOLIC OF ALABAMA.
Rt. Rev. Michael Portier, Bishop of Olena, Vicar-Apostolic. Consecration — Condition of Church — Visitation 403
BOOK III.
Chapter I— The First Provincial Council of Baltimore 407
" II— Growth of Anti-Catholic Feeling 419
CONTENTS. XV
BOOK ly.
CHAPTER I.
DIOCESB OF BALTIMORE AND RICHMOND.
Rt. Rev. James Whitfield, Fourth Archbishop, 1829-1834. Visitation — Accident — Visitation Convent — F. John McElroy — Mount St. Mary's College — Carmelites remove to Baltimore — Publications — Diocesan Synod — Sister Rose White — Calvert Hall — Georgetown College commemorates the Landing of the Pilgrims — F. James Ryder — The Maryland Province — St. James's Church — Second Provincial Council — New Dioceses — A Coadjutor — Death of Archbishop Whitfield 423
CHAPTER II.
DIOCESES OF BALTIMORE AND RICHMOND.
Most Rev. Samuel Eccleston, Fifth Archbishop, 1834-1843. Sketch — Visitations — Third Provincial Council — New Sees — Fred- erick City and F. John McElroy — Washington City — The Car- melites— Tract Society — Death of Rev. John Tessier — Fourth Provincial Council — New Sees — A Bishop for Richmond — Redemptorists — Fifth Provincial Council 441
CHAPTER III.
DIOCESE OF BOSTON.
Rt. Rev. Benedict J. Fenwick, Second Bishop, 1829-1843. Cemetery on Bunker Hill — Opposition — Rev. Jeremiah O'Callaghan in Vermont — Rebecca Reed and Lyman Beecher — Conversion of T. A. Gough — Sisters of Charity — New Churches — Monu- ment to F. Sebastian Rale — Benedicta — Riot and Destruction of the Ursuline Convent — Trials and Acquittals — Compensation refused — Ursulines fail to restore Academy — Mount St. James — German Congregation — St. Mary's Church, Burling- ton, set on fire and destroyed — New Churches — Trouble in Boston — First Diocesan Synod — College of the Holy Cross — See of Hartford 463
CHAPTER IV.
DIOCESE OF NEW YORK.
Rt. Rev. John DuBois, Third Bishop, 1839-1842. Half-orphan Asylum — New Churches — St. Mary's Church set on fire — Controversies— The Cholera — College at Nyack — Its De- struction— St. Joseph's Church — The Weekly Register — Con- versions — Trustee Troubles — German Congregation — St. Nicholas Church — The Maria Monk Imposture — Col. Stone exposes it — Col. Dodge's Conversion — A Coadjutor Solicited — Rt. Rev. John Hughes — The Trustee Question — Triumph of Bishop Hughes — Conversion of Rev. M. Oertel — Lafargeville Seminarv and College 495
XVi CONTENTS.
CHAPTER V.
DIOCESE OF NEW YORK.
Rt. Rev. John Hughes, Administrator, 1839-1843 — Bishop of
New York, 1843-1843.
Bishop Hughes in Europe — Ladies of the Sacred Heart — The
School Question— The Great Debate— The Carroll Hall Ticket
— End of the Public School Society — St. John's College,
Fordham 533
CHAPTER VI.
DIOCESE OP PHILADELPHIA.
The Poor Clares — Rt. Rev. Francis P. Kenrick, Bishop of Arath and Coadjutor, 1839-1843. Visitation — St. Mary's and the end of the Schism Synod of 1833 — The Cholera — St. John's Church — Hughes and Breckenridge Controversy — Gallitzin's " Letters of Advice " — Death of Rev. Chax'les B. Maguire — Seminary of St. Charles Borromeo — The Jesuits return to St. Joset)h's — Proposed Division of Diocese — Rev. Michael O'Connor, Superior of the Seminary — Fourth Council of Baltimore — The Redemptorists and the Factory Church at Pittsburgh — The School Question — Works issued by Bishop Kenrick — Death of Bishop Con well 544
CHAPTER Vn.
DIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA.
Rt. Rev. Francis Patrick Kenrick, Third Bishop, 1843-1843. The Jubilee — Synod of 1843 — Churches — Erection of the See of
Pittsburgh 570
CHAPTER Vin.
DIOCESE OF RICHMOND.
Rt. Rev. Richard Vincent Whelan, Second Bishop, 1841-1843. Sketch — Mission Work in Virginia— Consecration — Energy — Fe- male Academy at Richmond — Churches — Liberty of Con- science in the U. S. Army 575
CHAPTER IX.
DIOCESE OF CHARLESTON.
Rt. Rev. John England, First Bishop, 1839-1843 ; Rt. Rev. William Clancy, Bishop of Orien, Coadjutor, 1834-1837. Sisters of our Lady of Mercy founded — Visitations — Synod of 1831 — In Europe — Ursuline Nuns — The Haytian Mission — A Coad- jutor— Rt. Rev. William Clancy — His Career — The Charleston Conflagration — Appeals for Aid — New Constitution — Visit to Europe — Illness — Death 580
Very Rev. Richard Swinton Baker, Administrator,
1841-1844.
Progress — Financial Management- -Death of Judge Gaston 595
CONTENTS. xvil
CHAPTER X.
DIOCESE OP BARDSTOWN.
Rt. Rev. Benedict Joseph Flaget, First Bishop, 1829-1832. Consecration of Bishop Kenrick — Resignation of Bishop Flaget — The Society of Jesus accept St. Mary's College — Death of Rev. Mr. Byrne — Resignation accepted 594
Rt. Rev. John Baptist David, Second Bishop, 1832-1833. Discontent in the Diocese — Bishop David resigns — Bishop Flaget and Bishop Rosati write with him to Rome — Bishop David's last Days 600
Rt. Rev. Benedict J. Flaget, Third Bishop, 1833-1843. Bishop Flaget restored — Rt. Rev. Guy I. Chabrat, Coadjutor — A Catholic Periodical — Tennessee — See erected at Vincennes — . Long Absence in Europe — Bishop Chabrat administers the Dio- cese— The Catholic Advocate— Bishop Chabrat at the Council of Baltimore solicits erection of a See at Nashville — Death of John Lancaster, Esq. — Of Rev. G. A. M. Elder — Bishop Flag et's Return — Removes to Loui-sville — Sisters of Charity of the Good Shepherd — Bishop Chabrat's ill Health and threatened Blindness — He goes to Europe 603
CHAPTER XI.
DIOCESE OF CINCINNATI.
Rt. Rev. Edward Dominic Fenwick, First Bishop, 1829-1832. Sisters of Charity — Indian Missions — Indian Students sent to Propaganda — Death of Bishop Fenwick and Rev. Gabriel Richard 618
V. Rev. Frederic Rese, Administrator, 1832-1833. German Church, Cincinnati — Other Churches 617
CHAPTER XII.
DIOCESE OP CINCINNATI.
Rt. Rev. John Baptist Purcell, Second Bishop, 1834-1843. Consecration — Redemptorists — New Churches — Seminary — Bishop Purcell's Controversy with Campbell — Der Wahrheit's Freund — Visit to Europe — Defends this Country against Bishop Clancy — Book Society — At Cleveland — Death of Mother Angela — St. Xavier's College — Sisters of Notre Dame 619
CHAPTER XIII.
DIOCESE OP DETROIT.
Rt. Rev. Frederic Rese, First Bishop, 1833-1837. Rev. Gabriel Richard — Erection of See of Detroit — Previous His- tory— Sketch of Rt. Rev. Frederic Rese — Consecration — His Clergy — Visitation — Proposed College — The Poor Clares — Pro- ceeds to the Council of Baltimore and resigns. ... 630
xviii CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XIV.
DIOCESE OF DETROIT. 1837-1843.
Rt. Rev. Peter Paul Lefevre, Bishop of Zela, Administrator, 1841-1843. Sketch of Bishop Lefevre — Consecration — Destruction of Col- lege— Progress 638
CHAPTER XV.
DIOCESE OP VENCENNES.
Rt. Rev. Simon Gabriel Brute, First Bishop, 1834-1839. Erection of See — Biographical Sketch — Consecration — State oi Diocese — Visitation — Rev. S. P. Lalumiere — Rev. J. M. St. Cyr — Bishop Brute in Europe — Obtains I^iests — His Labors — Health undermined — Laboring to the last — His Death 640
CHAPTER XVI.
DIOCESE OF VINCENNES.
Rt. Rev. Celestine A. L. Guvnemer de la Hailandi^re, Second
Bishop, 1839-1843.
Sketch — Condition of Diocese — Shameful Conspiracy against Rev.
R. Weinzoepflen — His Innocence established — Rev. Mr. Des-
seille — Rev. Edward Sorin begins his great Work at Notre
Dame — Discontent 650
CHAPTER XVII.
DIOCESE OF KASHVILLE.
Rt. Rev. Richard Pius Miles, First Bishop, 1838-1843. Erection of See — Sketch of Rt. Rev. D. Miles — Consecration — At Nashville — Visitation — Prostrated by Sickness — Seeks Aid in Europe— Condition in 1843 656
CHAPTER XVIII.
DIOCESE OF NATCHEZ.
Rt. Rev. John J. Clanche, First Bishop, 1841-1843. Vicariate Apostolic of Mississippi 1836— See of Natchez erected — Sketch — Organizes Diocese 660
BOOK V.
CHAPTER I.
DIOCESE OP NEW ORLEANS.
Rt. Rev. Leo R. de Neckc^re, First Bishop, 1829-1833. Sketch — Consecration— Synod— Sisters of Charity — Yellow Fever —
Death 666
CONTENTS. xix
CHAPTER II.
BIOCESE OF NEW ORLEANS.
Rt. Rev. Anthony Blanc, Second Bishop, 1835-1843. Sketch — Consecration — The Jesuits return — Seminary under the Lazarists St. Patrick's Church — St. Augustine's — Schismatic Trustees — Pope and Courts against them 672
CHAPTER III.
DIOCESE OP ST. LOUIS.
Rt. Rev. Joseph Rosati, First Bishop, 1829-1843. Progress in Diocese — Jesuit College in St. Louis — New Churches — The Shepherd of the Valley — Visitation Nuns at Kaskaskia — Arkansas — State of Diocese — Oregon Mission — John Mullan- phy — Cathedral Dedicated — Threatened Withdrawal of the Lazarists — Sisters of St. Joseph — Illinois — Death of F. C. Van Quickenborne — Synod— A Coadjutor — Haytian Mission 681
CHAPTER IV.
DIOCESE OP MOBILE.
Rt. Rev. Michael Portier, First Bishop, 1829-1843. Returns with Priests — St. Augustine — Absurd Decision — Visits and dines at Mobile — Spring Hill College — Cathedral — Ladies of the Retreat 697
CHAPTER V.
DIOCESE OF DUBUQUE.
Rt. Rev. Mathias Loras, First Bishop, 1837-1843. Erection of See — Sketch — Ordination— Visits Europe — At Du- buque— Visitation — Wisconsin. . 702
BOOK VI.
CHAPTER L
VICARIATE APOSTOLIC OF TEXAS.
Rt. Rev. John M. Odin, Bishop of Claudiopolis and Vicar- Apostolic. History from 1760 — San Antonio and the Missions — Bishop Marin — The Imposter Mier — Irish Priests — Murder of Father An- thony Dias de Leon, O.S.F. — Visit and Report of Very Rev. John Timon — Appointed Prefect— Rev. J. M. Odin, Vice-Pre- fect— Rev. Mr. Odin made Vicar- Apostolic — Churches — Old Church Property Secured 706
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Portrait of Most Rev. Leonard Neale, Archbishop of Balti- more
Signature of Archbishop Neale.
Tomb of Archbishop Neale, in the crypt of the Visitation Church
Portrait of Most Rev. Ambrose Marechal, Archbishop of Bal- timore
Signature of Archbishop Mare- chal
Signature of Bishop Kelly
Portrait of Rt. Rev. Patrick Kelly, Bishop of Richmond. .
Portrait of Most Rev. James Whitfield, Archbishop of Bal- timore
Signature of Archbishop Whit- field
Portrait of Rt. Rev. John Chev- erus, Bishop of Boston. to face
Portrait of V. Rev. Francis Matignon, D.D
Signature of Dr. Matignon
Signature of Very Rev. William Taylor, Administrator
Signature of Rt. Rev. Benedict J. Fenwick, Bishop of Boston.
Portrait of Rt. Rev. Benedict J. Fenwick
View of St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York
Signature of Rt. Rev. John Connolly, Second Bishop of New York
Portrait of Rt. Rev. John Con- nolly
Portrait and Signature of V. Rev. John Power, Adminis- trator ...
Portrait of Rt. Rev. John Du Bois, Third Bishop of New York
PAGE PAGE
Signature of Rt. Rev. John Du Bois 199
24 Seal of Rt. Rev. John Du
33 Bois 207
Signature of V. Rev. Louis de Barth, Administrator 226
37 Seal of Rt. Rev. Henry Conwell, Second Bishop of' Philadel- phia 226
40 Portrait of Rt. Rev. Henry Con- well 229
52 Signature of Rt. Rev. Henry
76 Conwell 258
Portrait of V. Rev. William
77 Matthews, Administrator 263
Portrait of Rt. Rev. Benedict J.
Flaget, Bishop of Bardstowu.
102 to face 270 Signature of Rt. Rev. John
103 B. David, Bishop of Mauri- castro 288
112 Portrait of Rev. Stephen T.
Badin 296
122 Seal of Bishop England 319
122 Portrait of Rt. Rev. Edward D. Fenwick, first Bishop of Cin-
131 cinnati 331
Signature of Bishop Fenwick . . 335
134 Church at Dungannon, O 337
Chri.st Church, Cincinnati 340
136 Cathedral, Seminary, and Athe-
neum, Cincinnati 351
169 Portrait of Rt. Rev. Louis Wil- liam Du Bourg, Bishop of
Louisiana 357
173 Portrait of Very Rev. Felix de Andreis, founder of the Laza-
173 rists in the U. S 368
Parish Church St. Augustine, erected by Rev. Michael
189 O'Reilly 374
Tomb of Rev. Michael O'Reilly. 376
Signature of Bishop Du Bourg. 379
193 Signature of Bishop Rosati. . . . 381
xxi
XXll
ILL USTRA TIONS.
PAGE
New Ursuline Convent, New
Orleans 383
Seal of Bishop Rosati 392
Portrait of Rt. Rev. Joseph
Rosati, Bishop of St. Louis.. 394 Portrait of Rt. Rev. Michael Portier, Bishop of Oleno. . . . 402
Signature of Bishop Portier 404
View of Visitation Convent,
Georgetown 424
Portrait of Most Rev. Samuel Eccleston, fifth Archbishop of
Baltimore 440
Portrait of Father John Mc-
Elroy, S.J 446
Signature of Archbishop Eccles- ton 450
Portrait of Father James Ryder,
S.J 458
View of Monument to Father S. Rale, erected by Bishop
Fenwick 471
Ruins of the Ursuline Convent,
Mount St. Benedict 477
View of Mount St. James and
Holy Cross College 492
Seal of Bishop Fenwick 494
Portrait of V. Rev. Felix Varela 507
View of Carroll Hall 531
View of St. John's College,
Fordham 534
Signature of V. Rev. William
Matthews 544
View of St. John's Church. . . . 551 View of St. Augustine's Church 561 Seal of Bishop Francis P. Ken- rick 562
Seal of Bishop Conwell 569
Portrait of Rt. Rev. Richard V. Whelan, first Bishop of Rich- mond 574
Portrait of Rt. Rev. John Eng- land, Bishop of Charleston,
to face 582 Signature of Bishop England. . 585 Signature of Rt. Rev. John B.
David, Bishop of Bardstown. 600 Signature of Bishop Chabrat. . 604 Signature of V. Rev. Frederic Rese 617
PAGE
Signature of Right Rev. John B. Purcell, second Bishop of Cin- cinnati 618
Portrait of Rt. Rev. Frederic Rese, first Bishop of Detroit.. 629
Signature of Bishop Lef evre . . . 637
Portrait of Rev. J. M. J. St. Cyr :.... 641
St. Xavier's Cathedral, Vin- eennes, sketched by Bishop Brute 643
Portrait of Rt. Rev. S. G. Brute, First Bishop of Vincennes
to face 648
Signature of Bishop Brute 648
Portrait of Rt. Rev. Celestine de la HailandiSre, Second Bishop of Vincennes 651
Signature of Bishop de la Hailan- di^re 655
Signature of Rt. Rev. R. P. Miles, first Bishop of Nash- ville 659
Portrait of Rt. Rev. John J. Chanche, First Bishop of Natchez 661
Signature of Bishop Chanche. . 665
Portrait of Rt. Rev. Leo. R. de Neckere, First Bishop of New Orleans 667
Portrait of Rt. Rev. Anthony Blanc, Second Bishop of New Orleans 673
View of St. Patrick's Church, New Orleans 677
Signature of Bishop Blanc 678
Seal of Bishop Blanc 680
View of Cathedral, St. Louis, Missouri 698
Signature of Rt. Rev. Mathias Loras, Bishop of Dubuque. . . 703
Mission Church of La Con- cepcion 708
Signature of Bishop Marin de Boeras 710
Signature of Rev. F. Jose An- tonio Dias de Leon 714
Mission Church of San Juan Capistrano 720
MOST REV. LEONARD NEALE, SECOND ARCHBISHOP OF BALTIMORE.
24
BOOK I.
PROVINCE OF BALTIMORE.
CHAPTER I.
DIOCESE OF BALTIMORE. MOST KEY. LEONARD NEALE, SECOND ARCHBISHOP, 1815-1817.
The Church emerging from the bondage and oppres- sion of Colonial days, had at last, after difficulties created at home and abroad, been organized in the United States under a bishop, and for a quarter of a century under the guidance of Archbishop Carroll had been acquiring a solid and settled form and character.
For fifteen years the Right Rev. Leonard ISTeale, Bishop of Gortyna, as coadjutor, had labored to main- tain discipline, and develop institutions for the educa- tion of youth of both sexes. Of Georgetown College he was long actually President, and constantly the guiding spirit ; of the community formed by Miss Teresa Lalor, he was the director and spiritual guide.
Simple and austere in his habits, he sought no in- fluence among persons in national or social circles, but led a retired life, long occupying the small library room in the south building of Georgetown College, opposite the community chapel. His bed was folded up in the form of a cupboard during the day, and spread out at night by the colored man who attended the refectory.
This was his style as a Bishop even when infirmities increased more rapidly than his years. His life was as
25
26 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
regular as that of a novice. Every morning he rose at four o'clock, made his visit to the Blessed Sacrament, and after an hour's meditation, offered the holy sac- rifice.^ When subsequently he left the College he occupied a small house near the Visitation Convent, leading the same simple mortified life. On the death of Archbishop Carroll in December, 1815, the whole burthen of the diocese devolved upon him, and he became Archbishop-elect of Baltimore. Though in precarious health, suffering constantly from diseases contracted in the deadly jungles of South America, Dr. Neale was still firm, vigorous and active in his mental powers. He continued to reside at George- town, visiting Baltimore only when the business of the diocese required it.
One of his first acts was to appoint to Norfolk, which had been for some months without a priest, the Rev. James Lucas. In his letter introducing the suc- cessor of Rev. Mr. Lacy to the congregation the Arch- bishop-elect said : "You have been informed how it has pleased Heaven to deprive the See of Baltimore of its Most Reverend and justly lamented Archbishop Carroll, who, for many years had filled the sacred post of Prelate with such dignity, prudence and integrity, as to command the esteem, respect and veneration of all who knew him. His labors are now at an end, the happy commencement, I confide, of his eternal rewards." ^
The trustees gave the new pastor a most uncouth reception, claiming the right of patronage, and the
' Woodstock Letters, iii., p. 90. For the previous period of his life see "Life and Times of Archbishop Carroll," pp. 206, etc.
* Archbishop Neale to Congregation of Norfolk, Baltimore, Dec. 13, 1815.
NORFOLK SCHISM. 27
power of choosing a priest for the congregation. Arch- bishop Neale prepared to oppose the pernicious system of lay trustees, in which he beheld manifold dangers.
"The pretended right of choosing their priest or missionary pastor is perfectly unfounded, for they are not patrons of the Church according to the language of the Council of Trent, who alone have a right of choosing their pastor. In the diocese of Baltimore none but the Archbishop can place or remove a priest ; and that he can do at will, as there are no parishes established here, no benefices conferred, and no colla- tions made, and no powers granted but what are merely missionary, revocable at will. Hence the trustees can claim no jurisdiction over their priest, nor prevent his missionary functions."^
In a letter to the Trustees the Archbishop clearly and distinctly maintained his position ; and he Avas all the more firm as the validity of the election of trustees and of the title to the property was very doubtful.^
Led by Dr. John F. Oliveira Fernandez, Jasper Moran, and a few like them, a party was formed which excluded Rev. Mr. Lucas from the church, and the priest lawfully appointed by the Archbishop was compelled to hire a house on Bermuda Street, where he officiated for the sound part of the congregation. Archbishop Neale then placed the church under an interdict, but the schismatics remained obstinate and assailed the venerable and holy prelate in a series of publications.^
' Archbisliop Neale to Rev. James Lucas, Georgetown, March 6, 1816.
- Same to Trustees of Norfolk, July 5, 1816.
* Moran, " A Vindicatory Address ; or an Appeal to the Calm Feel- ings and unbiased Judgments of the Roman Catholics of Norfolk, Ports-
28 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Messrs. Lynch and Stoughton in New York as Trus- tees of St. Peter s Church had taken a similar stand against Bishop Carroll, and the Trustees of St. Joim's Church, Baltimore, had actually prevented his enter- ing the church ; and in Charleston the Trustees showed the same spirit. Against this usurpation, Archbishop Neale arrayed himself hrmly. When trustees main- tained that they were elected by pewholders and held authority from them, the Archbishop replied that the pews belonged to the Church, not the Church to the pews.
Archbishop Marechal subsequently spoke of Dr. Neale's hrmness on this point. "His venerable suc- cessor. Archbishop Neale, fired by an all but immense love of God and of the Church, maturely weighing the evils which resulted from the Trustee system, opposed it with all his manly courage and constantly rejected it."^
The pious community of Sisters which Dr. Neale had so long directed had never yet been canonically organ- ized, although the Sisters had since 1813 made simple vows and renewed them annually. Resisting all at- tempts to blend their house with other communities. Mother Teresa Lalor and her sisters sought to estab- lish a convent of the Yisitation order. When their founder succeeded to the see of Baltimore, they were one of the first objects of his solicitude. Archbishop Neale forwarded a petition to Rome soliciting an Indult to erect the community into a Monastery of the
mouth, and their vicinity," etc. ; Oliveira, "To the Roman Catholics of Norfolk," broadside ; "An Address to the Roman Catholic Congrega- tion of Norfolk ; or a short Exposition of their Rights," etc., 10 pp. " Letter addressed to the Most Rev. Leonard Neale, Archbishop of Bal- timore," pp. 47.
' Letter to the Propaganda, 1818.
VISITATION NUNS. 29
Visitation order. The Sovereign PontiiJ readily granted the prayer, and by his Brief of July 24, 1817, Archbishop Neale was enabled to establish can- onical ly as a house of the Visitation order, founded by the holy Doctor Saint Francis de Sales and by Saint Jane Frances de Chantal, the community which had so patiently labored for the good of religion in Georgetown. Never were perseverance, piety, and prayer more happily crowned than in the solemn act so patiently awaited by Mother Teresa Lalor and her spiritual daughters. The Archbishop of Baltimore was empowered to admit them to the solemn profes- sion of vows, with the indulgences and privileges which that order enjoys.^
The indult arrived in November, and on the 28th of December, the feast of the Holy Innocents, Mother Teresa (Lalor), Sister Frances (McDermott), and Sister Agnes (Brent), mistress of novices, took their solemn vows before the Mass, which was celebrated by Arch- bishop Neale, assisted by Father Grassi. The profes- sions of the rest of the community were made on the 23d and 28th of January. The Sisters then numbered thirty-three. Well might the holy Archbishop ex- claim : " The Lord be praised ! "
The regular choir service had been instituted, and all the members were exact in complying with the rules of the order. ^
The community, endowed with new life, persevered though threatened with such poverty that at one time they wrote to the Ursulines in Canada and New Orleans, asking them to receive some of their members
' Mgr. Quarautotti to Archbishop Neale, July 14, 1816. Annals of the Visitation.
* Archbishop Neale to Rev. Mother Dickinson, Dec. 21, 1816. Aunals.
30 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
for a time. The Abbe Cloriviere, who subsequently became their spiritual director, aided them greatly, and the good nuns of 'New Orleans sent them provis- ions, vestments, and altar linen. Mother Teresa Lalor, having seen her community recognized by the Head of the Church, resigned her office of superior on Ascension Day, 1819.
As soon as they were recognized at Rome, Visitation Convents at Chambery, Chaillot, and Shepton Mallet began to correspond with them, furnishing valuable books.
The Visitation Convent at Georgetown thus firmly established by Archbishop Neale became a fruitful mother, filiations from it arising in time at Baltimore, Mobile, Kaskaskia, St. Louis, Brooklyn, and Park- ville.i
In the spring of 1816 the venerable Mr. Nagot, founder of St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, began to fail rai)idly, having never fully recovered from a fall some time before. On the 9th of April, Tuesday in Holy AVeek, he gave up his soul to God, without agony or convulsion, but like one who falls into a gentle sleep. The illustrious founder of the Sulpitians in the United States is one of the grand figures of our early Church, the spiritual father of many who for a century have ministered at the altar of God. His loss was especially deplored by Archbishop Neale, who despite his infir- mities came the next day to officiate at his funeral rites. ^
On the 3d of April, 1816, the Archbishop by an agree-
' De Courcy, "Catholic Church in the United States," New York, 1856, pp. 79, 94.
^ Garnier, " Epoqucs du Seminaire." A tomb was subsequently con- structed bearing a suitable inscription.
THE PALLIUM. 31
ment entered into with Rev. Father John Grassi, for- mally restored to the Society of Jesus its old missions and placed under their care the churches of St. Ini- goe's, Newtown, St. Thomas, with their dependencies, Whitemarsh, Deer Creek, Bohemia, St. Joseph's, Fred- erick, Georgetown, Alexandria, St. Patrick's church in Washington, Queen's Chapel and Rock Creek, which they were to supply with priests of the order or seculars approved by the Archbishop.^ The Very Rev. Edmund Burke, whom we have seen laboring in Michigan and Ohio, was about this time in Rome and was appointed by the Holy See to solicit the pallium for Archbishop Neale, and to deliver it to him on his return.^
As the year was drawing to a close the pallium arrived for the Archbishop elect, and Bishop Cheverus came on from Boston to confer it. On reaching Balti- more he found that Dr. Neale Avas too feeble to come to that city. He accordingly proceeded to Georgetown, and on the 19th day of November imposed the sacred symbol of the archiepiscopal dignity.^ Archbishop Neale felt the necessity of securing the appointment of a coadjutor, and he desired especially to secure Bishop Cheverus, whose merit he well knew. He employed many arguments and entreaties, but finding Dr. Cheverus determined not to leave Boston, he sub- mitted several names to him, among which Bishop Cheverus recommended especially the Rev. Ambrose Marechal, who had already been proposed for the sees of New York and Philadelphia, and was consequently
' Agreement Georgetown April 3, 1816.
"^ Mgr. Quarantotti to Archbishop Neale, July 14, 1816.
3 Tessier, " f^poques du Seminaire." Bishop Cheverus to Archbishop Neale.
32 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
well known in Rome. The Archbishop acted on his suggestion, and forwarded the name of the learned and zealous Sulpitian to the Sovereign Pontiff.
On the 24th of January, 1817, to provide for a vacancy of the see Archbishop Neale formally appointed the Rev. Ambrose Marechal, Vicar-G-eneral, "to govern and administer the diocese of Baltimore at my quit- ting this see, either by death or otherwise, until a new appointment be made," and also announced to him his proposed appointment as Coadjutor.
Affairs in the Carolinas and Georgia needed a firm hand. Archbishop Neale ordered Rev. Mr. Browne under pain of suspension to return to his mission at Augusta, which he had abandoned in order to act as assistant to Rev. Mr. Gallagher at Charleston, but in- stead of obeying, that priest proceeded to Rome. Gal- lagher persevered for a time in spite of his sus23ension, but at last touched with remorse he went to Arch- bishop Neale, admitted his fault, and professed a readiness to undergo any penance imposed. The Archbishop required him to go to New York and make a week's retreat under the direction of Bishop Connolly, to whom the Archbishop gave power to ab- solve him. Rev. Mr. Gallagher was then to receive letters dismissory, the Archbishop declining to avail himself in future of his services, or even permit him to say mass at Charleston. To all this the clergyman agreed, and after his censures were removed by Bishop Connolly he proceeded to Philadelphia.
Meanwhile Rev. Mr. Browne had laid a mass of false and garbled statements before the Propaganda, and returned with a peremptory letter from Cardinal Litta, in which Gallagher and Browne were repre- sented as men of the most eminent piety and exem- plary life whom the Archbishop had unjustly deprived
LETTER TO THE POPE. 33
of their charge in order to place there a French priest. To prevent the Catholics of Charleston from all be- coming Protestants he proceeds to say that the Pope commanded the Archbishop to show cause why he had removed those clergymen, and to reinstate them and permit them to continue during the pendency of the case at Rome : he was commanded to remove Rev. Mr. Cloriviere from all cure of souls at Charleston, and if the Archbishop refused, the orders were executed ipso facto by the Sovereign Pontiff himself.'
This extraordinary communication was handed open to Archbishop Neale by Gallagher in person.
The Archbishop at once addressed Pope Pius VII., stating that Gallagher had been suspended by his pre-
SIGNATURE OF ARCHBISHOP NEALE.
decessor for gross and notorious intemperance ; and that he himself had been compelled to pursue the same course by his continued misconduct ; that after suspension he returned to Charleston, drove Rev. Mr. Cloriviere from the church, and held it with Browne, who had abandoned his own mission at Augusta and gone to Charleston without any authority, and in de- fiance of the Archbishop. That the chapel used by Rev. Mr. Cloriviere was attended by all Catholics attached to their religion, and who approached the sacraments, while Gallagher had few, not one in ten of whom ever received holy communion. He told of
' Cardinal Litta to Archbishop Neale, Oct. 5, 1816.
34 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Gallagher's repentance and submission, and how when scandal had at last been removed, Cardinal Litta's letter arrived. "Most Holy Father," he continued, " is it thus the faith is propagated ? Is this the way to treat archbishops who in penurj^, amid countless difficulties and miseries, labor for the faith and salva- tion of souls even to decrepit age, and who sink under the bitter burthen ? I can scarcely believe that such an order emanated from the Holy See, or surely if it did emanate, it must have been obtained surreptitiously : for by this course, the door is opened to every rebellion in this distant country, and means are given, as I think, for the destruction of religion, for the children of this world are more j)rudent than the children of light. Before truth can reach Rome deceit and falsehood have already occupied the ground, and because they are supported by the testimony of faithless men, they find credit and advocates, my declarations being neg- lected because they are not upheld by the number and seal of men without faith, or because my poverty does not permit me to have a jDrocurator or a defender at Rome, for I and my brethren, bishops of this country, are much poorer than the rest of the clergy. Would that your Holiness had leisure to examine my letters and documents forwarded to the Sacred Congregation ; I might hope for a prompt remedy to our evils." ^
This opened the eyes of the authorities in Rome, and they saw how grossly they had been imposed upon. When the zealous Archbishop had already passed away, the Sovereign Pontiff replied that the appeal was dismissed ; that he might proceed against the refractory priests, confirming all he might do.^
' Archbishop Neale to Pope Pius VII., Georgetown, March 6, 1817. 2 Pope Pius VII. to Archbishop Neale, July 9, 1817.
LAST ILLNESS. 35
There were consolations, however. On the 13th of April the procathedral of Baltimore w^as crowded with a devout audience, as the Archbishop was to give the Papal Benediction with plenary indulgence, faculty- having been granted him to confer it four times a year within the limits of his diocese. This was one of the last appearances of Archbishop Neale in any function at Baltimore.^
He still continued to exert himself actively for the good of his diocese. Early in the year he had the consolation of seeing a Catholic free school established in Baltimore, which was soon incorporated by the legislature of Maryland.^
He was greatly interested in the conversion of Rev. Virgil H. Barber and his family, and agreed to make provision for the maintenance of Mrs. Barber and her daughters, but he did not live to carry out his pious intentions.
On the 31st of May he performed his last episcopal act, conferring the order of priesthood on Rev. Roger Baxter and Rev. John McElroy of the Society of Jesus, and Revs. John Franklin and Timothy Ryan of the secular clergy.
Archbishop Neale seemed to have a premonition of his approaching end. After offering the holy sacri- fice in the Visitation chapel on the 16tli of June he said to Mother Teresa : " I will not be with you long." The same day he was taken suddenly ill ; medical aid seemed unavailing, he grew rapidly worse, and Father Grassi, who had attended Archbishop Carroll in his dying hours, now administered the last sacraments to his successor, whose case excited alarm. Father John
' Tessier, " fipoques du Seminaire."
2 Scharf, " Chronicles of Baltimore," Baltimore, 1874, p. 386.
86 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
McEIroy, with Brother Henry, were in constant attendance. About one o'clock on the morning of Wednesday the 18th the Archbishop grew much worse, and he expired at ten minutes past one, while Father McElroy, kneeling beside the bed, was reciting the 23rayers for a departing soul. Mother Teresa with five of her sisters, was in the chamber of death and witnessed the holy death of their founder and constant benefactor. His brother Charles arrived before he expired, but Francis not till some time after. Dr. Marechal had been summoned from Baltimore when the venerable ArchbishoiD was stricken down, but did not arrive till after he had expired in the resignation to God's will which was characteristic on him.
His remains were taken to Trinity Church, where they lay in state, till the 19tli, Avhen the body was transferred to the Visitation chapel followed by eigh- teen priests in copes, dalmatics, or surplices, by twenty scholastics in surplice, and a hundred college students and many citizens. On the mahogany coffin lined with lead was a silver plate bearing in Latin this in- scription : "Died the 18th of June, 1817, at George- town, Rt. Rev. Leonard Neale, second Archbishop of Baltimore and founder of the Nuns of the A'isita- tion B. M., aged 71 years." ^
Mass was celebrated in the chapel of the Visitation by Rt. Rev. Dr. Marechal,^ and the body was then placed in a vault beneath the chapel, where it still remains.
Archbishop Neale, according to Brother Mobberly,
'F. McElroy, Diary, June 17-19, 1817. Annals of the Visitation.
2 Gamier, "Epoques du Seminaire''; Jenkins, in U. S. Cath. Mag., iii., pp. 505-512.
ESTIMATES OF ARCHBISHOP NEALE.
37
S. J., " was a sincere friend, and an upright, man. In his transactions with the foolish world, he was too candid to be agreeable. He never courted the ap- plause of men, and never had much esteem for those who did. In his manners he was plain and simple, not elegant. He was polite without ceremony. He was a great enemy to insinceritj^ and was extremely
TOMB OP AKCnBISHOP NEALE IN THE CRYPT OP THE VISITATION CHAPEL.
rough toward those who, he believed, intended to practice fraud. His candor rendered him unpopular. It was a principle with him to weigh matters well be- fore he resolved. When after mature deliberation he had arranged his plans, no arguments could induce him to change them. Hence he was very tenacious of his own opinion. He was strictly pious but not rigid.
38 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
He always supported his authority with vigor and enforced regularity of life in very strong terms."
"As an orator I always admired him. I never heard a man that pleased me so well as he did. He wrote nothing and prepared nothing, for it seems he was always prej^ared. He always preaclied on tlie gospel of the day except when a funeral occurred."
"He possessed a great flow of words and was master of a great fund of choice expressions. I never saw him embarrassed."
His spiritual daughters of the Visitation more reverently described him as "remarkable for great meekness, equanimity, and placidity of soul, of con- duct, and of speech. Never did he betray irritation or impatience, bitterness or resentment toward any one, whatever provocation he may have had. Never did eagerness, hurry, or precipitation appear in his actions." ^
' Br. Joseph P. Mobberly, Memorandum Book. Annals of the Visita- tion.
CHAPTER II.
DIOCESE OF BALTIMOEE.
MOST EEV. AMBROSE MARECHAL, THIRD ARCHBISHOP, 1817-1820.
The Most Reverend Ambrose Mareclial, wlio was elected to succeed Archbishop Neale in the see of Baltimore, was a Sulpitian, a priest of learning, who as professor at Georgetown College and at St. Mary's Seminary and College in Baltimore and in mission work had acquired great experience. Few clergymen in the country were more highly esteemed. He had already more than once been recommended for epis- copal honors by Archbishop Carroll and by Bishop Concanen.
He was born at Ingres, near Orleans in France, in 1769, of a good family who gave him an excellent college education to fit him for the legal profession. But in the course of his studies, where he won dis- tinction, he felt that his real vocation w^as to serve God at his altar. His family yielded at last and Ambrose entered the seminary at Orleans, directed by the priests of St. Sulpice. His talents, modesty, and virtue made the Directors yield to his desire to be received into their congregation. He was ordained priest in 1792, but before he had said his first mass was sent to Baltimore by Rev. Mr. Emery, the Superior of the Sulpitians. He arrived in this country in June, and after offering the holy sacrifice for the first time was sent to Bohemia as assistant to Rev. Mr. Beeston. Here he rapidly acquired a knowledge of English, and when it was determined to open a class of philosophy in George-
39
40 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
town College, he was selected for the professorship, which he discharged with ability. While subsequently attending the mission of Winchester, in Virginia, he was in 1803 summoned back to France by his Superior. He was appointed professor of theology in the Sulpitian seminaries at Saint Fleur, Aix, and Lyons, acquiring in all those institutions a high reiDutation for learning and ability. The pupils whom he trained for the I)riesthood, many of Avliom subsequently attained liigh positions in the Church in France, retained the highest attachment and regard for their old professor. During this period he became known to Right Rev. Richard Luke Concanen, the lirst bishop of New York, who finding the ^possibility of his reaching his diocese to be very slight, urged the Holy See to appoint Rev. Mr. Marechal his coadjutor. The action of Napoleon in breaking up the Sulpitian seminaries in France led to Dr. Marechars return to the United States in 1812. On the death of Bishop Egan he was strongly recom- menden by Archbishop Carroll for the see of Phila- delphia, and bulls were issued January 16, 181G, electing him ; but when they arrived, July 3, Rev. Mr. Marechal returned them, declining the mitre. He had no ambition beyond the divinity chair in St. Marj^'s Seminar}'" Avliich he filled with distinction. Arch- bishoj) Neale relied greatly on his judgment, and at the suggestion of Bishop Cheverus proposed his name to the Pope as coadjutor of Baltimore. Overcoming his reluctance Archbishop Neale appointed him Vicar General of the diocese to act in case of his death or absence. The bulls appointing Rev. Ambrose Mare- chal, Bishop of Stauropolis and coadjutor of Balti- more, or in case of the death of Dr. Neale, Archbishop of Baltimore, were issued on the 4tli of July, 1817, but did not reach the Seminary till the 10th of November.
DR. MARECHAL APPOINTED. 41
On the 4th of the following month Rev. Mr. Marechal, having prepared for his arduous dignity by retreat and prayer, was consecrated Archbishop of Baltimore in St. Peter's procathedral by Bishop Cheverus of Boston, Bishop Connolly of New York and Rev. Mr, De Barth, Administrator of Philadelphia, acting as assistant pre- lates. The sermon on the occasion was preached by the eloquent Augustinian Father Hurley.^
One of the earliest acts of Archbishop Marechal seems to have been to print for the first time the acts of the Synod held by Archbishop Carroll in 1791, the manuscript copies being nearly all lost at this time. To these he appended the Regulations adopted by Archbishop Carroll and his suffragans in 1810 and also regulations of his own in regard to the conditional baptism of converts in all cases ; directing priests to use all endeavors to induce parties intending to marry to prepare by a good confession ; and also to avoid marrying persons belonging to other congregations. He also prescribed rules for mixed marriages ; censured severely the attendance by Catholics at Protestant ser- vices ; directed that absolution should not be given too hastily ; he forbade the erection of any church without the consent of the Archbishop. He w^arned the clergy and people against receiving strange priests, and gave directions in regard to cemeteries and the mode of dis- tributing the Holy Oils. He concludes by directing that mass should be offered regularly in commemora-
' Tessier, " Epoques du Seminaire." Sketch in "Ami de la Religion." Bishop Cheverus in a letter to Rome expressed his joy that Rev. Mr. Marechal was to preside in the city of Baltimore, "where he and his fellow priests of Saint Sulpice had been the models and preceptors of the clergy." Hamon, " Vie du Cardinal de Cheverus," Paris, 1858, p. 143. During the vacancy of the see Bishop Du Bourg while at Baltimore ordained and performed other episcopal acts.
42 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
tion of deceased arclibisliops of Baltimore, the requiem for Archbishop Neale to be offered on the 18th of June in the following year/
In the summer of 1817 the novitiate of the Society of Jesus at Whitemarsh received eight candidates brought over from Belgium by the holy priest Rev. Charles Nerinckx.^ This gave the Society in Mary- land great hopes of reviving and extending the former work of the Fathers in the ancient sphere of their labors, but they were destined to be short-lived. Questions had already arisen between the Archbishop and the order.
On the 26th of July, 1817, Archbishop Marechal, who had come from Baltimore for the purj^ose, gave the white veil of the Visitation order to the recent convert Mrs. Barber, who on that day entered the community of the Visitation Monastery in George- town. A discourse Avas delivered by the Jesuit Father Baxter.^
The difficulty at Charleston begun in Archbishop Carroll's time had not yet been fully settled, and the little congregation at IS'orfolk was entering a similar trial. Archbishop Marechal had intimated to the Holy See his desire of having the Carolinas and Geor- gia detached from his diocese and erected into a sep-
' This seems to fix the date of the pamphlet in 1817. It has no title page, but begins with a circular of the Archbishop (pp. 1-3), Para- graphus I. the Synod of 1791 (pp. 4-21); Paragraphus II. the Tlegula- tions of 1810 (pp 23-26). Paragraphus III. liis own Regulations (pp. 27-34). The Archbishop alludes to the pamphlet in a letter to Bishop England in 1821.
2 Bi-shop Maes, " The Life of Rev. Charles Nerinckx," Cincinnati, 1880, pp. 340-7. De Smet, "Western Missions and Missionaries," New York, 1859, p. 499.
^ Father McElroy's Diary.
NORFOLK. 43
arate jurisdiction, and the Propaganda, pleased with his proposal, prepared to act upon it.
Hoping by personal influence to quiet the trouble at Norfolk, and encourage religion in all parts. Arch- bishop Marechal set out on the 31st of March, 1818, accompanied by Rev. James Whitfield to make a visi- tation of his diocese. He proceeded first to George- town, where the Visitation Nuns edified him by the order and fervor of the community. After giving the habit to a Sister, he visited Georgetown College, St. Patrick's cliurch, and the Barry (;hapel in Washing- ton and Alexandria. His next visit was to the Car- melite Convent, where he presided at the election of Mother Mary Aloysia of the Blessed Trinity. The convent, then situated near Port Tobacco in Charles County, consisted of seven separate small frame houses connected by wooden enclosed passages. The chapel was small and poor, but the Archbishop found everything neat and orderh^, and the enclosure strictly observed by the community.^ Visiting the church at St. Tliomas' Manor erected in 1798 by Father Sewall, Newport, the old wooden church at Newtown with its brick sacristy and addition in front ; the wooden chapel of St. Aloysius ; the old brick church at Medley's, too ruinous for use, the chapels of St. John and St. Nicholas, then stopping at Plowden's chapel of the Sacred Heart, he crossed the bay to Cob Neck. Thence he continued by way of St. Thomas', Upper and Lower Zachia to Washington.
Rev. Mr. Mathews had a great number prepared for confirmation at St. Patrick's church, and on Whit-
' For this community see Father Charles W. Currier, " Carmel in America," Baltimore, 1890, ch. xiv.
44 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Sunday the Archbishop administered the sacrament to 800.^
After a brief stay in Washington the Archbishop returned to Baltimore, having confirmed about 1600 in this first portion of his visitation. During the course of the year an impulse was given to the piety of the Catholics of Baltimore by the establishment in the Cathedral of the Archconf raternity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Superior of the Jesuits in Maryland, Father Grassi, having obtained the necessary diploma.^
On the 11th of June the Archbishop took the steam- boat for Norfolk, which he reached next day, although the malcontents had pretended at Rome that the dis- tance was so great that the Archbishop of Baltimore could not well superintend the Catholics in that city. He found eighty prepared for the sacrament of con- firmation by Rev. Mr. Lucas, and administered it to tliem.^
A few claiming to be Trustees of the Catholic con- gregation had refused to receive the Rev. Mr. Lucas, who was sent to Norfolk by Archbishop Neale, in December, 1815, and in spite of a letter addressed to them by that successor of Dr. Carroll, they persisted in their rebellion, and the duly appointed pastor, unable to obtain possession of the Church, had opened a temporary chapel, where all who really cared for their religion heard mass. The pretended trustees then issued a violent pamphlet to defend their assumed rights, claiming a jus patronatus and denouncing the ignorance and superstition of the Roman Curia, and
' Draft of a sermon in Archbishop Marechal's handwriting. " From Rev. Aloysius Felici, S.J. Eome, 7 Idus Feb. 1818. ^ Diary of Archbishop Marechal.
MOST REV. AMBROSE MARECHAL, THIRD ARCHBISHOP OF BALTIMORE.
45
NORFOLK SCHISM. 47
attacking Catholic doctrines, especially in regard to confession.^
The Rev. Mr. Lucas replied showing his appoint- ment by the proper authority, and his recognition by the real trustees and congregation at the house of E. Higgins, Esq., in December, 1815,^ but he was as- sailed in a pamphlet by Jasper Moran, and in placards of which the tenor may be judged from the fact that they speak of ' ' the criminal obstinacy of the late Rev. Archbishop L. Neale, as well as the stubbornness or systematic contumacy of his Most Rev. Successor."
Finding that they could not overawe the Archbislioi> or drive out the Rev. Mr. Lucas they drew up a grand- iloquent memorial to the Pope, which was taken by one of the malcontents to Rome. In this, regardless of the truth, they represented that they were destitute of a priest, and relying on the unacquaintance of the Roman officials with American geography they represented that Virginia was at such an immense distance from Maryland that the Archbishop of Balti- more could not take care of the Catholics there, and in the name of the Norfolk congregation solicited the erection of a new see at Norfolk, the people "being ready to provide with munificence all that is necessary for divine worship, the maintenance of the bishop and other ministers of the Church, the erection of a seminary and schools." They also asked that the Rev. Thomas Carbry, O.S.D., of New York should be appointed their pastor.
' " Letters addressed to the Most Reverend Leonard Neale, Archbishop of Baltimore. By a member of the Roman Catholic Congregation of Norfolk in Virginia. Printed by O'Connor Broughton, Norfolk, Va."
' " An Address to the Members of the Roman Catholic Congregation
of Norfolk By the Rev. J. Lucas Printed by Shields,
Charlton & Co., Norfolk."
48 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Bishop Connolly deluded by the representations supported them/ and Carbry jDroceeded to Rome. All this was communicated to Arclibishop Marechal by the Propaganda. When Carbry returned bearing a letter from Cardinal Litta, recommending him to Dr. Marechal, the Archbishop declined to receive him into his diocese, or to appoint him to Norfolk where no vacancy existed.
Archbishop Marechal' s visit to Norfolk was under- taken in the hope that he would be able to recall the obstinate to a sense of duty. He convened a meeting of the pewholders, but of fifty-five, nearly one- fourth refused to attend, while others protested and left the xoom. As the legality of the last election of trustees was questioned, he urged the holding of a new har- monious election, but after a stay of ten days, finding all his efforts useless, he left Norfolk.^
The misguided men, however, led by Dr. Fernandez and others, seem to have placed little dependence on their intrigue at Rome, for without awaiting the result of their scheme they applied through Father Carbry to the Rev. Richard Hayes, a jiriest who as
' Bishop Connolly to Arclibishop Marechal, April 9, 1818. He had already in February urged the Prefect of the Propaganda to establish a see at Norfolk and proposed Rev. Mr. Carbry as bishop, recommending him as learned, zealous, exemplary and eloquent, and formerly his pupil at the Minerva. By tliis time Moran, one of the leading malcon- tents, had with his family openly gone over to the Protestants. — Bishop Connolly to the Cardinal Prefect, Feb. 25, 1818.
. "^ Diary of Archbishop Marechal. In a letter to Rev. Mr. Lucas he slates that he would be justiiied in excommunicating Fernandez, Reilly, and Donahy for the impious principles they held and disseminated, their usurpation of the church and their outrages against himself, but he forbade that clergyman to admit them to the sacraments in life, or to perform the funeral service after death unless they repented and repaired the enormous scandals tliey had given. — Letter June 21, 1818.
NORTH CAROLINA. 49
agent of the Irish clergy had given offense to Papal authority, and urged him to proceed Jo Utrecht and induce the schismatical Archbishop of that city to consecrate him Bishop of Norfolk. Rev. Mr. Hayes was a faithful Catholic priest, and he immediately exposed the whole plot to the Pope.^
Meanwhile Archbishop Marechal, to leave the per- turbators no pretext for opx^osing a priest on national grounds, on May, 1818, appointed Rev. Nicholas Kerney, pastor of Norfolk and Portsmouth. The trustees refused to acknowledge him, and adhered to Carbry, who soon arrived and was aided by a roaming Portuguese priest. Rev. Mr. Kerney found Ports- mouth destitute of church, vestments, tabernacle, and all provision for mass. The Catholics of the place, chiefly men employed in the Navy Yard, could easily attend service in Norfolk, as more than one hundred of them actually did. He, however, secured a school- room and fitted it up for use as a chapel, but the mal- contents raised such a disturbance on Christmas day, that for peace sake he abandoned the attempt to offici- ate there. The next Sunday he had three hundred and fifty attending mass in his Norfolk chapel, many of them from Portsmouth. A general discharge of men at the Navy Yard soon after made any attempt to open or maintain a chapel there useless.^
He continued to labor zealously at Norfolk, though unable to enter either church or cemetery, which was held by Carbry, who paraded Cardinal Litta's letter as a papal act, making him independent of the Arch-
' Pastoral Letter of Archbishop Carroll, etc., and of Archbishop Mare- chal to the Congregation of Norfolk, Va., 1819. Baltimore, 1820, p. 67.
^ Rev. N". Kerney to Archbishop Marechal, May 31, June 38, Aug. 9, Dec. 27, 1819. Trustee Notice, Herald, Sept. 27, 1819.
50 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
bishop of Baltimore. He took out a license from the court as CatlioJic pastor of Norfolk and Portsmouth, and officiated for the jDretended trustees and their ad- herents. He even went to Richmond and said mass there, hoping to gain i)ossession of some property be- longing to the Church.^
While this wretched man was thus endeavoring to w^eaken the faith of Catholics, the zealous Eev. Mr. Kerney, hearing of neglected Catholics in North Caro- lina, made visits in 1819 and 1820 to Washington and New Berne in that State, officiating in both places, offering the holy sacrifice, hearing confessions, and baptizing children and adults.^
Events show that Carbry had long from New York, where Bishop Connolly was completely deceived by him, fomented the disturbances at Norfolk and Charleston. In the latter city, the vestrymen refused to recognize the Rev. J. P. de Cloriviere, and defied the authority of the Archbishop, who addressed several letters to them. They also applied to the Holy See, and forwarded a petition to Pope Pius VII., in which assuming to act not merely for the petty church in Charleston, but for the Catholics of four States solic- ited from the Sovereign Pontiff the erection of a diocese embracing Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia, and even requested the appointment of Rev. Thomas Carbry, as Bishop.^
Even after they were notified by Rev. Dr. Mare-
' Eugene Higgins to Archbishop Marechal, Feb. 2, 4, 1818 ; Rev. N. Kerney to same, May 31, 1819.
2 U. S. Catholic Miscellany, ii., pp. 147, 163.
^ Documents relative to the present distressed state of the Roman Catholic Church in the City of Charleston, State of South Carolina (Text from Protestant Bible), Charleston, 1818.
VISITATIONS. 51
chal as administrator, of the Brief of Pius VII. reject- ing the appeal of Gallagher and Browne, and subse- quently of his own consecration as Archbishop of Bal- timore, they refused to recognize Rev. Mr. Cloriviere or admit him to the church on Hazell Street. That priest accordingly continued to minister to the real Catholics in the hired hall, consoled by having 130 make their Easter Communion.^
The i:)allium granted to Archbishop Marechal in September, 1818, was forwarded through Bishop Poynter, one of the English Vicars Apostolic, and was conferred upon him in his pro-cathedral, Dec. 19, 1819, by Father Anthony Kohlmann.
After the summer of 1818 Archbishop Marechal resumed his visitation, which he extended to Barnes- town, Carrollton, Frederick, Hagarstown, Emmetts- burg, Taneytown in Maryland, Martinsburg and Win- chester in Virginia. The Sisterhood at Emmettsburg afforded him great satisfaction. He found the vener- able Mother Seton bearing the inroads of consumption with pious cheerfulness. He gave the tonsure to live seminarians at Mount St. Mary's. In this town he confirmed 685, making the total number for the year 2506. Many of these were converts, esj^ecially at Taneytown.
These visitations which his two predecessors in these later years had been unable to make, brought him into personal relations with his clergy and congrega- tions in Maryland and Virginia.
After thus acquiring a thorough knowledge of the condition of the Church in his diocese, Archbishop
' Cloriviere, " Further Documents showing tlie causes of the dis- tressed state of the Roman Catholic Congregation in the City of Charles- ton." Cliarleston, 1818. Letter to Matthew O'Driscoll, Oct. 21, 1818. 8vo, 4 pp.
52 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Marechal made a long and interesting report to the Cardinal Prefect of the Propaganda. He estimated that his diocese, which then comprised Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas and Georgia, with the terri- tory west of the y» . A I '\ -h ^^^^ named State -f c/' i^u^- -(/CiaA^ ^^^^S^ to the Mississippi,
and Avliich before the Revolution did
SIGNATURE OF ARCHBISHOP MARECHAL. j^q^ COntaln mOrC
than 10,000 Catho- lics, now numbered 100,000, chiefly in Maryland and Virginia, having grown by natural increase, conversions, and immigration. For the service of his flock he had 52 priests, — 14 French, 12 Ameri- cans, 11 Irish, 7 Belgians, 4 English, 3 Germans, and 1 Italian. There were more churches than priests, a clergyman being frequently required to attend several churches in succession ; and no fewer than ten new churches were actually in progress.
In Baltimore St. Peter's could no longer hold a tenth of the congregation, and a series of masses was celebrated every Sunday to enable the people to ful- fill their duty. The seminary chapel had a large con- gregation also, the annual communions reaching ten thousand. St. Patrick's and St. John's were also well attended, and the number of Catholics in Balti- more was estimated at ten thousand, having increased from about 800 in 1792.
To keep up the supi^ly of clergy his diocese had St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, admirably conducted by the priests of St. Sulpice, who also had charge of St. Mary's College. There was also the Petit Semi- naire at Emmettsburg with eighty pupils, fifteen of
BALTIMORE DIOCESE. 53
them tonsured. On these mainly depended the future of the diocese.
Besides this hive of future priests, there was at Georgetown the College of the Society of Jesus, one building devoted to secular pupils, the other contain- ing thirty-three scholastics and novices. There were thus three colleges for young men. For the educa- tion of young ladies there was a flourishing academy at Georgetown conducted by Visitation Nuns, the com- munity numbering nearly fifty, rej)roducing in their lives the spirit and virtues of Saint Francis de Sales. Their academy sent out pupils trained to become in life pious, well instructed, and accomplished women. They were anxious to extend their usefulness, and Archbishop Marechal petitioned the Holy See to per- mit the Nuns to have ten or twelve lay or out-sisters, who might under their direction conduct free schools for girls in Georgetown and Washington.^
St. Joseph's Academy, at Emmettsburg, under Mother Seton, her Sisters of Charity numbering thirty- two, was admirably conducted. It had 80 pupils, and also a number of orphan girls. The Archbishop hoped soon toestablish a house of the Sisters in Bal- timore.
In addition to these two communities devoted to education and good works, the diocese contained the Carmelite Convent at Port Tobacco with twenty-three nuns, living mainly from the produce of their estate. He spoke in the highest terras of their fervor and dis- cipline.
Piety among the faithful was kept alive by Confra- ternities of the Scapular, Rosary, Blessed Sacrament, Sacred Heart, and the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin,
' Application of Archbishop Marechal to the Pope.
54 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
the last established in Georgetown College in 1810, and in Baltimore in 1812.^
In 1819 the Rev, John Brady, Episcopal minister in St. Mary's County, Maryland, hearing a report that Rev. Leonard Edelen, of Newtown, had burned some Protestant Bibles, addressed a very dictatorial note to him. It was the first of a series of similar charges against Catholic priests, all the more extraordinary as Protestants themselves are conspicuously the great Bible-burners in this country. Mr. Brady's ground for the charge was that Jonathan B. Benson declared "that Mr. Benjamin Edwards told me, that he heard Mr. Thomas Tucker say (in a conversation concerning the burning of the Bible), that Father Edelen would have a roasting hot fire of them." The whole story was false, but the Jesuit Father's re];)ly led to a con- troversy of some length, which Avas subsequently l^rinted in pamphlet form.^
The little skirmish seems to have quickened the zeal of Catholics, as we find that new churches were erected at Medley's Neck and St. John's, and liberal
' The diploma establishing the Confraternity of ^he Sacred Heart at the Visitation Convent was dated April 30, 1818. " Rules of the Male Confraternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, established in Baltimore, April, 1812, with the approbation of the Most Rev. Archbishop Carroll." Second Ed. Baltimore, 1823. Archbishop Marechal also encouraged the formation of Catholic Beneficial Societies. The Charitable Relief Society was established by Rev. R. Smith, Oct. 1, 1827, and the Tobias Society, for colored people, Jan. 1, 1828, with his approval. See Constitutions. Baltimore, 1828, 1836.
' " A correspondence between Rev. Mr. Brady and Rev. Mr. Edelen of St. Mary's County, Maryland, which was commenced, in consequence <)f a report in circulation that the latter had burned several Protestant Piibles," etc. Washington ; Davis & Force, 1819, pp. 76. When the Bible Society of New York stopped printing Catholic Bibles and Testa- ments in French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, the unsold stock was burned, the fires being kept going for weeks.
SOUTH CAROLINA. 55
subscriptions made for the Church of the Sacred Heart. ^
In Charleston, Gallagher by insidious and open means still hampered the labors of Rev. Mr. Clori- viere to such a degree that Dr. Marechal, finding that the malcontents were asking for a bishop, and desired Father Carbry,^ sent to that city two Jesuit Fathers, whom the Superior of the Society in this country reluctantly drew from Georgetown College to proceed on the difficult errand of restoring discipline. These were Father Benedict J. Fenwick, an American, and Father James Wallace, a native of Ireland. Gallagher meanwhile, by a pamphlet, exerted himself to maintain discord, and yet he won such support in Europe, that his word weighed more at Rome than that of Arch- bishop Marechal.^ Dr. O' Driscoll was next to Rev. Mr. Gallagher the great fomenter of trouble at Charleston.
When Father Fenwick arrived, November 10, 1818, he put up at a Protestant house till he could obtain possession of the presbytery, and he at once convened the Yestry. O' Driscoll began to insist on the right of 13resentation, which he claimed for the Yestry ; but Father Fenwick declared the claim utterly absurd and unfounded. He insisted that the Yestry should acknowledge certain principles as the only terms on which he could continue to regard them as Catholics. The pastor of the church was to be recognized as a member of the Yestry ; he was to have exclusive authority in regulating the interior of the church and
' Rev. F. Edelen to Archbishop Marechal, Nov. 13, 1820.
^ Bishop Connolly of New York had urged Archbishop Marechal in his letter of April 9, 1818, to appoint Carbry to Norfolii. On the 30th of October he wrote, urging the Archbishop to recommend Carbry for a see to be erected at Charleston, recommending him in the highest terms.
3 Rev. B. J. Fenwick to Archbishop Marechal, Nov. 10, 16, 1818.
56 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
everything appertaining to divine worship, and finally that he was to receive his salary as long as he was authorized by the Archbishop of Baltimore to fill the position. When Rev. Mr. Gallagher addressed Father Fenwick to learn what powers he had, the firm envoy replied in substance that he had none. The malcon- tents learned, at once, that affairs had been committed to a firm hand.
Gallagher submitted, at least openly, and the Vestry yielded. Then the two Jesuits went to work to revive religion. Sermons and instructions were given ; the young were prepared to receive the sacraments. Father Fenwick could at Easter count two hundred communicants, twenty-three making their first com- munion.^
Under this impulse religion advanced till in the course of the following year letters came from Rome in which Rev. Robert Browne, who had gone there, and by a feigned submission obtained credence,^ boasted that he had triumphed over the ecclesiastical authority in America and asserted that he had been completely restored. Tidings soon came of the erection of the see of Charleston and of the appointment of Bishop England. Browne arrived before the newly appointed bishojD, and claimed full right to exercise the minis- try, by virtue of Dr. England's grant, but as Father Fenwick had no official notice of the erection of the see or consecration of the bishop he declined to, recog- nize him.
Father Fenwick continued to labor earnestly till Bishop England arrived and was installed. The next day he tendered his papers and asked permission to
^ Rev. B. J. Fenwick to Archbishop Marechal, June 9, Sept. 1, 1819. * Cardinal Fontana to Archbishop Marechal, April 15, 1820.
DIOCESE OF CHARLESTON. ' 57
return immediately to the North. Bishop England had, almost at a glance, recognized the true priest and the false. He would not receive Father Fen wick's papers and complained of his wishing so abruptly to leave him, a perfect stranger in the country. Father Fenwick yielded in order to give him the aid of his experience.^
The Metropolitan of the United States had solicited that the Carolinas and Georgia should be erected into a Vicariate Apostolic, but this was rejected by the Propaganda, which regarded the plan as unprece- dented ; Archbishop Marechal then joroposed that these States should be erected into a diocese with a bishop's see at Charleston. Conscious of the prejudice which had been created in Rome against the Bishops and clergy in this country, and having no right in the matter, he did not propose any clergyman for the new see, but advised the appointment of some English priest.^
It was a strange position of affairs, but the little knots of malcontents in Norfolk and Charleston, men destitute of religion, who seldom or never approached the sacraments, actually through the Irish hierarchy, whose good faith they abused, and through Browne and his confederates at Rome, influenced the action of the Propaganda, and, of course, not in the best inter- ests of the Church in the United States. The V. Rev. John Rice, O. S.A., who possessed great influence in Rome, is said to have been the most active in this un- justiflable interference in the affairs of the Church in America. To gratify the men at Norfolk who had been ready to establish the Jansenist schism, the
' Rev. J. Fenwick to Archbishop Marechal, Sept. 17, Oct. 19, Dec. 19, 1820; Feb. 19, 1821. * Archbishop Marechal to the Prefect of the Propaganda, 1818.
58 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
plot was formed and actively pushed to create Vir- ginia into a diocese with the see at Richmond, but authorizing the new Bishop to reside at Norfolk. This scheme, in which Browne was the prime mover, was carried out by those- whom he succeeded in influencing with all the secrecy and celerity of a conspiracy, every precaution being taken to prevent the action from becoming known ; the bulls were apparently prepared out of the usual channel, and were sent to Ireland, to the priests appointed with injunctions to obtain conse- cration and proceed at once to America.^
The Sovereign Pontiff accordingly on the 11th of July, 1820, signed the bulls dismembering the diocese of Baltimore, erecting Virginia into a diocese with a see at Richmond, and North and South Carolina with Georgia into a diocese with a see at Charleston, ap- pointing Rev. Patrick Kelly to the former and Rev. John England to the latter see.
By this hasty and inconsiderate action the diocese of Baltimore constituted two portions, a thousand miles apart, Maryland and the District of Columbia on the Atlantic, and Alabama and Mississippi in the southwest.
' England, " A Brief Account of the Introduction of the Catholic Religion into the State of North Carolina," etc., Dublin, 1832. Fitzpat- rick. " Life, etc., of Rt. Rev. Dr. Doyle," Dublin, 1861, i.,p. 88. Let- ters from V. Rev. J. Rice to Rev. P. Kelly.
'^ The bulls erecting these two sees are not in the Bullarium Magnum, nor in the Bullarium de Propaganda Fide, but have been found in the archives of the Propaganda. The Bishops of Cork and Ossory seem to have been most active. They recommended for American sees. Revs. John England, Patrick Kelly, Edward Nolan, parish priest of Gowran, in the diocese of Ossory, Nicholas Carroll, parish priest of Rathdowney in the same diocese, Father Charles B. Maguire, O.S.F., of Pittsburgh, Pa. , the provincial of the Irish Franciscans, declining. List submitted at Rome, June 5, 1820.
NEW SEES. 59
Unconscious of all these schemes and plots, Arch- bishop Marechal had been exerting himself for the good of religion. In 1819 he visited St. Ignatius Church in Harford County, encouraged the erection of St. Patrick's Church on the Susquehanna in Cecil County, then visited Whitemarsh and proceeded to Queenstown, St. Joseph's, and other places on the Eastern shore, confirming in all about 473.
In July of the following year we find him at George- town ordaining the Jesuit Fathers, Henry Verheyen, Peter Joseph Timmerman, and John Murphy ; laying the corner-stone of the Visitation chapel, and confirm- ing 213 in Trinity Church.
Against the detachment of Virginia Archbishop Marechal protested warmly, as a division of his dio- cese without his knowledge or consent, and as creating a new bishopric where it would be impossible to main- tain the prelate appointed.
The step, however, was taken, and New York, Philadelphia, Richmond, and Charleston were thus assigned to Bishops sent, utter strangers, to this coun- try, nominated by the influence of a foreign hierarchy, and in some cases bound in the very act of their consecration by an oath of allegiance to the British government, the great enemy of the United States.
It was not till December 19, 1819, two years after his succession to the see, that Archbishop-elect Mare- chal received the pallium, which had been granted in 1818. It was forwarded through Bishop Poynter, Vicar Aj^ostolic of London, and was conferred upon him by the Rev. Father Anthony Kohlmann, the Rev. Mr. Kenny preaching on the occasion.
Before the close of the year. Catholicity and Mary- land lost a noble representative in the person of the Hon. Thomas Sim Lee, the war governor of Maryland.
60 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
This noble patriot, born in 1744, was elected governor November 8, 1779, and served till 1783, when he was sent to represent the State in the Continental Con- gress, where he sat two years. After being an active member of the State Convention which ratified the Constitution of the United States, he was again elected governor, and served from 1792 to 1794. He had been a personal friend of Archbishop Carroll, and enjoyed the esteem of his successors, having been visited from time to time by Archbishop Marechal. He died on the 9th of November, and was buried near Marlbor- ough. Georgetown College honored his memory by a solemn mass of requiem, at which Father Baxter pro- nounced a funeral discourse.^
Soon after his appointment Archbishop Marechal took up earnestly the project of completing the Cathe- dral, on which work had been suspended for several years. To obtain the necessary funds with the diocese already greatly reduced, and likely to be still further restricted in extent, was not easy; but the old ceme- tery and even part of the cathedral ground was sold, and the work of construction was resumed in 1817. Individual subscriptions aided the fund, but resort -was had to another lottery, in 1819, from which $75,- 000 was to be applied to the Cathedral. The sale of pews as the church approached completion aided con- siderably, producing $40,000.^ The citizens of Balti- more without distinction of creed felt a pride in the completion of the edifice, which in grandeur exceeded
' Georgetown Records.
« Scharf, " The Chronicles of Baltimore," Baltimore, 1874, pp. 397-9. There were 12,500 tickets at |40. The managers were David William- son, L. Tiernan, W. Jenkins, Basil S. Elder, John Carrere, P. Laurens, John Walsh, A. White, Jr., Dr. Chatard, M. Ridlemoser, John Hunter, and Charles Carroll, Jr.
BALTIMORE CATHEDRAL. 61
any church then existing in the country. He ex- pressed a wish in a communication to Rome that some statues and jDaintings, wliich superabounded there, could be contributed to decorate it.
Archbishop Marechal resigned himself to the ne- cessity of completing the edifice with less grandeur than had been originally proposed, and was often penetrated with fear that he would never live to be- hold it so far completed as to serve for the celebration of divine worship. He persevered, however, encour- aged even by old friends in Europe, and on the 10th of May, 1821, was able to announce in a pastoral letter that the Baltimore Cathedral would be dedicated on the 31st of the same month, the eve being made a fast day for the diocese.^
The rich marble altar for the new edifice was the gift of priests at Marseilles, France, who had been his pupils while he taught theology in the seminaries in that country. An inscription records this tribute.^ This altar, with fine candelabra to go on either side of the tabernacle, reached Marblehead, Massachusetts, in the Cadmus, Capt. Williamson, March, 1821, and were shipped thence to Baltimore.^
A number of fine large paintings were also received as a gift of his Eminence Cardinal Fesch, uncle of the great Napoleon.*
' " Pastoral Letter of the Archbishop of Baltimore to the Roman Catholics of his Diocese ou the Consecration of the Cathedral," Balti- more, 1821.
* Hoc Altare | a Massiliensibus Sacerdotibus | Amb. Archiep. Bait. | Eorum in Sacra Theologia olim | Professori | grate oblatum | Ipse Deo Salvatori in honorem ejus | Sanctissimae Matris | consecravit die 31 Maii, 1821. Catholic Almanac, 1836, pp. 50-8.
» Bishop Cheverus to Archbishop Marechal, March 26, 30, 31, 1821.
■* Cardinal Fesch to Archbishop Marechal.
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The altar as set up was a beautiful and artistic work of polished marbles, the tabernacle crowned by a marble globe surmounted by cherubim and a crucifix. The candelabra on either side harmonized beautifully with the whole altar, which bore on its front the monogram of Our Lady to whom the Cathe- dral is dedicated.
Between the columns hung oil paintings of the Bap- tism of Our Lord, and the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin. On the walls between the windows hung other oil paintings. The Vision of St. Nicholas, The Vision of St. Augustine, The Agony in the Garden, St. Simeon holding Our Lord, The Last Supper, The Transfiguration, Our Lord Feeding the Multitude, Our Lord apiDearing to St. Mary Magdalene, Our Lord and the Samaritan Woman, Our Lord bearing the Cross, St. Veronica, — the gifts of Cardinal Fesch.
The Cathedral is cruciform, 190 feet in length, and at its greatest width 119 feet, the exterior walls of dark granite, which, though sombre, have stood the test of time and the elements better than the Ionic portico. At the intersection of the cross rises the noble dome, 207 feet in circumference within, and lighted by an exterior dome that is not seen from the interior of the edifice.
At the entrance of the Cathedral, on either side, are paintings, one The Descent from the Cross, by Paulin Guerin, a gift to Archbishop Marechal from Louis XVIII., King of France; the other, St. Louis burying the dead before Tunis, painted by Steuben, the gift of Charles X., King of France.
The Cathedral was solemnly dedicated on the 31st of May by Archbishop Marechal, assisted by the Rt. Rev. Henry Conwell, Bishop of Philadelphia, and Rt. Rev. John Cheverus, Bishop of Boston. The
DEATH OF MRS. SETON. 63
sanctuary was filled with the priests of the diocese and of the seminary to the number of thirty-five, and fifteen ecclesiastical students.
The pews had been sold some months before and had been at once taken by the most prominent Cath- olics of Baltimore. The occasion drew them all to the sacred edifice, with a large gathering of the faith- ful from all parts of the city, and numbers of distin- guished Protestants, interested to see a Cathedral, in which they had taken a local pride, devoted at last to the worship of Almighty God.
The sermon of the day was delivered by Rev. Roger Baxter, S. J., Professor of Philosophy in Georgetown College, who took his text from 2 Paralip, vii., 16.^
The first ordination in the Cathedral was that of the Jesuit Father, Stephen L. Dubuisson, who was raised to the priesthood by Archbishop Marechal on the 7tli of August.
The Church sustained a great loss early in 1821 by the death of Mrs. Seton, foundress and first Superior of the Sisters of Charity at Emmitsburg. After the approval of the rule by Archbishop Carroll, eighteen made the simple vows of poverty, chastity, and obe- dience on the 19tli of July, 1813, and a regular novi- tiate was opened. The community was then duly organized, Mrs. Seton being elected Superior. Herself a model of exactness in observing the rule, her instruc- tions formed the Sisters in the way of Christian per- fection. The little community increased and continued the work of education at the Mountain. In 1814 an
' A sermon preached at the Opening and Consecration of the Cathe- dral, in Baltimore, on the thirty-first day of May, 1821. By the Eev. R. Baxter, S.J., Professor of Philosophy in the College of Georgetown, D. C. Baltimore: Published by J. W. 1821. Scharf, " Chronicles of Baltimore," p. 399.
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application came from Philadelphia for Sisters to take charge of the Ori)han Asylum near Trinity Church, and Mother Seton sent three Sisters to found her first mission abroad. The Sisters began in poverty and difficulty, but their piety and devotedness soon made their house the jiride of the Catholics of Philadelphia. The next mission was of Sisters to manage the domes- tic concerns at Mount St. Mary's College, and in 1817 three Sisters took charge of the OrxDhan Asylum in New York. The Academy at St. Joseph's increased under the personal care of Mother Seton, and the school for the poor children soon required a separate building, and a brick one, two stories high, was erected in 1820. The second free school of the Sisters was that at Trinity Church, Philadelphia. Mother Seton thus beheld her work extending, and avenues open to em- ploy the zeal of her spiritual children ; an act of incorporation by the State of Maryland in January, 1817, secured a legal existence. Mrs. Seton' s health, never rugged, had begun to decline, and she calmly prepared for her departure from the world. When asked what she considered the greatest blessing ever bestowed upon her by the Almighty, she answered : "'That of being brought into the Catholic Church." Sustained by Rev. John Du Bois and Eev. S. Brute, she received all the sacraments with the deepest faith and piety, and repeating the prayer of St. Ignatius : "' Soul of Christ, sanctify me," and the sacred names of Jesus, Mary, Joseph, she exj)ired on the 4th of January, 1821, in the 47th year of her age. An in- scription in the room marks the spot. "Here, near this door, by this fireplace, on a poor lowly couch, died our cherished and saintly Mother Seton, on the 4th of January, 1821. She died in poverty, but rich in faith and good works. May we, her children, walk
JESUIT ESTATES. 65
in her footsteps, and share one day in her happiness. Amen."'
Sister Rose White, who had founded the houses in Philadelphia and New York, was elected to continue the work of the holy foundress as Superior of the community, numbering at this time nearly fifty members.
The Sisters of Charity soon assumed the direction of the free school in Baltimore, which by this impulse soon numbered 170 children, established an Orphan Asylum with fourteen orphans, and opened the Bal- timore infirmary."^
In that city confraternities and pious associations continued their good work, leading the members to approach the sacraments regularly, and to be earnest in relieving the wants of the afflicted.
When Pope Clement XIV. suppressed the Society of Jesus by his Brief " Dominus ac Redemptor " on the 21st day of July, 1773, the members who were in holy orders were declared to be secular clergy, the rest became simply laymen. No disposition was made of the property of the various provinces, colleges, and missions of the order, though professed Fathers were forbidden to purchase or sell any house, goods, or places. The property of the order had already been confiscated by the crown in France, Spain, Portugal, Naples, and the French, Spanish, and Portuguese colo- nies in America and Asia.^
' SetOD, "Memoirs, Letter and Journal of Elizabeth Seton," New York, 1869, ii., pp. 291-2. White, " Life of Mrs. Eliza A. Seton," New York, 1853, pp. 437-442, 465 ; Barbery, " Elizabeth Seton," Paris, 1868, pp. 690-1.
' U. S. Catholic Miscellany, vii., p. 110 ; viii., p. 205.
^Bullarium de Propaganda Fide, iv., p. 394. Cretineau Joly, " His- toire de la Compagnie de Jesus," Paris, 1845, v., p. 369.
66 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
After the suppression, the property of the order was similarly confiscated by the State in Austria, the Netherlands, the smaller Italian states, includ- ing the Territories of the Pope. The Encyclical issued August 18, 1773, by the special Congrega- tion " de Abolenda Societate Jesu," and addressed to all Bishops, required each bishop in his diocese to publish the brief to the members of the Society, and then "in the name of the Holy See to take and retain possession of the houses, colleges, and their goods, rights, and appurtenances of what kind soever."
Bishop Challoner notified the missioners in Mary- land and Pennsylvania of the suppression, and obtained the written adhesion of each one to the Brief of Clement XIV.; but neither in England nor America did he proceed further. The Jesuits as a body could not possess property in the English dominions, and had Bishop Challoner attempted to take possession of property held in the names of Jesuits individually, it would have led to its confiscation by government, and imperiled all Catholic jDroperty in the kingdom. There is no trace of the slightest endeavor on his part to secure a conveyance of such property to him. The war, which soon prevented intercourse between Eng- land and the United States, made any attempt at a later date impossible. The property in Maryland and Pennsylvania remained in the hands of individual priests till December 23, 1792, when the surviving members of the Society in Maryland, who held prop- erty in their individual names under secret trusts, and a few whom they had aggregated to themselves, were incorporated by an act of the Legislature of the State of Maryland, and the corporation empowered to hold and apply the property in conformity with the original
JESUIT ESTATES. 67
several trusts.^ The corporation was authorized to adopt a name, and selected that of " The Corporation of the Roman Catholic Clergymen." ^ To this body- each holder of land conveyed the property, represent- ing it as trust j)roperty.
An informal organization had already existed among them, and this Rev. John Carroll after his return to America joined, receiving an annual allowance, as did Rev. Leonard Neale. When Doctor Carroll was made Prefect Apostolic his allowance was increased, and after he was made Bishop of Baltimore, the revenues of the plantation of Bohemia were assigned to him and were subsequently received by his successor Arch- bishop ]N"eale, both having been members of the infor- mal organization and of the Corporation. When Dr. Marechal became Archbishop of Baltimore, in 1817, the Corporation declined to continue the payment, as he was not a member of their body like his predeces- sors ; but they offered to pay |500 a year for four years, till his Cathedral was dedicated and opened, and able to give him a maintenance. Some payments were made to him on this basis, but no formal agreement was reached.
Although the see of Baltimore had been erected for more than thirty years, no one of those who had oc- cupied it had visited Rome. Many reasons impelled the Most Rev. Dr. Marechal to fulfill at this time the obligation of visiting the threshold of the Apostles.
He set out on October, 1821, and laid before the Holy See a statement of the condition of religion in his diocese and province. He obtained a promise that
' An Act for securing certain estates and property for the support and uses of the Ministers of the Roman Catholic religion.
' Declaration of "Walton, Ashton, Leonard Neale. Molyneux, Sewall, Oct. 15, 1793. Recorded Laws I. G., No. 1, folio 701.
68 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Virginia should be placed under his care as adminis- trator as soon as Dr. Kelly could be transferred to another diocese. In regard to the question between himself and the Society of Jesus, Archbishop Mare- chal drew up a memorial, in Italian, which was printed and laid before the sovereign Pontiff. In this he claimed that the Bull erecting the see of Baltimore vested in the Bishop of that see all the property which had been held by the Jesuit Fathers in Mary- land ; and in the next place that the Maryland act of incorporation in 1793 granted all this property to the Bishop and clergy of Maryland. He also claimed that Father Robert Molyneux had, by a formal instrument, dated September 20, 1805, covenanted to pay per- petually to Rt. Rev. John Carroll the yearly sum of $1000. He also claimed that certain estates, not- ably Deer Creek and Whitemarsh, were given not to the Society of Jesus, but to the Catholic Church.
The General of the Jesuits and the Fathers in Rome were not prepared with documentary evidence or legal opinions to meet the case thus presented. Yet the case was a weak one, the expressions in the Bull erecting the see of Baltimore could not be construed to operate as conveying any special property abso- lutely,^ and Bishop Carroll had distinctly renounced any claim under it to the estates held by the Society of Jesus.^ The Act of Incorporation was a mere change of trustees, and created no new beneficiaries to enjoy the estates. The agreement purporting to be made by
' The terms of the Bull are general, ' ' We commission the said Bishop- elect" ... "to administer ecclesiastical incomes." "Life of Arch- bishop Carroll," pp. 342-3. But the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide in 1832 spoke of the estates which Pope Pius VI. had decreed to the Bishop of Baltimore in 1789.
' Note delivered to Trustees by Bishop Carroll, May 26, 1790.
JESUIT ESTATES. 69
Father Molyneux still exists, full of interlineations and erasures, evidently a draft never satisfactorily prepared or finally executed, and without seal or wit- ness.^
The matter was referred by the Pope to a commis- sion of Cardinals, Castiglione, Fesch, and della Genga, who took the affair into consideration.
On their decision in favor of the claim of Arch- bishop Marechal, Pope Pius VII. issued on the 23d day of July, 1822, a Brief requiring Father Aloy- sius Fortis, General of the Society of Jesus, and the Jesuits of Maryland to put Archbishop Marechal in possession of Whitemarsh, or as much thereof as did not exceed two thousand acres, any mortgage on it to be paid by the Jesuits. If, subsequently, they could show that some other plantation could be conveyed with less injury to them, they were allowed to make representations. All other property was then secured to the Jesuits.^
When this Brief was transmitted to Maryland, Father Charles Neale, the Superior of the Jesuits, drew up a protest declaring it surreptitious, and ob- tained without allowing the Maryland Jesuits to pre- sent their case before the commission. He maintained that the Act of Incorporation gave no rights as bene- ficiaries to any who had not such rights before ; cited Bishop Carroll's disclaimer, and declared that no act of Father Molyneux before the restoration of the So- ciety could bind them, even if it had been properly entered into by him, and that under no pretext could
' This document is now in Bishops' Memorial Hall, Notre Dame, Indi- ana. It was never produced, except in the form of a copy, in the pro- ceedings at Rome.
' Brief " Quum nobis relatum," BuUarium de Propaganda Fide, iv., p. 394.
70 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
his individual act bind a corporation created by the laws of Maryland.^
This protest was after a time submitted by the Gen- eral, and the Archbishop replied to it at length. But the matter was still far from settlement, Dr. Marechal asking that all the Maryland Jesuits who refused to yield should be expelled from the Society, and pro- hibited from leaving Maryland without his per- mission.^
The General of the Society of Jesus in 1822 had de- clined to sign papers of transfer prepared for him,^ and the matter was frequently debated in sessions of the Congregatio de Propaganda Fide. On the 10th of June, 1824, Cardinals Castiglione, afterwards Pope Pius VIII., and de Gregorio were appointed to confer with the General in regard to the matter. The Gen- eral showed that he had ordered the Maryland Fathers to pay the Arclibishop $1000 a year. The Propaganda, on the 26th of Jul}^, refused to allow the matter to be settled in that way, and insisted that within six months the Whitemarsh property should be conveyed to Archbishop Marechal in compliance with the brief.*
The whole affair had already been laid before the President of the United States, and at this period government expressed itself so strongly that the Sove- reign Pontiff, after meetings of the Propaganda, May 29 and June 20, 1826, accepted a proposition made by the General, in his name and that of his successors, to pay Archbishop Marechal, during his natural life,
'Protest of Fr. Charles Neale, St. Thomas, Nov. 32, 1822. « Archbishop Marechal to Cardinal Consalvi, Dec. 37, 1833 (?3). ^ C. M. Pedicini, Secy, of Propaganda, to Archbishop Marechal, May 35, 1823. ■* Cardinal de Somaglia to same, Aug. 14, 1824.
EPISCOPAL NOMINATIONS. 71
annually, 800 Roman crowns from November 1, 1826, and Cardinal Somaglia wrote that the Pope and the Sacred Congregation thought that the offer ought to be accepted/
Cases which have since arisen make it evident that the Holj^ See holds that by the suppression the prop- erty of the Society vested in the Pope, to be disposed of by him in the best interest of religion. This, though not exjDressed in the documents, will explain the action in the Maryland controversy.^
During his stay in Rome, Archbishop Marechal was made a Domestic Prelate to his Holiness and received from him an elegant gold chalice, which is preserved in his Cathedral.
Among other important matters he induced the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide to lay down clear and distinct rules as to the tenure of Church property in the United States, and also to establish a plan for the nomination of Bishops to future vacancies occurring in the episcopate.
When he complained at Rome of the interference of the hierarchy of another country in the affairs of the Church in the United States, he was met with the sneering remark that the Archbishop of Baltimore and his suffragans had no right to nominate to vacant sees. His reply was made in an appeal to the Pope. " We freely confess that we have no right to present Bishops for the province of Baltimore. ISTo such right has ever been granted to us by the Holy See. There- fore we do not possess it. Nay more, I and my suffra- gans, who have occupied episcopal sees in America for
' Statement of Archbishop Marechal, " De mensa Episcopal! Prsesulis Bait." Cardinal Somaglia to Archbishop Marechal, Aug. 5, 1826.
"^ The Pious Fund of California, and the Jesuit Estates in the Province of Quebec.
72 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
many years, sincerely desire to be free from so for- midable a burden Yet it is certain that tliey
must be nominated by some one ; but who, consider- ing the distance of North America from the Roman See, is to present capable and worthy subjects ? Surely
the Irish Bishops cannot do so to advantage The
Irish Bishops have only an imperfect knowledge of our America, such as they glean from geographies and books of travel. Unacquainted with the disposition and customs of our Americans, it is utterly impossible for them to nominate men who suit our States."
He exposed also to the Holy See the danger to the whole Catholic body in the United States, if it could be charged that the Bishops were nominated by the Bishops of a foreign country. A decree was in prepa- ration granting the Archbishop and his suffragans the right to nominate, when the true character of Rev. Mr. Inglesi, whom Bishop Du Bourg had recommended as his coadjutor, was fully disclosed. In consequence, the decree was so modified that only a right of recom- mending suitable persons for vacancies in the episco- pate was granted to the American hierarchy.^
During the absence of the Archbishop in Europe, the Y. Rev. Mr. Tessier, on the Feast of All Saints, November 1, 1821, blessed the Chapel of the Visita- tion Convent at Georgetown, which had been com- pleted. Y. Rev. Mr. Tessier also blessed St. Peter's Church in Washington City on the 4th of Novem- ber.^ This was not the only church added to the diocese, for we find the Administrator, on May 19, 1822, blessing the church which had been erected at Long Green by Mr. O'Brien.
' Archbishop Marechal to Bishops Flaget and David, March 24, 1826 ; Decree, June 3, 1822.
* Tessier, fipoques du Seminaire.
THE CHURCH IN MARYLAND. 73
As we have seen, Northern Alabama and Mississippi remained under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Baltimore, but in 1822, to effect projects proposed by Bishop Du Bourg, a bull was issued by which these were detached from the diocese of Baltimore. This seems to have elicited a protest from Archbishop Marechal, and it was not carried out.
Florida was added to the Vicariate Apostolic thus created, and on the 14th of July, 1823, Pius VII., by his Brief " Quum Superiori Anno," abrogated the Letters Apostolic creating the Vicariate. Ala- bama and Mississippi thus reverted to the diocese of Baltimore.^
Archbishop Marechal then formally abdicated his jurisdiction over the two States, which was accepted by the Vo^e ; and by his Bull of August 19, 1825, Mississippi was placed under the care of Bishop Du Bourg of New Orleans as Vicar Apostolic,^ and on August 26, 1825, Alabama and Florida were made a Vicariate Apostolic, which Pius VIII., by his Letters Apostolic, "Inter Multiplices," May 15, 1829, erected into the diocese of Mobile.
The final action was taken in a session of the Con- gregation de Propaganda Fide, held December 22, 1824, but it was not carried out by the issuing of Bulls till the consent of Archbishop Marechal was forwarded.^
By all these acts the diocese of Baltimore, well
' Bull "Quura Nos Hodie," Aug. 13, 1822. BuUarium de Propaganda Fide, iv., pp. 399-407. Cardinal Somaglia to Archbishop Marechal, May 15, 1824, announces that this part of his diocese had been restored to him.
* "Quum Venerabilis," Bullarium de Propaganda Fide, v., pp. 14, 46.
^ Cardinal Somaglia to Archbishop Marechal, Jan. 29, 1825.
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equipped with seminaries, colleges, and institutions, was finally reduced from an extent equal to the Re- public, to a single one of the smaller States with the District of Columbia, and States which, had they re- mained under the see of Baltimore, would have bene- fited by these institutions, Avere left to struggle along without resources to create them.
Archbishop Marechal, after accomplishing to some extent the objects which he had in view in visiting Rome, returned to Baltimore, reaching that city Nov- ember 24, 1822.
Tlie next spring he resumed his visitation, conferring the sacrament of confirmation, stimulating the zeal of the faithful to improve old churches or erect new ones. The increased number of confirmations showed the good results of his appearing among the peo^^le. The seminary at Emmitsburg showed encouraging prog- ress, and here, in May, 1823, he tonsured John Purcell, future Archbishop of Cincinnati, and conferred minor orders on him and another seminarian ; and on the 24th ordained priests four members of the Society of Jesus in St. Patrick's Church, GeorgetoAvn, — one. Father James van de Yelde, destined to be Bishop of Chicago and of Natchez.
The church at Carroll Manor and a parochial resi- dence were to be conveyed to him ; the church at Frederick had been improved ; at Maryland tract Messrs. Jamison and Belt w^ere preparing to erect a church on land given by the family of Governor Lee. At Liberty, Mr. Cole, a convert, had erected a fine stone church, and promised land for a cemetery and parochial residence. Archbishop Marechal blessed the church on the 28th of September ; a solemn pon- tifical high mass, with deacon and sub-deacon, the administration of the sacrament of confirmation, an
THE CHURCH IN MARYLAND. 75
eloquent sermon, and fine music attracted such crowds from all the neighborhood, that the Methodist church was deserted and no service took place.
Georgetown College had progressed under the im- pulse given by the able Father John Grassi, who pre- sided over it from 1812 to 1817. He introduced the regular system observed in the colleges of the Society in Europe, and the work of complete organization was carried on by Very Rev. Father Kenney, who was sent over as visitor. The good work was continued under the presidency of Rev. Benedict Fenwick (1817-18), Rev. Anthony Kohlmann (1818-20), and Rev. Enoch Fenwick (1820-2). Degrees under the charter were first conferred in 1817, when Charles and George Din- nies received the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In 1822 Rev. Thomas C. Levins arrived from Europe to take charge of the chairs of mathematics and natural phil- osophy, for which he had remarkable ability. The college at this time had its seven classes from rudi- ments to philosophy, and had between fifty and sixty pupils.
CHAPTER III.
DIOCESE OF RICHMOND. RT. REV. PATRICK KELLY, FIRST BISHOP, 1820—1822.
The See of Riclimond was established by Pope Pius VII., on the 11th day of July, 1820, by his Brief "Inter Multiplices." The reason for the erection of the new diocese is stated : "Whereas, we have been long since been petitioned to erect the State of Virginia in North
SIGNATURE OF PATRICK KELLY, BISHOP OF RICHMOND.
America, which is included in the diocese of Balti- more, into a new diocese separate therefrom ; and, whereas, it seems highly expedient for the extinction of schisms that have arisen there, that a Bishop should be apxDointed specially for that State, more especially as the State of Maryland, which is subject to the Arch- bishop of Baltimore, and is filled with a great number of Catholics, requires so much of the said Archbishop's care, that he can with difficulty bestow any on other States." The Pope then, by the advice of the Congre- gation de Propaganda, detached Virginia, but not the District of Columbia, from the diocese of Baltimore, and erecting a new see at Richmond, assigned the State of Virginia as the diocese dependent on it.^
The clergyman selected for the new see was the Rev. Patrick Kelly, then about forty years of age and Presi-
' Bull erecting see of Richmond, July 11, 1820.
RT. REV. PATRICK KELLY, FIRST BISHOP OF RICHMOKD.
77
A PROTEST. 79
dent of St. John's Seminary, Birclifield, Kilkenny. He was a learned priest, educated in the Irish College at Lisbon, and is said to have taught theology in Rome. After his return to Ireland he was curate at Inistiogue, showing himself devoted and laborious in his ministry, endearing himself to the poor by his charity. He then taught mathematics, philosophy, and theology at the seminary, and finally became president. He was of great strength and colossal pro- portions, but though iDious, prudent, and of great integ- rity, he was rigid, unyielding, and haughty,^ He received his bulls on the 12th of August, 1820, and made immediate preparations for his consecration, which took place on the 24th in St. James' Chai^el, the Most Rev. Dr. Troy of Dublin being consecrator, with Bishops Murray and Marum as assistants, and the oath of allegiance to the King of England being- administered. Bishop Kelly solicited means from the Propaganda to make his voyage to Virginia,^ and after taking part in the consecration of Bislioj) England, he set sail.
He landed in New York, and proceeding to Balti- more announced himself to Archbishop Marechal as Bishop of the newly erected diocese of Richmond. The Archbishop gave a Avritten statement in which, after rehearsing his constant protests against the turbulent men at Norfolk, protests transmitted to Cardinal Litta and his successor Cardinal Fontana, he continued: "Although it would be entirely lawful for us to oppose the erection of the said see, whether we consider the wicked means by which it was ob- tained, or the scandals and calamities of every kind,
' Fitzpatrick, " Life of Rt. Rev. Dr Doyle," Dublin, 1861, pp. 14&-9. «Rev. P. Kelly to Rev. John Rice, O.S.A., July 16, Aug. 13, 1820.
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which will undoubtedly be the result ; yet fearing that the said enemies of the Church of Christ will take occasion even from our most justly founded opposition, to inflict the most serious injury on the Catholic religion, your Lordship may, as you judge best, proceed or not to take possession of the new see and diocese of Virginia according to the tenor of the Bulls transmitted to you. But to assure the tran- quillity of our conscience we hereby distinctly declare to your Lordship, that we in no wise give or yield our assent positively to this most unfortunate action of the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide. If you carry it out, we are to be held free before God and the Church now and hereafter from all the evils and scandals which the Catholic religion suffers or may suffer from it in these United States." ^
He also wrote to the Cardinal Prefect, expressing his astonishment at such steps without the slightest notice to him, and appealed to the Sovereign Pontiff. "Therefore, Most Eminent Cardinal, two vagabund friars, Browne and Carbry, concocting their schemes with other Irish friars living in Rome, have prevailed ; and the Sacred Congregation, deceived by the absurd calumnies of such men, has made itself the instrument to carry out their impious schemes." ^
Notwithstanding this action of Archbishop Marechal, Bishop Kelly proceeded to Norfolk, the place assigned as his I'esidence, which he reached the next day, Jan- uary 19, 1821. It was a strange commentary on the statement made at Rome, that Norfolk was at such an immense distance from Baltimore that the Archbishop of Baltimore could not possibly attend it, to find that
' Protest of Archbishop Marechal, January 18, 1831. 2 Letter Jan. 18, 1821.
CARBRY'S REVOLT. 81
even in those days of comparatively slow travel the dis- tance could be traversed in less than twenty-four hours. Deeply imbued with the prejudice so studiously created in Rome, against the management of the church at Norfolk by the venerable Carroll and his successors, Bishop Kelly refused to give faculties to the excellent Mr. Lucas/ and put himself in communication with those who had promised, at Rome, to erect a cathedral and maintain a bishop. He gave faculties to Father Carbry, who, after planning a Jansenist diocese and officiating without any authority, thus found himself a priest in good standing in the diocese of Richmond. Bishop Kelly was soon undeceived ; he saw that the Catholics of iS"orfolk, even if harmonious, united, full of zeal and a spirit of sacrifice, could not erect a suit- able church, or give him any such maintenance as he had a right to expect. In a very short time Father Carbry was in full revolt against the new Bishop, and, with his adherents, closed the door of the wretched little church against Dr. Kelly, who now saw that the national plea had been merely a pretext for insubordi- nation. The very men who had clamored for an Irish priest now turned against an Irish Bishop, selected especially to see that their fancied wrongs were re- dressed. The old feud continued. There was a Bish- op's party and a trustees' party, each endeavoring to secure possession of the church, till the civil authorities
' Bishop Kelly, June 23, 1821, to Mr. Joseph Magagnos, who had written in belialf of the practical Catholics. "I lately informed Mr, Lucas that his removal from Norfolk appeared to me likely to benefit religion here, by promoting peace in this distracted congregation. That opinion still gains ground in my mind. Of this, at all events, I am certain, that much of the opposition and vexation I am every day encountering is occasioned by his presence. I should deem it, therefore, a great favor if your Grace were pleased to recall him to your own diocese." Letter to Archbishop Marechal, April 26, 1821.
82 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
intervened and twenty-one were arrested.^ Cruelly undeceived, Bishop Kelly opened a school, in order to maintain himself till the Holy See could relieve him. The diocese afforded little hor^e. Catholics being few in the East, those in Richmond having merely a hired building, though a generous devise of Mr. Gallego gave them a site, and means to erect a church.^ Up to this time, like their fellow believers in Martinsburgh, Winchester, Wheeling, they depended on visits from Maryland and Western Pennsylvania. Toward the close of the year he sent to Richmond the Rev. James Walsh, who had come from Ireland to his assistance. This clergyman rented a room in the Southgate build- ing on lltli Street and revived the labors of Rev. Xavier Michel, after whose departure the Catholics had only occasional service by the Jesuit Fathers.^
Up to the year 1817, Catholicity was practically nnknown in and around Wheeling, but as the work on the great Cumberland road extended to that part of Virginia, many Irish Catholics Avho had been employed in the work settled down. Bishop Kelly authorized Rev. Mr. Maguire of Pittsburgh to erect a church in this mission, which his predecessor. Rev. Mr. O'Brien, had founded. Mr. Zane gave the Catholics a lot, and though few in number, they began the erection of a brick church in gothic style, seventy feet long by forty-six in width, the most imposing Catholic edifice yet erected on Virginian soil. The church formed a point of attraction for Catholic settlers, and so many
' " Sacra Congregazione de Propaganda Fide," Restretto, Rome, 1823. p. 54.
* After long litigation the will was set aside. "Weekly Register, i. , p. 23.
' Hon. A. M. Keiley, " Memoranda of the History of the Catholic Church, Richmond, Va." Norfolk, 1874. Diary of Archbishop Mare- chal.
BISHOP KELLY LEAVES VIRGINIA. 83
gathered that a flourishing congregation was soon formed.
On the last day of June, 1821, Bishop Kelly M'as cheered by the arrival of the Bishop of Charleston, who had visited the Catholic congregations in Georgia and South Carolina, and had traversed North Caro- lina as far as Elizabeth. While in Norfolk, Bishop England preached several times and exchanged facul- ties of Vicar General with Bishop Kelly.^
The Sovereign Pontiff had promised to remove Bishoj) Kelly when a suitable vacancy occurred, and on the death of Bishop Walsh of Waterford and Lis- more, transferred him to that united see. Bishop Kelly, after confirming all children over eight or nine years of age, accordingly left Virginia in July, 1822.^ Archbishop Marechal was appointed Administrator of the diocese of Richmond, but as the arrangement might be only a temporary one, it long prevented active exertion for the good of religion in Virginia.
1 Bishop England's Diary : TJ. S. Cath. Miscellany, iii., p. 14. « Bishop Kelly died suddenly, Oct. 8, 1829.
CHAPTER IV. DIOCESES OF BALTIMORE AND EICHMOND.
MOST REV. AMBEOSE MARECHAL, 1822-1828, THIRD ARCHBISHOP OF BALTIMORE.
Oi^ resuming jurisdiction over Virginia, Archbishop Marechal i^laced at Norfolk two zealous priests, Rev. Messrs. Christopher Delany and Hore, the unfortu- nate Carbry withdrawing to a mountain district in North Carolina. He provided for the Catholics at Richmond, and was rejoiced to see the congregation at Wheeling prosper ; and when a new town, Triadel- phia, was founded, in 1823, Catholics settled there in numbers sufficient to justify their erecting a church. Twenty-five lots were secured and a stone church, sixty-three feet long by twenty-eight wide, was erected. The churches at Wheeling and Triadelphia, with a congregation formed at Grave Creek, the Archbishop confided to the care of the Rev. Anthony Myrthe.^ Dr. Marechal visited these churches in the summer of 1824, administering confirmation, and praising the zeal and liberality of the faithful.^
Stimulated by this example, the Catholics at Rich- mond, under the impulse given by Mr. John Andrews, a convert, resolved to leave the house which the congregation had used, and to set to work earnestly to erect a suitable church and make provision for the support of a priest. But Rev. Mr. Delany regarded the provision as very uncertain, the only person of
' U. S. Catholic Miscellany, iii., pp. 14-15. 2 Diary, Aug. 37-29, 1824.
84
MBS. MATTINGLY. 85
means, Mr. Chevallier, being about to return to France. Rev. Mr. Hore attended Point Comfort, but the Cath- olics were so few, that he withdrew before long. Yet there were conversions to console the missioner, and Rev. Mr. Delany reported, in 1825, that during the preceding autumn he had baptized a family of four at Smithfield, forty-five miles from Norfolk.^ At Lynchburg the Catholic body had so increased, how- ever, that they appealed for a resident clergyman.^
Thrown into the midst of a Protestant or unbeliev- ing community, the faithful rarely sought from God supernatural aid in their afflictions. A spirit of faith was aroused, however, mainly through the ministry of a worthy priest, Prince Alexander Hohenlohe of Bamberg, who urged on all recourse to prayer in order to obtain relief from God. He promised to offer the holy sacrifice of the Mass in concert with any who sought union with him in prayer. The results of this united aj)peal to the Sacred Heart were so general and so consoling that from all countries of Europe the afflicted appealed to Prince Hohenlohe. A violent and unphilosophical attack on the Prince in the Edinburgh Review served to make the facts more generally known, and Bishop England in the Catholic Miscel- lany exposed the shallow reasoning of the Reviewer. The complete and sudden cure of Mrs. Ann Mattingly, sister of the Mayor of Washington City, came at this juncture as a most complete justification of Catholic confidence in the supernatural power of prayer.
' U. S. Catholic Miscellany, iii.. p. 223. Oct. 13, 1824, 29, Nov. 17. Rev. C. Delany to Archbishop Marechal, March 6, 1823, July 7. 1824, June 8, 1825.
' Wm. Duffy to Archbishop Marechal, March 6, 1823. Thej were able to promise $400 a year for his support.
86 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Mrs. Mattingiy had for years labored under a severe malady, which was regarded by physicians as incura- ble. She had not been able to leave her bed for a year, and for months at a time could not even turn. Father Anthony Kohlmann and Father S. L. Dubuia- son urged the afflicted lady to prepare by a novena in honor of the holy name of Jesus for the 10th of March, on which day Prince Hohenlohe offered the holy sacrifice in union with those residing out of Europe. On the morning of the 10th, both priests offered the holy sacrifice for her, and Father Dubuis- son took the Blessed Sacrament to her. During the novena she had grown worse, but her faith was un- shaken. Father Dubuisson gave her holy communion, and was still kneeling before the pix, which contained consecrated hosts, when he saw Mrs. Mattingiy rise slowly in the bed, stretch out her arms, join her hands and exclaim, "Lord Jesus! what have I done to deserve so great a favor?" While all present were sobbing from emotion and alarm, Father Dubuisson rose and took her hand. "Ghostly Father!" she continued, "what can I do to acknowledge such a blessing ? My first, my spontaneous expressions are : ' Glory be to God ! we may say so ! oh, what a day for us.' " He asked her how she felt. She replied : " Not the least pain left." " None there ? " he asked, point- ing to her breast. "Not the least, only some weak- ness." She insisted on arising, dressed, and walking to the table on which the Blessed Sacrament lay knelt down in adoration.
Father Dubuisson having another sick call to attend left soon after, but returned with Rev. William Matthews, and was received at the door by Mrs. Mattingiy herself. A pamphlet, containing thirty-four affidavits of the attending physicians and of persons
REMARKABLE CURE. 87
familiar with lier condition for months, and witnesses of her sudden and complete restoration, was printed by the authority of Archbishop Marechal, who said : "I have read with considerable attention, the certifi- cates relative both to the long and dangerous sickness of Mrs. A. Mattingly, and to the instantaneous and admirable cure which she has obtained from the mercy of Almighty God. Such is the number of the witnesses, their well-known integrity, candor, and intelligence, that their testimonies are certainly en- titled to the greatest respect and credibility, about facts which were obvious to their senses, and which they had frequent opportunities of observing." ^
The effect of Mrs. Mattingly' s cure was remarkable. It seemed to revive the dormant faith of Catholics, and was followed by an increase of piety and devotion. Other cures, especially those of Sister Beatrix Myers and Sister Apollonia Digges at the Visitation Convent, Georgetown, and of L. Chevigne, professor of mathe- matics at St. Mary's College, Baltimore, kept alive the feeling produced, and by their far-reaching in- fluence aroused a new spirit among the faithful.^
• United States Catholic Miscellany, ii., pp. 56, 70 ; "A Collection of Affidavits and Certificates relative to the wonderful cure of Mrs. Ann Mattingl}", which took place in the City of Washington, D. C, on the tenth of March, 1824," Washington. 1824, 8vo, pp. 41. Bishop England analyzed this pamphlet in the Miscellany, pp. 351-403, and subsequently issued ' ' Examination of Evidence and Report to the Most Rev. James Whitfield, D.D., Archbishop of Baltimore, etc., upon the Miraculous Restoration of Mrs. Ann ]\Iattingly." Charleston, 1830, pp. 42, reprinted in Works, iii., pp 393-447.
^ England's Works, iii., pp. 472-6 ; Guerison de Soeiir Marie Apollonie Digges, Religieuse le 20 Janvier, 1831. Fribourg, pp. 16. An- nals of the Visitation, ch. 21. Sister Apollonia, whose consumptive ten- dencies alarmed Archbishop Neale in 1817, and who was at the point of death in 1831, lived to the year 1889.
88 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
One of the subjects which engaged the attention of Archbishop Marechal was that of holding a provincial council. Bishop England had pressed it earnestly, but the Archbishop was at first fearful that it would not be attended by all his suffragans, and would be productive of little good, yet he finally drew up the plan of a Council, and proposed the matter to His Holiness Pius YII., who, in his Brief " IN'on sine magno " (August 3, 1823), approved the plan, as Pope Leo XII. did at a later date.
During the claim of Archbishop Marechal for the estate at Whitemarsh, the Superior of the Jesuits in Maryland resolved to disband the novitiate at that place, and send back the young men to Belgium, whence many had come with Rev. Charles !N'erinckx, in 1821. Among them were F. J. Van Assche, Peter J. De Smet, P. J. Verhaegan, J. A. Elet, F. L. Ver- reydt, and J. B Smedts. While the matter was still pending, and some believed that by removing the no- vitiate to St. Thomas's Manor means might be found to maintain it. Bishop Du Bourg of Louisiana arrived in Washington to see what aid could be obtained from government for educating the Indians in his vast diocese. When he learned that these zealous young novices might be sent back to Europe, he resolved to secure, if possible, this hopeful band of auxiliaries for his diocese. He offered to transport Father Charles Van Quickenborne, the Master of Novices, with his whole establishment, to Missouri. When Archbishop Marechal heard of this he protested against the depar- ture of priests and ecclesiastics from his diocese ; but Bishop Du Bourg would not yield. He maintained that the Archbishop of Baltimore had no right to detain the novices, young men who had come to this country from Europe in order to become relig-
REV. J. F. MORANVILLE. 89
ious, and who had never entailed any cost on the diocese.^
The affair was at last arranged, and the loss of Mary- land proved the gain of the West. The zealous Father Van Quickenborne, who had built a church at An- napolis and one near Whitemarsh, attending both faithfully, gathered his little company for their jour- ney. They comprised his assistant, Father Peter J. Timmermans, the novices already named, and J. De Maillet, with three lay brothers. They set out from Whitemarsh, April 11, 1823, and the caravan of wagons reached Wheeling, where two liat-boats were pur- chased, in which the whole party embarked with all their effects. With daily mass, and all the exercises of the novitiate, they floated down the Beautiful River. They laid up at Louisville to visit Rev. Mr. Nerinckx, and then kept on to Shawneetown, where, putting their effects in a steamboat, the mission band, in wagon and on foot, crossed the prairies, and came in sight of St. Louis, May 31, 1823, after a six weeks' journey.^
Before the close of 1823 the diocese of Baltimore lost the devoted priest Rev. John F. Moranville, so long pastor at Fell's Point, Baltimore. He had come to Baltimore in 1794-i") from the deadly missions of Cayenne ; received by Bishop Carroll, he began to labor among the French residents, till, having become familiar with English, he was appointed to St. Pat- rick's congregation about 1805, He set to work with energy to erect a becoming church, which was blessed by Bishop Carroll, November 29, 1807. The thorough
1 Bishop Du Boui-iT to Archbishop Marechal, Marcii C, 21, 1823.
2 Walter H. Hill, " Historical Sketch of the St. Louis University." St. Louis, 1879. pp. 10-20.
90 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
instruction of his flock, especially of the young, was his great care. Pious associations, and the devotion of the Rosary, were among his favorite means of keep- ing piety alive. In 1815 he organized St. Patrick's Benevolent Society, to support a parochial school which he opened, and to relieve the suffering poor. He greatly aided the Trappists, who for a time resided opposite his church. Ever devoted to the poor, he seemed to multiply his strength and resources during the visitations of the yellow fever. It cannot be won- dered that his health finally gave way. In 1823 physicians declared that only by rest and a voyage to Europe could his life be saved. He sailed from New York, on the 1st of October, with Bishoj) Cheverus, but died in the following May.^ On the 25tli of January, 1824, Archbishop Marechal, who, looking forward to a future University, had obtained from the Pope power to create and establish a faculty of theology, conferred, with solemnity, in his Cathedral, the degree of Doctor of Sacred Theology on Rev. Messrs. Whitfield, Deluol, and Damphoux, priests of St. Sulpice, and in August of the following year organized the faculty of theology. Rev. Mr. Du Bois, aided by Rev. Simon G. Brute, had gone on at Mount St. Mary's, building up a literary institution so successfully that the scholastic year, 1821, opened with seventy-nine pupils. He felt that the time had come to replace the two rows of log structures by a more enduring edifice. Rev, Mr. Du Bois, as President, Procurator, and Treasurer, undertook to erect a stone college. He gathered the material, dug the foundation, and saw the walls rise steadily. The night of the 6th of June, 1824, saw the building,
' B. U. Campbell, " Memoir of the Rev. John Francis Moranville,' U. S. Cath. Mag., i., pp. 433, etc.
MOUNT ST. MARY'S. 91
which had cost $16,000, nearly ready for occupation ; but while men slept, flames worked their way through it till it became a vast furnace, and the morning sun rose on blackened walls arid smoldering timbers. He bowed submissively to the will of Providence, and be- fore the ruins were cold began the work of reconstruc- tion. Like others in distress he appealed to Canada for aid, sending Rev. M. De Burgo Egan to collect there, which he did successfully.^
AVhile superintending the building, Rev. Mr. Du Bois directed the farm work, taught classes in Latin and French, and when Rev. Mr. Brute was absent con- tinued his theological course. The pupils increased steadily in number, and trained by him and the great Brute the young were imbued with solid piety. Priests formed here began to labor zealously in all parts of the country, somewhat to the jealousy of the Archbishop, who sought to claim them for the diocese of Baltimore.
At this time the Sulpitians in their General Assem- bly decided that Mount St. Mary's must be reduced to its original form and purpose, that of a Petit Semi- naire, or Preparatory College, and that the classes of philosophy and theology must be suppressed. Arch- bishop Marechal urged Rev. Mr. Du Bois to submit, and for his own part declared that he was opposed to having two theological seminaries in his diocese.^
Rev. Mr. Du Bois, however, declared that it was im- possible to maintain the institution, if it were confined to a classical course, as he obtained his professors
' " The Jubilee of Mount St. Mary's," New York, 1859, pp. 46, 272 ; U. S. Catholic Miscellany, vli., p. 46. Rev. John Du Bois to Bishop Plessis, June 10, 1824.
' Rev. John Tessier to Archbishop Marechal, Nov. 25, 1824.
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only by affording tliem instruction in i^hilosopliy and theological studies in return for their services as teach- ers. To the objection that his course of study was not thorough enough for candidates for holy orders, he showed that most of those sent out from the Mountain were zealous and laborious priests. To jjrove the ser- vices that the institution had rendered from 1809, Dr. Brute drew up a list of the 109 who had studied there, sixty-two Americans, thirty-two Irish, three Germans, and fourteen French.^
Many Catholic colored people accompanied their old masters to Baltimore at the time of the troubles in Saint Domingo. Speaking French, they naturally tarned for spiritual direction to the priests of Saint Sulj)ice. For thirty-one years the Very Rev. Mr. Tessier devoted himself to giving catechetical instruc- tions to this flock, who not only preserved the faith themselves but won others. Rev, James Hector Jou- bert, who became his associate in this good work, sought to make permanent jDrovision for the education of colored girls, and finding three persons filled with zeal to devote themselves to the work, Elizabeth Lange, Frances Balis, and Miss Bogue, formed them into a little community. After long trial, and seeing their perseverance and success, their director requested Archbishop Marechal to permit them to make simple vows. His Grace approved their rule on the 5th of June, 1825, and the community prospered so in union and piety, as well as in the extent of its labors for the good of souls, that the Holj^ See approved the rule October 2d, 1831, endowing them with all the privi- leges and indulgences granted to the Oblates at Rome, founded by St. Frances of Rome. This
' Rev. Mr. Brute's list.
NOMINATION OF BISHOPS. 93
was the origin of the Oblate Sisters of Providence at Baltimore.^
Two sees in the province became vacant ; that of Boston by the departure of Bishop Cheverus of Bos- ton, in October, 1823, and that of New York by the death of Bishop Connolly, February 6, 1825. Arch- bishop Marechal with his suffragans was permitted by the regulations of the Propaganda to propose clergymen to fill the vacancies. The voice of the Metropolitan, and of Bishops Conwell, England, Flaget and Fenwick, recommended for the see of Bos- ton Rev. Benedict J. Fenwick of the Society of Jesus, who had displayed great zeal and ability at New York, Charleston, and as President of Georgetown College ; and for the see of New York the Rev. John Du Bois, who crowned years of mission life by establishing and directing the Seminary and College at Mount St. Mary's, Emmitsburg.
Bishop Fenwick was consecrated on the feast of All Saints, 182o, in the Cathedral at Baltimore, by the Most Rev. Archbishop Marechal, the assistant prelates being Bishop Conwell of Philadelphia and Bishop England of Charleston. The ceremonial was attended by more than thirty priests, and attracted many pub- lic men, -and even clergymen of other denominations.-
The publication of Cobbett's "History of the Protestant Reformation," of which three different edi- tions were issued almost simultaneously in the United
' De Courcy, " Catholic Church," 1856, pp. 114-5. One of the found- res.ses, Sister Mary Elizabeth Lange, reached the age of 95, dying in February, 1882.— Catholic Review, Nov. 3, 1883. Rev. Mr. Joubert was born at St. Jean d'Augely, France, Sept. 6, 1777. and came to Balti- more in Sept. 1804. He was ordained in the Seminary and remained there most of his life.
»U. S. Catholic Miscellany, v., p. 304.
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States, was a blow to Protestant fallacies which was severely felt. To counteract to some extent the in- fluence exerted by Cobbett's work, a book by Blanco White, a Spanish priest who had lost all faith, en- titled " Internal Evidences against Catholicism," was printed in this country and widely circulated, with a recommendation signed by a number of Protestant clergymen of different denominations. It was ably answered by an alumnus of St, Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, and more elaborately by the distinguished Bishop England of Charleston.^
Yellow fever desolated Norfolk and the adjacent parts of Virginia in the summer of 1826 ; flight and death greatly reduced the number of the faithful, but Rev. Mr. Delany labored on heroically. His flock in Norfolk numbered only 118 communicants. Point Comfort had only eight Catholics, Portsmouth so few that only fifteen approached the sacraments in the two places.^
After laying the corner-stone of a church at Alex- andria, June 26, 1826, Archbishop Marechal visited Quebec in the interests of his diocese.
In October, 1826, the Cathedral of Baltimore was once more thronged by the multitudes who came to witness the imposing ceremonial of the consecration of a Bishop. The Rev. John Du Bois, known for mission labors in Virginia, at Frederick and Emmits- burg in Maryland, founder of Mount St. Mary's College, guide and director of Mother Seton and her community of Sisters of Charity, was to be raised to
' " An Address to the flocks of the Reverend Approvers of Blanco "White's Internal Evidences against Catholicism." Baltimore : Lucas, 1826, pp. 48. England's Works.
« Truth Teller, July 8, 1826.
JUBILEE 95
the episcopate as Bishop of New York. On the 29th a procession of seminarians, jDriests and bishops moved from the archiepiscopal residence on Charles Street to the Cathedral. When they had assumed their places in the sanctuary, the Archbishop vested for the holy sacrifice. As assistants he had Bishop Conwell of Philadelphia, and the Very Rev. John Power, Administrator of New York, who took the place of the Right Rev. Bishop of Boston, unable to attend. The sermon of the occasion was delivered by the Rev. William Taylor of New York, but showed in its violent expressions the strong partisan feelings prevailing in regard to the nomination of Bishops in the United States.^
The Jubilee proclaimed in Rome on the feast of the Nativity, 1825, was duly announced in the diocese of Baltimore, and the exercises in the churches during the year 1826 and 1827 were attended with the hap- piest results. This was especially the case in the city of Baltimore, with all the churches, the Cathedral, old St. Peter's, St. John's, St. Patrick's and St. Mary's; exercises were also given in St. Patrick's and St. Peter's, Washington, and Trinity Church, George- town, as well as at Frederick and in the churches in St. Mary's and Prince George's counties. The Jesuits and Sulpitians assisted in preaching and hearing con- fessions, as well as in giving instructions to persons wishing to enter the church.^
Archbishop Carroll soon after being made prefect, and subsequently as Bishop of Baltimore, adopted
' Truth Teller, ii., pp. 350, Nov. 4, 1826. The U. S. Catholic Miscel- lany gives no report, but expresses regret at the non-appointment of V. Rev. Dr. Power. Tessier, " fipoques du Seminaire."
' U. S. Catholic Miscellany, vii , p. 14.
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the little catechism, long used in England, and Avhich had been prepared and carefully scrutinized by able theologians, well versed in their own language. Dr. Carroll simply replaced the prayer for the king by one for the authorities. In this form the catechism was used throughout the United States, wherever the English language was spoken. In the German dis- tricts and churches of Pennsylvania that of Blessed Peter Canisius was employed ; and in the northwest the catechism of Quebec was used by the French- speaking faithful. The pious Bishop of Bardstown, Rt. Rev. Benedict J. Flaget, was the first to break the uniformity by introducing a new catechism. Its English was criticised b}^ Archbishop Marechal, Rev. Mr. Tessier, and others ; but the example he set was followed by Bishop England and by Bishop Conwell. The new Philadelphia catechism Avas so inexact in language and doctrinal expression, that at the request of the Archbishop, Bishop Conwell suppressed it. Bishop England's was generally regarded as inferior to that of Dr. Carroll.
Fearing that a multiplicity of discordant or mis- leading catechisms might be introduced, Archbishop Marechal called the attention of the authorities in Rome to the subject.^
On the death of the Rev. J. Picot de Cloriviere,^ who
' xirchbishop Marechal to Cardinal Cappellari, Oct. 1. 1827.
' Joseph Peter Picot de Limoelan de Cloriviere was born at Brons, Brit- tany, Nov. 4, 1768, and was an officer in the army when the Revolution began. He adhered to the King, fought bravely in La Vendee, and was a major-general under Cadoudal. Resolving to renounce the world, he came to America and entering St. Mary's Seminary was ordained in 1812. His long and painful service at Charleston under constant persecution has been already told. Of the Visitation Convent at Georgetown he was the guide, director and benefactor.
VISITATION NUNS. 97
was stricken down with paralysis just after offering the holy sacrifice, and who expired on the 29th of September, 1826, the Rev. Michael F. Wheeler be- came the director and friend of the Visitation Nuns. By his zeal, the Odeon, a fine additional building, was erected. Being compelled to visit Europe for his health, he strove in every way to advance tlie inter- ests of that community. He obtained of his Holiness Pox^e Pius VIII. a confirmation of the Brief of his predecessor, and some modifications of the rule which experience had shown to be necessary. In order to give the Sisters in America the genuine spirit of the Visitation communities he went to Annecy and ap- pealed to Mother Magdalen Chanchy to send some Visitation-nuns to America for a few years. In re- sponse to the circular three, Sister Mary Agatha Langlois of Nantes, Sister Marj^ Regis Mordant of Valence, and Sister Magdalen Augustine of Friburg, came over in 1829. They found that their American Sisters had closely followed the rules and customs of the houses in Europe, and were edified by the spirit that pervaded the monastery. Sister Agatha as mis- tress of novices trained the aspirants in the true si)irit, and the stay of these generous ladies proved most beneficial. The Academy at this time was in a flour- ishing condition, having one hundred pupils, and the free school founded by Rev. Mr. Cloriviere contained 150.1
During the year 1827 Archbishop Marechal con- tinued his active supervision of his diocese, visiting the Seminary and College at Emmitsburg, the Con- vent at Georgetown, confirming and ordaining, but
> History of the Establishment of the Order of the Visitation in the United States.
98 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
an attack of asthma increased and his health was evidently failing.^ Before long he became unable to officiate pontifically, though he continued to confer the sacrament of Confirmation and Holy Or- ders. He accordingly resolved to solicit the appoint- ment of a Coadjutor, naming Rev. James Whitfield, whom he had already recommended. Yet an ad- ditional burthen was imposed upon him, when the Sovereign Pontiff on the 5th of August appointed the Most Rev. Ambrose Marechal, Administrator of the diocese of Philadelphia. But his career was near its close.
On the 12tli of December he received the holy viati- cum in the presence of his clergy, and from that day his health sank rapidly. On the 8th of January the Rev. James Whitfield was elected Bishop of Apol- lonia, and Coadjutor to the Archbishop of Baltimore, but the bulls did not arrive in the lifetime of Dr. Marechal. After being fortified with all the sacra- ments of the dying, he expired without agonj^ or struggle near midnight on the 29th of January, 1828.^
A well-trained theologian, versed in philosophy, mathematics, history and general literature, he came from scholarly retirement to his position to display the greatest activity, earnestness, and energy. His whole life was bound up in his diocese and his duties, and if he did not accomplish all he proposed, it was never due to indifference in the discharge of his
' Archbishop Marechal in a letter to Cardinal Cappellari, Oct. 1, 1827, proposed Rev. Mr. Whitfield as qualified by his theological learning, his sound judgment and eloquence and ten years' service in the diocese. The diocese of Baltimore in 1827 contained 62 priests, 25 Americans, 12 Irish, 11 French, 5 Belgians, 2 Germans, 2 Italians, 1 Pole, 1 Mexican, 1 Bava- rian, 1 English.
« U. S. Cath. Miscellany, June 9, Sept. 15, Oct. 6, 13, 1827.
DEATH OF ARCHBISHOP MARECHAL. 99
functions, but to circumstances that prevented Ms forming an accurate judgment.^
The attendance at his funeral rites showed how highly he was esteemed. The venerable Charles Carroll of CarroUton followed the clergy as chief mourner, and then came a long line of societies and confraternities. After the solemn mass of requiem and the burial service prescribed for archbishops, he was laid in the vault where he had de^^osited the remains of Archbishop Carroll.^
' Tessier, " fipoques du Seminairc "; Truth Teller, v., 399; Baltimore American, cited in full in U. S. Catholic Miscellany, Feb. 9, 1828.
2 Id., Feb. 16, 1828 ; Truth Teller, iv.. p. 43.
CHAPTER Y. DIOCESES OF BALTIMORE AND RICHMOND.
MOST KEV. JAMES WHITFIELD, D.D., FOURTH ARCHBISHOP OF BALTIMORE.
By the unexpected demise of Archbishop Marechal, the Rev, James Whitfield of St. Sulpice, who had been apjDointed Bishop of Apollonia and Coadjutor with tlie right of succession, became by special bull Archbishop elect of Baltimore. He was a native of Liverpool, England, born November 3, 1770. While traveling on the continent with his widowed mother, he was detained in France virtually a prisoner, in con- sequence of one of Napoleon's arbitrary decrees. At Lyons he became acquainted with Rev. Ambrose Marechal, then professor of theology in the Seminary, and a warm friendship was formed. Renouncing mercantile life, in which he had been engaged, young Whitfield resolved to devote himself to the service of the altar. After a thorough course of study he was ordained in 1809, Bishop William Gibson, vicar apostolic of the Northern District in England, author- izing his promotion to holy orders.^ On his mother's death he returned to England in 1811, and was stationed by Bishop Gibson at Netherton, Great Crosby, where a church had existed from 1793. Here he labored zealously till Dr. Marechal, who had be- come Archbishop of Baltimore, urged him to come to America. He arrived at Baltimore on the 8th of Sep-
' Authorization, Durham, April 29, 1809.
100
MOST REV. JAMES WHITFIEI-D, D.D., FOURTH ARCHBISHOP OF BALTIMORE.
102
CONSECRATION. 103
tember, 1817, and was appointed one of the clergy of the Cathedral. Here he won universal esteem, and on the 24th of March, 1828, the bulls of the Sovereign Pontiff appointing him Coadjutor to Archbishop Marechal, or successor in case of death, reached Bal- timore.
The ceremony of his consecration as Archbishop of Baltimore, on the feast of Pentecost, May 25, was solemn and imposing. Bishop Flaget of Bardstown, the venerable dean of the hierarchy, was the conse- crator, assisted by Rt. Rev. Henry Conwell, Bishop of Philadelphia, and Rt. Rev, John Du Bois, Bishop of New York. A number of seminarians and twenty-two clergymen, among them Rev, Francis Neale, S. J., the
SIGNATURE OF ARCHBISHOP WHITFIELD.
oldest priest in the United States, preceded the Arch- bishop elect and the consecrating prelates. The solemn rite was carried out in strict conformity to the Roman Ritual, and the sermon was delivered by Rev. Samuel Eccleston, then Vice-President of St. Mary's College.^
The Archbishop-elect, specially authorized to per- form all his functions before receiving the pallium, entered at once on the discharge of his duties. His administration opened with a happy omen in the action of Congress, which soon after incorporated the Visitation Convent, Georgetown, and the Sisters of Charity in the District of Columbia. His first con- firmation was in the Cathedral on the day after his
' Tessier, " :6poques du Seminaire "; U. S. Catholic Miscellany, vii., p. 382, June 7, 1828.
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consecration, followed up by the conferring of the sacrament in other city churches ; and, after the sum- mer heats, he began his first visitation in September. He took his route through Frederick, Liberty, where Father McElroy had nearly completed a new church, Carroll's Manor; on the 5th of October he dedicated the newly erected church at Hagerstown, a large, ele- gant structure. Crossing the Potomac, he visited Martinsburg, and Richmond which he had already supplied with a new missionary, Rev. Mr. Hoerner, the former pastor having returned to Ireland. About the same time he laid the corner-stone of a new Orphan Asylum in Baltimore, and saw a new free school, capa- ble of holding three hundred jDupils, oj^ened in that city, on land j^urchased for the purpose.^
The country was at the time excited over a Presi- dential election. The friends of John Quincy Adams, by putting some Catholics on the local tickets, en- deavored to win the adherents of the Church in Mary- land to his sui)port ; but the bitter and violent denun- ciations of the Catholic Church, its clergy, religious, and laity, which p'ullulated in almost everything written by Mr. Adams, called forth "An Address to the Catholic Voters of Baltimore," signed by William Jenkins, William George Read, T. Parkin Scott, and others.^ The scheme failed, and the anti-Catholic bias of Mr. Adams was one of the elements which contributed to his defeat.
The holding of a Provincial Council in the United States had been an object of solicitude from the days of Archbishop Carroll, who long entertained the hojDe
1 U. S. Catholic Miscellany, Sept, 20, Nov. 15, 1828. Jaa. 3, 1829; Truth Teller, iv., p. 343.
■' Baltimore : Lucas & Deaver, 1828.
CONDITION OF DIOCESE. 105
of holding one. Soon after his arrival in the United States, Bishop England urged Archbishop Marechal to take the necessary steps for convening such an assem- bly. There were difficulties at first, but as these were removed, the Archbishop proposed the matter to the Sovereign Pontiff. Pius VII., and his successor, Leo XII., approved the project. Archbishop Marechal accordingly drew up a scheme of the work to be accom- plished, but died before he could perfect it. Arch- bishop Whitfield submitted this plan to Pope Pius VIII. , who gave it his full approval.^ AVhen the neces- sary authorization arrived, letters were issued con- voking the first Provincial Council of Baltimore, to be held on the first day of October, 1829. Not only were the suffragans of Baltimore invited, but also the other Bishops in the United States, Bishop Rosati of St. Louis, Administrator of the diocese of New Orleans, and Bishop Portier from Mobile, representing the ancient diocese of Louisiana and the Floridas.
When the first Council of Baltimore convened, Arch- bishop Whitfield had, in Maryland, sixty to eighty thousand Catholics out of a general population of 407,000 ; and six or seven thousand Catholics in the District of Columbia, where the whole population was estimated at 33,000. There were 52 priests in the dio- cese to minister to them. Baltimore had its Cathe- dral, with St. Peter's, St. John's, St. Patrick's, and St. Mary's churches, and a chapel of the Sisters of Charity. There were three churches in Washington, and a church in Georgetown, Alexandria, Frederick- town, Taney town, Emmitsburg, and Hagerstown, wdth resident pastors, who attended smaller churches and chapels, and several in St. Mary's and the neighboring
' Artaud, Histoire du Pape Pie VIII. Brussels, 1844, p. 116.
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counties, attended by Jesuit Fathers from their resi- dences ; churches in Harford and Talbot counties. The Jesuits had their line college at Georgetown, Father J. W. Beschter being President, with an in- creasing number of pupils, and a scholasticate, where the young members of the Society made their ecclesi- astical studies ; St. Mary's College, Baltimore, and the theological seminary conducted by the priests of St. Sulpice ; Mount St. Mary's College and Seminary at Emmitsburg ; there were also fervent convents of Visitation and Carmelite nuns, and the Motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity at Emmitsburg, with Sisters laboring in Baltimore and Washington, their commu- nity numbering in all 120.
The diocese of Richmond, of which he was Admin- istrator, was far less prosperous. Richmond had a wretched wooden church, with a petty congregation, too poor to erect a better edifice ; Norfolk was more prosperous ; it had a decent church, with two priests, who attended also the Catholics of Portsmouth, The Catholic population of the two cities was estimated at six hundred. Martinsburg and Wheeling were also stations regularly visited : but there were no Catholic institutions of any kind in the State.^
We shall now trace the history of the suffragan dioceses, and show their condition at this time.
' Archbishop Whitfield. June 27, 1829, Jan. 28, 1830, " Annales de la Propagation de la Foi," iv., pp. 233-246.
CHAPTER VI.
DIOCESE OF BOSTON.
RT. REV. JOHN CHEVERUS, FIRST BISHOP OF BOSTON, 1810-1823.
Yielding to the rex)eated petitions of Bishop Car- roll, the Sovereign Pontiff, Pope Pius VII., on the 8th of April, 1808, by liis Bull "Ex debito Pastoralis Officii," divided the diocese of Baltimore, which had embraced all the United States territory east of the Mississippi. At the same time he erected the diocese of Boston, embracing all the New England States, and elected as Bishop of the new See, the Rev. John Lefe- bvre Cheverus, who had for twelve years been a zeal- ous missionary in that portion of the country.
