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THE

CATHOLIC CHURCH

m THB

UNIT

At'

A SKETCH OF ITS

AX''l 1-

ii'Vi,.'»>_

HENRY DE COURCY, -

AXTTHOB OF ^^LE8 S£BVANTES DB DIST7 EN ^ANADA,^' BTQL

■•^'-i-.-rUt****':-— '^V'.'^"->-'^?*"

' TRANSLATED AKD BNLAnOSD

BY JOHN GILMARY SHEA,

ATTTHOR OF THE " DIGIOOVSBT AND EXPLORATION OF THE HIBSISSIPFI,'' " HISTOBT
OF THE CATHOLIC MISSIONS," ETC., AND MEMBER OF THB N. T., MASS.,

U^iXf'itOf.K^^ V^** HierORIOAL'SOCJET^ES, ^

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NEW YORK:
EDWARD DUNIGAN AND BROTHER

(JAMES B. KIRKEE,) „.,..__

161 FULTON- STREET.
1866.

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Entered according to Act of Oongreas, in the year 1868,

Bt JAMES B. EIBEEB,

In the CletK'a Office of the District Court of the United States, Ibr the Soathem

District of New York.

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• * • .* .
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B. 0. v^LSNTCni,

•nSBOTTPIR AND KU0TROTTPI8T,
11 Dateh-rt,, oor. Volton. N. Y.

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X SON EXCELLENCE

MONSEIGNEUK CAJETAN BEDINI,

Archevique de Thibet, Nonce Ajpottdique, Sfc., ifc.

Monseionxub:

L'int^rdt que vous daignez prendre d I'E^lise d'Am^rique m'enoou*
rage k demander d. Votre Excellence la permission de lui dSdier mes
" Easais sur I'Histoire de la Religion Catholiqae auz Etats-Unis." Pen-
dant voire memorable s^jour dans la grande B^publique, vous vous 6tes
rendu compte de L'6tat present des diocdses aveo autant de promptitude
que de hauteur de vues. Mais la multiplicity de tos occupations et
I'importance de la mission que vous avait confine Sa SaintetS ont pu
s'opposer 4 ce que les details du passS vous devinssent aussi com-
plStement familiers. tPose done esp^rer que mon simple r6cit augmen-
tera encore vos predilections pour I'Eglise si jeune et d4j4 si floriesante
des Etats-IJnis.

Je me suis proposS d'^crirf Vhistoire suocincte de cette Eglise dans
ses commencemente, ses ^preuves, ses progrds et ses esp^rances. Ce-
pendant malgr^ mes efforts, o'est nn livre qui restera encore k faire,
tant qu'nne plume plus sainte et plus exp6riment6e ne s'exercera pas

36399

DEDICATION.

rar un sujet si important Mais jusqu'd ce joar les Prelates qui ont
gouvernd oette partie de la chr6tient^, ou lea miAsionairea qui les ont
seoond^s, n'ont pas connu asaez de loisirs pour d^laiaaer les aoina im-
p^rieux du saint ministSre. lis aocomplissent beaucoup, mais ^criveut
peu ; et leur laborieux silence aurait le Ciel pour seul t^moin de leurs
travaux, oomme il doit dire leur seule recompense, si I'un des fiddles
Evangelises par leur zdle ne pabliait pas oe qn'il a 6tudi6, ce qu'U a en-
tendu et ce qu'il a vu, pour la plus grando gloire de Dier^

^ En quittant les Etats-Unis, Votre Excellence nous laiasait un pieux
souvenir de sa munificence et de sa devotion en se declarant Sdifii et
reconnaissant. O'est bien plutdt aux Catholiques des Etats-Unis de se
proclamer idifiia de vos vertus et reconnaitaanta de vos bienfaits ; et
rhommage que je vous pr6sente, en commnn avec le savant Ecrivain
Mr. John G, Shea, qui s'est complaisamment associ^ 4 mon travail, est un
faible tribut de notre mutuelle gratitude, et de notre complet devoue-
ment au Saint Sidge Apostolique.

Daignez agr^er I'assurance des sentiments de haute v€n6ration avec
lesquelles nous avons Thonneur d'dtre,
Monseigneur,

,- De Votre Excellence,

' Le trds humbles et trds

. , Obeissants serviteurs,

„ ,. , ,, H. DB OODBOT DE LaBOOHK-H^ON.

John Gilhabt Shejl

Kmr YoBX, 8 Mai, Jonr de la Fdte de rinyentioa do la
Bainte Croix, et an de Grace 185&

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PREFACE.

,<!•■ /:.:'?

.,..4*.

The want of any regular history of the Catholic Church in
the United States has led to many erroneous ideas here and
elsewhere. To give the public in France some definite idea of
the progress of Catholicity in a country in which they take so
deep an interest, Mr. De Courcy began, some time since, a se-
sies of sketches in the " Ami de la Religion" and other French
periodicals. In these I aided him with all the information in
my hands; and deeming his sketches calculated to do good
among ourselves, have translated them, occasionally adding facts
or details which afterwards came to our knowledge. Such is
the volume now submitted to the Catholics of the United
States : a contribution to the history of the Church in the States
of Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jer-
sey. From the close friendship which united us, and 'ur daily
intercourse during the progress of the work, it would re diflS-
oult now for me to state what portions are exclusively mine ;
yet, as the ill health of Mr. De Courct compelled him for a
time to suspend his labors, the part concerning New York, ex-
cept where it relates to the French and Canadian element, may
be considered as chiefly from my pen.

Mr. De Courcy, though a native of France, is descended from
ofiScers who, in the French navy, helped to humble the power
of England on the seas during our Revolution ; and at the same
time, from the oldest Canadian family : thus claiming kindred
with Iberville, the heroic founder of Louisiana ; with Juchereau,
the pioneer of Indiana; St. Denis, the chivalrous explorer of

"^^m

PREFACE.

Texas ; and with almost every name of eminence in the annals
of French America. His interest, then, in the country is natural;
and, even without this tie, every Frenchman must feel a pride in
the part which the clergy of his country haye taken in giving our
Church its present form, and well might seek to portray it to his
countrymen ; nor need we fear that he will df aw an exaggerated
picture. The profoundest t|iinker among us, a man, too, who has
never been a flatterer, Dr.'BaowNSON, has said, "The Church
in the United States has, to a great extent, been founded and
built up by French bishops and clergy ; and hardly could the
monuments of Catholic zeal and piety, becoming so numerous
in the land, have been erected without the liberal contributions
of our brethren in France. The revival of Catholicity in Eng-
land dates from the presence and labors of the French clergy,
driven from their own country by the temporary ascendency of
the Jacobins. Always must English and American Catholics
cherish the warmest gratitude to Catholic France, to whom we,
as an American cit^'^en, owe another debt ; for it was by her aid,
her treasures, and her blood, that we were enabled to gain na-
tional independence, and to take a place among the nations of
the earth. If any foreigner has a special right to feel himself at
home in these United States, it is the Catholic Frenchman."

Happy to have aided in giving the Catholic public a work
which does full justice to this element, and, at the same time,
gives them a compendious history of the Church from its foun-
dation under the happj auspices of Maryland toleration, through
the dark ages of colonial bigotry, to our own freer time, when
the serene sky is darkened at times by the hurricanes of prejudice
and error — I submit this labor, so far as I am concerned, to the
Holy Father and my fellow-adherents of the Apostolic See.

John Gilmary Shka.
Mat 8, 1866.

CONTENTS.

DnioATioir Pam tU

Fkitaoi ▼

Chaftxb I. — ^Thi Eablt Indian Misuonb.

MlMlona of the Norwegluis in the anto-Colnmbian timM— Bputoh mtMlont in Florida,
New Mexico, Texas, and OalUbrnla— French mlaalona among the Indiana in If aina,
New York, Michigan, Wisconsin, and the Talley of the Miasisalppi 11

Ohat. II — ^Thu Oolonial ChOIiOH.

Maryland— Settled by Gatholios— Their persecntion— Their emancipation— From tha
year 1684 to 1774 »

Chap. III. — Thk Ohokoh in thx' Rkpublio.

Maryland— Father John Carroll—How the United States granted liberty of oonseienoe
to the OathoUcs— Mission of Father Carroll to Canada 36

Ohap. IV. — The Ohvboh dubino ths Rivolution.
Father Carroll and Father Floqaet— Father Carroll at Bock Creek 47

Chaf. V. — The OnimoH ix thk RKPOBua
Miryland (177ft-1790)— Negotiations for the erection of an Episcopal Bee 64

Chap. yi--DiooB8x of Baltikobx.

Consecration of Bishop Carroll— Jesuit College at Georgetown— BalpiUan Seminary at
Baltimore— The French clergy in the United States— Bishop Neale ooa^Jator— Beor-
ganizatlon of the Sodety of Jesns— Importance of French immigration 68

Chap. YII. — ^The Chuboh in Mabtland.

The Carmelite*— Poor Clares— Yisltation nans— Sisters of Charity— Baltimore an ecele*
siastical province with four safflragans— Death of Archbishop Carroll 76

Chap. VIIL — Diocese of Baltuiobb. (1815-1828.)

Most BcT. Leonard Neale, second Archbishop— Most Bot. Ambrose Mar^chal, third
Archbishop— DiflScultles of bis administration— Progress of Catholicity— Bishops ap«
pointed for New Orleans, Charleston, Bichmond, and Cincinnati— Labors of the Snl-
pltians— Death of Archbishop Mar^chal M

1 1

CONTENTS.

Chap. IX. — Diocesk or Baltimori. (1828-1823.)

Moat Rev. James Whitfield, fourth Archbishop of Bnltlmore— The Oblates of St. Frtncet
and the colored Catholics— The Association fbr the Propagation of ihe Faith and tha
Leopoldlne Society— First Provincial Council of Baltimore, and a retrospect on pre-
vious synods of the clergy ,

Chap. X.— DioceSI or^lBALTiifORK. (1829-1884.)

Beoond Provlnolal Council— Decrees aa to the election of bishops — Decrees for Qonflding
to the Jesuits the Negroes and Indians— The colony of Liberia and BIsL^p Barron—
The Gannellteft— Liberality of Archbisbop Wbltflvld— His character and death. . . 129

Chap. XI. — ^Diooxsb of Baltihore. (1884-1840.)

Most Rev. Samuel Eccleston, D. D., fifth Archbishop of Baltimore— The Brothers of the
Christian Schools— The Redemptorlsts— The German Catholics— The Lazarists— Third
Council of Baltimore— New Episcopal Bees— Fourth Council of Baltimore— Bishop
Forbln-Janson in America— Dioceses of Richmond and Wheeling, and a glance at re-
Ugion in Virginia 146

■^ . . Chap. XII. — Diocese of Baltimore. (1840-1846.)

Decrees as to ecclesiastical property— Fifth Council of Baltimore— Decrees against di-
vorce and mixed marriages— Subdivision of the dioceses— Sixth Council of Baltimore *
—Decree as to the Immaculate Conception— Labors of the Society of Jesus in tj||^
United States. VtSif*)

Chap. XIII^'^'i'DiooESE of Baltimore. (1846-1852.)

Election of Pins IX.— Popularity of the Sovereign Pontiff in the United States— Peter's
Pence— Seventh Council of Baltimore— Division of the United States into six ecclesi-
astical provinces— Death of Archbishop Eccleston— Most Rev. Francis P. Kenrick,
sixth Archbishop of Baltimore— National Council of Baltimore and new Episcopal
B««fc 190

Chap. XIV. — ^Pennsylvania. (1680-1810.)

First missions at Philadelphia, Ooshenhoppen, Conewago, Lancaster — Influence of
French intervention fn securing respect uid toleration for Catholicity— The Augus-
tinians in Pennsylvania— The Franciscans — Schism in the Oerman Church of the
Holy Trinity— Foundation of the episcopal See of Philadelphia 207

Chap. XV. — Diocese of Philadelphia. (1810-1834.)

The Rt Rev. Michael Egan, first bishop— Very Rev. Louis de Barth, administrator—
Rt Rev. Henry Conwell, second bishop— Schism of St Mary's Chuirch— Very Rev.
William Mathews, administrator- Rt Rev. Francis P. Kenrick, coa^utor, then third
bishop- Religious condition of the diocese in 1884 22d

Chap. XVI— Diocese of Philadelphia. (1883-1844.)

Oommenoement and progress of the anti-Catholic agitation— Various manceavres of the
fanatics— The Native party— The Philadelphia riots 240

CONTENTS.

Cbaf. XVn.— Diooisb or Piiiladilphia. (1844-1866.)

Ptriston of the dlooMW— 8Ut« of Del«war»— The Ladlet of th« Sacred Heart— The 8U<
ters of the Yleitatlon— The Slstera of Notre Dame— Father Virgil Barber and hla
Aunlly— Works cf Bishop F. P. Kenrick— His translation to the metropolitan See of
Baltimore— Rt Ber. John N. Neumann, fourth Bishop of Philadolphia. 208

^^h..

Chap. XVIIL— Pinnstlvania. (1760-1840.)

Dlooeae of Pittsburg- The Recollects at Fort Duquesne— The Ber. Father Brauera—
Sketch of Prince Demetrius OalUtzin 278

Chap. XIX. — Diooksb or PirrsBDao — Diooesi or Erik. (1*792-1856.)

The Abb6 Flaget at Pittsburg— The Rev. F. X. O'Brien and Charles B. Maguire— The
Poor Glares— The Colony of Asylum — The Chevalier John Keating — Colony of Har-
man Bottom— Episcopate of the Right Rev. Dr. O'Connor— Sisters of Mercy— The
Brothers of the Presentation- The Franciscan Brothers— The Benedictines— Pav' '<•
Ists— Early missions at Erie— Bish<^ Flaget— The present state of the diocese — itie
Benedictine nuns— Retrospect 268

Chap. XX— State OF Nkw YoEK. (1642-1708.)

Missions among the Iroquois— Father Joguos — Father Bressani— Father Le Mqyne—
Emigration of Ohristlans to Canada — Close of the Jesuit missions In New York. . 814

Ji^

Chap. XXL— Diooesz of New York. (1640-1760.) -

The Dutch— The English occupation and Governor Dongan— First Colonial Assembly
in 1688— Jesuits at New York- Revolution, and persecution of the Catholics— Pre-
tended negro plot, and execution of the Rev. John Ury. 884

Chap. XXIL— State of New York. (1776-1786.)

Constitution of the State— The English Party and Protestantism- Commencement of
Catholic worship In the city of New York— 8t Peter's Church— Father Whelan and
Father Nugent— A trustee of St Peter's in 1786 845

Chap. XXIII. —State and Diocese of Neiv York. (1787-1818.)

Father O'Brien and the yellow fever In New York- The negro, Peter Toussaint — The

Abb^ Sibourg — Fathers Kohlmann and Fenwick — Erection of an episcopal See at

New York— Rt Rev. Luke Conoanen, first bishop- His death at Naples — Father

Benedict Fenwick, administrator — ^The New York Literary Institution — Father Fen-

I wick and Thomas Paine— Father Kohlmann and the secrecy of the confessional. . 855

Chap. XXIV.— -Diocese of New York. (1816-1842.) , ,^ ?

Right Rev. John Connolly, second Bishop of New York— Condition of the diocese —
Sketch of the Rev. F. A. Malou— Bishop Connolly's first acts— His clergy— The Rev.
Mr. Taylor, and his ambitious designs— Conversions— The Rev. John Richard- Spread

CONTENTS.

of Catholicity— Death of Bishop Connolly— Very Eev. John Power, Administrator-
Bight Bev. John Dubol^ third Bishop of New York— Tisitation of his diocese— His
labors for the cause of edncation— Controversies with the Protestants — ^Yery Rev.
Felix Varela^Bev. Thomas C. Levins— Difflcalties with trustees— German immigra-
tion—Conversion of Bev. Maximilian CErtel— Appointment of a Coadjutor— Death of
Bishop Dubois. 888

Chap. XXV.—Dioome of New York. (1838-1866.)

Bight Bev. John Hughes, Coadjutor and then Bishop of New York— He overthrows
trosteelsm— The school question — Bishop Hughes before the Common Council— 8t
John's College— The Ladies of the Sacred Heart and Madame Oallltzin— The Re>
demptorists— The Tractarian movement, and the conversions resulting from it —
The French Church and the Bishop of Nancy— Appointment of Right Rev. John
McCloskey as Coadjutor- The Sisters of Mercy— Beorganization of the Sisters of
Charity — Division of the diocese — Brothers of the Christian Schools — Progress of
Catholicity in other parts of the diocese — ^New York erected Into an archlepiscopal
Bee— Erection of the Sees of Brooklyn and Newark — First Provincial Council of New
York— The Church Property Bill and the discussion with Senator Brooks— Bet-
rospeot 410

Obap. XXVI. — DiooESKS OF Albany, Buffalo, Brooklyn, and Newark.

Diocese of Albany— Early Catholic afTairs- Church and Mission of the Presentation at
Ogdensburg— St Begis— Chaplains at Ticonderoga and Crown Point— Bev. Mr. de la
Yailnidre and his church on Lake Champlain — Church at Albany— Early pastors —
Increase of Catholicity— Appointment of Bt. Bov. John McCloskey as first bishop—
His administration— Institutions— Religicus Orders— Jesuits— Ladies of the Sacred
Heart — Brothers of the Christian Schools.

Diocese of Buffalo — French chcplains at Fort Niagara— Early Catholic matters— Ap-
pointment of the Bt. Bev. John Timon as bishop — ^The Jesuits, Bedemptorists, Fran-
ciscans, Christian Brothers, and Ladies of the Sacred Heart— Sisters of Charity, Sis-
ters of St Joseph, Sisters of St Bridget and of Our Lady of Charity- State of the
diocese.

Diocese of Brooklyn— Catholicity on Long Island— First church in Brooklyn— Progress
— ^Bt Bev. John Loughlin first bishop — Visitation Nuns— Sisters of Charity— Sisters
of Mercy — Dominican Sisters.

t)ioce8e of Newark — Catholicity in New Jersey—Its progress— Appointment of Et Bev.
James R. Bayley, first bishop— Beton Hall 461

Ce..?. XXVIL (1853, 1864.)

Mission of the Nuncio, the Most Bev. Archbishop Bedlnl— His arrival— Plot of the
Italians— Thehr slanders— Beftitation— Death of Bassi-Beaction —Violence of the
Germans— Besult of his mission 499

Chap. XXVIII. (1854-1856.) ^

Reaction against the Catholics— Organization of the Know-Nothings 620

, Conclusion 681

APPENDIX. 589

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

IN THE UNITED STATES.

CHAPTER I.

THE EARLx INDIAN MISSIONS.

' Et. Rev.
.. 451

.. 620
.. 681
.... 589

Missions of the Norwegians In the ante>Colamblan times— Spanish missions in Florida,
New Mexico, Texas, and Oalifornia— French missions among the Indians in Maine,
New Torli, Michigan, Wisconsin, and the valley of the Mlssiii'sippL

The missionary spirit is inherent in the Catholic Church, and it
dates fix)m the moment when our Lord said to his apostles, "Go
and teach all nations." Before St. Paul had left .Asia Minor,
missionaries had already penetrated to Italy and Spain, and from
their day to our own, each succeeding age has produced her
heroes, devoting their lives to the greatest of human enterprises
— ^the conversion of souls. When the still pagan Northmen dis-
covered Iceland in the eighth century of our present era, they
found on the shore crosses, bells, and sacred vessels of Irish work-
manship. The island had therefore hien visited by Catholic
missionaries, and the Irish clergy may with justice lay claim to
the discovery of the New World.

The Northmen, after founding a colony in Iceland, pushed
their discovery westward, and soon discovered a part of the west-
ern continent, to which, from the agreeable verdure with which
it was covered, they gave the name of Greenland. When these
hardy explorers returned to Norway, they found the idols of

Jffc

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Scandinavia hurkd to the dust. The king had embraced the
true faith, and the whole people had renounced paganism. A
missionary set sail in the first vessel that steered towards the new-
found land, and ere long the little colony was Catholic. Iceland
and Greenland soon had their churches, their convents, their
bishops, their colleges, their libraries, their apcitolic men. The
explorers Beom and Leif having coasted southerly along the
Atlantic shore towards the bays where the countless spires of Bos-
ton and New York now tower, missionaries immediately ofiered
to go and preach the gospel to the savage nations of the South ;
and it is certain that in 1120 Bishop Eric visited in person Vin-
land, or the land of vines. The colonies of the Northmen on the
west coast of Greenland continued to flourish till 1406, when
the seventeenth and last Bishop of Garda was sent from Norway:
those on the eastern coast subsisted till 1540, when they were
destroyed by a physical revolution which accumulated the ice in
that zone from the 60th degree of latitude. Thus, a focus of
Christianity not only long existed in Greenland, but from it rays
of faith momentarily illumined part of Ine territory now em-
braced in the United States, to leave it sunk in darkness for some
centuries more.

But the great Columbus, by discovering another part of
America, soon drew the attention of Europe to the New World,
and the navigators of Spain, Portugal, France, and England ex-
plored it in every direction. All were animated by the same
spirit, and, despite national jealousy, actuated by the same motive.
The adventurer, the soldier, and the priest always landed together ;
and the proclamation made to the natives by the Spaniards bears
these remarkable words: " The Church : the Queen and Sovereign
of the World." The Protestant citizens of the United States
boast of the Puritan settlement in New England as the cradle
oi' their race : but long before these separatists landed at Plymouth
in 1620, and while the English settlers hugged the Atlantic shore,

|/.'n

IN THE UNITED STATES.

too indifferent to jnstruct in Christianity the Indians whose hunt-
ing grounds they had usurped, other portions of the continent,
and even of our territory, were evangelized from north to south
and from east to west. These missions are divided into three
veiy distinct classes : the Dominicans, Franciscans, and Jesuits o!
Spain share between them the south from Florida to California ;
the Recollects and Jesuits of France traverse the country in every
direction from the mouth of the St. Lawrence to the shores of the
Pacific, and from the Gulf of Mexico to Hudson's Bay ; and
finally, the English Jesuits plant the Cross for a time amid the
tribes of Maryland, during the short period of Catholic supremacy
in that colony. • ^ -. >■: -"-'• - ■

The Spaniards were the first to preach the gospel in the terri-
tory now actually comprised in the United States. Sebastian
Cabot had, indeed, under the flag of England, explored the At-
lantic shore in 1497, but Ponce de Leon was the f rst to land
with a view of conquest. From 1512, the date of the discovery
of Florida, numerous expeditions succeeded one another, and all
were attended by missionaries ; but the savage inhabitants offered
their invaders a more effectual resistance than the natives of His-
paniola or the sovereigns of Mexico. In Florida the Spaniards
met disaster after disaster, and from 1512 to 1542, Leon, Cor-
dova, Ayllon, Narvaez, and Soto, successively, with most of their
forces, perished in Florida or the valley of the Mississippi. Of
the expedition of Narvaez, Cabeza de Vaca escaped almost alone,
and after almost incredible hardship and danger, pushed through
from the Atlantic to the shores of the Pacific, thus acquiring the
glory of having first traversed North America from east to west.
He was hospitably received by the Spaniards of Mexico at their
outposts in Sonora, and there his account inflamed the zeal of
Friar Mark, of Nice, who in 1539 resolved to bear the Cross to
the inland tribes. His religious enterprise failed, but his attempt
remains as the hardiest exploration yet attempted of unknown

Wxifi

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

regions. In 1642 another expedition left Mexico, commanded by
Ooronado, and turned towards the northeast. After reaching the
head-waters of the Arkansas, he turned back to the Bio Grande,
in the present diocese of Santa F6. Here the commander re-
solved to return to Mexico, but such was not the idea of the Fran-
ciscan missionaries in his party. They had come to preach the
Gospel, and would not retreat from the field they had chosen.
They accordingly allowed their companions to depart, and while
Coronado and his soldiers resumed the route to Mexico, Father
Padilla and Brother John of the Cross prostrated themselves to
offer huihbly to God the sacrifice of their lives for the salvation of
the Indians. Their offer was accepted, and v»hile on their way to
the town of Quivira, they were both pierced with arrows, victims
of their charitable devotedness. Such are the first martyrs of the
Church in the United States, and their death is only fifty years
subsequent to. the discovery of the New World by Columbus.

After an interval of forty years, the Franciscans penetrated into
New Mexico, which now forms the diocese of Santa F6. Many
sank beneath the Indian torture, but their places were filled up by
new missionaries, and their labors resulted in the conversion of
whole tribes. Before the English had formed a single settlement,
either in Virginia or New England, all the tribes on the Rio
Grande were converted and civilized ; their towns, still remarkable
for their peculiar structure, were decorated with churches and
public edifices, which superficial travellers in our day ascribe to
the everlasting Aztecs. In the next century the incursions of the
fierce nations of the plains, the wild Apache and the daring Na-
vajo, destroyed most of these towns : the weakness of the Spanish
government allowed the ruins to extend ; but the inhabitants are
still Catholic, and are now the object of a spiritual regeneration.
New Mexico having been conquered by the United States in
1845, the Holy See was enabled to exercise jurisdiction without
embarrassment ; and a bishop — the Rt. Rev. Dr. Lamy, a French-

//.,

IN THE UNITED STATES.

man by birth — aided by several clergymen of his own land, gov-
erns the diocese of Santa F6, where he has already revived the
faith, restored discipline, and repaired many of the devastations
of years.

While the children of St. Francis of Assisi were thus in the
sixteenth century carrying on the spiritual conquest of New Mex-
ico, the Dominicans pursued their missions in Florida, though not
without constant persecution. Thej^^yg^jall to their aid the
Jesuits, then yield the field liyfTiTi FiiMtiiuiMSDwtLl these three
religious orders bedew with
embraced in the dioceses of
ardent zeal of several generati
pense, and the natives of Florida
of neophytes gathered around
works were translatted and printed in the
the Doctrina Cristiana of Parej^, in Timuquana, is the oldest
published work in any dialect of the natives of the United States.
The convent of St. Helena, in the city of St. Augustine, became
the centre whence the Franciscans spread in every direction, even
to the extremities of the peninsula and among the Appalachian
clans. The faith prospered among these tribes, and the cross
towered in every Indian village, till the increasing English colony
of Carolina brought war into these peaceful realms. In 1703 the
valley of the Appalachicola was ravaged by an armed body of cov-
etous fanatics ; the Indian towns were destroyed ; the missiona-
ries slaughtered, and their forest children, their neophytes, sharing
their fate, or, still more unfortunate, being hurried away and sold
as slaves in the English West Indies. Fifty years after, the whole
colony of Florida fell into the hands of England : the missions
were destroyed, the Indians dispersed, and St. Helena, the con-
vent whence Christianity had radiated over the peninsula, became
a barrack, and such is that venerable monastery in our own days.
Driven from their villages and fields, which the English seized,

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

I I

the unhappy Floridians were forced to wander in the wilderness
and resume the nomadic life of barbarism, from which Christi-
anity had reclaimed them. Buried in their pathless everglades,
without spiritual guides, they took the name of Seminoles, which
in their own language means Wanderers, and have gradually lost
the faith, and have become the scourge of the whites. In vain
have the English and our government since, by long and expen-
sive wars, endeavored to expel them. Under Jackson's policy,
the government attem|)ted to deport them beyond the Mississippi,
as well as most of the other tribes ; but the Seminoles, so gentle
under the paternal care of the Franciscans, had become ungovern-
able when their uncultivated nature was no longer under the
c^ieck of religion. The Florida war, which cost the United States
twenty* thousand meq^and forty million dollars, and lasted from
1835 to 1842, f,Voauced no result. The Seminoles do not num-
ber over a thousand, yet diplomacy and force, promises and
threats, alike fail to draw them from their native land. Their chief-
tain, Billy Bowlegs, is the terror of the frontier, and the Ameri-
can people held in check by a handful of Indians will thus long
atone for the iniquity of their fathers. But the restoration of the
CathoUc missions, which began with the peace of Europe in 1814,
and to the success of which the Association for the Propagation of
the Faith has so powerfully contributed, has been felt in Florida
as in the rest of the world. The Bishop of Mobile is a native of
France, and the mission of St. Augustine is in the hands of the
Fathers of Mercy, of whom Father Rauzan was the venerably
founder.

■ California, which now forms the ecclesiastical province of San
Francisco, was also evangelized in the time of the Spaniards : the
flourishing missions of the Jesuits in the peninsula of California
do not, however, fall within our limits, as they existed on a terri-
tory still subject to Mexico. .... '■'
Upper California, conquered by the United States in 1846, was

IN THE UNITED STATES.

visited by the Franciscans in 1768 ; and from that date down to
1822 they founded along the coast twenty-one missions, the chief
of which were San Diego, Monterey, and San Francisco. In
these missions the Fathers directed seventy-five thousand con-
verted Indians, providing for their clothing, food, and instruction.
But in 1825, in consequence of the revolution by which Mexico
was severed from the mother country, the Spanish missionaries
were driven from California, and the Catholic Indians were de-
prived of most of their pastors.

The same result took place in Texas, where the Franciscans
announced the Gospel at the close of the seventeenth century, and
where their noble foundations, the missions of San Antonio, San
Francisco, and a host of others, among the Adayes, the Cenis, the
Tejas, the Aes, after having been levelled by wars and revolutions,
and watered with the blood of martyrs down to the present cen-
tury, have begun to revive since the erection of Texas into a Vica-
riate Apostolic in 1842, and the subsequent establishment of the
Episcopal See of Galveston, over which the Rt. Rev. Dr. Odin
presides.

Such is a rapid sketch of the former missions in the countries
subject to the Spanish crown. The southern part of the United
States was the theatre of these holy attempts ; and we must now
pass to the North to describe those to which the Jesuits and
Recollects of France devoted their lives with such heroic zeal.
Canada had been known since the reign of Francis I., and at-
tempts at colonization had been made under Henry III. ; but it
was only under Henry IV. that permanent settlements were
formed in North America, at Quebec and Port Royal. Then the
ladies of the Court, encouraged by Father Coton, became mer-
chants and ship-owners in order to enable the missionaries se-
lected to reach those distant shores. The Marchioness de
Guercheville, who had declared herself protectress of the Indians
of New France, devoted her fortune to the work of colonization ;

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

and two Jesuits, after a short stay in Acadia, whence they were
driven by persecution, founded in 1612 the Mission of St. Saviour,
on Mount Desert Island, off the coast of Maine, and in the present
diocese of Portland. Thus at the North, no less than at the
South', Catholicity had taken possession of the American soil be-
fore the Puritans had given Protestantism a home at Boston.
England then possessed only a few scattered houses in Virginia,
whose inmates sent a fleet of fishing craft each year to Newfound-
land. As this fleet, escorted by the infamous Argal, approached
St. Saviour's and heard of its existence, they resolved to attack
the settlement. One of the missionaries was mortally wounded
by the invaders, his companions carried off as prisoners, and the
seeds of the faith which Father Biard had planted in the hearts
of the Indians were to germ only in happier times.

This harvest waited till 1646. At that time a converted Al-
gonquin from Canada having visited the Abenakis, a tribe occu-
pying the present State of Maine, these latter suddenly found
themselves touched by grace, and a deputation of their principal
chiefs set out for Quebec to beg most earnestly for a Blackgown.
Father Druillettes was sent to them, and his labors, followed by
those of the two Bigots, La Chasse, Loyard, Sirenne, and Aubry,
of the Society of Jesus, and Thury and Gaulin, of the Seminary
of Quebec, effected the conversion of the powerful tribe of the
Abenakis, or Taranteens, as. the early English settlers called them.
The mission long maintained its zeal and fervor, and the Indians
on all occasions acted as brave and faithful allies of France. But
when Acadia was lost, the English in Massachusetts pursued with
cruel vengeance the red man's attachment to Catholicity and
France. Expedition after expedition spread fire and death through
the villages of the Abenakis ; the missionaries were driven out or
slain, the churches destroyed, and the Indians deprived of all the
consolations of the faith. Yet they had been too well grounded
in Catholicity to waver : they remained tnie to the faith, and

„ ■ AM%m t »J^ tli6f ati M l t k i ty mi ^

IN THE UNITED STATES.

joining the Americans in their revolution, immediately petitioned
for a French priest. Down to our day they have resisted the
preachers of Protestantism, and the remnants of this powerful
tribe, who still occupy five villages in Canada and Maine, are all
Catholics, as their forefathers have been for two centuries.

After Maine, the country now embraced in the State of New
York was first visited by our missionaries. This territory was in-
habited by the celebrated confederation of the Five Nations or
Iroquois, who waged a perpetual war with the Hurons of Canada.
The Hurons, many of whom had embraced the true faith, beheld
the inveterate hatred of their enemies redoubled; and after a
struggle of twenty-five years, from 1626 to 1650, after cutting off
nine Jesuits, the Iroquois could boast of having destroyed the
Hurons. Father Jogues, taken captive by the Mohawks and led
to their castles, was the first missionary who bore the Gospel to
the State of New York, then a Dutch colony. After remaining
a prisoner for fifteen months, subjected to the most cruel torture,
Father Jogues was delivered by the Dutch, and sent home to
France. But the mutilated hero at once asked to be sent back to
his Indians, and had no sooner entered their castles, in 1646, than
he was cut down by a tomahawk. Such a fate could not, how-
ever, dismay the associates of Jogues, and soon after. Father Le
Moine, in his turn, braved the cruelty of the Five Nations. After
many vicissitudes, after trials of every kind, the Jesuits at last
touched the breast of the Iroquois, and founded a church glorious
in the annals of Christianity, — a church with its apostles, its mar-
tyrs, its holy virgins, — a church which even in our day has been
the instrument of converting the distant tribes of Oregon. All
these wonders were achieved in the short period of eighteen years,
for after that the English succeeded in exciting the pagan Indians
against the missionaries, whom they expelled from the cantons of
the Iroquois. Fortunately, however, the Catholic Indians had
already begun to emigrate to the Catholic colony of Canada.

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

The mission at Oaughnawaga, on the Mohawk, had been the
most-flourishing of all ; and this was not surprising : it occupied
the spot which had been bedewed with the blood of Father Jogues
and his companions, Goupil and Lalande. Harassed in the
practice of their religion, the Catholics of Oaughnawaga, led by
their great chieftain, resolved to emigrate to Canada, and these
pilgrims for the faith founded near Montreal a new Oaughnawaga,
•which still exists. The once powerful league of the Iroquois has
disappeared from the territory of New York. Protestaut civiliza-
tion destroyed or expelled them, to seize their forests and hunting
grounds. But the descendants of the pilgrims of 1672 have pre-
served in Canada their nationality and their faith, under the pro-
tecting shadow of the Cross. Three Iroquois villages exist in that
colony, one containing about two thousand souls, and furnish
striking proof of the solicitude of the Church for the salvation of
the human race.

Other parts in the interior of the United States, west of the
English colonies, on the shores of the Atlantic, were in like man-
ner visited by missionaries from France, and the first nucleus of a
settlement in many States, as Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan,
Wisconsin, gathered around the humble chapel of the Jesuit mis-
sionary.

Protestant writers have done justice to the wonderful fecundity
o{ a religion which covered a whole continent with its missiona-
ries ; and Bancroft, after giving a magnificent picture of the labors
of the Jesuits, whose early exploration of the wilderness, even in
a scientific and commercial view, must win the admiration of all,
adds : " Thus did the religious zeal of the French bear the Cross
to the banks of the St. Mary and the confines of Lake Superior,
and look wistfully towards the homes of the Sioux in the valley
of the Mississippi, five years before the New England Eliot had
addressed the tribe of Indians that dwelt witlun six miles of
Boston harbor."

M<qn^iHIMAMtli«MilUii^UM

^»

IN THE UNITED STATES.

Eliot was a Protestant minister, almost the only one who de-
voted himself to evangelize the Indians of New England, and from
the lips of the American author, this contrast between the wide-
spread missions of the Jesuits in 1640, and the labors of Eliot
near Boston, is a striking homage to Catholicity. In 1661 Father
Monard projected a mission among the Sioux, west of Lake Su-
perior, but perished amid the forests in what is now the Vicariate
Apostolic of Upper Michigan. Father Allouez soon took up the
labors of Menard, and all the country around the great lakes,
Iluron, Michigan, and Superior, echoed to the preaching of the
Jesuits. Sault St. Mary's, Mackinaw, and Green Bay were the
centres of these missions, which still subsist, and tbo traveller who
stops at one of the rising towns of the northern Mississippi, will
hear the priest address his congregation alternately in French,
English, }ind some Indian dialect.

Scarcely were the Jesuits thus established in the country of the
great lakes, when they resolved to evangelize the whole valley of
the Mississippi. Father Marquette planted the Cross amid the
Illinois, after having had in 16*73 the glory of discovering and
exploring the Mississippi. For two months he sailed down the
river in his bark canoe, and the narrative of his extraordinary
voyage, revealing to the world the fact that the St. Lawrence
could communicate with the Gulf of Mexico, by an almost unin-
terrupted chain of lakes, rivers, and streams, gave France the first
idea of colonizing Louisiana. The Mississippi valley soon beheld
missions rise among the Illinois, Miarais, Yazoos, Arkansas, Nat-
chez, and other tribes. Jesuits, Recollects, and Priests of the
Foreign Missions, here shared the rude toil of converting the In-
dians, and the French missions of North America thus mingle
and blend with those of the Spiaiards at the South. But after a
century of preaching, all th^ae laborious toils are compromised by
the loss of Canada and the suppression of the Society of Jesus,
Many flocks were then deprived of pastors. Not only the Indian

\ 1

M THE OATHOLIO CHURCH

converts, but even the French settlers were left destitute of priests,
abandoned to the seductions of error or the ravages of indiffer-
ence, till at last Providence used the dispersion of the Fri^nch
clergy, in the Reign of Terror, to send to America missiounnes,
and build up anew the church whose consoling progress we have
undertaken to recount

Having thus glanced at the early Spanish and French missions,
we have now to chronicle the labors of the English Jesuits in
Maryland.*

CHAPTER II.

THE COLONIAL OHUKCH.
Hvyland— Settled by OathoUoa— Tbeir perseoadon— Their emsnoipation— 1634-1774

Wk have briefly sketched tbo early evangelical labors of the
Spanish and French missionaries on the domain which now con-
stitutes the United States. A third nation came in its turn to
contribute by its holy souls to the Apostolates of the American
continent, and the Jesuits of England share in the settlement of
Maryland. The first English colonies in America each introduced
a new creed. In 1607 Captain John Smith and some Episcopa-
lians founded Virginia ; in 1620 the Separatists landed at Ply-
mouth, and laid the foundations of New England' ; in 1684 the
Quakers, under the patronage o^ William Penn. took ; "^; <>ssion
of Pennsylvania ; while in 1634 the Catholics laia the comer-stone

* MuoU of the preceding was drawn from a lecture of Mr. John G. Shea
deliveiv ' in 1852, before the Catholio Institute of New York, the basis of his
well-kncx a^id ekborate History of the Catholio Missions among the Indian
tribes ;:f fbt. 'aited S*:ate8.

J53=

IN THE T'NITKD STATES.

of the present State of Maryland, which received it« name from
Hooriette Marie, the unfortunate .jneen, daughter of Henri Quatre
and wife of Charles I * But ^hat land I 'd been already bedewed
with martyr blood, as thougli I'rovidence had ordained that it
should be stamped with the seal of *\\q true faith bet< r. any
Protestant sect had transplanted its errors there. As early as
1670 the Jesuits, who were laboring on the missions in Florida,
tw u d heir attention to a country far to the north of theni, at
ihc 6?ti, degree of north latitude, and known to the nativ«« by
tVo narat) of Axacan. The Spanish nAvigators who had firet ex-
pi( >red the coast, had brought away the son of a cacique, who waa
adopted by the missionaries as a future means of enabling the
Gospel to penetrate to his tribe.

The young Indian, gifted with rare talents, soon seem* 1 to
embrace the truths of the faith with ardor, and ere long, bapnzed
under the name of Don Luis de Velascos, Lord of Vasalloa, ho
offered to lead the Jesuits to the kingdom of Axacan. H w
could the missionaries resist the hope of converting a savage peo
pie to the faith ?

Accordingly the offer of the young cacique was cheerfully ac-
cepted, and eight Jesuits, under the direction of Father Segura,
Vice-provincial of Florida, embarked in a small craft, which
landed them on the shores of Chesapeake Bay, then known to
the Spaniards by the name of St. Mary's. This bay now bathes
the shores of the States of Maryland and Virginia, and by a sin-
gular coincidence the names of Virgin and Mary, given in mem-
ory of two queens, will ever be a memorial of its earlier consecra-
tion to Mary, the Mother of G-od.

The missionaries landed, accompanied by some Indian boys,
who had been educated in their school in Havana. They pene-

* Philarete Chasles, iij his " Essay on the Anglo-Americans," says that
Maryland was so called in honor of Mary Tudor. This is an error: Queen
Mary had beer flead sixty-six years before the grant to Lord Baltimore.

THE CATHOLid CHURCH

trated into the interior, guided by Vasallos, and after a painful
march of several months, they approached the realm of Axacan.
At last their guide started on, in order, as he said, to prepare his
tribe to receive the missionaries. But after forsaking the Jesuits
amid the trackless forests, where they endured all the horrors of
famine, the traitor returned at the head of a party of armed men,
and butchered his benefactors at the foot of a rustic altar, where
they had daily oflFered the holy sacrifice for the salvation of his
tribe. The blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians, and such
is the first triumph of the faith on the banks of the Chesapeake.*

After Father Segura, Father White is the first who came to
labor for the conversion of these native tribes. Sir George Cal-
vert was in 1624 a member of the privy council of James I.,
when the sight of the persecutions employed against the Catho-
lics touched the loyal and religious heart of the English lord. He
abjured Anglicanism, and, informing his sovereign of the step, re-
signed all his posts. James resolved to retain the services of so
conscientious a man. He made him a peer of Ireland, with the
title of Lord Baltimore, and granted him a considerable portion
of Newfoundland, which he encouraged him to settle. Calvert
devoted a part of his fortune to fruitless attempts on that island.
He then directed his attention to Virginia, where a more genial
climate gave him hopes of a prosperous settlement.

But sailing there, he was called upon to take the test oath of
the supremacy of the king in matters of faith, and he left the
country rather than betray his conscience. Then it was that Lord
Baltimore solicited a charter which would permit the Catholics
to practise their worship undisturbed in one spot on the shores of
America. His request was granted, and Maryland was ceded to
him, subject only to the yearly homage of two Indian arrows and
the payment into the royal exchequer of one fifth of the gold

* Shea's Lecture.

i I

.i^

IN THE UNITED STATES.

and silver drawn from the mines. Lord Baltimore died in 1632,
at the very moment when this charter was issuing. His eldest
son, Cecil Calvert, inherited his rights, but he had not 'the energy
to direct the expedition in person, and to Leonard Calvert, second
son of Lord George, is due the honor of having founded Maryland.

On the 25th of March, 1634, two hundred English families,
chiefly Catholic, flying from the persecution of the mother coun-
try, entered the Potomac in two little vessels, the Ark and Dove.
It was Lady-day, and the settlers wished to celebrate it duly by
liearing Mass. They accordingly landed, and Father White, in
his relation of the voyage, thus gives an account of the ceremony :*

" On the day of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
we offered for the first time in this region of the world the sacri-
fice of the Mass. The sacrifice being ended, we took ou our
shoulders a huge cross which we had hewn from a tree, and car-
lied it in procession to a place marked out for it, the governor,
commissioners, and other Catholics bearing a part in the cere-
mony. We raised it a trophy to Christ the Saviour, humbly
chanting on bended knees and with deep emotion the Litany of
the Cross."

Father White was born at London about 15*79, and received
his education in the College of Douay, founded, in 1568 by the
celebrated Cardinal Allen in order to train up priests for the Eng-
lish mission. At the age of twenty-five he received orders, and
wfw immediately sent to London to exercise the ministry there in
secrecy, as the penal laws then required. He could not, however,
escape the keen search of the pursuivants. In 1602 we find him
included with forty-six other priests in a sentence of perpetual
banishment. Forced thus to return to the continent. Father
White resolved to enter the Society of Jesus, and after making a

* " Relatio Itinerie," by Father Andrew White, copied ftt BomV by Father
M'Sherry, 8. J., and published in Force's Tracts, and in pwt in Burnnp'a

Life of Calvert, p. 58

r-rvfv^f^^ '^fi jv> -^-^^^

wi^^

,, ^

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

novitiate of two years at Louvain, obtained permission to return
to England. Amid the most heroic labors of that illustrious or-
der, we may cite the unwearied devotion of the English Jesuits in
favor of their persecuted countrymen. For two centuries they
devoted themselves to the perilous labors of the holy ministry in
England, braving chains and death ; while, at the same time, by
opening colleges in diflferent parts of Europe, they baffled the
rigors of Protestant legislation, which had pitilessly closed every
source of Catholic education in the three kingdoms.

The English Jesuits had in 1690 obtained of the liberality of
Philip II. of Spain the foundation of a college at St. Omer's, and
some years later they opened the college of Liege in the domains
of the Elector of Bavaria. At the same time, they established in
Spain for English postulants the Novitiate of Valladolid and the
Scholasticate of Sfc, Ermenegild near Seville. To this latter house
Father White was sent, after having spent ten years on the Lon-
don mission. The quiet duties of a professor's chair did not,
however, satisfy his ardent zeal, and he soon obtained permission
to retun)i for the third time to England. Lord Baltimore no
sooner knew him than he determined, if possible, to intrust him
with the spiritual care of his Maryland settlers. The Society of
Jesus eagerly seconded the pious views of the English nobleman ;
nor, indeed, could it refuse to concur in a work which promised
such an extension to the bounds of the Church. To Father
White were associated Father John Altham, known ou the mis-
sion by the name of Grovener,* and two lay brothers. Scarcely
had they landed on the shores of the Potomac when the com-

* Cretineau Joly, in his Histoire de la Compagnie de Jesus, supposes a
Father Altham and a Fatlier Grovener (iii. 850), but from an article of the
late B. U. Campbell, Esq., in the Catholic Almanac for 1841, it is dear that
under the two names we must reckon only one Jesuit. The missionaries of
that time, in order to elude the persecution of Anglicans, often took succes-
sively several names as several disguises. This was ^lecessary to preserve
to the Catholics of England the services of their Fathers and pastors.

r— — •'

.!l.,.-JI]lll|IWWlBMi<IW

'^i^'-

IN THE UNITED STATES.

panions of Leonard Calvert founded the little town of St. Mary's ;
and the largest cabin of an Indian tribe, ceded to the missiona-
ries, became the first chapel of Maryland.

The Fathers at once divided their time between the European
colonists and the Indian tribes whose eyes they had vowed to
open to the light of the Gospel. The former constituted a con-
gregation remarkable for their piety and morality, so that many of
the Protestants who landed in 1634 and 1638 became Catholics.
"The Relation" of 1638, addressed to the General at Rome, con-
tains these words :

" The religious exercises are followed with exactness, and the
sacraments are well frequented. By the spiritual exercises we have
formed the principal inhabitants to the practice of piety, and they
have derived signal benefits from them. The sick and dying, whose
number has been considerable this year, have all been attended, in
spite of the great distance of their dwellings, so that not a Catholic
died without having received the benefit of the sacraments."

On his side Father White, notwithstanding his advanced age
I (he was then fifty-five), took upon him the hard task of learning
the language of the Indians. From the first the welcome of the
[natives had been cordial. In his intercourse with them Leonard
[Calvert had always shown the greatest loyalty, and the Maryland
Ihistorian* says on this subject :

" During the remainder of the year, while the English and In-

lians lived together in St. Mary's, according to their stipulation,

le utmost harmony appears to have prevailed among them. The

iatives went every day to hunt with the ' new-comers' for deer

id turkeys, which, when they had caught, being more expert at
It, they either gave to the English or sold for knives, beads, and
such trifles. They also supplied them with fish in plenty. As a
Bertain mark of the entire confidence which these unsuspecting

* Boztnan's Maryland, ii. 81.

•<:::■'-.

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

people placed in the colonists, their women and children became,
in some measure, domesticated in the English families."

The gentle and even innocent life of the Indians disposed them
favorably to receive the Gospel. Father White accordingly, on
his first visit to the Patuxents, made some converts. In 1639
Father Brock, just arrived from England, resided amidst them on
a strip of land given him by King Mackaquomen, and Father
Altham was stationed on Kent Island. In the ardor of his char-
ity, Father Brock, in 1641, wrote :

" For my own part, I would rather, laboring in the conversion
of these Indians, expire on the bare ground, deprived of all hu-
man succor, and perishing with hunger, than once think of aban-
doning this holy work of God from the fear of want."

These noble words were his testament, and a few weeks later
Father Brock breathed his last, exhausted by hardship and priva-
tions.

Father White had in 1639 taken up his station among the
Piscataways, who resided near the present city of Washington ;
and ere long he had the consolation of baptizing King Chiloma-
con, his family, and a part of his tribe. The young queen of the
Potopacos, and the chief men of the tribe, followed this example,
80 that the neophytes numbered one hundred and thirty. The
settlers at St. Mary's had meanwhile built a suitable church, in
which one of the Fathers ministered. The missionaries, entirely
devoted to their religious duties, constantly refused to take any.
part in the political organization of the colony, and as they had
been invited to sit in the first legislature of Maryland, " desired to
be excused from giving voices in this assembly."* Such is the
striking testimony given by a Protestant author, little as it may
tally with the heated accusations of the many writers who inces-
santly complain of Jesuit ambition.

* Bozman's Maryland, vol. i. p. 88. The precise terms of the minutes ot
the Assembly, Jan. 25, 1687, preserved in the nrohives at Annapolis.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

jed them
ingly, on
In 1639
them on
i Father
his char-

mversion

f all hu-

of aban-

eks later
Qd priva-

long the
hington ;
Chiloma-
sn of the
example,
The
lurch, in

entirely
ake any.

ley had
esired to

1 is the
8 it niav

10 inces-

This resolution not to interfere in politics made them helpless
to stem the religious persecution which was soon to drive them
fi'om the arena of their religious labors. Misled by an idea more
generous than prudent, Lord Baltimore had openly proclaimed
the liberty of Christian worship in his domain of Maryland ; and
this first example of toleration, " at a time when, in fact, tolera-
tion was not considered in any part of the Protestant world to be
due to Roman Catholics,"* when, in fact, every Protestant gov-
ernment in Europe, and even the other English colonies in Amer-
ica, exercised the most inhuman intolerance on the Catholics, has
been extolled with enthusiasm by American authors :

"Upon the 2Yth day of March, 1634," says Bancroft, "the
Catholics took quiet possession of the little place, and religious
liberty obtained a home, its only home in the wide world, at the
humble village which bore the name of St. Mary's."f

McMahon, the historian of Maryland, also says :

" Yet, while we would avoid all invidious contrasts, and forget
the stem spirit of the Puritan, ^vhich so frequently mistook reli-
gious intolerance for holy zeal, we can turn with exultation to the
Pilgrims of Maryland as the founders of religious hberty in the
New World. They erected the first altar to it on this continent,
and the fires first kindled on it ascended to heaven amid the
blessings of the savage."J

This toleration was, however, only partial ; for to gain entrance
to Lord Baltimore's vast domains it was necessary to believe in
the divinity of Christ. But if, even with this restriction, the con-
duct of the founders of Maryland is the object of so much eulogy
in America, we must claim our right to hesitate in joining in it.
That the partisans of free examination should refuse to hinder the
introduction of a new worship is a necessary consequence of their

inutea of
is.

* Rev. Dr. Baird, in his *» Religion in America," p. 62.
+ Bancroft's History of the United States, i. 347.
X McMiihon's Maryland, 198— note.

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

principles. But when a State hns the happiness of possessing
unity of religion, and that religion the truth, we cannot conceive
how the government can facilitate the division of creeds. Lord
Baltimore had seen too well how the English Catholics were
crushed by the Protestants, as soon as they were the strongest
and most numerous; he should then have foreseen that it would
be so in Maryland, so that the English Catholics, instead of find-
ing liberty in America, only changed their bondage. Instead,
then, of admiring the liberality of Lord Baltimore, we prefer to
believe that he obtained his charter from Charles L, only on the
formal condition of admitting Protestants on an equal footing
with Catholics.

The Jesuits, devotmg themselves, as we have seen, to the salva-
tion of the red men, as well as of the colonists, were not unaided in
their work of love. In 1643 two Capuchin Fathers, sent out on
the recommendation of the Congregation " de propaganda fide,"
arrived to join the devoted followers of St. Ignatius."*

Ten years had scarcely elapsed after the landing of Leonard
Calvert when the Protestants of Maryland were already in open
insurrection against the Catholics and their governor. The Jesu-

* This fact ia mentioned by Henrion in his History of Catholic Missions,
i. 685, on the authority of the *' Present State of the Church in all parts of
the World, by Urban Cerri," page 282. After an account of the Jesuit mis-
sion, this author states at the same time the General of the Capuchins, ou
the recommendation of the Congregation ** de {Propaganda fide," sent several
French and English Capuchins to Virginia, undet which name the Italian
author includes all the English colonies in North America. He adds, too,
that the mission was restored in 1650, at the request of the queen dowager
of England, but that it was subsequently abandoned."

The Narrative of Father White, published by Force in his Historical
Tracts, iv. 47, says, under the date of 1648, "Two Fathers of the order of
St. Francis, sent from England the year before, have entered into a portion
of the labors and harvest, between whom and us offices of kindness are mu-
tually observed for the common prosperity of the Catholic cause."

Hennepin, the Flemish Recollect, twice in his " New Discovery" (Edn.
1698), at pages 59 and 281, alludes to the labors of English Franciscans in
Maryland.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

its were seized and sent off, loaded with irons, to England, where
they were confined in prisons for several years. In 1648 Father
Fisher succeeded in returning to Maryland, and immediately on
his return wrote to Rome —

•' By the singular providence of God, I found my flock collected
together, after they had been scattered for three long years ; and
they were really in more flourishing circumstances than those
who had oppressed and plundered them ; with what joy they re-
ceived me, and with what delight I met them, it would be impos-
sible to describe, but they received me as an angel of God. I
have now been with them a fortnight, and am preparing for the
painful separation ; for the Indians summon me to their aid, and
they have been ill-treated by the enemy since I was torn from
them. I hardly know what to do, but I cannot attend to all.
God grant that I may do his will for the greater glory of his
name. Truly flowers appear in our land : may they attain to
fruit."*

Father Andrew White, despite his earnest desire, had not the
happiness of returning to America. After many years' confine-
ment he was banished from England, but by his Superior's orders
at once returned again, braving the rigor of the penal laws against
missionaries. He devoted the closing years of his life to the same
ministry in which he had spent his youth, and the Apostle of
Maryland died at London in 166*7, one of the holiest members of
an order which has produced so many saints.

Meanwhile his fellow religious maintained their ground in
America, amid the constant disorders in which the colony lan-
guished, and for more than a century the English Jesuits, in un-
interrupted succession, kept alive the faith of the settlers amid

* Letter cited by the late B. U. Campbell, Esq., in hia " Historical Sketch
of the Early Christian Missions among the Indians of Maryland," from which
and from whose " Life of Archbishop Carroll" we derive much of these chap-
ters, as will be evident to all American readers.

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

the persecutions of which they were the victims, and of which we
cannot omit some account.

The Catholics had already been persecuted, but they did not
learn to persecute. Composing a majority in the Assembly of
1649, they passed the famous "Act concerning religion," which
provided that "no person whatsoever, professing to believe in
Jesus Christ, shall be molested for or in respect of his or her re-
ligion, or the free exercise thereof."* Yet their conduct was
scorned, their example not followed.

In 1664 the Provincial Assembly deprived Catholics of their
civil rights, and decreed that liberty of conscience should not ex-
tend to "popery, prelacy, or licentiousness of opinion," an act
which has drawn from the historian Bancroft this reflection : "The
Puritans had neither the gratitude to respect the rights of the
government, by which they had been received and fostered, nor
magnanimity to continue the toleration to which alone they were
indebted for their residence in the colony ."f

In 1692 the Assembly established the Anglican Church
throughout the colony of Maryland, dividing the counties into
parishes, and imposing a tax on citizens of every denomination
for the support of the Protestant clergy. While the Catholics
were masters of the government, they had made no such exaction
for the support of their missionaries. The Jesuits received con-
cessions of land on the same terms as other colonists, but all was
voluntary in the offerings of the faithful ; and now Catholics were
compelled to pay for the support of a creed which persecuted
them.

In 1704 a new law, entitled "An act to prevent the increase of
Popery in the Province," prohibited all bishops and priests from
saying Mass, exercising the spiritual functions of their ministry,
or endeavoring to gain converts ; it also forbid Catholics to teach,

* See this elaborately proved in Davis's Day-star. Scribner, 1856.
t Bancroft, i. 261.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

jase of

i from

listry,

teach,

and enabled a Catholic child, by bocoming a Protestant, to exB"*
from its Catholic parents its proportion of his property, as thoug..
they were dead. Catholics were, however, permitted to hear
Mass in their own families and on their own grounds, and only
by this exception could the Catholic worship be practised in Ma-
ryland for seventy years.

The property of the Jesuits rested on the compact between
Lord Baltimore and the colonists, entitled " Conditions of Planta-
tion," by which every colonist settling with five able-bodied labor-
ers was entitled to two thousand acres of land at a moderate rate.
Moreover, the Indian kings whom they had converted, had made
gratuitous concessions of land to the Church.

According to the law, the Jesuits could exercise the ministry
only in their own house and for their own servants ; and the size
of the chapels corresponded to this ostensible design, and they
were always connected with the house. Of course, however, the
Catholics eluded the letter of the law, and these houses became
the sole refuge of religion in Maryland.

In 1706 an act authorized the meetings of the Quakers, so that
in a colony founded by Catholics, Catholics were the only victims
of the intolerance of the dominant party. During the following
years successive laws deprived them of the elective franchise, un-
less they took the test oath and renounced their faith. The
executive power, too, often arbitrarily issued proclamations, by its
own authority, " to take children from the pernicious influence of
Catholic parents," and the Assembly voted that Papists should
pay double the tax levied on Protestants. The animosity against
Catholics at last became such that they were forbidden to appear
in certain parts of the towns, and they were in a manner shut up
in a sort of Ghetto.

Many of the Catholics now sought to escape this oppression,
and Charles Carroll, father of the future Bishop of Baltimore,
sailed to France in 1762 to negotiate for the emignation of all the

THE Ca.'HOLIC church

Maryland Catholics to Louisiana. For this purpose he had sev-
eral interviews with the ministry of Louis XV., in order to con-
vince them of the immense resources of the valley of the Missis-
sippi ; but the government which abandoned Canada to England,
and sold Louisiana to Spain, was not able to appreciate the fore-
cast of Carroll, and his offers were rejected.

During all this period of oppression the Catholics of Maryland,
with rare exceptions, remained faithful to the Church, and as
their missionaries afforded them means of Catholic education,
many of the younger members, to pursue more extensive studies,
crossed the ocean. Many of both sexes in France and Belgium
entered religious orders ; some returning as Jesuit Fathers to re-
pay the care bestowed on themselves ; others, by their prayers m
silent cloisters, obtaining graces and spiritual blessings for their
distant Maryland. Of the Jesuits who labored in Maryland prior
to the Revolution, a great many were natives of the province, and
we find others on the mission in England.

The penal laws prevented any emigration of Catholics to Mary-
land, and indeed the only accession to their numbers which the
faithful in Maryland received from abroad, was !i number of
Acadians, who, after beholding the devastation of their happy
homes on the Bay of Fundy, were torn from their native shores in
1*766, and thrown destitute on the coast of the vaiious colonies.
Those who were set asiiore in Maryland seem to have been more
happy than most of their suffering countrymen. For a considera-
ble period they enjoyed the presence of a priest — the Rev. Mr.
Leclerc — and raised a church on a hill outside of Baltimore.
On the departure of this excellent man, who left them vestments
and altar plate, these Acadians had to rely on the occasional
visits of the Jesuit Fathers.*

Meanwhile the Anglican clergy in Maryland, fattening on their

* Robin, NouTeau Voyage, p. 98.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

tithes, lived in plenty and disorder amid their slaves, without in
the least troubling their minds about preaching to their flocks.
So notorious is this disorderly conduct of the colonial clergy, that
the Protestant Bishop of Maryland, a few years since, exclaimed :
" Often as I hear and read authentic evidence of the character of
a large proportion of the clergy in the province of Maryland, two
generations since, I am struck with wonder that God spared a
church 80 universally corrupt, and did not utterly remove its can-
dlestick out of its place."*

As a contrast, we give the following address of the legislature
to the Governor of Maryland, on the 16th of March, 1697 :

" On the complaint of a minister of the Church of England,
that the Popish priests in Charles county do, of their own accord,
in this violent and raging mortality in that county, make it their
business to go up and down the county to persons* houses, when
dying and frantic, and endeavor to seduce and make proselytes of
them, and in such condition boldly presume to administer the
sacraments to them: We humbly entreat your excellency to
issue your proclamation to restrain and prohibit such their ex-
travagant and presumptuous behavior."f

Thus the wide diflFerence between a ministry of tnith and a
ministry of error, appeared in Maryland as elsewhere, the former
devoting life in the service of their neighbor, the latter only think-
ing of the enjoyments of life.

This degradation of the Anglican clergy at last sapped all their
authority, and the feelings of the Protestants towards their Cath-
olic countrymen began gradually to change. When discontent
with the mother country awakened ideas of an insurrection
throughout the colonies, it became important to conciliate the
Catholics ; and both parties, whigs and tories, vied with each

* Campbell's Life of Archbishop Carroll— in U. S. Catholic Magazine,
iii. 99.
t Campbell, ed. iii. 40.

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

other in emancipating thera. The convention in 1774 made the
following appeal to the people :

" As our opposition to the settled plan of the Bridsh adminis-
tration to enslave America will be strengthened by a union of all
ranks of men within this province, we do most earnestly recom-
mend that all former differences about religion or politics, and all
private animosities and quarrels of every kind, from henceforth
cease, and be forever buried in oblivion ; and we entreat, we con-
jure every man by his duty to God, his country, and his posterity,
cordially to unite in defence of our common rights and liberties."

The act emancipating the Catholics of Maryland followed close
on this appeal ; but, as we have seen, it was wrested from the
party in power by the critical position of affairs, and did not
spring from any noble motive. This should never be forgotten
when Protestants boast of the toleration which they allow the
Church in the United States.*

CHAPTER III.

IHE CHURCH IN THK REPUBLIC.

MaryUnd— Father John Carroll— How the United State* granted liberty of conscience
to the Catholics— Mission of Father Carroll to Canada.

The persecution of the Catholics had ceased in Maryland with
the necessity of conciliating them in the struggle for indepen-
dence ; and the Declaration of Rights voted by that province in
1776, by Article 33, granted them full toleration and religious

* Cretineau Joly's account in his Hiatory of the Society of Jesus is quite
inaccurate. Henrion, " Ilistolre dos Missions Catholiques," is more briet
and more exact.

IV THE UNITED STATES.

equality. At the moment when Catholics thus obtained a tardy
justice, there were in the whole extent of Maryland twenty Jesuits,
or rather ex- Jesuits, tor the society had been suppressed some
years before. But tl o Fathers continued to live, as far as possi-
ble, in the same way as though their order subsisted in all its
perfection ; and as their Superior at the time of the suppression,
Father Lewis was at the same time Vicar-general of the Vicar-
apostolic of the London District, which gave him authority over
all the Catholic clergy in the United States, the missionaries con-
tinued to regard him as their head. They accordingly recognized
his right to receive the revenues of the society's property and di-
vide it among the Fathers for their support.

The first effect of the emancipation of the Catholics was the
erection of churches in the towns, whereas till then there had
only been chapels in the rural districts, on the plantations or farms
possessed by the Jesuits. Thus, in 1774, Baltimore was only a
station visited once a month by a Father from the farm at White
Marsh. Mass was said in a room in the presence of some forty
Catholics, mostly French people, who had been barbarously and
treacherously dragged off from Acadia or Nova Scotia in 1766.
The priest took with him his vestments and altar plate, for the
city where nine councils have since been held, did not then pos-
sess even a chalice 1 Father John Carroll was at this time on a
farm belonging to his family at Rock Creek, ten miles from the
present city of Washington. He visited the Catholics for many
miles around, and as he became the first Bishop of Baltimore and
of the Union, we shall give a short sketch of his life.

John Carroll was born in 1735, at Upper Marlborough in Ma-
ryland. His father, Daniel Carroll, a native of Ireland, had pre-
ferred the confiscation of his property to a renunciation of his
faith. His mother, Eleanora Damall, was the daughter of a rich
Maryland planter, who had secured her a viery careful education
in a French convent. She availed herself of it to direct in person

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

the tuition of her son till he had to go to college. The laws
8trict)'y prohibited Catholics from having schools, but the Jesuits
had eluded this prohibition, and established a school at Bohemia
Manor. In this secluded house they received as many as forty
scholars at a time. Young Carroll attended this school for some
years, and in 1748 set out for France, in order to finish his studies
with the Fathers at St. Omers. There he resolved to enter a
society, so identified with the existence of Catholicity in Maryland,
and after long years of novitiate and study at Watten and Liege,
he was ordained in 1759 and took his last vows in 1771.

The following year. Father Carroll travelled over many parts of
Europe as tutor of the son of Lord Stourton ; and in 1773 re-
paired to Bruges, where the English Jesuits had gathered on the
confiscation of St. Omera and of Watten, by a decree of the Par-
Uament of Paris, issued in August, 1762.

In this city the Bull reached him, which, under the title of
" Dominus ac Redemptor," supprepsed the Society of Jesus. He
then retired to England, where he became chaplain to Lord Arun-
del; but this life did not suit his taste, and in 1774 he returned
to Maryland to devote himself to the care of his Catholic country-
men.

Father John Carroll found the thirteen American colonies pre-
luding the energetic struggle which was to terminate in their in-
dependence. His liveliest sympathies were for the Revolutionaiy
cause, for he saw that it had begun in Maryland by the . emanci-
pation of the Catholics, and there was ground for hope that the
other States would gradually follow the example.

It is generally believed that the United States as a government
proclaimed liberty of worship from the time of the Confederation,
and that this fundamental principle is an integral part of the
Constitution which binds the several States together. It was not
80. Religious questions have at all times been considered as
questions of interior administration, falling within the jurisdiction

IN THE UNITED STATES.

The laws
the Jesuits
t Bohemia
y as forty
)1 for some
his studies
to enter a

Maryland,
and Liege,

,ny parts of
a 1773 re-
red on the
)f the Par-

the title of
Jesus. Ho
Lord Arun-
e returned
ic country-

onies pre-
n their in-
/^olutionaiy
le . emanci-
e that the

ovemment
federation,
►art of the
It was not
isidered as
urisdicdon

of the several States, and the only mention made of religion in
the Constitution of the United States is the third section of Article
VI. : " No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification
to any office or public trust under the United States ;" and one
of the amendments subsequently passed, which says, " Congress
shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or pro-
hibiting the free exercise thereof." As the historian of Maryland
justly observes, " It is possible that instances may occur where
this amendment to the Constitution may be of some use ; but as
Congress seldom has occasion to legislate on subjects of religion,
the oppression of individuals in the enjoyment of their religious
as well as civil rights, is most generally to be apprehended from
the State governments."* And, in fuct, the provisions of the
Constitution did not prevent the several States from passing laws
to establish or prohibit any religion, in their discretion. Still, as
we have said, the original thirteen States, one after another,
granted to the Catholics liberty of conscience, but many of them
long refused the Catholics civil and political rights. Thus, it is
only since 1806 that Catholics, to hold office in the State of New
York, have been dispensed with a solemn abjuration of all obe-
dience to a foreign ecclesiastical power. Down to January 1, 1 836,
to be an elector and eligible in the State of North Carolina, it was
necessary to swear to a belief in the truth of the Protestant reli-
gion. In New Jersey, a clause excluding Catholics from all offices
was abolished only in 1844. And even now, eighty years after
the Declaration of Independence, the State of New Hampshire
still excludes Catholics from eveiy office, stubbornly resisting all
the petitions presented for a removal of this stigma from their
statute-book.

As to the States founded on territory ceded by France or Spain,
such as Louisiana, Floiida, Michigan, Indiana, or severed from

* Bozman'a Maryland, i. 291.

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Mejdco, like Texas and California, the Catholics, original proprie-
tors of the soil, obtained, by the act of cession, the free enjoyment
of their worship ; and there is on the side of Protestantism mere
justice, but no generosity, in keeping the faith of treaties.

Hear, too, how Bishop Carroll himself, soon after his elevation
to the Episcopacy, rendered, in 1790, an account of the motives
which had led to the liberty of conscience for the Catholics of
America :

"Having renounced subjection to England, the American
States found it necessary to form new constitutions for their future
government, and happily a free toleration of religions was made a
fundamental in all their new constitutions, and in many of them
not only a toleration was decreed, but likewise a perfect equality
of civil rights to persons of every Christian profession. In some,
indeed, the yet unextinguished spirit of prejudice and intolerance
excluded Catholics from this equality.

" Many reasons concurred to produce this happy and just arti-
cle in the new constitutions. First, some of the leading charac-
ters in the direction of American councils were by principle averse
to all religious oppression, and having been much acquainted
with the manners and doctrines of Roman Catholics, represented
strongly the injustice of excluding them from any civil right ;
secondly, Catholics concurred as generally, and with equal zeal,
in repelling that oppression which first produced the hostilities
with Great Britain, and it would have been impolitic, as well as
unjust, to deprive them of a common share of advantages pur-
chased with common dangor and by united exertions ; thirdly,
the assistance, or at least the neutrality of Canada, was deemed
necessary to the success of the United States, and to give equal
rights to Roman Catholics might tend to dispose the Canadians
favorably towards the American cause ; lastly, France began to
show a disposition to befriend the Unit,ed States, and it was
conceived to be very impolitic to disgust that powerful king-

■'- wn*^ :

IN THE UNITED STATES.

(lorn by unjust severities against the religion which it pro-
fessed."*

It was, then, political reasons which induced the States to grant
liberty of conscience to Catholics; and we cannot insist too
strongly on this point in face of the affirmations of European Pro-
testantism, which incessantly cites the example of the United
States to induce men to believe in its generosity to Catholics. It
gives us pleasure, too, to state that 1^ ranee exercised a twofold
influence in arresting the oppression of American Catholics : first,
by the desire which the States had of conciliating Louis XVI. ;
and next, by their prudent resolve not to shock the religious feel-
ings of the French colonists in Canada. At the period of the
Declaration of Independence, in 1776, Canada had been but six-
teen years under the power of England, and as it had so long and
so patriotically resisted the English arms, the recollection of the
old regime would naturally be still fresh. It was so, indeed ; and
the United States, allies of France, would naturally expect aid
from Canada; but we cannot conceive why Louis XVI. made no
attempt to reconquer Canada for himself, for this would have
given France back a colony, and would have enabled her to ren-
der most efficient aid to the United States. The enterprise would
have been most easy, had France shown a more prudent or less
disinterested policy. The Canadians, placed between their French
brethren and their new masters, would not have hesitated to
throw off the English yoke ; while, solicited merely by revolted
colonies, whose old hatred against themselves and their faith they
knev too well, they refused to make common cause with the lat-
ter, and England found in the French and Catholic colony left
her, a powerful bulwark against the United States.

* Life and Times of Archbishop Carroll, by the late B. U. Campbell, Esq.
(U. S. Catholic Magazine, iv. 251),

Brent, in his Life, p. 68, cites a translation of a French translation, while
Mr. Campbell copied the archbishop's original letter.

:• A

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

" Nothing," says a Canadian historian, " nothing could roiise
the colonists from their indifference. The fact is, that the gov-
ernment of their sympathies was not to be found in America.
The mere sight of the white banner, with its fleurs-de-lys, would
have thrilled every fibre of those apparently apathetic hearts."*

The Catholics of Maryland had all resolutely embraced the
side of American independence. They had already gained liberty
of worship. They had sent to Congress two of their most emi-
nent men — Daniel Carroll, the elder brother of John, and Charles
Carroll, his cousin. They now looked forward to an alliance with
Canada as a means of gaining to their Church a fair share in the
councils of the Union. An American army had already in 1776
taken Montreal and besieged Quebec. Though repulsed at the
latter place, they kept possession 6f Montreal, always hoping that
their prolonged presence would lead to a general revolt of the
Canadians against the English. To hasten this. Congress dis-
patched to Canada Franklin, Charles Carroll and Chase, of Ma-
ryland, and invited Father John Carroll to join them, in the hope
that he would exercise some influence over the Catholic clergy.