Born at Mayenne, the capital of Lower Maine, France, January 28, 1768. Trained by a pious mother, he chose the ecclesiastical state, and made a thorough course of study at the College of Mayenne, and that of Louis-le-Grand at Paris. He then by public competition obtained entrance to the Seminary of St. Magloire. The Bishop of Mans, in view of the increasing difficulties Avliich menaced religion in France, obtained a dispensation, and Rev. Mr. Cheve- rus was ordained priest at the last public ordination in Paris, December 18, 1790. He immediately began the exercise of the ministry as curate at Mayenne, honored by his Bishop with the title of canon. But on refusing to take schismatical oaths he was the next year driven from his church, and could officiate only in his father's house. On his appointment as parish priest and vicar general in 1791, he was compelled to leave Mayenne. After constant surveillance and occasional imprisonment, he resolved to leave France.
107
108 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
He was in Paris, and actually passing the old Carmel- ite Convent, when so many noble priests were butch- ered there. Reaching England in September, 1792, he began to learn English, and exercise the ministry, till his friend. Rev. Dr. Matignon, in 1795, urged him to come to Boston. Yielding to the invitation, he landed in that city, October 3, 1796.
Catholicity was a plant of recent growth in New England. The first priest was empowered only in 1788 to officiate in Boston, and gather the few Catho- lics there into a congregation. The first Baptismal Register was opened by the Abbe de la Poterie, April 11, 1789. There was little, however, done by that priest or Rev. Louis Rousselot. The next year we see Rev. John Thayer attending the Catholic poor in the Almshouse ; in 1791, exercising the ministry from Salem at the north to Newport in the south. The zealous Dr. Matignon visited far and wide ; at Ports- mouth he called back to the faith negligent Catho- lics settled there ; Newburyport, Dedham, Wrentham w^ere also visited. When Rev. Mr. Cheverus was received into the diocese by Bishop Carroll he has- tened to the Indians in Maine, who earnestly solic- ited a priest, and we trace his ministry in 1797-8 not only at the Indian town of Pleasant Point, but at Portsmouth and Bedford, New Hampshire ; at New- buryport, Salem, Plymouth, Scituate, and Carver, Massachusetts, while Rev. John Thayer reappears in 1798, officiating at Newj^ort. Maine was traversed by Cheverus, who said mass and administered the sacra- ments at the Indian towns, at Maduncook and Copse- cook, Nobleborough, Bristol, Portland, and at towns in New Hampshire.^
' Parish Registers, Boston Cathedral.
CONSECRATION. 109
Learned, zealous, prudent Bishop Cheverus was already endeared to the Catholics over whom he was to rule, and by his amiable and gentle qualities, as well as by his devotion to his priestly duties, he had conquered the esteem and respect of the Protestant community amid which he had labored. Owing to the troubles which environed the Holy See, and the difficulty of communication, the bulls erecting the See of Boston did not reach Baltimore for more than two years, two sets having miscarried/
Bishop Cheverus was consecrated by Archbishop Carroll, assisted by Rt. Rev. Leonard Neale, Bishoj) of Gortyma, and Rt. Rev. Michael Egan, O. S. F., Bishop of Philadelphia, as assistants. The ceremony took place in St. Peters pro-cathedral, Baltimore, on the feast of All Saints, 1810, the sermon on the oc- casion being delivered by the Rev. Father William Vincent Harold, O. S. D.^
A few days after, the Bishop of Boston preached at the consecration of Rt. Rev. Benedict J. Flaget, Bishop of Bardstown. Then, after joining with his Metropol- itan and fellow suffragan bishops in drawing rules of discipline, required by the condition of their flocks, and issuing a pastoral letter in the name of all, Bishop Cheverus returned to the scene of his future labors.
When the diocese of Boston was created, and the Rev. John Cheverus made its first Bishop, it embraced JS'ew Hampshire and Vermont, Massachusetts then
' Pius VII., " Ex debito Pastoralis Officii," April 8, 1808. Bullarium Romanum, xiii., p. 282 ; Bullarium de Propaganda Fide, iv., p. 339.
' Harold, " Sermon preached in the Cathedral Church of St. Peter, Baltimore, November 1, 1810, on occasion of the consecration of the Ht. Rev. Dr. John Cheverus, Bishop of Boston," Baltimore, 1810. See Rt. Rev. John Cheverus to Thomas Walley, Sept. 24, 1810, inFinotti, Biblio- graphia Catholica, p. 40.
110 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
including the District of Maine, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. Vast as the territory was, and zealously as Rev. Messrs. Thayer, Matignon, and Cheverus had labored to meet the wants of the faithful, the poverty of priests and scattered Catholics was such that little material progress appeared. In the whole diocese there were but three churches, that of Holy Cross, Boston, which Bishop Cheverus made his Cathedral, and which he attended with Dr. Matignon ; St. Patrick's at Newcastle, Maine, "the work of Irish piety," which he had dedicated July 17, 1808 ; and a log chapel at the Indian village of Pleasant Point, attended by the Rev. James Romagne, missionary of the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy Indians, who made his winter quarters at the church in Newcastle. The Catholics scattered throughout the diocese de- pended entirely on the occasional visits of the Bishop and Dr. Matignon, with the assistance at times of Rev. Mr. Romagne. The Catholics of Boston at this time were reckoned at 720 souls, there being, in 1810, 93 baptisms, 17 marriages, and 18 deaths.
Not long before he set out for Baltimore, Dr. Cheverus had the consolation of receiving into the church, Stephen Cleveland Blythe and his family, the convert finding in the bosom of the Catholic Church the peace which he had vainly sought in the Congre- gationalism implanted in him in childhood, or in other sects to which he turned for light and strength. Dr. Blythe at this time resided in Charlestown in order to be near a Catholic place of worship. He made his first communion with his family in the Church of the Holy Cross, Boston, on the feast of Pentecost, 1809.^
' Blythe, " An Apology for the Conversion of Stephen Cleveland Blythe," etc., New York, 1815, p. 19.
CHURCH IN MAINE. HI
The Catholic body in New England hailed with delight their beloved priest returning with the episco- pal dignity conferred upon him. Bishop Cheverus celebrated pontitically in his Cathedral the great feast of Christmas, once so odious to the people of New England, and in spring that of Easter. He then began to visit the scattered congregations. In May he confirmed eight at Salem and Newburyport, and on Whitsunday 178 in the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, whom he had carefully instructed. Then he proceeded to the district of Maine, and spent two months ministering to the flock who attended St. Patrick's Church, Newcastle. Then he resumed his labors among the Indians at Pleasant Point, Avho received their old missionary with great enthusiasm. Here he confirmed 122, and the next week conferred the same sacrament on 37 at Newcastle.
On his return to Boston he felt elated one Sunday to see his sanctuary filled with priests ; there being present four Capuchins driven from Spanish America by the revolutions, and also aTrappist, Father Eugene, the wandering community of Cistercians appearing in his city the next year in the persons of three priests who arrived from Bordeaux.^
Soon after his return from Baltimore, Bishop Cheve- rus completed and issued an edition of the New Testament in French, which he had carefully revised. It was based on that of Le Maistre de Sacy, and ap- peared in two neat volumes. It was an event in typo- graphical no less than Catholic annals that such an edition should have been issued by a body as poor
' Rev. James Romagne to Archbishop Carroll, Oct. 8, 1811, Bishop Cheverus to same, Oct. 3, 1811 ; "Relation de ce qui est arrive a deux Religieuse de la Trappe," Paris, 1824, p. 6 ; Parish Register, Boston.
112 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
in numbers and in wealth as the Catholics of New England. Bibles and Testaments had already been Xninted in English for the use of the faithful, and the Epistles and Gospels in French and English soon appeared at Detroit. He also x)repared and issued a l^rayer book entitled "The Roman Catholic Manual ; or Collection of Prayers, Anthems, Hymns, etc.," Bos- ton, 1811, after endeavoring in vain to induce the Sul- pitians to draw up a suitable book.^
In 1812 we trace the Bishop in his episcopal and missionary character at Damariscotta and Portland in Maine ; at Portsmouth, New Hampshire ; at Salem, Massachusetts ; at Bristol, Rhode Island, and the next year at Providence, and before long at Pawtucket.
He was constantly on laborious missionary excur- sions of greater or less length, much of the parochial work at Boston necessarily devolving on Rev. Dr. Matignon. After these necessary visitations, Bishop Cheverus resumed his life in his contracted domicile in Boston. A single apartment was his sleeping and reception room, or, as he called it pleasantly, his "episcopal palace, open to all the world." His bed- stead and a few plain chairs constituted the furniture, the former serving as a seat when visitors were many. His dress and his table were equally plain ; with no attendant, he split his own firewood. Yet he was assiduous in the confessional, in catechizing, and in visiting the sick. To these he was not merely a priest, but a kind and sympathetic friend. By day or by night he would go miles to give consolation to the afflicted, secret aid to the suffering poor, concord to families rent by dissension. Milbert the traveler,
' Finotti, " Bibliographia Catholica Americana," pp. 39-43, 191. O'Callaghan, " List of Editions of the Holy Scriptures," Albany, 1861, p. 102.
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CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
alth as the Catholics of ISew ' lid Testamt'iits had already boeii ■-'r ihe us(:; of the faithful, and the in French and English soon ;. He also prepared and issued a ' d "The K.oman Cathoiic Manual ; yers, Anthems, Hymns, etc.," Bos i-avoring in vain to induce the SuJ- .j^ a suitable book.* race the Bishop in his episcopal and racter at Damarisr id Portland
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and before long at jpawii. ' ou laborious missionai\ • v *.- ler.prth, much of the parochial [evolving on Rev. Dr. ary visitations, Bishop iiis contracted domicile inent was his sleeping and , as lie called it pleasai ' open to all the world" . plain eclairs constituted t\ \ ing as a seat when ins table were equ;:. ^plit liis own firewoc e cc/ufessional, in ' >«Md iii
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RIGHT REV JOHN CHEVERUS,
BISHOP OF BOSTON.
HIS CHARITY. 113
struck down by yellow fever, found Bishop Cheverus ministering to him with all the affection of a brother.^ A sailor leaving port commended his wife to the Bish- op's charity. Sickness and want came. Dr. Cheve- rus attended her constantly, and the sailor return- ing met the Bishop carrying wood upstairs to light a lire in order to j)repare remedies she required. Find- ing a sick negro deserted in a wretched shed, the Bishop attended him constantly till his servant fol- lowed him and discovered his secret. He once sent some wood to a i^oor sick woman, but on visiting her again a day or two afterward, beheld the wood lying untouched on the street. Surprised at this neglect on the part of her neighbors, he went for his buck and saw, then set to work on it. A man, attracted by the noise, came out, and seeing the Bishop wished to do the work himself. "No!" said the Bishop, "I never permit any one to interfere in my work. This wood has been here some time, and, as no one put a hand to it, I set to work lest it should be said that there Avas not one Catholic in our flock to do a good turn for a suffering Avoman."^
The faith spread slowly in New England. Catho- lics, venturing to attempt to make homes there, gener- ally found themselves surrounded by a hostile com- munity, which regarded them with an evil eye. Few accordingly Avere able to settle down and secure per- manent homes. This condition of affairs rendered it extremely difficult to build up congregations. But in 1813 we see some signs of progress. Bishop Cheverus said mass for the first time in New Haven at a house
' Milbert, " Itineraire Pittoresque du Fleuve d'Hudson," Paris, pp. xiv-xvi.
*[Hamon], " Viedu Cardinal de Clieverus," Paris, 1858, pp. 107-112.
114 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
on York Street, the residence of a teacher of French at Yale College/ About the same time the Rev. Mr. Matignon said mass in Providence, R. I., in a small wooden building, once used for a school, that stood on the north side of Sheldon Street; but this primitive home of Catholic worship was swept away in the great gale of 1815.2 In 1813, too, we hear that Rev. Dr. Matignon, being detained in Hartford on Sundaj^, travel being forbidden, preached in the Centre Church at the invitation of the minister, Rev. Dr. Strong.^
The " Te Deums " that resounded throughout the world in 1814, on the deliverance of the Sovereign Pon- tiff, were an omen of better times. In July, Bishop Cheverus could write of the reception into the church of Mr. Thomas Walley of Brookline. He was a man of extensive reading and very acute judgment; his wife an amiable and pious Catholic lady from Martinique, Avho brought up her children in the faith. Bislioj) Cheverus had thus become acquainted with Mr. Wal- ley, and esteemed him ; meanwhile his own study and prayer led him to a decision, and soon after his eldest daughter made her first communion at Easter, 1814, Mr. Walley embraced the faith, in time to join in the Te Deum chanted by the Bishop in his Cathe- dral, on the 5th of June.*
In the summer of the year 1815 Bishop Plessis, who was making a visitation in New Brunswick, and who was then to visit Boston and New York, was requested
' Rooney, "The Connecticut Catholic Year Book," Hartford, 1877, p. 70.
■^ Fitton, "Sketches of the Estahlishment of the Church in Kew England," Boston, 1872, p. 221.
* " Centennial Celebration of the first Mass in Connecticut," Hartford, 1881, p. 7.
* Bishop Cheverus to Archbishop Carroll, July 13, 1814.
MAINE. 115
by Bishop Clieverus to visit Pleasant Point, which he did on the 29th of August. He found only motive for praise in the mission managed by Rev. Mr. Romagne. With his companions, two Canadian priests, the Bishop of Quebec then embarked for Boston. He found the Bishop and Mr. Matignon in a comfortable two-story house, with a garden, near the Cathedral. He remarks in his journal, " These two worthy ecclesi- astics by their virtue, their talents, their hospitality, and their politeness have overcome the prejudices of Protestants, and have attracted many to their con- gregation, which is, on the whole, very edifying, and these new converts persevere fervently."
Bishop Cheverus, failing to retain his brother of Quebec for the next Sunday, took him to visit the Walley family at Brookline, and Bishop Plessis men- tions the beautiful private chapel in the house, where mass was occasionally offered for the family and the neighboring Catholics. Here he met Rev. Mr. Bro- sius, who lived near Harvard College in a house where he had five or six boys as boarding scholars.
On his way to Canada, after visiting New York, he was accompanied by Rev. Mr. Matignon. At Burling- ton they found a number of Catholics, chiefly Cana- dians, enough to form a congregation of one hundred communicants. They besought the Bishop to send them, from time to time, a Canadian priest; he ex- plained to them that as Burlington was in the diocese of Boston he had no power to do so, but recommended them to Rev. Mr. Matignon, who promised to visit them on his return. Some weeks later, on his way to Boston, that clergyman gave them a mission, with great fruit. ^
' Relation d'un voyage auxEtats-Unis, par Mgr. Joseph Octave Plessis, Ev6que do Quebec, en 1815. I am indebted for this to the Abbe Sasseville.
116 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
The widowed church of New York, in 1815 appealed to the charity of Bishop Cheverus, and he proceeded in May to that city, where he dedicated the new cathedral and conferred confirmation.^ Before the close of the year came the melancholy tidings of the death of the i^atriarch of the Church in America. Bishop Cheverus at once offered the holy sacrifice for the repose of his soul, and the priests then in Boston, Rev. Dr. Matignon, the learned Brosius, and the devoted Romagne, were equally mindful of the lamented Archbishop. The Bishop, from the pulpit, proj30sed the venerable prelate, whose loss all de- plored, as a pattern for his fiock and himself. Amid these mournful ceremonies he was summoned to New York to take part in the installation of Bishop Con- nolly.^ He was soon afterwards called away again from his diocese to bear the j)allium to Archbishop Neale, conferring it on him at Georgetown. During the summer of 1816 he made a two months' mission among the Catholics in Maine. ^ On the 4th of August he baptized, confirmed, and administered holy com- munion to Samuel Bishop, a lawyer, aged 46, in St. Patrick's Church, Newcastle. Many Protestants, including several members of the bar, attended the services.* In this year the Rev. F. - X. Brosius, a learned and amiable priest, who had come to the United States with Prince Gallitzin in 1791, returned to Europe. He had done missionary service in Balti- more and in Pennsylvania, where for a time he con- ducted an academy, but his health failed and he
' Bishop Cheverus to Archbishop Carroll, May 9, May 11, 1815. * Same to Archbishop Neale, Dec. 11, 1815. 3 Same to same, Oct. 3, Nov. 5, 1816. ■• Same to Rev. S. G. Brute, Oct. 9, 1816.
THE URSULINES. 117
returned to Boston in 1814, where he remained some years. He was a learned mathematician, as his pub- lished writings attest. Though he did not join the diocese of Boston he rendered occasional service to Bishop Cheverus, who esteemed him highly,^
On the last day of Maj^, 1817, Bishop Cheverus ordained Rev. Dennis Ryan, the first priest of his diocese, and long a laborious missioner. The ordina- tion took place at public mass, the Bishop giving a full exj^lanation of the Catholic doctrine of Holy Orders.'^
During the year, Rev. Mr. Matignon escorted to Three Rivers the two young ladies of the Ryan family from Limerick, who came to found the Ursuline Con- vent projected by Rev. Mr. Thayer. There they entered the novitiate, to form themselves to the life established by Saint Angela de Merici.^
In September Bishoj) Cheverus set out for the Dis- trict of Maine to afford the consolations of religion to the Catholics in that remote part of the diocese. He offered the holy sacrifice every other Sunday in the church at Newcastle : and spent the interval at dif- ferent points in the surrounding country. He cele- brated mass on the 28tli of September at Hope, and
' Rev. Mr. Brosius published, " Reply of a Roman Catholic Priest," Lancaster, 1796 ; an edition of Cavallo's Natural Philosophy with Notes, Philadelphia, 1813 ; "A new and concise Method of finding the Lati- tude," Cambridge, 1815. See Finotti, Bibliotheca Catholica, New York, 1872 pp.54, 64. 295 : Bishop Cheverus to Rev. S. G. Brute, Oct. 9, 1816 : Bishop Fenwick, " Memoirs to serve for the future Ecclesiastical His- tory of the Diocese of Boston."
« Bishop Cheverus to Rev. S. G. Brute. March 24, 1817. Same to Archbishop Marechal, April 15, 18, 1817 ; Register of Boston Cathedral, Nov. 5, 1815, May 31, 1817 ; Bishop Fenwick, " Memoirs to serve," etc.
* Bishop Cheverus to Archbishop Marechal. June 25. 1817.
118 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
the next day in a x^i'ivate house, preaching in a shed to fifty Catholics and more than two hundred Protestants.
Later in the year, he set out for Baltimore by way of Providence, New York, and Philadelphia, joined at the last city by Bishop Connolly "of New York. On the 14th of December, 1817, he consecrated Archbishop Marechal in the Cathedral at Baltimore, assisted by the Bishop of New York. To Bishop Cheverus the city was full of pious associations, the memory of his own consecration, the venerable father of the American hierarchy, the cradle of the Sisters of Charity.^ He returned by way of Providence and Bristol, where he officiated for the Catholics. He had already, in May, visited the Catholics emjjloyed in the coal mines at Bristol. During his stay a child was brought to him to be baptized, but when the father wished the name Napoleon given his son, the stanch adherent of the Bourbons demurred. The child was finally christ- ened Nicholas. It is worth noting that Bishop Cheve- rus mentions as among those present at the ceremony, the Protestant Bishop Griswold.^
The next year (1818) he dispatched to the missions in Maine the Rev. Dennis Ryan, who, to the joy of the Catholics in that district, became their permanent pastor. At Boston he had obtained the assistance of a somewhat rough but earnest worker in the person of the Irish Augustinian, Father Philip Lariscy. His testimonials were correct and favorable. He came from the British provinces, having labored three years at St. John's, Newfoundland, and nearly a year at Halifax. Restless in disposition, he appears on the
' Bishop Cheverus to Archbishop Marechal, 39 Sept., 3, 31 Dec, 1817. 2 Same to same, May, 1817.
THE BARBER FAMILY. 119
mission annals in other parts of tlie country. At this time he was a man of thirty-four, strong and robust, and his ways were as strange to the gentle Cheverus as the Irish language in which he thundered, at the first mass on Sundays, at his countrymen, many of whom he brought back to the sacraments after years of neglect.^
Salem, once the rival of Boston in trade, had gath- ered a few Catholics whom Rev. John Thayer visited in his turn, and whom Bishop Cheverus carefully attended. Mass was celebrated every month at the house, of Mr. Connolly, on Herbert Street. There were about twenty-five Catholic families when Mr. Newport, returning from an English prison at Dart- mouth, began, in 1815, to collect from house to house to obtain means to erect a church. The humble house of God was reared in 1817, but remained for years unfinished interiorly.^
The conversion of the Barber family and the subse- quent devotion of all its members to the service of God at this time, attracted great attention. Rev. Daniel Barber, a native of Simsbnry, Connecticut, served as a soldier in the State line during the Revo- lution, but when i)eace came he revolted, as his father had done before him, against the tyranny of the Congregational Church, or " Standing Order," as it was commonly termed. Seeing one of that denomina- tion utterly discomfited in argument by an Episco- palian, he sought refuge in the church of the victorious disputant. There he resolved to devote himself to the ministry, and after a course of study entered upon his
' Bishop Cheverus to Archbishop Marechal, June 25, 1818.
■^ Fitton, " Sketches of the Establishment of the Church in New England," p. 156.
120 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
duties. In time, a Catliolic book tliat fell into liis hands awakened some doubts in his mind as to the soundness of his j^osition. He called, about 1812, on Bishop Cheverus, to whom he proposed some of his doubts, but whom he plied with questions as to points of Catholic doctrine and discipline which seemed diffi- cult to accept. Books lent by Dr. Cheverus were read by him and his family, and even by some of his flock. Toward the close of 1818 he was in a most undecided position, when his son Virgil Horace, who had also become an Episcopal clergyman, and who directed an Academy about fifteen miles ffom Utica, in New York State, called on him, accompanied by Rev. Charles D. Ffrench, a priest of the order of St. Dominic, and a convert to the faith. To his surprise he found that his son, harassed like himself by doubts, had sought the Rev. Benedict J. Fenwick at New York, in 1816, and, renouncing all Avorldly prospects, had been re- ceived by him into the Catholic Church. His wife followed his example. Mr. Barber opened an Academy in New York, which prospered ; but before long he and his wife resolved, like Lord and Lady Warner in England, to devote themselves to the service of God : he entered the Society of Jesus and she the Monastery of the Visitation at Georgetown. Virgil H. Barber had made his novitiate at Rome, and had now returned to enter on his theological studies. Father Ffrench said mass in the house of the Episcopal clergyman, who thereupon resigned his church, at Claremont, N. H., and prepared to yield obedience to the great grace bestowed upon him. In a parting address to the congregation he manifested the motives for his long considered act. Father Ffrench passed a week at Claremont, saying mass in the "New Brick Church," and preaching. Mrs. Barber and her daughter, Mrs.
DEATH OF REV. DR. MATIGNON. 121
Tyler, a sister of Mr. Barber, and her eldest daughter openly professed the faith and were received into the Church.^ In the providence of God his son was to return after a few years to establish a Catholic church in Claremont, and gather souls into the true fold.
Before the close of the year 1818 the Bishop and diocese of Boston sustained an almost irremediable loss in the death of the Rev. Francis A. Matignon, who expired on the 19th of December. The earliest priests had done little in Boston, Rev. Mr. Thayer had been independently aggressive, the real j)rogress of the faith began with the arrival of Dr. Matignon. Till then "nothing of consequence had been effected •toward gathering and directing a flock." "With meekness and humility he disarmed the proud ; Avith prudence, learning, and wisdom he met the cajjtious and slanderous, and so gentle and so just Avas his course, that even the censorious forgot to watch him, and the malicious were too cunning to attack one armed so strong in honesty. For four years he sus- tained the weight of this charge alone, until Provi- dence sent him a coadjutor in the person" of Rev. Mr. Cheverus. For more than twentj^ years they labored in unison. Rev. Francis A. Matignon was born in Paris, November 10, 1753, and after taking his degree in theology was ordained September 19, 1773. He was for several years regius professor of divinity in the College of Navarre, but Avhen the French revolutionary per- secution of the Church demolished the temple and sent so many of the devoted clergy to the scaffold, he
'Bishop Fenwick, "Memoirs to serve for the future Ecclesiastical History of the Diocese of Boston." D. Barber, " History of my own Times," Washington, 1827, part ii., pp. 15. 19. Bishop De Goesbriand, " Catholic Memoirs of Vermont and New Hampshire," Burlington, 1886, pp. 24-127.
122 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
withdrew to England ; then having resolved to labor in America he arrived in Boston, August 20, 1792, to labor there to the end of his days.
His death was a severe blow to Bishop Cheverus. " I must be resigned to my loss, for I am confident that it is the happiness of my worthy friend. He died as he
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had lived, a saint. He slept sweetly in the Lord, with- out a struggle and without agony, at ten o'clock on the morning of December 19. I had given him Holy Com- munion at half -past five, as he had received twice a week fasting, after he was unable to celebrate holy mass. He did not seem to be worse, but at eight o' clock
REV. J. ROMAGNE. 123
lie suddenly changed. I administered extreme unc- tion ; he soon lost his speech, his dear cold hand still pressed mine. He pressed his crucifix to his lips. At half -past nine he seemed almost asleep in my arms, and ceased to breathe at ten. From that moment I have been totadie moerens et non habens requiem."
His body was exposed in the church till Monday, when he was carried to the grave, followed by the Bishop in pontificals and fully a thousand people, many wearing crape, the stores on the route of the procession being generally closed. His eulogy was pronounced from Protestant pulpits and in the press, the most touching article being from the pen of S. L. Kna]3p.^
The diocese soon sustained another loss. Rev. Mr. Romagne, leading the life of a hermit in poverty and privation among the Penobscots, had at last found that his health was failing. He had repeatedly an- nounced his intention of returning to France, but had yielded to the entreaties of Bishop Cheverus. After twenty years' service in the missions, he finally re- signed and returned to France.^ He thoroughly
' Bishop Cheverus to Archbishop Marechal, Oct. 7, 1818. "Dr. Matig- non was placed temporarily in a vault, and three months after was taken to the cemetery and laid in a vault fronting the principal entrance of St. Augustine's Church. The extension of the church to the street, brought his vault in front of the high altar and about sixteen feet from it. The marble slab covering the spot was set up as a tablet on the wall on the epistle side opposite the sacristy door." — Bishop Fenwick, "Obituary notice of the Rev. Francis Anthony Matignon, D.D., late pastor of the church of the Holy Cross, Boston," Boston, 1818. New England Galaxy, Sept. 25, 1818.
Little from the pen of Dr. Matignon has been printed, but there is in the Jesuit, i., p. 202, his reply to an attack on the Catholic I'eligion, wiiicli appeared in 1800 in the Telegraph.
* Greenleaf , "Sketches of the Ecclesiastical History of the State of Maine," Portsmouth, 1821, p. 235.
124 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
mastered the language of his flock, and in 1804 pre- pared a jorayer-book, which was printed in 1834 by Bishop Fenwick, who says of this worthy priest : ' ' His devotedness to these poor Indians, the happy fruits of his apostolical labor, still visible, made me deeply regret his departure, as his experience would have been of the greatest service. '"^ He was succeeded for a time by Rev. Stephen Cailleaux, who had come from the diocese of Bordeaux to offer his services to Bishop Cheverus, volunteering, if ordained by him, to devote himself to the Indian missions. He did not, how- ever, remain long at that mission or in the diocese.^
The next year Bishop Cheverus purchased a lot adjoining the church, on which he began to erect a convent for the Ursuline nuns, and also a plot in Dor- chester street, for a Catholic cemetery. This he dedi- cated December 21, 1818. In the centre, as a mauso- leum for his friend Dr. Matignon, beside whom he hoped to lie, he erected a pretty little brick chapel, twenty feet wide and thirty feet long. "It is," he writes, ' ' the fruit of the zeal of good Father Lariscy, and I have given the church the name of the founder of his order, St, Augustine." Father Lariscy col-
' " Annales de la Propagation de laFoi," v., p. 454, viii., p. 196. "His- tory of the Catholic Missions among the Indian Tribes," New York, 1854, p. 157-8. " The Indian Prayer-book : compiled and arranged for the benefit of the Penobscot and Passaniaquoddy Tribes. Printed by order of the Right Rev. B. Fenwick, Bishop of Boston." Boston: Printed by H. L. Devereux, 1834.
^ Greenleaf, p. 335 ; Maine Register for 1820, p. 14. Bishop Cheverus to Archbishop Matignon, Jan. 7, July 6, 1819. Boston Cathedral Reg- ister, June 5, 1819. Rev. Mr. Cailleaux sailed for the West Indies in 1823.
2 " 1818, December 21. The new Burying-ground in South Boston ■was consecrated by me. John, Bp. of Bu." Register of Boston Cathe- dral.
REV. P. LARISCY. 125
lected some fifteen liundrecl dollars to meet the ex- pense of building St. Augustine's Church, which, in- tended originall}^ as a mortuary chapel, became from time to time the church for Catholics, who increased in that neighborhood. The growth of the faith in Boston may be seen in the fact that there were eight hundred communions at Easter time, 1819. St. Aug- ustine's was subsequently enlarged by extending the walls toward Dorchester Street, and it stands to this day the oldest church edifice belonging to the Catholics in Boston. A less pretentious church, as- cribed to the same Augustinian Father, was a small frame building among the rocks at New Bedford.
Father Lariscy was at this time the main reliance of Bishop Cheverus, who kept sealed in a desk an appointment constituting the Augustinian priest his Vicar General to enable him to act in case of his own sudden death ; but the bustling Augustinian soon wearied of Boston, and withdrew to New York in the summer of 1821.^
The Rev. John Thayer, after essaying mission work in Boston, Kentucky, and elsewhere, retired to Eng- land, and with the consent of Archbishop Carroll settled about 1811 in Limerick. In that city, without undertaking any parochial work, he rendered great services to religion. He revived piety and led many to frequent the sacraments and seek the ways of Chris- tian perfection. One great object of his life was to establish a religious community of women in Boston.
' Bishop Cheverus to Archbishop Marechal, July 16, 1819, Aug 17, Sept. 26, 1821 ; Father T. C. Middleton, O. S. A., in A. C. Historical Researches, iii., pp. 12-18 ; Fitton, " Sketches of the Church in New England," pp. 160, 214; Milbert, " Itineraire Pittoresque," ii., p. 120. Father Lariscy, a native of Tipperary, Ireland, died in Philadelphia, April 6, 1824, aged about forty^.
126 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
For this he saved and collected means, slowly and gradually. After applying in vain to convents in London and Dublin he resolved to prepare candidates himself. Among the pious families in Limerick that listened to his counsels and admired his zeal was that of James Ryan. Two of his daughters, Mary and Catharine, who had been educated by the Ursulines of Thurles, entered warmly into Rev. Mr. Thayer's j)lans, and offered to go to America to begin the work. Cor- respondence was opened with Bishop Cheverus and Dr. Matignon, and it was arranged that they should proceed to Boston, Bishop Cheverus having arranged with the Ursulines of Three Rivers to receive them and permit them to make their novitiate there. Be- fore the brave young ladies could sail, the health of Rev. Mr. Thayer began to decline, and he died at Mr. Ryan's house of dropsy on the 5th of February, 1815, attended to the last by his devoted daughters in Christ.
By his will, Rev. John Thayer left to Dr. Matignon the means he had acquired to be used in establishing the convent. Mary and Catharine Ryan, true to their vocation, sailed from Limerick for Boston on the ship Victory, May 4, 1817. "No father ever received or welcomed children with more paternal affection than the tw^o holy seers. Dr. Matignon accomx)anied them from Boston to Three Rivers, and at the expiration of their novitiate went to their profession and conveyed them back to their destination at Boston." ^
Meanwhile the legacy of Rev. Mr. Thayer had been well invested and enabled Bishop Cheverus to pur- chase a house near his own. It was unfortunately too contracted and ill-suited for the purpose. Here the
' Letter of Mother M. Joseph U. Quirk to J. G. Slica, Sligo, Dec. 31, 1855.
URSULINES.
127
two Ursulines were installed. Margaret Ryan and Catharine Ryan soon joined them from Ireland, and two applied from Boston for admission as lay Sisters. The two who came from Ireland made their solemn vows on St. Ursula's day, 1820, in the Cathedral, which was crowded, Bishop Cheverus preaching from the text: ''As dying and behold we live," II. Cor. vi., 9. Their academy was then attended by more than a hundred girls, half in the morning, and half in the afternoon. All were day scholars, there being no accommodation for boarders. Thus the pious wish of the famous American convert was carried out, and Boston possessed a community of Ursuline Nuns en- gaged in the holy cause of education.
Catholicity was prospering. There had been more than 700 communions at Easter in Boston, and a large class was preparing for first communion. The zealous Father Lariscy attended a Catholic Irishman and some pirates under sentence of death, with consoling re- sults.^ Rev. Paul McQuade visited Salem once a month, and the Rev. Patrick Byrne was ordained on Passion Sunday. These with two priests in the mis- sion comprised the whole clergy of Boston diocese. " I have all the priests I can employ," he wrote, " and perhaps a little more than our means permit."
Catholics began to experience a little relaxation of the old oppressive laws. "Catholics, hitherto ex- cluded from office in the State of Massachusetts, are now eligible as well as Jews, Mohammedans, etc." ^
' Father Lariscy's Boston entries extend from Nov. 1, 1817, to July 21,
1821.
2 Bishop Cheverus to Rev. S. G. Brute, March 23, 1816 ; April 14. Dec. 19, 1820. The Catholics in Boston in 1820 were estimated at 2120. Baptisms 112, marriages 44, deaths 17 ; in the diocese, baptisms 207, marriages 47, deaths 53. In 1821 the Catholics in Maine were estimated at from 330 to 1000.— Greenleaf.
128 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
In 1821 the Rev. William Taylor, a brilliant and able priest who had been on the mission in New York, arrived in Boston. Though Bislio]:* Cheverus could not approve all his views and ideas, he became strongly attached to Rev. Mr. Taylor, and found him of great service. He accordingly retained liim at Boston, and Rev. Mr. McQuade proceeded to Ver- gennes, Vermont.^ In December, 1822, Bishop Chev- erus ordained the Rev. Virgil H. Barber, whom he sent the next year to Claremont, to build a little chapel. "This mission gives hopes," Avrote Bishop Cheverus. "Last summer I found a number of well disposed persons there." ^
Catholicity was gaining a foothold in Vermont and New Hampshire.
Efforts had been made to remove Bishop Cheve- rus from Boston. Archbishop Neale had earnestly pressed him to become his coadjutor ; but he steadily refused, and recommended Rev. Ambrose Marechal. "The Church of Boston has become to me a beloved spouse, and I have never entertained the thought of deserting it," he wrote to the Sovereign Pontiff, and when again addressing him to express his gratification at the nomination of Rev. Mr. Marechal he said : "My heart was in constant pain, lest the obedience which I owe and always intend to pay to Your Holi- ness might compel me to leave my beloved flock." ^ But in 1820 his health began to decline, and as time went on he felt that he could no longer discharge his
' Register, Cathedral, Boston ; Bishop Fenwick's Memoirs.
'^ Bishop Cheverus to Archbishop Marechal, Jan. 27, 1823. Rev. P. McQuade's entries in the Boston Register extend from March 12, 1821, to Feb. 21, 1823.
^Hamon, " Vie du Cardinal de Cheverus," pp. 141-153.
BISHOP CHEVERUS DEPARTS. 129
usual duties. Seeing himself soon to be incapacita- ted, he began to think of resigning and retiring to the bosom of his familj^ in France to prepare for death. The French minister at Washington, Hyde de Neu- viile, seeing how evidently Bishop Cheverus required change, wrote to the King of France and urged that he should be recalled and nominated to some see in his native country. The idea pleased the King, and was advocated by the Prince de Croy, chief almoner of France.
But he continued his laborious round of duty. Between April and June we can trace him officiating at Salem, jSTewburyport, Providence, and PaAvtucket, Hartford and New London.^
Early in 1823 Bishop Cheverus received from France the official announcement of his nomination to the See of Montauban : but he still clung to Boston, and wrote declining to acce^Dt the French bishopric. A memorial signed by 222 members of his Hock was for- Avarded in April to the Prince de Croy.^ Urgent let- ters, almost commands followed, but his health be- came so critical that the physicians declared that it would be fatal to him to pass another winter in Bos- ton, that only a residence in a warmer climate could prolong his life. On this he yielded to the will of the King and transmitted to Rome his consent. His next care was to prepare everything for his departure, which he styled making his will. The property which he held as Bishop he transferred for the benefit of his successor. His private library, of well-selected works, he gave to the diocese : everything else he gave to his
' Register, Cathedral, Boston, April 13, June 6, 1823.
- " Life of Cardinal de Cheverus, Archbishop of Bordeaux," trans- lated by Robert Walsh. Philadelphia, 1839, pp. 267-8.
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clergy or the poor, resolved to leave Boston as lie entered it twenty-seven years before, carrying his wardrobe in the trunk he had then brought with him. He would have left his chalice, cruets and cross, but as they came from his family he was persuaded to take them.
When it was known that he was really to leave them the Catholics made a touching address to their beloved Bishop ; ^ the secular journals extolled his virtue and his devotedness. On the day of his de- parture the vestry was filled at an early hour in the morning with Protestants and Catholics moved to tears at the thought they were never to see him again. It required all his firmness to support himself in bid- ding them farewell.^ A number of vehicles escorted him for some distance on the road to New York. He embarked from that city on the first of October in company with Rev. Mr. Moranville and Mr. Milbert, but after a, rough voyage the vessel was wrecked on the coast of France, Bishop Cheverus and his com- panions escaping death almost miraculously.^
' The address and the Bishop's reply are given by Walsh, pp. 269-271.
* "The Life of Cardinal Cheverus, Archbishop of Bordeaux." Trans- lated by E. Stewart. Boston, 1839, pp. 388-9 ; Archbishop Cheverus to Archbishop Marechal, March 26, April 21, May 9. 1823.
^ [Hamon] "Vie du Cardinal de Cheverus, Archevgque de Bor- deaux," Paris, 1856, p. 167. U. S. Catholic Miscellany, ii., p. 41, 55. As Bishop of Montauban he won all by his zeal and gentleness, but in 1826 he was promoted to the arclnepiscopal see of Bordeaux, and soon after was made by Charles X. a peer of France. On the 1st of February, 1836, he was created Cardinal. Thus had honors sought the missionary who once stood in the dock of a criminal court at Wiscasset. He died on the 19th of July, 1836, at the moment of the Elevation in a mass offered in his room. Besides his life by Rev. Mr. Hamon, published under the name of Dubourg, there was a eulogy on him by the Abbe Gaussens, which was crowned by the Academy of Sciences, Bordeaux.
HIS ATTACHMENT TO BOSTON. 131
After reaching his family home in Mayenne, Bishop Cheverus replying to a letter of V. Rev. Mr. Taylor said: " If I were permitted I would return to dear Boston. There is still a feeble glimmering of hope that I may return to Boston. The Pope's nun- cio, a venerable prelate, wishes it much. It will be seen, at least, that if I do not return, it is no fault of mine. I quitted Paris and left everything in the hands of the Nuncio.^
On the departure of Bishop Cheverus, notwith- standing his zeal and that of Doctor Matignon, the way had been prepared for the Church, rather than much accomplished. Comparatively few Catholics had settled in New England, the great emigration
SIGNATURE OP VERY REV. WILLIAM TAYLOR.
having scarcely given signs of what it was to be. Boston had its Cathedral and St. Augustine's Church : there were shrines of Catholicity at Salem and New Bedford, Damariscotta and Whitefield and Pleasant Point in Maine. New Hampshire had its church and School at Claremont. The community at the Ursu- line Convent consisted of the Prioress and six Sisters with two novices.
Cardinal Cheverus republished the Statutes of the diocese of Bordeaux, but wrote nothing of any extent in the United States. There was a very interesting sketch of Bishop Cheverus in the Boston Monthly Mag- azine after his departure. See New York Weekly Register, i., p. 164 : Truth Teller, vi., p. 109.
' Bishop Cheverus to V. Rev. W. Taylor, Dec. 26, 1833. U. S. Catholic Miscellany, ii., p. 173.
CHAPTER VII.
DIOCESE OF BOSTON. VERY EEV. WILLIAM TAYLOR, ADMINISTRATOR, 1823-1825.
The Yery Rev. William Taylor was a son of James Taylor, Esq., of Castle Martin, Ireland. After liberal preparatory studies, lie entered Trinity College, Dublin. Having become a Catholic, however, and feeling called to the service of God, he obtained admission to the Catholic Seminary at Maynooth. His intellectual powers were great, and his mind was stored with sacred and profane learning. Extremely affable and winning in manner, he became extremely popular in New York, where he was attached to St. Patrick's Cathedral. He was soon esteemed as an eloquent pulpit orator. He had many literary projects, and issued, in 1818, a strange prayer-book, called "The Christian's Monitor; or. Practical Guide to Future Happiness," in which he endeavored to assimilate Catholic to Protestant ideas and terms. He also an- nounced an edition of the Douay Bible. ^ In Boston he won the esteem and lasting regard of Bishop Cheverus, who made him Administrator of the diocese on his depai'ture, and recommended him to the Propa- ganda as his successor.^ He remained in charge of the diocese for two years, managing its affairs with zeal and prudence. During this time he sent Rev. Dennis
' Truth Teller, May 7, 1825, 1826. U. S. Catholic Miscellany, viil., p. 111.
^ Cardinal Somaglia to Archbishop Marechal, May 15, 1824.
132
DR. GREENE'S CONVERSION. 133
Ryan back to Newcastle to resume liis duties as resi- dent missionary in Maine.
During the administration of Rev. William Taylor, the growth of the flock in Boston continued steadily, the baptisms in 1825 being 385.
In November, 1824, the Very Rev. Mr. Taylor re- ceived into the Church Doctor Henry Clarke Bowen Greene, a distinguished physician of Saco, Maine, with whom he had for some time been in corresjDondence. Dr. Greene was born at South Berwick, Maine, April 3, 1800, and was graduated at Harvard College after a successful course in 1819. Adopting the study of medicine he was admitted to practice, and took up his residence at Saco, where he married. He was a Con- gregationalist, with a leaning toward Unitarianism, alread}^ common in New England. During a serious illness his mind was so absorbed with the thought of a future state, that on his recovery he seriously studied the Bible ; but he fiiiled to find a definite constitution of the Christian Church or a definite body of doctrine. The multiplicity of sects showed him how unsatisfac- tory all attempts to supply these had been, and that none of the systems devised by men met with general acceptation, and all gradually fell away from the original standards. His mind then turned toward the old church, which alone seemed to undergo no change. While in Boston he had heard Bishop Cheverus preach, and felt the influence of his life as much as that of his words. He had composed a poem on the Bishop's departure. He soon after addressed Very Rev. Mr. Taylor, and a long correspondence with the clergy- man removed his doubts and directed his reading till Dr. Greene was convinced and came to Boston, where he was. happily received into the Church.
CHAPTER VIII.
DIOCESE OF BOSTON.
KT. EEV. BENEDICT JOSEPH FENWICK, SECOND BISHOP OF BOS- TON, 1825-1829.
The choice of the Metropolitan and his suffragans for a successor to Bishop Cheverus was an American priest, who had disphiyed ability in parochial and missionary work, in the conduct of educational insti- tutions, and who had, as administrator, governed two dioceses. New York and Charleston. This was Father Benedict Joseph Fenwick of the Society of Jesus. "He was born on the 3d of September, 1782,
^.
^ /L?^^^ ^J^ V '^^
SIGNATURE OF BISHOP FENWICK OF BOSTON.
on his father's plantation at Beaverdam manor, in St. Mary's County, Maryland ; and was lineally descended from Cuthbert Fenwick, one of the proprietors who originally came over from England under the charter of Lord Baltimore," and settled in the Land of Mary. He was one of the first pupils to enter Georgetown College, where he made his course, displaying piety and ability. After teaching the humanities in that institution for three years, he entered St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, to pursue his theological studies
134
ET. KEV. BENEDICT JOSEPH FENWICK, SECOND BISHOP OF BOSTON.
136
RT. REV. B. J. FENWICK. 137
Tinder the Sulpitians, then directed by the venerable Nagot. When, however, in 1806 the former members of the Society of Jesus in this country were permitted to reorganize and unite with the Jesuits in Russia, a novitiate was opened at Georgetown College, young Fen wick presented himself for admission, and was one of the first little band of six who entered on the 10th of October. Here he continued his course of divinity, and was ordained priest by the Rt. Rev. Leonard Neale, Bishop of Gortyna, in the Church of the Holy Trinity, June 11, 1808. In the autumn of that year he was sent to New York as assistant to the Rev. Father Anthony Kohlmann, whom Arclibishoj) Carroll had with the consent of Bishop Concanen appointed to administer the diocese till the arrival of that prelate from Italy. Father Fenwick labored earnestly at St. Peter's Church, and was at the head of the college commenced under the name of "The New York Literary Institution." After the death of Bishop Concanen and till about the time of the appointment of his successor, Father Kohlmann re- mained as Administrator, but after Bishop Connolly's consecration, he was recalled to Maryland,^ and Father Fenwick, though holding no oiRcial position, remained in the charge of the diocese laboring to preserve order till the summer of 1816, after the arrival of Bishop Connolly. Though he had evidently come with strong prejudices, that prelate soon saw the value of such a priest as Father Fenwick. He made him Vicar General, and pleaded strongly with his superiors in Maryland to retain him at New York.^ He was presi-
' Archbishop Carroll to Rev. John Grassi, March 31; 1815, complains of his recall. F. McElroy's Diary mentions liis arrival at Georgetown Jan. 17, 1815.
' Bishop Connolly to F. John Grassi, July 1, 1816.
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dent of Georgetown College in 1817-8, but when Arch- bishop Marechal appealed to the Superior of the Society of Jesus for able priests to restore order in Charleston, Fathers Fen wick and Wallace were sent. Rev. Mr. Fenwick managed affairs with so much ability and tact that he obtained complete con- trol, reviving faith and piety in all wlio were not com- pletely lost, so that when Bishop England arrived, that clear-sighted Bishop laid aside the unfavorable j)re- possessions which had been produced upon him. He saw the merit and value of the Jesuit Father, and would not allow him to depart. In 1822 Father Fen- wick was recalled to Georgetown College, where he became minister of the college and procurator of the mission. From 1824 to September in the following year he was actually president, to the great satisfac- tion of parents and pupils.
When the bulls of Pope Leo XII., dated May 10, 1825, arrived, requiring him to accept the mitre of Bos- ton, the unambitious Jesuit prepared by a retreat for the sacrifice imperatively demanded of him. On the feast of All Saints, 1825, just fifteen years after the con- secration of his predecessor Bishop Cheverus, he was consecrated in St. Mary's Cathedral, Baltimore, by Archbishop Marechal, assisted by Bishops Conwell of Philadelphia and England of Charleston. He was accompanied to Boston by the Bishop of Charleston and the Rev. Virgil H. Barber, and Avas received by the Administrator, Very Rev. William Taylor, and the clergy of the diocese who had gathered to welcome him. He Ayas installed in the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on Su;iday, the 4th, by Bishop England. V. Rev. Mr. Taylor met him at his entrance, and exposed to him in a brief manner the state of the diocese and especiallj'' of the Catholic congregation of Boston.
INSTALLATION. 139
He concluded his discourse by tendering his resigna- tion and making known his determination to return to Europe. After the first gospel the Rt. Rev. Dr. England ascended the pulpit, and addressed an able discourse to the people, who were delighted with his eloquence. After the mass the leading Catholics of the diocese came to congratulate their new Bishop. Very Rev. Mr. Taylor in a few days proceeded to New York, intending to join Bishop Cheverus in Europe, though in fact he remained about a year in this country.
Bishop Fenwick took up the work of the episcopate with courage and energy, thoroughly convinced of the difficulties of his position with a handful of Cath- olics lost, so to say, amid the most thoroughly Eng- lish and anti-catholic portion of the population of the United States.
"The diocese of Boston," Bishop Fenwick wrote at the time, " comprehends all the New England States. The Catholics reside principally in Boston. In other parts of these States their number is comparatively small, though latterly they are, from various circum- stances, beginning to become somewhat more numer- ous.". . . "At present there are in all the diocese but eight churches ; all of which, with the exception of the Cathedral, scarcely deserve the name. These churches are in the following places : The Cathedral in Boston, attended by the Bishop and one clergyman. Rev. Mr. Byrne. The congregation is numerous, far too much so for the present size of the church ; but it will be one of the first objects of the Bishop to en- large and extend it as far as the lot owned by the church will admit of. 2. A small edifice intended for a church in South Boston. No mass is celebrated there for the want of a priest. Hereafter it is the
140 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Bishop's intention to enlarge it also for the accommo- dation of the Catholics living in its immediate neigh- borhood, who are growing daily more and more num- erous. 3. A small brick church in Claremont, New Hampshire, erected by the strenuous exertions of the Rev. Virgil H. Barber, who is now officiating in it. The Catholics who attend it for divine worship are almost entirely converts to the faith within these five or six years past. They are to the number of about one hundred and fifty individuals in all, scattered over a district of ten or fifteen miles. 4. A neat and hand- some frame church in Salem not quite finished. The congregation consists of almost one hundred and fifty or two hundred souls. They have no pastor, but the Bishop or Rev. Mr. Byrne, to afford them an oppor- tunity of frequenting the sacraments, pays them a monthly visit. Tlie Catholics in this town are gener- ally very poor, scarcely able to support a clergyman. 5. A small brick church at Damariscotta, in the State of Maine. The congregation is extremely small, con- sisting of five or six families only. It is served once a month by the Rev. Mr. Ryan„ 6. A small frame church at Whitefield, Maine, which is likewise served by the Rev. Dennis Ryan, who divides his time be- tween the two places. The congregation belonging to this last-mentioned church is greatly scattered and is far more numerous than the other. The church is said to contain four or five hundred persons, and is generally filled in good weather. 7. The church at Oldtown, Maine. This church was erected exclu- sively for the Penobscot tribe of Indians, who are all Catholics. It is old and small. The tribe consists of about four hundred souls. They are without pastor, though they anxiously desire one. The. Bishop will avail himself of the very first opportunity to satisfy
URSULINE CONVENT. 141
their wishes. 8. The church at Passamaquoddy, Maine. This church was also erected exclusively for the benefit of the Passamaquoddy tribe of Indians, who like the other are entirely Catholics. Their number is about three hundred ; the church though small is tolerably decent. Adjoining to it is a house for a clergyman ; but unfortunately, like their breth- ren at Oldtown, they are at present destitute of a pastor. The Bishop will make it his duty to procure one, who may divide his time equally between the two tribes.^
Bishop Fenwick was greatly surprised, on visiting the Ursuline Convent, that such a situation should have been selected for the establishment of a house of religious women. It was in the immediate neighbor- hood of a theatre, was confined and contracted, and was exposed to the observation of those inhabiting the houses opposite. There was scarcely a spot of ground for the ladies to take any exercise or obtain a breath of fresh air. They seemed in fact to drag out a linger- ing existence. The Superior confirmed his impression by declaring that health had long since taken leave of the house. ^ He visited the vicinity of Boston to find a situation which he could consider suited to the use of a convent and academy, and was greatly impressed by the advantages of a place on the Medford road, Charlestown, lying beautifully on Ploughed Hill Avest of the famous Bunker Hill. The soil was excellent ; the prospect from it one of the finest on the neighbor- hood of Boston. There was on it a convenient house,
•Fenwick, "Memoranda of the Diocese of Boston," Dec. 3, 1835. " Memoirs to serve for the future history of the Diocese of Boston."
^ Bishop Fenwick, " Memoranda of the Diocese of Boston, " Feb. 13, 1826.
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a good barn with necessary outbuildings. It could be obtained for $8300. The Superior of the com- munity readily adopted the Bishop's views: their Boston house was valued by competent judges at eight thousand dollars; this Dr. Fen wick agreed to pay, and the Charlestown property was purchased. Two small wings were added to the house, one to serve as a chapel, the other for a kitchen, and the whole was fenced in. The little community, consisting of four choir nuns and two lay sisters, left Boston on the 31st of July, having resided there six years and ^ix months, and took possession of the new place, and gave it the name of Mount Benedict. The delight of the nuns on occupying their new home, so different from the close and noisy situation in which they had been confined, can be readily imagined. The Bishop soon visited them, and from the 6th of August said mass for them in their chapel on Sundays and Wednesdays, returning to Boston on Sunday to say a seven o'clock mass for the congregation in the Cathedral. On the feast of the Assumption, Mary Barber was admitted as a novice into the community.
Alive to the importance of securing the young, bj'^ a thorough Catholic education, from the allurements and seductions which the community around him would employ by individual effort, church action, and the prostitution of State power to pervert the young of his flock, he established a day school in Boston and gave special attention to the Sunday School, till better provision could be made for affording all a really Catholic education.^
Bishop Fenwick soon learned that the spirit of
'Bishop Fenwick, "Memoirs to serve," etc. ;" Memoranda of the Diocese of Boston."
HIS LABORS. 143
trusteeism existed. Dr. Matignon had managed all financial affairs liimself, having great aptitude for it ; Bishop Cheverus, however, had selected seven mem- bers of the congregation, to whom he committed the temporalities. Soon after his arrival in Boston, Bishop Fenwick was waited upon by a deputation who complained of the management by these gentle- men, and asked that others should be elected by the congregation, to let the pews, collect tlie rents and the contributions of the faithful, and expend the same. "The Bishop having before his eyes, in other cities, the deplorable consequences resulting from such a state of things, determined and resolved, with the blessing of divine grace, to resist every encroachment of the kind." He deferred action for a time, but fin- ally allowed such a selection for a single occasion only. Bitter feeling was manifested, meetings held, and when the matter came to a choice five of the managers were displaced, and, as he subsequently learned, one had rendered himself peculiarly obnoxious, though a most worthy, upright, and honest man.
He devoted himself to the care of the faithful in Boston ; having only one priest to aid him, with two others a hundred miles off. The Cathedral had be- come utterly inadequate to the wants of the congrega- tion and needed to be enlarged. He soon planned an addition seventy-two feet wide and forty long, which would give a depth of one hundred and two feet, and afford space for side altars and sacristies. He issued Lenten regulations and labored earnestly to rouse the faith and devotion of the people. A visit to Salem, where few attended the mass which he celebrated, showed him the work needed outside of Boston.
His Sunday School was put on a new footing, and
144 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
he prepared for regular day-schools. By Pentecost he had a class of ninety-nine on Avhom he conferred the sacrament of confirmation, many making their first communion.
At the close of May, with Father Virgil H. Barber he visited Claremont. On the day after the arrival he celebrated mass, the little chapel being thronged, and the rooms above as well as all the space around the church being occupied by Protestants whose curiosity was excited. The Bishop on this occasion confirmed twenty-one. The congregation was still small, about 150 in all, consisting mainly of converts, few of them residing near the church. Here Father Virgil H, Barber had erected, opposite the old Episco- pal church, a brick church twenty feet in width by forty-eight in length, and employed part of the edifice for an academy, from which he derived his mainten- ance.
Bishop Fen wick was encouraged by the application of two young men in July, James Fitton and William Wiley, who wished to study for the priesthood, soon followed by William Tyler, a nephew of Father Bar- ber, and by the arrival of Rev. Mr. Mahony from Maryland, and Father Charles D. Ffrench from New Brunswick. He appointed Rev. Mr. Mahony to Salem, and Father Ffrench to Eastport, Maine, with the care of the neighboring Indians, instructing him to erect a church as soon as possible at Eastport. He despatched Father Barber to visit Dover, New Hamp- shire, Bangor and Eastport in Maine, and the two Indian towns. Then he called his people together to organize collections for enlarging the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, and, moving into the former convent of the Ursulines, demolished the old residence and be- gan the work, but found the contributions so meagre
CATHEDRAL ENLARGED. 145
that lie could do no more than raise the walls and put on the roof, slating the dome.^
Though his labors were severe, he proclaimed the Jubilee in December, and aided by Rev. Messrs. Byrne and Mahony gave a regular mission to his flock, with daily masses, sermons, instructions, and devout exercises. He was consoled by beholding twelve hundred approach the sacraments.
During the year the Bishop had scarcely a moment to himself ; his lessons to his seminarians, his parochial work, his duties as chaplain to the nuns, the work at the convent and church, absorbed his whole time.
Early in 1827 he began the erection of a new edifice on the convent grounds, adapted for tl]\ use of a com- munity ; as well as to the general improvement of the property. Then he sent Rev. Mr. Byrne to Newport, to attend the men employed on the fortifications and in the coal mines, numbering in all nearly two hun- dred. Sending Rev. Mr. Mahony to Claremont, he replaced him for the time at Salem, publishing the Jubilee and giving a mission with happy results.
By the 27th of May the addition to the Cathedral was completed, the wall removed, and the altar set up at which he offered the holy sacrifice. The basement was next prepared for his proposed schools. After administering confirmation in his Cathedral on Whit- sunday, he took the steamer for Portland on the 10th of July, 1827, and then by a coaster reached Eastport, where he found the Rev. Charles Ffrench. The next day the Bishop and priest Avere escorted with pomp
' Bp. Fenwick, " Memoirs to §erve for the future History of the Dio- cese of Baltimore"; " Memoranda of the Diocese of Boston"; Truth Teller, Nov. 12, 1825 ; U. S. Cath. Miscellany, Dec. 21, 1824 ; D. Bar- ber, " History of my Owu Times." part 2, p. 7 : Bishop De Goesbriaod, "Memoirs," p. 62.
146 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
by the Indians to their village at Pleasant Point. The governor of the Passamaquoddies addressed him in French, and he took up his quarters in the house formerly occupied by the Abbe Romagne. Father Ffrench had for some months instructed the Indians, and on Sunday Bishop Fenwick was taken in pro- cession to the church where he said mass, and after a high mass sung by Father Ffrench he gave an instruc- tion in English for the Protestants whom his presence had attracted, and another for the Indians which was interpreted to them. The next day he again said mass and confirmed some unable to arrive in season. He found at this place an individual who was at once a missionary sent by a Protestant proselytizing Society and a teacher under the United States Indian department. Although paid by both he neither preached nor taught, and admitted that his reports were fictitious. An examination at the school showed that not a child could spell a word of two syllables. The Bishop remained several days, saying mass, con- firming, visiting the sick ; then convening the tribe he urged them to persevere in the faith, promising them a resident priest as soon as he was able to obtain one.
At Eastport he said mass at the house of Mr. Kelly, selected a spot for a church, and started a subscrip- tion for its erection. At the invitation of the Protes- tants he preached in one of their churches. The following days were devoted to instructions, and he confirmed some eighteen or twenty at this place. Leaving Eastport he made his way by boat and stage to Bangor.
"At Belfast," says Bishop Fenwick, "I inquired whether there were any Catliolics in the town. Was informed there were none. Took a walk to the lower part of the town to see whether I could discover any.
INCIDENT AT BELFAST. 147
Was unsuccessful : returned to the hotel and em- ployed myself in reciting the divine office until din- ner. After dinner took another walk to the upper part of the town. Had not proceeded far when I met an Irish woman coming into town from the country with a child in her arms. Stopped her and inquired whether she was not a Catholic. After surveying me cautiously with her eyes for some moments, she answered she was. I asked her whither she was going. She said to Mr. McGann's. Would she conduct me to his house ? She said : ' No, for what had the likes of me to do at Mr. McGann's?' I stated to her that I desired very much to see him as well as all the other Catholics in the town. 'Surely,' she replied, 'you were not going to his house when I first saw you. Why, therefore, do you wish to go to it now ? ' 'In order to give him and the other Catholics a little good advice on the Sabbath daj%' said I. ' Maybe, then, you are a minister? ' said she, looking archly at me. 'lam,' I replied. 'Then I can tell you,' said she, turning abruptly off, ' neither he nor his family want to see the likes of you.' At this time it began to rain. I opened my umbrella and held it over her and the child, following her as she walked on, determined not to lose the opportunity of seeing as many of the Catholics as possible before I left the town, and of ascertaining their number. We had not proceeded far in this way, when she stopped abruptly and said : ' Surely it is not to McGann's I am going now ; why, therefore, do you follow me ? ' ' Because you told me a while ago it was thither you were going.' 'Well, then, lam going to another place now,' said she. ' It is no matter, I shall follow you until you show me where McGann lives.' 'Well, he lives down there,' she replied, pointing to a house near one of the
148 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
wharves of the village. I immediately vrent thither. On entering a room of this house, I beheld on every side but objects of poverty and wretchedness, a sick woman groaning in a corner of the room ; two other women with very poor clothing, seated on the floor, eight or ten sickly children bunched around, and only one man, and he also poorly clad. I soon learned from him that he and anoth-er had just arrived at Belfast with their families, that they had been able to get but little work since their arrival, that almost all of them had been, and some of them were, still sick, and that they were perishing for the want of the necessaries of life. Seeing so much misery, I immediately informed him who I was, gave him money, and directed him to go out without delay and purchase tea, sugar, bread, butter and milk, if he could find it at that hour of the day, and that afterwards I should enable him to pro- cure other provisions. As he went out I called to him to purchase also some gingerbread for the children, who appeared very hungry. After this I approached the bed where the poor sick woman lay, and spoke to her in a manner suited to her present circumstances, and at the same time informed her that I should leave her and return in a couple of hours, to hear her con- fession as well as the confessions of all the others in the house. The poor woman was greatly overjoyed, and with abundance of tears expressed gratitude to God for having sent her a priest at so critical a time in a foreign land. In a short time the man returned with the tea, sugar, and other things sent for. I caused the tea to be immediately prepared and given to the sick woman, I next distributed the gingerbread among the children. A total change immediately ensued. Gloom and almost despair were succeeded by joy and hope. I then acquainted them with the nature of the
INCIDENT AT BELFAST. 149
country into which they had just arrived, the favor- able prospects it held out to the sober and indus- trious, and concluded by observing to them, that in my opinion Whitefield would be a far more suitable country for them, as a number of their countrymen had already taken farms there and were doing well. I requested them, as I was about to withdraw, to give notice to other Catholics who might be in town, that I should return in a couple of hours to this house for the purpose of giving them an opx)ortunity of going to their confessions, 'for,' added I, 'it is important you should make a good beginning in this country of your adoption ; and besides, you know not when you may enjoy another opxDortunity of seeing a iDriest.'
"About this time the woman whom I had met in the iipper part of the town came in. As soon as she had entered and seated herself, staring all the time wildly at me, 'There,' said I jokingly, ' is an Irish- woman and a Catholic, who when asked by a stranger to show the way to a friend's house, refused to do it. She cannot be a true born Catholid.' ' And surely it was because I thought it was no good you were after,' she replied, continuing still to gaze around. ' Whist ! whist ! ' said one of the women present, ' mind it is to the Bishop you are speaking all this while.' I could not forbear laughing at the peculiar tone in which this was expressed, in which they all joined. The poor woman seemed much disconcerted for a while, but when I assured her that I viewed her conduct on that occasion as an act of prudence on her part, and that I commended her for it, she soon recovered her spirits. 'No, no,' said she, 'it is not for the like of me to behave amiss to my own Clergy when I know them.' Upon this I left the room and returned to the hotel greatly pleased with the discovery I had made. After
150 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
an interval of two hours or thereabouts, I returned according to promise to McGann's, where I found a pretty good number assembled. I gave them an ex- hortation and afterwards heard all their confessions. In conclusion I recommended to them to be particu- larly careful of their conduct, attentive to the duty which they owed to God and observant of His holy law. At parting I gave them more money to supply their more pressing necessities, and was particularly happy to see the good effects the tea had already pro- duced upon the sick woman, for she was soon able to move about a little and exhibited in her appearance a great alteration for the better. I gave them all my blessing, took leave of them, and departed." ^
He then j^roceeded to Indian Old Town by way of Bangor. As his canoe approached the island the Indians hoisted their flag and saluted him with a volley of musketry. On being escorted to the church he ex- plained the object of his visit. The next day he sang a high mass, the Indians forming a very fair choir. He found that parents had carefully instructed their children so that he was able to hear the confessions of young and old. Other days was similarly spent ; then he said a requiem mass for the dead and blessed their graves. By Sunday he had given holy communion to one hundred and twenty. Then after a solemn high mass, at which many more approached the sacrament of the altar, he administered confirmation to eighty- two. On this occasion he was greatly annoyed by the rude behavior of the whites, chiefly lumberers, and at last expostulated with them, asking whether they or the well-behaved Indians were the real savages. After concluding his mission he crossed the river in a canoe,
' Bishop Fenwick, " Memoirs to serve, etc."
INCIDENT AT BELFAST. 161
amid the regrets of his Indians, and on landing was received in a double line by the very men whom he had so recently reproved.
On his homeward journey he visited Newcastle and Whitelield, officiating and giving confirmation, al- though he had become extremely ill. He felt it neces- sary to return liome at once. At Portland, the Bishop says: "In the course of the evening learned that a Mr. O'Connor, a very decent man, resided in the town. Called on him to make my arrival known, August 9. Having understood that the Catholics were in the habit of assembling every Sunday, in order to recite their prayers together and read spiritual books, went to visit the room hired by them for this purpose. This was an upper chamber in a house adjoining the Museum. It had a very jDoor appearance and bespoke the poverty of the Catholics of this place ; reminded me of the upper chamber spoken of in the Acts of the Apostles. Nevertheless informed the two Catholics who accompanied me, that I should celebrate mass and give confirmation in it on tlie ensuing Sunday. Requested them in the mean time to have it well swept and the altar decently arranged by that day
"August 12 (Sunday). Went at an early hour to the Upper Chamber, heard confessions till ten o'clock, then began to prepare for the celebration of mass. The room was soon filled, probably to the number of 160 persons. Celebrated mass, at the end of which preached and gave confirmation to thirteen persons." At the conclusion of the ceremony addressed the Catholics again and recommended to them to make a collection among themselves monthly, and to apply the proceeds toward the purchase of a lot of ground ; that when this was once obtained, it would be easy to find funds to erect a church thereon. I also enjoined
152 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
them to continue to assemble every Sunday for the purpose of devotion, and that as soon as possible I should send them a priest to attend them."^
After waiting on the Governor of Maine, Mr, Lincoln, to represent the actual condition of the two Indian bands, and the necessity of state action. Bishop Fen- wick proceeded to Saco, where he was cordially wel- comed by Dr. Henry Greene who invited him to his house. He and Mr. Tucker, another convert, were the only Catholics in the place except three or four Irish families, who had recently arrived. He celebrated mass on the feast of the Assumption in Dr. Greene's parlor, and confirmed him and three others. The Bishop learned that this was the first time that the holy sacrifice had ever been offered in Saco. Dr. Greene expressed his joy that this event had taken place in his house, and regretted that his brother con- vert, Mr. Tucker, was absent on account of business.
The Bishop in the evening by invitation lectured on the great truths of religion in the hall occupied by the Episcopalians. At Dover, New Hampshire, he found that the Catholics had hired a room where they met on Sundays, but as it was not in a central position he said mass at the house of Mr, Burns, which was at- tended by about fifty. He heard several confessions, but few received holy communion. The Bishop saw that faith was dying out for want of a regular pastor. He urged them to open a subscription to buy a lot for a church, and promised them a j^riest at the earliest possible moment.
On his return to Boston, Rev. Mr. Mahony resumed his duties at Salem, the Bishop authorizing him to attend Lowell where there were fifty Catholics, twenty-
• Bishop Fenwick, " Memoirs to serve, etc."
RHODE ISLAND. 153
one with families. This clergyman also extended his care to the flock at Dover.
In the Ember days of December, 1827, Bishop Fen- wick had the consolation of ordaining as priests Revs. James Fitton, William Wiley, and John Smith, whom he had trained for his missions.^ The southern part of the diocese had not been neglected. In February, 1827, Rev. Patrick Byrne began his labors among the Catholics employed at Fort Adams and in the coal mines at Newport, and in the same year, V. Rev. Johnj Power of New York is reported to have said mass ini. an old building at Windsor Locks, Connecticut.. Early in January, 1828, Bishoj) Fenwick received into- his diocese the Rev. Robert D. Woodley, and ap- pointed him to Providence and Pawtucket, directing him also to make occasional visits to Taunton, where there were about fifty Catholics ; and to Fall River and Newport, which could scarcely boast a score. At this time Pawtucket had a Catholic population of one hundred, and Providence about half that number. Though poor, the devotion of these Catholics to their religion excited respect in some noble hearts. David Wilkinson at Pawtucket gave a fine site for a church, where the corner-stone of the House of God was soon laid. At Providence mass was said in Mechanics' Hall.2
On every side Bishop Fenwick saw that priests were needed : he had but few, yet one proved unworthy, and was dismissed, another lost his reason, and to his great regret the Superior of the Jesuits recalled his friend Rev. Virgil H. Barber, who obeyed, but closed
' Bishop Fenwick, Sept. 6, 1831. " Memoirs to serve." " Memoranda.'* Annales do I'Association de la Propagation de la Foi, n., p. 447.
* Truth Teller, Jan. 5, 1828.
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his church at Chiremont most regretfully and delivered the key to the Bishop in Boston. Bishop Fenwick wrote a most touching letter to Y. Rev. Father Dzie- rozinski, imploring that he might at least retain Father Barber for his Indian Catholics, v^hose ancestry had been converted by heroic Jesuits.
Sending Rev. James Fitton to Passamaquoddy, Bishop Fenwick set out for Montreal with two boys whom he intended to place in the college, and with the hope that by explaining his necessities to the Bishops and clergy of that Catholic province he might secure, at least for a time, the services of some good priests. He was cordially welcomed, and deeply im- pressed with the character of the clergy and the zeal of the people. He received some presents of chalices, and other altar plate which he greatly needed and could not easily obtain, but he failed to obtain any clergymen for his missions. One Quebec incident is worth noting.
' ' In passing and repassing the west side of the market-place," says Bishop Fenwick, "in the upper town, as I had frequent occasion, while visiting the different religious establishments of this interesting city, my eyes were frequently arrested by a splendid I H 8 in gilt letters, inscribed over the main entrance into a magnificent stone edifice surrounded by a high and extensive wall. Inquired what building that was. Was told that it was formerly the College of the Jesuits, which was seized by order of government some years back and converted into barracks for soldiers, and which are still employed for that base and unworthy purpose ! Poor, injured Society of Jesus ! how hast thou been traduced ! how hast thou been persecuted by the world in every clime ! But it is a satisfaction to know that the disciple is not above
RHODE ISLAND. 155
the master, and that thus the Lord of all was himself treated. This was then the house out of which so many apostolic men issued in their day to carry the gospel to all the savage tribes of North America, and who by their enlightened zeal and their truly exem- plary conduct brought so many of them into the one f old'and under the one shepherd. This was the house to which the martyred Rale was wont to resort annu- ally for his spiritual renovation, and from which he again and again returned with energy and vigor to edify and to teach the Abenakis tribes of Maine how to live as Christians, and how to endure their many hardships and privations by his own example. Yes, this house, the sacred edifice, to which Canada in par- ticular owes so much— in which the highest and most heroic virtues were daily inculcated and practiced— in which the praises of God were so often sung, this house is now converted by government into a common
receptacle for soldiers ! I would not enter it
I would not visit the interior of a house polluted by sacrilege and crime."
The Bishop, on his return, found that the handsome brick church at Portland was rising, and that at East- port, 30 feet by 40, would soon be covered in by Father Charles D. Ffrench, who could also report progress at Dover, while Rev. R. D. Woodley gave encouraging tidings from Providence and Newport. Soon after, the Bishop called a meeting of the Catholics in Charles- town and Craigie's Point, roused their zeal so that two thousand dollars was soon subscribed, selected a site, and signed the contracts for the erection of a church to be dedicated to Our Lady. He laid the corner-stone on the 3d of October, and before the close of the year had the gratification of seeing it covered in. No part of the diocese had shown such energetic zeal.
156 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
In Providence the Bishop when on a visitation was rejoiced to find the lot generously given by David Wilkinson, Esq., to be beautifully situated on the Rhode Island and commanding a fine view. He en- couraged the Catholics to begin a subscription at once for the purpose of erecting a church, and to keep it up steadily. At Newport the schoolhouse purchased for a church disappointed him, for though in an eligi- ble situation it was too small in view of future increase; and he at once arranged to purchase an adjoining lot. Here he confirmed eleven on All Souls' day.
At Lowell a hall used by the Catholics was already too small. T]ie Bishop appealed to tlie great manu- facturing company through their kindly agent, Mr. Kirke Boott, for a site for a decent church for his humble flock. His appeal Avas not disregarded, and he had hopes of soon seeing a church there.
" The Bishoi3 having received information from Mr. Deodat Taylor, a convert in Hartford, Connecticut, that the Episcopalians, having nearly completed their new church in that city, were anxious to dispose of their old one, and required only the sum of $500 for the same, on the express condition, however, that it should be moved to some other lot, and that they were willing also to dispose of their organ for the sum of $400. As he had long had a desire to establish the Catholic religion in this central city of Connecticut, he resolved to set out immediately and learn in person the exact situation of things there. He accordingly left Boston on the 9th of July, at ten o'clock, in the mail stage, and having traveled all night, arrived in that city the following day at two o'clock p.m., and took up his lodgings in the City Hotel. In the course of the afternoon he called on Mr. Deodat Taylor and his brother Francis, and with them went to examine
HARTFORD. 157
the premises, and after a thorough examination he felt fully satisfied that the building proposed to be sold was well worth the money ; and if a lot of land could be purchased at no great distance from its present site, it would prove a valuable acquisition to the Catholics. He, therefore, instructed Mr. Taylor to conclude the purchase on the above terms ; but previously to ascertain fully whether the lot of land nearly opposite on the brow of the hill could in like manner be procured at a reasonable rate. In the course of a few hours all was accomplished ; a hand- some new site was obtained, and the church was pur- chased to be delivered up in the month of November ensuing.
'*0n the following Sunday the Bishop celebrated mass in a private room, at which all the Catholics in Hartford attended. These did not amount to more than a couple of dozen. He gave them a short exhor- tation on the gospel of the day, and recommended to them in a particular manner to live in peace and union among themselves, and on all occasions to edify the people by whom they were surrounded, by their good conduct." ^
Thus within a year Bishop Fenwick secured churches in three cities, which after the middle of the century were to be erected successively into episcopal sees, Hartford, Portland, and Providence.
After lecturing in the State House and answering many inquiries as to the doctrines of the Church, Bishop Fenwick returned to Boston.
'Fenwick, "Memoirs to serve for the future Ecclesiastical History of the Diocese of Boston." A good title could not be given for the lot first selected and the church was moved to another desirable lot on Talcot Street. Fitton, " Sketches," pp. 189, 314, 284 ; 130, 275 ; U. S. Catholic Misc., vii., p. 358 ; viii., pp. 7, 22, 39, 54, 80 ; Truth Teller, iv., p. 325.
158 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
With the wants of his diocese before him, Bishop Fenwick appealed in several letters to Bishop Conwell to let him have one or two priests for a few years, to meet his pressing need. He importuned the Superior of the Jesuits in Maryland, on whom he felt he had some claim ; he wrote to the Bishop of Quebec, asking for Rev. Mr. Holmes as a native of his diocese, and used efforts to induce clergymen whom he knew per- sonally to come to the aid of souls in New England.
The faith was extending, in spite of the paucity of priests. Mass was said in New Haven at the corner of Chapel and Chestnut streets, and the Catholics in Vermont were attended from Plattsburg.
The following will show the number and the stations of the clergymen doing duty in the diocese at the close of the year 1828 :
The Rt. Rev. Bishop Fenwick in Boston, assisted by the Rev. Messrs. Byrne and Wiley.
Rev. Virgil H. Barber, Indian Old Town on the Penobscot, charged also with the mission at Claremont, N. H. Rev. James Fitton, Pleasant Point, Passama- quoddy, Me. Rev. Charles Ffrench, Portland, Me., also charged with the missions of Dover, N. H., Saco, Me., and Eastport, Me. Rev. Dennis Ryan, White- field, Me., also charged with Newcastle and Gardi- ner, Me. Rev. Robert D. Woodley, Providence, R.I., also charged with the mission at Newport, and Paw- tucket, R. I.
There was thus activity in all parts of his diocese. The impulse was given and was maintained, in the early days of the year 1829, when we find Bishop Fen- wick again ordaining, raising to the holy dignity of the priesthood Rev. William Tyler, destined to be in the designs of Providence first Bishop of Hartford, and Rev. Dr. Thomas J. O' Flaherty, adding wings to
STATE OF DIOCESE. 159
the Convent, dedicating the brick church at Charles- town, a fine edifice capable of holding a thousand persons, and hiying the foundation of a church at Pawtucket/ At this time he reckoned the Catholics in Boston at 7040, the yearly baptisms being 536. There were probably 14,000 Catholics, eight priests, and sixteen cliurches in New England, public halls and un- used buildings being employed in other places for the holy sacrifice. Much had been already accomplished for "the Christian education of the young. There were two schools in Boston, a classical one for boys and an academy for girls, tw^o in Charlestown, one at Lechmere Point, one at Lowell, a classical sem.inary at Hartford, and some smaller ones, and the Indian school at Ban- gor, under Father Virgil H. Barber, while the Ursu- lines afforded the highest education for young ladies.
The school at the Cathedral, Boston, was directed by ecclesiastics whom Bishop Fenwick educated in his ow^n house in philosophy and theology, till he found means to place four others at the Sulpitian Seminary, in Montreal.
On the 5th of September, 1829, appeared the first number of the newspaper founded by Bishop Fenwick, and which boldly took the name of " The Jesuit."
The progress of the Church had excited bitter feel- ings among ignorant and misguided men. Houses of Catholics on Broad Street, Boston, were attacked for three successive nights, the windows broken, and the inmates menaced by the stones hurled in upon them.^
Such was the condition of the diocese when Bishop Fenwick set out to meet his Metropolitan and fellow- suffragans in a provincial council.
' Bishop Fenwick, " Memoirs to serve," etc.
= Jesuit, i., p. 156 ; Annalesde la Prop, de la Foi, iv., p. 713.
CHAPTER IX.
DIOCESE OF NEW YORK.
EIGHT REV. RICHARD LUKE CONCANEN, O.S.D., FIRST BISHOP; VERY REV. ANTHONY KOHLMANN, S.J., ADMINISTRATOR,
1808-1815.
The diocese of New York was erected on the 8th of April, 1808, by his Holiness Pope Pius VII., ^ and com- prised the State of New York, and the eastern i)art of New Jersey contiguous to New York. For this newly erected see the Sovereign Pontiff selected Father Richard Luke Concanen of the Order of St. Dominic, Archbishop Carroll having been unable to propose any one whom he deemed fitted for the task of organ- izing the church in the important State of New York. Bishop Concanen was a native of Ireland, but Avas sent early in life to the Dominican Convent of the Holy Cross in Lorraine, where he made his novitiate : after a thorough course of study at St. Mary's 'supra Mi- nervam ' in Rome, he acquired distinction for his learn- ing and ability. He filled successively the positions of professor of theology at St. Clement's in Rome, prior of the Corpo Santo convent, Lisbon, and prior of St. Clement's. His selection as theologus Casana- tensis and librarian at the Minerva, attests the solidity of his learning, a place in the foundation created by Cardinal Casanate being assigned only to the highest
> Bull " Ex Debito," April 8, 1808. Bullarium Romanum, xiii., p. 282. BuUarium de Propaganda Fide, iv., p. 339.
160
DIFFICULTIES. 161
merit.^ Acting as agent for the Irish bishops he was well known in 'his native island, and was appointed to the See of Kilmacduagh, but declined the honor. He was personally known to Pope Pius VII., who es- teemed him highly. Soon after his appointment he was stricken down by illness, and his death was re- garded as certain. In fact another Dominican Father, John Connolly, then in Rome, was notified that the bulls would be issued for his consecration. Bishop Concanen recovered, however, and, though reluctant to accept the dignity, was consecrated Bishop of New York, April 24, 1808, by his Eminence Cardinal di Pietro with two archbishops as assistants. He at once began to prepare for the work before him in his diocese ; one of his plans was to found a house of religious, Franciscan or Dominican, in New York, to direct a college for young men, and he obtained from zealous friends books, vestments, and other articles for his future flock. After receiving from the Sovereign Pontiif the pallium for Archbishop Carroll, with the bulls erecting Baltimore into an archiepiscopal see, and establishing the bishoprics of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Bardstown, and other important documents. Bishop Concanen set out for Leghorn, Avhere he intended to embark for America. To his disappointment he found all American vessels seques- tered by the French authorities, to whom as a British subject he was an object of suspicion. As the time of his departure had become uncertain, he empowered Archbishop Carroll to appoint an Administrator of the diocese during his absence, and Dr. Carroll sent to New York the learned and capable Jesuit Father
' Bayley. " A Brief Sketch of the History of the Catholic Church on the Island of New York," New York, 1853, pp. 53-5 ; Treacy, " Irish Scholars of the Penal Days," New York, p. 104.
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Anthony Kolilmann, there being no priest attending the Catholics there except Rev. John Byrne, who was anxious to withdraw.^ Bishop Concanen, after four months' stay at Leghorn and Locanda, returned to Rome, where lie was actively engaged till 1810. He then made another attempt to reach New York by way of Naples. By the good offices of the American Consul he secured passage on a vessel bound for Salem ; his passports were obtained, and he was about to embark, when the French police forbade him to leave the city. The shock threw the aged bishop into a fever : he expired on the 19th of June, 1810, and on the following day was solemnly buried in the vaults of the Church of San Domenico Maggiore.
The management of the diocese of New York de- volved on Father Anthony Kohlmann, S.J., as Admin- istrator sede vacante. His ajopointment and the j)res- ence of several members of the Society of Jesus had already given umbrage to Bishop Concanen, but un- conscious of this and looking only to the good of the Church, the Administrator had gone on zealously. On his arrival in the latter part of the year 1808 he had found the congregation of St. Peter's estimated at 14,000 souls, chiefly Irish, with some hundreds of French and Germans, but sadly neglected. With Father Fenwick he set to work to revive a sense of religion in their hearts. Sermons in English, French, and German were given every Sunday ; three cate- chism classes were established, the confessionals were regularly attended. The improvement was at once apparent. The deserted communion rail was filled, pious confraternities were erected and zealously entered.
' Archbishop Carroll to Rev. J. Byrne, Jan. 10, 1805 ; to Rev. F. A. Kohlmann, Aug. 15, 1808.
A CATHEDRAL BEGUN. 163
The New York Literary Institution was soon opened and frequented by the sons of the best families in New York, Catholic and Protestant. Its success was so manifest that it was soon removed to the site of the present Cathedral on Fifth Avenue, where a mansion with gardens and orchard was secured.^
About this time Fathers Kohlmann and Fenwick were induced by a convert to call upon Thomas Paine, and they went in the hope of leading him to acknowl- edge his error in attacking the existence of God and the truth of revelation. They could make no impres- sion on the hardened mind and heart. A friend of Paine, a fellow unbeliever, and a painter of some ability, caricatured the zealous priests, in a most dis- graceful manner.^
Finding a second church imperatively needed, the Administrator induced the Trustees of St. Peter's Church to purchase a large plot of ground between Broadway and the Bowerj'- Road, in what was then the outskirts of the city. Here on the 8tli of June, 1809, he laid the corner-stone of a Cathedral for the ex- pected Bishop. At the suggestion of Archbishop Carroll he dedicated the new edifice to St. Patrick. The Avork of building was at once commenced, but languished after a time.
Having provided for the education of young men, the next thought of the energetic administrator was to secure like advantages for the other sex. He applied through Father Betagh, a famous Irish Jesuit, for Ursuline nuns of the Blackrock Convent, Cork, and
' Father A. Kohlmann to F. William Strickland, Nov. 7, 1808. Wood- stock Letters, iv., p. 143; March 21, 1809. De Courcy, "Catholic Church in the United States," p. 366.
' Bishop B. J. Fenwick to his brother. U. S. Catholic Magazine, v. , p. 558. Philobiblion, i., p. 206.
164 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Aiml 7, 1812, Mother Mary Anne Fagan, Superior, arrived at New York, with Sisters Frances de Chantal Walsh and Mary Paul Baldwin. A pleasantly sit- uated house was obtained for them, and they opened an academy which soon had many pupils. A poor school was also established. This establishment was greatly aided by Mr. Stephen Jumel.^
An orphan asylum was the next project of Very Rev. Father Kohlmann. Meanwhile he sent Father Fen- wick from time to time to attend Albany and other outlying missions, and in compliance with the request of Archbishop Carroll endeavored to induce the trus- tees to make a suitable provision for the coming Bishop.
Amid all his plans came the tidings of the death of Bishop Concanen at Naples. He at once caused a solemn funeral service to be performed in St. Peter's Church for the repose of his soul.^
In 1812 Fathers Malou, Wouters, and Paul Kohl- mann came to his assistance.
It was generally expected that the Rev. Ambrose Marechal, whom Bishop Concanen had recommended
' F. Anthony Kohlmann to F. William Strickland, Sept. 14, Nov. 28, 1810 ; the Convent was incorporated by the State, March 20, 1814. The Sisters at first supposed the house to be a gift from Mr. Jumel, but he required two-thirds of its value. As no novices joined them the Community was unable to raise the $2000 required. Mother Mary Anne Fagan to Archbishop Carroll, June 2, 1813.
- "The sanctuary, the whole altar, all the curtains were in black. The bier elegantly fixed, covered and surrounded by all the badges of the episcopal dignity, such as the mitre, crosier, etc.; a high mass with deacon and sub-deacon, accompanied with musical instruments, cele- brated and a funeral sermon on the episcopal dignity delivered by Rev. Mr. Fenwick to an audience so numerous as has scarce ever been seen before in any church." F. A. Kohlmann to Archbishop Carroll, Oct. 12, 1810.
V. REV. A. KOHLMANN, ADMR. 165
as his coadjutor, would be appointed to the see of New York ; but it became known apparently to the Superior of the Society of Jesus, that the appointment and labors of Father Kohlmann had been distasteful to the late Bishop, and when in 1814 it was announced that the see of New York would be conferred on Father John Connolly of the same order, and influ- enced by the same feelings, it was decided by the Society of Jesus, who found it very difficult to main- tain the college, to withdraw from that diocese. The New York Institution was closed ; the learned Mr. Wallace, who had published a valuable astronomical work,^ and Mr. Grace, a talented classical and general scholar, returned to Maryland, soon to labor as i)riests in the missions and colleges of their order.
Before this the Administrator was drawn into public notice by a law case which, to the honor of American jurisprudence, decided on the broad grounds of natural justice and equity the rights of a Catholic priest in regard to the confessional. A man and his wife were indicted for receiving stolen goods, but before trial the owner of the property acknowledged that he had received his property back from the hands of Rev. Anthony Kohlmann. The clergyman was subpoenaed to appear at the trial as a witness against the supposed thieves and these accused as receivers. When called to the witness box Rev. Mr. Kohlmann asked to be excused from answering, and said: "Were I sum- moned to give evidence as a private individual (in which capacity I declare most solemnly, I know noth- ing relative to the case before the courts), and to testify
' " A New Treatise on the Use of the Globes, and Practical Astro n- onty," by James Wallace, Member of the New York Literary Institu- tion. New York, 1813, 512 pp.
166 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
from those ordinary sources of information from which the witnesses present have derived theirs, I should not for a moment hesitate, and should even deem it a duty of conscience to declare whatever knowledge I
might have" " but if called upon to testify in
quality of a minister of a sacrament, in which my God himself has enjoined on me a perpetual and inviolable secresy, I must declare to this honorable court, that I cannot, I must not answer any question that has a bearing upon the restitution in question ; and that it would be my duty to prefer instantaneous death or any temporal misfortune, rather than disclose the name of the penitent in question. For, were I to act otherwise, I should become a traitor to my church, to my sacred ministry, and to my God. In fine, I should render myself guilty of eternal damnation." .... " The question now before the court is this: Whether a Roman Catholic priest can in any case be justifiable in revealing the secrets of sacramental confession ? I say he cannot ; the reason whereof must be obvious to every one acquainted with the tenets of the Catholic Church respecting the sacraments." He then pro- ceeded to explain the tenets of the Church, and showed to what disabilities a violation of its laws would sub- ject him.
Mr. Riker, a Protestant lawyer, was allowed to argue the case in behalf of Father Kohlmann. The district attorney, Mr. Gardinier, relied mainly on the fact that no such right as was claimed was recognized by the constitution of the State. William Samp- son, a brilliant advocate, reviewed at length the English and Irish cases, and argued that they could not be considered precedents for this country, where freedom of worship Avas guaranteed. The court through the Hon. DeWitt Clinton, who presided, care-
THE CONFESSIONAL IN COURT. 167
fully reviewed the whole case and decided that a priest could not be called upon to testify as to matters which he knew only through the confessional. " We speak of this question," he said, " not in a theological sense, but in its legal and constitutional bearings. Although we differ from the witness and his brethren, in our religious creed, yet we have no reason to ques- tion the purity of their motives, or to impeach their good Conduct as citizens. They are protected by the laws and constitution of this country in the full and free exercise of their religion, and this court can never countenance or authorize the application of insult to their faith, or of torture to their consciences." Samp- son published a report of the case under the title :
"The Catholic Question in America Whether
a Roman Catholic clergyman be in any case compell- able to disclose the secrets of Auricular Confession " (New York : Edward Gillespy, 1813). To this Father Kohlmann appended an elaborate treatise, "A True Exposition of the Doctrine of the Catholic Church touching the Sacrament of Penance, with the grounds on which this doctrine is founded."
The novelty of the question caused the book to be widely read, and the justice of the decision has been universally admitted. The exposition of Father Kohl- mann caused several Protestant writers to endeavor to weaken its force. Among others the apostate Charles H. Wharton issued a reply. Father Kohlmann would not enter the arena of controversy ; he left his own calm and learned treatise to exercise its influence ; but the Rev. S. F, O' Gallagher of Charleston issued a reply to Wharton.^
' S. F. O'Gallagher, " A Brief Reply to a Short Answer to a True Ex- position of the Doctrine of the Catholic Cliurch touching the Sacrament of Penance " ; New York, 1815.
168 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
About the beginning of tlie year 1815, Father Anthony Kohlmann was ordered by the General of the Society of Jesus to return to Maryland and assume the position of master of novices. Archbishop Carroll greatly regretted the step, but it seemed unavoidable. Father Kohlmann left New York before the month of April, virtually ceasing to be Administrator of the diocese.^ Of the zealous members of the Society who had at times shared his labors in New York only Fathers Benedict Fenwick and Peter Malou re- mained. The Ursuline nuns, having received no novices, and seeing the diocese without a head, closed their convent and academy in the spring of 1816, and after long detention at Halifax reached Cork.^
Meanwhile Father Benedict Fenwick was left, though without any authority, to manage the affairs of the New York diocese till the arrival of Rt. Rev. John Connolly, O.S.D., who was nominated in 1814 and consecrated at Rome on the 6tli of November, but who did not land in New York for nearly a year, hold- ing in the mean while no communication with his Metropolitan or his diocese.^
Father Fenwick was aided for a time by the Trap- pists, who took np their abode in the late residence of the Jesuits ; they opened an asylum, where they soon had thirty-three children, nearly all orphans. A house of Trappist nuns was formed, and the Fathers attended also the Ursuline Convent. All was so peace- ful and encouraging that the Abbot Dom Augustine de r Estrange even celebrated the feast of Corpus
' F. John Grassi to Archbishop Carroll, April 7, 1815 ; U. S. Catholic Hist. Mag., iii., p> 321.
^ Bishop Cheverus to Archbishop Carroll, May 22, 1815.
^ " Life and Times of Arclibishop Carroll," p. 666.
DEDICATION.
169
Christi by an out-door procession and benediction ; but the restless abbot would not remain anywhere. He embarked in the autumn of 1814 with nearly all the monks and the Avhole sisterhood, Father Vincent de Paul following with the rest in May, 1815/
5'ather Fenwick urged on the completion of the Cathedral, which had been delayed by a variety of
ST. PATRICK'S CATHEDRAL, NEW YORK, DEDICATED MAY 4, 1815.
circumstances, and succeeded so that Ascension day, May 4, 1815, was fixed for its dedication. For this interesting ceremony he invited the kindly Bishop of
1 " Relation de ce qui est arrive a deux Religieux de la Trappe," etc., Paris 1824, pp. 17-25; Gaillardin, " Les Trappistes ou I'Ordre de Citeaux au xix. sificle," Paris, 1853, ii., p. 336. The first party sailed on the Fingal, Oct. 20, 1814. Rev. A. Kolilmaun to Rev. S. G. Brute, Nov. 3, 1814.
170 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
JBoston. In the uncertainty prevailing as to the time of the arrival of a newly appointed Bishop of New York, Dr. Cheverus consented to officiate. The pro- cession to the church included not only the Bishop and such clergymen as could attend, but also the Mayor and Aldermen of the city and the Trustees of St. Peter's and St. Patrick's churches. Between three and four thousand people filled the interior of what was at the time the most imposing church in New York city.^ " Besides the three Fathers here," wrote Bishop Cheverus to Archbishop Carroll, ' ' we had with us Father Maleve and the Rev. Mr. Pasquiet. I dedicated the church in the same manner that you did in Boston. We all did our best to make this a truly imposing ceremony. The Fathers desire that all the rites prescribed in the Pontifical may be performed. I shall go through with them to-morrow, privatim et januis clausis." *
The Bishop of Boston remained till Whitsunday in order to confirm the large number of Catholics who had been prepared for the reception of the sacrament. While he was still in New York tidings arrived that a bishop had actually been consecrated for that see. Expecting, naturally, that Dr. Connolly would arrive in a short time, Bishop Cheverus expressed his regret at having yielded to the entreaties of Father Fenwick, but as events proved the Bishop of New York did not arrive till near the end of the year.^ • Bishop Plessis of Quebec, who was in New York in September, 1815, speaks of the new cathedral as "at the extremity of the city, towards the country. It has already cost $90,000," he adds, "but has yet no
. ' New York Gazette, May 5, 1815. * Bishop Cheverus to Archbishop Carroll, May 9, May 11, 1815.
DEDICATION. 171
steei)le, or sacristy, or enclosure, or annexed buildings. Outside there is no rough-casting or penciled joints, although the very ordinary stone of which it is built requires both. To make up for this, the interior is magnificent. Six tall clustered columns on each side dividing the whole body of the church into three naves, surmounted by gothic arches, form a sight all the more imposing, as a painter has designed on the flat rear wall terminating the edifice behind the altar a continuation of these arches and columns, that form a distant perspective and produce a vivid illusion on strangers, not warned in advance, giving them at first the impression that the altar stands midway in the length of the church, when in reality it touches the wall.
"The effect produced by this perspective makes this church pass for the finest in the the United States. It is also remarkable for the size of the windows, the elegance of the two galleries, one above the other, symmetrical staircases leading to the organ over the main entrance. The pews occupying the nave leave three spacious aisles, and are capped all around with mahogany. It is intended to be the Bishop's cathe- dral, but the sanctuary is not at all adapted for plac- ing his throne, or for the performance of episcopal functions." ^
A Catholic event of the year 1815 was the establish- ment of " The Roman Catholic Benevolent Society," which was soon incorporated ; its object being to raise means annually for the support of an orphan asylupi- The Society still continues its good work.^
1 "Relation d'un Voyage aux Etats Unis, par Mgr. Joseph Octave Plessis, Evgque de Quebec, en 1815," which I owe to Rev. J. Sasseville.
2 Truth Teller, v., p. 349.
CHAPTER X.
DIOCESE OF NEW YORK. THE RIGHT REV. JOHN CONNOLLY, SECOND BISHOP, 1814-1825.
John Connolly was born in 1750 in the parish of Monknewtown. After studying in his native place and Drogheda, he sought admission into tlie Domini- can order, and about 1766 was sent to Liege, where he seems to have remained some years and to have won the attachment of many. He was then sent to Rome and completed his studies. After his ordination he
8IGKATUBE OP JOHN CONNOLLY, BISHOP OF NEVf YORK.
became the agent and corresi^ondent of the Irish bishops. He was in Rome when the French, in 1798, seized the Pope and declared the temporal power abolished. Seeing the increasing difficulty of commu- nicating with the Sovereign Pontiff, he obtained in season an extension of the faculties of the Irish bishops for a number of years. He labored earnestly to delay the seizure of the English, Irish, and Scotch colleges, and kept the matter in abeyance till the arrival of Nelson's fleet at Naples made Rome untenable by the French. Father Connolly had, by offering to serve
172
THE RIGHT REV. JOHN CONNOLLY, SECOND BISHOP OF NEW YORK.
173
BISHOP CONNOLLY'S DELAY, ' 175
gratuitously as chaplain and confessor, induced the French authorities to spare the Dominican church and convent, and at some outlay saved the library and furniture.^
As already noted, he was thought of for the see of New York when the death of Father Concanen seemed imminent, and the seizure of the Sovereign Pontiff and suspension of the work of the Propaganda alone pre- vented his appointment as successor. Meanwhile he had been appointed Theologus Casanatensis and Secre- tary to the General.^ He was nominated Bishop of New York in 1814, being at the time Prior of St. Clement's, and was consecrated Bishop on the 6th of November. He remained some time in Rome, and on the first of February announced his departure about the middle of that month, but added : "I am to delay about a month in the diocese of Liege, where I am pressingly requested by the Yicar of the Chapter of that city, to arrive for Holy Week, in order to conse- crate the holy oils and afterwards to administer the sacrament of confirmation in different parts of that vast diocese, now many years without a bishop. I hope to have, before the middle of May, the happiness of waiting on your lordship at Navan," he wrote to Bishop Plunket.^ The United States and England
' Cogan, " The Diocese of Meath Ancient and Modern," Dublin, 1870, iii., p. 543; F. John Connolly to Bishop Plunket, Feb. 24, Nov. 10, 1796 ; Feb. 17, March, 1798, Jan. 18, 1800, Feb. 28, 1801, Oct. 6, 1804, Feb. 22, 1806. lb., pp. 205-357.
» F. John Connolly to Archbishop Carroll, April 12, 1810.
^ Cogan, iii., p. 411. The Bishop of Liege, Mgr. Zoepfel, died Oct. 17, 1808, and the see remained vacant till 1829. The Vicar Capitular Barrett applied to the government, April 15, 27, 1815, for permission to have Bishop Connolly perform episcopal acts. Letter of William S. Preston, Consul at Liege.
176 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
had been at war, and until peace was signed, Bishop Connolly did not venture to come to the United States for fear of being treated as an alien enemy, being a British subject. Had he been able to reach his diocese at once after his consecration, valuable institutions might have been retained.
After laboring in the diocese of Liege and visiting Ireland, where he seems to have secured some priests for his diocese, he embarked at Dublin on the ship Sally, which was so delayed by storms that it did not reach New York till about the 24th of November, when in fact it was generally given up as lost,^ The hardships of the voyage brought on a cough and cold which prevented the Bishop from proceeding at once to Baltimore, but the death of Archbishop Carroll, about a week later, prevented his ever beholding the founder of the American hierarchy.^ Bishop Cheverus interrupted the funeral services for the Archbishop at Boston to come to New York and install Bishop Con- nolly in St. Patrick's Cathedral.^
On taking possession of his diocese, Bishop Connolly found the estimated Catholic population to be thirteen thousand, all but two thousand being of Irish birth or descent. His whole body of clergy consisted of Fathers Benedict Fenwick, Peter Malou and Maximil- ian Rantzau of the Society of Jesus, and the Domini- can Father Thomas Carbry, whom he knew as a student at the Minerva. Not long before the coming of the Bishop, the Rev. Micliael Carroll arrived, but
• Bishop Connolly to Cardinal Litta, Feb. 25, 1818 ; abstract of same in Bay ley, p. 70-1.
^ Bishop Connolly to Archbishop Neale, Dec. 7, 1815. Shamrock, ii., p. 75.
^Bishop Cheverus to Archbishop Neale, Dec. 11, 1815.
STATE OF THE DIOCESE. 177
had not yet been assigned to duty. The Rev. Michael O' Gorman, whom Bishop Connolly seems to have ordained in Ireland, accompanied him or came soon after. In a short time Father Rantzau returned to Maryland, and early in the following year Rev. Mr. Fenwick followed. Bishop Connolly beheld with no little consternation the penury of the diocese and the loss of institutions which encouragement might have preserved. He appealed to Rev. Father John Grassi, Superior of the Jesuits, to restore Father Fenwick to him, and expressed his grief at the closing of the New York Literary Institution.
He was obliged to be Bishop, parish priest and cur- ate, labor in the confessional, and attend the sick at all hours of the day and night. Accustomed for years to the climate of Rome, the severe winter in America proved very trying.
In the spring he visited Albany to revive religion there, and instruct old and young for the reception of the sacraments, the Rev. Paul McQuade having left that charge some time before, so that the faithful had been without a priest.^
Catholics were, however, pouring into New York, most of them, indeed, to scatter through the country, but enough remaining in the diocese to require con- stant effort on the part of the Bishop to find priests. At the instance of trustees in New York and Albany, he wrote to clergymen in Ireland whom they desired, but this plan failed. For a long time he had but two priests with him to attend the Catholics in New York city.^
He sent Rev. Mr. O' Gorman to Albany, charged also
' Shamrock, Dec. 2, 1815 ; Bishop Connolly to Cardinal Litta, Feb. 25, 1818 ; to F. John Grassi, July 1, 1816 ; to Bishop Plessis, June 7, 1816. 5 Bishop Connolly to Archbishop Marechal, Oct. 23, 1817.
178 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
with the outlying missions in the northern and central parts of New York State ; and that kiborious priest entered zealously on his duties. After visiting Balti- more in 1817 to take part in the consecration of Arch- bishop Marechal, the Bishop received into his diocese the Rev. Arthur Langdill, who was appointed to the missions outside of New York and Albany, and dur- ing the winter he received also the Rev. William Taylor, and early in the following year the Rev. Father Charles D. Ffrench, a member of his own Dominican order. These last accessions, however, brouglit division, rather than strength, to the diocese. The Trustees found themselves unable to meet the expenses of the two churches, St, Peter's and St. Patrick's, the annual interest was a heavy drain, and there Avere times when they informed the Bishop that there were no funds to pay him his salary. Discon- tent followed ; and the Catholics of New York were soon divided into parties ; one side favored the Bishop, Fathers Ffrench and Carbry ; the other the Trustees and the Rev. Messrs. Malou and Taylor. Acts giving separate corporate existence to each of the two churches were obtained in April, 1817, as well as a law incorporating "The Roman Catholic Benevolent So- ciety." ^ The first board of Trustees of the Cathedral was elected by those who supported Bishop Connolly, and this party next attempted to gain control of St. Peter's Church. Great excitement was caused by the divisions in the Catholic body, and Father Ffrench by violent and turbulent appeals in the churches, and still more in public meetings and circulars,^ gravely com-
' Laws of New York, April 11, 14, 15, 1817.
' See Ffrench, " To the Members of the Roman Catholic Communion of the City of New York," 2 pp., 4to, a violent production. " Address of the Trustees of St. Peter's Church to the Congregation," 3 pp., 4to, m6re temperate.
TRIALS AND DIFFICULTIES. 179
promised the Bishop whom he sought to serve. On their side the party siding with the Trustees of St. Peter's brought charges against Father Ffrench of unclerical conduct in Canada and New Brunswick. They asked Dr. Connolly to remove him from his position ; but the Bishop, not . crediting the accusa- tions, refused to act on them. When the Trustees proposed to appeal to Archbishop Marechal, as Metro- politan, the Bishop entered formally on the minutes his protest " against the Archbishop or any other Ec- clesiastic interfering in the concerns of the Catholic Congregation of New York, unless expressly being empowered by the Holy Father, the Pojie." The Trustees, however, addressed a long communication to Archbishop Marechal, reviewing the whole contro- versy.^ They refused to pay the salary of Father Ffrench, and threatened to close the doors of the church against him, and one of their body menaced the Bishop with the withdrawal of his salary. Dr. Marechal declined to interfere in the affairs of New York, but reptesentations had been made at Rome, and in September, 1819, Cardinal Fontana wrote to the Archbishop in regard to Bishop Connolly's bishop- ric.^ About the same time, Rev. William Taylor was deputed to proceed to Rome and lay before the Pro- paganda a statement of the condition of the diocese, and he proceeded on his way. About this time also, Bishop Connolly withdrew the faculties of the Rev. Peter Malou.^ The whole affair was a sad comment- ary on the introduction of national preferences into
■ Address in the archives at Baltimore.
'Archbishop Marechal to Bishop Connolly, Dec. 24, 1819; Bishop Connolly to Archbishop Marechal, Dec. 30, 1819 ; Oct. 6, 1820.
3 Same to Rev. William Taylor, Dec. 24, 1819.
180 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
the affairs of the Church. Bishop Connolly had been selected to appease the complaints made by unworthy priests and pretentious laymen who had really lost the faith ; he had drawn none but priests of his own nationality to his diocese ; yet he found himself denounced by his own to his Metropolitan, and to the Propaganda, and a fellow-countryman aiming to supersede him.^
In the autumn of 1820, Bishop Connolly made a visitation of part of his diocese, extending to more than a thousand miles. Notwithstanding his ad- vanced age he returned without any serious incon- venience.^
Meanwhile Bishop Connolly had been able to effect some good. Sister Rose White, after receiving the counsels of their i)ious foundress, came with two Sis- ters of Charity, Cecilia O' Conway and Felicite Brady, from Emmitsburg in 1817 to take charge of the Or- phan Asylum, and made their first home in a small wooden building on Prince Street near the Cathedral. Only five orphans were at first confided to their care, but the next year they had twenty-eight.^
The Catholics in Utica and western New York re- solved to erect a church in that place, " On January 10, 1819, after mass said in the house of John C. Devereux by Rev. M. O' Gorman, notice was given in due form of the election of a Board of Trustees. On the next two Sundays the Catholics met in the same
' Letters were written to Rome by the Bishop of Quebec, the Arch- bishop of Baltimore, and other prelates, urging caution and circumspec- tion before acting in regard to New York.
' Bishop Connolly to the Propaganda, March 4, 1823.
^ White, " Life of Mrs. Eliza A. Seton, Foundress and first Superior of the Sisters or Daughters of Charity in the United States," etc., New York, 1853, p. 390, 500.
CHURCH AT UTICA. 181
place without a priest, and after their usual service notice was again given, and on the 25th a meeting was held at which John O'Connor,^ John C. Devereux, Nicholas Devereux, Morris Hogan of New Hartford, Oliver Weston, Thomas McCarthy, James Lynch, John McGuire of Rochester, Charles Carroll of Gene- see River, were duly elected the first Board of Trus- tees of the first Catholic church in the Western Dis- trict of New York." Many of these gentlemen lived from fifty to two hundred miles from Utica, but though the Erie Canal works already employed many Irish Catholics, only a single church seemed within the means of the faithful. Morris S. Miller, Esq., gave three lots for the proposed edifice, the Devereuxs sub- scribed $1125, many others from $1 to $50. The church was completed in 1820, and Milbert, a French traveler, wrote : " On an isolated elevation rises a new church. It is elegantly built of wood in gothic style. I attended the ceremony of its dedication, which was performed by the Catholic Bishop . of New York, August 19, 1821." ^ A local publication bears out his flattering account : " The chapel is a beautiful struc- ture at the corner of Bleecker and John streets ; is of wood, 45 by 60, with a cupola, and was erected in 1820. .... The Society acknowledges with f)leasure a liberal assistance from Protestants generally." ^
In the northern part of the State, Bishop Connolly was called upon to dedicate another church. This was at Carthage, where a French gentleman, Mr. Leray de
' John O'Connor was the first Catholic resident of Auburn, and his daughter, Mrs. Ellen O'Connor Grant, died while this work was going through the press, in her 76th year. Rev. J. J. Hickey of Waterloo and Father Pius, C. P., are her nephews.
* Milbert, " Itineraire Pittoresque de Fleuve d'Hudson," i., p. 154.
3 Utica Directory, 1828.
182 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Chaumont, had drawn settlers to develop liis large j)roperty. As many were Catholics, he erected a church for their use. Milbert, who witnessed its dedi- cation by Bishop Connolly, writes: "On the most striking eminence rises a little church surmounted by its belfry. It was built of the expense of Mr. Leray de Chaumont, and is erected for the use of the Irish Catholics who, with a certain number of Germans and Americans, constitute almost the entire population of the town. Dr. Connolly, Catholic Bishop of New York, dedicated it during my stay at Lerayville. It is to serve the. double purpose of church and i^ublic school, for in the United States every district, how unimportant soever, is bound to have a school and maintain at its expense a teacher to instruct the children." ^
Both these churches were x)laced under the care of Rev. John Farnan, who said mass at Utica in the Court House, May 30, 1819, and who labored for sev- eral years along the line of the Erie Canal, the first great field of Catholic employment and avenue of Catholic emigration westward.^
On the return of Rev. Mr. Taylor in 1821, Bishop Connolly declined to receive him into his diocese, and that priest issued an address to the Catholics. This led to a public meeting in which the course of the
'Milbert, ii., p. 39.
2 Rev. F. P. McFarland to author, Feb. 12, 1856. Sermon of Rev. J. S. M. Lynch, Sept. 18, 1887. No detailed account of Bishop Connolly's visitation has been found. I am inclined to believe that he went as far west as Buffalo, and that he, and not Bishop Conwell of Philadelphia, baptized a child of Mr. Patrick O'Rourke, after Le Couteulx, one of the pioneer Catholics of Buffalo (Timon, "Missions," 211 ; Lynch, "Re- trospections," in Buffalo Cath. Union, Sept. 13, 1889), and that in con- sequence of the visitation. Rev. Mr. Kelly, of Rochester, in 1821 said mass for five Catholic families in St. Paul's Episcopal Church.
REV. JOHN POWER. 183
Bishop was sustained, and a memorial was adopted expressing tlie adherence of his people to him. Rev. Mr. Taylor then withdrew to Boston.^ Father Ffrench, ordered from Rome to leave the diocese under pain of suspension, sailed for New Brunswick to obtain evi- dence refuting the charges brought against him ; he published a vindication, and seems to have returned in a more subdued spirit.^ Father Carbry had removed to Norfolk to fan the troubles there. Father Malou had been recalled by his Superior to Maryland. The diocese of New York thus lost many of its i^riests, but was at last favored with hopes of peace and harmony.
During the days of trouble the diocese received a priest destined to a long and important ministry in New York. This was the Rev. John Power, a native of Roscarberry, Ireland ; born on the 19tli of June, 1792. Educated at Maynooth, he became professor in the seminary of the diocese of Cork, and subsequently curate at Youghal. He came to New York in 1819 at the solicitation of the Trustees of St. Peter's Church. His eloquence, ability, and prudence soon made him a general favorite.
In 1820 and the following year, Bishop Connolly ordained the Rev. Richard Bulger, a cheerful and laborious missionary in Long Island and New Jersey, and the Rev. Patrick Kelly.
'Ante, p. 125. Taylor, " An Address to the Roman Catholic Congre- gation of New York" ; New York, Baldwin, 1821, pp. 8. "An Address of the Roman Catholics of New York : to the Right Rev. Doctor John Connolly ; together with the Resolutions that wei'e passed at three meet- ings," New York, March, 1821, pp. 8. There is also a scurrilous pam- phlet by Walter Cox.
* Ffrench, " A Short Memoir with some Documents in vindication of the charges made by malicious persons against the character of Rev. Charles Ffrench," etc. St. John, New Brunswick, 1822, pp. 16.
184 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
On the 11th of February, 1821, the Bishop sustained a heavy loss, the Cathedral having been sacrilegiously robbed of a monstrance, a ciborium, two crucifixes, and a hundred dollars in money. ^
The Laity's Directory for 1822, prepared by Rev. John Power, gives the following account of the diocese. In the city of New York, E,t. Rev. John Connolly and Rev. Michael O' Gorman at St. Patrick's Cathedral; at St. Peter's Church, Rev. Charles Ffrench and Rev. John Power. Rev. Richard Bulger at Paterson ; Al- bany and its missions, Troy, Lansingburgh, Johns- town, and Schnectady were attended by Rev. Michael Carroll ; Utica and its missions, by Rev. John Farnan; Auburn, Rochester, and other districts in the western part of the State by the Rev. Patrick Kelly ; while Staten Island and congregations along the North River were attended regularly by the Augustinian Father Philip Lariscy.^
New York had its two free schools, supported partly by the funds of the State, and partly by moneys raised twice a year by the two congregations. It had, too, as we have seen, an orphan asylum.
At Rome a lot had been given for a church by Dom- inic Lynch ; at Auburn a church was already projected, Carthage church had no resident priest. In New Jersey, St. John's Church at Paterson, a building twenty-five feet by thirty, attended by Rev. Mr. Bul-
' Bishop Connolly to Bishop Plessis, Feb. 17, 1821,
^ "The Laity's Directory to the Church Service, for the year of our Lord 1822," New York, Creagh, 1823, pp. 104-6. "History of the Catholic Church in Paterson, N. J., with an account of the fifteenth Anniversary of the establishment of St. John's Church." Paterson, ■ 1883. The first mass in Paterson was said at Michael Gillespie's house on Market street by F. Lariscy, O.S.A. He was succeeded by Rev. Mr. Lant^dill.
BROOKLYN. 185
ger, was the only church in that part of the State in- cluded in the diocese of New York, and from it was served the old chapel at Macopin, in the mining popu- lation attended in the last century by Father Farmer. Bottle Hill, now Madison, was attended from 1805. Newark had then a very small Catholic population.
In New York city the annual interest on the heavy debt of the Cathedral exhausted the resources and prevented the support of more clergymen. The Bishop all day and often at night discharged the duties of parish priest and curate, that the dying might not be deprived of the sacraments, or those in health of penance and holy communion.^
During the early part of the century the Catholics of Brooklyn had been compelled to cross the East River in all weathers in order to attend mass at St. Peter's Church, and the future Archbishop of New York and Cardinal of Holy Church frequently made the trip in his boyhood. In 1822, however, a zealous and pious man, Peter Turner, addressed a circular to his fellow Catholics to urge some movement for the establishment of a church and school. When the Catholics assembled it was found that there were only seventy able to give money or their labor. Ground, however, was bought on Jay Street in March, and work on the church began, and mass was occasion- ally said for the Catholics by Rev. Messrs. Bulger, O' Gorman, Power, McAuley. The church was, at last, solemnly dedicated to Almighty God under the invocation of St. James, by Bishop Connolly on the 26th of August, 1823, the Rev. John Power preaching on the occasion.^
1 Bishop Connolly to Propaganda, March 4, 1822. 2U. S. Catholic Historical Magazine, i., pp. 298-303. Rev. Thomas C. Levins, who arrived in this country in July, 1822, says in his Diary,
186 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
The Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide about this time suggested the transfer of Bishop Kelly to. New York as coadjutor, but he had so openly con- demned the State governments in this country for in- corporating boards of trustees for Catholic churches, that Bishop Connolly advised against the translation as likely to cause trouble/
William Cobbett tells us, on the authority of Bishop Connolly, that there were when he left America fifteen thousand communicants in New York city.^
Before the year 1824 Catholics had not been mo- lested in New York and its vicinity from the days of the riot at St. Peter's Church ; but at this time a so- ciety pledged by oath to uphold the King of England, the Orangemen, were not only active in creating preju- dice against Catholics but proceeded to open violence, attacking them on the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne in Greenwich village, then a suburb of New York, at Lockport, and at Paterson, New Jersey. Several of them were indicted in New York for dis- turbing the peace and for assault, and were convicted, Thomas Addis Emmet and William Sampson, two well- known Protestant lawyers, appearing against them.^
Though additional churches were greatly needed in New York city, it seemed rash to undertake others,
" On the second day (July 16), I visited Brooklyn on Long Island, where the Catholics had just prepared the foundations of a chapel or church, as every place of worship is here termed. It is small, being only 60 feet long, 40 wide." The oldest tombstone is that of John O'Connor, who died Aug. 19, 1822. N. Y. Cath. News, March 9, 1870.
' Bishop Connolly to Propaganda, March 4, 1822.
* Cobbett's Letters to George IV. in U. S. Catholic Miscellany, Dec. 29, 1824. He speaks of Bishop Connolly's recent return from Rome, but I find no allusion to it elsewhere.
^ U. S. Catholic Miscellany, iii., pp. 143. Wheeler's "Criminal Cases," iii., pp. 82-100.
DEATH OF BISHOP CONNOLLY. 187
while the two were so heavily burthened. In Octo- ber, meetings of Catholics were held, in which Rev. Michael O' Gorman took an active part, and an as- sociation was organized to collect money throughout the city to reduce and gradually extinguish the debts. The resolutions paid a tribute of respect to Bishop Connolly, "who most justly possesses the confidence of all, and whose wisdom, piety, and zeal have excited the admiration of our fellow-citizens — whose conduct, manners, and example recall to our minds what we have read of primitive simplicity in the history of the Apostles of the earlier ages." ^
Change of climate, change from a quiet cloistered life to one of care, anxiety, and constant labor as a missionary priest, now began to tell on the Bishop. He solicited the appointment of Rev. Michael O' Gorman as his coadjutor, but in November, 1824, that worthy priest was stricken down by a fatal dis- ease, and within eight days Rev. Richard Bulger also expired at the Bishop's house on Broadway. They were buried near the south door of the Cathedral. Bishop Connolly was deeply affected by this blow, but struggled to fulfill the increased duties which devolved upon him, although he was taken ill immediately after attending Rev. Mr. O' Gorman's funeral. While offi- ciating at another burial about the 1st of January,. 1825, he was prostrated, and departed this life on Sunday evening, February 6, 1825, at seven o'clock. His body was exposed in the central aisle of St. Peter's Church till the solemn mass of requiem, after which his remains were conveyed to St. Patrick's Cathedral and interred near the altar. ^
' U. S. Catholic Miscellany, iii., pp. 300-3.
■^Bayley, "Brief Sketch," pp. 76-7; U. S. Catholic Miscellany, iv., pp. 128, 160.
CHAPTER XL
DIOCESE OF NEW YORK.
VERY REV. JOHN POWER, ADMINISTRATOR, 1825-1826.
By the death of Bishop Connolly the temporary administration of the diocese devolved upon the Very Rev. John Power, who had, as assistant and pastor of St. Peters, evinced qualities that fitted him for the position of Vicar General.
He took up the work earnestly, and having literary tastes, shown by his translation of part of the Bible de Roj^aumont, the publication of a Laity's Directory, and an edition of the prayer-book known as "True Piety." He also encouraged the establishment of a Catholic paper, "The Truth Teller," which appeared on the 2d of April, 1825, under the management of George Pardow and William Denman. He continued the good work of the association for relieving the churches from debt, and raised his eloquent voice to aid it. In the Orphan Asylum and the Sisters of Charity who directed it, he showed unflagging interest. Their original home had become altogether too contracted, and Very Rev. Mr. Power in October began the erec- tion of a new three-story brick edifice that would give accommodation to 160 orphans. To aid the work he delivered a charity sermon, and enlisted Bishop Eng- land, who about the time visited New York, to deliver another, obtaining by these appeals more than a thou- sand dollars. The asylum was completed and dedi-* cated on the 23d of November, 1826, and was almost immediately filled by the orphans whom the charita-
188
ORPHAN ASYLUM.
189
ble Sisters had gathered to the number of 150. The Garcia Italian, troupe contributed also to the good work by an Oratorio in the Cathedral, the finest musi- cal entertainment ever heard in New York, the famous
VERY REV. JOHN POWER, V. G. ADMENISTBATOR.
Signorina Garcia (Madame Malibran) joining in the exercises.^
The diocese soon lost another priest, Rev. Mr, Brennan, ordained by the late Bishop, January, 1822, and stationed at Paterson ; but his health failed and he died at New York in March, 1825. About this
» U. S. Catholic Misc., v., p. 304. Truth Teller, May 8, Oct. 15, 1825 ; June 24, Nov. 18, 1826. Goodrich, "Picture of New York," pp. 225, 342.
190 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
time St. James' Church, Brooklyn, obtained a perma- nent priest, Rev. John Farnan.^
Dr. Power encouraged Catholics east of Broadway, in the purchase of a Presbyterian church on Sheriff Street, which was fitted up for the Catholic liturgy and was formally opened by the pastor, Rev. Hat- ton Walsh, May 14, 1826; this third Catholic church in New York was dedicated to Our Lady, and took the name of St. Mary's.^ The church soon proved inadequate to accommodate the Catholics in that part of New York city, and as early as 1829 it was found necessary to enlarge it.'^
Soon after the death of Bishop Connolly orders were received from Rome for the restoration of Rev. Peter Malou, whose faculties had been withdrawn by the late Bishop. He resumed his accustomed duties at St. Peter's Church, but he did not survive long, dying on the 10th of October, 1827.="
' U. S. Cath. Hist. Mag. i., p. 301.
■i Truth Teller, May 6-13, 1836; Sept. 26, 1839, v., p. 308. Walsh, " A Discourse delivered at the opening of St. Mary's Church on Sunday, the 14th day of May, 1836," New York, 1836, pp. 20.
2 Peter Anthony Malou was born at Ypres, October 9, 1758, and mar- ried June 3, 1777, Marie Louise Riga. He took an active part in the rising against the Austrians in 1786, both in the council and the field, aiding materially as general to deliver his native Belgium. After being envoy to Paris, where he endeavored to save his country from invasion, he came to America. Returning soon after to Europe he lost his wife, and in 1801 entered the Seminary at Wolsau ; but in 1805 applied for admission as a lay brother in the Society of Jesus. He occupied this humble position till he was recognized by one of his old officers. He was then required to complete his theological course, and in 1811 was sent to America. New York was the chief scene of his priestly labors. His son, John Baptist, became Senator of Belgium ; his grandson of the same name. Bishop of Bruges. " His zeal, his admirable charity to re- lieve all distresses, the purity of his morals will cause his loss to be deeply felt by all those who knew him, particularly by the poor, who
CONSECRA TION. 1 91
Early in the year 1826 Mr. Waddington, of New- York, who owned large tracts of land in the northern part of the State, gave a tract of fifty acres at Wad- dington for the use of the Church. The Rev. James Salmon, an aged priest who had lived there some years ministering to the faithful, thereupon began the erec- tion of a log church.'
When the Bulls arrived appointing to the see of New York the founder of Mount St. Mary's College, the Rev. John Du Bois, and the day was fixed for his consecration, Very Rev. Mr. Power went to Baltimore, and with Rt. Rev. Henry Conwell, Bishop of PhiLv delphia, acted as assistant to Archbishop Marechal at the consecration on the 29th of October, 1826. On the 5th of November the Very Rev. Administrator preached at the installation of Bishop Du Bois, and relinquished the care of the diocese.''
will mingle their tears with those of his numerous friends," says a paper of the time. Truth Teller, iii., p. 327 ; De Courcy, " Catholic Church in the United States," pp. 387-9.
1 Truth Teller, July 1. 1836 ; J. Talbot Smith, " A History of the Diocese of Ogdensburg," New York, p. 89.
' Truth Teller, Nov. 4, Nov. 11, 1826. Rev. Mr. Taylor embarked a few days afterwards for France.
CHAPTER XII.
DIOCESE OF NEW YORK.
RT. KEY. JOHN DU BOIS, THIRD BISHOP, 1826-1829.
The clergyman selected to fill the see of New York was one known far and wide through the country. As a zealous missionary, as founder of a college and seminary for the education of clergymen, he was known and respected. Priests trained at Mount St. Mary's were already laboring in the vineyard in many dioceses. Young men whose training in the college proved the stepping-stone to success maintained through life their respect for Rev. John Du Bois. He was born in Paris, August 24, 1764 ; trained by a pious mother he received his education at the College of Louis-le-Grand, Camille Desmoulins and Robespierre being fellow-students. Entering the seminary dedi- cated to the Irish Saint Magloire, he was ordained priest September 22, 1787, and became assistant in the parish of St. Sulpice, and chaplain to the Sisters of Charity. In this sphere he labored zealously till 1791, when the priest of God held his life in his hands, ex- pecting death at any moment. John Du Bois was not a man to flinch easily before any danger,, but at last exile became his only choice. With the connivance of his old schoolmates and strong letters from Lafay- ette, he was able to reach Norfolk in August, 1791. Bishop Carroll, a good judge of men, was favorably impressed with the learning, zeal, and courage of the young priest. He labored at Norfolk and Richmond, and endeavored to erect a church at Alexandria.
192
RT. REV. JOHN DU BOIS, THIRD BISHOP OP NEW YORK.
193
CONSECRATION. 195
Transferred to Frederick and to Emmitsburg lie built up a college, to which the Sulpitians removed their preparatory seminary. He also aided Mother Seton in her great work. His services in the cause of religion can be traced in these pages. He brought to the important duties of Bishop of New York long experience in the ministry, skill in the train- ing of clergymen, firmness perhaps too much like obstinacy, energy and activity for creating necessary institutions, and a knowledge of the country.
He was consecrated by Archbishop Marechal, Octo- ber 29, 1826, in the Cathedral of Baltimore, the sanct- uary being crowded with priests and ecclesiastics, many of whom owed their education to his zeal and care. His ring and cross were given to him by Charles Carroll of Carrollton, the last of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Bishop Conwell of Philadelphia, and Very Rev. John Power, Adminis- trator of the diocese of New York, acted as assistants. The Cathedral was crowded to its utmost capacity, but, as a presage of coming trouble. Rev. William Taylor, who preached on the occasion, gave vent to expressions which foreboded the direst troubles to the Church of God in New York.
His pupils of Mount St. Mary's College presented him an address expressive of their sense of the loss sustained by the college in being deprived of its founder and President, and embodying their heart- felt wishes for his success and hapj)iness in the new field to which the Head of the Church summoned him.^
He was installed in St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York, on the Sunday within the octave of All Saints,
' U. S. Catholic Miscellany, Nov. 25, 1826. Truth Teller, Nov. 11, 1826.
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when tlie Very Rev. Administrator preached and re- signed into his hands the office which he had held. Bishop Du Bois then ascended the pulpit and ex- pressed the wish "that there should be but one heart and one soul between the Bishop, his clergy, and the congregation. They should on every occasion act in unison, and by adopting this course the Catholics of New York might almost work miracles." '
When Bishop Du Bois began to study the condition of his diocese, he found Catholics everywhere, far in excess of tlie number that had been reported. He estimated the faithful in the city of New York at 25,- 000, and in his whole jurisdiction at probably 150,000, but soon was led to believe his estimate too low. For this flock he had but nine churches and eighteen priests.
The remarks of Rev. Mr. Taylor at Baltimore, and indications but too evident in New York, left no room for doubt in the mind of Bishop Du Bois, and he saw that those who had opposed Bishop Connolly would now oppose him, but make his nationality their pre- text. Yet the first indications were favorable ; and he wrote to Archbishop Marechal : "I have had noth- ing but consokition since my arrival here. The fright- ful prognostications of good Mr. Taylor have vanished like smoke, and I see around me only good will and union, but it will take time to form a decided opinion." ^
' " I had learned there had been debates in New York, whether or not Dr. Du Bois should be received or admitted into any church of the city. The conclusion of this council was that they should admit him ; but afterwards give him trouble, as a person intruded on them by undue in- fluence." Bishop Conwell to Archbishop Marechal, Aug. 2, 1826.
* Bishop Du Bois to Archbishop Marechal, Nov. 24, 1826. Annales de la Prop, de la Foi, iv., p. 417, etc.
FIRST PASTORAL. 197
In a pastoral letter lie exposed the great wants of the diocese and the necessity of harmonious action ; he thanked the clergy and laity in general for the recep- tion which he had received. He then answered the charge that his appointment was the work of a cabal. His late ecclesiastical superior, Archbishop Marechal, and the Sulpitians, "a society of humble, pious, dis- interested, and unambitious ecclesiastics," were ar- raigned as the instigators. He declared unequivocally that Archbishop Marechal, so far from urging his selection, made every representation against it, and
SIGNATURE OF BISHOP DU BOIS, OP KEW YORK.
that the priests of the Seminary in Baltimore were like himself ignorant of his appointment till his Bulls arrived.
His nationality was objected to ; "H we were not long ago American by our oath of allegiance, our habits, our gratitude and affection, thirty-five years spent in America in the toils of the mission and of public education, would surely give us the right to exclaim : We too are American ! But we are all Catholics. Are not all distinctions of birth and coun- try lost in this common profession?" He met the complaint that a priest of the diocese ought to have been selected by showing that there was only one priest who had been identified with it for any great number of years.
He then entered upon the condition of the bishop- ric ; he showed the great want of churches and priests, and the necessity of opening Catholic schools. He had brought- with him two young priests and one sem-
198 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
inarian who was soon to be ordained. These he pro- posed to employ at first in catechetical instruction of the young. He intended to introduce Sisters of Charity to conduct academies and schools, but there was urgent need for similar establishments for boys. This need he hoped to supply and to complement the system by a college on the plan of Mount St. Mary's. Praising the clergy and faithful for the fine orphan asylum recently erected, he called attention to the want of a Society for protecting and aiding immigrants, as well as of a home for the aged ; he urged the clergy and faithful to unite in restoring the discipline of the church, so that all marriages, baptisms, and funeral services should take place in churches and not in private houses.^
During the winter Bishop Du Bois visited Paterson and Newark in New Jersey, and the Catholic soldiers at Fort Diamond. His first ordination, that of Rev. Luke Berry, took place in the Cathedral, January 1, 1827. In the summer he made a visitation of the churches in New York State, returning in October.
Bishop Du Bois received important aid for his dio- cese in the Rev. Felix Varela, a native of Cuba and professor in the Royal College of San Carlos at Havana. This learned priest had gone to Spain as one of the deputies of his native island to the Cortes, but when the constitution was overthrown he was proscribed and came to the United States. In 1824 he began the publication in Philadelphia of a little periodical called "El Habanero," but the next year he removed to New York. When Bishop Du Bois assumed control. Dr. Yarela had mastered English and was apparently al-
' U. S. Catholic Miscellany, vii., pp. 17, 33, 49, July 21, etc.. 1827. It indicates the feeling in New York that this pastoral did not appear in the Truth Teller, the Catholic paper published in that city.
REV. FELIX VARELA. 199
ready received into the diocese, where his virtues and his learning made him for many years a conspicuous member of the clergy. Bishop Du Bois iDlaced him as assistant at St. Peter's Church, but he was not long in that position. A new church was needed, and finding Christ Episcopal Church, in Ann Street, offered for sale, Dr. Varela purchased it in March, 1827, with his own funds and means lent to him by Spanish mer- chants and friends. Here was a field where he soon displayed his boundless charity, his zeal for souls, his learning and devotion.' This church was solemnly dedicated by Bishop Du Bois on the 15th of July, 1827.2
The condition of this diocese as revealed by Bishop Du Bois's personal examination was not a cheering one, and he felt how much was required to supply the congregations already organized with suitable pastors, and to gather into congregations the large numbers scattered at various i^oints, who would cheerfully maintain a priest. It had been his desire to proclaim the jubilee officially, and make it instrumental in re- viving faith and enkindling zeal, but he had no priests whom he could employ to preach from place to place. New York city, with its 30,000 Catholic souls, had the Bishop and six priests ; the rest of his diocese con- tained about as many souls, with only four priests. Rev. Mr. Savage at Albany was so negligent in his duties, that the Bishop soon found it necessary to re- move him ; Rochester was without a resident clergy- man, Carthage poorly supplied. There was no pro-
'- " El Habanero, Papel Politico, Cientiflco y Literario," Philadelphia and New York, 1834^5. Eodriguez, Vida del Presbitero Don Felix Varela. New York, 1878, pp. 226-254.
^ Truth Teller, July 21, 1827. Bishop Du Bois, Letter, Oct. 19, 1827.
200 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
vision for the future by college or seminary to which he CO aid look for priests to undertake the increasing work.^
Before his return to New York, placards were posted up, attacking Bishop Du Bois for interfering in elections of trustees, although he had done nothing of the kind. He found, too, that prejudice had been ex- cited against him for having the deed of Christ Church made to him as Bishop, as though he proposed to rob the flock confided to him. He answered the vile insinuations by a pastoral to the congregation, and by printing the accounts of the church. Trustees of the churches evidently feared that the faithful would contrast an economically managed church, with those rushing to bankruptcy by their mismanage- ment.^
Another able priest, whom untoward circumstances prevented from rendering the Church all the services that might have been expected, was Rev. Thomas C. Levins, received into the diocese shortly before the death of Bishop Connolly. Thoroughly versed in mathematics and natural philosophy, having made special studies in Europe under the soundest scholars, he came to the United States to become a professor in Georgetown College. His scientific acquirements were soon recognized, and he was twice appointed to the Board of Examiners of the cadets at the Military Academy, West Point. Circumstances led to his with- drawal from the Society, and Bishop Du Bois found him in charge of the Cathedral. He had won reputa- tion as a preacher, and a controversy with Bishop
' Bishop Du Bois to Archbishop Marechal, July 16, Oct. 19, 1827. « Bishop Du Bois, Pastoral Letter, Oct. 14, 1827. U. S. Catholic Mis- cellany, vii., p. 171. Bishop Du Bois to Caaon Mayet, March 1, 1828.