The delegates left New York on the 2d of April, 1776, but
with all their dispatch, reached Montreal only on the 29th. (We
incidentally mention the length of this journey, which we have
made between sunrise and sunset.) Franklin assembled the prin-
cipal colonists, while Father Carroll endeavored to enter into cor-
respondence with the clergy; but neither found his advances
welcomed as he had expected, and on the 13th of May they set
out together for New York. Franklin having fallen sick on the
way, his fellow-traveller nursed him with true devotedness ; and
during this embassy, the priest and the philosopher contracted a
sincere friendship, as we find from the grateful letters of Franklin :

* Histoire du Canada, par F. X. Garnean (Quebec, 1852), ii. 480. " The
English flag nor the American flt^g is the flag of ' ours,' " the Canadians
would aay, in their quaint but touching language. ^

IN THE UNITED STATES.

" As to myself, I grew daily more feeble, and I think I cfould
hardly have got along so far, but for Mr. Carroll's friendly assist-
ance and tender care of me."*

We shall hereafter find Franklin not forgetful of his kind in-
firmarian, when it was proposed to appoint a bishop for the
United States.

• Congress had voted an address to the Canadians, which con-
tained these words : " We are too well acquainted with the liberty
of sentiment distinguishing your nation to imagine that diflPerence
of religion will prejudice you against a hearty amity with us.
You know that the transcendent nature of freedom elevates those
who unite in her cause above all such low-minded infirmities.
The Swiss cantons furnish a memorable proof of this truth. Their
Union is composed of Roman Catholic and Protestant States,
living in the utmost concord and peace with one another, and
thereby enabled, ever since they bravely vindicated their freedom,
to defy and defeat every tyrant that has invaded them."f

These words, however, inspired the Canadians with little confi-
dence, when they saw the same Congress address the people of
Great Britain in October, 1774, complaining that the Quebec Act
had granted religious liberty in Canada :

" Nor can we suppress our astonishment that a British Parlia-
ment should ever consent to establish in that counti a religion
that has deluged your island in blood, and disperse impiety,
bigotry, persecution, murder, and rebellion through evei j part of
the world."

On the conquest of Canada by England, the country was for
some years under the iron rule of martial law, and religion was
fettered in a thousand ways, while every favor was shown to in-
vading Protestantism. At the sight of the agitation in New

* Franklin's Works, -viii. 154.

t " Address to the Inhabitants of the Province of Quebec," cited by
Campbell.

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

England, the home goverament felt the necessity of attaching
Canada by concessions, and the Quebec Act of 17*74 restored to
the Canadians their French law, and redintegrated the Catholic
worship in all its rights. To the Americans and their friends in
England, this act was a plan to raise a Catholic army in Canada for
their subjugation ; their hostility to it was bitter, and necessarily
predisposed the Canadians against them. As Mr. Gameau says:
" The language of Congress would have been fanatical, if those
who employed it had been serious. It was foolish and puerile in
the mouths of those who were about to invite the Canadians to
join their cause, in order side by side to give America her inde-
pendence. This avowal, then, as to the act of 1*774, was incon-
siderate ; it did no good in England, and alienated Canada from
the cause of the confederates."*

In order to justify Father John Carroll's course at Montreal,
we must say that, as his historian very particularly insists, he
merely preached neutrality to the Canadians.f The Catholics of
Maryland, scarcely yet in possession of liberty of conscience, natu-
rally desired to have as friends their Canadian brethren in the
faith. They feared that if the Canadians took up arms against
the United States, the fanaticism of the Protestants, just lulled for
a time, would awaken with new fury against them. Father Car-
roll's mission was therefore religious in its object. But it could
not be so regarded in Canada, and the loyal Breton bishop who
then occupied the See of Quebec, Monseigneur Oliver Briaud, for-
bid his clergy to have any intercourse with the ecclesiastic en-
voy of Congress, whom he nevertheless highly respected, and, as we
fihall see, congratulated most warmly on his subsequent elevation
to the Episcopacy. In the extraordinary history of the Society of
Jesus, the case of this Jesuit, ambassador from a Congress of Re-
publican Protestants, is not the least remarkable episode ; and

* Histoire da Canada, ii. 422.

t Biographical Sketch of Archbishop Carroll, 40.

'(r

IN THE UNITED STATES.

while the democrats of every clime reproach the children of St.
Ignatius with being the tools of despotic power, they can oflFer
Father John Carroll as a sincere patriot, a zealous partisan of lib-
erty, and one of the real foundera of Amencan independence.

Note. — In order to prove that Catholics in the United States owe the en-
joyment of civil and political rights to happy circumstances, and not to the
generosity of the Federal Constitution, we have been at some pains to draw
up the following table, which gives the period when the several States ceased
to admit the exclusive eligibility of Protestants. This work, never before
done, has cost us some trouble ; but we deem it useful, in order to expose
the fallacy of the wide-spread idea that the emancipation of Catholics is due
to the Congress of 1776. It will be o^ served, too, that in several States a
man must believe either in God or in . le Christian religion, or at least in a
future state of rewards and punishment, to be eligible to office. This is far
from that unbridled liberty which is supposed to reign throughout the States.
The article guaranteeing liberty of conscience is generally in these terms :
" The profession and free exercise of every religious creed and form of wor-
ship is and shall be permitted to all ; but the liberty of conscience hereby
guaranteed shall not be extended to excuse acts of licentiousness or practices
dangerous to the peace and safety of the State."

In the following list, the States marked t were colonized by France or
Spain, and the free exercise of the Catholic religion is guaranteed by treaty.

United States — Founded 1776— Constitution 1787. — The Declaration of
Independence in 1776, and the Articles of Confederation in 1778. The Con-
stitution of 1787 merely provides that no religious test shall be required from
any officer of the Federal Government, and the first amendment ratified in
1791 says: "Congress shall pass no law concerning the establishment of a
religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."

Massachusetts — 1776 — Constitution 1779-80. — Cfberty of conscience. The
Legislature may levy a tax to support the Protestant worship, where not vol-
untarily given. Every one must, to hold office, abjure under oath all obedi-
ence to a foreign ecclesiastical power. This oath was modified in 1821.

New Hampshire — 1776 — Constitution 1792. — Liberty of conscience. But
the ineligibility of Catholics, established prior to the Revolution by the Hoyal
Charter, has still the force of law.

Rhode Island — 1776 — Charter 1663, and Constitution 1842, grant full lib-
erty of conscience without any test. Penal laws repealed 1778.

CoNNEcnouT — 1776 — Constitution 1818. — Liberty of conscience. No re-
striction as to Catholicb.

New York— 1776— Constitution 1777. — Liberty of conscience. But for-
eigners, to be naturalized, must abjure all foreign allegiance, temporal and
spiritual. A test oath was also passed, and remained in force till 1806.

New Jebbst — 1776 — Constitution 1776. — Liberty of conscience. No Pro-
testant inhabitant shall be deprived of his civil and political rights. The
new Constitution in 1844 suppressed this clause.

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

DsLAVABS — 1776— Constitution 1776 and 1881. — Liberty of conscience.
No test.

Pennsylvania— 1776— Constitution 1790.— Liberty of conscience. No
man who believes in God and a future state of rewards aud punishment
shall be excluded from office.

Mabyland—1776— Constitution 1776. — No test, except a declaration of be-
lief in the Christian religion. Every one professing the Christian religion
shall be free to practise it.

Virginia— 177G— Constitution 1776. — Liberty of conscience 1880. No test.

North Carolina— 1776— Constitution 1776.— Every man who shall deny
the existence of God, or the truths of the Protestant religion, or the divine
authority of the Old or New Testament, sl^ftll not hold any office in the
State. The Constitution of 1885 substituted Christian for Protestant.

Sooth Carolina— 1776— Constitution 1790.— Free exercise of religion to
all mankind.

Georoia—1776— Constitution 1798.- Liberty of conscience. No person
lihall be molested in his civil rights purely for religious principle.

Vermont— 1791— Constitution 1798. — No test. Every sect bound to keep
the Sabbath and have some worship.

Tennessee — 1796 — Constitution 1796. — No man can hold office that denies
the existence of God or of a future state of rewards and punishment.

Kentucky — ^1799 — Constitution 1799. — Liberty of conscience. No test.

Ohio — 1802 — Constitution 1802. — Liberty of conscience. No test.

t Louisiana — 1812 — Constitution 1812. — No article on religion. Clergymen
excluded fVom office.

t Indiana — 1816.

t Mississippi — 1817.

t Illinois — 1818.

t Alabama — 1820.

+ Maine— 1820.

t Missouri — 1821 — Constitution 1820.

t Arkansas— 1886.

t MioHiOAN— 1883.

t Florida— 1845— Constitution 1888.

t Texas- 1845.

t Iowa— 1846.

t Wisconsin— 1848.

+ California — 1849.

Liberty of conscience. No test. <

IN THE UNITED STATES.

CHAPTER IV.

THE CHURCH DURING THE REVOLUTION.

Father Oarroll luid Father Floqaet— Father Carroll at Book Creeic

We have thus traced to its close the embassv of Carroll to Can-
ada. One episode connected with it may not be uninteresting.
The Bishop of Quebec had, as we have seen, forbid his clergy to
have any intercourse with Father Carroll. One of the priests of
Montreal, for a supposed infringement of this order, was suspended
and summoned to Quebec. His letters to Monseigneur Briand
throw considerable light on the public feeling in Canada at the
time, and on the mission of Father Carroll.

Father Peter R. Floquet had been twice Superior of the Jesuits
in Canada. Although a native of France, he continued to reside
in Canada after the conquest, and offended the government by
speaking in favor of the American colonies.

" I was complaisant to the Americans out of human respect,"
says he, in a letter to the bishop on the 15th of June, 1*776 ; "if
I had been as violent against them as many others were, the
whole brunt of the storm would have fallen on my head, as I was
the only Jesuit at Montreal. I would have served as an example
to others, and perhaps have occasioned a persecution of my con-
freres in Pennsylvania and Maryland.

"After the flight of the king's generals, the Montreal deputies
promised the Americans a true or a false and deceptive neutrality.
I believed it true and to be kept. I kept it, and advised others to
do so ; this made me tolerant to both parties in the tribunal of
penance.

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

" The American Colonel Hazea commanded for some time at
Montreal. He restored to me the part of our house which Mr.
Murray had turned into a prison. I eojoyed this favor, which I
had not sought, and I thanked the author of it. Mr. Hazen sent
me a written invitation to dinner. I dined with him once, accom-
panied by an Irish royalist priest who lived with me, and who
had been previously intimate with Mr. and Mrs. Hazen.

"Towards the close of the winter, the Americans raised two
companies of Canadian militia, Lieber and Oliver. The new re-
cruits were on garrison duty at Montreal when the paschal season
opened. On being asked to hear their confessions, I consented to
receive them, if I could be assured that they would not go to be-
siege Quebec, and would merely do service peacefully at Montreal.
On Mr. Oliver's assuring me of this, I yielded. On Easter Tues-
day, after dinner, I began to hear the least bad, but was far from
approving them. Those who got leave to receive went among
the crowd to the parish church until Low Sunday inclusively.

" On Tuesday after Low Sunday, three tardy militia-men re-
ceived absolution from me, and presented themselves at the parish
church. They were publicly repulsed. I confessed and commu-
nicated therajanuis clausis.

" In truth, in conscience, and before God, am I an American, a
rebel, or have I been ? No, Monseigneur ! Last fall, when they
were assembling at Montreal the habitans of good will for an ex-
pedition which failed, no one received them better, confessed and
communicated more, than I did. I told those who consulted me
that they did well to volunteer for the king's service, and that
those who resisted the orders did wrong. I have never ceased
chanting the ' Domine Salvum' and the prayer for the king at
Benediction.

" A Father Carroll, a missionary from Maryland, having come
to Montreal with two deputies of Congress, presented a letter of
introduction from Father Farmer, the first missionary at Philadel-

IN THE UNITED STATES.

phia. The Seminary saw this letter, which contained nothing
amist'. Still I did not answer it. Father Carroll did not lodge
with me, and dined with me but once. Ha said Mass in our
house, by M. Moutgolfier's permission.

" I have said nothing, written nothing, done nothing for the
service of Congress or the United Colonies. I received nothing
from them but our own house in a very dilapidated state."*

Both sought, with equal good faith, the advantage of religion ;
but the maze of politics made it very difficult to see what was
most beneficial to the Church, either at the moment or in future.
The Bishop of Quebec had every reason to distrust a nation in
revolt, distinguished till then only for its hostility to Catholics.
Father Floquet had reason to fear that too avowed an opposition
to the Americans might draw down a persecution on the mission-
aries in Maryland and Pennsylvania. Father John Can-oil was
right in seeking to gain the neutrality of the Canadians. The
most curious part >f the whole aflfair is, to see the American
colonel restoring to the Jesuits their house in Montreal, of which
the English governor had deprived them, and inviting the rever-
end fathers to dinner.

That the Bishop of Quebec had no motive but prudence, wo
shall see hereafter, when we speak of Father Carroll's elevation to
the episcopacy.

On his return from Canada, Father John Carroll (for we now

* Archives of the Archbishopric of Quebec. Of this clergyman, Mr. Nor-
Heux, in his " Abrege Chronologique et historique des pr^tres qui ont dcs-
Bervi le Canada," says : " Father Peter J^. Floquet, a native of Chatillon in
Champagne, arrived at Quebec in 1740. After having been several times
Superior of the Jesuits, both at Montreal and at Quebec, he was recalled to
Quebec in Jan. 1777. Having written a very touching submission to the
bishop on the 29th of November, 1776, he was relieved fVom the interdict.
Having become blind in 1779, he died at his convent on the 18th of July,
1782, at the age of seventy-seven." But there is surely confusion here, for
there was only one Superior of the mitssion, who resided at Quebec, and the
houses of the Jesuits are not convents. .

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

resume his history) took up his residence with his mother at Rock
Creek, where he remained during the rest of the Revolutionary
War, making it the centre of a vast mission, to which he devoted
liimself with zeal. His mother's advanced age made him loth to
leave her, and rather than be separated from her, he gave up his
share in the distribution of the revenues of the Society of Jesus in
Maryland.

We have remarked that the Society of Jesus, notwithstanding
the bull of dissolution in 1*773, had continued to act in Maryland
under their constitutions. Father Lewis was then Superior, and re-
cognized as such ; but whether they were bound to obey his orders
as to residence, was an open question. Father Carroll thought
not. In 1779 he wrote : "I have care of a very large congrega-
tion — have often to ride twenty-five or thirty miles to the sick ;
' besides which, I go once a month between fifty and sixty miles to
another congregation in Virginia ; yet, because I live with my
mother, for whose sake alone I sacrificed the very best place in
England, and told Mr. Lewis that I did not choose to be subject
to be removed from place to place, now that we had no longer
the vow of obedience to entitle us to the merit of it, he does not
choose to bear any part of my expenses. I do not mention this
by way of complaint, as I am perfectly easy at present."*

In another letter, of February 20th, 1782, to his friend Father
Plowden, Father Carroll sets forth the difliculties which this pro-
longed subjection might create : " The clergymen here continue
to live in the old form ; it is the effect of habit, and if they could
promise themselves immortality, it would be well enough ; but I
regret that indolence prevents any form of administration being
adopted which might tend to secure posterity a succession of
Catholic clergymen, and secure to them a comfortable subsistence.
I said that the former system of administration, that is, ' every

♦ Cited by Campbell in his Life of Archbishop Carroll.
Magazine, iii. 865.

U. S. Catholic

T7"

IN THE UNITED STATES.

thing being in the power of a Supenor,' continued ; but all those
checks upon him, so wisely provided by our former constitutions,
are at an end."*

The enemies of the Jesuits have often reproached them for not
dispersing huu actually persecuting themselves, on learning the
Brief of Suppression. To believe these zealous defenders of the
rights of the Holy See, fidelity to the rule of St. Ignatius, when
no harm resulted to the Church, was a contempt of the supreme
authority of the Sovereign Pontiff. To these severe formalists,
Father Can'oll's conduct will seem a proof of orthodoxy ; and as
to the friends of the Socisty, they will readily admit that the ab-
solute authority of a local. Superior might lead to serious abuse,
when it was no longer controlled by that of the General and by
the guarantees with which the constitutions of the Society have
always invested each member.

The life of Father John Carroll has few traits of resemblance
with the portraits traced by some historians, and, in fact, to suc-
ceed in writing any thing correct as to the history of the Church
in the United States, we have been compelled to forget what little
has been published in France on this ^rore, and confine ourselves
to such materials as we could aer in the United States; other-
wise we should merely be r< j Heating a series of errors confidently
copied by one after another.f

* Id. 869.

t For example, Cretineftu Joly says : " At the moment when the Society
was abolished by Clement XIV., some Jesuits abandoned Great Britain to
retire to North America, their native land, where there never had ^' en any
priests but themselves. John Carroll was their leader. Bound to the Insti-
tute by the profession of the four vows, Carroll soon won the esteem of that
immortal generation which was preparing in silence the freedom of the land.
He was the friend of Washington and Franklin, the counsel of that Can oil,
his brother, who labored so efficaciously in forming the Constitution of the
United States. The learning and foresight of the Jesuit were appreciated
by the founders of American liberty. They invited him to sign the Act of
Confederation, Attached to the Protestant worship, they were about to
conaecrate its triumph by law ; but Catholicity, in the person of the Fathers

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

' Even Baron Henrion states that the Maryland clergy, with the
consent of Congress, expressed to Pope Pius VI. their desire to
have a bishop in the United States,* and Rohrbacher makes Con-
gress urge the Pope to gratify their wishes.f Nothing can be
further from the real state of affairs. The fact is, that when the
independence of the United States was accomplished, the ex-
Jesuits in Maryland wished to be no longer dependent on a Vicar-
apostolic in England, in order to give no umbrage to the new

of the Society, appeared to them bo tolerant and so well fitted for civilizing
the Indiana, that they could not refuse John Carroll the establishment of
the principle of religious independence. Carroll was admitted to discuss the
basis of it with them. He laid it down so clearly, that freedom of worship
has never l»een infringed in the United States. The Americans bound them-
selves to maintain it ; nor did they feel at liberty to betray their oath, even
when they saw the extension given by the missionaries to the Koman faith."
— Histoire de la Compagnie de Jesus, 8d ed. vi. 276. This paragraph con-
tains almost as many errors as words. To make the Jesuits the only priests
in North America is strange indeed, when it is not true even of Maryland.
Father Carroll came alone and brought none with him. He was not a per-
sonal friend of Washington — at least, we find no proof of his ever having
been intimate with him. In 1800, Carroll, then bishop of Baltimore, de-
livered a funeral oration on "Washington, but nowhere alludes, as he would
naturally do, to any personal intimacy. His friendship with Franklin was
indeed real, but it is an error to muke him a signer of the Articles of Con-
federation. Charles Carroll signed the Declaration of Independence, and
Daniel Carroll, a brother of the bishop, signed the Constitution of the United
States. Father Carroll could not have spoken before the Congress or the
Convention on the topic of religious freedom, for it was not raised, is not
guaranteed in the Constitution, pnd is only mentioned in the amendments
subsequently adopted, by which each State reserves to itself the right to
legislate on the point. This error is repeated in tlie Annales do la Propaga-
tion de )a Foi, vol. xxii. p. 335. What Mr. Cretineau Joly means by saying
that Congress was about to consecrate by law the triumph of Protestantism,
it would be hard to say : the silence of the Constitution on the subject has
destroyed the preponderance of Protestantism. Congress took no steps
towards civilizing the Indians, and could not have made that a motive for
any step ; and as to the assertion that liberty of worship has never been in-
fringed in the United States, we deny the hardy assertion and appeal to
history.

* Histoire Gen^rale des Missions Catlioliques, ii. 662, where he makes
Carroll Vicar-general of the Vicar-apostolic of London.

t Rohrbacher, Histoire Umverselle de I'Eglise Calholique, xxvii. 279.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

political organization in America. They accordingly addressed a
memorial to the Holy See on the 6th of November, 1783, to so-
licit the nomination of a Superior in spiritualibus, to be chosen
from among themselves. But far from asking the erection ot a
See at Baltimore, the Maryland missionaries thought it not desiia-
ble for the interests of the Church, and we may even say that
they dreaded the sending of a Vicar-apostolic.

In connection with this subject, it must not be forgotten that
the Cardinal of York then exercised at Rome an often preponder-
ating influence in the choice of Vicars-apostolic for England.
The high birth of the royal cardinal enabled him indeed to exer-
cise a great control in the religious affairs of the three kingdoms ;
and his hostility to the Society of Jesus, which had led him to
seize their house at Frascati the very day after their suppression,
was a secret to none. The Vicars-apostolic in England named
in such circumstances had frequent disputes with the ex-Jesuits in
England. Those in Maryland might reasonably fear that the arrival
of a prelate, a creature, in all probability, of the Cardinal of York,
would only bring trouble and confusion. Besides this, the pov-
erty of their missions, and the petty number of American Catho-
lics, made them believe the faithful unable to support a bishop
with dignity. They wished first to recruit a more numerous
clergy, in order to provide the scattered Catholics with pastors,
now that their religious worship was no longer proscribed.

The number of Catholics in 1783 might amount in Maryland
to sixteen thousand souls, chiefly farmers and planters in the
rural districts. In Pennsylvania there were about seven thousand,
and in the other States about fifteen hundred.* This computa-
tion did not include the French Canadians in the country on the
Ohio and Mississippi, which had been surrendered to the United
States by the treaty of 1783. The white inhabitants of tliis ter-

* TbiH is Bishop Carroll's calculation. See Biographical Sketch, p. 70.

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

ritory were all Catholics, and amounted probably to four thou-
sand ; but they were still under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of
Quebec, and the Maryland missionaries had no connection with
them. The march of Rochambeau's army through several States,
where Mass had never before been said, brought to light Catl: >
lies in many places where they were not known to exist ; and the
army chaplains were often surrounded by the descendants of
Irishmen or Acadians, who now saw a priest for the first time,
and implored them to stay.* It became urgent to furnish spir-
itual succor to these forsaken Catholics.

CHAPTER V.

THE CHURCH IN THE REPUBLIC.
Maryland (l7T(r-1790)— Negotiattoos for the erection of an Episcopal See.

Father Lewis, Vicar-general of Maryland, called a general
meeting of all the missionaries to deliberate on the state of reli-
gion, and two meetings for this purpose were held at Whitemarsh
on the 27th of June and 6th of November, 1*783. It was at the
latter meeting that the memorial to the Sacred Congregation " de
propaganda fide," already mentioned, was signed. A committee

* One of these chaplains wrote an account of his travels : " Nouveau
Voyage dans I'Am^rique Septentrionale en 1781 et campagne de i'armie du
Comte de Rochambeau, par 1' Abb6 Robin, Philadelph e et Paris, 1 782." The
author shows himself unfortunately imbued with "ome of the philosophical
ideas of the time, and instead of displaying zeal for the destitute Catholics,
indulges in a dull enthusiasm for the Revolution. We had expected to find
in this rare work some interesting details, but meet only superficial observa-
tions. He officiated at Baltimore to the great joy, he says, of the Acadians
there, then chiefly sailors.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

was also appointed to draw up a regulation " to establish a form
of government for the clergy, and lay down rules for the adminis-
tration and government of their property." This regulation, in
eighteen articles, adopted by the missionaries on the 11th of Oc-
tober, 1784, established a general chapter and district chapters,
appointed a Procurator distinct from the Superior in ^ritualibuSj
subjecting the latter's measures to the approval of the district
chapters. These arrangements, taken without any canonical au-
thority, could of course be only provisional, and Father Farmer,
one of the missionaries, thus speaks of them in a letter to Father
Carroll, on the 19th of January, 1785 :

" I cannot conceive how we could be a body without a bishop
for a head. We may have a voluntary union among ourselves, I
allow, but it cannot constitute us a canonical body of clergy, un-
less declared snd appointed as such either by the Supreme Pas-
tor, or ratber '^ , . bishop set over us by him. Our association,
even in temp ; v f«, I am afraid, will be looked upon rather as
a combination."*

It was evident that some germs of independence were develop-
ing in the Maryland clergy, in contact with the spirit of political
and religious rebellion which forms the basis of the American
character. But the Holy See watched with paternal solicitude
over the rising Church of America, and on beholding the princi-
ples of toleration for Catholicity, which Protestantism now first
acknowledged in the United States, Rome at once saw the pre-
cious advantage to be gained for religion. The Holy See imme-
diately thought of establishing the Church in Maryland on a
more independent base, and of releasing it from all spiritual
subordination to England. It thus anticipated the wishes of the
missionaries assembled at Whitemarsh ; and at the same time,
showing a sincere deference for the government of the United

* Campbell in U. S. Catholic Magazine, iii. 800.

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

States, transmitted, through Monseigneur Doria, archbishop of Se-
leucia and nuncio at the court of Paris, the following note to Dr.
Franklin, then American minister at Paris :

' "The Nuncio-apostolic has the honor to transmit to Mr.
Franklin the subjoined note. He requests him to cause it to be
presented to the Congress of the United States of North America,
and to support it with i±A influence.
"July 28, 1788."

Note. — ^" Previous to the revolution which has just been com-
pleted in the United States of North America, the Catholics and
missionaries of those provinces depended, in spiritual matters, on
the Vicar-apostolic residing in London. It is now evident that
this arrangement can be no longer maintained ; but, as it is ne-
cessary that the Catholic Christians of the United States should
have an ecclesiastic to govern them in matters pertaining to reli-
gion, the Congregation "de propaganda fide," exist" ng at Rome,
for the establishment and preservation of missions, have come to
the determination to propose to Congress to establish in one of
the cities of the United States of North America one of their
Catholic brethren, with the authority and pov/er of Vicar-apos-
tolic, and the dignity o^ Bishop; oi simply with the rank of
Apostolical Prefect. The institution of a Bishop Vicar-apostolic
appep^ the most suitable, insomuch as the Catholics of the
United States may have within their reach the reception of con-
firmation and orders in their own country. And as it may some-
times happen that among the members of the Catholic body in
the United States, no one may be found qualified to undertake the
charge of the spiritual government, either as Bishop or Pr* ct-
apostolic, it may be necessary, under such circumstances, that
Congress should consent to have one selected from some foreign
nation on close terms of friendship with the United States."

The Maryland missionaries learned this project through their

IN THE UNITED bXATES.

agent at "^oiae, Father John Thorpe, an English ex-Jesuit, who
resided therj from 1756 till his death in 1792. They also learned
the action of Congress on the Nuncio's note, and, still believing
that the time had not come for a bishop lu the United States,
took, in October, 1784, the following curious resolution:

" It is the opinion of a majority of the chapter, that a Suporior
in spiritualibus, with powers to give confirmation, grant faculties,
dispensations, bless oils, etc., is adequate to the present exigencies
of religion in this country. Resolved, therefore,

" 1st. That a bishop is at present unnecessary.

" 2d. That if one be sent, it is decided by the majority of the
chapter, that he shall not be entitled to any support from the
present estates of the clergy.

" 3d. That a committee of three be appointed to prepare and
give an answer to Rome, conformable to the above resolution.

" 4th. That the best measures be taken to bring in six proper
clergymen as soon as possible, and the means be furnished by the
chapter out of the general fund, except when otherwise provided."

The letter to the Holy Father was prepared and signed, on be-
half of his associates, by Father Bernard Diderick, who transmitted
it to Father Thorpe at Rome. The latter had the good sense not
to deliver it, and the Holy See could thus officially ignore a hasty
and inconsiderate step. Dissatisfaction at not having been con-
sulted by the Propaganda doubtless caused this resolution of the
chapter, but the Court of Rome never intended to offend the
zealous missionaries of Maryland, whose labors it highly appreci-
ated. Their advice had even been sought, and as early as May
12, 1784, seven months before the Whiteraarsh resolutions, the
Apostolic Nuncio at Paris wrote to Father John Carroll :

"The interests of religion, sir, requiring new arrangements
relative to the missions in the United States of North America,
the Congregation of the Piopaganda direct me to request from

THE Catholic church

you a full statement of the actual condition of those missions. In
the mean time, I b'^g that you will inform me what number of
missionaries may be necessary to serve them and furnish spiritual
aid to Catholic Christians in the United States ; in what provin-
ces there are Catholics, and where is the greatest number of them ;
and lastly, if there are, among the natives of the country, fit sub-
jects to receive holy orders and exercise the function of missiona-
ries. You will greatly oblige me personally by the attention and
industry which you will exercise in procuring for me this infor-
mation.

" I have the honor to be, with esteem and consideration, sir,
your very humble and obedient servant,

" f J., Archbishop of Seleucia,
' ' . " Apostolical Nuncio."

This letter, in consequence of the vicissitudes of navigation,
reached Father Carroll only in November. Monseigneur Doria,
Nuncio at Paris, had added a memorandum of questions, from
which we extract two :

" 1. Who among the missionaries might be the most worthy,
and, at the same time, agreeable to the members of the assembly
of those provinces, to be invested with the character of Bishop in
partibus, and the quality of Vicar-apostolic ?

" 2. If among these ecclesiastics there is a native of the coun-
try, and he should be among the most worthy, he should be pre-
ferred to all others cf equal merit. Otherwise choice should be
made of one from some other nation. In default of a missionary
actually residing in those provinces, a Frenchman will be nomi-
nated, who will go to establish himself in America."*

But the Holy See, in its admirable prudence, understanding
that the negotiations for the establishment of a bishop would re-

* U. S. Catholic Magazine, iii. 878.

.^- -r

IN THE UNITED STATES.

quire time, resolved in the interim to give Maryland a provisional
ecclesiastical organization ; and the Propaganda, jrielding to the
wish expressed in the first memorial of the American missionaries,
named Carroll Superior of the mission, with extended powers, and
exempted Maryland from all dependence on the Vicariate Apos-
tolic of London. This choice shows that Rome already thought
of the same Father as one proper to raise to the Episcopal dig-
nity, and of this we have a proof in Thorpe's letter to Carroll,
dated at Rome, June 9, 1784 :

"Dear Sir: — This evening ample faculties are sent by the
Congregation of the Propaganda, empowering you to confer tlie
sacrament of cocfirmation, bless oils, etc., until such time as the
necessary information shall be taken in North America and sent
hither, for promoting you to the dignity and character of a bishop.
On their arrival here you will be accordiiigly so nominated by the
Pope, and the place determined for your consecration. Cardinal
Borromeo sent for me to give me this intelligence, on the veracity
of which you may entirely depend, though you should not, from
any mistake, have received it from other hands. hen the Nun-
cio, M. Doria, at Paris, applied to Mr. Franklin, the old gentle-
man remembered you; he had his memory refreshed before,
though you had modestly put your own name in the last place of
the list. I heartily congratulate your countiy for having obtained
so worthy a pastor. Whatever I can ever be able to do in seiz-
ing your ^ \ for religion shall always be at your command.

'' I am ever most aflfectionately and most respectfully yours,

J. Thorpe."*

It is curious to see in Franklin's memoirs the influence of this
philosopher in an event so important to the Church, and we shall

* U. 8. Catholio Magazine, iii-. 379.

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

be excused for transferring the following page, which belongs to
the history of the Church in the United States :

"1784, July ^st. — The Pope's Nuncio called, and acquainted
me that the P<pe had, on my recommendation, appointed Mr.
John Carroll Superior of the v^atholic clergy in America, with
many of the powers of a bishop, and that probably he would be
made a bishop in partibus before the end of the year. He asked
which would be most convenient for him — to come to France, or
to go to St. Domingo for ordination by another bishop, which
was necessary. I mentioned Quebec as more convenient than
either. He asked whether, as that was an English province, our
government might not take offence at his going thither. I
thought not, unless the ordination by that bishop should give
him some authority over our bishop. He said not in the least ;
that when our bishop was once ordained, he would be indepen-
dent of the other, and even of the Pope, which I did not clearly
understand. He said the Congregation "de propaganda fide"
had agreed to receive and maintain and instruct two young
Americans in the languages and sciences a'' Rome. He had for-
merly told me that more would be educated gratis in France.
He adde<l, they had written from America that there are twenty
priests, hut that they are not suflScient, as the new settlements
near the Mississippi have need of some.

" The Nuncio said we should find that the Catholics were not
so intolerant as they had been represented ; that the Inquisition
:n Lome had not now so much power as that in Spain ; and that
in Spain it was used chiefly as a prison of state ; that the Con-
gregation would have undertaken the education of more American
youths, and may hereafter, but that at present they are overbur-
dened, having some from all parts of the world."*

Franklin communicated to Congress the projects of the Court

* Spftrks' Life ivvi Writin** of Franklia, i. 59. Cited by Campbell.

:■ /

IN THE UNITED STATES.

of Rome, and received an answer to the effect that the Federal
government had no opinion to express on a question not in its
jurisdiction. Religious affairs were under the control of the sev-
eral States. This was at least showing the absence of all opposi-
tion to a Catholic hierarchy ; and if Protestant fanaticism did not
attempt to excite the people and initate religious passions, it was
because France was too necessary an ally to permit any insult to
the religious feelings of Louis XVI. That monarch, it was
known, took a lively interest in tlie spread of Catholicity in
America, and France may thus claim the glory of having given
its powerful aid to the Holy See in founding the American Epis-
copate.

We have gone at some length into these little known negotia-
tions, because we know nothing better fitted to inspire confidence
and esteem for the tutelary authority of the Sovereign Pontificate.
The Maryland missionaries believe it to be for the interest of re-
ligion that the United States should be erected into a Church in-
dependent of England. . Rome anticipates their desires, and her
paternal solicitude, inspired by the Holy Ghost, discovers the
wants of remote churches, even before the latter express them.
The missionaries fear lest, some hostile influence should disregard
their rights or compromise the fruit of their labors. The Holy
See kindly hears their representations, well founded at times, and
far from being 8\\ayed by any party, religious or political, tries
above all to secure the permanent interests of religion in a coun-
try whose government, laws, and institutions, so different from
those of Europe, were then but imperfectly understood. Hence
the prudent precaution to obtain the approval, or at least the neu-
trality of Congress, and the eagerness to choose a person named
by the representative of the United States at Paris. The Mary-
land clergy desire that the Superior should be taken from among
them, and Rome at once concedes it. They see no immediate
opportunity for the appointment c^ a bishop. Rome consents to

I V

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

postpone its projects, the wisdom of which is now so palpable, in-
asmuch as the great progress of religion in the United States
can, as all admit, be attributed only to the foundation of the
Episcopate. But when the missionaries see that Rome is un-
changeable, they represent that, in order not to excite fanaticism,
the creation of a titular bishop, enjoying all his rights, would suit
America better than a Vicar-apostolic, whose immediate depend-
ency on the Congregation " de propaganda fide" would seem to
constitute a sort of religious servitude. The Holy See welcomed
this, too, and thus this question of titular bishops, which has been
so misunderstood in England, and considered by the partisans of
the established Church as augmenting the direct authority of the
See of Rome, this question, more justly appreciated in America,
was presented as a means of reconciling nice republican suscepti-
bility to the foundation of a Catholic hierarchy. Rome went
further in order to prove to the worthy American missionaries
her affection and appreciation of their zeal and labors. When in
fact they appreciated the ^news of tha Sovereign Pontiff, they re-
ceived an authorization to proceed themselves to the election of a
bishop, to be submitted to the Court of Rome, as Father Carroll
recounts in these terms, in a letter of 1789 :*

" In the middle of last month, I received a letter from Cardinal
Antonelli, dated in July last, in which he informs me that his
Holiness has granted our request for an ordinary bishop, whose
See is to be fixed by ourselves, and the choice made by the offici-
ating piiests. We are going to take the affair up immediately,
and God will, I hope, direct us to make a good choice. This

* Pius VT. had appointed a committee of cardinals of the Congreoration
" de propaganda fide" to examine this affair ; and on the 12tli of July, 17S9,
n decree wus approved by the Pope, directing all tlie priests oxeroising the
ministry in the United States to assemble and determine in what city the See
should be, and who of themselves seemed most worthy to be raised to tlio
Episcopacy— a privilege granted &a a favor, aud for that f.'me only. (Kolir-
bouher, xxvii. 279.)

•Mf

c /

IN THE UmriD STATES.

«»'

trust is my consolation. Otherwise I should be full of apprehen-
sion to see the choice fall where it might be fatal."

This expression shows that Father Carroll dreaded to see him-
self chosen for the eminent post to which his high merit, and the
success with which he had for five years administered the mis-
sions as Superior or Prefect-apostolic, called him. In fact, the
election took place in May, 1789, and Father Carroll being cho-
sen Bishop of Baltimore, the choice was ratified at Rome on the
6th of November in that year.

CHAPTER VI.

DIO0E8K OF BALTIMORE.

Gonsocration of Bishop Carroll— Jesuit college at Georgetown— Sulpltlan seminary at
Baltimore— The French clergy In the United States— Bishop Neale coadjutor— Beor-
ganization of the Society of Jesus — Importance of French immigration.

On the 6th of November, 1789, Pope Pius VI. founded the
Episcopal See of Baltimore, instituting Father John Carroll as first
bishop; and thus, at the moment when the revolution preluded the
tempest which was for a time to engulf the Church of France, Provi-
dence raised up beyond the ocean another Church, where the noble
exiles of the priesthood were to find a hospitable refuge. The
new prelate no sooner received the Bulls from the Sovereign Pon-
tiff" than he proceeded to England to be consecrated. The pious
Thomas Weld wished the ceremony to take place in his castle of
Lulworth, and that ancient pile, honored in our day by the pi-es-
ence of the exiled king, Charles X., is identified with the origin
of the Episcopacy in the United States. The consecration took
place in the college chapel on Sunday, August Idtb, 1790; and

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

in remembraace of that day, Bishop Carroll chose the feast of
the Assumption as the patronal feast of his vast diocese. The
sermon was delivered by Father Charles Plowden, and the conse-
crating prelate was the learned and scientific Bishop Walmsley,
the Dean of the Vicars-apostolic in England. Bishop Carroll re-
embarked foi lialtimore the following October, and by a curious
coincidence he was, both going and coming, a fellow-voyager of
Mr. Madison, the Protestant Episcopal Bishop of Virginia, who
had also been to Ergland to obtain Episcopal institution. Mr.
Madison conceived a high esteem for the Catholic prelate, and
maintained it during the rest of his life.

The Bishop of Baltimore zealously undertook four enterprises es-
sential to the religious prospects of the United States — the Catholic
education of youth, the formation of a national clergy, the erection
of churches, the foundation of female communities to take care of
the sick and orphans. The first of these works was the most urgent,
for it was imperative to furnish Catholic youth a Catholic educa-
tion at home, in order to preserve them from the dangers of Pro-
testant schools. As early as 1788, Bishop Carroll, then only
Vicar-general, had begun the erection of Georgetown College, and
the ex-Jesuits employed a part of the Society's property for the
creation of that useful establishment. The Jesuits were at first
too few to perform at once the functions of missionary priests and
those of teachers ; they called to their aid at Georgetown priests
of other societies. Thus the Reverend Louis Dubourg, a Sulpitian
and eventually Bishop of New Orleans, was President of the col-
lege in 1796, and another Sulpitian, Ambrose Marechal, Professor
of Philosophy in 1799. But even before the restoration of the
Society in 1814, the disciples of St. Ignatius had the exclusive
direction of the noble college which for the last sixty-five years
has brought up generations in science and letters. By a bappy
turn of affairs which contributed to give a considerable import-
dooe to Georgetown, the site of the federal, city of Washington

IN THE UNITED STATES.

wm chosoii Hcarce a league from the college, so thai the Jesuits
found themselves stationed at the very gates of the capitol.* In
1816 Congress invest*. J this college with the privileges of a uni-
versity, and this foundation of bishop Carroll remains one of his
greatest titles to fame.

The Bishop of Baltimore had at first intended to open a serai-
nary also at Georgetown ; but during a visit to England, he en-
tered into correspondence with Mr. Emery, Superior-general of
the Society of St. Sulpice, whose wise foresight then sought to
shelter his Society from the storms of the revolution. V hen
Mr. Emery saw the National Assembly of France threaten with
destruction all the religious institutions of that country, he e-
solved to prepare a refuge, that St. Sulpice might be preserved
from total extinction, in case it should be suppressed at Paris.
He accordingly sent his assistant, Mr. 'N&y >t, to London, and
we may easily conceive how eagerly Bishop Carroll welcomed
his overtures, from the following letter of September 25th,
1790:

" Providence seems to favor our views. In consequence of a
previous correspondence between the Nuncio at Paris and Mr.
Emery, Superior-general of St. Sulpice, on the one hand, and my-
self on the other, Mr. Nagot, Superior du Petit Seminaire de St.
Sulpice, has been here. We have settled that two or three gen-
tlemen selected by Mr. Emery shall come over to Baltim'^ro next
spring. They are furnished with the means of purchasing -^ >und
for buildings, and, I hope, of endowing a seminary for young
ecclesiastics. I believe they will bring three or four f^^^eminarians
with them, who are either English, or know it. They will be

* Cretineau Joly (vi. 868) says that Georgetown College was founded
almost at the gates of Waahington. Just the reverse. The college was
opened in 1791, Washington created in 1792. Georgetown College contains
two hundred and sixty boarders, and the Jesuit day-schools in Washington
two hundred and fifty pupils more.

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

amply provided with books, apparatus for the altar, church, etc.^
professors of philosophy and divinity. I propose fixing these
very near to my own home, the Cathedral of Baltimore, that they
may he, as it were, the clergy of the church, and contribute to
the dignity of divine worship. This is a great and auspicious
event for our diocese, but it is a inelancholy reflection that
we owe so great a blessing to the lamentable catastrophe in
France."*

Mr. Nagot returned to Paris to put the plan in execution, but
the Sulpitians experienced great difficulties in realizing a part of
their property and iu sailing for America, in consequence of the
political convulsions of that wretched period. They were power-
fully aided, especially in the transfer of the funds, by Governeur
Morris, American ambassador at Paris ; and at last, on the 8th
of April, 1791, Mr. F. C. Nagot, Superior, embarked at St. Malo,
accompanied by Mr. Levadoux, Procurator, Messrs. John Tessier
and Anthony Gamier, Professors of Theology, and Mr. Delavan,
a Cation of St. Martin of Tours.f They had with them five semi-
narians, and lastly, a fellow-voyager of quite a different stamp,
the young J rancis de Chateaubriand, then on his way to America
in pursuit of one of his first chimeras, the northwest passage.
"We have examined his M6moires d'Outre Tombe, to see what he
might have said of this voyage undertaken in such holy com-
pany, and the reflections which it inspired seem to us not out of
place :

" I chose St. Malo to embark, and struck a bargain with a cap-

» Brent's Sketch of Bishop Cnrr^ll, 125.

+ According to a manuscript of the Abbe Delist, preserved at the seminary
in Baltimore, the idea of cransferrinp the Society of St. Siilpice out of France
was suggested to Mr. Emery by Mr. de St. Felix, Superior of the Seminary
of Tours. On the closing of the Seminary of Orleans, Mr. Chicoisneau, the
Superior, wished to emigrate to America with several other Sulnitian pro-
fessorfi, but they were unable to do pr , though Mr. Chicoisneau subsequently
oame to the United States, and resided for a time at Baltimore.

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IN THE UNITED STATES.

tain named Desjardins. He was to carry to Baltimore the Abb6
Nagot, Superior of St. Sulpice, and several seminarians under the
guidance of their chief. These travelling companions would have
suited me better four years before. I had been a zealous Chris-
tian, but had become a ' strong mind' — that is, a ' weak mind.'
This change in my religious opinions had been effected by the
reading of the philosophers of the day. I sincerely believed that
a religious mind was paralyzed on one side; that there were
truths which could not reach it, superior as it might otherwise
be. I supposed in the religious mind the absence of a faculty
found especially in the philosophic mind. A purblind man thinks
he sees all because he has his eyes open ; a superior mind is con-
tent to close its eyes because it perceives all witMn.

"Among my fellow-voyagers was an Englishman. Francis
Tallok had served in the artillery. Painter, musician, mathema-
tician, he spoke several languages. The Abbe Nagot, having
met the English officer, made a Catholic of him, and was taking
his convert to Baltimore."*

After a painful voyage of three months, stopping at the Azores,
St. Pierre and Miquelon, Nagot and his companions reached Bal-
timore.

Bishop Carroll was then on a pastoral visit at Boston, when
Mr. Nagot and his companions arrived, but on his return he
gave them a most cordial welcome, as we may see by the follow-
ing letter of the prelate, written in September following :

" When I returned from Boston, in July, I had the happiness
of finding here M. Nagot with his company from St. Sulpice ;
himself and three other priests belonging to the establishment,

* M^moires d'Outre Tombe, par Chateaubriand. Francis Charles Nagot,
born at Tours in 1784, waa long Director of the Petit Semiuaire of St.
Sulpice, and also Director of the Grand Serainaire. Of his important ser-
vices to the American Church we shall speak more at length hereafter, ia
connection with St. Mary's College and Seminary, of both of which he may
be considered the founder.

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

viz., a procurator and two professore, and five seminarians.*
They will be joined soon by one or two Datives of this country.
These now, with Mr. Delavan, a worthy French priest, form the
clergy of my cathedral (a paltry cathedral) and attract a great
concourse of all denominations, by the decency and exactness
with which they perform all parts of divine service.

" If in many instances the French Revolution has been fatal to
religion, this country promises to derive advantage from it."f

Mr. Nagot immediately bought an inn, with four acres of
ground, for the sum of eight hundred and fifty pounds, Maryland
currency, and at once opened his seminary there ; at the same
time sending one of his companions, Mr. De Mondesir, to teach
at Georgetown. The two establishments thus aided each other,
Jesuit and Sulpitian, vying in zeal for the good of religion. The
college was to be the hive of the seminary, as that was to be of
the American clergy. But before the seminary had time to form
young subjects for the priesthood, the persecutions of the Reign
of Terror drove to the United States learned and experienced
priests, who enabled Bishop Carroll to multiply the missions and
extend the circle far beyond the limits of Maryland, in New Eng-
land, Kentucky, and the most remote territory of the West The
essential service of these priests will appear in all its light when
we come to speak of the other dioceses of the United States, and
a bishop, himself a native of the country, has justly said :

" The Catholic Church in the United States is deeply indebted
to the zeal of the exiled French clergy. No portior* of the

* Of the companions of Nagot we may mention John Floyd, an English-
man, ordained by Bishop Carroll in 1795, and who built a church at the
Point in Baltimore, and died thero of a contagious disease la 1797 ; and John
Tliomas Michael Edward Pierron De Mondesir, born in March, 1770, in the
parish of St. Hilaire de Nogent le Rotrou. He was ordained on the 30th of
September, 1798, but returned to France in 1801. They were the third and
fourth priests ordained in tlie United States.

t Krent's Biographical Sketch, 126.

Amei
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* SketclJ
D. D., Loi

IN THE UNITED STATES.

lisli-
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n the
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d and

American Church owes more to them than that of Kentucky.
They supplied our infant missions with most of their earliest and
most zealous laborers, and they likewise gave to us our first
bishops. There is something in the elasticity and buoyancy of
character of the French which adapts them in a peculiar manner
to foreign missions. They have always been the best missiona-
ries among the North American Indians ; they can mould their
character to suit every circumstance and emergency ; they can
be at home and cheerful everywhere. The French clergy who
landed on our shores, though many of them had been trained up
amid all the refinements of polished France, could yet submit
without a murmur to all the hardships and privations of a mis-
sion on the frontiers of civilization, or in the very heart of the
wilderness. They could adapt themselves to the climate, mould
themselves to the feelings and habits of a people opposite to them
in temperament and character."*

The most celebrated of these venerable exiles were the Abb6
John Dubois, who landed at Norfolk in July, 1791, and who be-
came in 1826 Bishop of New York; the Abbes Benedict Flaget,
John B. David, and Stephen Badin, who reached Baltimore in the
same vessel, on the 26th of March, 1792 ; the Abbes Francis
Matignon, Ambrose Marechal, Gabriel Richard, and Francis Ci-
quard followed close on these last, and prerented themselves to
Bishop Carroll on the 24th of June, 1792. The year 1794 in-
creased the clergy of the United States by the arrival of the Abbe
Louis Dubourg, afterwards Bishop of New Orleans, and of the
Abbes John Aloranville, Donatian Olivier, and Rivet. In 1796
came the j.i.ohe Fournier, a missionary in Kentucky, and the
Abbe John Lefevre Cheverus, afterwards Bishop of Boston ; in
1798 the Abbe Anthony Salmon joined his friend Fournier, and
others still, weaiy of leading a useless life in England or Spain,

* Sketches of the Early Catholio Missions of Kentucky, by M. J. Spalding,
D. D., Louisville, 1845, page 56.

^l"f;:-it''

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

left those countries where they received a generous hospitality to
come and exercise a painful ministry iu America, and condemn
themselves to a life of privation.*

The Abb6 Marechal was ordained at Bordeaux the very day he
sailed, and said his first Mass at Baltimore. The Abb6 Stephen
Badin was raised to the priesthood in Baltimore on the 25th of
May, 1793, and was the first priest ordained in the United States.

The foundation of Georgetown College and the Sulpitian Bern-
inary gave the diocese of Baltimore some stability, and Bishop
Carroll was enabled to assemble his clergy in a Synod in Novem-
ber, 1*791 ; twenty ecclesiastics were present; it waa determined

^* John Dubois, born in Paris in 1764, ordained in 1787, came to America
in 1791, founded St. Mary's in 1807, Bishop of New York in 1826, died
in 1842.

Benedict Flaget, born at Bellom in 1764, Sulpitian in 1783, priest in 1788,
missionary at Vincennes, ind., in 1792, Bishop of Bardstown in 1810, trans-
ferred to Louisville in 1841, died in 1850.

John B. David, born near Nantes in 1760, priest of St. Sulpice in 1784,
missionary in Maryland in 1792, in Kentucky in 1811, coadjutor of Bards-
town, aJid Bishop of Mauricastro in partibus in 1819, died in 1841.

Stephen Badin, born at Orleans in 1768, ordained priest at Baltimore in
1798, iiiissionary in Kentucky in 1793, died at Cincinnati in 1853.

Francis Matigiion, born at Paris in 1753, priest in 1773, missionary at Bos-
ton in 1792s died at Boston in 1818.

Ambrose Marechal, born at Orleans in 1768, priest of St. Sulpice 1792,
Archbishop of Baltimore in 1817, died in 1828.

Gabriel Richard, born at Saintes in 1764, Sulpitian, ordained in 1792, mis-
sionary in 1796, at Detroit from 1798, deputy to Congress iVom Michigan in
182S, nominated Bishop of Detroit, died of cholera at Detroit in 1832.

Francis Ciquard, born at Clermont, ordained in 1779, a Sulpitian, mission-
ary among the Indians of Maine in 1792, died at Montreal.

Louis Dulourg, born at St. Domingo in 1766, priest of St. Sulpice in 1795,
Bl^^-op of New Orleans in 1815, of Montauban in 1826, Archbishop of Be-
i»ai '.'ii in 1833, died in 1833.

John Moranvillc, born near Amiens in 1760, missionary at Cayenne in
1784, came to the United States in 1794, stationed at Baltimore in 1804, died
at Amiens in 1824.

The Abb^ Fournier, bom in the diocese of Blois, missionary iu Kentucky
in 1791, died in 1808.

John Lefevre Cheverus, born af Mayenne in 176S, priest in 1790, Bishop

of Boston
Cardinal ir
The ±h
in 1808.

Anthony
1798, died
The Abb
more in 17
1814.

Anthony

Patrick's, B

of St. Sulpi

John Teas

got's resigni

Peter Babi

1846.

Donatian
died in 1841,
* See Dav;

IN THE UNITED STATES.

in
n-

lop

to solicit of the Holy See the division of the United States into
several dioceses, or at least the appointment of a coadjutor to
share the burden of the Episcopate. With .ill his zeal, Bishop
Carroll could not extend his pastoral visits over his immense dio-
cese, and Pius VI., alive to the religious wants of America, ap-
pointed as coadjutor Father Leonard Neale, who was consecrated
at Baltimore, Bishop of Gortyna in partibus, in the course of the
year 1800.

Leonard J^eale was bom in Maryland on the 16th of October,
1*746, and belonged to a distinguished family, whose ancestors
figure among the first colonists of Lord Baltimore.* His mother,
a pious and courageous widow, who had already parted with four
sons to send them to the Jesuit college of St. Omers, to be edu-
cated, resolved to give little Leonard the same advantages, and at
the age of twelve he too embarked for France. There he followed
the example of his brothers, who had all entered the Society of
Jesus, while their sister Anne became a Poor Clare, at Aire in
Artois. But Father Leonard had scarcely pronounced his vows
when the dispersion of the Society compelled him to retire to

of Boston in 1810, of Montauban in 1818, Archbishop of Bordeaux in 1826,
Cardinal in 1836, died in 1836.

The Abb6 Eivet, born at Limoges, missionary at Vincennes in 1795, died
in 1803.

Anthony Salmon, born in the diocese of Blois, missionary in Kentucky in
1798, died of cold, in the snow, near Bardstown in 1799.

The Abb6 Barriere escaped from prison at Bordeaux, and reached Baiii-
more in 1798, missionary in Kentucky and Louisiana, died at Bordeaux iu
1814.

Anthony Gamier, born in the diocese of La Eochejle in 1762, pastor of St.
Patrick's, Baltimore, in 1792, returned to Franco in 1803, Superior-general
of St. Sulpicc in 1827» died in 1845, at the age of eic^ty-three.

John Teasier became President of the Seminary of Baltimore on Mr. Na-
got's resignation in 1810.

Peter Babade, born at Lyons, came to America in 1796, died at Lyons in
1846.

Donatian Olivier, born at Nantes in 1746, missionary in Illinois in 1795,
died in 1841, at the age of ninety-five.

* See Davis's Day-star, pp. 248, 244.

THE CATHOLIC Cli JRCH

England. In 1119 he resolved to go and evangelize Demerara,
in English Guiana, and there he preached the faith successfully
to the natives ; but the pers. cutions of the colonists prevented his
continuing his ministry even in that deadly climate, and in 1783
Father Neale set out for Maiylar J. After Laving been attached
to several churches in that State, he was sent in 1193 tc Phila-
delphia, where the yellow fever had carried off tlio two Jpsuits
who directed that mission. Father Neale wis unwca- '-od in braz-
ing the peif5tikr.ce and rescuing its victinis by his chantable care.
In 1797 aiit; 1 798 the same epidemic rfiiewed i'.:;^ tiightfui
ravages iu Fliila'lelphi ., imd found the missionary in the brefiC-h,
ever ready to bear the «. i;v^x>Uuion3 of his ministry to the 8i(;kand
dying. In 1799 Bishop C/aroll called him to preside over
Georgetown CoDee'e, whort ^v succeeded Mr. Dubourg, and he
was still in that pest when the Spiscopal dignity surprised
him.*

The two ex-Jcsuits, become bishops, w(tuld, it may be imagiued,
care little about ti?e fate of their Society, extinguished thiry
yeais \.eix)re. But th:; sons of the Society of Jesus never forget
their irn. ther, and as soon aa Bishop Carroll learned that the So-
ciety still, ii' a manner, survived in the Russian empire, he begged
Father G rubor to readmit the Fatheri" livicc' in the United States.
He added that the property of the Society was preserved almost

* Notice on the Most Eev. Leonard Neale, second Archbishop of Balti-
more, by M. C. Jenkins. U. S. Catholic Magazine, iii. 505. Oliver's precious
Collection enables us to give the names of the five brothers:

William Ntsale, born August 14, 1743, died in 1799 at Manchester Hospital,
insane

Benec^: t Neale, born August 14, 1748, apparently a twin brother of the
former, o.ied m Maryland in 1787.

Charles Neale, who died at Georgetown, April 28, 1828.

Leonard Neale, born 15th October 1746 (Oliver says 1747), died in ^^

Francis Neale, born in 1755, die'' in Maryland in 1837.

There seems to be some cont n, however, as Leonard ' e*^. the

rapidlj
tain in
prived I

*Lai|

t Heni

toirc de \

IN HIE UNITED STATES.

Lpital,

intact, and that it would support thirty religious. The letter of
the bishop and of his coadjutor is dated May 25, 1803, and con-
tains this remarkable passage of modesty and self denial :

" We have been so much employed in ministries foreign to our
institute ; we are so inexperienced in government ; the want of
1> >' ks, even of the constitutions and decrees of the congregations,
vi 90 flagrant, that you cannot find one Jesuit among us suflSciently
qualified by health and strength, as well as other requisites, to
fulfil the duties of Superior. It would seem then most expedient
to send here some Father from those around you. He must
know your intentions thoroughly, and be prudent enough to un-
i.l«3rtake nothing precipitately before he has studied the govern-
ment, laws, and spirit of this republic, and the manners of the
people."

There were then in Maryland only thirteen Jesuits, nearly ail
broken with age and missionary toils. Father Gruber at once
authorized a renewal of their vows, and Fathers Robert Molyneux,
Charles Neale, Charles Sewall, and Sylvester Boarman availed
themselves of the permission ;* but he did not send a visitor from
Europe, as Father Carroll asked, and he had confidence enough
in the American Jesuits to name one of them Superior of the
whole mission. The choice of Father Gruber fell on Father Mo-
lyneux, and there soon arrived in the United States Fathers Adam
Britt, John Henry, F. Mai eve, Anthony Kohlmann, P. Epinette,
Maximilian du iiantzeau, Peter Malou, John Grassi, and F. Vau-
quickenborne. These new auxiliaries, with the Sulpitians and
ocher French priests, contributed not only to propagate the faith
rapidly in the United States, but especiaMy to bring back or re-
tain in the practice of reli^oiu t:'e Catholic settlers till then de-
prived of pastors.t

the

* Laity's Dirsiiory for 1822, p 123.

+ Heiirion, Histoire dea Missions Catholiques, ii. 662; Cretineau Joly, His-
toire de la Compagne do .T^srs, vi. 859 ; Laity's Directory, 124.

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Among the instruments of the regener>i;ion of the Church in
the United States, we must not forget the many French families
who emigrated from St. Domingo at the close of the last century,
and settled at Baltimore or New Yoik. In his history of the
Huguenot refugees, Weiss enters into long details on those who
settled in America on the revocation of the edict of Nantes. The
author, following his system, exaggerates beyond all limit the im-
portance of that immigration, and draws an imaginary sketch of
the influence exercised on America, by the French Huguenots, in
agriculture, literature, politics, arts, sciences, civilization, and so
forth. We shall be much more in truth's domain when we affirm
that the French Catholic families, driven from the W^est Indies
by the frightful consequences of the revolution, and who came to
seek peace and liberty in the United States, far exceeded in num-
ber the Protestant immigration of the previous i^entury. Nay,
more : misfortune having purified their faith, these Creoles were
distinguished for their attachment to religion, and often became
the li'.'ing models of American congregations. Without counting
Martinique and Guadaloupe, the French part of St. Domingo
contained in 1793 forty thousand whites. All emigrated to
escape being massacred by the blacks; many miilattoes followed
them, and of this mass of emigrants a great part settled in the
United States.

The annals of Baltimore aoy that on the 9th of July, 1793,
fifty-three vessels arrived at that port, bearing about one thousand
whites and five hundred colored people, flving from the disasters
of St. Domingo. These arrivals were followed by many others,
either at Baltimore or at other ports of the United States. In
1807 the Catholics in New York were estimated at fourteen
thousand, " a large part of whom are refugees from St. Domingo
and other islands."* Before joining the negro insurrection.

* Griffith's Anna! of Baltimore, 140.

Toussa
coachn]
reach £
the disa
siderabi<
them fu]
the Life
emigratic
able inhi
1793, fou
endowed
Baltimore
creased th
'^♦^e ma
Michigan,
who were, i
and to the I
which scatt
leaving the
thrown,
birth (they
in perfidy-
Jesuits.

Thus, EuL
peopled the
Catholics thj
Huguenots ;

* M^moire f
^aris, 1815, iij.

t Catholic A
country we nee

of Jesus, who ]
parts of the co

ways of perfect!

IN THE UNITED STATES.

Toussaint L'Ouverture protected the flight of the family whose
coachman he was, and enabled them and many other Creoles to
reach Baltimore. In a notice on Bishop Dubourg we read that
the disasters of St. Domingo cast on our hospitable shores a con-
siderable number of Catholic families and colored people, most of
them full of piety, and others disposed to it by misfortune.* In
the Life of the Abb6 Moranvill6 we also find that, " besides the
emigration from France, a very large number of the niost respect-
able inhabitants of St. Domingo, flying from the massacre of
1793, found refuge at Baltimore. Many of these refugees were
endowed with eminent piety ;"f and the author of the Annals of
Baltimore says that these immigrations of French colonist" in-
creased the wealth and population of the city.

We may also claim as French not only the inhabitants of
Michigan, Illinois, and Louisiana, but also the good Acadians
who were, in 1*756, forcibly torn from their homes by the English,
and to the number of seven thousand, forced on board ^f vessels,
which scattered them along the coast from Bo'^.uu to Carolina,
leaving them to the charity of those among whom they ^y€l'(i
thrown. The only crime of the Acadians was their religion and
birth (they were French Catholics), and their treatment is equalled
in perfidy only by the conduct of Charles ITT. of Spain to the
Jesuits.

Thus, English fanaticism and the disasters of the revolution
peopled the territory of the United St tes with more French
Catholics than the revocation of the edict of Nantes ever sent
Huguenots ; and we ourselves have been able to see with our own

* M6moire pour server 4 I'histoire ecclesiaatique pendant le xviii siecle.
Paris, 1815, iii. 19-!.

t Catholic Almanac, 1889. Among those who thus emigrated to this
country we need only mer^-on the late Father ...cholas Petit, of the Society
of Jesus, who recently v' j<\ t Troy, and who8(> apostolical labors in many
parts of the country wiii {v-Ai* be reraemberect by those he guided in the
ways of perfection.

u)*3t

THE CATHOLIC CHUKCH

eyes how many descendants of the planters of St. Domingo and
exiles of Acadie have faithfully preserved at New York, Baltimore,
Charleston, and New Orleans the L^li < f tlinr fathers.

CHAPTER VII.

'iliS CHURCH IN MARYLAND.

Tho G^rtniilltes — Poo. Clares— Visitation nuns — Sisters of Ciiarlty— Baltimore an ec-
clesiastical province with four sufRragans — Death of Archbishop Carroll.*

After having provided, by tho foundation of a college and
.seminary, for the education of youth and the recruiting of the
priesthood, the Bishop of Baltimore's next care was to introdi'iCe
into Maryland religious communities of women, to instruct the
young of their own sex, nurse the sick, and adopt the orphan.
These good works have ever been the heritage of the Church,
and ephemeral indeed must be the branch which has not yet
laid the foundation of convents for prayer or charity. Till 1790
the United States did not know what a female religious was.f
It was only then that Father CI. arles Neale, brt iher of the futurt-
coadjutor of Baltimore, brought with him from Belgium to

* The year 1790 is a memorable era in Catholic publication in tho UniteJ
States. The zealous Jesuits had, even prior to tho Kevolutioii, issued a few
prayer-books and the Following of Clirist, all privately 'irinted. The faith-
ful now needed an edition of the Bible, and a qiir to was printed b^ Carey,
Stewart & Co., of Philadelphia, in 1790. But o m litior of the Protestant
version had then appeared in America, so that Caluolics. so often traduced
as enemies of the Bible, were among the first to print it iu this country, and
to this day n boast of the finest e<lition, the unsurpassed Haydock from
Dunigan's press.

t The Ursuline Convent at New Orleans was founded in 1727, but Louisi-
ana at that time belonged to France. Before tlie dose of the seventeenth

century, Cj
the dates o
1639-Ho
1642-Ho
ltJ58— Sis
1698— Sis
I697-Th(

IN THE UNITED STATES.

America four Carmelites of St. Theresa's reform, three of whom
were Americans, the fourth an English lady ; and thus one of the
most austere orders in the Church was the first to naturalize itself
in the United States. Father Charles Neale had a cousin,
Mother Mary Margaret Brent, Superior of the Carmelite convent
at Antwerp^ a house founded only thirty-seven years after St.
Theresa's death. At the request of this lady, Father Charles
Neale in 1780 assumed the spiritual direction of the convent, and
he, by his correspondence with his friends in America, exciteil a
defaire to have a branch of the Carmelites at Port Tobacco, where
the Neale family resided. Father Carroll wrote to the Bishop of
Antwerp, and on the 19th of April, 1790, four Carmelites em-
barked at Antwerp with Father Neale for Maryland. They were
Mother Bernardino Mathews, Superior, her two sisters, Mothers
Aloysius and Eleanora Mathews, from the convent of Hogstraet,
and Sister Mary Dickinson, of the convent of Antwerp. On the
15th of October the ''armelites took possession of their house,
which 'ather Neale had built at his own expense ; and there
they practised their rule in all its severity, fasting eight months
in the year, ^"earing woollen, sleeping on straw, and offering their
prayers and mortif' rations for the salvatioa of souls. In 1800
they lost their Superior, who was succeeded by Mother Dickinson.
In 1823 Father Charles Neale, their venerable founder, died, after
having directed them by his counsels for thirty-three years. In
1840 Mother Dickinson followed him to the grave. Born in
London and educated in France, she had been a religious {or
fifty-eight years, and was revered as a saint by her spiritual

r »

pi-
th

century, Canada had six female religious communities,
the dates of their foundation :

1639— Hospital Nuns, und Ursulines of Quebec.

1642 — Hospital Nuns of Montreal.

1658 — Sisters of the Congregation of Our Lady.

1698 — Sisters of the General Hospital, Quebec.

1697— The Ursulines of Three Rivers.

The following are

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

daughtem. At this epoch the Curnielites suffered the greatest
financial embarrassments, so as actually to experience all the pri-
vations of want, in consequence of the mismanagement of the
farm from which they deri . ed their support. Archbishop Whit-
field, touched by their painful position, advised them to leave Port
Tobacco and remove to Baltimore, where thoy might create re-
sources by opening a boarding-school. The Holy See permitted
this modification of their rule, and on the 13th of September,
1831, the Carmelites, to the number of twenty-four, bade a
last farewell to the convent where most of them had devoted
themselves to the austerities of a religious life. On the next
day they reached Baltimore, and after offering a short prayer
at the cathedral, hastened to inclose themselves in their n6w
cloister.

The Carmelites had for several years, as one of their chaplains,
the Abb6 H6rard, a French priest of the Holy Ghost, who had
left France for Guiana in 1784, and withdrew to the United
States during the revolution. He was long their most active
benefactor, gave them a considerable sum towards building their
chapel, and left them a legacy, the income of which still sup-
ports their chaplain. The Carmelites at Baltimore now number
twenty sisters, and their contemplative life doubtless averts the
sco'irges of God from the land where his name is so dishonored.*

About 1792 some Poor Clares, driven from France by the
horrors of the revolution, sought a refuge in Maryland. Their
names were Marie de la Marche, Abbess of the Order of St. Clare,

Celeste la Blonde de la Rochefoucault, and de St. Luc, and

they wert assisted by a lay brother named Alexis. They took

up the!
had A
veneral
la Roci
Georgef
Abbess
in Franc
In 18
town, of
August,
college, 1
support 1
had cons
Abbess i
her, sold
and retur
l«i8t chapt
Jesus, ha(
seem nati
she and i
there is n(
doubtless
of St. Cla
its benedi(
Miss Al
in Americi
pious and
whither he

* Catholic Magazine, viii. 24, 88. The Carmelite Nuns were founded by
the Blessed John Soreth, a Norman, the twenty-sixth General and first re-
former of the Carmelites. They were instituted by a Bull of Pope Nicholas
V. in 1542. The Carmelite Nuns were reformed by St. Theresa in 1562, and
the Spanish reform introduced into France by Madame Aoarie in 1608.

* The Poc
Italy in 1212
rule in 1224.
austere; thej
on Christmns

IN THE UNITED STATES.

up their ^abode at Georgetown, although it is certain that they
had h house als*^ at Frederick, as we learn from the will of the
venerable Abbess, dated in 1801, and made in favor of Sister de
la Rochefoucaul* It is preserved at thd Visitation Convent,
Georgetown, and begins in these words : " I, Mary de la Marche,
Abbess of the Order of St. Clare, formerly of the village of Sours
in France, and now of Frederick in Maryland."

In 1801 they purchased a lot on Lafayette-street, in George-
town, of John Threlkeld, the deed being dated on the first of
August. The good sisters had the consolation to be near the
college, which secured them religious aid. They endeavored to
support themselves at Georgetown by opening a school, but they
had constantly to struggle with poverty ; and on the death of the
Abbess in 1805, Madame de la Rochefoucault, v/ho succeeded
her, sold the convent to Bishop Neale by deed of June 29th, 1 805,
and returned to Europe with her companion. As we saw in the
last chapter, the four brothers Neale, who entered the Society of
Jesus, had a sister, a Poor Clare, at Aire in Artois ; and it would
seem natural that, when the convents in France were suppressed,
she and her companions should take refuge in Mai^'knd ; but
there is nothing to show that she ever reti'^*!::*! to America. It
doubtless did not enter the designs of Providence that the Order
of St. Clare should take root in the United States, reserving all
its benedictions for the Order of the Visitation.*

Miss Alice Lalor, who was the foundress of the Visitation Nuns
in America, was born about 1*766 in Queen's county, Ireland, of
pious and worthy parents. She was brought up at Kilkenny,
whither her family removed when young Alice was still a child.

* The Poor Clares, a branch of the Franciscan Order, were founded in
Italy in 1212 by S ■,. Clare Sciffa. St. Francis of A sissium pave them tlieir
rule in 1224. Kef ^rmed by St. Colette in 1435, the I'oor Clares are extremely
austere ; they fast every day, never taking more than a single meal, except
on Christmas-day.

I. r

■ ^ *•

THK CATHOLIC CHTltCH

She was distinguished from her brothei-s and sisters by her extra-
ordinary devotion, and made rapid progress in virtue under the
direction of the Rev. Mr. Carroll, the parish priest of the place.
Dr. Lanigan, the bishop of the diocese, having visited Kilkenny
when Ahce Lalor was sixteen years of age, the young maiden
consulted that prelate on her desire of uniting herself to God by
the vow of chastity ; and after having her sincerity put to the
test, she received pemiission to follow her design, but without yet
leaving her family.

Alice thus lived some years in the world, till Bishop Lanigan,
wishing to form a religious community at Kilkenny, invited her
to join it. She accepted with joy, but was opj)osed in her voca-
tion by the will of her parents, who had then made up their
minds to emigrate to America, and who would not consent to
part with their daughter. She accordingly came out with them
in 1797, after having promised the prelate to return to Ireland in.
two years, to embrace the religious state. Such was not, how-
ever, the design of the Almighty on his faithful handmaid. She
settled at Philadelphia with her family, and here confided her
projects to Father Leonard Neale, whom fhe took as her director.
He had long wished to found a religious community at Philadel-
phia, although he was yet undecided what order would best suit
the country. He showed Miss Lalor that America needed her de-
votedness far more than Ireland did ; and being, as her confessor,
invested with the necessary powers, he released her from her
promise. Obedient to his counsels, Alice joined two other young
women of Philadelphia, animated by a similar vocation to the
religious state. She left her family to begin under Father Neale's
d '^ection a house for the education of girls. But the new institu-
te :yn had scarcely begun when the yellow fever opened its fearful
ravages in Philadelphia. Many of the people fled from the scourge,
and among them the parents of Miss Lalor. They used the most
touching appeals to induce her to accompany them, but she re-

maine
carrie(
resolui

In
Georg(
conver
she ha<
both r(
teachei
themse
accessic
tune,
site of
Neale, c
where 1
licitude.
to know
He had
Francis
Miss La
some ol
comp]et<
althougl
possessec
deavors
form his
Many Ca
comraun:
of the P:
compani(
other hai
expense,
favor of

IN THE UM'J\LD STATES.

mained unshaken at her post, and beheld her two companions
carried off by the pestilence, without being discouraged in her
resolution of devoting herself to God.