ROCHESTER, BUFFALO. 201
Hobart displayed theological learning and rare dialec- tic ability.
In the summer of 1828 Bishoj) Du Bois, accompanied by Very Rev. John Power, began a visitation of his diocese, traversing the State of New York as far west as Buffalo and northerly to St. Regis. ^
Rochester had been visited from 1818-9 by Rev. Patrick McCormack and Francis Kelly. It now pos- sessed a church, erected by Rev. Michael McNamara, but already almost ruinous.^ Here Bishoj) Du Bois administered confirmation, and gave a short mission. At Buffalo he found seven or eight hundred Catholics, French, Canadians, Swiss, Irish, and some Germans. He ministered to all, hearing confessions of Germans who could not speak English, by means of an inter- preter. Here Louis Le Couteulx gave the Bishop a fine site for a church, prompted to the act by Rev. Stephen T. Badin, who had visited Buffalo.^ The pro- ject of erecting a suitable edifice was heartily taken up. The Bishop offered the holy sacrifice in the Court House on Sunday, July 29, 1829, and baptized thirty or forty. He then proceeded with the Catholics, all saying the rosary, to the cemeter j^, which he blessed. Soon after his visitation Bishop Du Bois was able to send the Rev. Nicholas Mertz to Buffalo to carry on the good work. That good priest arrived late in the year 1829, and took up his abode in a small log house on Pearl ^treet between Eagle and Court, officiating
'Truth Teller, iii., p. 230; U. S. Catholic Miscellany, vii., p. 39. He set out July 18.
'Bishop Timon, "Missions in Western New York," Buffalo, 1862, p. 209-13. Truth Teller, v., p. 332.
'The deed dated January 1, 1829, to Rt. Rev. John Du Bois, is given by Lynch in his " Retrospections," Buffalo Union, Sept. 20, 1888.
202 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
in a frame house near by, which he rented till he was able to build a church.^
When Bishop Du Bois on his visitation reached Saint Regis he found the little Indian village rent by- factional animosities. He succeeded in reconciling the American and British parties, and dissuaded the former from attempting to have a separate church on their own side of the line. Here he gave a mission, preaching, instructing, and administering the sacra- ments. Near the Indian village had grown up an Irish settlement which also called for the exercise of his zeal.
After visiting Montreal he returned to New York by way of Plattsburg, where he met Rev. Mr. Mignaulfc of Chambly, whose apostolical services among the Catholics near the frontier should never be forgotten.*
Meanwhile Utica was thriving under its pastor. Rev. Luke Berry. Sixty-six pews were filled every Sunday, and eighty-six pupils regularly attended the instruc- tions in catechism. Catholics had gathered at Salina in numbers sufficient to justify in 1828 the project of erecting a church.
At Albany the Catholics were endeavoring to build a new and larger church, the primitive shrine of relig- ion no longer sufficing to hold one-third of the faithful. As some money had been allotted to Bishop Du Bois by the Association for the Propagation of the Faith at Lyons, he loaned part of this to the Albany congrega- tion to enable them to prosecute the work. Not long after land was generously given for a church at Sau- gerties.
1 Lynch, " Retrospections," Buffalo Cath. Union, Sept. 27, 1888.
^Fenwick, " Memoirs to serve for the future Ecclesiastical History of the Diocese of Boston."
NEW JERSEY. 203
In the New Jersey portion of his diocese Bishop Du Bois found the Catholics at Newark increased so much in numbers that in the summer they had undertaken to build a church. This good work Bishop Du Bois also aided with funds received from France.^
On the 6th of November, 1828, the corner-stone of a new Catholic church was laid in Paterson, N. J., on a site given by Roswell Colt to his Catholic fellow citizens. Bishop Du Bois Avent in procession to the site to bless the stone with the prescribed rites. The next year the Rev. Mr. Schneller of Christ Church was authorized to collect means to give the Catholics at New Brunswick what they greatly needed, a church and cemetery.^
The orphan asylum prospered ; but there was a want of a refuge for children left with only one parent, who was unable to care wholly for them. This led to the formation of an assistant orphan asylum, or asylum for the children of widows or widowers.
During the winter the health of Bishop Du Bois be- gan to show the effect of his years of evangelical labor and care.^ But his mind was still engaged on the great work of establishing schools. In September, 1828, Brother James D. Boylan arrived from Ireland with some associates, and their plans for establishing a com- munity of brothers were approved by the bishop, who
' Bishop Du Bois, Annales de la Propagation de laFoi, iv., pp. 4.'55-6, etc. See Truth Teller, iii., p. 343, for a specimen of the misrepresen- tations of Newark Catholics at that time. The Albany Catholics laid, the corner-stone of the new church at the corner of Chapel and Pine, Oct. 13, 1829, Alderman Cassidy, president of the board of trustees, acting. Truth Teller, v., p. 333, 343, 309.
« Truth Teller, iv., p. 883 ; v., p. 308, 310.
^U. S. Catholic Miscellany, viii., p. 223 ; Truth Teller, v., p. 334, 343.
204 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
secured lots for the erection of a house and school for them. They took temporary charge of two schools ; meanwhile meetings were called, and ste]3S taken to erect proper buildings, but opposition arose to the Bishop and the plan, and the whole project was aban- doned.'
When Catholic Emancipation was finally granted by the British Parliament, Bishop Du Bois, who had shown his sympathy with the movement to obtain this happy result, issued a pastoral letter appointing Sunday, June 21, for a solemn Te Deum in thanks- giving in all the churches of his diocese. At the masses on that day nearly fifteen hundred dollars were collected for the orphans.
Although summoned to the first Provincial Council of Baltimore, Bishop Du Bois sailed for Europe, as he had for more than a year proposed to proceed to Pome.
His dej)arture was induced by a letter requesting it, from the Cardinal Prefect of the Propaganda. He had taken a great interest in the coming Provincial Council, and discussed with Archbishop Whitfield the matters of discipline which, in his opinion, ought to be adopted and made uniform. He left New York on the ship De Pham for Havre, September 20, V. Revs. John Power and Felix Yarela governing as Vicars- General in his absence.''
His diocese at this time contained in New York city the Cathedral, St. Peter's, St. Mary's and Christ Church, and steps were already made toward the erection of another in what was known as Greenwich village. There was a church, St. James', in Brooklyn ; a church at Paterson, N. J., one in progress of erec-
1 Truth Teller, v., p. 103, 174, 213, 238, 261, 270, 301. *Ib., v., p. 191, 207, 308.
STATE OF DIOCESE. 205
tion at Newark, and another at Macoupin ; Rev. Mr. Schneller was collecting for a church at New Bruns- wick, Albany was erecting a second church, Utica and Carthage were already provided, Troy and Salina were erecting churches, Auburn had its own ; Roches- ter had its priest and church, and the Catholics in Buffalo were actively pushing the erection of theirs.
The Bishop found himself hampered by the trustee system, and met opposition to every project for church or school that did not surrender the whole control to the hands of the trustees.
For the 150,000 Catholics in his diocese he had only eighteen priests, and some of those he felt ought to be replaced by men of greater zeal and merit. To keep up a supply of clergy, a seminary he felt to be abso- lutely necessary, and the establishment of such an institution was the great object of his solicitude ; he earnestly appealed to the Propaganda for aid to found an institution so vitally necessary.'
' Bishop Fenwick, " Memoirs to serve," etc. Bishop Du L "is to the Propaganda, 1829.
SEAL, OF BISHOP DU BOIS.
CHAPTER XIII.
DIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA. RT. REV. MICHAEL EGAN, FIRST BISHOP, 1808-1815.
On the division of tlie original diocese of Baltimore, which had embraced the whole United States j Penn- sylvania and Delaware, into which the services of the Church had been extended from Maryland, and which had even in colonial days enjoyed a freedom and tol- eration denied the faithful and their devoted priests in the land which Sir George Calvert had made a sanc- tuary, were erected into a bishopric with part of New Jersey. Next to the diocese of Baltimore that of Philadelphia seemed to promise most consoling re- sults ; but in the course of time it suffered more than the c^'/'7'tch in any other part of the country from ene- mies vv. -hin and to a terrible extent from enemies without.
As first Bishop of the new see, Archbishop Carroll recommended the ax)pointment of the Rev. Father Michael Egan, of the order of St. Francis, who had been some years on the mission in Pennsylvania.' He was not unknown at Rome, having been guardian of a house of his order in the Eternal City. By his bull, "Ex debito Pastoralis officii," Pope Pius VII. erected the see of Philadelphia and appointed Father Egan as first Bishop. On receiving intelligence of the election, Archbishop Carroll made the Bishop-elect Yicar Gen-
' Bishop Carroll recommended Father Egan as a learned, modest, humble priest, carefully practising in his whole life the rules of his holy order. Letter to Cardinal Pietro, June 17, 1807.
206
AS VICAR GENERAL. 207
eral for the territory embraced in the new diocese of Philadelphia.
Michael Egan, thus selected, with the general wel- come of the Catholic body which he was to govern, is said to have been born in Galway, and showing piety and talent was sent to the continent after receiving the gray habit of St. Francis of Assisium. He made liis studies in the great convent of St. Isidore at Rome, and in time became guardian of that famous house of the Irish Franciscans, founded in 1 625 by the illustri- ous Father Luke Wadding.
Father Egan felt, however, that he was called not to learned rest in the capital of the Christian world, but to labor as a missionary among his own countrymen where the need was greatest. While toiling on hum- bly and unostentatiously in Ireland, where he spent seven years, he received a letter from Lancaster in Pennsylvania, in which the Catholics of that town in- vited him to come and minister to them. Naturally surprised that he should be known at all in such a re- mote spot, he felt impelled to respond to the call which summoned him to a field where priests were sorely needed. He accordingly came to the United States in 1802 and began to labor as assistant to the Rev. Louis de Barth de Walbach, then in charge of the Lancaster church and the missions dependent on it. It was a hard life in a wild country, riding to dis- tant points to say mass and to visit the sick ; but the good Franciscan roused the zeal of the peoj^le by his fervor aijid piety. The congregation of St. Mary's, Philadelphia, soon asked that he should be appointed to their church, as a field where he could accomplish much more good. He left the whole matter in the hands of Bishop Carroll,^ who transferred him to Phil-
» F. Michael Egan to Bishop Carroll, Feb. 10, 1803.
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adelpliia. After exercising the ministry for nearly a year at St. Mary's, lie was convinced that a province of the Seraphic order might be established in the United States with great advantage to the Church, and upon laying the matter before Bishop Carroll he ad- dressed Cardinal Somaglia, in order to obtain through his influence with the Pope and the General of the Franciscans the necessary authority to erect a province and hold lands. Offers of a large farm near Frank- fort, Kentucky, inclined him to select that spot as the cradle of the future Franciscan province.^
When the Sovereign Pontiff, Pius VII., made Father Michael Egan a Bishop," his duties were en- larged. The responsibility of looking after the wel- fare of all the churches and the faithful in the diocese thus, to some extent, devolved on him, with the special charge of St. Mary's Church. There he had no assistant except Father John Rosseter, O.S.A., who was in such feeble health as to be able to render but little aid. When Advent came he detained the pious priest, Rev. Mr. Byrne, who was on his way from New York to Georgetown, and re- joiced to see the good he accomplished. On the 17th of December, 1808, arrived a priest destined to occupy an important place in the history of the Church. This was the Rev. William Vincent Harold, O.S.D., who came strongly recommended by Archbishop Troy of Dublin and his provincial to Bishop Concanen, whom he expected to find already installed in New York.
' Same to same, Jan. 8, 29, 1805. F. Michac4 Egan to Cardinal Soma- glia, Philadelphia, Dec. 11, 1803. His first entry in the Lancaster Reg ister is Jan. 17, 1803 ; Register of St. Joseph's is April 11, 1803. Wood- stock Letters, ii., p. 176. S. M. Sener in U. S. Cath. Hist. Mag., i., p. 45.
« Bull, " Apostolatus Officium," April 8, 1808.
DIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA. 209
Gifted with rare eloquence, based on ability and learn- ing, Father Harold made so vivid an impression that the Bishop-elect resolved to secure him for his diocese, and solicited the necessary faculties from Archbishop Carroll.^
When the see of Philadelphia was established, there were in Philadelphia St. Joseph's and St. Mary's churches, attended by Rev. Michael Egan, O.S.F., the Bishop-elect, assisted by Rev. John Rosseter ; Holy Trinity, attended by Rev. William Elling and F. Adam Britt' ; St. Augustine's, by V. Rev. Matthew Carr, O.S.A., and Rev. M. Hurley, O.S.A. Holy Trinity had by a successful lottery in 1806 erected a parsonage and St. Joseph's Orphan Asylum, the first institution of its kind established by Catholics in the United States.' Rev. Louis de Barth attended at Lan- caster and Conewago ; Rev. Paul Erntsen had begun in 1793 his quarter century pastorship at Goshenhoppen ; Rev. S. Y. Phelan had reared a log church at Sugar Creek, and Father Peter Helbron, O. Min. Cap., another log chapel in Westmoreland county ; Rev. Demetrius A. Gallitzin was laboring in the dis- trict of which Loretto was the centre, and Rev. W. F. O'Brien had just left Brownsville to restore to a permanent footing Catholicity in Pittsburgh, where in the days of the French the brave men Avho so gallantly strove to hold that point knelt before the altar of
' Bishop-elect Egan to Archbishop Carroll, Dec. 19, 1808.
'^ Father Britt found the German catechism which had been in use out of print. He issued a new edition extending the prayers for Confession and Communion. F. Adam Britt to Archbishop Carroll, Nov. 9, 1809 ; Finotti, Bibliotheca.
^Rev. E. O. Hilterman, " Kurze Geschichte der Allerheil. Dreifaltig- keits Gemeinde."
210 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Our Lady.' There were a few cliurclies without resi- dent priests, as at Elizabethtown, Westchester," Car- lisle, and not a few stations scattered far and wide. Such was the diocese over which the mild and humble Franciscan was called to exercise his pastoral care, create resources to meet ever-increasing wants, and instill into all the lessons of harmony and peace.
The expected Bulls did not arrive, but as early as October 20, 1808, Archbishop Carroll addressed the trustees of the several Catholic churches of Philadel- phia, explaining that it had become indispensably necessary to make provision, as well for the first ex- penses of the consecration and installation of the new prelate, as for his permanent support. He explained that the Holy See required solid assurance, when new bishoprics are instituted, that the Bishop shall be in- dependent of the fluctuations of favor or public opin- ion and free from all apprehension of being deprived of his means of support. He accordingly called upon them for a settlement of the Bisho^j's income on a footing suitable and honorable to his station, and not controllable by the influence of those over whose high- est interest Divine Providence had appointed him.
The trustees of St. Mary's Church, Rev. Adam Britt pastor, and the trustees of Holy Trinity Church, and Rev. Michael Hurley for St. Augustine's Church, bound themselves to make up a yearly amount of eight
' Rev. p. Helbron had visited Pittsburgh as early as 1805. Letter to Archbisliop Carroll, Nov. 1, 1805.
^ Mr. Anthony Hearn by his will left a mortgage which he held on church property at White Clay Creek to insure the attendance of a priest at Westchester. Letter of Rev. J. P. Kenny, May 6, 1807. The corner- stone of a church to be dedicated to tlie Blessed Virgin was laid at Le- banon by Rev. F. J. W. Beschter, S J., July 23, 1810. Letter to Arch- bishop Carroll, Lancaster, Aug. 6, 1810.
BISHOP EG AN CONSECRATED. 211
hundred dollars, St. Mary's paying four hundred dol- lars, and each of the others two hundred.^ To meet the accommodation required by the increasing body of the faithful, an enlargement of St. Mary's Church was begun in the spring of 1809 and completed in the autumn of the following year.'^
During the long delay in the arrival of the Bulls the Bishop-elect could act only as Vicar-General, but they finally arrived in August, 1810, by the hands of Bishop-elect Flaget. Arrangements were at once made for the ceremony, and Rt. Rev. Michael Egan was consecrated by Archbishop Carroll, with the Bishop-elect of Bardstown and Boston as assistants, in St. Peter's Church, the pro-cathedral of Baltimore, on Sunday, October 28, 1810. Bishop Egan soon after took i)art as assistant in the consecration of Bishops Cheverus and Flaget.
He united with his Metropolitan and fellow-suf- fragans in drawing up rules of discipline, and in a pastoral letter, as well as in a letter to the Irish hierarchy.^
Returning to Philadelj)hia, where he was formally installed in St. Mary's Church, he soon found the trustees assuming a high tone as owners and proprie- tors of his cathedral. A very slight examination showed Dr. Egan that the trustees were not the legal owners of the church at all.* Before the close of
' Archbishop Carroll to Trustees, Oct. 20, 1808. Action of Trustees, Nov. 1, 1808, in " Life and Times of Archbishop Carroll," pp. 637-9.
2 Woodstock Letters, ii., p. 78.
» lb., pp. 633-63.
"• Bishop Neale at Baltimore and Georgetown assured Bishop Egan that there was in Philadelphia, among the papers, a deed of St. Mary's to Rev. Robert Harding. This on his return he found, dated May 23, 1763. The Hon. Thomas Fitz Simons was still alive, one of the witnesses of the
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winter, Rev. James Harold, O. S. T>., uncle of the Do- minican already at St. Mary's, reached Philadelphia, by way of Rio Janeiro, having escaped from Australia, to which he had been sent on suspicion of complicity in the rebellion of 1798.^
Early in the year Father Charles Neale, superior of the Maryland Jesuits, recalled Father Britt from the Church of the Holy Trinity in Philadelphia, against the wish of Archbishop Carroll and Bishop Egan, and the latter was compelled to rely on Rev. Dr. Mat- thew O'Brien and Rev. Mr. Kenny to say mass at the German church.^
In July, though in ill health, he set out from Phila- delphia, where he had visited the churches, to continue his visitation through Pennsylvania. He suffered ex- tremely on the journey from the excessive heat of the weather and the jolting of the stage-coach on the mountain roads. Of his visits east of the mountains we have no record, but we trace him at Brownsville, where he celebrated mass and administered confir- mation at the house of Major Noble ; and at Loretto, where Prince Gallitzin welcomed him heartily, he con- firmed one hundred and eighty-five, many very young children. The good effected by the Russian Prince
deed. Bishop Egaa put the deed on record Jan. 29. 1811. Letter to Archbishop Carroll, Feb. 19, 1811, and deed in U. S. Catholic Hist. Mag., ii., pp. 31-34.
' Bishop Egan to Archbishop Carroll, March, 1811 ; Hogan, " The Irish in Australia," Dublin, 1888, pp. 226-230.
' Bishop Egan to Archbishop Carroll, June 5, Oct. 14, 1811. Rev. F. Maximilian Rantzau was sent soon after, but did not succeed. When Rev Mr. Kenny attempted to preach threats were made that he would be dragged from the pulpit. He seems to have been stationed there for the benefit of those who could no longer speak German. Rev. J. P. Kenny to Archbishop Carroll, May 6, 1807.
VISITATION. 213
cheered the Bishop so that, on reaching Pittsburgh, he recovered speedily not only from the fatigue but from his illness. Here too he administered the sacrament of confirmation for the first time. "The satisfaction I experienced in beholding the great number of Catho- lics throughout that widely extended country ; and their ]3unctuality in observing their religious duties v^^henever opportunity offers, more than compensated for all that I could possibly suffer. I have been in- deed highly gratified with the rapid increase of relig- ion in the different congregations I have visited, and this gratification would be greatly augmented had I ten more zealous priests to send to their assistance. The Rev. Mr. Gallitzin is scarcely any longer capable of attending to the spiritual necessities of the very numerous congregation committed to his care. I have promised him an assistant when in my power. In Pittsburgh also they are crying out for another priest to assist the Rev. Mr. O'Brien, who has several other stations to attend, and of course cannot be with them as often as they would wish. The Rev. Mr. Helbron's advanced age renders it necessary to provide for his assistance. In a word, without some timely aid from Europe, particularly from Ireland, I know not how to provide for the necessities of this diocese."
During this tour of duty Bishop Egan confirmed 1460 persons ; but if he returned consoled and en- couraged, he soon found himself involved in disagree- able complications with the trustees of St. Mary's, and a struggle began which proved destructive to many souls, and which for years paralyzed the work of the Church in Pennsylvania.
' Bishop Egan to Archbishop Carroll, Oct. 8, 1811 ; Lambing, " His- tory of the Dioceses of Pittsburgh and Alleghany," pp. 40, 237, 306.
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One of the results of the consecration of a Bishop and his presence at the missions throughout Pennsyl- vania is shown in the erection of a brick church at York in 1810 to replace the old stone house that had previously been in use from 1776, and of a stone church at Chambersburg in 1812, where the faithful had previously had only a primitive log chapel.^
When Archbishop Carroll wrote to the trustees of the Philadelphia churches, one point was overlooked or evaded in their reply, that relating to the expenses of Bishop Egan's consecration. The time came, at last, for him to proceed to Baltimore, and then the trustees of St. Mary's refused to act in the matter ; they subsequently demanded that one of the priests should be dismissed from St. Mary's, and declared that they had no funds to pay the salaries of the Bishop and the priests who assisted him.
Bishop Egan then appealed to the pewholders and called a meeting, against which the trustees issued their protest, and a long document in which they stigmatized the action of Bishop Egan in addressing the faithful of his own cathedral as riotous, disorderly, pernicious, and antichristian, and these men proceeded to lecture the Bishop of the diocese on the "pacific, harmonious, and Christian spirit which pastors should cherish toward their flocks."^ This pamphlet, with ac- counts arranged to suit their own purposes, they printed and distributed widely. The gross misrepresentations and injurious expressions used by the trustees in their publication required, as the Bishop believed, a public
' Conewago, pp. 125, 129.
^ " Sundry Documents submitted to the consideration of the pew- holders of St. Mary's Church by the Trustees of that Church." Phila- delphia, 1812.
DAYS OF TRIAL. 215
answer, and another meeting of the Congregation was called at St. Joseph's Chapel, Sept. 21, 1812, which condemned the trustees and sustained the Bishop.' The trustees then applied to the Legislature to amend the charter of the church and exclude the clergy from the board, but this Bishop Egan succeeded in prevent- ing.^
Bishop Egan found in his trials that even his two assistants would not cooperate with him. Father William V. Harold refused to preach alternately with his uncle, and when trouble had so undermined the Bishop's nervous system and general health that he could scarcely jjut pen to paper or hold the chalice at mass, both priests refused to aid him in giving communion to the faithful.^
The next year a new board of trustees was elected, but they soon showed the same hostility. On the 4th of May they held a meeting in the absence of the Bishop and his assistants, and j)assed a resolution cutting down the salary of Rt. Rev. Dr. Egan and his two priests to $400 a year. The object in view was to control the action of the Bishop and force him to recall the elder Father Harold, whom he had removed.* As he was firm, however, the younger Harold resigned in February, 1813.^ When he admonished the majority of the trustees, who adhered obstinately in their plan of starving the Bishoj) into subjection to their will in
' Bishop Egan to Archbishop Carroll, Sept. 28, 1813. Proceedings of meeting, Sept. 21, 1812. 2 Bishop Egan to Archbishop Carroll, Feb. 17, 29, 1812.
* Same to same, Jan. 14, Nov. 7, 1812. The Harolds treated Bishop Egan with great disrespect, and Rev. James Harold is said even to have struck him.
* Same to same, July 7, 1813.
^ He sailed from New York in 1813 for Europe by way of Madeira-
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the spiritual management of his diocese, they retali- a.ted by an Address to the Congregation, in which, af- ter violent language against the Bishop, they gave a financial account, including not only what had been paid, but what they expected to pay, Avhat the Bishop received from other churches, and what they sup- posed he and his clergy received from baptisms, mar- riages, etc.^
Not content with thus grossly assailing their own Bishop they wrote to ArchbishojD Carroll in a domi- neering tone that showed little respect for the aged founder of the Catholic hierarchy in the United States. His temperate reply, explaining that he had no au- thority to interfere in the management of a diocese, drew from them an abusive letter. In his reply to this he said : "I have still less inclination to notice the uncivil and unfounded insinuations leveled at me in your letter. Correspondence should cease when it is no longer mutually respectful." ^
The condition of the diocese in 1813 may be stated briefly. Bishop Egan Avas at St. Mary's with Rev. T. McGirr : Rev. M. Carr at St. Augustine's with Rev. Michael Hurley ; Rev. Mr. Roloff at Holy Trinity ; Rev. Michael T. Byrne at Lancaster ; Rev. Dr. A. Gallitzin at Loretto ; Rev. Mr. O'Brien at Pittsburgh ; Rev. L. de Barth at Conewago ; Rev. Paul Erntsen was at Goshenhoppen ; Rev. Patrick Kenny was in Delaware.
>"To the Congregation of St. Mary's Church," July 25, 1813. Bisho^ Egan to Archbishop Carroll, July 26, 1813.
* Trustees to Archbisliop Carroll, Aug. 8, 1814 ; Archbishop Carroll's reply, Aug. 16. Matthew Carey, who took part against Bishop Egan as he did afterwards against Bishop Conwell, in his " Rejoinder to the Reply of the Rev. Mr. Harold," Philadelphia, 1822, pp. 11-26, gives a very unfair account of the troubles in Bishop Egan's time, full of misstatements and suppressions.
THE TRAPPISTS. 217
The orphan asylum near Holy Trinity had been maintained, Rev. Mr. Hurley constantly exerting him- self in its behalf, and Mr. Cornelius Tiers being a gen- erous benefactor. In 1814 tlie managers of the asylum through Father Hurley apjDlied to Mother Seton for Sisters of Charity to assume the direction of the insti- tution. Three Sisters were at once a^Dpointed, Sister Rose White being Sister servant. They did not arrive, however, till after the death of Bishop Egan, leaving Emmitsburg in September, and reaching PhiladeliDhia by a tedious land journey, British cruisers holding the Chesapeake.^
During the year 1813 the ubiquitous Trappists made a brief attempt to establish a permanent monas- tic home in Pennsylvania. Father Yincent de Paul spent some days in August with Bishop Egan at St. Joseph's residence, leaving his name on the parochial registers, and then went up to Pike County to examine some land near Milford, which had been offered to his community. Finding the land uninviting and the country wild and unsettled. Father Vincent and his companions returned to Philadelphia, and in October were enjoying once more the hospitality of Bislioj? Egan.^
As the sxn-ing of 1814 advanced, Bishop Egan felt that his end was not far off. With the nervous pros- tration came now symptoms of pulmonary difficulties. Isolated in a manner at Philadelphia, he yearned for one wise in the ways of God and in spiritual direction.
' Catholic Herald, Sept. 30, 1852; White, "Life of Mrs. Eliza A. Seton," New York, 1853, pp. 352, 495. The asylum was incorporated Dec. 18, 1807, and the house purchased in 1811.
' Flick, " French Refugee Trappists." Records of the A. C. H. So- ciety, i., pp. 111-113.
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He invited Rev. Mr. Babad of St. Sulpice to Philadel- phia ; but was more successful in liis appeal to the Jesuit Father, Rev. John Grassi.' As summer came on his condition became alarming. Drs. Mongez and Wistar, physicians of admitted ability, were assidu- ous in their care, and raised hopes of his recovery. " Every attention, care, and tenderness, spiritual and temporal, have been bestowed on him by the clergy and his devoted friends, the true Catholics of the city," wrote Rev. P. Kenny to Archbishop Carroll. He added: " That he has been the first victim of episco- pal rights, there cannot be the least doubt, .... for his end has been premature."" He expired on the morning of July 22, 1814, about 11 o'clock, laid, we are told, on the floor in the form of a cross, before the picture of St. Francis of Assisi, in room No. 3 of the pastoral residence adjoining St. Joseph's Church.
Rev. Michael Hurley spoke touchingly, at the sol- emn requiem, of the virtues and sufferings of the deceased Bishop.
Tlie elder Harold soon after wrote to Rome announc- ing the Bishop's death, stating that Father William -"V. Harold was Vicar-General, and recommending him for the vacant see.'
'Bishop Egau to Rev. Mr. Babad, 1814; Woodstock Letters, ii., p.
182.
*Rev. P. Kenny to Archbishop Carroll, .July 22, 1814; Woodstock Letters, ii., p. 182.
^ Letter, Oct. 7, 1814, cited in documents in. the Propaganda.
CHAPTER XIV. DIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA.
V. BEY. ADOLPHUS LOUIS DE BABTH, ADMINISTBATOR,
1814-1820.
Whet^ the see of Pliiladelpliia became vacant by the death of Bishop Egan, the Y. Rev. Mr. De Earth of Conewago, whom he had appointed Vicar-General, be- came Administrator of the diocese. He was extremely averse to accepting any position of dignity in the diocese, and at first absolutely declined Bishop Egan's appointment, but finally yielded.'
He was son of Joseph de Barth, Count de Wal- bach and his wife, Maria Louisa de Rohme, and was born at Miinster, Upper Rhine, Nov. 1, 1764. Having determined to embrace the ecclesiastical state he made his studies under the Premonstratensians at Bellay, and the seminary at Strasburg. He was ordained priest at Strasburg in 1790. The French Revolution soon drove the titled father and his priestly son from the land, and they came to the United States. Bishop Carroll gladly received the young priest, who did good service in the lower counties of Maryland and after- wards at Bohemia. In 1800 he was appointed to the Conewago mission, which he directed with slight inter- ruption till 1828. His authority was recognized gen- erally, but not by the lay trustees of St. Mary's Church, who applied to Archbishop Carroll to restore Rev. William V. Harold. The venerable Metropolitan replied : " I find that no right is left with me to inter-
> F, Lud. de Barth to Archbishop Carroll, July 24, 1814. 219
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fere in the government lately vested in Doctor Egan. He nominated, several days before his death, the Rev. Mr. Louis de Barth, pastor of Conewago, for his Vicar- General ; and upon full examination by some of my Reverend Brethren, and learned professors of divinity here, as well as by myself, it is found to be expressly ordained, that when a bishop dies in whose diocese there is neither a cathedral chapter, nor a coadjutor appointed with a right of succession, the Vicar-Gen- eral not only may, but is commanded to exercise all the authority of the deceased till the Holy See appoint a new bishop. The Vicar-General enters on this office immediately in virtue of the power of the Pope him- self, and he holds it dependent] y on the Pope alone. This is the provision made for the continuation of episcopal authority during the vacancy of the bishop- ric of Philadelphia." '
Archbishop Carroll and his suffragans were con- vinced that the interests of religion required that the bishopric should be filled with as little delay as possi- ble. The Rev. John B. David, learned and pious, was proposed, although Bishop Flaget showed great re- luctance to allow him to leave Kentucky. Archbishop Carroll expressed to Cardinal Litta his surprise on hearing that Rev. AVilliam V. Harold had been sug- gested to the Propaganda, and said that although he was a distinguished preacher, he had conducted him-
' Archbishop Carroll to Trustees of St. Mary's, July 37, 1814. Mat- thew Carey and the partisans of Hogan falsified this letter by reading "cathedral, chapter," and cited Dr. Carroll as declaring that St. Mary's was not a cathedral. Where there was a chapter of canons in a cathe- dral, they chose a Vicar-Capitular, who acted as Administrator. See [Carey] " Review of three Pamphlets," 1823, p. 34. "Address of the Ti'ustees," Sept., 1823, p. 16. See letter correctly given in "A Post- script to the Rev. Mr. Harold's Address to the Roman Catholics of Phil- adelphia," pp. 16-17.
REV. D. A. GALLITZIN. 221
self so disrespectfully toward his Bishop (the late Rt. Rev. Dr. Egan) that if he were to be appointed for Philadelphia, serious dissensions and recessions from the Church might justly be apprehended.' The Prop- aganda yielded to the wishes of Bishop Flaget, and the Rev. Ambrose Marechal was appointed. That clergyman, however, declined the appointment and re- turned the bulls, although Cardinal Litta urged him to accept and to recognize the will of God in the judg- ment of the Holy See ;' but as he persisted in his re- fusal to undertake the onerous task, bulls appoint- ing Y. Rev. Louis de Earth were dispatched in 1818.'
That experienced priest had meanwhile endeavored to manage the affairs of the diocese without exciting any fresh discontent. In Western Pennsylvania Rev. Demetrius Gallitzin had continued his laborious min- istry, and roused by the attacks made on Catholicity by a Protestant minister, on a day appointed by govern- ment for humiliation and prayer, wrote a series of articles in reply which attracted general attention, and which he collected and printed at Pittsburg in 1816, under the title, "A Defence of Catholic Principles, in a Letter to a Protestant Minister."* The little work was widely read, and served to open the eyes of many to Catholic truth. Indeed, it became a standard
' Archbishop Carroll to Cardinal Litta, Nov. 28, 1814. The lay trus- tees of St. Mary's addressed the Sovereign Pontiff in favor of Harold, but the Propaganda, Nov. 11, 1820. in reply stated that His Holiness had not found in him the qualities necessary for a bishop,
2 Cardinal Litta to Archbishop Carroll, Dec. 23, 1815 ; to Archbishop Neale, July 13, 1816.
3 Same to Archbishop Marechal, April 1, 1818.
4 144 pp., printed by S. Engles. Winchester, Va., 1818.
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manual ; it was constantly reprinted, and is still sold.
When notice of liis api3ointment arrived, Y. Rev. Mr. De Bartli drew up a statement showing his de- ficiency in the qualities required by a bishop, and transmitting them to Archbishop Marechal, he said : "I declare to you, Monseigneur, that if you do not forward my objections to the Holy See, and His Holi- ness sees and weighs them, I will not accept, but will kneel down and devoutly put the bulls in the fire, as we do with fragments of articles that have been blessed. Then I will make out testimonials for my- self, signed in my real name, as Vicar-General, and give myself anotlier name in the body of the paper, and then farewell, Monseigneur. Neither you nor any one else shall ever know the corner of the globe where I shall vegetate the few years still left me to live."
On the 10th of October, 1816, the Catholics in a val- ley ten miles west of G-ettysburg, who had for some years possessed a cemetery of their own, encouraged by the Jesuit Fathers who attended them, laid the corner-stone of St Ignatius, or the Mountain Church, a little structure, 40 by 70 feet. This same year the pious Father De Andreis of the Congregation of the Missions, on his way to St. Louis, reached Pittsburgh at a moment Avhen Rev. Mr. O'Brien was off attending one of his remote stations. Pittsburg could boast a church. Its poverty did not alarm the good Lazarist, but the pastor had the only chalice with him. At last a pewter chalice was found in one place and a XJaten in another, and the piety of priest and people was gratified. The next year we find the earnest Father Matthew Lekeu, S. J., at Conewago, and two years later in December, 1819, York received its first
REV. C. B. MAGUIRE. 223
resident priest in the person of Rev. Lorenz Huber, About the same time mass began to be said at Blairs- ville and Cameron Bottom.^
The Rev. Peter Helbron, after years of devoted ser- vice in Westmoreland County, went to Philadelphia to obtain surgical treatment for a tumor on his neck, but died at Carlisle on his homeward journey. He was succeeded in his mission by Rev. Charles B. Maguire.
This zealous Franciscan of the strict observance, who was destined to labor fruitfully in western Penn- sylvania, arrived in 1817, with faculties from Cardinal Litta, which were indorsed by xVrchbishop Marechal. He had taught theology at St. Isidore's in Rome, had served eight years in Germany, and sjDoke the lan- guage of that country fluently. Very Rev. Mr. De Barth stationed him first at Ebensburg, but we shall soon see him in charge at Pittsburgh.^
Philadelphia diocese needed good clergy, as some of the able and zealous priests were sinking under their labors. The Rev. Mr. Erntzen of Goshenhoppen had died, and was soon followed by the Rev. Mr. Byrne.
Prince Gallitzin's missions had increased beyond the power of his devoted zeal to attend satisfactorily, and Rev. Mr. De Barth stationed at Bedford Rev. Mr. Kearns, who had been at Chambersburg.
The condition of these districts required the pres- ence of the Administrator, and he spent some time
' Lambing, pp. 41, 254, 400, etc.
^ Very Rev. L. de Barth to Archbishop Marechal, Sept. 23, 1817. His name was sent on to Rome in 1820, for an American See, by the Irisli bishops. Few priests came more higlily recommended, with a letter from Cardinal Litta, the approbation of his General and of his Bishop iu Germany. Lambing, " History of the diocese of Pittsburg," p. 367.
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at Goshenhoppen, then visited Conewago, Lancaster, and Reading.^
Tlie Very Rev. Administrator had received into the diocese, and placed at St. Mary's Seminary, Mr. G. D. Hogan of Limerick, a candidate for holy orders, who came furnished with commendatory letters. A cousin of this gentleman, already a j^riest. Rev. William Hogan, had taken up temporarily the exercise of the ministry in the diocese of New York, and been sta- tioned by Bishoj) Connolly at Albany. As he wished to be in the same diocese with his kinsman, he ap- plied to Archbishop Marechal, who had meanwhile ordained his relative for admission into the diocese of Baltimore, but meeting no encouragement came on to Philadelphia, where V. Rev. Mr. De Barth received him conditionally, apparently on tlie representations of his relative, as he came without his credentials, although he promised to return to New York for them, with an exeat from Bishop Connolly.
The Very Rev. Administrator soon found that he had acted precipitately. Rev. Mr. Hogan not only in- stalled himself, but soon began to show a sense of his own importance. The house which had been occupied by the clergy, and the attendance there, did not meet his ideas, and he took board in the city to make him- self conspicuous, and he began to show a turbulent disposition. News of Bishop ConwelFs appointment had, however, arrived, and as he was soon expected the Administrator left the whole affair to be settled by liim, little dreaming of the misery his incautious act was to entail on the diocese of Philadelphia. ^ The
'Very Rev. L. de Barth to Archbishop Marechal, May 27, July 5, Nov. 11. 1818, Nov. 22, 1819.
5 Rev. W. Hogan to Archbishop Marechal, Aug. 27, 31, 1820. Very Rev. L. de Barth to same, May 15, 24, Sept. 20, 1820.
COMING TROUBLES. 225
news of the appointment of a bishop was received by the Administrator with a sense of great relief.
Other troubles came toward the close of his admin- istratorship. Two German priests at Conewago and Little York gave scandal, and he was compelled to withdraw their faculties. The wretched men soon apostatized, one to become an Episcopal minister, and leading Orangeman in Upper Canada.^
Acting with but limited powers, and without the episcopal dignity, the Very Rev. Louis de Barth had endeavored to manage the affairs of the large diocese. His deep sense of the difficulties in prospect had doubtless been one motive for his persistent refusal of the episcopal dignity. He wrote to Archbishop Marechal in February, 1820, "Bishop Con well will have his hands full. Lancaster, Lebanon, Little York, and Conewago in a state of confusion"; but he did not foresee that still greater trials aAvaited him at Philadelphia. Yet the conduct of the trustees of St. Mary's was such that he wrote to the Metropolitan, as early as March 27, 1818, "They will soon shut the door on lawful pastors."
After being relieved of his position as Administra- tor, Rev. Mr. De Barth continued his ministry at Conewago till 1828, when he was received in Baltimore diocese, and placed in charge of St. John's Church, Baltimore, and directed the congregation for ten years. Li 1838, age and increasing infirmities warned him to I)repare for his departure, and he withdrew to George- town College. Here he lived in quiet seclusion, de- voting his life to meditation and prayer. In the last days of 1843 he stumbled and fell while going up- stairs, and though at first he showed no signs of injury,
' Very Rev. L. de Barth to Archbishop Marechal, May 18, 1820
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the shock proved serious. He was soon unable to leave his room, and to console the aged priest mass was offered in an adjoining apartment. He expired on the 13th of October about live o'clock, his brother
SIGNATURE OP BISUOP DE BARTH.
Colonel de Walbach and his nephew having come to his dying bed. He was buried on the 15th, Bishop Fenwick of Boston offering tlie holy sacrifice and addressing those present on the services of the aged servant of God.'
' U. S. Catli. Mag., iii., p. 745-6. Georgetown Record. Letter to Archbishop Marechal, Sept, 28, 1826.
SEAL OP BISHOP CONWELL.
CHAPTER XY.
DIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA.
RT, EEV. HENRY CON WELL, D.D., SECOND BISHOP,
1820-1842.
Henry Conwell was born in the year 1745 in the County Derry, Ireland. His family had founded a bourse in the Irish College at Paris, and here he made his ecclesiastical studies. While a seminarian at this famous seat of learning, which in the days of the penal laws trained so many priests for the labors and dangers of mission life in Ireland, yonng Conwell at- tracted the attention of Benjamin Franklin.
After completing his divinity studies he was or- dained in 1776, the year when the Continental Congress proclaimed the former English Colonies to be Inde- pendent States, and issued their Declaration in the city where he was nearly half a century later to pre- side as Bishop. The war of the American Revolution had scarcely closed, however, before the priest, who had been employed as a missionary in his native dio- cese, formed the project of devoting himself to the service of the Church in the United States. Learning that the missions in this country had been organized under a Prefect appointed by Pope Pius YI., he wrote through a gentleman in Philadelphia to Father Farmer to offer his services to Dr. Carroll. The venerable Farmer sent his application to the Prefect, stating, "He is said to be an excellent scholar and would not
228 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
refuse to be employed in teaching. " ^ A favorable open- ing seems to have detained him in Ireland, and he be- came parish priest of Diingarvan. In time his merit raised him to the important position of Vicar- General of the diocese of Armagh, and on the death of Arch- bishop Richard O'Reilly, he was so strongly recom- mended as a fit person to succeed to the primacy of all Ireland, that when Dr. Curtis was finally ap- pointed, the Very Rev, Henry Conwell received the option of the sees of Philadelphia or Madras. True to his earlier preference he chose that of Philadelphia. He was elected to the see on the 26th of November, 1819, and soon received his bulls. He was much be- loved, and the people of his parish, supported by the clergy of the diocese, applied to the primate to jjeti- tion the Pope not to charge the Rev. Dr. Conwell with so heavy a burden at his advanced age. The authori- ties in Rome, however, did not see fit to alter what had already been decided.^
For reasons not evident Dr. Conwell forwarded his bulls to Bishop Poynter, Vicar-Apostolic of the Lon- don District, who advised him to come over to England, offering to act as consecrator. St. Bartholomew's day, August 24, 1820, was selected for the ceremony.
After receiving episcopal consecration, Bisho}) Con- well made the necessary preparations for his voyage, and sailed from Liverpool with Bernard Keenan, a young ecclesiastic whom he accepted for his diocese.
' F. Farmer to V. Rev. John Carroll, Nov. 29, 1785 ; A. C. Hist. Re- searches, v., pp. 41-3.
« Prefect of the Propaganda to Bishop Plunkett, Dec. 19, 1818; Peti- tion from Dungarvan, Feb. 22, 1830. Bishop-elect Conwell to Cardinal Fontana, in itinere, Aug. 1, 1830. Notizie, Rome, 1824, p. 313 ; Car- dinal Consalvi to Bishop-elect Conwell, Nov. 86, 1819. Proceedings published in Irish papers of the time.
RT. REV. HENRY CONWELL, SECOND BISHOP OF PHILADELPHIA.
HOGAN'S CASE. 229
They landed in Baltimore Nov. 21, 1820, and reached Philadelphia on the 2d of December.^
After being installed in his see Bishop Conwell was very unfavorably impressed by the conduct and lan- guage of Rev. William Hogan, who from the very pul- pit of the cathedral openly ridiculed the Bishop for his simplicity and a slight hesitation in speech. Finding that he was not actually a priest of the diocese of Philadelphia, or regularly admitted to it even for temporary service, since he had never presented his credentials, Bishop Conwell on the 12th of December revoked all faculties given by V. Rev. Louis de Barth as Administrator.'^
Rev. William Hogan had, however, the trustees on his side, and a public meeting was called which adopted an address to the Bishop, asking the restora- tion of Hogan, and concluding with a falsehood and a veiled threat : "Perhaps you will not consider it irrel- evant to state that St. Mary's Church is the property of the laity, and the clergy are supported by them."^ The Bishop in a mild but firm reply declared that he acted under a sense of duty. Another meeting was held which talked of reconciliation as though the action of the Bishop was merely a personal quarrel
' Vallette, " Catholicity in Eastern Pennsylvania," Catholic Record, July, 1877.
'Bishop Conwell to Archbishop Marechal, Dec. 11, 1820 ; Archbishop Marechal to Bishop Poynter, March 30, 1821.
^Address of committee and meeting, in Hogan, "An Address to the Congregation of St. Mary's Church, Philadelphia," pp. 19-20. In the address, as in most of the documents by the trustees and their friends, the really Protestant ideas of the men appear. Instead of calling Bishop Conwell, Bishop of Philadelphia, they call him, in the style of the Protestant Episcopalians. Bishop of Pennsjivania. Even Matthew Carey does this, and as a rule they quote the Protestant not the Catholic Bible.
230 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
with a priest, Hogan then issued an address at- tacking the character of the Administrator and every priest in Pliikidelphia ; he began to cite extracts from the " Corpus Juris Canonici," assuming to be a i)arish priest, and maintaining that canon law was established in this country, when in fact it never had been, but the Popes expressly treated it as a missionary country. No i^arish had ever been canonically established in the original diocese of Baltimore or its divisions, and there were consequently no parish priests.
Mr. Hogan also called upon Archbishop Marechal to convene a provincial council of all the bishops to examine his case. He also issued a forged pastoral letter, ascribed to Bishop Conwell, full of absurdities, and entitled in Protestant style, "A Charge." Inves- tigation into the antecedents of Hogan showed that in Ireland and America he had manifested a desire and inclination to renounce the doctrines of the Catholic Church and enter the Anglican or Protestant Episco- pal body. Archbishop Marechal replied to Hogan : " Rev. Sir. After the public appeal you made to the congregation of St. Mary's, by the most abominable pamphlet that has ever disgraced the Church of God in this country, you have no longer anj^ right what- ever to call on me as Metropolitan. No! not even under the vulgar pretext of your being innocent and persecuted." Bishop Connolly declared that Hogan' s citations " were artfully calculated to lead into error those who were ignorant of ecclesiastical censures, and that the pompous quotations contained in his address avail nothing, not being to the purpose as regards the simple prohibition given to a clergyman to exercise his clerical functions."
On the 11th of February, 1821, Bishop Conwell gave notice to the congregation of his canonical steps,
THE TRUSTEES. 231
taken in the case of the refractory priest, and warning them against employing his ministry or attending any service that he might attempt while suspended.^
Matthew Carey, a well-known citizen, whose influence in the cause of right would have been beneficial, insidi- ously fanned the flames of discontent by publications scattered far and wide, even after Bishop Conwell had called upon him and assured him that the unworthy character of Rev. Mr. Hogan was callable of absolute proof. But Mr. Carey erected himself into an eccle- siastical court and pronounced the susjDension of Hogan, "a violent measure, not only unsupported by, but contradictory to the canons of the Church," and assuming the judicial powers of the Sovereign Pontiff he declared that "it ought to be immediately with- drawn." ^ Public meetings were held at which Bishoj) Conwell was denounced in violent language, Hogan appealed for the judgment of the Bishops of Boston and Charleston, but when Bishop Cheverus, addressing the Bishop of Philadelphia, after reading all the docu- ments, wrote, "I am persuaded that you had more than sufficient reasons for withdrawing his faculties," Hogan denied the genuineness of his letter, and then his competency to give a judgment !
Unfortunately, bad as Hogan Avas, the men who supported him were far worse. Bishoj) England justly says of many that they "never discharged a single
' " Sundry Documents addressed to St. Mary's Congregation," Phila- delphia, 1821. [Hogan], "A Brief Reply to a Ludicrous Pamphlet en- titled Sundry Documents," 48 pp. The forged " Charge " was reprinted ■with a Review, and though the forgery was patent and undeniable, Hogan's advocates constantly cited it as genuine.
'■^ [M. Carey], "Address to the Right Rev., the Bishop of Pennsyl- vania and the Members of St. Mary's Congregation," 4 pp. " Address to the Right Rev. Bishop Conwell and the Members of St. Mary's Con- gregation," 4 pp.
2S2 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
duty of those principally obligatory on Catholics ; they and the other members of their party were not only negligent in the performance of positive duty, but either from ignorance of the principles of the re- ligion which they professed, or from an utter dislike to them, were hostile to Catholic discipline."^ On this point the evidence is overwhelming. The leaders were not practical Catholics, and did not deny the fact. Even Matthew Carey, who late in life edified all by his piety, was at this time so indifferent that not one of his children had ever been instructed or pre- pared to receive holy communion.' Knowing and appreciating but slightly the doctrines and consola- tions of the Catholic religion, they were deeply imbued witli Protestant ideas, and sought to force them on practical Catholics.
On the withdrawal of Hogan's faculties, that head- strong priest hired a Methodist meeting-house at S850 a year, and projiosed to establish an Independent Catholic church.^ This, however, did not suit the views of the trustees of St. Mary's, who were bent on driving the Bishop and priests empowered by him from that church and placing a tool of their own there. They soon acquired complete control of the unfortu- nate priest. Hogan himself declared to Bishop Eng- land, "That he never intended opposing the Bishop, but that the trustees urged and prevailed on him to do so ; and that the dread of their vengeance and exposure was what kept him in a place which was to him the worst species of slavery, and from which he was anxious to escape." *
' Works, v., p. 109.
^ Bishop Conwell, letter, Jan. 17, 1825.
^ Bishop Conwell to Archbishop Marechal. Jan. 31, Feb. 5, 1821.
^ Bishop England to same, Dec. 22, 1822.
HOGAN DISREGARDS MONITION. 233
The trustees then excluded the Bishop from the "board on the ground that he was not a citizen of the United States, and called public meetings, at which great excitement prevailed and violent collisions took place. Their great object was to carry the approach- ing election and retain their power. Many real Catho- lics protested against this violent and irreligious course, and an address embodyingtheir views was pre- sented to the Bishop on the 19th of April by Charles Johnson, John Carrell, Cornelius Tiers, and others.
To give greater effect to their course the trustees forwarded an appeal to Rome against the action of the Bishop, though, as the sequel showed, they had no in- tention of abiding by any decision of the Holy See. The election was held on the 23d, and the matter was so manipulated that the candidates opposed to the Bishop Avere declared to be elected. Emboldened by this success, the trustees, on the 10th of May, passed a resolution inviting Rev. Mr. Hogan to resume his functions in St. Mary's Church, though he declared himself to belong to the diocese of Limerick and had no longer any faculties in the diocese of Philadelphia. Bishop Conwell, on the 15th, gave him written notice that he would be excommunicated on his first attempt to perform any function as pastor of St. Mary's.
In spite of this, Hogan officiated at a funeral on the 15th, and the next day, Sunday, said mass in St. Mary's Church, which had been closed by the trus- tees the previous Sunday, and the lawfully appointed clergymen. Rev. Messrs. Cummiskey and Hayden, ex- cluded/
A schism was thus inaugurated. The church was in the hands of men who had expelled the Bishop and
' Bishop Conwell to Archbishop Marechal, May 16, 1821.
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his clergy, and installed a priest without faculties, and that pending an appeal on their side to Rome.
Bishop Conwell, after giving Hogan another moni- tion, proceeded to the stej) of final excommunication. It was ^formally pronounced in Saint Augustine's Church, on the 27th of May, by the Bishop of Philadel- phia in person, assisted by the Rev. Messrs. Hurley, Roloff, Holland, Cummiskey, Hayden, and Doyle, ac- cording to the form jDrescribed by the Roman Pontifi- cal. The Rev. William Hogan was cut off from the Church for his contumacy and j^erseverance in the disregard of all authority, and for having usurped and exercised priestly and pastoral functions in defiance of the Bishop's prohibition, frequently repeated, and made under XJain of excommunication. After reading the j)rescribed Latin form, a free translation in English was given to enable all j)resent to understand the nature of the ceremony by which a disobedient mem- ber of the Church was cut off from all communion with it.^
Though thus driven from St. Mary's Church, which Bishop Egan had made his cathedral, a sanctuary was open to him, and the i^riests appointed to St. Mary's who formally withdrew. "Thank God," he wrote, "our little church here of St. Joseph, the cradle of Catholicity through all these Middle and Northern States, does not belong to lay trustees ; it still is the property of the Society of Jesus, which planted relig- ion in this country and should never be forgotten."
This became the pro-cathedral of Bishop Conwell, but on Christmas night the rebellious part of his flock made an attempt to destroy it. A piece of burning wood, wrapped in paper, was placed at the door of the
' Bishop Conwe]! to Archbishop Marechal, June 15, 1823.
STRANGE AUTHORITIES. 235
church at midnight, but when the door actually began to blaze it was fortunately discovered, the fire extin- guished, and the church saved.
Such a malignant attempt aroused the zeal and piety of the faithful. A subscription was opened to enlarge the venerable church ; a thousand dollars was soon contributed and work began on the addition, while the increased piety and devotion were a consolation to the Bishop.^ As the adherents of the excommunicated priest could not always be recognized or excluded from the churches, it would have been impossible to offer the Holy Sacrifice had not Pope Pius VII. given special permission to meet the case.^
The schismatics endeavored to justify their position by obtaining the opinions of two Spanish priests then in Philadelphia, whom they represented to their fol- lowers as bishops, but who were men who had never presented any credentials to any bishop in the United States or pretended to officiate as priests. One of these was a wandering Franciscan, who assumed to have been Vicar-General of the armies of Spain. That office was always held by bishops, often of the highest rank, even Cardinals and Archbishops of Toledo. That Friar John Rico ever held it is next to impossible. He probably acted as chaplain to some insurgent band which adopted the pompous title of "Armies of Spain," for in Philadelphia he had simply been a manufacturer and vender of cigars. Leamy and Meade took down this friar's statement as to the law of the Church, which the friar did not sign, and pub- lished it in pamphlet form, as decisive on the question
' Bishop Conwell to Archbishop Marechal, Jan. 22, 1821, June 18, 1821.
' Decretum sacrae Congregationis de Propaganda Fide, July 18, 1822.
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between the Bishop and the men elected by pew and seat-holders.^
Another pretended bishop whose authority schis- matics invoked was the Rev. Servandus A. Mier, one of the strangest characters in the revolutionary history of Mexico. Appointed to preach on the feast of Onr Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of New Spain, he scan- dalized his hearers by a tierce denunciation of all devotion to the Blessed Virgin. Arrested for this attack on the recognized doctrine and practice of the Church, he was imprisoned by the court of the inqui- sition, but, escaping during the political troubles, he made his way to England. There he fell in with Blanco White, and other Spaniards, imbued with the prevailing infidel ideas : but did not openly renounce the faith. AVlien General Mina was forming his expedition against Mexico, Mier joined him, and after the force reached the coast Mier was left with part of the forces at Soto la Marina in Tamaulipas, south of the Rio Grande. Here he j)assed himself off as Bishop of Baltimore, performed episcopal functions, and crowned his impiety by offering the holy sacrifice with pulque, a liquor made from the magiiey plant, instead of wine. His sacrilegious course drew from the gov- ernors of the diocese of Linares a special address to the faithful. Captured by Spanish troops at Soto la Marina he was again incarcerated for his Irreligious conduct, but finally reached Philadelphia. This utterly worthless character was appealed to by Hogan and his party as an authority. Like the Rev. John Rico, Mier decided that Bishop Conwell was a repro- bate, and that a priest coming from abroad with
' The opinion of tlie Rt. Rev. Dr. John Rico, of the order of St. Francis, D.D., and Vicar-General of the " Armies of Spain," etc., 1821 ; Bishop Conwell to Archbishop Marechal, June 20, 1821.
RE VOL UTIONAR Y IDEAS. 237
faculties from his own bisliop lias a perfect riglit to act under them in a missionary country, without au- thority from the local bishop. They indorsed all Hogan's citations from the canons as being still the law of the Church, applicable to the condition of affairs in Philadelphia/
Aware that there were turbulent men in New York, Norfolk, and Charleston, Leamy, Ashley, Meade, and their confederates next endeavored to make a gen- eral schism in the Church in the United States. They issued, on the 18th of June, an address which stands as a perpetual monument of their iniquity. It was entitled, "Address of the Committee of St. Mary's Church of Philadelphia, to their brethren of the Ro- man Catholic Faith throughout the United States of America, on the subject of a reform of certain abuses in the administration of our Church Discipline." These trustees of St. Mary's Church, elected by seat hirers under a state law, a body not recognized by any canons of the Church, men who admitted that they did not approach the sacraments, say: "Owing to the arbitrary and unjustifiable conduct of certain foreign- ers, sent amongst us by the Junta or Commission, directing the Fide Propaganda of Rome, imperiously call on us to adopt some measures by which an uniform system may be established for the future regulation of
' " Opinion of the Right Rev. Servandus A. Mier," etc., July 11, 1821, pp. 16; Robinson, " Memoirs of the Mexican Revolution," p. 177 ; Alaman, " Historia de Mejico," Mexico, 1850, iii., p. 64 ; iv., pp. 550-595 ; Libro de Gobierno de San Antonio, Texas. The whole of Mier's theories was demolished in a very clear pamphlet, "Remarks on the Opinion of the Right Rev. Servandus A. Mier," etc., Philadelphia, 1821, 8 pp. The trustees tried to make people believe that Mier was a nuncio, sent by the Pope to regulate the church in the United States, and to sanction its independ'ince. Bishop Conwell to Archbishop Marechal, June 20, 1821.
238 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
our churches ; the propagation of our holy Faith by the nomination and selection of proper pastors from our own citizens, from whom alone ought to be chosen our bishops, without our being compelled to depend on persons sent to us from abroad, who have uniformly shown themselves hostile to our institutions." After stigmatizing the bishops of the country, except Dr. Carroll, as "a disgrace to our religion," who attempted to introduce "superstition and ignorance," they had the effrontery to speak for the Catholics of the United States and assume to represent them. " We claim the exclusive right, which always belonged to the Church, of electing our own pastors and bishops." Their pur- pose evidently was to elect laymen, for they proceeded to claim that the bishop elected by the trustees and congregation of each State shall be ordained in this country, and receive the bull as a matter of course. No priest in the church which these men proposed to establish was to be suspended until tried by three or more priests of distinct States. They proposed to send a person to Rome "with full powers and authority from the Catholics of the United States and enter into a regular and written agreement with our holy father, the Pox)e," to obtain these regulations of bishops and clergy, but they did not recommend any obedience on the part of the laity.
A calm and temperate reply to this audacious address, after exposing the misstatements and impiety of Ashley and his associates, well said, "We have every reason to suppose that their present unhappy state is owing to their former neglect in not attend- ing to the duties of their religion ; let us tremble for ourselves ; the same cause Avill have the same effect on us if we act in the same manner." ^ It is
■ " Address to the Roman Catholics of tlie United States by a Lay-
HERETICAL CATECHISM. 239
needless to say that this anticatliolic and revolu- tionary appeal met no encouraging response from any part of the United States,
That the schismatics had absolutely lost the faith is apparent from an edition of Butler's catechism issued by them, revised by Rev. W. Hogan. In it the chap- ter on Confession and Indulgences was suppressed, and in the 10th lesson perfect contrition was declared to be the only remedy for actual mortal sin. This catechism the Bishop promptly condemned, warning the faithful against its use.^
During this time the trustees paid a salary to Rev. Mr. Hogan, but refused to make any payment to the Bishop or the priests whom he had ajjpointed to St. Mary's. Cut off in this way from the usual resources of his x^i'sdecessor. Dr. Con well was crippled for means in making visitations to the various parishes of his diocese. Religion suffered not only in Phila- delphia, but in all parts of Pennsylvania. Yet Catholicity was making some gain. On January 1st, 1821, Bishop CouAvell ordained Rev. Bernard Keenan, and on May 1st, Rev. Thomas Heyden, both destined to labor long and well. Rev. Terence McGirr became a missionary in Westmoreland County and the next year erected a log church, which has lasted to our times. This humble shrine he dedicated to our Lady of Mount Carmel. The Rev. Cliarles Ferry took up his residence in 1821 at St. Patrick's
man of St. Mary's Congregation," Philadelphia, July, 1821. "A Republication of two Addresses," etc., New York, 121. In a violent reply, " An Answer to the Address of a Catholic Layman," Phila- delphia, July 27, 1821, the neglect of the trustees to approach the sacraments was admitted, but was justified by the fact that there were no suitable confessors in the city !
^ Bishop Conwell to Archbishop Marechal, June 18, 1821.
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Church, Sugar Creek, and began to attend a liundred and forty Catholic families, scattered over an area of thirty miles square. Father Charles B. Maguire found his Pittsburgh congregation so much increased in numbers and in si)irit, many now coming forward who had been ashamed of their faith, that he enlarged his church, and in a few years added galleries.^
Bishop Conwell made some visitations near Phila- delphia, as we find him in September, 1821, at Cone- wago. At the suggestion of some persons, and ignorant of his previous career in the diocese. Bishop Conwell had invited from the Corjpo Santo Convent at Lisbon, Father William V. Harold. He arrived on the 2d of December and became Secretary, and sub- sequently Vicar-General, but he failed to exercise the influence anticipated in recalling the schismatics back to the Catholic Church.
In the autumn of 1821 Bishop Conwell resolved to visit Canada in order to appeal to the generosity of the clergy at Quebec and Montreal to aid his little faithful flock in the work they had undertaken. His Canada visit had also another object. This was the establishment of an Ursuline convent in Philadelphia, three young ladies of means wishing to enter the religious life under the rule of St. Angela. He hoped to arrange with the convent at Quebec to receive them as novices and send them back with some experienced nuns to found the proposed house. ^
Before this. Bishop England of Charleston passed through Philadelphia on his way to New York. He was followed by Hogan, who offered to be guided by
' Bishop Conwell to Cardinal Fontana, Jan. 7, 1822. Lambing, p. 368, 415. Truth Teller, 1., p. 19.
* Bishop Conwell to Bishop Plessis, Quebec, Oct. 25, 1821 ; " Les Ursulines de Quebec," iii., p. 508.
BISHOP ENGLAND. 241
the Bishop of Charleston. About the middle of Octo- ber Dr. England saw Bishop Conwell in New York, and obtained permission to absolve Hogan, if he would leave Philadelphia, and enter the diocese of Charleston, Further than this Bishop Conwell would not go. Bishop England then went to Philadelphia with the Rev. John Power as his secretary. Rev. Mr. Hogan asked to be received into the diocese of Charles- ton, was received by Bishop England, who, under the power conferred by Bishop Conwell, absolved him from his excommunication. Bishop England cau- tioned him, as a priest of his diocese, not to attempt to officiate in the diocese of Philadelphia. But Ashley, Leamy, and Fagan reproached Hogan for deserting them and persuaded the unfortunate priest to officiate on Sunday once more in St. Mary's Church. Bishop England had no alternative but to renew the sentence of excommunication. His conduct was cruelly mis- represented by the schismatics, and so prepossessed was Bishoj) Conwell against him that it required a series of letters to justify, in the eyes of the Bishop of Philadelphia, the efforts made with the best inten- tions, but which proved so futile.^
The legislature of Pennsylvania, whom the trustees
' Diary of Bishop England, Sept. 5— Oct. 21, 1821. Rev. J. Power to Bishop Plessis, Nov. 6, 1831. Hogan, "An Answer to a Paragraph con- tained in the U. S. Catholic Miscellany," Phila., 1822, p. 39 ; England, " Letters to the Rt. Rev. Dr. Conwell," Works, v., pp. 118-168; Hogan, " A Reply to Sundry Letters," 1822, again reprinting the forged "Charge "of Bishop Conwell Bishop Conwell to Cardinal Fontana, Feb. 8, 1822. Bishop England to same, Oct. 9, 1821, in " Sacra Congre- gazione de Propaganda Fide . , . Ristretto," Rome, 1822. Bishop England says well of these schismatics : " These men are not Roman Catholics. Let the test of Catholicity be applied to them. Let them be required to subscribe the authorized profession of Catholic faith, and the infidel will soon stand openly confessed. In every age, in every nation, the pretexts of error have been the same." v., p. 169.
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petitioned for an amendment to the charter of St. Mary's Church, by which the clergy of the church were to be deprived of their seats as members of the board, passed an act on the 20th of March, 1821, which authorized the Supreme Court to allow amend- ments to the charter. A meeting of Hogan's adherents was soon after held at which amendments were pro- posed, and in consequence an application was made to the Supreme Court to effect this object.
In January, 1822, the Supreme Court of Pennsyl- vania decided adversely to the proposed amendment of the charter of St. Mary's Church. Bishop Con well, and the priests appointed by him under this decision, attemj)ted to officiate at the altar, but they were ex]3elled forcibly by Hogan and his party. Rev. Mr. Harold who ascended the pulpit barely escaping with his life.^
After this the tide of public opinion was evidently against the trustees, who saw many of their deluded adherents fall away. They had now ground to fear that the real Catholic members of St. Mary's Church would at the next election put in a board in harmony with the Bishop. To defeat this, they built twenty- six new pews, deciding on this course at a meeting of which the clergy were not notified. These pews they let out in single seats, so that at the election they polled one hundred and sixteen votes. This gave a majority against the Catholic party. It was not pretended that the men voting from these pews were Catholics, or had ever attended the church.^ The provision in
' Archbishop Marechal to Mgr. Pedicini, Secretary of Propaganda, Mar. 29, 1822. Bishop Conwell lo Propaganda, Phila., Jan. 7, 1822. Same to Bishop Plessis, Jan. 6, 1822.
■^ Matthew Carey states in his "Desultory Examination," 1822, p. 41-3, that by tliis trick 1200 votes were actually polled, when in fact " the votes ought not to be more than 250 or 300."
'' NON SINE MAGNO:' 243
tlie charter of this church and similar charters else- where, had this great injustice to which no Protestant congregation would have submitted. With them the power is vested in the Church members, persons of both sexes, of correct life, who show themselves at- tached to the doctrines and frequent the ordinances of the denomination. This body, which can expel any member who neglects his duties or becomes disedify- ing, elect the managing board. Catholic congrega- tions were at the mercy of men elected by those who were required to give no proof of their being Catholics, attendants at the church, or frequenters of the sacra- ments, but who were men who could produce a receipt for a quarter's rent of a single seat. Women, though regular attendants, and even owners or hirers of whole pews, had no voice as in Protestant churches, but were excluded from all rights.
The schismatics felt their position insecure, and soon after Hogan himself proposed to leave Philadel- phia on being absolved from censure by Bishop Con- well, but as in the case of Bishop England this step was prevented by the trustees.^ At the time when the unfortunate priest was thus throwing away his last hope of being able to persevere in his vocation and ministry, the Holy Father, Pope Pius VII., by his Brief " Non sine magno," addressed to Arch- bishop Marechal, his suffragans, all boards of trus- tees, and the faithful in general, condemned Hogan for his attacks on the Bishop, for withdrawing the faithful from their lawful pastor, for calling a council of bishops to depose his bishop, and hnally for intruding himself into the cathedral church, from which he had expelled the Bishop. The Sovereign
' A. C. Historical Researches, iii., pp. 34-5 ; i., p. 139.
244 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Pontiff expressed astonishment and indignation that "in so manifest a contempt of all law he could find many followers, supporters, and defenders of his pride and contumacy, who, neglecting and despising the authority of the Bishop, would rather adhere to him than to their lawful pastor, from whom thej^ have not hesitated to withdraw even the means necessary for the sustenance of life." The Pope declared all the acts sacrilegiously and daringly performed by Hogan to be null and void. He continues, "There is another circumstance which affords continual cause of discord and contention, not only in Philadelphia, but also in many other places of the United States of America ; the immoderate and unlimited right, which trustees or the administrators of the temporal properties of churches assume, independently of the diocesan bishops. Indeed, unless this be circumscribed by cer- tain regulations, it may prove an eternal source of abuses and dissensions. Trustees then ought to bear in mind, that the properties which have been conse- crated to divine worship for the support of' the Church and for the maintei.iance of its ministers, fall under the i)Ower of the Church ; and since the bishops, by divine appointment, preside over their respective churches, they cannot by any means be excluded from the care, superintendence, and administration of these properties. Whence the holy Council of Trent, sess. 22, cap. 9 de Ref., after having established that the administrators of the edifice of every church, even of a cathedral, and of all pious institutions, were bound every year to render to the ordinary an account of their administration, expressly ordered that al- though, according to the particular usages of some countries, the account of the administration was to be rendered to other persons appointed for that purpose,
PIUS VII. ON TRUSTEES. 245
nevertheless the ordinary must be called in, together with them. If the trustees, in conformity to this decree, were to administer the temporalities of the Church in union of mind and heart with the bishop, everything would be performed peaceably, and ac- cording to order.
"But that trustees and laymen should arrogate to themselves the right, as it has sometimes happened in these countries, of establishing for pastors, priests destitute of legal faculties, and even not unfrequently bound by censures (as it appears was lately the case with regard to Hogan), and also of removing them at their pleasure, and of bestowing the revenues upon whom they please, is a practice new and unheard of in the Church. And if these things have been per- formed in the manner in which it has been announced to us, how could so great a subversion of laws, not only ecclesiastical but divine also, be borne with ( For in that case the Church would be governed, not by bishops, but by laymen ; the shepherd would be made subject to his flock, and laymen would usurp that power which was given by Almighty God to bishops. But those who are desirous of remaining in the bosom of their Mother, the Holy Catholic Church, and of providing for their eternal salvation, are bound relig- iously to observe the laws of the universal Church ; and as the civil autliorities must be obeyed in those things which are temporal, so also in those which are spiritual must the faithful comply with the laws of the Church, not confounding the spiritual with the temporal. In order then to avoid the dissensions and disturbances which frequently arise from the un- bounded power of trustees, we have provided, vener- able brothers, that certain regulations and instruc- tions concerning the choice and direction of trustees
246 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
should be transmitted to you, to which, we are confi- dent, the trustees Avill thoroughly conform them- selves. If these be observed, all things, we trust, will be settled rightly, and peace and tranquillity will again flourish in these regions."^
It was the first time that the Sovereign Pontiff had addressed a special brief to the hierarchy of the United States, and to the faithful, with a direct reference in the title to the boards of trustees throughout the United States. It was to be expected that under these circumstances the weighty words of the Head of the Catholic Church would have been received by the faithful with deference and submission, prompted by their attachment to the religion of their ancestors.
Even Rev. Mr. Hogan when the Brief was made known to him showed a disposition to submit and j)ut an end to the schism, but the malign infiuence of the trustees again j^revailed and his good intentions ended in a personal wrangle with Rev. William Y. Harold.^ The trustees showed absolutely that they were utterly beyond the pale of the Church, inasmuch as the Bishop of the diocese, the whole hierarchy of the United States, and finally the Sovereign Pontiff him- self was against them ; but they would not yield, they stood defiant, resolute to obey no authority whatever in the Church, and to have no priest but one subject to their beck and call.
At the election in the following spring the authori- ties took measures to prevent a riot. The result was indecisive ; both parties claimed to have elected a board of trustees, but the adherents of the Bishop, on
' Bullarium de Propaganda Fide, Rome, 1841, iv.-, pp. 401-4. Eng- land's Works, v., pp. 178-9.
^ Dec, 1822.
THE SCHISM CONTINUES. 247
attempting to enter the church, were again driven out by force. ^ An appeal was made to the law, the lower court decided against the Catholic party, and though the case was carried up on appeal, the church was still held by the schismatics, in utter disregard of the decision of the Pope on the points of Catholic dis- cipline.
Weary of the incessant strife and the scandalous scenes which resulted from it, the aged Bishop retired for a time after the Easter holidays to the seclusion of Mount St. Mary's College at Emmitsburg, and then visited Baltimore and Georgetown, hoping that the sectarian rancor would be abated by his absence."
In June, 1823, the trustees, whom Hogan s friends claimed to have elected, addressed Bishop Conwell. Utterly ignoring and treating with contempt the points defined in the Brief of Pope Pius VII., they pro- ceeded to lay down their terms of settlement. They would not recognize that St. Mary's Church was the Bishop's cathedra] or that he was by his appointment chief pastor ; they claimed the inherent right to nomi- nate and present such priests as they might i^lease to select for pastors of said church, who were to be inducted and continue as pastors during good be- havior ; they agreed to acknowledge Dr. Conwell as Bishop of the diocese, but not as pastor of St. Mary's Church, and asked to have Hogan and another priest of their selection acknowledged as pastors. The Bishop, of course, could not consent to any such prin- ciples, and the correspondence led to no result, as the trustees not only would not abandon a single one of the uncatholic principles they advocated, but went so
' April, 1823.
2 Bishop Conwell to Bishop Plessis, July 4, 1822.
248 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
far as to say, ''If the United States are still to be considered a missionary country, then bishops are unnecessary, and the trustees will engage as their pastors such missionaries as they may think proper." They evidently considered faculties from a bishop as utterly unnecessary.
Hogan finally wearied of the struggle and proposed to resign.^ The trustees accepted his resignation and proceeded, in the very face of the Brief of Pope Pius Vil., to appoint as pastor of St. Mary's Church an unworthy adventurer, Rev. A. Inglesi, who had im- posed upon Bishop Du Bourg, and whose career had been fully exposed at Rome. But he came to Phila- delphia with means, and had many paintings and other valuables, the fruit of his European collections for Louisiana. He had secured the sui3port of the Sardinian consul at Philadelphia, and pleased the trustees. Ashley, Meade, Sullivan and their com- rades did not even go through the form of presenting him for the Bishop's approval, they assumed the right to elect and institute.^
The hope of restoring the discipline of the Church was, therefore, very slight, although Hogan, pretext and mover, had withdrawn. Bishop Conwell accord- ingly visited Canada, which had generously responded to his appeal, to obtain aid in a project which he had
' Hogan's resignation was accepted Aug. 28, 1823; "Appendix to the Address." Archbishop Marechal was in Rome when Inglesi's real cliar- acter was discovered and he was expelled from Rome. See his letter in " A Postscript to Rev. Mr. Harold's address," p. 25-6. The Propaganda formally condemned Inglesi and requested Consul De Abbate not to pro- tect him. Inglesi drew up a pamphlet assailing Bishop Du Bourg, but suppressed it. Inglesi soon went to the West Indies and died at Port au Prince, St. Domingo, June 13, 1825. Letter of Bishop Conwell.
2 Bishop Conwell to Bishop Plessis, Sept. 18, Oct. 13, 1823. "Ad- dress of the Trustees of St. Mary's Church," Philadelphia, 1823.
A CATHEDRAL PROJECTED.
249
formed of erecting a Cathedral in Philadelphia. Re- turning by way of Boston he found Bishop Cheverus ready to leave the country, and accompanied him to the vessel which sailed soon after from New York. Before winter passed away we find Bishop Conwell at Philadelphia in February, 1824, baptizing the infant son of Prince Charles Julius Bonaparte and the Prin- cess Zeriaide. Joseph Bonaparte, who had been King of Naples and of Spain, was godfather, and the mother of the great Napoleon, represented by proxy, was god- mother. On this occasion Joseph Bonaparte presented Bishop Conwell with a relic of great interest. It was a ring set with diamonds which had been worn by the great Cardinal Ximenes, founder of the University of Alcala, editor of the Complutensian Polyglot, one of the most famous editions of the Bible, and Regent of
Spain. ^
A plot of ground on Ninth and Walnut streets had been secured for the erection of a Cathedral, and was actually purchased in April, 1824, for forty thousand dollars. Bishop Conwell began to feel encouraged by the energy of the Catholics who had adhered to the faith, and was full of hopes of rearing a suitable edi- fice The Congregation de Propaganda Fide wrote in his behalf to all the Bishops of the United States rec- ommending to them to make collections to aid then- brother in Philadelphia to erect a Cathedral where he would be free. A new cemetery was also acquired, and all seemed to indicate that the Bishop might soon disregard the trustees of the one church, who had done so much to overthrow Catholicity in Pennsyl- vania.
1 Bishop Conwell to Archbishop Marechal, Oct. 16, 1823, Feb. 13.
1824.
250 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
St. Josepli's liad one liundred and fifteen pews, all well rented, one of them to Josej)!! Bonaparte, ex- King of Spain.
When Lafayette visited Philadelphia in October, 1824, the clergy of the city, in a body, went to meet him and pay their respects. Bishop Conwell, with Bishop White of the Protestant Episcopal Church, headed the procession.
At St. Mary's the condition of affairs was becoming critical. Tiiough without a priest, and obstinately excluding the Bishop of Phihidelphia and the priests appointed by him, the trustees opened the church every Sunday, their congregation consisting of a few deists and worthless characters off the streets.^ Had they really held a legal title to the property they would undoubtedly have sold it, but their very charter prevented any attempt, and meanwhile Bishop Con- well was taking steps to acquire title.
The trustees, although one of their number was struck down by a sudden death, after finding Inglesi not suited to their ]3urposes, through Hogan invited from England a priest named Rev. Thadde.us J. O'Meally. He arrived in Philadelphia, October 14, 1823, and though Bishop Conwell declined to receive him as a priest of the diocese, the trustees sent to the Bishop a note in which they x)resented him as pastor, and on this, in spite of the Bishop's formal pro- hibition, O'Meally began to officiate at St. Mary's and 23ersisted in his sacrilegious course for more than a year, although excommunicated as soon as he began his intrusive ministry.'^ The Rev. Gabriel Richard
' Bishop Conwell to Bishop Plessis, Oct. 13, 1823, Bishop Couwell to Archbishop Marechal, April 19, Oct. 3, 5, 1824.
^ O'Meally, " An Address Explanatory and Vindicatory," Philadelphia, 1824.
DEED OF ST. MARY'S. 251
endeavored to put an end to the schism, but the trus- tees would not abandon the absurd claim of a right to appoint the clergy of the Church/ Bishop Con well had by this time become better acquainted with his diocese and with the temper of legislatures, courts, and j)ublic opinion in regard to Catholics. He felt that instinctively all would incline to adopt the course that seemed most likely to cripple the action of the Catholic Church. He was at last a citizen of the United States, and he resolved to secure, if possible, to himself the legal title of St. Mary's Church. He proceeded to St. Thomas's Manor, Maryland, early in 1825, and without difficulty obtained from Rev. Francis Neale a deed of the property which had descended to him from Father Harding. This deed bore date Nov. 7, 1825, and was duly recorded in Philadelphia in the following May.^ Under the law of the Church and of the State, BishojD Conwell was thus entitled to the possession of his Cathedral.
There was, however, some progress in the diocese ; the Rev. P. Rafferty, revived the faith and gathered anew the Catholics in Washington, Greene, and Fay- ette counties, and at several stations which he attended. In the summer of 1825, the Catholics of Butler, avIio had i)reviously attended Sugar Creek, erected a neat church on an eminence southeast of the town, making it a conspicuous object in the landscape. The site was a gift of a pious Catholic widow, Mrs. Collins, The body of the faithful was large and respectable, consti- tuted to a great extent of farmers who owned their
' They called it a presentation, but they and Rev. Mr. O'Meally held that the Bishop had no right to refuse, and was compelled to receive into his dio- cese, and approve, any priest they might pick up. " A Series of Letters," Philadelphia, Jan., 1825.
^Jesuit Records. A. C. Historical Researches, iii., p. 63.
252 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
own prosperous lands. The Rev. Patrick Rafferty laid the foundation of a church on a hill overlooking Brownsville ; he also began and completed a church in the town of Alexandria. He commenced another church in Waynesborough. In most of these cases the Catholics were successful in completing their houses of worship, although surrounded by a deeply prejudiced population. But, at Washington, the faithful became discouraged, and the church site was finally sold.^ The next spring Bishop Con well made a visitation. At Conewago, he ordained in February the Rev. Michael Curran, a priest who did good ser- vice in the laborious missions of Pennsylvania, and closed his priestly career in New York. We trace the Bishop next at Chambersburg, where he found Rev. John Hughes, a young clergyman of his diocese, al- ready in deacon's orders, at his home on a visit from Einrnitsburg. Accompanied by the future Arch- bishop of New York, he proceeded to Path Valley, Sinking Valley, Newry, and Bedford.
Dr. Conwell found much to encourage him in the growth of the Catholic congregations in numbers and fervor ; and in turn he inspired them where possible, by his presence and by correspondence, to erect suitable churches, as the only sure means of binding them together and preserving the faith. Thus encouraged, steps were taken at Harman's Bottom and Freeport to build necessary churches.^ Rev. Mr. O'Meally finally went to Rome to plead his own cause and that of the schismatics. On his arrival there in the summer of 1825, the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide
1 Truth Teller, ii., p. 19 ; pp. 43-3.
*U. S. Catholic Miscellany, ii., p. 305; Truth Teller, ii., pp. 19,43; Lambing, pp. 230, 423. 440 ; Hassard, " Life of Archbishop Hughes," New York, 1866, p 48.
O'MEALLY'S SUBMISSION. 253
refused to liold any intercourse with him in regard to the affairs in Philadelphia, and required him to sign a declaration expressing his regret for acting as pastor of St. Mary's Church, in defiance of the Bishop, re- /louncing the faction and their schismatical proceed- ings, conforming to the Brief of August 24, 1822, and asking pardon of Bishop Conwell. Such a declaration the Rev. Mr. O'Meally signed, and then returned to his native country, where he led an exemplary life.^
Thus, for the second time, Rome had acted in the matter, and rejected utterly the claim of the trustees, a body unknown to canon law, to any right of patron- age, and condemned their course as schismatical. They and Matthew Carey had ceased to parade frag- mentary passages from the " Corpus Juris Canonici," for even they began to see that it was absurd to cite ''obiter dicta" of Popes a thousand years ago as authority, when they refused to obey the Pope \tho actually occupied the see of Peter ; but they would not submit to the Sovereign Pontiff or recognize any authority at Rome.
Early in 1826, Bishop Conwell issued a mandate I)ublishing the Jubilee and annexing a curiously abridged translation of the Bull of Pope Leo XII. The Jubilee was to begin on the 9tli of July, and con- tinue to the end of the year. As St. Mary's Church was still under an interdict, the prescribed visits, under authority from the Pope, were dispensed with in the city of Philadelphia.^
' Tlie Recantation reached Bishop Conwell while on a visitation at Carlisle, and he printed it there. Bishop Conwell to Archbishop Marechal. England's Works, v. , p. 201-2 ; U. S. Cath. Miscellany, v. , p. 320. O'Meally died in Dublin, January 2, 1877, aged 84, Chaplain to the Presentation Convent.
'^ " The Brief of His Holiness, Pope Leo XII., to which is prefixed the Mandate of the Bishop of Philadelphia," etc. Philadelphia, 1826, pp. 24.
254 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Doriiig the year the trustees of St. Mary's Church for the first time showed any inclination to abandon their right to exchide the Bishop from the cliurch of which he was the legal owner, and to appoint x^i'iests of whose qualifications they were to be sole judges. With Catholics throughout the United States, the clergy, the hierarchy, the Cardinals of the Propa- ganda Congregation, and the Sovereign Pontifl' himself declaring them to be in error, they began to realize tlie fact that they must yield. Once more they opened negotiations with the Bishop, They actually agreed to recognize him as Bishop of Philadelphia, to ac- knowledge him as senior pastor of the Church, and recognize his right to appoint priests to St. Mary's Church ; but they proposed that in case they objected to the Bishop's selection of clergymen, the matter was to be decided by a committee composed of the Bishop, two priests chosen by him, and three trustees selected by the board. To this Bishop Conwell, for the sake of peace, agreed Oct. 9, 1826, renouncing his claim for salary from the time he was installed in the dio- cese, and leaving his future salary and that of the clergy to the good pleasure of the trustees. But the latter, at the same time, entered on their minutes a protest virtually nullifying the agreement, in which they declared that they did not recognize the Bishop as chief pastor of St. Mary's Church, or renounce their right to apjDoint the clergy. This protest was entered, as Bishop Conwell declared, without his knowledge or consent, and certainly was not passed at any meet- ing at which he presided. It was simply a treacher- ous subterfuge.^
In pursuance of the agreement which had been
' U. S. Cath. Miscellany, vii., p. 30. England's Works, v., p. 208.
THE AGREEMENT CONDEMNED. 255
signed by liim and tlie trustees, Bishop Conwell, on the 11th of October, removed the local and personal interdicts from St. Mary's Church and formally opened the church for divine worship, appointing Rev. William Vincent Harold, and Rev. Thomas Heyden, his assistant pastors. '^ The trustees are to manage the temporalities according to the Act of Incorporation, and the spiritual concerns shall remain under the care and government of the Bishop to whom the deposit of the faith, and the general discipline of the Roman Catholic Church are entrusted in the dio- cese of Philadelphia."
The church was accordingly opened by Bishop Con- well with a "Te Deiim" on Sunday, November 6, the sermon being preached by the Very Rev. William V. Harold.^ One of the episcopal acts performed in the interval was the ordination as priest of Rev. John Hughes, who became the Bishop's secretary.
In April, 1827, Bishop Conwell roused new opposi- tion by withdrawing the faculties of Very Rev. AV. V. Harold. This act led to a public meeting at which Matthew Carey presided, and resolutions were adopted denouncing the arbitrary power and caprice of the Bishop, and the determination on their part to obtain a speedy and permanent remedy from Rome.^
When the agreement between Bishop Conwell and the trustees, and their protest nullifying what they had apparently recognized in the agreement, reached Rome, the Propaganda to which the trustees trans- mitted it made it the subject of a special meeting of the Cardinals who composed the congregation, held
> Bishop Conwell's Notice, Oct. 11, 1836. U. S. Cath. Miscell., vi., p. 14, 143. 2 U. S. Cath. Miscell., vi., p. 343.
256 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
April 30, 1827. This body gave as its judgment, " that the said agreement and declaration, which were the subjects of debate, were to be altogether repro- bated. Moreover, that it might Avell be understood of how great importance is the subject matter, and how much the interests of religion require the reproba- tion of that agreement and declaration to be known to all, especially in that country, the Sacred Congrega- tion has to communicate to you, that in this matter Peter has spoken through Leo. For our most holy Lord Leo XIL, having maturely considered the affair, did on the 6th of May confirm the aforesaid answer of the Sacred Congregation ; and did expressly manifest his desire to admonish all the Catholics dwelling in those regions ; that he also decreed that the speci- fied agreement and declaration were by all means to be reprobated." ^
Thus for the third time Rome had spoken, and had condemned the claim of Meade, Ashley, Randall, and their associate trustees as utterly rej)ugnant to Catho- lic discipline, and in this case condemned Bishop Conwell for having, to some extent, yielded the in- alienable rights of his See. This decision relieves the Bishop from the charges of obstinacy brought against him ; there was no obstinacy in his adhering to Catho- lic discipline ; the only obstinacy was in those, who, deeply imbued with Protestant ideas, strangers to the sacraments and discipline of the Church, insisted on maintaining an unheard-of claim against the de- cision of every authority that Catholics had always respected.
' Cardinal Capellari, Prefect of the Congregation de Propaganda Fide, May 19, 1827, U. S. Cath. Misc., vii., p. 30. England's Works, v., p. 209. It was unfortunate in this case that a clear, definite declara- tion of principles had not at the outset been sent from Rome.
AN ADMINISTRATOR APPOINTED. 257
Bishop Conwell gave notice of the decision of the Holy See in his Cathedral at the high mass on Sun- day, July 22, 1827, and issued a notice to the faith- ful. The aged Bishop expressed to the authorities in Rome his desire to be relieved of the burden of the diocese. On the 5th of August Archbishop Marechal was appointed Apostolical Administrator of the dio- cese of Philadelphia, and it was intimated to Bishop Conwell that his retirement to Ireland would be grati- fying.^ The Archbishop of Baltimore was, however, too feeble and ill to undertake the reorganization of another diocese ; he declined the onerous and difficult task. The Rev. William Matthews, rector of St. Patrick's Church, Washington City, D. C, was then appointed Vicar-General Apostolic of Philadelphia. This nomination was laid before the faithful of his diocese by Bishop Conwell on the 22d of May." The Propaganda had already, on the 8th of March, notified Bishop Conwell that the Sovereign Pontiff requested him to come to Rome without delay. It was there believed that his absence would tend to produce a calmer state of things, and that his report on the condition of his diocese would enable the Pope to act more prudently.^
Finding that his administration was soon to termi- nate, Bishop Conwell gave confirmation to seven hundred in St. Joseph's Church, Philadelphia, to
• Bishop England's Works, v., pp. 210-11. Cardinal Capellari to Archbishop Marechal, August 11, 1827.
« Leo XII., " Quum Venerabilis Frater," Feb. 26, 1828. Bullarium de Propaganda Fide, v., pp. 34-5 ; Cardinal Capellari to Bishop Conwell, March 8, 1828. " A Continuation of References," pp. 11-13; U. S. CathoHc Miscellany, viii., p. 383.
3 Cardinal Capellari to Archbishop Whitfield, July 18, 1829.
258 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
several Imndred in St. Augustine's Cliurcli, and dedi- cated St. Patricia's Cliurcli at Harrisburg.^
V. Rev. William Matthews soon arrived in Phila- delphia to arrange for tlie discharge of the new duties which he most reluctantly assumed.^ On the 25th of June the Bishop notified the trustees that PojDe Leo XII. had made Dr. Matthews Apostolical Adminis- trator, and that he had accordingly appointed him eldest pastor and superior of the clergy of St. Mary's Church in his own stead ; he had previously, on October 17, 1827, appointed Rev. William V. Harold
^^^^^O-;^ V^'^^^^'^€-^^__^
SIGNATURE 0¥ BISHOP CONWELL, OF PHILADELPHIA.
and Rev. John Ryan pastors of the church. Bishop Conwell tiien, by a formal act under the seal of the diocese, surrendered the administration of the dio- cese of Philadelphia to Dr. Matthews in the presence of V. Rev. M. Hurley, V.G., Rev. John Hughes, and Rev. T. J. Donoghue.^
The administration of the diocese by Bishop Conwell was thus virtually closed, for he never resumed it. He left Philadelphia, and on the 11th of July, 1828, he embarked at New York for Havre.
' U. S. Cath. Miscellany, vii., pp. 135, 143, 150; Truth Teller, iii., pp. 350, 357.
* U. S. Cath. Miscellauy, vii., p. 374.
3 Bishop Conwell to A. Randall, Sec, June 25, 1838; U. S. Cath. Miscellany, viii., p. 22.
STATE OF DIOCESE. 259
At the time of liis departure the clergy of the dio- cese of Philadelphia comprised thirty-two priests : twenty-five natives of Ireland, two Americans, two Germans, a Belgian, a Russian, and a Pole.
When the Pope requested Bishop Conwell to visit Rome, he directed the secretary of the Propaganda to notify Fathers Harold and Ryan that it was his wish that they should also leave the city of Philadelphia, and proceed to Cincinnati, the Bishop of that city being a member of their order, and there existing a Dominican Convent in Ohio. In the letter of Cardi- nal Capellari was inclosed one of the Y. Rev. Father Velzi, General of the Dominican Order, to the same pur- port. The two fathers, instead of obeying, apj^ealed to the United States government, complaining that their rights as citizens were infringed. A long corre- sjDondence ensued, but the orders were not revoked, and in 1829, V. Rev. William Matthews was directed to notify the two priests that if they remained in Phila- delphia fifteen days after the communication of the letter to them, they would be immediately deprived of all faculties, so as not to be able to say mass or j)er- form any ecclesiastical function. On this they re- turned to Ireland.^
On the 18th of April, 1829, Bishop Conwell, Avhose explanations had not satisfied the Sovereign Pontifl", left Rome, and though notified not to return to his
' Bishop England's Works, v., pp. 213-232; U. S. Catli. Miscellany, Aug. 14, 1830 ; Rev. M. De B. Egan to Rev. S. G. Brute, Rome, Jan. 1., 1829 ; Consul Felix Cicognani to Martin Van Buren, Sec. of State, May 8, 1829 ; Cardinal Capellari to Archbishop Whittield, April 21, 1829. A meeting was called in which it was resolved to petition the Pope to re- store Father Harold, ]Matthew Carey, his old bitter antagonist, extolling him as a divine of transcendent talents and true piety. Truth Teller, Sept. 26, 1829.
260 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
diocese under pain of being deprived of his faculties as bishop, pursued his journey to Philadelphia, after celebrating the Feast of the Assumption in the Irish College at Paris. He subsequently repaired his fault, and was allowed to perform certain episcopal functions to confirm and ordain with the consent of the Admin- istrator.^
The sin of the schismatics of St. Mary's Church, and the terrible account they must have been called upon to render before the judgment seat of God, will appear by the condition of the diocese when Bishop Henry Conwell thus resigned his authority to the Adminis- trator appointed by the Holy See. It was the diocese where from colonial days religion had been compara- tively free, where Catholics were numerous and better endowed with the goods of this world than in most other dioceses. Yet by the unholy war waged by the trustees of a single church against two successive bishops it was in 1829 without a seminary, a college, a convent academy for the education of young ladies, with but a single asylum, few schools, and a disheart- ened peoi^le. The loss of souls had been great.
■> Cardinal Capellari to Archbishop Whitfield, March 13, 1830 ; Truth Teller, v., p. 356.
VERT REV. WILLIAM MATTHEWS V. G. APOSTOLIC.
262
CHAPTER XVI.
DIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA.
VERY REV. WILLIAM MATTHEWS, VICAR-GENERAL APOSTOLIC.
The Very Rev. William Matthews on receiving from Bislioj) Conwell the control of the diocese in June,
1828, did not remove his residence to Philadelphia, but continued to live in Washington, making occa- sional visits to different parts of the diocese. The object of his appointment was, in the first place, to restore peace. By a prudent policy he avoided all contention, and did much to restore harmony and discipline.
During the year Rev. Bernard Keenan, who had been the zealous pastor of Lancaster, attending Elizabeth- town and York, laid the corner-stone of another church in his district, the future St. Peter's at Columbia, and for years said mass there monthly.^ Luzerne received its first regular visits about this time, being attended by the Rev. John D. Flynn.^ On Sunday, May 24,
1829, a solemn Te Deum was generally sung in the churches of the diocese to thank Almighty God for lifting from the Catholics of Great Britain and Ireland the penalties with which their fidelity to the true God had been so long and so cruelly visited. Rev. John Hughes preaching in St. Augustine's Church his first o-reat sermon.^
' Catholic Standard, Aug. 18, ^ Pierce, " History of Luzerne County," p. 313. ' U. S. Catholic Miscell., viii., pp. 382, 398.
263
CHAPTER XVII.
DIOCESE OP BARDSTOWN. BIGHT BEV. BENEDICT JOSEPH FLAGET, D.D., FIRST BISHOP, 1810.
Catholicity in Maryland was coeval with the set- tlement of the ancient province, and the faithful clung to the land they had made their own during long years of injustice, oppression, and penal laws. They had their priests and their unobtrusive chapels, at times even schools. In Pennsylvania there was from the first colonization a small body of Catholics who grew in numbers under the fostering care of the Mary- land clergy. In New England, New York, New Jer- sey, Virginia, and the Carolinas, the Catholic body arose after the peace of 1788, mainly by immigra- tion ; and these incoming Catholics found no priest or altar. In fact, to these pioneers, it became difficult to meet the necessities which increased with each year. This was the case with the dioceses of Boston, New York, and Philadelj^hia. Catholics were few, poor, lost amid an overwhelming majority belonging to the dominant sects, ever at war with each other, but ever ready to unite against Catholicity.
The diocese of Bardstown, the fourth of those cre- ated by Pope Pius VII., in 1808, differed essentially from these bishoprics on the coast. The State of Ken- tucky began to be settled about the commencement of the revolutionary troubles. Then men from Virginia and Maryland made their way to the lands south of the Ohio, and began to clear the forest and build up a new commonwealth. Many of the emigrants were
264
EARLY MISSIONS. 265
Catholics ; some of tlie first to fall by the way, or, after reaching Kentucky, by the hands of the Indian foe, were Catholics. They helped to found and build up the new State ; sturdy backwoodsmen, strong, brave, earnest, they were the peers of those around them. Life was plain and rude, comforts were few, luxuries unknown. Priests struck into the wilderness to at- tend these clustered bodies of the faithful, who in God's providence selected generally the poorest, but perhaps the healthiest situations. The Carmelite Paul of St. Peter, the Capuchin Wlielan, Rev. Mr. Rohan, effected little. It was not till Bishop Carroll had ordained his first priest. Rev. Stephen T. Badin, and sent him to Kentucky, that any real commence- ment was made for the Church. Then came the day of log churches, and long priestly journeys to the Catholic settlements. Rev. John Thayer came and went. Rev. Messrs. Salmon and Fournier came to labor till death. Rev. Charles Nerinckx to toil like a hero, form church after church, create a sisterhood, draw recruits for the priesthood from his own Belgium, as well as vestments, plate, paintings, and other re- qnirements for the churches, which he divided un- grudgingly. The Dominicans, guided by the advice of Bishop Carroll, established a convent and college. " Thus Kentucky had a life of its own.
Pope Pius VII., by his Bull " Ex Debito," April 8, 1808, erected Kentucky and Tennessee into a diocese, with an episcopal see at Bardstown, and gave the Bishop of the new see temporary administration of the country northwest of the Ohio, now divided into well-known States : Illinois with a small Catholic popu- lation as Kaskaskia, Cahokia, Prairie du Rocher ; Indiana with its Catholic settlement at Vincennes ; Michigan with its Catholic population at Detroit,
266 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Raisin River, Mackinac ; Wisconsin with feeble gath- erings near Green Bay ; Ohio, with a few Catholic immigrants, and the Sandusky Hurons who had lost the faith, — in fact, all the territory from the banks of the Ohio, westward to the Mississippi, and northward to the great lakes. ^ For this diocesan charge, involv- ing great labor on the very frontier of the country, Providence selected the Rev, Benedict Joseph Flaget, a member of the Society of St. Sulpice, who had been a professor at Georgetown College and in St. Mary's College, Baltimore, but who had years before been stationed for a time at Vincennes. The gentle, pious, learned, scholarly man bowed to the will of the Sove- reign Pontiff, after going to Europe to escape the honor and the burden. He was consecrated in St. Patrick's Church, Fell's Point, on the 4th of Novem- ber, 1810, by Archbishop Carroll, assisted by Bishop Cheverus of Boston, and Bishop Egan of Philadel- phia, the sermon of the saintly Cheverus moving all to tears.
Bishop Flaget united with his Metropolitan and fellow suffragans in drawing up regulations to insure uniform discipline, in a pastoral letter, and in an address to the hierarchy of Ireland, worthy of the ► early ages. But he was far from his diocese, and atterly without means to reach it. A subscription among his friends in Baltimore at last enabled him to start from that city on the lltli of May, 1811, Rev. Mr. Badin's attempt to collect means in Kentucky having signally failed. He was accompanied by Rev. Messrs. David and Savine and three seminarians. Fortunate in meeting the Dominican Father Edward
' Bullarium Romanum, xiii., p. 282 ; Bullarium de Propaganda Fide, iv., p. 339.
BISHOP FLAGET. 267
Fen wick at Pittsburgh, the Bishop and his party descended tlie Ohio in a iiatboat, reacliing Lonisville on the 4th of June, and Bardstown, a settlement selected for his see, but utterly destitute of any sign of Catholicity, even a log church, on the 9th. His installation in his Cathedral was a fiction of law.
The Right Rev. Benedict Joseph Flaget, who was to preside over the Catholics of Kentucky for nearly forty years, honored by their deepest reverence and attachment, was born at Contournat, in Auvergne, November 7, 1763, the year which saw the lilied flag of his native land lowered throughout Canada and Northwest Territory and replaced by the colors of her ancient enemy. His father passed away before young Benedict saw the light, his mother survived but two years. Cared for by pious kindred the boy grew up pious and dutiful, succeeded w^ell in his studies in the College at Billom, and entered the Seminary at Cler- mont to prepare for holy orders, having won a bourse founded by Bishop de Bonald. His Sulpitian instruc- tors in 1783 admitted him to their community, and he went to Issy, the novitiate of St. Sulpice, of which Rev. Gabriel Richard was then rector. After his ordi- nation he became a professor of theology, and was in' quiet seclusion, training seminarians for the priest- hood, when the revolution, like a mighty cyclone, struck the religious establishments of France. Semi- naries, convents, churches were closed, the scaffold reeked with the blood of the purest and holiest men and women of France. Providentially the Sulpitians had established a house at Baltimore, and in January, 1792, Rev. Mr. Flaget was sent to America. Sailing from Bordeaux with two other priests. Rev. Messrs. Chicoisneau and David, and a subdeacon from Orleans,
268 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Stephen Badin, the young j)riest Flaget reached Balti- more by way of Philadelphia.
The new auxiliaries for his diocese were cordially welcomed by Bishop Carroll, who soon after appointed Rev. Mr. Flaget to Vincennes, where the services of a devoted French priest were needed to revive religion in the hearts of the people. He set out with a letter of introduction to General Wayne, whom he found at Pittsburgh ; and there he began mission work, saying mass, and j^reparing for death soldiers capitally sen- tenced for desertion. Taking a llatboat, bound for Louisville, he was overjoyed to find in one of the three or four houses that then constituted the town his friends Rev. Messrs. Levadoux and Richard, sent on a mission like his own to Kaskaskia and Prairie du Rocher. A letter of General Wayne won him the friendship of General George Rogers Clark, who escorted him in an armed bateau to Vincennes. The good priest found the church of puncheons in a ruin- ous state, the altar a few rough boards, the faith of his future flock but too truly depicted by their church, for out of nearly seven hundred souls he could induce only twelve to approach, at Christmas, the Holy Eucharist of which they had so long been deprived. By gathering the children and teaching them he soon effected a change. He stimulated improvements in the cultivation of land and set up looms for weaving. He was never idle, allowing himself little recreation, and gathering strength in prayer. He visited the Miami towns and endeavored to revive the faith preached to them by their old missionaries, and when small -pox desolated their cabins the Rev. Mr. Flaget was consoled by many conversions. He was stricken down by disease, but recovered to labor on till April, 1795, when his Superiors recalled him to Baltimore, which he reached by way of New Orleans.
STATE OF DIOCESE. 269
He was next stationed at Georgetown College as one of the professors, wliile Rev. William L. Dii Bourg was president, and subsequently went with him to Havana, where the Sulpitians hoped to found a col- lege. Nearly a victim to the yellow fever there, he recovered to spend a few years as tutor in an excellent Spanish family. Then he returned to Baltimore to discharge the duties assigned to him in St. Mary's Seminary. When Rev. Mr. Badin visited Baltimore, to impress on Bishop Carroll the necessity of having a bishopric in Kentucky, he urged Bardstown as the proper see, and Rev. Mr. Flaget as one specially fitted to lill it. He was accordingly nominated by Bishop Carroll, and the Sovereign Pontiff issued the Bulls erecting the see of Bardstown, and appointing him the first Bishop. He went to Europe to avoid, if possible, the position, for which he deemed himself unfitted, but was told by Rev. Mr. Emery, Superior of St. Sulpice, that the Pope had sent a peremptory order requiring him to accept. His visit to Europe was not useless ; he obtained ecclesiastics to labor in his diocese, Rev. Mr. Chabrat, a subdeacon, Messrs. Deydier, Derigaud, and Romeuf.
When he reached Bardstown his diocese and the annexed district, now divided into seven States, and eighteen dioceses, presided over by three archbishops and fifteen bishops, was poorly provided indeed. There were ten churches, including St. Stephen's at Priestland, the residence of Rev. Mr. Badin, not prop- erly a church ; these were all but one built of logs, and in the twenty-four stations visited by the liand- f ul of priests there were six more humble structures which zealous hands were rearing. The churches in actual use were Holy Cross on Pottinger's Creek, built by Rev. Mr. De Rohan, in 1792-3, St. Joseph's near
270 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Bardstown, and St. Francis, erected about 1795, by Rev. Mr. Badin ; St. Ann's, on Pottinger's Creek, which dates about three years later, and St. Patrick's, Danville, both due to the same energetic priest ; Holy Mary's on Rolling Fork, established by Rev. Mr. Fourmier in 1798 ; St. Charles's on Hardin's Creek, the work of the holy Belgian priest. Rev. Charles Nerinckx, and the church which the Dominicans dedicated to St. Rose in 1806. The Catholic settlements had a population of about six thousand, and were attended by Rev. Stephen T. Badin, Rev. Charles Nerinckx, the Capuchin Father M. O'Flynn, and the Dominican Fathers, Fen wick, Wilson, and Tuite. All these clergy- men were at St. Stephen's to receive the Bishop, who came with Rev. John B. David, the director of his proposed seminary. Rev. Mr. Savine, and Rev. Guy I. Chabrat, not yet in priest's orders. The Bishop found a number of the faithful gathered there, all kneeling on the grass, the women dressed in white, who, expecting him early enough to say mass, had been fasting all day before the little altar set up between four saplings. This reception, so different from that at Vincennes some years before, filled his soul with consolation. Assuming his episcopal robes he was conducted to the chapel in procession, with the chant of the Litany of Loretto. Then the prayers and hymn prescribed in the Roman Pontifical were recited.^ For the country beyond the Ohio, the report laid before the Bishop was less encouraging. The French settlement at Gallipolis, so prematurely erected into a Prefecture Apostolic showed yet a few stragglers remaining, but
' Spalding,;" Sketches of the early Catholic Missions of Kentucky ," Louis- ville. "Sketches of the Life, Time, and Character of the Right Rev. Benedict Joseph Flaget," Louisville, 1852; Webb, "The Centenary of Catholicity in Kentucky," Louisville, 1884.
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EPISCOPAL PALACE. 271
no sign of religion. The good Bishop followed by the Dominican Father Fenwick, soon penetrated into ' Ohio, and laid the foundation of a mission at the house of the Dittoe family. Vincennes was without a resident priest, the people being too indifferent to give enough support to a pastor, and they depended on occasional visits from Rev. Stephen T. Badin from Kentucky, and Rev. Donatien Olivier, the priest sta- tioned at Kaskaskia. Rev. Gabriel Richard was at Detroit, the congregation meeting on the Spring Hill Farm, old St. Anne's Church having perished in the general conflagration of 1805, which laid the City of the Strait in ashes. ^ The Catholics at Cahokia, de- scendants of the old flock of the Quebec Seminary Priests, asked for a missionary, and one of the first acts of Bishop Flaget was to send to them the Rev. Mr, Savine. The Kaskaskias, remnant of the several Illinois bands, claimed his care and were still recog- nized as Catholics by government.^
Till he could put up a home and a church for his Cathedral Bishop Flaget made his temporary residence at St. Stephen's. The Rev. Mr, Badin, though crip- pled in means by a fire which swept away a building erected for a religious community, put up two log cabins sixteen feet square. The furniture corre-
' Registers of Vincennes, Detroit, Kaskaskia ; " Expose des faits et des documents." Fanner, " The history of Detroit and Michigan," Detroit, 1884, p. 531.
^ " And whereas the greater part of the said tribe have been baptized and received into the Catholic Church, to which they are much attached, the United States will give, annually, for seven years, one hundred dol- lars toward the support of a priest of that religion, who will engage to perform for the said tribe the duties of his office and also to instruct as many of their children as possible in the rudiments of literature. And the United States will further give the sum of $300 to assist the said tribe in the erection of a church." — Treaty with Kaskaskias, Aug. 13, 1803.
272 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
sponded to tlie whitewaslied palace. It consisted of two tables, six cliairs, some boards to hold books. The space was so limited that one of the priests sle^Dt on a mattress on the garret floor. Such was the resi- dence of Bishop Flaget for more than a year." A pious Catholic, Mr. Thomas Howard, left a fine farm near Bardstown to the Bishop, and in November, 1811, Rev. Mr. David and his seminarians removed to this place, which took the name of St. Thomas, and cour- ageously set to work to erect the necessary buildings and a brick church.
On Christmas day he officiated at St. Rose's Church and conferred the priesthood on Rev. Guy I. Chabrat, who was thus the first priest ordained west of the Alleghanies.
On the 20th of February, 1812, aware of the neces- sity of establishing uniform discipline, laying off mis- sionary districts, and concerting harmonious action among his little body of priests, Bishop Flaget con- vened them at St. Stephen's in a diocesan conference. The results were beneficial, and Bishop Flaget, who had prepared for the meeting by a spiritual retreat, felt some relief in the perplexities and cares which now encompassed him.
Rev. Mr. Nerinckx, convinced of the necessity of a religious training for the young, had been forming some pious young women to found a Sisterhood. Rev. John B. David, filled with the same spirit, besides the care of his Seminary, which began with three students, was preparing to establish a House of Sisters of Char- ity. Thus Catholicity in Kentucky, nursed in poverty and privation, inspired the foundation of two com-
3 Maes, "The Life of Rev. Charles Nerinckx," Cincinnati, 1880, p. 238.
SISTERS OF LORETTO. 273
munities of religious women, which continue to the present day, leading many in the paths of perfection and benefiting their fellow-men by numberless acts of mercy.
The corner-stone of the Sisters of Loretto was Mary Rhodes, a native of Maryland, who, after educating her nieces for a time, offered her services to Rev. Charles Nerinckx to instruct the little girls of the neighborhood in their religion and the rudiments of education. Her school, opened in a little hut near Hardin's Creek, prospered so that a pious young lady, Christina Stuart, joined her. After a time, wishing to live undisturbed by the company at the house where they resided, they made the little school-house their home. Having been joined by Miss Nancy Havern, they applied to their venerated pastor for some rules which they might follow. Rev. Mr. Nerinckx be- lieved that the good work was inspired by God, but would not take any step without the full sanction of Bishop Flaget. Obtaining his approval he gave the little band of teachers a few rules intimating that when their number reached five, he would draw up more ex- tended regulations, and allow them to elect a superior. The choice fell on Miss Nancy Rhodes, the youngest member, who became the head of the house. With their little means they purchased the place, put up a neat home and poultry house, and persevered in their good work. Rev, Mr. Nerinckx, seeing that the insti- tution promised to be a permanent one, proposed to send for some Sisters from Europe to train them ; but they all opposed this plan. They wished to live under a rule prepared by him. Yielding to their wish, he drew up a rule for The Friends of Mary at the foot of the Cross, which Bishop Flaget approved. After due preparation the veil was given to Mary Rhodes, Chris-
274 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
tina Stuart, and Nancy Havern in St. Charles's Church on the 25th of April, 1812. The unwonted ceremony- drew a great crowd to the little church, and the Cath- olics were deeply edihed and moved as they saw the three foundresses, preceded by their school children, move from the school-house to the church. At the foot of the altar, in the presence of the whole congre- gation, they made their solemn promise to renounce the world. The coarse black veil was next blessed and placed on the head of each ; then at the end of the mass they returned in procession to their cabin to begin their life as Sisters of Loretto, if we may use the title by which they are generally known. ^
The Dominican Fathers had acquired a farm of six hundred acres of a Mr. William Waller, Father Ed- ward Fen wick's patrimony being used in the purchase, and slaves he had inherited being sent from Maryland to work it. The religious did not obtain possession till the spring of 1806, boarding in the mean time at different places and giving their services as mission- aries. The two-story brick building on the farm be- came the convent of Saint Rose of Lima, and the Order of Preachers, which sent its pioneer priests to the James River in 1526, and to Florida in 1549, had thus a permanent home in the country. Here a college was opened with nine students, Fathers Wilson and Tuite acting as professors.^
On the 10th of October, 1808, a novitiate was for- mally opened at St. Rose's, and the white habit of St. Dominic was given solemnly to ISTicholas (Dominic)
' Maes, "Life of Rev. Charles Nerinckx," p. 239,' etc.
* Sketch by Very Rev. Stephen Byrne, O. P. Both bore marks of the rough roads of those days. On their way to Kentucky a stage upset, and Father Wilson had his arm broken and Father Tuite I'eceived a gash on tlie face whicli marked him for life.
DIOCESAN SEMINARY. 275
Young, Richard (Pius) Miles, Samuel (Louis) and Stephen (Hyacinth) Montgomery, William (Thomas) Willett, and Christopher (Antoninus) Rudd. Four of these made their vows in 1809 ; Nicholas D, Young, being too young, was deferred to August 4, 1810.
St. Rose's Church was commenced in 1808 ; it was for its time the finest church yet erected in Kentucky, being of brick, forty feet by one hundred. It was dedicated on St. Rose's Day, September 30, 1809. Then a new building was erected the next year for a convent, and in 1812 a suitable structure for a college. This institution was in a flourishing condition when Bishop Flaget reached his diocese.
Bishop Flaget soon had the consolation of seeing St. Peter's Church dedicated at Lexington, and in a few months transferred his residence to St. Thomas's, on the 10th of August. Rev. Mr. David was already there with his seminarians, laboring to train them to a true ecclesiastical spirit, while they devoted the hours not required by divinity studies to felling trees, making brick, and preparing to erect a suitable seminary and church.
At the close of summer he set out for Baltimore to attend a proposed Provincial Council, the letter of Archbishop Carroll, deferring its convocation, not hav- ing reached him. The impossibility of communicating with the Sovereign Pontiff and obtaining a regular authorization for holding the first Council induced the Metropolitan to lay aside the project. Unaw^are of this resolve Bishop Flaget, after a visit to the Rev. Mr. Nerinckx and his fervent little communitj^ of Sisters, set out, visiting Lexington on his way and entering Ohio, where he said mass at the house of Mr. Dittoe on the 11th of October, probably the first episcopal act in the State. It was not, in those days of slow and
276 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
tedious travel, till the third day of the following month that Dr. Flaget was welcomed by his fellow Sulpitians at his old home, St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore.
While the Bishop was detained in the East till spring his diocese was not neglected. The unwearied laborer in the vineyard of the Lord, Rev. Charles Nerinckx, built St. Anthony's Church at Long Creek, and made a commencement of another church, St. Bernard's, on Casey Creek. He sent out too an appeal, quaint in its simplicity, in behalf of the little Sister- hood which he had founded.^
Rev. Mr. David had frequently consulted Bishop Flaget as to the establishment of a Sisterhood, under the control of the diocesan authority, bound by simple vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, with mem- bers devoted to works of mercy and the instruction of the young and the ignorant. He had already devout souls who were impelled by the spirit of God to sacri- fice their labors for the sake of Christ and their neigh- bor. In JS'ovember, 1812, two ladies, Teresa Carico and Elizabeth Wells, took up their residence in a log-house adjoining the Church of St. Thomas. In January another candidate joined them, and on the 21st Rev. Mr. David presented to them the provisional rules, embodying the objects and duties of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth. By the month of June, 1813, their number having increased to six, they made a spiritual retreat, after which they chose Sister Catha- rine Spalding as their first Mother Superior. Bishop Flaget had by this time returned to his diocese and he made the little community a touching exhortation on the duties and obligations of the religious life which they had embraced. After living for two years under
' Maes," Life of Rev. C. Nerinckx." Tessier, " fepoques du, Seminaire."
VISITATION. 277
provisional regulations tliey adopted the rule of Saint Vincent de Paul for the Sisters of Charity, adapting the dress to their circiinistances.^
Bishop Flaget began a visitation of his diocese in 1813, and at every station insisted on a regular and definite support for the priest. The precarious sus- tenance had forced not a few priests, especially north of the Ohio, to seek other fields of labor. Mild and amiable as he was, confiding rather in prayer than in human aid, the good Bishop was inflexible on this point. At St. Charles's and St. Rose's some showed a disposition to resist. Bishop Flaget put down the incipient rebellion by declaring to them from the altar that if they persisted in their refusal he would no longer consider them as belonging to the Catholic Church.^
Ere long Father Edward Fenwick, whom he had sent to Ohio, began his missionary career in that State, while the Bishop, to whom the Catholics of Vincennes had appealed for a resident clergyman, proceeded to that place on horseback and unattended. As he approached the old French town a large cavalcade, headed by Rev. Donatien Olivier, came out to meet him, and conducted him to the church with some pomp. He remained two weeks at this former scene of his labors, visiting the cemetery and chanting the "Libera" over the grave of the devoted Mr. Rivet. He blessed and exhorted a company of rangers setting out for the seat of war, to check the English on the frontier. The condition of the people rent his heart; ignorance and vice had nearly effaced all sense of
'Spalding, "Sketches of the Early Catholic Missions of Kentucky," pp. 229-233.
2 Spalding, " Life of Bishop Flaget," pp. 113-14.
278 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
religion in some minds, but he was assiduous in in- structions and in the confessional, and by the help of Rev. Mr. Olivier found eighty- six sufficiently prepared for him to administer the sacrament of confirmation on the 5th of June, when he preached in both French and English, inveighing strongly against the abuses which had grown up.
Travel in the West had been environed with dangers, as the Indians, won by British pay, were all hostile to the Americans, till the check received on the Maumee and Sandusky, followed by Perry's victory on Lake Erie and Harrison's on the Thames, broke the influ- ence of the English in the West,
From Vincennes Bishop Flaget proceeded to Caho- kia, where he found that the Rev. Mr. Savine, whom he had sent to that ancient parish, had accomplished much good. Everything was in fine order ; the con- gregation was free from debt and had a surplus in the treasury. What was still more consoling was the spirit which animated the people, and the knowledge of their religion and duties which they displayed. Here, too, the Bishop became a missionary, assiduous in the confessional, and on the 26tli of June, 1814, he confirmed one hundred and eighteen persons.
As he had been requested by Bishop Du Bourg, he then crossed the Mississippi, but found little to con- sole him in St. Louis, Florissant, St. Charles, and Portage aux Sioux, for the apathy and religious neg- lect of the people grieved him sadly. By the close of August he was again within the limits of his own jurisdiction, with more to console him in Rev. Mr. Olivier' s parish of Prairie du Rocher, where he con-
' Alerding, " A History of the Catholic Church iii the Diocese of Vincennes," Indianapolis, 1883, pp. 83-4.
VISITATION. 279
:firmed sixty-five. Stricken down by fever the Bishop was unable to reach Kaskaskia before the 14th of September. That old post had a fine church, eighty feet by forty, with a handsome steeple, and a bell dating back to days of French rule. He confirmed one hundred and ten here, and in a subsequent visit thirty-six more. Kaskaskia had recently had notable events. A cyclone swept through it in 1812 doing great damage to houses and cattle ; the next year the militia were called out to confront the Kickapoos and other hostile Indians. Even when Bishop Flaget left Kaskaskia for Vincennes, November 8, 1814, traveling was so insecure that the news of his capture by Indians reached Kentucky, and public x>rayers were offered for his safety. He really met with an adventure near Vincennes, a party of rangers being mistaken for Indians and causing a general alarm. After adminis- tering confirmation at Vincennes he returned to his home at St. Thomas, having in this visitation con- firmed one thousand two hundred and seventy-five.^
Writing to Archbishop Carroll from the American Settlement in Missouri, he said: " My visit through the French settlements has been very laborious, but a hundred times more successful than I would have expected; I have confirmed above twelve hundred people, though I confirm none but those who have made their first communion. At least eight or ten priests are wanting in these immense countries, and if some could be put among the Indians who would be willing to receive them, ten more would scarcely do. Pray that God may send me proper ministers to con- vert or support so many souls that run to x)erdition for want of assistance." ^
^ Spalding, " Life of Bishop Flaget," pp. 115-143. « Bishop Flaget to Archbishop Carroll, Oct. 10, 1814.
280 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
In this visitation Detroit was the only considerable- place not reached by the Bishoj). The Church there had not been free from difficulties. After the confla- gration of 1805, it was resolved to rebuild the city, laying out the streets on a more advantageous plan. Congress, on the 21st of April, 1806, passed an " Act to provide for the adjustment of titles of land in the town of Detroit." By this arrangement the site of the former Church of St. Anne and of the cemetery would have to be abandoned, a new street, Jefferson Avenue, running through the land. A plot two hun- dred feet square on East and West, now called Michi- gan Avenue, was assigned to the Catholics. Meetings of the parishioners were called, but they acted inde- pendently of 'their pastor, and settled upon no plan. First, in December, 1805, it was resolved to erect a wooden church forty feet by one hundred ; but in October, 1806, there was a desire to build one of brick or stone.
On the 3d of April, 1807, they obtained of the terri- torial legislature an act incorporating "The members of the Church, usually denominated Catholic Apos- tolic and Roman, within the territory of Michigan." A majority were to adopt rules and elect trustees, but. no rights of the clergy connected with the churches were recognized. At a meeting held on the 12th of April, they adopted the title of " The Catholic Apos- tolic and Roman Church of St. Anne at Detroit." It- was further declared that " the temporal goods of the- said Catholic Church of St. Anne have been and shall in future be administered, according to a custom established from time immemorial, by the parish priest and four trustees or marguilliers." It was fur- ther established that " the Bishop alone or the parish priest shall draw up the necessary regulations for the-
CHURCH IN MICHIGAN. 281
internal police of the church and schools. The latter shall have the appointment of the schoolmasters and mistresses."
But the removal of the bodies from the old cemetery was strongly opposed, and no real progress had been made toward erecting a new church when the war with England broke out. Soon after the surrender of Detroit to the English by Hull, Rev. Gabriel Richard, whose loyalty to the American cause, made him very obnoxious, was arrested and placed in confinement at Sandwich, and his people were consequently long de- prived of his ministry,^
The Bishop heard of four other Catholic congrega- tions, which he was unable to visit on account of the disturbed condition of the country. Chicago was one of these, another on the Upper Mississipi^i, one on the shores of Lake Michigan, and the fourth at the head-waters of the Illinois River.
Bishop Flaget had thus visited much of his diocese and of the annexed district placed under his care. The State of Tennessee he had not yet been able to embrace in his apostolical journeys, but it contained at most twenty-five Catholic families, scattered over its territory from the border of North Carolina to the Mississippi River, who had received one or two visits from priests in Kentucky.^
On the 11th of April, 1815, Bishop Flaget addressed a touching letter to the Sovereign Pontiff, congratu- lating him on his liberation from captivity, thanking His Holiness for elevating him to the episcopate, and rendering an account of the diocese and district com- mitted to his care. He was able to report that he had
' " Expose des faits incontestables et des documents." Farmer, "The History of Detroit and Michigan," p. 533. 2 Bishop Flaget to the Pope, April 11, 1815.
282 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
in Kentucky ten priests, six ecclesiastics in subdeacons, and four in minor orders, and six who had received the tonsure, a proof of the zeal and spirit of the priests who had cultivated vocations in that backwoods State. Of the subdeacons, five belonged to the Dominican Order. He could number nineteen churches in Ken- tucky, five of them brick, the rest of logs ; all decent, but destitute of all ornaments or incentives to piety, such as art, consecrated to religion, had placed on the walls of European shrines. Seven of these churches were under the care of Rev. Mr. Nerinckx. Owing to the fluctuating character of the i^opulation it was not easy to fix the number of Catholics in Kentucky, but he estimated it at ten thousand. As for himself he beheld much to be done, but he was utterly without means. Before his consecration he had been assured that the revenue of three farms would abundantly supply an income to meet the maintenance of the Bishop of Bardstown, but on arriving found that the title of this property was held by others and would not be conveyed to him, although he had used all arguments that charity could prompt. He was thus without resources either for his own support or for the -erection of churches and institutions, the necessity ior which was only too apparent.
The departure of Rev. Charles Nerinckx, by whom lie forwarded the letter, was a great affliction, as he could not feel certain of his return to the field in which he had accomplished so much. The Sisterhood which the Belgian priest had founded, now numbering eleven members, shared his grief. That formed by Rev. Mr. • David, whom he implored the Holy Father not to re- move from his seminary to the see of Philadelphia, was accomplishing much by its school, its care of orphans, its visits to the sick and poor.
NERINCKX IN EUROPE. 283
He estimated the Catholics of Ohio at fifty families, without priest or instruction, and menaced with a gradual loss of faith. Vincennes had IBO families and, had there been good will, might easily support one or two priestsj but it depended on occasional visits from Kentucky. In Illinois he estimated the population of the three Catholic parishes, Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and Prairie du Rocher, at 120 families. Detroit had 1500 souls in St. Anne's parish, and 500 on Raisin River under Rev. Gabriel Richard, who was maintained by the tithes still paid as in the old Canadian times.
There were Indian tribes among whom some traces of the faith formerly preached by the Jesuit Fathers still lingered, and stretching away to the Rocky Mountains, beyond the Mississippi, were tribes who asked for black gowns and afforded a field worthy of the zeal of the Society of Jesus, restored by His Holi- ness.^
The Rev. Mr. IS'erinckx had for more than three years been anxious to visit Europe, one of his objects being to obtain of the Sovereign Pontiff, Pius VII., a recognition of the Sisterhood which he had estab- lished ; Bishop Flaget at last, in September, 1815, gave a reluctant consent, and kept his missionary field open for him, taking on himself most of Rev. Mr. Nerinckx's congregations and the chaplaincy of the Sisters.'^ His visit to Rome gave him great conso- lation. The Sacred Congregation " de Proj^aganda Fide," in April, 1816, took under its special protec- tion "The Little Society of the Friends of Mary at the Foot of the Cross," and approved the rules and xitatutes which he had prepared. These he printed in
» Bishop Flaget to Pope Pius VII., April 11, 1815.
« Maes, " Life of Rev. Charles Nerinckx," pp. 292-3, 330-343.
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French in Belgium, and circulated to excite interest in the missions of the Bardstown diocese. His moving appeal had its effect ; two priests and eight semi- narians volunteered to go to America with him, churches and families gave church iDlate, vestments, altar adornments, crucifixes, statues, paintings. He embarked with his apostolic party at the Texel, in May, 1817, but so stormy was the passage that he did not reach Baltimore till the last days of July. The priests and all the seminarians had resolved to apply for admission to^the Society of Jesus ; so that Bishop Flaget rebuked him wdien he arrived at St. Thomas alone, though not empty-handed. The vestments, paintings, bells, and other church goods were trans- ported to Kentucky at great expense of time and money, and liberally divided among the missions. It may be declared that the services of the church then, for the first time, could be celebrated with dig- nity ; fine sets of vestments replacing those of coarse fabric, trimmed with old bonnet ribbons, which had hitherto done service. Many of the fruits of this European visit of the venerable Nerinckx are still preserved in Kentucky.'
Bishop Flaget had meanwhile visited Cincinnati and Cliillicothe in Ohio. A substantial log church v^as put up at Long Lick ; the Rev. Peter Schaeffer, a newly ordained Belgian priest, whose physical strength did not corresj)ond to his zeal, took charge of the missions in Breckenridge and Grayson counties.' Overburdened though he was with missionary and «piscoj)al duties. Bishop Flaget entered the field of
'Maes, " Life of Rev. Charles Nerinckx," pp. 353-360 ; Le Sage Ten Broek, " De Zegeprael van het Catholijk Geloof," Amsterdam, 1819.
* Webb, " Centenary of Catholicity in Kentucky," pp. 144-5.
BARDSTOWN CATHEDRAL. 285
controversy, to wliicli lie liacl a strong aversion. But the coarse tirades and challenge of a preacher named Tapscott required an answer. The discussion was oral, and Tapscott flew from charge to charge, till the Bishop declined to answer any more charges and insisted on putting the minister under interrogation. This was not to his fancy and he abruptly withdrew, leaving the Bishop the victory ; but he, holy man, returning to his poor apartments, knelt down to pray : *' How happy shall I be, O Lord, if I cause thee to be knowft and loved by all those unfortunate sectaries, who are generally such, only because they had the misfortune to be born in heresy."^
The erection of a Cathedral in the city which the Head of the Church had selected as the see of his dio- cese had engaged the attention of Bishop Flaget from the time of his appointment, but he found himself homeless and without resources. His own comfort and the dignity of the episcopate were less important in his eyes than the good of his flock. Time slipped by and it was not till some years after his consecration that he was able to purchase a plot of five acres in Bardstown at a cost of seven hundred dollars. On this site he proposed to erect his theological seminary Bud a Cathedral. The corner-stone of the Cathedral, which was to be dedicated to Saint Joseph, was laid on the 16tliof July, 1816, four priests from St. Rose's Convent and all the Seminarians taking part in the ceremonial, the Rev. Mr. David preaching a luminous discourse on the occasion. The next year the Bishop authorized his clergy and friends to collect money and subscriptions for erecting the edifice, the plans for w^hich had been furnished by Mr. John Rogers, an
' Spalding, " Life of Bishop Flaget," p. 146.
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architect from Maryland, who made his home in Bards-^ town, 1815. So i)oor was his flock, after the war with. England, that only fourteen thousand dollars could be raised, leaving what to the Bishop was an appalling debt of $6000.^
Bishop Flaget was consoled to see that churches were rising at different points, like St. Teresa's in Meade County, St. Joseph's, under the care of the Dominicans, and another church in Lebanon. His Seminarians persevered, and he added gradually new priests to his diocese by ordination, trained to the work before them. In 1818, Rev. Charles Nerinckx and Rev. Robert A. Abell, one of these young priests, made a missionary tour through southern and south- western Kentucky with consoling results ; and the Dominican Father N. D. Young, with his Superior Father Edward Fenwick, visited the Ohio missions.
Poor as Bishop Flaget was, and scanty as were his accommodations at St. Thomas, he opened his house and seminary to the priests of the congregation of the mission under the saintly Father Felix de Andreis, who had been secured by Bishoj) Du Bourg for the mission of Louisiana, and who reached Kentucky in November, 1816. They remained there for a year, and meanwhile Bishop Flaget, — "who," to use the words of Father De Andreis, " is continually on horse- back, riding here and there like the youngest of his missionaries ; he goes alone, without any distinction of rank, save that of taking for himself the most dif- ficult and laborious share of the ministry," — visited St. Louis to induce the people in that city to make
' Benoit Joseph Flaget Evgque de Bardstown a ses
compatriotes," p. 3 •. translation in Webb, " Centenary," pp. 340-1, 269. Deppen, "Louisville Catholic Family Guide," Louisville, 1887, p. 16. Spalding, " Life of Bishop Flaget," p. 211.
BISHOP DAVID, COADJUTOR. 287
preparations for the reception of Bislioj) Du Bourg, and when that i^relate reached Kentucky, accompanied him to St. Louis to install him in the early days of 1818.1
Meanwhile Bishop Flaget, feeling the burden of his diocese and its annexed district too heavy a weight for himself to bear alone, apj^lied to the Holy See for a coadjutor, and on July 4, 1817, Rev. John Baptist David was appointed by the Sovereign Pontiff Bishop of Mauricastro and coadjutor of Bardstown, with the right of succession.^
Troubles in Michigan about this time called for Bishop Flaget' s action. The Detroit Catholics were without a church. There were differences of opinion. Some wished the church nearer the Cote du Nord Est, others wished a new i^arish formed. Many, opposed to the removal of the dead, refused to contribute to the erection of a new church. Rev. Mr. Richard used all his influence to produce harmony, but to no pur- pose, and when the Bishop sustained him, the inhabi- tants of the northeast coast refused to submit to the decision of the Bishop, and Dr. Flaget was compelled to issue a pastoral letter (Feb. 24, 1817) and place the temporary church under an interdict.^ The next year he set out in May in hopes of effecting a restoration of peace by his personal influence. At Cincinnati,
1 " Sketches of the Life of V. Rev. Felix de Andreis," Baltimore, 1861, pp. 118-139 ; Spalding, " Life of Bishop Flaget," pp. 169-175.
* " Expose des faits incontestables et des documents."
» It is a significant fact that the men in power in this congregation of St. Anne's had been so remiss in their duties, and so niggardly, that the United States had to sue for the rent of the premises they were tem- porarily occupying. Farmer's " Detroit," p. 531. In most of these church troubles the noisiest people are those who contribute least, and are seldom seen at the table of the Lord.
^88 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
then without priest or church, he made arrangements for a lot and stimulated the few Catholics to begin building a church. Here he visited several families and baptized one child. After saying mass at Urbana and baptizing an Indian girl at Fort Finley, he reached Raisin River, but found the church there in such a wretched condition that he could not offer the holy sacrifice within its walls.
After reaching Detroit, it required only a personal con- ference with the disaffected to obtain their submission. They promised to remove the bodies from the old ceme- tery, and to aid in erecting the new church. It was
SIGNATURE OF BISHOP DAVID.
also agreed to bury the past dissensions in oblivion. The leaders signed the Pastoral in token of submission.
To render the removal of the interdict of the church public and solemn. Bishop Flaget went in procession to it on the 9th of June. Addresses were delivered in French and English. An affectionate public recon- ciliation took place between the schismatics and their pastor, Rev. Gabriel Richard. A substantial collec- tion taken up showed that the erection of the new church was taken up in earnest.
A few days after, while returning from the house of Gen. Macomb, the horses of his carriage took fright, and the Bishop- was thrown down an embankment, sustaining an injury from which he never entirely recovered. After a visit to Quebec, returning by way of Buffalo and Cleveland, he returned to Detroit in
A CHURCH IN CINCINNATI. 289
the latter part of August, and proceeded to Sault St. Mary, in order to attend a great council to be held there with the Indian tribes. Sickness prevented much of the good he hojDed to effect there, but he returned to Detroit only to labor as a missionary at every station and administer the sacrament of con- firmation. At Raisin River he spent six weeks, giving a regular mission, excommunicating one man for an unlawful marriage, and requiring two women to do public penance.
Meanwhile work on the new church of St. Anne at Detroit had been vigorously prosecuted. By means of collections and paper money, which Rev. Mr. Richard issued, the stone, timber, and lime were brought to the spot and the work rapidly performed. When the Bishop returned to the city on the 30th of December the cross was already glittering on the steeple. He continued his missionary labors at De- troit, Cote du IN'ord Est, and Raisin River, till after the close of Lent, and finally left Detroit on the 29th of May, having aroused the faith in all that part of his charge.^
Returning by way of Pittsburgh he found the church which the five or six Catholic families of Cin- cinnati had undertaken, about two miles outside the city, roofed in and already hallowed by the offering of the holy sacrifice. It was a frame structure, fifty- five feet long by twenty-five wide. He wrote in his jour- nal : " It is a great misfortune that no Catholics come to settle in the neighborhood of this splendid city. At present there are no other Catholics in Cincinnati than laborers and clerks and — such as are to be con-
' Spalding, "Life of Bishop Flaget," pp. 182-200; Farmer, "De- troit," p. 533.
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verted. Yet I think that nothing should be neglected to establish religion here ; for the mercy of God i» great, and when He pleases He can multiply his children." He reached St, Thomas's, Kentucky, on the last day of June, 1819, to the great joy of his coadjutor elect.
Though the bulls appointing Rev, Mr. David had reached Kentucky, November 25, 1817, his consecra- tion had been deferred in consequence of his reluc- tance to assume the position by reason of his age and his infirmity, and from a scruple because he had him- self urged Bishop Fiaget to solicit a coadjutor. His objections were finally overcome by a letter from Car- dinal Litta. By this time the mission of Kentucky^ was attended by Bishop Fiaget, his coadjutor elect, and eighteen priests.
Soon after his return Bishop Fiaget removed his residence and his seminary to Bardstown. He left St, Thomas with great regret, and took up his residence near his cathedral on the 7th of August in apartments which seemed to him too grand for a bishop to occupy. The next day was that appointed for the dedication of the Cathedral, From all parts of Kentucky parties of the faithful came, full of honest pride in the com- pletion of the Corinthian edifice. Many Protestants interested in the Cathedral also attended. The Bishop invested the ceremonial with all the j)omp his means permitted. Bishop-elect David preaching during the consecration service, and Rev, Robert A, Abell, dur- ing the pontifical mass. It was the most imposing- ceremony of the Church yet witnessed in the West.
The Cathedral of St. Josej^h at Bardstown has in. later days been surpassed by many ecclesiastical structures, but for the state and the period it wasi deemed remarkable, A traveler in the West de-
BARDSTOWN CATHEDRAL 291
-scribes it thus : "The situation cliosen for the church is truly admirable. . At the western extremity of this liandsome little town, on the road to Elizabeth, is erected this neat building, with which, in this western country, none can vie in architecture, if we except the University of Lexington and the Louisville Hospital. It is very large and beautiful, comparatively with most other buildings in these parts. On it is raised a liandsome steeple, containing a large bell and clock, having on its summit, as usual in our Catholic churches, the glorious cross that silently announces, even to the distant traveler, the love, the mercies, and the tri- umphs of our Redeemer. The ceiling is vaulted and four pillars on each side sej^arate the nave from the ■aisles. The sanctuary is very spacious, and in it, be- sides the high altar, there are two others, and the puli)it becomingly decorated. A beautiful painting of the Crucifixion hangs over the high altar, and on each side of the wall, which from the two side altars near the railing takes the inclination of a bow, are two paintings, one representing the Descent of the Holy Ghost, the other the solemn reproof made by Saint Bernard, with the consecrated host in his hand, to William Duke of Aquitaine." '
A week later, on the feast of the Assumption of our Lady, Bishop David was consecrated in the Cathedral by Bishop Flaget, Rev. Charles Nerinckx and Father Wilson, O.S.D., acting as assistants, and a future co- adjutor, Rev. Guy I. Chabrat, delivering the sermon.
The next month the Seminarians removed to the episcopal residence, which thus became the seminary. On Sundays and holidays the Bishop and his coad- jutor were surrounded in the sanctuary by these can-
• U. S. Cath. Miscellany, iv., p. 210, April 13, 1825.
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didates for the priesthood, whose exactness in tha ceremonial and gravity of deportment impressed all.
In November Bishop Flaget made visitations extend- ing to Louisville, New Albany, Washington, and Vin- cennes. He soon after addressed a pastoral to the Catliolics of Michigan, laying off the territory where the faithful were sufficiently numerous into parishes, and fixing the points where he regarded the erection of churches most feasible and most likely to be con- venient/
The territory north of the Ohio had been tempo- rarily placed nnder the care of Bishop Flaget, and he felt that the time had come for the erection of ei)isco- pal sees there. As Ohio was already the home of many Catholic families of German speech, he urged that a see should be erected at Cincinnati, and for its first Bishop he recommended the Rev. Demetrius A. Gallitzin, educated in Germany, and familiar with the language and ideas of the people. In this selection Archbishop Marechal and Bishop Du Bourg concurred, but the good Russian priest, learning of the project, peremptorily refused. For the see of Detroit the two Bishops recommended Rev. Father John Grassi, Su- perior of the Jesuit Mission in the United States.^ The Congregation " de Propaganda Fide " regarded the erection of a see at Detroit inexpedient, but it was decided to erect the see of Cincinnati, the diocese ta embrace the State of Ohio ; ^ Father Edward Fen wick,
' " Lettre pastorale k tons les Catholiques du Detroit et du Territoire- Michigan."
' Bishop Flaget to a Cardinal, Nov. 5, 1820. He recommended F. Grassi, or F. Benedict Fenwick, for Detroit, as he deemed that district a. field that required regulars.
3 Pius VII , Bull, "Inter multiplices," June 19, 1831. Bullarium de Propaganda Fide, iv. , p. 385.
EDUCATION. 29a
O. S. D., subsequently recommended, was appointed, and he was soon after made Administrator Apostolic- of Michigan and Northwest Territory.^
This was a great relief to the mind of Bishop Flaget who remained responsible only for Indiana and Illinois north of the Ohio, and Bishop Dii Boiirg, who owed much to him, agreed to provide for several of the missions in the latter State, easily reached from St. Louis. But he was menaced with the loss of Bishop David, who was proposed for the see of Philadelphia. Against this Bishop Flaget i^rotested, as it involved the destruction of his diocesan seminary.
Bishop Flaget had seen two religious communities of women formed for works of charity and for primary instruction of the young ; he beheld their progress, and missions already established by both, and prepa- rations on hand for the opening of female academies of a higher grade.
The education of boys was the next thought. The Dominicans had come to Kentucky expressly to open an academy for boys, and they founded the first Catholic school in the State, which was maintained for several years. But the time of the Dominicans was more especially needed for mission work as priests. Their scholasticate for members of their order preparing for holy orders was, however, main- tained ; the young Dominican novices and students^ for want of lay brothers, doing much outdoor manual labor.^
The holy priest Nerinckx had secured a farm before
'"Annales de la Propagation de la Foi," ii., p. 88. Bullarium de Propaganda Fide, v., p. 89.
2F. Thomas Wilson, O.P., to F. Augustine Hill, O.P., July 23, 1820. Appeal of F. Wilson in " Origine et Progres de la Mission du Kentucky," Paris, 1821, p. 31-2.
■294 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
he went to Europe, and returned with some young Belgians whom he designed as the first members of a community of Brothers who were to accomplish for boys the same work that the Loretto Sisters were so faithfully doing for the young of their own sex ; but his farm was taken for other uses and the project failed. The Rev. William Byrne, trained at Mount St. Mary's and St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, where he received subdeacon's orders, was received by Bishoj) Flaget, and with Rev. G. A. M. Elder, were the first priests ordained in Bardstown Cathedral, and the first elevated to the priesthood by Bishop David. Rev. Mr. Byrne was appointed to the care of the con- gregations of St, Charles and Holy Mary. Seeing the want of an academy for boys, he secured the farm selected by Rev. C. Nerinckx, and paid for it. Here, in the spring of 1821, he opened St. Mary's Seminary, in an old distillery on the place ; his terms were char- acteristic of the country. Parents were to pay for the board of their sons in provisions ; for tuition, in work or money. Though encumbered by his parochial du- ties, often requiring long journeys on horseback, he was sole prefect and teacher of his academy till he had trained pupils to aid him. The school was so well conducted that it became popular, and he had raised an additional building, when he returned after a brief absence to find it in ashes. But he was undaunted, and persevered. The course of studies enlarged, his institution was incorporated by the State as St. Mary's College, and finding it beyond his ability to direct as he desired, he transferred it in time to the Fathers of ■the Society of Jesus.
A fellow student of Rev. Mr. Byrne in Maryland,
' ]\Iaes, " Life of Rev. Charles Nerinckx," p. 386.
EDUCATION. 295
Kev. George A. M. Elder, in 1820, opened a school for boys in the basement of the Theological Seminary at Bardstown, but it increased to such an extent that a separate building soon bore the name of St. Joseph's College. The students of a Southern seat of learning ■swelled its numbers. For many years the college prospered, guided by its founder, and for a time by Hev. Mr. Reynolds, afterwards Bishop of Charleston.^ The diocese in the backwoods was thus better equipped for Christian work than any other except Baltimore. It had its secular and regular clergy, each with a house of studies for supplying candidates for the priesthood ; it had high schools for the young of both sexes, as well as more rudimentary schools ; it had two commu- nities of women created in the diocese and fitted for instruction and works of mercy ; but it had its Fhiget and its David, its Nerinckx, Badin, Fenwick, Wilson, Byrne, and Elder, each a host in himself.
With the calls upon him. Bishop Flaget had as yet been unable to visit the State of Tennessee, though Rev. Mr. Badin had made four excursions into that part of the diocese. IS'ow that he Avas relieved of part of his charge and had clergy to attend the more numerous congregations in Kentucky, he set out in May, 1821, to visit the handful of Catholics in Ten- nessee. Journeying by way of Breckenridge County, Litchfield, and Bowling Green, he reached Nnshville ■on the 10th, accompanied by Rev. R. A. Abell. The next day he offered the holy sacrifice in the house of Mr. Montbrun, his host, who was deeply affected by the honor conferred upon him. The Catholics in and ^around Nashville were estimated at sixty, and not more than half as many more in all the rest of the
1 Spalding, " Sketches of Kentucky," pp. 264-284.
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State. With such a scanty flock the establishment of a church seemed a bold undertaking : but Bishop Flaget resolved to make the attemjDt. Protestants showed great liberality. Mr. Foster offered a lot seventy feet by one hundred as a site for the church ; courtesies were extended on all sides, and the holy sacrifice was attended not only by the Catholics, but.
BEV. STEPHEN T. BADEN.
by many prominent persons of all denominations.- Rev. Mr. Abell's sermons in the Court House were- attentively followed. The Bishop and his companion then visited Franklin and Columbia. At the latter place a subscription was taken up and a purse of two hundred dollars and a new suit of clothes were pre- sented to Mr. Abell as the public appreciation of the dressing he gave a ranting minister.
Soon after his return the Bishop welcomed back from Europe Rev. Charles Nerinckx, and Rev. Mr.
VINCENNES. 297
Chabrat, who came with the fruits of their aj)- peal.
In March, 1823, he stationed at Yincennes the Rev. J. L. ChamiDauniier, whom lie had recently ordained. He was the first priest whom Bishop Flaget had been able to place permanently in Indiana. The Bishoj) in the summer visited his old scene of parochial work to arouse the people to support their pastor in his exer- tions for their welfare.^ The young j^riest, however, found himself in a very difficult position. Abandon- ing the old system of marguilliers, the congregation had obtained from the legislature a charter of incor- poration. The men elected trustees were, as usual, merely nominal Catholics who never approached the sacraments. The church was tottering to ruin, and a new one imperatively demanded, but these men would do nothing. The zealous efforts of Rev. Mr. Cham- paumier to revive religious feelings in the hearts of those who were torjpid or indifferent aroused ojdido- sition.
At the time of his visit these troubles had not cul- minated, and as Rev. Mr. Cham]Daumier desired to establish a school, the Bishop subsequently sent Sis- ters of Charity to Indiana, who opened one near the old church.^
While in Indiana Bishop Flaget visited Mount
' Spalding, " Life of Bishop Flaget," p. 235-8.
» lb., p. 238-9. Letter of Rev. J. L. Champaumier, Sept. , 13, 1825, in U. S. Cath. Misc., v., p. 236. Bishop Flaget to Mr. Badolet, Jan. 18, 1825. A writer in the Catholic Miscellany, v., p. 377 : " Were you to see this edifice which I style a church, you would doubtless call in question its right to that name, and rather denominate it a ruined hovel. But I give it that appellation, notwithstanding its rough materials, unseemly form, and ruinous condition, because it was erected by the Jesuit missionaries to serve as such."
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Pleasant, Washington, and two French settlements on the Wabash, administering confirmation at several points.^
The diocese was soon to receive a blow in the de- parture and death of the venerable Charles Nerinckx. His Order was extending, and when the election of a superior general was held, on the feast of the Annunciation, 1822, and Sister Juliana Wathen was elected, the Loretto community had convents at Loretto, Calvary, Gethsemane, and Bethania, besides one at Mechlin, Belgium. The next year they opened other houses at Mount Carmel and Mount Olivet. They also sent a colony to Missouri where they founded the Bethlehem convent, in poverty worthy of the name.
Meanwhile the holy founder was engaged on his last work in Kentucky, the erection of a brick church at Holy Cross, when a trouble arose which deprived Kentucky of his services and menaced the existence of the Sisterhood. The Rev. Guy I. Chabrat, who had been appointed by the Bishop, confessor of the Bethania convent, attempted to alter the Rules which had been confirmed by Pope Pius VII. He com- plained to Bishop Flaget of Rev. Mr. Nerinckx as visionary and excessively rigorous. The Bishop was reluctant to act, but as Rev. Mr. Chabrat persisted, Rev. Mr. Nerinckx resolved to leave Kentucky and the Sisterhood. In the last days of May he addressed his parting letters to the community which he had founded. He left Loretto on the 16ch of June, in very ill health, and on the feast of the Visitation surprised the Loretto Sisters at Bethlehem, Missouri, by his sudden appearance among them. After a brief rest
' Spalding, " Life of Bishop Flaget," p. 239.
DEATH OF REV. C. NERINCKX. 299
he proceeded to the Barrens, and was received into the diocese by Bishop Rosati. Full of projects for the Indian missions and the instruction of Indian girls at the houses of the Loretto Sisters, he set out for the Bethlehem convent, but could proceed no further than St. Genevieve, where he expired August 12, 1824, as- sisted in death by the Lazarist Father Dahmen.
His unexpected death was a terrible blow to the Sisters in Kentucky and Missouri, which was felt more keenly when Rev. Guy I. Chabrat, appointed ecclesiastical superior of the community, burned all the writings of the Rev. Mr. Nerinckx, and many of tlie books which were the source of his meditations^ His last letter to the Sisters, though actually given to the flames, was fortunately rescued.
Bishop Flaget felt deeply the loss of the holy pio- neer priest, to whom Kentucky owed so much. In the requiem mass offered for him in the Cathedral at Bardstown, Bishop Flaget pronounced a glowing eulo- gy on his virtues, and he addressed to Bishop England an account of the great priest, which shows his admira- tion and esteem. '' He lives amongst us in his works, and the monuments of the zeal of my virtuous friend are so multiplied in my diocese, and his generous self- devotion so well appreciated, that his name and that of his beneficent country are embalmed in the memory of my flock. The legacy which my people value most is that of ' The Friends of Mary at the Foot of the Cross' ; this admirable institution is their delight. The virtuous daughters of this Society are the edifica- tion of all who know them ; their singular piety and their penitential lives remind us of all that we have read of the ancient monasteries of Palestine and of Thebais. Their number is over one hundred ; they have charge of six schools. They give education to
300 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
upwards of two hundred and fifty little girls yearly in their houses, and take in some orphans gratis." . . . "Mr. Nerinckx himself led an extremely austere and mortified life ; his dress, his lodging, his food was poor, and he has filled his monasteries with this holy spirit." "But nothing could exceed the devotion of Mr. Nerinckx to the Holy Sacrament of our altars ; in this respect he was a model for every clergyman." "A rule of his monasteries is to keep up during even the night the Perpetual Adoration by a succession of two Sisters to two Sisters before the Holy Sacrament to pay their homage to the God who loved us so dearly, as after suffering for us to give us under the sacramental veil his flesh to eat ; to repair in some degree the disres^Dect with which the sacrament is treated by the ingratitude of the human race." " It was to be expected that so holy a life should be ter- minated by a holy death."
The remains of this great servant of God were car- ried to Bethlehem, but in time were transferred to Loretto in Kentucky, where they rest. His life has been written by Right Rev. Camillus P. Maes, D.D., now Bishop of Covington.^
About 1822, another community of religious women was formed near St Rose's Convent and under the guidance of the Fathers Preachers. Father Wilson is regarded as the founder. Several pious members of
• Bishop Flaget to Bishop England, in U. S. Cath. Miscellany, iii., pp. 358-361.
* The Life of Rev. Charles Nerinckx, with a chapter on the Early- Missions of Kentucky, copious notes on the progress of Catholicity in the United States of America from 1800 to 1825 ; an Account of the Establishment of the Society of Jesus in Missouri ; and a Historical Sketch of the Sisterhood of Loretto in Kentucky, Missouri, New Mexico, etc. Cincinnati, Robert Clarke & Co., 1880, 8vo, 635 pp.
DEATH OF REV. C. NERINCKX. 301
his flock adopted the rule of the Third Order of St. Dominic and making vows for life began the Convent of St. Magdalen about a mile from St. Rose's. The new house, w^ith its school, prosj^ered, and in 1828 a colony of these Sisters founded St. Mary's Convent, Somerset, Ohio.'
In a letter to the Holy See in January 1826, Bishop Flaget describes his diocese. Rev. Mr. Mulholland, a priest educated in his Seminary, had three congrega- tions and attended four stations in Northern Ken- tucky, and directed a house of Loretto Sisters in his district. Rev. Mr. Coombs, another priest brought up by him, had two congregations, several stations and a house of Sisters of Charity. The Dominican con- vent under Father Tuite as prior, with Fathers Miles, Montgomery, and Paulinus, all educated in Kentucky, and several students, attended a large congregation and attended many stations. Sisters of the Third Order of St. Dominic, devoted to the education of girls, had a thriving academy and there was a flourishing school for boys also in operation. Bardstown had its seminary and college, which had already proved their fruitfulness. The community of Brothers gave hopes that were never realized.
Twelve miles south of Bardstown was Holy Cross, the first church in Kentucky with two priests, and a Loretto convent, with an orphan asylum nine miles off attended by the Sisters. Rev. Guy I. Chabrat, priest at St. Louis and its missions, being Superior of the community founded by the lamented Nerinckx. Very Rev. Mr. Byrne's college with its hundred pupils was eight miles from Loretto, and at about the same
' Bishop Spalding, " Sketches of Kentucky," p. 161 ; " Breve Narra- zione della Promulgazione del Giubileo .... nella Diocesi di Bards- town."
302 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
distance Rev. Mr. Deparcq directed St. Mary's Churcli.. To tlie west, Rev. Mr. Butler liad three congregations, several stations, and the Mount Carmel house of the Lorettines. Further west, Rev, Mr, Durbin, destined to labor to an advanced age, had three congregations and several stations.
Kentucky could claim fourteen log-churches and ten of brick. Rev, Mr. Kenrick, future Archbishop of Baltimore, "excelling among the excellent," be- sides his duties as professor to 18 students attended St. Joseph's Church. St. Joseph's College had flour- ished with two hundred pupils, ten seminarians acting as tutors or prefects, while pursuing their theological course. Kentucky thus had two bishops, twenty-twa priests, and three houses to which the Church might look for a future supply of priests.
In Indiana the church of Vincennes was directed by Rev. Mr, Champaumier, struggling hard to put it on a better footing, aided by the school of the Sistera of Charity. Other stations in Indiana were visited from Kentucky, especially from St, Michael's and. Union County. While the priest in Breckenridge County at least once a year, but as a rule more fre- quently, pushed on a hundred and fifty miles to Nash- ville, the only spot in Tennessee that could boast a. Catholic congregation.^
The indulgence in the form of a Jubilee proclaimed by Pope Leo XII., on ascending the Pontifical throne, became for the Catholics of Kentucky a season of great spiritual advantage. It was the first time that the great season of thanksgiving and prayer was pro- claimed among them. To prepare his clergy for the-
> Bishop Flaget to the Cardinal Prefect, Jan. 19, 1826. " Breve Nar- razione della promulgazione del Giubileo."
THE JUBILEE. 303
great work which God and his Church expected at their hands for the good of the faithful, Bishop Flaget convened the priests of his diocese for a spiritual re- treat in the first week of Se^Dtember, 1826. The retreat was attended by fifteen priests, fifteen seminarians, and seven applicants for tonsure, one of them Martin John Spalding. On the 10th of September, the Bishop promulgated the Jubilee in his Cathedral, and began the exercises, which lasted a week. Bishop Flaget then i)roi)osed to visit each congregation in his diocese accompanied by one or two missionaries, and give a similar series of exercises, instructions, and exhortations in each, reaping a harvest of conversions from sin and error. When Bisho]3 David took it up at St. Thomas, Bishop Flaget i^roceeded, with Rev. Francis P. Kenrick, to St. John Baptist's in Bullitt County, where the neat wooden church was thronged ; then to St, Michael's log chapel in Nelson County, near which a community of the Loretto Sisters carried on their pious work. Then tlie Jubilee missionaries visited St. Michael's log chapel in Spencer County, as well as Bloomfield, a town with few Catholics, but where malignant attacks had been published which it was deemed important to silence. Rev. Mr. Kenrick was soon after stricken down by disease, and his evan- gelical labors were suspended for a time."^
Bishop Flaget, with three priests, in November vis- aed the tottering log chapel of St. Charles, in Wash- ington County, Holy Mary's, the brick church in Lebanon, where a family of eleven converts was re- ceived into the Church. The fine convent and church
^ "Breve Narrazione della Promulgazione delGiubileo." U. S. Cath- olic Miscall, vi. , pp. 103, 175. In the first part of this visitation as far as St. Teresa's, Madison Co., there were 4250 communions, and the Bishop confirmed 726. "Breve Narrazione."
304 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
of Loretto also enjoyed the honor of jubilee exercises given by the Bishop.
When travel was practicable in the spring, the work was resumed at St. Peter's Church near Lexington ; Frankfort with its one Catholic family was next vis- ited, and mass was offered in the pious home of a ven- erable old man, about four miles distant, and also at Flat Creek ; other small stations were visited on the way to Ovvensville. After this the Jubilee was pro- claimed in St. Rose's, one of the most numerous con- gregations in the State. In Springfield, after the close of a conference, a Rev. Mr. Sneed, the Presbyterian minister, attempted to reply to the arguments of Rev. Mr. Kenrick, but the skillful theologian soon demol- ished his sophistries, exjjosed his ignorance, perver- sion, and uncharitableness. The Protestants retired, deeply impressed with the utter defeat of their advo- cate. St. Hubert's neat little brick church next received the Bishop, then Holy Cross, St. Vincent's near New Haven, and Gethsemani.
In November the Bishop opened the Jubilee exer- cises in the Church of the Sacred Heart, Union County, then in a log house in Daviess County, in St. An- thony's, St. Teresa's, and St. Mary's in Indiana, on the banks of the Ohio. The aged Bishop traveled on horseback by the roughest roads, often benighted in woods or poor districts, where it was almost imj^os- sible to find food or shelter.
The diffusion of Catholic doctrine by the confer- ences given in all large towns, roused no little antago- nism, but Catholicity was everywhere in the ascend- ant and many Protestants were convinced and sought admission to the Church. Almost all the Catholics of Kentucky, we are assured, approached the sacraments during this season of grace. In twenty-one congrega-
STATE OF THE DIOCESE. 305
tions 1216 were confirmed, and more than six thou- sand approached holy communion.^
The religions excitement caused by the Jubilee exercises led an impostor to attempt to profit by it. Avoiding the route announced by the Bishop and his missionaries, this man pretended to be a priest and bishop-elect of Illinois, and preached in some parts of Kentucky and Illinois, until his knavery was exposed by Rev. John Timon and Rev. Francis P. Kenrick.^
Encouraged and consoled by the precious fruits of the Jubilee, Bishop Flaget looked forward to peace ;and progress in his diocese. In 1828 he visited Balti- more to consecrate Archbishop Whitfield, the third successor of Archbishop Carroll, at whose hands he had received the sacred unction. He visited St. Mary's Seminary and Georgetown College, scenes of his early labors as an instructor ; as well as Emmits- burg with its college and academy.
The next year he begun his fifth visitation, and after installing Rev. Mr. Abell in Louisville, gave the Jubilee exercises in New Albany, and in the log chapel at the Knobs, in Indiana ; then at Mount Pleasant, Black Oak Ridge, and Vincennes.^
We have thus a picture of the progress and actual condition of Catholicity in the diocese of Bardstown xit the time appointed for the first Council of Balti- more.
' "Breve Narrazione," etc ; U. S. Cath. Miscellany, vi., pp. 169, 327 ; vii., pp. 31-378. Spalding, •' Life of Bishop Flaget," p. 260.
' U. S. Cath. Misc., vii., p. 22. Stato della Religione negli Stati Uniti," 1827.
^ Spalding, " Life of Bishop Flaget," p. 265.
CHAPTER XVIIL
DIOCESE OF CHARLESTON. KT. REV. JOHN ENGLAND, D.D., FIRST BISHOP, 1820-1829,
The steps which led to the hasty erection of the sees of Richmond and Charleston need not be repeated. The selection for the see of Charleston fell on a priest of great merit and energy, who had already been desirous of devoting himself to the missions of the United States, The Rev. John England, residing at Bandon, as parish priest of Killorgan and Bally- moodan, received on the 10th of July, 1820, a letter from Rev. Henry Hughes at Rome, notifying him of his appointment to the see of Charleston. That see was erected the next day, July 11, by a bull of his Holiness, Pope Pius VII. Letters followed with his bulls, forwarded by Cardinal Somagiia, Prefect of the Propaganda, urging him to proceed as soon as possible to America, and referring him for guidance to the Rev. Robert Browne, avIio had defied the authority of three successive Archbishops of Baltimore, abandoned his Augusta mission, and intruded himself into the church at Charleston.
Yielding to the urgent directions in these and other letters tlie Rev. Mr. England resigned his 2:)arishes in Ireland and prepared to accept the burden imposed him.^ He was a priest of remarkable talents, of experience in various departments of priestly labor as professor in an ecclesiastical seminary, chaplain of
' Diary of Bishop England. 306
BISHOP ENGLAND. 307
prisons and refuges, rector of a large parish. He had been thrown much among men, and was able to adapt himself to circumstances. He was not in good stand- ing with the English government, but it was consid- ered that this could do no harm in the United States. He was a native of Cork, born in that city on the 23d of September, 1786, and in his early days showed great piety, noble thoughts and aspirations, as well as a deep sense of the sufferings of others. When in the course of his studies he manifested a desire to become a priest of the most high God, his parents encouraged his pious thought and fostered his vocation. After being prepared under the care of Rev. Dean McCarthy he entered Carlow College in 1803. While studying here the young ecclesiastic devoted his leisure to the instruction of Catholics in a corps of militia stationed at Carlow, and was instrumental in establishing a reformatory for women, and poor schools for children of both sexes. He was ordained priest by dispensa- tion on the 10th of October, 1808, the Rev. Dr. Moy- lan, Bishop of Cork, raising him to that holy order in his cathedral. His earliest labors were as preacher in Cork Cathedral, director of a Magdalen Asylum, and founder of the "Religious Repertory," a Catholic periodical. He urged the appointment of a Catholic bhaplain at the prison, and till provision was made offered his services. In 1812 this active and zealous jmest was made President of the Diocesan College of St. Mary, founded by Bishop Moylan. His active zeal was displayed here also, and once on his way to Dublin when the mail stage was stopped by a heavy •snow, he attempted to push on afoot, till he sank •exhausted in the snow, and Avould have perished had 3iot a countryman providentially discoved him. Rev. llr. England was an active opponent of the proposed
308 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
grant to the English government of a power to prevent by a veto the nominations of bishops in Ireland by the bishops and clergy. He was thus known as a vigorous and logical writer. In 1817 he was ai3pointed by Bishop Murphy parish priest, and held tlie posi- tion, as we have seen, when the announcement reached him of his elevation to the episcopal rank. He had yearned to j)roceed to the land of the free, for his grandfather, desx)oiled of everything, had spent years in prison ; his grandmother died of a fever caused by the cruelty ; his own father, for teaching a few scholars without taking a sacrilegious oath, was hunted to the mountains.^ His active life had not ]3ermitted him to acquire the fund of theological knowledge which the cloistered religious obtain by years of patient study. As he himself said: "Much of my life has been spent in dungeons with convicts as their chaplain — in prison Avith those who were to suffer death, guilty and innocent ; in the prisons of the irre- claimably depraved, in the care of Magdalen Asylums, and in the superintendence of convents of nuns, Ursu- lines and others, as to their discipline — under the contemptuous frown of the persecutor and in the councils of the public offices, with the best and worst men of society, with the best informed and the most ignorant. IS'ine years thus spent left me little leisure for my books. I was then during part of my time charged with the teaching of theology and the super- intendence of a seminary, after which I was taken again from my books to the charge of a large parish and the vicarial inspection of ten others as Vicar foraneus." ^
' Sketches in Works of Bishop England, i., pp. 1, etc. 2 Bishop England to Rev. S. G. Brute, Aug. 28, 1825.
CONSECRATION. 309
He prepared by a retreat for the great and responsi- ble duty imposed upon him, and settling up his aifairs he was consecrated Bishop of Charleston, in the Cathe- dral of Saint Finnbar, by the Right Rev. John Mur- phy, Bishop of Cork, assisted by the Right Rev. Kieran Marum, Bishop of Ossory, and Right Rev. Patrick Kelly, Bishop of Riciimond, on the 21st of September, 1820, Archbishop Everard, Bishops Cop- pinger, Sughrue, and Tuohy, being also present,^ The other bishops consecrated for the United States had at the time of consecration taken a special oath of alle- giance to the King of England. But the Bishop-elect of Charleston had declared that he would seek conse- cration elsewhere rather than take such an oath, as he went to the United States determined to become a citizen of that Republic as soon as the laws would permit him.^
The next day he gave minor orders and subdeacon- ship to Denis Corkery and Timothy McCarthy, two ecclesiastics whom he had accepted for his diocese. His first episcopal function he performed in the chapel of the Presentation Convent, of which his sister Mary was Superior, and he conferred the order of priesthood on the two candidates in the chapel of the Ursulines on the 24th. After sending to the clergy of his diocese a temporary renewal of their faculties, he set out for Belfast, bidding adieu on the way to his widowed mother. After a visit to Cariow College, where the students presented an address to the first alumnus of the institution raised to the episcopate, he embarked on the 22d of October on the ship Thomas Gelston. He was accompanied by his sister Johanna, who gave
' Certificate of Consecration, Bishop England's Works, iv., p. 232 '^ W. G. Read's sketch of Bishop England.
310 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
all her little fortune to his diocese, and by his newly- ordained priest, Rev. Denis Corkery. After a stormy voyage he landed at Charleston on the 30th day of December,^ and presented his bulls and certificate of consecration to Very Rev. Benedict J. Fenwick, who thereupon resigned the diocese into his hands. Bishop England at once appointed him Vicar-General and gave faculties to Rev. Messrs. Gallagher, Browne, and Corkery. The next day, being Sunday, he took pos- session of the church and published his bulls. Learn- ing that the church at Savannah had been abandoned, and that of Augusta greatly injured by the apostacy and marriage of an unworthy priest, he issued a jias- toral letter to his flock and prepared to visit those churches. In his pastoral he dwelt on the organiza- tion of the Church by our Lord, and on the authority established in it which all were required to obey.^ He commissioned Father Fenwick to exercise authority in his absence, to hire a building for a second temporary church, and, if possible, to purchase a site for a cathedral in a good part of the city. He then j^ro- ceeded to Savannah with Rev. Robert Browne. The church on Liberty Square he found fairly supplied with vestments and plate, as well as p>ossessed of some property giving a small income. After celebrating mass, bajDtizing, and hearing confessions for several days, he arranged with the trustees the salary to be paid to the priest whom he promised them. He urged the Catholics of Savannah to take steps to erect a new and more worthy church. On Sunday he officiated and preached, explaining his appointment to the new
' Bishop England's Diary. Bishop England to Archbishop Marechal, Jan. 2, 1821.
« Pastoral, Jan. 21, 1821. Works, iv., p. 232.
VISITATION. 311
see, and apx)ointed Rev. Robert Browne their pastor. He proceeded thence to Augusta, where Rev. Samuel S. Cooper was temporarily laboring earnestly to re- pair the mischiefs which had been done the Catholic body. He found the church in order, renewed the appointment of Rev. Mr. Cooper, and administered confirmation to 49 persons. His next visit was to the old Catholic settlement at Locust Grove, where the Thompson family had kept the faith alive. The little church, capable of containing sixty or seventy, was decently supplied. Bishop England spent some days at this interesting spot, administering the sacraments and preaching.^
Leaving Georgia, after visiting Warren and Wilkes Counties, Bishop England then jDroceeded to Columbia, the capital of South Carolina. The Rev. Mr. Wallace was professor of mathematics in the college, and though without any charge officiated for the small bodj^ of Catholics there. After conferring with him, the Bishop met the principal members of the congre- gation and urged them to undertake the erection of a church. He officiated for them, appointed persons here and elsewhere to read prayers in the absence of the priest and teach catechism. At the request of the college students he preached in their chapel, and sub- sequently in the Court House. From his visitation he estimated the communicants at 375.^
On his return to Charleston, weakened by a severe, attack of rheumatism which had prostrated him dur- ing this apostolic excursion. Bishop England resumed, his duties. One of his first acts was to send Rev..
' Diary, Letter to Archbishop Marechal, Mar. 6, 1831.
* Annales de la Prop, de la Foi, iv., p. 300. Bishop England to EtoDk W. Gaston, May 17, 1821.
312 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Denis Corkeiy to reside at Columbia, organize the church there, and attend Chester and Locust Grove. He labored incessantly at Charleston, issued a Lenten pastoral, gave a series of lectures on the Church, drew up and issued a catechism, and prej^ared a class for confirmation. When Easter arrived he had confirmed 180 in that city.
His visitation had shown him the dangers of the mode in which the Church property was held, and he felt the necessity of having a cathedral free from such influences. He secured Vauxhall Gardens, on Broad and Friend Streets, a very fine plot, eligibly situated in one of the best parts of Charleston, on which he purposed erecting a cathedral.
The Bishop could retain Rev, Father Fenwick only temporarily, and Rev, Mr. Cooper wished to return to the North, As the Catholics at Columbia showed no inclination to support Rev, Mr, Corkery, Bishop Eng- land sent him to Augusta. He then set out to ascer- tain the condition of Catholicity in North Carolina, the third of the States comprised in his diocese, afford his flock an opportunity to receive the sacraments, and organize them into congregations, so that even when there Avas no clergyman, they might assemble together on the Lord's day, have appropriate prayers read by some j)erson duly appointed, who could also teach catechism and read some book of instruction. Stopping at the Santee River to minister to a few Catholics, he baptized and confirmed. On the 15th of May he was in Wilmington. No Catholic priest had ever resided there, but the Bishop ascertained that a Rev. Mr. Burke had spent a fortnight in the town about twenty-five years before, and that a Jesuit Father, going to some Spanish settlement, remained two or three days in the town about the year 1815,
VISITATION. 313
and baptized some children there. ^ The Bishop col- lected the faithful, began a series of instructions to them, iDi-eached by invitation to Protestants, whose good will he won. He animated the Catholics to erect a church, promising to have them regularly vis- ited. So effective was his appeal that $1160 was sub- scribed for the proposed edihce. The faithful enjoj^ed for a brief period the happiness of hearing mass and being able to approach the sacraments. Instructions were given, children baptized, many reclaimed, and even converts received. But he found several Catho- lics who had joined Protestant churches, and who had apparently been irrecoverably lost to the Church.
After a short stay at Washington he reached New Berne, to be welcomed by the zealous Catholic, Hon. William Gaston. The high social and profes- sional position of this gentleman, his remarkable ability shown at the bar, in the halls of Congress, and on the bench, gave him a great influence in his native State. His very example was a support to his fellow- believers. Between him and Bishop England a strong friendship was formed, and the prelate always found in Judge Gaston a wise and safe counsellor.
Bishop England found at New Berne about twenty Catholics who had not seen a priest since the previous November, when Rev. Nicholas Kerney of Norfolk visited them. The Bishop entered on his usual course of missionary duty, which lasted ten days.^ Washington, another station still bearing marks of Rev. Mr. Kerney' s zeal, was his next station, and gradually so many Catholics came forward that he urged them to organize and build a church, hoping
* Bishop England's Diary.
2 Diary, May 24, June 4, 1821.
314 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
before long to have tliem regularly attended. A Rev. Mr. Mason was misrepresenting Catholic doctrines, and Bishop England lectured to present them truly. At this place he began by treating of natural religion, leading the way up to revealed religion and the doc- trines of the Church. Here he received three con- verts who had already been attracted toward Catho- licity. At Plymouth he had heard of but one Catholic, Dr. Picot, but when he arrived and began his lectures, a young Scotchman declared that he had always been a true son of the "auld" Church. After visiting Elizabeth, he accepted an invitation from Bishop Kelly, who had assisted at his consecration, to visit him in Norfolk.
He then returned by Avay of Murfreesborough, Hali- fax, and Warrenton to Raleigh, finding few Catholics by the way. At the capital he baptized thirteen and supplied the ceremonies for others who had been pri- vately baptized. He confirmed eight, and gathered a little flock of thirty-three, arranging, as usual, for their meeting for prayer and instruction on Sundays. It was a beginning which he trusted God Avould enable him to follow up. Besides attending to the Catholics, Bishop England preached in the Presby- terian Church to a large congregation, the governor of the State being among his audience. At Fayetteville he went through the same course of missionarj^ duty.^
By this time his health was beginning to suffer, and he resolved to visit the North, with several objects in view. On reaching Norfolk again, August 18, he was prostrated by a dangerous fever, and on his recovery proceeded to Baltimore to visit his Metro- politan, Most Rev. Dr. Marechal. He then made the
1 Diary : Letters to Hon. Wm. Gaston, June 6, 20, July 29, 1821 to Archbishop Marechal, July 6, 18 ; Aug. 9, 1821.
DANGEROUS ILLNESS. 315
attempt already described to draw Rev. William Hogan from Philadelphia, but his charitable j)lan was defeated by the trustees.
Amid all his missionary and episcojDal labors Bishop England had worked diligently iDreparing a new edi- tion of the missal in English with a very clear explana- tion of the mass ; and his visit to the North was in part to arrange for its publication.
He finally returned southward by way of Baltimore, Washington, and Georgetown, warmly received by all. Catholic and Protestant. He was, however, brought to the verge of eternity at Georgetown, both the doc- tor and himself several times regarding death as in- evitable.^ Before he reached the northern part of his diocese, however, he received the sad intelligence of the death of the Rev. Denis Corkery. At Edenton, on the lOtli of November, he resumed his labors, which he renewed also at Washington, New Berne, and AVil- mington, suffering greatly from fever on the way. Fortunately, the Rev. A. O'Hannan, a priest whom he had received for his diocese, joined him, and he was thus able to reach Charleston on the 4th of December.
Bishop England had traversed the three States form- ing his diocese, visited every j)lace where a congrega- tion had been formed, and some where no priest apparently had ever labored. He had met his metro- politan and three bishops of the province in their re- spective sees, and could form a general idea of the condition of the Church in the United States. The wants of his own diocese were aj)parent. A few Catho- lics in petty bodies, scattered over three large States, many losing their faith by neglect and sinking into
1 Bishop England to Hon. W. Gaston, Dec. 8, 1821.
316 ♦ THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
indifference ; priests few, and no certain means of pro- viding for a supply to the different stations, where they were imperatively needed. The able Father Fen- wick was about to be recalled ; ^ Rev. S. S. Cooper had asked not to return ; Corkery was dead ;^ O'Hannan and Tuomy, whom he had received into his diocese, soon left him. Gallagher and Browne had succeeded in their schemes at Rome, but they had not expected a bishop of the stamp of Dr. England, who soon saw their real character, but acted with singular prudence and caution. Gallagher would do no real duty, but was importunate in his demands for money, wringing a large salary from the Bishop till he at last asked for his Exeat ; ^ and Browne, wearied of laboring under the eye of a vigilant bishop, asked to be relieved on the score of illness, and calling his friends together went off with a series of laudatory resolutions.*
To meet and remove the ignorance prevailing among Catholics as to the doctrines of their religion and their duties. Bishop England had organized a Book Society, and endeavored to establish a branch of it in every congregation. He found it difficult, however, to arouse interest in the society or create a taste for Catholic reading. He was not discouraged, and in December, 1822, obtained an act incorporating it. In order to afford Catholics throughout the country a vehicle of
' He left Cliarleston, May 19, 1833. A meeting was held to express the regret of the Catholic body, and a letter of the Bishop, dated May 23d, accompanied the resolutions. U. S. Cath. Miscell.
* The inscription on the monument to this good priest is given in U. S. Cath. Mis.,iv.,p. 319.
3 Bishop England's Diary. "Your two old friends, Gallagher and Browne, are the most useless pair that were ever upon a mission.'* Bishop England to Archbishop Marechal, Dec. 22, 1832.
* Truth Teller, July 30, Oct. 8, 1825 ; U. S. Cath. Mis., v., p. 31.
U. S. CATHOLIC MISCELLANY. 317
communication, and a means of learning the state of their brethren at home and abroad, as well as of remov- ing false impressions and erroneous ideas from the minds of their neighbors in regard to their faith and practice, Bishop England founded on June 5, 1822, "The United States Catholic Miscellany," the first Catholic newspaper published in the United States. "The princiiDles of the publication," says the prospec- tus, issued in March, "will be candor, moderation, fidelity, charity, and diligence." This periodical, of course, small as it was, required money far beyond its receipts, and before the end of the first year was sus- pended. The Bishop was too courageous to be easily disheartened : he revived it in a few months, and the paper continued to render service to the cause of Catholicity and truth till the Civil War.^
The original church in Hasell Street w^as held by a vestry or board of trustees under a charter which gave them powers utterly repugnant to the discipline of the Church. Bishop England endeavored to per- suade the congregation to apply for an amendment to the act, which would remove this" difficulty. In this he was opposed by men, born indeed of Catholic parents, but who had utterly lost the faith, as well as by some ignorant but not irreligious Catholics whom they misled. Bishop England would enter into no contest with them or yield a single point. It is folly, he wrote, "to attempt raising the edifice of Catho- licity upon Calvinistic foundations." ^ He saw, there- fore, the necessity of establishing his cathedral at
' Prospectus. Bishop England to Hon. W. Gaston, Feb. 18, 1832.
' ' ' They have the worst charter that it was the misfortune of a church to be cursed with, contradicting the' canon law in about twelve points out of fifteen or sixteen which it embraces ; nor is it a dead letter." Bishop England to Hon. W. Gaston, Jan. 9, 1823.
318 , THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
the earliest moment. On the Yauxhall proi^erty on Broad Street was a building in which the Bishop, on the SOtli of December, 1821, blessed the hall and one room for a temporary chapel under the invocation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, Saint Matthew the Apostle, and Saint Finnbar. Mass was celebrated by Rev. John Tuomy, and the Bishop preached.
The rest of the building he adapted for a literary institution, from the profits of which he hoped to pay for the place, and aid in erecting a cathedral and dio- cesan seminary. It was opened on the 8th of January, 1822, under the name of "The Philosophical and Classical Seminary of Charleston." This institution at once became popular, with about twelve Catholic and fifty-one non- Catholic j^upils, there being at the time no similar academy in the city, the college having closed for want of support.
Bishop England was not only president, but teacher, compelled frequently to attend to almost all the classes, though gradually he was assisted by some candidates for orders whom he found extremely well qualified to communicate knowledge by teaching. The progress of the pupils, as shown at their exami- nations, gave the seminary a high and well deserved rej)utation. Suddenly the Protestant denominational papers began to attack the institution, and to urge parents not to send their sons to a school where they were likely to be weaned from their religion. A movement was undertaken to revive the college ; the State made a grant of lands, wealthy persons went from door to door to collect means to erect the neces- sary buildings. The result was disastrous to Bishop England's seminary, which saw its roll of pupils dwindle from one hundred and thirty to thirty. He
A PRO-CATHEDRAL.
319
maintained it, however, and its pupils took high honors in the State College at Columbia.^
Soon after opening his seminar}^ he put up near it a temporary wooden chaxDel, eighty feet long by forty- eight wide. It was blessed on the 19th of Mux, under the invocation of Saint Finnbar and under the l^atronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the Holy Apostles and Evangelists, Saint Matthew and Saint John. This was the pro-cathedral of the diocese of Charleston, where the Bishop was free from a con- stant struggle with vestrymen and trustees to j)reserve
SEAL OF BISHOP ENGLAND, OF CHARLESTON.
inviolate the discipline of the Catholic Church. Bishop England was strongly opj^osed to the system of hiring out pews and seats in churches, and would gladly have suppressed it entirely. The fraudulent trustee system based upon it w^as in his eyes only one of the many evils connected with the letting of pews. As for churches to be subsequently established he for- bade any priest to officiate therein unless a deed to the Bishop of the diocese was first executed.
' England, " A Brief account of the Introduction of the Catholic Re- ligion," etc., p. 301. Bishop England to Hon. William Gaston, Sept. 21, 1822, Dec. 18, 1824.
f
320 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
In September a hurricane swept over Charleston, and among other edifices injured was the church in Hasell Street. The vestry could oppose Bishop Eng- land, as they had opposed every good priest sent there, but their exchequer was empty, and not one of the loud- mouthed gentlemen was able or willing to advance money for the Church. Bishop England, from his scanty income, partly arising from his labors in the seminary, was com2:)elled to pay $400 to make the old church suitable for the continuance of the services of the Church.
In December he went to Columbia in order to set on foot a movement for the erection of a church, but he found a party formed against him by emissaries from Charleston, and encountered such difficulty in secur- ing a suitable site that he deferred the whole matter. He found petitions before the Legislature against his amendments of the charter of the old church in Charleston, emanating from the same source.
In a visitation extending to South Carolina and Georgia he was rejoiced to find a good and active spirit at Locust Grove, where a new church had been erected by the zeal of Rev. Mr. O'Donoghue.
Bishop England had already three States under his jurisdiction, but in March, 1843, he was appealed to by Bishop Dii Bourg of Louisiana and the Flori- das to take charge of East Florida. Spain had in 1820 ceded her ancient' province to the United States, giving possession the next year, and the Bishop of St. Christopher of Havana had at an early day (July, 1822) written to the Bishop of Charleston, asking him as the nearest bishop to take charge of East Florida.^ The Bishop of Havana, however, really had no juris-
' Bishop England to Archbishop Marechal, Feb. 5, 1823. April 11, 1824.
FLORIDA. 321
diction over Florida, which was part of the Diocese of Louisiana and the Floridas, created in 1793, and of which Rt. Rev. William L. Dii Bourg, successor of Bishop Penalver, was now bishop. On receiving powers of Vicar- General from Bishop Du Bourg, Dr. England had canonical authority to act. The church at St. Augustine was vacant, Rev. Michael Crosby, parish priest, having died, and his curate, Rev. John N. Gomez, who had remained after the cession, hav- ing finally announced that his health compelled him to withdraw.
From what information he could gather Bishop England estimated the Catholics in west Florida at 1500 or 2000 ; and in the eastern part, three or four hundred at St. Augustine, one hundred on St. John's River ; with one or two hundred fishermen and Minor- cans on Amelia Island. Pensacola had also a good Catholic population.
Bishop England's visitations in the spring of 1823 extended to North Carolina, where we find him in May obtaining a lot for a church as a gift from Mr. Leroy, making plans for the building, starting a subscription, and engaging a builder. At New Berne he found reason for consolation, but at Washington almost all trace of Catholicity had been obliterated.^ His plan for this State was to send two priests, who would co-operate in attending to all the missions, and could thus be supported, at least by opening a school at Washington or Fayetteville. Before the close of the year he dispatched to North Carolina Rev. F. O'Donoghue.
Bishop England regretted greatly that no Provincial Council had ever been held in the United States, and
' Bishop England's Diary. Bishop England to Hon. W. Gaston, Oct. 12. Dec. 2, 1823.
322 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
that uniform action had not been adopted by meetings of the bishops in an informal way. Each bishop Avas left to devise and i^lan for his own diocese. His ex- perience in the United States led him to regard it as most important to effect such organizations as would secure acts of incorporation from the State. After long study and deliberation he drew up ' ' The Consti- tution of the Roman Catholic Churches of the States of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia ; which are comprised in the Diocese of Charleston, and Province of Baltimore, U. S. A." ^ The object of its formation was to lay down the general principles of the law of the Catholic Church, "and to show their special bearing in the most usual cases ; and then upon the mode of raising, vesting, and managing church property, to fix the special manner in which the great principles that are recognized by the Church should be carried into i)ractice. This was done by consultation, discussion, and arrangement between the Bishop, the clergy, and the laity in several meetings in the several districts, and the outline of the entire con- stitution, together with some of the most important of its special x>i'0 visions, was laid before the Holy See, after it had been adopted, on the 25th of September, 1822." This constitution, peculiar in itself, began by a statement of doctrine, embracing the Creed of Pope Pius IV. It recognized the Bishop, his authority to make parishes or districts, and to aijpoint pastors ; and the authority of a Vicar-General in his absence or dur- ing the vacancy of the see. The faithful disavoAved and disclaimed any right or power, under any pretext, in the laity to subject the ministry of the Church to their control, or to interfere in the regulation of its sacred
I 13mo. Charleston, 2d edition, 1840 ; Works, v., p. 91.
HIS CONSTITUTIONS. 323
duty. They acknowledged that the right and power of appointing clergymen to the different districts be- longed to the Bisliop ; that the power of suspending or withdrawing faculties was vested in the Bishop, and that no priest was to be recognized as such whose powers were thus recalled. No vestry was to have power to sell, encumber, build, or rebuild any church without the consent of the Bishop, nor could church rates or burial fees be fixed excej)t with similar ap- proval. Money was to be raised specifically for the support of priests in parochial districts and to be jDaid to them. Every member was to pay fifty cents quar- terly for the general fund of the diocese, which was for the erection and maintenance of the cathedral, the education of candidates for the priesthood, the sup- port of missionaries and churches in poor portions of the diocese, to create a fund for infirm priests and for diocesan institutions. Diocesan proj)erty was to be held by " The General Trustees of the Roman Catho- lic Church of the Diocese of Charleston," the board consisting of the Bishop, Vicar- General, with five priests and twelve laymen, to be chosen by the lay- men at an annual convention. Members lost their rights by defection from the doctrines of the Church, by opposition to its discipline, by encouraging any unauthorized clergymen, by being canonically cen- sured, or by refusing to pay regular contributions.
There was to be an annual convention of the Bishop and clergy, with lay delegates from the districts, chosen by the vestries ; the powers of the convention were strictly limited to matters regarding the general fund and its expenditures.
Bishop England evidently aimed to avoid troubles such as had arisen in Philadelphia, and to a minor degree elsewhere. With this constitution, recognized
324 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
by the State, points raised in other States could not be put forward in South Carolina.
At the close of the year 1824 the Legislature of the State incorporated "The General Trustees of the Roman Catholic Church of South Carolina," "Tlie Vestry and Members of the Roman Catholic Cathedral Church of Saint Finnbar, in the City of Charleston," "The Vestry and Members of the Roman Catholic Church of St. Peter in Columbia," " The Members of the Roman Catholic Church of Georgetown." ^
The clergy of the diocese of Charleston at this time comprised the Bishop, Right Rev. John Eng- land, D.D., Rev. John McEncroe, Rev. Edward Swiney, Avho had charge also of Augusta, Ga. ; Rev. Timothy McCarthy and Rev. John Birmingham in South Carolina ; Rev. Robert Browne at Savannah, Ga.; Rev. Patrick 0' Sullivan at the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, Locust Grove, Ga. ; Rev. Francis O'Donoghue, who had just commenced a church at AVashington, N. C, and Rev. Francis Boland, a priest recently arrived, whom the Bishop sent to the deserted church of St. Augustine, where he remained till the early part of the year 1825.
The Bishop soon after, in February, 1824, organized the congregations at Fayetteville and New Berne, N. C. During the year, Charleston was again visited by yellow fever, and Bishop England found his labors so incessant and wearing that he wrote to Judge Gas- ton.: "I have often through weariness fallen asleep on the ground, in the midst of my office. Yet, thank God, I never enjoyed better health."
A Constitution for the Roman Catholic Church of South Carolina was also prepared, which was adopted
' U. S. Catholic Miscellany, ii., p. 16.
PROSELYTISM. 325
September 25, 1823, and a convention was held under it on the 24th of November, in the Cathedral, Charles- ton. During its sessions a solemn requiem was offered for the repose of the soul of Pope Pius VII.
Bishop England then proceeded to Savannah, where he met delegates of the Catholic body, and submitted a similar constitution for the State of Georgia, which was adopted on the 15th of March, His visitation through that State kept alive the active zeal of the Catholic body, as the enlarging of the church at Augusta and an endowment at Locust Grove attested.' At Georgetown, South Carolina, also, a large and convenient lot was secured for a church ; the same was done soon after at New Berne. ^
As we have seen, Bishoj) England, finding his flock small, and scattered through a Protestant population, made every effort to adapt what was possible to the usages of the country. He celebrated the fourth of March, 1825, by solemn services at Charleston, for the successful administration of the incoming Presi- dent, John Quincy Adams. How little influence all this effort at co-nciliation on his part had, however, was seen in the treatment of the Catholic inmates in the Orphan House at Charleston. When the Bishop, in June, 1825, in most courteous terms showed the injustice of compelling these fatherless children to receive religious instruction of a Protestant character from Protestants, and asked the Commissions to regulate that the children of Roman Catholic parents should receive their religious instruction only from
' U. S. Cath. Miscellany, ii., pp. 16, 252 ; as to Rev. Mr. Boland at St. Augustine, iv., pp. 112, 367 ; Bishop England to Hon. W. Gaston, Oct. 13, 1824.
^U. S. Cath. Miscellany, p. 335 ; iii., p. 43.
326 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
duly authorized Roman Catholics, his application was rejected.^
Yet there Avere- some actuated by more generous principles. The Rev. Mr. Stokes was encouraged to begin a church at Camden, and pushed his missions to the western frontiers of the State. The Council of Cheraw appropriated a lot for the erection of a Cath- olic church, and the same was done by the Land Commissioners at Charlotte, in North Carolina. Two churches Avere also projected in Laurens District, S. C.^ As the priests of the diocese pushed their journeys into the upper i)ortions of South Carolina and the other States in the diocese, they found a far larger number of scattered Catholics than had been supposed.' Many desired to be organized, so as to enjoy the consolations of religion, but Bishop Eng- land had still too few priests to meet all the wants.
During the winter of 1825-6, Bishop England vis- ited Baltimore, and at Washington was invited to address the members of Congress in the hall of the representatives. He complied, and preached on Sun- day, January 8, a discourse which was subsequently printed.* Writing to Judge Gaston, he said : " With- out seeking the occasion, or feeling myself upon the topics until I had gone too far to recede, and then, and onlj^ then, my eye rested upon Mr. Adams, and there came to my mind that Fourth of July oration in
' U. S. Cath. Miscellany, Iv., pp. 398-9.
^Ib., v., pp. 224, 271, 304.
^ At Lancaster, Rev. Mr. Stokes found a Catholic family who had not seen a priest for forty years ; lb., vi., p. 302.
■• The substance of a discourse preached in tlie liall of the House of Representatives, etc. 8vo, Baltimore, 1826 ; Bishop England's works, iv., p. 172. Bisliop England to Hon. W. Ga.ston, Jan. 29, 1826.
THE JUBILEE. 327
which he so unkindly assailed ns four years since. Then I, as coolly and as firmly as I could, did my utmost."
He opened the exercises of the jubilee in his Cathe- dral in November, 1826, and the same day ordained two priests, and gave the tonsure to three candidates for orders, one William Blain, the first Carolinian aspirant to the priesthood/
The work on the canal between the Ogeechee and Savannah drew many Catholic laborers for a time into that part of Georgia, and Bishop England visited Savannah to give the exercises of the Jubilee, in the church at that city. It was in 1827 placed under the charge of Rev. Patrick O' Sullivan, Rev. Mr. Boland having left the diocese. The Bishop on his visits reached St. Simon and other islands, where in the old Spanish days the friars of St. Francis gathered their Indian converts in well-ordered settlements. Yet with all his struggles and efforts there were but three organized congregations and as many resident Catho- lic clergymen in Georgia in 1827.^^
The priest stationed at New Berne became discon- tented and excited discontent. He solicited his exeat, and Bishop England's only hope was in the students whom he was preparing for holy orders. He wrote to the faithful at New Berne : "You have borne much ; wait now but a little, pray to God for his aid to you and to me ; hold together in union and affection ; meet in your little church for prayer, and write to me occasionally, and you Avill have ere long your desires and patience and exertions crowned w^ith success." ^
' U. S. Cath. Miscellany, vi., p. 134.
'^ lb., vi., pp. 230, 326.
3 Bishop England to vestry of New Berne, June 10, 1826.
328 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
The State became a source of great anxiety to him, so difficult did he find it to obtain a clergyman who would persevere in the arduous mission. South Caro- lina gave him more consolation. " The Catholics are more adhesive to their church, and more confiding in their clergy. The number of practical Catholics has more than doubled, and we have had and continue to receive several converts." ^
Bishop England labored earnestly to endow his dio- cese with a body of zealous clergy, but the severity of the labors and the fatal fevers deprived him of worthy priests. Rev. Godfrey Sheehan and Rev. Martin Duff died. Rev. E. Swiney and Rev. Fr. O'Donoghue left the diocese. The Bishop was called to mourn a per- sonal loss in the death of his sister Joanna, who had given much to the diocese, and labored earnestly to afford him the care needed in his frequent fits of ill- ness, as well as in all good works. The expressions of sympathy at her death attested the general opinion of her virtues.
In 1827 an association was formed to raise means for the payment of the lot and the erection of the cathe- dral, as well as for a fund to maintain the Bishop, but the project was only languidly taken up.
The next year Rev. Andrew Byrne, a future Bishop of Little Rock, pushed his missionary excursions to Madison and other hitherto unvisited parts of Georgia, and inspired a generous Catholic, Mr. Quigly, to give land for a church at Washington. The convention in South Carolina was attended by Rev. John McEncroe, Rev. John Barry, Rev. John Magennis, Rev. J. F. O'Neill, with Rev. M, T>. O'Reilly, whose mission was mainly in Georgia. Rev. John Bermingham was de-
' Bishop England to Hon. W, Gaston, June 16, 1827.
RESULTS. 329
tained by illness ; Rev. Joseph Stokes was absent, but soon returned to take charge at Savannah. The con- vention at FayetteviJle, N. C, in March, 1829, like that at Savannah in May, showed only priests laboring occa- sionally in those States. Rev. Edward T. Mayne from Mount St. Mary's College was sent to St. Augustine and attended the missions from that ancient city northward to St. Mary's, Georgia.
This, after his labors for years, was all the result that cheered Bishop England ; eight churches, three in South Carolina, three in Georgia, and two in North Carolina. No help came in jDriests, religious, or means from other lands. He had removed scandals, aroused a spirit of faith, restored discipline, and a few modest churches were rising in South Carolina, and at Fayetteville and Washington in North Caro- lina, houses for the worship of God were dedi- cated. Few bishops except Bishop Flaget had made such regular and constant visitations, but Dr. Eng- land had no such zealous secular or religious coadju- tors as Dr. Flaget found in Kentucky.
He had crushed almost entirely the vicious and uncatholic spirit of trustees, though it still lingered in Hasell Street, Charleston, and in Columbia had allowed the church to be sold under a decree of foreclosure, when the Bishop from his scanty means redeemed it.^
' U. S. Cath. Miscell., vii., pp. 94-390, viii., pp. &-318 ; Annales de la Prop, de la Foi, iv., pp. 301-2. In a report, " Stato della Religione negli Stati Uniti," presented to the Propaganda, the labors of Bishop England are very slightingly treated.
CHAPTER XIX.
DIOCESE OF CINCINNATI.
ET. REV. EDWARD DOMINIC FENWICK, O.S.D., FIRST BISHOP, 1821-1829.
The first shrine of catholicity within the limits of the present State of Ohio was the missionary chapel erected about the year 1751, by the Jesuit Father Armand de la Richardie, at Ootsandooske (where the water is pure), the Sandusky of more recent days. As a dependence on the Huron mission near Detroit it was maintained till hostilities between France and England increased and the missionary was driven away by chiefs in the British interest.
In 1749, Celoron de Blainville had traversed Ohio with a party to take formal possession of the territory in the name of the King of France, and to deposit leaden plates in token of his official act. This expedi- tion was attended by the Jesuit Father Joseph de Bonnecamp, but took no steps to secure the terri- tory by fort or settlement.^
At a later period when England had recognized the independence of the United States, she continued under frivolous pretexts to hold several western posts, and even to erect new fortifications on soil which was acknowledged to be American territory. One of these was Fort Miami on the Maumee River. Near it, in 1795, the Rev. Edmund Burke, afterwards Vicar Apostolic of Nova Scotia, began a mission among the
• Catholic Church in Colonial Days, pp. 631, 613. 830
RT. REV. EDWARD DOMINIC FENWICK, O.P. FIRST BISHOP OF CINCINNATI,
331
GALLIPOLIS. 333
Ottawas, Cliippewas, and Pottowatomies, but liis term of labor here was brief. ^
After his retirement we find no trace of Catholicity in those parts. When the settlement of the future State was began at Marietta in 1788, few Catholics seem to have joined in the rapid emigration to the State, which was admitted into the Union fourteen years later.
The French settlement of Gallipolis, projected by a number of titled and wealthy gentlemen in France in 1790, was the theme of conversation in all circles, and a wondrous colony of French settlers was to rise in the wilderness. So magnificent a picture did the projec- tors draw at Rome of the future greatness of the Scioto country that the Sovereign Pontiff established a Pre- fecture Apostolic, the exact extent of which has not been ascertained, but which must have included south- ern Ohio. As prefect, subject to Archbishop Carroll, was appointed Dom Peter Joseph Didier, a monk of the Order of Saint Benedict, who had been procurator of the great Abbey of St. Denis near Paris. He came over apparently with a party of immigrants who landed at Alexandria in 1790, but on reaching Ohio the poor immigrants found themselves to be the victims of un- principled land speculators, who did not even own the land they pretended to sell.
Dom Didier established a church at Gallipolis, and labored among the settlers for a few years, but irre- ligion prevailed, all who could sought other homes, and in time the prefect, disheartened and discouraged, made his way to St. Louis, assuming the less preten- tious title of parish pjriest. Rev. Stephen T. Badin visited Gallipolis in 1796, but he found there only
' Life and Times of Archbishop Carroll, pp. 477-478.
334 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
eighty men, destitute of religion and morality, among whom he could effect little good. In a few years nearly all trace of settlement seems to have disappeared. Bishop Flaget on his appointment found Gallipolis little more than a name, without priest or faithful, without church or altar. ^
One of the early known Catholic settlers in Ohio was Michael Scott from Baltimore, who took up his abode in Cincinnati in 1805. Finding himself cut off from the consolations of religion he resolved to fulfill his duties at Easter, and journeyed with his family to Lexington, Kentucky, only to find that the resident priest was at a distant mission.^
Though Pope Pius VII. erected a see at Bardstown in 1808, the Right Rev. Dr. Flaget could not reach his diocese till 1811. Ohio with all the territory northwest of the river of that name was placed tem- porarily under his charge. After visiting the st-ations in. Kentucky he set out in the autumn of 1812 to attend a proposed council at Baltimore. Accompa- nied by Rev. Stephen T. Badin he entered the State of Ohio on the 7th of October. The first Catholic they met was William Cassell, whose children they baptized ; at Chillicothe there were a few Catholics, whose faith was nearly extinct ; Lancaster could boast of three or four Catholic families, and here the Bishop baptized live children. On his way to Somer- set the missionaries stopped at the log hut of Fink, a settler, who proved to be a Catholic. When he heard that his guests were from Kentucky, he exclaimed : *'From Kentucky! I have been for a long time thinking of Kentucky, with my wife ! They say
' Life aad Times of Archbishop Carroll, pp. 481-2 2 U. S. Catholic Magazine, vi., p. 27
BISHOP FLAGET IN OHIO. 335
there are cliurches and priests there. Wife! we must go thither ; it is thirteen years since we saw either a church or a jjriest, and my poor children — "
Here Bishop Flaget, deeply moved, interrupted him: "No, my children, stay where you are; lam your Bishop. I will endeavor to send you a priest, at least once a year, to console you. Are there any more Catholics in this neighborhood?" The astonished man could scarcely believe the reality of what was told him ; but he contrived to tell the Bishop that within three miles were two other Catholic families, by name Dittoe. These too received a visit from the
SIGNATURE OF BISHOP FENWICK.
Bishop, who offered the holy sacrifice in one of their houses on the 11th of October.
These good people were so delighted at the prospect of being regularly attended, that they agreed to set apart land for a priest's house and a temporary chapel.^
It was apparently to carry out his promise to these forlorn Catholics and to discharge his own conscience that Bishop Flaget appealed to the Dominican Fath- ers to take charge of the missions in the State of
' Sketch by Rev. Stephen Byrne, O.P. ; Hammer, " Der Apostel von Ohio. Ein Lebensbild des hochw. Eduard Domiuik Fenwick," etc., Freiburg, 1890, pp. 29-30, 37. Spalding, "Life of Bishop Flaget," p. I(l9, citing and following Bishop Flaget's Journal in 1812. Some have given 1810 (Aunales de la Prop, de la Foi, ii., p. 84) as the date of Father Fen- wick's first visit to Ohio, but they seem to confound Bishop Flaget's visit with his. Bishop Fenwick, writing in 1823 to Rev. S. T. Badin, says that he first visited Ohio nine years before. U. S. Cath. Mag , vi., p. 29.
336 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Ohio, and sent Father Edward Fenwick to begin the apostolic labors there that ended onJy witli his heroic death.
The little cluster of Catholic families thus visited was the centre selected for his mission. Gladly re- signing the office of provincial of his order to Father Thomas Wilson, Father Fenwick proceeded to the homes of the Dittoes and Fink. They welcomed him with the deepest joy of their hearts, affording him an interior consolation that was never effaced from his memory. Taking up his abode among them, he made it the centre of missions to all parts of the State in search of Catholics, and leaving the way for future organized work. In the spring of 1818 Father Nicholas D. Young, nephew of Father Fenwick, vis- ited Cincinnati, Chillicothe, Somerset, and Zanesville.
After four years' missionary work in Ohio, Father Edward Fenwick took possession of the ground given by the Dittoes for the use of religion and erected a log church in honor of St. Joseph, which was dedicated on the 6th of December, 1818. A two-story log house near it became the first Dominican convent.' Catho- licity had thus once more a shrine in the State of Ohio, and Father Fenwick bound himself to keep uj) a house of regulars or a succession of priests at St. Joseph's to minister to the faithful in that district.
The Catholic body began to grow rapidly. A little congregation was soon gathered at Zanesville, another at Lancaster, and a third in Morgan Countj^, all en- couraged and attended by the zealous friars of St. Joseph's.^ Two other congregations were added in a
' Tliis original convent was destroyed by fire la 1853. Notes of Rev. Stephen Byrne, O.P.
' U. S. Catholic Miscellany, ii., p. 165.
FIRST CHURCH, CINCINNATI.
337
few years, and in 1820 St. Paul's Church, Dungannon, a small brick building, was erected.'
As early as December 11, 1811, a notice appeared calling on Catholics to organize a congregation in Cin- cinnati. The meeting was held two days afterwards in the house of Jas. Fabler, but no definite action was taken. The project was not revived till 1818, when a lot was obtained at the corner of Vine and Liberty
ST. PAUL'S CHURCH, NEAR DUNGANKON, O., BUILT IN 1820. FIRST CHURCH IN NORTHERN OHIO.
streets, in the Northern Liberties, for a city ordi- nance prevented the erection of a church withm the
iHouck, "The Church ia Northern Ohio." New Yorli, 1887, pp. 16-17.
338 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
city limits. Here a plain barn-like structure of planks lif ty-tive feet wide was put up, and blessed in 1819 by Father N. D. Young. This church stood for some years, unceiledand unplastered,^
Bishop Flaget had long desired to be relieved of t)ie care of the States and Territories northwest of the Ohio, which had been placed temporarily under iiis administration. Seeing the progress already made by the Church in Ohio, and the encouraging prospect, he urged the authority in Rome to erect an episcopal see in that State. As the immigration was largely Ger- man he suggested the appointment of Prince Gallitzin, who was brought up in Germany, and was accustomed to direct Catholics from that country. His rank, his zeal, his piety,, and his experience all seemed to lit him for the position. His next choice was Father Edward Dominic Fenwick, who had been the apostle of the State.
Acting on the suggestion of Bishop Flaget, Pope Pius VIII., by his bull " Inter Multiplices," June 19, 1821, addressed to Father Edward Fenwick, of the order of Preachers, erected an episcopal see at Cincin- nati, and assigned the State of Ohio as the diocese.^ Bishop Flaget had proposed also the establishment of a see at Detroit, but this was deferred, and Michigan with Northwest Territory, now Wisconsin, was jjlaced temporarily under the care of the Bishop of Cincin- nati.
Though reluctant to abandon the life of a simple missionary under obedience to his order, Father Fen
' " Cincinnati, die Katolischen Kirchen, Kloster, Kapellen, und Insti- tute," p. 8 ; Cincinnati Directory, 1819, p. 41 ; Dralic and Mansfield, Cincinnati in 1826, pp. 55-6 ; Hammer, " Der Apostel von Oliio." p. 41.
* Bullarium de Propaganda Fide, iv., p. 385.
BISHOP E. D. FENWICK. . 339
wick yielded to the command of the Sovereign Pontiff and accepted the ejjiscopal honor which he had never sought. He had devoted his whole paternal estate, and all he could obtain from friends, to found and promote the establishment of St. Rose's Convent in Kentucky. Now taken out of his order to be raised to^he episcopate, he was obliged by his rule and vows to render an account of all property, even of books and furniture, that he had been allowed to use. He was consecrated in St. Rose's Church on the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus, January 13, 1822, by Rt. Rev. Bishop Flaget, Rev. Fathers Wilson and Hill acting as assistants. The sermon on the occasion was delivered by Rt. Rev. John B. David, Bishop of Mauricastro.^ In the latter i)art of March he set out for Cincinnati accompanied hj Fathers Wilson and Hill, without whose aid he had declined to accept the burden imposed upon him. His old friends, the congregation of St. Rose's Church, made up a purse of four or five hundred dollars for him, but it was in Kentucky paper, on which he lost about one-half when he crossed into Ohio. He was installed at the close of March by Bishoi) Flaget, "with humble cere- mony and silent panegyric," in the poor little chapel in the Northern Liberties, two miles outside of the city of Cincinnati. ' ' When I took possession of the dio- cese," he wrote, " I had to rent a house to live in, and to send to market for the first meal, no provision hav- ing been made for the maintenance of the bishop." This iiouse was really only two rooms, one for him-
' U. S. Catholic Magazine, vi., pp. 28-29. Cardinal Consalvi had ■written to the Superior of the Dominicans forbidding the alienation of any property of his subjects in Kentucky without the approbation of the local Bishop. Bishop E. Fenwick to Archbishop Marechal, Feb., 1823. Hammer, " Dor Apostel von Ohio," p. 44.
340 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
self and the other for his two priests, but mass was said there every day.^
Bishop Fenwick resolved to move the church, poor as it was, into the city, and secured a small lot on Sycamore above Sixth Street. The pro-cathedral was drawn by oxen to its new site amid shouts of hatred and derision. There is a tradition that on the irst Sunday after the transfer, while the holy sacrifice was proceeding, the building began to sway. Michael Scott jumped over his pew and ran out followed by
CHRIST CHURCH, ORIGINALLY AT VINE AND LIBERTY STREETS.
another member of the congregation. Scott crept under the building at the risk of his life, and steadied one of the props till his companion made the supports secure, and enabled Scott to emerge from his post of danger.
' " Communicated. We congratulate the Roman Catholics of this city and environs on the arrival of the Rt. Rev. Dr. Fenwick, lately consecrated Bishop of Cincinnati and the State of Ohio. This circum- stance interests not only the Catholics but all the friends of literature and useful knowledge, as we understand that his intention is ultimately to open a school, aided by the members of his order long distinguished for their piety and learning." — " Liberty Hall and Cincinnati Gazette,"' March 30, 1822.
MICHIGAN. 341
This primitive Cathedral of Cincinnati, soon proved inadequate to hold the i^eople who gathered there. When Father Hill i:>i"eached numbers of Protestants attended, and not only were the seats all filled, but the aisles were thronged and the window-sills turned to account. The good Bishop had endeavored to collect eno^igli to buy a lot and build, but he failed, and was compelled to solicit credit. " I am beyond contradic- tion," he wrote, "the poorest of all bishops in the Catholic world, and my diocese more extended than any other except those of Louisiana and Nova Scotia." '
His missionary labors had been confined to the State of Ohio, but the Sovereign Pontiff had annexed to his diocese the old French districts of Michigan and North- western Territory. In those j)arts the Jesuit Fathers Jognes and Raimbault planted the cross at Sault Ste. Marie in 1642. Father Rene Menard followed up the work in 1660, and established his mission cabin near L'Anse on Lake Superior, saying his first mass on the feast of St. Teresa. When he had fallen under an Indian tomahawk, a victim to his zeal and charity, Father Allouez reared a chapel at Chagoimegon, and stations were established at L'Anse and at Sault Ste. Marie. Then in 1670 he founded a mission at Green Bay : and the next year Father Marquette gathered at Michilimakinac the wandering Ottawas and Hurons. Then in 1701 Detroit, the first regular white settle- ment, was founded, and a church was begun on the feast of Saint Anne, which bears her name to this day. Around this post other hamlets grew up, and the
' Annales de la Propagation de la Foi, ii., pp. 47-8, 89-90. " Stato della Religione iiegli Stati Uniti." The incident relative to Mr. Michael Scott I obtained from Miss Mary M. Meline, her informant being a daughter of Scott's companion.
342 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Huron mission became a kind of suburb. Near the close of the French X3eriod, Father Dujaunai founded a mission among the Ottawas at Arbre Croche.
All these points were still Catholic centres when the district was placed under Bishop Fenwick's supervi- sion. There was a cluster of some sixteen families, chiefly French, at the mouth of the Maumee ; six or eight miles north, in view of the scene of Perry's vic- tory on Lake Erie, there were more than fifteen fam- ilies, with another church, dedicated by Rev. Gabriel Richard on Low Sunday, 1821. At Otter Creek there were twenty-five Catholic families. Then on Raisin River was the old mission station, near which had grown up the town of Monroe, Here stood the Church of St. Anthony of Padua, erected by Rev. Edmund Burke. Beside the church was the presby- tery, and full a hundred and fifty families formed the congregation. But church and altar had been terriblj^ neglected when Bishop Flaget visited it in 1818. He stationed Rev. Mr. Janvier here in Septem- ber, and revisiting the church in April, 1819, adminis- tered confirmation. Some steps were taken to erect a solid church of stone, but no practical work was done when Bishop Fenwick was installed.^ He appointed to this church in April, 1822, Rev. Anthony Ganilh, but that priest was almost forced to leave in July by the reluctance of the people to give him a necessary support. Ten families clustered together at Huron River, thirty at Riviere aux Ecores, and as many Catholic families at Riviere Rouge before you reached Detroit, with its new stone church, dedicated to St. Anne, of which Bishop Flaget laid the corner-stone in
' U. S. Catli. Miscellany, ii., pp. 8-9 ; Bishop Maes, "History of the Catholic Church in Monroe." U, S. Cath. Hist. Mag., ii., pp. 144-9.
MICHIGAN CHURCHES. 343
1818, Above Detroit a hundred and fifty families were scattered along Detroit River ; on Lake St. Clair and Anchor Bay were a hundred more, with a church under the invocation of Saint Francis de Sales. Then further on some eighty Catholic families were settled near the Church of Pointe St. Ignace, north of Macki- nac Island ; twenty or thirty at Sault Ste. Marie ; sixty families along the shores of Green Bay ; a hun- dred and twenty to one hundred and fifty Catholic families were estimated at Prairie du Cliien at the mouth of the Wisconsin. In this extensive district there were Indians of the Ottawa, Potto watomie and Wyandot tribes, still attached to the Catholic faith, whose numbers might be estimated at six thousand. Arbre Croche was a favorite gathering place for these Indians, and the Catholic Ottawas pointed out to Rev, Gabriel Richard the river on whose banks Father James Marquette expired while making his way slowly and feebly to his chapel at Mackinac.^ These Indians were recognized as Catholic by the govern- ment of the United States, the Ottawa, Chij^pewa, and Pottowatomie tribes ceding to the Church of St. Anne and college at Detroit a square mile of land at Macon on Raisin River, and three sections of land.^ The French settlements had been visited from time to time, but many required a regular pastor to save them.
Rev. Gabriel Richard, overburdened with labors at and near Detroit, yet struggled manfully to visit from time to time these poor Catholics. He was at Arbre Croche in September, 1821, and of Marquette River he says : "I was detained here a week by head winds,
' U. S. Catholic Miscellany, ii., pp. 8-9.
' Treaty with Wyandots, Senekas, Delawares, etc., Sept. 29, 1817. " Treaties between U. S. and Indian Tribes," Washington, 1837, p. 223,
344 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
during which period I frequently visited the grave * and prayed upon this interesting spot. I celebrated mass upon the banks of the river on Sunday, and my little flock went with me in procession to the cross which I had erected, where I sung the ' Libera ' for the soul of our brother. In all, Ottawas and others, we were fifty members of the Church, and all appeared greatly penetrated with the divine providence of the Great Spirit, our Father who is in Heaven. I ad- dressed them with considerable effect, but under such circumstances it was impossible not to be eloquent."
In the autumn of 1822, Bishop Fenwick made a vis- itation accompanied by Father Nicholas D. Young. From St. Joseph's they visited Zanesville, Guernsey Co., Canton, Wooster, where two or three were received into the Church. Their route thence lay through Mansfield, Portland or Upper Sandusky, Truceville, where Father Young held a controversy with an in- fidel. They next proceeded to Detroit, where the Rev. Gabriel Richard received the Bishop with all honor, and Governor Lewis Cass invited him to a public dinner. Then he began his regular work, giving in- structions, hearing confessions, preparing classes for confirmation and first communion. He confirmed three hundred in the two congregations at Detroit, whose recently erected Church of Saint Anne he de- scribed as an elegant structure of brick and stone, well adapted for a cathedral. The presbytery was a two- story frame house, and the church possessed five or six acres within three miles of the town. There was also another church, with three acres inclosed, and a property of three hundred acres.^ A good beginning
' U. S. Cath. Miscellany, ii., p. 10.
« Bishop E. Fenwick to Archbishop Marechal, Feb. 9, 1833.
DECREE TAMETSI. 345
existed therefore for the iDrojected diocese, with a flock essentially different from that in Ohio.
Bishop Fenwick was soon summoned back to Cin- cinnati, where he had secured a small lot near his church, giving him a plot a hundred and twenty feet square for a cathedral and residence.
The extent and wants of his episcopal district were now clearly before him, but he was utterly destitute of means to undertake any important work.
Michigan and Northwest Territory had been included in the diocese of Quebec, and the decrees of the Coun- cil of Trent in regard to marriage had been duly pub- lished there, and observed untiJ, at the close of the last century, England ceased to occupy that portion of the soil of the United States. After that, discipline be- came more lax, and many marriages were contracted which were not valid in the eyes of the Church. To remedy this disorder. Bishop Fenwick applied to the Sovereign Pontiff and obtained faculties to revalidate these illicit unions.^ As to Ohio, which constituted his diocese properly, it could not be considered as a part where the decrees of the Council of Trent had been regularly published, so that clandestine marriages were valid, though contrary to the discipline of the church. ^
The Bishop's only resource was the Sunday collec- tions in his chapel, which ranged from one dollar to three, and this was to support a Bishop and two priests.
He resolved to go at once to Rome to expose the condition of affairs in his diocese and the annexed district. Having obtained a loan of a few hundred
' Cardinal Caprano to Bishop Fenwick, June 24, 1827. Instructio ad R. P. D. Edwardum Fenwick De NonnuUis matrimoniis.
* Same to same, May 15, 1828.
346 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
dollars lie proceeded to New York, where he em- barked, and after a voyage of four weeks reached Bordeaux ; the Archbishop and clergy showed him every, attention, but he was anxious to reach Rome. He obtained an audience with Pope Leo XII., who re- ceived him with the greatest kindness. Bishop Fen- wick wished to resign his diocese, that it might be committed to abler hands, but the Pope smilingly forbade him to si^eak of abdicating, and exhorted liim to continue the work of which he was God's in- strument. His Holiness promised all possible aid, and assigned to the Bishop two priests from the Propaganda, with a sum of nionej^, church plate, vest- ments, books, etc. Bishoi:) Fenwick received aid also from the Duke of Lucca. He then set out for Lyons, ordaining and contirming at Savona, at the request of the Bishop. On entering France he continued to wear the white habit of St, Dominic, which had not been seen in public there since the Reign of Terror. The directors of the Association for the Propagation of the Faith received the Bishop of Cincinnati as an apostle and made him a grant of $1600, besides recommending him to the chief almoner of France.
His exertions in Europe obtained for Bishop Fen- wick about ten thousand dollars in all, little, indeed, for his great wants, but sufficient to encourage him. In the autumn of 1824 he sent over three priests whom he had secured for his diocese, and followed himself before spring. Tarrying awhile in his native State he conferred the holy order of priesthood on two candidates by permission of Archbishop Mare- chal.^
During his absence Father Hill, whom he had left
'U. 8. Cath. Miscellany, lii , p. 319 ; iv., p. 175.
OHIO CHURCHES. 347
as Vicar-General, with the other Dominican Fathers, had labored zealously. From St. Joseph's, in Ferry County, Father N. D. Young and his associates, Fathers Thomas Martin and Vincent de Raymacher, extended their ministry in all directions, besides at- tending the hundred and thirty families near the church. At Zanesville the Catholics, though number- ing only forty or fifty families, had courageously begun to erect a brick church. Father Martin raised a neat frame one, dedicated to St. Mary, at Lan- caster, where he attended every month a congrega- tion of twenty families ; St. Bernard's log; church, in Morgan County, was also attended from St. Joseph's. A fine brick church was begun at Canton, with a steeple that was visible in all directions as people en- tered the town ; but its completion was overshadowed with gloom by the accidental death during the work of the zealous and pious Mr. John Shorb, who had aroused the faith of others and gave his services and means freely for the great object. A brick church was also begun near New Lisbon, on ground given by Mr. Daniel McAllister, and a log church dedicated to St. Luke in Knox County.^
About this time the Catholic Indians at Arbre Croche appealed to the General Government by the following petition :
We, the undersigned Chiefs, heads of families or other indi- viduals of the tribe of the Ottawas residing at Waganakisi (The Arbre Croche, or Crooked Tree), take this mode to communicate our wants and wishes to our most respected Father, the Presi- dent of the U. S. We return oiir best thanks to our Father and to Congress for his and their exertions to bring us, your very
' Bishop E. Fenwick to Archbishop Marechal, Frederick, March 6, 1825 ; same to Rev. S. T. Badin. Hammer, p. 48. U. S. Cath. Miscel- lany, ii , p. 165 ; ill., p. 319.
348 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
affectionate children, to civilization and to the knowledge of Jesus, the Redeemer of the redskins as well as of the white people.
Trusting on your paternal affection, we come forward, and claiming the liberty of conscience, we most earnestly pray that you may be pleased to let us have a- teacher or a minister of the Gospel belonging to the same Denomination of the spiritual fathers which were sent to our parents by the French govern- ment and have long many years resided amongst us, occupied and cultivated a field on our own ground. We are willing to be taught religion, arts, and agriculture by ministers of the same Religion, which is called the Catholic religion.
We further invite such teachers appointed by your paternal affection to come and settle on the same spot, formei'ly occupied by Fr. Lefranc, Fr. Dujaunais, and others, that is to say, on the shore of Lake Michigan, near the lower end of our village at the Arbre Croche.
For so doing and granting your children their humble peti- tion, they will forever feel grateful and will pray the Great Spirit to bless you and your white children. In witness thereof we have made our Tautems (marks) on tliis day, the 12th August, 1823.
Miquissanessa (Bear's Paw) ; Pandiguekawa (mouse) ; Tete d'avial ; Kakijiquaame (aigle) ; Nibinici (pate d'ours) ; Ogitichigami (une carpe) ; Chichaque (une grue) ; Pechacigne (aigle) ; Omachcose ; Dapetagi- jigo (ours); Chaguichi; Giniwigoine (barbue); Was- egijigo (lievre) ; Cibojigane (une grue) ; Wakechema (une carpe); Menginiwananl (ours) ; Naganache (un canard) ; Peponahang (un dinde) ; Pitobeg (une aigle) ; Sivvitagane (un poisson) ; Miteunice (un eturgeon) ; Gagagegne (La grue). Matthew McGulpin,
Witness. J. V. Milpi pere.
Witness.
Bishop Fenwick arrived in Cincinnati in March, 1825. His little seminary at once lost its professor, who belonged to the diocese of New Orleans, and was only temporarily at Cincinnati. His Vicar-General,
V. REV. WILLIAM HILL, O.P. 349
appointed provincial of the new Dominican province in Ohio, was engaged in organizing it and establish- ing a novitiate. The Catholic congregation in Cincin- nati increased rapidly, many Protestants seeking guidance and explanation. Three heads of families and a lady came to the Bishop in as many days. With such priestly aid as he had, Bishoj) Fen wick labored unremittingly, delivering four sermons every Sunday besides a catechetical instruction.
Rev. Frederic Reze, whom he had sent over from Europe, was fast acquiring English, and meanwhile became the special missionary of his countrymen, dis- covering no fewer than thirty-three Catholic families, whom he recalled to their Christian duties.^
The corner-stone of a church to be dedicated to the Holy Trinity w^as laid in Somerset, Ohio, on the 26tli of May, 1822. It rose gradually, and on its comple- tion was admitted to be, next to the cathedral, the finest church in the State. It was a brick structure, seventy-five feet by forty, and Mr. Peter Dittoe, of the family of the Catholic pioneers of Ohio, was one of its chief benefactors. The church was dedicated on the 28th of October, 1827, by Father Hill, O.P., Vicar-General of the diocese, who delivered an elo- quent discourse on the occasion.^
The diocese had soon to deplore the loss of that eminent son of St. Dominic. He died at Canton, Sept. 3, 1828. Born in England, he renounced the doctrines of the Established Church at the age of twenty-five. After a divinity course at St. Omer, and in England, and after enduring two years' imprison-
' Bishop Penwick to P. Pallavicini, Cincinnati, March 29, 1825, in Ave Maria. Catholic Mirror, Oct. 14, 1882.
*U. S. Cath. Miscellany, vii., p. 159.
350 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
ment at Yerdun, lie finally entered the Order of St. Dominic in the convent of the Minerva at Rome. In- duced by Father Wilson he came to the United States to labor zealously and successfully in the missions of Kentucky and Ohio. He died the death of a perfect religious.^
One of Bishop Fenwick's first works on his return was the erection of a suitable church in Cincinnati to serve as a cathedral.
Tlie cathedral, designed by the architect Michael Scott, was an edifice of modest dimensions, built of brick. It was fifty feet wide by one hundred and ten in depth, and thirty feet in height from base to cor- nices. It had five windows on each side, fifteen feet high. On the floor there were eighty-eight pews, and a few more were in the gallery, on either side of the organ. It was, for its time, one of the handsomest • buildings in Cincinnati, and cost, including the organ, ten or twelve thousand dollars. Bishop Fenwick hoped to dedicate it to the service of God on the great feast of the Resurrection, in 1826, but it was not till the third Sunday of xVdvent that the Bishop and his diocese could rejoice at the oi^ening of a fane worthy of Catholicity. Paintings obtained during his visit to Rome, from the generosity of Cardinal Fesch, who had similarly enriched the cathedral of Baltimore, adorned the spaces between the gotliic Avindows ; and the sanctuary, on solemn occasions, displayed vest- ments not unworthy the grand and consoling ceremo- nial of the ancient Church. Over the altar was a fine painting of our Lady of the Rosary, by the Flemish painter Yerschoot.^
'U. S. Cath. Miscellany, viii., p. 111.
« Drake and Mansfield, " Cincinnati in 1826," pp. 35-6.
CATHEDRAL AND SEMINARY.
351
A seminary and a residence for himself were the Bishop's next work. The Athenseum, built in the same style as the cathedral, was on the further side of the original church, which in time was replaced by a brick residence for the Bishop and clergy. The Athenffium was a seminary and college, while provi- sion had already been made for the education of girls
THE CATHEDRAL, SEMINARY, AKD ATHEN.EUM.
by the arrival from Europe of a community of Poor Clares, whom he had induced to cross the Atlantic, At the opening of 1827 their select school numbered seventy pupils.
The Athenseum, bearing on its front the inscription, " Religioni et Artibus Sacrum," was, we are told, well
352 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
"organized with a sufficient number of teachers to attend closely to all the pu^Dils, both in their hours of study and recreation. This feature, in which most of our prominent seminaries are defective, gave the school a reputation and induced a number of Prot- estants to prefer it to any of our other schools for the education of their sons." ^
On Christmas Day Bishox) Fenwick published the Jubilee in his cathedral, and assisted by Rev. James MuUon and Father Nicholas D. Young, gave a series of instructions to prepare his flock to profit by the great spiritual graces offered them. Then they went in succession to St. Mary's Church, Lancaster ; St. Joseph's, Somerset; St. John's, Zanesville ; St. Paul's, Columbiana County ; St. John's, Canton ; St. Luke's, Knox County, and St. Dominic's, Guernsey County, giving a mission of several days' duration in each , church, and in other places gathered the fnithful in court-houses or other available buildings. The com- munions during this missionary tour numbered about 7400.2
The field befoi^e the Dominican Fathers seemed so promising that the members in Ohio were erected into a separate i)rovince by the General of the Order and Rev. Father Josex)h M. Velzi, O.P., January 11, 1824 (their community having been incorporated by an act of the Ohio Legislature).^ Bishop Fenwick found, however, that deeds had been made out to the order, and not to the diocese, for the property in
' Foote, " Schools of Cincinnati and its Vicinity," Cincinnati, 1855.
"U. S. Cath. Magazine, vi., pp. 92, 93, 94. U. S. Cath. Miscellany, vi., pp. 246, 390.
'Patent erecting province, now in Bishops' Memorial Hall, Notre Dame.
SEMINARY OPENED. 353
Brown County, Zanesville, Canton, and other places. Mild as he was, and strongly attached to the Order of St. Dominic, he could not sanction these steps, which had been taken without liis knowledge.^
When the whole matter was laid before the authori- ties in Rome, an adjustment was made between Car-~ dinal Capellari, Prefect of the Congregation de Propa- ganda Fide, and Father Joseph M. Yelzi, Vicar- General of the Order of Preachers, in virtue of which the new province of St. Louis Bertrand was sup- pressed and its houses reunited to that of St. Josei)h. Bishop Fenwick was appointed for life Commissary- General of the province, and the Dominican Fathers agreed to pay future Bishops of Cincinnati, not be- longing to their order, $300 a year.^
Bishop Fenwick now applied to the Holy See for the aj)pointment of a coadjutor, and urged the name of Rev. Francis Patrick Kenrick, then in the semi- nary at Bardstown ; but as Bishop Flaget x>rotested against the removal from his diocese of so learned and active a priest, Bishop Fenwick was requested to for- ward other names.^
On the 11th of May, 1829, Bishop Fenwick was able to open his seminary. After chanting the "Veni Creator ' ' and offering the holy sacrifice, he read the regulations and made an earnest address to the seminarians. This new institution, dedicated to St, Francis, was placed under the care of Father S. H. Montgomery, and opened with ten pupils, four in theology and six in the preparatory class.
' Bishop Fenwick to Arclibishop Marechal, May 26, 1826.
'BuUarium de Propaganda Fide, Rome, 1841, v., pp. 36-7.
3 Cardinal Somaglia to Bishop Fenwick, Aug. 6, 1825, July 15, 1826. Bishop Fenwick to Archbishop Marechal, May 12, 1826.
354 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Having thus provided for a future supply of priests to meet, in part, the wants of his diocese. Bishop Fen- wick set out for Green Bay, which lie reached on the eve of Ascension Day. In 1825 Rev. Vincent Badin had extended his labors to Mackinac, Drummond's Island, Sault Ste. Marie, Green Bay, and Arbre Croclie. But his mission was too short to produce much per- manent fruit, and an impostor named Fauvel, pre- tending to be a priest, misled many at Green Bay. Bishop Fenwick drove the wolf from the fold. He celebrated mass and gave a series of instructions to increase the knowledge and revive the faith of the people. Mackinac was the next field of his apostolic labor, rewarded by sixty communions. At Arbre Croclie, where the energetic Dejean had reared his -church of jouncheons, lif ty-four feet by thirty, and a house beside it, visible from afar. Bishop Fenwick was received Avith great pomp and hearty welcome by Chief Assakinac and his tribe. The piety of the Indians, no less than the evidence of their industry and tem- perance, with their progress in the ways of civilization, delighted their spiritual Fatlier. About this time the Catholic Indians at Grand River Rapids appealed to the Governor against the decision to give land only for the Protestant mission, and against the constant payment of Protestant missions, while the band was Catholic' After confirming 150 at Detroit the Bishop sent his companion Rev. Mr. Mullon to Portland, Sandusky, and Tiffin, while he himself visited St. Paul's, Monroe, on Raisin River, and Port Clinton before his return to Cincinnati.^ He took back with
' Letter of Louis Miukterje, Francis Migissinini, and others, Aug. 12, 1826.
^ U. S. Catholic Miscellany, vi., p. 76 ; viii, p. 382. U. S Catholic Magazine, vi., 97-100 ; xVunales de la Propagation de la Foi, iv., p. 515,
GERMAN CONGREGATIONS. 355
him two Indian boys whom he proposed to send to the College of the Propaganda.
Through the instrumentality of Rev. F. Reze, Bishop Fenwick had secured two zealous German priests, who began to make a list of their Catholic countrymen in the State. They found them every- where, at Cincinnati, Somerset, Lancaster, and the ringing words of God's ministers in the accents familiar to them from the cradle woke all the religion implanted in these German hearts by pious parents at home. One of these itinerant priests was Rev. John Martin Henni, a name to be known in time as founder of the first German Catholic paper, first Bishop in Wisconsin, first Archbishop of Milwaukee. Then busy with plans for a school and orphanage at Cincin- nati ; for a convent of Dominican Sisters whom he intended to establish at Somerset ; churches that he purposed erecting at Hamilton, Urbana, Tiffin and Clinton, forming a line of occupation from Cincinnati to Lake Erie ; a college in his episcopal city, the Bishoi^ of Cincinnati set out for Baltimore to meet his metro- politan and fellow suffragans, and concert measures for giving solidity and strength to the fabric which each diocese was rearing to God's glory. ^
486-490, 521. Fauvel had been refused ordination in Rome. Cardinal Cappellari to Bishop Edward Fenwick, Aug. 8, 1829.
' lb., p. 532. Hammer, " Der Apostcl von Ohio," pp. 52-92.
BOOK II
FORMER PROVINCE OF SANTIAGO DE CUBA.
CHAPTER L DIOCESE OF LOUISIANA AND THE FLORIDAS.
RT. REV. LOUIS WILLIAM DU BOURG, SECOND BISHOP, 1815-1826.
The condition of religion in the diocese of Louisiana and the Floridas was not encouraging in 1815 when the V. Rev. Mr. Du Bourg resolved to proceed to Rome to explain it to the Sovereign Pontiff. Al- though Florida was really part of the diocese, Sx:)ain, on the cession of Louisiana, directed the Bishop of Havana to resume authority in that province, and this was done without any express sanction from the Pope. In the Louisiana portion of his diocese seven out of fourteen parishes were vacant, the V. Rev. Administrator having only ten priests, some far ad- vanced in years, some utterly unfit to exercise the ministry. Father Anthony Sedella in the Cathedral of New Orleans, with two other scandalous priests, defied or evaded authority and claimed to hold his office by virtae of a popular election called by the Common Council. Sedella had yielded a kind of recognition of Dr. Du Bourg' s authority as Adminis- trator, but when notice was given to him of his in- tended departure for Rome and his appointment of Rev. Mr. Sibourd as Vicar-General during his absence, Sedella at once questioned the right of the Adminis-
356
RT. REV. LOUIS WILLIAM DU BOURG, BISHOP OF LOUISIANA AKD THE FLORIDAS.
357
THE URSULINES. 359
trator to leave the diocese or appoint a Vicar-General.^ The Very Rev. Dr. Du Boiirg soon after sailed for Bordeaux with misgivings as to the results which might follow in Louisiana, but convinced of the im- portance of having a Bishop at once appointed, who could appeal to France and other parts of Europe for aid in priests and means.
Sedella and his party soon resorted to a new line of tactics : they resolved to petition Congress to incorpo- rate the trustees, and make them free from any inter- ference of a bishop in the appointment or removal of priests or the management of the temporalities. AVliile all this scheme was in progress an outward deference to Very Rev. Mr. Sibourd was maintained, though Sedella was careful to avoid addressing him in writing, or in any way recognize his title.
The ancient Ursuline convent had prospered under the care of the Abbe Olivier, Rev. Mr. Sibourd, and the V. Rev. Administrator. After the retirement of part of the community to Havana, the Sisters reor- ganized with Mother Teresa Farjon as Superior. In 1810, the little community opened its doors to receive a reinforcement from France, led by Mother St. Mi- chael Gensoul, an Ursuline nun, who had been driven by the French Revolution from her convent of Pont St. Esprit, and had opened an academy at Montpelier. Invited to New Orleans in 1804, and encouraged by a letter of Pope Pius VII., she gathered a party of young ladies, anxious to devote themselves to religion, and embarked for Philadelphia. At Baltimore, Arch- bishop Carroll detained the whole party to prevent their being exposed to the summer heat in New Or-
'V. Rev. L. W. Du Bourg to Archbisliop Carroll, April 21, 1815; Dec. 11, 1815 ; same to Rev. A. Sedella, May 3, 1815.
360 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
leans. They entered the convent on the last day of December. Mother Gensoul was at once placed at the head of the academy. Before long- she became Supe- rior, and governed with great ability, animated by the spirit of God, a fervent devotion to the Sacred Heart, and confidence in Our Lady of Prompt Succor, a de- votion which she zealously propagated. She was the soul of the community till her death, March 19, 1822.
Several of the nuns at this time belonged to the rule of the Presentation of Our Lady, and finding it better adapted to the circumstances in which they were, tliis rule, with the authority of V. Rev. Dr. Du Bourg, was formally adopted, January 16, 1813.
Meanwhile V. Rev. Dr. Du Bourg had reached Rome, and on his representing the state of the dio- cese the Propaganda carried out the plan already formed of appointing him Bishop. This was done on the 18tli of September, 1815, and as all preparations had been made he was consecrated on the 24th by Cardinal Joseph Doria Pamfili, Bishop of Porto, in the Church of St. Louis of the French. The conse- crator was assisted by Rt. Rev. Gabriel de Pressigny, Bishop of St. Malo, then Ambassador from France, and Rt. Rev. Francis X. Pereira, Bishop of Ter- racina.^
Now actually Bishop of Louisiana, successor of Mgr. Penalver, Bishop Du Bourg could give his representative at New Orleans indisputable powers. He evidently at this time desired to return at once to his diocese, as soon as he had made arrangements to meet its w^ants. One great necessity was a religious community to take charge of a theological seminary
' Rev. L. Sibourd to Archbishop Carroll, Dec. 10, 1815 ; Bishop Fen- wick's " Memoirs."
THE LAZARISTS. 361
and supply missionaries. His old associates of the Company of St. Siilpice, he knew, could spare no members for Louisiana. There was, however, at Rome a house of the Priests of the Mission, a congregation founded in France by St. Vincent de Paul. Struck by the saintly qualities of Father Felix de Andreis, the Bishop of Louisiana resolved to secure him as the superior of a band of missionaries of that congrega- tion. After many difficulties he succeeded, and on the 21st of October, Rev. John Baptist Acquaroni and Joseph Rosati, Lazarists ; Rev. Joseph Pereira, ajniest who had solicited admission into their community ; Leo Beys, a Propaganda student, and a lay brothei-, after an audience with the Pope, set out for Marseilles ; Father Be Andreis, after obtaining books, vestments, and church plate, followed on the 15tli of Becember with one priest and two seminarians. At Bordeaux they were joined in the following May by Bishop Bu Bourg. The whole party of missionaries reached Baltimore in the scorching days of July, and late in November were in Bardstown there to await the com- ing of Bishop Bu Bourg. ^
That prelate, meanwhile, w^as endeavoring to obtain in France needed aid for his diocese, as well as a religious community to open an academy of a higher order at St. Louis. As Lyons he insiDired Mme. Petit, a pious widow, Avho had once resided in Baltimore, to form a little association in which a small weekly payment would be made to aid his missions. From this and a similar little association, founded by Mademoiselle Pauline Marie Jaricot to give aid to the laborers in Asia belonging to the Society of the
' Sketches of the Life of V. Rev. Felix de Andreis, Baltimore, 1861. pp. 48-100, where the agreement between the Bishop and the Superior of the Lazarists will be found.
362 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Foreign Missions at Paris, grew the Association for the Propagation of the Faith, finally organized in Lyons, May 3, 1822, under V. Rev. Mr. Inglesi, then Vicar- General of Bishop Du Bonrg, a priest in whose strange career his part in establishing this great association for the aid of the Catholic mis- sions throughout the world is almost a redeeming trait.
In his visits to different cities of France Bislioj) Du Bourg sought postulants for his Ursuline community. All that offered were directed to the convent of that order in Bordeaux, where their vocation was tested. Nine were deemed to have a real call to the religious life and to possess health for the undertaking. These reached the convent at New Orleans, January 3, 1817. Three nuns of the ancient convent of Quebec subse- quently joined the house in New Orleans to share their life of poverty and labor.
The Superior of the Ursulines had laid before the Sovereign Pontiff the condition of the convent, its trials and vicissitudes, and had been encouraged to l^ersevere by the successor of St. Peter. ^
Bishop Du Bourg had proposed a division of the diocese and the erection of a see in Upper Louisiana, but the report which reached him of Sedella's persis- tent rebellion, the attempt of the trustees to obtain a charter absolutely depriving the Bishop of his cathe- dral, as well as open menaces of violence had so alarmed him that he earnestly solicited the Propaganda to be allowed to take up his residence at Saint Louis, and establish his seminary and other educational institu-
' Letter of Rev. Mother Mary Olivier to Pope Pius VII. , May 2, 1815 ; Pope Pius VII. to the Ursulines, Oct. 16, 1815 ; Circular letter sent through V. Rev. Dr. Du Bourg. " Les Ursulines de Quebec," iii., p. 532.
BISHOP DU BOURG'S FEARS. 363
tions in that part of his diocese.^ Copies of his bulls and of the certilicate of his consecration had been pre- sented to Sedella to be filed in the archives of the cathedral, but that wretched man declared that he had nothing to do with the Pope or bishops of his making, and handed the papers to one of the trustees, who took them to a cafe, where he made them the sub- ject of scoffs and insults to religion. Bishop Du Bourg assured the Propaganda that "all who knew the con- dition of affairs agreed in declaring that it would be an inexcusable temerity on his part, and fatal to relig- ion, to attempt to land at New Orleans. As for my- self, knowing better than any other the place and the men, I must declare that I do not feel the fortitude to expose myself to the consequences of such a step." As no provision had been made for a bishop at St. Louis, he proposed to remain in France till Bishop Flaget had prepared the way and ascertained the state of feeling in regard to him.^ Pressed by the Propa- ganda to proceed to his diocese he pleaded for delay till he had definite knowledge on this point ; ' for even there many abandoned and irreligious men had com- bined against the zealous clergy, and by slander, by exciting discontent and schisms, and even by open violence had succeeded in driving priests away from parishes confided to them ; clergymen were shut out of their houses, and more than once put in dugouts and sent adrift on the river.* Conscious of all this, Bishop Du Bourg, who was naturally timid, wished
' Bishop Du Bourg to Cardinal Dugnani, April, 1816.
* Same to same, June 24, 1816.
* Same to same, Jan. or Feb., 1817.
•» " Relation de cequi est arrive a deux Religieux de la Trappe, pen- dant leur sejour auprds des Sauvages." Paris, 1824, p. 129.
364 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
some assurance of the reception he was to meet. To relieve his mind of responsibility he had solicited a canonical transfer of Florida to the Bishop of Havana, who was actually in control though without canonical authority ; but the Holy See was reluctant to make ecclesiastical jurisdictions depend on political changes. Meanwhile he had collected in France and Belgium a Tmw band of missionaries, comprising two priests from Rome and more than twenty ecclesiastics, as well as funds and necessaries for his diocese. The king of France not only gave the Bishop of the old French province aid and encouragement, but placed at his disposal the frigate Caravane to transport him and his l^arty to America.^ Bishop Du Bourg embarked on this vessel at Bordeaux on the 28th of June, 1817, accompanied by five priests, four sub-deacons, some seminarians, three Brothers of the Christian schools, and other volunteers. They landed at Annapolis on the 4tli of September, after a voyage which he made a mission for the officers and men of the vessel, but few of whom ever reached France again.
After administering confirmation at the request of the venerable Archbishop Neale, among others to a woman more than a century old. Bishop Du Bourg set out for his diocese by way of Pittsburgh, making much of the journey on foot, the stages being unable to trav- erse the wretched roads. At Pittsburgh they took a flat-boat, on the 19tli of November, and stopping to officiate at Gallipolis, reached Louisville and pro- ceeded to Bardstown, where they were joined by Bishop Flaget. A steamboat bore them thence more rapidly to Saint Genevieve. There Bishop Du Bourg planted a
' Bishop Du Bourg to Cardinal Prefect, May 3, 1817. Nine ecclesias- tics sailed in June, 1816, four others, with nine Sisters, in November, 1816. " Notice siir la Mission de la Louisiane," p. 13.
INSTALLED AT ST. LOUIS. 365
cross, chanted the " Vexilla," and was able to address some of his own diocesan flock in French and English, Stopping then at Cahokia, Bishop Du Boiirg, accom- j)anied by Bishop Flaget, entered St. Lonis January 6, 1818, escorted by forty gentlemen on horseback, and was received with hearty welcome. Four of tlie chief citizens held the canopy under which he pro- ceeded to the church. He took possession of the pro- cathedral, a poor wooden structure in ruinous condi- tion, being installed with the usual solemnities by Bishop Flaget.^
Bishop Du Bourg was now in his diocese to carry out the plans which he had formed. St. Louis was to be the centre of the new sj)iritual life of the dio- cese. For the seminary under the Lazarists he had selected Bois Brule, or the Barrens, a Catholic settle- ment about eighty miles from St. Louis, where the peojjle showed zeal and faith, having already raised a log church and priest's house, under the guidance of the Trappist Father Joseph Dunand,^ and given a large farm for his maintenance. Hither soon re- paired the saintly De Andreis from Saint Genevieve, and Father Rosati, with his seminarians, from Bards- town. Rev, Mr. de la Croix, possessing some knowl- edge of architecture, drew the j)lans for a seminary and church ; Mrs. Hayden and others of the Catholic settlers helping on the good work by donations and service in clearing the ground and preparing the tim-
' "Notice sur I'f^tat Actuel de la Mission de la Louisiane," Paris, 1820, pp. 5-6, 13-14 ; Bishop Du Bourg to Cardinal Prefect, July 19, 1817: same to Rev. S. G. Brute, Pittsburgh, Nov. 13, 1817; Rev. Joseph Rosati to Rome, Feb. 7, 1818 ; Annales de la Propagation de la Foi, ii., p. 335.
*" Relation de ce qui est arrive a deux Religieux de la Trappe," p. 129.
366 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
ber needed.^ The seminary was sixty feet long by thirty-five wide and four stories high. The study hall was on the ground floor, on the second the chapel, library, and infirmary, while the upjier floors were laid off in rooms and dormitories.
The Brothers of the Christian Doctrine soon opened a boys' school at St. Genevieve.^
Bishop De Bourg, anxious to secure a community of Ladies of the Sacred Heart, a23plied to the Ven. Madame Barat, the foundress, in January, 1817, but when he returned to Paris he found that holj^ Supe- rior undecided. She yielded, however, when Madame Philippine Duchesne, who felt called to the American mission, fell on her knees before the Superior and im- plored her consent to go. With Mesdames Berthold and Aude and two lay Sisters, Mother Duchesne em- barked on the Rebecca in Marcli, 1818, and on tlie 30th of May reached the Ursuline convent at New Orleans. After a short rest there they took a steam- boat up the Mississippi, and in August were wel- comed by Bishop Du Bourg, amid his poverty, at St. Louis. The first academy was opened at St. Charles, but they obtained no xiupils beyond the few who accompanied them from St. Louis. The parochial school, however, grew^ rapidly, but after a trial, at- tended with much suffering and w^ant, the Bishop and Mother Duchesne decided on their removal to Floris- sant. Here a brick building for their use was erected under the care of Father Josei)h Dunand, Trappist, whose active zeal deserves especial memory. The new academy prospered ; the work of zealous priests in
' " Sketches of the Life of Rev. Felix de Andreis," pp. 162-3.
'^ Annales de la Propagation de la Foi, i. , p. 21; Rosati, " Rcla- zione,".May 4, 1821.
V. REV. FELIX DE ANDREIS. 367
the parishes impressed the young with the desire to keep the laws of God and his Church, even to aspire to perfection. The ladies had pupils for their acad- emy and school, and before long Mary Lay ton applied to become a lay Sister. This first vocation was soon followed by others, so that Mother Duchesne and her community felt a consoling reward for all they had undergone in the prosj^ect of the i3ermanency of their sisterhood devoted to the Sacred Heart. At early as 1821 the ladies prepared to found a second convent at Grand Coteau, Louisiana, where a charitable con- vert, Mrs. Smith, carrying out her husband's wishes, gave land for their use.^ The convent, to which the neighboring planters and the clergy generously con- tributed, was a vast brick house, ninety-five feet long- by sixty deep, near the church. It was built and organized by Madame Aude.^
The zealous labors of the priests sent over by Bishop Du Bourg while in Euroi^e began to revive the faith along the western bank of the Mississippi, and to repair the effect of a long privation of divine service and in- struction on the word of God, caused by the scandals and infidel opposition which had driven many priests from their parishes, and made others abandon a field that seemed hopelessly barren. Some few of the new priests faltered before the obstacles and difficulties ; others more bravely died, victims to their labors and to the deadly fevers, like Rev. Mr. Bighi and Canon Joseph Caretti, A severer blow even than these was
'Baunard, " The Life of Mother Duchesne, Religious of the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and foundress of the first houses of that Society in America," 1879, pp. 124-221.
^ De Sennegy, " Une Paroisse Louisianaise," New Orleans, 1877, pp. 4&-7.
368 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
the death of the saintly Lazarist, Father Felix de Andrei s, who after organizing the community of the Priests of the Mission in Missouri, regulating the seminary for the diocese, and founding a novitiate of his order, expired at St. Louis on the 15th of October, 1820, in the odor of sanctity. His body was con-
'^■■^•
V. KEV. FELIX DE ANDREIS, CM., FOUNDER OF THE LAZAKISTS UM THE UNITED STATES.
Teyed to the Barrens and reposes in the Church of the Seminary.^
One of Bishop Du Bourg's first cares was to replace the church at St. Louis by one worthy of the service
' Rev. J. Rosati, Letter, Feb. 7, 1818 ; " Sketches of the Life of the V. Rev. Felix de Andreis, pp. 165, 168-179.
INDIAN MISSIONS. 369
of God. This and the erection of suitable residences for bishop and clergy involved a cost of twenty-live thousand dollars, but as only twenty thousand could be raised there remained a debt which became a sore trial to him.
The Bishop gave an impulse to all parts of the diocese. New churches were begun at Assumption, Thibodeaux, Fausse Riviere, Pointe Coupee, and other points, either of brick or wood.^
St. Joseph's Church was erected in 1819 on land given in 1816 by Baptiste Herbert. It is a wooden building 30 feet by 80, and served the two parishes of Lafourche and Terrebonne till 1848, when Rev. C. M. Menard built another church of brick. The Church of St. Michael was erected by the Acadian parishioners in 1809, on a site given bj^ the Cantrelle family, and dedicated on the 10th of October by Father Charles Lusson, O.P., parish priest of the Ascension at La- fourche, who also attended the new church. The cemetery had been blessed the day before, and in a few months a bell was solemnly baptized, Pierre Michel, one of the deported Acadians of 1755, being a sponsor.^
Bishop Du Bourg exerted himself to fill the vacancies, and to rei^lace careless or unworthy pastors by priests of zeal and courage. Even at New Orleans he suc- ceeded at last in making some j)rogress. The popu-
' Pointe Coupee had been without a priest since the departure of the Carmelite Father Brady in 1812. After the Bishop's visit in 1818 pro- vision was made for a priest, and Rev. Anthony Blanc, who arrived Aug. 3, 1820, soon erected St. Mary's Church at Fausse Riviere on land given by Mme. Olinde ; and also the new church at Pointe Coupee, the former dedicated Oct. 19, 1822, the latter Nov. 1, 1823. Annales de la Prop, de la Foi, ii., p. 858 ; Registres de Pointe Coupee.
* De Sennegy, " Cue Paroisse Louisianaise," pp. 28-31.
370 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
lation of that city began to see that in supinely permitting- irreligious men to drive out the Bishop ^permanently, they had really injured New Orleans and reduced it to a x^lace of minor consideration, the important institutions of the diocese due to Bishop Du Bourg being all clustered in and around St. Louis. Even the contumacious Father Sedella showed signs of yielding, some of his worthless associates with- drew, and the two churches in New Orleans were re- united, the congregation which had so long been trained by good priests at the Ursuline chapel swelling the pett}^ band that had controlled the cathedral.^
The Indians scattered along the Mississippi had long been an object of Bishop Du Bourg' s missionary zeal, and incidentally Rev. Messrs. Rosati, De Andreis, Father Josepli Dunand, and others, had labored to convey to individaals some idea of religion, or revive and enlarge tlie religious principles which had come down by tradition from the days of the Jesuit missions. But in 1820, the Osages made a formal ai)plication to him by a delegation of seven chiefs to establish a mis- sion in their tribe. He made preparations to visit them and begin the good work himself, after com- mending this Indian mission to the prayers of his clergy in a pastoral letter. Rev. Mr. La Croix visited the tribe twice and instructed them till prostrated by sickness ; he baptized forty, and founded the Catholic band which still exists in the tribe. ^
On the 19th of November, 1820. Bishop Du Bourg
' Bishop Du Bourg to Rev. S. G. Brute, Oct. 4, 1819.
" Pastoral Letter, Oct. lo, 1820, in " Notice sur I'Etat Actual dela Mis- sion de la Louisiane," pp. 55-8 ; • 'Annates de la Propagation de la Foi,' i. (ii.), pp 51-55.
THE BISHOP IN HIS CATHEDRAL. 371
set out for Lower Louisiana to make a visitation. He was welcomed at the Assumption in Bayou La Fourche by Rev. Messrs. Bigeschi and Ticliitoli in the new brick church, due to their zeal. The Bishop dedicated it to the Blessed Virgin, St. Francis Xavier, and St. Vincent de Paul. The parish was a very large one, but under the apostolic zeal of the Florentine priest, Rev. Mr. Bigeschi, the communicants numbered thousands. Then the Bishop stopped at Donaldson, where Rev. Mr. Valezano could also point to a new church as the result of the awakened faith of his flock. Then he visited St. Jacques and St. Jean Baptiste, (Bonnet Carre) meeting Rev. V. M. Mina, who guided the church at that place for forty-seven years. At most of these places he administered confirmation, and in all gave a series of instructions. As he aj)- proached New Orleans, Father Sedella and Mr. Sibourd, with a great concourse of citizens, came to meet him six miles from the city.
On the fourth Sunday of Advent, Christmas Eve, he attended in pontifical attire the high mass which was offered by Father Anthony, Messrs. Sibourd and Martial acting as assistants at the throne, in rochet and camail. On Christmas Day he said the midnight and second mass at the convent, and then celebrated pontifically in the cathedral, where the crowd was greater than the preceding day.
Thus, after a long lapse of j^ears, the successor of Bishop Penalver was able to officiate in his own cathe- dral. The result was^due mainly to Rev. Mr. Martial and his associate priests, who had by prudence and mildness won many to hear mass regularly and ap- proach the sacraments. Younger members of the board of marguillers or trustees had yielded to his influence and aided his work, while the college
372 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
which he had opened attained an extraordinary i:)opularity/
While at New Orleans, Bishop Du Bourg held a diocesan synod, and was greatly encouraged by the zeal and deportment of the priests who attended it. They agreed to make a yearly collection for the sup- port of the seminary. This was absolutely necessary in order to increase the number of ecclesiastics in that institution so as to provide priests on vacant districts. Bishop Du Bourg had accomplished much. Where he found but ten priests, some superannuated, others of little zeal or energy, he had now forty actively en- gaged in the work of the ministry ; but still appeals for clergymen came from all parts of his immense diocese, and he received a letter from the banks of the Columbia in Oregon, begging him to send a priest to minister to the 1500 Catholics there who had never had any one to attend them.-
The Ursuline nuns were more than once annoyed by being summoned to attend court as witnesses in matters with which they had no concern. To prevent further vexatious acts of the kind, they applied to the Legislature of Louisiana, claiming the privileges which they had enjoyed under French and Spanish rule. Their ancient rights were recognized, and a law passed January 28, 1818, enacted that where the testi- mony of an Ursuline nun was required it should be taken at tlie convent by commission.
In 1821 the congregation attended immediately from the Barrens by the Lazarists consisted of a hundred and thirty or forty Catholic families of settlers, scat-
' Bishop Du Bourg, Jan. 1, 1821, in "Notice sur I'Etat Actuel," Turin, 1822, pp. 57-63.
= Rev. J. Rosati to , May 4, 1821.
CHURCH IN MISSOURI. 373
tered around the log-chnrch which stood a mile from the seminary. The people were very exact in attend- ing to their religions duties. Catechism and the rosary preceded the mass, which was celebrated with deacon and sub-deacon on all feasts of first or second class, the Roman ceremonial being strictly observed.
New Madrid, a hundred miles distant, with a Catholic population of seventy families, who had had no parish priest for twenty years, was attended from the Bar- rens several times annually, the priest remaining several weeks on each occasion. Father John Bap- tist Acquaroni attended St. Charles, Portage des Sioux, and Dardennes ; Father Dahmen of the same Congregation had labored at Vincennes ; De Neckere and Tichitoli had been employed in Ascension parish, Louisiana.*
Spain by treaty ceded Florida to the United States on the 22d of February, 1819, and that ancient prov- ince was included within the limits of the republic. Bishop Du Bourg was then able to extend his episco- pal care to that part of his diocese. It had been governed for about fifteen years by the Bishop of Havana, and though Bishop Du Bourg endeavored to make the administration canonical by imparting powers, the Spanish prelate declined to recognize any acts emanating from Rome, which were not communi- cated through his own government and the Patriarch of the Indies. Even when he recalled his jDriests and withdrew his jurisdiction, he would not recognize
' " Anuales de la Propagation de la Foi," I. (li.), P- 52. Rosati, " Rc- lazione," May 4, 1821. Rev. D. J. Doherty, " Address on the Ceutenary of the Cathedral," p. 9. The chapel at Portage des Sioux was erected by Father Joseph Dunand, Trappist. " Relation," p. 118.
374 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Bishop Du Bourg, but wrote to Bishop Enghind of Cliarleston asking him to take charge of the church at St. Augustine/
That city when restored by EngUmd to Spain was in a religious point of view in a sad condition. The few Catholic inhabitants were mainly Minorcans, Avho
CHUKCH OF ST. AUGUSTINE.
had removed from New Smyrna, with a few scattered Indians, the remnants of the once prosperous native missions. Among the English speaking settlers there were probably a few Catholics. There was no church ; the chapel at Tolomato and that of Nuestra Senora de la Leche were in rains : the Franciscan church had
Life and Times of Archbishop Carroll, pp. 555-563.
FLORIDA. 375
perished, the convent had been a barrack. Even the chapel in the fort had been so defaced that its original purpose was scarcely recognizable.
To meet the wants of a province where both Sj^anish and English were required, the King of Spain sent out Irish priests, Rev. Thomas Hassett in 1784, Rev. Augustus McCaffrey, Michael Crosby, and the Calced Carmelite Father Michael Wallis in 1791, these last to erect and maintain chapels on the St. John's and St. Mary's rivers. The Franciscans also reapi)eared. Father Francisco Troconis of the strict observance arriving in 1785 to teach the school, and Father Juan to act as chaplain, the latter succeeded in 1791 by Father Narcissus Font.
A house on the site of the Bishop's house, where Bishops Tejada, Cyril, and Morel had resided, served as a chapel for several years ; but when the king by a decree directed the income of x^roperty in Havana belonging to the Church at St. Augustine to be paid to it, the Rev. Michael O'Reilly, who had become assistant to Rev. Thomas Hassett, resolved to pro- ceed with the erection of a church worthy of the ancient city. A priest of zeal, energy, and devotion, ready to make sacrifices, he obtained a site on the northerly side of the Plaza de Armas, and in April, 1792, blessed the corner-stone of a large church. Material from the ruined shrines at Tolomato and Nuestra Sefiora de la Leche was employed in its con- struction.
It rose steadily, a massive, solid structure of the Spanish type, and w^as finally completed in the month of August, 1797. The solemn dedication was, how- ever, deferred to the great feast of the Immaculate Conception, when it was celebrated Avith all possible pomp. St. Augustine was thus at last possessed of a
376 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
parish church worthy of it, and destined to stand as a monument of Catholic faith for a century, when it yielded to the destroying flames. To this church in 1800 were transferred the remains of the venerable Peter Camps and Father Narcissus Font.
Rev. Michael O' Reilly became parish priest in 1795, and labored among his flock alone till 1802, when he was joined by another Irish priest, Rev. Michael
TOMB OF KEY MICHAEL O REILLY, AT ST AUGUSTINE
Crosby. The regiment of Hibernia, belonging origi- nally to the Irish brigade in the French service, Avas stationed in St. Augustine during this period, and names of Irish officers, 0' Donovan, Curtis, Delany, Barron, O'Reilly appear, though the rank and file included many from other countries. The States on the coast from Connecticut to Georgia sent Catholics by birth, or converts. Nor were Indians wanting,
REV. MICHAEL O'REILLY. 377
chiefly Uchees and Timiiquans, and in 1799 there died in St, Augustine, at the age of eighty, Maria del Ro- sario de la Cruz, an Indian of the old Tolomato mission.
About 1795, and perhaps earlier, there was a Royal Hospital with its auxiliary Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe "extra muros," the attending physicians being successively Dr. Fitzpatrick and Dr. Travers. The chaplain was Rev. Francisco Troconis.
After a life of zealous devotion to duty Rev. Michael O'Reilly, born in Longford about 1762, died at St. Augustine in September, 1812, and by his will left a house to the parish church and two others, which were to be used to found and establish a convent of Sisters on the plan of the Visitation.^ He was interred in the cemetery at Tolomato, where his tomb is still to be seen. On his death Rev. Michael Crosby became par- ish priest, assisted from 1807 by the Rev. John Nepo- mucene Gomez. Rev. Mr. Crosby's last entry in May 25, 1821, but Rev. Mr. Gomez remained till February, 1823, to minister to the Catholic flock in his native city ; he was then recalled to Havana.^ From the time the transfer became known the population increased rapidly, the baptisms rising from 148 in 1818 to 348 in 1822. Pensacola, and its Church of St. Michael, were attended from 1794 by Rev. James Colman, parish priest and chaplain of the garrison, with occasional aid from army or hospital chaplains, down to Febru- ary, 1822, when he retired with the Spanish officials. This parish was officially visited by Bishop Cyril of Barcelona, April 3, 1791, and by Rt. Rev. Louis de Pehalver y Cardenas, May 7, 1798. Spanish and
1 Will of the Rev. Michael O'Reilly, March 1, 1803. ^ De Courcy, " La Ville de St. Augustin."
378 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED ST A TES.
Frencli, Irish and Scotch names appear on the regis- ters and in the cemetery showing the mixed character of the population.^
At Mobile Rev. Constantine McKenna was parish priest from 1792 to 1800, succeeded by Rev, John Francis Vaugeois to 1807, and by Rev. Vincent Genin, \\\\o retired when Spain gave up possession.
The vast extent of the diocese prompted Bishop Du Bourg to form plans for erecting a new ecclesiastical province with a metropolitan and suffragans Avest of the Allegheny Mountains : but his j^lan did not meet with the approval of the bishops of the United States, and was abandoned. Another project was to divide the diocese of Louisiana and the Floridas, establish a see at New Orleans, with a diocese embracing Lower Louisiana, Mississippi, Ala- bama, and Florida.^
All these steps resulted at last in the erection by Pope Pius VII. on the 13th of August, 1822, of the Vicariate Apostolic of Mississippi and Alabama, over which Rev. Joseph Rosati, elected Bishop of Tenagra, was made Vicar-Apostolic. In establishing this Vica- riate the Propaganda had again inadvertently invaded the rights of the Archbishop of Baltimore, as the whole of those States, except a small portion south of the 31st degree, between the Perdido and Pearl rivers, actually belonged to the diocese of Baltimore. Arch- bishop Marechal seems to have remonstrated promptly at this further slight of his ancient and primary diocese.
On the other hand Father Rosati wrote immediately
' Register of Pensacola.
"^ Archbishop Marechal to Bishop Du Bourg, Sept. 3, 1821. " Rela- zione delle Missioni degli Stati Uniti d'America," May 1, 1821.
NAMED VICAR APOSTOLIC. 379
on receiving the bull of his appointment to avoid the new dignity.^
He strenuously represented to the Propaganda in the first place the paucity and poverty of Catholics in Mississippi and Alabama, the priest at Natchez, unable to obtain even the necessaries of life, being about to abandon the place ; Bay St. Louis too jooor to erect the plainest kind of church or provide for a priest ; Mobile alone, in the two States, jDossessing a church, but there being no prospect of resources to maintain a bishop. In the next place he showed the importance of his remaining at the head of the semi-
SIGNATURE OF RT. REV. DR. DU BOURG.
nary, no one of his associates being old enough to assume the direction. Confiding in the force of his arguments he continued his labors as professor and superior. At Rome, however, the plan of a vicariate was still adhered to, and Pope Pius VII., by his brief of January 21, 1823, added Florida to the newly erected Vicariate. Finally the arguments of Rev. Mr. Rosati and the protest of the Archbishop of Baltimore pre- vailed. The Brief " Quum superiori anno," ad- dressed to Bishop Du Bourg, July 14, 1823,^ revoked the former acts and suppressed the vicariate. But
' Rt. Rev. Joseph Rosati to the Propaganda, Jan. 26, April 3, April 11, 1823 ; to his Superior, May 6, 1823.
* Bullarium de Propaganda Fide, iv., pp. 406, 409.
380 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Rev. Mr. Rosati was not to escape the episcopal dignity. He was appointed coadjutor of Bishop Du Bourg, to reside at St. Louis and be transferred in time either to New Orleans or St. Louis, which were to be made episcopal sees.^ The Archbishop of Baltimore had meanwhile consented to give up the distant part of his diocese, and Mississij)pi with Alabama was virtually annexed to the diocese of Louisiana.
Letters from the Propaganda and a papal brief of July 14, 1823, showed Rev. Mr. Rosati that he must submit to the dignity he had sought to avoid. Bishop Du Bourg was then in Louisiana and selected for the consecration the Church of Ascension parish at Donaldson ville, a central position, where many clergy could assemble. After making a spiritual retreat with his worthy fellow religious, Rev. Mr. Rosati was solemnly consecrated by Bishop Du Bourg on the 25th of March, 1824. Very Rev. Mr. Sibourd, y. G., and Father Sedella, rector of the Cathedral of ]^ew Orleans, acted as assistants ; the Rev. Mr. An- duze preached and many priests from neighboring parishes, in rich vestments, filled the sanctuary and gave dignity to the ceremonial.- He was thus made Bishop of Tenagra and coadjutor of Bishop Du Bourg. After visiting the members of his community engaged in mission w^ork in Louisiana, he ascended the river and was soon among his brethren at the
» Bishop Rosati to Cardinal Prefect, Dec. 6, 1823 ; March 31, 1824. " Annales de la Propagation de la Foi," I. (v.), pp. 35-8. From this time Bishop Du Bourg took the name of Bishop of New Orleans, and was so styled, although in reality the see of New Orleans was not erected till 1826.
* Rev. J; Rosati to Cardinal Prefect of the Propaganda, Jan. 26, April 3, 11 ; May 6, 1823.
JESUITS FOR MISSOURI. 381
Barrens, where he hoped to be allowed to reside. Here he began to make preparations for the mainte- nance of the seminary during his necessary absences and final departure. There were fourteen seminarians besides three members of the order in the course of theology. There were also some young men following a classical course. The little church — for though a new one had been proposed, nothing had been done — was now much too small for pontifical ceremonies, but Bishop Rosati began by administering confirmation there, before proceeding to other churches in the State which awaited his coming.
Meanwhile Bishop Du Bourg, taking up the subject of the Indian missions, visited Washington early in
SIGNATURE OF RT. REV. JOSEPH ROSATI, BISHOP OF TENAGRA.