In 1199 Father Neale Laving been appointed President of
Georgetown College, persuaded Miss Lalor to retire to the Clarist
convent in that city, so as not to be exposed to the world which
she had renounced. She left Philadelphia with a pious lady, and
both rendered all the service thej'^ could to the Poor Clares as
teachers. Their director soon advised them to open a school by
themselves, which they did ; and their rising institute received an
accession in another Philadelphia lady, who brought a small for-
tune. It was employed partly in acquiring a wooden house, the
site of which is stiU embraced in the convent grounds. Father
Neale, on becoming coadjutor, continued to reside at Georgetown,
where he bestowed on his spiritual daughters the most active so-
licitude. The holy prelate incessantly offered his prayers to God
to know to what rule it was most suitable to bind the new society.
He had a great predilection for the Visitation, founded by St.
Francis of Sales, and a circumstance convinced both him and
Miss Lalor that in this he followed the designs of God. Among
some old books belonging to the Poor Clares, they found the
complete text of the Rules and Constitution of the Visitation,
although the poor sisters were wholly unaware that they had ever
possessed the volume. Bishop Neale failed, however, in his en-
deavors to obtain the aid of some nuns from Europe in order to
form his American novices to the rule of St. Frances de Chautal.
Many Catholics blamed the project of establishing a new religious
community in the United States, fearing to excite the fanaticism
of the Protestants. Bishop Carroll advised Miss Lalor and her
companions to join the Carmelites of Port Tobacco. On the
other hand, a wealthy lady offered to go to Ireland at her own
expense, and bring out nuns, if Bishop Neale would decide in
favor of the Ursulines. The zealous coadjutor, however, refused

4»

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

these offers, beiieving that the institute of the Visitation was best
adapted to the wants of the Catholics in the United States.

We have stated that Bishop Neale had bought the Clarist
convent on their departure for Europe in 1805. He immediately
installed the " Pious Ladies" there (for by that name the future
Visitation Nuns were known in Georgetown), and by deed of
June 9, 1808, confirmed June 9, 1812, transferred the property
to Alice Lalor, Maria McDermott, and Mary Neale.

In 1814 the sisters numbered thirteen, and their fervor induced
their holy director to permit them to take simple vows to be re-
newed every year.

Up to this time Bishop Neale had been the only Superior of
the community, but he deemed it proper to invest one of the
sisters with authority over her companions, and Miss Lalor was
called to the important post.

Such was the origin of the Visitation nuns in the United
States : nor is it without striking points of resemblance to its
foundation in Europe. The energy and perseverance of Bishop
Neale recall the pious efforts of St. Francis of Sales, for the same
holy enterprise. In both cases a bishop gave the first impulse ;
in both hemispheres an isolated lady lays the first foundation,
undeterred by any obstacle ; and if in Europe the Visitation soon
opened its convents in twenty different spots in France, so in
America the Mother hou.a at Georgetown has now branches of
the order at Baltimore, Mobile, St. Louis, Washington, Brooklyn,
and Wheeling ; and, in these various convents, now numbers over
three hundred nuns. But if was not without new and severe tri-
als that Alice Lalor's house acquired this remarkable development,
as we shall see in the sequel.

The nine convents which now exist in the United States, all,
or nearly all, filiations of the Geo^'getown convent, have boarding-
schools or day schools for girls of the higher as well as of the
poorer class. The education received in their schools is remark-

IN THE UNITED STATES.

ably good, and the work of Miss Alice Lalor is an immense ben-
efit to America.*

The same is true of that to which Mrs. Setou, the foundress of
the Sisters of Charity in the United States, devoted herself ; and
if Miss Lalor reminds us of a St. Frances de Chantal, Mrs. Seton
will frequently recall the remembrance of Madame Le Gras, the
pious instrument of St. Vincent de Paul. Elizabeth Bayley was
born at New York, on the 28th of August, 1774, and at the age
of twenty married a respectable merchant named William Seton,
of a Scotch family, whose chief is now Lord WintcT>. Like her
parents and husband, she belonged to the Episcopal Church ; but
she nurtured much piety amid her Protestantism, and so merited,
that God gave her the grace of embracing the truth. A voyage
undertaken under sad auspices, led to her conversion. Mr. Seton's
health, broken by cares arising out of the mercantile difficulties
of the day, induced his physicians to order him to Italy ; but it
was too late. Soon after reaching Pisa, in 1803, he expired,
leaving his widow to provide for five young children. In her
misfortune and isolation, in a foreign land, Mrs. Seton found a
Providence in the family of the brothers, Phihp and Anthony
Filicci, two Leghorn merchants, who had taken a deep interest
in her. Not satisfied with welcoming her to their roof, the
Messrs. Filicci were more sensible to the wants of her soul than
to the grief of her heart, and the virtues of the desolate widow
inspired an ardent desire to behold her a Catholic. Mrs. Seton
"vas not disinclined, and, indeed, whether at Pisa or Florence, felt

* On the 6th June, 1610, Madame de Chantal and her companions, under
the direction of St. Francis of Sales, founded the order of the Visitation of
onr Lady, ut Annecy, in Savoy. Tiie Constitutions were approved by Pope
Urban VI il., 1626. The name of " Visitation" was at first given by tlie
Bisliop of Geneva to a conofregation of Hermits of the Visitatian, founded in
1608 on Mount Vocron, in Chamblais, to visit the ancient sanctuary dedi-
cated to tlie Illessod Virgin on that mountain, and which bad been long
vinorated in the couutiy.

THE Catholic church

ever attracted to the churches. The two brothers accordingly
undertook to instruct her, with a zeal beyond all praise, and the
collection still preserved of their letters and religious treatises,
composed to clear the douSts of Mrs. Seton, give the highest idea
of tte merit of these honorable merchants. Mrs. Seton had
brought with her to Italy only her eldest daughter ; she was
theiefore anxious to return to her other children, and Anthony
Filicci was devoted enough to embark with her, to continue the
work of Fo desirable a conversion. On arriving at New York,
Mrs. Seton frankly avowed her design to her family, but met a
formidable opposition. They appealed to her interest, affection,
self-love, to shame her of a creed professed at New York only,
they said, by " Lw Irish." This did not suffice ; they placed
near her the Rev. John Henry Hobart, afterwards Protestant
Bishop of New York, and that gentleman undertook to show her
the errors of the Catholic religion. But Mi's. Seton sought other
count rrom the Archbishop of Baltimore, and the distinguished
clergyi a, the Abbes Cheverus and Matignon, who had sought
a refuge America. At last, regardless of all human considera-
tions, Mrs. Seton made her abjuration on the 14tli of March, 1805,
in St. Peter's church, the first, and long the only Catholic church
in the State of New York.

This noble step placed the courageous woman under her fami-
ly's ban ; and she found herself abandoned by her wealthy rela-
tives. To shield her children from want, Mrs. Seton opened a
school at New York ; but she was aided especially by the chari-
table care of the two Filicci ; and as long as she lived, she re-
ceived from these generous Italians an annual pension of about
six hundred dollai-s, not including more considerable donations .
whenever she asked them, for her oi'phans and patients. In 1808
Mr. Dubourg, afterwards Bishop of Montauban, and then Presi-
dent of St. Mary's College, Baltimore, having become acquainted
with Afi?. S <on. inlu'^orl her to go to Baltimore and open a

IN THE UNITED STATES.

school for girls, on a lot which the Sulpitians put at her disposal.
These occupations did not, however, fill up the zeal of the young
widow : she longed to conseerate her life to God, and the assist-
ance of the poor. Unfortunately, she had no resources to found
a religious establishment, when a young convert, Mr. Samuel
Cooper,* who was studying for the priesthood at Baltimore,
informed Mr. Dubourg of his resolution to employ his fortune in
good works. This coincidence of views seem to indicate the
designs of Providence ; and with the approbation of Bishup Car-
roll, somo land was purchased near Emmitsburg, in Maryland,
and buildings begun for a convent of Sisters of Charity. Mrs.
Seton was already certain of four associates, and they took the
religious habit together, at Emmitsburg, on the 1st of January,
1809. Mr. Dubourg immediately endeavored to procure from
France the Rules and Constitution of the Sisters of St. Vincent of
Paul, in order to give them to his new community. Mrs. Seton
also desired that some Sisters of Charity should come over from
France, to instruct them in their duties, and the spirit of their

IsX'l

* Samuel Cooper, born in Virginia, of Protestant parents, at first fol-
lowed the sea, and visited various parts of the globe. Having fallen dan-
gerously ill at Paris, he began to reflect on the truths of faith, and after
several years of study, he embraced Catholicity, in the full of 1807, at
Philadelphia, during a visit of Bishop Carroll to that city. He entered the
Seminary at Baltimore in September, 1808, then went to Italy, was ordained
priest at Baltimore, August 15, 1820, and became pastor of the congregation
at Emmitsburg. He remained there only nine months, and then exercised
tLb holy ministry in South Carolina. He subsequently made a pilgrimage
to the Holy Land, was employed in various stations in the dioceses of Bal-
timore and Philadelphia, and in 1822 returned to France on account of his
health. The friendship with which Archbishop Cheverus honored him,
induced him to make Bordeaux his residence. He attended the illustrious
Cardinal on his death-bed, and departed this life liimself, at Bordeaux, on
the 16th of December, 1843, reduced almost to indigence by hi« inexhaust-
ible charities. He effected numerous conversions at Bordeaux : among
others, that of Mr. Strobel, the American Consul, who is now a priest in
tlie diocese of Philadelphia.— White's Life of Mrs. Soton, 246, 505. List
of Priests ordained at Ikltimorc.

■ ?-l ^

e n

*-i^

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

order. The Abbe Flaget, about sailing for France, was intrusted
with the negotiation, and tbund the mother house at Paris much
disposed to welcome with open arms the Sisters of Emmitsburg.
Sister Mary Byseray repaired to Bordeaux in 1810, in order to
sail to Baltimore ; but the imperial government threw obstacles
in her way, and refused the necessary passports. Mrs. Seton^s
community was, nevertheless, increasing ; in 1812 it numbered
twenty Sisters, and at this period elections were first held for the
offices iri the house. The Superiorship naturally devolved on the
venerable foundress, and she filled it till her death with equal
mildness and firmness. In 1814, a colony of the Sisters of Em-
rairi)buig went to Philadelphia, to take charge of the Orphan
Asy au In 1817, the Bishop of New York invited them also to
that city, to gather the Catholic orphans. The mother house
of St. -Joseph's, Emmitsburg, contained the novitiate, aud a
boarding-school for girls, which soon became very flourishing.

All the members of Mrs. Seton's family were not equally hostile
to her now state. Two of her sistere-in-law, Misses Cecilia and
Henrietta Seton, proceeded to Emmitsburg, drawn, they believed,
by the desire of seeing their relative, and breathing the country
air. But they were soon to be enlightened by grace, and by the
example of Mrs. Seton's sanctity, and not only embraced the true
faith, but, undeterred by the poverty and privations of a new
establishment, both took the veil as novices at St. Joseph's.
Their faith was soon rewarded, and both expired in the course
of the year 1810. Mrs. Seton had also the affliction of closing
the eyes of two of her daughters, the eldest, Annina, who had
also taken the habit as a Sister of Charity, and who died piously
in 1812, at the age of seventeen ; the youngest, Rebecca, who
also aspired after the moment when she might vow herself to
God and the poor, and who yielded up her fair soul in 1816, at
the age of fourteen. Human sorrows, therefore, were not with-
held from Mrs. Seton ; but she had the religious consolation of

seein

of he

the t

doubt

him f.

Episc(

a Catl

daugh

Episco

ample,

faith.*

The

took th

Sisters

pious m

OnlV^

Sistei's c

four hui

and the

lunis, ho

New Yo

dress an

United S

and on tJ

French 1^

adopted i

communis

Superior,

distinct b

house and

* Life of 1
1853. Mpm
published w

IN THE UNITED STATES.

seeing her prayers heard, in the conversion of several members
of her family. She died hereelf, on the 4th of January, 1821, at
the age of forty-seven ; and her prayers for her kindred are,
doubtless, still more powerful with the Almighty, since she sees
him face to face. H(ir nephew, James Roosevelt Bayley, at fii-st an
Episcopalian minister, then, at the sacrifice of wealth and fortune,
a Catholic priest, is now Bishop of Newark ; her godchild, the
daughter of Bishop Hobart, and wife of Dr. Ives, lately Protestant
Episcopal Bishop of North Carolina, followed her husband's ex-
ample, and last year became, at Rome, a convert to the true
faith.*

The third daughter of the holy widow. Miss Catharine Seton,
took the veil at New York in April, 1849, in the Order of the
Sisters of Mercy, and recalls by her virtues the example of her
pious mother.

On Mother Seton's death her community numbered fifty. The
Sistei's of Chanty of Emmitsburg have constantly increased, and
four hundred and fifty sisters now occupy in the United States
and the British Provinces over forty establishments, orphan asy-
lums, hospitals, boarding-schools, or residences. Except those in
New York, New Jersey, and Nova Scotia, who still adhere to tho
dress and rules o^ Mother Seton, the Sisters of Charity in the
United States have recently formed a union with those in France,
and on the 25th of March, 1850, assumed the habit worn by tlu'
French Sisters, renewing their vows according to the foi'mnla
adopted in the Society of St. Vincent of Paul. The Emmitsburg
community forms a province of the order, with an ecclesiastic as
Superior, and a visiting Superioress. Those in New York form a
distinct body, approved by the Holy See, and have a mother-
house and novHiate at Mount St. Vincent's, near Harlem. They

* Life of Vt>*. Eliza A. Seton, by the Rev. Charles I. Wliite. New York,
1853. Mfinoirs of Mrs. S****, written by herself. Elizabethtown, 1819 :
published without the authority of Mrs. Seton.

'Ui

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

number one hundred and seventy-eight, and are scattered in over
twenty hospitals, asylums, and schools for rich and poor.*

These communities are not inferior in zeal and charity to the
Sisters of Charity in France or elsewhere, and have often been the
theme of Protestant eulogy .f

The Bishop of Baltimore seconded with all his efforts the
foundation of these pious communities, and frequently visited
Emmitsburg on important solemnities, the taking of the habit, re-
newal of vows, or consecration of chapels.

In his life, we will not omit one fact which has long since led
to much ciscussion. In 1803, Jerome Bonaparte, a brother of
Napoleon, jame to the United States, in a French frigate, and
8p(!nt some time here. Meeting Miss Patterson, a Protestant
lady, in Baltimore, he became greatly attached to her, and asked
her hand in marriage. A day was fixed, but it was deemed pru-
dent to delay it for two months, and then Bishop Carroll himself
performed the ceremony.

On Jerome's return to France the wrath of the emperor burst
upon him and his wife, and the latter was compelled to return to
Maiyland. A son was the issue of this mairiage, and is really
the lawful heir of Jerome. Napoleon saw this and sought to an-
nul the marriage. He accordingly applied to Pope Pius VII. on
the 2 4th of May, 1805. "By our laws," says he, "the marriage
is nuH. A Spanish priest so far forgot his duties as to pronounce
the benediction. I desire from your holiness a bull annulling the
marriage. It is important for France that there should not be a
Protestant young woman so near my person."

Several of these statements were untrue, but the Pontiff was

* The Sisters of Charity in Kentucky are of a different foundation, as we
shall see. The Sisters of Providence at Burlington are also Sisters of Charity.

t The conimanity of Sisters of Charitj^ servants of the sick poor, were
founded at Paris in 1633 by Madame Le Gras and by St. Vincent of Paul. It
low comptiaes over nine hundred Si&tcrB in six hundred establishments.

not tci
exami
nullity
declar<
dudes i
pi*onou
declarai
usurp a
guilty o
tie tribi
In spi
and plie,
and if th(
it was, b;^
Bishop
number oi
^ui'ope, a^
'issign a p
around hii
practice of
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churches id
sixty-eight
gion made
United Stat
the desires
and by a Bi
rank of a
erected at N
the recomm
named to ti

See article in

IN lllE UNITED STATES.

not to be deceived. In his reply on the 23d of June, the PontiflF
examines and discusses, each in itf, turn, the several causes for
nullity put forwara by the (.> '^eror. He reiutes them all, and
declares that none of them caii invalidate the marriage, and con-
cludes : " We may not depart from the laws of the Church, by
pronouncing the invalidity of a marriage which, according to the
declaration of God, no human power can dissolve. Were we to
usurp an authority which is not ours, we should ^ender ourselves
guilty of a most abominable abuse of our sacred ministry before
the tribunal of God and the whole Chi' ch, '

In spite of this dc.ded answer Napoleon re irned to the point,
and plied entr* ,. ies, menaces, and commands, but all in vain;
and if the marriage was ever declared null, or another performed,
it was, by the Pontiff's decision, all illegal.*

Bishop Carroll had, moreover, the consolation of seeing the
number of Catholics increased considerably by immigration from
Europe, and also by conversions. Every piiest to ^vhom he could
'issign a post immediately beheld a Catholic population spring up
around him, which would have continued to live aloof from the
practice of religious duties as long as it had no p' ^ st near to bring
them to mind. In 1806 the prelate laid the con. i-stono of three
churches in Baltimore alone. In 1808 he count d in his diocese
sixty-eight priests and eighty churches, and the progress of reli-
gion made him urgently request at Rome the division of the
United States into several bishoprics. Pope Piu? VII. yielded to
the desires of the venerable founder of the American hierarchy,
and by a Brief of April 8th, 1808, Baltimore was raised to the
rank of a Metropolitan See, and four suffragan bishoprics were
erected at New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and BaVi:?stown. On
the recommendation of Bishop Carroll, the Abbe Oheverus was
named to the See of Boston, and the Abbe Flaget to that of

See article in Freeman's Journal, Sept. 11, 1852. Napdeon Dynasty, p. 451.

THE OATHOLIC CHURCH

Bardntown. Both had, for ovei Lwelve years, evang^elized the
districts over which they were cail-jd by the Supreme Pontiff to
exercise episcopal jurisdiction. The Rev. Michael Egan, of the
Order of St. Francis, was appointed to the See of Philadelphia,
ar d Father Luke Concanen, of the Order of St. Dominic, to that
of New York. The latter resided at Rome, and held the posts of
Prior of St. Clement's and Librarian of the Minerva. He took a
lively interest in the American missions, and it was at his sugges-
tion that a Dominican convent was founded in Kentucky i 1805.
He had already refused a mitre in Ireland, but he could not re-
gist the orders of the Sovereign Pontift*, who sent him as a mis-
sionary to the New World ; and he accordingly received episcopal
consecration at Rome on the 24th of April, 1808, at the hands of
Cardinal Antonelli, Prefect of the Propaganda.

The new bishop travelled at once to Leghorn, and subsequently
to Naples, where he hoped to find a vessel bound to the United
States. He bore the palliiiai for Archbishop Carroll and the
bulls of institution for thv tlireo new bishops. The French au-
thorities, then in possessioii of Naples, opposed his departure, and
detained him as a prisoner, although he had paid his passage.
The pretext of these vexations was that Bishop Concanen was a
British subject. The prelate could not escape the rigors of tlie
police, and died suddenly in July, 1810, poisoned, it would seem,
by persons who wished to get possession of his effects and the
sacred vessels which it was known he had with him.*

This premature death was a severe blow to the Church in
America, and caused the utmost grief, as new evils menaced the
Vicar of Christ himself. When Pius VH. decreed the creation of
the Archbishopric of Baltimore, a French arniy occupied Rome ;
not, as now, to befriend and protect, but to seize the Papal States
and extort from the Supreme Pontiff concessions incompatible

* Sketch of the History of the Catholic Church in New York, by the liev.
J. R. Bayley, New York, 1853, p. 53.

with
the i
Amei
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York
for th(
their c
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of Apri
and the]
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ters:" "
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him to t}

IN I HE UNITED STATKS.

ieneral J la-
noble atul
I lis clergy

with the existence of the Church. In spite of the difficulties of
the times, the Holy Father was organizing the Epiwiopate iu
America at the very moment when the troops of General Miollis
menaced him in his palace. But when the new Bishop of New
York died at Naples, Pius VII. was no longer at Rome to provide
for the vacancy, or see that the balls of the otl ' shops reached
their destination. He himself had been dragg from the

Quirinal on the night of the Gui oi July, 18f"^
det's gendarmes, and carried as a prisoner fii <
Avignon, then to Savona. Archbishop Canoll
immediately consulted as to means of communication with the
persecuted Pontiff, and the steps to be taken to avoid being de-
ceived by any pretended letters. Owing to these delays, the bulls
of April 8, 1808, reached Baltimore only in September, 1810,
and then by the way of Lisbon. They were immediately put in
execution. Pishop Egan, first Bishop of Philadelphia, was conse-
crated on the 28th of October; Bishop Cheverus, first Bishop of
Boston, on the 1st of November ; and finally. Bishop Flaget re-
ceived episcopal consecration on the 4th of November, 1810.
At this last ceremony Bishop Cheverus delivered the sermon, and
eloquently addressed Archbishop Carroll as the Elias of the New
Law, the father of the clergy, the guide of the chariot of Israel in
the New "World : " Pater mi. Pater mi, cunus Israel et auriga
ejus." He extolled the merits of the Society of St. Sulpice, to
which Bishop Flaget belonged, citing the various testimonies
given in its honor at different times by the assemblies of the
clergy of France, and the phrase which fell from the lips of Fene-
lon on his death-bed, " at that moment when man no longer flat-
ters ;" " I know nothing more venerable or more apostolical than
the Congi'egation of St. Sulpice,"

The Archbishop of Baltimore might now repose in his glorious
age, and await with security the moment when God should call
him to the reward of his labors. He had commenced the min-

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THE CATHOLIC CHUKCH

istiy in America when Catholicity was persecuted there, and a
few poor missionaries alone shared the toils and perils of the apos-
tleship. He now beheld the United States an ecclesiastical pro-
vince, and in his own diocese he had established a seminary,
colleges, and convents; had created religious vocations and
founded a national clergy. Louisiana, with its Episcopal See, its
convent and clergy, had also been added to the United States,
and was now confided to one of his clergy as its prelate.

Yet the trials of the Church in Europe, the prolonged imprison-
ment of Pius VII., filled with bitterness the last years of the holy
and aged prelate. Archbishop Carroll lived long enough to see
peace restored to the Church ; and one of the first acts of the
Holy Father, on returning to Rome in 1814, was to name to the
See of New York, vacant since the death of Bishop Concanen,
Father John Connolly, of the Order of St. Dominic, Prior of St.
Clement's. His promotion completed the hierarchy of the United
States. Soon after, the patriarch of that church, humbly begging
to be laid on the ground to die, expired on the 3d of December,
1815, at the age of*eighty, and his death was lamented, not only
by Catholics, but also by the Protestants, who respected and ad-
mired the archbishop, and mourned his death as a public loss.

In person. Archbishop Carroll was commanding and dignified.
His voice was feeble, and he was accordingly less fitted for the
pulpit; but his discourses are models of unction and classical taste.
He was a profound theologian and scholar, and in conversation
possessed unusual charm and elegance. As a prelate he was
eminent for learning, mildness, yet a strict exactness in the ru-
brics and usages of the Church. His style, terse and elegant, was
generally admired ; but of his works, we have only his contro-
versy with Wharton, his Journal, and some discourses given in
Brent's Life and elsewhere.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

CHAPTER VIII.

DIOCESE OF BALTIMORE — (1815-1828).

Most Bev. Leonard Ne«1e, second Archbishop— Most Bev. Aoibrose liar^cbal, third
Archbishop — Diffioalties of bis administration— Progress of Catholicity— Bishops ap>
pointed ft»r New Orleans, Charleston, Bichmond, and Cincinnati — Labors of the Sol-
pitians— Death of Archbishop Mar6chal.

, On the death of the first Archbishop of Baltimore in 1815, the
United States contained only eighty-five priests^ and of this uum-
ber forty-six were in the Metropolitan diocese.* Archbishop
Leonard Neale was almost seventy years old wh^ he was left
alone, burdened with the Episcopacy, and painful infirmities de-
prived him of the strength which he would have needed for his
high functions. We have recounted the apostolic labors of the
missionary and coadjutor. After braving the •climate of Guiana
and the yellow fever of Philadelphia, Bishop Neale was to bear
in his glorious old age the marks of his toil, and he sought re-
pose for his last days near the monastery of the Visitation, which
he had founded at Georgetown. Yet when his health permitted,
and on solemn occasions, he appeared at Baltimore, and devoted
himself with constant care to the administration of his vast dio-
cese.

On the 19th of April, 1816, the American Church met with a
severe loss in the death of the Rev. Francis Nagot, whose name is
identified with the Catholic Church in the United States, and
whom St. Sulpice will ever revere as one of her most distinguished
men. Of his arrival and labors in founding the seminary and

* MSS. of the late Bishop Bruti of VincennoB.

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

college at Baltimore we have already spoken. He was bom at *
Tours on the 19th of April, 1734, and after a careful education
at the hands of the Jesuit Fathers, entered the Congregation of
St. Sulpice, and for a time taught divinity at Nantes. Ill health
compelled his return to Paris, where he directed the Little and
subsequently the Great or Theological Seminary. His time was
devoted not merely to the duties, but also to the exercise of good
works. In America he formed the noblest of our early clergy,
and labored zealously among the French Catholics. A paralytic
attack and subsequent infirmities compelled him in 1810 to re-
sign his post as Superior, a step which he had long sought to
take. Eminent as a confessor and a preacher, he was a model of,
poverty and humility. - As a writer, he was the author of the
well-known " Tableau General des principales conversions," and
of a Lifer of Mb. Olier, the venerable founder of St. Sulpice, as well
as of a French translation of the Catholic Christian, Butler's
Feasts and Fasts, and many of Bishop Hay's excellent works,
which, as is usual witli the followers of Mr. Olier, all appeared
anonymously.* ,

The death of this aged and holy clergyman wanied the
archbishop to consolidate the great work of his life, and Dr.
Neale, immediately on his accession, had j ited to the
Sovereign Pontiff a petition requesting powe* to establish a
monastery of the Visitation at Georgetown, enjoying all the
rights and privileges of the religious houses of the Institute,
Pius VII. approved the motives of this petition in 1816, and
the venerable archbishop had thus the consolation before dying
of instituting the Sisters at Georgetown as a regular community
of the order founded by the holy Bishop of Geneva and St. Jane
Frances de Chantal. This crowned his career on earth.

He again proved his paternal attachment to these holy reli-

* Laity's Directory for 1822, p. 129.

•The
Arohbis

fSt.
torted h
»wer fro
Mile. Je
had don(

IN THE UNITED STATES.

a Cheva-
under

«ous, by giving them as director a priest full of zeal, the Abb6
Clorivi^re * nephew of the celebrated Jesuit of that name, and less
known in France as a priest than as a royalist chief under the
name of Limo61an.

Joseph Pierre Picot de Limo61an de Cloriviere belonged to a
noble family in Brittany, was bom at Broons, November 4th,
1768, and was a schoolfellow of Chateaubriand. He was an offi-
cer in the army of Louis XVI. irhrj tJri itaTplutirTn broke out.
He embraced with ardor the Ven
Her of St. Louis in 1800, and
George Oadoudal. Implicated
nal machine of the 3d Nivose, aga?
Limo^lan escaped only by a kind,
the police, and after being long conceal'
to emigrate to America. Affianced to a ya
he wrote to the family before embarking, to ask his mC^Uded to
proceed to the United States to celebrate their marriage. The
lady, however, replied that at the period when Limo61an was in
the greatest danger, she had made a vow of . celibacy if her affi-
anced should escape, and she courageously sacrificed her most
tender affections to be faithful to the promise which she had made
to Heaven. The young officer was enlightened in turn by this
example, and he entered the seminary at Baltimore in 1808.f
Ordained in 1812, De Cloriviere was the eighteenth ecclesiastic
who came from that Sulpitian establishment, which has rendered
such service to the Church in America. Archbishop Carroll, ap-
preciating the consummate prudence and merit of De Cloriviere,

* The Georgetown MSS. say, however, that he was appointed Director by
Archbishop Mar^chal.

t St. Beuve made Limoelan figure in his romance " Voluptd," but so dis-
torted his character and misinterpreted his conduct as to provoke an an-
swer from the family. The young lady to whom he had been betrothed was
Mile. Jenne d'Albert. She did not, however, complete the sacrifice, as he
had done, by consecrating herself to God in the religious state.

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

sent him immediately to Charleston to resist the usurpation of
power by the laity in that city. The Breton priest displayed no
less energy than conciliation in the most difiScult circumstances,
and after some years of effort, succeeded in reforming inveterate
abuses. Called then to direct the nuns, he displayed the qualities
essential to his new position, and he became in a measure the
second founder of the Visitation. Before leaving the subject, we
may make our closing remarks on the Order in which he took
so lively an int^est. In spite of all efforts, the foundation of
AJice Lalor was not shielded, from new trials. In 1824 its finan-
cial embarrassments were so great, and the poverty of the com-
munity was so extreme, that they came to the sad resolution of
dispersing. But God came to their aid at the very moment when
the Sisters had courag^eously made up their minds to the sacrifice.
A wealthy Sprffiish merchant in New York, the late John B. La-
sala, sent two of his daughters to the Visitation school, paying
several years' board in advance. This timely aid enabled them
to await the assistance which Mr. De Cloriviere's generosity pre-
pared for them. He had ordered his property in Brittany to be
sold, in order to give the proceeds to the Visitation. The trans-
action met with delay, but he was at last able to carry out his
projects, and he now built, at his own expense, the academy, and
the elegant chapel dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He
also contributed by his donations to the establishment of the free
school for girls.

" The happiness of the Sisters in possessing so good a spiritual
father was not to last. Mr. Clopiviere had greatly contributed to
the glory of God, and it now remained for God to glorify him in
his turn. He had placed the community in a flourishing state,
and had done all in his power to promote its success. He was
attacked with apoplexy, and did not long survive the stroke. He
retained the use of his senses, and requested that they would
bury him in the middle of the vault, and raise over his body a

tomb,

place

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'^-aUtJMi/kdhiMw ru

IN THE UNITED STATES.

tomb, which would serve, at the burial of the Sisters, as a resting-
place for the coffin whilst the funeral ceremony was performed.
He had during life been of service to the Sisters, and wished to
be so even after death."*

Thus died, in 1826, the Rev. Mr. De Clorivi^re, leaving a
memory still in veneration,f and in his person expired one of
those holy French priests who may be classed ^mong the found-
ers of the Church in the United States.^

After his death, the Rev. Mr. Wheeler, of Baltimore, became
the spiritual director of the Visitation, a'.d ere long he made a
voyage to Europe for the good of that cvmmunity. The George-
town Sisters, constantly fearing that they were remiss in the
exact observance of their rule, as ta\ght by St. Francis de Sales
and St. Frances de Chantal, never abandoned the design of having
among them some nuns full of the spirit and traditions of the
communities in France and Savoy. Mr. Wheeler succeeded in
his mission, and in August, 1829, brought back with him Sister
Mary Agatha Langlois, of Mans, Sister Magdalen d'Ar^ges, of

* MSS. of the Visitation, communicated by the venerable Mother Mary
Augustine Gleary, Superioress in 1854.

t By his will he condemned to the flames the voluminous memoirs which
he had written on the events in which he had taken so active a part in
France. This clause was faithfully executed at his death, and in an historical
point of view is to be regretted. Mother Cleary recollects that Mr. De Clo-
rividre showed her the bundles containing the memoirs, telling her that at
the end of every year ho sealed the account of the year, and never opened it
again ; and he added that they contained much of interest both to history
and to religion.

X Bishop England's Works, iii. 258. Peter Joseph Picot de Clorivifere,
the uncle of the former, was born at St. Malo in 1785, and entered the novi-
tiate of the Society of Jesus in 1756, was detained a prisoner by Napoleon
ft-om 1804 to 1809, was Superior of the Jesuits on the re-establishment of
the Society in 1814, and died at Paris in 1824. In 1790 and 1809, Bishop
Carroll, who was very intimately connected with Father De Clorivi^re,
pressed him to come to America, but the Father thought that he could do
more good in France and r\ Paris itself, even during the Reign of Terror.
From the similarity of names, we may infer that the nephew was a godson
of the uncle.

•^^imtffKfm" jW ftipfiw

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Fribourg, and Sister Mary Regis Mordant, of Valence. These
three nuns remained three years at Georgetown, and then re-
turned to France, seeing by the religious spirit reigning in the
community, and by the exact observance of the rules, that their
presence was no longer necessary.

On the 9th of September, 1846, the nuns had the afi9iction of
losing their venerable foundress, known in religion under the
name of Mary Theresa.

" When she was informed that the doctor judged her in danger
of death, she with a heavenly expression exclaimed, ' Glory be to
God r She had no other wish than that the will of God should
be accomplished, and concluding that the information implied the
Divine will, she rejoiced at the news. The good odor of edifica-
tion she had invariably diffused around her became now stronger.
It was with sentiments of peculiar veneration the Sisters ap-
proached her bedside. To dwell upon her virtues would be to
make the eulogy of \nrtue. Suffice it then to say that, like the
aurora, they increased till they reached meridian splendor. Her
pure spirit was freed from the prison of the body to wing its flight
to the realms above. May our death be like to hers."*

The Order of the Visitation now comprises nine houses in the
United States, all founded directly by the mother house at
Georgetown, except those at Wheeling and Keojiuk. In these
they have day and boarding schools for young ladies, as well as
day-schools for the poor. The education received in their insti-
tutions is remarkably good, and the foundation of Miss Lalor has
been an immense service to America.

We have thus followed to our times this glory of Archbishop
Neale. Foreseeing his approaching end, that holy prelate had in

• We are indebted for these precioas details to manuscripts furnished us
by the venerable Mother Mary Aujrustine Cleary, to whom we here express
our gratitude for the interest she has taken in our labors and the aid which
Bhe hatt afforded.

n tttii*ii ttM h> »; g^.n- ) . ii a %c. !■■» !>>■■

IN THE UNITED STATES.

lus
Ich

1815 petitioned the Sovereign Pontiff to associate to him in the
administration of his diocese Bishop Cheverus of Boston, with a
right of succession to the See of Baltimore. Pius VII. consented,
but wished first to know how he was to replace Bishop Cheverus
at Boston. Archbishop Neale invited the latter to Baltimore to
confer with him on the intentions of the Holy Father, but Bishop
Cheverus no sooner discovered the motive than he begged to be
left at Boston. He strongly urged the archbishop to take in
preference a coadjutor, and named several Jesuits and Mr. Mar6-
chal, a priest of St. Sulpice. He also wrote on the subject to the
Congregation " de propaganda fide :"

*' The Church of Boston has become to me a beloved spouse,
and I have never had a thought of abandoning her. It is the
universal belief, as well as my own, that the Catholic religion
would suffer great injury by my removal and the appointment of
a new bishop, who W(tUi)d;^^*una@q<a2^Qbe<JL ip\ih aod^unknown to
the diocese, however suf^erior lis meritii tv 43lQ^..;.'Balii]biore has
many priests worthi^t'ihdn Ji^'^Lsay'i^ from thy&bottpn) /jf my
soul and before God*), ^p^clffllji a^ong l!i4»^ J^uit Fsjthers; "whose
excellent qualities, whose piety,, zeal, and indefatigable labors are
beyond all praise. The seminary of Baltimore also offers men of
truly apostolical character, two of whom have already been raised
to the Episcopacy, and are the delight and glory ( •' the Church
in the United States. I earnestly pray, therefore, that some one
more worthy than myself may be chosen for the coadjutorship of
Baltimore."*

Archbishop Neale at last yielded to his friend's wishes, and on
the refusal of several Jesuits, he asked the Holy See to appoint
Mr. Mar^chal as his coadjutor. As soon as Bishop Cheverus
knew this decision he wrote to Home, asking to remain at Boston.

* life of Cardinal Cheverus, by the Kev. J. Huen Dubourg. Phil. 1889 .
p. 106. This is translated by Bobert Walsh, Esq. ; but tke real author is the
Rev. Mr. Humon, a Snlpitian, as appears by later French editions.

\:^

100

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

" I shall tejoice to see Mr. Mar6cbal performing the Episcopal
functions at Baltimore, where he and his brethren of St. Sulpice
have been the masters and models of the clergy, and have con-
ciliated universal regard."

Pius VII. approved the new arrangement, and by a brief of
July 24, 1817, he appointed Mr. Ambrose Mar6chal coadjutor to
the Archbishop of Baltimore, with the title of Bishop of Stauro-
polis. But before the date even of the brief, Archbishop Neale
had sunk under his infirmities. He died at Georgetown, on the
15th of June, 1817, and his mortal remains were laid in the con-
vent chapel of the Visitation, where they still remain. " Thus,"
says his biographer, "thus in death was he placed where his
affections were strongest in life ; and thus, in the last honors to
his mortal remains, was preserved a parallel to the last sad tribute
to St. Francis of Sales. The body of Archbishop Neale sleeps
under "tHef diapel'd? the' cOiivent'^^/ndod* by him in America;
that of, ^t, FMacis' unde/ th6 "ctrardif t>f "the convent which he
founded inJEurepe.v Annecy haa1ie***8aint*"4o may we hope that
Georgejtowli'haa hCTs."^** • *'*,»'.'.'./

Before his death A'-chbishop Neale had the satisfaction of
learning that a bishop had been consecrated for New Orleans, and
that the reorganization of that diocese presaged better days for
the Church in the United States. A See had been founded in
1793 at the capital of Louisiana, then a Spanish province, and
the diocese had been intrusted to the Rt. Rev. Luis Pefialver y
Cardenas, who administered it from 1795 to 1801 ; but as that
colony changed masters three times in three years, great disorders
ensued in the ecclesiastical administration, and Archbishop Car-
roll, canonically intrusted with the administration of the vacant
See, could afford only an imperfect remedy to the evils of that
church. The captivity of the Holy Father frustrated all hopes of

*
* Notice on the Most Rov. Leonard Neale, by M. C. Jenkins, in the Cath-
olic Magazine for 1844, p. &12.

IK THE UNITED STATES.

101

ittt

any definitive arrangement, and then what authority could be
exercised by the bishops of Baltimore over a city a thouHand
miles ofif? The Abb6 Dubourg, a priest of St. Sulpice at Balti-
more, had been appointed in 1812 administrator of New Orleans.
At last the pacification of the Church and of Europe, in 1816, per-
mitted the Hdy Father to regulate the afiairs of that distant See,
and Mr. Dubourg was consecrated Bishop of New Orleans on the
28th of September, 1815, at the capital of the Christian world.*

The bulls appointing Archbishop Mar^chal did not reach Bal-
timore till the 10th of November, 1817, five months after the
death of his venerable predecessor, and he was consecrated on the
14th of December following, by Bishop Cheverus of Boston.
Ambrose Mar6chal, thus raised to the primacy of the American
Church, was bom at Ingre, near Orleans, in iVCS.f When he
had completed his classical course, he felt a vocation for the eccle-
siastical state, but his family opposed his designs so warmly that
he at first yielded to their desires, and began the study of law,
intending to practise at the bar. The young advocate soon
found, however, that he was called to a far different life, and after
having shown all due deference to his family^s wishes, at last en-
tered the Sulpitian Seminary at Orleans. The persecutions of
revolutionary France did not shake his resolution, but he resolved
to depart from a land that martyred its faithful plergy, and he
embarked at Bordeaux for the United States, with the Abbes
Matignon, Richard, and Ciquard. It was on the very eve of his
embarkation that the yoang Abb6 Mar6chal was privately or-
dained, and such were the horrors of those unhappy times, that
he was even prevented from saying Mass. He celebrated the
Holy Sacrifice for the first time at Baltimore, where he arrived

* Life of the Rt. Rov. B. J. Flaget, by M. J. Spalding, Bishop of Louis-
ville. Louisville, 1832, p. 166.

t Wo adopt the date given in American biographies of the prelate. The
Annals of the Propagation of the Faith, iv. 224, give as the date the year 1762.

102

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

with his companions on the 24th of June, 1702. It was Mr.
Emery's intention to open at Baltimore an academy for mathe-
matical sciences, and Mr. Mardchal was thought of as one of the
professors ; but this project having been abandoned, the young
priest was successively sent as missionary to St. Mary's county
and to Bohemia. In 1700 he was called to functions more in
harmony with his vocation ns a Sulpitian, and became professor
of theology at the seminary in Baltimore. He was soon after
sent to teach philosophy in the Jesuit college at Georgetown, and
then returned to Baltimore to continue his courses of theology, in
which he displayed no less science than talent. After some
years, however, the seminary was deprived of the services of its
eloquent professor. Religious affairs in France having assumed a
brighter aspect, the Superior of St. Sulpice recalled the Abb6
Mar^chal to aid him in reorganizing and directing several houses
of the Society. Obedience here was easy, as it wafted him back
to his native shores. Mr. Mar^chal accordingly arrived in France
in July, 1803, and was employed with distinction in several ec-
clesiastical institutions, especially at St. Flour, Lyons, and Aix.
Those who studied under him always preserved the deepest ven-
eration, a proof of which exists in the rich present sent him by
the priests of Marseilles, when they learned his elevation to the
Episcopacy. It consists of a superb marble altar, which still
adorns the cathedral in Baltimore, and which by its inscription
recalls the gratitude and affection of scholars for their master.*'

* The inscription is :

Hoc Altare

A Massiliensibus Sacerdotibns
V I Ambr. Archiepo. Bait.

Eoram in Sacra Theologia olim Professori
Orate oblatum
Ipse Deo Salvatori in honorem ejus Sanotissimse
Matria
Conseoravit die 81a Maii 1821.
See sketch in Catholic Almanac for 1886. U. S. Cath. Mag. for 1845, p. 82.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

108

Meanwhile his American friends wrote constantly, expressing
regrtit for his absence, and reminding him of the good he might
still be doing in Baltimore. When, therefore, the imperial gov-
ernment, in 1812, took from the Sulpitians the direction of the
Seminaries, the learned professor yielded to the entreaties of his
friends, and re-embarked for the United States. He at once re-
sumed his old functions at St. Mary's Seminary, and was for a
time President of the College. This life of study, so akin to his
taste, was not, however, to last; and in 1816 he was informed
of his nomination by the Sovereign Pontiff to the see of Phila-
delphia. In vain did he endeavor to escape these honors : it was
■ only to have far greater imposed upon him by pontifical authority.
He alleged the importance of leaving him at his studies, at least
till the completion of a theological work adapted to the religious
condition of the United States. But the Church chose to employ
his merit in more eminent functions, and Mr. Mar^chal consented
to become Archbishop of Baltimore.

Thd earlier days of his administration were thick sown with
trials of the most painful character. The Catholics in the United
States, living amid a Protestant population, and influenced by
the surrounding ideas of independence, have not always shown
the subordination ever to be desired towards pastore. The
temporal administration of the churches is the source of constant
collisions ; and the laity, seeing the manner in which the Protest-
ant churches are managed, too frequently usurp powers not their
own. Archbishop Mar6chal had thus to struggle with a spirit
of insubordination and faction, which threatened to result in an
open schism. In this difficult position, the prelate displayed that
zeal, that prudence, that demotion to his flock, that firm adherence
to true principles, which have ever characterized great bishops,
and which eventually checked the progress of the disorder, under
which the cause of religion threatened to sink. His pastoral in
1819 showed the extent of the evil and the wisdom of the remedy.

i \

104

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

It laid down with preciseness the reciprocal rights and duties of
the clergy and laity ; it shows the entire inaptitude of the latter
to interfere in the spiritual government of the Church, and points
out to the priests the calamities which would afflict religion, if
they neglected the obligations of their sacerdotal character. It
maintains the exclusive right for the episcopal authority, of ap-
pointing priests to parishes and for other duties, and concludes in
these words : " In the midst of the troubles and persecutions to
which you are now, or may hereafter be exposed, be careful, after
the example of the Saints, dearest brethren, daily to entreat with
fervor your heavenly Father, to take under his special protection
yourselves, your families, your friends, your pastors, and all the
Catholics of the United States. The Church of Christ in this
country is now in affliction. Dissensions and scandals threaten
to destroy her peace and happiness. As for you^ dear brethren,
strive to console her by every possible mark of respect, attach-
ment, obedience, and love ; for though surrounded with difficul-
ties, though even attacked by some unnatural children, still she
is your mother, your protectress, your guide on earth, and the
organ by which Divine mercy communicates to you the treasure
of His grace, and all the means of salvation.*"

Other obstacles, of a more personal nature, afflicted Archbishop
Mar^chal, and embarrassed his administration. The enemies of
the Church endeavored to sow distrust and jealousy among the
Catholics, by complaining that foreigners. Frenchmen, were pro-
moted to the highest dignities, instead of Americans, natives of
the country, or at least natives of Ireland, as these latter now
began to form the majority of Catholics in the United States.
The French priests, moulded in a stricter school, many of them
exiles for conscience' sake, were not as tolerant as some others
of abuses, which had and could not but have grown up. Hence

* U. S. Catholio Magazine for 1845, p. 8tf.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

105

they were accused of being imbued with monarchical ideas, of
misunderstanding the repubUcan character ; they werQ reproached
with not speaking English perfectly, and of forming a clique with
its predilections and 'antipathies. These preventions have, down
to the present time, influenced some minds even in the Church ;
and if in general full justice was done the French clergy, this
concert of praise was not without some contradiction. And
such, we regret to see, even in the writings of Bishop England.
This prelate, whose merit and virtues are above all praise, does
not seem to have entertained as warm a feehng of brotherhood
towards his French colleagues as was desirable ; and he gives it
as his opinion, that the progress of Catholicity would have been
much more rapid, had the episcopate been differently constituted.
Yet the facts were clearly r.gainst him ; for bishops of every na-
tion have met equal diflBculties in the United States. The Holy
See would doubtless have preferred to find in the United States
in 1808 and 1816, the elements of a national clergy. But these
elements existed only in the few survivoi-s of the Society of Jesus^
all broken by years and toil. Catholic Ireland, which sent her
emigrants, was scarce able to obtain a supply of priests for her
own churches ; much less was she able to send any to America,
for the French revolution had broken up her seminaries in France
and Flanders. That same revolution had sent many of the best
of the clergy of France to the United States; and these had
raised up churches in a hundred different points, had gathered
together the scattered Catholics, had conciliated the Protestants
towards them, and planted Catholicity on a sure basis. Where,
then, were bishops to be chosen, except among these men, already
active missionaries in the field? and surely the ecclesiastical
spirit which animated them, their knowledge of the governmental
traditions of the Church, were in a Flaget, a Cheverus, a Mar6-
chal — qualities far more essential than a greater or leas elegance
in speaking the language of Milton.

106

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Yet the Holy See, with its ordinary prudence, made it a duty
to respect the susceptibilities of the Catholics in America. The
two first Archbishops of Baltimore were natives of Maryland ; of
the four bishops appointed in 1808, two were of Irish birth, to
satisfy the emigrants from Ireland ; but so small was the number
of priests of that nation in the country, that tlien and later, cler-
gymen had to be named who had never resided in the United
States.

With an equal desire for harmony, the Propaganda called to
join in founding this new church the different religious orders
most devoted to the missions. Among the six prelates who gov-
erned or were named to the American church in 1808, were two
ex-Jesuits, one Dominican, one Franciscan, a Sulpitian, and a
secular priest. Thus the field was open to all the varieties of the
great ecclesiastical family, and the Holy See encouraged the zeal
of all its laborers to go and work in the vineyard of the Lord.

In spite of the clouds of which we have spoken, the number of
Catholics constantly increased; many were discovered in the
States most removed from the Episc^^^al Sees, and Archbishop
Mar^chal saw how urgent it was to solicit at Rome a new subdi-
vision of the dioceses.

It will not be useless to define here in what this increase of the
Catholic population consists, of which we must render an account
periodically in each diocese, and which has made it necessary to
multiply the bishops from one to forty in the space of sixty years.
Are we to imagine, like many good souls in Europe, the-: thou-
sand? of conversions swell, month by month, the crowded ranks
of the faithful ? Surely not. God does not now bestow on his
Church the grace of bringing in the masses, as in the days of St.
Francis Xavier. The conversions, which have never ceased, take
place in the most enlightened classes ; every return to unity is
individual ; and the total of these conquests from error, at which
heaven and earth rejoice, cannot be counted by millions. Immi-

IN THE UNITED STATES.

107

gration, th r .creases numerically the strength of the Catholic
religion: ar(. especially as the clergy increase in numbers, as
Episcopal supervision approaches the limits of the settled States
and Territories, the sight of these priests awakens the faith in the
hearts of the descendants of the Catholics ; it brings out children
of the Church where men expected only to find a Protestant or
indifferent race, and it brings back to religion the present genera-
tion by assuring the salvation of generations to come. The priest
in the United States eflfects, then, chiefly the conversion of those
born in the faith, but whom poverty has removed beyond all re-
ligious succor, and who would die without faith, leaving children
without a creed, if the Church were not ever on the alert, with
admirable zeal, to seek her children in the uttermost limits be-
tween civilization and barbarism. Are not these precious con-
quests, which restore to God unnumbered souls whose thoughts
were bent solely to earth ? And yet, what a responsibihty does
not the parent incur who plunges into the depths of the forest,
far from church and priest, in search of necessi ies of position or
fortune, which are often only pretexts I

Archbishop Marechal saw, then, that three States south of Ma-
ryland contained many more Catholics than was at first supposed.
North and South Carolina and Georgia had long had only one
priest, a native of France, who had accompanied the colonists
that fled from St. Domingo. At a later date some parishes were
formed, but the spirit of revolt animated them, and the Abbe de
Cloriviere had great diflficulty in restoring peace, as we have
stated in the beginning of this chapter. The great distance of
Baltimore from these States rendered all Episcopal superintend-
ence impossible, and in 1818 the Rev. Robert Browne, an Irish
Augustinian, who had been for eight years a missionary at Au-
gusta in Georgia, proceeded to Rome as the bearer of a petition
of the Catholics, asking that the Caroliufis and Georgia should be
separated from the See of Baltimore. They solicited the ereetioQ

108

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

. i

of a new diocese, of which the See should be at Charleston. The
archbishop supported this petition, which was made with his en-
tire concurrence, and the Pope, by his brief of July 11th, 1820,
raised Dr. John England to the dignity of Bishop of Charleston.
Dr. England was then pastor of Brandon, in the diocese of Cork ;
he had several times expressed a desire to go to America, and was
animated with great zeal for that mission. He was consecrated
at Cork on the 21st of September, 1820, and at once embarked
for South Carolina.

At the same time, the Holy See thought proper to form the
State of Virginia into a distinct diocese, and to name a bishop for
Richmond, the capital. It appears, however, that the archbishop
represented this new erection as probably premature. Virginia
is contiguous to Maryland, and Archbishop Mar^chal could very
easily superintend the churches there, more especially as the
number of Catholics was very limited. As we show elsewhere,
the exercise of our religion had been prohibited, under the se-
verest penalties, prior to 1776. The archbishop laid the mat-
ter, as he viewed it, before the authorities at Rome, and the Pro-
paganda, always ready to gain information and take advice from
the hierarchical authorities, confided the administration of the
diocese of Richmond to the archbishop. The Rt. Rev. Patrick
Kelly, who had been appointed to the See of Richmond, and had
spent some months at Norfolk, was transferred, in 1821, to the
See of Waterford and Lismore in Ireland, where he died on the
8th of October, 1829,* and this provisional organization subsisted
till 1841, when the Rt. Rev. Richard V. Whelan was appointed
to the See of Richmond.

• Eev. Patrick Kelly was President of Birohfleld College, near Kilkenny,
when nominated to the See of Bichmond. The Catholic Almanac of 138<J
saya that he labored with great zeal for the good of his diocese, dur;: ,^ his
short stay in America, and that he was transferred to Waterford on account
of hi» health. According to tho same authority, he left this oountry only in
Juiy, 1«12.

■J' ■

IN THE UNITED STATES.

109

Bishop England, who had doubtless been concerned in the
erection of the new See, did not approve the course of his metro-
politan, and in a letter to the Council of the Association for the
Propagation of the Faith, thus expresses himself:*

" It is not the intention of the writer of this to pass judgment
upon others, but he thinks that among other mistakes, the oppo-
sition to the separate administration of the diocese of Richmond,
by causing its bishop to return to Ireland, as soon as he could
obtain permission from the Holy See, has been by no means fa-
vorable to the maintenance of religion in the State of Virginia.
This mistake is about to be remedied, but the past cannot be re-
called."

While Archbishop Mar^chal was soliciting the division of his
diocese. Bishop Flaget of Bardstown was also asking at Rome the
division of his; and by his Bull of June 19th, 1821, Pius Vll.
founded the See of Cincinnati, and called to it Father Edward
Fenwick, a Marylander, and long a Dominican missionary in
Kentucky. The new bishop was consecrated by Bishop Flaget,
January 13th, 1822, at St. Rose's Convent, Kentucky; and thus,
at the commencement of 1822, the United States were divided
into nine dioceses, viz. :

1. Baltimore, comprising Maryland and the District of Co-
lumbia.

2. Boston, comprising the six New England States.

3. New York, comprising the State of New York and half of
New Jersey.

4. Philadelphia, comprising Pennsylvania, Delaware, and
half of New Jersey.

♦ This passage is in a long communication addressed from Rome in 1886
to the Councils of the Propagation of the Faith, by Bishop England. It is
suppressed in the translation given in the Annals, x. 248, but is restored in
his works, vol. iii. p. 244. There are also other omissions in the French
version.

110

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

.1-.;.!^-

6. Bardstown, comprising Kentucky and Tennessee.

6. Charleston, comprising the two Carolinas and Georgia.

7. Richmond, comprising the State of Virginia, and adminis-
tered by the Archbishop of Baltimore. ' :„:.„....

8. Cincinnati, comprising Ohio, Michigan, and Northwest
Territory. -^ ■■■ i

9. New Orleans, comprising Louisiana, Mississippi, and Mis-
souri.

Archbishop Mar6chal had the consolation of opening for divine
worship the cathedral of Baltimore, which had been begun by
Archbishop Carroll eighteen years before. On the 31st of May,
1821, this beautiful church was solemnly dedicated, and its By-
zantine architecture, though not a model of taste, is not destitute
of grandeur in its proportion. Its situation on the summit of a
pyramidal hill, on which the houses of the city are built, gives to
Baltimore the aspect of an entirely Catholic city, where the
cathedral towers above all the other monuments, as in our Euro-
pean cities. The archbishop obtained in France numerous pres-
ents, a painting and vestments, with which he adorned the temple
that he had raised. Archbishop Mar6chal could here display all
the pomp of our worship, being aided by the Sulpitians of the
seminary, who had preserved all the traditions of the ceremonial.
Nothing is more desirable than thus to surround religion with
the dignity which is its noblest apanage. The poverty of the
sanctuary, or their narrow precincts, too often deprives the faith-
ful in the United Stat,es of the most imposing solemnities. The
absence of ceremonies likens our churches to the coldness of secta-
rian halls, but the pomp of worship, while it revives the faith of
Catholics, produces a salutary impression on such of our separated
brethren as witness it. Nothing is, then, more desirable than to
see large churches multiplied in the United States, and Arch-
bishop Marechal was one of the first to appreciate the advantage
which religion might derive from them.

* Hf

St.:

IN THE UNITED STATES.

Ill

The Society of St. Sulpice, which was initiating the American
clergy in the study of theology as well as in the rubrics and cere-
monial, at one time assumed a great development in the United
States. At Baltimore they had directed, since 1791, the seminary
and the college of St. Mary's; in 1806, the Abb6 Dillet founded,
at Pigeon Hills in Pennsylvania, a college intended to give a re-
ligious education to boys whose piety and qualities seemed to show
a decided vocation for the priesthood. No scholar was received
except on the recommendation of his confessor. In 1809 the
Abb6 Dubois founded, near Emmitsburg, the seminary and college
of Mount St. Mary's, and aflSliated himself to the Society of St.
Sulpice, in order to carry on this double establishment. But in
1819 the Sulpitians resolved to limit their sphere of action, and
Mount St. Mary's ceased to be under their superintendence. They
also suppressed, in 1852, their college of St. Mary's, replaced,
however, by Loyola College, a new institution of the Jesuits. At
the present moment, St. Sulpice directs only two establishments
in the United States — St. Mary's Seminary, which numbers
twenty-three theologians, and the Preparatory Seminary of St.
Charles, which contains forty-two scholars. This latter institution
is within a few miles of Baltimore, offering greater advantages
than Pigeon Hills, which it superseded in 1849. These two
houses, as well as the seminary of Montreal, maintain a close
union with the Society in Paris, and visitors are sent from France
at short intervals.*

Archbishop Marechal had the consolation of seeing miraculous
cures effected in his diocese by the prayers of Prince Alexander

* St. Mftry's Seminary has had only four Superiors since its foundation :
1791, Francis Nagot; 1810, John Tessier; 1888, Deluol; 1849, Francis
Lhomme. The Superior i« always a Vicar-general. St. Mary's College has
had among its celebrated Presidents — 1804, Dubourg, afterwards Bishop of
New Orleans ; 1818, Brut6, afterwards Bishop of Viucennes ; 1829, Eccleston,
afterwards Archbishop of Baltimore; 1834, Chanche, Bishop of Natchez.
Mount St. Mary's retained Mr. Dubois as President from 1809 to 1826. On

112

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Hohenlohe, and he might hope that God had regarded with a
'favorable eye the Church iu America, to which such favors were
reserved. On the 10th of March, 1824, Mrs. Anne Mattingly, at
the point of death, given up by physicians, was suddenly cured on
the last day of a novena which she had undertaken in conformity
with the directions of the holy prince. The fame of this extraor-
dinary cure was immense, for it took place at Washington, the
capital of the United States, of which city her brother was mayor
at the time. Her cure was perfect, and she lived thirty years
after it, dying only in 1855.

The miraculous cure of a Visitation nun, at Georgetown, took
place soon, after, and these two events, supported by the most au-
thentic and most respectable testimony, exercised a considerable
influence in bringing many Protestants to study the Catholic
dogmas.*

Archbishop Mar6chal went to Rome in the latter part of 1821,
to lay the state of his diocese before the Sovereign Pontiff. In
1826 he visited Canada, whither the interests of religion led him,
for he shrank from no fatigue at the call of duty. But the cruel
pangs of a dropsy in the chest soon condemned him to absolute
repose. He bore the pains of a long illness with Christian cour-
age, and died on the 29th of January, 1828, in the expectation of
a blessed inmiortality.

bis appointment to the See oi New York, the Rev. Deburgo £gan, an alnm-
nns of the institution, succeeded him. After him, Rev. John Purcell, now
Archbishop of Cincinnati, became President. The seminary and college
are now under the direction of the Rev. John McCaffrey. The seminary
contains fourteen theologians ; the college, one hundred and seventy-flve
scholars.

* The testimony as to Mrs. Mattingly's cure takes up fifty pages in the
third volume of Bishop England's works.

.4*

M(wtB«^
and tb(
Leopol
vloiu 8;

As S
disease
a coadji
Dr. Jan
8ubmitt<
8th of J
quest, ai
of Apol
Archbisl
crated i
May, 18:
Flaget, V
importan
began a :
heart, ani
he was a
most grai
shone on
James

Novembe
family, w

* Life of

iiMTiTinWi

mmS^simm

IN THE UNTTBD STATES.

118

CHAPTER IX.

yk'- '

mOOKSK OF BALTIMORE — (1828-1829).

Moatltev. James Whitfield, fonrth Arohblsbop of Baltimore— The Oblates of St Frances
and the colored Catholics— The Association for the Propagation of the Faith and the
Leopoldine Society— First Provincial Council of Baltimore, and a retrospect on pre-
Tloiu synods of the clergy.

As soon as Archbishop Mar^chal felt the first symptoms of the
disease that was to carry him off, he applied to the Holy See for
a coadjutor to succeed him in his important 4>ost. The name of
Dr. James Whitfield was the first on the list of persons which he
submitted to the choice of the Holy Father, and by a brief of the
8th of January, 1828, Leo XH., acceding to the archbishop's re-
quest, appointed Dr. Whitfield coadjutor, with the title of Bishop
of Apollonia, in partibus. The brief did not arrive until after
Archbishop Mar6chal had expired, and Dr. Whitfield was conse-
crated Archbishop of Baltimore on Whitsunday, the 26th of
May, 1828. The venerable Bishop of Bardstown, Monseigneur
Flaget, was the consecrator, and he was so impressed with the
importance of his august functions, that on Ascension day he
began a retreat with the archbishop elect, in order to purify his
heart, and raise his soul to God, in preparation for the great act
he was about to perform. " This Sunday of Pentecost was the
most grand, the most august, the most honorable day that ever
shone on the Bishop of Bardstown."*

James Whitfield was born at Liverpool, England, on the 8d of
November, 1110, and belonged to a very respectable mercantile
family, who gave him all the advantages of a sound education.

* Life of Bishop Flaget, by M. J. Spalding, Bishop of Louisville, p. 26i'.

'/I

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

At the age of seventeen he lost his father and became the sole
protector of his mother.

In order to dissipate her melancholy he took her to Italy, and
after spending some years there in commercial affairs, young
Whitfield went to France, in order to pass over to England. It
was just at this moment that Napoleon decreed that every Eng-
lishman discovered on French soil should be retained a prisoner.
James Whitfield spent most of the period of his exile at Lyons,
and there formed an acquaintance with the Abb6 Mar^chal, the
future Archbishop of Baltimore, then Professor of Divinity in the
seminary of St. Irenaeus, at Lyons. The young man's piety soon
disposed him to embrace the ecclesiastical state. He entered the
seminaiy under the direction of his learned friend, and was soon
distinguished for his ardor as a student and for his solidity of
judgment He was ordained at Lyons in 1809, and on his
mother's death returned to England, where he was for some time
appointed to the parish of Crosby. When the Abbe Mar6chal
was raised to the dignity of Archbishop of Baltimore, he wrote to
his friend, begging him to come and share the cares (>f a diocese
whose wants were so great. Mr. Whitfield yielded to the desire
of his old tutor, and he landed in the United States on the 8th of
September, 1817. He was at first stationed at St. Peter's Church,
Baltimore, and then became one of the Vicars-general of the dio-
cese. In 1825, by a special indult of the Court of Rome, the
archbishop solemnly conferred on Mr. Whitfield and two other
eminent clergymen of Baltimore the grade of Doctor of Divinity ;
and the ceremony, full of interest for Catholics, was hailed by
them with joy as the commencement of a faculty of theology in
America. In the same year Archbishop Marechal approved the
religious community of the Sisters Oblates of St. Frances, formed
of colored women, for the instruction of children of the African
race. Dr. Whitfield took a deep interest in this foundation, and
seconded the effort of Mr. Joubert, a priest of St. Sulpice, who.

*A
Lazari

+ Th
Rome
holy yo
diet, wi
IV., wl
the coi
canonir
solemn
guishet
order,
Saohifi

SSB

IN THB UNITED STATES.

115

seeing so many little negresses plunged in the deepest ignorance,
assembled several excellent women of that class to take care of
these children. After long trials, Mr. Joubert thought that he
might ask the archbishop to permit them to take vows. Ap-
proved on the 6th of June, 1825, they were also recognized at
Rome by the Holy See on the 2d of October, 1831, and enjoyed
all the privileges and indulgences accorded to the Oblates at
Rome. " The Almighty has blessed the eflForts of the worthy
Mr. Joubert," wrote Rev. Mr. Odin, in 1834 ; "there are already
twelve of these sisters ; their school is very numerous, piety and
fervor reign among them, and they render great services to reli-
gion."* The community now contains fourteen professed sisters
and three novices ; they keep a girls' school, with one hundred
and thirty-five scholars, and a boys' school, with fifty .f This is
but a small development, and the good to be done among the
blacks would need a very large community. But the clergy has
never been able to cope with the work before them, and the va-
rious Archbishops of Baltimore have all deplored their inability
to undertake the evangelization of the blacks, as they would de-
sire. "How distressing it is," wrote Archbishop Whitfield, in
1832, " to be unable to send missionaries to Virginia, where there
are five hundred thousand negroes I It is indubitable that had
we missionaries and funds to support them, prodigies would be

* Annales de la Propagation de la Foi, vii. 167. Letter of Mr. Odin,
Lazarist, now Bishop of Galveston.

+ The Oblates of Rome were founded by St. Frances de Buxo, born at
Borne in 1384. Although married, she assembled some pious widows and
holy young women in community, in 1488 ; gave them the rule of St. Bene-
dict, with special constitutions, and solicited the approval of Fopo Eugene
IV., which was granted. On her husband's death in 1436, Frances entered
the community which she had organized ; she died there in 1440, and wa.s
canonized by Pope Paul V. ir 1608. The Oblates of Kome do not take
solemn vows. Their numb'.i-s are generally filled up from the most distin-
guished classes oi" ..^"'Pty, and many princesses have been members of the
order, while their sisters in America are taken in the humblest condition.
Such is the equality of the great Christian family before God.

116

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

efTticted in this vast and untitled field. In Maryland blacks aie
converted every day, and many of them are good Catholics and
excellent Christians. At Baltimore many are frequent communi-
cants, and three hundred or four hundred receive the Bki^^ed
Racrament the first Sunday of every month. It is the same
throughout Maryland, where there are a great many Catholics
among the negroes."* Some years after, Archbishop Eccleston,
auccessor of Archbishop Whitfield, wrote, in 1838: "The slaves
present a vast and rich harvest to the apostolic laborer. I do not
believe that there is in this country, without excepting the Indians,
a class of men among whom it is possible to do more good. Put
far from being able to do what I would desire for the salvation of
the unhappy negroes, I see myself unable to meet the wauts of
the thousands of whites, who, equally deprived of the succors of
religion, feel most keenly their spiritual abandonment."!

This sad state of things has not ceased to exist, for the clergy
are still far too few to devote themselves especially to the con-
version of the blacks. There are many negro Catholics in Louisi-
ana, Missouri, Maryland, ami Kew York, but in general it is the
fanaticism of Wesley that is preached with success to the colored
people, and a part of the slaves follow the superstitious practices
of that sect, while a large number preserve the gross worship of
Fetichiam. We cannot but express our wish that the work of
the worthy Mr. Joubert may obtain a wide extension, and that
the pious Oblates, of whom he is the founder, may be propagated
in all directions, in order to bring up the colored children in the
truths of Christianity .J

One of the first acta of Archbishop Whitfif' f /. '^'-atratioi
was the visitation of his diocese, which, in 182b, comprised fifty-

• / Aales de la Propagation de la Foi, v. 722.
f Au'. 8 Je \a Propagation de la Foi, x. 498.

X .TjAisc'. Hector Jouberfcwas born at St. Jean d'Angely, September 6th,
1777. Ii* HOi he went to H. Domingo, and thence to Baltimore, where he

two pr

This vi

com mi

control

conside

church(

p^edpce

t-h" Pre

I'roai 16

two th(

allotted

also ses

for the

Propaga

to the (

to bo ci
clergy.

It wm
rable Asi
and for 1

In U
Home af
preoccuj
it warm
spoke es
formerly
founding
ana. Fc

arrived in
and was tl
spent the
tions to wl
college.

sntBE

IN TT E UNITED STATES.

117

two priests and from sixlv thouf^ md to eighty thousand Catholics.
This visitation showed him the crying wants of the vast district
committed to his care, nd the i'> ^le resources which he < ould
control for the advancement of religion. Ui* private fortune was
considerable, and he now devote 1 his whole incom<^ f o building
churches and establishing useful institutions. Like his venerable
p^-edf^cessor, he invariably appealed for aid to tho Association for
A" Propagation of the Faith, and by the returns of that body
iVoui 1825 to 1834, the Archbishop of Baltimore received thirty-
two thousand francs. There was, moreover, a certain sum
allotted for Mt. St. Mary's, and Louis XVIIL and Charles X.
also sent, on several occasions, offerings to their Grand Almoner
for the diocese of Baltimore. Still the Association for the
Propagation of the Faith showed itself, ^t first, espec illy liberal
to the dioceses of New Orleans and Bardstown. Thore all was
to be created, while Maryland oflfered some resources to her
clergy.

It was to aid the missions of the United States that the admi-
rable Association for the Propagation of the Faith was established,
and for this reason it becomes us to chronicle its rise.

In 1816, Bishop Dubourg of New Orleans, retuminfr from
Rome after his consecration, stopped a short time at Lyons, and
preoccupied in raird with the wants of his diocese, recommt nded
it warmly to the charity of the people of Lyons. The prelate
spoke especially on the subject to a pious widow, whom he had
formerly known in America, and imparted to her his ide . of
founding a society of alms-givers for the spiritual wants of Louisi-
ana. For several ensuing years the lady merely collected such

arrived in September, 1804. He soon after entered St. Mary's Seminarj',
and was the thirteenth priest ordained in that Sulpitian establishment. He
spent the remainder of bis life in the Aeminary, fulfilling ^th zeal the func-
tions to whi^ih he was called, either ait professor or as vice-president of th«
ooUes^.

118

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

little aid as she could, and sent it to Bishop Dubourg ; but in
1822, a Vicar-general of New Orleans arrived at Lyons and gave
new life to the charity of the benefactors of Louisiana. They had
hitherto failed to aid suflSciently one single mission, yet for all
that they resolved to aid all the m'.ssions in the world, and the
principle of Catholicity infused into the new work drew down
upon it the blessings of Heaven. On the 3d of May, 1822, the
feast of the Finding of the Holy Cross, twelve persons met to-
gether at Lyons. The proceedings began by invoking the Holy
Ghost ; a priest then made a short recital of the sufferings of re-
ligion in America, and proposed the establishment of a vast asso-
ciation to furnish pecuniary resources for the missions of the whole
world.

The assembly •'Unanimously adopted this opinion, naming a
president and committee to organize the association. The society
soon absorbed another modest association, established in 1820,
among the female silk operatives, to help the Christians in China.
The combined efforts had the results which the partial attempts
had never dreamed of attaining. The receipt of the first May
was five hundred and twenty francs ; that of the first year rose to
fifteen thousand two hundred and seventy-two francs — over three
thousand dollars.

The resources of which the Association for the Propagation of
the Faith now disposes, enable it to distribute annually from
three million to four million of francs — nearly a million dollars —
among the missions of the five great divisions of the world.* Of
this sum the amount allotted to the bishops of the United States
varies from one hundred thousand to one hundred and fifty thou-
sand dollars. From 1822 to 1853, the total of the contributions

* We have drawn these statistics from the annual acccints of the Society,
made successively from 1822 to 1853. A writer in a late number of the Me-
tropolitan has recently done the sam3, and called the attention of the Catho-
lics of America to this debt of gratitude.

sent to I
three th<
voted to
number (
atives' pe
sive voya
missionai
Catholics
numbers
life and <
in the Ui
obtained
late the z
readers fo
greater, a
and the ti
tion, not i
God. Th
from the
Lazarus, i
natives of
political i
her for tl
" Jiex regi
The ex£
the Faith
poldine Ai
object the
at Vienna
by the Re^
for the dio
name is a
marriage

IN THE UNITED STATES.

119

sent to missionaries has amounted to fifty-one million and ninety-
three thousand francs, about one quarter of which has been de-
voted to the missions in the United States. Who can tell the
number of churches and chapels built by this peasants' and oper-
atives' penny a week — ^the number of missionaries whose expen-
sive voyages it has paid — the number of conversions which these
missionaries have effected — or, what is better, the number of
Catholics saved from indifference and ultimate apostasy — the
numbers on numbers enabled by their ministry to live a Christian
life and escape eternal danmation ? The history of the Church
in the United States is, to some extent, the history of the results
obtained by this association, and our object in writing is to stimu-
late the zeal of the associates and increase their number. As our
readers follow our sketches they will see that the wants are daily
greater, and that the ties between the young Church of America
and the time-honored Church of France cry aloud for a perpetua-
tion, not in a view of earthly fame, but for the greater glory of
God. The first martyrs of Maine, New York, and IlUnois came
from the France which holds the ashes of Mary Magdalene, of
Lazarus, and of Pothinus. Most, too, of the first bishops were
natives of France ; and after aiding the United States to achieve
political independence, she has now the higher glory of aiding
her for the last thirty years to extend the kingdom of Christ,
" Hex regnantium et Dominus dominantium"

The example given by the Association for the Propagation of
the Faith has been moreover imitated in Germany. The Leo-
poldine Association, formed in Austria, has for its sole and special
object the support of the American missions. It was established
at Vienna on the 15th of April, 1829, at the time of a visit made
by the Rev. Mr. Rez6, afterwards Bishop of Detroit, to solicit aid
for the diocese of Cincinnati, of which he was Vicar-general. Its
name is a memorial of the Archduchess Leopoldine, herself by
marriage an American princess, and Empress of Brazil. The

120

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Archduke Rudolph, Cardinal Archbishop of Olmutz, and brother
of Francis II., at once became the protector of the association,
and in inaugurating it pronounced these memorable words : " It
behooves the Church of France, jealous of its ancient glories, to
march in the fervor of its faith ever at the head and never behind
the other churches of the world." And not for France alone do
we claim this glory. In the extension of Christianity, in the
propagation of truth, the Celtic race has ever led the way.