1823 and laid before government a plan for the civili- zation and conversion of the Indians west of the Mis- sissippi. His plan met with the favor of the President and the head of the Indian department, and an allow- ance of $200 a year was assigned for four or five missionaries, to be increased if the project was carried out successfully. Having reaped this success, he heard that the Jesuit novitiate at Whitemarsh was to be broken up and removed, perhaps disbanded. See- ing in it a providential aid for his Indian work he proposed to the superiors of the Society to take the novices to Missouri. Father Van Quickenborne and his novices accepted the proposal joyfully, and though
382 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Archbishop Marechal protested, Bishop Du Bourg- carried his point. The journey of the missionaries to the West has been already tokl/ Bishop Du Bourg had purchased a large farm near Florissant, and here the Jesuit Fathers began their work in Missouri, by erecting a log cabin for their future college. To the Ladies of the Sacred Heart the proximity of a religious community, securing them the holy sacrifice of the mass and able directors, was a source of great conso- lation, and a presage of the success of their work.
Missouri was to be endowed with another Sisterhood also, ready for the severest labors. The pious Rev. Charles Nerinckx had been implored to send some Sisters of his community to St. Louis to take charge- of a hospital and an orphanage : some were also needed at the Barrens. On the 12th of May, 1828, twelve Loretto Sisters, with Sister Joanna Miles as Superior, set out with the blessing of Rev. Charles Nerinckx, and nearly perished by the sinking of the wretched steamboat Cincinnati, but fortunately escaj)ed in boats. They took possession of their new home near the Barrens on the 14th of June, and called it Bethlehem : after undergoing many privations they were consoled by having a school and orphanage in their log house. They cut their own wood, worked in the garden, spun and wove. A visit from their saintly founder encouraged them greatly, and he at once set to work to erect a large frame church near the convent. Soon after he was stricken down by disease and died at Saint Genevieve, leaving the Bethlehem Sisters the consolation of having been the last of their community to receive his admonitions.^'
> Ante, p. 87. " Stato della Religione degli Stati Uniti." " Bishop Maes, " Life of Rev. C. Nerinckx," pp. 499-565.
NEW URSULINE CONVENT.
383
At New Orleans the Ursuline Nuns, finding the city too dense around them, and a street about to be opened through their grounds, determined to erect a new convent outside of New Orleans on property which they possessed, and where Rev. Mr, Martial had for some time directed a college. The new building was completed in 1824. Some sisters took up their abode there at once in no little fear and alarm, but the com- munity removed to it in September. One nun of 80, who had not been outside the convent walls since she took the veil in 1766, could scarcely be persuaded to leave her home and enter a carriage. She made the
THE NEW URSULliiE CONVENT, NEW ORLEANS.
journey in tears. The old Ursuline Convent became- the residence of Bishop Du Bourg, and, recently restored, is still that of his successor. Here the Bishop proposed to open a college.
The convent had from its foundation taken charge- of thirty orphan girls who were a charge to the city, but in 1824, induced by enemies of the Ursulines, the- authorities resolved to remove them, and place them^ in the Poydras asylum. Before their separation the Nuns prepared all who were old enough to make their
384 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
first communion, which they received at the midnight mass on Christmas, Bishop Du Bourg making a touch- ing address on the occasion.^
After his appointment as coadjutor, a part of the original diocese of Louisiana and the Floridas was sj)ecially confided to Bishop Rosati. It embraced the State of Missouri with the territory of Arkansas, as well as western Illinois, of which Bishop Flaget had in- duced the Bishop of Louisiana to assume the direction. The parishes or missions in Missouri were St, Louis, where in November, 1825, there was but a single priest ; the church begun by Bishop Du Bourg during his resi- dence was still unfinished, financial troubles having •driven away some and prevented others from meeting their subscriptions. The trustees, sued personally for the building debts, sought permission from the State to sell the Bishop's house and other property to indemnify themselves. The condition of the Church in the city where Bishop Rosati was to reside was, therefore, by no means encouraging.
The creditors in St. Louis finally, in 1822, sold a large part of the church property, including the Bishop's residence, the parochial house, and a build- ing in course of construction for an academy ; the purchasers gave Bishop Rosati a time in which to redeem it, and to secure means he dispatched to Europe the Rev. Francis Neil in the hope that gen- erous Catholics there would enable him to save the property. He scarcely dared hope that aid enough would be given to secure property to support the Bishop or prepare for the erection of a college. Car- ondelet, or Vide Poche, with its hundred families of French origin, was attended every Sunday from St.
' Bishop Rosati to Rev. Mr. Baccari, June 14, 1824.
STATE OF RELIGION. 385
liouis, when that city had several x^riests, but was now ■deprived of all priestly service. At Florissant Father Yan Quickenborne, who had lost his associate priest of the Society of Jesus, directed his five scholastics, training them for the priesthood, taught his school of Indian boys, and performed parochial duty. Beside all this he acted as chaplain to the Ladies of the Sacred Heart, who had a convent and academy erected by him.^ St. Charles on the Missouri, Portage aux Sioux, Dardennes, Cote sans Dessein, St. Michael's, and the Lead Mines were all destitute of priests ; the church at the last place was attended occasionally from St. Genevieve, which had a resident pastor. The congre- .gation around the Barrens consisted of about two hundred families attended by one of the three priests at St. Mary's Seminary. Here there were sixteen students, eight in theology, some of whom occasion- ally preached. A quarter of a mile from the Semi- nary was the Lorettine Convent, now containing seventeen Sisters, with some postulants. Though struggling with great poverty, they maintained a free school and supported twenty-four orphans.
New Madrid, with eighty French families, had neither church nor priest.
In Illinois, Kaskaskia had 150 families ; Prairie on Rocher, one hundred, the church there being under the care of Rev. Donatien Olivier, now seventy-five years old and almost blind, who expected soon to retire to St. Mary's Seminary ; O'Hara's Settlement liad a growing English-speaking flock, eager for a priest, and Cahokia, an old French village, had a church and an aged priest.
' De Smet, "Western Missions and Missionaries," New York, 1859, p. 467.
386 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Bishop Du Bourg, disheartened by his struggles in Missouri, believed that little could be effected there, and that more was to be hoped for in Louisiana, to which he now urged Bishop Rosati to remove, but the latter clung to the State where he had begun his labors.^
In 1824 R,ev. John M. Odin, CM., accompanied by Rev, John Timon, then in subdeacon's orders, set out on a missionary journey by way of New Madrid, the definitive point being Arkansas Post, where the Catho- lics had long been without mass or sacraments. Near Davidsonville and at Little Rock they found Catho- lics who had never seen a priest. On the Arkansas River was a cluster of sixteen Catholic families who- reported that mass had twice been offered there. Ar- kansas Post was the only place after leaving New Madrid, where there were enough Catholics to main- tain a priest. Everywhere the missionaries had to- begin by teaching grown-up children to make the sign of the cross and recite the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the Creed. The poor people had en- deavored to keep up the faith and given private bap- tism to their children, but unfortunately this was seldom done in a valid form. The celebration of holy mass was, for most of those they found, a wonderful ceremony.^
During this same year, Bishox^ Rosati made visita- tions and missionary excursions in Illinois and Mis- souri, confirming sixty in St. Louis, forty in Cahokia, and forty at Florissant, where he gave minor orders to-
' Bishop Rosati to Cardinal , Nov. 1, 1825.
* " Annales de la Propagation de la Foi," ii., pp. 374, etc.; Deuther, "Life and Times of Rt. Rev. John Timon, D.D.," Buffalo, 1870, pp. 33, etc.
STATE OF RELIGION. 387
three members of the Society of Jesus, and baptized two Indians.^
Bishop Du Bourg fitted up a few rooms in the old Ursuline convent for his own occupation and that of his Vicar- General and two priests. The rest he rented to Rev. Mr. Portier, who aided by three other ecclesi- astics opened a college, which soon had thirty-six boarders and one hundred and forty day scholars.^
While in upper Louisiana he had seen the wants of the Catholics in that part of his diocese, and placed priests where needed ; but on taking up his residence at New Orleans, Bishop Du Bourg found the desola- tion of the sanctuary so much greater that he began to summon priests from up the Mississippi, to the dis- may of Bishop Rosati, who saw himself unable to fill the vacancies. The burthen fell upon him and on the little communities of Jesuits and Lazarists.
Bishop Du Bourg visited the Attakapas, Yermillion- ville. Grand Coteau, and Opelousas. Then accom- panied by Rev. Mr. Anduze he made his way to Avoyelles, nearly drowned while crossing a bayou on a tree. Here he found Rev. Mr. Martin zealously at work organizing a parish ; he had no fixed home, and a rude chapel whicli he had reared with nothing but a few boards on trestles for an altar. The people had never had a resident priest, and he had to rehabilitate fifty couples married before a magistrate. The church at Natchitoches had been destroyed by fire three years before ; the people had not seen a priest for four years or received any regular instruction for fifteen. The nearest church was one in the old Spanish town of -Adayes. It needed a stout mission worker to raise
'U. S. Cath. Miscellany, iii., p. 333.
' " Annales de la Propagation de la Foi," it., p. 407.
388 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
a cliurch here and another at the Spanish post of Kempte. Bishop Du Bourg arrived at Natchitoches just in time to give the last sacraments to Mile, de Mezieres, grand-daughter of the Duke of Orleans.^ In May he visited Mobile on the east ; but he was soon relieved of this part of his charge. Pope Leo XII. on the 26th of August, 1825, erected the State of Ala- bama and the Floridas into a Vicariate Apostolic and assigned to it Rev. Michael Portier, who was created Bishop of Oleno.^
But Bishop Du Bourg had become discouraged and convinced that another might accomplish more than he possibly could. He transmitted his resignation ta Rome, urging its acceptance with such earnestness, and such apparently good reasons, that the Sovereign Pontiff accepted it As this was an event not pro- vided for in the arrangement already made, His Holi- ness on the 18th of July, 1826, divided the diocese of Louisiana, and established the See of New Orleans with the State of Louisiana as its diocese, the Vicari- ate Apostolic of Mississippi to be administered by the Bishop of New Orleans. The country north of Louisi- ana was made the diocese of St. Louis, Bishop Rosati being transferred to that see from Tenagra, and ap- pointed temporarily Administrator of New Orleans.^
Bishop Du Bourg thus laid down the charge which as Administrator and Bishop he had held for eleven years. It was not the state of his health which com- pelled him to take this step, but because, as he him- self declared, " it was evident my presence would be
' " Annales de la Propagation de la Foi," iii., p. 501.
^ Bullarium de Propaganda Fide, v., p. 46 : Bullarium Magnum, XV., p. 593.
* Bullarium de Propaganda Fide, v. , pp. 19, 20.
STATE OF RELIGION. 389
more prejudicial than useful." A priest of judgment, Rev. Mr, Borgna, wrote: "We have just received intelligence of the resignation of Mgr. Du Bourg. No one exj)ected this change. Yet all who know that most worthy prelate praise his resolve and rejoice to hear it. It was time to put an end to his sufferings, and just, above all, that in the decline of his life he may enjoy a little peace and repose. The prejudice against him in this city is so strong, this sewer of all vices and refuge of all that is worst on earth, that in spite of all his sacrifices and all his exalted ability, he could not have effected any good here. The very name of Du Bourg has an irritating sound in the ears of a great portion of the inhabitants of this new Baby- lon. You cannot imagine all the abominations which fill the newspapers of this city." ^
No such prejudice existed against his coadjj.itor, and Bishoj) Du Bourg felt that in retiring he rendered an essential service to the Church. He bade farewell to New Orleans, for whose spiritual good he had labored, and which beheld him depart without the slightest sign of regret or repentance. On reaching St. Louis he was received with the highest public honors. Thence he proceeded to New York, where on the 1st of June he took a steamer for Havre, before the fact of his resignation was generally known. ^
Bishop Du Bourg was a man of vast projects and rendered essential services to religion in the United States ; but the task imposed upon him beyond the Mississippi was far too great, and naturally timid, little versed in business methods, he was discouraged at the difficulties which arose to thwart him, and con-
1 Rev. Philip Borgna, C. M., New Orleans, Oct. 17, 1826.
2 U. S. Cath. Miscellany, vi., p. 87 ; Truth Teller, ii., p. 182.
390 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
fronted by bitter malevolence he at last lost all heart and energy.'
He had found Louisiana in a most destitute cond- tion. He left it with twenty parishes, nearly all attended by good young priests, under whom piety had been revived, churches and schools erected. These were Terre aux BcEufs below New Orleans, New Orleans with its cathedral, Ursuline chapel, and mortuary chapel, and four priests ; St. Charles under Rev. Mr. Savin ; St. James, opposite St. Michel with its convent of the Sacred Heart ; Ascension, Iberville, Baton Rouge under Rev. A. Blanc, who also attended Pointe Coupee. Inland were Assumption with an Ursuline convent and St. Joseph, and to the north- east Opelousas, Attakapas, Vermillionville, and the Grand Coteau with its Sacred Heart convent ; Avo- yelles and Natchitoches under Rev. J. B. Blanc. In all but two of these the priests were stationed by Bishop Du Bourg.^
He had not imparted the fact of his resignation even to Bishop Rosati, who heard the first rumors with in- credulity. Even late in October, 1826, he had no cer- tain knowledge of the new duties which had devolved upon him or the complications created by the resigna- tion.^ Yet at Rome he was regarded as Bishop of Louisiana, and they were considering the necessity of assigning him a coadjutor or dividing the diocese.
On the 4th of November, Bishop Rosati received the bulls of Pope Leo XII. appointing him to the new see of New Orleans. He wrote to the Pope, to the Pre- fect and Secretary of the Propaganda, declining the
' " Annales de Propagation de la Foi," iii., p. 517.
''Mgr. J. Rosati, Bishop of Tenagra, to V. Rev. Francis Baccari, Oct. .20, 1826 ; same to Mgr. Pietro Caprana, Nov. 11, 1826.
THE SEE OF NEW ORLEANS. 391
appointment, and explaining that since his appoint- ment as coadjutor lie had labored in Missouri, Illinois, and Arkansas, where he was known, and where from his knowledge of English he could preach with some iluency, while in Louisiana he was comparatively unknown to the clergy and people, and by no means sufficiently versed in French to address the inhabitants with fruit. Moreover his health had always been affected by the climate of Louisiana. He earnestly Tequested to be allowed to decline the appointment. He urged the selection of Rev. Leo de Neckere, a Bel- gian Lazarist, as coadjutor, till it was deemed proper to make him Bishop of New Orleans, and besought the intervention of Bishop Du Bourg to have this effected.^
Meanwhile Bishop Rosati resumed the erection of a cathedral at St. Louis, ordained three priests educated in his seminary, published the jubilee, and was grati- fied at the rich harvest gathered, especially by the instructions of Rev. Mr. Odin. He then made a journey to Kentucky on horseback to consult Bishops Flaget and David on the affairs of the Church. After this excursion he proceeded to Louisiana, where much was to be done. He found Rev. Mr. De Neckere in liigh esteem with clergy and people, having been in- cited by the Legislature to pronounce a discourse on the anniversary of the battle of New Orleans.^ Bishop Rosati made a canonical visitation at the Ursuline convent, and gave confirmation in several parishes. He was afflicted by the departure of one of the most zealous priests in Louisiana, Rev. Mr. Bigeschi, who
1 Bishop Du Bourg to Cardinal Prefect, May 1, 1827.
' Bishop Rosati to V. Rev. Antonio Baccari, Vicar General of the Congregation of the Mission, Jan. 6, March 18, 1827.
392 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
had revived the faith and piety in three different con- gregations, successively confided to him, and estab- lished a community of Sisters to open schools for girls. ^
At length the letters apostolic of March 20, 1827, arrived and Bishop Rosati, to his great relief, found that he vs^as to remain at St. Louis as Bishop, although charged for a time with the administration of New Orleans. He then only awaited the return of Rev. Mr. De Neckere from Europe to appoint him Vicar- General at New Orleans.^
' Same, April 6, 1827.
* Bishop Kosati to Propaganda, July 14, 1837 ; Bullariuin de Propa- ganda Fide, v., p. 25, " Quum post acceptas."
SEAL OF BISHOP ROSATI.
RT. REV. JOSEPH ROSATI, CM., FIRST BISHOP OF ST. LOUIS.
394
CHAPTER II.
DIOCESE OF ST. LOUIS.
ET. KEY. JOSEPH ROSATI, FIRST BISHOP, 1827-1829, ADMINISTRATOR OF NEW ORLEANS, 1827-1830.
After the erection of the see of St. Louis, Pope Leo XII., on the 20th of March, 1827, appointed Bishop Rosati, who had been coadjutor of Louisiana, to the new see, and made him at the same time Ad- ministrator Apostolic of the newly erected diocese of New Orleans, and of the Vicariate Apostolic of Miss- issippi.^
Joseph Rosati, son of John Rosati and Vienna Soresi, was born at Sora, Italy, January 13, 1789. Feeling himself called to the ecclesiastical state, he obtained admission after his classical course to the College of the Propaganda in Rome, then directed by the Priests of the Congregation of the Mission. His virtues and abilities soon led to his being received into their religious community by his directors, and he was made a prefect in the College : but before he had completed his intended course of ecclesiastical study, the Lazarists were expelled from the College by the French. The Sovereign Pontiff permitted him. al- though he was under the canonical age, to receive the holy order of j)riesthood in order to accompany the Very Rev. Felix de Andreis as a missionary to America.
After a farewell to his parents he set out with the
' " Quum post acceptas." Bullarium de Propaganda Fide, v., p. 25 ; " Apostolatus OflBcium," lb., p. 47.
395
396 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
blessing of the Sovereign Pontiff. In Missouri he evinced the ability and learning required to guide young levites, as well as the courage and endurance of a missionary. Once when going to attend a sick call, Father Rosati's horse fell, and he rose with a broken arm, but he kept on and attended the person who had solicited his ministry, before he had his fracture treated. On his deathbed the venerable Father de Andreis selected him as Superior of the Lazarists in the United States.^
The diocese of St. Louis, as created by Pope Leo XII. July 14, 1826, contained at most 8000 Catholics.
In August, 1827, he visited the ancient town of Kas- kaskia, where he was received with all honor by the Catholic population. Here he confirmed fifty-five ; and by his zealous preaching revived piety. On the 8tli of September the Rev. F, X. Dahmen, pastor of St. Genevieve, received him in the church of that place, where a class had been prepared for confirmation. The next Sunday he was at Florissant, where he or- dained to the priesthood Fathers Yerreydt, Van Assche, P. J. De Smet and Elet of the Society of Jesus. After administering confirmation here he j)roceeded to St- Charles, Portage des Sioux, and Carondelet. On his return he visited the new convent of the Sacred Heart, founded near St. Louis by the munificence of Mr. John Mullanphy, the religious undertaking to maintain a free school and support twenty orphan girls. He then crossed the Mississippi to extend his visitation to Cahokia and Prairie du Rocher. Returning to Missouri he proceeded to Old Mines and Mine a Burton or Potosi. On the 4th of Nov- ember he ordained Rev. A. Mascheroni at the Barrens.
' II Poliorama Pittoresco, March 9, 1844.
HIS VISITATION. 397
He was soon after summoned to New Orleans to settle some difficulties and make a visitation. He left the Seminary at the Barrens in November, and at St. Genevieve embarked with Rev. A. Mascheroni on the steamboat North America. Just below New Madrid the boat struck a sawj-er and went down. Bishop Rosati and his comjDanions were for five days on the shore before another boat came along and enabled them to continue the journey. After a short stay at New Orleans he visited the Church of the Ascension at Donaldsonville, under Rev. Mr. Tichitolo ; the brick Church of the Assumption at Bayou La Fourche, Rev. John Caretta ; St. Joseph's, then with Terre Bonne under the spiritual care of Rev, Mr. Audizio. Then he crossed the Mississippi to St. Gabriel's, where the zealous priest Rev. Eugene Michaud was founding a college for the education of his young men. Baton Rouge, the churches of St. John and St. John the Baptist at Bonnet Carre were next visited. His confirmations at these different points numbered about 300, and would have been greater had longer notice been had of the welcome though unexpected visit.'
On the 8tli of January, the anniversary of his great victory, General Jackson was received with great honor at New Orleans ; a Te Deum' was chanted in the Cath- edral, and a patriotic sermon preached by Rev. Mr. Ganilh.-^
Bishop Rosati stationed a priest at Natchez, which had long been without one from the indifference of the people.^
' U. S. Cath. Miscellany, vii., p. 222.
- lb., viii., p. 191. Register of St. Gabriel, Jan. 5, 1828.
2 U. S. Cath. Miscellany, vii., p. 252, 374.
398 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Early in February he gladdened the Ursuline Nuns and their hundred boarders by appearing among them. He continued his apostolic journey to St. John's. Church, Vermillion ville, St. Martin's, and Grand Co- teau. Here he confirmed in the parish church and the^ fine convent of the Sacred Heart, where he baptized three converts to the faith.
On the 4tli of March he dedicated the elegant and spacious church of St. Landry, preaching in French and English. By way of Donaldsonville he next x^ro- ceeded to the Convent of the Sacred Heart at St. Michael's, where he celebrated Palm Sunday. It was a prosperous institution with seventeen religious and sixty boarders. Here he gave the habit to four novices.
At New Orleans he twice administered confirmation in the city, and also at the Ursuline Convent, where a novice made her ^Drofession. Other labors then en- gaged his attention, and it was not until the month of June that he reached Missouri. He was not, however, to rest, for we see him confirming at St. Genevieve and St. Louis, ordaining a priest, then dedicating the fine stone church erected by Y. Rev. Charles Yan Quickenborne, at St. Charles, and blessing the ceme- tery ; then he crossed the Mississippi once more ta extend his visitation to Illinois.
St. Louis had now an- hospital, due to the gener- osity of John Mullanphy, Esq., who gave houses and lots for the purpose, and other property to afford it some revenue. Four Sisters of Charity from Emmits- burg, Maryland, were already in St. Louis to begin their devoted labors.
Indian mission work was pushed by the Jesuit Fathers, and by Rev. Mr. Lutz, who had started to found a station among the Kansas.
Such was the condition of the Church in the two
TRUSTEEISM CONDEMNED. 399
dioceses and vicariate apostolic covering Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and part of Illinois, whose wants Bishop Rosati was struggling to meet.^ The absence of a resident bishop at New Orleans was soon felt. The trustees of St. Louis Cathedral endeavored to secure the passage of a law, utterly sub- versive of the discipline of the Catholic Church, vest- ing in them the right to appoint and remove priests. A similar claim made at Philadelphia had been con- demned by Pope Pius VII. , and Bishop Con well had been reproved for even indirectly admitting it. At New Orleans the wardens, who claimed the cathedral as representing the Catholics of New Orleans, had not bought the ground or erected the church, the site having been given by the King of Spain, and the church put up by Sehor Almonaster under an agree- ment with the King. Bishop Rosati laid the matter before Pope Leo XII., who in his Brief " Quo longius " confirmed the letters apostolic of Pope Pius VIL against the trustees of St. Mary's Church. " This being the state of the case," says the Sovereign Pontiff, " what shall we say of the trustees of the church of New Orleans, who endeavor to renew the audacious misconduct of Philadelphia, and who obstinately op- pose our apostolic decision, of which they are surely not ignorant ? Did Christ give his Church to trustees or to bishops to be ruled by them ? Shall sheep lead the shepherd, and not the shepherd the sheep ? Are not those who scheme to abolish episcopal rights and rend asunder the universal discipline of the Church, clearly liable to the infliction of canonical penalties ? " The Pope expressed the hope that if the trustees per-
' U. S. Cath. Miscellany, viii., p. 191. Annales de la Propagation de la Foi, iii., pp.539, 564.
400 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
^severed in their mad course, every legislative body would reject their petition for subverting Catholic dis- cipline, and not aid them to deprive a bishop of his cathedral canonically established by the authority of the Pope and the King of Spain, when ruler of the country.^
The fomenter of the troubles in the Church of New Orleans soon after passed away, though the evil spirit did not perish with him. On the 19th of January, 1829, Father Anthony Sedella died apparently in full •communion with the Church, but his funeral was a grand civil parade, and the lodges of Freemasons attended by a special order of the Grand Lodge of the State. The secular papers extolled his virtues and declared him a saint. He was the last survivor of the old Capuchin mission of Louisiana, and it is to be regretted that a faithful Catholic cannot share the opinion as to his merit created by those strangers to her discipline, spirit, and laws.^
' Bullarium de Propaganda Fide, v. p. 42.
2 Louisiana Advertiser, Jan. 24, 1829 ; U. S. Catholic Miscellany, viii., pp. 247, 261. The expressions of the remarkable order, and the mere fact of its issue, leave little room for doubt that Father Sedella was, in defiance of the laws of the Church, a Freemason, and one in high standing.
RT. REV. MICHAEL PORTIER, V.A., AND BISHOP OP MOBILE.
402
CHAPTER III.
VICARIATE APOSTOLIC OF ALABAMA.
BIGHT REV, MICHAEL PORTIEE, BISHOP OP OLENO, VICAE APOSTOLIC, 1826-1829.
When" the bulls appointing Rev. Michael Portier Bishop of Oleno, and Vicar Apostolic of the newly •created Vicariate of Alabama and the Floridas, reached that clergyman, he was at the head of a pros- perous college which he had organized in the old Ursuline Convent at New Orleans. He had come to this country a deacon in 1817 with Bishop Du Bourg. Raised to the priesthood in the Cathedral of St. Louis, he had been employed on the mission in New Orleans, before he opened the college.
Aware of the difficult task required to organize the Church in Alabama and Florida, he wrote at once to Rome to decline the appointment. He was, however, required to accept the burthen, and the bulls were again forwarded. He accordingly i^roceeded to St. Louis, and after making a month's retreat in the Semi- nary, was consecrated in the Cathedral of St. Louis Bishop of Oleno, by Bishop Rosati, on the 5tli of November, 1826.
He set out at once for his vicariate, stopping at New Orleans to settle up his affairs. He landed at Mobile on the 20th of December.
Besides the ancient settlements of Mobile, Pensacola, and St. Augustine, there were a few scattered Catholics in Northern Alabama, at Huntsville, Florence, andTus- cumbia, who had been visited three years before by Rev.
403
404 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Mr. Abell from Kentucky.^ Bishop Portier proclaimed the Jubilee at Mobile and Pensacola, and began the exercises of amission to prepare the faithful to benefit by the great advantage. There were but two priests in his vicariate, and as they belonged to the diocese of New Orleans, they might be recalled at any moment. The priest in charge of the Church of the Immaculate Conception at Mobile was the Rev. A. Ganilh, to whom the trustees (for an act of incorporation was promptly obtained after the change of flag) had voted a salary of $800. The church was old and needed repair. A record of the church shows that it possessed a monstrance, two chalices and patens, a ciborium, a pyx for the Viaticum, basin, cruets and bell, holy
^ ^^/h^J^cu^ e^^ ^>-/C^
SIGNATURE OF BISHOP PORTIER.
water pot, censer and incense boat, a tabernacle key, oil stocks, baptismal shell, two vases, two candlesticks, and a processional cross — in all eleven articles, all of silver. There were six sets of vestments, one black and two colored copes, all in poor condition. The church owned some property, althougli part of it seems to have been held adversely to its claims. The income from the pews ranged from $120 to $190.
On the 27th of December, 1826, the trustees resolved to lease the old grave-yard to Bishop Portier for $230 a year for twenty-one years, on condition that he
' Annales de la Propagation de la Foi, ii., pp. 417 ; U. S. Catholic Miscellany, vi , pp. 286, 303,
DANGEROUS ILLNESS. 405
should build a church on it, and give a bond to trans- fer it to his successor. It was certainly a strange arrangement that a bishop should be expected to build a church and yet pay ground rent to the trustees of the congregation,^ for Bishop Portier estimated the- Catholics of Mobile at ten thousand. ^
After a stay of some length at Pensacola, which had declined greatly, and where Rev. Constantine Maen- haut had been pastor from October, 1823, Bishop Por- tier set out on horseback June 12, 1827, to make his way to St. Augustine. After twelve days' solitary travel, without a guide, he reached Tallahassee, where he had the happiness of saying mass. The room was soon filled with Protestants, who listened respectfully to his discourse. The city was but four years old and contained few Catholics, but a generous Irishman offered his bishop a site for a church. After baptizing^ some children he pursued his journey to St. Augus- tine. A few moments after his arrival there he was waited upon by the trustees of the church, who offered him a house and everything suitable to his character. Charmed with this courteous reception he visited the church the next day, and officiated pontifically on Sunday. The church was filled, there being a general anxiety to see the Catholic bishop. He delivered a. sermon in English, and announced that every day after his mass he would teach a class of those old enough to make their first communion. The sick, were all visited in turn. Bishop Portier, however, had overtaxed his strength ; the long journey, and constant application in the summer heats, brought on a fever, which soon assumed a dangerous form. la
1 Proceedings of Trustees, Jan., 1823, to Dec. 27, 1826. » Annales de la Prop, de la Foi, iv., p. 74.
406 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
his lucid intervals, when free from delirium, he read on the countenances of those by him that no hope was entertained. The thought of dying without the aid of the sacraments oppressed him, but nature rallied, he recovered, though excessive weakness remained. It was the end of August before he was able to resume his duties. Then for two weeks he preached a mission in English and Spanish, with separate instructions for the young, and closed with a general communion. One hundred and twenty received the Holy Eucharist, and there were fifty first communicants ; ninety-five were confirmed. He baptized sixty children during his stay at St. Augustine.
He left that city on the 22d of September, and on his homeward journey found some Catholics to whom he ministered. The priests at Mobile and Pensacola, who had remained till this time, then returned to New Orleans, and the Bishop was left alone in his vicari- ate. To add to his trials the church at Mobile was utterly destroyed by fire before the end of the month of October.
At his earnest appeal, the Bishop of Charleston sent to St. Augustine the Rev. Edward F. Mayne, an able priest, trained at Mount St. Mary's Seminary, who labored zealously in that city and in the scattered stations on the coast as far as Amelia Island.
Without priests or resources of any kind, Bishop Portier, who took up his residence at Mobile, labored on till April, when he made his way to New Orleans in order to embark for Europe, and see what aid he could obtain.^
1 Annales de la Prop, de la Foi, iv., pp. 71-112 ; U. S. Cath. Miscel- lany, viii., pp. 54, 95, 103, 374, 167 ; viii., pp. 166, 278.
BOOK III.
CHAPTER I.
THE FIRST PROVINCIAL COUNCIL OF BALTIMORE, 1829.
When the original diocese of Baltimore was divided by the Sovereign Pontiff in 1808, and Archbishop Car- roll two years later convened his newly consecrated suffragans, it was the wish and intention of all to assemble in a Provincial Council at an early day, and a time was actually appointed. The political events in Europe wdiich resulted in the seizure of the Sover- eign Pontiff Pins VII., and his removal from Rome wdth his cardinals as prisoners, prevented Archbishop Carroll from obtaining the sanction of the Holy See for the convocation of a council.
When the subject of holding a Provincial Council was subsequently taken up, oi^nions differed. Bis- hop Cheverus wrote: "I cannot see even now any nec- essity of holding the council, and I cannot help even doubting the expediency of it." ^
The death of Bishop Egan of Philadelphia, followed by that of Archbishop Carroll, and the feeble health of his successor Archbishop Neale, prevented any further steps being taken. After Archbishop Mare- chal received the pallium, new sees were established at Richmond, Charleston, and Cincinnati, and the vacant sees of New York and Philadelphia having been already filled, the holding of a council became a,
' Bishop Cheverus to Archbishop Carroll, Jan. 5, 1813 407
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subject of discussion between Arclibishoi) Mareclial and his suffragans. The Metropolitan evidently con- sidered it most j)rudent to wait till Bishops Conwell, England, and Kelly should acquire some personal knowledge of the actual condition of their dioceses, and of the rules of discipline to be adopted which could be practically enforced in this country.
Bishop Conwell during the Hogan trouble expressed a desire for a provincial council ; and for several years it was the constant burthen of the correspond- ence addressed to the Metropolitan by Bishop Eng- land. He wrote strongly in 1825 urging it especially, in order to obtain, by the united action of the episco- pate in a council, regulations in regard to nominations to sees, which would prevent foreign interference in the affairs of the Church in this country.
Archbishop Mareclial was fully alive to the impor- tance of holding a Provincial Council, and as early as 1823, Pope Pius VII. addressed a brief to him in re- gard to the convocation of such a synod in the United States.^ The Archbishop then drew up the project of a Provincial Council, but his declining health pre- vented his gathering the suffragan bishops of the province with their theologians in his cathedral. At his death, however, the affair was so far advanced that Archbishop Whitfield, finding the project prepared by his predecessor, submitted it to the Holy See.* Leo XII., by his Brief "Quo longius," August 16, 1828, aj)proved the plan.
Several of the suffragans, among others Bishop Fenwick and Bishop Du Bois, expressed to the Metro-
' Bishop Conwell to Archbishop Mareclial, Feb. 5, 1821.
*Pius VII.. " Non sine magno," Aug. 3, 1823.
^Artaud, Histoire du Pape Pie VIII. Paris, 1844, p. 116.
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politan at length their ideas as to the subjects which required general legislation.^
The bishops belonging to the jjrovince of Baltimore at this time were Rt. Rev. Benedict Fenwick, an American, Bishop of Boston, of great experience as a priest, as President of Georgetown College, and as Bishop ; Rt, Rev. John Du Bois, a native of France, Bishop of New York after nearly forty years in the active discharge of the ministry, founder of Mount St. Mary's College and Seminary, long Director of the Sisters of Cliarity ; Rt. Rev, Henry Conwell of Phila- delphia, who was represented by the able and expe- rienced Administrator of the diocese, V. Rev. William Matthews ; Bishop England of Charleston, with several years' experience in the country ; Rt. Rev. Benedict J. Flaget, Bishop of Bardstown, and his coadjutor Rt. Rev. John David, whose experience in the United States antedated the century ; and the Rt. Rev. Edward Dominic Fenwick, Bishop of Cincinnati and first missionary sent to Ohio. Besides these pre- lates, there were also in the United States two others, not suffragans of Baltimore, their dioceses have been formed mainly out of the old diocese of Louisiana and the Floridas. These were Rt. Rev. Joseph Rosati, Bishop of St. Louis and Administrator of New Or- leans, sede vacante, and Rt. Rev. Michael Portier, Bishop of Mobile. It was proposed to invite both these bishops to attend the council, saving all their rights, in order to take part in the general consulta- tation as to the best means of advancing religion in the United States, though before the council met Bishop Portier was made a suffragan of Baltimore.
' Bishop Fenwick to Arclibishop Whitfield, Sept. 10, 1828 ; Bishop Du Bois to same, 1828.
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Letters were also addressed to each one of the bish- ops asking him to state the subjects which he deemed most important to be treated in the council. The notes of the Archbishop and his predecessors, with these replies, and documents from Rome were sub- mitted to a body of theologians to prepare the pre- liminary work for the action of the council.
In pursuance of the letters issued by Archbishop Whitfield in December, 1828, to his suffragan bishops convoking a Provincial Council on the first day of Oc- tober, 1829, the venerable members of the Catholic hierarchy in the United States began to arrive in Bal- timore toward the close of September.
The Right Rev. B. J. Flaget, last survivor of the bishops consecrated by Archbishop Carroll, arrived with Bishop Rosati on the 19th of September, and took up his residence with his old associates of St. Sulpice at their seminary. Then came Bishop Fen- wick of Boston. Rt. Rev. Edward Dominic Penwick, Bishop of Cincinnati, with Rev. William Matthews, Vicar Creneral Apostolic of Philadelphia, soon came by way of Washington. Rt. Rev. John England, Bishop of Charleston, who now stood next in the order of seniority, reached Baltimore Sept. 30, deeply gratified to see the council he had so long desired, convened at last. These constituted the Fathers of this first important council. Bishop Du Bois of New York and Bishop Portier of Mobile being absent in Europe.^
At a preliminary meeting held September 30, in the house of Archbishop Marechal, certain rules were established, that no regulation should be adopted
' It was not known to the Fathers of tlie Council that Rev. Leo de Neokerc had been appointed on August 4, 1839, to the See of New Or- leans ; Buliaiium de Prop. Fide, v., pp. 46-7.
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that could not easily be enforced ; that no decree should be printed till the api)roval of the council by the Holy See was given ; that no matter should be brought before the council except those already agreed upon by the Archbishop with the consent of the Fathers, unless by a two-thirds vote ; that a session should be held every morning at ten in the Cathedral, beginning on October 4.
Besides the Bishops and Administrators, the Very Rev. Francis Dzierozinski, Superior of the Society of Jesus in the United States, Very Rev. Joseph Car- riere. Visitor of the Society of St. Sulpice, attended as well as Very Rev. John Tessier, Rev. Louis Deluol, iind John B. DamxDhoux, Doctors of the theological faculty of St. Mary's, theologians of the Archbisho}), Rev. Francis P. Kenrick, theologian of the Bishop of Bardstown, Rev. Simon Gabriel Brute, theologian of the Bishop of Charleston, Rev. Louis de Barth, theo- logian of the Bishop of Cincinnati, Rev. Augustus Jeanjean, theologian of the Bishop of St. Louis, Rev. Anthony Blanc, theologian of the Bishop of Boston, Rev. Michael Wheeler, theologian of the Vicar-Gen- eral Apostolic of Philadelphia. Very Rev. John Power, Vicar-General of New York, was subsequently invited to attend the council as theologian. Bishop Fenwick of Boston Avas appointed promoter of the council ; Rev. Doctor Damphoux, Secretary, with Rev. F. P. Kenrick as Secretary ; Rev. John J, Chanche, Master of Ceremonies, who appointed Rev. Francis Lhomme and John Randanne chanters. The tirst public congregation Avas held on the 3d, the bishops and doctors in rochet and cape, the priests in sur- plice.^
1 Truth Teller, v., p. 350 ; Baltimore Gazette.
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The next day witnessed the most imposing Catholic ceremonial ever yet held in the city of Baltimore. After the Bishops in mitre and cope, Very Rev.W. Matthews in cope, forty priests in chasubles, — had gone in procession to the Cathedral, and all had entered the sanctuary, the Bishops were arranged three on each side, and a pontifical high mass was celebrated by His Grace the Archbishop of Balti- more. At the conclusion of the mass, the Bishox? of Charleston ascended the pulpit and delivered an elo- quent discourse on the benefits which were likely to arise from the council then assembled, and toward the close gave a full explanation of the ceremony of the pallium about to be conferred upon the Most Rev. Dr. Whitfield. When the sermon was con- cluded, the Bishop of Boston advanced to the high altar, and having taken his seat in front of it, delivered the pallium to the Archbishop, who knelt before him to receive it, according to the Roman Pontifical.
After this the psalm and usual prayers were chanted for the opening of the council. Then the Archbishop of Baltimore asked: "Reverend Fathers, Venerable Brothers, does it please you, that for the glory and honor of God, and the increase of Catholic faith, the Council of Baltimore, lawfully convoked and here assembled, shall this day be opened and commenced ? " When each replied : "It pleases us, let it be opened," the Archbishop continued: "Invoking the name of Christ, we declare the holy Provincial Council of Bal- timore to be open, and so judge." The congregations and sessions were then continued till the 18th of October.
One of the incidents of the council was the admission to the ninth public congregation of three lawyers of
FIRST COUNCIL OF BALTIMORE. 413
high standing, Roger B. Taney, John Scott, and Wil- liam G. Read, whose oj^inion had been solicited by the Fathers of the Council. All were men of note, who had appeared before the solemn bodies and tribunals of the country, but they averred that on no occasion had they been more deej^ly impressed than when in- vited to this first Catholic Council in the United States to give expression to their legal opinion on the ques- tions submitted, and give explanations then orally requested/
The Bishop of Charleston was selected by the coun- cil to draw up the Pastoral Letter, after the topics had been agreed iipon by the bishops. Dr. Rosati was appointed to prepare the letter to the Cardinal Secre- tary wliicli was to accompany the decrees.
On the 18th of October mass was celebrated by the Most Rev. Archbishoj) with the same ceremonies as at the opening of the Provincial Council, At the end of the mass the psalms and prayers were recited for the closing of the council. The decrees were then read and publicly signed by the bishops, a table hav- ing been placed for the purpose in the middle of the sanctuary. After the Archbishop's blessing the Dea- con said, " Let us depart in peace," and all responded " In the name of Christ, Amen," The bishops, who had embraced one another as token of their unity in faith and discipline, then retired ; and the faithful, who had crowded every available spot in the cathedral, and had remained during the long services, gradually poured out of the edifice, having responded generously to the aj)peal for the orphan asylum made from the pulpit by Bishop England.
' Truth Teller, v., p. 343, 350 ; The Metropolitan, Baltimore, 1830, p. 34 ; .Jesuit, i., p. 61,
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Before leaving Baltimore the bishops i^roceeded to CaiTollton Manor to pay their respects to the last of the Signers, Charles Carroll of Carrollton. " The aged patriot, though in his 96th year, appeared to enjoy perfect health and to be full of life. The bishops in the course of their visit conversed severally with him, and had full opi)ortunity of witnessing the surprising retentiveness of his memory, and how perfectly he retained his mental powers."
The decrees of the first Council of Baltimore were thirty-eight in number. The iirst required priests to accept any mission assigned them where a suitable maintenance was afforded, till recalled by the Bishop. This was not to refer to any j^arochial benefices, of which, however, only one, in New Orleans,^ was known to exist. Decree II, required priests to remain in the diocese for which they were ordained or into which they had been permanently received (coaptati). Decree III. urged bishops not to receive XJriests coming with- out full and ample papers from their former dioceses. Decree IV. required that where more than one priest was stationed, one was to be designated as pastor, the other or others to be assistants. Decree V, required in future, where possible, that tlie deeds for new churches should be to the bishop. The churches of regulars and those in the diocese of Charleston were ex- cepted. Decree VI. declared that the jus patronatus and right of instituting and dismissing j)astors claimed
' The King of Spain under the bull of Pope Julius II. had the right of patronage in all his American possessions. On ceding Louisiana this ceased, and there could be no pretext for making it devolve on mar- guillers who had never enjoyed the right. By royal cedula, August, 1793, the King of Spain transferred the right of patronage in the Church of New Orleans to Don Andres Almouaster. Carondelet to Alcudia, Jan. 18, 1794.
FIRST COUNCIL OF BALTIMORE. 415
by some bodies of trustees was repugnant to the doc- trine and discipline of the Cliurch, and that no riglit of iDatronage, known to the sacred canons, was vested in any person or congregation of the laitj^, in any board of trustees or any other individuals in the province. They further declared that no collection of money for church purposes gave any riglit of patron- .*ige recognized by canon law. Decree VII. urged bishops to recall the faculties of any priest instigating or encouraging such usurpation. Decree VIII. urged bishops to interdict any churcli Avhere the congrega- tion, trustees or others, retained any priest not approved by the bishop, or whose faculties had been revoked or who was suspended, or wliere the duly ax^pointed priest was prevented from officiating or deprived of his income. Bishops were advised fre- quently to set before those who administered the teuiporalities, the rules laid down by the Council of Trent. Decree IX. charged bishops to warn their flocks against corrupt translations of the Bible ; and to urge the use of the Douay Bible, of which correct editions were to be issued under the eye of some bishop. Decree X. enjoined the uniform use of the Roman ritual. Decree XI. determined the qualifications of sponsors in baptism and confirmation. Decree XII. regarded the giving of profane names in baptism and urged those of saints to be adopted : and the next de- cree concerned cases where several names were given. Decree XIV. required registers to be kept for bap- tisms, confirmations, marriages, and burials. Decree XV. regarded the blessing of water on Holy Saturday and baptismal fonts. Decree XVI. directed baptism to be administered where possible in church, and not in private houses, and XVII. regarded the baptism of children of non-Catholic parents wliere there was a pro-
416 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
spect of tlie child being brought up a Catholic. Decree XVIII. concerned the form to be used in the bajDtisra of adults, and XIX. the churching of women. Decree XX. enjoined the use of Latin in administering the sacraments. By Decree XXI. confirmation was not to be administered, except in special circumstances, to children under seven years of age, and by XXII., where a number were confirmed, cards giving the names were to be used. Decree XXIII. forbid the celebration of mass in private houses, not being regular stations or places authorized by the bishop, unless on some occa- sion when the priest was too far from any church or station. Decree XXIV. regulated the decency of the church for the offering of the holy sacrifice. Decree XXV. required proper confessionals publicly in the churches, and forbade priests to hear confessions, especially of women, in private houses. Decree XXVI. urged pastors to prepare the faithful for the due and religious reception of the sacrament of matrimony. Decree XXVII. prescribed the dress to be worn by priests, and XXVIII. warned them against games or sports that would give scandal. Decree XXIX. re- quired every priest having care of souls to preach to his flock on Sundays and holidays. Decree XXX. urged bishops frequently to impress their clergy with a sense of their duties by exhorting them to an annual retreat, daily meditation, spiritual conferences, and other pious exercises. The 31st decree directed the preparation of a proper ceremonial in English. De- cree XXXII. urged the use of the Roman biretta and a suitable surplice. Decree XXXIII. forbade the use of catechisms and prayer-books not approved by the bishop of the diocese, and proposed an edition of a catechism adapted. to this country, based on that of Cardinal Bellarmine. Decree XXXIV. urged where
FIRST COUNCIL OF BALTIMORE. 417
possible the erection of Catholic schools to save chil- dren, especially those of the poor, from perversion, and decree XXXV. regarded the preparation of suitable schoolbooks. The 86th decree urged the establishment of a society for diffusing Catholic books. The remain- ing decrees concerned the ai)i)robation of the Holy See to the acts of the Council, and appointed another Synod after a lapse of three years.
In a Congregation held October 13, the Fathers ex- pressing their admiration for the acts of the Synod held by Archbishop Carroll in 1791, directed it to be reprinted with the acts of the Council.
The letter of the Council to the Sovereign Pontiff, Pope Pius yill. recalled the growth of the Church in the United States from its feeble commencement. "Not two centuries have elapsed since, in a remote and obscure corner of Maryland, a little band of Catholics guided by a few missionaries, exiles from their native land, flying from the cruel persecution inflicted on them for adhering to the faith of their forefathers, laid the foundations of this American Church. It is scarcely forty years since this body of the faithful in the United States of America was found sufficient to demand in the opinion of the Sovereign Pontiff the erection of the first episcopal see at Balti- more. Not twenty years have rolled by since a decree of the Holy Pontiff, Pius VII., exalted the Church of Baltimore with the dignity and rights of a Metropoli- tan, and like a joyful mother of children she has beheld in recently erected suffragan dioceses, quickened by a heaven-bestowed fruitfulness, an offspring in new churches, which it has borne to Christ. Nevertheless we see so many blessings bestowed by God on these rising churches, such increase given to this vineyard, that those who planted, and those who watered, and
418 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
those who harvested and tread the overflowing wine- press, are compelled to confess and admire wholly "the linger of God." The number of the faithful increases daily, churches not unworthy of Divine worship are everywhere erected, the word of God is preached everywhere and not without fruit; the hatred and prejudice spread against the Church and the faithful vanish ; holy religion, once despised and held in con- tempt, receives honor from her very enemies ; the l)riests. of Christ are venerated even by those without ; the truth and divinity of our faith is ^Droclaimed and vindicated from tlie calumny of heresy and unbelief not only in churches and from pulpits, but from the press in widely scattered periodicals and books. Six ecclesiastical seminaries, the hope of our churches, have already been established, and are governed in holy discipline by pious and learned priests ; nine colleges under ecclesiastical control, the glory of the Catholic name, have been erected in different States to train boys and young men in piety, arts, and higher branches of science ; three of these have been chartered as uni- versities by the legislatures ; thirty-three monasteries and houses of religious women of different orders and congregations, Ursulines, Yisitandines, Carmelites, Sacred Heart, Sisters of Charity, Loretto, etc., are everywhere established in our dioceses, whence ema- nate not only the observance of the evangelical coun- sels, and the exercise of all other virtues, but " the good odor of Christ" in the pious training of innumerable girls ; houses of religious of the Order of Preachers and the Society of Jesus, of secular priests of the Con- gation of the Mission, and of St. Sulpice, from which as centres priests are sent out to missions ; many schools where' the poor of both sexes are taught gratuitously ; hospitals where these examples of Chris-
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tian charity were formerly unknown, are now daily given by religions women to the great benefit of souls and of religion. These, Most Holy Father, are the sig- nal benefits which God has bestowed upon us within a few years."
The picture was not overdrawn, as the preceding- pages narrating the gradual growth of the dioceses attest, although the progress had been hampered in some dioceses by the evil spirit of men already alien- ated from the faith and discipline of their ancestors.
The acts of the Provincial Council were confirmed by Pope Pius VIII. after careful examination by experi- enced theologians, on the 80tli of September, 1830, and his approval was embodied in a decree of the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide, October 16, 1830.1
CHAPTER II. GROWTH OF ANTI-CATHOLIC FEELING.
Catholicity had prospered in the United States for more than fifty years under the protection of the more liberal principles embodied in the Declaration of Independence, and the gradual removal of penal oi- disabling laws. The freedom which Catholics had enjoyed had never been abused ; they had borne their
' "Concilium Baltimorcnse, Provinciale Primuni : lialiitum Baltimori Anno reparatse Salutis 1829, mense Octobri," Baltimore, 1831 ; " Concilia Provincialia, Baltimori liabita ab anno 1829 usque ad annum 1840." Baltimore, 1842. Smith, "Compendium Juris Canonici," New York, 1890, p. 56.
Letter of the Council to the Pope, October 24, 1829. The Catholic population at this time was estimated by the Fathers of the Council at half a million in a population of twelve millions. The Catholics of the diocese of Charleston were reckoned at ten thousand. Bishop Rosati in Ann. de la Prop., iv. , p. 599.
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part with their fellow-citizens in developing the re- sources of the country, increasing its wealth and pros- perity ; they had marched shoulder to shoulder with the bravest to meet the Indian foe or the foreign enemy ; they had no share in the secession plans of the Northeast or the revolutionary plans in the South- west, They had erected churches, colleges, acade- mies, and schools for the religious, moral, and intel- lectual training of their members ; they were caring for the orphans. There was nothing in their record to afford a basis for any revival of the ancient spirit of persecution and oppression. It is not to be wondered at that Catholics lived in the feeling of perfect security, relying on the protection of the laws.
Yet there was a steadily increasing current of thought hostile to them in the country, nurtured mainly by publications from the British Isles, a strong anti-catholic literature evoked by the agitation in favor of Catholic Emancipation. Many of these things were reprinted here and widely circulated ; old prejudices were revived, and the unscrupulous soon found that new contributions would be readilj^ welcomed without too close scrutiny. To meet these constant misrepresentations and calumnies, it had been found necessary to establish Catholic journals. The earliest of these, "The United States Catholic Miscel- lany," "The TruthTeller,"" The Jesuit," devotedmuch of their space to the defense of Catholic doctrines and the refutation of false and malicious charges ; contro- versies increased, but produced little benefit, and the converts Avho entered the Church were not won by them ; in almost every case they were men and women who found that the systems in which they had been educated lacked a logical basis, and who came by
ANTI-CATHOLIC FEELING. 421
study, thought, and prayer to the portals of the Catholic Church.
Meanwhile the anti-catholic feeling was gaining ground steadily, and becoming, though no one seemed to comprehend the fact, a menace to the peace and harmony of the country, without one redeeming ele- ment, but fraught with a dangerous disregard of the rights of fellow-citizens to life and property. This dangerous condition pervaded the whole country, en- couraged and stimulated by men who professed the most religious principles, but which needed only a pretext to burst out into open violence.
This spirit, utterly at variance with the real genius of our American institutions, contrasts sharply with Catholic thought as expressed about this time by the venerable Charles Carroll of Carrollton : "When I signed the Declaration of Independence, I had in view not only our independence of England, but the tolera- tion of all sects professing the Christian religion and communicating to them all equal rights. Happily this wise and salutary measure has taken place for eradicating religious feuds and persecution, and be- come a useful lesson to all governments. Reflecting, as you must, on the disabilities, I may truly say on the proscription, of the Roman Catholics in Maryland, you will not be surprised that I had much at heart this grand design founded on mutual cliarity, the basis of our holy religion." ^
' Charles Carroll to G. W. P. Ciistis, Feb. 20, 1829.
BOOK IV.
CHAPTER I. DIOCESE OF BALTIMORE AND RICHMOND.
MOST llEV. JAMES WHITFIELD, ARCHBISHOP, 1829-1834.
In the spring of 1829 Arclibishop Whitfield made a iive weeks' visitation of liis diocese, blessing a church on the borders of Maryland and Virginia. He stationed a priest at Martinsburg and another in the Alleghany mountains.
After the close of the important Council of Balti- more, Archbishop Whitfield resumed his ordinary duties in the two dioceses confided to his care. The exercises of the jubilee wliich had been proclaimed were carried out earnestly b}^ tlie aid of the Jesuits and Sulpitians, and produced great results. Balti- more, wliich the venerable Charles Carroll of Carroll- ton could remember as a single line of seven or eight houses, now found five Catholic churches insufficient to accommodate the faithful, and two new edifices were rising on elevated sites at the noi'th and south. St. Mary's College and the theological seminaries were in full prosperity.
Soon after the Council the Archbishop accompanied by his Vicar-General, V. Rev. Mr. Tessier, proceeded to Richmond, where the two hundred poor Catholics had but a small wooden church so mean that some were ashamed to attend it. Here the Archbishop saw how little could be accomplished till he could confide
A22
MEDLEY'S NECK. 423
the mission to an energetic priest there, able to rear a church worthy of the faith. He visited Norfolk also, where the church was attended by two priests, and the Portsmouth mission. Here one hundred and thirty-eight received confirmation/
St. Peter's Church, the first Catholic shrine in Balti- more, had been after the dedication of the Cathedral used only as a private chapel, but about this time it became necessary to open it again to acconmiodate those who could not find room in the great church.^ While the Jesuit Father Dubuisson and other Fathers of the Society, who were giving the jubilee exercises in St. Mary's County, Maryland, were engaged on the 24tli of January in the Church of Our Lady of Medley's Neck, a serious accident occurred. The church had been erected but ten years, yet the walls already showed that the workmanship had been wretched. The church was crowded, and just as the sermon was about to commence, a loud noise Avas heard and the floor began to settle. There was a general rush for the doors and windows, and those on the galleries rushed down, increasing the confusion. The priest remained at the altar, till examination showed that some supports had yielded ; fortunately no one was seriously injured ; the Mass was resumed ; the most of the congregation returned, and many received holy communion.^
1 Archbishop Whitfield to Rome, June 12, 1829, Jan. 28, 1830. Annales de la Propagation de laFoi, iv., p. 243. Rev. Nichola.s Kerney, T\ho had done such good work at Norfolk and in North Carolina, was then at St. Patrick's ; and the veteran Rev. Louis De Earth at St. John's. Metropolitan, Baltimore, 1830, p. 31. U. S. Cath. Miscellany, x., p. 316. Rev. Thomas Hore to Archbishop Whitfield, April 15, 1828 ; Rev. J. Hoerner to same, June 11, 1828.
'■^ Archbishop Whitfield to Propaganda, Aug. 29, 1830.
^ Woodstock Letters, xi., p. 56.
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The city of Washington at this time had three chnrches, St. Patrick's, recently erected, witli a ];)ulpit of costly woods presented by Mr. Rebello, the ambas- sador of the Emj)eror of Brazil; St. Peter's, and St. Mary's with a school and orphan asylum under the Sisters of Charity. Georgetown had its ancient Church of the Holy Trinity, the Visitation Convent with its Church of the Sacred Heart, and Georgetown College ; while across the river was a new church in Alexandria, with a congregation of nine hundred.^
THE VISITATION CONVENT, GEOKGETOWN, FROM AN EARLY PRINT.
The Convent of the Visitation by the intelligent zeal and liberality of Rev. J. P. de Cloriviere, carried out by his successor Rev. Michael F. Wheeler, who completed the Odeon, had become a handsome range of brick buildings between two and three hundred feet in length by about forty in depth, especially adapted for the uses of an academy, with Avell lighted and ventilated class-rooms, healthy dormitories and spa- cious playgrounds. The community numbered fifty
Truth Teller, vi., p. 375.
ST. CHARLES' COLLEGE. 425
religious, and the academy contained 128 pupils, and their free school 320 children. Rev. Mr. Wheeler, when compelled to visit Europe for his health, obtained from Pope Pius YIII. many spiritual favors and a modification of the rule necessitated by their actual position,^
While these institutions were advancing in pros- perity and usefulness the Jesuit Father John McElroy began a fine church at Frederick, Maryland, and near It St. John's Literary Institution, which rendered good service for many years.
As Mount St. Mary's was no longer a Petit Semi- naire or preparatory school for St. Mary's Theological Seminary, Baltimore, the Sulpitians felt the need of a special school for training youth who showed a vocation for the priesthood. The illustrious patriot CJharles Carroll gave land at Doughoregan Manor for such an institution, and it was duly incorporated by the State of Maryland as St. Charles' College. The corner-stone of a granite structure, eighty feet by sixty was laid on the lltli of July, 1831, by Mr. Carroll, and blessed by the Archbishop. The wolk was prose- cuted actively, Mr. Carroll contributing $6500, and this institution, once opened, rendered good service to religion.^
The condition of Mount St. Mary's College Avas a source of anxiety to Archbishop Whitfield. It was not his diocesan seminary, and preferring to have candidates for the j)riestliood trained by a full corps of professors at St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, he
' Letter of Archbishop Whitfield to Rome, June 13, 1729. U. S. ■Cath. Miscellany, x., p. 60. Annals of the Visitation. An attempt was again made about this time to introduce the Ursuline rule, but it failed.
2 Archbishop Whitfield to Propaganda, Aug. 29, 1830 ; U. S Cath. Miscellany, xi., p. 30.
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urged the clergymen in charge of Mount St. Mary's, as his predecessor had urged them, to abandon the courses of philosophy and theology, and make the institution simply a college for young men. The financial condition, however, made any change preca- rious. The debt, already large when Rev. Dr. Du Bois left, had steadily increased, and unless seminarians Avere employed as professors, it would be impossible to sustain the college. The Archbishop accordingly yielded to the remonstrance of Rev. John B. Purcell and his associates.
The College had by this time obtained a charter, the General Assembly of Maryland having in February, 1830, created the institution an incorporated college, "with full power and authority to hold public com- mencements and admit any of its students or other persons meriting the same to any degree or degrees in any of the faculties, arts, sciences, and liberal pro- fessions, except medicine, to which persons are usually admitted in other colleges or universities in America." The Seminary and College remained under the direction of Rev. John B. Purcell as President till his election to the See of Cincinnati in 1833, wdien he was succeeded by Rev. Thomas R. Butler.^
About this time the Carmelite Nuns prepared to remove from Port Tobacco, where a long and tedious lawsuit had greatly imx)overislied them. Tliej^ lost in March, 1830, their venerable Superior Mother Clare Joseph Dickenson, and her successor Mother Angela of St. Teresa. Under the advice of Archbishop Whit- field they purchased a small house on Aisquith Street, Baltimore, with about three-quarters of an acre of
' Rev. J. Purcell and others to Archbishop Whitfield, Dec. 29, 1831 ; Rev. John McCaffrey to Archbishop Eccleston. April 1, 1835. Truth Teller, xiv., pp. 151, 237. Catholic Almanac, 1835, p. 79.
THE CARMELITES. 427
ground. On this they prepared to erect a larger building to enable them to open an academy as a means of support. The corner-stone was laid by Archbishop Whitfield on the 29th of September, 1830. In August of the following year he gave formal per- mission to the Nuns to leave their primitive home, to which they bade a last farewell on the 13th of Sep- tember, and were soon installed in their new house. Their academy was opened early in the following month. ^
Tlie publication of Catholic works centred at first in Philadelphia, but Baltimore was becoming a home for the Catholic press. Here in 1829 issued a History of the Church by Rev. Charles Constantine Pise, the most extended original work yet written in this country, and in 1831 Fielding Lucas issued a quarto Bible and a New Testament.
On the 26th of September, 1830, Pope Pius VIII., in view of the great extent of the United States, and the paucity of priests, extended the time for approaching the Holy Eucharist, so that the faithful might fulfill the precept at any time between the first Sunday in Lent and Trinity Sunday.^
During the year new churches were completed at Hagerstown and Merryland Tract, and a third nearly so at Marlborough.
On the 13th of October, 1831, Archbishop Whitfield issued a circular to his clergy convening a diocesan synod to be held in order to publish solemnly the decrees of the first Council of Baltimore. The synod
1 Currier, " Carmel in America," Baltimore, 1890, pp. 180-194. The Sisters were incorporated by the Legislature in 1833. Archbishop Whit- field to Propaganda, Aug. 29, 1830.
'•^ Decree of the Sac. Congregation de Propaganda Fide, Oct. 16, 1830.
428 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
met on the 8tli of November at the archiepiscopal residence, and was attended by thirty-live priests. Several of the decrees of the council were promulgated to be put in force gradually, where a contrary custom had prevailed, as in the use of English at baptisms, marriages, and funerals. In regard to tlie enlargement of churches, however, or the erection of new edihces, the rule of the council was to be strictly followed, and nothing of the kind was to be attempted without the sanction of the Archbishop.
Among those who attended this synod was the ven- erable Father Francis Neale, aged seventy-five ; he was with Rev. Drs, Eccleston, Tessier, Deluol, and Matthews, one of the preachers during the sessions.^
Though the Archbishop of Baltimore could find consolation in the increase of churches and institu- tions, he had difficulties. In the oldest parts of his diocese, the counties of St. Mary and Charles, the congregations were very poor and many churches in a ruinous condition ; Prince George's County was some- what better, but missionary after missionary sank under the toils of the ministry among the scattered Catholics on the unhealthy Eastern shore. For the diocese of Richmond he had but four priests, two at Norfolk, where Rev. F. Van Horsigh had completed his new church and dedicated it in July ; one at Rich-
' Circular, Rev. E. Damphoux, Secy.; " Sjmodus Diojcesana Balti- morensis II. habita ab Illustrissimo ac Reverendissimo Jacobo, Archi- episcopo Baltimorensi," etc., Baltimore, 1831. U. S. Cath. Miscellany, xi. p. 183. This venerable priest died at Port Tobacco, Dec. 20, 1837,. aged eighty-two. He was a brother of Archbishop Neale, and was edu- cated in Europe. He completed, if he did not found, Trinity Church, Georgetown, and erected the first church in Alexandria. He was presi- dent of Georgetown College from 1810 to 1812, and spiritual director of the Visitation Sisters. His last years were spent in active mission work. "History of Georgetown College." Catholic Almanac, 1889.
MARTYBS OF CHARITY. 429
mond and one at Martinsburg, the energetic Rev. F. Roloff, who found little encouragement at Wheeling, though there were many scattered Catholics.^ A line bell for the Cathedral had been cast by Frerejean of Lyons, and Archbishop AVhitlield erected a tower to receive it : at the same time he issued a circular call- ing on the clergy to aid in completing the sacred edi- fice by erecting the corresponding tower, and the noble portico which formed part of the original plan.^ He soon after made a visitation of the uj)per counties of Maryland.^
All seemed full of fair promise, but amid these plans of improvement came the first visitation of that appalling disease, the Asiatic cholera. The Sisters of Charity hastened to give their services in attending the sick ; while the Archbishop offered his residence for use as a hospital. Though others fled, the Catholic priests and sisters multiplied their efforts to meet the calls for assistance that came from every side. Mary Francis and Mary George, Sisters of Charity ; the Oblate Sister Antonina, Revs. Mi- chael Wheeler and William O'Brien died amid their labors of charity. The Pope, in view of the want of priests in this country, sent a special apostolic benediction to the faithful during the visitation.*
When the ravages of the cholera had ceased, the
' Archbishop Whitfield to the Association de la Prop, de la Foi, " Annales," v., p. 714; Rev. F. Roloflf to Archbishop Whitfield, April 2, 1829.
'■' Circular, March 1, 1832.
3 Father F. Grivel to F. Nicholas Sewall, May 30, 1832.
* The services of the Sisters elicited a public expression of gratitude from the Baltimore authorities. Catholic Intelligencer, iii., p. 414 ;
430 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Visitation Convent in Georgetown sent out on the 27tli of November its first colony of nuns under Mother Mary Augustine to found a. house of their rule at Mobile, and in the following April another band of these disciples of St. Jane Frances de Chantal i^ro- ceeded under the direction of Mother Mary Agnes Brent to the ancient i)ost of Kaskaskia to begin there the work of education.' The Georgetown Academy at this time had one hundred pupils, and the free school founded by Rev. Mr. de Cloriviere was attended by 150 scholars.*
The Fathers of the Society of Jesus had begun their labors in Maryland with its earliest settlement under Leonard Calvert in 1633, and till the suppression of the order by Pope Clement XIV. in 1773 the members belonged to the English province. AVhen the sur- viving members were permitted in 1806 to reorganize, they became a mission dependent on the Father-General in Russia and subsequently on Rome. The Maryland mission had now a life of its own, and was evidently self-subsisting, with a prosperous college at George- town, now engaged in extending its buildings, a minor educational establishment at Frederick, a novitiate, a scholasticate. The General of the Society, Very Rev. John Roothaan, deemed that the time had come to erect the mission into a province of the order, and the Province of Maryland Avas formally established Feb- ruary 2, 1833. In pursuance of this Father William
Jesuit, iv. , p. 49. Catholic Telegraph, i., pp. 383-7: Scharf, "Chron- icles of Baltimore," p. 460. Cardinal Prefect to Archbishop Whitfield, Oct. 4, 1832.
' Annals of the Visitation.
. 2 Annals of the Visitation ; Mother Madeline de St. Augustin to Arch- Inshop Whitfield, Jan. 5, 1833. The Sisters readied Mobile December 31, and were temporarily installed in a neat country house.
ST. JAMES' CHURCH. 431
McSlieny, a native of Virginia, was Installed as the first Provincial, July 5, 1833.^
On the 9th of Jnne, 1833, Pope Gregory XVI. dis- pensed the faithful in the United States from the obligation of abstinence on St, Mark's Day and the Rogation Days, and for a term of ten years from that of abstinence on Saturdays which had hitherto been in force.^
In his Lenten Circular the Archbishop, who had during the cholera modified the rules of abstinence, took precautions for a return of the disease, and called on all for more earnest prayer and mortifi- cation.^
It had long been the desire of the Most Reverend Archbishop to devote a portion of his private means to some permanent monument in the diocese ; and having secured a suitable site in the city of Baltimore, he solemrdy laid the corner-stone of a church to be dedicated to Almighty God under the invocation of the holy apostle St. James, selecting his festival, May 1, for the ceremony. The site, one hundred feet by one hundred and ninety, was a fine one in a growing part of the city.*
He dedicated on the first Sunday in May the fine church erected on one of the hills at Harper's Ferry ;
' Very Rev. John Rootbaan, " Decretum Erectionis Provincise Mary- landiae"; Woodstock Letters, x., p. 252.
' Decree of the Sac. Congregation de Propaganda Fide, June 22, 1833.
3 Lenten Circular, 1833.
•* Archbishop Whitfield to Rev. N. Wiseman, June 6, 1833. The stone bore this inscription: " Jacobus Whitfield, Archiepiscopus Bal- timorensis, huncangularem lapidem Ecclesiaesubinvocationc Sti. Jacobi, Dei Omnipotentis Max. cnltui consecrandse, clero comitante, posuit A.R. S. MDCCCXXXIII. ipsis kal. mails, S.S. Apostolis Philippo et Jacobo, sacris."
432 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
and was consoled to see those at Frederick, Richmond, and Ellicott's Mills advancing toward completion.
On the 10th of June he proclaimed the Jubilee granted by the Sovereign Pontiff Pope Gregory XVI., and urged the faithful to secure the blessing of God and avert another visitation of the dread disease.^
The condition of Catholic negroes who had gone from Maryland to Liberia in Africa was also a subject of correspondence between the authority at Rome and the Archbishop. This led in time to a mission from the United States.'^
Some of the suffragan bishops expressed an earn- est wish for another Provincial Council ; Archbishop Whitfield believed that it would be wiser to carry out gradually the recommendations of the first Council, rather than multiply enactments. He seems, how- ever, to have yielded to advice from Rome, and the second Council was summoned to meet on the 20tli of October.
This Council was more fully attended than the first, and the new see of Detroit was represented. The Fathers were Most Rev. James Whitfield, Archbishop of Baltimore ; Rt. Rev. John B. David, Bishox) of Mauricastro and Coadjutor of Bardstown ; Rt. Rev. John England, Bishop of Charleston ; Rt. Rev. Joseph Rosati, Bishop of St. Louis ; Rt. Rev. Benedict Fen- wick, Bishop of Boston ; Rt. Rev. John Du Bois, Bishop of New York ; Rt. Rev. Michael Portier, Bishop of Mobile ; Rt. Rev. Francis Patrick Kenrick, Administrator of Philadelphia ; Rt. Rev. Frederic Rese, Bishop of Detroit ; Rt. Rev. John Purcell,
'The Universal Jubilee," etc., Baltimore, 1833; The U. S. Catholic Almanac or Laity's Directory for the year 1833, Baltimore, 1833.
^ Cardinal Maio to Archbishop Whitfield, June 15, 1833.
SECOND PROVINCIAL COUNCIL. 433
Bishop of Cincinnati ; Bishop Flaget alone of the bishops in actual charge of dioceses being absent. Very Rev. William McSherry, Provincial of the Soci- ety of Jesus, V. Rev. Nicholas Dominic Young, Pro- vincial of the Dominicans, Very Rev. Louis R. Deluol, V. G., Superior of the Sulpitians, also attended.
The Council asked the Sovereign Pontiff to erect a see at Vincennes, the diocese to embrace Indiana and eastern Illinois, and to reunite Virginia to the diocese of Baltimore, suppressing the see of Richmond. It, moreover, defined more exactly the limits of the sev- eral dioceses. A plan for nominating to vacant sees was proposed to the Sovereign Pontiff ; and the Holy Father was asked to commit the care of the Indian tribes and of the negroes in Liberia to the Society of Jesus. The bishops were urged to establish in each diocese where possible a theological seminary accord- ing to the direction of the Council of Trent ; and the authority exercised since 1810, by which each bishop could empower priests to officiate in neighboring dio- ceses, was finally abolished. The Bishops of St. Louis and Boston were appointed to prejjare an edition of the Rituale Romanum adapted to the wants of clergy in this country, and the task of preparing suitable class-books for Catholic colleges and schools was con- fided to the presidents of St. Mary's College, Balti- more, Mount St, Mary's, and Georgetown.^
When the acts of the Council reached Rome, it was not deemed best to suppress the see of Richmond, but the other suggestions of the Council were approved.
' Concilium Baltimorense Provinciale Secundum ; habitum Baltimori, a die 20a ad diem usque 27am Octobris A. R. S. 1833. Reprinted at Rome in the " Fasciculus," in the " Actaet Decreta," Rome 1841, in the Bullariura de Propaganda Fide, and* in the collected Councils, Balti- more, 1842, etc.
434 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Pope Gregory XVI. by his Letters Apostolic, " Bene- dictus Deus," June 17, 1834, fixed the limits of tlie several dioceses, and the Congregation de Propaganda Fide in a meeting held on the 18tli of March pre- scribed the mode to be observed in nominating to vacant sees. Each bisliox3 was to keep sealed and directed to his Vicar General, to be opened on his death, a duplicate list of three priests Avhom he re- garded as best fitted to succeed him. On his death the Vicar General was to transmit one list to the Arch- bishop of Baltimore, and the other to the nearest or senior of the nearest bishops. Tlie latter was then to communicate his views to the Archbishop, who was next to transmit the list, or, if he disapproved it, another list of three names with it, to each bishop of the province. The several bishops were then requested to communicate their views to the Congregation de Propaganda Fide. It was expressly noted, however, that this action of the bishops did not constitute an election, nomination, or postulation, but simply a recommendation.^
In the pastoral letter issued by the Fathers of the Council to the clergy and laity of the United States, they deplored the want of a sufficient number of priests and churches for the rapidly increasing body of the faithful, and exhorted those unable to hear mass every Sunday to meet for prayer and instruction and so keep alive the faith, assuring them of the solici- tude of the bishops to establish churches and schools, and give them worthy and zealous priests. They ex- horted the faithful to patience and forbearance under the vituperation and calumnies of a hostile press, the
' Decretum S. Congregationis de Propaganda Fide, June 14, 1834. Concilium Bait. II., pp. 11-18.
PASTORAL LETTER. 435
charges of disloyalty to tlie country, and the avowed efforts to check the progress of the Catholic religion and, if possible, extirpate it. "We advise you to heed them not ; but to continue whilst you serve your God with lidelity, to discharge honestly, faithfully, and with affectionate attachment your duties to the government under which you live, so that we may in common with our fellow-citizens sustain that edifice of rational liberty in which we find such excellent protection.
" The education of the rising generation is, beloved brethren, a subject of the first importance ; and we have accordingly, at all times used our best efforts^ to provide, as far as our means would permit, not only ecclesiastical seminaries to insure a succession in our priesthood and its extension ; but we have moreover sought to create colleges and schools in which your children, whether male or female, might have the best opportunities of literature and science, united to a strict protection of their morals and the best safe- guards of their faith."
In view of the increasing virulence of attacks on the Church, which were manifest, although they had not yet reached their height, the Fathers of the Council said : " We notice with regret, a spirit exhibited by some of the conductors of the press engaged in the interests of those brethren separated from our com- munion, wdiich has within a few years become more unkind and unjust in our regard. Not only do they assail us and our institutions in a style of vituperation and offense, misrepresent our tenets, vilify our prac- tices, repeat the hundred times refuted calumnies of days of angry and bitter contention in other lands, but they have even denounced you and us as enemies to the liberties of the republic, and have openly pro-
436 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
claimed the fancied necessity of not only obstructing our progress, but of using their best efforts to extir- pate our religion. It is neither our principles nor our practice to render evil for evil, nor railing for railing, and we exhort you rather to the contrary to render blessing, for unto this are you called that you by inheritance may obtain a blessing." ^
Archbishop Whitfield, though his health began to fail, carried on the erection of St. James Church, and had the satisfaction of consecrating it solemnly on the anniversary of the laying of the corner-stone May 1, 1834, the Rev. Edward Damx)houx, rector of the Cathedral, delivering an impressive discourse on the occasion.^
Finding that, from his declining health, he would soon be unable to take an active part in the care of his diocese, Archbishop AVhitfield, in com2:)liance with the regulations recently adoi^ted, petitioned the Holy See for a coadjutor, loroposing the Rev. Samuel Eccle- ston, President of St. Mary's College. That clergyman was elected titular Bishop of Thermias, and on the arrival of the bulls he was consecrated on the 14tli day of September, the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, by the Most Rev. James Whitfield, Archbishop of Baltimore, then very infirm, assisted by Rt. Rev. Benedict Fenwick, Bishop of Boston, and Rt. Rev, Francis Patrick Kenrick, Bishop of Aratli. The Ca- thedral where the ceremony took place was crowded by the assembled clergy and the numbers of the laity, who gathered to behold the high honor conferred on
' " Pastoral Letter of the Most Rev. Archbishop of Baltimore and the Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church." Baltimore, 1833.
' " The Substance of a Discourse delivered at the Consecration of St. James' Church in Baltimore," etc. Baltimore. N. Y. Weekly Reg- ister, ii., p. 88.
A COADJUTOR CONSECRATED. 487
one so esteemed in Baltimore. The sermon on the oc- casion was delivered by Rev. Thomas Mulledy, S.J., President of Georgetown College. His episcopal in- signia were presented to him by the students of St. Mary's College, over which he had so ably presided.^ After the consecration of his coadjutor Archbishop Whitfield began to sink rapidly. His physicians had already advised him to visit some medicinal springs for the renovation of his health, but the progress of disease soon became alarming. For months he had felt the decay of a constitution, not naturally strong, and further debilitated by the toil and anxiety insep- arable from his weighty charge. After a few weeks' illness which he bore with Christian fortitude, and M'itli the tender piety of one who had been long fa- miliar with the cross of his Blessed Master, he calmly expired on the 19tli of October, 1834, in the sixty- fourth year of his age, and the seventh of his episco- pacy. On the 21st his remains were borne in proces- sion from his late residence to the Cathedral, where a solemn high mass was offered by the Most Rev. Dr. Eccleston. A funeral discourse was pronounced by Rev. L. R. Deluol of St. Sulpice, who took as his text Psalm 81, V. 6, 7."^ Prudence and energy were the dis- tinctive marks in the character of Archbishop Whit- field. He avoided display and was somewhat austere, but he was devoted to his duties, and extremely charit- able. His whole proi3erty was bestowed on works of religion and mercy.
'N. Y. Weekly Register, ii., pp. 303, 309 ; Jesuit, v., p. 310 ; Fen- wick, " Memoranda."
2 Circular of Archbisbop-elect Eccleston, Oct. 23, 1834. N. Y. Weekly- Register, iii., p. 54 ; Jesuit, v., pp. 350, 359 : U. S. Catholic Miscellany, xiv. , p. 143. A poem by John Augustus Shea on tbe death of Arch- bishop Whitfield appeared in N. Y. Weekly Register, iii., p. 120.
438 GEORGETOWN COLLEGE.
He encouraged the formation of societies among the faithful for pious and charitable works, and the Maria Marthian Society and the Female Mutual Relief So- ciety of Baltimore date from his time.^ Under the presidency of Rev. Thomas Mulled}^, Georgetown Col- lege was attaining prosperity, and the highest officials in the land were led by its fame to enroll their young kinsmen among its students. Congress having made a grant for the benefit of Columbian College, George- town solicited the like encouragement, and her claim, supported by the Hon. Daniel Webster of Massachu- setts and Hon, John Tyler of Virginia, was recognized.^ Among the events in its history maybe noted the es- tablishment of the Pliilodemic Society, which has since continued its useful career, stimulating its members to be faithful alike to Church and to country. On the 20th of March, 1833, Pope Gregory XVI. created it a university, by empowering the Faculty to confer de- grees in x)hilosophy and theology.
Before the death of Arclibishop Whitfield the Church lost the venerable Charles Carroll of Carrollton, model of the patriot and the Christian, revered for years by all Americans as the last of the glorious band who signed the Declaration of American Independence. Born at Annapolis, September 20, 1737, and educated at St. Omer's, he returned to his native land to devote his talents and his means to the cause of freedom. His defeat of the loyalist Dulany in argument brought him into prominence. In Convention, in Congress, as envoy to Canada, as Senator at Annapolis and Wash- ington, he showed the highest qualities. As he had lived he died, Nov. 14, 1832, esteeming his religion dearer than earthly fame or earthly wealth,
' Jesuit, i., p. 324. N. Y. Weekly Register, iii., p. 84. Rules of Fe- male Mutual Relief Society, April 27, 1824.
« February 26, 1833. AVoodstock Letters, xi., p. 63.
MOST REV. SAMUEL ECCLESTON, FIFTH ARCHBISHOP OF BALTIMORE.
440
CHAPTER II.
DIOCESE OF BALTIMORE. MOST REV. SAMUEL ECCLESTON, FIFTH ARCHBISHOP, 1834-1843.
By the death of the Most Rev. Dr. Whitfield, the Rt. Rev. Samuel Eccleston, who had been for about a month Bishop of Thermias and coadjutor with the right of succession, became Archbishop-elect of Baltimore.
He was born June 27, 1801, a few miles from Chester- town, in the County of Kent, on the eastern shore of Maryland. His grandfather, John Eccleston, came from the borough of Preston, and was heir to Priest Hall in the hundred or parish of Eccleston of Eccle- ton. He emigrated from England about the middle of the eighteenth century and settled in Kent County, where he was at first a merchant and subsequently a planter. His name appears among the vestrymen of Shrewsbury parish as early as 1762.^
The family adhered to the Church of England, but Samuel lost his father at an early age, and his mother married a Catholic gentleman named Stenson, and became a Catholic. This led to his being jolaced as a student as St. Mary's College when he had attained his eleventh year. His amiable deportment, talents,, and industry made him a general favorite. As he grew up he not only embraced the faith and was re- ceived into the Church, but manifested a decided
' J. B. Eccleston to Samuel Eccleston, Sept. 14, 1825 ; Hanson, ' ' Old Kent," Baltimore, 1876, p. 361.
441
442 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
vocation for the priesthood. His mother, who had hoped to see him a distinguished member of theMary- hmd bar, yielded to his desire, and he passed from tlie college to the theological seminary on the 23d of July, 1819. Trained by the learned Sulpitians he made a thorough course of study and was ordained priest, April 24, 1825, although many connected with him by ties of blood endeavored to divert him from his purpose. Having expressed an earnest wish to con- nect himself with the Society of St. Sulpice, he was soon afterwards sent to France to make his novitiate at Issy. After his probationary exercises here the young American priest visited the British Isles and returned to Baltimore to assume the duties of Vice- President of St. Mary's College. He soon won the esteem of the Archbishop, whom he frequently attended on visitations, and in an equal degree that of the clergy. In 1829, he was appointed President of the College, which under his wise and able administration prospered greatly. While filling this position he was aj)pointed coadjutor to Archbishop Whitfield, and in a few weeks became Archbishop elect of Baltimore and Administrator of the diocese of Richmond. It was not, however, till the feast of All Saints in the following year that he was invested with the pallium and entered fully on his rights as Metropolitan.^
The age and infirmities of his predecessor had for a time prevented the exertion of long Journeys, so that Archbishop Eccleston found much to be done in a visi- tation of the two dioceses. The clergy under his care numbered 68 ; five of them being stationed in Virginia and six in the District of Columbia. To supply priests
> Weekly Register, ii., p. 303; Truth Teller, x., p. 302 ; Catholic Diary, v., p. 71 ; Metropolitan Catholic Almanac, 1834, p. 65, 1853, p. 58.
PROGRESS. 443
for his diocese he had St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, directed by tlie Sulj^itians, Very Rev, Louis R, Deluol, Superior ; Mount St. Mary's Seminary, Emmitsburg, Rev. Thomas Butler, Director ; the Scholasticate of the Society of Jesus, connected with Georgetown College. Besides the institutions already mentioned, the Sisters of Charity, of whom Mother Rose White was Superior, conducted an academy and a free school at Frederick, a school and an orphan asylum in Wash- ington, an academy in Alexandria, an orphan asylum, infirmary, and hospital in Baltimore. The Carmelites recently removed to Baltimore had also a school, and the colored Sisters of Providence had a school on Rich- mond Street in a house which they had recently ac- quired.^
The visitations of Archbishop Eccleston enabled him to see the condition of the churches and institutions and prepare to supply the wants that arose. The Cal- vert Beneficial Society was established under his auspices in Aj^ril, and in the autumn of 1835 we find him ordaining at Mount St. Mary's candidates who had completed their course. On the 29tli of October he as- sembled the clergymen in an ecclesiastical retreat. The next year showed the wavering of public opinion in regard to Catholics. If a Protestant gentleman like Pemberton Morris paid a spontaneous and eloquent tribute to the merit and value of Catholic education as he beheld it at Georgetown College ; if General William H. Harrison visited Mount St. Mary's, a violent anti-Catholic petition was soon after presented to Congress.^
' Catholic Almanac, 1835 ; U. S. Catholic Miscellany, xiv., p. 53 ; xv., pp. 52, 101 ; N. Y. Weekly Register, ii., p. 288, 313 ; iii., pp. 167-271.
« Catholic Diary, v., p. 23— vi., p. 390 ; Catholic Herald, v., p. 43.
444 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Under the impulse given by Archbishop Eccleston, new churches were soon begun at Piscataway and at St. Joseph's near Emmitsburg, and in November, 1837, a colony of Visitation Nuns from Georgetown, under Mother Juliana Matthews, established a convent and academy on Mulberry Street, Baltimore.^
In his visitation of 1837, Archbishop Eccleston found a recently erected school at Bryantown prospering, and the frequentation of the sacraments increasing ; Hagerstown also showed activity.^
Following the exami)le of his predecessor Archbishop Eccleston convened a Provincial Council in 1837, which met on the 16th of April. It was attended by Bishop Rosati of St. Louis, Bishops Fenwick of Boston ; Kenrick, Coadjutor and Administrator of Philadel- phia ; Purcell of Cincinnati, Chabrat, Coadjutor of Bardstown, Clancy, Coadjutor of Charleston, Brute, Bishop of Vincennes, and Blanc, Bishop of New Orleans. Bishop Du Bois of New York, though urgently entreated by his Metropolitan, declined to attend the Council, though he sent his views in regard to its work.^
After a sermon by Rt. Rev. Francis Patrick Ken- rick, Bishop of Arath, the Council opened. Bishops Chabrat, Clancy, Brute, and Blanc, who had not at- tended any previous council, making their profession of faith.
Bishop Rese of Detroit, who was in Baltimore but did not take part in the Council, on the 15th of April sent to the Metropolitan and the assembled bishops a
' Catholic Almanac, 1839 ; Scharf , Chronicles of Baltimore, p. 497.
2 Rev. F. Roloflf to Archbishop Eccleston, April 6, 1837 ; Rev. H. Myers to same.
3 Archbishop Eccleston to Bishop Du Bois, March 27, 1837.
THIRD PROVINCIAL COUNCIL. 445
letter expressing his wish to resign the see or commit the administration of the diocese to a coadjutor. The Fatliers of tlie Provincial Council accordingly peti- tioned the Holy Father to accept the resignation and to appoint a bishop to govern the diocese. A coad- jutor for the Bishop of New York was also solicited. The Fathers also resolved to petition the Pope to erect episcopal sees at Pittsburg, Nashville, Natchez, and Dubuque.
The decrees of this Council regarded ordinations, the support of aged and infirm priests, the proper employ- ment of money, etc., given for pious uses, the bringing of lawsuits against clergy or religious, the collection of money by priests from other parts without authority, and ecclesiastical music. The use of the ceremonial prepared by Bislioj)s Rosati and Fenwick by direction of the Second Provincial Council, and of the new edition of the Roman Ritual, were enjoined. To make the observance more uniform and easy to be carried out, the Fathers resolved to solicit the Sove- reign Pontiff to dispense with the obligation of keeping Easter Monday and Whitmonday as holidays, and AVednesdays in Advent as fast days.
Pope Gregory XVI. acceded to the requests of the Council in all respects except the case of Rt. Rev. Dr. Rese of Detroit. Three new sees were established, the decrees were confirmed, and the Ritual and Ceremonial were approved.^
After the conclusion of the Council, the Archbishoji of Baltimore with eight of the bishops proceeded to Frederick, Md., where the Church of St. John, erected by the venerable Father John McElroy, was solemnly
' "Concilium Baltimorense Provinciale III., habitum anno 1837," Baltimore, Bait. 1840 ; in " Concilia Provincialia Baltimori habita," Balti- more, 1842, 1851 ; Fasciculus, Rome, 1840, 1841.
446 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
consecrated by the Most Rev. Archbishop Eccleston, who subsequently offered a solemn pontifical mass.^ A solemn mass was offered next day by Bishop Rosati of St. Louis, and sermons were delivered by Bishops England and Purcell and Rev. John Hughes. Seldom
REV. JOHN MCELROY, S.J.
has any church in this country been consecrated with greater pomp. Several of the Fathers of the Council
' The corner-stone was laid March 19, 1833 ; tlie consecration took place April 26, 1887. The altar, crucifixes, and candlesticks were a gift of Very Rev. John Roothaan, General of the Society of Jesus. . Wood- stock Letters, v., p. 110 ; Truth Teller, xv., p. 861.
STATE OF THE DIOCESE. 447
with the Most Rev. Archbishop took part, May 8, in the dedication of the new Carmelite Chapel.'
In a letter to the Association for the Propagation of the Faith the Archbishop estimated the Catholics in Maryland at 70,000 ; in the District of Columbia at 10,000 ; and in Virginia at 9000. They had 61 churches or chapels, eight of them in the diocese of Richmond. Twelve smaller congregations were yet without churches. His clergy numbered 74. The colored people were a field on which he desired to enter, but he wrote: "Far from being able to do what I could wish for the salvation of the unfortunate negroes, I find myself unable to meet the wants of thousands of whites, who, equally deprived of the help of religion, feel their spiritual dereliction all the more keenly." His petit seminaire of St. Charles was still unfinished, lack of means having compelled him to suspend work upon it. On this institution he built many hopes as a means of supplying well-tested students for St. Mary's Seminary. ^
He stimulated the opening of schools, and saw with satisfaction St. Vincent's Female Benevolent School begin at Martinsburg, and a free school at Norfolk, both under Sisters of Charity. An infirmary under their care was soon established at Richmond.
The churches in the capital of the United States were already inadequate for the accommodation of the faithful. Another was projected by Very Rev. William Matthews, for thirty-five years pastor of St. Patrick's. The Archbishop of Baltimore laid the corner-stone of St. Matthews' Church on the 21st of October, 1838. The new church was to be fifty-seven
' Currier, " Carmel in America," p. 205. ^ Annales de la Prop, de la Foi, x., p. 494.
448 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
feet by one hundred and two, and its erection was aided by the liberal contributions of V. Rev. Mr. Matthews. On its completion it was solemnly dedi- cated by Archbishop Eccleston, September 21, 1840. A church at Ellicott's Mills was dedicated in Decem- ber, 1838.'
The debt on the Cathedral was a serious drawback to the prosperity of the diocese, and early in 1839 the Archbishop organized the Cathedral Fund Association in the hope of being able, by appeals to the charitable zeal of the faithful to lighten the burthen.
In August an event occurred, which in the condition of the public mind, poisoned by the prejudices created at Boston and New York, might have proved dis- astrous to the lives and property of Catholics in Baltimore. Miss Olivia Neale, of the ancient Mary- land family which had given to the Church a holy archbishop and so many jpriests and religious of both sexes, entered the community in her youth, and as Sister Isabella had for nearly twenty years worn the garb of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. She had for some time been subject to fits of melancholy, and showed mental alienation. She was not, however, placed under restraint, and went freely to all parts of the house. On Sunday, August 18, she sprang through the kitchen window and rushed out into the street. She soon found refuge in the house of Mr. Wilcox, who notified the Mayor and also the Arch- bishop. By the time Most Rev. Dr. Eccleston reached the convent the streets were thronged by excited groups clamoring for the destruction of the convent. A bigot named Breckenridge had by violent denunci-
' Truth Teller, xiv., p. 349 ; Catholic Herald, vi., p. 316, 413 ; Catho- lic Advocate, iii., p. 385.
THE CARMELITES. 449
ations of Catholics from liis pulpit stirred up a spirit of hostility which now menaced the public peace. The Mayor caused the unfortunate lady to be conveyed to Washington Medical College, and with Judge Worth- ington made a thorough examination of the convent and questioned each religious ; but his assurances did not satisfy the mob. William George Read, an able and eloquent lawyer, with a few brave gentlemen repelled the attack of the rabble. When afterwards questioned before the House of Delegates, "What did you intend doing if the mob had broken into the convent?" he startled them all by his calm reply: "To have died on the threshold ! "
But a few men could not long withstand the in- creasing mob ; the military were ordered out, and by calm and patient ilrmness after three days' guard suc- ceeded in restoring peace and calm. During these terrible hours the Sisters in the Convent were in con- stant terror. Not an eye closed in sleep : all night they knelt before the altar beseeching Our Lord to still the angry tempest and save the misguided men from committing deeds of violence and blood. The best physicians of Baltimore, examining Sister Isabella, agreed that she was out of her mind and had not suffered in any way from want of proper food or care, and showed no sign of ill-treatment ; but un- scrupulous men continued to excite odium against the helpless ladies of the Convent.^
When the fierce passions had somewhat subsided, Archbishop Eccleston on the 31st of August addressed
'Currier: " Carmel in America," Baltimore, 1890, pp. 213, etc. Scharff, " Chronicles of Baltimore," p. 499. Catholic Herald, vii., pp. 277, 331 ; Cross, " Priests' Prisons for Women," Baltimore, 1854. Tlie robbery of the Cathedral, February 10, 1840, is an indication of the evil spirit of the times. Chronicle Bait., p. 501.
450 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
a letter to General S, C. Leakiii, Mayor of the city, thanking him and those who cooperated with him for the protection afforded to the Carmelite Convent. "It is with the deepest grief that I have witnessed those scenes of violence, which you were called on to repel, — scenes but little in accordance with the spirit of the Catholic pilgrims who first landed on our shores, and offered the open hand of fellowship to the perse- cuted of every creed and clime. In Baltimore, espec- ially, I was not prepared to expect them, where the very name of the city reminds us of the Catholic founder of Maryland, one of the earliest and truest friends of civil and religious liberty. Yet it is in this city that we have witnessed a cruel and unmanly
SIGNATURE OF ARCHBISHOP ECCLESTON.
attack upon the reputations and peaceful abode of inoffensive women, many of whom are descended from the first colonists of Maryland, and who, holding still the faith of their fathers, have chosen to enter into a religious community, and divide their time between the practice of p)rayer, self-denial, and the instruction of youth."
On the 1st of September a numerous meeting of Catholics Avas held in Baltimore to devise plans for facilitating and generalizing the means of religious instruction and placing before their fellow-citizens of other creeds facts to remove the mists of prejudice from their minds. Out of this grew the Catholic Tract Society of Baltimore ; the constitution and by-
' Letter of Archbishop Eccleston, Catholic Herald, vii., p. 331.
THE BRECKENRIDGE CASE. 451
laws of which were approved by Archbishop Eccleston, December 9, .and which organized with Rev. John B. Gildea as President, William George Read as Vice President, and Rev. John J. Chanche as head of the Executive Committee. The society continued its work for a time, but like all similar attempts among Cath- olics never grew into a permanent institution.^
Rev. Mr. Breckenridge, in a magazine published full of shameful attacks on the Catholics, charged James L. Maguire, the keeper of the Almshouse, with having at the instigation of a priest entrapped a Ger- man into the institution and kept him conhned as a lunatic. For this he and his publisher were indicted and brought to trial. Although it was shown that the charge was unfounded, that the man came of his own accord and was admitted on a second application, remaining for two days till removed by his family, the court leaned strongly in favor of the minister and the jury failed to agree. Rev. Mr. Breckenridge made no attempt to show that a Catholic priest had taken any part in the whole matter.^
On the 19th of April the Rev. Dr. John Tessier of Saint Sulpice expired at the seminary in Baltimore. Born at Chapelle Blanche, June 20, 1758, he received priest's orders in 1782, and was a professor of theology when the venerable Mr. Nagot prepared to establish a Sulpitian seminary in Baltimore. Rev. Mr. Tessier accompanied him in 1791, and after exercising the min- istry on the eastern shore of Maryland became profes- sor of theology in the seminary, and was active in founding St. Mary's College. On the resignation of
1 " Address of the Editorial Committee of tlie Catholic Tract Society of Baltimore to the Public." Baltimore, 1839.
2 " A Full Report of the Trial of the Rev. Robert J. Breckenridge, on an indictment for libel on James L. Maguire," Baltimore, 1840.
452 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Rev. Mr. Nagot he became Superior, and remained in office till 1829. His profound learning aijd solid judg- ment made him an invaluable counsellor of the Arch- bishop of Baltimore. He died respected for his ser- vices to religion, his piety, charity, and zeal.^
The fourth Provincial Council of Baltimore assem- bled on the 16th of May, 1840, under the Most Rev. Samuel Eccleston, Archbishop of Baltimore, and was attended by Bishops Flaget of Bardstown, Rosati of St. Louis, Fenwick of Boston, Portier of Mobile, Ken- rick of Arath, Administrator of Philadelphia, Purcell of Cincinnati, Blanc of New Orleans, Loras of Du- buque, Miles of Nashville, De la Hailandiere of Vin- cennes, and also by Mgr. Charles Augustus Joseph de Forbin-Janson, Bishop of Nancy and Toul, Primate of Lorraine, whose labors in America induced the Archbishop to invite him to the Council. There were present also Very Rev. Charles P. Montgomery, Pro- vincial of the Dominicans, Very Rev. Joseph Prost, Superior of the Redemptorists, Very Rev..L. R. De- luol and Rev. John J. Chanche of St. Sulpice, theo- gians of the Metropolitan Church.
The decrees adopted were eleven in number. They exhorted the clergy to caution the faithful against the danger of mixed marriages ; enacted that where there were more than one priest attached to a church, only the one named as rector had the power of administer- ing the affairs of the church ; advised bishops by diocesan statutes to regulate the equitable division of perquisites for baptisms, marriages, masses, etc. The fourth canon inculcated the sanctification of the Lord's day, and enjoined preaching and catechism as well as
' N. Y. Catholic Register, i., p. 266 ; Moreau, " Les Prgtres Franpais emigres aux Etats Unis." Paris, 1856, pp. 83-190.
FOURTH PROVINCIAL COUNCIL. 453
frequent warning by the clergy of their flocl^s against places where liquor was sold. They w^ere to witlihokl the sacraments from those who sold liquor on Sunday or encouraged intoxication. Total abstinence societies were to be encouraged, yet the faithful were to be urged not to trust to human strength, but to seek God's aid by prayer and by frequenting the sacraments.
The danger to Catholic youth of public schools where they were designedly trained to accept the Protestant Bible, and were imbued with Protestant prayers, hymns, and prejudices, was pointed out, and the clergy were exhorted to labor earnestly to secure Catholic children a Christian and Catholic education. The rule of the Church forbidding the faithful to enter secret societies bound by oath was to be made known from time to time and enforced. Regulations were made in regard to ecclesiastical property held by bishops. Registers of ordinations and acceptance into the diocese of priests were to be regularly kept. The clergy were exhorted to cultivate the virtues becoming their state, and to avoid all that could give scandal or prove an injury to souls.
Besides the letter to be sent to the Sovereign Pontiff, the Council also drew up a letter of sympathy and encouragement to Mgr. Droste de Vischering, Arch- bishop of Cologne, and Mgr. Dunin, Archbishop of Gnesen and Posen, then suffering persecution for their fidelity to the laws of the Church. The Leopoldine Association was thanked in another letter for its aid to missions in the United States.
The decrees were transmitted to Rome and confirmed by the Sovereign Pontiff on the 22d of November.^
' Concilium Provinciate Baltimorense IV. Letter of Cardinal Fran- soni, Dec. 19, 1840. At this time the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul was transferred to the following Sunday and ceased to be a holiday of obli-
454 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
The pastoral letter of the Council congratulated the faithful on the progress of the Church. Seminaries had increased in number and efRciency ; religious houses, especially of females, had been multix^lied. Churches and asylums were constantly arising ; the sacraments were more generally respected and re- ceived. The hope was exi:)ressed that Massachusetts would yet compensate the victims of the riot in Charlestown. Of the infamous anti-catholic literature that had been poured on the country, the Pastoral said : "The miserable libels have had their day ; their compilers and the unfortunate and degraded instru- ments of their guilt, if not already fallen to their proper level, are fast sinking in the estimation of those whom they sought to delude." But though dishonest attacks were still made on Catholics and their faith, Catholics were urged to bear the persecution patiently, to pray for their enemies, and to avoid all temptation to retaliate. The importance of religious education, now more necessary than ever, was explained and inculcated. The unerring authority of the Church was made clear, while the followers of those who left the Church cannot agree in specifying what they allege to be erroneous, or pretend to be exempt from error in declaring what is true. The questions in regard to the Holy Scriptures were considered. The increase of Catholic seminaries, colleges, and schools was shown to be necessary. The topics of mixed mar- riages and oath-bound secret societies were treated. The Pastoral also entered upon the great elections where calumny, fraud and violence were so freely used,
gation, and the fast on the vigil was also dispensed with. Abstinence on Saturday was also dispensed with for twenty years. " Concilia Pro- vincialia Baltimori habita ab anno 1829, usque ad annum 1840," Balti- more, 1842. Rome, 1840, 1841.
A BISHOP FOR RICHMOND. 455
''and thus what was meant to be a blessing is turned into a curse." The faithful were entreated to avoid the contaminating influence of political strife, and to keep aloof from tlie pestilential atmosphere in which honor, virtue, patriotism and religion perish." Fidelity to their religion and to the means of grace wliich it afforded was commended with persuasive words. ^
Archbishop Eccleston had felt that Virginia would gain by having a bishop appointed to the see of Rich- mond, and the Council recommended Rev. Richard Vincent Whelan, a zealous missioner in that diocese, for Bishop. They advised the erection of a see at Natchez, and proposed Rev. John J. Chanche, Presi- dent of St. Mary's College, for Bishop. As Right Rev. Dr. Rese still remained suspended, Rev. John M. Odin of the Congregation of the Missions was proposed as Coadjutor and Administrator.
Relieved from the care of the Virginia missions. Archbishop Eccleston could devote himself entirely to fostering religion in his native State. The attendance of the Superior of the Redemptorists, Very Rev. Father Prost, at the Provincial Council, soon bore fruit. Circumstances compelled him to visit Baltimore soon afterwards, and the Archbishop immediately ex- pressed to him a desire and intention of transferring to his order the German congregation of St. John's Church. The Redemptorist Superior had made all preparations for a voyage to Europe on important business, but he yielded to the entreaty of Most Rev. Dr. Eccleston. To the joy of the Archbishop the Redemptorists consented to accept the care of the German Catholics in Baltimore. They took possession
' Pastoral of the Fourth Provincial Council, Baltimore, 1840. Catholic Register, i., p 297.
456 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
in August, 1840, and soon found, as tlie last rector had done, that a new church was imperatively required. Land on Saratoga Street was purchased, and plans drawn for a fine large church. The corner-stone was laid on the 1st of May, 1842, by Rev. Joseph Salz- bacher, Canon of St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna, who, with the authority of his superiors in Rome and Vienna, was making a tour of the United States in order to study the actual condition of the German Catholics. The procession moved from the old church with the seminarians from St. Mary's, and soci- eties displaying their banners, and the ceremony was carried out hj the Canon in full accordance with the Ritual. The noble church, 150 feet long and 68 wide, rose steadily under the careful econ- omy of Father Alexander Czwitkowicz, who soon assumed the direction. The German Catholics of Baltimore were reckoned at this time as five thou- sand souls. ^
The Redemptorists thus began their labors in Mary- land, and opened near St. James their house of studies with six pupils.
During the year 1841 the Church of St. Vincent de Paul on Front Street, Baltimore, was dedicated on the 14th of November by the Rt. Rev. John J. Chanche, Bishop of Natchez, and was occupied by the congre- gation which had worshiped in St. James' Church, now transferred to the Germans, whose former church, St. John's, had been abandoned.
In May Archbishop Eccleston had dedicated St. Joseph's Church, Emmitsburg, Rt. Rev. Richard V.
' Salzbacher, " Meine Reise nach Nord-Amerika im Jahre, 1843," Vienna, 1845, ii., pp. 130-1 ; Berichte der Leopoldinen-Stiftung, parfc xvi., p. 16-18 ; Berger, Life of Rt. Rev. John N. Neumann, New York, 1884, p. 245-251. U. S. Cath. Magazine, i., p. 356.
MOTHER ROSE WHITE. 467
AVhelan, Bishop of Richmond, offering a pontifical high mass.
The Church was gaining, moreover, by conversions, the very violence of her enemies leading many thoughtful minds to study her doctrines and her claims. Among others may be mentioned Dr. Ben- jamin Franklin Bache, U. S. JN"., who had been pro- fessor of chemistry in Kenyon College, He was re- ceived into the fold at St. Matthew's Church, Wash- ington, in May,
On the 25th of July expired, at St. John's Orphan Asylum, Frederick, Mother Rose White, the first associate of Mrs. Seton, and on her death elected Superior of the Sisters of Charity. She presided over the community with great ability, and was repeatedly chosen to the high position. She had been active in founding houses of the Sisters in Philadelphia and ]S"ew York, and on retiring from the office of Superior in 1839 took charge of the Orphan Asylum and School at Frederick, Avliere she crowned by a holy death a life devoted in sweetness and charity to the good of her neighbor. '
In the following year the corner-stone of Calvert Hall, an academy for young men, was laid on the site of St. Peter's Church, the pro-cathedral of Archbishop Carroll, reopened years after for the accommodation of the largely increased Catholic flock in the city. The Archbishop officiated on the occasion, and the next day laid the corner-stone of a new church in honor of St. John, at the corner of Park and Saratoga streets.'^
Regretting that nothing was done to honor Leonard Calvert and the pioneers of Maryland, Father James
' Catholic Herald, ix., p. 375 ; lb., p. 172 ; lb., p. 244 ; lb. p. 245. ^ Baltimore Sun, April 30, 1842 ; Catholic Advocate, vii., p. 122.
458 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Ryder had roused the patriotic zeal of the members of the Philodemic Society, which he had founded at Georgetown College. The young men took the sub- ject up zealously, and it was resolved to celebrate in May on the site of the ancient city of St. Mary's, the landing of the Catholic pilgrims of Marjdand. The idea was caught up enthusiastically, and not only the College society with many persons from Georgetown, Washington, and Alexandria embarked on steamers
REV. JAMES RYDER.
for the cradle of Maryland, but from Baltimore and other points on the Chesapeake came numerous dele- gations, headed by the Calvert Beneficial Society. George Washington Parke Custis, stepson of George Washington, Hon. William Cost Johnson, Hon. John P. Kennedy, the Mayor of Washington, and other dignitaries came to witness the celebration on the lOtli of May. The services began with a pontifical high mass celebrated in the venerable church of St. Inigoe's
THE PILGRIMS OF MARYLAND. 459
by the Most Reverend Archbishop of Baltimore, after which the Rt. Rev. Benedict J. Fenwick of Boston, himself a descendant of the pilgrims, addressed them in eloquent words inspired by the scene. Then the Avhole assemblage proceeded to the site of the original settlement and capital of Maryland. The shores of the beautiful harbor, so long given over to silence and neglect, were suddenly enlivened by a vast concourse of thousands, many descendants of the original settlers, gathered from St. Mary's and Charles counties, filled with enthusiasm by the glorious memories of the past. After a j)rayer by Rev. James Ryder, President of Georgetown Col- lege, William George Read, Esq., of Baltimore, pro- nounced a discourse, which had been regarded as a masterpiece.^
Enthusiasm was awakened. The next year the Landing of the Pilgrims was celebrated in Baltimore, in Emmitsburg, and even in Philadelphia. The anni- versary was observed for several years, the Philodemic Society on several occasions celebrating the day on the venerated site of St. Mary's, near the old mulberry tree and the ruined wall which alone recalled the past.^
On the 14th of May, 1843, Baltimore again beheld nearly the whole episcopate assemble within the ven- erable w^alls of the Cathedral to hold the fifth Provin-
' " Oration delivered at the First Commemoration of the Landing of the Pilgrims of Maryland, celebrated May 10, 1842, under the auspices of the Philodemic Society of Georgetown College, by William George Read." Baltimore. U. S. Catholic Magazine, i., p. 357; Notes of Bishop Fenwick.
'^ Discourses by W. G. Read, Rev. P. Corry, Hon. John C. Legrand, 1843; James McSherry, George H. Miles, 1847; F. J. Nelson, 1848; Z. Collins Lee, 1849 ; Joseph R. Chandler, 1855, and others.
460 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
cial Council. The gradually increasing number of bishops, the jDresence of several heads of religious orders, the grandeur of the ceremonial all combined to impress beholders with the material and moral prog- ress of the Catholic body in the United States. Around the Archbishop of Baltimore now gathered the Bishops of Boston, Mobile, Philadelphia, Cincin- nati, New Orleans, Dubuque, New York, Nashville, Vincennes, Natchez, and Richmond ; the Coadjutor Bishops of Louisville, St. Louis, and Detroit, the Administrator of Charleston and the Vicar Apostolic of the neighboring republic of Texas. The venerable form of Bishop Flaget of Louisville, now bending under the weight of years," was no longer to be seen, and the Bishop of St. Louis had been summoned to Europe. The Superiors of the Sulpitians, Lazarists, Jesuits, and Augustinians were in attendance. One decree concerned the holding of ecclesiastical prop- erty to suit the various and varying laws of the States. Another prohibited the use of any church for discourses by laymen; a third declared any person divorced by state law, who remarried, excommunicated ipso facto ; the fourth decided that the Decree "Tametsi" of the Council of Trent was limited in the diocese of Detroit to the city ; the decree of that council as to residence of pastors was to be enforced. The sixth forbid rash incurring of debt in building or enlarging churches ; the seventh required keeping of books in every church and forbid the mingling of church and private funds. The Ritual as prepared by Bishop Rosati was approved ; and the recently estab- lished Tract Societies Avere commended. The ninth made the erection and the use of confessionals obli- gatory, and the eleventh urged on the clergy the necessity of prompt and continual attendance on
FIFTH BALTIMORE COUNCIL. 461
the sick to afford them all the consolations of religion. ^
The letter of the Council to the Sovereign Pontiff mentioned as a sign of progress that forty-three churches had been erected in a single diocese within three or four years. The missions to the Indians in the Rocky Mountains were extending, and a mission had been undertaken in Liberia. The attacks on Catholics and their doctrine, the misrepresentations and constant effort to seduce the uneducated were noted, as well as the attempt to hold them up as dis- loyal to the republic. The Fathers of the Council solicited the erection of sees at Hartford, Chicago, Little Rock, Milwaukee, and Oregon. They also pro- posed candidates for the see of Charleston and as coadjutors of Boston and New York.
The decrees of the Council were confirmed by Pope Gregory XVI. September 24, 1843. The pastoral let- ter bore on the subjects discussed in the council.'^
Although St. John's Church had been succeeded by a church dedicated to St. Al^ihonsus, and St. Peter's by Calvert Hall, new churches, bearing names around which so many pious associations clustered, were soon erected.^
' Concilium Provinciale Baltimorense V. habitum anno 1843." Balti- more, 1844. U. S. Catholic Magazine, ii., p. 376. Catholic Herald, xii., p. 76.
* " Pastoral Letter of the Most Rev. Archbishop. . . . and Bishops, .... assembled in Provincial Council in May, 1843." Balti- more.
^U. S. Catholic Magazine, ii., pp. 121-637 ; Scharf, Chronicle of Bal- timore, p. 508.
CHAPTER III.
DIOCESE OF BOSTON. . ET. REV. BENEDICT J. FENWICK, SECOND BISHOP, 1829-1843.
Returning from the first Provincial Council, Bishop Fenwick, who had visited Georgetown and Enimitsbiirg, was encouraged by the offer at Mount St. Mary's of five seminarians, to labor in his diocese, whom he had gladly accepted. By the 10th of Novem- ber he was at Providence in his own diocese, and pro- ceeded to Boston, after admiring tlie neat and attrac- tive church at Pawtucket. It was dedicated on Christ- mas day. When the year closed he had the consola- tion of seeing that schools for Catholic children had been established at Craigie's Point, Lowell, Hartford, and Charlestown.
Early in the next year came tidings that notices had been posted in Portland, Maine, calling on the Catho- lic body to organize and elect trustees. This attempt to create trouble the Bishop promptly suppressed, through the exertions of Rev. T. O' Flaherty, whom he soon after made his Vicar-General.
The little cemetery at St. Augustine's chapel no longer sufficed for the Catholics of Boston. Bishop Fenwick accordingly purchased three acres of ground on Bunker Hill for the purpose. The latent hostility to Catholicity was aroused, and before the close of January the stable on the convent grounds, in Charles- town, was set on fire and destroyed.^ The selectmen of Charlestown, finding that this did not deter the
' Bishop Fenwick, " Memoranda"; Truth Teller, v., p. 390, vi., p. 5.
462
HOSTILE INDICATIONS. 463
Catliolics,^ raised obstacles to the use of the ground, as a cemetery, and passed by-laws to prevent them from using it for that i)urpose.
Bishop Fenwick disregarded their ordinance, in order to bring the matter into the court, but the select- men preferred to begin by petitioning the Legislature to pass an act to prevent the Catholics from burying their dead there. The incidents betoken only too clearly the hostility of the authorities of Charlestown, and help us to understand the fatal results w^liich ensued. The case was ultimately decided by the courts against the selectmen. The faith was spread- ing, however ; the church at New Bedford was dedi- cated ; a hundred and thirty Catholics at Wallingford asked for a resident priest ; material was prepared for a church at Sandwich; a new paper, ''The Catholic Expostulator," appeared, edited by the bishop and his clergy.
In March, Bishop Fenwick issued a pastoral letter proclaiming the Jubilee granted by the Sovereign Pontiff, and began a series of exercises in the Cathe- dral to prepare his flock to profit by the means of grace. He was consoled to see 2178 approach the sacraments. After administering confirmation at Pentecost to a large nnmber, he visited Hartford in Jane, where Rev. Mr. Cavanagh had completed a church, 60 feet by 48, with a fine organ and suitable sacristies. It stood on a valuable lot, and with its towering steeple was highly creditable to the priest and his people. The church was dedicated to the Holy Trinity on the 17th of June, Demonte's mass being well executed, though the organist was a girl only thirteen years of age.^ He then proceeded to
' Bishop Fenwick, " Memoranda"; Truth Teller, v., p. 229 ; Jesuit, i., p. 348. The report of the case will be found in Jesuit, v., p. 350-
464 THE CHURCH IK THE UNITED STATES.
Dudley, a place that could then number only fifteen Catholics, but he said mass for them in Mr. Price's parlor, and on Sunday evening by invitation preached to a Protestant congregation. Sandwich had seventy Catholics, who had selected a site and were ready to build a church. Visiting the town the Bishop was pleased with the lot, and setting up an altar in the house of Mr. Doyle, encouraged the little flock to persevere in their pious undertaking. Stimulated by the examples around them the faithful at Taunton asked permission to undertake a church. Bishop Fen- wick with great judgment permitting no rash or improvident action, but examining the site proposed, and weighing the resources of each congregation, lest they should undertake anything beyond their means.
About this time Bishop Fenwick received into his diocese a remarkable and eccentric priest, whose strict ideas on the subject of usury had involved him in difficulty with his bishop in Ireland, and whose case had been considered at Rome. This was the Rev. Jermiah O'Callaghan. After preaching in Irish in the Cathedral, this clergyman proceeded in July, 1830, to the Vermont missions to which he had been assigned. He began his labors at Mr. Sherlock's in Wallingford. He ministered zealously and efficiently for many years, in Vermont, relieving the monotony of his severe duties in that mountain State by occasionally issuing works against usury, pew rents, or other points that seemed to him abuses, with an occasional controversy with some enemy of the church.
In the summer the Bishop was at Lowell, where a great manufacturing company gave a site for a church,
' Bishop Fenwick, " Memoranda." O'Callaghan, " Usury, Funds, and Banking. Monopoly Forestalling Trafflck. Gallican Liberties. Graves, Anatomy" ; 5th edition, New York, 1856, pp. 88-91.
VERMONT. 465
and the four hundred Catholics employed in the thriv- ing mills opened a subscription to erect one. Mean- while each priest from his station was giving Jubilee exercises, and thus calling the tepid around the altar. From all sides came reports of increasing numbers, and though the Bishop was receiving new candidates and ordaining those who had completed their course, he could not meet all the calls made on him. Rev. Mr. O'Callaghan had canvassed Vermont and reported that there were a thousand Catholics within its bor- ders. He had already obtained a lot of land on which to erect the first Catholic church. Bishop Fenwick, in September, dedicated the new churches at Sandwich and Dover, the latter a neat gothic structure, fifty feet by thirty-six. He next visited Portland, Saco, and Lowell, doing missionary duty and giving confirma- tion. Then he crossed the mountains to Vermont. At Vergennes, where Rev. J. O'Callaghan resided, he offered the holy sacrifice at the house of Mrs. Nichols, a convert, preached in French and English to a con- gregation of seventy or eighty, and confirmed six. Mrs. Nichols, full of zeal for God's glory, offered the Bishop some proj)erty which she had inherited in Connecticut, to provide means to erect a church. At Burlington he officiated in Howard's long room, which was filled to overflowing. Here he learned that Mr. Archibald Hyde, a Protestant lawyer, had already sent him a deed of five acres near the college as a donation to the Catholic cause. This gentleman, though he did not become a Catholic for several years, was the steadfast and valuable friend of the church, testified in many ways. Bishop Fenwick then set out for Claremont, New Hampshire, where he officiated in the little chapel, but found the rest of Rev. Virgil Barber's buildings let out to tenants and in wretched condition.
466 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
On his way to Boston on the 20th of December the stage was overturned, and he was extricated from a back seat completely soaked, but had to travel all day in his wet clothes.
The diocese, at the close- of 1830, showed progress. At the Cathedral in Boston were the Bishop, Rev, Messrs. O' Flaherty, Wiley, and Tyler. The baptisms were 476, marriages 92, conversions 60. Charlestown had been detached from the Cathedral and had its resident pastor, Rev. Mr. Byrne. The Ursuline Con- vent had 64 boarding pupils. The Church had its advocates in "The Jesuit" and "The Catholic Press." It was great gain in those days that of the six New England States comprised in the diocese, there was not one but had at least one Catholic church and one priest.^
The conduct of a designing- girl named Rebecca Reed, who had been received into the Church at Charlestown, and affecting great piety applied to the Ursuline Nuns, and was admitted for a six months term as a probationer, added to the prejudice against the Catholic Church, for, before the close of the term, she abruptly left the convent on the 18th of January, 1832, and began to circulate stories against the ladies who had opened their house to her.
Rev. Lyman Beecher, a Congregationalist clergy- man of influence, but most unscrupulous, began to lecture, furiously assailing the Catholic Church, and highly inflaming the public mind. Bishop Fenwick felt it necessary to reply in a series of lectures, during the winter of 1830-31. Though the streets were impeded by a heavy fall of snow,
'Bishop Fenwick, " Memoranda" ; Jesuit, i., p. 334, 348, 361 ; U. S. Cath. Miscellany. Annales de la Propagation de la Foi, v., p. 437.
LECTURES IN DEFENSE. 467
rendering walking and travel difficult, the Cathe- dral was thronged with Protestants. Bishop Fen- wick's first lecture was devoted to the nature and character of the Catholic Church, as a prelude to a discussion of its principles and tendency. These lec- tures, giving a true exposition of Catholic faith, and ultimately exposing the fallacy of the Protestant claim of founding their doctrines on the Scrij^tures and private judgment, as well as on the character of the Reformers as depicted by each other, comx)elled Beecher to withdraw from the field. Unfortunately, the lectures reached the intelligent and liberal minded rather than the class steeped in ignorance and preju- dice who most sorely needed light. ^ There is an indi- cation that some, at least, rose above these follies and superstitions in the fact that a fine vessel was launched at Boston which was named "The Sove- reign Pontiff," and bore at the bow a bust of Pope Gregory XYI., the work of a carver named Beecher.^
The next year Bisliop Fenwick undertook to erect a second church in Boston, and, after overcoming some discontented feeling, interested his people thoroughly; he also enlarged the little chapel of St. Augustine ; dedicated the church at Waltham and St. Patrick's Church at Lowell, the church at Salem, and stimulated Rev. Jeremiah O'Callaghan to begin a church at Bur- lington.
Among the conversions of the year was the remark- able one of Theodore A. Gough of Bedford, New Hampshire. A plain, intelligent man, prudent, moral, and discreet, he had begun to read Catholic
' U. S. Cath. Miscellany, x., pp. 255^04. Truth Teller, vii., p. 38. See U. S. Cath. Intelligencer, lii. , p. 303, in reply to the Christian Reg- ister.
'Jesuit, iv., p. 45.
468 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
books, and the whole system seemed to him, guided by grace, so consonant to reason and scripture, that he continued till he was thoroughly instructed in the doctrines of the Catholic Church. He imbued his wife and children witli the faith which he had embraced, and came to Bishop) Fen wick in Boston. He had never been in a Catholic church till November 15, 1831, when he was baptized, with his family.^
At the close of 1831 Bishop Fenwick estimated the Catholic population of Boston, on the basis of bap- tisms, at from ten to thirteen thousand. The Congre- gation de Propaganda Fide, which had requested a report on the state of his diocese, expressed great pleasure on receiving it.
One of his great desires had been to place a free school in Boston under the care of the Sisters of Charity from Emmitsburg. His application had been favorably entertained, and Sister Ann Alexis, whose life work was to be identified with Boston, Sister Blan- dina, and Sister Loyola were selected, and reached the city on the 2d of May, and were installed in a house on Hamilton Street which had been hired and fitted up for them. In a few days Boston witnessed 250 chil- dren march in procession from the Sisters' house to the Cathedral. The school thus opened soon increased in the number of pupils.
In July the Bishop visited his flock in Maine, of- ficiating at Newcastle, in the new church of the Indians at Old Town, and in the old church at White- field, which he urged the congregation to replace by a becoming brick structure. Soon after his return from a visitation to Hartford the Asiatic cholera appeared
'Bishop Fenwick, "Memoranda"; U. S. Cath. Miscellany, xi., pp. 6, 14, 31; X., pp. 38, 102, 119, etc.
BURLINGTON. 469
in Boston, on the 15th of August, and its ravages taxed all the energies of the clergy. Bishop Fenwick continued his visitations, acting the part of a mis- sionary in many places ; he conhrmed at Salem, dedi- cated the fine church at Burlington, due in a great degree to the influence and taste of Col. Hyde, Cath- olics coming from thirty and forty miles around to witness the opening of St. Mary's Church on the feast of her Holy Name. Here a great Canadian priest, Very Rev. P. M. Migneault of Chambly, aided, as on many other occasions, addressing his countrymen in French. Bishop Fenwick soon after dedicated the church which the Catholics of Taunton, though few and poor, had erected.
The free school under the Sisters had increased so that it became necessary to provide for them on Sun- days, and to his great consolation the Bishop, on the 14th of October, dedicated a chapel for their use in the Cathedral basement, to St.Aloysius, patron of scholars.^
Two projects occupied his mind before the close of 1832 ; one was the establishment of a Catholic Orphan Asylum, absolutely required to shelter the many left fatherless by the cholera ; the other was the erection of a monument in honor of Father Sebastian Rale, S. J., who was put to death near his chapel at the Indian town of Norridgewock, Maine, August 28, 1724. To carry out his pious wish. Bishop Fenwick purchased the site of the chapel and mission cross beside which the undaunted missionary fell.^ In the
• Annales de la Propagation de la Foi, vi., p. 255. Catholic Intelli- gencer, iii., pp. 197, 246, 308-349, 412. Telegraph, Cincinnati, i., p. 239.
2 Bishop Fenwick, " Memoranda." Catholic Intelligencer, iii., pp. 44, 197, 246, 287, 308, 342, 412 ; Cincinnati Telegraph, i., pp. 239, 407 ; ii., p. 135, 359, 374 ; U. S. Cath. Miscellany, x., p. 319 ; xi., pp. 14, 31 ; xii., p. 142.
470 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
course of the next year Bishop Fenwick heard that tlie missionary's strong-box was preserved in the Waldron family, and finally succeeded in being able to see and examine it at Portsmouth, N. H. He describes it as "a box of ordinary size, covered on every side with copper, curiously wrought. There was his ink-stand, sand-box, the place for his pens and paper, and sundry other little apartments. But what was remarkable in it, was a secret drawer in which he kept his papers of a confidential nature, and which no one could open who was not let into the secret."
Bishop Fenwick had a monument prepared with a suitable inscription, and on the 22d of August, 1833, proceeded to the site of the ancient Abenaki village. The plot acquired covered the site of the missionary's chapel, sacristy, and house, and the monument Avas to be erected on the anniversary of his death. The Rev. C. D. Ffrench came from Portland, and Rev. Mr, Conway from the Penobscot with a delegation from the tribe. These soon reared a temporary altar, shielded by a bower of branches, and a leafy sacristy near. The Rev, Father Ffrench then proceeded to offer the holy sacrifice for the repose of the souls of the faithful who fell beside their devoted pastor, A number of Catholics gathered to join in the pious ceremony, but hosts came, to the number of more than four thousand, led by curiosity. They gathered around the celebrant so that it Avas almost impossible to continue the mass. At the gospel Bishop Fenwick, from a temporary platform, addressed those present for about an hour, taking as his text : " The memory of him shall not depart away and his name shall be in request from generation to generation," Ecclus, xxxix, 13. He was heard with great attention, and at the
FATHER RALE'S MONUMENT.
471
close of his address he directed the Avorkmen to pro- ceed to raise the shaft of the monument ; the base, two massive blocks of granite, being already in position. This was slowly effected, and the monument stood forth over the very spot where the missionary was buried, and which his altar had occupied. A cross of wrought iron surmounted the obelisk, which, stand-
VIEW OP FATHER KALE'S MONUMENT, ERECTED BY BISHOP FENWICK.
ing near the winding river, was visible at a great dis- tance. This monument did not remain long a con- spicuous feature in the landscape ; it was thrown down about two years afterwards, but, though replaced in position by some citizens of Norridgewock, again became the sport of long enduring hostility.^
^ Jesuit, iv., p. 143 ; letter of Rev. George Fenwick, S.J., Catholic
472 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
While in Maine Bishop Fenwick dedicated the church in Portland, a creditable building, with a good organ, erected by the little flock of 250 Catholics. He also selected a site for a church at Bangor and visited Indian Old Town. He had come to the conclusion that it would be difficult to preserve the faith of this Indian portion of his diocese, unless he could interest some religious community to undertake the charge. He had accordingly applied to the Picpus Fathers, and early in September was able to announce to the Penobscots and Passamaquoddies that Fathers Petit- liomme and Demillier had arrived.
During the year the Bishop made visitations in the southern part of his diocese, encouraged by the prog- ress everywhere visible ; while, from Vermont, he heard of increasing congregations at Swanton, Fair- field, and St. Albans. In the autumn he was called away to attend the second Provincial Council of Baltimore.
One of BishoiD Fenwick' s plans was to secure a large tract of land, and open it to Catholics, in hopes of drawing many from the temptations of cities, and enabling them to secure comparative independence as farmers. Maine seemed to him to offer the greatest advantages, and he was on the alert to secure a town- ship for the purpose. He advertised in 1833 for per- sons willing to take up lands, at not more than a dollar and a half an acre. He finally secured Town- ship No. 2, Fifth Range, sixty-nine miles from Bangor, and made the attempt at Catholic colonization in July, 1834.
In that year Bishop Fenwick purchased lots on
Telegraph, ii., p. 74. Allen, "The History of Norridgewock," Nor- ridgewock, 1849, p. 47. It was overthrown, Aug. 6, 1836. Pilot, Aug. 20, Sept 10, 1836. Annales de la Propagation de la Foi, vi., p. 273.
URSULINE CONVENT. 473
Pond Street, Boston, and began the erection of another church which was actively prosecuted. In May he dedicated the beautifully located Gothic structure, Christ's Church, New Haven, reared there through the zeal of the Rev. Mr. McDermott, but the ceremony of joy was turned into one of sadness by the sudden giving way of a gallery, causing the death of two, both converts, and wounding others. Calvin White, once a minister, had embraced the faith and resided on a little farm, helping to spread the faith by his instructions and by his edifying life.^ Progress was evident on all sides. The new church at White- field, Maine, was nearly completed ; another was begun at Newport ; while the Catholics at Bangor, Point Pleasant, Worcester, and Newport were prepar- ing to erect houses of worship.
While the church and the true faith were steadily gaining ground in New England, giving just offense to none, interfering with no rights of others, an inci- dent occurred, which, though trifling in itself, led to one of the greatest calamities in our history, the destruction of the Ursuline Convent. One of the ladies of tliis institution, Sister Mary John (Harrison), holding a high position in the community as a teacher of music, had been overworked, esj)ecially in preparing pupils for the exhibition day of the academy. She was finally prostrated, and in her delirium left her bed and ran from the convent to the house of a neighbor, Mr. Runey, on the 28th of July, and asked to be taken to the residence of Mr. Cutter, whose daughters had been her pupils. Word was sent to Bishop Fenwick, who drove to Mr. Cutter's house and endeavored to
* Jesuit, v., p. 158. Weekly Register, ii., p. 79. As to White, see Fin- otti, Bibliotheca Cath.. p. 261; Tuttle, Hist, of the Presbyterian Church, Madison, N. J., 1855 ; Historical Collections of N. Jersey, 1844, p. 380.
474 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
persuade her to return to the convent. Failing to see her, he called on her brother, Mr. Thomas Harrison, who lived in Boston, and they found her evidently deranged, but succeeded in persuading her to return to the institution. A physician was summoned, and under his treatment reason soon returned, and her health began to recover. She was deeply afflicted on learning all that she had done. Rumors were indus- triously spread by malicious persons and even circu- lated by the press, especially the " Mercantile Jour- nal," that Miss Harrison was detained in the convent against her will and even subjected to harsh treatment. On the night of the 9th of August a number of evil-dis- posed men of the dregs of society assembled around the convent between nine and ten o'clock, led by two of the Cutter family. After shouting: "Down with the Convent ! Down with the nuns ! " they inquired for the Superior and demanded to see Miss Harrison, in order to learn from her own lips whether she was detained against her consent in the house. The Superior and Sister Mary John ajDpeared, and the latter assured them that she was not detained but could go when she liked. The Messrs. Cutter then, perfectly satisfied, endeavored to undeceive the mob ; Mr. Edward Cutter made a statement to that effect, and even the selectmen of Charlestow^n made a similar statement, both being printed in the public papers, but they were given and printed too late to do any good.^
In view of the menaces of a mob, and of the j)lacards and means employed to excite the most depraved part of the community, it may seem strange that the Bishop and Catholics generally made no call on the authorities
' They are given in Jesuit, v., p. 262.
THE CONVENT ATTACKED. 475
to protect the nuns and their property from insult and violence. But it should be remembered that though, up to that time, Catholics had frequently seen and heard themselves and their religion assailed with the coarsest virulence, no actual violence had been offered them, and they believed defenseless ladies as safe in their home under the protection of the laws of the great State of Massachusetts, as though they had been surrounded by the serried ranks of the bravest soldiery. They placed implicit reliance on the honor, the good faith, and the power of the Commonwealth of Massa- chusetts, to protect all within her limits. Even when Bishop Fen wick received intelligence- that the convent was to be attacked he could not credit it, but treated it as an idle rumor. Boston gentlemen who had daughters in the convent seemed lulled into similar confidence, and left their loved children at the mercy of a vile mob.
But bigotry was rousing the deej^est fanaticism regardless of the lives of the religious ladies or of the fifty-five young ladies under their care, chiefly of the best families of the State. Inflammatory sermons were preached in the neighboring towns and in some churches in Boston, especially in the Baptist church in Hanover Street. Lyman Beecher on the preceding Sunday preached no fewer than three sermons denounc- ing the Catholic church. Meetings were held in the schoolhouse at Charlestown to organize the work of destruction.
But when all had retired to rest the mob came, unchecked by any authority. As it crossed Charles- town bridge its roar of rage and hate reached the con- vent. Nearer and nearer came the tramp of men till another shout rose on their very grounds. Not an officer, not a man was there to protect defenseless
476 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
women and children, who, roused from their beds, dressed in haste. Musket shots, a pupil used after- wards to tell, rang out, followed by cries to the Supe- rior to bring out her jDrisoners. Then the door was broken in, and the mob entered, bearing with them, against their will as they declared, two of the selectmen of Charlestown, Runey and Hooper.^ The Superior had roused and sent oif her community and pupils. She was endeavoring to reach her room and desk when the ruffians burst in. She retreated up the stairs and at the head of the staircase faced the mob. Musket balls whistled by her, the same pupil avers. She was drawn back by her sisters, and the rioters held all the lower part of the house. The fences and outhouses were soon used to light up vast bonfires with the aid of tar barrels and combustibles brought in cars. These by their blaze drew the firemen of Charlestown to the scene, only to retire and leave the convent at the mercy of the mob. Casks of liquor were then brought and opened, and the frenzied mob proceeded to their work of plunder and incendiarism. The Superior, Mother St. George, at last seeing no hope of succor, gathered her sisters and pupils and left the building, halting at the tomb of the dead. There the Superior saw the flames darting from every portion of the convent after the work of destruction within had been completed. Then, with those confided to her, she sought refuge in neighboring houses.
Meanwhile the mob had ransacked every room in the building, rifling every drawer, desk, and trunk, breaking up and destroying the furniture and musical
' Runey's account in Bunker Hill Aurora, and Mother St. George's reply; Jesuit, v., p. 367. These men saw and spoke to several of the mob, were able to identify them, but neither was called as a witness at any of the trials.
ITS DESTRUCTION.