The Leopoldine Association spread over all the Austrian States.
By 1832 it had sent to the United States over twenty-five thou-
sand dollars, which had been distributed among the dioceses of
Charleston, Philadelphia, Bardstown, and St. Louis. In 1834 the
amount sent to America was sixteen thousand dollars. Of the
subsequent labors of this charitable society we have no statistics,
but we know that the dioceses in which the German immigra-
tion has centered receive abundant aid from this source. The
interest which it has excited has not been otherwise fruitless.
Future historians may be at a loss to explain how a dictionary of
the Chippeway language, and works in that dialect, came to be
printed at Lay bach, in Illyria ; but as scon as we learn that when
the government of the United States refused to aid the Catholic
missionary to print these works, the generosity of Austria sup-
plied the necessary funds, we can at once explain the strange
fact.*

The Catholic bishops in the United States had long desired to
assemble in Council, in order to adopt regulations as to ecclesias-
tical discipline and the administration of the sacraments. Obsta-
cles, however, of various kinds prevented their meeting. Arch-
bishop Whitfield undertook to remove all these difliculties, and
with the approbation of the Holy See, had the satisfaction of con-
voking his colleagues in a Provincial Council, the opening of

* Annales de la Propagation de la Foi, vi. 179 ; viii. 247. Henrion, Hia-
toire G^D^rale des Miaslous, ii. 676, Bishop Baraf^H, Chippewa Diotloaary.

which 1
had nev
except t
ops in 1
1829, w.
assembli<
in great
following
Novembe
to the Se(
"Wer
authority
bishop. ;
spirit of fj
as a happj
assembly c
lentz, foun(
Jng, Vicar«
diocese; ;^
brated con
this Synod
be the sam
for much n
this will ev
The Fin
statutes of
the Counci
tions of tha
vember, 17
occasion, aft
At the secoi

nsH

mmnjum

IN THE UNITED STATES.

121

which was fixed for the 4th of Oct«/ber, 1829. Till then there
had never been any regular conven \on of the American clergy,
except the Diocesan Synod of 1*791 and the meeting of the bish-
ops in 1810; and before speaking <'f the acts of the Council of
1829, we will state briefly what toi>k place in the two previous
assemblies. The Synod of 1791 and its decisions had remained
in great veneration among the clt-rgy, as we may judge by the
following reflections of Mr. Brute written by him on the 6th of
November, 1831, while preparing the questions to be submitted
to the Second Council of Baltimore :

" We must read over the Symd of 1Y91 for the form, and its
authority will be a good direc' on. In every line you see the
bishop. In all you see how much he has consulted, and that the
spirit of faith, charity, and zeal has in that first assembly served
as a happy model for its successors. Could it be otherwise in an
assembly of such priests under Archbishop Carroll ! Messrs. Pel-
lentz, founder of Conewago and Lancaster ; Molyneux and Flem-
ing, Vicars of the North and South, as Pellentz was of the whole
diocese ; Neale, Plunkett, Gressel, Nagot, Gamier, etc. ; the cele-
brated convert, Mr. Thayer, etc. Such worthy priests immortalize
this Synod with a blessing of union, grace, and zeal, which will
be the same forty years after ad multos iterum annos, or rather
for much more frequent meetings of Diocesan Synods, for which
this will ever serve as a model."*

The First Council of Baltimore in 1829 decided that the
statutes of the Synod of 1*791 should be printed with the acts oi
the Council, and the bishops thus gave new vigor to the regula-
tions of that Synod. In the first session, held on the Yth of No-
vember, 1791, the bishop delivered a discourse suited to the
occasion, after which the members made a profession of faith.
At the second session, held the afternoon of the same day, statutes

;.Tvrr.7*.TJ»^-fl77

122

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

were passed as to the conditional baptism of converts, on baptis-
mal registers, on not confirming children before the age of reason.
The third session, which took place on the 8th, took up the sacra-
ment of the Eucharist ; it treated of the first communion of chil-
dren, of decency in the ceremonial, of the ecclesiastical dress, of
collections and trustees. In the fourth session, on the 9th of No-
vember, they considered the sacrament of Penance ; reminded all
of the necessity of an approbation for priests, and forbid them to
go to stay in other places than those where they were stationed.
This was necessary, as some priests, Germans especially, believed
they could dispense with episcopal 'nstitution from the new
bishop, and one remarkable case we shall have occasion to men-
tion. The sacraments of Extreme Unction and Matrimony were
also treated of, and mixed marriages subjected to proper guaran-
tees.

On the last session, on the 10th of November, regulations were
adopted as to holidays, manual labor being tolerated in certain
cases on holidays not falling on a Sunday ; and finally, decrees
were made upon the oflSces, the life of the clergy, their mainte-
nance and burial.*

* CoDcilia Provincialia Baltimori habita. Biiltiiiore, 1851, page 11. M^-
moires pour servir a I'histoire eccl^siastique pendant le XVIII. Si6cle : Paris,
1815, iii. 190.

The following are the names of the priests who attended the synod of 1791 ;
they deserve to be preserved, as having, with Archbishop Carroll, laid the
foundation of the Church in the United States:

James Pellentz, V. G. for the whole diocese ; James Trambach ; Robert
Molyneux, S. J., Vicar-general for the South (English); Francis Anthony
Fleming, S. J., V. G. of the Northern district; Francis Clnvrles Nagot,
President of the Sulpitian Seminary (French); John Ashton, S. J. ; Henry
Pile ; Leonard Neale, S. J. ; Charles Sewall, S. J. ; Sylvester Boarman, S. J. ;
William Filing; James Vanhutflfel; Robert Plunkett; Stanislaus Cerfou-
mont ; Francis Beeston ; Lawrence Gresael ; Joseph Eden ; Louis Caasar
Delavan, ex-Canon of Tours ; John Tessier, Sulpitian (French) ; Anthony
Gamier, Sulpitian (Frenoh).

These twenty priests were the only ones present at the first meetings.
The following were present also on the 10th of November:

John Bolton, S. J., pastor of St. Joseph's ; John Thayer, pastor of Boston.

Whe

town m

they ha

together

summar

I. Poi

the bi8h<

sans to t

vocation.

II. Th.
of the He

III. Th

which pre

of the sa(

hrated ent

of the praj

IV. The
be pronoui

V. Thej
public and
and stage
weaken fait

VI. Thei
ments, unle
openly proc
It had be
cial Counci
condition an
lowing preai
"It appes
that the ho

* Concilia Pj
P'lge 85.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

123

When the bishops elect of Boston, Philadelphia, and Bards-
town met at Baltimore in 1810 to receive episcopal consecration,
they had some conferences with Archbishop Carroll, to regulate
together important points of discipline, and the following is a
summary of the articles then adopted :

I. Poor as they may be in subjects for the ecclesiastical state,
the bishops declare that they will cheerfully permit their dioce-
sans to enter any regular or secular order for which they feel a
vocation.

II. The bishops forbid the use in prayer-books of any version
of the Holy Scriptures except that of the Douay Bible.

III. They permit the reciting in the vernacular of the prayers
which precede or follow the essential form of the administration
of the sacraments, except the Mass, which must always be cele-
brated entirely in Latin; but they forbid the use of any translation
of the prayers not approved by all the bishops in the province.

IV. The bishops do not permit perpetual vows of chastity to
be pronounced out of regular religious associations.

V. They exhort all pastors of souls to combat constantly, in
public and in private, amusements dangerous to morals, as balls
and stage plays, and forbid the reading of books which may
weaken faith or corrupt virtue, especially novels.

VI. They forbid priests to admit Free Masons to the sacra-
ments, unless they promise to stop attending the lodges, and
openly proclaim their renunciation of the society.*

It had been the intention of the bishops to meet in a Provin-
cial Council, as soon as they should become well aware of the
condition and wants of their several dioceses, as we see by the fol-
lowing preamble to their articles of the 15th of November, 1810:

" It appears to the archbishops and bishops now assembled,
that the holding of a Provincial Council will be more advan-

* Concilia Provincialia Biiltimori habita, p. 25. Life of Bishop Cheverns,
jiage 85.

124

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

tageous at a future period, when the situation and wants of the
difterent dioceses will be more exactly known. This Provincial
Council will be held, at farthest, within two years from the 1st of
November, 1810; and in the mean time the archbishop and
bishops will now consider together such matters as appear to
them most urgent ; and they recommend a uniform practice in
regard to their decisions, until the holding of the said Provincial
Council."* ^. vi,'^

These projects could not be realized; and, as we have said, it
was only in 1829 that Archbishop Whitfield convoked the bij^h-
ops of the United States in a Provincial Council at Baltimore.
The prelates who met at the call of their Metropolitan were :

Rt. Rev. Benedict Joseph Flaget, Bishop of Bardstown.

Rt. Rev. John England, Bishop of Charleston and Vicar-general
of Florida East. ^ *-' ;^

Rt. Rev. Edward Fenwick, Bishop of Cincinnati.

Rt. Rev. Joseph Rosati, Bishop of St. Louis and Administrator
of New Orleans. •

Rt. Rev. Benedict Fenwick, Bishop of Boston.

Four prelates were unable to come, viz. : Rt. Rev. John Dubois,
Bishop of New York, who had embarked for Europe a month
before ; and the Rt. Rev. John B. David, Coadjutor of Bardstown,
the proxy of the Bishop of New York, prevented from attending
by sickness. The Rt. Rev. Michael Portier, Bishop of Mobile,
was also in France ; and the Rt. Rev. Henry Conwell, being now ;
merely titular Bishop of Philadelphia, was represented by the
Rev. William Mathews, the Administrator of that diocese.f

The opening of the Council took place on Sunday, the 4th of
October, in the Cathedral of Baltimore. Archbishop Whitfield

• Life of Bishop Flaget by Bishop Spalding, p. 66.

t Joseph Rosati, born at Sora in the kingdom of Naples, January 80th,
J789, entered the Congregation of the Priests of the Mission or Lazarists at
ftn eftfly pge, and in 1815 joined Bishop Dnbourg nt Rome, to follow him to

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IN THE UNITED STATES.

125

(^lubrated a solemn Mass, and having fixed that day for the re-
ception of his palhum, it was imposed upon him by Bishop Fla-
get, the senior prelate. Every day a morning session was held,
at which the bishops alone were present, with the Administrator
of Philadelphia; and an afternoon congregation, which the
members of the second order also attended.^ The closing of the
Council took place on Sunday, the 18th of October, and on the
24th the prelates signed a letter by which they submitted their
decrees to Pope Pius VIII. The decrees, approved by the Con-
gregation "de propaganda fide" on the 28th of June, 1830, were
presented to the Holy Father, who confirmed them on the 26th
of September. They were transmitted by the Congregation to
America on the 16th of October, with some remarks "permodum
instructionis insinuanda" and these remarks having been com-
municated to the Fathers of the Council, the decrees were printed
on the 30th of June, 1831. They are thirty-eight in number,
and we subjoin a summary of the most important :

I. The bishops have the right of sending to any part of their

America. In 1824, Bishop of Tenagra and Qoadjutor of New Orleans. In
1824, first Bishop of St. Lonid. Died at Borne, September 15, 1848.

Benedict Joseph Fenwick, born at Leonardtown, Maryland, Sept. 8, 1782.
Bishop of Boston in 1825 ; died Aug. 11, 1846.

John Dubois, born at Paris, August 24, 1764. Bishop of New York in
1826 ; died at New York in 1842.

John Baptist David, born near Nantes in 1760. Bishop of Mauricastro
and Coadjutor of Bardstown in 1819 ; died Jane 12, 1841.

Michael Portier, born at Montbuson, Sept. 7, 1795, came to America in
1817. Bishop of Oleno and Vicar-apostolic of Alabama and Florida in 1826.
Bishop of Mobile since 1829.

Henry Conwell, born in Ireland. Bishop of Philadelphia in 1820 ; died at
Philadelphia, April 21, 1842.

Of the other prelates present at the Council, we have already given short
biographical notices.

* The ecclesiastics present were :

Eev. John Tessier, Sulpitian, V. G. of Baltimore ; died in 1840.

Rev. John Power, V. G. of New York; died in 1849.

Father Dziero^ynski, Superior of the Jesuits; died in 1850.

Eev. Mr. Carriere, Visitor of St. Sulpice.

126

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

fi-

diocese, or recalling any priest ordained or incorporated within it.
This does not extend to the See of New Orleans, which is alone
regarded as having the rank and privileges of benefices in the
United States. ...-.>.,,..- ...

II. Priests ordained in a diocese or incorporated into it are not
to leave without license of the bishop. ........

III. Bishops are exhorted not to grant faculties to strange
priests, unless they bring testimonials from their own bishops.
This provision, however, does not apply to apostolical missionaries.

V. As lay trustees have often abused the powers conferred upon
them by the civil law, the Council expresses the desire that bish-
ops should not consent to the erection or Consecration of a church,
unless a deed of the property be duly executed to them.

VI. Some laymen, and especially trustees, having assumed a
right of patronage, and even of inirtitution, in some churches, the
Council declares these pretensions unfounded, and forbids their
exercise on any grounds whatever.

IX. The Council exhorts the bishops to dissuade their flocks
from reading Protestant translations of the Bible, and recommend
the use of the Douay version.

XI. It is forbidden to admit as sponsors, heretics, scandalous
sinners, infamous men ; lastly, those who are ignorant of the ru-
diments of faith.

XVI. A question having grown up, from the difficulty of the
times, of conferring baptism in private houses, the Council does
not wish to suppress it absolutely, but nevertheless exhorts priests
to administer the sacrament in the church as much as possible.

XXVI. The pastors of souls are warned that it behooves them
to prepare the faithful well for the sacrament of matrimony ; and
that they should not consider themselves exempt from sin, if they
have tjie temerity to administer the sacrament to persons mani-
festly unworthy.

XXXIV. As many young Catholics, especially those bom of

IN fHE UNITED STATES.

127

poor parents, are exposed to the danger of losing fa. ^ and mo*
rality, from the want of teachers to whom their education may
be safely confided, the Council expresses the wish that schoob
should be established, where youth may imbibe principles of faith
and morality along with human knowledge. .. . , .': ^

XXXVI. According to the wise counsel of Pope Leo XII.,
addressed to the Archbishop of Baltimore, a society shall be
established for the diffusion of good books.

The Holy See also granted to priests in the United States
faculty to administer baptism with water not blessed, on Holy
Saturday or Whitsun-eve, and to administer it to adults with the
same form as to children. Priests were authorized to use, in
blessing water, the short form employed by Peruvian missionaries,
with the approbation of Pope Paul III., as given in the Ritual of
Lima. Rome finally permits the Paschal season in the United
States to extend from the first Sunday of Lent to Trinity Sunday
inclusively.*

To meet the views of the Holy Father, the bishops formed an
association to publish elementary books suited to Catholic schools,
and free from all that can give the young false ideas as to reli-
gion. This Metropolitan press continued its issues for several
years, till the spirit of enterprise among Catholic booksellers led
them to publish devotional and other works so cheap that the
object of the bishops was attained. The prelates also favored the
establishment of Catholic journals, and the Catholics in the
United States soon counted five weekly organs — the " Metropoli-
tan" at Baltimore, the "Jesuit" at Boston, the "Catholic" at
Hartford, the " Miscellany" at Charleston, and the "Truth Teller.**

Among the subjects on which the meeting of the bishops threw
great light, was the Catholic population of the vast territory of
the republic. By comparing their calculations, and rectifying

♦ Cono. Prov. Bait., p. 29. Annalea de liv Propagation de la Foi, Iv. 226 ;
V. 711.

128

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

one by another, the Fathers of the Council concluded that the
number of Catholics in the United States, in 1829, was over five
hundred thousand, and daily on the increase, by immigration or
conversion. These developments afforded the Episcopate un-
speakable consolation in their labors, as we may judge by this
letter of Archbishop Whitfield to the Council of the Association
for the Propagation of the Faith, dated February 16th, 1832 :

"The wonders, if I dare so express myself, that have been
operated, and are daily operated in my diocese, are a source of
consolation to me, amid the difficulties against which I have
still often to struggle. Thanks to a special providence over that
beloved portion of the people confided to my care, I can sny with
the apostle, ' I am filled with consolation ; I superabound ^vith joy
in all our tribulation.^ When I meditate before God on his good-
ness, his mercy, the graces which He bestows on my diocese, my
heart expands, my bowels are moved, and I cannot but recall that
passage of the Psalms : ' He hath not done thus to every nation.'
A truly Catholic spirit distinguishes Maryland and the District of
Columbia from all other States in the Unio.-} ; and I venture to
say, without any fear of wounding the truth, the city of Baltimore
is justly renowned for the true and solid piety of its people. Con-
versions of Protestants in health are also numerous, and not .i
week, in some seasons not a day passes without our priests being
called to the bedside of some invalid, who wiibes to abjure error
and die in the bosom of the Church."*

Thus were realized the hopes of the Holy See, in organizing
the Episcopate of the United States.

* Anoales de la Propagation do la Foi, v. 711.

IN THE UNITED STATUS.

CHAPTER X.

DI00K8K OF BALTIMORE — (1829-1884).

Second Provincial Coanoil— Decrees u to the election of bishops— Decrees for confiding
to the Jesuits ttie Negroes and Indians— The colony of Liberia and Bishop Barron —
The Carmelites— Liberality of Archbishop Whitfield- His character and death.

The years which followed the meeting of the first Provincial
Council of Baltimore brought various changes in the Episcopate
of the United States. Bishop Dubourg of New Orleans had left
Louisiana in June, 1826, to assume the direction of the diocese
of Montauban in France, and New Orleans had for several yearis
been administered by the Bishop of St. Louis. The vacancy of
the See was filled by the Pontifical rescript of August 4, 1829,
appointing the Rev. Mr. Leo De Neckere, a Belgian priest of the
Congregation of the Missions, Bishop of New Orleans. He was
consecrated by Bishop Rosati on the 24th of June, 1830, and
began his episcopate. At Cincinnati, Bishop Edward Fenwick,
having fallen a victim to the cholera in 1832, had been replaced
by Rt. Rev. John B. Purcell, consecrated on the 13th of October,
1833. At Philadelphia, the Rev. William Mathews, appointed
Administrator of the diocese by a Pontifical brief dated February
26, 1828, having refused the post of Coadjutor, the Rev. Francis
Patrick Kenrick was appointed Bishop of Arath and Coadjutor of
Philadelphia, cum plena potestate ad regendam dioccesim, and was
consecrated on the 6th of June, 1830. Lastly, the Holy See had
formed a special diocese of Michigan and Northwest Territory,
which comprised what is now Wisconsin and Iowa, and named
the Rev. Frederick R6s6 Bishop of Detroit. The new prelate

180

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

was consecrated on the 6th of October, 1833, at Cincinnati, by
Bishop Brut6.

The papers of Bishop Brut6 contain a page written at the mo-
ment when this second Council was assembling, and which
throws considerable light on this important question. According
to the future Bishop of Vincennes :

"The principal point to examine in the second Provincial
Council is the mode to be established for electing bishops. Till
now they have been chosen in one of the five following ways :

" 1st. Proptno motu. Some one, without authority or war-
rant, suggests a subject to the Holy See. In this way Bishops
Concanen, Connolly, Conwell, Kelly, and England were appointed.

" 2d. The archbishop and his suffragans agree upon a person,
and such was the presentation of Bishop David as Coadjutor of
Bardstown.

" 3d. Others have been appointed on the presentation of the
bishop of the diocese, who desired a coadjutor ; and in this way
Mr. Blanc was named to the See of New Orleans, which he has
refused, and Mr. Chabrat is now for Kentucky.*

" 4th. Some have been presented by bishops of other dioceses,
without the participation of the archbishop. Thus Bishop Pur-
cell was appointed at the instance of Bishop England ; Bishop
Kenrick had written to Kome in favor of Rev. John Hughes, and
the archbishop in favor of Father DubuiiSson.f

* Rev. Anthony Blanc received in 1882 the bulls of Bishop of ApoUouia
and Coadjutor of New Orleans ; but he made it a condition that Bishop De
Neckere should abandon his project of resigning. That prelate having
per»isted in handing in his demission, Mr. Blanc sent back the bulls.
Bishop De Neckere having died on the 4th of September, 1883, Rev. Au-
gustus Joanjean, V. 6., was appointed Bishop of New Orleans ; but he re-
fused. In October, 1886, the Rev. Anthony Blanc received the bulls naming
him bishop instead of Bishop De Neckere, and he accepted.

t Father Stephen Larlgaudelle-Dubuisson, born at Si. Domingo, October
21, 1786, spent his early youth at Nantes, and was distinguished for his an-
gelic piety, at a period when an almost heroic courage was needed to practice

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IN THE UNITED STATES.

131

** 8th. Laatly, for the first nomin£»tion, that of Bishop Carroll,
the Popo (panted the clergy the privilege of electing the bishop,
but only for that occasion, reserving in future the nomination to
the Pr(>|,aganda.

" Rome asks the present Council to lay its wishes before the
Pope for his approbation, as to a regular mode of election to be
observed in future. The Propaganda has stated that they will
not object to grant America election as in Ireland.''

The prelates who corresponded to the call of Archbishop Whit-
field, and convened with their Metropolitan on the 20th of Octo-
ber, 1833, were:

Rt. Rev. John B. David, Bishop of Mauricastro and Coadjutor
of Bardstown.

Rt. Rev. John England, Bishop of Charleston.

Rt. Rev. Joseph Rosati, Bishop of St. Louis.

Rt. Rev. Benedict Fenwick, Bishop of Boston.

Rt. Rev. John Dubois, Bishop of New York. ; .

Rt. Rev. Michael Portier, Bishop of Mobile. '"*

Rt. Rev. Francis P. Kenrick, Bishop of Arath, Coadjutor and
Administrator of Philadelphia.

Rt. Rev. Frederick R686, Bishop of Detroit.

Rt. Rev. John B. Purcell, Bishop of Cincinnati. - '■'

The two last-named prelates had received episcopal consecra-
tion only a few days before the opening of the Council. Bishop
Flaget, of Bardstown, had been prevented by age from coming to

Christian daties openly. He was engaged in the war ofSce, followed the
army to Germany, and in 1814 was secretary of the treasury of the civil list.
At this time he entered the Seminary of St. Sulpice, and becoming a priest,
came to Maryland, and subsequently entered the Society of Jesus. While
assistant pastor of Washington, he was confessor of Mrs. Mattingly, and at-
tended her on the 10th of March, 1824, when she was so miraculously re-
stored to health. In 1840 health obliged him to leave America, and he is
now attached to the province of Toulouse.

132

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Baltimore, and Bishop De Neckere, of New Orleans, had died the
preceding month.*

The closing of the Council took place on the 2'7th of October,
and by the first decree the Fathers solicited of the Holy Father
the erection of a new See at Yincennes for Indiana and a part of
Illinois.

* The following are the members of the second order present at the
Council :

Rev. Louis Re^ris Deloul, V. G. of Baltimore, Promoter.

Rev. Louis £. Damphoux, Secretary.

Rev. John Hoskyns, Sec. Died January 11, 1887, aged twenty-nine.
Vice-president of St. Mary's College, Baltimore.

Rev. John Joseph Chanche, Master of Ceremonies. Died in 1852; Bishop
of Natchez.

Rev. John Randaime, Rev. Peter Fredet, Chanters; both Sulpitians, and
Professors in St. Charles' College ; the latter died in 185S.

00NSaLTIN<» THEOLOGIANS.

Rev. Father William McSherry, Provincial of the Society of Jesus in Ma-
ryland. Died December 17, 1839.

Rev. Father Nicholas D. Young, Provincial of the Order of St. Dominic ;
now at St. Joseph's, Cincinnati.

Rev. John Tessier, V. G., Baltimore.

Theologian of the Archbishop of BaUimore — Rev. Samuel Eccleston. Died
in 1851 ; Archbishop of Baltimore.

Theologian of the Bishop of New Orleans — Rev. Augustus Jcanjean. Died
at New Orleans, April 11th, 1841, aged forty-six; V. G. of the diocese.

Theologian of the Bishop of Mauricastro — Rev. Mr. De Barth.

Theologian of the Bishop of Charleston — Rev. Andrew Byrne ; now Bishop
of Little Rock.

Theologian of the Bishop of St. Louis — Rev. John Odin ; now Bishop of
Galveston.

Theologian of the Bishop of Boston — Rev. John J. Cbanche.

Theologian of the Bishop of New York — Rev. John Power. Died April
14, 1849 : Vicar-general, New York.

Theologian of the Bishop of Mobile— Fev. Peter Mauvernay. Died Octo-
ber 28, 1889 ; President of Spring Hill College.

Theologian of the Bishop of Arath— Rev. John Hughes; now Archbishop
of New York.

Theologian of the Bishop of Detroit — Rev. William Mathews. Died in
1854.

Theologian of the Bishop of Cincinnati — Rev. Simon Brute. Consecrated,
().t<.Vv<?r ;?8. B34, Binhop of Vincenncs. Died in 1889.

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IN THE UNITED STATES.

133

By the third decree, the Council set forth the fixed limits
which it judged proper to give each diocese.

By the fourth decree, the Council submits to the Holy See the
following mode of electing the bishops :

" When a See falls vacant, the suflfrages of the other bishops in
the province are to be taken, in order to determine the priests who
shall be proposed to the Sovereign Pontiff for that See. If a
Provincial Council is to meet within three months after the pre-
late's death, the bishops are to wait till then to select the persons
to be proposed. Bishops desiring a coadjutor shall also submit
to the vote of their colleagues in council assembled, the names of
the clergymen proposed for the post of coadjutor.

" As the holding of a Provincial Council may be remote, every
bishop shall keep two sealed packages, containing the names of
at least three priests who seem to him worthy to succeed him.
On the death of the prelate, the Vicar-general shall transmit one
of these to the archbishop, the other to the nearest bishop. The
latter, after taking note of the names given by the late prelate,
shall transmit it with his observations to the archbishop. The
metropolitan then writes to all his suffragans, submitting to their
examination the three names given by the late prelate, or three
others, if he finds serious objections to the former; and then
every bishop writes individually to the Propaganda, giving his
observations on the three or on the six proposed. On the death
of the metropolitan, the dean of the suffragans shall discharge the
duties which, in other circumstances, devolve on the archbishop.
If the deceased prelate leave among his papers no nomination of
a successor, the nearest bishop suggests three names to the arch-
bishop, and the latter submits them to his suffragans, with three
other names, if the former do not meet his confidence."

On the l7th of May, 1834, the Congregation wrote to Arch-
bishop Whitfield, transmitting the apostolic brief which erected
the See of Vinconnes, and appointed to it the Rev. Simon Brut6.

134

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

By a decree of June 14th, 1834, the Propaganda approved the
mode proposed for nominating bishops, reserving to the Holy See
the right and hberty of choosing any other than those thus pro-
posed by the bishops of the United States. Lastly, Pope Gregory
XVL, by his bull of June 17, 1834, fixed the limits of the dio-
ceses according to the decree of the second Council of Baltimore.

In its fifth decree the Council had asked of the Holy See that
the Indian tribes dwelling beyond the limits of the fixed dioceses
of the United States should be confided to the care of the Society
of Jesus.

The Propaganda solemnly approved the decree, and this hom-
age rendered to the Jesuits by the American hierarchy is a new
title of glory for the sons of St. Ignatius. As early as 1823,
Bishop Dabourg, of New Orleans, wishing to revive the faith
among the Indians scattered over the vast extent of his diocese,
applied to the Jesuits of Maryland, begging them to found a
mission in Missouri. The Fathers could not answer the call.
Seven young Belgians, who were in the Maryland novitiate,
however, set out, under the direction of Fathers Van Quicken-
borne and Timmeimann, and began an establishment in Florissant
in June, 1824. Thence the Jesuits visited the tribes in various
parts, announcing the Gospel to all. After the action of the
Council, a greater development was given to this apostolic field.
In 1834 missions were begun in the district called the Indian
Territory, west of Missouri, and in 1840, Father Peter J. De Smet
set out for Oregon, where he soon founded a flourishing mission.*

The Fathers of the Council also recommended to the Holy See,
by their sixth decree, the negroes who emigrate from the United
States to the African colony of Liberia, and solicit the Propa-
ganda to found in behalf of these blacks on the coast of Africa a
mission to be confided to the care of the Jesuits. This solicitude

* History of the Catholic Missions among the Indian Tribes of the Unitod
States, by John G. Shea. New York, 1856,

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* A History
Alexander.

IN THE UNITED STA'TES.

135

of the American Church for the salvation of the blacks, even after
leaving the soil of the United States, induces us to give a brief
sketch of the colony of Liberia.

In 1787 a philanthropical society was formed at London, to
send to Sierra Leone the negroes who, during *the war of the
American Revolution, h.id sought refuge in the ranks of the
British army, and had returned to Great Britain with the other
troops at the close of the war.

The idea of the London philanthropists was to restore these
blacks to the African continent from whi h their fathers had been
torn, and it was believed that there alone, free from the tradi-
tional contempt attached to their color, and from which no eman-
cipation is complete enough to free them, the civilized negroes
might constitute by themselves an independent society, and labor
with profit to abolish the slave-trade on the coast. This generous
idea spread to America, and on the Ist of January, 1817, a pow-
erful colonization society was organized at Washington, intended
to transport free negroes to the coast of Africa, and there create
a country for them. The first emigration took place in 1819, and
Monrovia was founded at Cape Mesurado, the whole country which
they hoped to colonize receiving the name of Liberia. The com-
mencement was diflBcult, as happens in every effort of the kind,
and in 1833 an independent colonization society was formed in
Maryland, resolved to form a settlement distinct from that of the
national society. All minds at Baltimore were occupied with this
project in 1833, when the Fathers of the Council, interested in
all that concerns the great human family, made it the object of
their deliberations. The Maryland colony was founded at Cape
Palmas, between latitude four degrees and five degrees north, two
degrees south of Cape Mesurado.*

We have always wished success to the interesting establish-

* A History of Colonization on the Western Coh^t of Africa, by Arcliibald
Alexander. Philadelphia, 1846.

'it

136

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

meDt on the coast of Liberia — success less sure now than ever.
If we have little sympathy with the dreamers who from to-day to
to-morrow create, with the stroke of a pen, civil and political
rights for whole populations of slaves ; if we do not believe in the
instantaneous jllitiation of the ignorant and brutalized negro,
whom they would make an elector before making him a Chris-
tian, we can appreciate the high and charitable views of those
Americans who, seeing their cities full of free blacks, vegetating
in misery, seek to persuade these poor people to return to Africa,
whence their fathers came. There the negroes receive lands,
provisions, fanning implements. Their passage and that of their
families is paid, and to colored men of intelligence and education
a fair field lies open to take part in a government already or-
ganized, to labor in extinguishing the slave-trade and regenerating
the neighboring tribes, and indeed all Africa.*

Unfortunately the various colonization societies formed to peo-
ple the African coast are animated by sectarianism, and this has
frequently made all their sacrifices sterile of result. The Method-
ists and Baptists expend large sums in maintaining missionaries
In Liberia, but the rivalry of these gentlemen, more in the field of
commerce than in that of theology, destroys the material good
which their concurrence might afibrd the blacks. Unfortunately,
too, the climate devours the immigrants, and of the five thousand
negroes sent at great expense from Maryland to Cape Palmas,
only seven hundred survived in 1842, lingering on a burning
coast, and undermined by a terrible fever, which attacks even do-
mestic animals.

The attention of the Holy Father is never called in vain to any
part of Christendom, and the African race has no smaller share
in the solicitude of the Church than the red-man of the American
forest. The Propaganda approved the decree of the second

* MesBa^e of the President of the United States, 1844-5.

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IN THE UinTBD STATES.

137

Council of Baltimore relative to the Liberian negroes. It seems,
however, that the Society of Jesus was unable in 1834 to under-
take that mission ; but in 1 840 the Holy See expressed to the
bishops of Philadelphia and New York its desire that each should
appoint a missionary to go to the African colony. ** It was consid-
ered that as the blacks sent there were from the United States,
and as some from Maryland were Catholics, it was proper that
the priests appointed to announce the true faith to them should
be from the same country. Two ecclesiastics of Irish birth, the
Rev. Edward Barron and the Rev. John Kelly, devoted them-
selves to the task at the call of the Sovereign Pontiff, and, accom-
panied by a young catechist named Dennis Pindar,* sailed from
Baltimore on the 21st of December, 1841, for Cape Mesurado,
■whence they proceeded to Cape Palmas. On the 10th of Feb-
ruary, 1842, the Rev. Mr. Barron offered the Holy Sacrifice for
the first time in that land, where the Gospel seems never to
have been preached from the early part of the seventeenth cen-
tuiy.f

The two missionaries immediately began, by means of inter-
preters, to preach to the natives, and the nation of the Grebos
was soon induced to consecrate the Sund. v to rest. After a short
stay in Liberia, Mr. Barron returned to he United States, and
thence to Ireland and Rome, to give an account of the hopes of
his mission, and to realize from his hereditary estate the resources
he needed. At Rome he was raised to the episcopal dignity,
with the title of Vicar-apostolic of both Guineas, and obtained
seven priests of the Society of the Sacred Heart of Mary, and

* Dennis Pindar, born at Fermoy, in Ireland, in 1823, died at Cape Pal-
mas, January 1, 1844, at the age of twenty one, after having displayed for
two years the most admirable zeal in the labors of the mission. To his care
Bishop Barron and the Rev. Mr. Kelly owed their lives in the fevers which
attacked them on that fatal shore.

+ In 1604, the Jesuits, under Father Bareira, established a mission at
Sierra Leone, and converted a native prince and many of his people.

fa I

138

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

three brothers of the same Order, who sailed from Bordeaux in
September, and arrived at Cape Palmas on the 30th of Novem-
ber, 1843. These missionaries were M. John Remi Bessieur, of
the diocese of Montpelier, now (1849) Bishop of Callipolis and
Vicar-apostolic of both Guineas ; M. De Regnier, who died at the
close of December, 1843; M. John Louis Rousset, of Amiens,
who soon followed him to the grave ; Mr. Francis Bouchet, of the
diocese of Annecy, who died at sea on the 28th of May, 1844,
while going from Assinee to Toal with Bishop Barron ; Mr. Au-
dibert, who died at Great Bassem ; Mr. Laval, who died at Assi-
nee in the summer of 1844; and Mr. J. M. Maurice, now a
missionary in the United States.*

Three Irish brothers or students, who accompanied the mis-
sionaries, all sank under the terrible climate ; but three French
brothers, though attacked by the fever, finally escaped.

Bishop Barron was thus almost in a moment deprived of his
zealous co-laborers ; all being stricken down, many forever, by
the fatal climate. The indefatigable Mr. Kelly, sick himself, dis-
charged with admirable charity the part of physician of soul and
body for his pious brethren. The prelate, after again visiting
Rome, deemed it best to confide the arduous duties of his mission
to the Society of Father Liebermann, especially devoted to the
conversion of the blacks. He accordingly resigned his vicariate,
and returned to the United States in 1846, and the Rev. John
Kelly followed his example. *

Such have been the attempts made by the American Church
to evangelize the blacks on the African coast. If it was com-
pelled to renounce the difficult and ungrateful task, it has the

* The Annals of the Propagation of the Faith, vol. xix. p. 102, represent
Mr. Maurice as dying there ; but, thank heaven, he is full of life. In 1846
lie devoted himself to the American missions. He spent several years in the
diocese of Toronto, and is now pastor of St. Peter's, Buffalo ; and to hib
politeness we owe the above faots and names.

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IN THE UNITED STATES.

139

merit of pointing out the good to be done, and that of having
furaished the first rnissionaries for that apostolic work.* ^•

By the eighth decree, the bishops were exhorted to open an
ecclesiastical seminary in each diocese, conformably to the pre-
scriptions of the Council of Trent ; and by the ninth decree, a
committee was appointed, composed of the presidents of the
three colleges of St. Mary's, Mount St. Mary's, and Georgetown,
to revise and expurge the books intended for Catholic schools.
Nothing is indeed more important than to put children on their
guard against the wide-spread prejudice by which religion is mis-
represented and held up to the scorn of the masses in the United
States. In the pastoral letter of the first Council, the bishops had
already expatiated on the bitter results of these preventions, and
their remarks have a practical character which renders them ap-
plicable to the present as to the period when they were written.

"Good men," said the prelates in 1829, "men otherwise well
informed, deeply versed in science, in history, in politics — men

* Edward Barron, Bishop of Constantine and Vicar-apostolic of both Gui-
neas, was born in Ireland in 1801, and was a brother of Sir Henry Winton
Barron of Waterford. He studied at the College of the Propaganda at Borne,
and won the doctor's cap. Some years after his return to Ireland he came
to America, and was made Vicar>general of Philadelphia. On his return
from Liberia in 1845, Bishop Barron repeatedly refused a diocese, preferring
to devote iiimself to the humble labors of the mission, first at Philadelphia,
then at St. Louis, and finally in Florida. He was at Savannah in the sum-
mer of 1854, when the yellow fever broke out A*ith fearful violence : and
for two weeks he devoted himself with boundless zeal to bear to the afflicted
all the con^iolations of religion. He wrt.s at lust seized himself, and Bishop
Gartland of Savannah lavished every care on him at his house, when a ter-
riblfc hurricane unroofed it and left the holy invalid exposed to the fury of
the elements. Hastily transferred to the house of a pious Catholic in Savan-
nah, the first Bishop of both Guineas died a martyr of charity on the 12th of
September, 1854, and on the 80th of the same month Bishop Gartland fol-
lowed him to heaven, another victim of his apostolic zeal. The Eev. John
Kelly, the companion of Bishop Barron at Cape Palmas, is now pastor of
Jersey City. To his kindness we are indebted for most of the details which
we have been able to give as to this most interesting mission on the coast of
Africa.

140

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

who hftve improved their education by their travels abroad, as
well as they who have merely acquired the very rudiments of
knowledge at home ; the virtuous women who influence that so-
ciety which they decorate, and yielding to the benevolence of
their hearts, desire to extend useful knowledge; the public press;
the very bench of public justice, have been all influenced by ex-
traordinary efforts directed against us : so that from the very
highest place in our land to all its remotest borders, we are ex-
hibited as what we are not, and charged with maintaining what
we detest. Repetition has given to those statements a semblance
of evidence ; and groundless assertions, remaining almost uncon-
tradicted, wear the appearance of admitted and irrefragable tnith.
. . . Not only are the misrepresentations of which we complain
propagated so as to affect the mature, but, with a zeal worthy of
a better cause, and which some persons have exhibited in contrast
with our seeming apathy, the mind of the very infant is predis-
posed against ua by the recitals of the nursery, and the schoolboy
can scarcely find a book in which some one or more of our insti-
tutions or practices is not exhibited far otherwise than it really is,
and greatly to our disadvantage. The entire system of education
is thus tinged throughout its whole course, and history itself has
been distorted to our serious injury."*

The two councils over which Archbishop Whitfield had the
glory of presiding, and which illustrate the period of his short
episcopacy, displayed the dignity ani conciliating spirit of the
venerable metropolitan. The 8essi(>ns were conducted with an
order and unanimity which gave general satisfaction. Before
these august assemblies the prelates of the United States had
only a very imperfect knowledge of each other ; they were united
only by the common sentiment of respect which the episcopal
character inspired ; but after deliberating together on the gravest

♦ Notice of the Rev. James Whitfield ; Cacholio Magazine, iv. 461.

interests
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oftheUnitx

IN THE UNITED STATES.

141

interests of the Church, after learning to esteem and love each
other, while exchanging opinions often different, but always based
on the desire of the g ^.oral good, the bishops separated to bear
to their several dioceses sentiments of sincerest friendship and
esteem for each other. The deliberations of the Councils were
very important in the eyes of the Catholic population ; they con-
trasted with the tumultuous assemblies of Protestantism, and such
was the veneration which they inspired, that three celebrated
jurists, admitted once before the bishops to give an opinion on
some points relating to the civil law of the land, left the Council
full of respect and wonder. " We have," they said, " appeared
before solemn tribunals of justice, but have never had less assur-
ance, or felt lese confidence in ourselves, than when we entered
that august assembly."*

During the whole period of his administration. Archbishop
Whitfield took a lively interest in the three female religious com-
munities in his diocese, and showed his active solicitude, especially
for the Carmelites, because they had to undergo trials which
compromised the very existence of their convent. We have said
in a previous chapter that the first CarmSlite nuns arrived in Ma-
ryland in lYOO, under the direction of Father Charles Neale.
Iheir subsequent history was there traced, and we alluded briefly
to their struggles, and to the interest which Archbishop Whit-
field had always taken in that devoted community of pious con-
templatives. Their income had become so reduced, that it was
impossible for the convent to subsist : no generous founder ap-
peared to enable tbem, by his alms, to continue their life of aus-
terity and prayer. A dissolution seemed unavoidable, but the
archbishop advised a removal to Baltimore, and such a modifica-

♦ Archbishop Whitfleld'a Istter of January 28th, 1880 ; Annales de la
Propagation, iv. 248. The three juristB were Roger B. Taney, John Scott,
and William G. Read. The first is now Chief-Justioe of the Supreme Court
of the United States.

142

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

tion of their rule as would enable them to join the other sister-
hoods in the great work of teaching the young of their own sex.
At their desire, he applied to the Holy See, and, as we have seen,
obtained the necessary dispensation. After their transfer to Balti-
more, the good nuns found in Archbishop Whitfield a generous
father. Their school, opened soon after arrival, was continued
till 1852, and proved a source of incalculable blessings to the
Catholics of that city.

Soon after their arrival, another of the venerable foundresses,
Sister Aloysia Matthews, expired, on the 12th of November, 1833,
at the advanced age of eighty-one, after a life of eminent piety
and devotedness to her rule. Since their stay in Baltimore, they
have had among their excelleut chaplains, the Rev. Matthew
Herard, a French clergyman, who not only guided them by his
counsels, but aided them with his means to erect their present
choir and chapel, and left them an annuity of several hundred
dollars for the support of a chaplain. After his time, they were
for some years directed by the talented and zealous Rev. John
B. Gildea, of whom we shall have occasion to speak elsewhere,
and by the Rev. Hugh GriflSn.

Since the close of their school, the Sisters of Our Lady of
Mount Carmel, whose community now numbeife twenty professed
Sisters and one novice, see once more renewed the trials which
encompassed the latter days of their stay at Port Tobacco.
Their certain regular income is scarcely more than a hundred
dollars; for all else they rely on Providence, which will, we
trust, ere long raise them up a' generous founder to endow their
house, and enable our country to possess, for many a day, the
blessings which such a community must bring.

Doubtless Archbishop Whitfield, had he foreseen all, would
have devoted means to so good a work, for he lavished his for-
tune on the diocese to which the voice of Peter had called.him.
The Cathedral of Baltimore especially shows the efifects of his zeal

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IN THE UNITED STATES.

148

and liberality in the construction of one of the towers, which was
began and completed during his administration. The prelate
gave also considerable sums lor the erection of the archiepiscopal
residence, near the cathedral ; and finally, he built, entirely at his
own expense, the beautiful church of St. James at Baltimore.
Archbishop Whitfield laid the corner-stone on the Ist of May,
1833, and on the same day, in the following year, he solemnly
celebrated the ceremony of the consecration, attended by a nu-
merous clergy. But the archbishop lived only just long enough
to see the noble pile completed. In course of the summer of
1834 he was advised by his physicians to visit the Springs to im-
prove his fast declining health. All the efforts of science failed
to arrest the progress of the disease, and Archbishop Whitfield
expired on the 19th of October, 1834, in the sixty-fourth year of
his age. His biographer has given us the following portrait of
him :

' Of Archbishop Whitfield may be said what can be said of
few — that he entered the career of honors in wealth and left it
poor. Prudence and energy were traits in his character very
observable to those who had an opportunity of duly appreciating
it, and many acts of his administration have been censured, be-
cause, through a- spirit of charity and forbearance towards his
neighbor, he abstained from exposing to public view the grounds
that justified and compelled such a course of proceeding. If
there was more or less austerity in his manner, it did not prevent
him from cherishing with paternal feelings and promoting by fre-
quent acts of benevolence the happiness of the indigent and the
orphan. Fond of retirement and indifferent to the opinions of
the world, he seemed particularly solicitous to merit the favor of
Him ' who seeth in secret,' and is always prepared to award the
crown of justice to his faithful servants."*

* Catholic Mupttziue, viii. 24-38.

144

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

We shall add but two words to this portrait : it is, that by
convoking the early councils of Baltimore, and directing their
deliberations with the most remarkable distinction. Archbishop
Whitfield contributed most amply and efficaciously to organize
the Church in the United States. Among the papers of Bishop
Drut^ we have found a note in that prelate^s handwriting, which
gives the exact number of priests in each of the twelve dioceses
of the United States, on the 20th of October, 1833. They num-
bered then, in all, three hundred and eight ecclesiastics — seventy-
two American bom, ninety-one Irish, seventy-three French, seven-
teen Italians, thirty-nine Belgians and Germans, some English
and Spanish, and one Pole. This diversity of origin undoubtedly
increases the diflBculty of creating among the clergy a homoge-
neous spirit ; yet the Catholic spirit rules in all its glory, and
neutralizes the different nationalities. Moreover, the population
of the United States is only a mixture of all races. This forms
its distinctive characteristic, and the clergy only renews the varied
origin of the nations. Of these three hundred and eight ecclesi-
astics-, one hundred and seventy had been ordained in the United
States, making over half the whole number ; but this result is
not so consoling as might be at first supposed, if it be remarked
that only seventy-two are Americans. The bishops who go to
Europe generally bring back seminarians, who receive holy orders
in the United States. Among the names of the ecclesiasts there
were forty-three Jesuits, fourteen Sulpitians, ten Dominicans,
twelve Lazarists, and three Augustinians ; and we shall soon see
the Redemptorists and the Oblates swell the ranks of the regular
clergy, especially precious in a mission land.*

* Catholic Magazine, iv. 408. V

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IN THE UNITED 8TATE0.

146

CHAPTER XI.

DI0CK8E OF BALTIMORE — (1884-1840).

Host Rev. Samnel Ecdeston, D.D., ftflb Arohbtthop of BaUiniore^TU« Brothers of the
GhristiAD Schools— The Redemptorbits— The Oerinan Catholics— The Lszarists— Third
Council of Baltimore— New Episcopal Bees— Fourth Council of Baltimore— Bishop
Forbin-Jan£on in America — Dioceses of Richmond and Wheeling, and a glance at re-
ligion in Vfigluiffl.

Before sickness had seriously enfeebled Archbishop Whitfield,
that prelate and his sufifragans had been engaged in proposing to
the Holy See an ecclesiastic whose zeal and piety fitted him to
govern a diocese so important as that of Baltimore ; and such a
person they had found in the Rev. Samuel Eccleston, President
of St. Mary's College. The Propaganda approved this choice,
and in the summer of 1834 Archbishop Whitfield received letters
apostolic, nominfl*iug Mr. Eccleston Bishop of Thermia in paribus,
and Coadjutoi of the Archbishop of Baltimore, with the right of
succession. Tho prelate elect was consecrated in the Cathedral
of Baltimore on the 14th of September in tho same year. Arch-
bishop Whitfield performing the ceremony. But that worthy
dignitary soon sunk under the weight of his infirmities, and at his
death, which occurred on the 19th of October, 1834, Dr. Eccles-
ton became Archbishop of Baltimore. Tit the following year he
received the pallium, the complement of his metropolitan dignity ;
and he was at the same time, as his two predecessors had been,
invested with the administration of the See of Richmond, for
which the Holy See appointed no bishop till 1841.

Samuel Eccleston was born on the 2'7th of June, 1801, in Kent
county, on the eastern shore of Maryland. His grandfather, Sir

146

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

John Eccleston, had emigrated thither from England some years
before the Revolutionary War. His parents occupied an honora-
ble position in society, and belonged to the Protestant Episcopal
Church, in which, too, young Samuel was educated. But while
still young his mother became a widow, and married a worthy
Catholic ; and this event opened to him a horizon of light and
grace, considerably developed in the sequel by his education.
The young man was placed at St. Mary's College, Baltimore, and
distinguished himself in all branches of study, at the same time
that he learned to know religion. He there embraced the Cath-
olic faith while still at colbge, and was so deeply impressed at
the death of one of his venerable professors, that he resolved to
devote himself to the ecclesiastical state. He entered the semi-
nary attached to the college on the 23d of May, 1819, but was
scarcely inclosed in this retreat of his choice when he was beset
with pressing solicitations from his kindred and friends to abandon
a career in their eyes contemptible, and to return to the world, of
which they displayed the attractions. No consideration could
alter Eccleston's step; on the contrary, temptations confirmed
him in his pious design, and he received the tonsure in the course
of the year 1820. While pursuing his theological studies, he
rendered useful service in the college as professor. Deacon's
orders were conferred on him in 1823, and on the 24th of April,
1826, he was raised to ecclesiastical dignity. Five months after
his ordination the Rev. Mr. Eccleston repaired to France, and
spent almost two years in the Sulpitian solitude at Issy. Re-
turning home in 1827, after visiting Ireland and England, he
brought back an immense fund of acquired knowledge and ar-
dent zeal for the cause of religion. Appointed Vice-president of
St. Mary's College, then President of that institution, he dis-
charged with remarkable success these important functions, when
the confidence of the Holy See selected him for the Episcopate.
On his succession, Archbishop Eccleston found religion flour-

.- r^'.'f^-'trn-^lr^i'jrryirj-.fw^T^J?!-:,^. '^"^^l^W:. *.ff W''^ ' ''

»•»•>

IN THE UNITED STATES.

147

ishing in the diocese of Baltimore. Ecclesiastical seminaries, re-
ligious institutions, several houses for the education of youth of
both sexes, and a numerous clergy for the exercise of the ministry
— these resources showed themselves only in Maryland ; Catho-
licity is better spread there than in most of the States of the
Union. The archbishop felt, however, that the growing wants of
the faithful required renewed eflforts ; and he took to heart to in-
crease the facilities for religious instruction. During his admin-
istration, the Sisters of the Visitation at Georgetown opened three
new schools — at Baltimore, Frederick, and Washington. The
Brothers of the Christian Schools, invited to Baltimore, opened a
novitiate at Calvert Hall ; and before the prelate's death, these
four schools were frequented by eleven hundred scholars, while
the pious teachers of youth gave at the same time their care to
an orphan asylum containing sixty-four children.* Other schools
were directed by the Brothers of St. Patrick, who, at the same
time, managed a model farm, where a manual-labor school was
founded in 1848 by the Rev. James Dolan, pastor of St. Patrick's,

* The Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools was founded in
1679, by the venerable John Baptist de la Salle, and approved by Pope Bon-
edict XIII. The professed house was first at St. Yon, near Arpajon, whence
the Brothers have often been called Brothers of St. Yon. At present, how-
ever, the General resides at Passy, near Paris. The government of the insti-
tute is divided into nineteen provinces — ten in France, Algiers, and the
colonies, and the other nine in Belgium, Prussia, Switzerland, Savoy, Pied-
mont, the United States, Canada, the Levant, and Malaysia. England will
soon be organized as a province. In these provinces there are seven hun-
dred and fifty establishments, one thousand three hundred and fifty-three
schools, four thousand one hundred and twenty-six classes, and two hundred
and seventy-five thousand pupils. The United States form a part of the
province of Canada, the central house being at Montreal. The first estab-
lishment in the United States was that at Baltimore in 1846. Two yearn
after, New York also possessed these Brothers, in consequence of the efforts
and sacrifices of the worthy Father Annet Lafont, pastor of the French
church in that city. At the present time the Christian Brothers have schools
In the dioceses of Baltimore, New York, Brooklyn, Albany, St. Louis, New
Orleans, and Detroit.

148

THE CATHOLIC CHUKCH

Baltimore.* In the city of Baltimore the churches of St. Alphon-
sus, St. Vincent, St. Joseph, St. Peter, St. Michael, and the new
Lazarist church, the Carmelite and Visitation chapels, were
erected during the episcopacy of Archbishop Eccleston. In the
interior of the diocese, ten churches were also built by his care,
while the number of ecclesiastics was almost doubled, in conse-
quence of the establishment of the Redemptorists and Lazarists,
with whom the prelate's zeal succeeded in gifting Maryland.

The Priests of the Most Holy Redeemer exercised their minis-
try principally among the German population, who form a con-
siderable proportion of the Catholic body in the United States.
During the period from 1840 to 1850, the emigration to the
United States was composed annually of about two hundred
thousand Irish and eighty thousand German immigi'ants. For
some time the respective numbers of the two nations have
changed. More liberal laws, emigration to Australia, and the
fear of a religious persecution in the United States, have sensibly
checked the movement which bore the Irish to this country ;
while the consequences of insurrection in Germany in 1848, and
the impoverishment of the country brought on by these troubles,
have drawn to the United States the Germanic population. Ac-
cordingly, in 1854, the number of Germans landed in the United
States amounted to two hundred and twenty thousand, and that
of the Irish sank to one hundred and one thousand. Among
these Germans, about a fourth or a fifth are Catholics from Ba-
varia, Saxony, Baden, the Rhine Provinces, and Wirtemburg.

* The Brothers of St. Patrick were founded in 1808, in the county Carlow
in Ireland, by the Very Rev. Dr. Delany, to secure a Christian education to
the young. This society acquired some extension in Ireland, and in 1848 it
had three houses. At the request of the Rev. James Dolan, three Brothers
of this society came to Baltimore in the fall of 1846, and there apsumed the
direction of the school attached to St. Patrick's. They opened a novitiate,
and took care of the model farm, established soon after at Govestown lo
teach the orphans farming. In 1858, however, the Brothers left the diocese,
while the Brothers of the Christian Schools have extended remarkably.

'^'i

IN THE UNITED STATES.

149

^^•

As may be imagined, episcopal solicitude was early turned to the
spiritual wants of so many good people ; yet until 1840 they had
been but poorly provided for in this respect. The American
clergy did not understand the language of these new-comers, and
they themselves felt little inclined to visit churches where the
English instruction was unintelligible to them. In some dioceses
in the West, German Dominicans and Franciscans attended a
certain number of parishes. Other churches were formed under
the pastoral charge of German secular priests ; but these came
from their dioceses without mission, and did not always possess
the high character due to their calling, and often experienced in-
surmountable difficulties in governing their flocks. The laity,
imbued with Congregational ideas, incessantly endeavored to
usurp the temporal administration, deliberate on the choice of
their pastors, elect their priest or dismiss him at will, and the
rights of the bishops were of no avail against this sectarian obsti-
nacy. More than one church was scarcely built when it was in-
terdicted by the diocesan authority.

The establishment of the Redemptorists in the United States,
due to the negotiations of Archbishop Eccleston, has ej ected a
mo^t consoling change in this state of things. The pious sons of
St. Al.phonsus Liguori have very flourishing provinces in Ger-
many. In 1841 a colony from the province of Austria was
installed at Baltimore. It has since then received successively
new reinforcements, and is now a distinct province, containing
upwards of sixty Fathers, scattered in residences over seven dio-
ceses — New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Pittsburg, New Or-
leans, Detroit, Buffalo, and Rochester. Success has generally
crowned the efforts of their apostolical zeal. The German Cath-
olics are no longer the object of isolated efforts. A powerful
organization now devotes itself to their spiritual succor, and the
Redemptorists have had the talent of bending these difficult
minds to an obedience any thing but Calvinistic. ' If the Germans

« "i v

160

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

I-

have lost what some would call independence of reason, iboy
have gained in devotion, which is clear profit, for piety ill accords
with those stubborn wills which oppose their bishop as well as
their ^^tor. The German parishes are now distinguished for
their regularity. The celebration of the offices of the Church is
even performed with a pomp that contrasts singularly with the
simplicity of worship in the Irish and American churches. The
Catholics of Ireland and England, so long deprived of the public
exercise of their religion, often able to hear only Low Mass in
secret, know not how to mingle their voices with the chants of
the Church. The generations which have grown up since the act
of emancipation in England or the revolution in the United
States, do not know the advantage of religious melodies ; the
chill of Protestantism seems to have settled on the brow of Cath-
olics living amid the Babel of sectaries, and the traveller who
visits the Catholic churches in England, Scotland, Ireland, and
the United States, is struck by the absence of the Gregoiian rites.
A choir of females grouped around the organ alone undertakes to
execute, as best it may, some Mass of modem composition, in the
presence of a mute auditory, indifferent to these accents. The
Germans, on the contrary, musical by nature, mingle their sono-
rous voices with the consecrated chant of the ritual ; .the whole
people, blending with the prayers of the clergy, improvise choral
Masses of the finest effect ; and the renown of tho^r ceremonial
attracts to their churches in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New
York numbers of the curious, who alw s leave them edified.

The Redemptorists do not confine their ministry to the Ger-
mans. They give missions and preach in many parishes, and
these exercises revive piety in the breasts of the faithful. Their
novitiates have received many converted Protestant ministers or
ecclesiastics, who have become exemplary priests, and whose elo-
quent words exercise a notable influence on their former co-re-
ligionists. Their Provincial resides at the convent in Baltimore.

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151

*^'*

The novitiate is at Annapolis, in the house of Charles Carroll of
CarroUton, generously given to the Redemptorists by the grand-
daughters of that patriarch of independence, the last of the
signers, and cousin of the first Archbishop of Baltimore. The
Fathers are assisted bv Brothers rf their Order, who direct schools
iu many parishes served by the Redemptorists.*

The pious Congregation of the Priests of the Mission, or Laza-
rists, was also invited to Maryland by Archbishop Sccleston, and
now direct the Sisters of Charity of Emmitsburg according to the
rules of St. Vincent de Paul. It was not till 1850 that three
Lazarista from Missouri came to the diocese of Baltimore ; but the
congTv^gation had existed from ISlT in Upper Louisiana, now
Missouri. When Bishop Dubourg of New Orleans was conse-
crated in 1815 at Rome, he obtained some Lazarists of the Roman
province for his diocese. The Rev. Felix de Andreis was the
Superior of the little company which set out for America, and the
Rev. Joseph Rosati, subsequently Bishop of St. Louis, succeeded
as Superior on his death. In a letter from Mr. Rosati to the
Abbe Brute, dated from St. Mary's Seminary at the Barrens,
January 29, 1822, we read: " On our arrival at Baltimore from
Europe we were only four of our congregation, three priests and

* The Society of Missionaries of tiie Most Holy Redeemer was founded in
1782, by St. Alphorsus Liguori, in the kingdom of Naples, with the appro-
bation of Pope Clement XII. The rule was promulgated June 21st, 1742.
The congregation has since extended widely, and out of Italy embraces the
provinces of Austria, Belgium, Germany, the United States, France, Eng-
land, and Holland, Till lately the Kector-major resided at Noeera, near
Naples. The Vicar-general who administered the transalpine provinces had
some duties of subordination to the Rector-major. But by a decree «f the
Congregation of Bishops and Regulars of Oclobor 8th, 1854, the following
dispositions were made :

1st. A house of the Order, as it exists out of Italy, shall be established at
Rome. 2d. The Superior-general shall reside at Rome. 3d. The General
Chapter of the Order shall meet at Rome.

St. Alphonsus was canonized by Pope Gregory XVI. in 1889.

The present Provincial of the Redemptorists in tl>e United StateB is Father
Hafkenscheid. *

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162

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a brother. We are now nineteen — ten priests, three clericn, and
six brothers. Our gentlemen in Italy take a great interest w
us, and send us some subjects, and others have joined us in
America."

The province of Italy continues to assist the missions of the
United States, and many of the Lazarists in the dioceses of St.
Louis, New Orleans, and Baltimore are Italians. This congrega-
tion has given the American Church several prelates — Bishop
Rosati, already named, and also Bishops De Neckere, Odin, and
Timon. They direct the Seminary of New Orleans and one of
those in the diocese of St. Louis ; and by becoming the directors
of the Sisters of Charity of Emraitsburg they extend their influ-
ence over all parts of America.*

During the term of his episcopate, Archbishop Eccleston was
called upon to preside over five of the Provincial Councils of Bal-
timore, and he discharged his important duties with equal wisdom
and dignity, exercising the most cordial hospitality towards his
brother prelates. His suffragans accordingly resolved to show
their gratitude by offering the Archbishop of Baltimore, in their
collective name, the rich vestments and plate of an episcopal
chapel.

The third Provincial Council met at Baltimore on the 16th of
April, 1837, and eight bishops there sat around their metropoli-

* The Congregation of Priests of the Mission was founded by St. Vincent
de Paul, and appro /ed successively by John Francis dj Gondi, Archbishop
of Paris, April 26th, 1628; by a bull of Pope Urban VUi., January, 1632;
and by letters patent of Louis XIIL May, 1642. In the last-mentioned year,
the Priests of the Mission founded a house at Komo, and since then a prov-
ince of the Congregation has had its seat at Home. The main end of these
priests is to labor for their own perfection, to devote themselves to the sal-
vation of poor country people by means of missions, and to exert themselves
for the spiritual advancement of ecclesiastics. In 1632 they took possession
of the establishment of St. Lazarus at Paris, an old priory of the Knights
Hospitallers of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem. Although the Priests of the Mis-
sion were dispossessed of their house of St. Lazarus in 1792, they continue
lo be generally known by the name of Lazarists.

I
t

t
I

i
c
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t :-

IN THE UNITED STATES.

153

tan. At the first private session, the following letter from the
Bishop of Detroit was submitted :

*' Most Reverend Fathebs

" In Pbovincial Synod at Baltimobe ASSEMBUia) :

" It is known that I reluctantly accepted the episcopal consecra-
tion, and I soon learned by experience that the erection and ad-
ministration of a new diocese, with its numberless diflSculties and
cares springing up on every side, were a burden far too great for
me to bear, and I have accordingly frequently entertained the in-
tention of resigning my diocese into the hands of His Holiness
the Sovereign Pontiff, or at least of soliciting a capable coadjutor
from the Holy See. This intention I desire to carry out by these
presents, and for this purpose I have empowered my two actual
Vicars-general, Rev. Messrs. Badin and De Bruyn, to exercise
joint jurisdiction in my absence, until further arrangements are
made.

" Such is the matter which I deem proper to lay before you.
Most Reverend Fathers, and I beg you to excuse me if I cannot
take pai-t in this Council, and also to aid me to obtain the suc-
cessful realization of n. aesires, if it shall seem good in our Lord.

" f Frederick RfesA, Bishop of Detroit
"St. Mary's Beminaby, Baltimore, April 15, 1837."

After deliberating on this letter, the Fathers of the Council re-
solved to ask the Holy Father to accept Bishop Rese's resigna-
tion, and to appoint a successor to his See. The Propaganda,
however, by a letter dated September 2d, 1837, intimated that in
this matter His Holiness deferred a decision as to the acceptance
of the resignation and the appointment of a successor, imtil Bishop
R68e had been heard in person. That prelate accordingly went
to Rome, and by a letter dated December 19th, 1840, the Con-
gregation of the Propaganda announced that the Rev. J. B. Odin

164

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

had been appointed Bishop Administrator of Detroit, Bishop Res^
suspensus 7,mnens. Mr. Odin did not accept the functions, and
2i last, on the 2l8t of November, 1841, the Rt. Rev. Peter Paul
xjcfevre* was co' aerated Bishop of Tela, Coadjutor and Admin-
istrator of Detroit. Bishop R6s6 resided at Rome till the revolu-
tion of 1849, on which he retired, we believe, to. Germany, his
native country.

The Fathers of the Council in 1837 proposed to the Holy See
the erection of new dioceses — at Nashville for the State of Ten-
nessee, at Natchez for the State of Mississippi, at Dubuque for
the Territory of Wisconsin, and at Pittsburg for the western part
of the State of Pennsylvania. The Congregation of the Propa-
ganda, by letter of September 2, 1837, transmitted the Pontifical
briefs, of the date of July 28th, founding three new dioceses, and
appointing to the See of Natchez, the Rev. Thomas Heyden ; to
that of Dubuque, the Rev. Matthew Loras ; and to that of Nash-
ville, the Rev. Richard Miles. The division of the diocese of
Philadelphia, by the erection of a See at Pittsburg, was deferred,
and a coadjutor was given ^o Bishop Dubois of New York, in the
person of Rev. John Hughes, then pastor of St. Mary's church,
Philadelphia. The Rev. Thomas Heyden refused the episcopal
dignity, and it was not till the month of December, 1840, that in
consequence of his declining it, the Rev. John J. Chanche was
called to the See of Natchez.f

On the 17th of May, 1840, the fourth Provincial Council

* Rt. Rev. Peter Paul Lefevre was boru on the 80th of April, 1804, at
Rouler, West Flanders.

+ Rev. Thomas Heyden, a native of this country, ordained at Baltimore
in 182.1, is now Vicar-general of Pittsburg, and resides at Bedford, Pennsyl-
vania.

Rt. Rev. Matthew Loras was born at Lyons, on the 30th of August, 1794,
and came to America in 1 829 with Bishop Portier. At the time of his elec-
tion he was Vicar-general of Mobile, and was consecrated at Mobile on the
10th of December, 1837, by Bishop Portier, assisted by Bishop Blanc.

Bt. Rev. Richard Pius Miles was born in Maryland, May 17, 1791, and was

IN THE UNITED STATES.

155

opened at Baltimore. Thirteen bishops were present, and among
them the pious Bishop of Nancy, Monseigneur de Forbin-Janson.
At a preparatory meeting, held on the 14th of May, the Ameri-
can prelates had unanimously resolved .to invite their French
brother to assist at their sessions v^ith a deliberative and decisive
vote, and thus acknowledged the services rendered to religion in
the United States by the ardeut zeal of Bishop Forbin-Janson.
The missions which he gave in various dioceses produced the
most abundant fruits. His eloquence and liberality founded a
French church in New York, and Canada still remembers the
wonders of his evangelical charity and the touching ceremony of
planting l cross a hundred feet high on the mountain of BelcBil,
whencft the august sign of salvation casts its protecting shadow
over the surrounding fields and villages. America is also in-
debted to him for the organization of ecclesiastical retreats, and
never indeed will the name of the holy prelate cease to be men-
tioned with reverence.*

Il>

Provincial of the Order of St. Dominic prior to his consecration, which took
place at Bardstown, September 16, 1888.

Rt. Rev. John Joseph Chanche was born at Baltimore, on the 4th of Oc-
tober, 1795, of French parents, refugees from St. Domingo; was ordained
in 1819, and became a member of the Society of St Sulpice. He was conse-
crated Bishop of Natchez, at Baltimore, on the 11th of March, 1841, and
died July 22, 1852.

* Charles Augustus Mary Joseph de Forbin-Janson, bom at Paris in 1785,
was admitted at the age of twenty- one as an auditor in the Council of State,
but soon abandoning this career, he entered the Seminary of St. Sulpice,
and was ordtiiiied at Chambery in 1811. He remained in Savoy till the rea-
toration , returning then to France, he devoted himself, with Mr. Rauzan,
to the establishment of missions. Ho preached with admirable zeal through-
out France, founded the house of missionaries of Mt. Valerien, made a pil-
grimage to the Holy Land, and effected many conversions in the East,
especially at Smyrna. Appointed Fishop of Nancy, he was prevented by
political intrigues from accomplishing all the good he meditated for his dio-
cese, and at last, to his regret, was compelled to leave it. His voyage to the
United States occurred in 1839, and he there effecter. immense good by hia
missions in Louisiana, New York, and Canada. Returning to France in
1842, his last years were consecrated to founding the admirable Society of

".-'tTf;.:

156

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

The Council of Baltimore, honored by the prcence of a noble
confessor of the faith, could not but feel a deep sympathy in other
confessors, whose devotedness to the Catholic faith was then re-
warded by a dungeon. The American bishops addressed a warm
letter of felicitation and encouragement to Claude Augustus de
Droste de Vischering, Bishop of Cologne, and to Mart'n de Dun-
nin. Archbishop of Posen, thus showing that the beart of the
Church everywhere throbs with the same life, and that the trials
of religion in Europe are felt oven in the Now World.

The Fathers of the Council, by their fifth decree, very earnestly
recommended the formation of temperance societies among the
Catholics ; and in fact abstinence from spirituous liquors is the
only means of preserving the people from the dangers of intoxica-
tion, by sheltering them from the misery and vice which are the
consequences of this degrading vice. It is the besetting sin of
the Irish laborer, and it is only when his conscience is bound by
an oath of honor, and he belongs to an association consecrated
by reUgion, that he has power to resist the poisonous attrac-
tions of liquor. The celebrated Father Theobald Mathew did not
confine his labors to Ireland. In 1849 he came to America, and
spent two years and a half constantly preaching temperance and
enrolling thousands of the faithful under the banner of sobriety.
Canada had already felt the advantage of such an association,
and Father Chiniquy, the Apostle of Temperance, efi"ected in his
native province wonders equal to those of Father Mathew in Ire-
land.

The Council carefully examined the petition of the Catholic
inhabitants of Springfield, Illinois, for a bishop ; but the place did

the Holy Childhood, for the salvation of Chinese infants. He died at Prov-
ence, .July 12, 1844. See notice on Monseigneur de Forbin-Jansou in the
first number of the Annals of the Holy Childhood, January, 1846. Elogo
Funcbre de Monseigneur de Forbin-Janson, par Laoordalre. Conferen-
ces, i. 455.

l>>

►v

IN THE UNITED 8TATSS.

167

not seem to them sufficiently important to be created the centre
of a diocese. From the same motives, the American prelates
were of opinion that it would be well to transfer to Louisville the
See of Bardstown, as the latter town remained stationary, while
the former, situated on the Ohio, in a very advantageous position
for trade, beheld its population rapidly increasing. The Pontifi-
cal rescript authorizing this translation was received by Bishop
Flaget early in 1841, and the venerable prelate, though not with-
out lively regret, left the cradle of religion in Kentucky.

The Congregation of the Propaganda, by letter of December
19th, 1840, made known that the diocese of Richmond, compris-
ing the State of Virginia, would cease in future to be adminis-
tered by the Archbishop of Baltimore ; and that the Sovereign
Pontiff had appointed the Rev. Richard V. Whelan to that See.
This clergyman, a native of Maryland, had for several years
evangelized the ungrateful mission of Virginia, and we may here
say a few words of the humble beginnings of Catholicity in the
Old Dominion.

In 1684 Sir Walter Raleigh sent out from England, at his own
expense, an expedition which took nominal possession of certain
parts of the American coast ; and on the return of the vessels,
Queen Elizabeth herself gave her new possessions the name of
Virginia, in honor of her title of Virgin Queen, which it is certain
she claimed, tut not certain that she deserved. It was not, how-
ever, till 1606 that a colonization society was formed to settle
Virginia, and Captain John Smith, with a royal charter from
James I., landed with one hundred and fifty colonists in May,
160*7.* Anglicanism thus planted itself on that shore, ;ind every
new-comer who refused to take the oath of royal supremacy was
expelled, while most severe laws threatened with death the priest,
and especially the Jesuit, hardy enough to appear in Virginia.

* Hildreth , History of the United States, i. 09-185.

158

THE OATHOLIO OHUROH

The hour for bearing the cross thither had not struck, and the
first missionaries who appeared were the prisoners of Protestant-
ism. In 1014 two French Jesuits, Father Peter Biard and
Father Ennomond Masse, having founded St. Saviour's mission on
the northern coast, in what is now the State of Maine, Captain
xirgal of Virginia destroyed it out of mere hatred of Catholicity.
A Jesuit brother was killed, and the two Fathers were taken to
Virginia, where the governor. Sir Thomas Dale, for some time
deliberated on the propriety of consigning them to the execu-
tioner to be hanged, drawn, and quartered.

Irish emigrants who subsequently arrived were forced to leave,
and settled at Montaerrat in the West Indies, long known as an
Irish colony. Sir George Calvert even was excluded from Vir-
ginia on account of his faith, and for that reason founded his
colony of Maryland.

When the Protestants whom he had admitted rose in 1646
against their Catholic fellow-settlers, they seized all the priests
and dragged them in chains to Virginia, where one of them ex-
pired the following year. Such were the first relations of Vir-
ginia with Catholicity and its missionaries; but amid their
persecutions, the pious Fathers doubtless sought to extend around
them the succors of religion, for some Catholics were even then
to l>e found in Virginia, chiefly as slaves or indented apprentices —
Irish men and women, torn from their native land and sold into
foreign bondage.

After the Irish struggle in 1641, and the Protestant triumph
which ensued, the Irish Catholics were relentlessly banished, and
the State documents of Cromwell's time enable us to reckon from
fifty thousand to one hundred thousand forcibly transported to
America. The majority were given to the settlers in Barbadoes
and Jamaica, but a great number of women and children were
also sold in Virginia, the men having been pressed into the Pro-
tectot^s navy. In 1652 the Commissaries of the Commonwealth

•^

IN THE UNITED STATES.

159

ordered " Irish women to be sold to merchants and shipped to
Virginia," and these unfortunate females, reduced to the same
condition of slavery as African negioes, sank in great numbers
under th« labors imposed upon them by their masters. At a
later date jinother class of Irish increaood the laboring population
in Virginia — voluntary emigrants, driven from home by poverty,
and too poor to pay their passage. These bound themselves by
contract to service for a term of years, in order to pay the vessel.
They were called Redemptioners.