All
instruments. Tlien they prepared for the conflagra- tion, jjlacing in the centre of several rooms broken furniture, books, and other combustible materials. On the pile first kindled the Bible was cast with shouts of exultation. All the chapel furniture was, with similar derision, committed to the flames. When the convent was a sheet of fire, the lodge where Bishop
BUINS OP THE UKSULINE CONTENT, CHARLESTOWN.
(From a print of the time.)
Fenwick was accustomed to stay was similarly de- stroyed, with its library, after a mock auction had been held on it. The farm-house shared the same fate.
When all that was destructible had yielded to their violence, the mob drew up to behold the flames com- plete the work, and as the fire died away they with- drew exultant, unchecked, unhampered, unpursued.
A number of fire engines stood idle, the firemen
478 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
looking on, and, though the canal ran within a few- hundred yards, not throwing a single drop on the flaming buildings, "I was completely thunder- struck," says one, who was attracted to the spot by the noise and glare, "to see a building of brick as large as Franklin building in front, with two wings in rear, half the size of the front, an elegant chapel or school, another large building, covered completely with a running vine, large outbuildings, and about forty cords of wood all on fire at once, and a dancing and infuriated assembly of men throwing the furniture into the flames. I confess it reminded me of the worst days of revolutionary France. After I arrived they fired several small buildings, which, I presume, were wash-house, storehouse, wood-house, etc."^
To the Catholic heart the greatest grief was the profanation attending the awful scene. So complete was the confidence that the Blessed Sacrament had been left in the chapel. The ciborium with the Body^ of our Lord was taken out of the tabernacle and after- wards found, with a few of the hosts. It was asserted at the time that Creasy, one of the ruffians, after boast- ing that he had consecrated wafers in his possession,, cut his throat in a low den in Boston.
The mob did not spare even the graves of the dead.. The coffins were torn open and the bodies exposed.
The work of destruction was accomplished by sixty or seventy ruffians, whom a dozen resolute men could have routed ; but the magistrates and engineers of tlie^ fire companies made no effort to check the rioters. Mount St. Benedict was undoubtedly the finest aca- demy for young ladies in the State, and with its.
' Benjamin Hawkes, Jr., to Mr. B. Hawkes, Jr., Aug. 12, 1834, noon; Aug. 14 : I owe these letters to Rev. Thomas A. Reid, S.J.
THE BOSTON COMMITTEE. 47&
furniture, library, musical instruments, and the cloth- ing of the inmates represented a value of at least fifty thousand dollars, a large amount for those days.
Boston was startled in the morning by the report of the destruction of the Charlestown convent. Bishop Fenvvick, overwhelmed with grief and shame that such a crime could have been jDerpetrated in an American State, sent carriages to collect the religious and their pupils, scattered in the houses of Charlestown. Even then the rioters and their abettors held full sway, un- checked by the legal authorities. The carriages and stages were hooted by the ruffians carrying spoils from the convent, and tauntingly offering the inmates jewelry and trinkets which they had stolen. The pupils were conveyed promptly to their homes ; the Ursuline nuns, Mother St. Henry dying of consump- tion, were taken to the house of the Sisters of Charity in Hamilton Street, Boston. There they entered in absolute destitution, having saved nothing but the clothes they wore.^
In the first impulse of honest indignation and shame a meeting was called at Faneuil Hall, at which Theo- dore Lyman, Esq., Mayor of Boston, i)resided. Col. Quincy and Hon. Harrison Gray Otis addressed the citizens, and resolutions were adopted in which the attack on the convent was declared to be a base and
' Bishop Fenwick, " Memoranda "; Annales de la Prop, de la Foi, viii., p. 182; Berichte der Leopoldinen-Stiftung, xi., p. 44. "Report of the Committee Relating to the Destruction of the Ursuline Convent," Bos- ton. 1834 ; " The Charlestown Convent : Its Destruction by a Mob," etc. ,. Boston, 1870, p. 23; "The Burning of the Convent," Boston, 1877, pp. 102-181. Jesuit, v., p. 262, etc. Account from Mrs. Hale's Maga- zine, lb., p. 294; Letter of Miss Alden, p. 317. "Documents relat- ing to the Imposture of Rebecca T. Reed and the burning of the Ursu-^ line Convent at Charlestown, Mass.," in Bishop England's works, v.^ pp. 232-347.
480 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
cowardly act, and all testified their abhorrence of " this high-handed violation of the laws." The mayor was requested to api^oint a committee to investigate the whole affair, and to consider the expediency of pro- viding funds to repair the damage done the convent. A meeting held at Cambridge, on the 13th, expressed similar feelings.^
As the news spread Irish Catholic laborers employed on railroads came pouring into Boston, bent on aveng- ing the insult, and Bishop Fenwick sent his clergy to dissuade them from any attempt at retaliation. On the other hand, crowds gathered menacing the cathe- dral and other Catholic property in Boston, and the house of the Sisters of Charity. This continued for several days, though the Bishop addressed the Catholics in the cathedral for half an hour, exhorting them to leave all defensive action to the city authorities.
In view of the dangerous position of affairs, the infantry of the Third Brigade, Col. Prescott, were called out and kept under arms, supplied with ball- cartridges, and respectable citizens prepared to support the authorities. The mayor issued a notice requesting parents and others to keep boys and young men out of the streets at night. The excitement continued during the week,- but on Sunday Bishop Fenwick preached twice, showing his flock that all ideas of retaliating the wrong done them were totally at variance with their duty as Catholic Christians.
At the time of the destruction of the convent the community consisted of Rev. Mother Mary Anne Ur- sula St. George Moffatt, Superior, with five choir and
' The resolutions were transmitted to Bishop Fenwick by the venerable Judge Joseph Story.
-Division order, John S. Tyler, Maj.-Gen., Aug. 12, 1834; O. H. Sumner to Mayor, Aug. 15 ; Notices of Mayor, Aug. 13, 14.
ITS REPORT. 481
two lay Sisters and two novices. One of the choir nuns, Sister St. Hemy, was sinking rapidly from the fright and exposure. The first thought of the Bishop and Superior was to find a house suitable for their use, and in which the academy might be reopened. It was found, however, to be impossible to hire a house in or near Boston.
The committee appointed at Faneuil Hall made a report, showing the groundlessness of the charges spread against the nuns, by Avhich unscrupulous men fomented the evil passions to accomplish the work of destruction. This report was drawn up by Charles G. Loring and signed by him as chairman. The names and weight of the committee did something to disabuse a few of those who had been misled, but many would not yield to its testimony.^ Meanwhile Governor Davis had issued a proclamation offering a reward for the detection of the offenders ; a number were arrested and committed, and preparations were made to bi'ing them to trial, some on the capital charge of arson.
It was October before the Ursulines could obtain a house, but they finally secured the Brinley place at Roxbury, put at their disposal by Gen. Dearborn, the owner, and removing to it prepared to reopen their academy. Here Sister St. Henry, the choir novice, who had been rapidly sinking, expired on the 18th of October, in her 20th year. Her death, though perhaps not directly intended by the mob or its instigators, was so clearly a result of their unchristian work that the sympathy was general. The funeral was attended by many Protestants, the numbers swelling to thousands.
' Report of the committee, relating to the destruction of the Ursuline Convent. Boston, 1834; under "Documents relating to the Ursuline Convent, Charlestown," Boston, 1842.
482 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Waylen, an Episcopal minister, witnessed the funeral and describes it toucliingly in his Ecclesiastical Reminiscences of the United States.^
The trial of John R. Buzzell, Prescott P, Pond, William Mason, Marvin Marcy, Sargeant Blaisdell, Isaac Parker, and Alvah Kelly began in the Supreme Judicial Court of East Cambridge on the 2d of Decem- ber. It soon became apparent that the State took no means to secure a conviction. The proof of arson was entirely wanting. No witnesses were called to identify any one of the persons with a conflagration witnessed by at least a thousand. The evidence against Buzzell was clear and distinct, but counsel for the defense appealed to the prejudices of the jury by cross-examin- ing Catholic witnesses as to their religion. The argu- ment of the Attorney-General, James T. Austin, pre- sented the evidence strongly, but Judge Shaw charged that arson could not be sustained, as the inmates left the building before the fire ; but submitted it to the jury whether Buzzell committed burglary armed with a dangerous weapon. The jury returned a verdict of " Not Guilty," and the farce of a trial ended. It was laid down as Massachusetts law that it was not arson to set lire to a house after driving the occupants out, and that a man could not be convicted of burglary unless the State proved him to have had a dangerous, weapon.^
A mob received Buzzell with cheers and carried him in triumph through the city. The trial of Mason,
1 New York. 1846, pp. 19-22. Jesuit, v., p., 345; R. P. Fay to Mayor Lyman, Oct. 4, 1834, inclosing Mother St. George's letter, Oct. 3.
* "Trial of the persons charged with burning the convent in the town: of Charlestown, Mass." Boston, 1834, pp. 1-34; " Argument of James T. Austin, Atty. Genl., in the case of John R. Buzzell," Boston, 1834.
THE TRIALS. 483
Marcy, and Blaisdell, ended in the acquittal of all but Marcy, wlio was again put upon trial with Pond, Parker, and Kelley. He was convicted and Parker acquitted. As to the others the jury disagreed, and on a new trial they were acquitted. Marcy was sentenced to imprisonment for life, but soon after pardoned.^
The destruction of the convent and the men who ■effected it were seen by hundreds ; the leaders in the plot held almost public meetings. Newspapers fav- ored them ; inflammatory placards were posted up in and around Boston, — but no witnesses could be found to identify any one but the poor-house boy Marcy.
The attempt of the Ursulines to restore their convent academy in Roxbury proved unsuccessful. They were constantly beset by gangs of men shouting and creat- ing a disturbance around the building, employing the vilest and most threatening language. Six of the community soon proceeded td" convents in Canada to await better times.^ The acquittal of the rioters em- boldened the mob ; the churches in Boston and the convent in Roxbury were both threatened. The Bishop authorized the Catholics to prepare to defend them, as there seemed to be no disposition to protect, and the Navy Department instructed Commodore
1 "The Charlestown Convent, its Destruction by a Mob." Boston, 1870, pp. 59-79.
2 " The nuns traveled in a close carriage drawn by three horses, under the conduct of a skillful and trusty coachman, passing through New Hampshire to Burlington, Vermont, where they embarked upon Lake
Champlain for St. John's At a public house in New Hampshire,
the good religious were considered a phenomenon at least; for when they entered, the people who were there before them not only rose, but jumped up from the tables and beat a precipitate retreat. The Sisters, though sorry on account of the consternation which they created, never- theless indulged in a smile. Rev. B. F. De Costa, " In Memoriam, Sis- ter Sainte Claire, Order of St. Ursula," Charlestown, 1876, p. 17.
484 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Elliott not to interfere in case of a riot, but to leave matters solely to the civil authorities. Well might Bishop Fenwick write : "• We live in awful times. All this movement on the j)'ii't of the lower classes of people is occasioned by their jealousy of the Catholic religion. Their object is evidently to put down if they can." ^
Rebecca Reed, who had done much to create preju- dice against the convent, and whose relative, Pond, was generally regarded as the leader in the plot for its destruction, early in the next year issued a book entitled, " Six Months in a Convent." It caught the popular taste and sold widely, although Mother St. George published an answer exposing its malice and untruthfulness.^
Mother St. George, who belonged to the diocese of Quebec, was recalled in April by her bishop. The community then dissolved, the household furniture was sold, and nearly all the Sisters set out for Canada in May. A few joined communities elsewhere. Under existing circumstances. Bishop Fenwick saw no pros- pect of the successful revival of the famous academy.
Application was almost immediately made to the General Court or Legislature of Massachusetts for in- demnity for the destruction of the convent ; but no action was taken, although a committee reported in favor of granting them a sum of money. It was again
' Bishop Fenwick, " Memoranda."
"Reed, "Six Months in a Convent," Boston, 1835; "An Answer to Six Months in a Convent, exposing its falsehoods and manifold Absurd- ities," Boston, 1835 ; "A Review of the Lady Superior's Reply," Bos- ton, 1835 ; " Supplement to ' Six Months in a Convent,' " Boston, 1835. The wretclied girl whose evil tongue did so much to create prejudice against the Ursulines died in Boston, Feb. 28, 1838. Her book was reprinted in England, as the London Athenaeum remarked, " for the benefit of the curious and the edification of the gullible."
MOUNT ST. JAMES. 485
brought up in 1842 with a similar result, a favorable report and justice withheld.^ Yet Judge Thacher, in his charge to the grand jury of Sussex County (Dec. 1834) had said : "In the destruction of the Ursuline Convent on Mount Benedict, it was seen that a i)or- tion of the people could wage war equally against political liberty, the sacred rights of property and religious charity. The just and enlightened every- where will look to the justice of the country and to its liberality to the sufferers to efface the foul disgrace."
Meanwhile the Indian missions in Maine prospered under the care of the devoted and laborious Father Edmund Demilier, whose zeal held him to the unat- tractive mission till his death. ^
During the following year Rev. James Fitton pur- chased property near Worcester, Massachusetts, on which he proposed to found a literary institution. He soon had ten pupils under a competent teacher, and Bishop Fenwick, visiting the spot where the new academy was rising on the declivity of an extensive hill, watered by streams of pure water, entertained the hope that sooner or later something would grow out of it useful to the Church, It was indeed the nucleus of the future College of the Holy Cross.
In his visitations Bishop Fenwick found much to cheer him. A church building was purchased at Augusta, Maine ; in May, at Lowell a creditable church was completed ; the church at Taunton was already
' R. S. Fay, "An Argument before the Committee of the House of Representatives upon the petition of Benedict Fenwick and others," Bos- ton, 1835 ; Report of the Select Committee to whom was referred the petition of George Bradburn," House, Dec. 30, 1842 ; G. T. Curtis, " The Rights of Conscience and Property, or the true Issue of the Con- vent Question," Boston, 1842 ; B. F. Butler, Report of Committee (House No. 75). March 19, 1853.
* Annales de la Prop, de la Foi, viii., p. 191 ; x., p. 147.
486 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
too small to accommodate the faithful ; churches were in progress at Fall River and Newport; others were begun at Bangor and Providence ; and the congrega- tion at Hartford was increasing, and stations were attended from it at Springfield, Portland, New Brit- ain, and Tariffville. In December he dedicated St. Patrick's Church at the South End, a neat brick edifice, large enough to accommodate eight hundred people, iind affording the faithful in that part of Boston and Roxbury all the consolations of religion.
The population of the diocese at the end of 1836 had so increased that the Easter communions numbered 8153, baptisms 1792, and the faithful in New England had 35 priests and 30 churches.
We have already noted the conversion of Dr. Greene ■of Saco. At first little prejudice seemed evoked by his conscientious change of faith, but when, some years later, he sought a j)rofessorship in the Medical Department of Bowdoin, a man of far less ability was appointed, Dr. Greene's religion outweighing the recommendations of able men and the abundant evi- dence of his fitness. He removed to Boston in May, 1836, and soon acquired the influence his talents and virtues merited.
By this time the German Catholic element in his diocese required Bishop Fenwick's care, the largest body of them being in and near Roxbury. Having no priest in his diocese who could speak German fluently, Bishop Fenwick applied to his fellow bishop in New York and at the close of May, 1835. the Very Rev. John Raffenier, apostle of his countrymen in the East, arrived. On the last day of May that zealous priest gathered three hundred in the chapel of St. Aloysius, and addressed them with so much power and unction that he spent the whole evening in the
PUBLIC INSULTS. 487
confessional. Quickened by his zeal they resolved to collect means to support a priest, and in August, 1836, they obtained Rev. Mr. Hoffmann as their pastor. Boston could acquit convent burners and robbers, but it hung i^irates. Several Si3aniards were under sentence of death, and the devoted Very Rev. Felix Varela came on from New York to afford them the last consolations of religion.
Meanwhile the new church on Pond Street was nearly completed, amid difficulties and threats. Bishop Fenwick, who saw the lawless prevented from celebrating the destruction of Mount Benedict by an orgy on the grounds, learned that an effigy of himself had been carried out of the most cultured city in America to be shot at as a target. Unaffected by such insults he visited his churches in Maine, and pushed on the erection of his seminary ; he saw Pope Day revived in September by the Washington Artillery, who carried a figure of the Pope through the streets and finally set it up as a target.
Before the close of the year he was gratified to see the Pond Street Church so far completed that he was able to have mass said in it.^ This church was dedi- cated under the invocation of the Blessed Virgin, May 22, 1836. Besides this, churches had been erected at Fall River, Newport, and Benedicta, so that even in the face of persecution the faith was advancing. With the close of the year he had twen- ty-five priests, four students in theology, and seven in lower classes.
In 1837, Bishop Fenwick attended the Provincial Council at Baltimore, and extended his visitations to Rhode Island, Connecticut, Western Massachusetts,
' Annales de la Prop, de la Foi, viii., pp. 184^5.
488 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
and Vermont. He dedicated in August a line new churcli in a favorable situation at Providence, and was rejoiced to see the fruit of the zeal of the faithful at Fall River, where the sacred edifice reflected credit on priest and people. After the summer heats he pro- ceeded to Maine, but was so badly injured on the steamboat that his whole journey was one of pain. His Catholic colony gave flattering promise. At Old Town he offered the holy sacrifice for Rev, James Rene Romagne who died at Sace, France, Nov, 19, 1836. Driven from France by the Revolution he long ministered to the Indians in Maine, and at his death made a bequest to the Bishop of Boston, mindful of his Indian flock. ^
The German congregation in Boston, which had assembled in the Cathedral chapel, gave the Bishop no little anxiety, as led by designing men they would not co-operate with the priests who were sent to minister to them. Rev. Messrs. Hoffmann and Freygang were both forced to retire, and a BenMictine named Smolnikar became their choice. In a short time, how- ever. Bishop Fenwick discovered in this priest unmis- takable signs of insanity, and unable to obtain another clergyman, became himself the chaplain of the Ger- man congregation.
In April, 1838, Bishop Fenwick' s diocese was des- tined to feel further effects of hostility against the Church, St. Mary's Church, Burlington, Vermont, became the object of destruction, A small number of men, low shopkeepers, and even, it is said, some col- lege students, at midnight set fire to the sacred edifice which was soon reduced to ashes.^ Rev. Mr. O'Calla-
' Annales de la Prop, de la Foi, x., p. 149.
» Catholic Advocate, iii., p. 180. Truth Teller, xiv., p. 158.
THE URSULINES RETURN. 489
ghan^ not disheartened by this unexpected blow, at once set to work to rebuild the church. He had to contend at the same time with the proselytizing efforts of the Protestant Episcopal Bishop, who opened a school for children of Irish and French Catholics, making attendance at his Sunday-school and church obligatory.'
In July, 1838, Bishop Fenwick prepared to revive the Ursuline Convent, all excitement having died away. He secured a house on Quincy Place, and on the 29th of August Sister Mary Benedicta and Sister Mary Ursula arrived from Canada, and steps were at once taken to open a select day school. Other Sisters soon arrived and in October the Bishop appointed Mother Mary Benedicta Superior. The community as reorgan- ized consisted of live choir nuns, and two lay Sisters, one, Sister Mary Clair, being the devoted Infirmarian. The academy did not prove successful, and after strug- gling on for nearly two years the nuns lost heart : and in April, 1840, two of them returned to Canada. The rest soon followed the example and sought homes in other communities, and the Ursuline Convent in the diocese of Boston ceased to exist. The pious project of Rev. John Thayer, to which the devoted daughters of the Ryan family consecrated their lives, though fostered and encouraged by a Matignon, a Cheverus, and a Fenwick, came to naught, though an academy such as the Ursulines conduct was sorely needed.
In January, 1839, St. Mary's Church in Boston was seriously injured by a conflagration which swept away many houses. The restoration required time ; but the congregation was active. During the year a church was dedicated in honor of St. Michael the Archangel,
' Truth Teller, xiv., p. 297.
'490 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
at Bangor ; a church was begun at Middlebury, and land purchased for one at Cabbotville.
The next year Bishop Fenwick received into the church a Protestant clergyman, identified with charit- able work, Rev. George F. Haskins, who ultimately became a priest and founded the House of the Angel Guardian for homeless boys.
In 1841 the German Catholics, who had long been without a priest, depending on occasional visits from Rev. J. Raffeiner, stimulated by the Bishop, purchased a lot on Suffolk Street and prepared to erect a church, laying the corner-stone on the 28th of June ; he had already secured a zealous priest. Rev, F. Roloff, for this congregation.
During the same year new churches were opened at. Burlington, Cabotville, Lowell, Providence, and Bridgeport : another was commenced at Quincy ; lots were secured at Middletown and Machias, and a site obtained in Boston for an orphan asylum.
The truth was spreading, and among the converts of this time were Mrs. Sarah M. Jarvis, the wife of Rev. Samuel Farmer Jarvis, a famous and learned Episco- palian, and their daughter.
Great harmony had as a rule prevailed in the Catholic congregations in New England, but with the commencement of the year 1842 serious troubles arose in St. Mary's Church, Boston. Public meetings were called and a few malcontents labored, by the usual wiles, to spread discontent and excite a spirit of resis- tance to the Bishop. Some of the meetings were so turbulent that the public authorities were compelled to interfere. To allay the feeling Bishop Fenwick at last removed Rev. Mr. O'Beirne, but on Sunday Feb. 20, when Rev. Dr. O' Flaherty began vespers he was interrupted with shouts, shuffling, and hisses.
DIOCESAN SYNOD. 491
Bishop Fenwick at once placed tlie church under an interdict.
Almost simultaneously troubles, arose at Taunton and Salem. Bishop Fenwick met the turbulent with firm and decisive measures.
On the 24th of July, 1842, he dedicated St. James's Church, Bridgeport, Connecticut, a handsome brick building of Gothic architecture.
On the 12th of August the clergy of the diocese met for an ecclesiastical retreat, and at its close Bishop Fenwick held in the Cathedral of the Holy Cross the first Diocesan Synod of Boston. It was attended by thirty priests, two being absent. In itself the synod was a token of the progress of the faith in New Eng- land. The decrees of the Baltimore councils were enforced, and the ritual recently issued was made obligatory. In regard to the erection of new churches, it was prescribed that none was to be undertaken with- out the consent of the Bishop and without a deed for the property being made to him. Any encouragement of trustees by a priest was made a matter of suspen- sion. Residence in the parish was enjoined, and absence forbidden by which the faithful might suffer. The administration of baptism was regulated ; and rules formed as to confessions, and the administration of holy viaticum. Midnight mass on Christmas, owing to the dangers, was prohibited. Collecting of money at the church door was forbidden, and rules established as to the dress and life of priests,^
After proclaiming the Jubilee, which was followed by exercises in the different churches to the great benefit of religion, Bishop Fenwick dedicated the church at Qnincy on the 18th of September, with John
' Sy nodus Dicecesana Bostoniensis I., habita anno 1843.
492 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Quincy Adams in the audience; and on the 16th of the next month the church at Lowell.^ Rev. Mr. Fitton had offered the diocese his academy near AVoi'cester, on certain conditions. The Bishop visited the j)lace, and was convinced that it afforded the nucleus of a future college. Satisfactory terms were soon arranged, and early in the year 1843 he prepared to erect build- ings for the future College of the Holy Cross. He also purchased a large building at the north end of Boston in order to transform it into a church, which was much needed.
MOUNT ST. JAMES AND HOLY CROSS COLLEGE.
Another subject that engaged the Bishop's atten- tion was the anti-Catholic character of Worcester's History and other school-books which had been intro- duced into the public schools of Boston, contrary to law. He addressed the mayor and the school com- mittee at considerable length ; but it is not creditable to the State that nearly fifty years after Catholics are again compelled to complain of this great and per- sistent wrong.
He arranged with the Jesuit Fathers of Maryland to assume the direction of his college, and obtained Rev.
' Catholic Advocate, vii., pp. 37, 235, 279.
HOLY CROSS COLLEGE. 493
Thomas F. Mulledy as president. The corner-stone was laid June 21.^ The buildings were well advanced in November and the college opened, Georgetown aiding its library and other departments by generous gifts. The pupils, at first, occupied the old academy. With Father Mulledy as president, Father George Fenwick as prefect of studies and professor of rhet- oric, assisted by a corps of teachers, the first Catholic college of New England opened under happy auspices with seventeen pupils. During the year he dedicated St. John's Church, East Cambridge, and St. Matthew's, at Cabotville.
Bishop Fenwick began to feel the weight of his long labors in the priesthood and episcopate. He saw the need of a Coadjutor, and of a division of his diocese. At the Provincial Council in Baltimore he laid these matters before the bishops, and a petition was for- warded to the Holy See requesting the erection of Rhode Island and Connecticut into a diocese, with the see at Hartford, and recommending Rev. William Tyler as Bishop, and asking the appointment of Rev. John B. Fitzpatrick as Coadjutor of Boston. When the bulls arrived the bishops elect proceeded to Mary- land to make a retreat, and Bishop Tyler was conse- crated in the Cathedral of the Holy Cross by Bishop Fenwick with Bishops Whelan and Byrne as assist- ants ; and Dr. Fitzpatrick in the Chapel of the Visitation, Georgetown, the assistant prelates being Bishops Whelan and Tyler.
Early in the year 1844 Bishop Fenwick purchased a Protestant church in East Boston, which he dedicated on the 25th of February in honor of St. Nicholas. He soon after installed Bishop Tyler in his see of Hartford.
1 Catholic Herald, xi., p. 217.
494 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
The diocese of Boston, thus reduced, contained 35 churches, seven of them yet without resident priests. Boston had eight churches, the baptisms being about 1600 a year.
Within the last ten years much had been accom- plished. In the face of opposition from without grow- ing more intensely bitter, till it became the platform of a political party, new churches and institutions were rising, intelligent and learned persons were drawn to the church by their own honest convictions. Twenty- five churches had been erected, six in what had become the new diocese of Hartford, most of them large and capacious. Nine others were in progress. In the same decade Bishop Fenwick had ordained nineteen priests. The diocese possessed an incipient college and orphan asylum and was already organizing parochial schools.^
' Bishop Fenwick to the Propaganda, Jan. 10, 1845.
SEAL OF BISHOP FENWICK.
CHAPTER IV.
DIOCESE OF NEW YORK. RT. REV. JOHN DU BOIS, THIRD BISHOP, 1829-1842.
Bishop Du Bois, in his rex)ort to the Congregation de Propaganda Fide, when he reached the Eternal City, after 38 days travel from New York, estimated ^he Catholic population of the New York diocese at 150,000, scattered among three millions of Protestants. To attend this flock he had but eighteen priests : eight of these had been received within two years, but not- withstanding all his examination, he found himself often deceived as to the real usefulness of applicants from other parts. The faithful, as a rule, poor, were struggling hard to build churches or free those erected from debt. Yet the diocese could not prosper, or have such a body of priests as it required, till a theological seminary was established. As the diocese could not supply means for the erection of such an institution, he besought the Propaganda to advance him for a certain number of years an annual sum on which he could rely. He found the labor in the city so great that he maintained two priests, to instruct the chil- dren in the church schools, and jirepare them to receive the sacraments, as well as to visit the City Hospital and Almshouse, where many Catholics had died without the consolations of religion.
Church extension and any increase of the clergy was hampered by the general reluctance of Catholics pos- sessed of means to contribute to any church, or to the support of any priest, unless some of them as trustees
495
496 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
had entire control. A project for establishing a French church fell through, for though money could be raised the subscribers insisted on its being a joint stock concern, so that they could sell their shares. Priests were thus at the mercy of a few men, generally more prominent than devoted. The Bishop's only resource for his support and that of priests whom he found it necessary to maintain with him was $1200, out of which he had to pay house rent and all his traveling expenses during visitations.^
During his absence Very Rev. John Power sought with his limited resources to advance the cause of religion. The Rev. Mr. O' Reilly visited the scattered Catholics in Otsego, Chenango, and Schoharie counties ; St. Mary's Church in New York was enlarged, and on the 13th of December a new church was dedicated at Macopin, now Echo Lake, among the descendants of the pioneer Catholics, whom a Farmer, a Schneider, and a Groessel had attended on the last century. It was blessed by Rev. Charles D. Ffrench, O. P., at the request of Rev. Francis O'Donoghue, pastor of St. John's Church, Paterson, in whose district it stood. ^
The society formed to relieve widows and \vidowers of the care of their helpless children had prospered so, Mrs. Dupleix and Mrs. Pyne being especially active, that a house was secured on Prince Street, and the needed work of mercy began. This institution, known as the Catholic Half-Orphan Asylum, was maintained for a number of years, but finally merged in the general asylum.^
' Bishop Dii Bois to Propaganda, 1829. Commentary presented to Propaganda.
« Truth Teller, v., pp. 340, 390, 404 ; U. S. Cath. Miscellany, x., p. 109 ; U. S. Cath. Miscellany, x., p. 157 ; Catholic Telegraph, iii., p. 4.
3 Truth Teller, vi., p. 223.
NEW CHURCHES. 497
While Catholics were thus struggling amid difficul- ties to obtain needed church accommodation, educate their young, and minister to the unfortunate, signs of a growing hostility to themselves and their church became but too evident. One of the first indications occurred at Lansingburgh, Avhere the monument in the Catholic cemetery, erected by Keating Rawson, Esq., a convert, to the memory of his pious wife, was wan- tonly broken in pieces.^
Meanwhile, the faithful went on. On the 8th of July, the Catholics at New Brunswick saw the corner- stone of their church laid by Y. Rev. Felix Varela, to be dedicated in December by Rev. Joseph A. Schneller, and at the other end of the diocese the laborious and zealous priest, Nicholas Mertz, laid on the 13th of the same month the corner-stone of a church to be dedicated to the Lamb of God, on a lot charitably given by Mr. Le Couteulx.^
In September the new church on Pine and Chapel streets, Albany, which had been completed by the Bishop's aid at a cost of fifteen thousand dollars, was dedicated by the V. Rev. John Power.^
Salina had a church in 1829, erected mainly by the exertions and liberality of two gentlemen, James Lynch and Thomas McCarthy. About this time it
' U. S. Cath. Miscelliiny, x., p. 43 ; Jesuit, i., p. 379.
^ Truth Teller, vi., pp. 233, 270, 390 ; Jesuit, i., p. 419 ; Berger, " Life of Rt. Rev. John N. Neumann, D.D., C.S.S.R.," New York, 1884, p. 160. Rev. N. Mertz (born April 26, 1764, at Bendorf) ; ordained March 23, 1791; labored from 1805 in the missions from Maryland to Western New York. He never changed his dress, retaining the style worn in Europe in his early days.
* U. S. Cath. Miscellany, x., pp. 109, 130. A secular paper at the time declared that, though ten years before there were scarcely a hundred Catholics in Albany, they were at this time estimated at 2000. Jesuit, i., p. 143.
498 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
received a resident priest, Rev. Francis O'Donogliuey whose zeal was soon displayed in many remote stations.
Bishop Dii Bois had been anxious obtain Ladies of the Sacred Heart to establish an academy of high character ; but failing, he applied to the Mother House at Emmitsburg, where his appeal was not disregarded. The Sisters selected to found this first female academy in the city arrived in July, and preparations were made to open the classes at 261 Mulberry Street in September. The Very Rev. Dr. Power made an earnest appeal to Catholic parents to encourage and support this institution, but it will scarcely be believed that there was latent opposition from those who wished to hold absolute control of everything Catholic. But the Sisters of Charity had a firm hold on the hearts of the faithful. If the Catholics had gained in numbers in the city, it was admitted that the Sisters had con- tributed largely to the increase. In a few months they opened the female parochial school at St. Peter' s Church. They soon extended their good work to Albany, too.^
Toward the close of the year 1831 the diocese sus- tained a loss in the destruction of St. Mary's Church, Sheriff Street. Under any circumstances the loss to a body so ill provided as the Catholics would have been a blow. But in this case it resulted from the hatred of the Church, at this time industriously fomented.
1 Truth Teller, vi., p. 223 ; vii., p. 86 ; viii., p. 205 ; U. S. Cath. Mis- cellany, X., p. 302. The author's first school days were passed in the first Academy of the Sisters. Bishop Du Bois at this time, speaking of the Sisters, said: "The disinterested zeal of these religious, their more than motherly kindness for the children confided to their care, the neatness, I might almost say the elegant simplicity, they maintain in their schools and asylum, have contributed, in no small degree, to diminish the prejudice of Protestants." Annales de la Prop, de la Foi, iv., p. 461.
ST. MARY'S BURNED. 499
The church was first robbed, then the bell secured to prevent its being rung. After that fire was kindled in three places, and when the alarm was given the Church ■of Our Lady was enveloped in flames, and was soon but a mass of smoldering brands and ashes. With the edifice perished the only church bell then possessed by the Catholics in New York. A school under the church, conducted by Thomas Harran, which trained many Catholic boys, one of whom at least obtained the honors of the episcopate, was also closed by this •cruel act. Rev. Luke Berry collected his flock for a few Sundays in temporary halls, but he never recovered from the blow and died within a month. ^ ' When Bishop Du Bois returned from Europe on the ^Oth of November, 1831, he thus found his episcopal city poorer in churches than when he left it. His visit to Rome had not been unprofitable. The Holy Father encouraged him in his difficulties ; gave him hearty .apx)robation and aid for the seminary and college which he proposed to found. He had also exposed his wants and his plans to the Association for the Propagation of the Faith, and was encouraged by them.^ He had obtained some donations in money and books to form a nucleus of a library, but he was unable to bring back with him a corps of zealous priests, or any colony of a religious order to exercise the ministry.
One of the first objects of the Bishop's care on his Teturn was the restoration of the ruined shrine of Our
' History of St. Mary's Church, New York. 1826 to 1876. New Tork, 1876, p. 19. Truth Teller, vii., p. 399 ; Catholic Intelligencer, iii., p. 94; Catholic Telegraph, ii., p. 376; U. S. Cath. Miscellany, xi., pp. 166, 397.
' Truth Teller, vii., p. 880. Annales de la Prop, de la Foi, iv., pp. 447-465.
500 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Lady. A new and more advantageons site was selected on the corner of Grand and Ridge streets. Tliis was acquired, and the congregation began the work of rebuilding, relying on Providence. Bishop Du Bois, to assure them of a site for parochial resi- dence, purchased an adjoining lot. The corner-stone of the new church was laid by the Bishop on the 30th of April, 1832, and it was solemnly dedicated on the 9th of June, 1833.
In February, 1832, the Catholic farmers near Greece had the consolation of seeing the church which they had zealously erected on an eminence overlooking the Genesee, near its mouth, dedicated under the name of St. Ambrose by the Rev. Francis O'Donoghue, pastor of Salina.
By this time opposition to the Church had taken an organized form, a "Protestant Association" held its meetings, and its organ "The Protestant" gathered all old calumnies and framed new ones against Catho- lic truth. Very Rev. Dr. Power and Rev. Dr. Varela allowed themselves to be drawn into oral discussions and finally into a regular controversy with Dr. Brown- lee and other leaders in the movement. Rt. Rev. Dr. Du Bois, feeling that no good could result from such encounters, which never remove prejudice, expressed his regret that things had gone so far that contro- versy was unavoidable.^
Bishop Du Bois set out after Easter to make a visi- tation of the interior of the State. After examining the condition of the missions on the banks of the Hudson, encouraging the groups of faithful at several points where churches were soon to rise, he ordained
I Truth Teller, vii., p. 380; viii., p. 79, 100; ix., p. 46. U.S. Cath. Mis- cellany, xii., p. 270.
THE CHOLERA. 501
Rev. James Terwooren in tlie church at Albany, and administered the sacrament of confirmation to more than two hundred. In no fewer than eighteen places in the northern and western parts of the State Bishop Du Bois found Catholics numerous enough to establish churches and maintain resident priests. He stationed Rev. J. J. McGarry at Rochester, but the trustees re- fused to receive him. While at Oswego the terrible Asiatic cholera, broke out in New York. AVhen he returned on the 12th of August he found the city clergy worn out by their devoted labors in attending the unfortunate people struck down by the cholera. The regular masses on Sundays depended on the sick calls made for the priest, and did not resume their usual regular hours till September. During the prev- alence of the disease the Catholic priests and sisters vindicated more ably than by controversy the truth and Christian spirit of their religion, and showed Avhat it taught them to do for their fellow-men. When the ravages of the cholera ceased Bishop Du Bois caused the " Te Deum " to be solemnly sung in each of the city churches to thank God for delivering them from the scourge. He also directed it to be sung in the other churches of the diocese on the Sunday after his notification arrived. " At the same time," he con- cluded, " let it be remembered, that it is only by a pure, innocent, sober, and virtuous life, that we can hereaf- ter best show our gratitude to God for our preservation. and avert the recurrence of a similar chastisement.^
> Truth Teller, viii., p. 270 ; Bishop Timon, "Missions in Western New York," Buffalo, 1862, pp. 213-14. Rev. Michael McNamara died at Chili, Aug. 30, 1832, aged 39. He had recently been violently attacked (as representing the €atholic Church) in the Rochester Observer. Cath. Intelligencer, iii., p. 26, 408.
* Bishop Du Bois's circular, Truth Teller, viii., p. 382.
502 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
As his means were insufficient to obtain a suit- able site for his proposed college and seminary in or near the city,' he examined points easy of access, and on the 13th of April, 1832, purchased a farm of 160 acres at Nyack. Here on the 29th of May, 1833, he solemnly blessed the corner-stone, assisted by Rev. Mr. Conroy and Rev. Mr. McGerry, for- merly president of Mount St. Mary's College. The ground was well watered and highly cultivated, with a productive orchard, and a quarry of very fine build- ing stone. The building proposed by the Bishop was eighty feet square, to be crowned by a dome, and to be flanked by two wings. The work was carried on actively during the year, and before its close two stories were raised.' Eighteen thousand dollars which the Bishop had collected in Europe had by this time been expended, and to complete the work he appealed to the religion and charity of the faithful in a pas- toral letter.'^
A neat chapel, forty feet by twenty-five, was erected adjoining the college in the summer of 1834, and dedi- cated by the Bishop.^ The seminary was already opened with Rev. J. McGerry as president, and Rev. John McCloskey as professor and five students in theology, who occupied the old farm buildings await- ing the completion of the main edifice. But before that came, the whole building was destroyed by fire.*
1 Truth Teller, ix., p. 179, 395.
' Pastoral Letter of the Rt. Rev. John Du Bois, Catholic Bishop of New York, to the Clergy and Laity of his Diocese, New York, Doyle, 1834; N. Y. Weekly Register, i., p. 321; Truth Teller, x., p. 57; Jesuit, Iv., p. 194.
3 Truth Teller, i., p. 270.
* Weekly Register, ii. , p. 342. Dr. Varela in his Cartas a Elpidio speaks of the fire as incendiary, but it was regarded by many as accidental.
ST. JOSEPH'S CHURCH. 503
In his pastoral letter issued at the close of January, 1836, Bishop Du Bois appealed to the faithful of his diocese to aid in the important work, and requested the pastors of congregations to obtain subscrij)tions by calling on each member of their flocks. To insure safety in the title of the x^i'operty, it was vested in himself and the Bishops of Boston and Philadelphia as joint tenants.^
In view of the wants of the Catholics in what was then known as Greenwich Village, a hamlet on the North River at some distance from the inhabited parts of the city, Bishop Du Bois, before his visit to Rome, had determined to establish a church there. At first he was able only to hire a large room on Grove Street, where mass was said for the faithful. After his return a plot was purchased on the corner of Sixth Avenue and Barrow Street, and plans were drawn for a church 102 feet long and 66 Avide. The corner-stone was laid in the summer of 1833, and the solid edifice rose under the care of Rev. James Cummiskey. It was completed so that its dedication by the Rt. Rev, Bishop, assisted by Rev. William Quarter, Rev. John McCloskey, and Others of the clergy, and the Rev. John Hughes of St. John's, Philadelphia, took place on the 9th of March, 1831 ; two of his successors in the see of New York, one to wear the purple of a Cardinal and a Bishop of Chicago, being gathered around Bishop Du Bois in the sanctuary. ^
The increasing number of orphans in the asylum or seeking admittance induced Bishop Du Bois to estab- lish, in 1833, a regulation wdiich has been in force to
' Catholic Diary, v., p. 198.
« N. Y. "Weekly Register, i., pp. 8, 287, 390 ; Truth Teller, x., p. 108 ; Cath. Telegraph, iii., p. 4. The altar was a fine marble one, procured by the Bishop in Italy.
504 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
this day, that all the collections in the churches on Christmas Day shall be devoted to the maintenance of the fatherless. The faithful have always responded generously to the call.^
The want of a purely Catholic journal led to the establishment of "The New York Weekly Register and Catholic Diarj''," the first number of which ap- peared on the 5th of October, 1833. The literary department was under the care of a well-known scholar and teacher, P. S. Casserly.
Though Catholicity was bitterly assailed and its worship derided, the very efforts of its opponents led many to examine for themselves. Such examination, made without bias and with prayer for light, could have but one result. In January, 1834, Mr. Gardner Jones gave "My Reasons for becoming a Roman Catholic," and the journal in which tliej^ appeared announced the reception into the Church at Albany of Dr. Coleman, a native of Massachusetts, who had been brought up in the Society of Friends.^
In the course of the year 1834 Bislioj) Du Bois visited the northern parts of the State. He was at Sandy Hill, Ogdensburgh,^Keeseville; at Utica,Avhere he confirmed one hundred and fifty ; and in September at Cold Spring, where he dedicated the romantic Church of Our Lady,^ which the earnest priest. Rev. Philip O'Reilly, had erected, and which Weir, the painter,
' N. Y. Weekly Register, i., p. 181 ; Truth Teller, ix., p. 329; x., p. 407. The call was the more needed as some of the Asylum buildings "were destroyed by a fire which menaced the Cathedral, x., p. 85.
*ISr. Y. Weekly Register, i., p. 261; U. S. Cath. Miscellany, xiii., pp. 262, 270 ; Smith, JHistory of Diocese of Ogdeusburgh, pp. 80, 194.
3 Truth Teller, x., pp. 231, 251, 367 ; U. S. Cath. Miscellany, xiv., p. 110 ; N. Y. Weekly Register, v., p. 6.
TRUSTEEISM. 605
• portrayed. The same energetic priest soon undertook
to erect a church at Saugerties. '
The trustee power had always been strong in New- York, and aimed to control all the institutions of the diocese. A slight circumstance in 1834 brought on a conflict which lasted as long as Dr. Du Bois was alone in control of the see of New York. For some years the relations between the Bishop and Rev. Thomas C. Levins of the Cathedral had been strained. The clergy- man, who had been in the diocese from March, 1825, was a remarkable man, a well-read theologian, an able controversialist, thoroughly versed in all branches of mathematics and natural philosophj^ a mineralogist, and a lapidary. He was very x^opular and was looked up to by many as a champion of the Catholic cause. Soon after the return of the Bishop from his visita- tion in 1834, in consequence of a disrespectful reply to an order of the Bishop, which he really obeyed. Rev. Mr. Levins was suspended. The case might easily have been settled, but unfortunately the trustees of the Cathedral took up the cause of the priest and so embittered the situation, that a removal of the suspension became impossible without a recognition of their assumed powers which Rt. Rev. Dr. Du Bois would never make. A regular war ensued. The trustees appointed the priest rector of the parochial school, while they annoyed the Bishop in every possi- ble way, and even sent a committee to threaten to take away his salary. It was on this occasion that he i"e- I)lied, "Gentlemen: I have seen the horrors of the French revolution, and could meet them again. I am an old man. I can live in a cellar or a garret ; but,
' Rev. Philip O'Reilly, died, pastor of St. Brigid's Church, New York, Dec. 7, 1854.
506 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
gentlemen, whether I come up from my cellar or down from my garret, you must remember, that I am still your Bishop."^
The Rev. Mr. Levins took up his residence near the Cathedral, and was employed as engineer on the C'ro- ton aqueduct. The plans of the High Bridge are said to have been mainly his work ; he also edited a x)aper called " The Green Banner." At a later period he was restored by Bishop Hughes, but found parochial duty beyond his strength ; he resigned the church assigned to him, and died in New York.
The hard-working priest, Rev. Francis O'Donoghue, had so aroused a spirit of sacriiice in the Catholics at Auburn, who had assembled in the house of the vener- able Hugh Ward, that they erected in a beautiful part of the village a neat church, with a cross crowning its tall steeple. The interior, lit by stained glass windows, was full of devotion. This church was dedi- cated to the most Holy Trinity by Very Rev. John Power, Oct. 23, 1834. To the same zealous priest was due the fine brick church of St. Francis de Sales, erected at Geneva, and dedicated on the 26th. A charitable Catholic gave his farm for the maintenance of a clergyman.^ By this time the German Catholics in New York city had increased so that they organ- ized a little congregation by themselves. Their first pastor was the Rev. John Raffeiner of whom Arch- bishop Hughes said : "Bishops, priests, and people have reason to remember Father Raffeiner for many years to come.'' He visited his countrymen far and near, and was always ready to hasten to any point to
' Bishop Dii Bois to trustees of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Nov. 17, 1834 ; Same to Committee, same date ; same to the meeting of Catholics, Nov. 30, 1834 ; Appeal of Rev. Mr. Levins.
* N. Y. Weekly Register, iii., p. 87 ; Jesuit, v., p. 173.
ST. NICHOLAS' CHURCH.
507
give them the consolations of religion. The German Catholics in New York assembled for a time under his care in an unused Baptist church at the corner of Delancey and Pitt streets, and when the lease expired, in St. Mary's Church; baton the 1st of September, 1834,
VERY REV. FELIX VARELA.
a plot of ground on Second Street was purchased. The corner-stone of a church to be dedicated to St. Nicholas, recognized even by the early Dutch colonists as the patron of New York, was laid by Y. Rev. John Power, April 20, 1835. By the sacrifices and exertions
608 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
of Rev. Mr. Raffeiner the church was completed, and dedicated on Easter Sunday, 1836. Rev. Mr, Raffeiner directed the church for several years and became Vicar-General for the Germans in the diocese.
Christ Church in Ann Street had been so weakened by the excavation for building operations near it, that many regarded it as unsafe. Moreover the city was growing northward and a different location seemed desirable. The congregation did not agree as to a site, that acquired on James Street being unac- ceptable to many who preferred to remain further down town. They purchased the Reformed Scotch Presbyterian Church on Chambers Street, fronting the Park, It was dedicated as Transfiguration Church, on the 31st of March, 1836, the Very Rev. Felix Varela, who had advanced the purchase money, remaining pastor of the congregation to his death. ^
The other portion of the congregation erected the solid new Christ Church, generally called St. James's Church, which was not completed without difficulty, but was finally dedicated by Bishop Du Bois in Sep- tember, 1836, and confided to the pastoral care of Rev. Andrew Byrne, who subsequently became Bishop of Little Rock,
The upper part of New York island had a scattered Catholic population, few in numbers. The occasional service in the old Jesuit college had been their only resource, but Bishop Du Bois resolved to establish a church at Harlem, Lots were bought on 117tli Street, and on the 29th of June, 1835, he laid the corner-stone of a church, which was ere long dedicated in honor of
' " The Catholic Churches of New York City," New York, 1878, p. 636,687 ; Truth Teller, x., pp. 333-367, 287, 335 ; Weekly Register, v., pp. 103, 283. 191, 247 ; U. S. Cath. Miscellany, xiv., p. 355 ; Jesuit, v., p. 326. German pamphlet without title, New York, 1840.
MARIA MONK. 509
St. Paul and placed under the pastoral care of Rev. Michael Currant
Outside tlie city St. John's Church, Paterson, was erected on Oliver Street under the care of Rev. Patrick Duffy, and dedicated by the Bishop, April 24, 1836. It replaced the former church, no longer sufficing for the wants of the faithful ; and on the 24th of May the active missioner, Rev. F. O'Donoghue, added another to the churches on his mission by opening one at the village of Seneca Palls, erected on ground generously given by G. Y. Sackett. The corner-stone of a new cliurch in Utica was laid in June, and in New York city, to the deep regret of many of the old residents, it was decided to demolish St. Peter's Church, the cradle of Catholicity in the city, and to erect a finer edifice.2 The year was therefore one of great prog- ress in the diocese.
Early in 1836 a work was published in New York, which though not relating to the church in this coun- try was a vile attack on Catholicity and created great prejudice against the faith. The pecuniary success of Miss Reed's "Six Months in a Convent," seems to have stimulated some persons to undertake a work of coarser and viler material, that would command even greater circulation. A wretched girl named Maria Monk, Avho, after leading a life of shame, had been placed by her mother in a Magdalen Asylum at Mon- treal, from which she was dismissed or escaped by the aid of one of her old lovers, was the tool employed. The unscrupulous plotters made her pretend that she
'"Catholic Churches," etc., pp. 390-534 ; Weekly Register, vi.,p. 247 ; iv., p. 315 ; U. S. Cath. Miscellany, xiv., p. 279.
« " History of the Catholic Church, Paterson," pp. 23-23 ; Weekly Register, v., p. 391 ; vi., p. 33, 111, 135.
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had been not a penitent in a Magdalen Asylum, but a nun in the Hotel Dieu, and a narrative was drawn up in her name charging the devoted nuns, one of them a daughter of General Ethan Allen, with immorality, harshness, cruelty, and murder. After stereotyping the infamous book, the conspirators offered it to Harper Brothers, well-known publishers in New York. That house, lured by prospective profits, undertook to issue it, but, ashamed of such a vile worl^, published it under the name of Howe & Bates, two persons in their employ. Circulated at a time when ministers and newspapers were assailing the Catholic Church, purporting to prove the priests and religious women of that body to be monsters of vice, it was greedily received and read perhaps more widely than any book ever before published in the country. It was reprinted day by day in the columns of a cheap paper and was accepted as true by thousands. Several New York ministers and zealous members of Protestant churches took up the wretched woman, and main- tained the truth of her story. The profits of the fraud must have been very great, but the conspira- tors could not agree. Maria Monk sued the Harper Brothers for her share as author and holder of the copyright in the Vice-Chancellor's Court, New York, but they denied her authorship, her ownership of the plates and of the copyright. Vice-Chancellor McConn declared the case one for a jury, when "the motives of those who have promoted and prompted the publication will be duly considered." ^ William K. Hoyt also sued Rev. J. J. Slocum and Maria Monk in the United States Circuit Court for his share in getting up the book, and the defendants were required to give
^ Edwards, " Chancery Reports," iii., p. 109.
STONE'S REFUTATION. 511
bail in SoOOO.^ Those who received the wretched woman into their houses were soon disgusted with her vicious manners and language ; she sank lower and lower, and died in one of the city institutions. In Montreal her wretched life was known to many ; tlie Superior of the reformatory institution where she had been recognized her pretended descriptions of tlie Hotel Dieu as really incorrect ones of the asjdura. The names she gave were almost all those of inmates of the same institu- tion when she was there. Her descrij)tion of the Hotel Dieu was pronounced utterly false by a committee of Protestant clergymen and other gentlemen who visited it with her book in hand. All this was given to the public, but Rev. J. J. Slocum, one of the conspirators, brought out a second book to defend the "Awful Disclosures."^ William L, Stone, editor of the Com- mercial Advertiser, a man through life strongly prejudiced against the Catholic Church, went to Montreal with the original book in his hand, and obtained liberty to make a thorough and complete examination of the interior of the Hotel Dieu. After visiting every room and closet from the cellar to the attic, Mr. Stone, as an upright man, wrote : "The result is the most thorough conviction that Maria Monk is an arrant impostor — that she was never a nun, and was never within the cloister of the Hotel Dieu — and consequently that her dis- closures are wholly and unequivocally, from begin- ning to end, untrue — either the vagaries of a distem- pered brain, or a series of calumnies unequaled in
' Boston Pilot, ii. , Dec. 3, 1836.
^ "Awful Exposure of the Atrocious Plot formed by certain indi- viduals against the clergy and nuns of Lower Canada, through the inter%-ention of Maria Monk." New York, 1836.
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the depravity of their invention, and unsurpassed in their enormity/
If the Church in these days had trials, it had also con- solations. At Christinas time, 1836, Rev. Walter J. Quarter of Utica received a visit from Colonel Dodge, of Pompey, and his wife, avIio came to ask admission to the Catholic Church, and the benefit of its sacraments. They were fully instructed, and the steps which led them to the truth were remarkable. Early in the spring, when the roads were difficult, a peddler's wagon broke down near his house. Mr. Dodge invited the owner in till repairs could be made, but when he en- tered, Mrs. Dodge saw that he was an Irishman and probably a Catholic. To harbor such a person seemed in her eyes a fearful risk, and she imparted her fears to her husband. The peddler promptly avowed his faith, and when Mr. Dodge expressed astonishment that a man of his good sense could belong to such a religion, the man replied that if his host knew it better, his ideas would change. Before leaving, as some return for the kind hospitality, he left a book which he said would give a better knowledge of the Catholic faith. The gentleman took it up with some curiosity, but when he found it a statement of Catho- lic doctrine, supported by scripture, the writings of
' Stoae, "Maria Monk and the Nunnery of the Hotel Dieu, being an Account of a Visit to the Convents of Montreal and Refutation of the ' Awful Disclosures,'" New York, 1836. Maria Monk's book was care- fully analyzed and exposed in " A Review of the Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk, in which the facts are fairly stated and candidly examined." By G. Vale, New York, 1836. A large number of estimates and docu- ments will be found in Bishop England's works, v., pp. 347-418 ; and in the journals of the time. Col. Stone by his investigation in the cause of truth drew upon himself a series of violent personal attacks (see Quarterly New Haven Christian Spectator), and he was held up to ridicule in the poem, "A Vision of Rubeta."
THE DODGE FAMILY. 513
the most eminent men of the primitive Church, and by solid reason, he was utterly amazed. The proofs seemed convincing. He obtained other books from the peddler when he again passed his door, and ordered more from New York. He imparted his convictions to his wife, and she too became convinced that their Presbyterian church was not that founded by the apostles. He sought ministers to obtain proof of their position, but their arguments were unsatisfac- tory. A work by one of them j)laced in his hands as decisive proved to be drawn mainly from the work on the Apocalypse by the Catholic Bishop AValmesley. Mr. Dodge, hitherto a deacon in the church, ceased with his wife to attend it, and openly avowed to his neigh- bors the change in his faith, with the solid grounds which had induced him to renounce the doctrines in which he had been brought up. The ministers and elders resolved to arraign Mr. and Mrs. Dodge for here- sy. The lady was first interrogated, but after a few replies she stood up before the congregation and said : " My belief, my whole belief is in whatever the Roman Catholic Church teaches. All whatever that Church teaches, I believe firmly ; all whatever that Church condemns, I disbelieve and reject. Now this is my faith and I bid you farewell." They both then retired. Avowedly Catholics now, they continued to make themselves more thoroughly informed as the doctrines and worship of the Church. Their prayers for light and perseverance were earnest and fervent. Others, led by their books and explanations, followed their course ; they met to recite the mass prayers and other devotions together. Learning that there was a church and priest at Utica, Mr. and Mrs. Dodge drove there to receive baptism and hear mass on Christmas day. After enjoying the great consolation to which they
514 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
head looked forward, they invited the clergyman to visit them and receive the others into tlie cliurch who were as v^^ell instructed and ardently desired holy baptism. Mrs. Dodge's sister and brother-in-law with their children and some neighbors were thus soon admitted into the fold.^
Age and trials had begun to show their effect on Bishop Du Bois, and he resolved to seek the appoint- ment of a coadjutor. His first choice was the Rt. Rev. Francis P. Kenrick, then coadjutor of Philadelphia, but that distinguished prelate wrote to the Cardinal Prefect, setting forth his objections, and the matter was finally laid over to the coming Provincial Council.^ AVhen Bishop Du Bois was summoned to attend that synod in April, 1837, he wrote to the Fathers asking to be excused from attending its sessions, and his Vicar- General, y. Rev. Felix Yarela, proceeded to Baltimore to represent the diocese. Bishop Du Bois also inti- mated to the assembled bishops his desire for the ap- pointment of a coadjutor. The regulation proposed in the second Provincial Council, under which the Bishop desiring a coadjutor was to transmit three names to the bishops in council, was api)arently followed, and these names were forwarded to Rome in compliance with the Decree of the Propaganda, March 18, 1834.^ From the names of clergymen sent, the
' Rt. Rev. John Hughes, " An Account of the Conversion of an Ameri- cfin Family, in Onoqdaga Co., N. Y," Phihidelphia ; Annals of the Propagation of the Faith, Dublin, 1840, iii., p. 223. Works of Arch- bishop Hughes, ii., p. 454.
^ Bishop Kenrick to Rev. John Hughes, Jan. 19, 1837, in Hassard, Jjfe of Archbishop Hughes, pp. 168-9.
^"Concilium Baltimorense Pi-ovinciale II habitum anno 1833," Balti- more, pp. 17-18. Besides the name of Bishop Kenrick he proposed Rev. Thomas Mulledy, S. J., and Rev. John Hughes.
RT. REV. JOHN HUGHES, COADJUTOR. 515
Sovereign Pontiff selected as Coadjutor the Rev. John Hughes, pastor of St. John's Church, Phihidelphia, who had received liis ecclesiastical education under Dr. Du Bois at Emmitsburg. Bulls were issued creat- ing him Bishop of Basileopolis in partibus infideliuni and Coadjutor to the Bishop of New York.^ It was not till November that the official announcement reached Rev. Mr. Hughes.
In the summer of 1837, Bishop Du Bois made another visitation to central New York, and on July 19, dedi- cated the little church at Rome which through the in- fluence of Rev. Walter Quarter of Utica had been put up near the village by Thomas Harnetty. This gentle- man had reserved a small rental, but he transferred this to the Bishop as a contribution toward the sup- port of a resident priest.
In November, assisted by Rev. Messrs. Quarter and Duffy, he dedicated St. Peter's Church, Poughkeepsie.^
When Bishop Du Bois received from Rev. Mr. Hughes the announcement of his appointment and ac- ceptance, the aged prelate expressed the consolation it afforded him, with the hope that his coadjutor would find in it, as he did, the expression of the divine will.^
The feast of the Epiphany was fixed for his con- secration, and on the 2d of January, 1837, Dr. Hughes proceeded to New York, where he was no stranger, having more than once preached and taken part in ecclesiastical functions. The reputation acquired by his controversy with Rev. Mr. Breckinridge had more-
' Cardinal Fransoni to Archbishop Eccleston, Sept. 2, 1837, in Fascis- culus quo recensentur Acta ac Decreta Syuodorum Provincialiuni Baltimori habitarum, etc., Rome, p. 88.
2 Catholic Herald, v., p. 275, 394.
3 Bishop Du Bois to Bishop-elect Hughes, Nov. 6, 1837.
516 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
over made him widely known. The consecration of Rev. Dr. Hughes took place on the 7th of January, Bishop Du Bois acting as consecrator, assisted by Rt. Rev. Francis P. Kenrick, Coadjutor of Philadelphia, and Rev. Benedict J. Fen wick, Bishop of Boston ; Rev. Thomas Mulledy, S.J,, who had held high offices in liis order, preached on the occasion. The Cathedral, spacious as it was, could not hold the throngs from New York, Brooklyn, and Jersey City, with the delegations from Philadelphia.^
Before the close of the month of January, a stroke of paralysis menaced the life of Bishop Du Bois, and showed that his active career as head of the diocese was drawing to a close. He rallied, however, and was able to perform some episcoj^al functions not of a laborious character, but a second and a third attack made it necessary to provide for a possible condition of entire disability on his part. The aged Bishop showed great reluctance to resign the administration of the diocese, or even, as Bishop Fenwick advised, in- vest his coadjutor with the powers of a Vicar-General. Bishop Hughes laid the whole condition of affairs before the Propaganda, without recommending any action.
The Coadjutor officiated at the opening of the new Church of St. Peter in Barclay Street, in February, and visited many churches in New York and Brook- lyn to administer confirmation and to address the faithful.^ St. Paul's Church, Brooklyn, erected on the site presented by the truly Catholic Cornelius Heeny ill 1885, was completed early in 1838 and solemnly dedicated by Bishop Du Bois on the 21st of January.
' Catholic Ilemld, vi., p. 2. Truth Teller, xiv., p. 14.
2 Truth Teller, xiv., p. 70; Catholic Herald, vi., p. 69; Catholic Advocate, iii., p. 22.
ST. VINCENT'S SEMINARY. 517
After the destruction of the partially erected college at Nyack, Bishop Dii Bois abandoned all idea of re- building it or attempting to establish a college there. His next thought was to select a site in Brooklyn, but Bishop Hughes soon after his arrival in New York was inclined to accept an offer made him at a reasonable price of a farm with large and commodious buildings at Lafargeville in Jefferson County. A visit decided him to purchase it, and open a college and seminary there. A prospectus was issued and the institution opened in September 20, 1838, under the title of St. Vincent de Paul's Seminary, with Eev. Francis Guth as Superior, assisted by Rev. Messrs. Moran and Haes, and some tutors. A small number of seminarians here began their course, and a few pupils entered for a collegiate course, but before the close of the ensuing year it became evident that a thriving college could never grow up there, and Bishop Hughes sought a favorable site nearer the city of New York.
In December, 1838, the new church erected at Belle- ville, N. J., by the Rev. F. Ferral, was dedicated by Bishop Du Bois.^ Visits were made to other stations in that State. By this time the Coadjutor was pretty well informed from actual observation of the con- dition of the Church in the diocese, the disposition of clergy and people, their resources, and the need of institutions. The trustee system had been a perpetual clog on the progress of the Church, and with no real power to direct the affairs of the diocese, Bisliop Hughes could only devise plans for overcoming this obstacle.'
The question was brought to a test sooner than he anticipated, but a year's residence in New York had
' Catholic Advocate, iii., p. 261, 289; Truth Teller, xiv., p. 254, 390.
618 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
made him widely known, and lie Avas looked up to by the faithful generally with respect and esteem.
Early in the year 1839 a case occurred which showed Bishop Hughes that a struggle between the authorities of the church and the trustees of churches could not be avoided. A civil officer, by virtue of a written in- strument from the trustees of the Cathedral, expelled from the Sunday-school a teacher appointed by the Bishop. After waiting for two weeks for some official expression of regret or explanation, a pastoral address to the congregation of the Cathedral was issued in the name of Bishop Du Bois, but it bore the stamp of the vigorous and determined character of Dr. Hughes. "It is possible," says the Pastoral, " that the civil law gives them the power to send the constable to the Sun- day-school, and eject even the Bishop himself. But if it does, it gives them, we have no doubt, the same right to send him into the sanctuary and remove any of these gentlemen from before the altar. And is it your intention that such powers may be exercised by your trustees ? If so, then it is almost time for the ministers of the Lord to forsake your temple, and erect an altar to their God, around which religion shall be free, the Council of Trent fully recognized, and the laws of the Church applied to the government and regulation of the Church."^ It then took up other invasions of ecclesiastical power by the trustees, who made the right of tlie Bishop to appoint priests a nullity by refusing them means of subsistence, who assumed the right to appoint teachers to instruct the children in their religion, to appoint and remove those who attended the altar or chanted the divine service.
' " Pastoral Address of the Rt. Rev. Bisliop Du Bois to the congre- gation of St. Patrick's Cathedral," New Yorii, Feb. 20, 1838.
TRUSTEEISM. 519
Expatiating, himself, from the pulpit, on this state of things, Bishop Hughes distinguished between the pew rents they had contracted to pay the trustees, and the free will offerings of the people, made according to the ancient custom of the church at the offertory for the maintenance of the clergy and of divine Avorship. As the trustees refused to apply these offerings accord- ing to the intention of the faithful, he advised his hearers to refuse all further contributions, not to put a cent in the plate when it was carried around. AVhen the Bishop and his clergy felt it necessary to appeal to the faithful for means of support, he knew that the response would be generous. After he left the pulpit the trustees attempted to take up the usual collection, but the plates went down the aisles empty and came back empty.
The Bishop before leaving the sanctuary called a meeting of the pewholders of the Cathedral the same afternoon. There he addressed a large audience, ap- pealing to all the sacrifices their ancestors had made for the faith, and exhorting them not to sacrifice the discipline of their church and the rights of their families in the house of God to a power conferred by the State with a view to their good, but which had been perverted to interfere with the discipline and spiritual authority of the Church established by Christ. A preamble and resolutions introduced by him were adopted, and he felt that he had won the congregation.^
He followed up the subject by submitting a series of questions to his assembled clergy, and they all sus- tained the pastoral letter, declaring that its principles could not be denied without heresy or schism. The
' Truth Teller, xv., p. 85.
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trustees made an effort to oppose the will of the con- gregation, but the Bishop was sustained. As the next election for trustees would decide the matter, Bishop Hughes began in April a series of lectures on the connection between the Catholic religion and the system of secular incorporation of lay trustees, which had never realized the anticiiDations of Archbishop Carroll, who had been by circumstances compelled to tolerate it, but on the contrary had produced havoc in many parts of the Catholic fold. He traced its history in different States and convinced the faithful of its dangerous character. When the election came off, one of the old board resigned, and the three members elected represented the wishes of the Bishop, the clergy, and the faithful.^
Bishop Hughes was thus free, and the whole diocese felt the influence of an active, masterful prelate, re- solved to endow it with the churches and institutions it so sorely needed. The effect was soon visible. A new church was dedicated at Albany ; others were begun at Watertown, Jamaica, and Buffalo. Be- quests to churches showed an awakened spirit of faith.
The coadjutor Bishop, in the summer of 1839, visited the interior and northern part of the State, officiating at Utica and other points. The little flock of converts at Pompey, now numbering sixteen, was consoled by the presence of their Bishop in the private chapel of Col. Dodge.^
Bishop Du Bois had survived the paralytic strokes
' Truth Teller, xv., pp. 118-9.
2 Truth Teller, xiv., pp. 383-389 ; xv., pp. 31-189; Catholic Herald, Tii., pp. 246 ; Catholic Register, 1., pp. 45-157. Auuals of the Propaga- tion of the Faith, iii., p. 227.
OERTEL'S CONVERSION. 521
unci clung to the discharge of his duties. He oflBciated not only in New York, but in Brooklyn, Albany, and New Jersey ; and in May, 1839, visited his old college, Mount St. Mary's, to receive the homage of all. The whole j)opulation of the country around "poured forth to welcome their benefactor and to ask a father's blessing from him." His inability, however, to manage the affairs of the diocese became only too clear, and in August ArchbishojD Eccleston, in compliance with orders from Rome, announced to him that the admin- istration of the diocese was thenceforward to be con- fided to his Coadjutor. The aged Bishop laid down the authority he had so tenaciously retained, and devoted the rest of his life to a devout preparation for death. He survived till 1842, offering the holy sacri- fice daily to the last. On the IStli of December he was taken suddenly ill, and received extreme unction. He bore his iiain without a murmur, and expired on the 20th with the names of Jesus, Mary, and Josei)h on his lips. At his own desire he was interred at the door of his Cathedral. The services he had rendered to the cause of religion in the United States were not forgotten. His eulogy was pronounced by Rev. William Quarter, soon to be Bishop of Chicago, and by V. Rev. John McCaffrey, his successor at Mount St. Mary's.
The reception into the church of a Lutheran clergy- man, Rev. Maximilian Oertel, March 15, 1840, was a notable event. He was a man of learning and piety, born at Ansbach, Bavaria, in 1811, and highly com- mended by the heads of his denomination. The course of the King of Prussia, by which he endeavored to
' Catholic Expositor, iii., p. 308 : Jubilee of Mount St. Mary's, New York, 1889, p. 235.
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unite Lutherans and Calvinists in one state cliurcli, caused many Lutherans to emigrate to this country. Rev. Mr. Oertel was sent by a missionary society at Barmen to attend the emigrants in the United States. He hoped to find Lutheran doctrine followed here in all its purity and fervor, but to his regret he saw indifferentism and dissensions prevailing everywhere. He began to doubt the solidity of Protestantism : a study of the Fathers convinced him that it was not the doctrine or worship of the primitive church ; when he examined the claims of the Catholic Church his mind received the light and peace it sought. . After a course of preparation he was received by Rev. William Quarter of St. Mary's Church. A few years after he established a German Catholic paper, the Kirchen Zeitung, which under his editorship rendered for many years essential service to religion.^
The German Catholic body in New York city was now increasing, so that another church was needed, and in June the corner-stone of St. John Baptist's was laid by the Y. Rev. Dr. Power, to be dedicated on the 13th of September, by Rt. Rev. Dr. Hughes.^
■ "The Reasons of John James Maximilian Oertel, late a Lutheran minister, for becoming a Catholic," New York, 1840 ; Catholic Register, i., pp. 204, 213.
^ Catholic Register, i., p. 293 ; Freeman's Journal, i., p. 108.
CHAPTER V. DIOCESE OF NEW YOEK.
RT REV JOHN HUGHES, BISHOP OF BASILEOPOLIS, ADMINISTRA- TOR, 1839-1842, BISHOP OF NEW YORK, 1842-1843.
By the action of the Holy See the responsibility of guiding the diocese of New York devolved on the Rt. Rev. John Hughes. It was a day of great men in the civil order, the day of Clay, Webster, Calhoun, yet few men of that era spoke so directly or so effectively to the American people as Bishop Hughes. He was not an ordinary man. It had been well said that in any assemblage he would have been notable. He was full of noble thoughts and aspirations, and devoted to the Church ; every plan and every project of his mind aimed at the greater good of the country.
When the charge was imposed upon him, Dr. Hughes resolved to visit Europe, to study systems of education and means for advancing the cause of re- ligion. Fully convinced of the resources and good will of his flock, he sought material aid far less than the great ideas that should influence the action of the Church. He was full of projects. Important ques- tions were coming up. Early in 1839 an unfortunate man was condemned to death in Lewis County. He was a Catholic, but when Rev. Mr. Gilbride, the priest in whose district the prison stood, sought admission within its walls to give the doomed man the last con- solations of religion, he found the doors barred against him. In behalf of a penitent Christian soul about to face eternity the priest of God appealed to the Gover-
523
524 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
nor of tlie State of New York. The moral influence, rather than any legal power, of William H. Seward enabled the Catholic jniest to exercise his ministry.^
When the Lafargeville project proved nnavailing. Bishop Hughes sought a site nearer New York city for his college and seminary and finally determined on the property at Rose Hill, Fordham, which he pur- chased in the summer of 1839 at a cost of about thirty thousand dollars. To establish there a seminary and institution of learning Bishop Hughes called upon his flock for subscrii:»tions. The cli urches in the city of New York showed their confidence in him by subscribing at once more than ten thousand dollars. Leaving this j)roject to be carried out more fully, he issued a pas- toral, announcing the retirement of Bishop Du Bois, and explaining to some extent his projects for the gen- eral good. On the 16th of October he sailed for Eu- rope, leaving the diocese in the hands of Very Rev. John Power and Very Rev. Felix Varela.^
The influence he had already created was soon appa- rent. There was activity everywhere. In September the eloquent voice of Dr. Power pleaded for a church at New Brighton ; the next month he dedicated the newly erected church at Schenectady ; soon after, lectures by Rev. Mr. Levins showed that science was no stranger to the Catholic Church. During the absence of Bishop Hughes in Europe a movement began, which, had it been initiated by him, would have had a larger and more general scope. The Catholic schools of New York, with other denominational schools, under the school act of 1812, received a ratable proportion of the school fund, but had been for some years excluded
' Letter of Wm. H. Seward, in Truth Teller, xv., p. 242.
'^ Truth Teller, xv., p. 276, 301. Catholic RcgiHter, i., p. 33, 29.
PUBLIC SCHOOL SOCIETY. 526
from all participation in it, and the whole amount was given to a j)rivate corporation, "The Public School Society."
This body had succeeded in excluding, first the Baptist Bethel Schools, and then all religious schools, usurping the whole fund for itself. No complaint had been made against the Catholic schools, and as the schools of the Public School Society and their school books were offensively Protestant, the Catholic body, feeling that an injustice was done them, moved to obtain a restoration of the old system. They asked nothing new. The action of the Catholic body, though merely local and conservative, brought into the arena of public opinion a question that has not been settled in half a century, that of secular and religious education.^ Though the Baptists had been the first to advocate religious instruction of the young as against the secularism of the Public School Society, yet as soon as Catholics advocated it, and asked a re- turn to the old New York system, the Protestant denominations, generally, arrayed themselves against the religious education of the young. At this time there were free schools attached to each of the eight Catholic churches in the city, and more than five thousand children were taught daily in them. The State superintendent had called the attention of the
' Bourne, " History of the Public Scliool Society of the City of New Yorli," etc., New Yorli, 1870, pp. 48-75, 98, 108. " It was discovered tliat one congregation, or rather its pastor, had embarlied in the business of school keeping as matter of speculation and had established three charity schools. By deceptive returns he managed to draw from the fund a,
greater sum than was required for the payment of teachers He
then procured an enactment Under a liberal construction ....
he ventured to build a church." Petition of Public School Society, lb., p. 182. It is admitted that this was not a Catholic but a Baptist school ; *' Remonstrance and Answer of the Bethel Free School," 1833.
526 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Legislature to the fact, and to the apparent injustice of excluding them from the benefit of a fund to which they contributed.
The petition of the Catholic schools (Feb. 17, 1840) to the Common Council was rejected ; and a general meeting of Catholics was held on the 20th of March, in which a memorial to the legislature was adopted and circulated for signatures.^
Bishoj) Hughes, after reaching Paris and being pre- sented to King Louis Philippe, proceeded to Pome, where he spent nearly three months, laying before the Head of the Church the condition and wants of his diocese. After receiving valuable i^resents from the Pope he continued his journey to Vienna, and exposed the necessity of his church to the Leopoldine Society, which gave him substantial aid for his new seminary and college. Returning to Paris he induced the Supe- rior of the Ladies of the Sacred Heart to found an academy in New York city. He next visited London, was introduced to Daniel O'Connell, and spent some time in Ireland. He arrived in New York on the 18th of July, 1840.
By this time the agitation of the school question was drifting into the hands of politicians. On the 20th, two days after his arrival. Bishop Hughes attended a meeting that had been called, and in a careful speech made himself the controlling spirit of the movement. "An Address of the Roman Catholics to their fellow citizens of the City and State," ^ from his pen, set forth distinctly the grounds of the Catholic ax)peal, and presented clearly the fact that the Society schools.
' "Catholic Register, i., p. 198, 212 ; " Report of the Committee oa Arts and Sciences and Schools," New York, 1840.
« New York, Hugh Cassidy, 1840.
THE GREAT DEBATE. 527
AA'hile avowedly non-sectarian, were tlioronglily Prot- estant and used books in class and library in which Catholics and their religion were coarsely assailed. " These passages were not considered as sectarian, in- asmuch as they had been selected as mere reading lessons, and were not in favor of any particular sect, but merely against the Catholics. We feel it unjust that such passages should be taught at all in our schools, to the support of which we are contributors as well as others. But that such books should be put into the hands of our own children, and that in part at our own expense, was in our opinion unjust, unnat- ural, and at all events to us intolerable."
The address excited much attention, and a "Ke- ply" to its arguments appeared, issued evidently by the Public School Society.
On the 21st of September a, meeting of the Catholics adopted a j^etition for relief, which was at once i^resented to the Board of Aldermen then in session. This i^etition showed the Society schools not to be such as would permit Catholics to send their children to them, and asked the Common Council that eight Catholic schools should be put on an equality with the Society's schools, and be designated as "entitled to participate in the Common School Fund, upon complying with the requirements of the law, and the ordinances of the Corporation of the City."
Besides this petition there was presented to the Com- mon Council a remonstrance from the Public School Society and a protest from the Methodist Episcopal Church.
On the day appointed for the debate before the Board of Aldermen on the Catholic petition, and the opposing documents, October 29, 1840, Bishop Hughes
528 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
stood alone : two able lawyers, Theodore Sedgwick and Hiram Ketchiim were arrayed against him, with Rev. Drs. Bond, Reese, and Bangs of the Methodist Church, Rev. Dr. Spring of the Presbyterian, and Rev. Dr. Knox of the Reformed Dutch Church. The Bishop began by explaining the Catholic petition, and the grounds of the prayer for relief ; he then ana- lyzed the counter documents and showed that they avoided the real question and raised false issues. Mr. Sedgwick then rose in defense of the Public School Society, treating its history at length, and taking the legal ground that the Common Council had no power to grant the petition. He spoke with courtes}^, but Mr. Ketchum followed in a strain of virulence and personal invective, eying the Bishop as if he were some degraded culprit at the bar. He charged the Catho- lics with trying to drive the Bible from the schools. Bishop Hughes in reply showed that the Catholics asked no modification of the Public School Society or its schools. He said and trul}^ : "I conceive the true point has not been touched. Not one of our objec- tions or scruples of conscience has he undertaken to analyze, nor the grounds on which they exist. When I gave those reasons for our objections, I thought some argument would have been urged fairly against them, but the only end the gentleman has in view is the preservation of the School Society." Dr. Bond took the floor next day, and argued that to grant the peti- tion was to give money for sectarian teaching ; he then launched into a general attack on the Catholic Church as a persecuting church, citing from the shamelessly fraudulent edition of the Rhemish Testament issued by Protestants in New York. He was followed by Rev. Mr. Reese in the same strain, treating the schools of the Society as though government institutions and
THE DEBATE. 529
not those of a private association. "If individuals among us choose to educate their own children, and refuse to avail themselves of the public schools, the act is their own, but in no wise furnishes them a pre- text to complain." Rev. Dr. Knox of the Dutch Reformed Church insisted that public schools were Protestant institutions and held that Protestants could not yield to any Catholic claim. " Can Protes- tants, believing as they do believe, consent to be di- rectly instrumental in elevating to strength and in cherishing a system like this? I think not." Rev. Dr. Spring, after citing Voltaire's assertion that if there was no alternative between infidelity and the dogmas of the Catholic Church, he w^ould choose infi- delity, added: "I would choose, sir, in similar cir- cumstances, to be an infidel to-morrow."
Bishop Hughes summed up for the petitioners. He cited historical instances to show the tolerant action of Catholics. In regard to the Bible, he said: "They have represented us as contending to bring the Catho- lic Scriptures into the public schools. This is not
true They have represented us as enemies to
the Protestant Scriptures." "Now if I had asked this honorable board to exclude the Protestant Scrip- tures from the schools, then there might have been some coloring for the current calumny. But I have not done so. I say, gentlemen of every denomination, keep the Scriptures you reverence, but do not force on me that which my conscience tells me is wrong." " I see the question stand precisely where it did before the gentlemen began to speak, and I see the same false issue, and I challenge any gentleman to say that it is not a false issue — persevered in to this very hour, so that our argument has not been moved one iota ; there must therefore be something powerful in our
530 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
plain, iinsopliisticated, simple statement, when all the reasoning brought against it leaves it just where it was before." In a speech lasting three hours and a half Bishop Hughes reviewed and answered his oppo- nents, defending the Church from their attacks, and narrowing the subject down to the question at issue. In regard to religious teaching in the parochial schools, he was willing to have it after regular school hours ; he even offered to conform the system of teach- ing to that of the Public School Society, and make the parochial schools subject to State supervision. It Avas evident, however, that the question would be decided by jDrejudice and not by reason. As Bishop Hughes well said : "Eight or nine hours were wasted in the discussion of a theological tenet, but not one half-hour was given to the only questions which the Common Council should have permitted to come before them, namely : Are the rights of this portion of the citizens violated or not ? If so, is there in our hands the means to ajiply a remedy ? " '
The Committee of the Common Council on the 12tli of January, 1841, reported against the claim of the petitioners.
The Catliolics then forwarded to the Legislature petitions representing their' grievances and asking redress. The matter was referred to Hon. John C. Spencer, Secretary of State, who reported against the exclusive power given to the Public School Society in New York City, and recommended that the State system should be extended to that city. Alarmed for its existence, that societ}^ sent a remonstrance to
' "The Important and Interesting Debate on the claim of the Catholics to a portion of the Common School Fund," New York, 1840 ; " Report of the Special Committee to whom was referred the petition of the Catholics r.lative to the distribution of the School Fund," etc. [New York, 1841.]
IN THE LEGISLATURE.
631
the Legislature ; and Mr. Ketclmm again appeared as their counsel; he was answered on behalf of the petitioners by James W. McKeon and Wright
CARROLL HALL, NOW ST. ANDREW'S CHURCH.
Hawkes. Bishop Hughes also reviewed and refuted Mr. Ketchum's arguments in a meeting of the Catholic body.
The matter was thus in the hands of the State Legis-
582 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
lature, and as an election for Senators and Assembly- men approached the friends of the Public School Society, in their struggle now for very existence, approached the candidates of both jDarties and secured from most of them a pledge to vote against the Catho- lic petition and the law proposed by Secretary Silencer, Catholic voters were thus placed in a position where to vote for either party was to vote for men pledged against them ; but they did not. Enthusiastic meet- ing were held at Carroll Hall to adopt a suitable course. Four days before the election Bishop Hughes proposed an independent ticket, taking the unx)ledged candi- dates on both tickets and some others, A few Catho- lic politicians attempted to cling to the old party lines, but it was suicide ; they only lost the confidence of their old friends. Catholics to the number of 2200 supported the independent ticket, and politicians took alarm. A school bill introduced by William B. Maclay extended to New York city the provisions of the general act in relation to common schools. It j)assed on the 9th of April, 1842: and the Public School Society soon went out of existence.'
No substantial gain had been acquired by Catholics in this struggle. Their schools were as far from relief as ever ; but instead of a society absolutelj^ hostile to them and controlled by their enemies, a system of schools was created in which for a time they had at least a voice in electing officers.
The improvements required to adapt the buildings
' Bourne, " History of the Public Scliool Society of the City of New York," New York, 1870 ; Hassard, " Life of the Most Rev. John Hughes, D.D., first Archbishop of New York" ; New York, 1866, ch. xiv. The attitude of Protestant denominations in identifying themselves completely with the Public School Society was a strong and fatal proof of its Protes- tant and anti- Catholic character. A system that meets the full approval of bitterly prejudiced religionists cannot be fair to all.
ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, 533
at Rose Hill, Fordliam, which had been purchased for a college and seminary, were carried on during the year 1840, and in the autumn the seminary, which took the name of St. Joseph, was removed to it from Lafargeville. The new seminary opened with fourteen seminarians, Rev. Felix Vilanis being Suj^erior, in a small stone dwelling that stood west of the main edifice.
To complete all the requirements for the college, the Bishop appealed earnestly to the faithful at the outset of 1841. It was opened for the reception of students on the eve of St. John the Baptist's day, June 24, 1841, with the Rev. John McCloskey as President and pro- fessor of rhetoric ; Rev. Ambrose Manahan, Vice President and x^rofessor of Greek ; Rev. Edward O'Neill, professor of natural philosophy ; John J. Conroy, professor of Latin ; John Harley, prefect of discipline.^
The next year the seminary had thirty students, nineteen pursuing their theological course, so that Bishop Hughes could look forward to a supply of l)riests for his diocese, trained under his own eye. St. John's College had fifty pupils and Avas gradually gaining the confidence of Catholic parents, which became thorough when Rev. John Harley, a man of singular ability, was placed in the chair of President. ^
A review of the state of religion in the diocese at this time, by Bishop Hughes, resulting from his visita- tion, dwells on the rapid progress of the temperance cause throughout the State, leading many to seek in the sacraments grace from God to avoid sin and the occasions of sin. Albany had two large and commo-
' Card (Jan. 20, 1841) in Freeman's Journal, i., p. 230, 391 ; Hassard, 352.
- Rev. Ambrose Manahan to Cardinal Franzoni, Oct. 1, 1842.
634 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
dioiis cliurches, and the faithful of German origin, numbering from one hundred to one hundred and sixty families, were making an effort to erect a third church. Troy too had two churches, but another was needed at West Troy. Lansingburgh needed a church, • and a site had been purchased at Watertown, the ven- erable Mr. Rawson promising substantial aid. Schen-
|E B If S H
ST. JOHN S COLLEGE, ROSE HILL.
ectady, which a few years before had been a station visited monthly from Albany, had now a neat brick church and a flourishing congregation. A priest was stationed at Little Falls. The German Catholics of Utica had just bought a church. Rome had a beauti- ful Greek church on an eminence, the site being the gift of Jasper Lynch. ' The church at Salina was too small for the congregation, and the jjortion living at Syracuse were taking steps to erect a house of wor-
FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES. 535
ship of their own. At Geneva little progress was made and mismanagement by trustees had entailed heavy losses. Auburn and Seneca Falls, attended by the same priest, showed no great prosperity. Roches- ter cheered the Bishop by the prospect of a permanent increase ; it had already two large and commodious churches, yet two others, one for Germans under the Redemptorist Fathers, were already projected. The French and Canadians also desired a church. He sta- tioned Rev. Dennis Kelly at Greece, which had been for some time deprived of a priest.^
New York city gained also another church, dedi- cated to St. John the Evangelist by the Bishop, May 9, 1841, and erected on Fifth Avenue and Fiftieth Street, by the zealous priest Rev. John Maginniss, who took up his residence in the old Jesuit College.
The financial condition of many of the churches of the diocese had become a matter of serious thought to Bishop Hughes. Churches already in existence found it necessary to devote much of the income to meet the interest on mortgages and diminish the float- ing debt, leaving them helpless to establish schools or care effectually for the poor and the orphan. New churches could not be erected while others in the same district required all possible resources. In the hope of being able to remedy or alleviate this condition, Bishop Hughes organized, in the spring of 1841, " The New York Catholic Church Debt Association," and also issued a Family Circular ; the plan was to divide New York and Brooklyn into districts and collect from each family a small monthly contribution. The project was taken up at once with a good deal of spirit,
' Most Rev. John Hughes, "Complete Works," New York, 1864, ii. pp. 437-443.
536 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
and $17,000 was collected the first year, but after that interest flagged and the plan was abandoned. At a subsequent period the Bishop endeavored to borrow money at a low rate in Belgium to take up all the mortgages on his churches, but this plan met no suc- cess.^
The Ladies of the Sacred Heart, five in number, arrived in New York in May, 1841, under Madame Elizabeth Galitzin, who had come to the United States in the month of August of the preceding year as visitor of the houses of her order in this country. Re- turning to New York May 6, 1841, she established the convent of New York with five Ladies, who were soon followed by seven others of the community. They took possession of a large house at the corner of Houston and Mulberry streets, which had been occu- pied by a young ladies' academy of repute. Madame Galitzin remained here six months superintending the necessary modifications, and organizing the new community. During her stay she executed three paintings for the chapel.^ The educational advantages afforded by this new academy made it extremely popular among the more wealthy Catholic families. The house soon proved too confined for the purj)ose. Madame Bathilde, the Superior, purchased the Gibbs
' Freeman's Journal, i., pp. 357, 364. 355, 379 ; Hassard, pp. 254, 269. •' The Catholic Churches of New York city," New York, 1878, p. 426.
' " Notice sur Madame Elizabeth Galitzin, religieuse du Sacre-Cceur," 1795-1843, Tours, 1858, p. 30. Freeman's Journal, i., p. 372 ; Catholic Herald ix., p. 172. Madame Galitzin, daughter of Prince Alexis Galit- zin, was born in St. Petersburg, Feb. 22, 1795. Her mother became a Catholic, but Elizabeth felt only hatred against the Church. In 1815, however, she too yielded to divine grace, and in December, 1826, she be- came a novice of the Sacred Heart. She returned to Europe in 1842, but was again here as a visitor the next year, and died Dec. 8, 1843, at Saint Michael, La., of yellow fever.
A FRENCH CHURCH. 637
property at Astoria in 1844 ; but two years afterwards the Ladies of the Sacred Heart acquired the Lorillard property at Manhattanville, where they still remain. Two branches of the institution have been established in New York city ; there is also a convent at Ken- wood, near Albany, and one at Eden Hall, near Phila- delphia.'
New York had long had a number of Catholics of French birth or origin, many of whom seldom fre- quented the churches, some even being drawn to the French Protestant church. Monseigneur de Forbin Janson, Bishop of Nancy in France, who had been for some time in America, virtually an exile, and who had preached missions in Canada and Louisiana, saw with regret the condition of his countrymen in New York. In February, 1841, he gave a mission at St. Peter's Church to the French Catholics and roused their zeal to establish a church for themselves. A- meeting was at once held and steps taken to carry out the project, to which Rt. Eev. Dr. Hughes gave hearty encouragement. The site of a church in Canal Street, recently destroyed by fire, was soon purchased, Bishop Forbin Janson lending six thousand dollars to aid in building. He never called for the loan, but transferred his right to the diocese. The corner-stone of the Church of St. Vincent de Paul was laid by Mr. de la Foret, consul general of France, October 11, 1841. The church was erected at a cost of $38,000, and was dedicated by Bishop Hughes on the 21st of August, 1842. The Rev. Mr. Deydier was installed tempo- rarily as rector, but as it proved difficult to obtain zealous and devoted priests for the Church, the Bishop
■ Bayley, " A Brief Sketch of the History of the Catholic Church on he Island of New York," New York. 1853, p. 107 ; Bishop Hughes to the Cardinal Prefect, May 14, 1847.
538 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
of Nancy induced the Priests of the Society of Mercy, a congregation founded by Rev. Mr. Rauzan, to as- sume the direction. The Rev. Annet Lafont, S.P.M., accordingly arrived in 1852, and the church has since been under the pastoral care of that society, which has labored also, as we shall see, in Florida, Brooklyn and Southern New Jersey.^ The new church did not escape the malevolent spirit then rife in the country. On the 1st of November, 1842, some persons gained entrance to the church by night, destroyed the taber- nacle, carried off many articles of value, and set fire to the edifice in several x^laces.^
Neither Bishop Connolly nor Bishop Du Bois had ever been able to hold a diocesan synod and frame regulations, but the clergy had so increased in numbers that in 1842 Bishop Hughes deemed it necessary to hold one.^ After the clergy had devoted six days to 'a spiritual retreat at St. John's College, they, to the number of fifty-four, met in St. Patrick's Cathedral on the fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, August 28, 1842. A discourse was delivered by Rev. John McEl- roy, S. J., and the profession of faith was made by all. The other sessions were held at the college, wliere the statutes proposed by the Bishop were submitted to them for any modification experience on the mission might suggest. These statutes required a baptismal font in every church with a fixed pastor, and the administration of the sacrament there and not in private houses, except in danger of death. The Roman
' De Courcy, " Catholic Church in the United States." p. 431 ; " The Catholic Churches of New York city, "New York, 1878, p. 701 ; Free- man's Journal, Feb. 1, March, 1841.
' Freeman's Journal, Nov. 5, 1843.
3 See circular Letter to the clergy, July 28, 1843. Works, i., p. 313.
SYNOD OF 1842. 539
Ritual was to be followed in all cases. The custom of the diocese in not preparing the young for confirma- tion till after their first communion was retained. Rules were adopted for the reverent administration of the Holy Eucharist to the sick and its proper reserva- tion in the tabernacle. Suitable confessionals were to be set up in all churches within three months. Priests were not to officiate at marriages unless four days' previous notice was given, in order to prevent rash and sometimes forbidden unions, and the mar- riage was to be celebrated in the parochial district to which the parties or one of them belonged. The faith- ful were to .be warned from time to time against con- tracting marriage before a civil magistrate, or any but a Catholic clergyman. The marriages of Germans were to take place before a priest having charge of a German congregation. No priest was to officiate at a marriage where the parties had been or were to be married by a Protestant clergyman. Catholics were to be warned against mixed marriages, and no such marriage was to be performed without a dispensation, and a pledge of the non-Catholic party that the Catho- lic one should enjoy full liberty of conscience to practice her religion, and that the children should be brought up Catholics.
The celebration of mass with proper and becoming vestments and the altar neatly kept was prescribed : and all churches were required to have a proper cope, veil, monstrance, and censer for the office of the Bene- diction of the Blessed Sacrament. No priest was to be absent from his church on Sunday without permis- sion. Funeral services were not to be held in houses, or in English, and funeral orations were discounte- nanced. Steps were to be taken to prevent the burial in consecrated ground of those who had by their lives
540 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
and the neglect of the sacraments cut themselves off from the body of the church.
In the important matter of church property it was enacted that trustees should not expend, without leave of the pastor of the church, money contributed by the faithful for the maintenance of religion and the clergy. Neither pastor nor trustees were to make any extra- ordinary outlay exceeding $100 without the permission of the Bishop. Priests were required, under j)ain of suspension, to report infringements of this rule. They were to prepare an inventory of all ecclesiastical j)rop- erty, and to present to the Bishop at his visitation a statement of the financial condition of the church, and for this purpose were to have free access to the minutes and account books of the trustees. No priest was to hold the title of church, parochial residence, or cemetery in his own name, but to have it vested in the Bishop of the diocese. All persons engaged in taking part in the public services of the Church and in teach- ing were to be appointed by the priest in charge of the parochial district. No meetings were to be held in the church or basement without his leave. The letting of pews by auction was discountenanced. Provision was made for a cathedraticum or regular annual con- tribution from each church for the maintenance of the Bishop. The faithful were to be warned against secret societies, or the taking of oaths to support factions, and the sacraments were to be denied to those who persisted in adhering to such organizations, which had wrought greaiE evils among the laboring class, leading to perjury and the sacrifice of human life.*
After the close of the synod Bishop Hughes made
' Synodus Diocesara Neo Eboracensis Prima habita anno 1843. New York, 1842.
TRUSTEEISM. 541
known these statutes to the faithful in a pastoral letter issued on the 8th of SeiDtember. He pictured the condition of the Church under British rule during the days of persecution, and the neglect of many salu- tary laws of the Church resulting from the oppressed state of the clergy and faithful ; but in a country like this, where freedom was accorded to all, it became a duty to return to the ordinary and uniform laws and ordinances of the Church. In regard to ecclesiastical property he said: " One of the most perplexing ques- tions connected with the well-being of religion is the tenure and administration of ecclesiastical j)roperty. A system growing, perhaps, out of the circumstances of the times, has prevailed in this country, which is without a parallel in any other nation or in the whole history of the Catholic Church. That system is the leaving ecclesiastical property under the management of laymen, who are commonly designated trustees. We do not disguise that our conviction of this sys- tem is, that it is altogether injurious to religion, and not less injurious to the piety and religious character of those who, from time to time, are called upon to execute its offices." After explaining that the prop- erty of the Church had always been regarded as that of God, he explained the responsibility imposed by the canons of the Church on the bishops and clergy to preserve it intact. Under the trustee system, with boards changing from year to year, debts incurred by one set were neglected or repudiated by their suc- cessors, contracts were made leaving the burden to be met by others ; there was no supervision, no remedy, and many churches drifted year by year to bank- ruptcy. This made the yearly statement of the finan- cial condition of each church absolutely necessary. To enable the pastor to make this, access to the ac-
642 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
counts and minutes of the trustees became necessary. The Bishop added, " Should it happen that any board of trustees, or other lay persons managing the tem- X)oral affairs of any church or congregation, should refuse to let them see the treasurer's books, and the minutes of official proceedings, they are required to give us immediate notice of such refusal. We shall then adopt such measures as the circumstances of each case may require ; but in no case shall we tolerate the presence of a clergyman in any church or congrega- tion in which such refusal shall be persevered in."^
The statutes and the j)astoral letter we;;e received with general respect by the Catholics of the diocese. Several of the newspapers of the day, however, made the pastoral the subject of virulent attack, and the Bishop replied at some length. St. Louis's Church in Buffalo alone showed a disposition to resist the stat- utes of the synod. When the pastoral was read, a meeting was called at Avliich resolutions Avere adopted declining to submit, and expressing regret "not to be able to comply with the Bishop's request." The answer of the Bishop was, " Should you determine that your church shall not be governed by the general law of the diocese, then we shall claim the privilege of retiring from its walls in peace, and leave you also in peace to govern it as you will. Indeed we must keep our peace at all events, and charity also." He then directed the pastor Rev. Mr. Pax to enforce the statutes, and if the trustees prevented his doing so, to withdraw from the church, bringing the sacred vessels. Finding them obstinate. Rev. Mr. Pax resigned and left the country. After a time they asked the Bishop for a clergyman, although they were constantly calum-
' Pastoral. Works of the Rt. Rev. John Hughes, i., p. 314.
ST. LOUIS'S CHURCH, BUFFALO. 543
mating him in the public paj)ers. His reply and his action were decisive: "You shall not govern your Bishop, but your Bishop shall govern you in all eccle- siastical matters. When you are willing to walk in the way of your holy faith, as your forefathers did, and be numbered among the Catholic flock of the dio- cese, precisely as all other trustees and congregations are, then I shall send you a priest, if I should have one." By this time he was Bishop of New York, and as such he sent two priests avIio established a new church. The trustees attempted to appeal to Rome, but soon learned that they must be condemned. In the summer of 1844 they submitted, made a public acknowledgment of their errors in a card drawn up by the Bishop himself. Then only were the services resumed in St. Louis's Church.^
In the latter part of the year 1842, Bishop Hughes visited congregations in the central and northern parts of the State, confirming the young, dedicating churches, and preaching constantlj'', although his health began to yield to his labors.
He attended the fifth Council of Baltimore, in May, 1843, and there requested the Fathers to solicit from the Holy See the appointment of a coadjutor. For the position he recommended Rev. John McCloskey, rector of St. Joseph's Church, and for a time Presi- dent of St. John's College, Fordham. Soon after the close of the council he sailed to Europe, one of his main objects being to secure a loan for the diocese on advantageous terms.^
' See further, " Letters of St. Louis's Church, Buffalo," Buffalo, 1853 ; " Die Angelegenheiten der St. Louis Kirche zu Buffalo," Buffalo, 1853 ; Hassard, p. 261.
^ Hassard, p. 268 ; Autobiography of Thurlow Weed, Boston, 1884, i., p. 548, ii., p. 102.
CHAPTER VI. DIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA.
RT. REV. HENRY CONWELL, SECOND BISHOP, 1820-1842 : V. REV.
WILLIAM MA.TTHEWS, VICAR-APOSTOLIC, 1829-1830 ; RT. REV.
FRANCIS PATRICK KENRICK, BISHOP OF ARATH,
COADJUTOR AND ADMINISTRATOR, 1830-1812.
After the first Provincial Council the unfortunate diocese of Philadelphia, although Rt. Rev. Dr. Con- well retained the title of Bishop, continued to be administered by the Very Rev. William Matthews. Fathers Harold and Ryan withdrew from the country.*
Pittsburgh, at the extreme west of the diocese, showed activity. In 1828 Sister Frances Van de Vogel, of the second order of St. Francis, with another Poor
Clare, founded a convent and academy on the cliff over- looking the Allegheny River. Encouraged by Father Maguire they prospered so that they bought sixty acres on a hill west of Allegheny and erected the con- vent of Mount Alverno. In time, they had a chaplain. Rev. A. F. Van de Wejer.^ Catholics increased so in numbers that in 1829
' Truth Teller, v., pp. 254, 309. It is a somewhat curious fact that these two clergymen, after appealing to the United States government to protect their right as citizens, left the country altogether rather than go to Ohio.
2 Lambing. "History of the Dioceses of Pittsburgh and Allegheny," p. 48.
544
RT. REV. F. P. KENRICK. 645
Father Magiiire commenced the erection of a fine gothic church, one of the largest yet seen in the United States.
Aware of the recommendation of a clergyman as Coadjutor of Philadelphia by the Fathers of the Pro- vincial Council, tlie Vicar- Apostolic awaited his formal election and consecration in order to lay down the charge imposed upon him.
Rev. Francis Patrick Kenrick had been sent specially to the diocese of Bardstown, from Rome, that his vast theological learning and clear, vigorous intellect might serve to train priests for the American missions. He had shewn himself in Kentucky not only an able pro- fessor but an eloquent and active priest, ready to labor in the humblest capacity. Other dioceses had sought to secure him, but Bishop Flaget's influence retained him till this time. The Sovereign Pontiff appointed him Bishop of Arath, and coadjutor to the Bishop of Philadelphia confiding to him the adminis- tration of the diocese.
Bishop Conwell received the tidings with resignation, and though broken by years and trouble he set out for Kentucky to assist in his consecration. On the 6th of June, 1830, the feast of the Holy Trinity, Bishop Fla- get, with Rt. Rev. Dr. Conwell and Rt. Rev. Dr. David as assistants, consecrated Dr. Kenrick, in pursuance of the bulls ; Bishop England of Charleston and Bishop Fenwick of Cincinnati being also present.
On the 19th of May Bishop Kenrick issued an address to the clergy of the diocese to which he was assigned, and to the laity. He encouraged the priests in their labors, commending the care of the poor, prayer, medi- tation, and the reading of the Holy Scriptures. The Sisters of Charity and Poor Clares, the communities in the diocese, he encouraged to persevere in their holy
546 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
state and charitable labors. The laity he urged, in words of Scripture, to unity, peace, charity, and the pursuit of all virtue by obedience to the Church and their j)astors.^
After receiving testimonials of the esteem and regard which his labors in Kentucky had won,^ Bishop Ken- rick set out for Philadelphia, accompanied by the Right Rev. Dr. Con well.
In the latter part of June they reached Pittsburgh, where the new Church of St. Paul was rising, the Catholic population having increased to four thou- sand, many by conversion, and the baptisms in ten years numbering 1214. Dr. Kenrick confirmed and preached in St. Patrick's Church and visited the Con- vent of Poor Clares, where he gave the veil to two candidates and administered conlirmation.
Rev. Patrick O'Neill had erected churches in Arm- strong and Butler counties. Examining the churches at Blairsville and Ebensburg, Bishoj) Con well and his coadjutor reached Loretto, where they were welcomed by Prince Gallitzin. On the 4th of July Bishop Con- well dedicated the Church of the Holy Trinity in Huntingdon. Then, by way of Lewistown, where a neat frame church was ready for dedication, they ar- rived at Harrisburg, tlie capital of the State. Here Rev. Michael Curran had a fine. church and a school under Sisters of Charity. Rev. Bernard Keenan next welcomed them in the ancient town of Lancaster.
Bishop Conwell and the Rt. Rev. Coadjutor reached Philadelphia on the 7tli of July. After receiving the congratulations of clergy and laity, the two prelates
' Rev. F .P. Kenrick to Archbishop Whitfield, May 30, 1830 ; Truth Teller, vi., p. 244 ; Jesuit, i., p. 343 ; U. S. Cath. Miscellany, x., p. 23.
* Jesuit, i., p. 355.
VISITATIONS. 547
visited the churches and the orjihan asylums, one just erected by Rev. John Hughes.^ After acquaint- ing himself with the condition of affairs in the city, Rt. Rev. Bishop Kenrick assumed control as adminis- trator of the diocese. Early in August he was at Wil- mington, Delaware, giving confirmation and encour- aging the Sisters of Charity, who had just gathered forty orphans in their asylum. A few days later a church was dedicated at Pleasant Mills, in the New Jersey portion of the diocese. In September, Bishop Kenrick not only confirmed but gave holy orders in the ancient church of Conewago to five candidates, led there by Rev. Dr. Brute ; he was soon after dedi- cating the church erected by Rev. Mr. Keenan at Columbia and administering confirmation. Next we find him at Chambersbarg. Here, though prostrated for a time by fever, he continued his work, assisted by Rev. Mr. Hughes, who hearing of the Bishop's illness had hastened to his relief,^ Bishop Kenrick felt that there was too much work before him to spare himself. He returned to Philadelphia to proclaim the Jubilee in St. Mary's Church on the 14th of November, and labor to make its spiritual favors accessible to his fiock throughout the diocese.
It was only then that he began to arrange for his own position in Philadelphia. The trustees of St. Mary's had already officiously invited other churches to unite with them in providing an income for the Rt. Rev. Administrator of the diocese. This intermed- dling in a delicate matter was extremely inappro- priate. Bishop Conwell was still Bishop of Philadel-
' U. S. Cath. Miscellany, x., p. 30.
« U. S. Cath. Miscellany, x., p. 87, 126, 166, 182 ; Truth Teller, vi., p. 270 ; Jesuit, i., p. 419. Archbishop Whitfield to Cardinal Prefect, Aug. 29, 1830.
548 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
phia and claimed the provision made for the incum- bent before the consecration of Bishop Egan, and also the revenues of a new cemetery of which he held the title. After considering the whole condition of affairs Bishop Kenrick resolved to assume the pastoral charge of St. Mary's Church, and on the 27th of December notified the trustees of that church, " that being duly and exclusively invested by the Ax)ostolic See with episcopal jurisdiction for the government of the dio- cese of Philadelphia, he should himself henceforward act as chief jDastor of the Church of St. Mary's," and that he appointed Rev. Jeremiah Keily his assistant. The trustees were unwilling to receive him as pas- tor ; they asked him to reconsider his resolution, threatening to maintain the rights of the congrega- tion. As this was reviving the old claim of a right to clioose their own pastors, Bishop Kenrick addressed a circular to the pewholders on the 12th of April, 1831, in which he announced that it would be his duty, in compliance with the x^rinciples of the Council of Baltimore, to interdict the church "unless all opposi- tion be forthwith withdrawn, and the Catholic princi- ples of church government be unequivocally admitted," An evasive answer followed from the trustees, and Bishop Kenrick ordered the cessation of all sacred functions in St. Mary's Church or burial ground after, 12 o'clock on the 16th of April, unless the trustees signed a distinct disclaimer of their pretensions. This they explicitly declined to do, and the church was interdicted formally in a pastoral address.
The trustees then endeavored to win Bishop Con- well to their side and opened correspondence with him, which led to his meeting them at St. Mary's. The aged Bishop put forward his claims as Bishop and beneficiary, yet he hesitated to trust himself to men
END OF THE SCHISM. 549
who were the cause of all his troubles.' "A small and contemptible faction," Bishop Kenrick wrote, " by intrigues and misrepresentations has succeeded in resisting my pastoral rights, and has forced me to have recourse to a measure of severity, to which no bishop more than I can be averse. The gates of St. Mary's open every Sunday morning to receive a few mur- murers who amidst the tombs utter their plaints, because the consolations of religion have been with- drawn from those who in defiance of its authority sought to establish a tribunal of eight laymen to approve or reject at pleasure the episcopal appoint- ments. This just measure, which was imperiously demanded, has humbled and mortified the party, and gratified the great body of Philadelphian Catholics, who are sincerely attached to the doctrine and govern- ment of the Church. There has hitherto been no excitement, the Catholics worshiping peaceably in the other churches." ' The trustees failing to entrap Bishop Conwell, and destitute of a leader, soon sub- mitted, and on the 28th of May Bishop Kenrick reopened St. Mary's Church, and its long period of schism and rebellion ended. ^
Meanwhile he had issued a fervent Lenten pastoral, and preached four times every week during the peni-
' Secretary of the Propaganda to Archbisliop Eccleston, June 13, 1832, directed the Archbishop of Baltimore to warn Bishop Conwell not to interfere in the affairs of the diocese. A. Cath. Hist. R. iii., p. 88.
* Bishop Kenrick to Bishop E. Fenwick, same to Archbishop Eccleston, May 17, 1831. " Address of the Trustees of St. Mary's Church to the Congregation, April 16, 1831." Bishop Kenrick, Pastoral Address, April 22, 1831. Bishop England's Works, v., p. 211.
* Charge of the Rt. Rev. Francis P. Kenrick in the reopening of St. Mary's Church, Philadelphia, 1821 ; U. S. Cath. Miscellany, xi.. p. 29.
550 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
tential season, thus addressing the flocks in the dif- ferent churches in and near the city.
Seeing that the presence of the Bishop at St. Mary's gave the petty board of trustees an exaggerated idea of their own importance, he resolved to erect a church which, being absolutely free from any sucli control, would be a secure pro-cathedral for a bishop till God in his providence enabled the diocese to x^ossess a cathedral worthy of itself and of the Catholic religion.
The task of rearing such a church he committed to the energetic priest. Rev, John Hughes, whom he had made his secretary, and whose abilities he recognized. Several new churches were needed, for with a Catholic pojDulation in Philadelphia of twenty thousand, there was sitting room in the churches for only about four thousand. Rev. Mr. Hughes secured lots on Thir- teenth Street and had plans for a church prepared by William Rodrigue. He then called a meeting of Catholics, at which Matthew Carey presided, and laid before them his project of a church, free school, and refuge for poor girls. The corner-stone was laid in May, 1831, by Bishop Kenrick, and so actively was the work conducted that it Avas solemnly dedicated by Bishop Conwell in April, 1832, under the invocation of St. John the Evangelist.^
Bishop Kenrick for a time thought of making St. John's his pro-cathedral and restoring St. Mary's to the Society of Jesus, but the project was not approved at Rome.^
Early in 1832 Bishop Kenrick resolved, in compli-
' Pastoral in U. S. Catli. Miscellauy, x., p. 249.
«U. S. Cath. Miscellany, p. 310; Trnlli Teller, vii., p. 161; viii., p. 133 ; Hassard, " Life of Archbishop Hughes." 3 Cardinal Pedicini to Archbishop Whitfield, July 30, 1831.
SYNOD OF 1833.
551
ance with the recommendation of the Council of Baltimore, to convene the clergy of the diocese in a
ST. John's church, Philadelphia.
synod. The notification, issued on the 29th of Feb- ruary, appointed the 13th of May for the opening of the sessions. A spiritual retreat preceded the delib-
552 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
erations. Thirty priests attended ; nine were absent from age, ill-health, or other valid excuses. The Right Reverend Bishop mentioned that, although only priests exercising quasi-parochial functions were entitled, as of right, to seats in the synod, he would gladly hear any priest who wished to address him.
The statutes proposed by him, with some modifica- tions suggested after a free discussion, were promul- gated. When the question of the establishment of a diocesan seminary was taken up, the proposal met with the warmest support of the whole body, and the report of a committee on a practical plan was adopted.
The statutes of this first Philadelphia synod, which have been virtually maintained and frequently repub- lished, put in force the decrees of the Council of Bal- timore. The erection or enlargement of a church was not to be begun without the consent of the Bishop, and the title was to be in all cases in his name as trustee for the congregation. The penalty of suspen- sion was enacted against any priest who countenanced or aided trustees in invading episcopal authority. Regulations were adopted in regard to baptism and confession. No charge was to be exacted for adminis- tering any sacrament, though free-will offerings for baptisms and marriages might be received ; but it was peremptorily forbidden to ask or even receive any- thing for confession, enforcing an ancient and univer- sal rule. The use of the Baltimore catechism was made general until one was adopted for the whole country with the sanction of the Pope, Works for circulation among the faithful were required to bear episcopal approbation. Priests were required to re- main in their parochial districts and not leave them, much less officiate in the districts of others without permission. The mode of keeping the Holy Eucharist
THE CHOLERA. 553
and carrying it to the sick was prescribed. Mid- night mass on Christmas day, from the danger in- volved, was forbidden. It was also prescribed that no religious community of women should be introduced into any district without the written consent of the Bishop. The last statute regulated some of the do- mestic economy of the clergy.^
Bishop Kenrick thus made a great step toward the establishment of uniform discipline in the diocese and the cultivation of a true ecclesiastical spirit. But before much could be accomplished toward the estab- lishment of the sorely needed diocesan seminary, the cholera was bearing destruction through the land. Bishop Kenrick, in a pastoral letter on the 12th of July, exhorted his flock to endeavor, by prayer and works of penance, to avert the anger of God and to prepare, by the use of the sacraments, for a sudden death. As vegetables and fish were regarded as dan- gerous articles of food, the usual abstinence was suspended. -
The Catholic clergy and Sisters of Charity devoted themselves to the care of the cholera patients. Rev. Michael Hurley giving the parochial residence of St, Augustine's Church for use as a hospital, and the Sis- ters exciting by their services feelings of gratitude, which prompted offers of rich plate, but unfortunately the feelings were short-liv^d. "If their exertions have been useful to their suffering fellow-beings and satisfactory to the public authorities," wrote the Sis-
' " Constitutiones Diocesanae in Synodis Philadelpliiensibus, annis 1833 et 1842, latae et promulgatse." Philadelphia, 1842 ; U. S. Cath. Miscel- lany, xi., pp. 390, 398 ; Truth Teller, viii., p. 205 ; Boston Intelligen- cer, iii., p. 279.
''Pastoral Letter, U. S. Cath. Miscellany, xii., p. 38 ; Truth Teller, viii., p. 246.
554 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
ters, "they deem it a sufficient reward, and indeed the only one wliich it would be consistent with their vocation to receive." ^
No sooner had the ravages of the cholera ceased than Bishop Kenrick resumed his visits to the churches outside of Philadelphia, to administer confirmation and examine the progress of religion. Thence he pro- ceeded to Elizabethtown, Clearfield, where he dedi- cated the Church of St. Francis of Assisi, Huntingdon, Williamsburg, Newry, Harman's Bottom, Waynes- burg, Chambersburg, and Path Valley.^
In thanking the Leopoldine Association for gener- ous aid toward the Seminary, Bishop Kenrick estima- ted the Catholic iDopulation of his diocese at 100,000, one-fourth of them being in the city of Pliiladeli3liia. He had only 88 priests, 29 seculars, the others Jesuits, Augustinians, and Franciscans to attend fifty churches and many stations. Several of the priests were yield- ing to the influence of age and infirmities, so that it was vitally important to train up young levites to lighten their labors, and in time succeed them.^
Those were days of religious controversy, and the Philadelphia diocese was aroused by them. The Rev. John Hughes, who had been secretary to Bishop Kenrick and had erected St. John's Church, though busy with his parochial duties and the care of a school, which he soon began, was drawn into a controversy
"Truth Teller, viii., pp. 254, 382. Sisters of Charity to the Mayor, Oct. 26, 1832. Vote of thanks to Rev. M. Hurley, Sept. 6, 1832. Catholic Herald, v., p. 397. The services of Augustinians and Sisters were repaid with fire in 1844.
* On the 22d September he recalled the dispensation allowing the use of flesh meat on Friday and Saturday, and the next day confirmed in Wil- mington. U. S Cath. Miscellany, xii., pp. 142, 158, 206.
^ Berichte der Leopoldinen Stiftung, Vienna, 1833, v., p. 38 ; vi., p. 25.
REV. JOHN HUGHES. 555
with Rev. John Breckinridge, a Piesb.yterian minis- ter of no little reputation. The controversy was to be narrowed to the question : "Is the Protestant relig- ion the religion of Christ," with a prelindnary discus- sion : ' ' What is the infallible rule of faith \ ' ' Bishop Kenrick, as well as many prudent and learned clergy- men, regretted the whole affair, but it gave Rev. Mr, Hughes a field where he was able to display great ability and skill. The discussion lasted from Janu- ary to October, and appeared in The Presbyterian and a paper begun by Rev. Mr. Hughes, The Catholic Herald. No discussion had ever attracted such gen- eral attention, and thousands of Protestants became, for the first time, aware of the strength and grounds of the Catholic position on the rule of faith. To this topic most of the arguments were devoted. Rev. Mr. Breckinridge withdrawing before the main question was reached. The discussion was subsequently printed in a stout volume, and reached hosts of readers.^
Just as the controversy ceased, a Presbyterian Synod at Columbia, Pa., passed a series of resolutions assailing the Catholic Church in no measured terms. This drew from Prince Gallitzin a rej^ly entitled "Six Letters of Advice.""
When the terrible cholera once more returned to Philadelphia in 1833, the Board of Guardians applied to the Bishop of Philadelphia for Sisters of Charity to attend the patients at the almshouse.
' Controversy between Rev. Messrs. Hughes and Breckinridge on the subject, " Is the Protestant Religion the Religion of Christ ? " Philadel- phia, 1833. Hassard, " Life of the Most Rev. John Hughes," pp. 134- 145.
* Catholic Telegraph, iii., p. 172.
556 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED ST A TES.
Again did the spouses of Christ hasten to face the danger from which others shrank.^
On the 17th of July, 1833, died Father Charles Bon- aventure Maguire, O.S.F., who, after escaping the guillotine at the commencement of the French Revo- lution, and giving the wounded and dying on the bat- tle-field of Waterloo all the consolations of religion, came to the United States to labor with zeal and ability in Western Pennsylvania. After enlarging the primitive church on Liberty and Washington streets, he begun in 1829 a noble church on Grant's Hill, Pittsburgh, and, master of several languages, reached Catholics of many lands in his extended mis- sions. His assistant priest, Rev. Mr. Gegan, soon followed him to the grave. ^
Encouraged by the Bishop Administrator, Rev. Mr. Keily, of St. Mary's, an experienced i3riest, who had directed a similar institution in Washington, opened an academy for young men near his church, as did also Rev. John Hughes at St. John's. Rev. Mr. Keily, encouraged by the success of his academy, in time withdrew from St. Mary's, and attempted to establish Laurel Hill College in Penn Township, which opened on the 1st of January, and for which he obtained an act of incorporation on the 13tli of April, 1835.^
Bishop Kenrick had by this time taken a residence
' Correspondence, Jesuit, iv. ,p. 88.
* Catholic Telegraph, ii., p., 311 ; Lambing, " History of the Catholic Church in the Dioceses of Pittsburgh and Allegheny," p. 43, etc.; Jesuit, iv., p. 128; Catholic Telegraph, ii., p. 311 ; U. S. Cath. Mis- cellany, xiii. , p. 393. Father Maguire published in 1825, "Defense of the Divinity of Jesus Christ, and of the mystery of the Real Presence, in reply to an anonymous letter on Unitarian Principles," 8vo, p. 62.
* Correspondence with trustees, Nov., 1834, N.Y. Weekly Register, iii., p. 215. " The Substance of the Farewell Sermon delivered at St. Mary's Church, Philadelphia, Nov. 9, 1834," Philadelphia, 1835.
ST. CHARLES' SEMINARY. 557
for himself and there opened his little Theological Seminiuy, while collecting resources and books for a future edifice and library. In 1835 the Seminary directed by the Rev. Peter R. Kenrick had ten semi- narians, seven of them reading Liebermann's Dogmatic, theology. Contributions for the library came liber- ally. Very Rev. Dr. Cullen, rector of the Irish College at Rome, gave 150 volumes of valuable works ; the Congregation de Propaganda Fide, Bishop Trevern of Strasburg, Rev, John Hughes and Rev. Mr. Foulhouze were also benefactors.^
Bishop Kenrick especially commended the Seminary to the clergy and faithful of his diocese in his pastoral for the Lenten season of 1885, and instituted a Semi- nary Fund Society which has been maintained with good results.
An unfinished building on Eighteenth and Race streets was soon obtained, and became the Semi- nary of St. Charles Borromeo, which was incorporated April 13, 1838.2
To increase the clergy of the diocese, and enable secular j^riests to erect new churches in the northern and southern districts of Philadelphia, Bishop Ken- rick resolved to restore St. Joseph's Church and resi- dence to the Society of Jesus, its original founders. At Easter, 1833, Y. Rev. Father Kenney and F. Ste- phen L. Dubuisson arrived and assumed charge of
' Charter and Reports of the Philadelphia Theological Seminary of St. Charles Borromeo, dated April 13, 1838, Philadelphia, 1857, pp. 7-11 ; U. S. Oath. Miscellany, xiii., p. 86.; xiv., p. 186.
* N. Y. Weekly Register, iii., p. 344. Vallette, Brief Sketch of the Seminary of St. Charles Borromeo, in U. S. Cath. Hist. Mag., i., p. 21. " Charter and Report," Philadelphia, 1856. Pastoral Letters of Bishop Kenrick, Feb. 26, 1835 ; U. S. Cath. Miscellany, xiv., p. 300; Sept. 21, 1838, Catholic Herald, vi., p. 305.
558 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
the cliurcli, the parochial residence being shared with Bishop Conwell and his relatives. Later in the year Fr. James Ryder arrived, and thus the Jesuit Fathers resumed the work begun in the last century .at St. Joseph's.
Rev. T. J. Donaghue leaving St. Joseph's began a new church, St. Michael's, in the Northern Liberties, laying the corner-stone on the 8th of April, 1833. It was dedicated in September of the following year. Churches were dedicated also at Newry, Johnstown, Youngstown, Tamaqua, and at Pittsburgh, where St. Paul's Church was finally opened for divine service. Churches were starting up at severah places about the same time. Father Dubuisson made excursions to Silver Lake, Friendsville, Carbondale, and Honesdale in Pennsylvania, and to points in New Jersey.^
In his visitation of 1834 Bishop Kenrick encouraged Rev. B. Keenan of Lancaster, who had just erected a church at Columbia. Then he proceeded to St. Pat- rick's at Little York; the Sacred Heart, Conewago, and the chapel at Paradise, known in earlier days as Pigeon Hill ; his next stations were Gettysburg, Cham- bersburg, and Pittsburg, officiating, instructing, and confirming in all. His annual visitations, although he devoted several months to them every year for three years and a half, had not enabled Bishop Kenrick to reach all the churches or stations in his diocese. Accordingly, after discharging the duties which were apparent to all, he proceeded to search less frequented
' Woodstock Letters, iii., p. 94 ; Annales de la Prop, de la Foi, viii., p. 215.
"Truth Teller, X., pp. 133, 159,311 ; Weekly Register, iii., p. 5 ; iv.,p. 263 ; ii., p. 104, 119 ; U. S. Cath. Miscellany, xiv., pp. 119, 250 ; Jesuit, iv., p. 16; v., p. 274. "Mission du P. Dubuis.son de la C. de Jesus dans le Nordde la Pennsylvania," etc., Rome, 1836.
BISHOP KENRICK'S WORKS. 559
districts. Tlius in 1835 we find him, after confirming at Newcastle and Wilmington, traversing the State of Delaware to discover any Catholic families who ought to be organized so as to be reguLarly attended by the nearest priest. He did the same in Western Pennsyl- vania, stimulating the erection of a church and gathering a little congregation at Bridgewater. In Lycoming County he found several German Catholic families who had not seen a jjriest for more than eighteen years ; but he sought in vain at Towanda, among the descendants of the French settlers, any trace or memory of the religion of their ancestors.^ He was thus really a good shepherd seeking the sheep that were lost.
These visitations, of which he had just completed the fifth, proved to him that the diocese was far too extensive for one bishop conscientiously to fulfill all the duties of supervision and detail. Addressing the Congregation de Propaganda Fide he explained the immense labor required, and earnestly urged the erec- tion of a see at Pittsburgh, a city with eight thousand Catholics and two churches, St. Paul's, the finest in the State. He was ready to assume the organization of the new diocese, and recommended the appoint- ment of Rev. John Hughes as Administrator of Phila- delphia.^ The Congregation de Propaganda Fide yielded to the views of Bishop Kenrick, but when the matter was laid before the Pope, canonical objections raised by Bishop England prevailed, and the whole matter was deferred till action had been taken on it at the next Provincial Council. Bishop Kenrick was
1 U. S. Cath. Miscellany, xv., pp. 61, 182 ; Annales de la Propagation de la Foi, x., p. 154.
^ Bishop Kenrick to the Propaganda, July 25, 1835.
560 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
accordingl}^ left to bear alone, for nearly ten years more, the immense and daily increasing burden.^ It was, therefore, with earnestness that in a circular in February, 1837, he solicited his clergy and people to unite in prayer that God would guide the approaching Council in its work.^ When the Metropolitan and his suffragans met, there was a general wish to carry out the plan of division proposed by Bishop Kenrick. "It seemed expedient to the Father to petition the Sove- reign Pontiff for the erection of a new episcopal see in the city of Pittsburgh, to embrace in its diocese that part of the State commonly called The Western Dis- trict of Pennsylvania, following the civil division rec- ognized in the laws of the State." Bishop England arrived after the Council opened, and the letter of the Fathers to the Pope contained no petition for a see at Pittsburgh, though it solicited the erection of other sees which were established.^
With his hopes thus shattered, Bishop Kenrick re- turned to his diocese, and in June began a visitation extending from Elizabethtown to Milton, which occu- pied him till September. During this apostolic jour- ney he dedicated, on the 29th of June, a little church erected near Bridgewater. He also visited a colony of Alsatians near Meadville, setting up an altar in an unfinished house and offering the holy sacrifice for them. Roused by his zeal they began at once the erection of a frame church.* Returning by way of Pottsville and Reading, he reached Philadelphia only
' Bishop Kenrick to Rev. John Hughes, Jan. 19, 1837 ; Bishop Eng- land to same, Jan. 14, 1837. Hassard, pp. 168-171.
•^ Notice, Feb. 22, 1887. Catholic Herald, v., p. 63.
^ Concilia Provincialia Baltimori habita ab anno 1829 usque ad annum 1840. Baltimore, 1842, pp. 121, 133, 142.
* Catholic Herald, v., p. 150, 223, 253.
BISHOP KENRICK'S WORKS.
561
to labor to make the changes and meet the wants of which his visitation had shown him the necessity. Before the close of the year he visited the New Jer- sey portion of his diocese. His diocesan seminary had gained the interest of his people ; ^ the Rev. Mr. Reilly had opened an academy at Wilmington, the orphan asy-
ST. AUGUSTINE'S CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA.
lums by means of associations were well maintained. The promotion of two of the priests of his diocese to episcopal sees would deprive him of zealous clergy-
' Rev. Edward Barron, Superior, Feb. 21, 1838, reported thirteen in the seminary, eight having been ordained the preceding year. The in- stitution cost about $2000, all collected, except $365 from the Associa- tion for the Propagation of the Faith. Cath. Herald, vi., p. 70. The Leopoldine Association had already generously aided.
562 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
men ; God called to the reward of their labors Hev. Michael Hurley, O.S. A., a native ajoparently of Phila- delphia, educated in Italy, and ordained in the early years of tlie century. From 1804 he had labored in the mission in St, Augustine's Church, Philadelphia, re- spected for his learning and devotedness, especially in times of contagious disease. He founded the mission church of St. Denis, Haverford, and made visits to many stations in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He took an active part in founding the Catholic Herald and contributed ably to its columns. He died on Whit- sunday, May 14, 1837.^ Bishop Kenrick in his Lenten pastoral commended
SEAL OF BISHOP KENRICK.
his seminary and the orj^han asylums to the charity of the faithful, citing the words of the apostle, "On the first day of the week, let every one of you put apart with himself, laying up what it shall well please him." ^
St. Joseph's Church, the cradle of religion in Phila- delphia, was at this time a "lowly edifice, tottering to decay," and early in 1838 a meeting of Catholics was called to devise means for erecting a more spa- cious and appropriate church. The corner-stone of the new church was blessed by Father James Ryder on
' Westcott, Memoir of the V. Rev. Michael Hurley, O.S. A., A. Cath. Hist. Record, i., p. 165. ■•' Pastoral, Feb. 24, 1838.
BISHOP KENRICK'S WORKS. 563
the 4th of June, in presence of the venerable Bishop Conwell, the Rt. Rev. Administrator being at the time engaged on his annual visitation, during which he dedicated a church at Beechwood settlement to St. Juliana Falconieri^ St. Basil's in Cherry Township, and St. Hippolytus near Meadville, and a church at Erie, Rev. Nicholas Balleis preaching in German.^ The churches of this diocese had in ten years risen from 35 to 70.
At the commencement of the year 1839 the seminary of St. Charles Borromeo removed from its confined limits on Fourth Street to a fine building on Race Street, fronting Logan Square. Rev. Michael O'Con- nor became Superior, devoting to it his remarkable talent as a guide for young ecclesiastics, his solid theological learning, and exhaustive knowledge of the Fathers. Almost at the time it was opened, the Theo- logia Dogmatica, prepared by Bishop Kenrick for the press, amid his cares and anxieties, was placed in the hands of the seminarians. It was a work welcomed not only in that seminary but in all others in the country, as well as by the clergy.^
After issuing a pastoral to excite his flock to a spirit of prayer, mortification, and penance during Lent Bishop Kenrick made another visitation. The great benefit of these annual appearances of the head of the diocese were seen in the dedication of new churches at Norristown, Waynesborough, Doe Run, and Potts- ville and the erection of the Church of St. Francis Xavier at Fairmount.^
' Proceedings of meeting, Jan. 29. Catholic Herald, vi. , p. 37, 181, 205, 231, 268, 277 ; Catholic Register, i., p. 124 ; Truth Teller, xiv., p. 191.
' Catholic Herald, vii., p. 29.
3 lb., pp. 172, 180. 260, 301, 317, 381; Catholic Advocate iv., pp. 148, 155.
564 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
The next year the diocese lost two priests who had labored long and well. The Rev. Patrick Kenny died at Coffee Run, near Wilmington, in his 79th year, and on the 6th of May Rev. Demetrius Augustine Gallitzin, the second priest ordained in the United States by Bishop Carroll, exx)ired at Loretto, Cambria County, amid the mountain missions which he had created and loved so well.^
In May 1840 the Bishops of the United States met at Baltimore in a fourth provincial council, and Bishop Kenrick again pleaded for a division of the diocese confided to him. In the first private congregation action was taken on the erection of a new see at Pitts- burgh, and it was declared "that it seemed to the Fathers that it should be erected according to the decree of the last council," but, as before, the letters to Rome were silent on the point and no action was taken. ^
The ecclesiastical learning and the exquisite latinity of Bishop Kenrick had already been recognized, and the acts of many councils were due to his pen.
In 1840 the Catholic population of the territory embraced in the diocese of Philadelphia was estimated at 120,000, with about seventy churches, all frequented by numbers that showed increased piety and fervor. Turbulent opposition to the discipline of the Church had died away. Bishop Kenrick by a series of instructions on points of doctrine and piety, delivered every Sunday afternoon at St. John's, drew many hearers, and led the way to similar instructions in other churches. The debts on his seminary and churches were the great obstacle to the progress of
' N. Y. Catholic Register, i., pp. 222, 278.
' " Concilia Provincialia Baltimori habita," Baltimore, 1842, p. 162.
REDEMPTORISTS AT PITTSBURGH. 565
the faith, but the increasing public spirit of his peo- ple, with aid from Lyons and Vienna, gave hopes of reducing the crushing burden/
Bishop Kenrick began his visitation in June, accom- panied by Rev. Mr. O' Conner, at Lancaster, thence taking his way to Elizabethtown, Harrisburg, Lewis- town, with its poor wooden church ; Bellefonte, with a line one of stone ; the French settlement, Clearfield, where he aided the congregation in their struggle to complete their church ; St. Nicholas at Red Bank ; Mancolini, St. Hippolytus Church ; Erie, where the Catholics had merely a hired hall but were earnestly trying to build ; Mercer, Beaver ; Pittsburgh, where a German church was in hand ; Blairsville, Johnstown, Loretto, Harrisburg, Reading, Massillon, Goshen- hoppen.^
As the German Catholics increased at Pittsburgh, they assembled at St. Patrick's Church until they hired a factory of Jacob Schneider. Unfortunately, here too dissensions arose, and a series of priests, after laboring in vain to restore harmony and zeal, succes- sively abandoned the task. Upon the withdrawal of the Benedictine Father Nicholas Balleis they were for a time without a clergyman. Bishop Kenrick, ascer- taining that the Redemptorists then in Ohio were willing to take charge of the mission, in 1839 invited the Superior Father Prost to do so. He began his work zealously, and the first Sunday, after Vespers, exhorted his hearers to make the Virgin Martyr St. Philomena their patroness and to promise solemnly to
' V. Rev. Peter R. Kenrick, " Relazione dello Stato della Diocesi di Piladelfia."
^ Bishop Kenrick to Leopoldine Association, Sept. 8, 1840, " Berichte" xiv., p. 6.
666 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
dedicate the Factory Church to her, if she would obtain the restoration of peace. Prayer triumphed. The factory was purchased for fifteen thousand dol- lars, and was soon transformed into the Church of St. Philomena and a Redemptorist convent, the first house of the congregation in the United States. Here before long the Rev. John N. Neumann received the habit and began his novitiate to become in time Bishop of Philadelphia, and die in tlie odor of sanctity, so that the process of his canonization has actually begun. ^
On the 14tli of November, 1842, Bishop Kenrick ad- dressed a letter to the Controllers of the Public Schools in Philadelphia, embodying in the mildest form the conscientious objections of Catholics to the existing regulations, by which Catholic children were com- pelled to take part in reading the King James Bible, in hymns and j)rayers from Protestant sources, and also against misrepresentation of Catholics in the class books and Avorks on the library shelves. "The school law," wrote the Bishop, "which provides 'that the religious predilections of the parents shall be resi^ected,' was evidently framed in the spirit of our Constitution, which holds the rights of conscience to be inviolable." He appealed to their justice under the belief that his words would receive due considera- tion.
On the lOth of January the Board adopted a reso- lution "that no children be required to attend or unite in the reading of the Bible in the public schools,
' Berger, " Life of Right Rev. John N. Neumann, D.D.," New York, 1884, pp. 238, 246 ; Beck, " Goldenesjubilaiim des Wirkens der Redemp- toristenvater in der St. Philomena Kirche," Pittsburg, 1889, pp. 93-101. Berichte der Leopoldinen-Stiftung, 1842, xv., p. 4.
SEE AT PITTSBURGH. 567
whose parents are conscientiously opposed there- to." '
Bishop Kenrick attended the fiftli Provincial Coun- cil of Baltimore in the month of Ma^^ and at this synod besides the Bishops of the United States, Rt. Rev, John M, Odin, Bishop of Clandiopolis and Vicar- Apostolic of the new republic of Texas, was also present. The division of the diocese of Philadelphia and the erection of a see at Pittsburgh were again solicited by the Fathers of the Council. ^ This time the effort was not unsuccessful, and the name of V. Rev. Michael O'Connor, whom he had made his Vicar- General at Pittsburgh, was sent on as the i3riest pro- posed for the new see. Dr. O'Connor hastened to Rome to solicit permission to enter the Society of Jesus, but Pope G-regory XVI. said, "You will be Bishop first and Jesuit afterwards."
Bishop Kenrick saw churches begun and carried on in different parts of his diocese. St. Philip Neri's and St. Patrick's in his ei:>iscopal city ; a church com- pleted at Nesquehoning and another begun at Beaver Meadow by Rev. John Maloney ; new churches at Trenton, New Jersey and Du Pout's Mills, Delaware. Societies like the Dorcas Society were encouraged, with those for the aid of the orphans and the support of the Seminary.
His leisure was devoted to the studies so dear to him. Besides his pastorals he issued a Letter on Christian Union, a work on the Catholic Doctrine of Justification, elicited by the Oxford movement in England, and his Theologia Moralis for the use of
' Catholic Herald, xi., p. 23 ; U. S. Catholic Magazine, ii., p. 125. ' " Concilium Provinciale Baltimorense V, liabitum anno 1843," Balti- more, 1844, p. 10.
568 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Seminaries in this country. His grand work on The Primacy of the Apostolic See was received with ap- plause.
The mission to the Maryland settlement in Liberia, where Rt, Rev. Edward Barron had been made bislioj), was heartily seconded by Bishop Kenrick ; some of liis clergy volunteered to serve there, and collections were made to aid the good work.
When Rev, Michael O'Connor was sent to Pitts- burgh as Vicar-General, Bishop Kenrick induced the priests of the Congregation of the Mission to assume the direction of the Seminary of St. Charles Borromeo, and in the summer of 1841 four priests of that community. Rev. Mariano Mailer, Superior, with Revs. Anthony Penco, M. Frasi, and Thomas Burke, arrived and entered on their duties. The Seminary numbered then thirty students, more than half ad- vancing in their theological course.^
Before the close of the year the Catholics of Phila- delphia witnessed the consecration of two bishops, Rt. Rev. Peter Paul Lefevre as Bishop of Zela and Coadjutor of Detroit, in St. John's Church, on the 28th of November, and soon after of Rt. Rev. Peter R. Kenrick as Bishop of Drasa and Coadjutor of St. Louis in St. Mary's Church.
The venerable Bishox) Conwell had nearly reached the age of a hundred. For some years his sight had been entirely lost, and he could no longer officiate at the altar. He bore this privation and all the ills of age with Christian fortitude, retaining his cheerful and gentle disposition. Bitter feelings had died away, and his declining years were surrounded with the ven-
' Bishop Ryan in U. S. Cath. Hist. Mag., i. , p. 379 ; Annual Report of the President of the Theological Seminary of St. Charles Borromeo, Philadelphia, 1842.
DEATH OF BISHOP CONWELL. 569
eration and respect of the clergy and the faithful. After a brief illness he expired on the morning of Friday, April 22, 1842, prepared for his last end with all the consolation of religion, and full of the faith and piety that characterized him. A requiem mass was celebrated in St. Joseph's for the repose of his soul by Right Rev. Dr. Kenrick, with Canon Salz- bacher as assistant priest. His body, followed by seve- ral societies, tlie seminarians, and clergy, was then borne to the cemetery at the south end of the city.^
' Catholic Herald, x. , p. 133 ; N. Y. Freeman's Journal.
CHAPTER yil.
DIOCE^SE OF PHILADELPHIA. KT. EEV. FRANCIS PATRICK KENRICK, THIRD BISHOP, 1842-3.
By the death of the venerable Dr. Conwell, the Rt. Rev. Francis P. Kenrick became Bishop of the diocese which he had administered for several years to the advantage of religion. The obscnre little body of Catholics, scarcely noticed, had grown so as to excite a revival of old prejudices and hatreds. The effort of the Catholics in New York to recover a x^art of the school fund once allowed their schools, had served as a pretext for renewing the violent attacks on the doc- trines and practices of Catliolics. Lecturers went from town to tow^n and in a tissue of misrepresentations excited the worst passions against the Church, while they sought to provoke Catholics to violence by the violence of their abuse.
One of Bishop's Kenrick' s first acts was to proclaim the Jubilee granted by Pope Gregory XVI. in order to obtain from God by the prayers of the faithful a remedy for the evils which overwhelmed the Church in Spain. ^ Exercises were given in the city churches, and gradually throughout the diocese to enable all by jDroper instructions to approach the sacraments worthily, and, while obtaining spiritual advantages for themselves, join their suffrages to the millions of Catholics thus united in prayer. In May, 1842, Bishop Kenriclv convened his clergy in a synod at the Church of St. John the Evangelist, after they had made a
' Pastoral of Bishop Kenrick, May, 1842 ; Catholic Herald, x., p. 145.
570
SYNOD OF 1842. 571
spiritual retreat under the Very Rev. John Timon. The decrees of the four Councils of Baltimore were confirmed and the Ritual prepared under their direc- tion was adopted. The abuses of choirs were cor- rected ; the limits of parochial districts were to be lixed and residence required. The Bishop declared that the priest in charge of a church or district should not be removed without grave cause. Rules were adopted for the division of perquisites between the priest in charge and his assistants. The erection and use of confessionals was strictly enjoined. Regula- tions as to faculties of priests of other dioceses were 13rescribed, and also as to matrimony, proper regis- ters, and funerals. Regular conferences were to be held quarterly at the Seminary and in Pittsburg. As no catechism had yet been adopted by a jDrovincial council, he adopted Butler's Catechism, and in Ger- man that of Augsburg, already accepted in Cincin- nati, with the little catechism of Canisius, so long in use in the German congregations of Pennsylvania.
On the 19th of June he began at Doe Run a visita- tion carried as far as Erie, and which lasted till the beginning of September. He officiated not only in churches, but gathered the faithful, where few, in private houses. He dedicated new churches, encour- aged the faithful to begin needed chapels, or replace primitive and tottering buildings by more seemly structures. He preached in the court-house at Erie, vindicating Catholics from the charge of uncharitable- ness, as he did in the court-house at Brookville on temperance.^
' Constitiitiones Dioccesanse in Sj-nodis Philadelpliiensibus, annis 1832 et 1842, latis et promulgatis, Philadelphia, 1842. Catholic Herald, x., p. 165 ; Catholic Advocate, vii., p. 145.
« Catholic Herald, x., pp. 173-284.
572 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
After liis return lie gave new life to the organiza- tions for the support of the Seminary.
The bulls erecting the new Diocese of Pittsburgh were issued on the 7th of August, 1843, and Bishop O'Connor was consecrated at Rome on the feast of the Assumption. After the establishment of this see, the Diocese of Philadelphia embraced the portion of the State east of the first degree west of Washington, Franklin County to the south and Potter to the north being the limits. It also included the State of Dela- ware and West Jersey.^
Bishop Kenrick could then devote himself to the development of Catholicity within these limits.
* Catholic Herald, xi., p. 20.
RT. REV. RICHARD VINCENT WHELAN, FIRST BISHOP OF RICHMOND.
■ 574
CHAPTER VIII.
DIOCESE OF RICHMOND. ET. REV. RICHARD VINCENT WHELAN, SECOND BISHOP, 1841-3.
Richard Vincent Whelan, selected to fill the long vacant see of Riclimond, was born in Baltimore, January 28, 1809, In his tenth year he entered Mount St. Mary's, a very delicate lad, but strength came as well as knowledge at the Mountain. With classmates like John Hughes, Thomas R. Butler, John Gildea, Francis X. Grartland, John McCloskey, John McCaffrey he held his own, winning prizes in many a contest. He terminated his course with honor in 1826, and after making two years' study of theology under Rev. S. G. Brute, he spent four years more in completing his course at St. Sulpice, Paris, and was ordained at Versailles in 1831. After his return to Maryland his merit and abilities induced Archbishop Whitfield to propose him for President of Mount St. Mary's, in 1834, as successor of Rev. John B. Purcell. Circumstances, however, led him to decline the office, and Archbishop Eccleston assigned him to the Vir- ginia missions, where he was to labor to death. He was stationed at Harper's Ferry, his care extending to the Catholics in Winchester, Martinsburg, and Bath, with occasional visits to Waterford, Shepherdtown, and Romney. He took up work in his large parish with spirit, visiting it on horseback at great self-sacrifice and risk. He was soon building St. John's Church at Martinsburg at a cost of $2000, and as that progressed planned one to be dedicated to St. Vincent de Paul at
575
676 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Bath. The Jesuits at Georgetown kindly gave paint- ings to adorn these chapels. In 1838 Martinsburg had " St. Vincent's Female Benevolent School," under the Sisters of Charity, attracting many pupils by its com- modious building and beautiful site, and excellent instruction there given. As labor increased he ob- tained an assistant and took up residence at Martins- burg, where mass was said every Sunday, twice a month at Harper's Ferry, and once at Winchester and Waterford. He displayed not only energy, bat econ- omy and prudence. He effected all without incurring debt, and actually laying up a little fund which he offered to the Archbishop of Baltimore.^
Such was the active missionary priest selected to govern the diocese of Richmond. When the subject was first broached to him he treated it as a joke,^ but the bulls came, and he was required to accept the burden. He was consecrated on the 21st of March, 1841, in the Cathedral of his native city, Baltimore, by Archbishop Eccleston.
In a pastoral addressed to his flock from Baltimore he sought their prayers to aid him in his great work ; he suggested the necessity of definite plans to secure more laborers in the vineyard. " Why is the solemn chant of the ancient liturgy heard far beyond the Alleghanies? Why are the prairies of the distant West dotted with Catholic temples, while in Virginia the very name is scarcely known, or known but to be abused ? It may be that we have not sufficiently appreciated the value of religious truth ; that we have neither availed ourselves of such means as were within
' Early Virginia Sketches, by the venerable H. F. Parke, in Catholic Mirror and letters.
" Letter to Rev. N. Zocchi, June 17, 1837.
ST. VINCENT'S SEMINARY. 577
our reach, nor lifted our voices in humble supplication to Him who has promised to grant what is sought in sincerity and with perseverance."'
Making Richmond his residence, St. Peter's Church, on a wide street leading from Capitol Square, be- came his pro-cathedral. He attended the liock there with Rev. Timothy O'Brien, and from it he made regular visits to Lynchburg and Petersburg. Rev. J. O'Brien succeeded him at Martinsburg. Rev. A. Hitselberger was soon erecting a new church at Nor- folk. Portsmouth had its church and priest, and Rev. J. Hoerner was stationed at St. Mary's, Wheel- ing. The scattered Catholic population did not in his estimation exceed six thousand. The Bishop's first great object was a seminary ; he purchased a farm, and the house on it became the Seminary and College of St. Vincent de Paul, in which he soon had thirteen students. This little institution, though he was not able to maintain it long, gave Virginia several good priests. Revs. Edward Fox, Francis Devlin, Austin Grogan, Charles Farrell.'^
During his first year Bishop Whelan crossed the mountains to visit Wheeling, the only place in West- ern Virginia blessed with a Catholic church, attended by Rev. James Hoerner. Here he preached, instructed, and confirmed. The other Catholics west of the mountains in Marion, Preston, and Hampshire coun- ties depended on the charity of priests at Pittsburg or Cumberland ; those further south appealing in need to Cincinnati, and more than once Bishop Pur- cell attended the sick and dying in the valley of the great Kanawha.
1 Pastoral Letter, March 22, 1841, N. Y. Freeman's Journal, i., p. 326. U. S. Catholic Magazine, iii., p. 610. "U. S. Catholic Magazine, ii., p. 61.
578 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
A handsome building was soon erected at Rich- mond for St. Joseph's Female Academy under five Sisters of Charity, and here as well as at Martinsburg and Norfolk the Sisters besides their school took care of orphans.
On the 23d of January, 1842, Bishop Whelan dedi- cated St. Joseph's Church at Petersburg, and on the 10th of July, St. Patriclv's Church, Norfolk. The next month he visited Wytheville, Avhere he baptized several converts, and where Shei-iff Matthews gave land for a church and a contribution in money. He fixed on Summerville as a spot for a priest to attend the Kanawha region, and Kingwood as a center for the northwest. Rev. Mr. Moriarty of Portsmouth said mass for the soldiers at Old Point Comfort.
The next year the energetic Rev. Daniel Downey reared a brick church at Lynchburg, and in his laborious Journeys visited a large district. He found but one or two families at Staunton, but in a few years had such a spirited congregation that they erected a church near which he took up his residence.
Bishop Whelan set an example to all his clergj^ laboring as earnestly in the ministry as when first sent to Harper's Ferry. In 1843 he succeeded in inducing the Redemptorists to rouse the faith of the German Catholics near Wheeling and hoped soon to gather them in a church of their own.^
The Rev. Mr. Moriarty stationed at Portsmouth
'Parke, " Some Notes on the Rise and Spread of the Catholic 3Iis- sions in Virginia"; articles in the Catholic Mirror; Keiley, " Memoranda of the History of the Catholic Church, Richmond, Va.," Norfolk, 1874 ; Catholic Herald, x., pp. 244, 252, 269; Peyton, " History of Augusta County," Staunton, 1882, p. 90. " Berichte der Leopoldincn-Stiftung," xvii., p. 16. The church at Norfolk received from Louis Philippe, King of the French, a fine copy of Murillo's Assumption, and from Dr. Higgins a large crucifix of great artistic value.
CATHOLICS IN THE ARMY. 579
numbered among his flock not only the Catholics at the navy yard there, but also the officers and soldiers of the ancient faith stationed at Fortress Monroe. In his district about this time a case occurred involv- ing the liberty of conscience and freedom of worship guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States. Lieutenant John O'Brien Avas ordered to march a cer- tain number of regular soldiers to a Protestant church on Sunday. Conceiving the order to be unconstitu- tional, he determined to obey it only so far as to march the men to the door of the church, leaving to the choice of each man whether to take part in the ser- vices or not. On his return he was deprived of his sword, and placed under arrest. When it was j^ro- posed to bring him before a court martial, the diffi- culties of the case were evident. Lieutenant O'Brien was known to be an able military lawyer and a thorough officer, and his defense would be a powerful one. The case would come up free from any suspicion of rival religious feelings as the commandant Col. de Barth de Walbach, like O'Brien, was a Catholic. The War Department did not allow the case to proceed. Lieutenant O'Brien's sword was restored. In a stan- dard work, which he published a few years afterwards, "A Treatise on American Military Law,'-^ Lieuten- ant O'Brien treated at length the question of compul- sory attendance on divine service.
' Philadelphia, 1846, ch. viii., pp. 57-66. U.S. Catholic Magazine, iii., p. 473.
CHAPTER IX.
DIOCESE OF CHARLESTON.
IIT. REV. JOHN ENGLAND, FIRST BISHOP, 1829-1842; RT. REV. WILLIAM CLANCY, BISHOP OF ORIEN AND COAD- JUTOR, 1834-1837.
Impressed with the want of a religious community of women for the work of education and cliarity in his diocese, Bishop England joyfully welcomed the proposal of three ladies in Baltimore, who offered their services for his diocese, being like himself natives of Cork. They were Misses Mary and Honora O' Gor- man, and Teresa Barry. Dr. England formed them into a religious community, giving them the rule of St. Vincent de Paul. These first Sisters took their vows on the 8tli of December, 1830, adopting the name of Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy. Sister Mary Joseph O' Gorman was the first Superior. The little com- munity began its labors in a small house on Baufain Street, Charleston. An elderly maiden lady, Miss Julia Datty, a native of St. Domingo, after aiding them, was received into the order on account of her great piety and ability. She died of cliolera, October 3, 1836, while Superior of the sisterhood. Under God's blessing this order prospered and in time estab- lished houses at Savannah, Wilmington, and Sumter. "The object of their institution," wa-ote Bishop England, " is to educate females of the middling classes of society ; also to have a school for free colored girls, and to give religious instruction to female slaves ; they will also devote themselves to the service of the sick." Visits to almshouses and prisons were also
580
SISTERS OF OUR LADY OF MERCY. 581
included in their work. The Bishop could declare publicly, in 1833, that the Sisterhood had met his most sanguine expectations, and he alluded to their generous offer to give their services during the cholera in any way the board of health might direct.^
During the year 1830, Dr. England took part in the consecration of Bishop Kenrick at Bardstown and visited New Orleans and Cincinnati. He was thus able to confer with several of the newly consecrated members of the hierarchy. On his return he set to work to extend his cathedral, a rough, low frame build- ing, originally thrown up merely as a temporary accom- modation on the rear of the lot he had purchased as a site for a proposed structure. He had never been able, however, to take any steps toward erecting a cathedral and there was little promise for the future. Bishop England accordingly extended the sanctuary and finished his temporary church in Gothic style with decorations to make it less unworthy of the holy sacrifice.
During his visitations in December he dedicated St. Peter's Church, at Columbia, and subsequently preached in the State House to a large audience. Without resources to erect churches or institutions he labored to keep the faith alive by conventions and frequent visitations. Not only could he make little progress, but he met with severe losses. In a confla- gration which laid most of Fayetteville, N. C, in ashes. May 29, 1831, the Catholic church was entirely
' Bishop England, " A Brief Account of the Introduction of the Catho- lic Religion into the States of N. Carolina, S. Carolina, and Georgia," Dublin, 1832, p. 45; O'Connell, "Catholicity in the Carolinas and Georgia," New York, 1879, pp. 64-5 ; Metropolitan, Baltimore, 1858, p. 493, etc. ; Bishop England's Works, iv., pp. 335, 340, 361 ; Letters of Mother Mary Teresa Barry.
582 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
destroyed. The Rev. John Magennis soon set to work to rebuild St. Patrick's, and collections were taken up throughout the diocese to aid him. Catholics in Balti- more and Philadelphia also sent aid, Charles Carroll, of Carroll ton, heading the Maryland list.
In his visitations Bishop England was received with courtesy by the Protestants and often invited to preach. No unjDleasant consequences followed except on a single occasion at Sparta, in April, 1831, when, at the close of a sermon delivered by him in a Methodist church, Rev. Dr. Beman of Troy, a Presbyterian, rose and announced that he would on a given day reply to Bishop England. His discourse, however, so offended the Protestant audience that he was hooted from the church. Catholics had no i^art in the matter, as there were only four Catholic families in the whole county.^
Bishop England was encouraged by a letter from the Sovereign Pontiff, Gregory XVI. "It gives us great concern," said the Pope, "that so small a number of laborers, as you inform us, are to be found in so large a harvest, and the more on this account, that the difficulty of the times makes it impracticable for us to relieve that necessity. But we have this consolation, that so able a pastor as you are, who can supply the place of many, has been by Divine Provi- dence api^ointed to the charge of that flock ; and, relying on the Prince of Pastors, we hope that he will send laborers into his harvest. Your statement is also a consolation to us, that a more bright prospect presents itself to you, by reason of the trustees having been impressed with a correct sense of their duties, and that you enjoy peace and harmony, by the assis-
' U. S. Cath. Miscellany, x., pp. 158-398 ; xi., pp. 16-270 ; Bishop England's Works, iv., p. 252.
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dttisuoyed. The Rev, John ^Miigviiiiis 6ooi to, rebuild 8t. Patrick's, and collections we. througbout tiie diocese to aid him. Catholics more and Philndelphia also sent aid, Charles Ca of GarroUton, heading the Maryland list.
In his visitations Bif hop England was received with
courtesy by the ! ats and often invited to
preach. No uui>le.t - . . . , < .nseqnences followed excep i
on a single occasion ut Sparta, in April, 1831, when, ac
the close of a sennou delivered by liim in a Methodise
.'hurch, Rf^v Dr. Beman of Troy, a Presbyterian/ rose
:iF;d anp-uiK ed rii it he would on a given day reply to
Bishop England. His discourse, however, so offended
the Protestant audience that he was hooted from the
church, Catht.'i.ics liad no part in the matter, as there
wt re only four Catholic families in the whole county.'
Bishop England was encouraged by a letter frorTi
tlie Sovereign Pon-tiff, Cfregory XYI. "It dves u>
great concern," said the P( /
number of laborers, as you inturm us, are to be lound
tn so large a harvest, and the more on this account,
i /fit the difficulty of the times makes it impracticable
■e that necessity. But we have this
t ^,. >hi, ., jKistor as you are, who can
has been by Divine Provi-
. harge of that flock; and,
Mi iiie J I Li'.'.-. ■ ■: J cistors, we hope that he- will
lK)rers into his harvest. Your statement is
also a consolation to us, that a more bright prospect
presents itself to you, by reason of the trustees having
been inn-^; s^ed with a correct sense of their duties,
and th: iijoy peace and harmony, by the assis-
ks, iv., p. 252.
in«-snc, ; >v np 16-270; Bishop
\
'iyR.iudsiLsni^H.X.
IJAlu i - ■-> '
^^:r^2^m:MM.
-v^^^
IN EUROPE. 583
tance of God, as the consequence of your patience and perseverance." ^
On the 21st of November, 1831, the Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin, Bishop England opened a synod of the clergy. The condition of his diocesan seminary was a cause of great anxiety. The debt of it, although relieved in part by the generous aid from France, w^as still so oppressive that he could not maintain suitable professors, and the labor of teaching the. classes of philosophy and theology con- sequently devolved on the Bishop himself.
At a meeting of the Catholics in Charleston, held on the 3d of July, 1832, Bishop England explained at length the serious difficulties which impeded the establishment of the institutions of the diocese, and announced his intention of going to Europe in the hope of obtaining aid to overcome them. An address from his flock showed how deeply they appreciated his earnest labors and their gratitude for all the advantages they had derived from them. He had become identified with the States embraced in his diocese, and strongly attached to the people. He had revived a taste for classical studies, was an active member of the Philosophical Literary Associa- tion, and was prompt to join in any good work. Yet he was no blind admirer, unable to see faults. In the days of Nullification he spoke Avith calm wisdom, and on several occasions his eloquent voice was raised to prevent the practice of dueling. Encouraged by the marks of the general esteem he had acquired, Bishop England sailed for Liverpool, in the ship Belvidere, July 10, 1832. After a warm welcome in Ireland,
' Pope Gregory XVI. to Bishop England, Aug. 2, 1831. U. S. Cath. Miscellany, xi., p. 166.
684 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
especially at Carlo w College, he proceeded to Rome and Vienna.^
He had followed one sister, Joanna, to the grave in Charleston, after her years of unselfish devotion to him and his diocese ; he had scarcely reached Ireland before death deprived him of another, Mrs. Michael Joseph Barry.
At Rome he presented to the Cardinal Prefect a report on his diocese, and explained the object of his visit to Europe. The schismatic course of O'Galla- gher, and the laws of incor];)oration incompatible Avitli Catholic discipline, had created a condition of affairs not easily remedied. He found it imjjossible to ex- pect from legislatures any amendment of the laws, and had prepared constitutions which, accepted by the congregations, settled many points, and would be recognized in courts of law. He had from time to time amended these, and earnestly desired from the Con- gregation de Propaganda Fide instructions as to any points that were at variance with Catholic discipline. He explained also his want of priesfs and stated that one object of his visit was, if possible, to secure active and pious clergymen. His flock were poor, so poor that not a few Catholics, ashamed of their fellow believers, attended Protestant churches. Some of these he had regained, and in the last twelve years between five and six hundred Protestants had been received into the Church. He estimated the Catholics lost to the faith, and their descendants, at four times his actual flock. His little seminary had given eleven priests actually on the mission in his diocese, and he had six preparing for holy orders. Vocations could
'Bishop England's Works, iv., pp. 333, 336,339 ; U. S. Cath. Miscel- lany, xii., pp. 6, 14, 159.
AID FOR THE DIOCESE. 585
not be expected yet in his diocese, but in Ireland lie had induced some of the bishops to send to him young men who desired to become priests. He had, however, little or no means to support and educate them. A colony of Ursuline nuns to open a young ladies' academy, he also sought, and had succeeded in obtaining a promise of some religious from the Ursu- line Convent at Blackrock, Cork. The Leopold Asso- ciation in Vienna had made him an allowance which w-ould cover their passage to Charleston, and pay in part the purchase-money of a house he had secured for the purpose. He gave an account of the Sister- hood he had established and his hope of obtaining
SIGNATUKE OF BISHOP ENGLAND, OF CHARLESTON.
members for it, so that they might open an orphan asylum. He hoped also to establish or obtain a com- munity of teaching Brothers.
His congregations were the poorest in the whole country, but he had been the lirst to establish a Catholic newspaper, which in spite of all difficulties he had carried on to its eleventh volume, regarding it as absolutely necessary. He needed books especially for a seminary library, the Fathers, Councils of the Church, ecclesiastical history. Lives of the Popes, theologies, and works necessary to meet constant attacks on the Church. He appealed, therefore, to the Congregation de Propaganda Fide for aid, resigned, however, to la- bor on as he had done, if it could not be given. If it could be afforded, he beheld a new and long career of usefulness opened before him as long as God spared his life, to the advantage of many souls.
586 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
In an account of the condition of the Church in the United States, which he presented to the Leopold Association, he estimated the Catholics in Charleston at five out of forty thousand inhabitants, one fourth of the number being slaves. In his whole diocese he estimated the Catholics at eleven thousand in a popu- lation of 1,836,432. Of these seventy-five hundred were in South Carolina, three thousand in Georgia, and five hundred in North Carolina.^ The earnest labors of Bishop England had accomplished only this in thirteen years. The priests and laymen who had made such lavish promises of maintaining a bishop and aiding his Christian work had proved not onJy useless but detrimental to the progress of the Church.
Bishop England reached New York in the ship Niagara, and was welcomed in Charleston on the 4th of October, 1833. He returned encouraged. Lyons and Vienna had given him assistance. The Sovereign Pontiff and the Propaganda became his benefactors. Lord Clifford and others helped him to acquire church plate and needed books. He brought, too, the assur- ance that the Ursuline nuns would before long estab- lish a community in Charleston. Bishop England was not permitted, at once, to devote himself to the affairs of his diocese. The Council' about to convene at Baltimore required his presence. On his way he was rejoiced to be able to offer the holy sacrifice in St. Patrick's Church, Fayetteville, which had risen from the ashes. His sermon at the opening of the Council on the subject and utility of such assemblies attracted general attention. He was soon called upon while there to refute Willis's misrepresentation of a lecture
' Bishop England, Report to Propaganda, 1833 ; Bericlite der Leopol- dinen Stiftung, 1833, vi., pp. 33-37. Annales de la Prop., vi., p. 211.
SENT TO HAYTL 687
delivered by him at the house of Cardinal Weld in Rome, on the ceremonies of Holy Week. It was a rude return for Bishop England's courtesy in obtain- ing for him an audience with the Pope.
After his return to the diocese he began his usual visitations, dedicating, November 29, the Church of St. Andrew, a small frame structure at Barnwell. The next month he tonsured James A. Corcoran, of Charleston, and Patrick N. Lynch, of Cheraw, two talented young men who soon proceeded to Rome to enter the College of the Propaganda. His diocese w^as to be deprived again, for a time, of his services. In the Island of St. Domingo had grown up the negro State of Hayti, vacillating in government from republic to empire, with religion almost extinct. The Holy See appointed Bishop England Apostolic Delegate to visit that country and arrange with the government for an organization of the Church, which would revive relig- ion and morality. Bishop England sailed December 18, 18B3, for the island, where an archbishop once pre- sided with metropolitan jurisdiction over the West In- dies and our southern coast. He had been requested to visit that island and report its religious condition to the Holy See, with his advice as to the best policy to be pursued. He found about seventy X)riests in Hayti, governed by vicars appointed by the last arch- bishop. He presented to the President the brief of Pope Gregory XVI., and was assured by him of his veneration for the head of the Catholic Church. After visiting Guadaloupe and St. Thomas, Bishop England returned to his diocese.^ In April, 1834, Bishop Eng- land set out again for Rome to give an account of his Haytian mission, and reached that city in May. The
iJSr. Y. Cath. Miscellany, xiii., pp. 110-14, 198-310, 318.
588 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Sovereign Pontiff was so well satisfied with the results of Bishop England's labors that he reappointed him Apostolic Delegate, with more ample powers to make definite arrangements between the Holy See and the President of Hayti for the proper organization of the Church. As this would entail still further absence from his diocese, Bishop England solicited the appoint- ment of a Coadjutor. Among the names proposed by him was Rev. Dr. Cullen, then Superior of the Irish College. Failing to obtain the future cardinal, he proposed Rev. AVilliam Clancy, a native of Cork, and professor of theology in Carlo w College, who was accordingly appointed. Meanwhile, Bishop England returned to Ireland and completed the arrangements for his Ursuline Convent. The colony, consisting of Mother Mary Charles Molony, Sisters Marie Borgia McCarthy and Antonia Hughes, and a j^stulant. Miss H. Woulfe, left their convent on the 27th of Septem- ber, and, embarking at Liverpool with Bishop Eng- land, reached Philadelphia, and were in Charleston on the 10th of December. A house adjoining the Cathe- dral on Broad Street had been prepared for their reception, and here the Ursuline Convent was estab- lished.^
Bishop England then resumed his missionary visita- tions, held conventions, and labored as of old. His Coadjutor, Dr. Clancy, was consecrated Bishop of Orien on the 21st of December, 1834, in the Cathe- dral of Carlow, by the Rt. Rev. Edward Nolan, Bishop
' Bishop England, "A Brief Memoir of Mother Mary Charles Molony," 1839; Works, iii., p. 263, etc. ; U. S. Cath. Miscellany, xiv., p. 190; Weekly Register, iii., p. 116; Catholic Diary, v., p. 120, 134; O'Con- nell, " Catholicity in the Carolinas and Georgia," p. 68. A community of Ladies, ' ' Dames de la Retraite," under Mme. Hery, came to his diocese and remained for a time, but he could not depend on their remaining.
BISHOP CLANCY. .^89
of Kildare and Leiglilin, Bishop Slattery, of Cashel, and Bishop Kinsella, of Kilkenny, being assistants. Dr. England hoped to benefit at once by his co-opera- tion in the labors of tlie diocese, but Bishop Clancy lingered in Ireland, and did not arrive in Charleston till November, 1835. He was welcomed by Bishop England, as well as by the convention of the diocese, then in session. The hopes entertained by Bishop England were never fulfilled. His Coadjutor came a stranger to the country, and showed no inclination to become American in feeling or sympathy. He was moreover imprudently fond of censuring the insti- tutions of the country. His temper was difficult, and in less than a year after his arrival in the United States he solicited his transfer to some other field of labor.
During the spring of 1836 Bishop Clancy relieved Dr. England by making visitations, which lasted sev- eral months.^ He also directed the Seminary, being fully qualified, by experience, to train candidates for the iDriesthood.
Bishop England wrote to Bishop Brute, "I am here endeavoring to put in order my churches, my seminary, my convent, my Sisters of Mercy, and also try whether Madame Hery can be aided to establish her house. My two churches want great repairs, my seminary is in debt, my convent struggling into exis- tence, my missions wretchedly poor, and in want of something like churches Add to this my unfit- ness for the Haytian legation, from inability to speak the language, or to write it even tolerably, and the order of his Holiness, which I cannot disobey, that I must try what can be done in this ruined island,
>U. S. Catb. Miscellany, xiv., pp. 262; xv., pp. 174, 326; Catholic Diary, v., pp. 120, 134.
590 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
whilst all tilings here are left unsettled to a new hand, Dr. Clancy, you may figure to yourself my situation."^
Relieved by the presence of his Coadjutor at Charles- ton, Bishop England i:>roceeded once more to Port-au- Prince in Hayti, and accomplishing the delicate and important mission with which he was charged, returned to Charleston, and after a few days' preparation hastened to New York, in order to embark on the packet ship United States for Europe. The Haytian affairs required his i)resence in Rome, and he was anxious to carry out in France and Ireland plans for the good of his diocese.^
Bishop England had scarcely returned to his ac- customed duties in his bishopric when the authorities in Rome directed him to repair once more to Hayti, as the negotiations had assumed a most critical character, involving the future of Catholicity in the island. His entreaties and remonstrances were unavailing, and although he almost despaired of success he prepared to set out, hoping to return in time to take part in the deliberations of the Provincial Council, which was to meet at Baltimore in April. ^ He was, however, prevented by illness from proceeding in person to the Haytian republic, so that Bishop Clancy undertook the mission, and executed it in a manner that elicited Bishop England's tlianks. He attended the Council with Bishop Clancy, arriving in time to be present at the first private session. Though thus taking part in the deliberations, Bishop Clancy had already been trans-
' Alerding, "History of the Catholic Church la the Diocese of Vin- cennes," Indiauapolis, 1883, p. 119.
' Bishop England to Hon. William Gaston, New York, June 23, 1836 ; Catholic Diary, v., pp. Ill, 367.
» Bishop England to Hon. William Gaston, Jan. 30, 1837.
DEATH OF MOTHER MARY CHARLES. 591
ferred from the coadjutorship of Charleston and been appointed Vicar-Apostolic of British Guiana. He left Charleston during the summer, and returned to his native country in order to make preparations for his new duties/ In Ireland he s^Doke so disparagingly of the United States as to elicit a reply from Bishoj) Purcell, who happened to be in that country. ^
On the 28th of July, 1837, the Ursuline community lost their venerated Superior Mother Mary Charles, Avho had returned to Charleston from a visit to Ireland, undertaken in spite of her failing health, to make arrangement for the good of the order. Her excellent uuderstanding, cultivated by thorough study and great aptitude for business, made her a most capable su- perior, while her generous and attractive disposition, sanctified by her love of God, endeared her to all and gave her wonderful influence. She was succeeded by Mother Maria Borgia (Isabella) McCarthy, whose Ursu- line Manual has been so widely used as a prayer-book.
Bishop England had, by his own labor and the closest economy, created churches and institutions in Charleston which he valued at $60,000, burdened with a debt of $25,000, which he was steadily reducing.^
In a terrible conflagration ^vllich swept away a thou- sand stores and dwellings in Charleston, St. Mary's Church, Hasell Street, recently repaired at consider-
^ " Concilia Proviucialia Baltimori habita," Baltimore, 1842, p. 121. The Letters Apostolic were issued April 12, 1836, Catholic Herald, v., pp. 220, 238. He was transferred April 12, 1837. He is remembered here chiefly by his exposure of a gross misrepresentation of a document at Newstead Abbey, by Washington Irving. His career in Guiana was disastrous. He died in Ireland in 1847.
2 Truth Teller, xiv. , pp. 324, 358.
^ Bishop England to Hon. William Gaston, Feb. 34, 1838 ; same to same, .Jan. 13, 1840.
592 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
able expense, was swept away, and the Catholics of , the city liad no place of worship except the wretched wooden pro-cathedral, which was already filled to overflowing every Sunday. St. Patrick's Church, on Charleston Neck, was in course of erection, but the frame of the new building perished in the general destruction. ^Vitli many of liis flock utterly ruined, and nearly all impoverished. Bishop England appealed, on the 28th of May, 1838, to the charitable and benevo- lent citizens of the United States, depicting the struggles of the little Catholic body and their absolute need of assistance. His appeal was not disregarded ; many of his brother bishops ordered collections, and on the feast of the Assumption he laid the corner- stone of a new church in honor of the Blessed Virgin, after a place had been cleared amid the surrounding desolation. The new church was larger than the former one, and better adapted to the wants of the people. It was dedicated June 9, 1839, as the Church of the Annunciation. On the llth of April, 1839, he dedicated St. John Baptist's, a spacious brick church just erected in Savannah ; a new church was opened in Columbus, Georgia, but the dedication deferred till its heavy debt was reduced to a safe limit. The neat church at Sumter, on a site given by Col. Sumter near the high hills of Santee, was dedicated in June.^
Early in 1840, measures were taken to erect a church at Camden, S. C. At Washington, Ga., Thomas Semmes, Esq., gave a lot for a church, and a subscription was begun to erect a solid stone edifice. Catholics were gathering around the church at Sumter. At Macon the faithful contemplated the purchase of a
' Catholic Herald, vi.,pp. 187, 376 ; Catholic Advocate, iii., pp. 153, 244.
SISTERS OF OUR LADY OF MERCY. 593
Presbyterian, meeting-house. The difficult mission of North Carolina cost the Bishop much anxiety, and he labored earnestly to erect a church at New Berne, and secure priests who would persevere in that laborious mission. He was greatly relieved when he laid the cor- ner-stone of the long desired church in November, 1840.^ By this time the Bishop began to find his system of con- ventions for each State cumbrous and expensive, and by amending the constitutions the three were merged into one annual diocesan convention, with a small number of delegates.^
The Sisters of our Lady of Mercy were prospering, though they lost one of their most valuable members. On the feast of the Annunciation, in 1840, Bishojj Eng- land had laid the corner-stone of their new convent on Queen Street. On the 18th of February in the follow- ing year the Bishop celebrated mass in the new con- vent, and formally gave possession of the property to the Sisters for themselves, their pupils, and the orphans intrusted to their care.^
Bishop England set out once more for Europe on the 6th of May, and after laboring in Ireland and France to meet the wants of his diocese, returned at the close of the year. His vigorous constitution was broken, and disease was sapping his strength, but he knew no rest. His homeward voyage was a long and stormy one of fifty-two days. The Mother Superior of the Ursulines, who was a fellow-passenger, fell dan- gerously ill ; then sickness broke out among the
' Bishop England to Hon. William Gaston, July 8, 1839, Nov. 23, 1840 ; Works, iv., pp. 425, 430. U. S. Cath. Miscellany.
* Bishop England to Hon. William Gaston, June 29, 1838.
^ Bishop England to Hon. William Gaston, Aug. 3, 1839 ; Metropolitan, 1858, p. 496 ; U. S. Cath. Miscellany.
594 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
steerage passengei-s. Bisliop England became the de- voted chaplain, and was himself seized with the pre- vailing malady. Yet when he landed in Philadelphia he resx)onded to the calls made on him, and preached continually for more than two weeks. He reached Charleston in a state of great prostration, but would not summon a physician until disease assumed a serious asf)ect. Even then he continued to attend to his ordi- nary duties till his strength yielded. On the 6tli of April the physician saw that the case would terminate fatally. Bishop England received the announcement calmlj^, and requested the clergy of the city to be summoned. He addressed them in words of touching humility and resignation, and attempted to read the profession of faith, but was unable to Jinisli it. After giving directions as to the affairs of the diocese, he received extreme unction, and, bidding farewell to the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy and his seminarians, pre- pared for his final passage. Fortified with the sacra- ments and comforts of religion he expired calmly about sunrise of Monday, April 11, 1842.
Bishop England was one of the most remarkable men in the history of the Church in America. Thor- oughly devoted to his duties, he never spared himself ; he seemed constantly traveling through his diocese or abroad for its good. His general learning was great, he was fond of literary and scientific studies, and his mind seemed to retain and classify all it acquired. With little leisure, he was a prolific writer, able and cogent in controversy. He was an eloquent speaker, ready to address an audience whether the Congress at Washington, a learned society, the humblest of his own flock, or a suspicious audience of those separated from the Church, with such a tide of eloquence, such powerful argument, such rich illustration that all
V. REV. R. S. BAKER, ADMINISTRATOR. 595
hearts were swayed. He was prudent and practical, and in the councils of the Church, here and at Rome, acquired an influence which could not be accorded to one not really great.
His works, collected and published by his successor Rt. Rev. Dr. Reynolds, remain one of the great trea- sures of our literature.^
When he felt that the hand of death was upon him, he appointed Very Rev. R. S. Baker to administer the diocese till the Sovereign Pontiff named his successor.
VERY REV. RICHARD SWINTON BAKER.
ADMINISTRATOR OF THE DIOCESE OF CHARLESTON, 1842-1844.
The selection of one to succeed so gifted a bishop as Dr. England was no easy task. Able and devoted clergymen shrank from the responsibility. Even the temporary administration was a formidable burden. Very Rev. Mr. Baker Avas born of Protestant parents at Kilkenny, June 24, 1806. Received with his mother into the Church, he came to Charleston in 1827, strongly recommended by Bishop Doyle of Kildare. He was ordained in 1829, and after some experience on the mission was made Superior of the seminary. He became also Director of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, and Rector of the Cathedral. Strict almost to severity, the seminarians were trained under him like genuine monks of the desert. Archbishop Eccleston confirmed his appointment as Administrator, and he undertook the duties quietly and sj^stematically. He obtained places for many of the seminarians in the College of the Propaganda or theological institutions
' They appeared in five octavo volumes, Baltimore, 1849, etc.
596 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
elsewhere. He introduced into the affairs of the dio- cese the most rigid economy, and showed great finan- cial ability, paying off twenty thousand dollars of a debt of thirty-four thousand in two years.
During this term Georgia entered on internal im- provements, and many Catholics were employed on the new roads, whose spiritual condition required care, which Rev. Dr. Baker promptly afforded. He en- couraged the establishment of an orphan asylum at Savannah, and the corner-stone was laid in the last days of December, 1842.
Judge Gaston, the most prominent Catholic in the diocese, did not long survive his friend Bishop Eng- land. He expired at Raleigh, North Carolina, Janu- ary 23, 1844. Trained solidly in his religion by his pious mother, he was the first student to enter the walls of Georgetown College. Admitted to the bar, he so impressed his fellow- citizens with his uprightness and ability that he was sent to Congress, where his speeches are still remembered as among the greatest and most eloquent. He was the first Catholic to re- ceive the title of Doctor of Laws from Harvard College, and it was conferred at the instance of Judge Story. Very Rev. Mr. Baker gladly resigned his authority to Bishop Reynolds, and after a visit to his native land became, till death, January 30, 1870, pastor of St. Mary's Church, Charleston.^
' O'Connell, Catholicity in the Carolinas and Georgia, pp. 96, etc., 115. U. S. Cath. Miscellany, 1843-4.
CHAPTER X. DIOCESE OF BARDSTOWN.
BT REV. BENEDICT JOSEPH FLAGET, D.D., FIRST BISHOP,
1829-1832.
After the first Council of Baltimore, the diocese soon lost its able theologian Rev. Francis P. Kenrick, whom Bishop Flaget had so long struggled to retain. Appointed to the see of Arath and the coadjutorship of Philadelphia, he was consecrated in the Cathedral of Bardstown by the venerable Bishop of that see. The occasion drew to the sanctuary Bishop Conwell of Philadelphia, Bishop England of Charleston, and Bishop Fenwick of Cincinnati, twenty priests, and as many ecclesiastics.
That brilliant ceremonial was followed by the laying of the corner-stone of St. Michael's Church, Fairfield, and a few days later that of the Church of St. Louis, at Louisville, built by Rev. R. S. Abell, was dedicated by Bishop Flaget, assisted by the Bishops of Charleston and Arath. Later in the year Bishop Flaget, during a visitation, dedicated the brick Church of Holy Mary. During this year also Nazareth Academy was incor- porated, and a church was built at Elizabethtown. The Rev. Ignatius A. Reynolds, who had been Presi- dent of St. Joseph's, resigned his position to aid the Bishop in the direction of the Seminary of St. Joseph, which had already sent forth thirty priests, and had at this time about twenty students.^
"TxTsyC^uTMi^^dkiy^^^^ 83 ; Spalding, "Life of
Bishop Flaget," p. 367.
597
598 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
But Bishop Flaget believed that his period of active usefulness was past, and in this spirit he wrote to the Sovereign Pontiff asking to be relieved of the burden of the diocese. In view of the age and infirmities of his Coadjutor, Bishop David, which would prevent his traveling in order to make visitations of the diocese. Dr. Flaget proposed that Rev. Guy Ignatius Chabrat should be made Administrator of the diocese, having a high opinion of the virtues and ability of the first priest who was ordained in Kentucky.^ His resigna- tion was not deemed best for the good of religion,^ but his importunity finally prevailed. Meanwhile, he labored actively on. Louisville was rising in impor- tance. Not only was the church there dedicated, but the Nazareth community established the Presenta- tion Academy ; an orphan asylum, St. Vincent's, was opened, and, as we shall see, a college was soon under- taken. In 1831 St. Lawrence's Church in Daviess Conjity was built, and in Indiana a church was dedi- cated at the Forks of White River, where more than a hundred families of Catholics had gathered from Ken- tucky and Maryland, which the Bishop soon visited ; and in Kentucky the original church of the Irish mar- tyr, St. Rumold, Bishop of Antwerp, was rej)laced by a finer structure, which has since taken the name of St. Romuald.^
The veteran priest, Stephen T. Badin, was laboring among the Pottowatomies, near South Bend, Indiana, who hailed the advent of a black gown. The Baptists
' Jesuit, i., p. 169 ; U. S. Cath. Miscellany, x., p. 134.
^ Spalding, " Life of Bishop Flaget," pp. 269, 274. Bishop Flaget to Cardinal Prefect, May 3, 1833. •
» Webb, " Centenary of Catholicity," pp. 303, 145 ; U. S. Cath. Mis- cellany, xi., p. 70 ; xii., p. 262.
THE SOCIETY OF JESUS. 599
soon abandoned a mission attempted by them, and Rev. Mr. Badin was encouraged in his efforts to revive the teaching of the early missionaries, but was soon af- flicted by the death of one of his best catechumens, Nanankoy, killed by an intoxicated chief. His zeal was soon rewarded by conversions, one of the first being an intelligent man who, baptized a Catholic, had been educated by the Baptists in one of their institu- tions.'
Bishop Flaget had long desired to secure for his dio- cese the services of the Fathers of the Society of Jesus ; and had in 1828 solicited Very Rev. Father Gfodinot, provincial of France, for members of his order. It w^as not, however, till early in 1831, that Fathers Chazelle, Ladaviere, and Petit reached New Orleans, and notified the Bishoj) of Bardstown of their arrival. It had been Dr. Flaget' s intention to place them in charge of St. Joseph's College, but when the Fathers arrived unex- pectedly, obstacles arose. The earnest, devoted mis- sionary, Rev. William Byrne, at once offered the Jesuit Fathers St. Mary's College, which he had founded. The offer having been accepted by the Gen- eral of the Society, the Fathers took possession in the summer of 1832 ; a novitiate w^as soon opened, two priests. Revs. Simon Fouche and Evremond Harrissart, entering. Other Fathers of the Society soon arrived, but the calls of charity during the prevalence of the cholera called the Jesuits from their college to the care of the dying. Rev. Mr. Byrne had remained at the college, laboring for its good, though infirm in health, and edifying all by his virtue. He, too, hastened to the victims of the disease, but was stricken down, and crowned his life of faithful priestly service by a pious
' lb., xii., p. 38 ; Jesuit, iv., p. 163 ; Catholic Telegraph, ii., p. 383.
600 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
death on the eve of Corpus Christi, June 5, 1833. Several of the Jesuit Fathers were seized with cholera, one Father Maguire sharing the crown of Rev. Mr. Byrne.
When the cholera ceased in 1833 St. Mary's College opened and was in the full tide of prosperity, but just at nightfall, December 30, 1833, the main build- ing burst into flames, and in a short time only the blackened walls remained.^
Late in the year Bishop Flaget set out with Rev. Mr. Abell for a visitation of Indiana and Illinois, and then stopped at Saint Louis. During his absence in the beginning of December arrived official informa- tion from Rome that the Pope had accepted his resig- nation of the see of Bardstown.^
RIGHT REV. JOHN BAPTIST DAVID. SECOND BISHOP OF BAEDSTOWN, 1832-33.
The Holy See, in accepting the resignation of Bishop Flaget, did not take any such action as Bishop Flaget
SIGNATURE OP RT. REV. JOHN B. DAVID, BISHOP OF BARDSTOWN.
proposed in regard to the administration of the dio- cese. Rt. Rev. Dr. David became, by succession,
' Wcodstock Letters, ii., pp. 109-122 ; Spalding, " Life of Bishop Flaget," p. 270; Webb, "Centenary of Catholicity," p. 385; U. S. Cath. Miscellany, xiii., pp. 254, 334; Catholic Telegraph, ii., p. 399; iii., p. 84.
» Letter from Louisville, Dec. 7, 1832, to Archbishop Whitfield.
RESIGNATION. 601
second Bishop of Bardstown. The necessary indults, faculties, bulls appointing a Coadjutor arrived. He was older, more inlirm than Rt. Rev. Dr. Flaget, and had become so corpulent that it would be utterly impossible for him to take the long journeys on horse- back, necessary at that time in order to make visita- tions of the churches. " I shed more tears during three days than I have since I came to Kentucky. It was a profound affliction, mixed with astonishment at the step of that good Bishop." The first act of his administration was to appoint Bishop Flaget Vicar- General of the diocese, with the most ample powers he could confer, and the next was to transmit to Rome his resignation of the see of Bardstown, with a clear statement of the causes which unfitted him for the discharge of the duties required by the position. He advised the reappointment of Bishop Flaget.' When the resignation of Bishop Flaget became known it created "a great sensation in the public mind." The inability of Dr. David was well known, and the Coad- jutor proposed for him, Rev. G. I. Chabrat, was re- garded unfavorably as of a very arbitrary disposi- tion. "These changes," says Archbishop Spalding, "caused general dissatisfaction among both the clergy and laity of Kentucky. The former Coadjutor loudly protested against his unexpected promotion ; and the whole diocese was seized with grief at the apprehended loss of a bishop so universally esteemed and loved." Bishop Flaget did not dare to face alone the storm he had raised : he induced Bishop Rosati to accompany him to Kentucky. Finding the discontent with his action to be general, he was deeply grieved, and, as
' Bishop David to Sister Mary Magdalen, Visitation Convent, Jan. 16, 1833.
602 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Bishop David persisted in resigning the see, the three bishops, after offering the holy sacrifice "on St. John's day, to obtain the light of God by the intercession of that beloved disciple of our Lord," united in letters to the Pope and the Propaganda, urging the accep- tance of the resignation, and praying his Holiness to dispose of Bishop Flaget and Rev. Mr. Chabrat as he deemed best for the interest of the Church. In May, 1833, the documents arrived from Rome, by which Bishop David's resignation of the see v^as accepted, and Bishop Flaget was reappointed to the diocese of Bardstown. Rt. Rev, Dr. David thus laid aside the episcopal office, and remained in his seminary, bishop neither of Mauricastro nor Bardstown. He was still indeed the devoted friend, the counselor, and spiritual director of Bishop Flaget. Toward the year 1841 his health declined visibly, and the Sisters of Charity, whom he had founded, besought him to come to Nazareth, that his spiritual daughters might give him all the attention he required. He accepted the invita- tion ; but their devoted care could not stay the prog- ress of disease. After receiving the last sacraments from the hands of Bishop Flaget, he expired, in full possession of his consciousness, on the 12th of July, 1841. ''A truer and more sincerely Christian heart never beat in mortal bosom than that whose pulsations ceased when Bishop David expired. He died as he had lived. Regularity in all the actions of his life had become with him a settled habit, a second nature. Full of burning zeal for the salvation of souls, he never spared himself. In season and out of season he preached the word ; he persuaded, he besought, he reproved, in all patience and doctrine." "His remains repose in the cemetery of Nazareth, and his spiritual daughters have erected a suitable monu-
RESIGNATION. 603
ment to Ms memory. He was in liis eighty-first year." ^
RT. REV. BENEDICT J. FLAGET. THIRD BISHOP OF BARDSTOWN, 1833^3.
CoisrvERSiONS to the faith have been mentioned in these pages, but it would be impossible to chronicle all, even of those marked by special signs of grace. The conversion of Dr. James B. Dillon in Scott County, Kentucky, in 1833 was peculiar from the fact that he was drawn to the Church by the very feature which prejudices many against her. This gentleman, weary of the multitude of different doctrines put forward around him, all based on human opinion and disclaim- ing any absolute authority, asked himself whether Christ must not have established a church to teach his truth infallibly to the end of time. He turned to the only body that claimed such a power, and soon recog- nized the validity of the claim. ^
During the cholera of 1833, the Sisters of Charity, the Lorettines, and the Dominican Sisters displayed their devoted and heroic charity during the two months the pestilence raged. Three of the Sisters of Charity, returning to their home, were suddenly seized with the disease and died. Others of the community were also
' Bishop Spalding, " Life of Bishop Flaget," pp. 274-5, 332-3 ; Catholic Herald, ix., p. 237 ; Catholic Expositor, i., p. 275. Bishop David pre- pared an excellent edition of " True Piety," and a Catholic Hymn Book. Finotti, " Bibliographia," p. 97. John Baptist Mary David was born in 1761, near Nantes, France. After receiving his education under the Oratorians and in the Seminary at Nantes, he was ordained in 1785. Becoming a Sulpitian he held important chairs in their seminaries and came to the United States in 1793.
'U. S. Cath. Miscellany, xii., p. 142.
604 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
attacked, as well as pupils in the Nazareth Academy.^ The bishop and his clergy were constantly by the bed- side of the sick and dying, and Bishop Flaget notes especially the devotion of a young Dominican Father and two Brothers.
Rt. Rev. Dr. Flaget, on his reappointment, solicited the Rev. G. I. Chabrat as Coadjutor, and the bulls electing him arrived June 29, 1834. He had just re- covered from a dangerous illness and was consecrated Bishop of Bolina in partibus infidelium, on the 20th of July, in Bardstown Cathedral, by the Bishop of Bards- town, Bishop David and Rev. Richard Pius Miles, O.P., acting as assistants.^ In September, 1834, a small church was dedicated under the invocation of the
SIGNATURE OF RT. REV. G. I. CHABRAT, COADJUTOR.
Blessed Virgin at Covington, Kentucky, and an orphan asylum opened near it, chiefly by the charity of G. R. Springer of New Orleans. Thus began Catholic work in the future see of Covington.^
Soon after the diocese obtained its first Catholic periodical, "The St. Joseph's College Minerva, aRepos- itory of National and Foreign Literature," issued at the college in Bardstown, Rev. Martin J. Spalding,
' The Sisters were Joanna Lewis, Patricia Bamber, and Generose Buck- man. Another martyr of charity was Sister Benedicta of Loretto. An- nales de la Propagation de la Foi, vii., p. 90, etc. ; Spalding, Life of Bishop Flaget, p. 275. Sister Mary Teresa Lynch, of the Order of St. Dominic, was another martyr of charity, Webb, p. 268.
» Webb, p. 280.
^ " Catholic Telegraph," iii., p. 349 ; " Catholic Register," iii., p. 7.
RELIEVED OF INDIANA. 605
one of the faculty, being the founder and a valuable contributor.
Tennessee as yet possessed no Catholic church, but there were small congregations at Nashville, Gallatin, and Murfreesboro, which were visited from time to time by Rev. E. J. Durbin, his baptisms in that State numbering ninety-four in a year.^
Bishop Flaget had long urged the erection of an episcopal see at Vincennes, and his desire was grati- hed when Pope Gregory XVI., on the 6th of May, 1834, established the see of Vincennes, the diocese embrac- ing the State of Indiana and the eastern portion of Illinois, the rest of that part being formally attached to the diocese of St. Louis.^ Bishop Flaget joyfully took part in installing Bishop Brute in that ancient French town. He was relieved of all the territory northwest of the Ohio, which had been originally an- nexed to his diocese, but was now committed to the care of the three bishops of Cincinnati, Detroit, and Vincennes. His diocese was advancing steadily, gain- ing comparatively little by immigration, and compara- tively well supplied with churches, priests, schools, and asylums. With a coadjutor on whom he felt that he could temporarily lay the burden of administra- tion, he resolved to go to Europe in order to make the required visit to the threshold of the apostles, as well as to see his native land once more. He accordingly set out early in the spring of 1835, only two or three persons being aware of his intentions. His stay in
' It began October, 1834. About this time Mrs. Angeline Mallet died at Vincennes, at the age of 110, older even than the old French post, lb., p. 387.
" Catholic Telegraph, iv., p. 176. U. S. Cath. Miscellany, xv., p. 78.
^Bullarium de Propaganda Fide, v., p. 108 ; Catholic Telegraph, iii., p. 405.
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Europe lasted four years, and he seems to have enter- tained the hope that he would be allowed to end his days in his native land. He was everywhere received as an apostle and a saint ; his prayers were sought, and miracles ascribed to him.^
In a memoir to Cardinal Fransoni the venerable Bishop exposed the progress which religion had made in his diocese since he entered it, as well as its actual necessities. Among these were means to place at least one priest permanently in Tennessee and erect churches ; to introduce a religious community of Bro- thers to take charge of schools for boys ; and also an order to devote itself to the instruction of the deaf and dumb, whose numbers were large in Kentucky and Ohio.^
During the absence of Dr. Flaget in Europe, Bishop Chabrat governed the diocese, discharging his duties quietly and efficiently. He made regular visitations throughout the State, acting at first in an arbitrary manner, till he took counsel of experienced members of the clergy. In November, 1835, he relieved Rev. Ignatius A. Reynolds of the post of Superior of the Nazareth Sisters, and in 1836 saw Lexington menaced with dangers such as had dishonored the East. The establishment of an academy by the Sisters of Charity at Lexington, Kentucky, had excited much rancorous feeling, which anti-catholic sectarian schools industri- ously fomented. The pupils were alarmed one night when retiring by loud knocking at the door and win-
» Spalding, " Life of Bishop Flaget," pp. 308-327 ; Georges, " Monsei- gneur Flaget, Evgque de Bardstown et Louisville," Paris, 1855, pp. 103-140.
' " Memoire presente a son Eminence le Cardinal Fransoni Prefet de la Propagande, par les ordres du Souverain Pontife, dans lequel j'expose Tetat de mon diocfese en 1810 et celui oii il est en 1836."
THE CATHOLIC ADVOCATE. 607
dow. Ill their alarm they began to scream and run, upsetting a lamp and endangering the building. For- tunately no accident occurred and the panic was soon allayed. Yet out of this trivial incident malicious writers contrived to frame accusations against the Sis- ters and the clergyman in charge of the Catholic church at Lexington/
With the year 1836 the Minerva was succeeded by the first Catholic weekly paper, issued in Kentucky, "The Catholic Advocate," which had been projected for some years by Hon. Ben. J. Webb, who lived to write "The Centenary of Catholicity in Kentucky," after contributing much to the literature of the coun- try. ^
During this year a preacher named Rice attempted to rival the Maria Monk conspirators, and assailed the character of a pure and exemplary priest. Rev. D. A. Deparcq, Superior of the Lorelto Sisters, who was then in Europe. Rev. Mr. Elder sued the libeler, and the case was so clear that the jury gave its verdict against Rice.^
Rev. Edward McMahon in 1836 undertook the erection of a new church at Lexington and visited other States to collect. He was thus enabled to com- plete the edifice, so that it was dedicated by Bishop Chabrat, Dec. 3, 1837, under the invocation of St. Peter.* St. Jerome's Church, at Fancy Farm, was erected, and the German congregation organized at
' Catholic Diary, vi., p. 241. See as to Sisters about this time, Cath. Advocate, iii., p. 61.
' Webb, " Centenary," pp. 63, 319, 486.
» Webb, " Centenary," 244 ; G. A. M. Elder, " To the public," 1836 ; Rice, " An Account of the Lawsuit," etc., Louisville, 1887.
* Webb. p. 331, 164, 172, 220.
608 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Louisville soon erected St. Boniface's Church. In April, 1837, Bishop Chabrat attended the third Pro- vincial Council of Baltimore and explained to the Fathers the desire of Bishop Flaget for the formation of the State of Tennessee into a diocese. In the fifth private congregation it was decided to petition the Sovereign Pontiff to erect a see at Nashville, with Tennessee as the diocese. Pope Gregory XVI., com- plying with the desire of the episcopate, erected that see on tlie 25th of July, 1837. The Dominican Father Richard Pius Miles, elected to the new diocese, was consecrated on the 16th of September, 1838, and pro- ceeded to his ax^pointed station.^
The diocese of Bardstown was thus reduced to the State of Kentucky.
In 1838 the Catholic body in Kentucky lost its patri- arch, John Lancaster, Esq., who had emigrated to the State in 1783, at the age of seventeen, and who had gone through Indian wars and Indian captivity in his early days. He lived to fill high offices, and sit in the Senate and House of Representatives of the State. Through his long and honored life he was a pious and exemplary Catholic.
During his visitation in 1838 Bishop Chabrat dedi- cated the brick church of St. John the Baptist on Rude's Creek, recently erected by Rev. Mr. Chambige. The Coadjutor Bishop was accompanied by Rev. Mar- tin J. Spalding and the venerable priest Stephen T, Badin, whose eloquent and forcible sermons produced a remarkable effect.^ On the feast of All Saints he
' " Concilia Provincialia Baltimori habita ab anno 1829, usque ad annum 1840," Baltimore, 1842, pp. 121, 127. " Bullarium de Propaganda Fide," v., p. 163.
^ Catholic Advocate, iii., p. 94.
BISHOP FLAGET'S RETURN. 609
dedicated the Church of St. Boniface on Green Street, Louisville, erected by the German congregation which had been organized in 1836 by Rev. Joseph Stal- schmidt. This churph, after its opening, was attended for a time from Indiana and Ohio by Rev. Joseph Fer- neding and Rev. John M. Henni.^
On the 25th of January, 1838, the main building of St. Joseph's College was destroyed by lire. The foun- der, Rev. G. A. M. Elder, was again President, and his exertions on this occasion brought on an illness from which he never recovered. He lingered till the 28tli of September, when he expired at the college. Earnest, laborious, of unvarying gentleness, he was beloved by all, and his death was the pious complement of a well- spent life.^ Rev. M. J. Spalding then became Presi- dent of St. Joseph's College.
In July, 1839, Bishop Flaget. who had been preach- ing in behalf of the Association for the Propagation in France, sailed once more for the United States, and in September was welcomed at Bardstown with the utmost enthusiasm. The bells of cathedral and col- lege were rung in sign of joy, and Protestants partici- pated, with Catholics in the general gladness. To gratify his flock, among whom there was a general desire to see him, he soon began a visitation of his diocese. His presence gave a new impulse to many projects ; churches were improved, new ones erected at Taylorsville and Portland.^
Louisville had by this time grown to be a city of 20,000 inhabitants, and its Catholic institutions had so
' Catliolic Advocate, iii., p. 334; "Webb, "Centenary," p. 515.
"^ Catholic Advocate, iii., pp. 292, 318 ; Freeman's Journal, i., p. 282 ; Webb, 466.
3 Catholic Advocate, iii., pp. 317, 320 ; Truth Toller, xv., p. 217.
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developed that Bishop Flaget felt that it was the proper place for the head of the diocese. He was reluctant to leave Bardstown, the cradle of Catholicity, with the institutions which had -been so laboriously created during thirty years of his episcopate. The matter had been presented to the Holy See, and at last a rescript of the Pope authorized him to remove his residence to Louisville. The original see was not, however, suppressed, but he became and styled him- self Bishop of Louisville and Bardstown. It was pro- posed to install Bishop Flaget at Louisville on Christ- mas day, but he was prevented by illness.
Early in the next year the transfer was effected, and he was received with cordial welcome. In June he issued a pastoral to invite his flock to pray for the necessities of the Church in Spain, and thus share in the advantages of the jubilee granted by the Sovereign Pontiff.^
On the 1st of December he was rejoiced to see the arrival of a colony of Sisters of Charity of the Good Shepherd, whom he had secured at Angers during his stay in Europe. As the house was not ready for them to begin their holy work of reforming women who had strayed from the paths of virtue, they were placed temporarily at Portland, near Cedar Grove Academy. The erection of their convent was then pushed actively, the whole expense falling on the Bishop, and the Sis- ters entered it on the 4th of September, 1843.^
The Jesuit Fathers began an academy in Louisville. St. Stephen's Church was dedicated at Owensboro, and on the 30th of October, 1842, Bishop Chabrat dedi-
' Catholic Advocate, vii., p. 166.
" Spalding, " Life of Bishop Flaget," p. 336 ; U. S. Catholic Magazine, ii., pp. 63, 123.
BISHOP CHABRAT. 611
cated St. Mary's Church, Covington, a fine brick struc- ture, erected by tlie German Catliolics of that city. On the 15th of January, 1843, Bishoj) Flaget issued a pas- toral letter to his clergy, in which, after rejoicing at the good effected by the jubilee, he said : " Being now in the eightieth year of our life, and knowing that the time of our dissolution cannot be far distant, our prayers have been offered, in the commencement of this year, with increased fervor, for you and for the souls committed to your and our care." He estab- lished in his diocese the Archconfraternity of the Holy and Immaculate Heart of Mary, for the Conver- sion of Sinners.^
About this time, a new trouble, of a weighty charac- ter, afflicted the heart of the venerable Bishop. The staff on which he leaned was yielding ; his Coadjutor, Bishop Chabrat, showed an alarming decline of health, and, once remarkable for his keen eyes, he was threatened with the entire loss of sight. After sub- mitting to a course of treatment under one of the most eminent oculists in the country, without obtaining re- lief, he went to Paris ; but the most skillful specialists there could offer him no hope. Convinced that his days of usefulness in the episcopate were ended, he was anxious to resign his iDOsition as Coadjutor. His petition to Rome was referred by the authorities there to the consideration of the next Provincial Council.^
' Catholic Advocate, vii., p. 401 ; Catholic Herald, xi., p. 38.
^ Guy Ignatius Chabrat was born at Chambre, France, Dec. 28, 1787, and came to the United States with Bishop Flage't in 1810. He was or- dained Dec. 25, 1811. He did mission duty at St. Micliael's, St. Clare's and Fairfield ; was Superior of the community of Brothers and of the Sisters of Loretto. His resignation of the coadjutorship was accepted in 1847. After leaving America he retired to the paternal roof in IMau- riac, becoming completely blind, and died there Nov. 21, 1868, in liis 82d year.
612 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
For Bishop Flaget to be thus left alone in his extreme old age, with infirmities fast growing upon him, was indeed a severe trial even for one who had already endured so much : but he bowed to the holy will of God, and sought refuge in jprayer, constantly repeat- ing : " May His holy will be done ! "
During these later years Rev. Napoleon B. Perclie, future Archbishop of New Orleans, formed a congrega- tion at Portland, and erected the Church of Our Lady ; a church was dedicated at Raywick, and Cedar Grove Academy established. At the close of the year 1843 the diocese contained forty churches and chapels, twenty-six priests on the mission, and twenty-three otherwise employed. The diocesan seminary was in Marion County under the Lazarists ; the Jesuits and Dominicans were laboring ; St, Joseph's College, duly incorporated, was under the presidency of Rev. J. M. Lancaster; St. Mary's College, also incorporated, was jjresided over by Rev. William S. Murphy, S.J. ; St. Ignatius Literary Institution, in Louisville, was di- rected by Rev. John Larkin, S.J. ; Mount Merino Seminary was near Hardinsburg; there were female academies at Bardstown, Morganfield, Lexington, under the Sisters of Charity ; near Springfield, under the Dominican Sisters ; at Loretto, Bethlehem, Holy Mary, Calvary, and Gethsemane, under the Sisters of Loretto, who had also an Orphan Asylum and the Loretto Deaf and Dumb Asylum.
CHAPTER XL
DIOCESE OF CINCINNATI. RT. REV. EDWARD DOMINIC FENWICK, FIRST BISHOP, 1829-1832.
Returning from the Council of Baltimore, Bishop Fenwick resumed his labors in his diocese. During the year 1830 he was deprived by death of a Spanish Dominican Father Rafael Munoz, who after being confessor to the royal family in Spain came, in 1824, to devote himself to the American missions. He had labored earnestly, was Provincial in his order, and Vicar-General of the diocese of Cincinnati. He died on the 18th of July, universally regretted.
Early in this year Bishop Fenwick sent his Vicar- G-eneral, Frederic Rese, to Europe, and addressed the Emperor of Austria in behalf of his missions, receiving a gracious answer.
The Sisters of Charity from Emmitsburg had opened an orphan asylum in Cincinnati, but needed proper accommodation. They were relieved in December by the generous gift of a house near the Cathedral by M. P. Cassely, Esq.^ The Pottawatomie Indians, on the upper part of St. Joseph's River, were objects of the Bishop's zeal. After a visit to the tribe by Rev. Frederic Rese, he appointed Rev. Stephen Theodore Badin to the mission, and the veteran priest soon had seventy preparing for baptism. Rev. Mr. Rese visited also Mackinac, Sault Ste. Marie, and Green Bay. The old mission church at Mackinac, with Green Bay.
' Truth Teller, vi., pp. 274, 399 ; U. S. Cath. Miscellany, x., p. 55.
613
614 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
was soon assigned to the recently ordained Dominican Father SamuGl Mazzuchelli. With Rev. Mr. Dejean accomi)lishing much good at Arbre Croche, the Indian missions of the diocese were thus assuming an en- couraging appearance. Bishop Fenwick visited in person several of the congregations in Ohio.^
As Catholic priests appeared in Ohio and Michigan to officiate for the Catholic faithful, ministers of the sects began to assail the doctrines of the Church, her clergy, and her people. Father Mazzuchelli at Macki- nac responded so ably to one of these assailants that he converted three to the Catholic religion. The Bishop felt that a journal was needed in his diocese to meet these constant attacks, and during the year 1831 prepared to publish The Catholic Telegraph. It made its first appearance on the 22d of October, the day of Dr. Fenwick' s return from a visitation lasting nearly five months. During that period he visited nearly all the congregations in his diocese. Rev. Frederic Baraga had by this time begun his mission career at Arbre Croche. The venerable Badin, living with the Indian chief Pokagan, not only attended his Indians, but a French village, and two future sees. Fort Wayne and Chicago. At Green Bay Bishop Fenwick was gladly welcomed, a site of two acres was given to him, and he made arrangements for the erec- tion of a chapel. He did not leave until he had estab- lished a Menominee Indian school. On his return to Cincinnati, he was prostrated for several weeks at St. Joseph's Convent with a violent fever, for his labors in traveling, preaching, confirming, with hours in the
' U. S. Cath. Miscellany, x., pp. 79. 183 ; Mazzuchelli, " Memorie istoriche ed edificante," Milan, 1844, pp. 28-33 ; Marty, " Dr. Joliann Martin Henni, erster Bischof uud Erzbischof von Milwaukee," New York, 1888, pp. 4G-7.
INDIANS AT THE PROPAGANDA. 615
confessional, had exhausted his strength/ On his return he appealed, and not in vain, to the general government to recognize the three Indian schools which he had established.
The next year he made visitations, or rather mis- sions, in many of the churches and stations, returning to Cincinnati early in April. One result was the lay- ing of the corner-stone of a church in Steubenville. By this time the Academy of the Dominican Sisters at Somerset was in a prosperous condition, with sixty pupils.^
Bishop Fenwick, in a letter to Pope Gregory XVI., spoke of the missions among the Indians in his dio- cese, and pro]3osed to send to the College de Propa- ganda Fide two young men of the Ottawa tribe, who seemed to have a decided vocation for the priesthood, and whom he had instructed for two years in his Seminary. Pope Gregory XVI., on the 14th of April, 1832, encouraged him by a consoling letter, and agreed to receive the young Ottawas, William Maccodabinese and Augustine Hamelin. They accordingly set out for Rome in May, under the charge of V. Rev. Fred- eric Rese, and were received with great kindness by Cardinal Pedicini, Prefect of the Propaganda, who addressed a flattering letter to Bishop Fenwick.^
That devoted pastor resumed his missionary journeys in June and reached Green Bay and Arbre Croche,
1 Catholic Telegraph, i.. pp. 6, 14, 199, 306; U. S. Cath. Miscellany, xi., pp. 50-159 ; Mazzuchelli, "Memorie," p. 51, etc.
» Catholic Telegraph, i., p. 247.
3 Pope Gregory XVI. to Bishop E. D. Fenwick, U. S. Cath. Mis- cellany, xii., p. 23; xi., p. 357. Cardinal Pedicini to same, Cath. Tele- graph, i., p. 403. William Maccodabinese died at Rome June 9, 1833 : Hamelin returned and led an edifying life at Pointe St. Ignace. Catholic Telegraph, iii., p. 71.
616 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
confirming many whites and Indians at both places. On the 12th of August he wrote briefly from Mackinac. Tlie cholera was already spreading through the country, and Bishop Fenwick directed the collect pro- vitanda mortalitate to be added in the daily mass. He was himself soon to fall a victim to the disease. Though suffering from dysentery he continued his apostolic journeys, and after a short rest at Canton set out for Cincinnati. When he reached the house of a Catholic family in Wooster, he was seized with cholera. The physicians summoned failed to check the disease : and he soon became insensible to all around. Rev. John M. Henni was summoned from Canton, but the devoted Bishop, whose last words were, "Come, let us go to Calvary ! " expired Wednesday, September 26, at noon. Eminently an untiring missionarj'-, he died in the midst of his labors for the salvation of souls.
The venerable pioneer priest Rev. Gabriel Richard had preceded him to the tomb, dying also of cholera on the 13th, at Detroit, fortified by all the sacraments of the Church.^
The remains of Bishop Fenwick were brought from Wooster by the charity of a convert, and after a solemn mass of requiem they were deposited in the vault under St. Peter's Cathedral, Cincinnati, on the 11th of February, 1833.^
' Catholic Telegraph, i.,pp. 391, 406, 414; ii., p. 85. U. S. Cath. Mis- cellany, xii., p. 151 ; Mazzuchelli, pp. 81-3 ; Hammer, " Der Apostel von Ohio," p. 142. Marty, "Dr. Johann Martin Henni," p. 57. Annales de la Propagation de la Foi, vi., pp. 197, 133, 143.
Catholic Telegraph, i., p. 127.*
DIOCESE OF CINCINNATI. 617
V. REV. FREDERIC RESE. ADMINISTRATOR, 1832-33.
Ox the death of Rt. Rev. Edward Dominic P^enwick, the administration of the diocese of Cincinnati de- volved on the active missionary priest, V. Rev. Edward Rese, who had labored so earnestly among his coun- trymen in the diocese, and been instrumental in the establishment of the Leopoldine Association, whose alms have fostered so many German missions. The Sovereign Pontiff granted to him, though not a Vicar- Capitular, all the faculties enjoyed by the late Bishop, except those which required the episcopal character.
The church at Rehoboth was dedicated in Januaiy,
^^.
SIGNATURE OF V. KEV. FREDERIC RESE.
and about the same time Bishop Rosati visited Cin- cinnati to administer confirmation and confer holy orders.^
By the month of May intelligence arrived that the Rev. John Baptist Purcell, president of Mount St. Mary's College, had been elected Bishop of Cincinnati, and that Michigan and Northwest Territory, which had been temporarily placed under the care of Bishop Fenwick, were erected into the diocese of Detroit, Very Rev. Frederic Rese being elected to this new see.
Very Rev. Mr. Rese, acting by the advice of Bishop Rosati, began to organize the German Catholics of Cincinnati into a separate congregation, hojDing for a
' Cardinal Pedicini to V. Rev. F. Rese, Dec. 23, 1832. Catholic Tele- graph, i., p. 406; ii., p. 222. U. S. Cath. Miscellany, xii., pp. 246-286.
618 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
time to be able to use the Cathedral for them, but, as strong opposition was manifested, the German Catho- lics prepared to erect at once a church for themselves, and secured a site on Fifth Street, between Smith and Park streets.
Daring this time Rev. Mr. McGrady completed the brick church at Steubenville, and Rev. Edmund Quinn a similar one at TifSn. A German and an English school were opened in Cincinnati, under the direction of seminarians.^
'Die Katholischen Kirchen, Kloster, etc., p. 11 ; Very Rev. F. Rese, Dec. 24, 1833. Annales de la Prop, de la Foi, vi., p. 198, etc.
/^^^^^
Ct^p^^
SIGNATURE OF RT, REV. JOHN B. PURCELL, BISHOP OF CINCINNATI.
CHAPTER XII.
DIOCESE OF CINCINNATI.
RT. EEV. JOHN BAPTIST PURCELL, SECOND BISHOP, 1834-1843.
For the see of Cincinnati, as successor to Bishop Fenwick, the Rev. Father Peter Kenney, S. J., Rev. John B. Purcell, and Rev. John Hughes were recom- mended. The choice fell on Rev. Mr. Purcell, then president of Mount St. Mary's College, and this selec- tion was announced in this country. His appointment was delayed for a time, as it was represented that he was too young to assume the burden. Bishop Eng- land, whose advice was solicited, urged his appoint- ment.^ His bulls were accordingly issued, and the day for his consecration was fixed for the 13th of October, 1833, just before the assembling of the Provincial Coun- cil. He was consecrated on that day by the Most Rev. James Whitfield, Archbishop of Baltimore, in his Cathedra], assisted by Bishops Du Bois of New York and Kenrick of Arath, the recently consecrated Bishop of Detroit, Dr. Rese being also present. The sermon on the occasion was preached by Rev. Dr. Eccleston. Bishop Purcell then took his place in the Council and shared in its deliberations. At the close of the Coun- cil he proceeded to Cincinnati, where he arrived on the 14th of November, and was duly installed by the venerable Bishop Flaget, who had consecrated and
'England, ' Osservazioni del Vescovo di Charleston intorno alia ele- zione del Vescovo di Cincinnati." Houck, " The Church in Northern Ohio," p. 17.
619
620 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
installed his predecessor. In his pastoral letter, Dr. Purcell expatiated on the virtues of Bishoi:) Fenwick, and on the good that he had accomplished in Ohio, but he urged his flock in future to place little depen- dence on aid from Europe, and to rely rather on themselves. He exhorted Catholics where there was no church to set to work to erect one, and meanwhile to gather together and supply by prayer and pious reading for the great sacrilice of which they were deprived.^ The diocese of Cincinnati, embracing at this time the State of Ohio, contained about thirty thousand Catholics, who had nine brick and eight wooden churches, attended by seventeen priests. * After issuing a Lenten pastoral, in 1834 Bishop Pur- cell began a visitation of his diocese. At Portsmouth he found twenty Catholic families, visited occasionally by a priest from Cincinnati ; but in and near it, and in Franklin County, including men working on the canal, there were about two hundred communicants, Irish and Germans ; Columbus had about eighty Catholics, similarly unprovided ; Lancaster had a little wooden chapel, attended from Somerset. The Dominican Fathers had labored zealously. Rev. Joseph O'Learj', Avho had recently died, having erected two churches within two years. Zanesville had a church, and a priest who ministered to a flock of six hundred in the town and missions. Canton, with its stations, including Beechland, ready to build a church. Moregg with its little chapel of St. Fidelis of Sig- maringen, proto-martyr of the Propaganda, had about two thousand communicants. Fulton had a small wooden church. The Redemptorist Father F. X.
'Catholic Telegraph, ii., pp. 5-9; Concilia Proviucialia Baltimori habita," Baltimore, 1842, p. 92.
REDEMPTORISTS. 621
Tsclienhens who had been laboring in Ohio with Fath- ers Hatscher and Czakert of the same order, built Blessed Alphonsns Church at Peru, and visited the Catholics for thirty or forty miles around. It had been the Bishop's plan that the Redemptorist Fathers should take charge of a large district and meet the wants of the faithful, as the population increased ; but the spirit of the congregation at Peru was so bad that the good priests received only insult and abuse. They hnallv withdrew to Pittsburg, in 1839.
Rev. Edmund Quinn had charge for several years of all the stations and missions in Northern Ohio, and erected St. Mary's Church at Tiffin.
Bishop Purcell returned to find the cholera making o-reat ravages among the Catholics in Cincinnati, and especially the Germans, so that he summoned Rev. John M. Henni to their assistance. After his return the Bishop began his course of theology to the semi- narians and assumed personal direction of the Athe- naeum, as president, securing teachers to give it effic- iency and influence on its opening.^ About this time (1833) log churches rose at Glandorf, Bethlehem, and New Rieo-el in Northern Ohio, sufficient to gather the faithful together, and afford a place to instruct the children. Bishop Purcell encouraged the German Catholics in Cincinnati to persevere in their project of erecting a separate church, and when their Church of the Holy Trinity was ready for divine service, he dedicated it on the 8th of October, 1834. It was sixty feet wide by one hundred and twenty in depth, with a
' Henny, " Ein Blick in's Thai des Ohio," Munchen, 1836 pp 73-81 Bergcr, •' Life of Right Rev. John N. Newmann New ^oi-k 1884 p. 326 Catholic Telegraph, v., p. 60. Annales de la P-iy|e la Foi 8 p 336 " Berichte der Leopoldiaen-Stiftung," Vienna, 1834. yu., p. 25. Ilouck. " The Church in Northern Ohio," pp. 11, 14, 152.
622 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
good, basement for a school. It was the first German church west of the Alleghanies. The pastor of the congregation was the Rev, Martin Kundig. German Catholics preferring the rural districts and agricultural employment to city life, had settled largely in the interior of Pennsylvania, and were among the first Catholic settlers in Ohio who welcomed Bishop Flaget and Father Fenwick. As Rev. Mr. Kundig accom- panied Bishop Rese to Detroit, Bishop Purcell called Rev. John M. Henni, from Canton, to become pastor of the Church of the Holy Trinity. The new church stood near an ancient Indian mound, not improbably the scene of many religious rites of aboriginal hea- thendom. Bishop Flaget, who took part in the dedica- tion ceremonies, in his address of congratulation to the congregation, recalled the fact that when forty- three years before he passed the spot where Cincinnati was now so great and prosperous a city, there was not a brick house erected.^
Immigration by this time was centering in Ohio, and it needed constant effort to afford the Catholic portion facilities for practicing their religious duties. Bishop Purcell did not spare himself. He renewed his visitations in 1834, amid snow and ice, and was gratified by the zeal of the Rev. Mr. Horstmann on the Anglaise in Putnam County and by the exertions to endow Dayton with a church. In July, he dedi- cated that founded at Steubenville by Rev. Mr. McGra- dy ; visited the little chapel erected at Urbana by the
' Houck, "The Church in Northern Ohio," p. 17; Henny, " Ein Blick in's Thai des Ohio," Miinchen, 1836, p. 72 ; Marty, " Dr. Johann Martin Henni," p. 62 ; " Katolischen Kirchen, Kloster, Kapellen," p. 14. Bishop Purcell, Aug. 30, 1834, in Annales de la Prop, de la Foi, viii., p. 335 ; same, Oct. 1, 1834, in " Berichte der Leopoldinen-Stiftung," ix , p. 9 ; Rev. J. M. Henni, lb., p. 14.
BIBLE QUESTION. 623
Piatt family, which was attended from Dayton. St. Martin's, Brown County, was a church erected by Rev. Martin Kundig, and the school was due to Rev. J. Reid.^
Convinced of the importance and necessity of an institution for training young men for the priesthood in his own diocese. Bishop Purcell soon organized a Seminary Fund Association, the members of which, by a small annual subscription, would furnish the means for maintaining the institution and educating semi- narians.
He was thus building solidly on the foundations laid by his predecessor, seminary and college, church and school, as well as charitable institutions. Seeing the necessity of using the press to diffuse a knowledge of Catholic truth, he sought to improve the Catholic Tele- graph and formed plans for a systematic diffusion of good books.
In the early part of November, 1835, he descended to New Orleans to assist at the consecration of Rt. Rev. Anthony Blanc, Bishop of that see.^
In 1836, The Young Men's Bible Society of Cincin- nati, with more zeal than regard for truth, accused the Catholic Church with withholding the Scriptures from the people. Bishop Purcell, in a card, not only offered to contribute, if they would circulate among Catholics the Douay Bible and Allioli's German Bible, but pledged himself to go, if necessary, from door to door and leave a copy with every Roman Catholic fam-
' Catholic Telegraph, iii.. pp. 81, 246-365 ; iv., pp. 316-375. Jesuit, v., p. 335. Henny, " Eia Blick," pp. 81-4.
'■'Bishop Purcell in " Berichte der Leopoldinen-Stiftung," Jan. 31, 1836, X., p. 13 ; Catholic Telegraph, v., p. 60 ; U. S. Cath. Miscellany, XV., pp. 78, 182.
624 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
ily destitute of a Bible. It is needless to say that liis offer was not accepted.
The next year Rev. John Martin Henni established "Der Wahrheit's Freund," "The Friend of Truth," a German paper which subsists to this day, after advocating Catholicity for half a century and more.^
The same year the Ohio College of Teachers went still further, as if the teachers felt it necessary, by their attacks on the Catholic Church, to show that State education was hostile to her. Bishop Purcell asked leave to reply to their strictures, but as rules of the college prevented this, he refuted their assertions in a lecture delivered at a Protestant church. Such was the effect of this, that Rev. Alexander Campbell, founder of a sect, a division of Presbyterians, felt it necessary to defend Protestantism, and challenged any one in the Catholic ranks to meet him. Bishop Pur- cell, though averse to controversj'', accepted the chal- lenge. The Bishop and his antagonist met in a Bap- tist church, January 11, 1837. The discussion lasted eight days. The newspapers in Cincinnati conceded that Mr. Campbell's effort was "a grand failure," that he failed to accomplish his " vain boast of being able to demolish the Catholic religion." It was openly stated that " Protestantism gained nothing in the con- test, and that Catholicism suffered nothing," and that the Catholic Cliurch gained by having thousands hear the arguments in her favor.
The abilit}^ of Bishop Purcell as a controversialist was fully recognized, and the controversy, which soon appeared in book form, was widely circulated and,
' Boston Pilot, ii., June 4, 1836. A reduced copy of the front page of the first number of the Wahrlieit's Freund is given in Marty's Henni, p. 119 ; Bishop Purcell, Letter, Jan. 31, 1836. Berichte der Leopoldinen- Stiftung, X., p. 13 ; xii., p. 60.
IN EUROPE. 625
reaching many from whom every ray of Catholic truth had been excluded, led to frequent conversions.
Bishop Purcell attended the third Council of Balti- more in April, 1837, and soon after laid the corner- stone of a church at Fayette ville, and was gratified to see near that place little communities of German and French Catholics erecting temporary chapels. Rev. H. D. Juncker completed St. Mary's Church, Chilli- cothe, which was dedicated by the Bishop. The next year the same energetic priest completed a church in Columbus, the capital of the State, and future see of a bishop. It was dedicated by Rev. Stephen T. Badin. About this time Rev. Mr. Henni formed the German Catholic Orphan Society of St. Aloysius, and an asylum was soon erected.
In May, 1838, Bishop Purcell resolved to visit Europe for affairs of his diocese, and committed the adminis- tration, during his absence, to his Vicar-General V. Rev. John M. Henni and Edward T. Collins. He arrived in Liverpool early in July, and extended his visits to Ireland and Belgium. In the former country he found that a strong prejudice had been created against the United States by Bishop Clancy, who denounced this republic in unmeasured terms at many X)laces. In an address at Mallow, Bishop Purcell answered his sweeping charges and showed that our government and people at large were not responsible for the acts of a few misled and misguided men at Charlestown or Burlington.^
In a letter to the Leopold Association, which had contributed generously to the advancement of the
> Catholic Telegraph, Jan. 26, 1837 ; Catholic Herald, v., p. 44, 247- 317 ; vi., p. 391 ; Catholic Advocate, iii., p. 118, 291 ; Truth Teller, xiv., p. 386. Dr. Clancy issued a reply to Bishop Purcell, Truth Teller, xiv., p, 358.
626 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
faith in Ohio, he states that he had thirty priests, ten Germans, six Americans, the rest French and Irish. He had thirteen students in philosophy and theology at his seminary. His churches numbered thirty-five, most of them poor and rough. He had parochial schools at Cincinnati, Sisters of Charity teaching and directing a girls' orphan asylum, but one for boys was sorely needed.^
The necessity of circulating small Catholic works among the faithful to keep alive the truths of religion and her moral teachings induced Bishop Purcell to establish, in 1840, the "Catholic Society for the Diffusion of Knowledge." The objects of the society are, "First, to sustain the Catholic Telegraph; and secondly, to diffuse a correct and just knowledge of Catholic doctrine, by printing and circulating approved works of piety and controversy." It soon began to issue publications, but did not long continue.^
Meanwhile the Catholic body grew and churches were needed. Taylorsville soon had one, and in 1838 Rev. Patrick O'Dwyer, who had been sent to Cleveland the year before, began the Church of Our Lady of the Lake. On the 5th of June, 1840, Bishop Purcell, accompanied by Bishop Forbin Janson of Nancj^ and Toul, after attending the sessions of the Fourth Provincial Council of Baltimore sailed in a steamer from Buffalo for Cleveland, but encountered a fearful storm, during which the Bishop of Nancy was once in imminent peril. They finally reached
' Berichte der Leopoldinen-Stlftung, xii., p. 59.
' Catholic Register, 1., p. 141 ; Truth Teller, xvi., p. 78. Such a society was all the more necessary, as after the publication of Miss Reed's and the Maria Monk book the country was deluged with even more revolting works, and newspapers like the " Downfall of Babylon " were issued to propagate the grossest falsehoods.
MOTHER ANGELA SANSBURY. 627
Cleveland, and the church erected by Rev. Peter Mc- Laughlin, on the "Flats," was dedicated by Mgr. Forbin Janson, Bishop Purcell preaching. It stood on Columbus Street, to accommodate the two congre- gations of Cleveland and Ohio City, and was fifty- three feet in width by eighty-one in depth ; the front, with four Doric columns, presenting a fair appear- ance. Such was the commencement of Catholicity in a future see.^
On the 30th of November, 1839, died piously, at St. Mary's Seminary, Somerset, Ohio, in her 44th year, Mother Angela (Mary) Sansbury, who, with Miss Mary Carrico, founded the community of Sisters of the Third Order of St. Dominic, near Springfield, Kentucky, under the direction of Father Thomas Wilson, O.P. The little community grew slowly, but did much for education and charity, and the Sisters displayed hero- ism during the seasons of cholera. In January, 1830, at the instance of Bishop Fenwick, a convent of this order, St. Magdalen's, was founded at Somerset, Ohio. Though not one of the original colony at St. Magda- len's, Mother Angela soon joined them and, becoming Superior, made it a prosperous community, sending out vigorous branches and directing successful acade- mies. She was a native of Maryland, but her parents, emigrating to Kentucky, soon left her orphan. Her mind at an early age turned to the religious state, and her life was one devoted to God and her neighbor. She was prudent and energetic, fitted for the guidance of others, yet thoroughly humble and solidly pious. Her death followed a short illness, borne with calm resignation and peace. ^
' Catholic Register, i., p. 326 ; Houck, " Churches in Northern Ohio," pp. 14-15.
' Metropolitan, 1856, p. 534 ; Letter of Prioress of St. Mary's, Ohio, July 25, 1856 ; Catholic Herald, vii., p. 405.
628 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
In 1840, Rev. Projectus J. Macheboeuf became the first resident pastor of Sandusky ; and Rev, Araadeus Rappe and Louis de Goesbriand reached Ohio as mis- sionary priests, the former to labor at Chillicothe and Toledo, the latter to begin his work at Louisville, and all, in time, to take their place in the hierarchy/
The Bishop of Cincinnati felt that with the cares resulting from the growth of the diocese, he could not well himself sustain the Athenaeum and build up a worthy college ; he therefore resolved to invite some religious order to undertake the task. The Fathers of the Missouri Mission of the Society of Jesus, to his relief, accepted his offers. The Athengeum was trans- ferred to them in 1840, and Rev. J. A. Elet came as first iDresident, with a body of professors, and it re- ojDened in October under the name of St. Xavier Col- lege. It was chartered by the General Assembly oi Ohio in 1869. "
In his visit to Belgium, Bishop Purcell had been greatly impressed by the methods of teaching and training employed by the Sisters of Notre Dame, a community founded by Mother Julia Billiart, at Namur, and applied for a colony of Sisters to found a house in his diocese. Eight members, Sister Louise Gonzague being Superior, accordingly embarked at Antwerp in September, 1840, and, reaching Cincinnati, were soon installed in a house opposite the Cathedral. They at once began to prepare to open an academy, and did so in January.^
' Houck, " Church in Northern Ohio," p. 14.
^ "Woodstock Letters, v., p. 115 ; Hill, " Historical Sketch of St. Louis University," p. 61.
^Life of Rev. Mother Julia, Foundress and first Superior of the Sisters of Notre Dame of Namur. New York, 1871, p. 292-300. The foundress was born at Cuvilly, in Picardy, July 12, 1751. An attempt on her
CONDITION IN 1843. 629
Meanwhile, the Catholic x)opulation of the State increased steadily, and the churches and institu- tions were very inadequate. St. Mary's Church, for the Germans in Cincinnati, was dedicated with jjomp in July, 1842 ; another German church, about the same time, at Zanesville, was erected by Rev. H. D. Juncker.^
At the close of the year 1843 the diocese of Cincin- nati contained fifty-five churches, some poor enough, with fifteen others in course of erection ; it had forty- two priests on the mission, and twelve otherwise en- gaged. The diocesan seminary, removed to Brown County, was directed by priests of the Congregation of the Mission, and contained twelve students, and several others were at St. Xavier's College. That institution was prospering, as was the Dominican Con- vent in Perry County. The Dominican Sisters had their academy at Somerset, and the Sisters of Notre Dame were prospering at Cincinnati. There were schools in operation for children of both sexes there. That city had by this time two orphan asylums. The population of the diocese was estimated at fifty thou- sand. There were 1156 Catholic baptisms in Cincin- nati in 1843, 315 marriages, and 457 deaths.^
father's life in 1774 brought on a series of maladies which lasted thirty years, and for twenty-two she was unable to leave her couch. During the French Revolution she and M'lle Blin formed a Jit tie community and began instructing women and children. When peace returned they adopted a rule, under the guidance of Rev. Father Varin, which received the approval of Pope Gregory XVI. Mother Julia miraculously recov- ered her health in 1804, and died January 14, 1816.
' Catholic Herald, x., pp. 156, 204, 226.
'Bishop Purcell, in Berichte der Leopoldinen-Stiftung, xii.,p. 59, and U. S. Catholic Magazine, iii., p. 134.
CHAPTER XIIL
DIOCESE OF DETROIT.
RT. REV. FREDERIC RESE, FIRST BISHOP, 1833-1837.
Before erecting tlie see of Detroit, the Congrega- tion de Propaganda Fide addressed Bishop Fen wick, ill order to ascertain what revenues there were that would be applied to the maintenance of a bishop. " The Sacred Congregation has constantly before its eyes the evils which the Church suffers in those States from the course of action pursued by trustees." ^
The first candidate proposed for the new see was the venerable Rev. Gabriel Richard, who had done so much to revive religion in Michigan. For denouncing the bigamous conduct of a miserable wretch, who, abandoning a wife in Canada, married another in De- troit, Rev. Mr. Richard was sued and prosecuted. Courts, ready to condemn a Catholic priest, decided against Rev. Mr. Richard, and enemies whom his ad- herence to the rules of the Church had raised up, made his condemnation a ground why the authorities of the Church should not appoint him Bishop of Detroit. The arrest of Rev. Mr. Richard is one of his titles to renown.
The selection for first Bishop of Detroit fell finally on Rev Frederic Rese, whose active labors among the German Catholics in the diocese of Cincinnati, and whose part in prompting the establishment of the
' Cardinal Somaglia to Bishop Edward D. Fenwick, July 1, 1836
630
RT. REV. FREDERICK IlESE, BISHOP OF DETROIT.
631
THE LEOPOLD ASSOCIATION. 633
Leopoldinen-Stiftung, or Association for Aiding Mis- sions, had brought into prominence.
Gregory XVI. erected the see of Detroit by his bull, " Maximas inter gravissimasque curas," March 8, 1833, making the Bishop a suffragan of the Archbishop of Baltimore. The diocese embraced the State of Michi- gan and Northwest Territory, which had liitherto been administered by the Bishop of Cincinnati.^
Tlie district watered by tlie four great lakes, Supe- rior, Michigan, Huron, and Erie, and in which Fathers Jogues and Raymbault first planted the cross of Catho- licity in 1642, in which Fathers Menard and Delhalle died by the hands of the red men, where Allouez, and Marquette, Lefranc and Dujaunay labored, was thus erected into a diocese. The churches at Detroit, Northeast and Raisin River, Mackinaw, Sault Ste. Marie, and Green Bay, had their history. The diocese embraced, next to Illinois, the oldest Catholic district in the West. The faithful were still mainly of French origin, few of other nationalities having settled per- manently there.
This district had been placed under the care of Bishop Flaget, of Bardstown, and subsequently of Bishop Fenwick, both of whom had labored earnestly for its good, so far as their means and other duties permitted. Order had been introduced at Detroit, Monroe, Mackinac, and missions revived for Indians and half-breeds among the Ottawas, Chippewas, Pot- tawatomies, Menominees and Winnebagoes. Rev.
' BuUarium de Propaganda Fide, xv. , pp. 89, 90. Cardinal Pedicini to Eev. F. Rese, May 18, 1833. Cardinal Capellari to Rev. F. Rese, Feb. 14, 1839, expressing his gratification at the establishment of the Leopold- inen-Stiftung, stating that Pope Leo XII. was highly pleased, and granted the members of the Association many indulgences by his brief of Jan. 30, 1829.
634 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Frederic Rese had visited the whole district as Vicar- Geuei-al and Administrator and was fully aware of its condition.
He was born at Weinenburg, Hanover, in 1791, and when just of age was drafted into the army and served in the cavalry in the wars against the French. But his inclinations were religious, and he obtained admis- sion into the College of the Propaganda, and served the lirst mass of the future x^ontiff Pius IX. After his ordination he was sent on the African mission, but his health failed and he returned to Rome. There he offered his services to Bishop Fenwick, and was joy- fully accepted. His labors in the diocese of Cincinnati, especially among his fellow-countrymen and the In- dians, his zeal and talents were soon recognized. On receiving his bulls, he requested Bishop Rosati of St. Louis to officiate, and he was duly consecrated by that prelate in St. Peter's Cathedral, Cincinnati, on the 3d of October, 1833. He proceeded immediately to Balti- more to attend the second Provincial Council, the first session of which was held on the 20th of that month. After the council he was duly installed (January 7, 1834) in St. Anne's Church, Detroit, which became his Cathedral.
He was assisted there by Rev. Messrs. Vincent Bad- in, Kundig, and Bonduel : Rev. Mr. Carabin was at Monroe ; Rev. Mr. Kelly at Ann Arbor ; Rev. Mr. Lastrie at Mackinac, Rev. Mr. Viszosky on St. Clair River ; Rev. Mr. Boheme at St. Paul. Rev. S. T. Badin and Rev. Mr. Desseille attended the Pottawatomies at St. Joseph's ; the Redemptorist Father Sand erl, the Ottawas at Arbre Croche ; Rev. F. Baraga, those at Grand River ; Rev. S. Mazzuchelli, O.P., was laboring among the Winnebagoes in Wisconsin ; and the Rev. F. Hatscher, C.SS.R., was at Green Bay, ministering
ACTIVE PROGRESS. 635
to whites and Menominees. There were no insti- tutions in the diocese except an academy just opened at Detroit by tlie Poor Clares from Belgium, over whom, and those at Pittsburgh, Bishop Rese had re- ceived the powers of Provincial ; there were also schools for girls at the Indian missions.'
Bishop Rese completed and adorned the interior of his cathedral and obtained vestments and plate from Vienna. He continued to reside in the old parish house, with his clergy, and soon began a little diocesan seminary tliere, with four students. The female Acad- emy of the Poor Clares could boasfc of a hundred scholars, twenty of them boarders. They soon sent Sisters to take charge of the school at Green Bay. St. Anne's Church being insufficient for the Catholic congregation, a frame church at Michigan Avenue and Bates Street, erected by the First Protestant Society, was purchased in August, 1834, and after necessary alterations became,, by the Bislioj)'s dedication June 14, 1835, the German Church of the Holy Trinity.
The energetic Bishop proposed to establish, at once, a seminary and college, as well as to provide better accommodations for the cathedral clergy.
In July he set out to make his visitation of the churches and stations in the north and west, and to ad- minister confirmation. He was much encouraged by the evident progress, but soon after there came an evi- dence that the hostile spirit then pervading the country had reached the old Catholic Northwest. The church at Sault Ste. Marie was soon after robbed of all the valuable plate and ornaments, the missal and other books being torn to fragments. The church itself was soon after set on fire.
' Clarke, " Lives of Deceased Bishops," New York, 1888, p. 266, etc.; Catholic Almanac (Myers), 1834, pp. 56, 122.
636 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Till lie could establish a college Bishop Rese opened a high school in a suitable building near the Cathedral, with Rev. Mr. O'Cavanagh as president. In the course of the year 1836 he began a four-story building, adjoin- ing St. Anne's Cathedral, to be used partly as a resi- dence, and in part for the diocesan seminary.^
But by this time difficulties which had arisen took a serious form. The Abbess of the Poor Clares, Mother Frances Van de Voghel, and the Bishoi^ disagreed in regard to the projDerty and management of the com- munity and the case was carried to Rome, resulting at last in the breaking up of all establishments of the order at Pittsburgh, Detroit, and Green Bay, and the departure of the Sisters from the country. Com- plaints were sent also against the Bishop by priests, and notably in regard to the Indian missions.^ About this time he established the College of St. Philip ISTeri at the Cote du Nord-Est under the Rev.. Messrs. Vanderpoel and de Bruyn,
The horizon so lately full of promise was 'suddenly clouded. Bishop Rese had apparently been arbitrary. He was quick and impulsive. Seriously affected in his health and comj^letely discouraged, he resolved to resign. Leaving the diocese in charge of Very Rev. John de Bruyn and Very Rev. S. T. Badin as his Vicars-General, he left Detroit and the diocese early in 1837. He reached Baltimore in time to take part in the third provincial council; but from St." Marj^'s
' Berichte der Leopoldinen-Stiftung, viii., p. 10 ; ix., p. 26. Farmer, " History of Detroit and Michigan," Detroit, 1884, p. 536 ; Truth Teller, X., pp. 317, 418 ; Telegraph, iii., pp. 366, 399 ; Jesuit, v., p. 343 ; N. Y. Weekly Register, iv., p. 213 ; iii., p. 199. Herald, v., p. 4 ; x., p., 251.
2 Rev. Mr. Deseille to Bishop Rese, Jan. 14, 1836 ; Rev. S. T. Badin to Archbishop Etcleston ; Rev. Martin Kundig to same, Sept. 1833 ; April 4, June 30, 1837.
DR. RESE RESIGNS. 637
Seminary lie addressed to the assembled Fathers a letter in which, after declaring that he had accei^ted the episcopate reluctantly, and had learned by experi- ence that it was a burden beyond his strength, he men- tioned his frequently entertained intention of resigning his diocese into the hands of his Holiness, or at least soliciting a suitable coadjutor. He stated that he now desired to do so, having left his diocese in charge of two Vicars-General till other measures were adopted. The Fathers of the Council addressed a letter to the Sovereign Pontiff, asking that the resignation be ac- cepted, and proposing clergymen deemed fitted to suc- ceed him. Dr. Rese was summoned to Rome, where he was known and esteemed. He reached that city in very feeble health, and it was soon found that soften- ing of the brain had set in. The Pope, therefore, decided to api^oint a coadjutor, with powers of admin- istering the diocese. The unfortunate Bishop re- mained in Rome, cared for in a religious community, till the troubles of 1849. Soon after that he was taken to a hospital at Lappenburg, amid his friends, and died there December 29, 1871.^
The see w^as governed meanwhile by the Vicars- General till the death of Yevj Rev. John de Bruyn, at St. Philip's College, of which he was president, Sep- tember 11, 1839, at the age of 41. Born at Lierre, Belgium, he was ordained in 1832, and came the next year to Detroit, laboring for a time at Arbre Croche.^
' " Concilia Provincialia Baltimori liabita," pp. 124, 147. Clarke, "Lives of Deceased Bishops"; Rev. F. A. O'Brien, "The Diocese of Detroit," Lansing, 1886, pp. 10-11. Bishop Rese was at the church of San Lorenzo in Lucina, Rome, in 1841.
^ Catholic Advocate, iv., p. 276 ; Catholic Register, i., p. 29 ; Catholic Herald, vii., p. 332 ; ix., pp. 229, 373, 388 ; U. S. Cath. Miscellany, xi.. p. 182.
CHAPTER XIV.
DIOCESE OF DETROIT.
RT. EEV. PETER PAUL LEFEVRE, BISHOP OF ZELA, ADMINISTRATOR OF DETROIT, 1841-43.
It was not easy to find a capable clergyman willing to assume the responsibility of directing the diocese. The Rev. John M. Odin, CM., was appointed in De- cember, 1840, but succeeded in escaping the burden. In 1841 the Holy See elected to the position the Rev. Peter Paul Lefevre, born at Roulers, in Belgium, April 30, 1804, who, after brilliant studies at Paris, came to Missouri, and was ordained by Bishop Rosati, July 17, 1831. As a priest of the diocese of St. Louis, in a large and difficult district, with several churches to attend, he manifested untiring patience and un« flagging zeal. He was in Europe, seeking rest and health, when he was appointed. Compelled to accept, he returned to the United States, and was consecrated in St. John's Church, Philadelphia, November 21, 1841, by Right Rev. Francis Patrick Kenwick, assisted by Right Rev. John England and Right Rev. John Hughes. Issuing a pastoral address to the flock placed under his care, he proceeded to Detroit.
Bishop Lefevre was ])]am and systematic. His efforts to establish order and regularity in the affairs of the diocese met some opposition, but he ultimately prevailed. Some of the dangerous trustee element existed, which he labored to remove. He repaired the pro-cathedral, encouraged the improvements at the Church of the Holy Trinity, undertaken by St. Mary's Association, and by the impulse his x>resence gave
638
ST. PHILIP'S COLLEGE BURNED. 639
soon saw churches rising at Flint, Mount Clemens, Dexter, and Upper and Lower Saginaw. Rev. P. Kelly completed the church at Milwaukee, dedicated March 15, 1841. Rev, A. Ravoux had nearly com- pleted St. Gabriel's Church at Prairie du Chien, and Rev. A. Viszogsky a fine one at Grand River. The churches at Green Bay and Kakalin Rapids, with the Indian missions, were still prosjoering.^
He made an extended visitation of his diocese in 1842, and found the temporal affairs dreadfully con- fused. Turbulent men gave such trouble in Detroit that he threatened to withdraw from St. Anne's en- tirely.
The diocese sustained, moreover, a severe blow in
SIGNATURE OF BISHOP LEFEVRE.
January, 1842, in the complete destruction by fire of the College of St. Philip Neri.^ The diocese contained St. Anne's Cathedral, repaired and improved ; Holy Trinity Church, enlarged, with twenty-three other churches and chapels ; sixteen priests, ten schools, and two charitable institutions, and new churches rising. The Catholic population was estimated at 25,000. Such was the condition of the Detroit diocese, with its estimated Catholic population of sixty thousand, when the Rt. Rev. Administrator in 1843 set out for the Council of Baltimore.
' Catholic Herald, x., pp. 251, 259, 306, 330 ; Truth Teller, xvi., p. 119.
= Bishop Lefevre, Feb. 5, July 15, 19, Dec. 1, 1842 ; Berichte der Leopoldinen-Stiftung, xvi., p. 27, 31 ; Salzbacher, Meine Reise nach Nord America, ii., p. 242.
CHAPTER XV.
DIOCESE OF VINCENNES.
RT. REV. SIMON GABRIEL BRUTE, FIRST BISHOP, 1834-1839.
When Pope Gregory XVI. on the 6th of May, 1834, resolved to relieve the Bishop of Bardstown of the last portion of his annexed district, he erected the see of Vincennes by his bull " Maximas inter,'' giving it as its diocese the States of Indiana and Illinois east of a line from Fort Massac along the eastern boundaries of Johnson, Franklin, Jefferson, Marion, Fayette, Shelby and Mann counties, to the Illinois River, eight miles above Ottawa, and thence to the northern boundary of the State. The Bishop of the see was to be a suffragan of the Archbishop of Baltimore.^
Tlie selection for the throne of the newly created bishopric fell on one of the most learned and saintly priests in the United States. Simon William Gabriel Brute de Remur was born March 20, 1779, at Rennes, France, of a wealthy family, afterwards ruined by the Revolution. His mother sup2:)orted her children by establishing a book-store and printing office, and Gabriel became an expert compositor. After an hon- orable course in the college of his native city, he spent two years at the Polytechnic school ; then study- ing medicine, he took the highest prize in the college ; he obtained his degree in 1803. But he renounced the world and its x^i'ospects. The lessons of the Abbe Carron, under whom he made his first communion in
' BuUarium de Propaganda Fide, v., pp. 108-109 ; Catholic Telegraph, iii., p. 405.
640
BISHOP BRUTE. 641
1791, gave him an inclination for the Church, which he followed. He entered the Seminary of St. Salpice, and was ordained priest June 10, 1808. His learning, scientific knowledge and virtues won him a circle of illustrious friends, among them the famous Lamennais and his brother, and late in life, from amid his labors in America, he endeavored in vain to recall that erring- priest back to the Church. He left a professor's chair in the seminary at Rennes, two years later, to accompany Bishop Flaget to America. After a short mission career at St. Joseph's on the Eastern Shore, this priest of a varied and solid learning was succes- sively professor at Mount St. Mary's, and President of St. Mary's College, Baltimore. The Seminary of Mount St. Mary's, with which he identified himself fully, owed him much of its success and influence. When first appointed to the see of Vincennes, he declined it, but yielded when the bulls were sent a second time.^ He was consecrated in the Cathedral of St. Louis, October 28, 1834, by Rt, Rev. Benedict J. Flaget, Bishops Rosati and Purcell being assistants. On the 5th of November, he reached the city which was to be his future residence as Bishop. Some miles in advance, he was met by Rev. Mr, Lalumiere and a number of citizens on horseback, who escorted him and his companions, the Bishops of Bardstown and Cincinnati, to the Cathedral. The ceremony of his installation took place the same evening, and thus he took possession of St, Francis Xavier's Cathedral, a
' Autobiographical notes of Bishop Brute. Letters in Bayley , ' ' Memoirs of Rt. Rev. 8. G. Brute," p. 75, and in Alerding, " History of tlie Catho- lic Church in the diocese of Vincennes," Indianapolis, 1888, p. 124, etc. Bishop Brute in vain endeavored to recall to his duties tlie aged Col. Vigo, who had been so active in the Revolution, and had done mucli for the Church, but he died without the sacraments.
642 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
" plain brick building, 115 feet long and 60 broad, con- sisting of four walls and the roof, unplastered and not even whitewashed, destitute even of a place for preserv- ing the vestments and sacred vessels. Only a simple altar of wood with a neatly gilded tabernacle, a cross and six beautiful candlesticks, a gift from France, which were much in contrast with the poverty and destitution of the place." He issued a pastoral letter to his flock, and began to study his position. The Catholic population of Vincennes were poor, generally ignorant, and requiring much instruction and rousing. He found by experience that the pew rents and sub- scriptions would amount in all to about $300 a year, enough for a self-denying missionary, but affording nothing for the expenses of a bishop and the constant calls that he might expect. As he was alone, his first duty was to this little flock. He prepared the con- gregation for the great feast of Christmas, and was consoled to see many receive holy communion at the midnight and two other masses which he celebrated ; and nineteen young people make their first com- munion.
To form a definite idea of the scattered congrega- tions of Catholics in Indiana and Illinois, he resolved to visit the west and north of the diocese, while Rev. S. P. Lalumiere made a similar tour through the south and west. He visited that priest's Church of St. Peter at Washington, dedicated St. Mary's Church on Box's Creek, erected by the same clergy- man, said mass and gave instruction to the French families at Riviere au Chat, while Rev. Mr. Lalumiere visited Columbus and Shelbyville. Meanwhile the Bishop, often traveling over wet prairies till near mid- night, had reached Chicago, to which he induced the Bishop of St. Louis to send back Rev. J. M. J. St.
WANTS OF THE DIOCESE.
643
Cyr ; and where a residence had been erected for him. Rev.' Mr. Desseille's mission and Rev. Mr. Badin's vacant establishment at South Bend were next vis- ited. He returned at last to his poor Cathedral. Yet he made another excursion in February to Edgar County, Illinois, where he found many Catholics near Paris. ' He was appalled at the work before him. "No priests, not one except those from other dioceses. Having come alone, I reside alone, in a most depressing
KEV. J. M. J. ST. CYR.
situation ; but I am resigned and do not complain for my wretched self." " I need a good priest to reside here " " There are six or seven hundred Catholics at Fort Wayne, and fifteen hundred to two thousand including those employed on the canal." They had not heard mass for seven months, and the Bishop ImcL no one to send them.^ He set out again April ^y.
xiv p. 86 ; Jesuit, v., p. 391. Bishop Brute to Bishop Rese, Maich 4. 1835 ; same to Rev. J. Timon, March 3, May 28, 1835.
644 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
and visited Danville ; Chicago, where Rev. Mr. St, Cyr had gathered a flock of four handred, and where the Bishop was received with honor ; Michigan City, Laporte ; Desseilles, a village of 650 Catholic Indians, with its Catholic chief Pokegan. Then he inspected the property near South Bend, transferred to him by Rev. S. T. Badin, before he departed for Cincinnati, and the vacant house of the Sisters. Then he i3ro- ceeded to the village of Chickakos, also attended bj^ Rev. Mr. Deseille, sleeping on a bench in the chapel, after officiating for the Indians, of whom the zealous l^riest had bax)tized more than a hundred, and admin- istering confirmation. His next visits were to Logans- port and Terre Haute, saying mass at each place.
On his return he received Rev. Mr. Lalumiere's report. He had found more Catholics than the Bishop had done. In three i:)laces they had begun to build churches. The hundred and fifty Catholic families at Fort Wayne were finishing their little church, 30 feet by 60. To them the Bishop was now able to send a j)riest just ordained, Rev. Mr. Ruff, able to speak the three languages, English, French, and Ger- man, used by his flock. The Bishop having thus acquired a fairly accurate knowledge of his diocese, prepared for his departure. He announced his purpose to his flock in a j^astoral letter, and appointing Rev. Mr. Lalumiere his Vicar-General, started on the 16th of Julj^, 1835, for France, and in fifty-one days reached his native land.
His visit to Europe proved not unavailing. In Aus- tria, especially, he was befriended by the Empress and b}^ Prince Metternich. " When in Rome," he wrote, "asking Gregory XVI. for his blessing to be a good bishop, I told him, that in 1804 I had knelt to Pius VII. , in a private opportunity, and received his bless-
PROGRESS. 645
ing to be a good priest." Cheered and encouraged by his reception he returned to America, landing in New York, July 20, 1836, and reaching his cathedral a month later. By the aid given him he established a diocesan seminary, an orphan asylum, and a free school at Vincennes, completed the Cathedral, and aided in erecting several small churches. But he brought back what w^as even more important than worldly means, nineteen priests and seminarians, many of them Bre- tons, resolute, enduring, full of faith and zeal.^ The priests were soon stationed at points of greatest need, and the Bishop, resuming his old life of professor,
ST. FRANCIS XAVIER'S CATHEDRAL, VINCENNES, 1834.
The former church stood in the same inclosure, at the side.
formed the seminarians to the ecclesiastical learning, and especially to that spirit of zeal and sacrifice which he could so well inspire. They, too, gradually entered on the field of labor. Log churches rose to gather the faithful, or, where Catholics were better endowed, churches of frame or brick, at Evansville, Jaspers, Lanesville, New Alsace, Oldenburg, in Yigo County.
With the beginning of 1837 the diocese showed the awakening. Vincennes Cathedral had two priests, one of them Rev. Celestine de la Hailandiere. An-
1 Bishop Brute, Catholic Telegraph, iv., pp. 317, 349, 437 ; in Berichte der Leopoldinen-Stiftung ; Alerding, " History of the Catholic Church in the Diocese of Vincennes," Indianapolis, 1883, pp. 124-145. Catholic Diary, vi., p. 167 ; Pilot, Aug. 6, 1836. Rev. G. Richard, Aug. 17, 1830.
646 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
other future bishop, Rev, Maurice de St. Palais, was at St. Mary's, and near him, at Black Oak Ridge, Vin- cennes's first native priest, Lalumiere ; there were two X^riests at Fort Wayne ; Rev. Joseph Ferneding at Dover, Rev. Mr. Ruff at Peru, Rev. Messrs. St. Cyr and Schaeffer at Chicago. Bishop Brute himself felled the first tree for a church at Riviere au Chat.
Amid his labors the Bishop was summoned to at- tend the Provincial Council to be held at Baltimore in April, 1837. While crossing Ohio by stage he was forced to ride outside, and, exposed to the bleak March winds, took a heavy cold, which finally settled on his lungs. He was too earnest and energetic to be de- layed by this, but kept on and took part in the pro- ceedings of the Council. As it was his first atten- dance at any of these solemn gatherings of the episcopal body, he pronounced his solemn profession of faith. lie returned to resume his usual labors visiting the northern part of his diocese during the summer ; but he had to deplore losses. Rev. Mr. Desseilles, the de- voted priest, died amid the hardships of his Indian mission, leaving no one versed in their language to succeed him ; and the amiable Rev. Bernard Schaeffer, one of those who accompanied him from France, ex- pired at Chicago.^
The next year, though his health and strength were visibly waning, Bishop Brute, on the 27th of April, set out on another visitation to Washington, where a large brick church was under roof ; St. Peter's, Rev. Mr. Neyron's new brick church at the Knobs, con- firming three generations in one family ; Madison, where Rev, Mr. Shaw was building a large stone
' Alerding, " History of the Diocese of Vincennes," pp. 366, 338, 846, 381, 444 ; Catholic Herald, v., pp. 319, 407.
FAILING HEALTH. 647
church ; New Albany, where Catholics were ready to build, and where Sisters of Charity from Nazareth had succeeded those of Loretto. After a short rest at Vin- cennes, he was again devoting himself to his flock. He dedicated St, Peter's Church in Franklin County, churches at New Alsace and Blue Creek. He visited St. Francisville, blessing the church on the bluff over- looking the Wabash ; the little flock at Paris, and the German congregation in Jasper County, Illinois. The devoted priest. Rev. Vincent Bacquelin, welcomed him at Shelby ville, but was killed by a fall from his horse while attending a sick call some years later. At Terre Haute he found a large brick church nearly completed by Rev. S. Buteux, a priest of a family which gave a martyr to Canada in the heroic days of the Jesuit missions. Rev. Mr. Shaw was building St. Michael's Church at Madison and St. Vincent's was advancing at Prescott. His visitation extended over 1450 miles.
Bishop Brute's health was now failing very rap- idly ; his strength yielded to the disease, but not his will. After retiring for a time to Bardstown to re- cuperate, he visited places where his presence or even that of a priest was needed, often attending sick calls, when feebler than those to whom he ministered. Not long before his death, while in a distant part of his diocese, he actually fainted on his way to the bedside of a patient. On Trinity Sunday he celebrated the thirty-first anniversary of his first mass, being assisted on that occasion by two of his clergy, who supported him at the altar.
When he was at last compelled to keep his bed, his devotion increased, and he edified all by his piety and by his patience. Conformity to the will of God, devotion to our Lady were his chief themes. His cor- respondence he continued, whenever he could sit up
648 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
writing, even on the day of his death. He received the last sacraments w^ith the utmost humility and devo- tion. He directed the prayers for the departing to be recited, answering fervently and devoutly, and on the 26th of June, 1839, surrendered his soul into the hands of his Creator. He was interred in the sanctuary of the Cathedral, but the next year his remains were placed behind the altar, a tablet on the wall recording his life and labors.
His death was deplored by his immediate flock as that of a benefactor and a father. Throughout the churches in the United States there was a general feeling that a great loss had been sustained. "The glorious -life that he had led, for it was truly so, grew brighter as it hastened to its close. The eminent virtues he had practiced so long fortified his spirit, and he departed amid the tears of the living, to be united to Him whom he loved so purely from his youth."
The decline of life is generally that of rest and re- tirement. Dr. Brute spent years in a seminary college amid the mountains, known by his virtues, his piety, his devotedness to the Church, and his zeal for souls, but rarely mingling in the busy world. From this he was drawn, at the age of fifty-five, to take charge of two large States, more as a missionary, a steward, a provider, than as a bishop). His unparalleled exertions and toilsome journeys soon terminated his career.^
' Bishop Brute, Jan. 25, 1837, April 16, 1838 ; April 30, 1839. Truth Teller, xiv., pp. 315, 317 ; Alerding, pp. 351, 382, 417. Catholic Advo- cate, iii., p. 155, 286. Catholic Herald, vii. , p. 227. "Memoirs of Uie Rt. Rev. Simon Wm. Gabriel Brute, D.D., first Bishop of Vincennes ; with sketches describing his recollections of scenes connected with the French Revolution," New York, 1860, 1876, Charles Brute de Remur, " Vie de Mgr. Brute de Remur, premier Evgque de Vincennes," Rennes, 1887. McCaffrey, " Discourse on the Rt. Rev. Simon Gabriel Brute, D.D., Bishop of Vincennes, pronounced in Mount St. Mary's Church, August 19, 1839," Emmitsburg, 1839.
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V. REV. S. P. LALUMIERE. 649
On the death of Bishop Brute the administration devolved for a time on V. Rev. Simon P. Lalumiere, of St. Simon's Churcli, who continued to reside at Washington, governing tlie diocese wisely. He was a native of Indiana, born at Vincennes in 1804, trained in his seminary by Bishop David, and from an early period connected with the Indiana missions. As early as 1828 he visited the Catholics in Daviess County, and built St. Mary's Church in 1834. He welcomed Bishop Brute to Vincennes, and was his constant fellow- laborer, visiting one part of the diocese when the Bishop did another. He formed many congregations and labored faithfully, seeking no fame or earthly reward. He died June 9, 1857, while pastor of St. Joseph's Church, Terre Haute. ^
Two of the pioneer priests, Rev. Messrs. Desseilles and IN'eyron, repose at Notre Dame, which promises to be our Westminster Abbey.
1 Alerding, p. 453 ; pp. 128, 253, 416, 490.
SIGNATURE OF BISHOP BRUTE.
CHAPTER XVI.
DIOCESE OF VINCENNES.
ET. REV. CELESTINE RENE LAWRENCE GUYNEMER DE LA HAILANDIERE, SECOND BISHOP, 1839-1843.
At the time of the death of Bishop Brute, his Vicar- General and proposed Coadjutor, Rev. Mr. Hail- andiere, was laboring energetically in France in the interest of the diocese, having been sent over by the BishoiD, after some labors, on the mission in Indiana. On the 17th of May bulls were issued electing him Bishop of Axiern and Coadjutor of Vincennes. Al- most at the same time he received tidings of the death of the saintly Brute. Ax)palled at the responsibility thus suddenly devolved upon him, he sought advice and, yielding to the judgment of others, he was conse- crated, August 18, 1839,. in the Chapel of the Sacred Heart, Paris, by Rt. Rev. Forbin-Janson, assisted by Mgr, Blanquart de Bailleul, Bishop of Versailles, and Mgr. LeMercier, Bishop of Beauvais. He sent over to Indiana a» number of clerical students and several priests, with vestments, church plate, and books. He induced the Eudists to undertake a college at Vin- cennes, and the Society of the Holy Cross to send over a colony of Brothers. The Sisters of Providence, at Ruille, also agreed to send over six selected Sisters to found an establishment of their community in his dio- cese. Having effected all this, he set out for Vin- cennes, where he arrived on the 14th of November. He was solemnly installed in the Cathedral on the
650
RT. REV. CELESTINE DE LA HAILANDIERE, SECOND BISHOP OF VINCENNES.
651
HIS LABORS. 653
next Sunday, by the Bishop of St. Louis, who preached on the occasion.^
The second Bishop of Vincennes was born at Com- bourg, France, May 2, 1798, and was ordained at Paris in May, 1825. After ten years experience as Vicar, he came to the United States with Bishop Brute in 1836. One of his first cares was to aj)pease a scliism at Chicago, and lie succeeded where others failed. He gave an impulse to the college opened by the Eudists, under Rev. Father Bellier, and stimulated the erection of churches. In 1840 he dedicated the church at Terre Haute, and, within two years, saw others begun at MuUhausen and Indianapolis, Colum- bus, Buenavista, Lawrenceburg, Ferdinand, and Jas- per, as well as St. Wendel's and St. Joseph's, in Van- denburgh County, and another dedicated under the same saint's name in Dearborn County.^
Bishop de la Hailandiere was by consecration tlie youngest of the prelates who attended the Baltimore Council in May, 1840. There he imjDressed his fellow- bishops by his ability, zeal, and personal merit.
In 1841 , in a letter to the Propaganda, he estimated the popuhition of his diocese at twenty-five to thirty- five 'thousand, attended by thirty-three priests, with a steady growth by births, conversions, and immigra- tion.
The next year those who believed hostility to the Church dissipated in Indiana, were rudely awakened from their delusion. Churches, convents, and colleges had been burned down elsewhere, but hatred of the priesthood had never yet gone so far as to form a suc-
' Notes of Bishop de la Hailandiere ; Alerding, p. 162, etc. ; Catholic Advocate, iv., p. 354.
* Freeman's Journal, i., p. 110 ; Alerding ; Catholic Advocate, vii., pp. 210, 310.
654 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
cessf 111 conspiracy to send an innocent clergyman to state prison on a fearful charge. In May, 1842, Rev. Roman Weinzoeptlen, the priest stationed at Evans- ville, was arrested on a cunningly devised accusation of crime. The local editor, evidently a party to the plot, fanned the flame and led an outcry. The Grand Jury found an indictment, and, on the trial, legal ability and clear evidence availed naught ; tlie court and jury, prejudiced against the unfortunate priest, found him guilty. When the prison doors closed upon him, there came a revulsion ; the evidence of the infamous character of the chief witness and of the plot, as well the weakness of the whole case, became so apparent that public opinion, shamed to a sense of justice, spoke so loudly and openly for the relief of this victim of perjury and conspiracy, that his prison doors were flung open.'
When Pope Gregory XYI. granted a universal jub- ilee to enlist the prayers of the faithful throughout the world in behalf of unhappy Spain, Dr. Hailandiere proclaimed it by his x>astoral, July 2, 1842. The ex- ercises of the jubilee became a series of missions.
Bishop Brute, it will be remembered, visited the tenantless establishments of Rev. Mr. Badin. The neighboring Indian missions, continued by Rev. Mr. Desseilles till his death, were taken up by Rev. B. Petit, who accompanied his Indians when they were forcibly removed by the United States government. The effort was beyond his strength, and he died of hardship and
' Bishop de la Hailandiere to the Propaganda, September 29, 1841. Catholic Advocate, vii., pp. 136-151, x., p. 38 ; Alerding, p. 171 ; Sten- ographic Report of the Trial and Conviction of Priest Weinzoepflen, Louisville, 1844 ; U. S. Cath. Magazine, iii., p. 263 ; Catholic Cabinet, 1i., pp. 61, 751 ; Catholic Herald, x., p. 173 ; xii., p. 98. Bishop de la Hailandiere to Rev. J. Timon, June 25, 1844.
PERSECUTION OF A PRIEST. 055
grief. ^ The land was thus become a desert. Dr. de hi Hailandiere offered the grounds at Sainte Marie des Lacs to Rev. Edward Sorin, a young priest who had just establislied St. Peter's community of Brothers of the Holy Cross at Vincennes. Rev. Father Sorin reached the lakes on the 26th of November, 1842. The old log hut, the decaying fences, the snow-clad prairie, the frozen lake, did not seem to promise success for any attempt to establish a college there ; but that was the condition under which he was to obtain it. He resolutely undertook the work. In the month of Feb- ruary he removed to Notre Dame du Lac, as it was henceforward to be called. A log church was soon
SIGNATURE OF BISHOP DE LA HAILANDIERE.
erected, and contracts made for brick and lumber to erect a college. In the summer three priests arrived, and three Sisters of the Holy Cross came to found a convent and academy. Thus began the wonderful institutions at Notre Dame, Indiana.^
There was activity throughout the diocese, but it was excessive. Though Bishop de la Hailandiere held a synod, preceded by a retreat of his clergy, he found that his efforts excited discontent. He proceeded to Baltimore to attend the fifth Provincial Council dis- heartened and discouraged.
» Catholic Advocate, iv., pp. 53, 354 ; Catholic Herald, vii., p. 93.
2 Lyons, " Silver Jubilee of the University of Notre Dame," Chicago, 1869 ; Catholic Cabinet, ii., p. 570 ; Salzbacher, " Meine Reise nach Nord Anierika," p. 231.
CHAPTER Xyil.
DIOCESE OF NASHVILLE.
RT. REV. RICHARD PIUS MILES, FIRST BISHOP, 1838-1843.
The State of Tennessee liad been from the first divi- sion of the diocese of Baltimore, included, witli Ken- tucky, in the diocese of Bardstown. The j^rogress of the faith in that State had, liowever, been slow ; Catho- lics were few and widely scattered. Like North Caro- lina, from which it sprang, Tennessee had a population far removed from the truth and little disposed to wel- come the Church. The conviction that a devoted resi- dent bishop, ready to endure trials and hardships, could ultimately build up Catholicity, led to the erec- tion of the diocese of Nashville, embracing that State, The establishment of the see was recommended by the Provincial Council of Baltimore in April, 1837. It was accordingly erected by Pope Gregory XVI. on the 28th of July, 1837, by his bull "Universi Dominici Gregis."^
The choice for the arduous duty of organizing and directing the diocese devolved on Father Richard Pius Miles, of the Order of Preachers, a native of Maryland, born in Prince George's County, May 17, 1791. Emigrating to Kentucky with his family in youth, he there entered the order of St. Dominic in 1806. Ordained ten years afterwards, he became a laborious missioner in Kentucky and Ohio. Under his direction and guidance the Sisters of St. Dominic
' Bullarium de Propaganda Fide, v., p. 163. 656
CHURCH IN TENNESSEE. 657
were formed, and established houses in both States. A priest of active energy, yet full of the religious spirit, an experienced spiritual director, he was now called to a new field.
Bishop Miles was consecrated on the 16th of Sep- tember, 1838, in the Cathedral of Bardstown, Bishop Rosati of St. Louis being Bishop consecrator, assisted by Bishop Chabrat, Coadjutor of Louisville, and Bishop Brute of Vincennes. Rt. Rev. Dr. David had been invited to perform the consecration, but his age and growing infirmities prevented his acceptance. In the sermon preached by Very Rev. John Timon, CM., the sacred orator alluded to the difficulties and trials with which the Bishop of Nashville would have to contend in his new diocese, and expressed the hope that the same success might crown his labors as had crowned those of Bishops Flaget and Rosati.^
Rev. E. J. Durbin, who had for some years regularly visited the Catholics of Nashville, preceded the Bishop to prepare for his reception. The church there, a brick building forty-five by fifty-fivQ feet, was in wretched condition, but Rev. Mr. Durbin, by his exer- tions and liberality, repaired and renovated it. Bishop Miles, after preaching at Franklin, readied Nashville, and took possession of his little cathedral, Oct. 18, 1838. The city contained then only about 130 Catholics. After oiRciating there he set out to explore his diocese, learn where Catholics were, and what prospect there might be of building up churches.' Murfreesboro had but one Catholic family numbering seven souls ; Bishop Miles on his way to Athens found
' Catholic Advocate, iii., p. 260 ; Catholic Herald, vi., p. 300 ; Truth Teller, xiv., p. 335.
» Catholic Advocate, iii., pp. 316, 348, 404 ; Catholic Telegraph, iv., pp. 176, 340.