The laws of the colony oppressed them sorely, end doubtless
compelled many to leave as soon as they werj free. Thus in
January, 1041, it was enacted that no Popish recusant should,
under a penalty of a thousand pounds of toba^^s o, presi; r«.e to hold
any oflSce. In the following year the same statute wni«, i j-enacted,
and a clause added r^^quiring priests to leav*< the colony on five
days' notice. After this the penal spirit s^ jtiiij^d lulled till the
restoration of Charles; then, in 1661, all who did not attend the
Protestant Church were made subject to a fine of £20. The fall
of James II. again called up intolerance in all its rancor. In
1699 Virginia decreed that no Popish recusrut should be allowed
to vote, and six years later re-enacted the law, making five hun-
dred pounds of tobacco the penalty for offending against it. Even
this, however, did not satiate the spirit of hatred with which the
minds of men were imbued. They had oppressed the Catholics ;
this was not enough. They so"f;*ii means to degrade and insult
them, and devised a plan which rated them socially with their ne-
gro slaves. By an act, unparalleled in legislation, Virginia in
1705 declared Catholics incompetent as witnesses — their testimony
could not be taken in court. It may be supposed that this was
the act of a moment of frenzy : this can hardly be, for nearly half
a century later it was re-enacted, and to prevent any doubt, the
words "in any case whatever" were added. Thus, men who
signed the Declaration of Independence actually voted for the

160

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

most prescriptive of laws. The year 1756, just twenty years be-
fore the close of British rule, marks the last of the penal acts, and
it is by far the most comprehensive. By its terras the oath was
to be tendered to Papists ; they were not to keep arms under a
penalty of three months imprisonment, the forfeiture of the arms,
and thrice their value. The informer was to have as his reward
the value of the arms ; and any Virginian high-minded enough
not to inform against his Catholic neighbor, incurred the same
penalties as the latter. By the same law no Catholic was per-
mitted to own a horse worth over £5 ; and if he did, and kept it
concealed, he was liable lo three months imprisonment and a fine
of thrice its value.* Thus, in colonial times, a Catholic, in the
native State of Washington, could not hold any oflBce, nor vote,
nor keep arms, nor own a horse, nor even be a witness in any
cause, civil or criminal. Priests were subjected to tl e penalties
of the English law. For more than a century the Catholics thus
scattered among the Virginia plantations were deprived of reli-
gious succor, and faith died out among them, or at least disap-
peared after the first generation.f

Meanwhile the Jesuit Fathers of Maryland visited with great
zeal tho parts of Virginia least remote from their province, and
one of the most ardent in this laborious mission was Father John
Carroll, the illustrious founder of the episcopal hierarchy in the
United States. When he resided at Rock Creek in Maryland, in
1774, he visited once a month the little congregation of Aquia

* Soe Hening's Statutes at Large, i. 268 (1641) ; ii. 48 (1661) ; iii. 172
(1699) ; id. 288, 299 (17C5) ; vi. 838 (1758) ; vii. 87 (1756). All these horri-
ble enactments were abolisheJ in October, 1776 ; id. ix. 164. Religious
freedom was established only in 1784 (id. xii. 84) — a large party, supported
by Washington and Patrick Henry, being in favor of an established church.
Hildreth's History of tho United States, iii. 384.

+ Some doubtless emigrated, when able, to Maryland or other parts, so as
to be within reach of a priest ; and in the Life of Father Jogues we find an
Irishman from Virginia going to confession to that holy martyr, when at
New York in 1648.

yeaij
his
visit
Vird

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IN THE UNITED STATES.

161

■*. i

Creek, in Virginia, sixty miles from his residence. His two eldest
sisters had settled at Aquia, having married two Catholics named
Brent, who had maintained their faith amid every peril, and
drawn other Catholics around them. This was probably the first
organized parish in Virginia, and the name of Carroll, so eminent
in the history of the Church in Maryland, has thus a new title to
the veneration of the faithful.

About the same time Father George Hunter, an Englishman, left
his residence of St. Thomas Mar- or, to cross the Potomac, and se-
cretly in disguise celebrate the holy mysteries in some Virginian
cabin. Father James Frambach was appointed to take charge of
the Catholics around Harper's Ferry ; and one day the mission-
ary having been disct>vered by some Protestants, owed his life
only to the fleetness of his horse, which swam the Potomac amid
a shower of balls, which the fanatical Virginians discharged on
the fugitive Jesuit.*

Soon after, however, the Rev. John Dubois, afterwards Bishop
of New York, landed at Norfolk in July, 1791, with letters of
recommendation from Lafayette to the Randolphs, Lees, and
Beverlys, to Jam.es Monroe and Patrick Henry. Thus introduced
to the leading men of Virginia, he proceeded to Richmond, and
for want of a chapel, said Mass for the few Catholics of the place
in the capitol, which was kindly placed at his disposal.

Teaching for his support, Mr. Dubois labored here for several
years, and effected the conversion of Governor Lee. Even after
his removal to Frederick, he extended his regular missionary
visits to Martinsburg, Winchester, and indeed to all Western
Virginia.f

The Rev. Dennis Cahill also about this time labored in the

* U. S. Catholic Magazine, iii. 171

t Ciitliolic Expositor, 1843, p. 91. Discourse on the Rt. Rev. John Du-
bois, D. D., by the Rev. John McCaffrey. Letter to the Leader by a " Moun-
taineer of 1828."

162

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

neighborhood of Martinsburg, and was the instrument of receiv'jg
into the Church a family who wer>^ brought to a knowledge of
the true faith in a mode so extraordinary that we cannot avoid
some account of it.

About 1779 a Lutheran of German origin, Livingston by name,
removed with his family to a place in Jefferson county, about fif-
teen miles from Middleway, still called Wizard's Clip. Soon after
this his house was haunted by a strange visitant, that burnt his
barns, killed his cattle, broke his furniture, and cut his clothing all
to pieces in a most cunous and remarkable manner. He naturally
sought means to rid himself of this annoyance, and not a few vol-
unteered to deliver the house. The first who came, however,
were soon put to flight by the conduct of a stone, which danced
out from the hearth and whirled around for some time, to their
great dismay. A book of common-prayer, used by another party
in conjuring it, was unceremoniously thrust into a place of con-
tempt. Others tried with as little success ; but at last Livingston
had a dream, in which he saw a Catholic church, and heard a
voice telliug him that the priest was the ior.n who would relieve
him. His wife then persuaded him to send for the Rev. Mr.
Cahill, who seemed rather unwilling to go, but at last yielded,
and sprinkled the house with holy water, upon which the noise
and annoyance ceased.

Livingston soon after visited a Catholic church at Shepherds-
town, and recognizing in the officiating priest the person whom
he saw in hih dream, believed and resolved to become a Catholic.
The Rev. Mr. Cahill subsequently said Mass - at his house, but
Mr. Livingston and his family were instructed by a voice which
explained at length the sacraments of Penance and the Holy Eu-
charist, prayed with them, and frequently exhorted them to
prayer and penitential works. These facts were notorious, and
the family were known to be almost ignorant of English and
without Catholic books. The Rev. Mr. Cahill, Prince Gallitzin,

to
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IN THE UNITED STATES.

163

and his tutor, the Rev. Mr. Brozius, Father Pellentz, and Bishop
Carroll all investigated these occurrences, which were renewed
during seventeen years, accompanied even by apparitions, and all
considered them really supernatural, generally ascribing them to
a suffering soul in purgatory.

So completely did Mr. Livingston disregard the loss of his
temporal goods in consideration of the precious boon of faith
which had been bestowed upon him, that like the merchant who,
seeking good pearls and finding one precious one, sold all he
possessed to acquire it, he would have given all to obtain it ; and
to show his gratitude to Almighty God, gave a lot of ground for
the benefit of the Church.

The conversions did not cease with his own family ; many of
the neighbors were also brought to a knowledge of the true faith,
and in one winter no less than fourteen were converted. The
Catholics were by the same means maintained in a more strict
observance of the duties which religion enjoins, and warned of
the least neglect.

Strange as these incidents may seem io many, no facts are
better substantiated, and a full account was drawn up by the
Rev. Demetrius A. Gallitzin, who in 179*7 went from Conewago
to Livingston's, and spent three months in examining into the
circumstances. " My view in coming to Virginia," says he, " and
remaining there three months, was to investigate those extraordi-
nary facts of which I had heard so much, and which I could not
prevail upon myself to believe ; but I was soon converted to a
full belief of them. No lawyer in a court of justice ever did
examine or cross-examine witnesses more strictly than I^ did all
the witnesses I could procure. I spent several days in penning
down the whole account."* The very name of Cliptown, pre-

* See Letters of Prince Gallitzin iu the St. Louis Leader for Dec. 1, 1855.
Bee also hia work on the Holy Scriptures, p. 151.

164

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

served to this day, is a proof of the facts which gave rise to the

name.

Bishop Carroll was always alive to the wants of this early field
of his labors, and as religion began to be free in Virginia, em-
ployed one or two priests exclusively on the mission in that State ;
but they often met severe trials, and in 1816 Rev. James Lucas, a
French ecclesiastic, was sent to Norfolk to restore the peace of
t>i<v Church, troubled by the revolt of the trustees, who, having
the church property in their hands, had called in a bad priest to
officiate. Mr. Lucas hired a room, which he transformed into a
chapel. By his prudent firmness he soon drew around him the
Catholics, who left the interdicted church ; and the trustees, left
to themselves, at last returned to the path of duty.f

When the Sovereign Pontiff erected the nee of Charleston, in
1820, for South Carolina, he at the same time founded that of
Richmond for Virginia, and the Rt. Rev. Patrick Kelly was ap-
pointed, as we have stated in a previous chapter ; but the prelate
never went to Richmond, where he would not have found means
of subsistence, so few and so poor were the Catholics then.
Bishop Kelly remained at Norfolk, and had to open a school to
support himself. A year after, he was transferred to the See of
Waterford, in Ireland, and the administration of the diocese of
Richmond was confided to the Archbishop of Baltimore. In
1829, Archbishop Whitfield visited Richmond and Norfolk, and

* Most of the above details are derived from a narrative preserved in the
, family of a Catholic neighbor of Livingston, and witnesseu io the wVole
transaction.

t The Rev. James Incas was born at Rennes, in l^SS, and had as his pro-
fessor in theology, Simon Brut^, afterwards Bishop of V Incennes. Ordained
in 1812, ho came to the United States in 1815, and was almost immediately
Bent to Norfolk. Mr. Lucas left that place on the arrival of Bishop Kelly,
and after being pastor of St. Peter's, Washington, entered the Society of
Jesiis. He died at Frederick, on the 14th of February, 1847, leaving the
reputation of a priest full of zeal and piety, an untiring miss*ionary, an elo-
quent preacher, and a learned theologian. Catholio Almanac, 1848, p. 262.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

165

]

in a letter, dated January 28, 1830,'' gires an account of his
journey through Virginia. Only four priests then resided in that
State, which was unable to support more. At Richmond, amid
the wealth and luxury of the city, the Catholics had only an
humble wooden chapel. At Norfolk, v/here the church was more
decent, the prelate confirmed one hundred and thirty-eight per-
sons, and learned that the faithful numbered over six hundred.
In his letter of September 16th, 1832, Archbishop Whitfield an-
nounces that he had sent to Virginia a zealous missionary.
" This priest has traversed the State ; he has everywhere found
the Protestants ready to hear him; they offered him their
churches, town-halls, and other public buildings, inviting him to
preach there, and this is not surprising. The mass of the people,
divided into almost countless sects, now knows not what to be-
lieve ; and by dint of wishing to judge for themselves, end by no
longer having any idea what to believe of the contradictory doc-
trines taught them ; the rich become atheists, deists, philosophers.
How unhappy it is to be unable to send missionaries into this
State, which is as large as England ! There is no doubt that if
we had laborers and means, prodigies would be effected in that
vast and uncultivated field."f

This progress, though slow, was real; and in 1838 Archbishop
Eccleston was able to announce that there were nine thousand
Catholics in the State, and that they possessed eight churches.
It was still a very feeble rehgious est., llshment; but no mory is
needed in America to begin a diocese, and in consequence of the
bulls of the Holy Father, the Rt. Rev. Richard Vincent Whelan,
born at Baltimore ^v, the 28th of January, 1809, was consecrated
in his native city Bishop of Rich' icnd on the 21st o^ Yarch, 1841.
The new prelate made great sacrifices to open a o: jesan semi-
nary ; and the commencement seemed to justify his hopes. On

'%i

* Annales do la Propagation de la Foi, iv. 245. t Idem, v. 721.

m**MJLi

166

THE CATHOLIC CHUBCH

the 1st of January, 1842, he conferred minor orders at Richmond,
and the following year six pious young men receivcl tl.'e toiisure
at his hands. But in lipite of the services rendered to the dioc.^se
by this seminary, the exj^ense was too great for the pr^ef^'le's ftiebie
resources, and in 1846 Bishop Whelan rt^olved to clo^^e it, f'nd
send the young levites, destined lO the puestliood, to Ireland or
Baltimore. Before his consecration the Bishop of liichmond had
installed three Sisters of C.h;irity, Iroia Emmitsburg, in his parish
of Martinsburg. He soon confided to therr an c vphan asj^lx.iit ut
J^ichmcnd and a ichooi at Norfolk; this l-tst dty especially con-
soled \y-ui. :iud he several times visited it to c(»afirm la^w ccn verts
to the l.utli, Rich.mo/j.vl did not, however, offer the same re-
sources, and m 16 IG Bishop Whelan resolved to fix his residence
at Vv J!oeiii)g, .jhere the Catholic population vvas becoming more
important. The great distance of the two cities from each other
made it, however, desirable that Richmond should not be de-
prived of the presence of a bishop. The Fathers of the seventh
CouLcil of Baltimore accordingly, in 1849, asked that Virginia
should be divided into two dioceses. The Holy See consented,
and by a bull of July 23j 1850, transferred Bishop Whelan to the
vSee of Wheeling^ as he had wished, and called the Rev. John
McGill to the See of Richmond, which now comprised all the
eastern portion of the State. This prelate is a native of Ken-
tucky, and acquired a reputation for science and eloquence at
Louisville, where he was Ivu^ pastor, and where he publi.^hed
several controversial and theological works. At the present i/ne
(1855) the diocese of Richmond contains eleven churches, tea
ecclesiastics, and a popniation of about nine thousand Catholics.
"Wheeling was so called after a Catholic priest of the name of
Whelan, who, at the beginning of the centin\-, N'jiiciated in West-
ern Pennsylvonia and Virginia, and who 1 :• '^ by baptism re-
lieved a chi : yhom. all regarded as ^ *"f d, the father of the
child gave tile name of Whelan to m > ov/n. Catholicity has

th<
ph

IN THE UNITED STATES.

167

not, however, advanced very rapidly in this section of the country ;
and at the present time the diocese of Wheeling contains twelve
churches, ten priests, and seven thousand Catholics. In 1848,
eight Sisters of the Visitation from Maryland opened a convent
and boarding-school at Wheeling, and in 1853 a hospital was
founded there by the Sisters of St. Joseph from St. Louis, whose
institute was originally founded at Puy, in 1650.

The faith, it is evident, is still weak in Virginia, a State in
which, according to the census of 1850, there was a population
of one million four hundred and twentv-oue thousand inhabitants,
five hundred and twenty-seven thousand of whom are colored.
This is because the Irish emigration turns away from a country
where slavery renders free labor of no advantage to the mechanic
or laborer ; while we see in the sequel of our sketch how Catho-
licity develops itself in the North and West. Virginia will be
still for a considerable time one of the least favored States in the
Union in CatboHc institutions; but, thanks to the wonders of in-
dustry and of modern science, the few priests of Richmond and
Wheeling suffice to impart religious succor to the faithful scat-
tered over the vast surface of the State. Little reflection is given,
as far as we know, to the services which the electric telegraph
and railroads render to religion ; and yet these services are quite
real in all the extent of America. If a sick man be in danger of
«?oath, his relatives hasten to send a dispatch to the nearest priest,
who is often seventy-five or one hundred miles from them. He
in turn takes the first train to go to the dying who calls for the
consolation of the faith, and the poor can be counted by thou-
sands who would be otherwise deprived of the last sacraments,
but icy the precious resources of the magnetic telegraph. Thus
i'iVi greatest geniuses are unwittingly the instruments of Provi-
dence, cvud Piofessor Morse hardlj' supposed, when meditating on
the utility of hie telegraph, that in a host of circumstances he
placed confession within the reach of the dying.

168

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

•a'^

But we cannot close ihis brief notice of Catholicity in the dio-
cese of Richmond without alluding to the labors and services of
some of the more eminent clergymen who have toiled in extend-
ing Cfltholicity in the Old Dominion, and whom we have not yet
had occasion to name. From 1829 to 1836, though the cholera
twice ravaged his extended parish and thrice prostrated him, the
Rev. John B. Gildea labored with the most commendable zeal and
beneficial results in Martinsburg, Harper's Ferry, and other places,
completing two churches and erecting one other. Zealous, espe-
cially for the diffusion of a knowledge of our doctrines, he did all
in his power to disseminate short popular explanations, and subse-
quently was one of the founders of the Catholic Tract Society.

But the most illustrious of the Virginian clergy was the Rev.
Francis Devlin, a martyr of churity during the yellow fever which
made Norfolk and Portsmouth a desert in 1855. Mr. Devlin had
just been assailed by a slanderer in the public papers, and Catho-
licity, in the persons of the Sisters of Charity, had been assailed
by a romantic girl and her crafty advisers An example was
needed of what Catholicity was in the hour of trial. Mr. Devlin
refuted the slanders of the enemies of truth by his faithful dis-
charge of the duties of a good shepherd, who, when the hireling
flieth because he is a hireling, remains and lays down his life for
his flock. From the first moment of the appearance of the epi-
demic, he was unwearied in his exertions, bearing alike temporal
and spiritual succor to the poor. By his appeals he stimulated
the charity of Catholics in other parts, and <lrew several Jesuit
Fathers from Georgetown to aid him. Night and day he was
beside the sick, especially the poorest and most deserted. When
no other was there to relieve them, he performed all the duties of
a nurse, arranging their beds, bringing from his dwelling soups
and drinks which he had made. At length he was himself
stricken down, but though timely aid brok^' the fever, he could
not bear to lie .m his couch while others wer^ ing; before he

IN THE UNITED STATES.

169

had recovered be was again by the bedside of the sick, and laid
down his life on the 9th of October, in the fortieth year of his ag^.
In the same month the rights of the confessional were brought
before th^ tribunals of Virginia, as they had nearly fifty years
previous'/ before those of New York, and with a like result. A
man n'-med John Cronin, impelled by jealousy, gave his wife a
deadl' wound. The Very Rev. John Teeling, a Catholic clergy-
man wf Richmond, who attended her on her death-bed, was called
as a fitness on the trial before the Superior Court, and asked the
subfviince of her sacramental confession to him. This he modestly
but firmly declined. " Any statement, made in her sacramental
confession, whether inculpatory or exculpatory of the prisoner, I
am not at liberty to reveal." The question was again and again
put in various forms, but the Rev. Mr. Teeling refused as before,
and at last, in a short address, explained to the Court his motives
and the obligation of secrecy which the Church imposes on con-
fessors. His statement was listened to with the utmost att/Cntion,
and made an evident impression on all presont. The question then
came up whether a proper foundation h»d been iJ. ' ior the intro-
duction of the woman's declaration iu confession a^ a <iying decla-
ration. Judge John A. Meredith, wlio presided, decided in the
negative ; but as the question had been raised, gave his opinion on
the admissibility of the confersion, and decided against it. " I
regard," says the Judge, " any infringement upon the tenets of any
denomination as a violation of the fundamental law, which guaran-
tees perfect freedom to all classes in the exercise of their Wiligion.
To encroach upon the confessional, which ':: v. • il understood to
be regarded as a fundamental tenet in tne Catholic Church,
would be to ignore the Bill of Rights, so far as it is applicable to
that Church In view of these circumstances, as well as of other
considerations connected with the subject, I feel no hesitation in
ruling that a priest enjoys a pri'.nlege of exemption from revealing
what is communicatocl to him in the confessional."

:"M.

170

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

CHAPTER Xir.

DIOOSaiB OF BALTIMORE — (1840-1846).

Decrees as to eocleslnsticAl property— Fillh Council u'.' Balttmore — Decrees against di-
vorce and mixed marriages— Subdivision of the dioceses— Sixth Coanoli of Baltimore
— Decre» aa to the Immaculate Couception — Labors of the Society of Jesus in the
United Slates.

One of the most important decrees of the fourth Council of
Baltimore bore upon church property, and laid down rules for its
preservation. The question of the possession and administration
of tbo churches is one of unequalled gravity. It has subjected
religion in the United Stat-es, since the emancipation of the Cath-
oHcs, to innumerable trials ; it has produced periodical schisms —
fortunately, however, only local and partial, but not pacified with-
out great scandal; it has given the bigoted majorities in the
State governments a pretext for interfering in the aflFairs of the
Church, and is an imminent cause of serious forebodings for the
future.

From the fundamental principle of absolute liberty of worship
and the separation of Chuich and State, it would seera that the
Catholic religion should be invested with the right of administer-
ing and post;386ing property according to the prescriptious of the
sacred canons. Protestant tolerance has never, however, gone so
far as to grant the Churcl this essential franchise ; and at all
times civil laws have f* ered the free development of the faith or
multiplied the seeds ul revo i in the bosom of Catholic bodies.
The progress of religion, watched with a jealous eye, has made
them take back with one hand what they proffered with the
other ; and the pretended equality which they professed to estab-

IN THE UNITED STATES.

171

lish in the eye of tho law betwcon Catholicity and other religious
denominations is itself a danger, because it tends to Protestantize
the Church by putting it into the congregationalist hands of the
laity.

For liberty of worship to be in all points u reality, the Church
must be considered as a civil person for the possession of the
property which it owes to the charity of the faithful and of the
necessary edifices for the accomplishment of its ceremonies. It
would be necessary that the security of its title should not be in-
validated or compromised by the death of an individual, or by an
error of form in a deed or will. This result would be obtained if
the bishop, the supreme authority in the diocese, were incorpo-
rated as bishop with the right of transmitting to his successors
the goods of the Church ; or else, if the body of the clergy, pre-
sided over by the bishop, formed this civil person ; or, lastly, if
each pastor became ex-officio invested with the nominal property
of the church which he serves — a property which belongs in
reahty to the faithful for whose religious wants it has been built.
For seventy years the bishops of the United States have sought,
with a perseverance undaunted by defeat, to obtain these guaran-
tees from the justice of each State ; for these questions fall within
the cognizaLoe of the several State Legislatures. They have,
however, generally failed, and Catholics are invariably sent back
to the common law, and accused of the high crime of not being
satisfied with what is good enough for Protestants.

Now this common law, that Jiii property set apart for worship
be possessed and administered by a Board of Trustees, appointed
by a general election of the lay members of the creed, and re-
newed by the same process by general election — this system,
essentially Congregationalist, may suit the thousand sects of Pro-
testantism, where the people, the grand depositaries of dogma and
doctrine, should also hold the deposit of the church buildings ;
but it is repugnant to the very organization of Catholicity, where

■••OfT^.: THTT

172

THK CATHOLIC CHUIUJH

tJie head governs the members instead of being governed by them.
Yet, in the first forty years of this century, the American hie-
rarchy quite frequently accepted this false position, and many
churches were incorporated under the name of a Board of Trus-
tees. But the lay administration has, for the most part, produced
only trouble and scandal. The trustees, instead of remaining in
their legal sphere, invaded the spiritual domain ; they wished to
assume a deliberative voice in the election of the pastor, and even
of the bishop ; they have, moreover, in many cases, compromised
the honor and sanctity of religion by personal speculations, by
unreasonable debts and shameful bankruptcies. After desperate
struggles and prolonged schisms — after embarrassments which
have shortened by grief the lives of several bishops — after the ex-
communication of several Boards of Trustees and the interdiction
of their churches, the bishops were at last compelled to remove
religion in future from the perils of this system, and the only
means of escaping it has been to take in their own name the title
of the religious property of the diocese. As to churches or con-
vents belonging to European or American religious orders, the
title remains in the local Superior, and is transferred by him to
his successor in authority.

This system, imposed upon the bishops by the force of circum-
stances, is not exempt from danger. Without assumiftg the
doubtless impossible case of a prelate appropriating to his own
use property devoted to the exercise of worship, it may happen
that a bishop should die v/ithout making a will, or what is tanta-
mount, a valid will, or a legal heir lay claim to property, the
special nature of which is nowise guaranteed by law. To remedy
these grave difficuUies and this precarious situation, the Sacred
Congregailou of the Propaganda, interpreting and developing the
eighth decree of the fourth Council of Baltimore, issued the de-
cree of December J.5tb, 1840, on the preservation of church
property.

tffe>i

IN THE UNITED STATES.

•17C

It is there laid down that the duty of every archbishop and
bishop requires him to prepare a will in the legal form rciiuiicd
in the State in which they reside, auct thereby to bequeath all
the property of the church to one of the bishops of the province,
naming a second episcopal legatee in case of the death or default
of the first. These wills should be executed in duplicate, one of
which is to be kept in the archives of the diocese, the other sent
to the archbishop. It is the duty of the metropolitan to see that
these instruments are drawn up in the least litigious terms, in-
vested with all legal formalities ; and he shall also receive all the
wills made by the superiors of religious communities, advising the
testator of such corrections as for greater security it may seem to
him proper to suggest in these important instruments. On the
death of a bishop the devisee put in possession shall send the
vicar-general of the deceased a power of attorney to administer ;
and on the canonical election of a new bishop, the latter shall re-
ceive a transfer in his own name of all the ecclesiastical property
possessed by his predecessor. The decree required also, that if,
within three months, each bishop did not deposit hit l- in the
hands of his metropolitan, it should be referred to tL ? Hriy Con-
gregation of the Propa^PTida. But in the fifth Coun^ I of 1 ''Iti-
more the Ame'^c^u prelates asked the Holy Sp° ^o r.iiiijyntp 1L :
rigor of this clause, and it was deemed less indispeni..ihle, m;h \. d\y
bishop was better aware of the wisdom of the regulatior.*

Establishments of education, colleges, universities, and board-
ing-schools for young ladies are, in the United States, under a
legislation quite different from that of churches, and are thus
saved from the dangera which threaten the latter. The States
generally, without much difiiculty, incorporate these houses, and
the property is then possessed by the faculty, composed of the
president and principal oflScers of the college or institution, and

* Concilia Proviacialia Baltimori habita, pp. 172, 198, 210.

174

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

sometimes of friends, who are from time to time elected as trus-
tees. Many colleges, directed by the Jesuits and other orders or
societies, are thus held. * The Legislature of Massachusetts has,
however, pertinaciously refused to incorporate the Jesuit college
of the Holy Cross, at Worcester, although it fulfils every condi-
tion required; and that State, the cradle of Puritanism in
America, the actual centre of infidelity and arianism, is distin-
guished now, as in 1620, by fanaticism and intolerance.

The prudence of the bishops and of the Holy See having re-
moved or banished the fatal ferment which Protestantism so
adroitly endeavored to infuse into the discipline of the Church,
the enemies of religion sought new modes to attain their end ;
Catholics are incessantly stimulated by the countless voice of the
press, the pulpit, and the platform, to revolt against their pastors.
The amount of property held by the bishops is estimated ; and
on one side designing men endeavor to alarm Protestants at the
immense power which monopolizing prelates — masters of the soil
and slaves of Rome — acquire, so that, in their eyeb, it y ill be the
Pope who will control vast domains in free America ! On the
other hand, they pretend to commiserate the hard lot of Catho-
lics, who submit to a thousand privations in order to build
churches, and are then subject to see the houses of their worship
enriching the heirs of their bishops. These perfidious insinua-
tions, repeated usque ad nauseam, exercise little influence on the
majority of the faithful. Within the last few years most Boards
of Trustees have voluntarily dissolved and asked to transfer their
title of the churches to the bishops ; those who still act have, in
general, lost the congregationalist spirit which formerly animated
them, and keep pretty exactly within their legitimate sphere ot
duty and rights. Except at St. Louis Church, in Buffalo, no schism,
we believe, has afflicted the Church in 1855. The Catholics,
better instructed than formerly, have lost much of their propen-
sity to revolt, and, advancing in piety, have gained confidence in

IN THE UNITED STATES.

175

their Dastors and veneration for their character. But the Pro-
testant portion of the people have raised the cry of alarm ; they
have beheld themselves inundated by a torrent of Romanianiy
handed over to the Pope, the Inquisition, the Jesuits ; and the
rallying cry of American Free Masonry, known as Know-Nothing-
ism, is the restoration of Trusteeism as a means of destroying
Catholicity. The Legislature of New Yot\ has already (1865)
passed a law declaring that no devise, bequest, or donation for re-
ligious purposes shall be valid unless made to a Board of Trus-
tees, and authorizing the State authorities to seize the property
if ihe congregation will not elect trustees. The Pennsylvania
Legislature also introduced a law menacing Catholic church
property, and these preliminary steps are only the mutterings of
the tempest which threatens the Church.

The fifth Council of Baltimore met on the 14th of May, 1843.
Sixteen bishops took part in the deliberations, and one of the
most important decrees is that which pronounces the penalty of
excommunication ipso facto against ihose who, after obtaining a
civil divorce, pretend to contract a second marriage. So tolerant
is public opinion in the United States of such unions, that it is
indispensable to warn Catholics by the severest threats. If the
Church has for eighteen centuries done so much to sanctify mar-
riage and destroy poh'gamy. Protestantism has for three hundred
years labored in the opposite direction to loosen the conjugal tie ;
and where its errors predominate it has, unfortunately, succeeded
but too well. In the very outset of the pretended reformation,
Luther authorized the Landgrave of Hesse to take two wi'> es ;
and bigamy under another name exists in America, where niany
marry again immediately after getting a divorce. These legal
dissolutions of marriage are becoming more and more irequent ;
and from statistical calculations, based on newspapers and pe-
riodicals, we ascertain approximately that in the United Stater-,
out of a population of twenty-four millions, ten thousand marriagea

176

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

are annually set aside, so that every year twenty thousand indi-
viduals obtain the right of living in legal adultery. This is not
all. While divorce is thus authorized by the most rigiv ' sects,
other sects have no scruple in going further. The Perfect onists
preach a community of wives, and put it in practice in their great
phalanstery at Oneida. The Skaneateles adopt a medium be-
tween the Perfectionists and the Mormons, and keep only one wife
as long as it suits them not to change. Finally, the Mormons
openly recommend polygamy, and their great prophet, Brigham
Young, has no less than fifty wives. All these resort to the Bible
to justify their practices, and the principle of private judgment
deprives our more respectable separated brethren of any authority
to combat depravity thus hypocritically assuming the cloak of
religion to impose on the vulgar.

It is incontestable that many of the patriarchs were not monog-
amists ; and when men reject the tradition and authority of the
Church, they have no arms to repel the most criminal ideas and
shameful acts. Yet Protestantism has still some steps lower to
go before reaching the bottom of the abyss of license which pri-
vate interpretation has dug beneath their feet. They began by
condemning Christian celibacy ; they then proclaimed divorce ;
they have now got to polygamy. To-morrow we may see the
Mormons resorting to mutilation to secure guards 'to their harems.
And, in fact, as the rich and privileged class monopolize for them-
selves the women of Utah, they must adopt oriental usages to
protect the virtue of their sultanas. Some good men are alarmed
lest the Eastern question should defer the complete decomposition
of Islamism, and believe that there is more truth in the heretic
most removed from Catholic truth than in the best Mussulman.
We must F.V0W that we cannot see how much Christianity is left
in the millions of Americans who belong to no church, who are not
even baptized, and who are more completely severed Trom us than
the Mohammedans, for the latter, by the sign of circumcision, are

IN THE UNITED STATES.

177

connected with the practices of the Israelites, our ancestors in the
faith. K polygamy is decreasing at Constantinople, it is develop-
ing itself fearfully on the banks of the Great Salt Lake, and the
custom of divorce, in all the States, is a sad step to more serious
infractions of God's laws. K slavery is maintained in Turkey, it
is not less rooted in the institutions of the Mississippi Valley. If
in the East, Mahomet is honored as a prophet, Joe Smith, Miller,
Brigham Young, are venerated in the United States as envoys of
God. Deplorable moral degradation, which forms a sad contrast
withfthe progress of material civilization and the wonders of in-
dustry in the best organized republic in the world !

The Catholics in the United States, faithful to the laws of the
Church, seldom avail themselves of the facility afforded for the
satisfaction of their passions by American legislation. And in
such cases they cease to be Catholics ; but by marriage with Pro-
testants, the Catholic may be placed in a state of divorce, and
this is not one of the least dangers of these ill-assorted unions.
The Council of Baltimore, accordingly, have not failed to disap-
prove decidedly mixed marriages, and to dissuade Catholics from
tliom, while decrees endeavor to protect the faith of the Catholic
and that of all the future children. Unfortunately the wise pre-
scriptions of the bistiops, confirmed by the Holy See, are not
understood as they deserve to be ;* and we must say that mixed
marriages are still frequent in the United States, where, as else-
where, they affect the purity of the faith. Their infallible result
is first to call in doubt the Ca'holic dogma ; " Out of the Church
no salvation." A mother and children cannot resign themselves
to the belief that their father will not bo saved, and they easily
oome to imagine that all religions are good. Moreover, from in-

* Ihe sixteenth statute of the Diocesan Synod of 1791, the first decree of
the fourth Provincial Council of Baltimore, and the letter of the Congregation
of the Propaganda, of July 8, 1847, lay down very severe rules on tho subject
of mixed marriages. ,

(

It '

178

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

cessaut controversy, the Catholic husband or wife, often unin-
structed, makes prodigious concessions, imagining a)l the while
that they remain true to the faith. Mixed marriages lead natu-
rally to the mingling of Catholics and Protestants in society. In
a new country, where the arts are but little developed, where
commerce augments fortunes, but not ideas, conversation has not
the field it finds elsewhere ; and in the commonplace of the parlor,
religious conversation occupies no inconsiderable space. In these
tilts of heresy, full of arguments and prejudices against faltering
truth, the victory is often obtained by error ; and we have heard
a lady, thinking herself a good Catholic, and approaching the
Sacraments, avow to her Protestant antagonists that she believed
neither in the real presence nor in eternal punishment. liong
observation in the United States has convinced us of the danger
of mixed marriages, even if we had not the decrees of the Church
to convince us on the point. We have seldom seen these mar-
riages followed by the conversion of the Protestant party ; more
frequently do they entail the perversion of the Catholic. The
promise given as to the religion of the children unborn is inces-
santly infringed ; and if we admire the wisdom of the Church in
its repugnance for mixed mannages, we regret that the haiduesa
of the times does not permit her to prohibit them completely.

The happy progress of religion, ascertained by the Fathers of
the fifth Council, induced them to ask a new subdivision of dio-
ceses ; and in consequence, the bishops renewed the proposition
for the erection of au episcopal See at Pittsburg for W^ostern
Pennsylvania, at the same time that they solicited the foundation
of other Sees — at Chicago for the State of Illinois, at Milwaukie
for the State of Wisconsin, at Little Rock for the State of Arkan-
sas, and at Hartford for Connecticut and Rhode Island.

The Holy See acceded to the proposition, and by letters of
September 30th, 1843, the Congregation of the Propaganda
transmitted the Pontifical briefs appointing the Rt. Rf v Andiew

'.jjn

IN THE UNITED STATES,

179

Byrne to the bishopric of Little Rock ; the Rt. Rev. William
Quarter to the See of Chicago ; the Rt. Rev. William Tyler to
the See of Hartford ; and the Rt. Rev. John M. Henni to tue
bishopric of Milwaukie. At the same time, the Rt. Rev. Ignatius
Reynolds was called to the See of Charleston, then vacant by the
death of Bishop Eugland. And Rome granted coadjutors to the
Bishop of New York, in the person of the Rt. Rev. John
McCloskey, and to the Bishop of Boston, in the person of the Rt.
Rev. John B. Fitzpatrick. The nomination of the Rt. Rev. Mi-
chael O'Connor to the See of Pittsburg took place on the 7th of
August, 1843, and that prelate, being then at Rome, was conse-
crated in the eternal city on the 15th of August in the same
year.*

The sixth Council of Baltimore assembled on the 10th of May,
1846. Twenty-three bishops took part in its deliberations, and
the first decree was to choose the "Blessed Virgin conceived
without sin" as the Patroness of the United States. The Fathers
of the Council thus honored the Immaculate Conception with an
ardent and unanimous voice. " Ardentibus votis plausu consen-
suQue unanimV And this solemn declaration might even then
convince the holy Fathers of the aspirations of the Church for the
dogmatic definition of the glorious privilege of the Mother of
God. The devotion of the faithful, moreover, for the Immaculate
Conception is not a thing of to-day in North America. It goes

* Concilia Baltitnoriensia, 227.

Micliael O'Connor, born at Cork, in Ireland, on the 29th of February, 1810 ;
consecrated Bishop of Pittsburg, at Rome, Aug. 15, 1818.

Andrew Byrne, born at Cavan, Ireland, December 5, 1802; conseci*ated
Bishop of Little Rock, at New York, March 10, 1844.

William Quarter, born in King's county, Ireland, January 81, 1806 ; con-
secrated (with the last) Bishop of Chicago ; died at Chicago April 10, 1848

William T>ler, born at l>«rby, Vermont, June 5, 1806; consecrated Bishop
of Hartford, at Baltimore, March 17, 1844; died at Providence, June 18,
1849.

Jolm M Henni, born at Obersaxony, Switzerland, and oonaeorated BiBho))
of Milwaukie at Cincinnati, March 19, 1844.

o-^r

liti

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180

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

back to the eailiest days of its discovery ; and the ship which
bore Columbus to the New World was the St. Mary of the Con-
ception ; the second island which he discovered was called " La
Concepcion." In the North, Champlain, the founder of Quebec,
in 1615 dedicated under that tide the little chapel which he
built in his rising city. In 1635, the Jesuits dedicated to the
Immaculate Conception their venturous Huron mission, and in
the following year consecrated the country and its people in a
special manner to " Mary conceived without sin," as Father Le
Jeune relates In 1658 Monseigneur de Laval, Vicar-apostolic
of New France, adopted as his arras the representation of the
Blessed Virgin Immaculate, and of St. Louis, king of France ; and
soon after dedicated his cathedral at Quebec to the Blessed Virgin
Mary, under the title of the Immaculate Conception. Some years
later. Gamier founded in Western New York his mission of the
same revered name ; but in 1672 the great river Mississippi was
baptized with the name of the Conception, by the holy Jesuit
James Marquette, the first European who discovered its course ; and
this missionary, whose life was one continued devotion, tells us
in his narrative that he "put this voyage under the protection of
the ' Blessed Virgin Immaculate,' promising her, that if she did
us the grace to discover the great river, I would give it the name
of the Conception ; and that I would also give that name to the
first mission which I should establish among these new nations,
as I have actually done among the Illinois."* This was the
church of Kaskaskia ; and not only the first church of that city,
but the first church at Three Rivers in Canada, as well as the
first at Mobile, one hundred and three years ago, were all dedi-
cated to the Immaculate Conception. ^

The prelates and clergy of the United States have a tender
devotion to the Blessed Virgin in her most admirable preroga-

* Sbe.i's Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi, p. 8.

/' 4si«siy^

IN THE UNITKB STATES.

181

tives, and endeavor to inspire the faithful with the same piety by
establishing archconfraternities and associations of prayers. Their
zeal and preaching are rewarded by an increase of fervor in the
ranks of the faithful ; and the Catholics of the United States will
soon doubtless leave nothing to be desired in their expansive
faith. It is easy to conceive that the misery of living amid sec-
taries of a thousand shades, all hostile to our dogmas and cere-
monies, exercises a pernicious influence on many souls, especially
those not early accustomed to it. They are inclined to rest satis-
fied with what is of absolute necessity in religious practices ; they
are tempted to believe, that as God alone has a right to our ado-
ration. He alone has a right to our prayers ; and they fear to
scandalize their Protestant neighbors or Protestant members of
their family by reciting their beads or giving public honor to the
saints or their effigies. The small number of missionaries, and
the poverty of the sanctuaries, have contributed to perpetuate a
state of things which deprives religion of many of its beauties,
and piety of many of its delights. When the faithful were re-
duced to a Low Mass in an humble chapel on Sunday, special
graces were needed to prevent the heart from slumbering with
languor and remissness; but the incessant exhortations of the
clergy daily accelerate the progress of piety, and the glorious
Patroness (f the United States is now honored with a tender ven-
eration by her children.

The sixth Council asked of the Holy See the division of the
vast diocese of New York, and the formation of the diocese ot
Buffalo with the western counties of the State, and that of Albany
with the northern counties. At the same time, it \iras proposed
to detach from the See of Cincinnati the northern portion of the
State of Ohio, where the See of Cleveland was to be erected.
The Holy Congregation of the Propaganda announced, on the
3d of July, 1847, that these propositions were adopted; and it
transmitted the Pontifical briefs appointing to the See of Bufialo

"Wr

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182

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

the Rt. Rev. John Timon ;* to that of Albany, the Rt. Rev. John
McCloskey, Coadjutor of New York ; and to that of Cleveland,
the Rt. Rev. Amadeus Rappe.f

While the bishops were assembled in Council, they had the
consolation of seeing two Catholic chaplains appointed by the
government of the United States to join the army then invading
Mexico. The recruits of the American forces are generally Ii-ish,
and the first regiments assembled on the Mexican frontier were at
first greatly harassed in their religious faith. The commander
endeavored to enforce their attendance on the Protestant worship
in the camp ; some who refused were even flogged, and numerous
desertions, then and later, were the results of th's deplorable in-
tolerance. This was not, however, the first time that Catholic
soldiere had been hampered in the liberty of worship, under pre-
text of military discipline. In 1831, General De Walbach, at
Norfolk in Virginia, put under arrest Lieutenant John O'Brien
for refusing to enter a Protestant church at the head of his com-
pany. This affair produced a considerable sensation at the time,
and the Lieutenant would not allow the matter t3 be smothered
up. He demanded a court-martial, in order to determine the
point once for all, and thus give Catholics a rule to guide them
on similar occasions. Lieutenant O'Brien is the same artillery
ofiicer so distinguished in the Mexican War, where he rose to the
rank of Major. He was the author of a much-esteemed treatise
on military jurisprudence, and his work has been adopted by
Government for the use of courts-martial. As may be imagined,
the author here discusses with great care a point on which he

* Et. Rev. John Timon, born in the United States, a Priest of the Mission
or Lazarist, was in 1824 a missionary in Texas and in Ohio. On the 17th of
October, 1847, i.o was con■^ecrated Bishop of BufFalo at New York.

t Rt. Rev. Amadeus Rappe, born in the diocese of Arras in France, C'\me
to this country in 1840, and was consecrated Bishop of Cleveland on th« lOtb
of October, 184V, at Cincinnati.

" f

, »y(P'Wf?i'Frrf-(*

m THE UNITED STATES.

188

1ft

had a personal collision with a superior officer ; and hia reasoning
deserves to be known.

The second article of the military code of 1806, or Articles of
\V Hr, reads as follows :

" It is earnestly recommendea to all officers and soldiers dili-
gently to attend divine service ; and all officers who shall behave
indecently or irreverently at any place of divine worship, shall, if
commissioned officers, be brought before a general court-martial,
there to be publicly and severely reprimanded by the president;
if non-commissioned officers or soldiers, every person so offending
shall, for his jrst offence, forfeit one-sixth of a dollar, to be do-
ducted out of b"H next pay; for the second offence, he shall not
only forfeit a like sum, but be confined for twenty-four hours ;
and for every like offence, shall suffer and pay in like manner ;
which money, so forfeited, shall be applied by the captain or
senior officer of the troop or company, to the use of the sick sol-
diers of the compimy or troop to which the offender belongs."*

As Lieutenant O'Brien justly remarks, the laws prescribe some
acts and forbid others. Every prohibition of an act is accompa-
nied with a penalty in case of violation. Thus, misbehavior in
church is forbid i'Mi by Article II., and whoever violates it incurs
the penalties laid J."wn there. But going to church on Sunday
is only recomme^ided, and no penalty is prescribed for the soldier
who declines or neglects to attend divine service. It is, then,
merely a counsel, not an order ; any other construction of the
Article would b :) in open violation of liberty of worship, and
Congress is very rareful not to infringe this. It is, then, a fla-
grant violation of the Constitution to punish a soldier who obeys

* A Treatise on Ar-ierican Militt ry Law and the Practice of Courts-Mar-
tial, by John O'Brion, Lieutenant in the U. S. Army. Philadelphia : Lea «fe
Biunchard, 1846 j p. 57. We are indebted for these facts to our friend, J, G.
Shea, Esq. Th«> General Walbach here mentioned is a strict Catholic, and
brother to the v«ry liev. Lou'^s de Barth de Walbach, who administered the
diocese of Philadelphia from 1814 to 1820.

184

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

his conscienffl nnd refuses to enter a church, and any soldier per-
secuted foi ouoh a cause by a fanatical superior is a victim of
rev: itiug de potisrn.

The Catholic soldiei-s in Taylor's array were not silent under
their wrongs. Their remonstrances reached Washington; the
religious press took up their cause warmly, and public opinion
pronounced in their favor. President Polk asked the bishops
assembled in Council to name two chaplains for the troops. The
prelates advised the government to apply to the Society of Jesus,
a provincial of which resided at Geo.getown, at the very doors of
the capitol. The provincial chose for this post of honor two of
the most eminent Fathers of the Society — Father John McElroy
and Father Anthony Rey. Although policy had a considerable
share in this act of justice. President Polk is entitled to the grati-
tude of Catholics for affording the troops the consolations of their
religion amid the peril of war ; and the fact of these disciples of
St. Ignatius being appointed chaplains in the army by Protestant
republi if 1. -; is one of those providential and extraordinary events
of wKi 'li til 3 history of the Society of Jesus numbers so many in
its pages. The military legislation of the United States not fore-
seeing this function, the two missionaries were breveted as cap-
tains, to give them rank in the army, and they followed the
conquerors to tread the soil of Mexico, from which the religious
of their Society had been in so iniquitous a way expelled in 1767,
by the order of Charles III., King of Spain. At the time when
the feelings of the Catholic soldiers were thus respected, religion
enjoyed the greatest degree of liberty and consideration which it
had ever enjoyed in the United States; every political party
sought to win the Catholics ; enthusiastic meetings were held in
all parts in honor of Pius IX., to whom various cities voted
gratulatory addresses on his election.

The Archbishop of New York was invited to preach in the
halle -'-.'' Congress at Washington, and the President, with hi^

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\-.?™"TTE)' yn;'W^"W'"r ^R* ■ ^«"-iJt

IN THE UNITED STATES.

185

ministry, joined in the funeral cortege of the Archbishop of Bal- .
timore. Ihese marks of tolerance and sympathy were fur from
the fanaticism of the last two centuries. But the revolutions of
1848 sent public opinion back in America, and awakened the
slumbering religious hate. On the suppression of the insurrec*
tions in Germ my and Italy, thousands of socialist refugees were
spawned on the U' P'ltes. Welcom^'d with sympathy as

martyrs <^>f liberty, thee jrogues imm^rdiately set to work ♦

corrupt American il ms, and succeeded but too well. TIk '.v

hatred against the Lhu rove with infernal jMjrtidy to arouse

Protestant fanaticism, and tue results already obtained fill these
foreign refugees with confidence for the future. In 1846 two
Jesuits were chaplains in the American army, and Catholic pre-
lates were honored, if not courted, by all. In 1854 a Nuncio of
the Pope was pursued from city to city by insults and murderous
cries, and a Jesuit was treated with the most unheard-of bar-
barity.

Father Anthony Rey set out for the army in May, 1 846, and
joined the corps of General Taylor, where he immediately won
the esteem and friendship of that old warrior. He fulfilled his
duties to the soldiers with admirable zeal, which, not satisfied
with assisting them in the hospital and on the field of battle,
induced hira to learn Spanish, in order to evangelize the poor
Mexican frontier-men, scattered over a territoiy incessantly rav-
aged by the hordes of savage Apaches, and destitute of all reli-
gious succor. It was especially, however, at the siege of Monterey
that Father Rey displayed the courage of a Christian hero. The
combat was deadly, and continued from street to street, from
house to house. The Jesuit accompanied the soldiei*s in all their
movements, raising the wounded, administering the sacraments to
the dying, praying for the dead, so that a Protestant account
speaks of him in these terms :

" The bulletins of your generals, and the glowing eulogiums of

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letter-wnters on particular deeds of daring, present no examples
of heroism superior to this. That Jesuit priest, thus coolly,
bravely, and all unarmed, walking among bursting shells, over
the slippery streets of Monterey, and the iron storm and battle
steel that beat the stoutest, bravest soldier down, presenting no
instrument of carnal warfare, and holding aloft, instead of true
and trusty steel, that flashed the gleam of battle back, a simple
miniature cross ; and thus armed and equipped, defying danger,
presents to my mind the most sublime instance of the triumph
of the moral over the physical man, and is an exhibition of cour-
age of the highest character. It is equal to, if not beyond, any
witnessed during that terrible siege."*

After the fall of Monterey, Father Rey remained in the city to
take care of the wounded, and also gave missions in the neigh-
boring country. In one of his apostolic excursions he drew on
himself the hatred of some wretches for inveighing severely
against the depravity of a village which he had visited. Attacked
by them, he was assassinated, together with the domestic who
attended him, stripped of his clothing, and the body of this gen-
erous hero of faith, martyr to his apostolic zeal, was found by the
people of Ceralvo, to whom he had preached the day before.
His soldiers wept his loss, and interred him far from his native
land, far from the land of his adoption, amid the tears of the
Mexicans.!

* Memoir of Rev. Anthony Rey, S. J., by James Wynne. U. S. Catholic
Magazine, vi. 543.

t Anthony Rey, born at Lyons, March 19th, 1807, was educated at the
Jesuit College of Fribourg, and entered the Society, November 12, 1827.
He asked to be sent to the American missions, and landed in 1840 in the
United States, where he was successively Professor of Metaphysics at George-
town College, assistant at St. Joseph^s Church, Philadelphia, then assistant
to the provincial at Georgetown, and pastor of Trinity Churc'' in that city.
This post he left for the army in Mexico, where he was to find a grave in
the month of January, 1847, nt the age of forty-one. Father Anthony Rey
was famous for his zeal for the strict observance of bis rule — a zeal which
never relaxed.

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IN THE UNITED STATES.

187

examples
coolly,
ells, over
»d battle
titing no

of true
I simple

danger,
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of cour-
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city to
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which

Father John McElroy, who shared the labors of Father Rey,
did not advance as far as his companion into the interior of
Mexico. He remained in charge of the garrisons left in the first
conquered cities, and there gained the confidence of the soldiers,
as in 1834 he did that of the riotous laborers on the Baltimore
and Washington Railroad, whose armed gatherings, to the num-
ber of five thousand or six thousand, had alarmed all Maryland.
The militia, called out in haste, saw no means of checking the
disorder ; but the Jesuit, by the power of religion, recalled to
their labor these hard-working but excited men.*

We have seen the Provincial of Maryland choose two of his
ablest and most experienced Fathers for the riodest task of minis-
tering to the poor soldier. This was because all so"!^ have in
the eyes of God but one price, and the Society of Jesus has
proved since its origin that it can give its blood for the people as
for the prince, for the savage red-man as for the denizen of the
polished city. This venerable Society has greatly extended,
within these last years, the sphere of its apostolic labors in the
United States, and to its influence is due no inconsiderable part
of the wonderful progress of religion in that vast republic. We
spoke in a previous chapter of the foundation of Georgetown Col-
lege in 1788, and the reorganization of the Society in 1803.
This college, honored by a visit fi'om Washington in 1*795, has
never since failed, to receive the kindl} consideration of the Federal

* Father McElroy, a native of Ireland, rendered immense service to reli-
gion by the missions at Frederick City and all the western shore. He built
a magnificent church at Frederick, where the Maryland province now has its
novitiate : and such was his influence with the people, that in 1829 a Pro-
testant writer, Mr. Schaeifer, exclaims in his journal : *' Strange paradox !
Catholic France expels the Jesuits, deprives them of the education of youth,
and the Protestants of Frederick contribute, each with his fifty dollars, to
build the Jesuits a college there." Father McElroy has repeatedly refused a
mitre. He is now (1855) pastor of St. Mary's Church, Boston, but is con-
stantly travelling to the points where the confidence of the bishops or the
wants of the Society call him. Cretineau Joly, vi. 874.

188

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Gov^ernment, and tjie classic solemnities of Georgetown always
attract either the President and his Cabinet or members of Con-
gress.* The astronomical labors of the Jesuit Observatory are
famous in America, and the learned professors of the college
maintain an active correspondence with the scientific men of the
country. The province of Maryland numbered in 1850, seventy
priests and sixty scholastics, employed in different institutions or

* Tradition has preserved the details of Washington's visit to Georgetown,
and they faithfully transmit it to the successive generations nurtured at the
college. The Father of his Country arrived on horseback, without suite and
unattended. Ho led his horse to the whitewashed fence of the college in-
closure, and was first received by the late Rev. 'William Mathews, then a
young professor. As may be supposed, the Fathers gave him a most cordial
welcome, and took him through their whole establishment. Washington
expressed his admiration for the magnificent view which the heights of
Georgetown enjoy ; but as it was winter, and an icy breeze made the party
shiver, the General observed that they had to purchase the beauties of na-
ture in summer by the winter's storm — (Notice on Georgetown College in
the Catholic Instructor of Philadelphia, Feb., 1858). We cite this anecdote
to show that ws know the relations which existed between the Jesuits of
Maryland and the illustrious Washington. A venerable religious, however,
reproaches us in the Ami de Religion with doubting that a personal frieiia-
ship existed between Washington and Archbishop Carroll. We should be
glad to share the opinion of our opponent, but further researches enable us
to renew the assertion. There is no proof that 'lington was a personal
friend of John Carroll. Archbishop Kenrick i ndly pxamined tlie cor-
respondence of the first archbishop, preserved in the archives, and he writes :
"I find no proof that Archbishop Carroll was a personal friend of Washing-
ton." The Hon. Jared Sparks, whose labors as the biographer of the great
hero, and as the editor of his works, render him a high authority; also
writes us : " As Washington was frequently in Baltimore, and as the arch-
bishop was much respected and esteemed by all classes of society there, it is
probable that they met on such occasions in the social circles ; but I have
seen no evidence that there was any particular intimacy between them, or
any other relations than those of a general acquaintance. All the papers lefl
by Washington were for several years in my possession, and examiiied with
great care, and I remember no private correspondence with Archbishop
Carroll, nor any evidence of an intimate intercourse between them."

In all Washington's correspondence there is only one letter to Archbishop
Carroll, dated April 10, 1792, addressing him simply as *' Sir," and declaring
the inability of Government to aid him in converting the Indians. Nehher
Brent's Life, nor Campbell's, nor Archbishop Carroll's own panegyric of
Washington, alludes to any such friendship.

>'i

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IN THE UNITED STATES.

189

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missions. It had a novitiate at Frederick, and colleges at George-
town, Washington, and Worcester. The Jesuits of this province
directed fifty churches in the dioceses of Baltimore, Philadelphia,
Boston, Pittsburg, and Richmond, including the Indian missions
in the State of Maine. The vice-province of Missouri, the first
Fathers of which were furnished by Maryland in 1823, numbered
in 1850, seventy-five priests, fifty-six scholastics, and eighty-three
lay brothers. It had a novitiate and scholasticate at Florissant, a
university at St. Louis, colleges at Cincinnati, Bardstown, and
Louisville, and directed twenty-eight churches in the dioceses of
St. Louis, Louisville, Cincinnati, Milwaukig, and Chicago, and
sixteen churches, or stations among the Indians in the territories.
A mission dependent on the province of France, ^nd lying partly
in Canada, had in the State of New York, in th8 same year,
twenty-one priests, who directed the Diocesan Semmary, St.
John's College, and several churches in the dioceses of New York,
Albany, and Buffalo. The province of Lyons had, at the same
time, a mission in the South, employing twenty-two Fathers in
the diocescc of New Orleans ana Mobile, where they directed St.
Charles' College at .Grand Coteau, the School of Jesus in New
Orleans, and Spring-Hill College near Mobile. Thus, in 1850,
sixteen dioceses shared in the pious assistance so lavishly afforded
by the members of the Society of Jesus ; and since then it has
founded new colleges at Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and
in Louisiana and in California, and devotes itself to the missions
in the dioceses of San Francisco and Monterey.*

* We add a list of the Presidents of Georgetown College :

1. Robert Plunkett, S. J., from Oct., 1791.

2. Robert Molyneux, S. J.

8. Louis Dubourg (afterwards Bishop of New Orleans), till 1799

4. Leonard Neale, S. J. (afterwards Archbishop of Baltimore), till 1806.

5. Robert Molyneux, S. J.

6. William Mathews, 1808. Died in 1854.

7. Francis Neale, S. J., 1810. Died Deo. 20, 1887.

■;

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190

THB CATHOLIC CHURCH

CHAPTER XIII.

DIOCESE OF BALTIMORE — (1846-1852).

Election of Pins IX.— Popularity of the Sovereign Pontiir in tbe United States— Peter's
Pf nee— Seventh Connoil of Baltimore— Division of tlie United States into six ecclesi-
astical provinces— Deattf of Archbishop Eccleston- Most Bev. Francis P. Kenrick,
sixth Archbishop of Bal^ore— National Council of Baltimore and new Episcopal
Sees. •

I ' The Fathers>f the sixth Council of Baltimore had scarcely had
time to retuA to their dioceses, when news arrived of the death
of Pope Gregory XVI., followed almost immediately by the elec-
tion of His Holiness Pius IX. The Catholics of the United
States testified sincere regret for a pontiff" who had done much
for religion in their country, and who had founded half the epis-
copal sees then existing. The holy organizer of so many rising
churches was deplored in the uttermost parts«of the New World ;
the Catholic papers put on mourning, and in almost every diocese
a solemn funeral service was celebrated for the repose of the soul

8. John Orassi, S. J., 1812.

9. Benjamin Fenwick, S. J. 1817 (afterwards Bishop of Boston).

10. Anthony Kohlmann, S. J., 1819. Died April 10, 1888.

11. Enoch Fenwick, S. J.

12. Benjamin Fenwick, S. J., 1824.
18. Stephen L. DubnLsson, S. J., 1825.

14. John Beschter, S. J. Died January 6, 1842.

15. Th. F. Mulledy, S. J., till 1837.

16. Wm. McSherry, S. J., till 1889. \

17. James Ryder, S. J., till 1840.

18. Th. F. Mulledy, S. J., from 1845.

19. James Ryder, 8. J., from 1848.

20. Charles Stonestreet, S. u., from 1851.

21. Bernard A. Maguire, S. J., from 1852.

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IN THE UNITED STATES.

191

ates— Peter's

» six ecclesl-

P. Kenrick,

>w Episcopal

rcely had
;lie death
the elec-
) United
le much
ihe epis-
ly rising
World ;
■ diocese
the soul

of the Father of the faithful. Al Philadelphia the funeral oration
on Gregory XVI. was pronounced by the Rev. Father O'Dwyer,
in the presence of the city authorities and the two foreign con-
suls — ^for the noble attitude of the aged pontiflf in his interview
with the Emperor of Russia had rendered his name popular
among the Protestants.

But this unusual sympathy for the succ^aaouiLSt. Peter was
especially manifested in America on
Pius IX., June 16, 1846, and on the gei
he inaugurated his reigu. The enthusi«
is well known, perfidiously imitated by
and they thus obeyed the word of comll
deemed it the best mode of overthrowing
at first by praise. The echo of the magnificent'
decreed to Pius IX. resounded even beyond the
the citizens of the United States wished in their turn
their admiration for the person and acts of the Sovereign Pontiff.
Meetings were called in the principal cities of the Union, and
after eloquent speeches, addresses were resolved upon to bear to
the Holy Father the spontaneous tribute of American sympathy.
Some Italians, or some demagogues, who had crept into the com-
mittees, in vain endeavored to disfigure these demonstrations of
the people, by voting for addresses to the Roman people instead
of felicitations to the prince raised by Heaven to the government
of the States of the Church. But the reasonable instinct of the
Protestant republicans preserved them from the snares laid by
these agitators ; they were wise enough then in the United States
to understand that all the nations of Europe are not made for
republics ; they merely wished to see constitutions granted by
the sovereign instead of extorted by the people ; and the address
voted at Ne .. York by a meeting of six thousand persons, pre-
sided over by the mayor of the city, contained these remarkable
words:

193

THE CATHOLIC CHCHOH

"And more fonnidaWe than .11 .1. '
yourself to e„c„„„,«,, «„d b/oo^" '^T'/o" muat have girded

"eas aad ingratitude of multftud^ ,!, T "T"""*' """ ""^'e-
bondage which could cwTnThe "'^'^ ''""' ^"^'^^'"S
the flesh-pota of Egypt Zul" ^'^^""'^ *» "« led back to
-en the follower, 0?^'^'^/""',?,"'^ -■"emporarie., Jd
tude the agony of his "^ "j ""^ l'^"'' ^''" <- bear in soli-
bend, wij, ^/manifest irf'intr::^^^:' ^^ «-• - appre-
"gant hfpes, impetuous requiremlT ^''. *"P««'»""»». e«rav.

afready been, accomrij^hed "* ' "^ ^''^T thing has not

the':i:ti/fenn:M rr-"^ -^^'■"^^^-pbi,

-^.agjJAei, »^bdd .n turn their enthusiastic

^T^ay the Almighty ^^nt ™. I ,. '"""''"''« ''"'nation :
and wisdom f.m fn Ki^lrTb '"'' '"'"''^ "'^^"'^
-n the beneficent ref^L ^^^ l'^ '"," ^W oonclu-'
■nsp-re the princes and people rf Tl ! '*^''' ""^He
-deration nec^^to ^^^'J^^Z' U """"^ »<'
to you successors, who will continZ . *'*^ ^* '"^ "P

peace and justice on earth -Tndth /"'"'" *" '"«"»- of
meanest of God's poor will It 1 ^""'' '"" <"""« "ben the

-ost powerful of h'is oj; sIT ' "^ "^ "^ '»""»<"" 'be
Cbristendom; and the ^^^s „^ f ^.^^e bar of united
and the oppressor, blushing with sham u ^n 1^"" "P"" '"'">.

;-™«.andindignant\oirt:":riSt'Se'tr

-2rc^f.?:he'::rwrentT *^''^*^- ~

♦ p " — *"c_y saw

IN THE UNITED STATES.

193

ive girded
iiat fickle-
enuinbing
'd back to
aries, and
ar in soli-
f^e appre-
8, extrav-
Dgs that
: has not

idelphia,
lusiastic
cation :
►f heart,
conclu-
fayHe
ire and
lise up
Dce of
sn the
n the
inited
him,
their
op-

•wed
aore
saw

847.

that in the middle ages the people owed to that august power
their enfranchisement from the slavery of their masters, and that
the nations relapsed into anarchy or servitude as soon as princes
threw off this salutary check. To point to the restoration of the
spiritual authority of the Holy See over the monarchs, as the best
remedy against the oppressions of humanity, was, however, too
sincere an avowal to be lasting, and they were soon seen, in spite
of their enthusiastic professions, siding with those who revolted
against the Sovereign Pontiff. Some Italians, as we have re-
marked, took part in these sympathetic meetings. They were
then the first and foremost in America to cry "Pio Nino,"
though on the very eve of casting off this mask, and declaring
themselves open enemies of the Papacy. One of them, Avezzana,
became Minister of War of the Roman Republic ; another, Fo-
resti, presided in 1854 at the most violent meetings against the
apostolical envoy, Monseigneur Bedini ; a third, Secchi de Casali,
editor of a miserable Italian sheet at New York, became the
seide of Gavazzi, and his pen is more envenomed against the
Catholics than even his master's tongue. And these men were
the warm admirers of Pius IX. in 1846.

The Catholics were more persevering in their love ; and when
they heard of the assassination of Rossi ^November 16, 1848),
and the escape of the Holy Father, eight u&vs later, their filial
respect for the persecuted Pontiff redoubled. As the stay of
Pius IX. at Gaeta was expected to be only temporary, they asked
where in the whole world he would retire during the anarchy
which ravaged the eternal city ; and the faithful in the United
States flattered themselves that the Pope would come to seek a
generous hospitality from the great republic of the New World.
The Archbishop of Baltimore was the organ of this unanimous
voice, and on the 18th of January, 1849, Feast of the Exaltation of
the Chair of St. Peter, Archbishop Eccleston wrote to the Sovereign
Pontiff to beg him to honor Maryland with his sacred presence •

,^:..

} i

_3.

194

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

" Our seventh Council of Baltimore is to bo held on the 6th of
May next. We are perhaps too bold, Holy Father, in asking and
hoping that, if possible, the shadow of Peter may even transiently
gladden us, and give us new strength and coui'age. How great
an honor and support to our rising Church ! what joy and fervor,
what fruits and pledges of communion throughout our whole
republic, if your Holiness, yielding to our unanimous wishes,
would but stand amid the prelates assembled from the most re-
mote shores of North America, and deign to console and honor
us and our flocks with your apostolic advice and paternal bless-
ing ! The Council might easily, if your Holiness so direct, be
deferred to a more convenient time, and so far as our poverty
permits, nothing shall be wanting to make every thing a comfort
and joy to our Most Holy Father."*

Deprived of the happiness of being presided over by the suc-
cessor of the prince of the apostles, the Fathers of the seventh
Council of Baltimore wished to show their lively sympathy, by
ordering a collection to be made in their dioceses, in the nature
of Peter's pence. This spontaneous tribute produced about
twenty-six thv usand dollars, which was transmitted to the Pope's
Nuncio, at Paris, by the Archbishop of Baltimore.

The Council met on the 6th of May, 1849 ; twenty-five bishops
were present ; and by the first and second decrees, the Fathers
proclaimed that the devotion of the clergy and faithful of the

* L'Orbe Cattolico a Pio IX. Pontiflce Massimo esulante da Roma. Na-
poli, 1850 ; vol. i. 248. This work, published by the Civilta Cattolica, con-
tains the letters of coadolence and sympathy addressed to the Holy Father
by the bishops of the whole world on the news of his exile to Gaeta — a
magnificent monument of the unanimity of the Church and its communion
with its head. Besides the letter of the Archbishop of Baltimore, we re-
mark letters from the Bishop of Natchez and the Bishop of Wallawalla and
Nesqualy, but we do not perceive the beautiful letter addressed to Pope
Pius, on the 13th of May, 1849, by the Fathers of the seventh Council of
Baltimore : and yet that important document merits an honorable place in
fiuch a collection.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

195

United States to the Irnmaeubite Conception of the Blessed Vir-
gin Mary was universal ; and dechirod that the prelates would
regard with lively satisfaction the doctrinal definition of that
mystery by the Sovereign Pontiff, if, in the judgment of his wis-
dom, he deemed the definition seasonable. These decrees were
adopted unanimously, with the exception of one, the prelate of
Richmond, whose dissenting opinion is given in the annals of the
Council of Baltimore, doubtless at the wish of Bishop Whelan.*

The Council proposed the erection of new Sees at Wheeling
for the eastern part of Virginia ; at Savannah for the State of
Georgia ; at St. Paul for Minnesota Territoiy ; and a Vicariate-
apostolic at Santa F6 for New Mexico, which had lately been
added to the United States. The troubles of the Roman Revolu-
tion retarded the examination of the acts of the Council ; but the
Pope having entered Rome on the 12th of April, 1850, the Con-
gregation resumed their accustomed important deliberations ; and,
by letter of August 9, 1860, the Propaganda transmitted to Bal-
timore the Pontifical briefs transferring Bishop Whelan to the
new See of Wheeling, and nominating the Rev. Francis Xavier
Gartland to the See of Savannah, the Rev. Joseph Cretin to the
See of St. Paul, the Rev. John McGill to the See of Richmond,
and the Rev. John Lamy to the Vicarlate-apostolio of Santa Fe.
The Rev. Charles P. Montgomery, and on his refusal, the Rev.
Joseph Sadoe Alemany was called to the See of Monterey, in
California, a province ceded to the United States by Mexico, after
the war of 1846.f

* Concilia Provincialia Baltimori habita, p. 274.

+ Francis Xavier Gartland, born in Dublin in 1805, ordained at Philadel-
phia in 1882, consecrated Bishop of Savannah, November 10, 1850, died of
the yellow fever at his See, September 20, 1853.

Joseph Cretin, of the diocese of Lyons, devoted himself to the American
missions in 1838, was consecrated in France, Bishop of St. Paul's, July 26,
1851, and returned to this country with six priests.

John Lamy, born in 1813, at Londres, in the diocese of Clermont, em-
barked for tlii» countrv, with Archbishop Purcell, July 9, 1889, together

I i

j:i

196

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

The bishops also proposed suffragans for the metropolitan See
of St. Louis, which the Holy See had, by brief of July 20, 1847,
raised to the dignity of an archiepiscopal See. Many of the
bishops had opposed the division, but now yielding to the voice
of Peter, they proposed other ecclesiastical provinces, and to the
Archbishop of St. Louis assigned as suffragans, the Bishops of
Dubuque, Nashville, St. Paul, Chicago, and Milwaukie. New
apostolic briefs, of the 19th of July, 1860, confirmed this, and at
the same time erected into metropolitan churches —

Ist. The See of New Orleans, with Mobile, Natchez, Little
Rock, and Galveston as suffragans.

2d. The See of Cincinnati, with Louisville, Detroit, Vincennes,
and Cleveland as suffragans.

3d. The See of New York, with Boston, Hartford, Albany, and
Buffalo as suffragans.

By this division, the Archbishop of Baltimore retained as his
suffragans only the Bishops of Philadelphia, Richmond, Wheeling,
Savannah, Charleston, and Pittsburg. The United States were
thus divided into six ecclesiastical provinces, including the prov-
ince of Oregon, erected July 24, 1846.

Admirable fecundity of the Church, which, amid its greatest
trials, gives birth to new folds ! While the enemies of religion
believed that they had destroyed the Papacy at Rome, a hierar-
chical organization, full of the future, was preparing in America.
The prelates awaited with the most respectful deference the end
of the Revolution, so that the Holy Father might confirm their
decrees ; and one of the first acts of Pius IX., on his complete
restoration to his temporal and spiritual power, was to approve

with five other misfionnries of Auvergne ; was consecrated Bishop of Agatho
in partibtts, and Vicar- apostolic of New Mexico, November 24, 1850.

Joseph Sadoc Aiemany, a Dominican, born in Catalonia, then exiled to
Italy, but coming to America, became provincial of tiio Order, was conse-
crated at Borne, second Bishop of Monterey, in 1850, and transferred to the
arohbitthopric of Sun Francisco, July 29, 1858.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

107

politan See
y 20, 1847,
[any of the
to the voice
and to the
Bishops of
Likie. New
his, and at

ahez. Little

Vincennes,

Ubany, and

ned as his
, Wheeling,
iJtates were
; the proY-

its greatest
of religion
J, a hierar-
ti America,
ice the end
nfirm their
J complete
:o approve

>p of Agatho
S50.

Jn exiled to

was 001186-

srred to the

the proposals of the Council at Baltimore. By a remarkable
comcidence, the erection of Baltimore into a metropolitan See had
been eflFected in 1808, at a moment when Pius VII. was the vic-
tim of persecution, and the bulls of installation, retarded by the
imprisonment of that holy Pontiflf, and by the death of the bishop
who was btinging them to this country, reached the United
States only in 1810.

Before separating, the bishops addressed pastoral letters to the
clergy and laity of their dioceses, elegantly expressive of the grief
which they felt to witness the outrages offered to the Holy See.
"We are not subject to the Sovereign Pontiff as a temporal
power, and are devotedly attached to the republican institutions
under which we live. We feel ourselves to be impartial judges
of the events which have resulted in his flight from the capitol,
and of the subsequent attempts to strip him of all civil power ;
yet as Mends of order and liberty, we cannot but lament that his
enlightened policy has not been suffered to develop itself, and
that violence and outrage have disgraced the proceedings of those
who proclaim themselves the friends of social progress. We
must at the same time avow our conviction that the temporal
principality of the Roman States has served in the order of Divine
Providence, for the free and unsuspicious exercise of the spiritual
functions of the Pontificate, and for the advancement of the
interests of religion by fostering institutions of charity and learn-
ing. Were the Bishop of Rome the subject of a civil ruler or
the citizen of a republic, it might be feared that he would not
always enjoy that freedom of action which is necessary, that his
decrees and measures be respected by the faithful throughout the
world. We know, indeed, that if at any time it please God to
suffer him to be permanently deprived of all civil power. He will
divinely guard the free exercise of his spiritual authority, as was the
case during the first three ages, under the reign of the pagan empe-
rors, when the bishops of Rome displayed an apostolic energy,

I i

198

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

which was everywhere felt and respected. On account of the
more excellent principality attached to the Church of Rome from -
the beginning, as founded by the glorious apostles, Peter and
Paul, every local church — that is, all Christians in every part of
the world — felt bound to harmonize in faith with that most
ancient and illustrious Church, and to cherish inviolably her com-
munion. The successor of Peter, even under circumstances so un-
favorable, watched over the general interests of religion in Asia and
Africa, as well as Europe, and authoritatively proscribed every
error opposed to divine revelations, and every usage pregnant
with danger to its integrity.