658 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
a single Catholic family on Walden's Ridge. At and near Athens there were about a hundred Catholics, chiefly men employed building a railroad. There were a few at Fayetteville, Mount Pleasant, and Columbia. After a journey of 460 miles on horseback he reached Nashville, officiating by tlie way at Frank- lin. He soon afterwards visited Gallatin. From his personal acquaintance with the diocese he was led to estimate the Catholic population. Including a few families at Memphis and other places not yet visited, at not much more than three hundred, and this little body was poor and widely scattered.^
The next year he visited Memphis and installed Rev. W. T. Clancy as pastor there with charge of the faith- ful at Ashport, Jackson, Bolivar, and LaGrange. While endeavoring to secure some clergymen for his diocese, and devising plans for a seminary, he was pros- trated by illness, and his life soon hung by a thread. His mind was op]3ressed by the sense of his duties and the calls made on him. Providentially the Rev. Joseph Stokes arrived, and bestowing all care on the Bishop saw him begin to recover. Then that priest set out for some of the most urgent calls, and traveled seven hundred miles through the State. He obtained lots for a church at Ashport, and saw the erection of the church taken in hand.
The Bishop on his recovery resumed his labors, and was gratified to be able to celebrate Christmas in his improved church with some little dignity.^
After visiting St. Rose's convent, where with the per- mission of the Bishop of Bardstown he administered
' Truth Teller, xiv., p. 405 ; Cath. Herald, vii.. p. 205 ; Catholic Ad- vocate, iv., pp. 303, 326, 388.
■^ Catholic Register, i., p. 227.
CONDITION OF DIOCESE. 659
confirmation and ordained Rev. Augustus Anderson, O.P., Bishop Miles proceeded to Europe/
His visit was not without success. On his return a church was erected in East Tennessee, another in Rob- ertson County, dedicated to St. Michael ; while in West Tennessee, Rev. Michael McAleer, of Memphis, was building two churches in his district. A lot had been purchased at Nashville for a diocesan seminary,
SIGNATURE OF BISHOP MILES.
and Sisters of Charity arrived in August to open a school for girls in a fine large building on Campbell's
Hill.'
The diocese, which promised so little, was thus slowly and gradually gaining in strength, with slight immigration, a difficult mountain country, and a sur- rounding population imbued with strong prejudices against the truth.
' Catholic Register, i. , p. 290.
^Catholic Advocate, vii., pp. 3, 98, 346, 271; Salzbacher, "Meiae Reise nach Nord Amerika," p. 318.
CHAPTER XVIII. DIOCESE OF NATCHEZ. EIGHT REV. JOHN J. CHANCHE, FIRST BISHOP, 1841-43.
On the 28th of July, 1837, his Holiness, Pope Gregory XVI., at the instance of the Provincial Council of Bal- timore, erected an episcopal see at Natchez, with the State of Mississippi as the diocese dependent on it. The clergyman first proposed for the new see, V. Rev. Thomas Heyden, after some hesitation finally declined the mitre, and it was not till December 15, 1840, that the Rev. John J. Chanche, president of St. Mary's College, Baltimore, was selected, and accepted the bulls.' He was consecrated in the Cathedral of Baltimore on the 14th of March, 1841, by Archbishop Eccleston, assisted by Bishops Fenwick, of Boston, and Hughes, of New York. John Mary Joseph Chanche was born in Baltimore, October 4, 1795, his i^arents having fled from the horrors of the outbreak of the negroes in Saint Domingo. Educated by the Sulpi- tians, he was ordained by Archbishox) Marechal, June 6, 1819. Having become a Suli)itian, he was made a professor in the seminary, and in 1834 succeeded Rev. S. Eccleston as president of the college.
Nearly the whole State of Mississippi was included in the original diocese of Baltimore, although it was not till 1796 that Bishop Carroll obtained control of Natchez. It was made a Vicariate Apostolic and placed under the Bishop of New Orleans in 1825,
' Bull " Universi Dominici Gregis," Bullarium de Propaganda Fide, v.. p. 161.
660
KT. REV. JOHN J. CHANCHE, BISHOP OF NATCHEZ.
661
IRISH PRIESTS. 663
Spanish expeditions accompanied by priests visited the territory at an early day ; but it was not till Mgr. de St. Vallier, second Bishop of Quebec, established his Seminary missions on the Mississippi River, that a priest. Rev. Mr. Davion, took up his residence among the Taensas and visited a kindred tribe, the JS^atchez. His successor. Rev. J. B. de St. Cosme, was killed by Indians in 1706. In May, 1699, Le Moyne d' Iberville began a settlement at Biloxi, now Ocean Springs, and a little chapel was raised in which Rev. Mr. Bor- denave said mass daily. Such was the beginning of the Catholic Church in the present State of Missis- sippi. Then we find the Abbe Juif at Yazoo, and the Jesuit Father Souel laboring among the neighboring Indians. At the time of the massacre in 1729, the French settled at Natchez had a resident chaplain, but he was absent, and Fathers Souel and Du Poisson, S.J., were killed by the Indians on the soil of Missis- sippi. Under the French rule there was generally a priest at Natchez, and under the Spanish domination a chapel, if not a resident priest, at Villa Gayoso. About 1790 Rev. William Savage, Gregory White, and Constantine McKenna were sent over to serve at Natchez. When the United States obtained posses- sion of the territory in 1796, the Church of the Holy Family, a two story frame building, stood on Com- merce Street, Natchez. Bishop Carroll requested the Bishop of Louisiana to continue to supply a priest for that town, but the population dwindled away and the visits of a clergyman became rare.
When the Vicariate Apostolic was erected, Bishop Du Bourg exerted himself to meet to some extent the spiritual wants of the faithful ; but in 1833 the Church of the Holy Family was without a priest, and until a diocese Avas erected it so continued, though Ave are told
664 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
that the Catholics of Natchez were occasionally visited by a clergyman from New Orleans. In 1838 a sus- pended priest gave trouble there, but Bishop Blanc sent the Jesuit Father Van de Velde, who effected much good. The next year Rev. John Tinion, CM., gave a mission at Natchez, baptized several, heard many confessions, and had thirty-six communicants.' In 1839 we find Rev. M. D. 0' Reilly laboring at Vicks- burg, and steps taken to rebuild on the old site of the Temple of the Sun, the Catholic church which had been destroyed by fire.'' In that year Rev. Mr. Bro- gard took charge of the congregation at Natchez.
Bislioj) Chanche reached his appointed see on the 18tli of May, 1843, and the next day. Ascension Thurs- day, officiated in Mechanics' Hall. As some difficulty had already arisen about the tenure of Church prop- erty there and at Yicksburg, the Bishop explained the rules of the Church, which he was resolved to carry out. He then visited the Northern States to solicit aid for the district committed to his care. From the Bishop of New Orleans came a fund destined for Natchez, which had been sent from time to time by the Associa- tion for the Propagation of the Faith, and which had accumulated in his hands. Bishop Chanche returned somewhat encouraged, and, on the 24th of February, 1842, assisted by Rev. John G. Frangois and P. P. Desgaultier, laid the corner-stone of his cathedral at the corner of Main and Union streets. The Gothic cathe- dral to be dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, was to be 60 feet wide and 130 deep. He began
' Archbishop Blanc to Archbishop Eccleston, January 39, 1838, Feb- ruary 18, 1839.
« Catholic Almanacs, 1833-1840 ; Catholic Advocate, Iv., pp. 156, 269, 333 ; Catholic Herald, vii., p. 236 ; U. S. Cath. Miscellany, vli., p. 34 ; Truth Teller, July 13, 1839.
CHURCH PROPERTY. 665
regular instructions for white and colored Catholics, and Rev, Mr. Francois was gratified by seeing piety revive. He conferred the sacrament of confirmation at Pentecost, 1842, on more than thirty. He was encour- aged by the success of an academy opened under his
A^d/h^.^o/^ ^
SIGNATURE OF BISHOP CHAN CHE.
auspices by some young ladies Avho accompanied him from Maryland. Bishop Chanche sent Rev. Mr. B., Abbe to the gulf shore, and, in a visitation, he aroused the faith of the old French settlements at Biloxi and Pass Christian, and was soon able to give them a resi- dent priest and see steps taken to erect churches.^
The property of the Church in Natchez had all, in violation of treaty rights, been seized by the United States or by the city. Bishop Chanche began to col- lect documents in order to recover it, if possible.
After convening his little band of priests in a retreat under the guidance of Rev. John Timon, CM., in March, 1843, Bishop Chanche revisited Baltimore to represent his diocese in the Provincial Council.^
' Propagateur Catholique, i., p. 166.
2 Catholic Advocate, vii., pp. 46, 137. Rt. Rev. J. B. Janssen, " Sketch of the Catholic Church in the City of Natchez, Miss.," Natchez, 1886, pp. 1-23 ; Salzbacher, "Meine Raise nach Nord Amerika,"p. 316..
BOOK V.
CHAPTER I.
DIOCESE OF NEW ORLEANS.
RT. REV. LEO RAYMOND DE NECKERE, FIRST BISHOP, 1829-1833.
Whex Rt. Rev, Joseph Rosati was allowed to decline the see of New Orleans, and became Bishop of St. Louis, he strongly recommended for the vacant bishopric the saintly and eloquent Rev. Leo Raymond de Neckere, already known and esteemed in Louisiana. That clergyman was then in Europe with the hope of regaining health and strength. Summoned to Rome he was, notwithstanding his protests, elected Bishop of New Orleans, August 4, 1829. Deeply afflicted at this elevation he returned to Belgium, and, after a danger- ous illness, having regained his health somewhat, he returned to the United States. After another fruitless effort to escape the dignity, he prepared for his conse- cration, but was again prostrated by a complication of diseases at St. Genevieve. Rallying, however, he reached New Orleans, and, overcome by the entreaties, appeals, and arguments of Bishop Portier, consented to accept the office he had firmly resolved to decline. He was consecrated on May 16, 1830, in the Cathe- dral, by Bishop Rosati of St. Louis, assisted by Bishop Portier and Bishoj) England.
He was a native of Belgium, born at Wevelghem, June 6, 1800, and while a seminarian at Ghent was ac- cepted by Bishop Du Bourg for his diocese. Complet- ing his studies at the Seminary at the Barrens, he was
666
RT. REV. LEO RAYMOND DE NECKERE, FIRST BISHOP OF NEW ORLEANS.
667
DIOCESAN SYNOD. 669
ordained October 13, 1822, and began his labors as missionary and professor. Sent for a time to Louisiana, he acquired the esteem and confidence of all.
Bishop de Neckere inspired his clergy with zeal which soon bore fruit. The energetic priest Rev. Anthony Blanc erected a neat and commodious church at Baton Rouge and Rev. Mr. Lacroix was rivaling him. And when Rev. Mr. Bernabe died, amid labors at Pointe Coupee, Rev. Anthony Blanc visited that parish also. At N^ew Orleans steps were talien to erect a church on Rousseau Street at the Port.^
Unable to endure the fatigue of long journeys re- quired by a regular visitation of his diocese, Bishop de Neckere convoked his clergy in a diocesan synod. They met at his church on the 23d of February, 1832, and entered on the exercises of a spiritual retreat. On Sunday, the 26th, after a high mass, twenty-one priests attended the synod, which was opened accord- ing to the form prescribed by the pontifical. The Bishop took his seat on the platform of the altar, sup- ported by his Vicars-General V. Rev. B. Richards and Anthony Blanc. Rev. Augustine Jeanjean was secre- tary. Regulations and statutes were promulgated for the better discipline, and stejDS were taken to form an association for the dissemination of good books. At
' Circular of Bishop Rosati to Clergy of New Orleans diocese, Jesuit, i., p. 218 ; Annales de la Propagation de la Foi., iv., pp. 665, 677. U. S. Cath. Miscellany, x., pp. 22, 238. While the Bishop elect was slowly regaining strength at St. Genevieve, Bishops Rosati, Portier, and England, who had reached New Orleans, wrote a joint letter to Rome, May 6, 1830, urging that his resignation should not be accepted, but, in case the Holy Father yielded, proposing Rev. A. Blanc and Rev. A. Jeanjean. While awaiting the arrival of Dr. De Neckere, Bishop Rosati performed his last official acts as administrator, laying the corner-stone of a church at St. Michel, and consecrating the chapel of the Ursulines at New Orleans. Annales, etc., iv., p. 666.
670 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
the close of tlie synod, Bishop de Neckere offered the holy sacrifice for the repose of the souls of deceased imests.^
The year was one of sickness. Cholera and fevers swept many away, and the diocese lost its Vicar-Gen- eral Richards, and Rev. Messrs. Martial and Tichitoli. When winter set in the Bishop wrote : " New Orleans has been severely visited by the scourging angel, but thanks be to God, except a few cases, it has entirely subsided. All our Sisters of Charity have been sick, either with the cholera or the yellow fever ; none, however, have sunk under the disease. The epidemic seems now to be extending to the western district of this State. "2
The next year the fatal disease which had been lurking in the bayous and swamps of Louisiana again began its ravages. Yellow fever pervaded New Orleans. Bishop de Neckere had retired to Saint Michel to gain some strength ; but, when he heard of his people dying in his episcopal city, he returned against all advice and entreaties. He gave himself entirely to his ministry among the plague-stricken, and to measures for their relief. His enfeebled frame soon yielded, he was seized with the fever, and in ten days from his arrival breathed his last, on the 5th of Sep- tember, 1833.'
If Bishop de Neckere, from his infirm health, could
' U. S. Ciith. Miscellany, xi., pp. 343-3 ; Catholic Telegraph, i., p. 191 ; Jesuit, iv., p. 87 ; Salzbacher, " Meine Reise nach Nord Amerika," p. 310 ; Delia Chiesa Cattolica negli Stati Uniti d'America, Verona, 1835, p. 39.
' Bishop de Neckere to Rev. John Timon, Nov. 30, 1833. Catholic Telegraph, i., p. 367; ii., p. 179.
3 Cath. Miscellany, xiii., p. 84 ; Catholic Telegraph, ii., p. 375 ; Truth Teller, ix., p. 309.
SEDE VACANTE. 671
not accomplish mnch for his diocese, he edified liis flock by his holy life, and by the discharge of his duties. In one of his last letters from Saint Michel, speaking of the death of one of his priests, he said : "One more vacancy added to the many already exist- ing : no college, no seminary, no priest in the wliole State of Mississippi."^ It was to meet such wants that he felt to multiply himself beyond measure.
By his death the administration devolved on his Vicar-General, Very Rev. Anthony Blanc, who had already refused to become coadjutor to Bishop de Neckere, and on Very Rev. V. Ladaviere, In Novem- ber a colony of Sisters of Charity set out from Balti- more to take charge of a hospital in New Orleans, undeterred by any fear of pestilence. At the begin- ning of 1834 the diocese contained twenty-two priests, but seven churches and parishes were vacant, and others depended on occasional visits. Seven Sisters of Charity were in charge of thePoydras Asylum, and ten of the Charity Hospital.
The priest first selected to fill the vacancy was the Rev. Augustine Jeanjean, but he returned the bulls, and left New Orleans.
1 Bishop de Neckere to Rev. John Timon, Oct. 17, 1830.
CHAPTER II.
DIOCESE OF NEW ORLEANS.
RT. BEV. ANTHONY BLANC, SECOND BISHOP, 1835-1843.
The Very Rev. Anthony Blanc, who was then ap- pointed to the see of New Orleans and required to accept the burden, was born at Sury, in southern France, October 11, 1792. Entering a seminary after his college course he was ordained priest in 1816, and, having been accepted by Bishop Du Bourg for the Louisiana mission, he landed at Annapolis in Septem- ber, 1817. After some months labor at Vincennes he was summoned to Louisiana, where he displayed zeal, energy, and judgment. Bishop de Neckere, who wished to resign, in vain endeavored to induce Rev, Mr. Blanc to accept the bulls appointing him coad- jutor in 1832.'
He was consecrated Bishop of New Orleans, in the Cathedral of that city, on the 22d of November, 1835, by Rt. Rev. Joseph Rosati, Bishop of St. Louis, assisted by Rt. Rev. John B. Purcell, Bishop of Cin- cinnati, and Rt. Rev. Michael Portier, Bishop of Mobile. The sermon was delivered by Rt. Rev. Dr. Portier.^
The newly consecrated bishop saw much to be done, and yet beheld the ranks of the priests of Louisiana gradually thinning by death. His brother died at Natchitoches ; the next year Rev. Mr. Borella, who
' Very Rev. A. Blanc to Archbishop Eccleston, Sept. 8, 1834 ; Bishop Portier to same, Oct. 30, 1834; Weekly Register, iii., p. 153.
* U. S. Cath. Miscellany, xv., p. 306 ; Catholic Telegraph, v., p. 33 ; Catholic Diary, v., p. 71.
673
BT. KEV. ANTHONY BLANC, SECOND BISHOP OF NEW ORLEANS.
673
REV. PIERRE CONNOLLY. 675
had for fifteen years directed the parish of St. Martin, descended to the grave.
A remarkable conversion of this time, in the juris- diction of Bishop Blanc, was that of Rev. Pierce Con- nolly, an Episcopalian clergyman of Natchez, whose studies led him to acknowledge the claims of the Catholic Church. He was received into the Church with his wife at New Orleans, but soon after pro- ceeded to Europe, where he became a priest and where she founded a community of Sisters which effected much good in the cause of sound Catholic education.^
To meet this want of priests and to provide the sorely needed college for young men, Mgr. Blanc resolved to call upon the Society of Jesus, whose patent for the Louisiana mission was written in the blood of its martyred sons, and sealed with the suffer- ings of its confessors of the faith. He went to Europe in the year 1836, and applying to V. Rev. 'Father Guidee, the Provincial, obtained a colony of eight members, with whom he reached New Orleans Feb- ruary 22, 1837. The Superior was Rev. Father Peter Ladaviere, who had already visited Louisiana. The erection of a college at Grand Coteau was soon com- menced, and its opening was fixed for January 5, 1838, but, that being Friday, it was regarded as un- lucky and not a scholar appeared. Before the end of the month, however, they had twentj^-four boarders, and they closed the first scholastic term with fifty-six. The Fathers not employed at the College aided the diocese by doing missionary duty.^
' Weekly Register, ii., p. 231 ; Catholic Telegraph, v , p. 127.
' Catholic Telegraph, v., p. 30, etc.
^ Archives of the Mission. Bishop Blanc, like the other bishops in the
676 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Having thus provided for a college, v^ith a perma- nent body to supply professors and teachers, Bishop Blanc applied to Yery Rev. John Timon, Visitor of the Priests of the Mission, and on the 20th of Decem- ber, 1838, the Lazarists agreed to assume the direction of the Diocesan Seminary at a stipulated sum to be paid for each ecclesiastic received.^
Relieved in mind from these two heavy responsi- bilities, the Bishop next sought to make permanent Catholic establishments in the Vicariate Apostolic of Mississippi. Very Rev. Mr. Timon began the work at Natchez and by his patient influence induced the people to erect a house for the services of their relig- ion. Visits vv^ere made by priests to Vicksburg, but the people anxiously petitioned for a resident clergy- man.^
Meanwhile the trustees of St. Louis Cathedral obtained from the Legislature, on the 11th of March, 1837, permission to mortgage the Bishop's Cathedral for two hundred thousand dollars to carry out projects of their own. They sent an agent to Europe to effect a loan, but he wasted two thousand dollars in his vain effort. =■
While these men were thus squandering the prop- erty of the Church, Bishop Blanc, sustained by his clergy and faithful Catholics, was laboring in the cause of religion and charity. The corner-stone of St. Patrick's Church was laid July 1, 1838, and in No- vember, 1839, the- Bishop laid the corner-stone of St.
country, responded to the appeal of Dr. England. Letter, Sept. 8, 1838, Catholic Advocate, iii., p. 291.
' Agreement between Anthony, Bishop of New Orleans, and Very Rev. John Timon, New Orleans, Dec. 20, 1838.
« Bishop Blanc to Rev. John Timon, July 11, 1839.
" Propagateur Catholique, i. , p. 23.
MARTYRS OF CHARITY.
677
Patrick's Orphan Asylum. In 1841 the city was again desolated by fever. Bishop Blanc wrote in September: "We have been already live or, rather, fall six weeks fighting the battle with the yellow fever, which is still raging in our city. Poor, unacclimated strangers die very fast of it. Our charity hospital is crowded with four hundred patients, and sometimes above that number. We have had the misfortune to lose some of our Sisters of Charity ; two are yet sick, but I hope they will sur- vive." '
Yet amid all this Bishop Blanc began the erection of another church in New Or- leans, laying the corner- stone in November and dedicating it to the service of God in August of the following year, under the invo- cation of St. Augustine.
The erection of new churches in different parts of New Orleans diminished greatly the congregation of the old Cathedral, and the trustees, or wardens, seeing their influence wane, entered on a new war against religion. On the death of Rev. John Aloysius Moni, in 1842, the Bishop appointed Rev. C. Maenhaut rector
' Catholic Register, i., p. 101 ; Bishop Blanc to V. Rev. J. Timon, Sept. 33, 1841. Death deprived the Church the same year of V. Rev. Augustus Jeanjean, and Rev. John Anduzio, the faithful pastor of St. Joseph's, Thibodeauxville ; Catholic Almanac, 1843. " A discourse delivered at the ceremony of laying the corner-stone of St. Patrick's Church in New Orleans, etc.," by Rev. J. J. Mullon, New Orleans, 1838.
ST. PATRICK S CHTJRCH, NEW OULEANS.
678 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
of the Cathedral, but the trustees refused to recognize him, claiming the right of patronage formerly enjoyed by the King of Spain. They brought an action against the Bishop of New Orleans in the parish court of the city, presenting a petition full of misstatements. Their only title to the property was based on a forci- ble seizure in 1805 ; the right of patronage had never been transferred to them by the Spanish monarch, and could not be conferred by either Federal or State government. Judge Maurian decided against the trustees, and they appealed to the Supreme Court, which confirmed the decision of the parish court. Judge Bullard declared: "The right to nominate a curate (parisli priest) or the juspatronatus of the
SIGNATURE OF BISHOP BLANC, OF NEW ORLEANS.
Spanish law is abrogated in this State. The war- dens .... cannot compel the Bishop to institute a curate (parish priest) of their appointment, nor is lie, in any legal sense, subordinate to the wardens of any one of the churches within his diocese in relation to his clerical functions." A rehearing, claimed by the wardens, was refused. The Supreme Court thus up- held the decision of the Holy See.
But these trustees were still bent on annoyance. They refused to recognize three of the curates or vicars, and the chaplain of the hospital ; when the Bishop appointed Rev. Mr. Jamey one of the curates, they replied with terms of insult. They even attempted to exclude the clergy from part of the parochial residence. Bishop Blanc addressed the Board of War- dens on the 21st of October, inclosing a letter to them from Rev. Mr. Maenhaut. Receiving no reply he
TRUSTEEISM. 679
wrote them again on the 27th ; * but as they still declined to recognize his authority, the clergy with- drew t'roni the Cathedral and parochial residence on the 2d of November, and the parishioners were attended from the Bishop's house and St. Augustine's Church.- One of the members of the board was also a member of the council of one of the municipalities. He obtained the passage of an ordinance punishing by a fine of fifty dollars any Catholic priest who per- formed the burial service over a dead body in any church except the mortuary chapel, erected in 1826, over which the wardens of the Cathedral claimed con- trol. Under the strange ordinance aimed in terms at Catholic priests only. Rev. Bernard Permoli was prosecuted December 19th, 1842. Judge Preval held the ordinance to be illegal ; but the case was carried up to the City Court and finally to the Supreme Court of the United States.'
The faithful Catholics of St. Patrick's Church met to protest against these outrageous proceedings and the insults offered to the Archbishop. The tide of public opinion was setting strongly against the men who defied all authority in the Church. In January, 1843, they submitted, and received as parish priest, Rev. Mr. Bach, who had been regularly appointed by the Bishop, but who died in September,
Bishop Blanc gave a retreat to his clergy in March, followed by a mission for the faithful. Soon after, the true Catholics of the city petitioned the Legislature to amend the act incorporating the Cathedral and bring
' Letter, Rev. C. Maenhaut, etc., to Bishop Blanc, Oct. 19, 1842 ; Bishop Blanc to Trustees, Oct. 21, 27, 1842, in Catholic Advocate, vii., p. 346.
' Bishop Blanc Archbishop Eccleston, Nov. 4, 1842.
3 Supreme Court of the United States, No 84, Permoli vs. Munici- pality, No. 1.
680 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
it into harmony with the discipline of the Catholic Church.
In April the Bishop, by a circular, directed prayers for the Provincial Council of Baltimore, to which he soon set out.'
' Propagateur Catliolique, i., pp. 71,151, 268, 308, 318; Catholic Herald, xi., pp. 375, 390 ; xii., p. 222 ; U. S. Catholic Magazine, ii., pp. 253, 755 ; iii , pp. 154, 199 ; iv., p. 263 ; Salzbachcr, " Meine Reise nack Nord Amerika," p. 310.
SEAL OF BISHOP BLANC.
CHAPTER III.
DIOCESE OF ST. LOUIS. RT. REV. JOSEPH R OS ATI, FIRST BISHOP, 1829-1843.
While the Bishop of St. Louis was attending the Provincial Council of Baltimore six ecclesiastics reached his episcopal city.' It was a strange effect of the revolutions that had taken place throughout Christendom that these gentlemen came from Mexico, which had had its episcopate for three centuries and had its provincial councils as early as 1555 ; but in which, at this time, not a Catholic bishop was left. They came from the dioceses of Mechoacan and Guada- lajara to a see in the heart of the United States, not ten years erected, in order to obtain ordination. Early in 1830 Bishop Rosati could write with a sense of great relief: "Our holy Father the Pope has benignantly relieved me of the diocese of New Orleans, the adminis- tration of which made it impossible for me to give the necessary attention to my own diocese of St. Louis." " Now I can begin to carry out my long-formed plans for its improvement. " "In Arkansas Territory, where there are more than two thousand scattered Catholics, there is not a single priest, nor has any missionary visited it since Rev. Mr. Odin did some years ago. There is not a priest in the whole State of Illinois, and visits to it are few ; yet there are far more Catholics there than in Arkansas."
Bishop Rosati was enabled by the grants of the Association for the Propagation of the Faith to pay off
1 Jesuit!., p. 188. 681
682 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
the creditors who had sold the church property in St. Louis. ^ The Jesuit Fathers were advancing in their work. They attended St. Charles, St. Ferdinand, Port- age aux Sioux, and Dardennes. Their Indian school Florissant began to attract white pupils, of whom, in 1828-29, it had fifteen. A college attempted at at St. Louis had been abandoned in 1826, and when the Bishop offered the Society a site on Ninth Street and Christy Avenue, given by Mr. Jeremiah Conners for a college, they acquired some adjoining property, and in the autumn of 1828 began the erection of a building fifty feet by forty. It was then well out of town, sur- rounded by farms and x>ontls- St. Louis College opened with forty pupils, November 2, 1829, Rev. P. J. Verhaegan being the first president. Rev. P. J. De Smet and Rev. J. A. Elet were professors. In a month the College numbered one hundred and fifty pupils, and its success was so great that in less than two years an additional building was undertaken.'^
Bishop Rosati was consoled in 1830 to see no fewer than six churches rising in his diocese, a new cathedral in St. Louis, the church Rev. John M. Odin was build- ing near the Barrens, a fine church at St. Genevieve, another at Old Mines, one at Apple River, due to the generosity of Mr. Snowbush ; the church Rev. Mr. Cellini was erecting at Fredericktown. During the summer he visited many of the churches in Missouri and Illinois, and was able to fill some vacancies with zealous priests.
The church was spreading in the upper part of the State on the Mississippi River, and places where five
* Bishop Rosati, Jan. 24, April 25, 1830, in Annales de la Propagation delaFoi, iv., pp. 593, 595.
" Hill, " Historical Sketch of St. Louis University," St. Louis, 1879, pp. 37-41.
• CONVETAT KASKASKIA. 683
years before not half a dozen Catholics could be found, now numbered hundreds. Seventy German Catholics settled in one body on Apple River. At St. Louis Bishop Rosati transformed an old college building into St. Mary's church, destined especially for the colored Catholics, of whom it could accommodate five or six hundred.^
The College of the Jesuit Fathers was formally in- corporated by the Missouri Legislature on the 28th of December, 1832, under the title of St. Louis Univer- sity, with ample powers.^
During the year the first Catholic newspaper west of the Mississippi, "The Shepherd of the Valley," appeared.
Bishop Rosati was at this time able to ordain sev- eral priests for his diocese, one of whom set out at once for Arkansas Territory, November 31, to aid Rev. Ed. Saulnier in his mission there. ^ The Illinois por- tion of his diocese welcomed this same year a colony of seven Visitation Nuns from Georgetown, who, under Mother Agnes Brent, left their monastery on the Po- tomac to establish May 3, 1833, an academy in the ancient town of Kaskaskia. This first house of relig- ious women in Illinois did not receive the support for its academy which had been anticipated, much as it was needed, and difiiculties impeded its progress. Mother Seraphine Wickham, however, who became Superior in 1839, raised the academy to a high degree of efficiency ; but the floods of the Mississippi in 1844
' U. S. Cath. Miscellany, x., p. 174; xi., p. 14 ; Catholic Intelligencer, iii., p. 373. Rev. John Timon to Bishop Rosati, Mar. 4, 1832 ; Bishop Rosati to Rev. J. Timon, Feb. 26, 1832.
« Hill "Historical Sketch," p. 43 ; " Laws of Missouri," 1824-1836, ii. p. 298.
^ Catholic Telegraph, i., p. 93-4.
684 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
drove the Visitation nuns from the convent and they removed to St, Louis. '^
The Bishop had been able, by the arrival of some clergymen from France, to station Rev. Mr. Paillasson there, so that the nuns were enabled to have the con- solation of mass offered in their convent.
His cathedral was at last rising, a church was dedi- cated at Florissant, and the Catholics at Richwood, English Settlement, Mine a la Motte, and Gravois were exerting themselves to comj^lete theirs. At St. Genevieve the church was nearly finished.
The diocese in 1831 comprised St. Louis with 4000 Catholics, the Bishop, and four priests ; a hospital conducted by eight Sisters of Charity, and able to con- tain eighty patients. Florissant, with 480 Catholics, attended by two Jesuit Fathers ; an academy and free school under the Ladies of the Sacred Heart, whose novitiate was elsewhere. St. Charles with one thou- sand Catholics, also under the Fathers of the Society, a convent of the Sacred Heart, and free schools for boys and girls ; one of the Fathers here was con- stantly visiting the churches at Portage aux Sioux, and Dardenne, as well as more distant stations. St. Genevieve and Old Mines, each with a Catholic popu- lation of two thousand, had resident priests. The seminary at the Barrens had twenty-five students, nine in theology ; and there were 100 j)upils in the College. The Priests of the Mission attended the church, with 1600 Catholics lying around. New Mad- rid, with 640 Catholics, had no resident priest. Nor was there one in Arkansas. In Illinois there were
' Annals of the Visitation. Mother Agnes Brent, daughter of William Chandler Brent, after being Superior at Georgetown, Kaskaskia, St. Louis, and Mobile, died ciously Sept. 15, 1877. Mother SeraphineWick- haiQ was a native of Philadelphia ; she died just one week later.
• INDIAN MISSIONS. 685
three priests with flocks estimated at 4168. In Missouri Territory there were reckoned two thousand Catholics, among whom priests were laboring. Bishop Rosati was soon able to send priests to Kaskaskia, New Madrid, and Arkansas.
The Indian Mission among the Kansas was directed by the Jesuit Fathers, and Rev. Messrs. Latz and Pail- lasson had just begun an Indian Mission at Prairie du Chien.i
During the summer of 1832 the cholera reached St. Louis, and, when no one could be found to attend the hospital opened by the city authorities for tliose at- tacked, the Sisters of Charity received them all into their hospital.^
The utmost harmony prevailed in the diocese, but the spirit of falsehood, alarmed at the progress of the truth, represented it as divided into two hostile par- ties. Bishop Rosati promptly refuted the slander.^ Later in the year a Methodist clergyman attempted to meet Rev. R. S, Abell in a controversy at St. Gene- vieve, but was so utterly defeated that he Avithdrew, announcing that he would reply to the priest four weeks from that day.*
The cholera in 1833 was more deadly in its ravages ; requiring the constant ministry of the clergy and the devoted care of the Sisters of Charitj^ Two ladies of the Sacred Heart died of it in September.^
During the summer the Catholic body sustained a severe loss in the death of Mr. John Mullanphy, the friend of the orphan and the poor, whose liberality to
' Annales de la Propagation de la Foi, v., p. 563.
* Annales de la Propagation de la Foi, iv., p. 663 ; vii., p. 113. 3 Letter, March 6, 1833 ; Truth Teller, viii., p. 140.
* Bishop Rosati to Rev. J. Timon, Dec. 18, 1832.
5 Baunard, " The Life of Mother Duchesne," 1879, p. 314.
686 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
the Church had been unbounded. He gave twenty- five acres of land to the Ladies of the Sacred Heart, on condition that they supported perpetually twenty orphan girls. He founded and endowed the hospital of the Sisters of Charity. A native of Youghal, Ireland, he showed his energy in the West by build- ing a ship on the Kentucky River, which he sent down to the sea. He subsequently dealt extensively in cotton, and owned the bales used by Gen. Jackson in the Battle of New Orleans, These, at the peace, he sold in England, accumulating a large fortune. His well-spent life was closed by a happy death at St. Louis, August 29, 1833.
Notwithstanding the cholera, the Jubilee exercises appointed by the Bishop were attended by great numbers of the faithful, producing much good.^
Conversions were constant ; the example of good Catholics, the devoted lives of j>riests and religious all combined to lead many to the faith. During the cholera, many who held back in health called for the ministry of the priest. In a Protestant family where Rev. Mr. Odin was in the habit of stopping, a little boy eight years old seemed drawn by remarkable grace to the Church. He learned the catechism of his own accord, and when the cholera broke out begged his mother to have him baptized, but she put him ofi'. He was one of the first to be attacked, and he con- stantly asked to be baptized. None of the family knew that they could administer the sacrament, and he died with the baptism of desire. Influenced by this the whole family sought instruction and became Catholics.^
' Catholic Telegraph, iii., p. 54.
' Odin, " Breve Ragguaglio della Chiesa Catholica negli Stati Unlti di America, oflferto alia Santita," etc.
CATHEDRAL OF ST. LOUIS. 687
As early as 1830 Bishop Rosati set about erecting a cathedral worthy of his growing diocese, but, owing to the difficulties which environed him, it was not completed till 1834. At the time it was regarded as a remarkable piece of architecture. It was 134 feet long by 84 feet wide. The front was of finely polished stone ; on either side was a tablet inscribed in French or English : " My house shall be called the house of prayer." Above the three doors, you read in Latin, French, and English : "Behold the tabernacle of God with men, and He will dwell with them." The facade consisted of four Doric columns, with an inscription on the friese above, " In honorem Sancti Ludovici, Deo uni et trino dicatum, anno MDCCC XXXIV." A tall spire rose from the front of the edifice. It was solemnly consecrated on the 26tli of October, 1834. Bishop Rosati invited for the occasion the Bishops of Bardstown and Cincinnati, and the Bishop elect of Vincennes, offering his new cathedral for the cere- nio-ny of the consecration of Dr. Brute. The three fine bells ordered for the belfry arrived in time and were duly blessed. On the appointed day, amid such a concourse as St. Louis had never seen, the procession moved from the old cathedral. All the ceremonies prescribed in the Roman Pontifical were followed within and without. A solemn high mass was then offered, with a dedication sermon preached by the Bishop of Cincinnati.
On the 28th, feast of St. Simon and St. Jude, Rt. Rev. Simon Gabriel Brute, Bishop of Vincennes, was consecrated in this noble building by Rt. Rev. Dr. Flaget, assisted by the Bishops of St. Louis and Cin- cinnati. In a visitation soon after. Bishop Rosati re- ceived the profession of Miss Jane Barber, the youngest
688 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
of the family, as a Visitation nun at Kaskaskia.^ He had succeeded in j)lacing a priest, Rev, Mr. Doutreligne, at Cahokia, but that clergyman encountered opposi- tion, so that the Bishop wi'ote firmly that, " If they re- sisted the authority of the Ciiurch he must remove the priest to others who can appreciate his ministry bet- ter." It was almost a solitary case of rebellion against this gentle and devoted bisho^D.^
The diocese was soon after menaced with a serious misfortune. The seminary and college at the Barrens had been productive of vast good to souls, but the Congregation of the Priests of the Mission had not suc- ceeded in freeing their property from debts which be- came so formidable that the Superior General resolved to recall all his priests. He ordered the College to be suppressed, and the Seminary also, unless the Bishop paid a fixed sum for each seminarian, and he ordered -all the priests of the Congregation, engaged in parochial work, to resign their positions. The Bishop could not enter into a contest with an order to which he was himself endeared by so many ties. He forwarded his observations to the Superior General and also to the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide, and to the Pope himself. It was providential that at this very time Rev. John Timon, whom he had solicited as Coadjutor, was appointed Visitor of the Lazarists in
' Bishop Rosati to the Pope, Nov. 3, 1834, with description of Catlie- dral and dedication. Annales de la Propagation de la Foi, viii., pp. 267- 287; Catliolic Telegraph, iv., p. 406; Jesuit, v., p. 388; U. S. Cath. jVIiscellany, xiv., p. 182 ; Catholic Diary, v., p. 6, etc ; Doherty, "Ad- dress on the Centenary of the Cathedral Church," St. Louis, 1876, p. 11 ; Bishop Rosati to Archbishop Eccleston, Dec. 29, 1834, Weekly Register, iii., p. 338. The Cathedral was the fifth church consecrated by Bishop Rosati, the others being St. Charles and St. Ferdinand, St. Joachim at Old Mines, and St. James, Potosi.
* Bishop Rosati to the Rev. Mr. Doutreligne, March 20, 1835.
PROGRESS. 689
the United States. That able and laborious priest shrank from the position of Visitor, but finally yielded. He urged a suspension of the orders sent, restored community life at the Barrens, and by his judgment, exertions, and economy placed their estab- lishments in such a position that the Superior General allowed the college to continue, and Bishop Rosati on his side labored successfully to put the seminary in a flourishing condition.^
Near his cathedral in May, 1855, the Bishop laid the corner-stone of a new Ori3lian Asylum for girls, of which he had given the site.^
In his visitations in the following year he found that priests zealously attending to their flocks had revived the faith and the practice of their duties among the faithful. He saw this too strikingly mani- fested in the churches and institutions of St. Louis at Christmas. Cahokia, under an energetic priest, aided by Sisters of St. Joseph, showed a new spirit when he visited it in June.^ At Portage aux Sioux he found the Church of St. Francis of Assisium nearly completed, and at Carondelet Rev. Ed. Saulnier had replaced a primitive log chapel by a stately stone church. At the Barrens, Rev. John Timon had nearly completed a fine new church. The novitiate of the Priests of the Mis- sion contained several candidates for the Congregation, and there were also six theologians for the diocese at the Seminary.
On the first of August he visited the convent re-
' Bishop Rosati to V. Rev. John Timon, Nov. 8, 1835 ; Deuther, " Life and Times of Rt. Rev. John Timon," Buffalo, 1870, pp. 55-7.
* U. S. Cath. Miscellany, xiv., p. 399 ; Weekly Register, iv., p. 145.
'Bishop Rosati to Rev. J. Timon, Jan. 6. 1837 ; Catholic Diary, vi., p. 23 ; Catholic Herald, v., p. 223 ; " Delia Chiesa Cattolica negli Stati Uniti d' America," Verona, 1835, p. 49.
690 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
cently established by the Sisters of Loretto at St. Gene- vieve.
In Illinois the roof of the ancient church of Kas- kaskia menaced l*uin, so that the church could no longer be safely used. But there was new blood in the old State. The German Catholics around Quincy had erected a house for a priest and as a temporary chapel till their church was built. The little log Church of St. Andrew at Belleville, under Rev. Charles Meyer, was the first step to a future bishopric. Another log church was going up at Columbia, and a congrega- tion was formed at Crooked Creek. The Church of St. Thomas was dedicated in November.
On the 21st of September the Bishop, with the clergy at the Barrens, translated the remains of the venerated Father Felix de Andreis from their humble grave in the old log chapel to one of the six chapels on the gospel side of the grand new church. After offering the holy sacrifice for the last time in the old log chapel, on the 22d, Bishop Rosati consecrated the new church on the 29th of October, with Bishop Brute and a long array of priests taking part in the cere- monial and in the solemn pontifical mass. Among them was the venerable priest of early days Rev. Donatien Olivier, at this time in his ninety-first year.^
The diocese of St. Louis and the Society of Jesus sustained a great loss by the death of Very Rev. Charles Felix Van Quickenborne, who expired at the Portage aux Sioux, October 17, 1837. He was the founder of the Jesuit missions of this century in the Valley of the Mississippi, which, as the Vice Province of Missouri, has now its colleges and churches from Cincinnati and Detroit westward. He was born at
' Catholic Herald, v., pp. 270, 388, 404.
REV. a F. VAN QUICKENBORNE. 691
Peteghem, Belgium, January 21, 1788, and after being ordained priest was a professor and then a curate till 1815, when he entered the Society of Jesus upon its restoration. Two years later he came to Maryland and became master of novices, and an active mission- ary as well, erecting two churches. His removal to Missouri has been already told. In the new mission he was daunted by no difficulty or obstacle. He built a stone novitiate with the help of his novices. He erected the church at St. Charles and the convent of the Sacred Heart, and all the while was traversing his large district to find Catholics and explain our misrep- resented faith to Protestants. The ministers at- tempted to destroy his influence, but one day he entered one of their great gatherings and asked to be allowed to propound a few questions. The first was to know what test they had to distinguish true doc- trine from false. Their answers were far from clear and very contradictory. Leaving them to settle the point among themselves he went outside and delivered an address on the four points of the Catholic Church. Though his labors among the white population were more than enough for a man of utmost endurance, he felt called to announce the gospel to the Indians. He thus became the founder of our Catholic Indian Missions in this century. The tribes which he first reached were those among whom the Fathers of the Society had labored. A Shawnee, with his Wyandot wife, had both been baptized as Catholics, but for want of a priest attended the Methodist mission. The Kas- kaskias, Peoria, Weas, and Piankeshaws, feeble rem- nants of the Illinois and Miamis, had lost nearly all trace of Christian faith and were plunged in vice. The Kickapoos obeyed a false prophet. The Potta- watomies, Chippewas, and Ottawas, recently removed
692 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
to Missouri Territory from their homes, where they had enjoyed the ministrations of Rev. Mr. Desseille and Mr. Petit, offered a more encouraging field. His first permanent mission was established in June, 1836, among the Kickapoos ; the second in May, 1838, among the Pottawatomies at Sugar Creek, near Council Bluff. He died, after a brief illness, while returning to St. Louis. ^
In 1838 Bishop Rosati could report nine stone churches, ten of brick, twenty-five of wood, attended by twenty-four Jesuits, twenty Lazarists, one Dominican, twenty-three secular priests. His seminary had four- teen students ; the Lazarists and Jesuits had twenty- five preparing for holy orders. The colleges and acade- mies were well attended, the orphan asylums sheltered fifty children, the liosjDitals received annually between five and six hundred patients. During the year 1837 six new congregations had been provided with priests. The annual baptisms were about fifteen hundred.^
In 1839 Bishop Rosati summoned a Diocesan Sjmod, which met at the Cathedral in St. Louis on the 26th of April, and was attended by thirty-three priests. The statutes put in force the decrees of the first three Councils of Baltimore, and the Manual of Ceremonies ; required the erection of confessionals in all churches ; a becoming clerical dress ; regulated the administra- tion of baptism, the celebration of mass, the honor of the Blessed Sacrament ; the confessions of religious women and of the young ; the proper custody of the
' De Smet, "Western Missions and Missionaries," New York, 1859, p. 464 ; Van Quickenborne, Annales de la Prop, de la Foi, p. 88 ; " The Indian Missions in the United States of America under the care of the Missouri Province of the Society of Jesus," Pliiladelphia, 1841 ; Catholic Herald, v., p. 295. F. Verhaegen to Bishop Rosati, June 16, 1838.
' " Notizie sullo Stato attuale della Diocesi di S. Luigi," Feb. 15, 1838.
SUGAR CREEK MISSION. 693
holy oils ; laid down rules for the celebration of mar- riage ; forbade erecting churches without the consent of the Bisho]3 ; required the blessing of the corner-stone ; limited the exercises of faculties by priests to tlieir*^ own districts, and required them to offer the \io\j sacrifice on Sundays and holidays ; treated of the four feasts, alone made of obligation ; of patronal feasts ; urged priests to select qualified persons to aid them by instructing the young in the catechism, and made the St. Louis catechism, published at Lyons in 1833, obligatory for the French, Bishop Carroll's for Eng- lish, and that adopted by Bishop Purcell and Bishop Kenrick for the German. Collections for a new Semi- nary in St. Louis were urged, the preparatory one to remain at the Barrens. In conclusion, the faithful were exhorted to liberality in affording the pastors of souls a fitting support.^
The Pottawatomie Indians on their removal to Mis- souri became one of the cares of the Bishop of St. Louis. In the early part of the year 1839, Father Christian Hoecken, S.J., took charge of the mission at their new residence, Sugar Creek. Later in the year a band of 250 Catholic Indians arrived from Michigan. The change caused great depression and disease among the Indians, and the missionary soon aided by Father Aelen had a constant field for his zeal. A rude log church put up on their arrival was replaced by a better one dedicated on Christmas day, 1840. The next summer, Madame Lucille Mathevon, with four Ladies of the Sacred Heart, arrived and opened a school for Indian girls. ^
> Statuta Dioecesis S. Ludovici promulgata ab Illmo. ac Rmo. DD. Joseph Rosati, C. M. Episcopo S. Ludovici in Synodo Dioecesana liabita in Ecclesia Cathedrali Mense Aprili, MDCCCXXXIX. St. Louis, 1839 ; Rome, 1839. Bishop Rosati to Archbishop Eccleston, May 16, 1839.
1 Woodstock Letters, iv., p. 50. Life of Mme. Duchesne, p. 366.
694 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED ST A TES.
In October, 1839, Bishop Rosati visited Westphalia to dedicate the- church erected there, in the midst of his Catholic settlement, by Father Helias d'Hudde. ghem, S. J., the first of the many churches reared in Missouri by this zealous priest.^
In 1840 Bishop Rosati laid the corner-stone of Trinity Church in the Soulard addition, and proposed to erect his new Seminary on ground secured near it.^ Not only were churches in progress ready for dedication at various jDoints, such as Springfield and Kicka- poo, 111., Cape Girardeau, Mo., but the Bishop was now able to send clergymen to give missions in many congregations, which were productive of great good.^
The Flathead Mission grew out of the visit of four Indians who came to St. Louis to obtain missionaries for their tribe. Two fell sick and died, but showed such a desire for baptism that the sacrament was con- ferred on them. The others returned encouraged and were followed in 1835 and 1839 by other delegations, who besought the Jesuits to come to their aid.*
Father Peter J. De Smet, S.J,, was assigned to the work. The Jesuit missionary set out in the spring of 1840, and reached the country of the FJatheads or Selish Indians, by whom he had been long expected. With a tribe naturally so innocent and well disposed, instruction proceeded rapidly. Chiefs learned the prayers and a short catechism to teach others. After
' Lebrocquy, " Vie du R. P. Helias d'Huddeghem, S.J., Gand, 1878," p. 204.
* Bishop Rosati to Archbishop Eccleston, Feb. 19, 1840.
^Catholic Herald, vii., pp. 134-404; Catholic Advocate, iv., p. 20- 116 ; Truth Teller, xv., p. 275.
■* Bishop Rosati to the editor of the Annals. " Annales," Dec. 31, 1831, v., p. 597. " The Indian Missions in the U. S. of America," Phila- delphia, 1841, p. 7.
FLATHEAD MISSION, 695
baptizing six hundred, Father De Smet returned to St, Louis, to bear witness to the great field open to the Church. A regukir mission was decided upon, and in 1841 he set out again with Fatliers Nicholas Point and Gregory Mengarini and two lay brothers. They were met on the 15th of August by an ad- vanced party of the Flatheads, and on the 24th founded the first regular mission on the Bitter Root River. The Pends d'Oreilles and Coeurs d'Alenes also appealed for instruction. Hearing of the Cana- dian priests near the coast, Father De Smet descended the Columbia River, and met Rev. F. N. Blanchet and Rev. Modeste Demers, who had reached Oregon in November, 1838, and were laboring among the Cana- dians and the native tribes. ^^
Bishop Rosati had already solicited from the Holy See the appointment of a coadjutor, and, when Rev. JohnTimon declined, he proposed Rev. Peter Richard Kenrick. It was not, however, till he visited Rome in 1840, after attending the Fourth Council of Baltimore, that he obtained the appointment of that learned clergyman. as Bishop of Drasis and Coadjutor of St. Louis. But the Sovereign Pontiff laid a new burden on his shoulders, by charging him with an important mission to Hayti.^ On his return to the United States he consecrated his Coadjutor in St. Mary's Church, Philadelphia ; Bishop Kenrick, Administrator of Philadelphia, and Bishop Lefevre, Administrator of Detroit, acting as assistants. He then prepared to sail to Hayti to fulfill the duties imposed upon him, address- ing a touching pastoral to his flock whom he was never
' De Smet, "Letters and Sketches," Philadelphia, 1843: pp. 13,47, 132. " Oregon Missions," New York, 1847 : pp. 17, 18.
' BuUarium de Propaganda Fide, v., p. 229, 234, March 14, April 30, 1841.
696 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
again to see. His departure from St. Louis, April 25, 1840, was really his farewell to liis diocese. After suc- cessfully arranging with President Boyer of Hayri the terms of a concordat, and administering confirma- tion to hundreds, he hastened to Rome. His report gave great satisfaction, and he was deputed to return to the island and make the final arrangements. At Paris his condition became so critical that he returned to Rome, where he died September 25, 1843, honored for his virtues, his piety, zeal, learning, and the ability displayed in governing his diocese, in the councils of the Church, and in delicate negotiations.'
' Catholic Cabinet, i., p. 514; U. S. Catholic Magazine, ii., p. 758 ; Salzbacher, " Meine Reise nach Nord Amerika," p. 213.
CATHEDRAL OF ST. LOUIS.
CHAPTER IV.
DIOCESE OF MOBILE.
BT. EEV. MICHAEL PORTIEB, FIRST BISHOP, 1829-1843.
Bishop Portier had not appealed in vain to the missionary spirit and charity of Southern France. Before the close of the year 1829, he reached New Orleans in the ship Antioch, accompanied by two priests, four subdeacons, and two clerics.' Soon after he entered his episcopal city, to begin his work in earnest. Mobile was then a city of ten thousand inhabitants, with no church of any kind but the Cathedral, a rough wooden structure, fifty feet by twenty, and the people so indifferent and careless that little could be hoped from them.
The next year he sent Rev. Mr. Loras and Rev. Mr. Chalon to make a thorough visitation of Alabama. In a seven months' tour they visited Montgomery, Tus- caloosa, Huntsville, Washington, and other towns, gathering Catholics together where they found any, and enabling them to hear mass and approach the sacraments. Bishop Portier ordained his first priest. Rev. Mr. Poujade, soon to die of yellow fever, and secured a beautiful site near Mobile, where he in time erected Spring Hill College and Seminary, a brick building one hundred feet by forty-four. It opened under the care of Rev. Mr. Loras and Rev. Mr. Bazin, and in its first year had fifty boarders. The prospect was so encouraging that the Bishop laid the founda- tions of a church near it.
•Jesuit, i., pp.152, 324. 697
698 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Pensacola had no resident priest, but was visited by the Bishop and priests from Mobile. Even the church was gone, and though the congregation zeal- ously set to work to erect a neat frame chapel, a hur- ricane, Just as the carpenters were putting on the roof, struck it and utterly demolished it.
St. Augustine was under the care of a good priest. Rev. E. F. Mayne, whom Bishoj) England had sent there at the request of Dr. Portier.^ The trustees of the church in the ancient Catholic city drove him from the sacred edifice in May, 1830, and, Avhen the case came before the court, Judge Smith decided that the right of presentation vested in the congregation and not in the Bishop, and that the treaty ceding Florida transferred to the congregation, through the United States government, all the rights which the king of Spain had possessed. Thus deprived of his church, Rev. Mr. Mayne was compelled to officiate in a small room which he hired. ^ Bishop Portier in Feb-
' Annales de la Propagation de la Foi, v. , pp. 621-631 ; Register of St. Augustine, Register of Pensacpla.
- Few legal decisions against the Catholic religion bristled with more errors and absurdities than this one. The king of Spain had the jus patronatus, the right to tithes, and the right to nominate bishops under the Bull of Pope Julius II. The judge must have held that all these powers vested for a time in the Federal government, and by it were con- veyed to the trustees of St. Augustine Church ; for all these powers passed or none. If the United States government did not succeed to the power to nominate a Bishop in Florida, and levy tithes to support clergy- men, it did not succeed to the jus patronatus, and if it did not, could not convey these powers to a congregation. Moreover, the United States government could not exercise such a power except by establishing the Catholic religion in Florida. The judge confounded pi'eseutation and collation ; but the case before him was one neither of presentation nor collation, but the right of a lay body to expel one duly in possession of an ecclesiastical office. Bishop England went over the whole ground in a letter to Judge Gaston, December 17, 1831. See U. S. Cath. Miscel- lany, X., p. 398; xi., p. 214.
VISITATION NUNS. 699
ruary, 1832, proceeded to St. Augustine, to endeavor to allay the schism which the judge had fomented ; but the hostility of the trustees to the discipline of the Church was long maintained.^
On the last day of the year 1833. Mobile received a colony of five nuns from the Visitation Convent, Georgetown, who, with Mother Margaret Marshall as Superior, came to establish a house of their order and an academy. They were installed provisionally in a country house till their convent was erected. This was soon completed, at a cost of nine thousand dol- lars, and the academy opened at Summerville, three miles from Mobile. It soon had twenty x^upils, with every prospect of increase as its merits became known, though, in a hurricane, part of the building was car- ried away, the nuns escaping as by a miracle.
Pensacola had its church restored in 1833, and solicited religious women to conduct a school. The Bishop had established a school for boys there and one at St. Augustine. Montgomery had a priest and was erecting a church with hearty good will. Moul- ton followed the example and soon had a church dedi- cated. Spring Hill College Avas so well attended that it could receive no more students. Two priests were set apart for the various stations in Alabama.^
The number of his flock at this time was estimated at eight thousand in a population of about 350,000.^
On the 19th of January, 1835, Bishop Portier assem- bled his clergy in a diocesan synod at Spring Hill.
' U. S. Cath. Miscellany, xv., p. 70(1835).
* Mother Madeline Augustine to Archbishop Eccleston, January 15, 1833 ; Annals of the Visitation. Bishop Portier to Mgr . Castracani, 1833 ; Catholic Telegraph, iii., pp. 54, 334 ; Weekly Register, i., p. 119.
^ " Delia Chiesa Cattolica negli Stati Uuiti d'America," Verona, 1835, pp. 52-3.
700 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
After accepting and promulgating the decrees of the two Councils of Baltimore and the Manual of Cere- monies, uniformity in the administration of baptism was enjoined ; the soutane or, in traveling, a sober dress was to be worn. Confessions of women were never to be heard out of the confessionals, and in sta- tions where there were no churches, they were to be heard in a room with the door open. Records of baptisms, marriages, and burials, as well as a list of Catholics, with their residences, were to be kept. The Bishop's secretary was to keep a record of ordinations, letters dimissory, and dispensations. Faculties were regulated. A priest on the mission was em]3owered to authorize a priest of another diocese, passing through his district, to officiate for ten days. The qualifica- tions for entering the seminary were prescribed. The Bishop's Council was to consist of the Vicar-General and two priests. Faculties were to be valid only to the next spiritual retreat. Baptism might be admin- istered in private houses more than two miles from a church.^
Bishop Portier had long desired to begin the erec- tion of a suitable church in his ei)iscopal city, to serve as his Cathedral. He had fixed on the feast of the Assumption, in the year 1833, for the ceremony of laying the corner-stone, but it was not till the 29th of January, 1836, that, assisted by Rt. Rev. Drs. Rosati, Purcell, and Blanc, he blessed the first stone of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, a structure designed to be 76 feet wide by 150 deep.^ It was not completed till 1850.
In 1836, Bishop Portier took part in the consecra-
' Decreta Synodi Mobiliensis Primoe, Die 19* Januarii, 1835, congre- gatse-Notre Dame, 1890. 'Catholic Diary, v., p. 248.
SPRING HILL COLLEGE. 701
tion of Bishop Blanc, at New Orleans, on which occa- :sion he delivered a sermon of remarkable power and eloquence/ By the year 1838 the troubles in St. Augustine were so far appeased that Bishop Portier appointed Rev. C. Rampon and Rev. P. Hackett to that mission. The Ladies of the Retreat attempted to establish an academy, but soon removed to Pensacola. An orphan asylum was opened at Mobile. Spring Hill College was prospering under the direction of the Rev. Peter Mauvernay, but the diocese was soon to be deprived of him by death. He was succeeded by Rev. Mr. Bazin, under whom the college had seventy stu- dents. The States in the diocese of Mobile — Alabama and
SIGNATURE OF BISHOP PORTIER OF MOBILE.
Florida — gained very slowly by immigration, and the Catholic body did not increase rapidly. Having met the pressing wants, Rt. Rev. Dr. Portier could not go much further.
In 1842, he proclaimed the Jubilee granted by the Pope, and made it the occasion of missions, which he gave with some of his clergy in the churches of his diocese. The next year the work on his unfinished cathedral was resumed, and the Eudist Fathers as- sumed the direction of Spring Hill College.^
' Catholic Telegraph, v., pp. 22, 30.
-Catholic Almanacs, 1834 to 1843; Catholic Cabinet, ii., p. 571; Salzbacher, " Mein Reise nach Nord Amerika," p. 308.
CHAPTER V.
DIOCESE OF DUBUQUE. RT. REV. MATHIAS LORAS, FIRST BISHOP, 1837-1843.
On the 28th of July, 1837, Pope Gregory XVI., hj his Bull " Universi Dominici Gregis," erected the see of Dubuque, a city but four years old, assigning as the diocese that part of Wisconsin Territory lying between the Mississippi and Missouri rivers.^ The priest se- lected as first bishop of the new see was the Rev. Mathias Loras, who had labored for several years in the diocese of Mobile. He was a native of France, born at Lyons in 1792, of a pious family, his father perishing soon after his birth by the revolutionary axe. He was ordained priest about 1817, and while director of the Seminary of Largentiere offered his services to Rt. Rev. Dr. Portier. In 1830 he accompanied the Bishop to Mobile, and for several years labored in seminary, college, and mission.
On receiving his bulls he was consecrated in the Cathedral at Mobile, by Bishop Portier, assisted by Rt. Rev. Dr. Blanc, Bishop of New Orleans, on the 10th of December, 1837.^ In the diocese assigned to him, the present States of Iowa and Minnesota, there were but one priest and a half -finished church.^ He
* Bullarium de Propaganda Fide, v., pp. 162-3.
2 Catholic Herald, v., p. 404.
^ St. Raphael's stone church, began by Rev. S. Mazzuchelli, O.P., who laid the corner-stone, Aug. 15, 1835. Cath. Telegraph, v., p. 22. Truth Teller, xiv. , p. 148 ; Catholic Advocate, iii. , p. 62.
702
CONDITION OF DIOCESE. 703
therefore set out, at once, for France to obtain auxil- iaries and means.
In October, 1838, Bishop Loras arrived from Havre, on the Lyons, with two priests and four subdeacohs to form the nucleus of his clergy. Meanwhile, Father Mazzuchelli' had completed and erected a residence for the Bishop, who reached Dubuque on the 18th of April, 1839, and was duly installed on the third Sun- day after Easter.^ He soon began a visitation and found tliat Davenport, mainly by the liberality of Mr. Anthony Leclaire, had already a fine brick church with a school-room attached to it : and that at Burlington the Catholics were already at work on a church. The
SIGNATUHE OF BISHOP LORAS, OF DUBUQUE.
town of St. Peter's, in the northern part of his diocese, next claimed his care. There he was welcomed by nearly two hundred Catholics ; at Prairie du Chien he found seven hundred, and began a church which Father Mazzuchelli undertook to build. Returning to Du- buque he dedicated his Cathedral under the patron- ao-e of'st. Raphael, Archangel, on the 22d of August, 1839. At the close of the year he even crossed to Illinois to confirm and officiate at Galena."
About this time he succeeded in securing three acres
1 The first priest at Dubuque, Rev. Charles Fitzmaurice, began his miuistry there in June, 1834, and while visiting the scattered Catholics died of fever at Galena, in August. Freeman's Journal, i., p. 10.
^ Truth Teller, xiv., pp. 149, 326 ; xv., p. 253 ; Catholic Herald, vi., p 341 vii p. 205 ; Catholic Advocate, iv., p. 140.
'3 Catholic Herald, vii., pp. 244, 307, 332 ; Catholic Advocate, iv.. pp. 228, 252.
704 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
near the church, on which he proposed as soon as possible to erect a building for a literary and another for a charitable institution. He bought a house with a large lot in which to install the Sisters of Charity to conduct a school. In 1840, he could announce five churches: his Cathedral, St. Patrick's at Makoquata, St. Anthony's at Davenport, St. Paul's at Burlington, and one in hand at St. Peter's. In another year there was a brick church at Iowa City, a German church at West Point, Catholics busy erecting churches at Bloomington and Fort Madison.^ As Wisconsin was temporarily placed under his care, he visited that ter- ritory, establishing a mission among the Menomonees, and organizing a congregation at Milwaukee to erect a church on the lands given by Solomon Juneau. Then we find him at Southport, baptizing, confirm- ing, instructing. No contrast could be greater than that between the diocese of Mobile, with its ancient churches and a state of apathy, on the one hand, and the busy, pushing, active Northwest to which he was assigned, with immigration pouring in, largely Catho- lic, all active, stirring, energetic, rearing houses, fac- tories, schools, and churches. But Bishop Loras showed himself eminently a man of work, ready even to assume part of the burden of others.^
Thus it came that Green Bay and Milwaukee, as well as stations at Van Buren and an Irish settlement that had also erected a church, were placed under the active Bishop of the West. Business required that Bishop Loras should visit New Orleans in 1841 ; on his return he made by request a visitation of Arkansas. Napo- leon, Arkansas Post, Pine Blufl^, New Gascony, St.
1 Catholic Almanac, 1840, p. 104 ; 1841, p. 138 ; 1842, p. 110. * Freeman's Journal, i., p. 110.
INDIAN MISSIONS. 705
Mary's, and Little Rock all enjoyed the presence and ministrations of this active prelate.'
Returning to his diocese Bishop Loras took steps to announce the faith to the Indians in his diocese. Rev. Louis Ravoux began a mission among the Sioux, two hundred and fifty miles above the Falls of St. Anthony, Rev. Remigius Petiot among the Winnebagoes, oppo- site Prairie du Chien ; Rev. Mr. Pelamourgues among the Sacs and Foxes.
He proceeded in 1843 to Baltimore to attend the Council with this good report of the youngest diocese in the United States.
' Catholic Herald, ix., pp. 10, 139 ; Salzbacher, " Meine Reise," p. 320.
BOOK VL
CHAPTER I.
VICARIATE APOSTOLIC OF TEXAS.
RT. REV. JOHN MARY ODIN, VICAR APOSTOLIC, 1841-1843.
Under the Mexican rule, Coahuila and Texas formed a state, but American settlers were invited into Texas. They soon began to chafe under the oppressive Mexi- can laws. A civil war ensued. On the defeat and capture of Santa Anna at San Jacinto, Texas was recog- nized as an independent republic. With a popula- tion almost entirely from the United States, among whom i^riests from this country had already visited the Catholic portion, it seemed to the authorities of the Church to require a separate organization. The Republic was made a Prefecture Apostolic in 1840, under Very Rev. John Timon as Prefect, and Pope Gregory XVI. on the 16th of July, 1841, by his Bull "Universi Dominici Gregis" erected the Vicariate Apostolic of Texas, ^ and the Very Rev. John Mary Odin was appointed Bishop of Claudiopolis and Vicar Apostolic. He was consecrated at New Orleans, March 6, 1842, by Bishop Blanc, Bishops Portier and Chanche assisting, and immediately returned to Texas Avhere he had been Vice Prefect.
When Spain acquired Louisiana, Texas lost its importance as a frontier province, and declined.
' Bullarium de Propaganda Fide, v., p. 265; Hernaez, ii., p. 795; Catholic Advocate, vii., p. 306 ; Catholic Herald, x., p. 101.
706
CONFIRMATION. 707
Adayes which was once an important town, became less imi^ortant than the neighboring Natchitoches.
The holy Bishop Tejada of Guadalajara continued his care of Texas after his laborious visitation, endeav- oring by correspondence to excite the clergy and faith- ful to their duties. After his death, which occurred December 20, 1760, Texas remained subject to his successors in the see of Guadalajara, Rt. Rev. Diego Rodriguez de Rivas de Velasco (1762) and Rt. Rev. Dr. Frai Antonio Alcalde, O.S.D. (1772), till the erection of the see of Nueva Leon, or Linares, December 15, 1777, when Texas was included in the new diocese.
Neither Bishop Rivas de Velasco nor Bishop Alcalde visited Texas, but the latter in 1776 appointed Rev. Jose Antonio Martinez de Benavides his Vicar-General and Visitor of Texas and other remote parts of his diocese ; but tliere is no record of any actual visitation.
The Indian missions continued under the care of the Franciscans, and, in 1777, Father Pedro Ramirez, mis- sionary at San Jose, was President of all the Texas missions, and by an indult of Pope Clement XIV. was empowered to administer confirmation, for ten years, in all parts of Texas, He conferred the sacrament for the first time at the mission of San Jose, May 10, 1778.^ The fine churches of the missions of San Jose, San Antonio de Valero, the Immaculate Conception, and San Juan Capistrano, which survived to our times, were due in a great measure to Father Ramirez. The Church of the Immaculate Conception was described by
' " Libro de Bautismos, Casamentos y Entierros pertenecientes S la Mision de Sr. Sn. Josef," begim Sept. 1, 1777. There had been to that time 831 baptisms. By 1823 they amounted to 1511. Instructions for •confirmation by priests, and the faculties of Presidents of .Franciscan Missions will be found in Hernaez, " Coleccion de Bulas," Brussels, i., pp. 446, 449.
708 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Father Morfi as very handsome and worthy of a more important place. That of St. Joseph was nearly com- plete, with a fine nave and dome. The main entrance was very ornate and surmounted by a balcony. The Church of St. John Capistran was a solid structure, also with a very ornate entrance. The mission and Church of San Francisco de la Espada was the last
MISSION CHURCH OF LA CONCEPCION.
of the Indian missions near San Antonio, and the churches, all the work of native hands, showed to what efficiency in handiwork Indians could be trained. The missions then directed by the zealous Fathers from the colleges of Queretaro and Zacatecas were, how- ever, all declining- under the constant inroads of Lipans and Comanches.^
' Morfi, •' Descripcioii do algunas Misiones de Tejas eu el ano 1778."
BISHOPS OF LINARES. 709
At the Spanish town of San Fernando, now called San Antonio, the church was attended by secular priests, Rev. Casimir Lopez de Lara, Valdes, de la Pena, and others, occasionally assisted by the Fran- ciscan friars. The population seems to have gained slowly, but the baptisms reached one hundred, only during one year, till the close of the century.'
Besides this settlement there were others of less importance at Bahia, Adayes, Nacogdoches, and a few presidios or military posts. A company of soldiers belonging to the force at San Carlos de Parras was stationed at San Antonio de Yalero, or the Alamo, and had its own chaplain, who was subject to the Bishop of Durango as Vicar General of the Royal Armies.'
The first Bishop of the See of Linares, Rt. Rev. Antonio de Sacedon, died soon after his appointment, and neither of his successors, Rt. Rev. Raphael Jose Verger (1782), and Andrew Ambrose de Llanos y Valdes (1791), made any visitation to Texas. How- ever, as the wars excited by the Revolution in France required large bodies of troops to be kept under arms, Bishop Llanos y Valdes, in February, 1795, issued a circular, with the Brief of Pope Pius VL, "Cum in exercitibus," October 6, 1775, in regard to the privi- leges granted to soldiers in the Spanish service.^
On the suppression of the Jesuits, many Indian missions fell into the hands of those who found hard- ships and poverty where they expected wealth and luxury. This led to much oppression of the Indians,
1 " Libro de Baptismos de la Villa de Sa. Fernando y Pres. de Sn. Antonio de Vejar."
2 " Libro en que se asientan los Bautismos que se hacen en la Segunda Compania Volante de Sn. Carlos de Parras."
3 Hernaez, " Coleccion de Bulas," i., p. 325 ; Bishop Llanos y \ aides, Circular, February 19, 1795.
ff-
710 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
and induced Bishop Llanos y Yaldes to issue strict orders in favor of the Indians.^
On the 20th of July, 1801, the energetic and vigilant Bishop, Primo Feliciano Marin de Porras, was raised to the see of Linares, and soon began a thorough visita- tion of his diocese. As usual in every Spanish diocese, he called for a presentation of all faculties held by the clergy to be renewed, and appointed concursus for vacant parishes. Troubles and dif- r) Acuities had already begun in
^lidloo Mexico, and the Bishop ordered — prayers to obtain God's mercy in these times of i^ublic calamity. His apostolic journej'^s extended, in 1805, to Texas. He made his visitation at San Fernando and SIGNATURE OF RT. REV. tlie prcsidlo of Sau Antonio, with PRIMO F. MARIN, BIS- ^^^^ adiaceut missions, in the month
HOP OP LINARES. o t tt • -^ t t -n i •
01 June. He visited La Bania also, then attended by a secular priest ; Nacogdoches, and the remnant of the Indian missions, still directed by the Franciscan Fathers from the College of Zaca- tecas ; Father Bernard Vallejo being president of the missions.^
The revolutionary movements soon disturbed all the provinces of Mexico, but Bishop Marin labored for the spiritual good of his flock, especially in the remote
'Pastoral, May 31, 1797 ; March 26, 1798.
^ Register of San Fernando, June 23, 1805. Bishop Marin wrote an account of his visitation, June 20, 1806, which is referred to by Jose Miguel Ramos de Arizpe, parish priest of Borbon, in his " Memoria," Cadiz, 1812, p. 51 ; omitted in the translation, "Memorial," Philadel- phia, 1814; and by Dr. Luis de Onis, "Memoria sobre las Negoci- aciones," Mexico, 1826, p. 54; omitted in the translation, "Memoir upon the Negotiations," "Washington, 1821, Baltimore, 1821. I have failed to obtain the account by Bishop Marin.
REV. SERVANDUS MIER. 711
parts. In consequence of a terrible accident in a churcli at Chiliualiua, where articles on the altar taking fire led to a panic in which 125 lives were lost, Bishop Marin, in 1808, prohibited an excessive number of candles on the altars of churches, and all light ornaments of paper, lace, or other combustible mate- rials.^
As the revolution against Spanish authority ad- vanced Bishop Marin was driven from his see, and the governors of the diocese endeavored to counteract the spread of irreligion and vice. The Bishop's death in 1815 was a great loss. During the vacancy of the see Gen. Mina landed near the coast of Texas, accom- panied by Rev. Servandus Mier, who represented him- self as Bishop of Baltimore, performed episcopal functions, and impiously celebrated mass with a native brandy called pulque. The administrators of the diocese issued a letter to warn the faithful against him.2 The Rt. Rev. Joseph Ignatius de Arancivia was appointed bishop, April 4, 1817, but found that relig- ion had suffered terribly during the civil war. The charitable funds had at an early period been taken by the Spanish authorities, who were to pay a regular interest on each amount ; but this ceased with the overthrow of the royal power. The republican govern- ment, controlled to a great extent by masonic lodges, entered on a regular war with the Church. The Indian missions in Texas w^ere all secularized in 1825, the churches stripped, the Indians scattered, and all avail- able property carried off. The expulsion of all natives of Spain deprived the Church of some of its best and most devoted priests. The government of the State
' Circulars, Jan. 9, May 28, 1808.
» Libro de Gobierao, San Antonio. Ante, p. 238.
712 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
of Coahuila and Texas prohibited all religious endow- ments for education and charity ; it reduced the tithes of the clergy, and deprived them of all civil authority. The Legislature finally prohibited bishops from issuing pastoral letters or edicts. Against all this legislation the few remaining bishops and administrators of dio- ceses in Mexico protested.^
Though settlements grew up at Victoria and Refugio, Texas lost greatly in population during the troubles. Steps were accordingly taken to attract immigrants. Irish settlers formed the town of San Patricio, and were attended from 1829 to 1833 by Rev. Michael Mul- doon, and from 1830 by Rev. Henry Doyle ; but the settlement did not grow and the priests withdrew. ^ Numbers, however, from the United States settled in Texas, many of them rough and turbulent frontiers- men, and with them came itinerant ministers, ignorant and prejudiced men, full of animosity against the Catholic Church. Their tirades led to a fearful crime. Father Jose Antonio Dias de Leon was a Franciscan from the College of Zacatecas, known for his virtues and merits. He had been on the mission for more than ten years, and given offense to none. But he found that these new-comers were hostile and at last menacing. He felt that he was doomed, and that he might be assassinated at any moment. He accordingly prepared to meet his death. The following he left in writing :
"House of Mr. Henry BoRDOisr Preisttiss. " This Sunday, Nov. 4, 1834, 1 returned to this house, and as it seems to me to be the last day of my life (God knows why), I address my weak and anguishing
' Coleccion Eclesiastica Mejicana, 4 vols., Mexico, 1834. ' Yoakum, History of Texas, 1856, i., p. 268. Rev. Mr. Muldoon re- mained some time in Texas, but did not officiate or edify.
MURDER OF FATHER BIAS. 713
words to my beloved parishioners of Nacogdoches, bid- ding them from the bottom of my heart an earnest farewell, A Dios, A Dios. Let them commend me to His Majesty in the state that I am in ; saluting them as I salute them, with my heart in my eyes and in my tears ; especially to Mr. Roberts, Lt. Col. Elias Bean, Mr. Adolfo, my friends Allen, Reque, and Chones, and to all and every one who believes in Jesus Christ. And let it be clear and notorious by this, that I beg, as I do, pardon from each and all the j^ersons whom I have offended, and likewise, prostrate in spirit on the ground, I pardon, with all my heart, all and every per- son who has offended me, be the offense what it may. I press all, without exception, to my heart as my be- loved children in the charity of our Lord Jesus Christ. Also to the Alcade of the Ayuntamiento, Don Juan Mora, etc. Farewell, farewell, farewell ; Amen, Ainen, Amen. This letter with like expressions of affection I address to my dear friend Dr. Manuel Santos to send to his correspondents, when he can, to display my heart to all my parishioners : whom I beseech in the bowels of our Saviour Jesus Christ to persevere firmly in keeping the law of God, and the sacred obligations they contracted in baptism. And I beg him to hand this to my nephew Santos Antonio Aviles, that he may copy it and live in fear of the author of his being. "Fr. Antonio Dias de Leon."
He left the house and was never again seen alive. His death was concealed. No information of it was forwarded to the authorities till February, and then a rumor was started that he had committed suicide. The Rt. Rev. Joseioh Mary Belaunzaran, Bishop of Li- nares, endeavored in vain to have the matter investi- gated.^ Texas was already ripe for revolt. Military
'Bishop Belaunzaran, " Representacion que dirige . . . . al Exmo. Sr. Presidente," Mexico, 1836, pp. 27-53. Linn, " Reminiscences of Fifty Years in Texas," New York, 1883, p. 65. Father Dias de Leon before being stationed at Nacogdoches was at the San Jose Mission from 1820 to 1823, and acted also as chaplain to the troops.
714 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
operations soon began, and in about a year Mexico, at the battle of San Jacinto, lost Texas, which became a distinct republic. During the war the church at Goliad or Baliia was destroyed, and the vestments and the church i)late of many churches placed there for safety perished. The church at San Patricio on the Nueces was also left a ruin.
When the wretched state of religion in Texas was made known to Pope Gregory XVI., a letter was ad- dressed to the Bisliox) of New Orleans requesting him to send a caj)able priest to examine and report on the actual state of affairs. Bishop Blanc selected Very Rev. John Timon, Visitor of the Congregation of the Mission, to undertake the task. With the consent of Bishop Rosati, Very Rev. Mr. Timon set out and reached Galveston in December, 1838.
SIGNA.TUKE OP THE MTTRDERED PRIEST OF NACOGDOCHES.
Here he found a considerable number of Catholics, well disposed and ready to erect a church. He ap- pointed a committee and made application for a site. While affording them the consolations of religion, he learned that there Avere only two priests in Texas, who lived at San Antonio de Bexar and were a disgrace to their religion, and utterly neglected to restore the al- most roofless church or to care for the flock of fifteen hundred Mexicans and fifty American Catholics liv- ing there, all shocked at the scandalous example.*
• Very Rev. John Timon to Bishop Blanc, Galveston, Dec. 20, 1838.
IRISH CATHOLICS. 715
At Refugio there were forty families, chiefly of Irish origin, with a church capable of restoration. Property was given to the Visitor for a Catholic institution. San Patricio on the Nueces was deserted. There were 200 Irish Catholics at Victoria with a little wooden church fifty feet by twenty. Besides these there were a few scattered Catholics. Rev. Mr. Timon reached Houston on the 3d of January, but found it impossible to secure a room to offer the holy sacrifice. The few Catholics seemed ashamed of their faith : but a good Irish girl, a servant on a boat, exerted herself and obtained him a room where he offered the flrst mass in Houston, on the octave of St. John. On Sunday he preached before Congress, and won the esteem of Vice President Burnett and others. He took steps to secure a plot for a church. At Nacog- doches he learned that there were 600 Catholics, with- out priest or church, while ministers of the sects had secured old church lands and wfere building. Return- ing to Galveston he found the ground secured and the church actually In hand. After enabling some to approach the sacraments here as he had done at Hous- ton, Rev. Mr. Timon, with a fair knowledge of Texas, returned to New Orleans and submitted his report to Bishop Blanc. ^
When his statement reached Rome, the Sovereign Pontiff, by the advice of the Congregation de Propa- ganda Fide, resolved to establish a distinct jurisdiction in Texas, and documents were forwarded appointing Very Rev. John Timon Prefect Apostolic, and invest- ing him with power to administer confirmation.
Meanwhile the Bishop of New Orleans dispatched
' Very Rev. J. Timon, Report on the spiritual condition of Texas (1839), inclosing statement by Juan A. Seguin, Jan. 5, 1839.
716 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
the Rev. N. B. Anduze to Texas to keep alive the good dispositions ah-eady excited. He visited Galveston and Houston, oflBciated for the faithful, stimulated their exertions, and supported their j)etitions for sites for churches. The corporation at Nacogdoches had seized the ecclesiastical property in that town because the Mexicans had used it for a barracks, but Rev. Mr. Anduze entered a vigorous protest against this viola- tion of all right. ^
In the tide of emigration to Texas there were many Kentuckians, not a few of them Catholics. This in- duced two good priests of the Bardstown diocese, Rev. G. W. Hayden and E. Clark, to solicit faculties for Texas, and set out for that rough mission. On their arrival they found a hundred Catholics from Kentucky, settled on the Brazos, and spent the Christmas holi- days of 1839 there. Then they made tours through the territory, visiting almost every settlement. They organized congregations at Refugio, Victoria, and La Vaca, and by June, Rev. Mr. Hayden had made a second missionary tour of eight hundred miles, saying mass, administering the sacraments, preaching, and XJreparing the way for the needed Catholic schools.^
Yielding to the advice of several bishops. Very Rev. Mr. Timon accepted the onerous charge, and appoint- ing Rev. John M. Odin, CM., Vice Prefect sent him to Texas with full authority to suspend the unworthy priests at San Antonio. Rev. Mr. Odin, on reaching Linnville, proceeded to Victoria, where he left his companion. Rev. Mr. Estany. Thence he continued
' Rev. N. B. Anduze to Bishop Blanc, Houston, April 25, 1839.
« Rev. G. W. Hayden to Bishop Blanc, March 13, June 17, 1840. Webb, "The Centenary of Catholicity in Kentucky," Louisville, 1884, p. 55. Linn, " Reminiscences," pp. 65-334, citing sermon of Canon Johnson, 1877.
THE REPUBLIC AND CHURCH RIGHTS. 717
his journey with an armed wagon train, to avoid In- dian attack, to San Antonio, There he spent three montlis laboring to revive religion,^
The fear of hostile Indians was not visionary. Vic- toria was attacked twice by the Comanches, and the house where Rev. Mr, Estany lived was plundered and fired by them, the priest losing nearly all his effects, glad to escape with life. He was without a chapel, the municipal authorities having taken pos- session of the Catholic church for a court house.
At San Antonio Rev. Mr. Odin with Rev. Mr. Calvo put a stop to shameful exactions, attended the sick and heard confessions, duties the pastors had neglected. The church needed instant repair ; the truly beautiful church of San Jose had been seized by an individual who demanded $10,000 for it. The Church of the Conception, almost as beautiful, could easily be made available for a religious community.^
Then by way of Seguin, Gonzales, Victoria, and La- vaca the Vice Prefect reached Austin, the capital, and petitioned Congress to confirm to the Catholic Church its churches and missions. His claim was favorably received and was warmly supported by the Minister of France. He visited other towns, not with- out danger, as the Comanches were ravaging the country. Rev. Mr. Odin estimated the Catholics in Texas at 10,000, In seven months he and his fellow priests heard 911 confessions and baptized 478.
In December the Prefect himself arrived in Galves- ton and began a subscription for erecting a church. At Houston he did the same. On reaching Austin he presented to President Lamar letters from Cardinal
> Rev. J. M. Odin to Bishop Blanc, Linuville, July 14, 1840. 2 Same to same, Oct. 2, 1840.
718 THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
Fransoni, Prefect of the Propaganda, officially recog- nizing the new Republic. Securing a place to say mass, he started a subscription to erect a church. The Congress, by a special act, confirmed to the Chief pastor of the Roman Catholic Church in the Republic of Texas the churches of San Antonio, Goliad, and Victoria, Concepcion, San Jose, San Juan, Espada, Refugio, the Alamo, with their lots not to exceed fifteen acres, and the church lot at Nacogdoches. The Prefect and Vice Prefect then traversed the country to ascertain where the Catholics could be most easily gathered into congregations. At Nacog- doches after the murder of Father Dias de Leon all vestige of Catholicity had been swept away, and the V. Rev. Prefect was happy to find an old house in which to .set up his altar. The erection of a new church \A ns then undertaken. V. Rev. Mr. Timon was soon compelled to return to Missouri, and when Rev. Mr. Odin in May, 1841, reached New Orleans he found bulls appointing him Coadjutor of Detroit. These he returned, but V. Rev. Mr. Timon had urged his ap- pointment as Vicar-Apostolic of Texas. ^
The bull erecting the Republic of Texas into a Vicariate Apostolic was issued by Pope Gregory XVI. on the 16th of July, 1841, and Rt. Rev. John M. Odin, CM., was appointed Bishop of Claudiopolis, and assigned to the newly constituted Vicariate. Dr. Odin was born at Ambierle, France, February 25, 1801, and in his youth was enrolled in the Congre- gation of the Mission. After receiving deacon's orders, he came to the United States to labor in the
' Deuther, "Life and Times of the Rt. Rev. John Timon, D. D," Buffalo, 1870, pp. 66-68, 73-4, 80-5. Annals of the Propagation of the Faith, v., p. 394. Catholic Herald, ix., pp. 115, 175.
A VICAR APOSTOLIC. 719
Seminary and on the mission, from Missouri to the Eio Grande. Submitting to the burden imposed on him, he prepared for the sacred rite and was conse- crated. Returning immediately to Texas, he purchased, in a quiet part of Galveston, a low building of four rooms, with a kitchen and gallery. A large storehouse on the rear of the lot was soon transformed into la school, presided over by his Irish sexton, who had some experience in teaching. The congregation in his little chapel was increasing ; the church at Houston was soon roofed in, the whole structure costing $1040, of which the Bishop paid $900.
In June, 1842, he wrote : " The people of Galveston appear very anxious to attend our church on Sundays. It is entirely too small to receive all. I have been obliged to have a little sacristy built, and I am get- ting some benches." With but few priests and no resources. Bishop Odin's own share of labor was im- mense ; and he was soon stricken down with a dan- gerous fever, from which he recovered, with no physi- cian, no attendance. He stationed Rev. Mr. Estany at Goliad ; Rev. Mr. Calvo, at San Antonio ; Rev. Mr. Clarke, at Lavaca ; but Rev. Mr. Hayden, the zealous priest, soon died on the San Jacinto.^
Such was the prospect in the new republic when the Vicar-Apostolic, invited to attend the Council of Baltimore, though not a suffragan, or in the United States, set out for it ; but he was trained in the mis- sions of this country, his flock was mainly from it, and from the Fathers of the Council he expected sym- pathy and aid.
' Bishop Odin to Bishop Blanc, May 22, July 4, 1842. Same to V. Rev. John Timon, June 30, 1842. Annals of the Propagation of the Faith, vi., p. 373.
MISSION CHUKCn OF SAN JUAN CAPISTKANO.
720
INDEX.
Abbe, Rev. B 665 Baldwin, Sister, M. P 164
Abell, Rev. R. A 286. 295, 305, Balis, Fiances 92
403, 597, 600, 687 Balleis, Rev. Nicholas 563, 565
Acquaroni, Rev. J. B 361, 371 Baltimore, Diocese of 25-103,
Adayes, La 387, 707 422, 461
Aelen, Rev. F 695 Baltimore, Md 52, 60
Alabama, Vicariate Aposto- Bangor, Me 159, 486, 489
Lie of 403-4 Bangs, Rev. Mr 528
Alabama and Mississippi, Vi- Baraga, Rev. Frederic 614, 634
cariate Apostolic of 73 Barber, Rev. D , 119 ; Rev. V.
Alabama 378, 697-701 H., 35, 119, 128, 138, 140, 144,
Albany, N. Y 179, 202 153, 159, 465; Mrs., 43; Jane. . 689
Alcalde, Rt. Rev. A 707 Bardstown, Diocese of. . .266-305
Alexandria, Va., 94, 194, 448; 579-612
Pa 254 Barrens, Mo 365, 370, 371, 396-7
Allonez, F. Claude 341 687
Anderson, Rev. Augustus 659 Barron, Rt. Rev. Edward 568
Anduze, Rev. N. B 387, 716 Barry, Rev. John 328
Apple River, Mo 682-3 Bath. Va 576
Arbre Croche, Mich. .342, 343, 347, Bache, B. F 457
354, 614 Baton Rouge, La 390, 669
Amelia Island, Fla 321 Baxter, Rev. Roger 35, 63
Arkansas 384, 681, 683, 686 Bazin, Rev 697
Ashley 240 Bedford, Pa 223
Ashport, Tenn 658 Beecher, Rev. Lyman 466
Assakinac 354 Belaunzarau, Rt. Rev. J.M. . . 713
Association for the Propagation Belfast, Me 146
of the Faith 361 Belleville, N. J., 517 ; 111 692
Athens, Tenn 658-9 Bellier, Rev. Mr 653
Arancivia, Rt. Rev. Joseph 711 Benavides, Rev. J. A. M. de. . . 707
Auburn, N. Y 184 Benedicta, Me 472, 487
Aude Mme 366 Bernabe, Rev. Mr 669
Augusta, Ga., 31, 325 ; Me. . . . 485 Berry, Rev. Luke.. 198, 202, 204, 499
Augustinians 118, 208, 210, 460 Berthold, Mme 366
Audizio, Rev 397 Beschter, Rev. J. W 106
Austin, Texas 717 Betagh, Father 163
Bigeschi, Rev. Mr 368, 391
Babad,Rev.Mr 218 Bighi, Rev. Mr 368
Bach, Rev. Mr 680 Biloxi, Miss 663
Bacquelin Rev. V 646 Birmingham, Rev. John ... 324, 328
Badin, Rev. S. T 203, 268, 271, Bishop, Samuel 113
273, 333-4,598, 614,632,634 Blainville, Celoron de 330
Badin, Rev. Vincent 632 Blaisdell, Sergeant 482
Bahia, or Goliad. Tex ..709, 710, 718 Blanc. Rt. Rev. A. . . .389, 411, 444,
Baker, V. Rev. R. S 595-6 452, 669, 671-680, 700, 702, 706, 719
721
722
INDEX.
PAGE
Blanc, Rev. J. B 389. 672
Blanquart de Bailleul, Mgr 650
Blythe, S. C 110
Rogue, Miss 93
Bohenie, Rev. Mr 632
Bois-Brule, Mo 3G5
Bolaii, Rev. Francis 324, 327
Bonaparte, Charles J., 249; Jo- seph 249
Bond, Rev. Mr 528
Bonduel, Rev. F. J 632
Bonuecamp, F. Joseph 330
Bonnet Carre, La .368, 397
Boote, Kirke 156
Borella, Rev. Mr 672
Borgna. Rev. Mr 389
Boston, Diocese op. .106-159, 462-
494,
Boston 106, 462
Brady, Rev. Joun, 54 ; Sister
Felicite 180
Breckenridge, Rev. Mr.. 451 ;
Rev. J . .' 555
Brennan, Rev. Mr 188
Brent, Sister Agnes 29, 683
Bridgeport, Conn 491
Bristol, R. 1 115
Britt, Rev. Adam 209
Brogard, Rev. Mr 664
Brooklyn, N. Y 185, 191
Brosius, Rev. F. X 115
Brothers of the Christian doc- trine, 366 ; of the Holy Cross. 655 Browne. Rev. R. . .32, 56, 78, 306, 321
Brownsville, Pa .209, 252
Brute, Rt.Rev. Simon G.. .90, 411, 654, 638, 646, 659, 689, 692.
Buffalo, N. Y 201, 497, 541
Bulger, Rev. Richard 183, 187
Burke, Rev. Edmund, 31, 330,
342 ; Rev. Thomas 568
Burlington, Vt., 112, 469, 488 ;
Iowa 704
Burnelt, Vice-President 715
Buteux. Rev. S 646
Butler, Rev. Thomas R., 426, 443;
Rev. Mr 302
Butler. Pa 251
Buzzell. John R 482
Byrne, Rev. Andrew, 328, 508 ; Rev. Mr., 139, 145, 208 ; Rev. M.T.,216 ; Rev. Patrick, 124, 127 ; Rev. William. . .299, 599, 600
Cabbotville, Conn 490
Cahokia, 111 370, 386, 691
Cailleau.x, Rev. S 124
Calvert Hall 457
Calvert, Leonard 457
Calvo, Rev. Mr 717, 719
Camden, H 324, 592
Campbell, Rev. Alexander 622
Camps, Rev. Peter 376
Canton, O 344,349
Capellari, Cardinal . 353
Carabin, Rev. Mr 632
Carbry, F. Thomas. . . . 47-50, 55, 78, 82, 176
Carey, Matthew 231, 353, 550
Carico, Teresa, 278; Mary.. .. 625
Caretti, Rev. Joseph 367, 397
Carlisle, Pa 310
Carmelites, Port Tobacco, Md., 44, 53; Baltimore. 426, 443, 447, 448
Carondelet, Mo 384, 691
Carr, Rev. M 309
Carriere, V. Rev. Joseph 411
Carroll of Carrolton, Charles. . . 99, 181, 197, 414, 421,425
Carroll, Rev. Michael 176, 184
Carroll Hall 533
Carroll Manor 74, 101, 414
Cassell, William 334
Casserly, P. T 504
Castiiilione, Cardinal 69, 70
Catechisms 96,695
Catholic Advocate, 607; Expos- tulator, 463 ; Press 466 ; Her- ald, 555 ; Telegraph 614
Cavanagh, Rev. Mr 463
Cellini, Rev. Mr 683
CiiABRAT, Rt. Rev. Guy I... 870,
291, 598, 604, 659, 606
Challoner, Rt. Rev. Richard. 66
Chalon, Rev. Mr 697
Chambersburg, Pa 225
Chambige, Rev. Mr 608
Champaumier, Rev. Mr. . . 297, 302
Chanciie, Rt. Rev. John... 411,
452, 455, 456, 660, 665, 706
Charleston, Diocese op 57,
58, 306-329. 508-596
Charleston 31, 33. 43, 55, 591
Charlestown, Mass. 141, 155, 462, 473
Charlotte, N. C 324
Chazelte, Rev. Peter 599
Cheraw, S. C 324
INDEX.
723
PAGE
Ch:e\'^rus, Rt. Rev. John. . .31, 41, 62, 90, 107-131, 170, 211, 26(5
Chevallier, Mr 85
Chevigne, L 87
Chicago, 111 614. 641
Chillicothe, 0 284, 334, 625
Chickakos, Ind 643
Chicoisneau, Rev. Mr 269
Chihuahua 711
Cincinnati, Diocese of 330-355
613-629
Cincinnati, O. . . . 284, 337, 340, 349
Clancy, Rt. Rev. William. . . 444,
586-591, 625
Clancy, Rev. W. F 658
Claremont, N. H 120, 144, 465
Clark, Rev. Ed 7l6, 719
Clark, Gen. G. R 270
Cleveland, 0 626
Clinton, DeWitt 166
Clorivifire Rev. J. P. de. . . .30, 33,
50, 96, 424
Collins, V. Rev. E. T., 625; Mr. 253
Colman, Rev. James 375
Colt, Roswell 205
Columbia, Pa., 265; S. C, 320,
329, 581; 111 692
Columbus, Ga 592
Comanches 709, 717
Concanen, Rt. Rev. Richard
L 41, 160-164.
Conception Mission, Texas. 707, 718
Conewago, Pa 227
Connecticut. . . .109, 113, 151, 463,
473, 491
Connolly, Rt. Rev. John.. 42, 48,
115, 172-187, 226, 232
Connolly, Rev. Pierce 675
Connors, Jeremiah 682
Constitution of the R. C. churches of the States of N. Carolina, S. Carolina, and
Georgia 322
Conway, Rev. :Mr 470
Conwell, Rt. Rev. Henry. .62, 93,
95, 103, 138, 195, 227-260, 408, 545,
568-9
Cooper, Rev. Samuel 311, 312
Corcoran, Rev. James A 587
Corkery, Rev. Dennis 309-315
Corporation of the Roman Cath- olic Clergymen 67
Councils of Baltimore. .407, 432, 444, 453, 460
Council of Trent 345
Covington, Ky 604-611
Crooked Creek. Ill 692
Crosby, Rev. :Michaol 321, 375
Croy, Prince de 129
Cullen. Cardinal 587
Cummiskev, Rev. James. . .235. 503
Currau, Rev. Michael 254, 546
Custis, G. W. P 459
Cutter, Mr 473
Czakert, Rev. F 621
Czwitkowicz, F. Alexander. . . . 456
Dahmen, Rev. Mr 299, 371, 396
Damariscotta. Me 136
Damphoux, Rev. J. B. . .90. 411, 436
Dardenne, Mo 385
Datty, Miss Julia 580
Davenport, Iowa 703
David. Rt. Rev. John B. .220, 266,
272, 287. 339. 409, 432, 545, 602-3
De Andreis, Rev. Felix. . . .224. 361,
368, 692
De Barth, V. Rev. A. L. . . .42. 207,
219-226
De Bruvn, V. Rev. John 636
Deer Creek, Md 68
De Goesbriand, Rev. Louis 627
De Gregorio. Cardinal 70
Deiean. Rev. Mr 3.54. 614
De la Croix, Rev. Mr 365, 368
De la Hailandiere. Rt. Rev.
Celestine 452, 644, 650-655
Delanv, Rev. Mr 84, 94
Delaware 216, 561
Delia Genga, Cardinal 69
Delnol, Rev. L. R..88, 411. 428. 433. 437. 443, 452
Dec Mezieres, Mile 388
Demillier, Rev. ]\Ir 472, 485
Denman, William 190
De Neckere.Rt. Rev. Leo R.. 391,
666-671
Deparcq. Rev. M 302, 607
Der Wahrheit's Freund 623
Desgaultier, Rev. P. P 664
Desmet, F. Peter J. 88, 396, 682, 696 Desseille, Rev. Mr 632, 643, 645,
654, 694
Detroit, Diocese of 628-637
Detroit, Mich 273, 284, 287, 341,
343, 633
Devereux, John C 180
Deydier, Rev. Mr 537
724
INDEX.
Deys, Leo 361
Dias de Leon, F. Jose Antonio... 713
Dickenson, Mother Clare J 426
Didier, Rev. P. J 333
Digges, Sister Apollonia 87
Di Pietro, Cardinal. . , 161
Dittoe family 371, 375. 335, 349
Dodge, Coi 512, 520
Dominicans. .. 130, 308-359, 272-301,
335
Dominican Sisters, 603, 615
Donaghue, Rev. T. J 558
Donaldson, La 368, 397
Dover, N.H 152, 465
Downey, Rev, Daniel 578
Doyle, Rev. Henry 712
Droste de Vischerung, Rt. Rev . . 453
Du Bois, Rt. Rev. John. .90, 93-4,
100,103,193-304, 358-390, 408, 433,
495-531, 619
Du BouKG, Rt. Rev. L. W. .73, 380,
321, 356-391
Du Buisson, F. S.L. .63,86, 423, 557,
Dubuque, Diocese of 702-705
Dubuque 703
Duchesne, Mme. Philippine. . . . 366
Dudley, Mass 464
Duff, Rev. Martin 328
Duffy, Rev. Patrick 509
Dujaundi, F 342
Dunand, F. Joseph 365
Dunin, Rt. Rev 453
Durbin, Rev. E. J. . . .302, 605, 659 Dzierozinski, V. Rev. Francis. . 411
Eastport, Me 146
Ebensburg, Pa 223
Eccleston, Most Rev. Samueu,
103, 428, 436, 441-461, 619, 660
Edelen, Rev. Leonard 54
Egan, Rev. M. Du Burgo . . 91
Egak, Rt. Rev. Michael 109,
208-218, 268 Elder, Rev. G. A. M. . 295, 607, 609
Elet, F. J. A 88, 396, 628, 682
Elizabethtown, Pa 212, 265
Ellicott's Mills 448
Elling, Rev. William 209
Emmitsburg, Md. .51, 53, 63, 74, 88 England, Rt. Rev. John. . .57, 58, 88, 93, 138, 231, 240-243, 306-339, 409, 433, 446, 636, 666 Erntzen, Rev. Paul. . . .309, 316, 233 Estany, Rev. Mr 716-719
Endists 650, 701
Fabler, James 337
Fagan, Mother Mary A 164
Fairfield, Ky 597
Fall River, Mass 486
Fancy Farm, Ky 607
Farjon, Mother Teresa 359
Farnan, Rev. John 182, 191
Fayetteville, O., 625; N. C. 334.
581. 586
Fenwick, Rt. Rev. B. J. .53-57, 75,
93, 120, 134. 159, 163-171, 310,408,
432, 436, 452, 458, 462-494, 516,
660 Fenwick, Rt. Rev. E. D. .370, 379, 386, 392, 330-355, 409, 613-615 Fenwick, F. Enoch, 75 ; F.
George 493
Fernandez, J. F. O 37, 48
Ferral, Rev. F 517
Ferry, Rev. Ciiarles 341
Fesch, Cardinal 61, 69
Ffrench, F. Charles D...130, 144, 178, 470, 496
Fink family 336
Fitton, Rev. James. .144, 153-4, 485
Fitzmaurice, Rev. Charles 703
Fitzpatrick, Rt. Rev. John
B -• 493
Flaget, Rt. Rev. B. J.. 103, 109,
211, 305, 335, 338, 409, 452, 545. 597-613, 619, 641, 689
Flathead Mission 696
Florissant, Mo. . . .380, 383, 386, 686
Florence, Ala 403
Florida 73, 330, 697-701
Flynn, Rev. J. D 265
Font, Rev. N 376
Fontana, Cardinal 78, 179
Fordham, N. Y 524
Fort Wayne. Ind 614, 642-3
Forbin-Janson, Rt. Rev. C. A.
J 452, 537, 628, 650
Fortis, V. Rev. Aloysius 69
Fouche, Rev. S 599
Frangois, Rev. J. G 664
Franklin, Rev. John ... 35
Franciscans 80, 207,-308. 333
Fransoni, Cardinal 660, 717
Frasi, Rev. M 568
Frederick, M.D. . . 74, 197, 443, 445 Freygang, Rev. Mr 488
INDEX. 725
PAGE PAGE
Galena, III 703 Hartford, Diocese op 493
Gallagher, Rev. S. P 31, 55 Hartford, Conn 156, 463
Gallego, Mr 82 Haskins, Rev. G. F 490
Gallipolis, 0 270, 383 Hassett, V. Rev. Thomas 375
Gallitzin, Rev. Prince D. A., 209, Hatscher, Rev. F 621, 632, 634
212, 213, 216, 221, 292, 338, Hawkes, Wright 530
555, 564 ; Mme. Elizabeth 536 Hayden, Rev. G. W 716, 719
Galveston, Texas 714, 717 Hayes, Rev. Richard 48, 49
Ganilh, Rev. Anthony.. 342, 397, 404 Hayti 587, 697
Gardinier, Mr. ! 166 Helbron, Rev. Peter. . 209, 213, 223
Gaston, Hon. William 313, 596 Helias, d' Huddeghem, Rev. F. 696
Genin, Rev. Vincent 378 Henni, Rt. Rev.' JohnM. 355, 616,
Gensoul, Mother St. Michael. . . 359 621, 625
Georgetown College. . 25, 44, 53, 75, Heyden, Rev. Thomas 235, 241,
106, 429 257, 660
Georgetown, S. C 325 Hill, F. W 339, 341, 346, 349
Georgia 306-329, 325 Hitselberger, Rev. A 577
Gettysburg. Pa 222 Hoecken, Rev. C 695
Gil bride. Rev. Mr 523 Hoerner, Rev. James 104, 577
Glandorf, 0 621 Hoffmann, Rev. Mr 487
Gomez, Rev. John N 321, 375 Hogan, Rev. G. D. , 224; Morris,
Goshenhoppen, Pa 209 181 ; Rev. William 224-250
Gouo-h, Theodore A 467 Hohenlohe, Prince Alexander. . 85
Grace, Rev. William... 165 Holland, Rev. M 234
Grand Coteau, La 675 Holy Cross, College of the 492
Grand River Rapids, Mich 354 Holy Marv, Ky 597
Grassi, F. John. . 29, 31, 35, 75, 179, Hooper, Mr 476
218, 292 Hore, Rev. Mr 84
Gravois, Mo 686 Horstmann, Rev. Mr 622
Green, Dr. H. C. B. . . .133, 152, 486 Hou.stou, Texas 715, 717
Green Banner, The 506 Howard, Thomas 274
Green Bay, Wis 343, 354 Huber, Rev. Lorenz 223
Gregory XVI..431, 434, 438, 445, Hughes, Rt. Rev. John. . 547, 550,
461, 587, 605, 608, 615, 631, 656, 554-7, 254, 257, 260, 265, 446, 515,
702, 706, 714, 718 523, 543, 686, 660
Guadalajara, See of 707 Huntsville. Ala 403
Guidee, V. Rev. A 675 Hurley, Rev. M. . . 42, 209-211, 216,
Guth, Rev. Mr 517 215, 236, 260, 553, 562
Huron River, Mich 342
Hackett, Rev. P 701 Hurons 341
Haes, Rev. Mr 517 Hyde, Archibald 465
Hagerstown, Md 427
Hailandiere, Rt. Rev. Celes- Illinois 384-5, 686
tine R. L. G., de la, Bishop of Indian, Old Town, Me. 136, 150, 468
Vincennes 650-655 Inglesi, Rev. A 248, 362
Hamelin. Augustine 615 Iowa City 704
Hailey, Rev. John 533
Harold, F. James 212, 215 Jackson, Gen. Andrew 397
Harold, F. W. V 106, 208-221, Janvier, Rev. Mr 342
242, 257, 260 Jaricot, Mile. Pauline M 361
Harper's Ferry, Va 431, 575 Jarvis, Mrs. Sarah M 490
Harrisburg, P"a 258 Jeanjean, Rev. Aug. . .411, 669, 671
Harrissart, Rev. E 599 Jenkins, William 104
Harrison, Sister Mary John 473 Jesuit, The 466
726
INDEX.
PAGE
Jesuits, Md., 52, 55, 65, etc. ; Pa., 430, 557 ; Mo , 381, 681-2, 693; Kv., 671; La., 599; Ohio, 626 ; Rocky Mouutains. 697
Jogues, F. Isaac 341
Johnson, W. C 458
Jones, Gardner 504
Joubert, Rev. James H 92
Juneau, Solomon 704
Juncktr, Rev. H. D 625, 629
Kansas Indians 398
Kaskaskia, 111. . . .270, 273, 281, 370, 385, 683, 687, 692
Kearus, Rev. Mr 223
Keenan, Rev. Bernard 230, 241 ,
265, 546, 558
Keily, Rev. Jeremiah 548, 556
Kei.ly, Rt. Rev. Patrick. .58, 76- 83, 314 Kelly, Alvah, 482 ; Rev. Dennis, 535 ; Rev. Francis, 301 ; Rev.
Mr., 632 ; Rev. Patrick 183-4
Kennedy, John P 458
Kenney, V. Rev. P 75, 567
Kenny, Rev. Patrick. .212, 214, 218,
220, 564
Kenkick, Rt. Rev. Francis
P. . . .303. 411, 432, 436, 444, 516,
545-572, 597, 619, 638, 697
Kenrick, Rt. Rev. Peter R . 557,
568, 691
Kentucky 265-305
Kerney, Rev. N 49, 50, 313
Ketchum, Hiram 528
Kickapoo Mission . 694
Kirchen Zeitung, Die . . . 522
Knox, Rev. Dr 528
Kohlmann, F. Anthony. .51, 59, 86, 134, 162-172
Kohlmann, F.Paul 164
Kundig, Rev. M 622
Lacroix, Rev. Mr 6(i9
Lacy, Rev. Mr 26
Ladaviere, Rev. Peter. .599, 671, 675 Ladies of the Sacred Heart, Mo.,
366; N.Y 536
Lafargeville, N. Y 517, 524
Lafont, Rev. Annet 538
Lafayette , Marquis de 250
Lalor, Teresa 25, 28, 29, 35
Lalumi^re, Rev. S. P 641-648
Lamar, President 717
Lancaster, Rev. J. M.,612; John, 608
Lancaster, Pa. 265; 0 336, 347
Langdill, Rev. A 178
Landing of the Pilgrims of
Maryland 458
Lange, Elizabeth 92
Laporte, lud 643
La Poterie, Rev. Mr 108
Lariscy, Rev. Piiilip 118-127
Larkin, Rev. John ()12
Lastrie, Rev. Mr 633
Laurel Hill College, Pa 556
Lazarists 361, 460, 568, 690
Leakin, S. C 450
Lcclaire, Anthonj' 703
Le Couteulx, Louis, 201; Mr. . . 497
Lee, Gov. Thomas Sim 59
Lefevre, Rt. Rev P. P...568, 638- 39, 697
Lekeu, F. Matthew 223
Le Mercier, Mgr 650
Leo XII. .88, 105, 138, 255, 346, 388 399, 408 Leopoldine Association, 554, 585,
625, 631
Le Ray de Chaumont, Mr 181
L'Estrange, Dom Augustine de 168
Levadoux, Rev. Mr 268
Levins. Rev. T. C. 75, 200, 505, 524
Lexington, Ky 304, 607
L'homme, Rev. Francis 411
Liberia 433, 461, 568
Linares, orNueva Leon, See of.
707, 709
Lipans 706
Litta, Cardinal 34, 48, 78, 230
Llanos y Valdes, Rt. Rev. A. A..
709, 710
Locust Grove, Ga 311, 320, 325
Long Creek, Ky 378
Long Lick, Ky 284
Loras, Rt. Rev. Mathias. 452, 697, 702, 705
Loretto, Pa., 211 ; Ky 300
Loring, Charles G 481
Louisiana and the Floridas,
Diocese of 356-391
Louisiana 358-390
Louisville and Bardstown,
Diocese op 610
Louisville, Ky 609, 610
Lowell, Mass. . . . 156. 464, 466, 485 Lucas, Fielding, 427 ; Rev.
James T 26, 46, 78.
Lucca, Duke of 346
INDEX. 727
PAGE PAGK
Liitz, Rev. Mr 398, 687 Marin, Rt. Rev. Primo F 710
Luzerne, Pa 268 Marlboro, ]\Id 427
Lyman Theodore 479 Marquette, F. James 341
Lynch, Rev. Patrick N., 587 ; Marquette River, Mich 343
James 181, 497 Marshall, Mother Margaret 699
Lynchburg, Va 85, 577 Martial, Rev. Mr 369, 383, 671
Martin, Rev. Mr. 387 ; Rev.
McAleer, Rev. Michael 659 Thomas 347
McAllister, Daniel 347 Martiusburg, Va. .103, 429, 447, 575
McAuley, Rev. A 185 Mascheroni, Rev. A 396
McCarthy, Sister M. Borgia, 588, Mason, William 482
591 ; f liomas, 181, 497; Rev. Mathevon, Madame L 695
Timothy 309, 324 Matiguon, Rev. F. A 108-123
3IcCloskey, Rt. Rev. John. Matthews, V. Rev. William, 44,
533, 543 84, 259, 409, 428, 447, 544 ;
McCormack, Rev. Patrick 201 Mother Juliana 444
McDermott, Sister F., 29; Rev. Mattingly, Mrs. Ann 85
Mr 473 Maurian, Judge 678-9
McElroy, F. John. . . 35, 104, 425, Mauvernay, Rev. Peter 701
445,538 Mayne, Rev. E. F. . . .329, 406, 698
McEncroe, Rev. John 324, 328 Mazzuchelli, F. Samuel. . . .614,
McGarry, Rev. J. J 501 632, 703
McGrady. Rev. Mr 618, 622 Meade, Mr 248
McGirr, Rev. T 216, 239 Medley's Neck, Md 44, 54, 423
McGuire, John 181 Memphis, Tenn 660
McKenna, Rev. Constantine. . . Menard, F. Rene 341
378, 663 Mengarini, Rev. Gregory 697
McKeou, James W 530 Meuominees 634, 705
McLaughlin, Rev. Peter 627 Merryland Tract, Md 427
McMahon, Rev. Edvrard 607 Mertz, Rev. Nicholas 201, 497
McNamara, Rev. Michael 201 Meyer, Rev. Charles 692
McQuade, Rev. Paul 127, 177 Michaud.Rev. Eugene 397
McSherrv, V. Rev. William. 430, 433 Michel, Rev. X 82
Maccodabine.se, William 615 Michigan 341, 354, 633
Macheboeuf, Rev. Projectus J . . .627 Michilimakinac 341, 354
Macopin, N. J 185 Mier, Rev. Servandus 236, 711
Madison, Ind., 646 ; N. J 185 Migneault, V. Rev. 202, 469
Maenhaut, Rev. C 405, 678 Milbert, Mr 112, 130, 182
Magennis, Rev. John 328 Miles, Rt. Rev. Richard P. . 277,
Maginnis, Rev. John 535 301, 452, 608, 656-659
Maguire, F. Charles B.. 80, 223, Milwaukee 637, 704
242, 544. 556 ; James L 451 Mina, Rev. V. M 368
Mahony, Rev. Mr 144, 152 Mine a la Motte, jMo 686
Maine 105, 109 Mississippi, State of 73, 660-665
Makoquata, Iowa 704 Mississippi, Vicariate Apostolic
Mailer, Rev. Malliano 568 of 73, 660
Maloney, Rev. John 567 Mobberlv. Brother J. P 36
Malou, Rev.P.,164, 171, 169, 176,192 Mobile,' Diocese of. . 73, 102,
Manahan, Rev. Ambrose 533 697-701
Marcy, Marvin 482 Mobile, Ala. . . . 378, 403-6, 697, 700
Marechal, Most Rev. Am- Moffatt, Mother St. George. 480, 484
bkose. .28, 31, 32-39, 75, 77, 85- Moloney, Mother Marv C. . . 588, 591
100, 118, 138, 193, 223, 225. 230, Molyneux, Rev. Robert 68
257, 660 Moni, Rev. John A 678
728
INDEX.
Monk, Maria, Awful Disclosures
of 509
Monroe, Mich 342, 354
Montgomery, Rev. Charles P., 453 ; Rev. Stephen H., 275, 353 ; Rev. Samuel L. . . . 275, 301
Montgomery, Ala 699
Moran.Rev. Mr., 517 ; Jasper.. 47 Moranville. Rev. John F... 89, 127
Moregg, 0 620
Morti, Rev. F 708
Moriarty, Rev. Mr 578
]\lother St. Henry 478
Mount St. Benedict, 478 ; Mount St. James. 491 ; Mount St. Mary's. ..51, 90, 103, 197, 247, 425
Muldoon, Rev. Michael 712
Mulholland, Rev. Mr 301
Mullanphy, John 396, 398, 687
Mulledy, F. Thomas.. 437, 493, 516
Mullon, James 352, 354
Muiios, Rev. Rafael 613
Murfreesboro, Tenn 659
Murpiiy, Rev. W. S 612
Myers, Sister Beatrix 87
Myrthe, Rev. Anthony 84
Nacogdoches, 709, 710, 715,
716, 718
Nagot, Rev. Mr 30
Nashville, Diocese op. . 608,
656-664
Nashville, Tenn 302, 656-659
Natchez, Diocese of 660-665
Natchez 397, 660-665
Natchtoches, La 387-8,672
Neale, Most Rev. Leonard, Bishop of Gortyna, Arch- bishop of Baltimore. . . 25-38, 109, 116, 134, 364
Neale, Rev. Charles 36, 69,
212; Rev. Francis, 36, 103,
253, 428 ; Sister Olivia 448
Neil, Rev. Francis 384
Nerinckx, Rev. Charles 43, 88,
265, 270, 272, 276, 286, 291,
298-99, 382 Neumann, Rt. Rev. John N. . 566
Newark, N. J 198, 203
New Berne, N. C...50, 321, 324, 593
New Brunswick, N. J 205, 497
Newburvport Mass 105,108
Newcastle, Me 110-111, 151
New Hampshire 105, 109
PAGE
New Haven, Conn 113, 158, 473
New Madrid, Mo. 371, 385, 397, 687 New Orleans, Diocese of. 666, 681
New Orleans, La 367,397-98
Newport, R. I., 108, 145, 153,
15G. 486 ; Md 44
New Reigel, 0 621
New York, Diocese of, 161-
206, 495-543. Synod of 538
New York Literary Institution.
134, 164 New York Weekly Register... 504
Nichols, Mrs 465
Norfolk, Va. . ..2(i, 43, 46, 57, 78, 80, 92, 194, 423, 428, 447, 577-78
Norridgewock, Me 469
Notre Dame, Ind 655
Nyack, N. Y 517
O'Beirne, Rev. Mr 490
Oblate Sisters of Providence. . . . 90, 429, 443 O'Brien, Rev. J. 577 ; Lieut.
John, 579 ; Rev. Matthew,
212 ; Rev. Timothy, 577 ;
Rev. W.-F. X., 80, 209, 222;
Rev. W., 429 ; Rev. Mr 72
O'Callaghan, Rev. Jeremiah 464
Ocean Springs, Miss 663
O'Connor, Rt. Rev. Michael. 563, 567, 568, 572
O'Connor, Mr. 151; John 181
O'Conway, Sister Cecilia 180
O'Donoghue, Rev. F., 321, 324,
338, 496, 500. 506 ; Rev. T. J. ?60
Oertel, Rev. Maximilian 521
Odin, Rt. Rev. John M. . . 386, 391,
455, 567, 636, 681-82, 688, 706-719
O'Driscoll, Dr 55
O'Dwyer, Rev. Patrick 626
O'Flaherty, Rev. T. J. .158, 462, 490,
O'FIvnn, F. M 272
O'Gallagher, Rev. S. F 167
O'Gormnn. Rev. Michael, 177,
182, 187 ; Sister Mary Joseph. 580
O'Hannan, Rev. A 315
O'Hare's Settlement, 111 385
Old Mines, Mo 6S6
O'Leary, F. Joseph 620
Olivier* Rev. Donatien, 271, 277,
385 ; V. Rev. John 359
O'Meally, Rev. T.J 250-53
O'Neill, Rev. Edward. 533 ;
Rev. J. F. 328 ; Rev. Patrick. 546
INDEX 729
O'Reilly, Eev. M. D., 328, 664 ; Plessis, Rt. Rev. J. O. . . .114. 170
Rev. Michael, 374-5 ; Rev. Point, F. Nicholas 697
Philip 504 Point Comfort, Va 83
Osages 368 Pointe Coupee, La 390
O'SuUivan, Rev. Patrick. . .324, 327 Pointe St. Iguace, Mich 343
Otis, H. G 479 Poket-an, Ind 644
Ottawas 341-42, 347 PoucC Prescott P 482
Otter Creek, Mich 343 Poor Clares 544, 632
Owensboro, Ky 610 Portage aux Sioux, Mo 278, 370,
385, 686, 691-92, 694
Paillasson, Rev. Mr 686-87 Portier, Rt. Rev. Michael,
Pamphili, Cardinal Doria 360 388, 403-6, 409, 432, 452, 666, 672,
Parker, Isaac 482 697-701, 706
Pasquiet, Rev. Mr 170 Portland, Me., 105, 151, 155,
Passamaquoddies 110, 141, 472 ; Ky 609, 610, 612
146, 472 Portsmouth, Va 50, 577-78
Paterson, N. J 184, 198, 203 Poterie, Rev. Mr. de la 105
Puwtucket, R. I 153 Pottinger's Creek, Ky 271
Pax, Rev. Mr 542 Pottowatamies 598, 613, 694
Pensacola, Fla. . . .375, 403, 698, 699 Poughkeepsie, N. Y 515
Petiot, Rev. R 705 Poujade, Rev. Mr 697
Pedicini. Cardinal 615 Power, V. Rev. John. .95, 153, 183.
Pelamourgues. Rev. Mr 705 188-191, 201, 203, 204, 411, 496.
Penco, Rev. Mr 568 506, 524
Peuobscots 110, 140, 470, 472 Prairie du Chien 639, 703
Pensacola, Fla 375, 403 Prairie du Rocher, 111. .268, 280,
Perche, Most Rev. N. B. ..... . 612 370, 385
Pereira, Rt. Rev. F. X., 360 ; Prentiss, H. B 712
Rev. Joseph 361 Prescott, Col 480
Permoli, Rev. B 679 Pressigny. Rt. Rev. G 360
Peru, 0 621 Preval, Judge 679
Petersburg, Va 577-8 Priests of Mercy 538
Petit. Rev. B., 654, 694; Rev. F., Prost, V. Rev. Joseph. . . . 452, 565
593, 599 ; Mme 361 Providence, R. 1 114, 153,
Petithomme, Rev. M 472 155-56, 486
Phelan, Rev. S. V 209 Purcell, Rt. Rev. John. .74, 426,
PmLADELPniA, Diocese OF... 206- 432, 446, 452, 619-629, 639, 672.
263, 544 689, 701
Philodemic Society 438, 458
Picot, Dr 314 Quarter, Rt. Rev. William. 521
Piscataway, Md 444 Quarter, Rev. Walter J . . .512, 515
Pise, Rev. C. C 427 Quincy, Col 479
Pittsburgh, Pa. . 209, 223, 240, 544, Quincy. Mass 491
546, 565, 572 Quinn, Rev. Edmund 618. 621
Pius VI 709
Pius VII. . 50, 69. 88, 102, 105, 160, Raffelner, V. Rev. John. . . .486.
206, 243, 267, 306, 325, 334, 359, 490, 506
379. 399, 408 Rafferty, Rev. P 251
Pius VIII. . .70, 73, 97, 105, 338, Raimbault, F. Charles 341
417, 427 Raisin River, Mich 288, 342
Plattsburgh, N. Y 202 Rale. F. Sebastian 469
Pleasant Mills, N. J 547 Ramirez, F. Pedro 707
Pleasant Point, Me. . . . 108, 110, Rampon, Rev. C 701
115, 146 Randaune, Rev. John 411
730
INDEX.
PAGE
Rantzau, F. Max 178
Rappe, Rev. Amadeus 637
Ravoux, Rev. A., 639; Rev.
Louis 705
Rawson, K 497, 534
Raywick. Ky 612
Read, William G 104, 449, 459
Rederaptorists. . . .453, 455, 460, 578
Reed, Rebecca 466, 484
Reese, Rev 528
Refugio, Tex 712, 715, 718
Reid, Rev.J 623
Reilly, Rev. P. 561
Rese, Rt. Rev. Frederic .
349, 355, 482, 444, 455, 613, 617-
18, 638-635
Reynolds, Rt. Rev.I.A.596-97, 606
Rhode Island 105, 110, 111, 153
Rhodes, Mary 275
Rice, V. Rev. John 57
Richard, Rev. Gabriel 250, 268,
371, 287, 342-43, 616
Richaudie, F. A. de la 330
Richards, Very Rev. B .. .669, 670
Richmond, Diocese of.. 58, 76-83,
103, 194, 575-579
Richmond, Va 79, 438
Richwood, Mo 686
Rico, Rev. John 237
Riker, Mr 166
Riviere aux Ecores, Mich 342
Riviere Rouire, Mich 342
Rochester, N . Y 201, 501, 535
Rodrisjuez de Rivas de Velasco,
Rt. Rev. Diego 707
Rogers, John 285
Rollins Fork, Ky 273
Roloff'; Rev 216, 429, 490
Romague, Rev. J. R. .110, 115,
123, 488
Rome, N. Y 184, 515, 534
Roothaan, V. Rev. John. . .430, 446 RosATi, Rt. Rev. Joseph. .102, 361,
378, 409, 446, 452, 641, 659, 666, 672, 681-698, 700, 714
Rosseter, F. John 308, 310
Rousselot, Rev. L 108
Roxburv, Mass 483
Rude's Creek, Ky 608
Ruff,Rev. Mr 643
Runey, Mr 473
Ryan, Rev. Dennis. 117,133, 140;
Rev. John, 360: Rev.Timothy,
35; Ryaufamily 117, 136
PAGE
Ryder, F. James 458, 558
Rymacher, F. V. de. .• 347
Sacedon, Rt. Rev. A 709
Saco, Me 153
Sacs and Foxes 705
Salem, Mass. .105, 108, 116, 134, 136, 153, 466
Salina, N. Y 205, 497
Salmon, Rev. James 191
Salzbaclier, V. Rev. Joseph 456
Sampson, William 167, 186
San Antonio, Tex 710, 714, 718
San Antonio de Valero. . . . 707, 718
Sanderl, Rev. F 633
Sandusky, 0 330
Sandwich, Mass 465
San Francisco de la Espada,708, 718
San Jose, Texas 707, 718
San Juan Capistrano, Texas, 707, 718
San Patricio 713, 715
Sansbury, Mother Angela 625
Saulnier, Rev E 683, 691
Sault St. Mary, Mich 341, 343
Savage, Rev. Mr. 199 ; Rev.
William 663
Savannah, Ga 329, 592
Savin, Rev. Mr 390
Savine, Rev. Mr. .266, 270, 371, 280
Schaeflfer, Rev. Peter 384
Schism, St. Mary's, Phila- delphia 331-259
Schueller, Rev. Mr 203, 205
School Question 534-532, 566
Scott, Michael, 334, 340, 349; T.
P 104
Sedella, F. Anthony 358-390
Sedgwick, Theodore 538
Seton, Mother Eliza 51, 53, 63
Shaw, Rev. Mr 646
Shepherd of the Valley 683
Sheehan, Rev. Godfrey 338
Shorb, John 347
Sibourd, V. Rev. . . 358-9, 368, 380
Sioux 707
Sister Ann Alexis, 468 ; St.
Henry 401-2
Sisters of Charitv (Emmitsburg)
51, 53, 65, 103; 182, 439, 468, 479,
498, 553. 603, 606, 613
Sisters of Charity of Nazareth. . 378
Sisters of Charity of the Good
Shepherd 610
INDEX. 731
PAGE PAGE
Sisters of Loretto, Ky., 275; St. Vincent ae Pauis Semi- Mo 382, 603 nary, Lafargeville, N. Y 517
Sisters of Notre Dame of Kamur, 628 St. Xaviev College, Cincinnati. . 626
Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy . . . Sugar Creek 251, 675
580, 593 Sulpitians 52, 90, 460
Sisters of Providence 650 Summerville, Ala 699
Sisters of St. Dominic 300 Swiney, Rev. E 324, 328
Sisters of St. Joseph 691 Synods : Baltimore 427; Boston
Six Months in a Convent 484 491; New York, 538; Charles-
Smedts, F. J. B 86 ton, 583; Mobile, 699 ; Phila-
Sniith, Rev. John. 153 ; Judge. 698 delphia, 570 ; New Orleans,
Sodality of the Blessed Virgin . . 53 669 ; St. Louis 694
Somagiia, Cardinal. .71, 208, 210, 306
Somerset, 0 334, 349 'p^p^f-oTT 285
Sorin, Rev Edward 665 ^.^^j^^j^.^ ^f.^gg- ' ' ' ' ' ' " ^53 'l^l 435
SouthBendlnd ... ......... 642 r^^^^^^. Deodat, 156; V. Rev.
bpaldmg. Rev. Martui J. 604, William. 93,128,132-34,138,
608, 609 ; Mother Catherme.. 276 ' 178^184 196
Spring, llev G ..... .... 528 Tuylorsville, Ky .'609
bpnng Hdl College, Ala. . .69< Te]Ri\^, Rt. Rev. F. B 707
,. ^, _, o~, Vl^ Tennessee 295,302,605
St. Augustuie, Fla. . . .321 o<4 405 ^^^^.^.^ ^^^^^^^ j^^j 646^ ^53
c. n, 1 Ar o^Q '45? '-S- 'ifi Terwooven Rev. James 501
St. Charles, Mo.. 2. 8, .366, 38o 396 Messier, Rev. John.... 72, 92, 411,
,398, 686 42-2^ 428, 451
St. Charles Borromeo, Seunnary Texas, Prefecture Apostolic, 706-
o "r,,- • , • >r,V • • Vr 'i :?o- "14 ; Vicariate 714-719
St. Charles College, Md 42o ^,^.^^1^^^. j^^^i^.^ 4^5
St. Cyr, Rev. J M. J . . 643 t^ j^^v. John. . .108, 119,
Stenbenvdle, () 614,618 •' j^g 267
St. Genevieve, Mo 364, 370, 396 Theology, Faculty of ".'.. 88
^ ,. ,,, ^'^^' •?;:* Tichitoli,Rev.Mr.,368,371,397, 670
St. Inigoes Md 4.)8 r^^ Cornelius 217, 233
St. John's, Md 44, o4 ^.gjjj- Q gig
St John's College, Fordham, Timniermans, F. P. Joseph. . 59,89
N \ . >24, .533, .)38 r^^^^^^ ^Xt. Rev. John. . .386, 571.
St. .Joseph s Academy, Emmits- ^^g ^^^ ggg^ g^g^ mi)-^\.
burg, Md -i'i 706-718
St. Joseph's College. Minerva. . 604 ^^.^^^ Society, Catholic 4-50
St JoseiJhs Semmary, Ford- Trappists. . . 169, 365
ham,N.Y. o33 Triadelphia, Pa 84
St. Louis, Diocese OF 388 Troconis Rev F 375
St. Louis, Mo. . 87, 278, 36o-66 370 Trustee Troubles, 27, 26, 43, 46, 78,
^ ^, , ,, , 4*^'^' 5?2 214, 399, 518, 542, 548, 698 St. Mary s, Md .... 4.o8 ^^.^^^j^ ^^jj^j. ,^1^^ Igg
St. Mary s College, Baltimore .. 52 Tschenhens, Father F. X 620
■ ,,. , ,, ^, 10^'^^ Tucker, Mr 152
St. Michael s, Mo -585 Tuite F 270 301
St. Nicholas, Md. . . . . . . . . .44 Tuscumbia.Ala'. :.■.■.■.■ '403
Stokes, Rev. Joseph. . ,320. 329, fo8 tyler, Rt. Rev. William. . . .
Stone, William L 511 ^44 493
St. Philip's College 637, 639
St. Reuis, N. Y 203
St. Thomas's :\Ianor, Md 44 Urbana, O 622
732 INDEX.
PAGE PAGE
Ursulines, Boston. Mass. 123 ; Walsh, Rev. Hatton, 192 ; Rev.
Charlestown, 141, 473-485, James, 82 ; Sister F. de C. . . 164
489 ; New York, 164 ; New Or- Waltham, Mass 466
leans, y59, 362, 370, 383, 398 ; Washington, D. C, 44, 72, 424,
Charleston 585, 588, 593 N. C, 50, 321 ; Md., 641 ;
U. S. Catholic Miscellany 317 Ga 592
Utica, N. Y 180. 202, 534 Wathen, Sister Juliana 298
Wayne, Gen. Anthony .*. . 270
Valenzano, Rev. Mr 368 Waynesboro, Pa 254
Vallejo, F. Bernard 710 Webb, Ben. J 607
Van Assche, Rev. F. J 88, 396 Weinzoepflen, Rev. Mr 654
Van de Velde, F. James ... 74, 664 Wells, Elizabeth 276
Van de Vogel, Sister Francis . .544 Westchester, Pa 212
Van de Wejer, Rev. A. F 544 Weston, Oliver 181
Van Horsigh, Rev. F 428 Wharton, Charles H 168
Van Quickeuborne, F. Charles . .88, Wheeler, Rev. M. F. . . 97, 411,
89, 381, 398, 692 424, 429
Varela, V. Rev. Felix. . 198, 203, 204. Wheeling, Va 82, 577
487, 514, 524 Whelan, Rt. Rev. R. V. .455, 456
Vauseois, Rev. Francis . 378 White, Calvin, 473 ; Rev. Greg-
Velzi, V. Rev. F. J. M 259, 352 ory, 663 ; Sister Rose. . .65, 180,
Vergennes, Vt 465 219, 443
Verger, Rt. Rev. R. J 709 Whitefield, Me 136, 151
Verhaegan, Rev. P. J 88, 682 Whitemarsh, Md. . .43, 68, 59, 67, 88
Verheyen, Rev. Henry 59 Whitfield, Most Rev. James,
Vermont 109, 115, 128, 464-69 44, 88, 98, 100-106, 305, 410
Verreydt, F. T. L 88, 396 Wickham, Mother Seraphine 683
Vicksburg. Miss 664, 676 Wiley, Rev. William 144, 153
Victoria 712,715,718 Wilkinson, David 153
Vilanis, Rev. Felix 533 Wiiminaton, N. C, 312; Del. 561
Villa Gayoso. Miss 663 Wilson, F. Thomas. .270, 291, 300,
Vincennes, Diocese op. . 605, 336, 339
638-655 Winchester, Va 41, 79, 575-76
Vincennes 270, 281, 297, 605 Windsor Locks, Conn 153
Vincent de Paul, Father 170, 217 Winnebagoes 634
Viszogsky, Rev. A 639 Wisconsin 634, 639, 702
Visitation Nuns, Georgetown, Woodley, Rev. R. D .. 153
D. C, 26. 36, 43, 54, 72, 95, Wooster, 0 344, 616
100, 424, 430 ; Kaskaskia, 111., Worcester, Mass 485. 491
430, 683 ; Mobile, Ala. . 430, Wouters, Rev 164
699; Baltimore, 444; St. Louis. 686
Ximenes, Cardinal 249
Waddington, N. Y 193
Walden's Ridge 658 Young. F. D 275, 286
Wallace, Rev. James. .. 55, 135, 336, 344, 347, 352, 483
165, 311 „
Walley, Thomas 114 Zachia. Md 44
Wallingford, Conn 464 Zane, Mr 82
Wallis, Rev. Michael 375 Zanesville, O. .336, 344. 347, 620. 627
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