' "The Pontifical office is of divine institution, and totally inde-
pendent of all the vicissitudes to which the temporal principality
is subject. When Christ our Lord promised to Peter that He
would build his church on him as a rock. He gave him the
assurance that the gates of hell — that is, the powers of darkness
— should not prevail against it ; which necessarily implies that
his office ie fundamental and essential to the Church, and must
continue to the end of time. Peter was constituted pastor of the
lambs and sheep — namely, of the whole flock of Christ — which
through him is one fold under one shepherd. Our Lord, at his
last supper, prayed that his disciples, and those who through
their ministry should believe in Him, might be one, even as Ho
and the Father are one ; and as He is always heard, we cannot
doubt tLat this unity is an inseparable characteristic of the
Church ; whence the office of the chief pastor, by which unity is
maintained, can never cease. We exhort you, brethren, to con-
tinue steadfast in your attachment to the chair of Peter, on which
you know that the Church is built. Since it has pleased Divine
Providence to establish that chair in the city of Rome, the capital
of the pagan world, in order to show forth in the most striking
manner the power of Christ, he is a schismatic and prevaricator
»ko attempts to establish any other chair in opposition to the

IN THE UNITED STATES.

199

Roman See or independent of it. That Church was consecrated
by the martyrdom of the apostles, Peter and Paul, who be-
queathed to her their whole doctrine with their blood. Christ
our Lord has placed the doctrine of truth in the chair of unity,
and has charged Peter and his successor to confirm their breth-
ren, having prayed specially that the faith of Peter may not fail.
By means of the uninterrupted tradition of that Church, coming
down through the succession of bishops from the apostlfes, we
confound those who through pride, self-complacency, or any
other perverse influence, teach otherwise than divine revelation
warrants, and attempt to adulterate the doctrine, which, as pure
streams from an unpolluted fountain, flows hence throughout the
whole world."*

We see how the bishops of the United States maintained a close
and firm union with the centre of Catholicity, and how imbued
their teachings were with a sincere devotedness to the Holy See at
the very moment when the tempest raged in all its fury against
the sacred rock of the Church. After such striking proofs of a
perfect orthodoxy, it is consoling to read what the first Bishop of
Baltimore wrote in 1Y91, one year after his consecration :

" On the Yth of next month," says Archbishop Carroll, " our
clergy are to meet here in a diocesan synod ; then we shall dis-
cuss the mode of preserving the succession to the episcopacy of
the United States. Instead of a coadjutor, I am much inclined
to solicit a division of my diocese and the creation of another
bishopric. One only objection, of much weight, retards my de-
termined resolution in favor of this scheme, and that is, that pre-
vious to such a step a uniform discipline may be estabhshed in
all parts of this great continent, and every measure so firmly
concerted, that as little danger as possible may remain of a dis-
union with the Holy See. I am very fearful of this event taking.

* Catholic Almanac, 1850, p. 51.

■I

200

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

I t.

place in succeeding tinie, unless it be guarded against by every
prudential precaution. Our distance, though not so great if geo-
metrically measured, as South America, Goa, and China, yet in a
political light is much greater. South America and the Portu-
guese possessions in Africa and Asia have, through their metro-
political countries, an intermediate connection with Rome ; and
the missionaries in China are almost all Europeans. But we
have no European metropolis, and our clergy soon will be neither
Europeans nor have European connections. Then will be the
danger to a propension to a schismatical separation from the
centre of unity. But the Founder of the Church sees all these
things and can provide the remedy. After doing what we can,
we must commit the rest to His Providence."*

His Providence has not been wanting, and the spectacle pre-
sented by the hierarchy of the United States sixty years after its
venerable founder betrayed his well-founded anxiety for the pres-
ervation of the bonds of unity, can only inspire us with increased
confidence for the future.

Archbishop Eccleston, who had the honor of presiding over
five of the councils of Baltimore, considered the interest of the
Church at large more important than the particular rank of his
metropolitan See, and without opposition, accepted that division
of ecclesiastical provinces which reduced Baltimore to the same
rank as its former sufiragans of New York and Cincinnati. The
seventh Council had asked that the primatial dignity should be
attached to the See of Baltimore, on account of the priority of its
origm. In a new country like the United States, an historic
existence of half a century is almost antiquity. The Holy See
deemed proper to defer this oflScial favor, but the Archbishop of
Baltimore nevertheless preserved a sort of honorable primacy,
and he was specially invested in 1853 with the functions of

* Brent's Biographical Sketch of Archbishop Carroll, p. 158.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

201

Apostolical Legate of the First National Council of the United
States.

Archbishop Eccleston also distinguished his episcopate by his
labors for the completion of his cathedral. To him it is indebted
for the second tower and the interior and the exterior decoration
of a portion of the pile. The prelate wished to raise the portico,
the absence of which injures the faqade of the cathedral, but un-
fortunately death did not permit him. Although apparently in
good health, his constitution was very delicate, and God called
the archbishop to Himself, at an age when he might still hope to
render long service to the Church. The archbishop visited
Georgetown early in April, 1861, intending to make only a shoit
stay there, but sickness detained him, and he expired piously on
the 2 2d of April. The calmness, patience, amenity, and piety
which he displayed during his last days were truly edifying, and
one of the religious who attended the venerable suflferer, wrote to
her companions some hours before the fatal moment: "Could
you have been at our Father's side since the beginning of his ill-
ness, what angelic virtue would you not have witnessed I Such
perfect meekness, humility, patience, and resignation! Not a
murmur, not a complaint has escaped his lips. Truly has he
most beautifully exemplified in himself those lessons which, in
health, he preached to others. In losing him, we lose indeed a
devoted father, a vigilant superior, a sincere and most disinterested
friend."

To take the mortal remains of the worthy prelate to his metro-
politan See, the funeral had to cross Washington, the capital of
the Union ; the procession, which ^vas nearly a mile long, slowly
wended its way through the principal street, chanting, amid the
tolling of the bells, the psalms of the ritual ; the clergy were
arrayed in their proper vestments, and among the distinguished
persons who followed the corpse were seen the President of the
United States, his Cabinet, and the members of the diplomado

mmtm

^! i

! 1

S02

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

coi-ps. While the Executive power thus honored the Catholic
leligion in its pastors, in the face of heaven and earth, at that
very time the Queen of England, who has nine millions of Cath-
olic subjects in Europe, allowed her ministry to insult them and
provoke a fanatical agitation, on no better pretext than the re-
establishment of the Episcopal hierarchy.

" Archbishop Eccleston," says his biographer, " was gifted with
talents of a high order. He had a penetrating mind, which he
had cultivated by a laborious study, and enriched with varied
learning. As a preacher of the words of God, he was regarded
as eloquent, graceful and persuasive, displaying great zeal and
piety in all he uttered, and was sure to enlist the undivided at-
tention of his hearers. It may not be useless to record here a
fact, which is remarkable in the history of the Catholic ministry
in this country, that shortly before his elevation to the priesthood,
young Eccleston was invited to deliver a prayer at the public
celebration in Baltimore of the 4th of July, anniversary of our
national independence. He accepted the invitation, and appeared
before the vast assemblage of people, vested in cassock, surplice,
and stole ; and while as a minister of God he invoked the divine
blessing upon the nation, and exhibited the approval of a free
government and popular liberty by the Church, he delighted his
immense audience by his eloquent appeal to the throne of mercy,
and the pleasing manner of its delivery.

" In person the archbishop was tall and commanding, and re-
markable for his gi'aceful deportment and ease in conversation.
No one ever approached him familiarly without being pleased
with him or without an increased respect for his person. His
piety was of the highest order. No one could look v^m him
without being impressed with the idea that he was a true prelate
of the Church. Ever unostentatious and unassuming, his great
aim was to do good to all men, seeking the will of his great
Master. His study was to please Him, regardless of the world,

■I 4

■'V'

11*

;ll

IN THE UNITED STATES.

203

which would willingly have heaped upon him its choicest honors,
had he not studiously fled from them."*

On the death of Archbishop Eccleston, the See of Baltimore
did not long remain vacant, and by letters apostolic of August 3,
1851, the Rt. Rev. Francis P. Kenrick was transferred from the
See of Philadelphia to the archbishopric of Baltimore. By a
brief of the 19th of August in the same year, the Sovereign Pon-
tiff" appointed Archbishop Kenrick apostolic delegate, to preside
at the National Council of the entire episcopate of the United
States. This Council met on the 9th of May, 1852 ; six arch-
bishops and twenty-six bishops took part in its deliberations, and
the most important measure which they proposed to the Holy
See, was to create new dioceses, in order to multiply on the im-
mense surface of the American continent the centre of action and
vigilance, and in order that, in no point, the faithful be out of the
reach of visits from their first pastors. K there were questions of
dignities, rendered attractive by the honors, power, or riches of
earth, we might see in this development of the episcopate, human
reasons and motives of ambition. But in the United States, the
mitre is only a fearful burden, with none of the consolations
which lighten it elsewhere ; and the prelates are but venerable
mendicants, ever extending the hand for daily bread, for means
to raise the humble shrines that form their cathedrals and
churches. Imagine one of these missionaries, on whom the Holy
See imposes the burden of a diocese, and imprints the apos-
tolic character. The new bishop has every thing to create ; he
finds only a few priests scattered here and there, entirely insuffi-
cient for a country where immigration periodically brings crowds
of Irish and German Catholics, who are to be preserved, and still
more, whose children are to be preserved from the allurements of
error. He must build a church and a dwelling, found a seminary

* Notice of Archbishop Eccleston in Catholic Almanac for 1862v p. 60.

204

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

and schools, elicit vocations by his influence, and confinn the
faithful in the truth ; gather around him Brothers and communi-
ties of Sisters, provide by unceasing toil for the subsistence of
these fellow-laborers, travel constantly pn horseback or on foot, in
snow or rain, preach at all hours, hear confessions without re-
spite, visit the sick, and watch everywhere to preserve intact the
sacred deposit of faith and morality. Such is the life of an
American prelate appointed ^.o found a new diocese — a life of
bodily fatigue, like that of the humblest missionary, but with all
the responsibility of a bishop. Most frequently such duties are
accepted through obedience by him whom the Holy See deems
courageous enough to fulfil them ; and the new diocese soon sees
churches and convents arise, the clergy multiply, and the priest
stand beidde the pioneer in the latest clearings. Such is the his-
tory of religion in America since the commencement of this
century, and the future promises that in spite of the trials of the
last few years, this development will not cease.

By his apostolic letter of July 29, 1853, the Holy Father ap-
proved most of the propositions of the National Council, and in
the ecclesiastical province of Baltimore he founded the new dio-
cese of Erie, a dismemberment of that of Pittsburg. In the
province of New York the Sees of Burlington and Portland were
detached from Boston, and those of Brooklyn and Newark were
detached from the diocese of New York. In the province of
Cincinnati the diocese of Covington was formed of the eastern
portion of Kentucky, which, till then, had formed part of the dio-
cese of Louisville. The province of St. Louis wiEis increased by
the See of Quincy, and that of New Orleans by the See of Natchi-
toches. In California, San Francisco was raised to the dignity of
a metropolis, with Monterey as a suffragan See; and finally,
Upper Michigan was made a Vicariate-apostolic. We shall
speak of these different erections when we treat of the provinces
and St.'itof! in which they are comprised. Rome deferred acced-

IN THE UNITED STATES.

205

confiim the
d communi-
bsistence of
T on loot, in
without re-
e intact the
life of an
B — a life of
but with all
1 duties are
' See deems
se soon sees
d the priest
I is the his-
ent of this
rials of the

Father ap-
Qcil, and in
e new dio-
In the
tiand were
iwark were
rovince of
he eastern
of the dio-
creased by
of Natchi-
dignity of
id finally,
We shall
provinces
ed acced-

ing to the request of the Council, only with regard to raising the
See of Boston to the metropolitan dignity, and with regard to
making Wilmington a See and Florida a Vicariate-apostolic*

Before separating, the Fathers of the Council addressed a pas-
toral letter to the clergy and faithful of the United States. It
lays down rules for ecclesiastical property, and declares that the
administration of bodies of trustees shall be subject to the ap-
proval of the bishop of the diocese. It solemnly condemns secret
societies and Free Masonry, calling to mind the decrees of the
Holy See against such societies. It shows the astonishing pro-
gress of the Church in America, and stimulates the charity of the
faithful to meet its wants. It makes it a duty in families not to
crush the ecclesiastical or religious vocations of their children,
but on the contrary, to encourage them by a good education and
sound principles. Finally, it condemns the detestable system of
the public schools, where children of all denominations are ad-
mitted, and religion scrupulously excluded. The future of the
Church is in the Catholic education of the youth, and hence the

* Rev. Henry D. Coskery was appointed to the See of Portland, and on
his declining, the Rev. David W. Bacon, of Brooklyn, was elected and con-
secrated at New York, in April, 1855.

Rev. Louis de Goesbriand, elected Bishop of Burlington, Rev. John
: Lotighlin, elected Bishop of Brooklyn, and Rev. James Roosevelt Bayley,
[elected Bishop of Newark, were consecrated at New York, Oct. 80, 1858, by
[Monseigneur Bedini, Nuncio of His Holiness Pope Pius IX.

Father George Carrell, 8. J., elected Bishop of Covington, was consecrated
at Cincinnati, Nov. 1, 18o3. The Very Rev. Joseph Melcher, of St. Louis,
was elected Bishop of Qnincy, and the diocese is still administered by the
Bishop of Chicago. The Very Rev. Augustus Martin, elected Bishop of
Kachitoches, was consecrated Dec. 80, 1858.

Rt. Rev. Michael O'Connor was at first transferred to Erie, but remained
at Pittsburg, and the Rt. Rev. Josue M. Young was consecrated April 23,
1854.

Rev. Thuddeus Amat, elected Bishop of Monterey, was consecrated March
12, 1854.

Rt. Rev. Frederick Baraga, Bishop of Atnyzenie in part, and Vicar-apos-
tolic of Upper Michigan, was consecrated Nov. 1, 1858, and is now Bishop
ofSaut St. Mary's.

209

THE CATHOLIC OHUBCH

enemies of the faith seek every means to force upon Catholics
their schools and unchristian systems.

Since Archbishop Carroll, six archbishops have succeeded
in the metropolitan See of Baltimore, and each of them has had
a share in the consoling progress of religion in the diocese, as
well as in the country at large, by presiding over eight Councils ;
and thus contributing to organize and develop the episcopal hie-
rarchy over the length and breadth of the United States. In
1856, Maryland and the District of Columbia contain eighty-
eight churches, forty-five other stations, one hundred and thirty
priests, of whom seventy-three perform parochial duties, and two
hundred and two levites preparing for the sanctuary. Three ec-
clesiastical seminaries, two of which are directed by Sulpitians, a
Jesuit and a Redemptorist novitiate, four colleges of the Society
of Jesus, one directed by secular priests, five academies and
boarding-schools for young ladies, directed by the Visitation
Nuns, one by Sisters of Charity, and many Catholic schools for
children of both sexes, show the care with which the youth are
trained in science and piety. The Sisters of Charity have also
an orphan asylum, a lunatic asylum, and hospital, capable of
holding one hundred and fifty sick persons; the Oblates devote
themselves to colored children, while the Sistera of Notre Dame
take care of the children of the Germans ; finally, the pious Car-
melites draw down God's blessing on the diocese, where works of
charity and education have multiplied so abundantly within sixty
years.

-■-•(•

IN THE UNITED STATES.

207

CHAPTER XIV.

PENNSYLVANIA (1680-1810).

Flnt missions at Philadelphia, Goshenhoppen, Gonewago, Lancaster— Inflnonoe of
French intervention in securing respect and toleration for Catholicity— The Angos-
tlnians in Pennsylvania — ^The Franciscans— Schism In the German Gbarch of the
Holy Trinity— Foundation of the episcopal See of Philadelphia.

The English Jesuits in Maryland did not limit their care to
the missions regularly assigned to them. We have seen them, in
the ardor of their zeal, brave persecution and death in the neigh-
boring colony of Virginia, seeking the few Catholics scattered
over its vast surface. The same apostolic spirit led to Pennsyl-
vania the missionaries of the Society of Jesus. They extended
their sphere of action to the north as well as to the south of their
residences ; hence, after sketching the history of the Church in
the diocese of Baltimore, we naturally pass to the relation of the
commencement of the faith in the province which formed the dio-
cese of Philadelphia.

The peaceful sect of Friends reveres as its founder the shoe-
maker, George Fox, who began his preaching at Nottingham in
1649. Persecuted by the partisans of Anglicanism, the Quakers
resolved to seek a refuge in America, as the Puritans had re-
solved to do in 1620; and in 1676 a company of Friends pur-
chased of Lord Berkeley the western part of New Jersey, lying
on the Delaware river. In 1680, William Penn obtained a grant
of the right bank of the same river, and King Charles II., in his
charter, gave the new colony the name of Pennsylvania.

Notwithstanding his distinguished birth and vast fortune, Penn,

■

■ 7'' 'r r r p^--, ^^

208

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

who had been educated at the Calvinist college at Saumur in
France, was seduced by the philanthropical ideas of the innova-
tors. A son of the brave Admiral Penn who had wrested Ja-
maica from the Spaniards, he had inherited, as part of his
patrimony, a large claim against the crown. Charles II., who
spent his money in other pursuits than the payment of his debts
or those of the nation, discharged this by giving William Penn a
colony, and the latter, wishing to take possession, landed in
America in October, 1682.*

The new proprietor explored the country on the Delaware, in
order to select a spot suitable for the establishment of the new
colony, and in the month of January, 1683, he laid out the plan
of Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love. The preceding
month, the principal settlers had met in convention at Chester,
and under the guidance of Penn, had enacted as the law of Penn-
sylvania, that as God is the only judge of man's conscience, every
Christian, without distinction of sect, should be eligible to public
employments. The only restriction on individual liberty estab-
lished by the rigid Quakers was the prohibition of all balls, thea-
tres, masquerades, cock and bull fights ;f and we cannot blame
them for endeavoring to banish these occasions of vice and disor-
der. The toleration of William Penn, an imitation of Lord Bal-
timore's, is a striking contrast to the Protestant fanaticism which
then obtained in New England and Virginia. The colony in-
creased rapidly, and the immigration was not confined to the
natives of England and Germany, where the doctrines of Quaker-
ism had made progress. Irish Catholics hoped to find liberty of
worship in Pennsylvania, nor were they deceived by the inten-
tions of the honored founder of that colony ; but the Protestant
Bishop of London had inserted in the charter a provision guar-
anteeing in Pennsylvania security for the Church established by

* Banoroft, Hintory of the United States, ii. 848.

t Idem.

IK THE UNITED STATES.

209

Saumur in
the innova-
wrested Ja-
part of his
rles II., who
of his debts
liam Penn a
t, landed in

Delaware, in
of the new
out the plan
le preceding
at Chester,
law of Penn-
icience, every
ble to public
liberty estab-
[1 balls, thea-
annot blame
ce and disor-
of Lord Bal-
ticism which
e colony in-
[fined to the
$8 of Quaker-
nd liberty of
)y the inten-
le Protestant
)vi8ion guar-
stablished by

t Idem.

law, and as Anglicanism feels secure only where Catholicity is
banished or oppressed, this clause long fettered the liberty of the
faithful at Philadelphia and its neighborhood.

The true faith seems, however, to have been tolerated in Penn-
sylvania from the very first, and indeed Penn was too close a
friend, and afterwards too devoted a subject of the Catholic king,
James II., to have been unfriendly to Catholics. The first Cath-
olic settlers were doubtless attended by a priest, as those of Mary-
land had been by Father White; for in 1686 — that is, three
years after the founding of Philadelphia — William Penn mentions
an old priest among the inhabitants. In 1708, in a letter ad-
dressed from England to James Logan at Philaddphia, Penn,
then himself under the suspicion of the new government for his
attachment to James, wrote : " There is a complaint against your
government that you suffer public Mass in a scandalous manner.
Pray send the matter of fact, for ill use is made of it against us
here." And in a subsequent letter he returns to it in these
terms : " It has become a reproach to me here, with the ofiScers
of the crown, that you have suffered the scandal of M<iss to be
publicly celebrated."

Bernard U. Campbell, citing these curious extracts from Wat-
son's Annals of Philadelphia, adds that the first chapel where
divine worship was oflfered in 1686 was a wooden building on
the northwest comer of Front and Walnut streets.* Watson
■ speaks of a second chapel, built before 1*736, on the corner of
^Chestnut and Second streets, and says that it was built " for a
papal chapel, and that the people opposed its being so used in so
public a place."

We know, too, thpt in 1729 a Catholic chapel existed at a
short distance iiuz:: Philadelphia, on the road from Nicetown to
Frankfort, and that it was built by Miss Elizabeth McGawley, a

♦ Life and Times of Archbishop Carroll. Cath. Mag., 1845, p. 252.

210

THE OATHOLIO CHUBOU

young Irish lady, who had settled Id that part with a number of
her tenants. It \fi probable that this chapel was coDnidered as
forming part of Miss McGawley's house, which enabled the Cath-
olics to meet there under the protection of a private house.
Watson remarks that in a field near the site of this ancient
chapel, a marble tombstone bears a cross, with the inscription —
"John Michael Brown ob. 16 Dec. A. D. 1700. R. I. P." This
was the priest attached to the mission, and his tomb did not
escape the fury of the fanatics who in 1844 set fire to two of tV»3
Catholic churches in Philadelphia. The gravestone was brrlcen
by these miscreants, who sought to glut on the memovy of the
dead their hatred of the living.

In the year 1730, Father Josiah Greaton, a Jesuit, was sent
from Maryland to Philadelphia, and according to a tradition pie*
served by Archbishop Neale, he entered on his duties in the
following interesting way : Father Greaton knew a Catholic at
Lancaster named Doyle, and applied to him for the names of
some of the faithful in i'hiladelphia. Doyle named a wealthy
old lad}^ remarkable lor her attachment to the faith, and the
missionary soon called upon the lady, attired in the grave, staid
dress of a Quaker. After various questions as to the number of
Christian sects in the city. Father Greaton made himself known,
to the lady's great joy. She immediately informed her Catholic
neighbors that she had a priest in the house. He first exercised
his ministry in the humble chapel at the r vi .lei of Front and
Walnut streets, and in 11 3?., aided by the li>>.^;a)!' 'ds host
he bought a lot in Fourth-street, and erectt.1 llit; little chapel of
St. Joseph. The next year the authorities took umbrage at this,
and Governor Gordon made a report to the Council on the recent
er. V 'on in Walnut-street of a Roman Mass-house for the public
c<2l!.;br. non o." Mass, contrary to the statute of William III.
Kalm, tie Swedish ti-'veller, who visited Philadelphia in 1749,
says that ihe Catholics had then, " in the southwest part of the

IN THE UNITED STATES.

211

. niimbor of
mniidered aa
id the Cath-
ivate house,
this ancient
ascription —
[.P." This
mb did not
► two of t^w
was broken
noiy of the

it, was sent

adition pre-

ities in the

Catholic at

e names of

i a wealthy

ith, and the

grave, staid

number of

self known,

ler Catholic

it exercised

Front and

'-is host .

I chapel of
ige at this,
I the recent
the public
^illiam III.
a in 1749,
)art of thtj

town, a great house, which is well adorned within, and huh «n
organ."*

"Father Greaton," says Archbishop Carroll, m a nianustiipt
still preserved, " laid the foundation of that congregation now so
flourishing/ He lived there till about the year 1750, long before
vhich he had succeeded in building the old chapel wb^ch is still
(•c>.'tiguou8 to the presbytery of that town, and in assembling a
liumerous congregation, which, at his first going thither, did not
consist of more than ten or twelve persons. I remember to have
seen this venerable man at the head of his flock in the year
1748."

Father Greaton was assisted for somo time at Plfiladelphia by
Father Henry Neale, also of his Society, who died th re in I748,f
and being himself soon after recalled to Maryland, w;. s succeeded
by Father Robert Harding, an English religious, wh« had been
on the Maryland mission since 1732. The late learned Mr.
Campbell could not discover where this Jesuit was employed be-
fore 1760. In that year we find him pastor of St. Joseph's,
and for twenty years later fulfilling the duties of that \ -est with
exemplary zeal and fidelity. As a stationary assistant, he had
from 1768 Father Ferdinand Farmer, charged especially with the
direction of the German population; and in 1763, Father Hard-
. ing, finding St. Joseph's no longer suflBced for the constantly in-
creasing number of Catholics, began the erection of St. Ma 7's on

* Kalm's Travels. Father Josiah Greaton, born abont 1680, enter d the
Society of Jeaua on the 5th of July, 1708, and became a Professed Father,
Aneust 4, 1719. He resided at St. Inigro'a, in Maryland, from 1721 to 1724.
After exercising his apostolate at Philadelphia for nearly twenty yenrs, he
returned to Maryland, and died at Bohemia on the 19th of September,
1752.

+ Father Henry Neale belonged to the excellent family which gave nine
member^ to the Society of Jesus in the last century. He returne 1 to
All, .'fica from Europe in 1740, and died at Philadelphia on the 5th of May,
1748, in the forty-sixth year of his age, and the twenty-fourth of his religious
career.

212

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

gruund which he had purchased.* Of this estimable religious,
Duch^, a Protestant clergyman, writing just before his. death,
bears the following testimony : " He is a well-bred gentleman,
and much esteemed, I am told, by all denominations of Christians
in this city, for his prudence, his moderation, his known attach-
ment to British liberty, and his unaffected pious labors among the
people to whom he officiates." - w.^ ^; ^ .^

In 17Y1, Father Robert Molyneux was attached to St. Joseph's
Church, and directed it till 1787, when he was recalled to Mary-
land.* Father Farmer and he contracted a most intimate friend-
ship, and they used this harmony for the good of religion. Both
learned, pious, untiring, they shared the labors of the ministry ;
and although Father Farmer was eighteen years older than his
friend, he always undertook the distant missions, as Father Moly-
neux's corpulence rendered travelling very difficult for him, while
the former, by his sermons, produced a great effect among the
Germans and Irish.

While the Jesuits of Maryland thus zealously occupied the
capital of Pennsylvania, they did not neglect the country parts ;
and in 1741, two German Fathers were sent there to instruct and
convert the numerous immigrants who arrived from all parts of
Germany. In that year. Father Theodore Schneider, a native of
Bavaria, founded the mission of Goshenhoppen, forty-five miles

* Caspipina's Letters; London, 1777, vol. i. p. 136. Father Robert Hard-
ing died at Pliiladeiphia on the let of September, 1772, in the seventy-first
year of his age. Like all the missionaries of that epoch, his labors were not
limited to the city where he was a pastor. He went to a great distance to
administer the sacraments, and certificates of baptism celebrated by him are
found in New Jersey.

t Father Robert Molyneux, born in Lancashire, June 24, 1788, a novice of
the Society of Jesuj in 1757, was sent to Maryland soon after his ordination,
and thence to Philadelphia in 1771. On the reorganization of the Society of
Jesus in 1803, he became the first Superior of Maryland, and was twice
President of Georgetown College. He refused to become Coadjutor of Bal-
timore, and died at Qeorgetown, December 9th, 1808.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

218

from Philadelphia. He lived there in the utmost poverty for
more than twenty years; he built a church there in 1746, and
ministered to a very extensive district, going once a month to
Philadelphia to hear the confessions of the Germans, till Father
Fanner was stationed in the residence in that city. So respected
was Father Schneider among the Germans, even the Protestant
part, that the Mennonites and Hernhutters generously aided him
to build his church at Goshenhoppen. His apostolic journeys led
him to the interior of New Jersey, where fanaticism at first sought
his life. He was several times shot at ; but these attempts to
shorten his days diminished nothing of his zeal, and he at last
made his visits objects of desire, even to Protestants, towards
whom, with infinite charity, he fulfilled the functions of bodily
physician, when he could not become the physician of their souls.
A relic of this venerable missionary is preserved, which attests
alike his poverty and his industry. It is a complete copy of the
Roman Missal, in his handwriting, stoutly bound ; and the holy
Jesuit must have been destitute of every thing, to copy so pa-
tiently a quarto volume of seven hundred pages of print. Father
Schneider died at the age of sixty-four, on the 10th of July,
1Y64,* having been visited in his illness the previous month by
Father Farmer ; and we believe that his successor at Goshenhop-
pen was Father Ritter. At least. Father Molyneux, in a letter to
Father Carroll, dated December 7th, 1784, speaks of Father Rit-
ter as having been for some years at Goshenhoppen, where the
congregation numbered five hundred communicants.f In 1747,
Father Henry Neale had purchased at Goshenhoppen one hun-

* Father Theodore Schneider, born in 1708, and a Jesuit from 1721, had
been professor of philosophy and polemics at Liege, and also Rector Mag-
nJficHS of the University of Heidelburg, before coming to America. His
profefsion dates from 1729.

t This Father is apparently the one whom Oliver mentions as John Baptist
Butter or Ruyter, a Belgian, who joined the English province about 1768,
and was sent to Pennsylvania, where he died, Feb. 8, 1786.

214

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

dred and twenty-one acres of land, for which he paid two hun-
dred and fifty pounds sterKng. The next year Father Greaton
paid the proprietors of Pennsylvania fifty-one pounds for four
hundred and seventy-three acres in the same place, and this
property still belongs to the mission of Goshenhoppen, which the
Jesuits continue to serve.

In 1741, Father William Wapeler,* the companion of Father
Schneider, founded the mission of Conewago, on the stream of
that name, thus again associating this local term with the mis-
sions of Catholicity, as his Society had already done on the Mo-
hawk and St. Lawrence. " He remained," says Father Carroll,
" about eight years in America, and converted or reclaimed man)^
to the faith of Christ, but was forced by bad health to return to
Europe." He retired to Ghent, and then to Bruges, where this
worthy Jesuit closed his career in 1*781, at the age of seventy.
Another celebrated missionary of Conewago is Father Pellentz,f
whose memory is in veneration throughout Pennsylvania, and we
find that in 1*784 he numbered over a thousand communicants at
his mission. In 1*791, we find him at the synod of Baltimore,
filling the post of Vicar-general of Bishop Carroll's immense
diocese.

In 1*741, Father Wapeler had bought land at Lancaster, with
the intention of building a chapel there.J Ten years after,
Father Farmer was attached to this residence, and remained
there in all the poverty and humility of an apostle till 1'758.§

* Father William "W apeler or Wappelerwas born in Westphalia, January
22, 1711, and entered tlie Society of Jesus in 1728. Oliver's Collection,
p. 216.

i Father James Pellentz was born in Germany, January 19, 1727, entered
the Society in 1744, and made his profession in 1756. Idem.

X In 1734, in consequence of fears of a war with France, the missionary at
Lancaster became an object of suspicion, and the matter was brought before
the Council by Governor Gordon. Watson's Annals, ii. 256.

§ Father Ferdinand Farmer had translated into English his German name,
Btcenmeyer. He wap born in the then Circle of Suabia, Oct. 18, 1720, en-

IN THE UNITED STATES.

215

i two hun-
er Greaton
ds for four
te, and this
, which the

a of Father
stream of
th the mis-
on the Mo-
her Carroll,
imed man)'^
) return to
where this
of seventy.
)T PellentZjf
nia, and we
mnicants at
Baltimore,
's immense

caster, with

j^ears after,

1 remained

till 1758.§

lalia, January
's Collection,

1727, entered

missionary at
rought before

[ermnn name,
18, 1720, en-

We have seen him exercising at a later date the ministry at
Philadelphia, and to him New York is indebted for the organiza-
tion of the first Catholic congregation in that city. In 1784, we
find Father Geisler* at Lancaster with a congregation of seven
hundred communicants ; and the country parts of Pennsylvania
have thus seen the holy mysteries celebrated for more than a
century in toe three chapels of Goshenhoppen, Conewago, and
Lancaster. From the origin of these missions, they were in part
sustained by a pious legacy of an English Catholic, Sir John
James, whose will was attacked ; but as the secret of his trusts
was preserved, the poor, and especially the poor Catholics of
Pennsylvania, were not deprived of his charitable aid. The sum
allotted to the American mission was one hundred poundp ster-
ling ; but as the principal was invested in French funds, his pre-
cious resource often in time of war failed the poor Catholics of
Pennsylvania and their still poorer missionaries. The latter must
have been in great need, for they could not show their parishion-
ers the same touching hospitality then practised in Maryland.
There it was the custom for the Catholics who came fasting in
order to approach the sacraments, to take their meal with the
missionary; and the distance which they often had to go to
reach the nearest chapel showed the propriety of this patriarchal
custom. The Pennsylvania missions received aid from those of
Maryland, by virtue of instructions given by the Provincial of
England on the 2d of April, 1759 : "The Superior, as a common

tered the novitiate at Landsperge in 1743, and became a professed of the
four vows In 1761. He sought the China mission, but to his disappointment
was transferred to the English province, and sent to Maryland in 1752. He
died at Philadelphia in 1781, and Father Molyneux pronounced his funeral
oration, paying a striking homage to the virtue of the holy missionary.
Bishop Bayley declares that he died in the odor of sanctity. Catholic Church
in New York, p. 42.

* Luke Geisler, born in Gennany m 17;?5, was sent to Pennsylvania, and
died there, August 11, 1786.

I i

216

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Father, must," says Father Corbie, " assist the needy out of the
surplus of the more opulent settlements, putting all, both in Penn-
sylvania and Maryland, in the vita communis^ or the ordinary
way of living, and succor them, in their incidental losses and
burdens, with the bowels of true Christian and religious charity."*

Such was the precarious condition of Pennsylvania, when, in
1784, Father John Carroll visited Philadelphia. He had re-
cently been appointed Superior of the clergy of the United States,
with power to administer confirmation, and he came to confer
that sacrament on the Catholics, as well as to ascertain the condi-
tion and wants of religion there. The sacrament of confirmation
had never before been conferred in any city in the land ; many a
person advanced in years now pressed forward to receive with
child jind grandchild that sacrament whose vivifying strength
they had so often desired ; and the remembrance of that confirm-
ation has been perpetuated to our day.

The faithful were then scattered all over the State, rendering
the administration of the sacraments difficult, and each mission-
ary had under his care a district about one hundred and thirty
miles loug by thirty-five broad. Father Carroll was satisfied
with the, piety and regularity of the Catholics of Philadelphia ;
he found them well instructed in their religion, but he saw
that the two churches, St. Mary's and St. Joseph's,! were not suf-
ficient for the size of the congregations, and that the pastors
required, as they truly said, the aid of new priests. He also saw
that the prejudice against Catholics was declining; and Mr.
Campbell admits that this result was due in part to the stay at

• Campbell's Life and Times of Archbishop Carroll. U. S. Catholic Maga-
zine, iv. 255.

t The Ahb6 Robin, a chaplain in Rochambean's army, says : " The Roman
Catholics have two chapels in Philadelphia, froverned by a Jesnit and a
German. They estimate the number of their flocks at eleven hundred or
twelve hundred."

IN THE UNITED STATES.

217

5ut of the
1 in Penn-
ordinary
losses and
charity."*
I, when, in
e had re-
ted States,
to confer
the condi-
•nfirmation
1 ; many a
jceive with
strength
at confirm-

, rendering
jh mission-
and thirty
IS satisfied
iladelphia ;
lit he saw
3re not suf-
the pastors
le also saw
; and Mr.
the stay at

ttholio Maga-

* The Roman
Jesuit and a
[ hundred or

Philadelphia of the representatives of France and Spain, as well
as to the presence of the staff of the French army and fleet. The
chaplains of the army had during the war celebrated Mass in the
city churches; and Congress more than once attended to do
honor to the French officera. Intelligent Protestants, disposed at
first from courtesy to respect the creed of their allies, learned at
the same time to tolerate it in their fellow-citizens. Catholics
had, moreover, displayed their patriotism in the Revolution. We
have shown it in Maryland in the illustrious family of Carroll.
At Philadelphia, Moylan, Fitzsimmons, men of eminence, gave
the army and Congress striking marks of their courage and
patriotism, as well as of their devotedness to the true faith. Com-
modore Bariy, the most celebrated naval commander of the Revo-
lution, was a sincere Catholic, who, at his death, made a consid-
erable bequest for pious uses. The ranks of the American army
contained many Irishmen — one of the Pennsylvania regiments
even got the name of the Irish Brigade — and when the Catholics
in a body addressed Washington, congratulating him on his
election to the Presidency, the General did them but justice when
in his reply he said : " I presume that your fellow-citizens will
not forget the patriotic part which you took in the accomplish-
ment of their Revolution and the establishment of their govern-
ment, or the important assistance which they received from a
nation in which the Roman Catholic faith is professed."*

At the close of the war a solemn Te Deum was chanted in St.
Joseph's Church, at the request of the Marquis de la Luzerne,
Minister Plenipotentiary of the Court of France. He invited to
it the Congress of the United States, the Assembly and State
Council of Pennsylvania, as well as the principal generab and
distinguished citizens. Washington was present, as well as La-
fayette, and the Abbe Bandale, Chaplain of the Embassy of His

* Sparks' Life and Writings of Washington, xii.

218

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Most Christian Majesty, addressed a most eloquent discourse to
the crowded audience.

" Who but He," exclaimed the sacred orator, " He in whose
hands are the hearts of men, could inspire the allied troops with
the friendship, the confidence, the tenderness of brothers ? How
is it that two nations once divided, jealous, inimical, and nursed
in reciprocal prejudices, are now become so closely united as to
form but one ? Worldlings would say it is the wisdom, the vir-
tue, and moderation of their chiefs ; it is a great national interest
which has performed this prodigy. They will say that to the
skill of generals, to the courage of the troops, to the activity oi
the whole army, we must attribute this splendid success. Ah !
they are ignorant that the combining so many fortunate circum-
stances is an emanation from the all-perfect Mind : that courage,
that skill, that activity, bear the sacred impression of Him who is
divine. . . . Let us beseech the God of mercy to shed on the council
of the king of France, your ally, that spirit of wisdom, of justice and
of mercy, which has rendered his reign glorious. Let us likewise
entreat the God of wisdom to maintain in each of the States that
intelligence by which the United States are inspired. . . . Let us
oflfer Him pure hearts, unsullied by private hatred or public dis-
sension ; and let us, with one will and one voice, pour forth to
the Lord that hymn of praise by which Christians celebrate their
gratitude and his glory — Te Deum LaudamusV*

We have already said it, Protestantism can lay no claim to
the honor of having established the toleration which Catholics
enjoyed in the United States after the Revolution. Policy and
necessity marked out the line of conduct which was adopted ;
and we are not alone in our opinion. An American historian
says, "France, Catholic France, was now solicited; she was
asked, and not in vain, to lend her armies to the cause of the

* The Catholics during the Revolution. Catholic Herald, Philadelphia,
May, 1855.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

219

Revolution. French troops landed at Boston, and amid the ridi-
cule of the English party, the selectmen of the capital of New
England followed a crucifix through the streets ! A French fleet
enters Narragansett Bay, and a law excluding Catholics from
civil rights is repealed ! French troops are at Philadelphia, and
Congress goes to Mass I Necessity compelled this adaptation of
the outer appearance, and, perhaps, to some extent, calmed the
rampant prejudice of former days. With a Catholic ally, the
government could not denounce Catholicity. In the constitution
adopted, it washed its hands of the matter, and Congress refused
to assume, as one of its powers, a right to enter the sphere of re-
ligion. It was left to the several States to have any religion or
none but the general government, the only medium of commu-
nication with foreign States, could always profess its tolerance,
even though twelve of the thirteen should proscribe the faith of
Columbus."

In 1*784, at the time of Father John Carroll's visit to Philadel-
phia, Pennsylvania probably numbered seven thousand Catholics,
and this is the estimate given by the Superior to Cardinal Anto-
nelli in the following year. In a letter dated July 22, 1*788, and
addressed to some citizens of Philadelphia, Father Carroll ex-
pressed his opinion that an episcopal See would soon be required
for the United States, and that Philadelphia would be the favored
city : " I have eveiy reason to believe that a bishop will be granted
to us in a few months, and it is more than probable that Phila-
delphia will be the episcopal See." This conjecture was probably
based on the fact that Congress then held its sessions in that city,
and that Philadelphia was considered as the capital of the United
States ; but, as we have elsewhere seen, the clergy summoned to
deliberate on the choice of the episcopal city, gave the preference
to Baltimore. Himself created bishop in 1*790, Dr. Carroll gov-
erned Philadelphia by a Vicar-general, Father Francis Anthony
Fleming, an -able controvertist, who was succeeded in his import-

220

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ant post by Father Leonard Neale. Father Fleming was one of
the first of the Catholic clergy to defend the Catholic cause when
assailed. In 1782, Mr. Miers Fisher, a member of the Assembly,
having remarked in a discussion that lotteries were like the Pope's
indulgences, " forgiving and permitting sins to raise money," Mr.
Fleming called attention to it as unworthy of a man of standing ;
and the member, with a degree of courtesy rare in our days,
apologized for any unintentional offence which he might have
given the Catholic body ; but a new assailant having come for-
ward with the oft-repeated tale of the Pope's chancery. Father
Fleming replied by citing an equally authentic Protestant tariff,
in which the crime of " inventing any lies, however abominable
or ati'ocious, to blacken the Papists," is forgiven for the moderate
sum of one penny ; and " setting fire to a popish church," two
pence; which has since proved a higher rate than the witty
Father set down. The anonymous assailant renewed the attack,
and unable to produce any evidence in favor of the pretended
list, attempted to raise new issues, charging Catholics with idola-
try, persecution, etc. ; but Father Fleming held him to his asser-
tion, and after refuting that, disposed of his other charges,
completely silencing the accuser. To remove prejudice still
more, he published the letters in book form, for wider and perma-
nent circulation. In reply to the charge of persecution and in-
tolerance, he cited the penal laws of England, Ireland, and
Scotland, and adds: "But the greatest wonder of all ^.amains to
be mentioned. Tell it not in Gath — publish it not in the streets
of Askalon — lest the bigots rejoice and the daughters of popery
triumph. At the close of the eighteenth century, among the en-
lightened, talented, and liberal Protestants of America, at the
very instant when the American soil was di'inking up the best
blood of Catholics, shed in defence of her freedom ; when the
Gallic flag was flying in her ports and the Gallic soldiers fighting
Her battles, then were constitutions framed in several States de-

IN THE UNITED STATES.

221

grading those very Catholics, and excluding them ».. ^m certain
offices. O shame, where is thy blush I gratitude ! if thou
hast a tear, let it fall to deplore this indelible stigma !"

Father Fleming and Father Gressel, his companion, gave a
still better proof of the claims of Catholicity in the yellow fever
which desolated Philadelphia in 1*793.* While that epidemic
was making its fearful ravages in that city, these two Catholic
priests, as usual, braved the disease, and devoted themselves to the
care and consolation of the sick and dying, and both laid down
their lives in the discharge of their duties — true martyrs of charity .f

In 1*790 the faithful at Philadelphia beheld the arrival among
them of Dr. Matthew Carr, a Hemiit of St. Augustine, belonging
to one of the oldest religious orders in Christianity, and a com-
munity of which has for the last sixty-five years uninterruptedly
exercised the holy ministry in Pennsylvania. The Irish and
English Augustinians were erected into a distinct province, early
in the fifteenth century ; and other houses were very numerous
at the epoch of Henry VIII.'s religious rebellion. When the first
fury of the persecution had spent itself, the Augustinians who had

* From Wansey's Journal of an Excursion to the United States of Amer-
ica, Salisbury, 1796, we find that of fourteen hundred and ninety-seven
burials in Philadelphia, from August Ist, 1792, to August 1st, 1793, one hun-
dred and seventy-six were in St. Mary's, twenty-nine in Holy Trinity, and
one hundred and ninety-four in Pottersfield; and that in the following year,
that of the fever, out of four thousand nine hundred and ninety-two, three
hundred and sixty-seven were buried in St. Mary's, sixty-six in Holy Trinity,
and fifteen hundred and ninety-eight in Pottersfield.

t Father Lawrence Louis Gressel was born at Rumansfelden, in Bavaria,
August 18, 1758. During the six years which he spent in Philadelphia he was
distingiiished for piety, zeal, and mildness. Bishop Carroll had proposed him
at Rome as his coadjutor, and he would doubtless have been appointed but
for his premature death, which took place in October, 1793. The Rev. Fran-
cis Anthony Fleming was apparently a Father of the Society of Jesus, but
his name does not appear in Oliver's collection. His little work is entitled
" The Calumnies of Verus ; or. Catholics vindicated from certain old slan-
ders lately revived ; in a series of letters, published in different gazettes
at Philadelphia, collectod and revised by Verax, with the addition of a pre-
face and a few notes. Philadelphia: Johnson & Justice, 1792."

222

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not left Ireland rebuilt twelve houses on the ruins of their former
monastenes, and at the present time some forty of these religious
display their zeal in the first missions. In England the White
Friars have not reappeared since the formation of the Church by
law established. Those in Ireland long sent their novices to the
convents of France and Italy, to receive the solid and extended
instruction which the misery of the times prevented their receiv-
ing at home ; thus Dr. Carr was brought up in the Augnstinian
colleges of Paris and Bordeaux. He was afterwards for several
years attached to a church of his order in Dublin, but in 1*790
came to Philadelphia, and built St. Augustine's Church, which
was opened to worship and solemnly dedicated in 1800. Doctor
Carr was successively assisted in the ministry by the Augastinians,
Rossiter, Staunton, Larissey, and Hurley. He died in 1819, and
his successor, as Superior, was the Rev. Dr. Hurley, who died in
1837. Since then the Commissary-general in the United States
of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine h.is been the Very Rev.
P. E. Moriarty. Besides their church in / niladelphia, the Au-
gustinians serve the parish churches of St. Dennis at Haverford,
St. Charles at Kellyville, St. Mary's at Chestnut Hill, and St.
Nicholas of Tolentino at Atlantic City, the last-named place being
in the diocese of Newark. They have also founded the monas-
tery and flourishing college of Villanova, where young men re-
ceive a finished and Catholic education.*

* We are indebted for these details to the kindness of the Very Rev.
Father Moriarty, to whom we express our acknowledgment. St. Augustine
founded the Order of Hermits, in Africa, in 888, and gave them a rule.
They were dispersed by the Vandals in 428, and some took refuge in Sar-
dinia, Naples, and Languedoc, where they founded monasteries. St.
Patrick, who had embraced the rule in Tuscany, before his consecration,
introduced it into Ireland, where Auguatinian communities became very
numerous. Till 1256 they had no common centre, but at that time Pope
Alexander IV. united them all, and gave them a constitution. The first
General was Lanfranc Septala, and since then the Prior-general has always
resided at Rome. The Ursulines, Hospital Nuns, and many congregationa
of Sisters, also followed the rule of St. Augustine.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

223

At the outset of this century, the Pennsylvania mission re-
ceived a precious reinforcement in the person of the Rev. Adolphus
Louis de Barth, who was appointed to the mission of Lancaster,
and there displayed the most admirable zeal.* In 1802 he had
as assistant the Rev. Michael Egan, an Irish Franciscan of the
Strict Observance, who had recently arrived in the United States,
and both, in their poverty as missionaries, found aid and assist-
ance in a generous Catholic, Mr. John Risdal, whose hand was
ever open in the cause of religion. A letter from Father Egan
to Bishop Carroll, dated Lancaster, February 10, 1803, speaks of
this zealous gentleman, and Father Achille Guid6e, in his bio-
graphical notice of Father De Clorivi^re, says that that celebrated
Jesuit, while cur6 near St. Malo, in Brittany, from 1780 to 1790,
converted several Protestants to the Catholic religion, and among
others, Mr. John Risdal. " The return of this gentleman to the
true faith was a precious conquest for religion, to which he ren-
dered important service, especially in Lancaster and Philadelphia,
in the United States."f

By an apostolic rescript, of September 29, 1804, Father Michael
iCgan had been authorized to found a province of his Order in the
United States, but his project had no success. The young Fran-
ciscan was then appointed to St. Mary's Church, Philadelphia,
and there won the confidence of Bishop Carroll. The Bishop of
Baltimore beheld his administration embarrassed at Philadelphia
by the most painful difficulties. He had to resist the pretensions

* Adolph Louis de Barth was born at Munster in 1774, studied at Bellay,
and entered the seminary of Strasburg. He was scarcely ordained when the
Revolution drove him from France, and even from Munster, whence he re-
paired to America. He was at first employed in Maryland, but was soon
sent to Lancaster. He was Vicar-general and administrator from 1814 to
1820, then pastor of Conewago, and in 1828, rector of St. John's, Baltimore.
In 1888 his infirmities and years compelled him to retire to Georgetown
College, where he died piously, in October, 1844.

t Guidee, Vie du P. Joseph Varin et de quelques autres Pdres Jemites.
Paris, 1854, p. 250.

224

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of the trustees of the Gerraan Church of the Holy Trinity, who
claimed the right of patronage, and who fomented a schism in
which they were encouraged by two interdicted priests. At last,
after five years' rebellion, the trustees submitted to the episcopal
authority in 1802. In the month of December, 1800, Bishop
Carroll addressed Cardinal di Fietro, insisting on the necessity of
founding four new Sees — Philadelphia, New York, Boston, and
Bardstown. Pius VII. decreed this foundation by his brief of
April 8, 1809, and appointed Father Michael Egan Bishop o
Philadelphia ; but we have already told by what a train of acci-
dents and misfortunes the bulls of institution were prevented from
reaching Baltimore till September, 1810.

CHAPTER XV.

DIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA — (1810-1884).

The Bt Bev. Micbnel EgAn, first bishop— Very Bev. Louis de Earth, administrator—
Et Bev. Henry Couwell, second bishop — Schism of St Mary's Cimrch— Very Bev.
William Mathews, administrator — Bt Bev. Francis P. Kenrlck, coadjutor, then third
bishop— Beligious condition of the diocese in 1884

The Rt. Rev. Michael Egan was consecrated October 28th,
1810, in St. Peter's Cathedral, Baltimore. Archbishop Carroll
officiated on that occasion, assisted by his coadjutor, Bishop
Neale, and Father William Vincent Harold, of the Order of St.
Dominic, preached the usual serinon. The new prelate had been
recommended for this See to the Congregation of the Propa-
ganda, and was selected by Archbishop Carroll "as a truly- pious
and learned religious, remarkable for his great humility, but
deficient, perhaps, in firmness, and without great experience in the

IN THE UNITKU STATES.

'225

direction of affaire." For these reasons the name of Father Egan
was only becond on the list sent to Cardinal di Pietro, although
at the close of the letter, the prelate declared that ho preferred
him to the others. And Archbishop Carroll expressed himself
still more oategorically in a letter of June 17, 1807, where he
said of Father Egan : " He is a man of about fifty, who seems
endowed with all the qualities to discharge with perfection the
functions of the episcopacy, except that he lacks robust health,
greater experience, and a greater degree of firmness in his dispo-
sition. He is a learned, modest, humble priest, who maintains
the spirit of his Order in his whole conduct."*

Bishop Egan governed his diocese with zeal and piety ; but,
according to the prognostic of Archbishop Carroll, he was defi-
cient in necessary firmness, as he showed in a very serious con-
troversy with the trustees of St. Mary's Church, his cathedral.
These trustees thus preluded the deplorable schism which, at a
later date, was to desolate the diocese. The ground on which
this church is built had been granted to Father Robert Harding,
in 1763, under the express condition of erecting there a chapel,
which he, in fact, did. The church was successively transferred
by will from Father Harding to the Rev. John Lewis, and by the
latter to Father Molyneux, and finally to Father Francis Neale.
At last, by an Act of the Legislature of Pennsylvania (passed
Sept 13, 1788), a body of trustees was recognized as a body
politic, and incorporated to administer the finances of the church.

In 1810 it became necessary to enlarge the edifice, and these
new erections gave rise to conflicts of authority with the bishop,
at the same time that the trustees set up claims to be consulted
in the choice of their pastors, and unfortunately. Father Harold
and his uncle arrayed themselves in a measure against the bishop.
This was the more to be regretted, as the younger Harold,

* Archives of the Archbishop of Baltimore.
10*

226

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though a man of eminent qualities and striking defects, was full
of real eloquence and virtue, but marred his transcendent merit
by the asperity of his temper.

In spite of these troubles, which shortened his days, Bishop
Egan took a lively interest in the foundation of a colony of the
Sisters ot Charity at Philadelphia, to take care of an orphan
asylum. In 1797 a charitable association had been organized in
the city to harbor orphans whose parents had been carried off by
the yellow fever. These poor children were confided to a pious
lady, and lodged in a house near the Church of the Holy Trinity;
but, from the very first, resources were precarious, and the asylum
was maintained only by the persevering efforts of Father Michael
Hurley, pastor of St. Augustine's in 1807, and by the generous aid
of a layman, Mr. Cornelius Thiers. It needed a religious institute
to undertake the direction of this asylum, and the trustees of the
Holy Trinity resolved, in 1814, to ask Sisters of Charity from
Emmetsburg. It was the first colony sent by Mother Seton from
her rising community, and the holy foundress welcomed this
opening with joy. Three Sisters were appointed, with Sister Rose
White as Superior,* and arrived at Philadelphia, September 29,
1814. They took possession of the asylum, which contained
thirteen children, in rags, groaning under the weight of a debt of
four thousand dollars. Their early efforts were crossed by trials,
but three years after they had paid the debt, and the orphan
asylum now contains a hundred children, while the boys, to the
number of one hundred and six, occupy another asylum, under
the charge of the Sisters of St. Joseph.

* Sister Rose White was a pious widow, born in Maryland, in 1784, and
was one of the first to join Mother Seton to found in America tlie Order of
Sisters of Charity. On the death of the foundress, Sister Rose was elected
Superior-general, and was re-elected by her Society as often as the constitu-
tion permitted, thus receiving a proof of their confidence in her wisdom,
virtue, and aptitude for government. She died in Maryland, July 2Bth,
1841.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

227

Bishop Egan did not live long enough to see his diocese
adorned by the presence of the Sisters of Charity. He expired
on the 22d of July, 1814, and on his death, the Very Rev. Louis
de Barth was appointed administrator of the diocese. In the
month of January, 1815, Archbishop Carroll wrote to Rome to
ask that the vacancy should be filled, and renewed his request in
the month of July. The Rev. Ambrose Marechal was nominated
Bishop of Philadelphia, but he refused the See, and the Court of
Rome did not insist, because it wished to call him then to the
more important post of Coadjutor of Baltimore.

The Rev. John Baptist David, afterwards Coadjutor of Louis-
ville, was also proposed at Rome for the See of Philadelphia, but
he hastened to write to the Propaganda, to beg them not to think
of him. The ability with which the Rev. Mr. De Barth adminis-
tered the diocese, next pointed him out for the episcopacy ; but
such an honor disconcerted his modesty ; he twice successively
refused the See, and once sent back to Rome the bulls of in-
vestiture. Every one shrunk from a burden rendered particularly
heavy by the spirit of independence and revolt which fomented
among the bodies of trustees. At last, in 1830, the Very Rev.
Henry Con well. Vicar-general of the diocese of Armagh, in Ireland,
accepted the post, ignorant, doubtless, of its many difficultiesr
He was consecrated in London, by Bishop Poynter. He was
then seventy-three years old, and immediately embarked for the
United States, where the bitterest trials and c^res awaited him.
The long schism of St. Mary's Church, Philadelphia, has been a
long scandal to religion, but it is our duty to relate briefly the
sad story, in order to serve as a lesson to imprudent laymen, who
believe that they show zeal in exceeding theii: duty and invading
that of the clergy and episcopate.

In 1818 or 1819, William Hogan, a young priest of inferior
education but good natural parts, who had beea dismissed from
Maynooth for a breach of discipline, left the diocese of Limerick

228

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

and embarked for New York. He was first employed on the
ministry at Albany, but left that city, against the wish of Dr. Con-
nolly, then Bishop of New York, and was temporarily installed by
the Rev. Mr. De Barth, administrator of the diocese of Philadelphia,
as temporary pastor at St. Mary's. At the close of the year 1820,
Bishop Conwell took possession of his See, and having had reason
to suspect Mr. Hogan's conduct in Ireland, on his passage, at
Albany and Philadelphia, he withdrew his faculties on the 20th
of Pecember, 1820. Hogan continued to officiate at St. Mary's,
in spite of the censures of his bishop, and the refusal of the
Archbishop of Baltimore to entertain his appeal. Bishop Con-
well accordingly excommunicated Hogan on the 11th of Febru-
ary, 1821, and in the course of the spring, appointed as pastor,
the Rev. James Cummiskey, associating with him the Rev.
Thomas Hayden, whom he had ordained on the 1st of May.
The bishop and his clergy occupied the church for some months,
though very much annoyed by Hogan and his party, who threat-
ened to take possession of St. Mary's, and finally did so in the
summer of 1821.

In August, Bishop England, of Charleston, stopped in Phila-
delphia on his way to New York, and though he did not wait on
Bishop Conwell, was soon found to be much prejudiced against
the latter. While at New York he was visited by Hogan, and
wrote to Bishop Conwell, offering his mediation ; and so deluded
was he by the rebellious priest and his party, that he concluded
his letter by saying : " I pledge myself to you, and I would not
do so thoughtlessly, that if you grant what I ask, you will uphold
and preserve religion ; but should you refuse it, you will be the
cause of its destruction."

Bishop Conwell by no means approved the steps taken by the
Bishop of Charleston, and peremptorily declined his mediation.
However, when Bishop England, in returning to his See, stopped
at Phil.'Klelphia in October, the bishop was induced to yield to

IN THE UNITED STATES.

229

his request ; and Bishop England, having promised Mr. Hogan a
mission in his own diocese, obtained powers from Bishop Conwell
to absolve him on a proper submission. Hogan readily promised
all that was required, and Bishop England absolved him on the
18th of October, 1821 ; but the very next day, Hogan, hearken-
ing to the fatal advice of the trustees, retracted, again said Mass
at St. Mary's, and resumed his functions as pastor. Bishop Eng-
land, who had believed so implicitly in Hogan's good faith, saw
all his plans thus defeated, and so far from being able to carry
out his promise, was in turn obliged to re-excommunicate the
wretched Hogan.

This was not the only eflfort to restore peace. Several friends
of the bishop, admirers of the Dominican Father, William V.
Harold, once stationed at Philadelphia, prevailed upon Bishop
Conwell ♦o invite him to return, fully persuaded that Hogan would
be at once abandoned. Father Harold was then Prior of a house
of his Order in Lisbon, and joyfully accepted the offer of a pastor-
ship of a church to which he was so much attached as St. Mary's,
but informed the bishop that it would be necessary for the latter
to write to Rome in order to obtain the acceptance of his resigna-
tion as Prior. Meanwhile, Bishop Conwell, to his great chagrin,
learaed that Father Harold and his uncle, Father William Harold,
Lad been the leaders of the opposition to his predecessor, and
that the uncle had first stirred up the trustees of St. Maiy's to
revolt against their bishop, actually circulating anonymous printed
appeals. Bishop Conwell now retracted the invitation to the
nephew, but Father William V. Harold, having resigned his
priorship, was already on his way, and on the 2d of December,
1821, landed in Philadelphia, to the great joy of all his friends.
The Bishop received him coldly, but installed him at St. Joseph's,
and made him his secretary. Father Harold did not, however,
succeed at all in weaning the schismatics from Hogan.

The majority of the Catholics were far from approving the con-

230

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

duct of the trustees. Most of them now deserted the interdicted
church, and followed the bishop, who had withdrawn to St. Jo-
seph's. The two parties became • more and more exasperated;
the orthodox hoped to defeat the schismatics by electing a new
Board of Trustees, but those in office managed to secure a re-
election by multiplying the number of seats in the church, and
letting them to their creatures. Now, as every male occupant of
a seat was an elector, whether Jew or infidel, the majority was
thus secured for the revolt. The election took place in the church
on Easter-day, 1822, and a battle ensued in the sanctuary:
the disorder was frightful ; blood was shed, and the schismatics
triumphed, preserving Hogan as pastor.

At the close of the same year, the Archbishop of Baltimore
returned from Rome to the United States, bringing a Papal brief
of August 2, 1822, which solemnly condemned the schismatics of
St. Mary's. Mr. Hogan promised to submit, and a long corre-
spondence ensued between him and the Rev. William V. Harold,
the bishop's secretary. In this, bad faith is everywhere evident
in Hogan's language. Nevertheless, he made his submission on
the 10th of December, 1822, and the same day received from
Bishop Conwell his exeat and the removal of the censures in-
curred ; but on the 14th of the same month, the unhappy priest,
circumvented by the trustees, relapsed into his error ; he objected
that the authenticity of the Pontifical brief had not been shown,
and continued to oflSciate and preach at St Mary's. The guilty
priest published the most violent pamphlets against his diocesan
and against Bishop England, whojja he sought to compromise ;
but he soon tired of functions which he rebelliously exercised,
and which were a check to his passions. He left Philadelphia,
went south, married, re-married, became a custom-house ofiicer at
Boston, went into the pay of the bitterest enemies of Catholicity,
ever disposed to foment scandal; and successively published
against the Chiu*ch three infamous books, recently reprinted at

IN THE UNITED STATES.

231

Hartford to stimulate the Know-Nothing movement.* At last,
while the tutor of Leahy, a pretended Trappist monk, and an ob-
scene reviler of Catholic truth, he died of the palsy in 185!I or
1852, without giving any sign of repentance — a frightful example
of the pernicious influence of the trustee system which Protes-
tantism tries to force on the Catholics. Hogan had committed
faults at first ; but he repeatedly showed repentance and a wish
to submit. The perfidious counsels of revolted laymen, the false
glory of being loved and flattered by a part of his parishioners,
retained him in sin, and hurried him on from lapse to lapse ; and
the unworthy trustees of St. Mary's remain responsible before God
for no small part of the crimes of the unhappy priest, whom they
seduced from the path of duty.

The trustees, deprived of their chosen pastor, wished to re-
place him worthily, and applied at first to the celebrated Angelo
Inglesi, whose adventures will figure in another part of this his-
tory ; but the lax manners of this gentleman alarmed even the
unscrupulous consciences of the schismatico of St. Mary's, and
they named in his place the Rev. Thaddeus O'Meally, of the dio-
cese of Limerick. This clergyman rejected all proposals made
by Bishop Conwell, and set out for Rome with the accusations
of the trustees against the Bishop ; b t he listened to the voice
of conscience, and submitting at Rome, >n the 25th of July, 1825,
retired to a convent to do penance for his fault. Meanwhile,
the Bishop of Philadelphia, having drunk the cup of bitterness,
weakened by six years' strife, insult, and contempt, at last agreed
to an arrangement in which he thought he guaranteed the im-
prescriptible rights of the Church. On the 9th of October,
1826, a treaty of peace was signed between Bishop Conwell and
the trustees, by the fourth article of which the bishop acknowl-

* Popery as it Was and Is : by William Hogan. Hartford : Andrus. Nun-
ucries and Auricular Confession : by William Hogan. Hartford : Andrus.

232

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

edges in the latter a right to recommend suitable persons to be
pastors of St. Mary's, on the following conditions :

The bishop shall name the priests and notify the trustees. If
the latter do not find them to be properly qualified to be pastor
or assistant, they shall present their objections to the bishop. It*
the bishop persists, he shall name a committee of three ecclesi-
astics, of which he shall form one, to deliberate with a commit-
tee of three trustees ; and the vote of this committee shall be
respected by the bishop. If they are equally divided, two arbi-
trators shall be chosen, and their vote shall decide.

In spite of the satisfaction which this treaty gave their pre-
tensions, the trustees followed it up by a protest which they pre-
sented to the bishop, and which the latter accepted. By this,
they declared that they meant in no respect to abandon their
rights, and that they will claim at Rome, that in future no bishop
shall be named without the recommendation and approbation of
the Catholic clergy of the diocese.

By a letter of October 11, 1826, Bishop Conwell proclaimed
an amnesty, raised the interdict on the church, and then, with
the concurrence of the trustees, appointed as pastors the Rev.
William V. Harold and the Rev. Thomas Hayden. But this
fatal compromise was a bar to the real good of St. Mary's. Be-
fore long the Rev. Father Harold, the Dominican, during twenty
years esteemed for his zeal and eloquence, came into collision
with the bishop in regard to it, and by his impetuous character
was hurried into open disrespect, even into contempt, for Bishop
Conwell. Meanwhile, the Propaganda, at the tidings of a de-
plorable compromise that left revolt triumphant, had seriously
taken the matter up, and in a general assembly of cardinals, on
the 30th of April, 1827, declared the agreement of October 9th
null and void, as an infringement on the ecclesiastical authority.
The bishop submitted to the decree, in which it was solemnly
said, that " Peter had spoken by the mouth of Leo ;" and by a

■•)T'

m THE UNITED STATES.

233

pastoral of July 22, 182*7, he proclaimed the abrogation of the
agreement as condemned. But the courageous self-denial of the
prelate was not imitated at St. Mary's, where the zealous Rev.
Thomas Hayden, who had reluctantly accepted the post, had
been, to his great joy, succeeded by the Dominican, Father
Ryan. To put an end to the scandals. Cardinal Capellari, on
the 9th of March, 1828, wrote to the Rev. William Mathews,
pastor in Washington, acquainting him with a decision which
named him Administrator of the diocese of Philadelphia, and
requesting him to ransmit to Bishop Conwell a letter which in-
vited him to Rome, and letters from the Visitor-general of the
Dominicans to Fathers Harold and Ryan, ordering them to leave
Philadelphia and proceed to a convent of their order in Ohio.

The unfortunate Bishop of Philadelphia immediately set out
for Rome, and remained there several months ; but suddenly,
fearing that he might not be permitted to return to his diocese,
he precipitately left the Eternal City, and returned to America.
However, the United States Consul at Rome wrote, on the 8th
of May, 1829, to the Secretary of State at Washington, that his
fear was groundless, that the Propaganda had offered no oppo-
sition to Bishop Conwell's departure, and that his passports had
been signed without any hesitation.* The Rev. William Mathews
preserved the post of Apostolic Administrator till 1830 ;f but he
would not consent any longer to bear so heavy a burden, and at

* Bishop England's Works, v. 229.

t The Eev. "William Mathews, born in Charles county, Maryland, in 1770,
m vdo his classical course at St. Omers, and his divinity at the Sulpitian
Seminary, Baltimore. Ordained March, 1800. He was the seventh ecclesi-
astic promoted to the priesthood in the United States, and the first native
ordained in the country. He died on the 80th April, 1854, universally
revered as a patriarch, having filled the priesthood fifty-four years, and
been pastor of St. Patrick's in Washington for over half a century. His
temporary functions as Administrator of the diocese of Philadelpliia drew
him for a time from his church, but ho returned to it as soon as he was
able to resign the diocese into the hands of Bishop Kenrick.

b y ' '

234

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

the suggestion of the Council of Baltimore, in 1829, with the con-
sent of Bishop Conwell, the Right Rev. Francis Patrick Kenrick
was elected by the Holy See Coadjutor of Philadelphia, with
powers of administrator. The consecration of this prelate took
place at Bardstown in June, 1820, and was celebrated by Bishop
Flaget.

The two Dominican Fathers, stationed at St. Mary's, did not
display the same obedience as their prelate. But of all con-
duct open to them, they took what was most eccentric and ab-
surd. This was to complain to the government, at Washington,
and ask its protection against the Pope, accusing the Court of
Rome with violating their individual liberty as American citi-
zens, by ordering them to go to Cincinnati, when their taste in-
duced them to prefer Philadelphia as a residence. Henry Clay,
then Secretary of State, was simple enough to listen to the com-
plaints of the Fathers, and by his letter of July 9, 1828, instruct-
ed the American minister at Paris to see the Nuncio and seek
justice for his proteges. The polite reply of the pontifical envoy
probably convinced Clay that he had plunged into an element
not his own, for he immediately wrote to the minister at Paris
to drop the matter.

On their side, the two Fathers, doubtless, saw that if they chose
to throw off the character of Religious and Catholics, the Order
would have no power over them, ar.d they might in liberty enjoy
all civil and political rights as ^.merican citizens ; but that, as
long as they remained Dominicans, they were bound in con-
science to submit to their superiors and the Holy See. In 1829,
they returned separately to Ireland, where Father John Ryan
died some years since, having repaired passing errors of judg-
ment by a long and exemplary career. Father Harold, after be-
ing Provincial of his Order in Ireland, and long revered as a
holy and zealous priest, has expired while this work is passing
through the press.

the con-

Kenrick

hia, with

ilate took

>y Bishop

did not

all con-

3 and ab-

ishingtoD,

J Court of

rican citi-

r taste in-

enry Clay,

the com-

8, instruct-

[> and seek

Ifical envoy

an element

ter at Paris

' they chose
I, the Order
berty enjoy
but that, as
ind in con-
3. In 1829,
John Ryan
)i8 of judg-
Id, after be-
Bvered as a
c is passing

IN THE UNITED STATES.

235

The great prudence, and the firm yet paternal detei-mination
of Bishop Kenrick, restored peace to St. Mary's. Difficulties
again arose in 1831 ; an^ tnis is no wonder, for the very vice of
American legislation is by the trustee system forced into the
affairs of the Church. They say in France, that the republican
form of government would be a very good one for angels. We
may say the same of trusteeism : as it exists in the United
States, it would be the best temporal administration for saints.
Unfortunately, however, all the laity are not saints, as we see in
the many schisms the system has caused, and especially that of
St. Mary's, the most celebrated and scandalous of all. The
Right Rev. Henry Conwell lived in retirement at Philadelphia
till April 21, 1842, when he expired, at the age of ninety-four.
Overwhelmed with infirmities and struck with blindness, the
prelate supported with courageous resignation the fearful burden
of a long old age, in the midst of the difficulties which have as-
sailed him. Bishop England says : " The bishop has been the
greatest sufferer in his feelings, in his income, and under God,
he may thank his virtue alone that he has not been in his char-
acter. That, however, has been but burnished in the collision :
were he a hypocrite, the thin washing would have long since
been rubbed away, for, indeed, the applications have been roughly
used. What do the Catholics of Philadelphia desire, better than
a bishop whose character will outlive the test of four years' as-
sailing such as he has met with, and whose firmness for the pres-
ervation of principle has been tested as his has been ? These
are qualities not to be every day or easily found."*

By the death of Bishop Conwell the Rt. Rev. Dr. Kenrick be-
came titular bishop of the diocese of which he had been for
upwards of twelve years the administrator. This prelate, now at

* Bishop England's Works, v. 198. Our account of the schism is based
chiefly on the voluminous documents published in this volume, and extend-
ing from page 109 to 282.

286

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

the head of the American hierarchy, was bom in Dublin, on the
8d of December, 1797, and studied divinity at Rome. Having
devoted himself to the American missions in 1821, the Rev. Mr.
Kenrick was first employed in Kentucky, and won the esteem
and regard of Bishop Flaget. That patriarch of the West often
speaks in his correspondence of the young Irish priest, describing
him " as remarkable for his piety, extensive acquirements, the
quickness of his mind, and the natural eloquence with which he
expressed himself." The jubilee which was celebrated in Ken-
tucky in 1826 and 1827, gave a wide field to the zeal and talents
of Mr. Kenrick. He attended Bishcp Flaget in the pastoral visi-
tation of his vast diocese, everywhere preaching with success in
edification and conversions; and at Bardstown he gave public
conferences on religion, answering the objections of Protestant
ministers, and often effectually silencing them. Bishop Flaget's
attachment to his you ag friend was so great that the news of the
Rev. Mr. Kenrick's nomination as Coadjutor of Philadelphia
caused the venerable bishop deep grief, and the separation was
extremely painful to both. Bishop Flaget received the bulls from
Rome on the Ist of May, 1830, but it was not till twenty-four
hours after that he had the courage to hand them to Mr. Kenrick,
80 difficult had it been for him to resign himself to the loss of
one of the most brilliant ornaments of the clergy of his diocese.
This tender affection of Bishop Flaget is too honorable to the
learned Bishop of Philadelphia for us to omit it here.

Of this period of Bishop Kenrick's life we find an incident
worth noting, in a work by an Italian missionary.

"He was then (1820) Professor of Theology at the Seminary
of Bardstown. The missfionary having attended some of his lec-
tures, was not a little surprised at the ease and clearness with
which he developed the sacred scenes to the young levites.
Under the precious mantle of humanity the Rev. Mr. Kenrick
then concealed those superior virtues with which God had en-

tl
tl

.'/

IN THE UNITED STATES.

237

dowed him. Let me here tell, to the honor of the priesthood and
the confusion of modem philanthropists, that the missionary hav-
ing one evening entered the Professor's little room, had the con-
soling surprise to find the bed occupied by a sick beggar. We
do not know by what accident the unfortunate man obtained
such a privilege, but the fact is, that with the Professor's permis-
sion he occupied his bed. Such an example of tender charity
excited in the spectator a strong desire to imitate it."*

In the Annals of the Propagation of the Faith we find a letter
of Bishop Kenrick, dated January 4, 1834, and it contains inter-
esting details as to the state of religion in the diocese. The pre-
late then estimated the Catholic population of his diocese at one
hundred thousand, chiefly Germans and Irish. " But the French,"
he added, " are also numerous, especially at Philadelphia." The
presence of three French priests — Messrs. Fouthouze and Guth,
and Father Dubuisson, of the Society of Jesus — gave them eveiy
opportunity of preaching their religion. One of these often
preached in their language at the German church of St. Mary,
and sometimes also at St. Mary's, the cathedral. In the interior
of Pennsylvania French families are found in several places.f A
notice on St. Mary's Church also says, that at the beginning of
the century, " among the families who pretty regularly attended
the church, were several French families of rank and even dis-
tinction ; and although death and the instability of human affairs
have diminished their numbers, and removed most of them, the
descendants of some of these families are still parishioners of St.
Mary's."

In 1834, Philadelphia contained twenty-five thousand Catho-
lics and five churches, each attended by two priests. At Easter,
1833, the Jesuits had resumed possession of St. Joseph's Church,

* Memorie istoriche ed ediflcante di un missionario apostolico dell ordine
del predicatori Melano, 1844, p. 25.
t Annales do la Propagation de la Foi, viii. 212-220.

238

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

the old residence of the first missionaries of the Society of Penn-
sylvania, and the previous year the Rev. John Hughes had built
St. John's Church, aided by the generosity of the public, and
especially that of a French gentlenaan, Mr. M. A. Frenaye, who
pledged his property to encourage the contractors and prevent
the work from stopping.* In the interior of the diocese the
faithful were less provided with religious aid, in consequence of
the small number of missionaries, and the only parishes possess-
ing fixed pastors who celebrated Mass every Sunday, were Pitts-
burg, Conewago, Loretto, Manayunk, and Wilmington. Among
the missions, some enjoyed the presence of the pastors three times
a month, such as Haycock, Pottsville, Lancaster, Bedford, and
Chambersbm-g ; others, only once a fortnight; others again,
but once a month ; and some more rarely still, as the wants of
other missions allowed the priests time to visit them. Browns-
ville, Carbondale, Silver Lake, New Castle, Butler, were in this
situation, although churches were built in all. " The missiona-
ries," wrote Bishop Kenrick, " are charged with the care of two,
three, or four missions, or even more, often at considerable dis-
tances from each other. Some of these missions need the gift of
tongues and a health of iron. Nine nations have supplied our
missionaries, so that there is more diversity among them than
among the faithful even, as regards language. Four of the priests
aie French, three Germans, two Belgians, and twenty-one Irish.
Russia, Livonia, Portugal, and England have each given one mis-
sionary to Pennsylvania. As to Americans bom, we count only

* Mr. M. A. Frenaye, born in St. Domingo, and educated in France, re-
turned to his native islo with General Le Clerc's expedition, and he endejiv-
ored to remain after the departure of that army. Seized by the negroes, he
escaped death almost miraculously, and took refuge first in Jamaica and
next in the United States. Having realized an honorable fortune in trade,
he bestowed it on the diocese of Philadelphia, and for the last twenty years
devoted himself to works of charity and the affairs of the Church. May his
noble old age be long prolonged for the good of religion.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

239

three now employed in the diocese, and two at Emmetsburg.
The number would increase if wo had a suitable seminary to re-
ceive tJio young men who desire to devote themselves to the holy
ministry, and this is the object of my most sincere desire.

" At Conewago, in the part of Pennsylvania which borders on
Maryland, the Fathers of the Society of Jesus have one establish-
ment amid a considerable Catholic population. The zeal of these
Fathera extends to the neighboring population, and they have
three churches besides that where they reside, and which was
built in 178*7. Nearly twelve hundred were confinned in these
three churches at my last visit.

" The church of Goshenhoppen also belongs to the Jesuits, and
must have been built in 1*765. The Catholic population of the
neighborhood is very numerous, and almost all of German origin;
hence the present generation, although American born, does not
generally speak English. The spirit of faith and piety has been
preserved and maintained till now by the zeal of Father Corvin
(Krokowski), a Livonian Jesuit."* Such was the state of religio.i
in the diocese of Philadelphia in 1834, and we mo now to see
what progrc^ ae Church, in spite of all its trials, has made in
the last twnry years.

* Father Boniface Corvin was present at the synod in Philadelphia in
1832, sind is described by tha Rev. Mr. Ilaydeu as being then a venerable
old man, and second on the list of priests that signed— the Rev. Patrick
Kenny being the first •' juxta ordinationis suae tempus." He died the lltli
of October, 188t, aged sixty years.

■-.■.«■ "/T.'i'.'^y^^'i'^l' ■ -■

240

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

CHAPTER XVI.

-, DIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA — (1888-1844).

Commencement and progress of the anti-GathoIio agitation— Yarions manoenvres of the
fanatics— The Native party— The Philadelphia riots.

Bishop Kenrick's episcopate was not distinguished only by
the admirable development given in his diocese in Catholic insti-
tutions, by the construction of numerous churches, and the re-
markable increase of the clergy; the celebrated prelate had
also to exercise his zeal in rebuilding the shrines which a misled
people laid in ashes, and in preaching patience and religion to his
flock, while he endeavored to protect them against the fanaticism
of the vile multitude.

The anti-Catholic agitation breaks out periodically in the
United States, and the symptoms of the malady are the same
from the colonial times down to our own. It is a sort of inter-
mittent fever, which has its deep-seated principle in the hereditary
hatred transmitted for three centuries to Protestant generations,
and inoculated by the incendiary writings of the first deformers.
At certain intervals, political quackery succeeds in temporarily
breaking the fever, andrthe good disposition given by Providence
to nations helps these intervals of passing calm. Man cannot be
kept in a state of constant fury against his fellow-man, especially
when the latter is inoffensive and innocent, and when the passions
are no longer excited by the leaders of the movement, natural be-
nevolence resumes its course. There are moments when apostles
of error stop from weariness, and others, when political reasons
make it prudent to wheedle Catholics by presenting toleration as

BteniwuiHiiinuii tminufci,,

IN THE UNITED STATES.

241

avres of the

only by
olic insti-
d the re-
jlate had

a misled
^on to his
'anaticism

in the
he same
of inter-
lereditary
Derations,
leformers.
mporarily
rovidence
cannot be
especially
e passions
latural be-
m apostles
al reasons
ieration as

a real reality and not a sham. And lastly, God wishes to give
his Church some days of repose amid the trials of the crucible, in
which the faithful are purified.

The ministers of the popular sects of Protestantism — the Pres-
byterians, Methodists, and Baptists — cannot bear to see their
flocks ravaged by infidelity. Interest and self-love induce them
to make every effort to retain around their pulpits the thousands
in whom unbridled examination and unguided judgment has de-
stroyed faith, and as the exposition of doctrine has no longer any
attraction for their heresy, they hope to keep them Protestants
by filling them with a hatred of Catholicity. The false pastors
then put their imagination on the rack to vary their calumnies
against our dogmas, and season them to the public taste. The
public mind must be always kept in suspense by dangling in its
eyes the bugbear of Homanism^ ready to glut itself with the blood
of honest Protestants. When a fact cannot be travestied or suo-
cessfully misrepresented, they invent without the slightest scruple
or fear of public exposure, a fact which in itself is a strange com-
mentary on a public community. This deplorable system can
be compared only to the manoeuvres of a Merry Andrew, an-
nouncing that he will exhibit in his tent a series of prodigies out-
doing each other in the marvellous; or else to the course of
famous novelists, stimulating the curiosity of their readers by
complications of intrigue and crime, on which they then weave
the web of mystery.

The period from 1834 to 1844 beheld this anti-Catholic agita-
tion extend through several dioceses, in a most frightful manner,
and at last result in Philadelphia in civil war. The leaders began
by reviving the stale calumnies as to the intolerance of Catholics,
and the game opened in a most curious way. The English ver-
sion of the New Testament used by Catholics was made originally
at the English college of Rheims, and first printed in 1582.
Although the text has undergone various recensions, and thd

"'>»|i

,'■-

242

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

notes of the Rhemish theologians have long been omitted and re-
placed by those of Bishop Challoner, the Testament still bears the
name of the Rhemish Testament, as tht whole sacred volume
does the title of Douay Bible. In this, the mere result of habit,
the leaders of the anti-Catholic movement thought that they had
discovered a great secret. Imagining, in their delusion, that the
old Rhemish Testament was still circulating among the Catholic
clergy, but carefully withheld from the laity, they resolved to re-
print it, and early in 1834 issued their edition of the Rhemish
Testament, a reprint of that of 1582, with the original notes,
described in the " introductory address" as " replete with impiety,
irreligion, and the mobt fiery persecution." This address bears
the endorsement of one hundred and thirty Protestant clergy-
men, many of them from Princeton, New Brunswick, and Yale ;
and its introductory matter will ever remain a monument of the
ignorance which then prevailed as to bibliography and ecclesias-
tical history. To give all their blunders would be an endless
task ; but to such as have never seen the curious volume, it may
be sufficient to state that in their wisdom they make the college
of Rheims a Jesuit house, when it was the very centre of the
English secular clergy, actually in warm controversy with the
Jesuits. They say that the Roman priests have denied the value
of the Douay and Rheims translation. They admit their igno-
rance of even the names of the translators ; they condemn them
(believe it, ye men of classic learning) for not translating tunic
by coat, and sandals by shoes ! They charge that expurgated
editions only have been allowed to appear since 1816, ignorant
of the fact that two Catholic editions, at least, were printed in
this country before that date. Alas for Princeton, New Bruns-
wick, and Yale ! This effort of one hundred and thirty minis-
ters was a complete failure. They had attempted too much, and
now turned with greater zest to a subject more pleasant and less
knotty — the old women's tales of convents, the pseudo horrors

^ ^a h fctoiiJ.Jeau ii'i f ' it ' -i

■M

IN THE UNITED STATES.

243

«d and re-
l bears the
ed volume
it of habit,
,t they had
n, that the
le Cathohc
Ived to re-
e Rhemish
;inal notes,
th impiety,
dress bears
ant clergy-
and Yale ;
nent of the
id ecclesias-
an endless
me, it may
the college
itro of the
with the
the value
their igno-
leran them
iting tunic
expurgated
6, ignorant
printed in
ew Bruns-
lirty minis-
much, and
nt and less
do horrors

committed there, the ideal tortures to which the nuns are sub-
jected when they endeavor to escape. For several months minis-
ters yelled from their pulpits these pretended descriptions of the
licentiousness of Catholic institutions. New England was the
propitious soif, and on the 11th of August, 1834, the popular
emotion reached a proper height. The mob of Boston and its
suburbs rushed upon the Ursuline Convent of Mount Benedict,
and destroyed it from top to bottom by fire and pillage, ransack-
ing even the graves of the dead. The court of pretended justice
might acquit the rioters ; the Legislature of Massachusetts might
refuse to allow any indemnity for the destruction it had permit-
ted ; but a committee of inquiry, formed by Protestant citizens,
undertook a minute investigation to appreciate the truth of the
ccusations against the Ursulines. Their report entirely excul-
pated the persecuted nuns, and showed the makers of discord that
they must seek new arms against Catholicity.

They sought then to justify their course, and an anonymous
committee published " Six Months in a Convent," a narrative of
pretended enormities ; the Lady Superior answered it trii n-
phantly, and the wits of Boston in travesties held up the reve-
rend forger>j to the public ridicule. They attempted indeed in
a supplemei.\t to regain the lost ground, but it was too late.*

Soon after these sad scenes, the Rev. Lyman Beecher, who had
urged the people of Boston to incendiarism and pillage,f visited

* See "Six Months in a Convent," by Kebecca Theresa Eeed. Boston,
1885. It was published to operate on the public mind at the time of the trial
of the rioters, in order to prejudice the public against the nuns, and 35,000
copies were sold in a few days.

The Superior's answer is entitled " An Answer to Six Months in a Con-
vent," by the Lady Superior. Boston, 1855.

See also " Chronicles of Mount Benedict," and *' Six Months in a House
of Correction." Boston, Mussey, 1835. An admirable satire ; and finally
*' Supplement to Six Months in a Convent," by the Committee of Publica-
tion. Boston, Russell, 1835.

t In proof of this see *' Protestant Jesuitism."

244

TE^ CATHOLIC CHURCH

the Western States, and there published a work in which he
represents the Catholics as leagued with the despots of Europe to
deptroy the liberties of America. Morse, whose name will be
ev' I associated with the telegraph, espoused the same idea with
all the fury of a partisan, and in his " Brutus, or a Foreign Con-
spiracy against the Liberties of the United States," sought to
excite a civil war.* But even this failed to excite the people.
Something new was needed to increase the religious irritation.
Then three ministers, the Rev. Messrs. Bourne, W. C. Brownlee,
and J. T. Slocum, took under their protection a prostitute of
Montreal, whom they transformed into a nun escaped from the
Hotel Dieu, or Hospital in that city. The distinguished publish-
ing house of Harper agreed to issue their inventions, and an
infamous book entitled "Awfal Disclosures of Maria Monk"
appeared, ostensibly published by Howe & Bates, and contain-
ing the pretended revelations of Maria. In this work, written
it would seem by a Mr. Timothy Dwight, the nuns of the Hotel
Dieu are accnsed of the most revolting crimes, such as stifling
ciiildren between mattresses, and putting to death novices who
refused to partake in their debauchery with the priests of the
seminary of Montreal. In vain the whole press of Canada,
Protestant as well as Catholic, unmasked the imposture in all its
details. The whole life of the heroine was traced from her
cradle to her illicit connection with a Rev. Mr. Hoyte, and her
departure with him from Montreal. It was proved that she
never was in the Hotel Dieu, eitl. as a nun or even as a ser-
vant ; on the contrary, that she had been sent away from a
Magdaltoe asylum, and that the descriptions in the book, totally
at variance with the Hotel Dieu, correspond with the Magda-
lene Asylum ; that the names of the pretended nuns are really

* Plea for the West, by Lyman Bcecher. Cincinnati. Brutus, or a
Foreign Conspiracy against the Liberties of the Dnitod States : by C. F. B.
Morse. Naw York, Leavitt, 1886.

'^ ■i i nu l ii i n.iU nimii iwii— »«<i»>ir

IN THE UNITED STATES.

245

those of her fellow-penitents within the asylum.* In spite of
all this refutation, the ministers and Protestant Association of
New York extended protection and influence to the vile instru-
ment of their religious hate. One alone protested : Colonel
Wm. L. Stone, Editor of the Commr/cial Advertiser^ at New
York, went with some other gentlemen to Montreal after
inviting Maria Monk and her friends to join them. There, book
in hand, they examined the Hotel Dieu, and were so completely
satisfied that Maria Monk had never been there, that on his
return Col. Stone published a withering exposure of the gigantic
fraud.f Still the concoctors of the work held out, confident in
the unreasoning bigotry of the masses ; two editions of the vile
volume, each of 40,000 copies, were rapidly sold, and a second
appeared under the name of Maria Monk, more infamous and
mendacious still than the first fable of the courtesan.J

So profitable was the mart of Protestant credulity that new
irupostors came to compete with Brownlee, Slocum, Monk, and
Harper, now engaged in a fierce lawsuit, in which all swore to
the authorship and ownership of the book. Frances Partridge
appeared also as a runaway nun from the convent, and th(} ren-
egade priest, Samuel B. Smith, published, under the name of
Rosamond Cliflbrd, an obscene romance pretending to unveil the
turpitudes of the confessional.§

* See " Awful Expcaure of the atrocious plot formed by certain individ-
uals against the Clergy and Nuns of Lower Canada, through the intervention
of Maria Monk." New York. Printed for Jones & Co., of Montreal, 1886,
p. 71.

t See Maria Monk and the Nunnery of the Hotel Dieu, being an account
of a visit to the convents of Montreal, and refutation of tiie " awful disdo-
sures," by Wm. L. Ston'e. New York, Howe <fe Bates, 1886, 48, 49.

X Farther Disclosures by Maria Monk, concerning the Hotel Dieu Nun-
nery of Montreal. Also her visits to the Nun's Island, and disclosures con-
cerning the secret retreat. New York, published for Maria Monk, 1887.

I For another attempt of Maria Monk, and its exposure, see " An expo-
sure of "Maria Monk's pretended abduction and conveyance to the Catholie-
Asylum, Piiiladelphia, by six priests, on the night of August 15th, 1887."

■i^Tr^\'>----'mij-f

246

t \

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

"It would seem, indeed," says Colonel ^tone, ''as though
these people had yielded themselves to this speci'js of mono-
mania, and from mere habit they yield a willing credence to
any story against the Roman Catholics, no matter what or by
whom related, so that it be suflSciently horrible and revolting in
its detail of licentiousness and blood. It is melancholy to con-
template such credulity, and such deplorable fanaticism, and yet
the instances are multiplied wherein such delusion has been
wrought by the passionate appeals of the anti-Papist presses.
Nor is it to be denied that such publications as are now deluging
the country, fomenting the popular prejudices and appealing to
the basest passions of our nature — teeming as they do with loath-
some and disgusting details of criminal voluptuousness, under
the garb of religion, are ominous of fearful results, especially
from their influence upon the rising generation of both sexes."

" The people of this land," says the author of Protestant
Jesuitism, "and it is a common attribute of human nature —
love excitement, and unfortunately there are those who know
how to produce it, and profit by it. When the bulletin, an-
nouncing the papal invasion of our shores and territon'^, has
spent its influence, because the enemy cannot be seen, in comes
Miss Reed's ' Six Months in a Convent,' and the TJrsuline School
is in flames ! When this is well digested — which, it must be

By W. H. Sleigh, Philadelphia, 1887. To form some idea of the literature
of that day, we give the titles of some other fanatical publications of the
period. Not a month passed without h* holding a n w pamphlet, surpassing
its predecessors in its vile calumnies of Catholic institutions :

** Louise, or the Canadian Jfun."

"Life of Scipio Ricci, the Jansenist Bishop of Pistoia," another scanda-
lous picture of convent life.

" Synopsis of Popery," by S. B. Smith. New York, 1836. The author
still lives. God grant him grace to repent.

" Open Convents," by Timothy Dwight, the author of the volume bearing
the name of Maria Monk.

"Popery as it was and is," by William Hogan.

"Papal Rome aa it is," by Rev. L. Giustiniani.

MiJffallMllRteMiUHM

attfa.rta» > WiMWi* " «* ' ' i

IN THE UNITED STATES.

247

"as though
U3S of mono-
credence to
' what or by
I revolting in
eholy to con-
jism, and yet
3n has been
ipist presses,
low deluging
appealing to
with loath-
Lsness, under
ts, especially
oth sexes."
f Protestant
m nature —
who know
bulletin, an-
rriton'-, has
n, in comes
iline School
it must be

the literature
iitioDS of the
3t, surpassing

)ther scanda-

The author

ume bearing

confessed had in it some substantial nutriment, though a good
deal of ' ardent spirit,' producing no small measure of intoxica-
tion — then comes Maria Monk, one of the most arrant fictions
that was ever palmed upon the community. But the appetite is
good, and it is all swallowed. Close upon the heels of this
comes 'Rosamond's Narrative,' supported and commended by
the veritable certificates of reverend divines — illustrated with
plates — all for the instruction and benefit of our children and
youth of both sexes — to be found all over the land on the same
table with the Bible!"*

Under the sway of the agitation fomented by these incendiary
or immoral publications, Protestant Associations were formed in
all the cities of the Union, with the avowed object of protecting
the liberties of the country against the plots of the Pope ! That
in Philadelphia contained eighteen ministers; and the first
pledge into which the conspirators entered, was never to employ
Catholic workmen or servants, and never to contribute to the
support of Catholic orphans. It "was a conspiracy against
poverty and misfortune. The pulpits of error renewed their
fanatical appeals, and as t' E-ev. Mr. Goodman, a worthy Epis-
copal clergyman, says, in his just indignation : " Congregations
instead of being taught from the pulpit to adorn their profession
by all the lovely graces of the Gospel, by kind and affectionate
bearing in the world, by earnest and ever active endeavors to
secure for themselves and others, the blessings of peace, were
annoyed with inflammatory harangues upon the ' great apostasy,'
and upon abominations of the Roman Church." " The Pope,
and the Pope, and the Pope !" was the beginning and the end
of the sermons in certain churches, and the women and children
were frightened with the details of the wicked doings of " him
of Rome ;" whilst they of the stature of men, were held breath-

* " Protestant Jesuitism," by a Protestant. New York, Harpers, 1888, p. 84.

248

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

less "-aptives when they were addressed by these orators upon
the subject of Papal usurpations, and the ecclesiastical domina-
tion conte'-^plated by " Anti-Christ " in America. They were
told that there was not a Catholic church, that had not under-
neath it prepared cells for Protestant heretics ; that every priest
was a Jesuit in disguise ; that the Pope was coming to this
country with an army of cassocked followers, and that each
would be fully armed with weapons, concealed under the folds
of his " Babylonish robes." Never did Titus Gates detail more
horrid conspiracies, in virtue of his station as informer-general,
than did these clerical sentinels ; and all that was wanting was
the power, and such a judge as JeflFries, to make every Catholic
expiate his " abominable heresy " upon the scaflfold or amid the
flames.*

But the ordinary preaching of the ministers always bearing on
the same subject, wearied their hearers, without heating them to
the degree of hatred to which they wished to bring them. They
then sought to disco 'er some apostate from Catholicity whose
revelations would be racy enough to stimulate curiosity. Then,
if a wretched priest had been weak enough to yield to his pas-
sions, be silenced by his bishop, the unfortunate man was sur-
rounded at once by all the allurements of heresy. A pension
was oflFered, a wife was proposed, ease and rank assured him,
provided he came forward as a Protestant — provided especially
that he consented to go from town to town like some strange
" beast," and lecture on the mysteries of the Confessional. But
as the United States do not produce apostates enough for the
supply, as these vile instruments are soon useless in the hands of

* The Truth Unveiled. Baltimore, 1844, p. 18. The author, the Rev. M.
Goodman, published about the same time the " Olive Branch," a warm ap-
peal to concord, to which the fanatics turned a deaf ear. These remarkable
tracts were cited by Bishop Spalding in an able article in the U. S. Catholic
Magazine, 1845, p. 1-16, and published in his Miscellany. An article which
has served greatly in the composition of this chapter.

, .■F' "c-rr'"-^'^^ '^Ti"rw^fv*r"''; 'fv rf'*ri

IN THE UNITED STATES.

249

their employers, they send to Europe to get an outcast of the
sanctuary; false certificates of ordination are got up for men who
never approached an altar, but who wish to act the part of vic-
tims of the Inquisition ; these are taught to relate a thousand
turpitudes as to their pretended career, lil'-e the bird in Scripture
that defiled the nest in which it iiad been hatched. A book
appears in his name (it is always the same, under a different
name) against the Inquisition, Confession, Clerical Celibacy, the
Papacy, the cultus of the Blessed Virgin and the Saints ; then
they drop into oblivion these heroes of a day, who are useless
when they ca-i no longer give scandal. They are poisonous
fruits, out f r which the venom has been pressed, and the insipid
pulp of which is fit only to be oast into the fire of earth and
heaven.

Thus successively appeared in the United States the Hogans,
Smiths, Giustiniani, Teodors, and Leahys. The last took the
part of an ex-Trappist ; and as he became more celebrated than
the others, it may not be amiss to give some outline of his life.
Leahy never was a monk of La Trappe, nor of any other order.
He began life as a farmer's boy at Templemore, in Ireland ; he
then entered as a servant into the employment of the Trappists
of Mount Melleray ; but remained only a few months there.
Returning to Templemore, he succeeded in getting a sum of
money from the parish priest, by pretending that he had been
sent by the Trappists, who were totally out of food. With this
money he made his way to the United States, where he married
a good girl, who soon had to leave him, as she found he was en-
deavoring to sell her virtue. He then went to Marshall College,
representing himself as a convert to Protestantism ; but the
honorable directors of that institution were not duped by his hy-
pocrisy — they refused him all assistance. Other ministers were
not so delicate in the choice of their instruments ; and thus
Leahy was enabled tor a period of ten years to play the part of

11*

250

THE OaTHOLIC CHURCH

an ex-monk, and have churches and pulpits opened to him, to
thunder against Catholicity and the morals of the clergy. Dur-
ing this shameful peregrination, Leahy married and repudiated
four wives, one of whom was crippled for hfe by the blows she
received from him in a fit of jealous frenzy. We need not men-
tion the other victims of his passions, who we' j not even solaced
by any pretence of marriage ; the list would be too long. Ja
spite of his disorders, Leahy held on his scandalous sermons, and
the apostate's arrival in a town was always followed by scenes of
violence between the impostor's defenders and the L'ish, who en-
deavored to silence the vile calumniator of their daughters and
sisters, whom he represented as victims in the confessional. The
bishops prevented greater evils, only by preaching patience and
resignation, and going among their flocks to calm their minds and
hearts. At last, Leahy's public life terminated in a manner worthy
of its outset. On the 20th of August, 1852, he appeared in a
Wisconsin court to accuse his friend Manly of seducing his wife.
Manly was acquitted, and Leahy, in the very midst of the court,
shot his rival dead, and with a second shot wounded a lawyer,
who rushed forward to stop him.*

Even these courses of disorder did not satisfy the fanatics, and
the arsenal of falsehood soon furnished them new arms against
the Catholics. The latter were now accused of wishing to ex-
clude the Bible from the public schools, and the thousand-

* As capital punishment is abolished in Wisconsin, Leahy was condemned
to perpetual imprisonment, and he is now expiating his crime in the State
Prison at Fond du Lac. The solitude of his cell seems to have inspired this
guilty man with salutary reflections, and for eighteen months Leahy im-
plored to be received into the Church. Bishop Henni subjected him to a
long probation, and at last the Bev. Louis Dael was authorized to receive
once more into the bosom of the Church the guilty but now repentant man.
The ceremony took place on the 20th of January, 1856. The way of the
transgressor is hard ; and Leahy, in his disgrace, finds how hollow is the
friendship which hurried him to crime, and how great is the love of that
Church which he had wronged.

Uf THE UNITED STATES.

201

tongned press propagated and commented on the charge. The
Native American purty was formed to defend the Bible attacked
by " foreign papists." Monster meetings are called, and roased
to fury by incendiary appeals. The Bible is solemnly borne in
political processions, and thousands of braving arms are raised to
swear to protect the Holy Book against the pretended attacks of
the Iiish. At the head of these manifestations in Philadelphia was
a ci-devant Jew, Levin, who at a late date is conspicuous among the
Know-Nothings of 1855. The accusation was false, like all the
other calumnies of the enemies of God's Church, and the Con-
trollers of the Public Schools of Philadelphia, in the twenty-
sixth Annual Report, declare officially : " No attempt has ever
been made by any one in this Board, nor have the Controllers
ever been asked by any sect, person, or persons, to exclude the
Bible from the Public Schools."

The fact was, that the Catholics of Philadelphia, who, hke their
Protestant fellow-citizens, paid taxes to support the Public Schools,
wished fo enjoy liberty of conscience in the education of their
children. They did not ask to exclude the Bible, but they wished
it to be lawful for Catholic children to read the Catholic version
of the Scriptures ; and this just request had been favorably re-
ceived by the controllers of the schools, when the animosity of
the Natives found it their game to misrepresent the question^ and
make it a war-cry against th( Catholics. In order to provoke the
Irish, all the N ative meetings were called in parts more especially
inhabited by Catholics, and the latter were thus forced to listen
to all the abuse vomited forth in public on all that they held sa-
cred and venerable. On the 3d of May, 1844, an anti-Catholic
meeting at Philadelphia was disturbed by the indignant cries of
the Irish, but the disorder went no further than it does every day
in popular assemblies. Yet no better pretext was needed to ac-
celerate the explosion, and the pretext was found. On the 6th,
armed crowds hasten to the Irish quarter, and the battle began.

' \

252

TBB CATHOLIC CHUKCH

On the morning of the 7th, an address of Bishop Kenrick was
posted up throughout the city, exhorting the Catholics " to fol-
low peace, and have charity." These^ were immediately torn
down by the Natives, whom the morning papers called to arms :
" The bloody hand of the Pope is upon us," Raid these sheets ;
" the modern St. Bartholomew has begun ; the Irish papists hav9
risen to massacre us." While fire and murder desolate the Ken-
sington suburb, a meeting was held in another part of the city
with a Protestant minister in the chair. Resolutions were passed
approving the steps of the Natives, and they adjourned by accla-
mation to the scene of the riot, to swell the ranks of the assail-
ants. Many houses occupied by Irish families were in ashes ;
women and children fled to the country, without clothing or
food ; others are burned alive in their burning homes, or fall
dead, pierced by a volley as they attempted to escape. Terror
reigned throughout the city, and the inhabitants, in self-defence,
wrote on their doors, " No popery here," or coarse insults to the
Catholics.

On the 8th, the rioters still ruled the city, and at two o'clock
p. M. St. Michael's Church was in flames. The champions of re-
ligious liberty applauded during the conflagration, and one paper
says : " When the cross which surmounted the church fell into
the flames, the crowd hurraed in triumph, and the fife and drum
struck up Orange airs." At four o'clock the incendiary torch
was applied to the house of the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed
Virgin, which was soon consumed. This Order had been insti-
tuted by the zeal of the Rev. T. C. Donoghoe, at the very time
of the cholera, and their devotedness in nursing the victims of the
epidemic was so great, that the municipal body publicly testified
their city's gratitude, offering them any recompense they desired.
The Sisters of Charity refused these propositions, and soon found
their reward in the ingratitude of their fellow-citizens. At six
♦i'<;lo<'k in the evening, St. Augustine's Church was fired in its

IN THE UNITED STATES.

258

turn, together with the rectory. The precious library of the
HermitB of St. Augustine was plundered, and the books piled up
and burnt. During the cholera, the parsonage had been trans-
formed into (i hospital for the people of Philadelphia, and the
Rev. Mr. Goodman, in the pamphlet already cited, says :

" With confusion of face, yet with impartial justice before
men and angels, the writer will state that in the season of that
terrible scourge, the Rev. Mr. Hurley, priest of St. Augustine's,
converted the Rectory, then in his o' '^upancy, into a Cholera
Hospital, and placed it under the control of the proper authori-
ties. The doors of his quiet home wero throwu wide open ;
and unmindful of the inconvenience to which such an -t sub-
jected him, he not only invited the guardians of li o city's
health to deposit the vl tims of the pestilence ' > his house, bi;r
himself was employed without intermission )\ seking out the
wretched creatures upon whom the dreadful disease had fallen 1
Every room in his mansion was appropriated to this divine
work ; his own chamber was given to the dying, and that study,
where he had learned his Master's will, was made the practical
commentary of the judgment he had formed of it. Out of
three hundred and sixty-seven patients, which had been received
in this private Asylum of a heavenly charity, forty-eight only
were Catholics — the remainder were professing Protestants."
"Go to that Rectory; mark that ii «,, in ruins; — that the very
hospital has been burnt by miscreants, who dared to profane the
name of Protestantism when tb-jy applied the torch to the home
of Catholic priests."*

On the blackened walls of St. Augustine's Church there
remained only the inscription, " The Lord Seeth."

At last, on the 9th of May, martial law was proclaimed in
Philadelphia; the military commander ordered the rioters to

* The Truth Unveiled by a Protestant and Native Philadelphian.
more, 1844, p. 21.

Balti-

• -p-s^n-JW^-a

254

THE CATHOLIC OHUBCH

disperse in five minutes, and order was restored as soon as the
brigands saw that the authorities were resolved to put a stop to
their fury. The leafel display of energy would have produced
the same result three days betore ; but the disorder must reach
its height before authorities will come forward to protect the
Catholic. On the 6th of May the militia had refused to take up
arras unless paid in advance. They obeyed the call on the 7th,
but the rioters defied the troops to use their arms, and at the
command " Fire," the soldiers replied, " How can we fire on our
brethren !" St. Micliael's Church was burnt before the eyes of
the militia without their offering any resistance. In the very
worst of the plunder and conflagration, the Mayor and Sheriff
had a consultation with the Attorney-General, to know whether
they had a right to use force, and what degree of force, to put
down the riot! The legal functionary told them that they
could employ force, and just as much as was necessary : " He
knows that the power has been sometimes questioned, but he
thinks that on the whole he would employ just the degree of
force indispensable." When the disorder ceased rather from
lassitude than from its being repressed, the tactics of the author-
ities were to dissemble its importance. They sought to convey
the idea that it had been the affair of a few boys ; and the
Mayer issued a proclamation calling on parents to keep their
children at home. In the investigation instituted to account for
these deplorable events, the Grand Jury did not fail to throw the
first blame on the Catholics, and they saw the cause of the riots
— we will quote their very words — in " the efforts of a portion
of the community to exclude the Bible from our Public Schools :
the jui'y are of the opinion that these efforts in some measure
gave rise to the formation of a new party, which called and held
public meetings in the District of Kensington, in the peaceful
exercise of the sacred rights and privileges guaranteed to every
citizen bv the Constitution and laws of our State and country.

PHwra

IN THE UNITED STATES.

255

These meetings were rudely disturbed and fired upon by a band
of lawless, irresponsible men, some of whom had resided in our
country only for a short period. This outrage, causing the
death of a number of our unoflFending citizens, led to immediate
retaliation, and was followed up by subsequent acts oi aggression
in violation and open defiance of all law."*

At this shameful attempt to exonerate the Natives at their
expense, the Catholics called a me^.ing and made an address to
• their fellow-citizens to restore the facts in their truth. They
had no difilculty in proving that the first victims were Irishmen,
and that the Catholics had never made any attempts to exclude
the Bible from the public schools.f Men of good faith were
convinced ; but incendiaries never found recruits in their ranks ;
and the want of energy in repressing the violence soon evoked
another riot in another district of Philadelphia. '.

On Friday, the 5th of July, 1844, the pastor of St. Philip
Neri's Church, in the Southwaik suburb, was warned that his
church would be attacked the following night. The Governor
of the State having authorized the formation of additional com-
panies of militia, one had been formed in the congregation of
this church and its armory was in the basement. Meetings were
at oucc called to avenge this provocation of the Catholics. The
SheriflF went to the church, and seized the arms ! but the crowd
was not satisfied, and insisted that a delegation of their body
should examine the church to see that no arms are concealed there.
Gratified on this point, as they have invariably been in attacks
on Catholic churches in the United States, the crowd instead of
dispersing, became doubly bold ; they threatened to renew the
scenes of May. General Cadwallader called out the militia and

* Presentment of the Grand Jury of the Court of Quarter Sessions of
Mfty Term, 1844.

+ Address of Catholic lay citizens of the city and county of Phila-
lelphia.

"i"

256

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

ordered the crowd to disperse ; but the Honorable Cha' ^es Nay-
lor, an ex-member of Congress ordered out : " Do not fire on
the people," and harangued the troops to induce them to diso-
bey their officers. But the orator was soon arrested and con-
fined in the basement of the church. The rioters then brought
up two field-pieces, and charging them with blocks of wood,
drove in the church doors and rescued Naylor. They dis-
armed the Montgomery Hibernian Greens who had been left
in charge of the prisoners ; they command them to retire ;
but treacherously attack them as they withdrew, and cut down
several.

General Cadwallader, who here laid the foundations of his
military fame, afterwards so glorious in the Mexican War, now
came to the relief of his guard, and a brisk cannonade began.
On Monday, the riot still continued, and the civil authorities of
Southwark, unable to quell it, made terms. The troops were
withdrawn, and by dint of proclamations, and appeals to con-
cord, by dint of lauding the intelligence of the masses and their
respect for the law, the authorities tucoeeded in calming the
effervescence and restoring order by disorder.

Such were the Philadelphia riots, which the Rev. Mr. Good-
man characterizes in these terms : " Nativism has existed for a
period hardly reaching five months, and in that time of its
being, what has been seen ? Two Catholic churches burned,
one twice fired and desecrated, a Catholic seminary and retreat
consumed by the torches of an incendiary mob, two rectories
and a most valuable library destroyed, forty dwellings in ruins,
about forty human lives sacrificed, and sixty of our fellow-citi-
zens wounded ; riot, and rebellion, and treason rampant on two
occasions in our midst ; the laws boldly set at defiance, and
peace and order prostrated by ruffian violence ! ! These are the
horrid events which have taken place among us since the organ-
ization ; and they are mentioned for no other purpose, than that

IN THE UNITED STATES.

257

reflection be entered upon by the community, whicli has been
so immeasurably disgraced by these terrible acts."*

Rarely does justice in the United States overtake the guilty
in these popular eruptions ; but public opinion finally sides with
the victims of fanaticism ; and when oppression assumes too
iniquitous a form, a reaction is sure to show itself in favor of the
weak and persecuted. The Catholics experienced this change
in the feelings of the Nation ; and as we have shown in a pre-
vious chapter, they were in 1846 more free in the exercise or
their worship and more respected in their faith, than at any
previous epoch in the history of the United States. At the
present moment the period of anti-Catholic agitation begins
anew, and the ministers of error have recourse to their old tricks
to fetter the wonderful progress of the Church. Gavazzi plays
Leahy's part, Miss Bunkley that of Miss Reed ; pamphlets are
scattered around to denounce the pretended crimes of convent
life. The unoffending visit of a venerable Nuncio is cited as a
living proof of the Pope's designs on the liberties of America.
Lamentations begin about the Bible, and the Protestant faithful
are called upon to defend the Sacred Volume, still menaced by
the Papists. The riots and devastation at Louisville recall those
of Philadelphia, and the Know-Nothings of 1855 are a copy of tlie
Native Americans of 1844. Like the latter they are impelled
by Free Masonry, and Irish Orangeism in crossing the Atlantic
has lost neither its nature nor its principles. There is then
every reason to believe that the crimes already committed
against the Church, as well as those about to come, will have no

* The judgment of God on the authora of sacrilege are as evident in
America as elsewhere. Among the natives of 1844, concerned in the de-
struction of the churches, was Col. Peter Albright. He led the mob at St.
Micliael's, and exulted that the record of his baptism was destroyed at St.
Augustine's, for he was the son of Catbolio parents. Ho died soon after,
very wretchedly, in an oyster cellar ; his brother Jacob perished at a Are ;
liis widow and daughter Wore drowned in the Delaware, in 1856.

Lid

258

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

other result, than to advance the reaction in favor of the Catho-
lics in the really sound portion of the American mind. Besides,
God protects the Church, and has in store for it after these days
of trial, days of liberty in the United States.

CHAPTER XVII.

' DIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA — (1844-1855). »

Division of tlie diocese— State of Delaware— The Ladies of the Sacred Heart— The Sib-
tei-8 of the Visitation— The Sisters of Notre Danr ft— Father Virgil Barber and bis
flamily— Works of Bishop F. P. Kenrick— His translation to the metropolitan See at
Baltimore — Bt Rev. John N. Neumann, fourth bishop of Philadelphia.

After the conflagration of St. Augustine's Church, the congre-
gation of that church were hospitably received by old St. Joseph's,
where they had Mass and Vespers at special hours, so as not to
interfere with the usual services of that parish. In 1845 the
Hermits of St. Augustine built a schoolhouse on the site of their
old rectory, and used it as a temporaiy chapel till the county
allowed them damages for their loss, so as to enable them to re-
build their church. The amount claimed was one hundred thou-
sand dollars, and for three years the county oflBc^^'s kept the
affair before the courts and exhausted every subterfuge to escape
payment. Among the objections put forward by the counsel was
one which should be given as a proof of the intense stupidity,
ignorance, or bad faith of the Pennsylv«a:?. bar. In order to en-
velop the missionaries in tho prejudice against the negroes, and
so array the jury against th^m, it was stated that the A ugustini-
ans had been founded by an Afiican negro ! In spitp of all,
however, forty-five thousand dollars were allowed, and in 184V the
new church of St. Augustine was opened for service.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

259

At St. Michaera a shed was raised among the ruins, and served
as a temporary chipel fo: some years, till they obti^ined of the
county the indemnity which the law imposed, and applied it to
build the church. Thus, loth indeed and reluctantly, Pennsyl-
vania repaired, at least in part, the material losses caused by the
riots of 1844, while Massachusetts, with all her boasted superi-
ority, has constantly refused from 1834 to the present moment to
indemnify the Bishop of Boston for the frightful destruction of
the Ursuline Convent of Mount Benedict.

As the number of the faithful increased in Philadelphia, the
extent of the State rendered the episcopal cliarge too heavy for
one prelate.

The third and fifth Councils of Baltimore had asked the divi-
sion of the diocese, and the Sovereign Pontip" effected it in 1843
by electing the Rt. Rev. Michael O'Connor to the See of Pitts-
burg. This new diocese comprised under its jurisdiction the
western part of Pennsylvania, and we shall speak of it in the en-
suing chapter. The diocese of Philadelphia retained the eastern
part of Pennsylvania, the State of Delaware, and Western New
Jersey. The last portion was detached from it in 1853, and the
whole State of New Jersey was formed into the diocese of New-
ark ; so that we shall treat at a proper time and plac3 of the Cath-
olics of that State.

Delaware, one of the smallest States ii? the Union, containing
only ninety tb.ousand inhabitants, owes its name to Lord De la
Ware, one of the early governors of Virginia, in honor of whom
the river Delaware received that appellation, which it eventually
gave to the Indians on its banks and to the little State at its
mouth. The colonization of this part of the American . est was
first projected by Gustavus AdolpLus, King of Sweden, after
whose death Oxenstiern put his plan in execution by sendirg
out in 1638 two ships with settlers. A Swedish minister came
■IS chaplain, and Lutheranism was the first creed of New Sweden,

260

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

which gradually grew up around Fort Christina, so called from
that qu-en who at a later date renounced thron-^ and lic/ine to re-
turn to the creed -A' her forefathers. The DuLcL of Nev. AwMer-
dam (New York) let up claims to the pait otjoupied by t! e
Swedes, and conquered it in 1665. IL then ; oniain.i B^.-jn bur
dred European inhsbitants. Nine years after_ 'he Dutch in their
turn yielded to the English, und Delawa.^ was successively an-
nexed to New York anu Pennsylvania; but at laft, in 1703_, "the
three counties on the Delaware,'* Ne »^ca':tie, Kent, and Sussex,
resr-lved to foiin a separate colony, and T*ot to send '■ legates to
iiie F^ansylv -inia Assembly. Delaware thus s*'.*'' a population
gathti' of V- ivedish Lutherans, Dutch Calvinists, English Episco-
paliarjs, 6p6 Quakers. More than a century after Sweden had
lost all ;>utiionty over the colony, the National Church of Stock-
holm continued to maintain missionaries among their fellow-
believers? in America, and the Lutheran Gimrch there even now
keeps up a certain intercourse with the established Church in
Sv^eden, like that of the Dutch Reformed Church with the Classis
in Holland, and the Episcopal with the Anglican Church.

To the honor of the Swedish Lutherans, it must be stated that
they showed more zeal for the conversion of the Indians than
either the Calvinists of Holland, or the Puritans, Quakers, or
Episcopalians of England. The catechism of Luther was trans-
lated into Delaware by the missionary Campanius, and an edition
printed at Stockholm in 1690 by the Swedish king for gratuitous
distribution among the Indians.

Amid all the hostile sects on the soil of Delaware, the Catholic
element did not appear till late, and it Ktill constitutes only a
small portion of the population. Some >,; A Catholic families of
honor in our national annals are clai ' bv Delaware, and
among th' we need only mention th( iiint Shubiicks. At
the Frenr' .. involution, too, some F: .; m, . atholics settled in and
near Wilmington, where Huguenou* d removed before theiii.

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the Catholic
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iettled in and
before theiii.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

261

The number of Catholics, however, remained small. Yet the
Sisters of Charity from Emmetsburg founded one of their first
houses at Wilmington, and opened an academy about 1830, and
some years after, an orphan asylum. The happy results of this
school in the education of young girls soon induced the Catholics
of Delaware to seek a college for their boys, and the zealous pas-
tor of Wilmington, the Rev. Patrick Reilly, at great sacrifice
opened in 1839 a school which has become a flourishing college.
In 1847 the State Legislature granted this institution the rights
and privileges of a university ; a corps of seven professors devote
themselves to the education of the young men, and the most
eminent Protestant citizens are patrons of the work.

Under the able and vigilant administration of Bishop Kenrick,
the religious establishments extended rapidly in other parts of the
diocese. In 1838 the Seminary of St. Charles Borromeo at
Philadelphia was incorporated by the Legislature of Pennsyl-
vania, and from 1841 to 1863 it was directed by Lazarists, who
were succeeded by secular priests, on the transfer of Bishop Ken-
rick to the metropolitan See of Baltimore. In 1842 the Hermits
of St. Augustine opened a college at Villanova,* but the destruc-
tion of their church and library at Philadelphia exhausted their
resources and deranged all their plans ; still, they successfully re-
suuied '.he college exercises in 1846, and the Augustinians now
also possess at Villanova a beautiful monastery and novitiate.

In 1851 the Jesuits founded St. Joseph's College in Philadel-
phia, which was removed to a more spacious building four years
later: and in 1852 't,he Rev. J. Vincent O'Reilly opened in Sus-
^^uehauna county another college under the name of St. Joseph.

When B'' hop Kenrick was appointed Coadjutor of Philadel-

*■ Villanova is thirteen miles from Philadelphia, on the {?reat Pennsylvania
Eaikoad. In 1841, Dr. Moriarty, Superior of the Augustinians, purchased
two hundred acres there, which are cultivated by the lay brothers of the
Order, and furnish important resources for the college and community.

,«»«^' ■%

■y m

262

:^HE CATHOLIC CHURCH

phia, the diocese possessed only a few Sisters of Charity from
Emmetsburg, who had charge of an orphan asylum. Now six
religious communities of women devote themselves Jo all the
works of mercy, and effect incalculable good. In 1842 the La-
dies of the Sacred Heart opened a boarding-school for girls at
McSherrystown, near the Jesuit mission of Conewago. In 1847
this community opened a school in Philadelphia, and in 1849
purchased the beautiful spot called Eden Hall, which offers far
greater advantages than McSherrystown. The Ladies of the
Sacred Heart accordingly left the latter house, which became the
novitiate of the Sisters of St. Joseph. The institute of the Sacred
Heart, founded in France in 1800 by Father Joseph Vaiin, of the
Society of the Sacred Heart, ii.nd approved in 1826 by Pope Leo
XII., has had a Superior-general since its origin, Madame Magda-
lene Josephine Barat. The mother house is at Paris, and it gov-
erns the whole Order. In 1817 the first establishment of the
Sacred Heart in America was founded in Missouri, and from that
time these pious and distinguished ladies have extended to the
dioceses of New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, Detroit, Albany,
Buffalo, and the Vicariate-apostolic of Indian Territory. Three
hundred and fifty Ladies of the Sacred Heait devote themselves to
the education of young ladies in twelve academies, and maintain
besides,* in connection with many of their establishments, free
schools for poor girls.

In the year 1848 the Visitation Sisters, from Georgetown, in
their turn opened an academy at Philadelphia, and about the
same time the Sisters of St. Joseph came from St. Louis to the
same city to take charge of St. John's Orphan Asylum. The
community of Sisters of St. Joseph came int^o existence at Puy in
Velay, France, where it was erected by the Bishop of Puy,
Henry de Maupas, at the solicitation of the "^^suit Father Medaille.
In the cours( of his missions this Father as ■< . led some holy
virgins who longed to devote themselves to Govj, M\<i in 1650 the

4<^

IN THE UNITED STATES.

263

care of the orphan asylum at Puy was conlSded to them. Since
then the Sisters of St. Joseph have extended to ahnost every dio-
cese in France, and have establishments also in Savoy and Cor-
sica, la 1836 six Sisters of this congregation proceeded from
the diocese of Lyons to St. Louis, Missouri, under the protection
of Bishop Rosati. In 1838 two others, who had learned in
France the manner of teaching th^ deaf and dumb, came over
and joined them. They soon spread greatly in the United States,
and now number over a hundred Sisters ; they have houses oi
their Order in the dioceses of St. Louis, Philadelphia, Buffalo,
Wheeling, Quincy, and St. Paul ; thei* principal house h at Ca-
rondelet, six miles south of St. Louis, and in 1851 they sent a
colony from Philadelphia to Toronto, in Canada West. This
cong'.ogation undertakes all works of mercy, such as the care of
hospitals, prisons, houses of refuge, orphan asylums, also directing
schools and visiting the sick in their dwellings. At Philadelphia
the Sisters of St. Joseph conduct St. Anne's Wiil vvs' Asylum,
and teach twelve hundred children in their schools. Th. novi-
tiate is at McSherrystown, in the old convent of the b-icred
Heart, and in 1855 it containea eleven novices and six postulants.
In 1849 Bishop Kenrick a'^o enriched his diocese with a com-
munity of Sisters of the Good Shepherd, in order to create an
asylum for sinful women, who wish to leave a life of disorder
and embrace virtue. This community, under the :izme of Our
Lady of Charity, was first established in 1641 at Caen, in Nor-
mandy, by the celebrated Father Eudes, founder of *\.s s oiety of
priests called Eudists. Father Eudes, whose sermons reached
every conscience, eflfected a revolution in the life o^ many who
lived in vice. To maintain these in the path of duty, he assem-
bled them together and put them under the direction of some
b i listers. The community was approved in 1666, by Pope
A' xa'udfir VII., and in 1741 by Benedict XIV. It acquired
great extent in France ; in 1835 the house at Angers separated

■{:♦•

264

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

from the other houses, and was erected by Pope Gregory XVI.
the genera) atf cf .1 new branch, which added to the name of Our
Lady of rUan'/ "t.*t of Good Shepherd, and which has spread
remarkably. The first estabhshment of this venerable Order in
the United States was made at Louisville in 1842. They arrived
in Philadelphia in 1849, and took care of the Asylum for Widows
till 1851, when they were e'n?»bi'^'l to open an asylum for penitent
women. They have now thiity-six peaitente, and receive Protest-
ants as well as Catholics. A house of the Good Shepherd was
founded in St. Louis in 1849, and the Archbishop of New York
is now collecting the funds necessary to erect an asylum, the need
of which is felt in the great city where he has his metropolitan See.
While young girls of American, Irish, and French origin find
in the diocese of Philadelphia abundant resources for education
at the Sacred Heart Visitation, the Sisters of St. Joseph, and the
Sistars of Charity, the German portion have had, since 1849, the
School Sisters of Notre Dame, at St. Peter's L/hurch, in Phila-
delphia. The Redemptorists founded this church in 1843, anc
immediately opened schools for boys. Then, as soon as their re-
sources permitted, they invited the Bavarian School Sisters of
Notre Dame, wb direct the German schools in a great many
parishes served by the Redemptorists. In spite of their German
origin, these good Sisteio preserve the French name of Notre
Dame, a proof that their primitive foundation was not made in
Germany. They were, in fact, founded in Lorraine in 1697,
under the name of Sisters of the Congregation of Notre Dame,
by the Blessed Peter Forier and the venerable Mother Alice
Leclerc* Their co; tiunity was authorized by the Bishop of

* Mother Alice LecieiC, born la 1576, died in 1622 : the process of her
canonization was begun, but was finally suspended in consequence of the
revolutions. The Blessed Peter Fourier was born at Mireoourt in Lorraine,
the 15th of November, 1565 ; he was the reformer of the Canons Regular of
Lorraine, and founder of the congregation of Notre Dame. He died at Gray
on the Oth of November, 1640, and was beatified by bulls of January 29, 1850.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

265

Toul in 1598, and their first rule made by the Blessed Peter,
and approved in 1603 by the Cardinal of Lorraine, Legate of the
Holy See. Pope Paul V. erected the houses of the Order into
monasteries by his bulls of February 1, 1616, and October 6,
1616; and in the course of the seventeenth century there were
no less than eighty monasteries of this institute in France, Lor-
raine, Germany, and Savoy. On the dispersion of the religious
coramunities in the Reign of Terror, those in Franco were broken
up, and about the same time, under the impulse of the doctrines
of Joseph L of Austria, the houses in the electorate of Bavaria
were suppressed and the Sisters dispei-sed. The loss was deeply
felt, and the pious Bishop Wittman of Ratisbon, in 1832, re-
solved to revive their Order and restore their house at Stadt-am-
hof. The rule was modified to suit the changed circumstances
of the times ; and as they were intended only for education, they
took the name of School Sistere of Notre Dame. Mother Mary
Thercoa, the first Superior-general, still survives, and had the con-
solation of seeing her Order formally approved by his Holiness
Pope Pius IX., on the 23d of January, 1854.

Prior to this, in 1 84*7, she sent from the mother house, at Mu-
n h, three Sisters to foui^J a house at Baltimore. The mother
house of the Order in the United States is at Milwaukie, and the
residence of Sister Mary Caroline, the Vice Superior-general.
They had in 1855 twenty-one novices and as many postulants,
and direct German schools in the dioceses of Milwaukie, Balti-
more, Philadelphia, New York, Pittsburg, Buffalo, and Detroit.

While the Sisters of the Congregation ^of Notre Dame are
increasing in Bavaria, and sending colonies to the United States,
another part of America beholds in a state of prosperity a con-
gregation which bears the same name of Notre Dame, and which
seems to us to have some ties with the pious institute of Mil-
waukie. In 1826, a monastery of the congregation was estab-
lished at Troyes, in Champagne, under the episcopate of Ren6

266

THU CATHOLIC CHURCH

1 i

de Breslay. In 1653, Monsieur de Maisaonneuve, first Governor
of Montreal, in Canada, went to Troyes, where the Sisters of
Notre Dame begged him to take some of their religious to di-
rect the schools in this new colony. Mr. de Maissonneuve could
not bear the oxpense of this new foundation, and he moreover
believed that, in the precarious state of the colony, an order of
cloistered religious would not render all the service to be desired.
He accordingly took with him only Margaret Bourgeoys, prefect
of the external congregation founded by the Sisters at Troyes ;
and the holy virgin became at Montreal the foundress of the
Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame, which now com-
prises in Canada twenty-five missions, two hundred Sisters, and
instructs five thousand six hundred girls.* There is still another
community in the United States, known by the name of the
Sisters of Notre Dame ; but its origin is different. It was found-
ed in 1804, by Father Joseph Varin and Mother Julia Billiard.
The mother house is at Namur, in Belgium ; and it has houses in
the United States, in the dioceses of Cincinnati, Boston, and San
Francisco.

We see with what admirable zeal Bishop Kenrick labored to
aflford his diocese the benefits of numerous religious communi-
ties ; and the venerable prelate was not less successful in in-
creasing the number of his parochial clergy. When he became
Coadjutor of Philadelphia in 1 830, the diocese contained only thirty
priests. When the confidence of the Holy See called him, in
1851, to the Archbishopric of Baltimore, he left to his successor
ninety-four churches and eight chapels, with one hundred and
one priests in the diocese, besides forty-six seminarians, although
hair of Pennsylvania had been erected into the new diocese of
Pittsburg. The clergy formed by the example of Bishop Ken-

♦ Helyot, Hiatoire des Ordres Religieux (edition Migne), i. 1088. Faillon,
Vie de la Soeur Bourgeoys, Villemarie, 1858. Laroohe Heron, Leg Servantea
de Dieu, Canada. Montreal, 1855, p. 48.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

267

rick has counted in ita ranks the most eminent members of the
Church in the United States : the Rev. John Hughes, Pastor of
St. John's, Philadelphia, now Archbishop of New York ; the
Rev. Peter R. Kenrick, Vicar of the Cathedral in 1836, and
now Archbishop of St. Louis ; the Rev. Edward Barron, Vicar-
general of the diocese in 1839, and in 1843 Vicar-apostolic of
Upper and Lower Guinea ; the Rev. F. X. Gartland, Vicar of St.
John's in 1834, and in 1850 Bishop of Savannah ; the Rev.
Michael O'Connor, Pastor of Morristown in 1840, and in 1843
Bishop of Pittsburg; the Rev. Thomas Heyden, Pastor of St.
Paul's, Pittsburg, in 1838, who has repeatedly refused to quit his
parish of Bedford to assume the mitre.

But we owe a special mention to a holy religious, who exer-
cised the ministry in Pennsylvania for several years — in 1836
at Conewago, and in 1834 at Philadelphia. In 1807, the Rev.
Daniel Barber, Congregationalist minister in New England, had
baptized in his sect Misa Allen, daughter of the celebrated Amer-
ican general, Ethan Allen, so renowned in Vennont, his native
State. The young lady was then twenty-one years of age ; oin,
soon after proceeded to Montreal, where, entering the acp Ivioy
of the Sisters of the Congrerjsuon of Notre Dame, she be-ira:*)'^ a
Catholic, and devoting herself to God, joined the col u ■ >!tv «)t
Hospital Nuns, at the Hotel Dieu, where she died piou;^; ■"
1819, having induced the Protestant physician who attended her
to embrace Catholicity by the mere spectacle of her last mc
ments. The conversion of Sister Allen produced other fruits of
grace on her co-religionists, and her former pastor, the Rev. Mr.
Barber, after becoming a member of the Protestant Episcopal
sect, halted not in the way of truth, but abjured the errors of the
pretended Reformation, in 1816. The son of this clergyman,
the Rev. Virgil Barber, born on the 9 th of May, 1*782, was also
a minister. He, too, had been convinced of the necessity of
joining the Church of Rome, and entered it with his father.

4
\

i. (

' i

268

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Mrs. Virgil Barber followed their example, and she and her hus-
band resolved to abandon all and separate from each other, for
God's service. Mr. Virgil Barber, in consequence, went to Rome
in 1817, and ob ainad of the Sovereign PontiflF the authority
necessary for the step. He entered the ecclesiastical state, was
ordained in that city, and after spending two years there, returned
from Europe, bringing his wife authorization to embrace the re-
ligious state. She had entered the Visitation Nuns at George-
town, and for two years followed the novitiate. Mr. and Mrs.
Barber had five children, four daughters and one son. The last
was placed at the Jesuit College at Georgetown, while the daugh-
tei-s were at the Academy of the Visitation, yet without knowing
that their mother was a novice in the house. The time of her
probation having expired, the five children were brought to the
chapel to witness their mother's profession, and at the same time,
on the steps of the altar, their father devoting himself to God as
a member of the Society of Jesus ! At this touching and unex-
pected sight, the poor children burst into sobs, believing them-
selves forsaken on earLh. But their Father who is in heaven
watched over them ; hv^. inspired the four daughters with the de-
sire of embracing the religious state, and three of them entered
the Ursulines : one at Quebec, one at Boston, and one at Three
Rivers. The fourth made her profession among the Visitandines
of Georgetown ; their brother Samuel was received into the So-
ciety of Jesus, and is now at Frederick.*

Father Virgil Barber, after filling with general edification sev-
eral posti in Pennsylvania and Maryland, became Professor of
Hebrew in Georgetown College, an^. died there March 2*7, 1847,

* Faillon, Vie de M'lle Mance, et Histoire de I'Hotel Diou de Vlllemarie, i.
294 ; Catholic Almanac for 1848, p. 263. Sister Mary Barber (of St. Benedict)
witnessed the destruction of the Ursuline Convent, near Boston, and died at
Quebec, May 9, 1848. Sister Catharine Barber (of St. Thomas) followed
Bishop Odin to Texas, in 1849.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

269

at the age of sixty-five. Sister Barber long resided at Kaskas-
kia, lUiuois, where she founded a Monastery of the Visitation.
The grace of conversion extended also to other members of the
family, and a nephew and pupil of Father Virgil Barber, Wil-
liam Tyler, born in Protestantism at Derby, Vermont, in 1804,
became in 1844 first Catholic Bishop of Hartford, and died in
his diocese in 1849.

This is not the only example which the United States presents
of married persons, who, on embracing Catholicity, have carried
the sacrifice to its utmost limits, and asked as a signal favor to
devote themselves to the religious state. Father John Austin
Hall, a Dominican and Apostle of Ohio from 1822 to 1828, was
an English oflRcer of many years' standing, who, touched by the
spectacle offered by religion in Italy and France, abjured heresy,
and converted his family and his sister. The latter and his wife
entered a community of English Augustinian Nuns in Belgium,
while Father Hall assumed the habit of St. Dominic ; and this
zealous missionary, dying at Caiton, Ohio, in 1828, left to the
United States the reputation of the most eminent virtues. But
these separations from religious motives have at times been the
occasion of scandals in the Church, and the prosecutions insti-
tuted by the Rev. Pierce Connelly have been too widely made
known, for us to pass over them here.

The Rev. Pierce Connelly was minister of the Episcopal
Church at Natchez, Mississippi, in 1827, and was distinguished
by his Puseyite tendencies, which drew on him the violent at-
tacks of the Protestant press. In 1836 he set out for Europe,
accompanied by his wife. She became a Catholic at New Or-
leans some days before setting sail, and her husband followed
her example at Rome, in the Church of Trinity de Monti, March
28th, 1836. In the first fervor of their conversion, they asked
to devote themselves to God by the vows of religion ; but were
dissuaded from accomplishing the sacrifice, and after two years

l;i 11

270

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

spent in Rome and France, they returned to America, wl ere
they lived several years in retirement. In the month of Ji y,
1842, Mr. Connelly gave a lecture in the Cathedral of Balii-
more, embracing an edifying account of his conversion. Soon
after, they both returned to Rome, and so earnestly renewed
their petition, that they were at last allowed to separate. Mrs.
Connelly entered the Institute of the Sacred Heart, and in 1844,
Mr. Connelly received the tonsure in the church of the house
where his wife was. Two years after, he was ordained, but in
vain solicited entrance into the Society of Jesus. The Ladies of
the Sacred Heart also declined to receive the profession of Mrs.
Connelly. She accordingly left Rome and went to England,
where the Earl of Shrewsbury gave her a house to found an
educational establishment. The Rev. Mr. Connelly at the same
time became the chaplain of the earl, and the tutor of his adopt-
ed son. Ere long, however, the frequent interchange of letters
between the two converts excited distrust, and Mrs. Connelly, by
her confessor's advice, refused to continue it. Of this the Rev.
Mr. Connelly complained bitterly, and gradually relapsing into
Protestantism, applied to the English tribunals to recover his
wife. The proceedings which ensued created great discussion
in England in 1849 and 1850; but Mrs. Connelly always refused
to violate the vows of religion which she had pronounced, not
merely with the consent, but at the entreaty of her husband ;
and she continues to lead an exemplary life at the head of a com-
munity, first at Derby, but afterwards transferred to Hastings.
Baffled ambition seems to have been the unfortunate cause of
Mr. Connelly's fall. Flattered by the welcome shown him at
Rome, he thought only of becoming a bishop, and even a cardi-
nal ; and the honorable position which the earl gave him in his
family was not sufficieni to satisfy Connelly'e vanity.''-

* IT. S. Catholic M. 'izine, 1842, p. 409 ; 1844, p. 540 ; 1849, p. 290 ;
416, p. 800.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

271

The vigilant Bishop of Philadelphia, whose numerous labors
we have mentioned, found, moreover, time to write and publish
several works which enjoy a merited reputation wherever the
English language is spoken. His Dogmatic and Moral Theology,
in seven volumes, is a complete treatise on the sacred science,
adapted to the general wants of the country.

" The appearance of so large a work written in good Latin,
and intended really for use, was a source of wonder to the Prot-
estant public and clergy, few of whom could even read it with-
out some difficulty, and none, perhaps, with ease. Considered in
a literary point of view, it marks the classic character of our
writers, a familiarity with Roman literature, which is unequalled
in the country. The canons and decrees of the Councils held
at Baltimore, which England's first Orientalist, Cardinal Wise-
man, ranks with those of Milan, display an equally correct taste.
Even in the backwoods, with rough work and rough men, Badin,
the first priest ordained in our land, sings in Latin verse the
praises of the Trinity."*

The Church, by preserving Latin as the Liturgical language,
saved that noble language from oblivion, and through it saved
the Greek ; and Protestantism, with its love for the vernacular,
devoted the highest classes of society to ignorance of the authors
of ancient Rome. A few year: since, the United States regard-
ed as a wonder a Latin life of Washington, and vaunted it be-
yond all conception by the tliousand-tongued press. There is
not a Catholic country curste tliat could not have done as much ;
and yet public opinion in America will long preserve the preju-
dice that ignorance is the necessary condition of Catholics. In

* Catholic Literature in the United States, Metropolitan Magazine, i. 74

Tlie title of the poem of the venerable Mr. Badin is, " Sanctisftimse Trini-

atis Laudcs, et invocatio ; Carmen ; auotore Stephano Theodore Badin,

?rotosaccrdote Baltimorenai, probantc," Ac. Ludovicivillae, tynus, E. J.

Webb.

fill

f l^

f H

^ i

|c^'

272

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

the United States, an author need only be suspected of not be-
ing a Protestant, for his work to be prejudged and precondemn-
ed; and it is the same in England. Yet Americans should
remember that the Catholic clergy of Canada taught the chil-
dren of the Mohawlrs to read and write within twenty miles of
Albany, at a time when there was not a Latin school in the
whole colony of New York. Quebec had a college before New
England could boast of one ; and so completely was the idea of
Catholicity then blended with that of classical studies, that in 1685,
when a Latin school was opened at New York, the master was
ipso facto suspected of being a Jesuit.*

Bishop Kenrick also wrote the " Primacy of the Apostolic
See," one of the most remarkable works issued in America.
The book first appeared in several letters, or parts, as a refutii-
tion of the attacks on the Papacy made by the Right Rev. John
H. Hopkins, Protestant Bishop of Vermont. These letters were
first published in 1842 and 1843 ; but the eminent author sub-
sequently recast the whole work, dropping the aggressive and
familiar tone of controversy, and in its new form it has passed
through several editions in America, and been even translated
into German. The learned prelate has also composed treatises
on Baptism and Justification ; and his old antagonist. Dr. Hop-
kins, having published " The End of Controversy Controverted,"
Archbishop Kenrick, in 1855, replied in his "Vindication of the
Catholic Church," a series of letters addressed to the Bishop of
Vermont.

On the death of the Most Rev. Samuel Eccleston, fifth Arch-
bishop of Baltimore, the distinguished merit of Bishop Kenrick
marked him as the fittest to occupy the Metropolitan See, and
he was in fact called to that dignity by bull of August 3, 1851.
His successor at Philadelphia is the Right Rev. John Nepomucen

* Canada and her Historian^. Metropolitan Magazine, i. 148.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

273

Neumann, of the Order of the Most Holy Kcieemer, a native of
the Austrian States. At the time of his election, the new prelate
was rector of the Redemptorist house at Baltimore : he was con-
secrated on the 28th of March, 1852. i

Bishop Neumann has zealously continued the work of his
predecessor; and although his diocese lost in 1853 half of New
Jersey, it contained, in 1856, one hundred and thirty-eight
churches and chapels, with twenty-fiv« other stations, one hun-
dred and thirty-seven priests, and a Catholic population of one
hundred and seventy-five thousand souls.

CHAPTER XVIII.

PENNSYLVANIA (1750-1840.)

Diocese of Pittsburg— Tht Recollects at Fort Dnqaesne — ^The Rev. Father Braners —
Sketch of Prince Demetrius Gallitzin.

We have stated already that the Holy See in 1843 yielded to
the request of the Fifth Council of Baltimore, by forming the
western part or Pennsylvania into a distinct diocese from that of
Philadelphia. On the 7th of August, 1843, the Very Rev.
Michael O'Connor was called to the new See of Pittsburg, and
that prelate being in Rome at the time received consecration in
the Holy City, on the feast of the Assumption. Bishop O'Con-
nor, born in Ireland, on the 27th of September, 1810, was
ordained at Rome in the year 1833, devoted himself to the
American missions in 1838, and after serving several parishes in
the interior of Pennsylvania, was successively professor in thf
seminary, paster at Pittsburg, and Vifar-geueral of the dio-

12*

III

.^ M^

:3-

:"K-

^#274

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

cese, displaying in all these functions a zeal and talents which
soon marked him for the episcopacy.

The Jesuit missionaries of Maryland did not extend the circle
of their apostleship to that part of Pennsylvania now comprised
in the Sees of Pittsburg and Erie. Colonization, which always
began by the belt of land lying nearest to the ocean, had not yet
penetrated so far, and the Indians inhabited the forests undis-
turbed by the clearings of the white man. So little was it
known that even in 1*750 it was not settled whether the Ohio
began in Pennsylvania or in Virginia. Down almost to the
close of the last century the missionaries penetrated no further
west than Conewago ; but the new emigrants gradually striking
inland, crossed the Alleghanies, and as they bore civilization to
the fertile valley of the Ohio, priests came that Catholics might
not be destitute of all religious aid. In the year 1798, the Rev.
Theodore Brauers, a Dutch Franciscan, settled at Youngstown,
where he bought a farm and built a chapel. This village is not
far from Pittsburg, and it was then the only spot where the
Holy Sacrifice was oftered for the salvation of men in the vast
territory which wae erected in 1843 into the diocese of Pitts-
burg. From Lake Erie to Conewago, from the first hills of the
Alleghany to the Ohio, there existed no church, no priest, ex-
cept the humble oratory of Father Brauers ; and now the district
forms two dioceses, where a population of 60,000 Catholics
receive the care of eighty priests, in ninety churches. The Right
Rev. Doctor O'Connor assures us that he has been told by one of
the oldest inhabitants, that the first Catholics in that part of
Pennsylvania came from Goshenhoppen, and that the missionary
who served that parish promised that they should be visited in
the new settlement by another priest. It was in fulfilment of
this promise that Father Brauers settled at Youngstown. His
death gave rise to a curious lawsuit, in which the Pennsylvania
judges showed themselves the enlightened protectors of the

jV<*«>^>-,,

IN THE UNITED STATES.

275

rights of the Church ; and such a spirit of justice is more de-
serving of mention, as it is not always found in the law courts of
the United States. By his will, dated at Greensburg, West-
moreland county, October 24, 1*789, Father Theodore Brauers
had left his property to his successor, on condition of his saying
masses for the repose of his soul. A wandering priest named
Francis Fromm, took possession of the parsonage and church ; and
as he said the mapses, claimed the property against the lawful
priest sent by the BisLop. Father Brauers' executors had
recourse to law, and the judge decided that a Catholic priest
must be sent by his Bishop, although ne expressed his astonish-
ment that a man of Father Brauers' good sense should order
masses to be said for the repose of his soul.* The first talent in
Pennsylvania was employed in the suit, in which Judges Bald-
win and Breckenridg© both spoke. The Rev. Mr. Fromm proved
that he was a regular priest, and exhibited the certificate cf the
Bishop of Mentz, as well as the consent of Father Brauers' con-
gregation. These considerations might have influenced the
judges; but their decision upheld the Bishop, and this case has
been repeatedly cited as an authority in cases of a similar nature.
Father Brauers >vas not the first priest, nor even the first
Franciscan, who ofFe/ed the Sacred Victim on the soil of Western
Pennsylvania; and as early as 1755, that is, just a century
since, we find French Recollects attached as chaplains to the
French forts on the valley of the Ohio. That part of Penn.'syl-
vania was then claimed by France, and in fact the whole valley
of the Ohio is comprised in the Letters Patent of Louisiana, in
1712. The actual taking of possession is not more undoubted
than the discovery, and the Canadians had launched their canoes
on the Beautiful River years before the Pennsylvania settlers
knew of its existence. To unite the establishments on the St.

'SI

■si

* Executors of Brauers agai&st Fromm. Add. Pennsylvania KoportB, page
882. Father Braners' name is in the Bible of 1790.

'I HI

276

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Lawrence with those on the Mississippi, France first reared a
line of defences along the lakes, the "Wabash and Illinois ; but the
Ohio valley had been left exposed to the enterprise of the English
colonies. To close it, the governors of Canada, in 1753 and
1754, built between Lake Erie on the Ohio, Fort Presqu'ile, now
the city of Erie, Fort Ltboeuf, or " de la Riviere aux Bceufs," at
Waterford, the post of Venango, Fort Machault, and where
Pittsburg now stands, the celebrated Fort Duquesne.* For
four years the French valiantly defended these posts against far
superior forces, and Washington made his first campaign near
Fort Duquesne against his future allies. At the close of 1758,
however, the garrison fired the fort and retired, and in the fol-
lowing year the other forts were similarly abandoned. Although
these forts had trifling garrisons, not exceeding, in general, two
hundred men, they had a regular chapla|||a proof how impor-
tant a place religion held in the ancient organization of France ;
and in the Registre des Postes du Roi, still preserved at Montreal,
is the record of the burials and baptisms at Fort Duquesne from
1764 to 1756.

* Earthworks of considerable extent are still pointed out near Erie as the
ruins of the French fort. Fourteen miles southeast of Erie, Waterford vil-
lage lies on the banks of Lake Leboeuf, at the spot where Fort Lebcenf
stood, and where its ruins are still to be seen. The stream running^ from the
lake is still called Leboeuf creek, and empties into French creek, which pours
its waters into the Alleghany. Franklin village, the county towu of Venango,
is at the confluence of French creek and the Alleghany. Traces of the
French intrenchments are still to be seen. The one on the right was Fort
Machault ; that on the left Venango. About 1804 a small silver chalice was
dug up at Waterford, near the ruins of the French fort, and was purchased
by a pious Catholic lady, Mrs. Vankirk, to save it from profanation. We
owe these interesting details as to the position of the old French forts to tl>e
kindness of the Kighi, Rev. J. M. Young, Bishop of Erie, to whom we ex-
press our acknowledgment. Sargent, in h.\% History of Braddock''8 Exj.)editinn,
confirms it, and states that the ruins of Fort Venango cover a space of 400
feet square. The ramparts arc eight feet high. All these posts are necu-
rntely laid down in an excellent sketch of Canadian history by Dussieiix,
i.ijt.Ii''*- 1 :\\ V.iri^ in 1^^-:..

IN THE UNITED STATES.

277

By this we learn that Father Denis Baron, Recollect, was at
thpt time chf»'^^ lin iit Fort Dnv|ue8ne; nnd on the 30th of July,
1756, an entry of a burial, is signed by Father Luke Collet,
chap'din of the King at Forts Prtsqu'ile and Riviere aux Boeufs.
This Franciscan was merely on a visit at Fort Duquesne, as he
officiated in the presence of the regular chaplain. Father Baron.
The latter was born at Pov+f'-l^'^- in Franche Comto, and arrived
at Quebec in 1740. He was probably a deacon at the time, for
the register of ordinations at Quebec mentions him as ordained
pri*" * there on the 13d of September, 1741. Father Denis
Baron was sent successively ) Three Rivers, Montreal, Niagara,
(jape Breton, and to Acadia. We find him then chaplain at
Fort Duquesne, Fort St. John, Fort St. Frederic or Crown
Point, and the register of this last post shows that he died and
was buried there on the 6th of November, l7o8.*

Father Luke Collet,- a Ca'^mdian by birth, was ordained at
Quebec on the 24th of February, 1753, and after remaining in
his convent till 1754, was sent to the forts in tVe valley of the
Ohio.f These Fathers belonged to the reform of the Franciscan

•% P

* In hy» biographical notices of the Canadian clergy, the late Mr. Nois.
eux, Vicar-general of Quebec, say;, that Father Denis Baron died in Acadia
at tiie close of September, 1755, while the register of the Fort St. Frederic
states oflRcially that he (Jied in November, 1758. This single fact shows how
careful writers should be in adopting the statements of Mr. Noiseux, which
he never intended should bo made -ublic, and was prevented by death from
correcting. Unfortunately they were after his death pot forward as extreme-
ly accurate, and have led to many ei o'"s.

t Father Collet is placed by Mr. Noisenx at Chaleur Bay at the very mo-
ment when wo find him at Fort Duquesne. The biographer adds tlu^ he
was taken there by the English in 1760 and carried to England. On bJ.ng
set at liberty in November, 1760, he p ^icd over to France and never return-
ed to Canada. What truth there may be in this we know not, but he was
certainly in Illinois. We are indebted for extracts from the Registers to our
venerable friend, the Hon. Jacques Viger, firyt Mayor of Montreal, Chevalier
of the order of St. Gregory, whose accuracy is proverbial in Canada, and to
whose aid we have frequently I'ad recourse, and as we gratefully acknow-
lo kre, not in vnin.

S^H !

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2t8

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

order caMed Pocollects, the first of whom arri' . i in Canada in
16 Id, with Samuel Charaplain. Sent back tc France in 1629
on the capture of Quebec by the English, they returned only in
1670, and from that time never left Canada; but as the English
government seized their property and prevented their receiving
novices, their order is now extinct in that province, the last sur-
vivor, a lay brother, having died a few years ago.*

It may easily be imagined that amid the privations of a fron-
tier post, and the vicissitudes of war, the Recollecta of Fort Du-
quesne and Fort Machault, could make no eflFort to preach the
Gospel to the Indians by whom they were surrounded : Dela-
wares, among whom the Moravians were beginning to toil, Sene-
cas, whom the Jesuits had so long taught ; if they ministered to
any it was to the wandering Catholic Huron from Sandusky, or
Miami from St. Joseph's, the men whom Beaujeu led to victory
over the disciplined troops of Braddock. Their functions were
those of itj;ilitary chaplains : and when they disappeared with the
regiuieiits o( France, thirty years rolled by without the cross re-
appearing iu Western Pennsylvania; but in 1Y99 a young priest
took up his abode among the most rugged summits of the Alle-
ghanies ; there he built churches, founded villages, attracted a
Catholic population, by advantageous grants of land, and the
superior spiritual advantages enjoyed at Loretto ; and after an
apostolic career of forty-one years, after expending $150,000 of
his fortune in this admirable work, he died, leaving ten thousand
Catholics in the mountains, where he had found only twelve
families. This holy priest, who in his humility called himself
the Rev. Mr. Smith, deserves to be known by his true name, and

* The Friars Minors of the Strict Observance, called in France Recollects,
are a reform of the Franciscans. It began in Spain in 1584, and their first
establishment in Paris dates from 1605. Henry IV., Louia XIII., and L( uia
XIV. greatly favored these zealous religious. Helyot^ Histoire dcb Ordres
religieux(Ed. Migne) iii. 332.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

279

we do not hesitate to relate at some length his history, one of the
most edifying which the Church in the United States presents.
Pemetrius Augustine Gallitzin was born at the Hague, on the
22d of December, 1770. His father was then Russian ambassa-

dor in Holland, and before ^
had been in the same capacit

stay, he had become intiis
Diderot, whose perfidious prais
sian prince. At a later date w

g intrusted with that embassy,
iris, where, during his long
connected with Voltaire and
ered the vanity of the Rus-
;.;;(: liim a correspondent of Vol-
taire, and in many of his letters the philosopher piaises the Mus-
covite noble for his devotedness to science, and above all for his
spirit of toleration. This was the period when Voltaire, as bad a
Frenchman as he was a man, wrote to the empress that he
regretted that he was not a Russian. The mother of our mis-
sionaiy, Amelia, Countess of Schmettau, Princess Gallitzin, be-
longed to a great German family. She was daughter of Countess
Ruflfert and of one of Frederick the Great's favorites, Marshal
Count Schmettau. She had two brothers, distinguished in the
Prussian army, one of them having been killed at the battle of
Jena. The Princess Ajiielia was brought up a Catholic, and in
early childhood showed much piety, but at the age of nine, as
she herself said, was diverted from devotion by the charms of
flattery. She then fell into the hands of an infidel tutor, who
made it a point to extinguish the faith in the heart of his pupil,
an^ her marriage with Prince Gallitzin tended still more to
plunge her into incredulity. Diderot, at Paris, endeavored to
dazzle her by the sophisms of his system of atheism ; but the
perusal of infidel works only excited disquiet as to the state of
her conscience, and soon after the birth of her son, she resolved
to retire to Munster and live in solitude and reflection. In 1783
God, in His mercy, sent her a serious illness. Visited by the
holy priest, Bernard Overberg, she would not, from human pride,
seem to fear death, but promised, in case she recovered her health,

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280

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

to study Christianity seriously. On her recovery she kept her
word. She was under instruction three years, and at last, on the
28th of August, 1786, made her first communion. Directed in
the ways of piety by the Abbot of Furstenberg, and by Father
Overberg, she spent the rest of her days . in prayer, in struggles
against self-will, and in regret over her past life.*

Her son, young Demetrius, was carefully brought up aloof
from every religious idea. The prince surrounded him with
infidel philosophers, and watched with argus eyes lest any priest
or minister should approach the future heir of his titles and for-
tune. He learned all but what it was essential to know, and it '
would naturally be sxpected that a young man of accomplished
education in the eyss of the world, would seek only to rush
madly on the paths of honors and pleasure. But all the father's
precautions could not exclude grace from on high ; and Prince
Gallitzin thus recounts his astonishing conversion:

" I lived during fifteen years in a Catholic country, under a
Catholic government, where both the spiritual and temporal
power were united in the same person — the reigning prince in
that country was our archbishop. During a great part of that
time I was not a member of the Catholic Church ; an intimacy
which existed between our family and a certain French philoso-
pher, had produced contempt for revealed religion. Raised in
prejudices against revelation, I felt every disposition to ridicule
those very principles and practices which I have adopted siflce.
Particular care, too, was taken not to permit any clergyman to
come near me. Thanks be to the God of infinite mercy, the
clouds of infidelity were dispersed, and revelation adopted in our
family. I soon felt convinced of the necessity oi investigating
the diflFerent religious systems, in order to find the true one.
Although I was born a member of the Greek Church, and al-

* Her life has been written by Katerkamp.

'•v.*

IN THE UNITED STATES.

281

though all my male relations, without any exception, were either
Greeks or Protestants, yet did I resolve to embrace that religion
only which upon impartial inquiry should appear to me to be
the 'pure religion of Jesus Christ. My choice fell upon the
Catholic Church, and at the age of about seventeen I became a
member of that Church."*

This conversion did not at first divert young Demetrius from
the military career which his father wished him to embrace. In
1792 he was aid-de-camp to the Austrian general. Van Lilien,
who commanded an army in Brabant, at the opening of the first
campaign against France. But the sudden detfth of the Emperor
Leopold, and the assassinatioik of the King of Sweden, an act
considered as the work of the Jacobins, induced Austria and
Prussia to dismiss all foreigners from their armies. The young
prince being thus deprived of his military position, his father
advised him to travel to finish his education, and he arrived in
the United States in 1792, accompanied by a young German
missionary, the Rev. Mr. Brosius, his tutor. At the sight of the
spiritual destitution which the Catholics in America suffered, he
felt a vocation to the ecclesiastical state, and on the 5th of No-
vember, 1792 entered the Sulpitian Seminary recently founded at
Baltimore. Under the direction of those excellent professors, the
abbes Nagot, Garnier, and Tessier, Galiitzin made rapid progress
in piety and ecclesiastical learning, and on the 18th of March,
1795,* received the priesthood at the hands of the venerable
Bishop Carroll.

He was the second priest ordained in the United States, and
the first who received all orders in this country. For the first

* DiBcourse on the life and virtues of the Rev. DemctriuB Augustine Gal-
iitzin. Loretto, 1848. The eloquent author kindly sent us his discourse,
adding extensive not«s, from which chiefly we have drawn the edifying
tales as to the noble Russian prince, become an humble minister of Jesus
Christ. The sketch of Gidlitzin, by the Rev. C. C. Pise, D.D., has also been
of great service. It appeared in the Biographical Annual, 1841.

282

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Bishop of Baltimore he ever preserved the most lively admiration
and most tender affection : " The nearer we approach Archbishop
Carroll in our pastoral conduct," he used to say, " the nearer we
iftpproach perfection."

The young priest would have preferred not to leave his holy
and studious retreat, the Seminary of Baltimore, and with this
object obtained admission among the members of the congrega-
tion of St. Sulpice. But Bishop Carroll, though he granted him
the necessary permission, could not dispense with the Rev. Mr.
Gallitzin's services in the labors of the mission, and the latter
soon seeing that his new duties were . incomp^ible with those of
a Sulpitian, separated with regret from a society for which he
ever professed the deepest veneration. The first mission assigned
to him was that of Conewago, where there existed already a
flourishing church under Father Pellentz. From this central
point the Rev. Mr. Gallitzin served towns and cities to a consid-
erable distance : Taneytown, Pipe Creek, Hagerstown, and Cum-
berland in Maryland; Chambersburg, Path and Shade Valley,
Huntington and the Alleghany mountai Pennsylvania. But.

experience ere long convinced him that .^o would realize more
good by concentrating his efforts on a spot where he could
establish a Catholic colony, and he selected for his domain the
uninhabited and uncultivated regions of the Alleghanies, where he
settled permanently in 1799. He found in the mountains only a
dozen Catholics scattered here and there amid tie rocks and
woods. He first resided on a farm which the Maguire family
had generously given for the service of the Church. There lie
built a log chapel, thirty feet long, which long suflBced for the
few Catholics of that part. In order to attract emigration around
him he bought vast tracts of land, which he sold in farms at a
low rate, or even gave to the poor, relying on his patrimony to
meet his many engagements. But the Emperor of Russia could
not pardon the son of Prince Alexander Gallitzin for becoming a

IN THE UNITED STATES.

283

Catholic priest, and in 1808 the noble missionary received from
a friend in Europe a letter, saying :

" The question of your rights and those of the princess, your
sister, as to your father's property in Russia has been examined
by the Senate of St. Petersburg, and it has been decided that by
reason of your Catholic faith, and your ecclesiastical profession,
you cannot be admitted to a share of your late father's property.
Your sister is consequently sole heiress of the property, and is
soon to be put in possession of it. The Council of State has con-
finned the decision of the Senate, and the emperor by his sanc-
tion has given it force of law."

The Princess Anne Gallitzin, long promised her brother to
restore him his share, to which she acknowledged that she had no
lawfiil right ; she even sent on various occasions large sums to
the missionary, who employed them in meeting his engagements
and in relieving the poor. But in the whole it amounted to but
a small part of the revenues to which he was entitled, and when
the princess married a Prince of Salm, she said no more about
restituting. The missionary thus lost all his patrimony, but
offered the sacrifice to God with the most perfect resignation ; if
he regretted the wealth, it was only for the poor and for the
Church, not for himself. As his panegyrist has well said, " if he
had had a heart of gold he would have given it to the unfortu-
nate." The Rev. Demetrius Gallitzin was therefore not only the
zealous pastor of his flock, he was also its father and benefactor,
and never consented to leave it. Imposing on himself a thou-
sand austerities, lodged in an humble cabin, dressed in coarse
clothes, incessantly travelling from point to point to bear the
consolations of religion through the mountains. Father Gallitzin
found time also to study, and successively composed several con-
troversial works ; " Defence of Catholic Principles," a " Letter to
a Protestant Friend," and an " Appeal to the Protestant Public,"
in replj to a Protestant minister of Huntington, who had pas-

284

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

sionately assailed him in his pulpit. These little works, of great
dialectic skill, continue to be printed and circulated in America,
and have been frequently reprinted in England, Ireland, every-
where producing great good, in converting Protestants or con-
firming Catholics in the faith.

Amid these apostolic labors, and just after excessive fatigue in
hearing confessions and ofiiciating through Holy Week, the ven-
erable Mr. Gallitzin died, on the 6th of May, 1840, in Loretto, a
village which he had founded in the mountains. His friend,
the Very Rev. Thomas Heyden, whom we have seen refusing the
See of Natchez in 1837, received the lait sigh of the Pastor of
the Alleghanies, and in the month of September, 184*7, he pro-
nounced a funeral oration in St. Michael's Church, at the transla-
tion of the body of the sainted Prince Gallitzin under the beauti-
ful monument which the piety of his parishioners had raised to
his memory.*

The renown of Prince Gallitzin's virtues and of the wonders
he achieved, spread far and wide, and he was several times spoken
of for the Episcopacy. In the life of Bishop Flaget, we see that
in 1825 it was resolved to erect a See at Pittsburg, and Bishop
Dubourg wrote to Bishop Rosati on the 28th of November:
"Should you judge it opportune to ask the erection of a See at
Pittsburg, embracing the territory bordering on the Alleghany
and a portion of Virginia, I will unite with you. * * * I
would propose Prince Gallitzin as first on the list, and Mr.
Maguire as second. I think the first place due to the former, in
consequence of his long and useful service, and for the good he
has effected in those quarters, and because he has already a large
establishment, which would be very useful to the new bishopric"!

On his side. Bishop Kenrick, then Coadjutor of Philadelphia,

* Spalding's (Bp.) sketches of the Life, Times, and Character of the Right
Rev. Benedict J. Flaget, p. 250.

+ Annales de la Propagation de la Foi, viii.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

285

anJ as such happy enough to count Prince Gallitzin among his
priests, wrote of him on the 14th of January, 1834 : " Loretto,
in Cambria county, is the residence of the celebrated missionaiy,
Prince Gallitzin, and a very numerous population. It is more
L i than thirty years since that venerable man chose the summit of
the Alleghanies as his retreat, or rather as the centre of his mis-
sion ; thence he went from time to time, to bear the succors of
religion to the Catholics scattered over an immense territory,
where five priests are now occupied. The number of the faithful
at his arrival was very trifling in Cambria county ; his persever-
ance, in spite of all the di£Sculties with which he l)ad to contend,
was crowned with heavenly benedictions. The mountains have
become fertile and the forests flourishing. Many Protestants have
followed his example, renouncing the errors of the sects in which
they had been brought up ; and Catholics came from all sides to
commit themselves to the paternal care of a priest whose pure
and humble life excites them to the exercise of the evangelical
virtues."*

The Catholics of Cambria still keep fresh the memory of their
princely missionary, and have given the name of Gallitzin to a
village which has already a church, dedicated to St. Patrick.
They are particularly distinguished by their faith and patriarchal
manners ; and gave a striking proof lately in the triumphal pro-
cession with which they welcomed Monseigneur Bedini, the Apos-
tolic Nuncio. In a letter which his Excellency addressed to us

* The Gallitzin family has also had a martyr to the Faith. According to
a family tradition, as stated by Madame Gallitzin to Bishop O'Connor, one of
their ancestors became a Catholic in the time of Catharine II., and was put to
death in punishment for his change of faith, by being required to have a
palace of ice built on vlie Neva, and to go through the form of marrying an
old woman. The whole thing passed as a joke, but the prince was taken to
the bridal chamber, where the bride of the play, aided by satellites, held him
on a bed of ice till he expired. The matter was then hushed up as a joke,
but it was known to have been the design of the empress to take him off,
yet deprive him of the honor of martyrdom.

286

THB CATHOLIC CHURCH

from Cincinnati, on the 29th of September, 1863, is the following
passage : " The papers will keep you but imperfectly informed of
my progress, and, especially, you can form no idea of my visit to
Loretto, which presented the most touching spectacle. This vil-
lage, sanctified by the Apostolate of Prince Demetrius Gallitzin,
is situated in the highest mountains of Pennsylvania, and is in-
habited exclusively by Catholics. My carriage was preceded by
about five hundred persons, on horseback, men and women, and
followed by some fifty carriages. This peaceful cortege, defiling
joyously aroimd these lofty mountains, beneath a still brilliant
sun, was as solemn as touching for us all. The fact is, that
everywhere, and especially at Loretto, the joy of the Catholics
was unbounded, and was displayed in the liveliest and most edi-
fying manner. The demonstration could not have been more
beautiful or more brilliant, and reminded me of the welcome I
received in Canada."

The father of our holy missionary died at Brunswick in 1803,
still unreconciled to the idea of having his son a priest, and his
wife a pious Catholic, while he was a disciple of Diderot. He
embittered the last days of the princess by reproaching her with
causing her son's conversion. She bore all with Christian pa-
tience, and expired in 1806, fortified with all the consolations of
the dying. Her example, and that of her son, doubtless exer-
cised a salutary infiuence on the family. One of their nephews,
the young Prince Alexander Gallitzin, openly became a Catholic
at St. Petersburg, in 1814, at the age of fifteen. He was then a
pupil of the Jesuits, and this conversion excited so much attention
in Russia, and so irritated his uncle, then Minister of Worship to
the emperor, that the Society of Jesus was immediately banished
from Russia. Another aunt of young Alexander became a
Catholic in Russia, under Father Ronsin, and her daughter,
Princess Elizabeth Gallitzin, having herself abjured the Greek
Bchisni, entered the community of the Sacred Heart, at Paris.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

287

After a stay at Rome, she was sent to the United States in 1840,
where she founded four houses of her order, and died of the yel-
low fever in Louisiana, at the age of 47, on the 8th of December,
1843.

These illustrious examples of return to unity, are not the only
ones which the Russian nobility have given within the last sixty
years. Many families have embraced Catholicity, and form a
society no less agreeable than distinguished at Rome and Paris,
the intolerance of the Czar forcing them into exile to enjoy the
free exercise of their religion. These conversions would be far
more numerous, but for the cruel persecutions^ exercised by the
Greek schism. The wounded Russians in the Crimea gladly
confessed to the French chaplains, and the prisoners of Bomar-
sund communicate at the hands of Polish missionaries sent to
evangelize them. These poor people are full of faith; they
know nothing of the subtleties of Photius, and would cheerfully
return to the true faith, if ambition, pride, and policy did not
keep the Muscovite princes out of the Divine Unity of the Church.

The life of Prince Demetrius Gallitzin is little known in
Europe, or even in America, and in hopes of soon seeing an
extended memoir, we have dwelt at some 'in^th on the history
of the Pastor of the Alleghanies. It was in tie design of Provi-
dence that all nations of Europe should furnish their contingent
of missionaries to the United States, and Russia has given two
scions of one of her most ancient families, to preach the Gospel
and expound the Catechism to the republicans of the New
World, and the tawny denizens of their Western prairies.

288

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

sri \ 'i \ ,

CHAPTER XIX.

. DIOCESE OF PITTSBURG DIOCESE OF ERIE — (1792-1868).

The Abb6 Flaget at PIttsbarg— The Bev. F. X. O'Brien and Charles B. Magulre— The
Poor Glares— The Colony of Asylum— The Chevalier John Keating— Colony of Har«
man Bottom— Episcopate o> the Right Rev. Dr. O'Connor— Sisters of Mercy— The
Brothers of the Presentation— The Franciscan Brothers— The Benedictines— Passioa-
lst»— Early missions at Erie— Bishop Flaget — The present state of the diocese— The
Benedictine Nuns— Retrospect.

We have seen that the Recollects of France were the first
priests who, a century since, offered the holy sacrifice in the fort
around which the vast city of Pittsburg has gathered. After
them, too, a French priest is the first whom we find exercising
the ministry pt Pittsburg. In the month of May, 1792, the
Abb6 Benedict Joseph Flaget, the future Bishop of Bardstown
and Louisville, journeying from Baltimore to Vincennes, the sta-
tion which Bishop Carroll had assigned him, was forced to wait
six months at Pittsburg, the waters of the Ohio being so low as
to render navigation impossible. During this forced stay, the
young missionary was not idle. He resided with a descendant
of French Huguenots, who had married an American Protestant
lady, but who both received the Abb6 Flaget very cordially.
The latter said Mass daily in their house ; and then devoted him-
self to the religious instruction of some French or Canadian set-
tlers and the Catholic soldiers. Fort Pitt, in Pittsburg, was then
the head-quarters of General Wayne, about to lead his famous
expedition against the Indians of the Northwest. The general
cordially welcomed Mr. Flaget, who presented him a letter of in-
troduction from Bishop Carroll, and the young priest endeared

IN THE UNITED STATES.

289

2-1868).

1. Magulre— The
■Colony of Har-
of Mercy— The
ct\ne9-Pa98«oo-
,he diocese— The

cre the first
ee in the fort
lered. After
id exevcising
y, 1792, the
of Bardstown
(nnes, the sta-
'orced to wait
Bing so low as
rced stay, the

a descendant
can Protestant
very cordially.

devoted him-

Canadian set-
burg, was then
^ad his famous
The general
a letter of in-

►riest endeared

himself to all by his chantuble cure of the ganison dunng the
ravages caused by the small-pox among the troops. In another
circumstance, too, he displayed a truly apostolic zeal, when four
deserters who had been retaken were condemned to death by
court-martial. Two of these soldiers were Catholics, another a
Protestant, the fourth a French infidel. Mr. Flaget visited them
in prison, and though he spoke but little English, he had the
consolation of converting the Protestant, and administering the
sacraments to the two Catholics. As to the Frenchman, he ob-
stinately refused all the succors of religion ; and the grief which
the missionary expressed at the thought of the impenitence of his
countryman, induced General Wayne to grant 'liira the pardon of
the culprit.*

In 1796, Butler county, lying north of Pittsburg, was declared
by government open to colonization ; and Irish Catholics from
Youngstown immediately began to settle there, and others swelled
the population of Pittsburg. A mission was founded at Sugar
Creek, and was attended, it is believed, by Father C. Whelan.
In the first years of this century, the Rev. F. X. O'Brien had the
centre of this mission, at Brownsville, forty miles south of Pitts-
burg, which latter city he visited every month, to say Mass for
the few Catholics who gathered around him in a private room.
About 1807, however, the Rev. Mr. O'Brien made Pittsburg his
residence, and m ihe following year erected St. Patrick's Church,
so apparently large for the wants of the faithful, that he was long
annoyed with reproaches of extravagance. Yet it was only fore-
sight ; and since then, although additions have nearly doubled
the church in size, it is not,f with the eleven other churches or
chapels that rise in various parts of the city, sufficient for the

* Bishop Spalding. Life, &c., of Bishop Flaget, p. 80.

+ The present St. Patrick's is not on the site of the old one, which was
burnt in 1854, as the place had become unfit for a ohuroh from the railroads
concentrating in the immediate neighborhood.

290

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Catholic population of the episcopal See of Pittsburg. The Rev.
Mr. O'Brien zealously discharged the functions of pastor of St.
Patrick's till March, 1820. At that epoch he retired to Mary-
land, his native State, and, except a short stay at Conewago,
never left, and died some years after, it would seem, at An-
napolis.

The Rev. F. X. O'Brien was succeeded at Pittsburg by Father
Charles B. Maguire, an Irish Franciscan, who had studied at
St. Isidore's Convent, Rome. He was even a professor there,
when the French invasion compelled him to retire to Germany,
where he received from the royal family of Bourbon, then exiled
from France, many favors and marks of respect. He came to
the United States about 1812, and the mission of Westmoreland
county, comprising Latrobe and Youngstown, was first assigned
to him. There Father Brouwer had taken up his abode in 1789 ;
and this cradle of Catholicity in the diocese of Pittsburg has
become, since 1846, the cradle of the Benedictine Order in the
United States. Father Maguire, who baptized most of the Cath-
olics of this generation at Pittsburg, was full of ambition for
God's glory. St. Patrick's Church, even with its additions, did
not seem, in his eyes, large enough for the present and future of
his congregation. On a hill in Grand-street he resolved to build
a cathedral, long before there was any mention of having a bish*
op at Pittsburg ; and he undertook, with rare energy, the con-
struction of St. Paul's Church. Yet he did not live to see it
consecrated. This took place in 1834, and in July of the pre-
ceding year, Father Maguire had died at Pittsburg. The Rev.
John O'Reilly, who had been Father Maguire's assistant from
1831, succeeded him in his pastoral charge, and was replaced in
1844 by the Rev. Michael O'Connor, now Bishop of Pittsburg.

The Rt. Rev. F. P. Kenrick, the Coadjutor of Philadelphia,
wrote, on the 14th of January, 1834 :

" Pittsburg, a considerable city, at the other extremity of Penn-

heRer.

X of St.
a Mary-
(newago,
, at An-

,y Father
budied at
jor there,
Germany,
aen exiled
> came U>
itmoreland
it assigned
e in 1789;
tsburg has
rder in the
if the Cath-
mbition for
ditions, did
ad future of
red to build
ving a bish-
^y, the con-
ve to see it
of the pre-
The Rev.
sistant from
, replaced in
Pittsburg.
Philadelphia,

lity of Penn-

IN THE UBTITBD STATES.

291

Bylvania, amid a population of twenty thousand souls, contains,
according to a moderate computation, four or five thousand
Catholics. Thus far, we have had only one church there, St.
Patrick's ; but we hope soon to have another, St. Paul's, a vast
edifice, far advanced, and of magnificent construction. It is now
five years since this new church was begun ; but want of pecu-
niary resources has retarded its completion. The pastor of St.
Patrick's, Mr. John O'Reilly, who has already built three churches
at Newry, Huntington, and Bellefonte, is now using every eflbrt
to complete St. Patrick's at Pittsburg. The Abb6 Masquelet, an
Alsacian, aids him in the functions of the holy ministry, princi-
pally by taking the charge of the German8,»who are very nume-
rous, and of some French who reside there. Near '"'ittsburg, the
Poor Clares have a convent, containing fourteen religious, under
the spiritual direction of Father Van de Wejer, a Belgian re-
ligious of the Order of St. Dominic*

This monastery, which was the first established religious com-
munity in that part of Pennsylvania, had been founded about
1828 at Alleghenytown, in the neighborhood of Pittsburg. Sister
Frances Van de Vogel, belonging to a wealthy Flemish family,
arrived from Belgium in Pennsylvania with one of her compan-
ions, and purchased with her own means tlip property on which
the convent was built. Father Maguire took a great interest in
this foundation, and encouraged it by his influence and counsels.
About 1830, the Poor Clares established another house at Green
Bay, in the present State of Wisconsin ; but neither house ac-
quired stability, and after difficulties of jurisdiction with Dr.
R6s6, Bishop of Detroit, Madame Van de Vogel, who claimed to be
sole Superior of the Order, became discouraged, and sold the

* Annalea ^e la Propagation de la Foi, viii. 215. The Kev. Fran<;ois
Masquelot removed in 1817 to the diocese of Cincinnati, and was stationed
•t St. Martin's, near Fayetteville. His name does not appear after 1840, nor
Father Van de Wojor's after 1835.

■1
! i '

292

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

property in both places. Some of the religious returned to Bel-
gium, others entered various communities, and Madame Van de
Vogel retired to Rome. Thus, the Sisters of St. Clare failed in
Pennsylvania and in Wisconsin, as they had failed in George-
town in the last century ; and the Almighty refused them that
vitality, with which so many other communities in the United
States show themselves to have been gifted.

In the letter already cited. Bishop Kenrick gives other inter-
esting details as to the religious state of Catholics in Western
Pennsylvania. " On my visit to St. Peter's, Brownsville, a little
village on the Monongahela river, I was much edified at the joy
with which a pious French widow^, residing in the neighborhood,
came, with her children, to approach the sacraments, which she
had been debarred from for years, in consequence of not meeting
a priest who understood her language. The faithful of this mis-
sion are to be pitied, being able only four times a year to enjoy
the presence of a priest, the pastor of Blairsville, Rev. James
Ambrose Stillmger, a young American priest, who visits them
thus till I can place a pastor here.* The French families in
Potter county have not even this consolation, for it is only at
rare intervals that the pastor of All Saints, Lewistown, who has
charge of this mission, and those of Clearfield and Bellefonte,f
can take the long journey necessary to visit them. He travels
sixty miles every month to go to Clearfield, where there are many
French ; but those in Potter county are still farther oflf."

This French immigration, to the importance of which, in
Pennsylvania, Bishop Kenrick, in several instances, alludes, took
place at diflFerent epochs ; but the principal attempts at coloni-
zation were induced by the Reign of Terror, which drove from
France its noblest and best families. On perusing the travels of

* He is still pastor of Blairsvillo.

t These are still in thf iliocesc ot" Pliiladelphia.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

293

Bel-
in de
3d in
sorge-
ithat
Jnited

inter-
'estern
a little
he joy
3rhood,
ich she
neeting
his mis-
o enjoy
. James
ts them

lilies in

only at
Ivho has
|lefonte,t
travels

ire many

Ihich, in

les, took

lit coloni-

)ve from

Iravels of

the Duke of Larochefoucauld-Liancourt, in the interior of the
United States, in 1795, 1796, and 1797,* we are surprised at
the number of French whom he finds at every step, even to the
very backwoods, then inhabited by the Indians. In another
portion of this history, we have shown how the descendants of
the French now form one of the elements of the Catholic popu-
lation of the United States. Still, many families, cut off from
all religious aid, unhappily saw the faith expire in their children;
and what is more sad, other families, placed in the most advan-
tageous positions, made no effort to secure their offspring from
Protestantism. In 1794, thirty families of 'French officers and
nobility founded the Colony of Asylum, near Towanda, in Brad-
ford county. Some came from Paris, others from St. Domingo,
and a number of mechanics and negroes followed them to their
new abode. They were also attended by several priests — the
Abbe de Bec-de-Lievre, formerly a canon in Brittany ; the Abb6
Carles, canon of Quercy ; the Abbe de Sevigny, Archdeacon of
Toul ; and the Abbe Fromentin, of Etampe?^. Mr, Nores, a grad-
uate of the Holy Chapel, and possessor of a small priory, al-
though not in orders, was another of the party. But these
ecclesiastics were not of the stamp of the virtuous Sulpitians,
who at the same time offered thedr services to Bishop Carroll,
and hastened to preach the Gospel wherever that prelate sent
them, whether to Boston, Vincennes, Kentucky, or other parts of
bis vast diocese. The Abbes of Asylum never asked the bishop
for faculties to exercise the ministry in America ; and thinking
only of the goods of this world, became grocers or farmers. In
a spot which contained four priests, Mass was never offered.
They never even thought of arranging a place for a chapel,
where the settlers might meet morning and evening, to raise up

* Annales de la Propagation de la Foi, viii. 213. Voyage dans les Etats-
Unis d' Amerique fait en 1795, 1796, et 1797, par La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt.
Paris, An. vii.

294

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

their hearts to God. No worship was practised among these
brilliant officers, their companions and children ; and this shows
how far the philosophy of Voltaire had spread its ravages in the
hearts of families, and even in the spnctuary. As soon as the
nobles and clergy could return to France, the more influential of
the colonists of Asylum hastened to leave America. There re-
mained in Bradford county only the farmers and mechanics ;
and among the descendants of these at the present day, there is
not a single Catholic — a fatal example of the lot which awaits
the settlers who are remote from true pastors, and absorbed in
the interests of the present life.

Yet we are deceived : the Colony of Asylum had one priest
who soon awoke to a feeling of the awful character with which
he was invested. The Rev. Mr. Carles proceeded to Savannah,
and devoting himself to the ministry, labored among the Catho-
lics of Georgia till after the restoration of the Bourbons, when
he returned to France, and be " mq Vicar-general of Bordeaux,
under Cardinal Cheverus, whom he preceded a few days to the
tomb, and whose death materially hastened that of the saintly
archbishop.*

The Colony of Asylum also endowed Pennsylvania with an
excellent Catholic family, whose virtue has been honorably per-
petuated ; and an account of the patriarch of St. Mary's Church,

* As to Dr. Carles, see Bishop England's Works, iii. 252-4, Hamon; Life
^f Cardinal Cheverus (translated by Walsh), p. 199, where he is styled a
most venerable and exemplary priest, whom the cardinal had brought with
him from Montauban. Dr. Carles fell dead as he was leaving the altar after
High Mass, on Easter Sunday, 1834. Two more of the priests at the Asy-
lum returned to France ; but one of them, Mr. Fromentin, remained, mar-
ried, and removing to Louisiana, became Clerk of the Legislature. As such,
he was a leader in the dispute with General Jackson, which led to the closing
of the sessions of that body. He died of yellow fever, which he had braved.
The principal families at Asylum, in 1795, were Messrs. Do Noailles, De
Blacon, De Montul^, D'Andelot, De Beaulieu, De la Koue, De Vilaine, Mes-
dames D' Antrepont, De Sybert, Do Maulde, De Bercy. Du Petit Thouars, the
future hero of the Tonnaut at Aboukir, was also at Asylum in 1795.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

295

Philadelphia, deserves a place from our pen. John Keating,
born in Ireland, on the 19th of September, 1759, is the grand-
son of Jeffrey Keating, who raised a company of horse, during
the siege of Limerick, and having subsequently retired to France
with King James's army, distinguished himself in Spain and
Italy, under Marshal Catinat. Valentine, Baron Keating, the son
of Jeffrey, obtained permission to return to Ireland, but finding
the penal laws intolerable, went back to France, and had his
children educated at the Jesuit college, Poitiers. John Keating
and his three brothers entered as oflScers in the Irish regiment
of Walsh-Serrant, in the French service. At the period of our
revolution, this regiment was sent to the West Indies, then to
Pondi cherry and Mauritius; and at the breaking out of the
French revolution, was in St. Domingo. "There," says the
Duke de la Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, " John Keating, having the
confidence of all parties, and having refused the most seductive
offers of the Commissioners of the Convention, preferred to re-
tire poor to America, rather than remain rich and in honor at
St. Domingo, by violating his first oath. A man of a character
at once severe and mild, of distinguished merit, rare intelligence,
uncommon virtue, and unexampled disinterestedness, * * *
we may say that the confidence which his great intelligence and
virtue inspire, make it more easy for him than for others to ter-
minate a difficult affair."*

Captain John Keating, Chevalier of St. Louis, was one of the
founders and organizers of Asylum ; but when his friends returned
to France he retired to Philadelphia, where he has since edified
whole generations by his piety and virtues. Although more than
ninety-six years of age, he continues to occupy every Sunday his
wonted place in St. Mary's, and enjoys universal esteem through-
out the city. His daughter, left a widow, resolved to enter a

* Voyage de la Rochefoucauld, i. 159.
p. 187.

See Irish at Home and Abroad,

296

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

convent as soon as her children were old enough to take charge
of their grandfather, and she is now Superioress of the Visitation
at Frederick.

If the Asylum gave "in general results so afflicting to religion,
it is consoling to see other colonies flourishing under quite differ-
ent conditions. In 1832, the Rev. Thomas Heyden proposed to
Mr. Ridelmoser, a wealthy German Catholic in Baltimore, to
draw Catholics to his lands, on condition that a church should be
built and the ground reserved for Catholic settlers. Mr. Ridel-
moser, who possessed extensive tracts in Bedford county, imme-
diately built a church at Herman Bottom, furnished it with
vestments and plate, built a rectory, reserved a hundred acres of
excellent land for the support of a pastor, and allotted sixty more
for the support of a school. The Rev. Mr. Heyden, on his side,
induced Catholic families to come and settle at Herman Bottom.
The church was consecrated on the 1st of January, 1826; one
hundred and fifty families were installed in the neighborhood,
and assure their children the competence which agriculture gives
in America, while, at the same time, they bring them up in the
faith of their fathers and the practice of religion. It was the
success of the scheme of Prince Gallitzin which induced Dr.
Heyden to attempt an enterprise of a similar character in Bedford
county, and we see that he succeeded as his venerable friend had
done at Loretto.

We have said that Bishop Kenrick in 1834 noted the existence
of a large German population at Pittsburg. To take care of the
Catholics of that nation, some Redemptorist Fathers arrived at
Pittsburg in 1839, and immediately began the erection of the
Church of St. Philomena. Two years previous, Tv^ur Sisters of
Charity from Emmetsburg opened a school at Pittsburg, and
soon took charge of an orphan asylum.* But it is chiefly since

* They retired in 1845 from the diocese of Pittsburg, and the Sisters of
Mercy have Buccoedcd them at St. Paul's Asylum.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

297

large
ation

igion,

iifFer-

3ed to

•re, to

aid be

Ridel-

imme-

t with

cjres of

y more

is side,

3ottom.

6; one

prhood,

:e gives

in the

was the

•,ed Dr.

Bedford

md had

xistence

of the

ived at

of the

isters of

rg, and

iy since

Sistera of

1843, when Dr. O'Connor, instead of being pastor, became Bishop
of Pittsburg, that, under the influence of his zeal, the new diocese
saw churches, convents, and monasteries rise on all sides, so that
it is now one of the best endowed in the United States in the re-
sources of its clergy and the number of its religious communities.
When Bishop O'Connor was returning from Rome after his conse-
cration, he passed through Ireland, and induced a colony of Sisters
of Mercy to come to Pittsburg. This was the first foundation of
this venerable Order in the United States; but since 1843 it has
struck such deep roots, that in 1855 there are not less than
eighty-four Sisters of Mercy in the dioces^ of Pittsburg alone.
They have under their direction the Mercy Hospital in the epis-
copal city, a House of Industry at Alleghany, four boarding'
schools at Latrobe, Loretto, Hollidaysburg, and Pittsburg, two
orphan asylums, and several free-schools, frequented by hundreds
of pupils. Moreover, the Sisters of Mercy of Pittsburg have sent
colonies to three othei" dioceses in the United States — to Chicago
in 1846, Providence in 1851, and Baltimore in 1855. The dio-
cese of Chicago contains already forty-six Sisters of this Order,
comprising thirty-one professed. A still larger number is found
in the diocese of Hartford, and there are novitiates in both as
well as in Baltimore.

The Sisters of the Order of Our Lady of Mercy have in view
all the spiritual, and even all the corporal works of mercy, but
more especially the instruction of poor girls, the visit of the sick
and dying poor, and of prisoners, and the protection of decent
girls in distress. To attain this last object, they open Houses of
Industry, where girls out of work or place find labor and a shel-
ter. The Sisters endeavor to place them as servants or hands in
good houses, and as families rely on the recommendation of the
Sisters, they apply at the convent in preference to venal intelli-
gence offices. During the short period that the Sisters keep
their protegees their religious instruction is not neglected, and in

13*-

\M..

298

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

every city where such a house exists, it has produced incalculablo
good in preserving young girls from the seductions of heresy and
vice. The Sisters of Mercy visit the prisons, attend those con-
demned to death, and justly consider themselves combining in
happy proportions the life of Martha with that of Mary. " The
offices of the choir, as the other duties of the contemplative life,
take up several hours of the day ; and these assure each of the
Sisters the particular and distinct grace which is accorded to the
life of activity and contemplation, animating her amid her painful
occupations by the anticipated sounds of that voice which says :
' Come, ye well beloved of my Father, * * * * whatever
you have done for one of my least brethren you have done for

> MJIfc

me.

This institute arose at Dublin, in 1829, and its foundress is
Mrs. Catharine McAuley, born on the lYth of September, 1778,
in a castle near Dublin. Belonging to a Catholic family favored
with the goods of this world, young Catharine had the misfortune
to lose her parents in childhood and be brought up by a Protestant
uncle. She was not required to renounce her baptismal faith,
but she was deprived of all means of religious instruction, and
many a young girl would have succumbed to the influence of
such an education. Miss McAuley, however, resolved to remain
firm in the communion of her parents, and as soon as she was
mistress of her actions she was instructed in her religion, and
made rapid progress in piety. Rejecting all offers for her hand,
she conceived the project of devoting her person and her fortune
to the relief of her neighbor ; yet she did not leave, before theii

* Illustrations of the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy ; by a Sister
of the religious order of Our Lady of Mercy, with descriptive anecdotes.
London, 1840. This charming album represents in a series of engravings
the Sisters of Mercy in the exercise of each work, and was designed and
written by Sister Agnew, a convert from Protestantism, authoress of Geral-
dine Rome and the Abbey, and the Young Communicants. We regret only
that the letter-press was so brief.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

299

death, the foster-parents who had watched over her childhood,
and even had the consolation of seeing both her uncle and aunt
abjure Protestantism. The spectacle of all the works of charity
eflfected by Miss McAuley in their castle had preached most
effectually to their hearts. Guided by the advice of the Rev.
Mr. Armstrong, she bought some ground on Baggot-street, Dub-
lin, and erected a large house to found her peculiar work of
mercy — " the protection of decent women." After long consulta-
tions with the diocesan authority as to the propriety of founding
a new institute, instead of joining one of those already existing,
Mrs. McAuley resolved to create the Orc^r of Our Lady of
Mercy, and entered her convent with some companions in 1827.

She soon, however, left it in order to go through a regular no-
vitiate in the Presentation Convent, Dublin ; after which she re-
turned to her house in Baggot-street, in December, 1830, and
her companions in their turn went to receive the veil at the
Presentation. Since then the renown of the good eflfected at
Dublin by the Sisters of Mercy induced other cities to solicit
them, and the new Dublin Order extended with wonderful rapidity
over all Ireland. Nor was the good which it eflfected confined
to the island of saints ; it soon spread to England* and the colo-
nies of the British Empire, and ere long the Sisterhood of Mercy
came to share the labors of the other religious orders in the
United States. In 1843, Bishop O'Connor, as we have seen,
solicited and obtained a colony of seven Sisters for his episcopal
city, of which Mother Francis Xavier Warde was appointed Su-
perior. There, meanwhile, God had prepared a most valuable
accession to the pious colony thus selected for the undertaking.
Miss Eliza Jane Tieman was the daughter of one of the wealthiest
and most highly esteemed merchants of Pittsburg. She was
educated at Emmetsburg, and uniting in her person the accom-

• The first convent in England was founded at Bermondsey, London, in
1889.

If. i

800

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

plishments which h polished education gave, with the natural
advantages arising from the wealth and position of her family, as
well as from her own natural talents, she was one of the greatest
favorites in the fashionable circles of Pittsburg. She had been
for a long time deliberating on her vocation, but in the summer
of 1843, before the appointment of the bishop, and during Dr.
O'Connor's absence in Europe, she resolved on examining care-
fully the will of God in her regard. She had heard something of
the Order of Mercy, though none of its members were yet to be
found in the United States. She obtained all the information
she could on the subject, and finally resolved to recommend the
matter to God under the patronage of St. Francis Xavier, to
whom she had always entertained great devotion. She made a
novena preparatory to his feast in December, 1843, and having
received communion on the morning of that day, resolved firmly
to become a Sister of Mercy, though she was then entirely igno-
rant of the means by which her resolution could be accomplished.
Bishop O'Connor had already been consecrated at Rome, but no
account of his movements had reached Pittsburg before the 3d of
December. On that day his departure from Europe, accompa
nied by seven Sisters of Mercy, was announced in the newspapers
received from Philadelphia, and these were handed by Mr. Tier-
nan to his daughter, when he came to dinner, with the pithy
remark that he thought he had news that would interest her. It
is unnecessary to say that in a few weeks she was a postulant in
the new convent of Mercy, and in due time was professed under
the name of Sister Xavier. Her father died before her profession,
leaving her a handsome fortune, with a full knowledge of the use
she would make of it. She bestowed it upon the community,
and thus enabled the Sisters to become almost at once firmly
established, and to spread rapidly. In 1843, the Mother Supe-
rior resolved to revisit Ireland to obtain an additional supply of
Sisters of experience, who might enable the community to meet

ly, as
iatest
been
miner
igDr.
care-
ling of
to bo
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ind the
vier, to
nade a
having
i firmly
ly igno-
iplished.
I, but no
te 3d of
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id under
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|e firmly
ir Supe-
lupply of
to meet

IN THE UNITED STATES.

801

the increasing demand for their services. She selected Sister
Xavier as her companion. At the various houses they visited,
all were so struck with her piety and good sense that they
referred to her as a most suitable person to be appointed mistress
of novices, and to that oflSce she was in fact appointed on her
return. But alas ! her career was short. Of her it may be truly
said, "In brevi explevit tempora multa." The Sisters opened
their hospital in 1847, at a time when there was no shelter for
the sick and poor of the city but an abandoned coal-shed, which
had formerly been connected with the water-works. There was
nothing in which Sister Xavier felt greater interest, and she de-
voted herself to it with all her energies. In the spring of 1848
the typhus fever was raging. Several of the Sisters contracted
the fatal disease and fell victims to it. Sister Xavier was inces-
sant in her attendance, but though she escaped the typhus, ery-
sipelas, the result of her close attendance in the crowded wards,
attacked her, and in a few days put a period to her labors on
earth.

Such was one whom God raised up for the Order to give it
its first member in the United States, an example of all virtue,
her personal services, and earthly wealth.

Among the eminent Sisters of this house who have since de-
parted this life, we may also allude to the Superioress, Sister
Josephine CuUen, a niece of the Archbishop of Dublin, and Sister
Aloysia Strange, cousin of the Cardinal Archbishop of Westmin-
ster, both primates of the United Kingdom having contributed
in their families to found the Order of Mercy among us.*

All the houses in the United States are not, however, filiations
of that at Pittsburg. That at New York was founded by Arch-
bishop Hughes, who, in 1846, obtained some Sisters in Dublin
for his episcopal city, where they^ have accomplished prodigies of

* Letter of Rt. Rev. M. O'Connor. A Sketoh of the Order of Meroy : Dublin.

802

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

good, and in 1866 founded a house in Brooklyn. The house in
Newfoundland, now numbering forty Sisters, was founded from
Ireland in 1843, as was that of San Francisco in 1864.

The venerable foundress did not see on earth this admirable
development of her work. Yet she lived long enough to have
the consolation of hearing that her institute had been canonically
recognized at Rome, by Pontifical rescript of July 6th, 1841, and
she died soon after, leaving a memory in great veneration among
her spiritual daughters.*' ,

After having provided for the Christian education of young
girls and the relief of the sick, Bishop O'Connor's next care was
to secure the youth of the other sex the boon of religious instruc-
tion, and with this design the prelate brought from Ireland with
him, in 1846, some Brothers of the Presentation. The mother
house of this religious institute was then at Cork ; but God did
not seem to favor the establishment in America; one of the
Brothers soon died at Pittsburg ; another asked to return to Ire-
land ; a third wished to leave the institute, in order to become a
priest, and entered among the Augustinians at Philadelphia. At
last, as if to show the designs of Providence, Brother Paul Carey
and Brother Francis Ryan were struck by lightning in the open
street on the 2d of July, 1848, as they were returning to their
residence in Binningham, after teaching Sunday-school, in the
school-house attached to the cathedral in Pittsburg. Only one
professed Brother and two novices were now left, and these were
too few to continue the schools.

Bishop O'Connor had already thought of replacing them, and
applied to the Brothers of the Third Order of St. Francis, estab-
lished in the diocese of Tuam in Ireland. With the approbation
of the Most Rev. John McHale, Archbishop of Tuam, the com-
munities of Clifden and Roundstone gave six members, who set

* Beview, March, 1847; and information afforded by Mothor Agnes
O'Connor. .

r"?

IN THE UNITED STATES.

808

ouse in
ad from

imirable
to have
nonically
841, and
)n among

of young
t care was
us instruo-
eland with
he mother
ut God did
oxie of the
,urn to Ire-
) become a

ilphia. At
Ipaul Carey
L the open
|ng to their

Lool, in the
Only one
these were

them, and
l-ancis, estab-
1 approbation

J, the com-
[ers, who set

lothor Agnes

out for America in 1847, and founded a house at Loretto, in the
village created by the Rev. Demetrius Oallitzin. The chief ob-
ject of the Franciscan Brothers is the education of youth, and
manual labor is their secondary object. The principal convent
and novitiate are at Loretto ; but the Brothers also opened a
house at Cameron Bottom in 1862, and a school in Pittsburg,
where they have over four hundred pupils. They have, also, a
school at Allegheny and a boarding-school at Loretto. Thirty
Brothers are employed in the diocese of Pittsburg, and as the
number increases, the vigilant bishop confides schools to them,
to shield Catholic children from the dangers of the government
schools. The Third Order of Franciscans was instituted by St.
Francis of Assisium for persons living in the world, either in the
state of marriage or celibacy.* At a later date. Pope Leo X.
selected from the written rules of St. Francis those to be observed
by the Tertiaries living in community. About 1821, a branch
of the Order was established at Mount Bellew, county Galway,
Ireland, by the Rev. Michael Bernard Dillon, Friar Minor ; and
the Provincial of the Franciscans in Ireland appointed him Su-
perior of the community, a post which he filled till his death,
1828. In January, 1881, the Franciscan Brothers obtained per-
mission of the Holy See to depend solely on the Archbishop of
Tuam, and in 1848, those of Loretto asked to obey only the
Bishop of Pittsburg, which was granted, with authority to open
a novitiate, and privilege of founding houses of their Order in
other parts of America.f

The Catholic education of the sons of the lower classes being
secured by the coming of the Franciscan Brothers, it still remain-

* joi.r. ■'V^rnardon, born at Asaiaium in 1182, was called Francis, or the
French, because Ub spoke that lan^^uage fluently. He began to obtain fol-
lowers in 1209, and died in 1226. He was canonized in 1228. (See his life
in Alban Butler.)

t Information furnished by Brother Lawrence T. O'Donnel, Superior of
the Monastery of Loretto.

804

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

ed to think of preserving religion in the heartA of the young men
of higher rank in society, by establishing a college, with learned
and able masters. While anxious to secure this, Bishop 0*Con-
nor warmly welcomed an offer of the Benedictines of Metten, in
Bavaria, to found a monastery in his diocese ; and in the course
of the year, 1846, a priest of this ancient and venerable order.
Father Boniface Wimmer, now Mitred Abbot, arrived, accompa-
nied by sixteen brothers, and four students in theology. The
great St. Boniface, who evangelized Germany from 720 to 766,
and, with the authority of the Holy See, created four 'ush* p 'os
in Bavaria, also founded monasteries of religious there ; bur u is
not certain whether these monks followed the rule of St. Bene-
dict, or that of St. Basil, borrowed from the Eastern monks.
Boniface, bom in England, drew over to Germany from his na-
tive land many Benedictine religious, who aided him to reform
abuses among the Christians, and convert the idolaters. But the
uncertainty as to the constitutions of his monasteries ceased with
the year 804, when the Council of Aix la Chapello decreed that
the rule of St. Benedict only should be followed. At the co/n-
mencement of this century, except that of St. James of the Scots
at Ratisbon, and of the Benedictine Nuns at Eichstadt, all the
Benedictine monasteries in Bavaria were suppressed by the pre-
ponderance of Josephism, and the elector confiscated their prop-
erty. But twenty-four years later, and in 1827, thanks to the
influence of King Louis, the Abbey of St. Michael, at Wetteu,
was restored, followed by St. Stephen's, . t ■^Uj^sburg, in 1834,
and several in other cities. The work '1 i« ^tv^ii:..on bein,^ crown-
ed, in 1860, by the establishment of the Abbey of St. Boniface,
with a novitiate at Munich, a new generation of Fathers soon re-
^aved the learned studies and teachings of the ancient Benedic-
♦. les. When it was proposed to found a seminary for the German
mitajons in America, the Benedictines warmly entered into the
project ; and Father Boniface Wimmer having offered to begin

IN THE UNITED STATES.

; men
larued
yCon-
len, in
courw
order,
compft"
^. The
to 756,

l)ut It i«
3t. Bene-
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n his nrt-
to reform
But the
sased with
[creed that
the cojjn-
the Scots
^dt, all the
»y the pre-
their prop-
ik» to the
it Wetten,
r, in 1334,
jin^ orown-
1. Boniface,
jrs soon re-
it Benedic-
the German
)d into the
to begin

the work, was sent out by the Society of the Missions at Muni^^h.
The attempt pro ^d mont Huccesuful, and the Benedictines in Penn-
sylvania, after an existence of only nine vi.irs in the country, liavo
spread so as to number live monaMteries, in which one hundred
and fifty members of the great family of St. Benedict devote them-
selves to every kind of intellectual study and mauual labor. The
Holy See has taken into consideration this remarkable progress,
and by brief of July 29, 1855, raised the monastery of St. Vin-
cent, at Latrobe, to the dignity of Abbey, according to the
statutes of the Congregation of Bavaria, and aggregated it to th< =
celebrated Abbey of Monte Cassino, in Italy Father Boniface
Wimmer is appointed first Mitred Abbot of t^'e Benedictines of
America, and will have under his jurisdiction i he monasteries of
Carrolltown and Indiana, in the diocese of Pittsfurg, and that of
St. Marystown, in the diocese of Erie. St. Vino nt's Abbey has
a very flourishing college ; and the Benedictines will, doubtless,
in consequence of the complete organization now gi ven to the or-
der in America, soon extend the sphere of their acti'^n and influ-
ence. Eleven centuries since, Germany obtained its first religious
from England and Ireland ; now Bavaria repays the < lebt in part,
at last, by sending among the descendants of the islanders, in the
New World, the Benedictines and Sisters of Notre Dame.*

Bishop O'Connor also enriched his diocese with a ho ise of the
Sisters of the Congregation of Notre Dame, of which w have al-

* St. Benedict, born at Nard, in Unibria, in 480, began, toward the close
of the century, to gather coinpunions around him ; and at hi» deat i, in 548,
had already built many monasteries. His rule spread all over the West,
and after a long struggle with that of St. Columban and the Irish monks,
which had prevailed in Ireland, Britain, France, and Germany, finally su-
perneded it.

The diocese of Vinconnes, also, possesses a monastery of Bened ctines,
A filiation of the celebrated Abbey of our Lady, at Ensiedien, in Sweden.
Faithful to their traditions as early clvilizers of Europe, the Benedict! nea of
!'■• iflauJ and Spain are now laboring to elevate tiie savages of Australia.
Ill Bavaria tlioy now number about one hundred and thirty Fathers and
flfty-flve nvLn».— {Letter (^ Fat/wr Marogna.)

306

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

ready spoken. At Pittsburg they instruct two hundred and fifty
girls, and have, moreover, an orphan asylum at Troy Hill. The
order is now so firmly established, that for some years no Sisters
have come out from Germany.

A» the same time that Bishop O'Connor was laboring in the
cause of education, he was zealously engaged in assuring a con-
tinuance of parochial clergy, and his success has been admirable.
He found but fifteen priests in his diocese when he took posses-
sion in 1843, and in the short space of ten years he had increased
the number to eighty. Besides fixed pastors, the prelate sought
to give his flock the advantage of periodical missions, where, by
the influence of holy retreats and eloquent preaching, the faith
is awakened in many hearts. With this view, during a visit to
Rome in 1852, Dr. O'Connor asked the General of the Passionists
V) give him some priests of his order, and he brought out with
flim three priests and one brother, who arrived at Pittsburg on
the 6th of December, 1852.

The Institute of the Passionists, or, more properly, Barefooted
Clerks of the Most Holy Cross and Passion of Jesus Christ, was
founded by Paul Danei, better known as the Blessed Paul of the
Cross, who was born on the 3d of January, 1694, at Ovada, in
the diocese of Acqui, in the Republic of Genoa. This holy priest
began his first community in 1737, at Mount Argentard, and on
the 15th of May, 1741, obtained of Pope Benedict XIV. the con-
firmation of his rule. The object of Father Paul of the Cross
was to unite the mortified life of the Trappists and Carthusians
with the active life of the Jesuits and Lazarists. He wished to
embrace at once contemplation and action and devote himself to
the ministry of the word in missions. His rule was again con-
firmed, with some modifications, by Pope Clement XIV., in 1760,
and by Pius VI. in 1775 ; and the holy founder, who died at
Rome on the l7th of October, 1775, was beatified by Pius IX.
on the 1st of October, 1852. The Institute of the Blessed Paul

i\. The

a Sisters

y in the
ig a con-
dmirable.
)l5; posses-
increased
,te sought
where, by
r, the faith
f a visit to
Passionists
it out with
ittsburg on

IN THE UNITED STATES.

807

of the Cross spread rapidly, especially after his holy death, and in
1810 there existed in Italy many houses of Passionists called Ritiri.
Suppressed by the French invasion, they reorganized in 1814 ; and
in 1840 made a first establishment in England, at Aston Hall,
Staffordshire, under the patronage of Bishop, now Cardinal Wise-
man. The Right Honorable Lord Spencer, converted from Prot-
estantism in 1830, is now the humble Father Ignatius, Passion-
ist, and all know the journeys he has undertaken, and the ardor
he displayed to form an association of prayers for the conversion
of England. The order is now divided into five provinces —
three in Italy, one in England, and one in Belgium. On this
latter depend two Ritiri in France — one at Bordeaux, and the
other at Boulogne. The General resides at Rome, in the house
of St. John and St. Paul, given to the Passionists by Pope
Clement XIV. ; and they owe to the munificence of Pope Pius
IX. another house near the Santa Scala, of which he has con-
fided the care to them. The Passionists number about seven
hundred ; they have missions and a bishop in Hungary, and
other missionaries of their order have borne the Gospel to Aus-
tralia.*

The Passionists established at Birmingham, near Pittsburg,
received in 1854 a reinforcement of two priests and one brother.
They have opened a novitiate, where five clerics prepare for study
and the functions of the priesthood. Want of a complete mastery of
English has hitherto prevented their giving missions in the dio-
cese ; but they have already been useful in the ministry, and two
of them direct a parish of three thousand German Catholics near
their Ritiro. They are greatly enlarging their church and house.

* The Life of the Blessed Paul of the Cross, founder of the Barefooted
Clerks of the Most Holy Cross and Passion. London, 1853.

The author is Mouseignore Strambi, who died in the odor of sanctity,
Bishop of Macerata and Tolentino, and who, before being raised to the epis-
copacy, was Fra Vincent de San Paolo, Passionist.

308

THE CATHOLIC 'church

in order to give retreats to ecclesiastics and laics according to
their institute ; and the adjunction of this new religious order,
for which the Catholics of America are indebted to the zeal of
Bishop O'Connor, bids fair to realize in the United States all the
good which it has produced for the last fifteen years in Eng-
land.*

The Bishop of Pittsburg, finding his diocese too extended, and
fearing that, with ail his activity, he would be unable to main-
tain an efficacious superintendence, solicited the National Coun-
cil of Baltimore, in 1862, to propose to the Holy See the erec-
tion of an episcopal See at Erie. The prelate even oflfered to
assume the direction of the new diocese, and there to begin anew
the work of organization which he had so happily accomplished
at Pittsburg. The proposal was made at Rome ; and by letters
apostolical of July 29, 1853, the Right Rev. Michael O'Connor
was transferred to the See of Erie, comprising the ten northwest
counties of Pennsylvania. At the same time, the Rev. Josue M
Young, Pastor of Lancaster, Ohio, was elected to the See of Pitts-
burg. Bishop O'Connor at once repaired to his new post ; but
the regret of his former diocesans at his departure, and the opin
ions of his brethren in the episcopacy, having reached Rome,
he was restored to the See of Pittsburg, and Bishop Young,
who had declined it, was consecrated Bishop of Erie on the 23d
of April, 1854. On his return to Pittsburg, Dr. O'Connor bent
all his energy to complete his Cathedral building, to replace that
destroyed by a conflagration in 1851. This misfortune had ap-
parently exhausted the bishop's resources ; but, by perseverance
and confidence in God, he at last reared a new pile, at a cost of
eighty thousand dollars. When we consider the general poverty
of the Catholics of America, and the frequent appeals made to

■* Information furnished by Kev. Giovanni Domenico, Superior of the
Rltiro at Birmingham.

theii

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and seen]

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derstand t
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^hen we re:
to the jurist

IN THZ UNITED STATES. ...

fteir generosity, we can 8carcelv.„„ • v

'uch a result is no less a euCo" 1 *''V™P°'^»«e ! »d
on the munificence of his fl^^"" ^.7;;' «f "-e bishop, than
i'ld, at a late mission, over ei^hi .J ^""""'''^ "^ «'■ Paul
m<«t spacious church in the 0n .^Tf '"*'''' »-l » the
^cture reflects honor on the tT* !^'- ^^ ^""^'^ archi-
B;rtberger; and the omaU: sjl^ ?""««'• «-• Charl.
*rn the interior, gi.e the tra,rtr ''-■'^d glass, which
Chnstmn people, ft is ft, f, ""' ""*''» »ajesty worthy „f »

Capels which the missio aril S tr'V" '"'^'' -O"™"^

vast proportions, such aa would no t /' "' ^ ""^ <"'«'«<i«l of
European city, and affording room f^^ 'T!" ""'"^ '" ^^ old
fte ceremonial of the Church -t t« P^"^ '" "" "'^ Po»P
«-at mdustr,-al city of Pittsbu^rthl tr".*""" "'"" *"«
»d seem to consecrate it to cSh!^ .f '"""gham of America,
Protestant can find place wL"^' ^" "^ '-o'osure the
the first sign „f gra<^ dt^^L^r"'*^' "'■'"' « -"« dm

of St. Peter's at Rome has been th. f ^""*' *« basilica
-any heretics or infidels who e„t ^ "'"' °' <"""«"»»

«Peotato«, all will feel ho^ use 7"' 'I '""'^ " "''^ff-'t
^-»e majestic shrines in the S sl '" '""^o" '» P0'^»
W% U, the wo^hip and fervor t„lt^' '" °'<^- '» give sta-

On Sunday, the Qdih ^r ^^^^'

*e Cathedral at ^i2:l':2 '^^ ■''" ^"-» ''^^-tion of
fc« ops, who came from fll ptf of '" T™'^ "' ^^'^teen
part m that imposing ceremo'v IT "'' "'^"'^ '» take
*en we reflect that a centuTa^f "^ p' T"^ '^ ''"'-'■•'g.

•M««>Po.ta„r„.A„,„,,,,,,. ^„,,,,_^^^^^

•f?»v--

310

THE CATHOLIC CHUBCH

Catholic prelate in North America, from the frontiers of Mexico
to Hudson's Bay.

The city of Erie, situated on the shore of the lake of the
same name, recalling an Indian tribe which has long since been
swept away, is built on the site of the old French fort Presqu 'ile,
and in 1755, as French annals state, this fort had as chaplain
the Recollect, Father Luke Collet. It was then only a military
post, and colonization does not appear to have entered there till
the close of the century. The first missionary who seems to
have exercised the ministry among the Irish immigrants at Erie
and thereabouts, was the Rev. Father Whelan, who took up his
residence at Sugar Creek about the time of the suit against Mr.
Fromm. His visit to Erie took place about 1807. We know of
no other missionary there till Father William O'Brien, a native
of Maryland and pupil of Georgetown, who had been ordained
in 1808, repaired thither in 1815. The Rev. Charles B.
Maguire, of Pittsburg, held some stations there in 1816 and
1817, after whom the Rev. Terence McGirr came to Erie three
times from 1818 to 1821 to administer the sacraments. The
Rev. Patrick O'Neil was then appointed to serve Erie at long
intervals, and his last visit took place in 1830. The Rev. Fran-
cis Masquelet, an Alsacian priest, showed himself several times at
Erie from 1834 to 1836, and the Rev. Patrick Raflferty, the
author of a small history of the Protestant Reformation, was
there in 1837. Till this period the city was too unimportant,
and the missionaries in the State of Pennsylvania too few to ena-
ble Erie to have one permanently stationed there. The Rev.
Mr. McCabe resided there from 1838 to 1840, and the following
year Father J. Lewis, of the order of St. Francis, was appointed
to take charge of the German population who had begun to
settle at Erie. This was the epoch of the erection of the two
little wooden churches, one for the Irish and American, tlie
other for the German Catholics. Since then both have been

IN THE UNITED STATES.

311

rebuilt of brick, and of more enlarged dimensions, and tbey are
opened to worship, although their exteriors are not finished : St.
Patrick's Church, which now serves as a Cathedral, has had
successively as pastors the Rev. P. Prendcrgast, R. Brown, T.
S. Reynolds and Dean ; and the German Church of St. Mary's
has been served by the Rev. P. Kleidernam, N. Steinbacher, and
F. J. Hartman. The patriarchal Catholic family of Erie is that
of Mrs. Dickson, who at the beginning of the century, and as
soon as a priest appeared on the shores of the lake, received the
missionaries under her roof, showed them the most cordial hos-
pitality, and has always generously contributed to the erection
of the churches and the support of the clergy. The venerable
Mrs. Dickson, who is still alive, is of the Gillespie family at
Brownsville, noted for its devotedness to religion from the
introduction of Catholicity into Ohio and Western Pennsyl-
vania.

It has been said that Erie was pointed out by the venerable
Bishop Flaget as a suitable See for a diocese, and we read in the
Annals of the Propagation of the Faith : " When we trace this
journey of over two thousand miles, we might say that wherever
Bishop Flaget pitched his tent he lays the foundation of a new
church, and that every one of his chief resting-places has been
raised to a bishopric. St. Louis, in Missouri ; Detroit, in Mich-
igan; Cincinnati, capital of Ohio; Erie and Buflfalo, on the
lakes; Pittsburg, which he evangelized on his way back to
Louisville, after thirteen months' absence, after giving missions
wherever he found a town of whites, a plantation of slaves, or a
village of Indians."*

Erie was not, however, a bishop's See in 1850 : it became so
only in 1 853, and we deem it very doubtful whether Bishop
Flaget ever passed through that city. In his journey to Canada,

* Annales de la Propagation de la Foi, xxii. 841.

812

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

the venerable bishop traversed Lake Erie from Detroit to
Niagara in a sailing vessel. Erie was then too unimportant a
spot for a vessel to stop at, and if Bishop Flagct landed for a
few hours, he certainly did not officiate or perform any ecclesi-
astical function, although we confess he may have passed through
in 1836. "We accordingly do not think that the proposal of
Erie for a See dates prior to 1852.

In 1855 this diocese contained thirty-two churches and sixteen
ecclesiastics, and the Catholic population is estimated at thir-
teen thousand. Two of the Benedictine monasteries of Penn-
sylvania, those of St. Marystown and Frenchville, are situated
in the diocese of Erie, and in 1853 there was established also at
St. Mary's a convent of Benedictine nuns from the celebrated
monastery of St. Walburga, at Eichstadt, in Bavaria. In 1855,
Sister Benedicta Reipp was the Mother Superior, with five pro-
fessed sisters and sixteen novices. The Benedictine nuns devote
themselves to the education of girls, and direct the parish schools,
but they are preparing to open a boarding-school, in order to give
superior instruction to young ladies, and their cultivated manners
admirably fit them for the highest sphere of education.

The convent of St. Walburga, at Eichstadt, dates as far back
as the year 1022, and was begun in that year by Bishop Her-
bert, who made the convent grants of land. From age to age.
new benefactors increased the property of the Benedictines, so
that at the secularization, the spoliators found a rich spoil to
divide in the charity of the faithful. The monastery was then
almost entirely destroyed. By the intercession, however, of the
Bishop of Eichstadt, Joseph Anthony, Count of Stribenberg, the
nuns obtained permission to dwell in community till a royal
decree of June 7th, 1835, permitted them to receive novices, and
gave new life to the monastery. St. Walburga, patroness of the
Bavarian Benedictine nuns, is honored in some parts of France
by the name of Saint Avaugour. Daughter of St. Richard,

* Fabei
tlie Saints

IN THE UNITED STATES.

313

king of the West Saxons in England, and sister of Sts. Willibald
and Winibald. she Avas at an early age placed in the Benedictine
convent of Winburn, when her father and brothers set out on
their pilgrimage for Rome and Jerusalem. In 748, her uncle,
St. Boniface, Archbishop of Mentz, invited her to join him in
Germany, and notwithstanding her disinclination to leave Win-
burn, where she had spent twenty-eight happy years of her life,
she set out with thirty of her companions. She soon became
Superioress of the convent of Heidenheim, built in 752.* Her
two brothers were also called over to Germany by St. Boniface,
and Willibald became first Bishop of Eichstadt, in Bavaria.
This royal family of saints issuing from England to convert
Germany, doubtless now protects the Benedictine efforts in
America, and we hope ere long that churches will rise in Penn-
sylvania under the name of St. Walburga, the noble princess,
self-exiled, like the Bavarian nuns of St. Benedict, in order to
devote herself afar to the salvation of souls.

Thus Pennsylvania, where in 1730 Father Josiah Greaton, of
the Society of Jesus, furtively entered in the disguise of a
Quaker, and where he was the only missionary exercising the
holy ministry, is now divided into three dioceses, containing, in
1855, two hundred and twenty-three churches, and two hun-
dred and sixteen ecclesiastics. Besides the secular clergy, eight
religious orders of men, and seven communities of women,
devote themselves either to parish duties, preaching, or the
instruction of youth. On one side are the Jesuits, the Au-
gustinians, the Redemptorists, the Lazarists, the Benedictines,
the Passionists, the Franciscan Brothers, and the Brothers of the
Christian Schools; on the other, are the Sisters of Charity of
Emmetsburg, the Ladies of the Sacred Heart, the Sisters of St.
Joseph of Puy, the Ladies of the Good Shepherd from Angers,

* Faber— Lives of the English Saints : London, 1844 ; Butler's Lives of
the Saints.

1 ^

814

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

the Sisters of Mercy from Dublin, Sisters of Notre Dame, and
Benedictine nuns from Bavaria. In spite of obstacles, poverty,
hostility of men, these institutes prosper and take root ; the
building of churches, far from abating, increases ; every day
gives our Church new conquests ; and the progress of Catholicity
in Pennsylvania is only a prelude of those which a future, fast
approaching, prepares for it with God's grace.* ,

CHAPTER XX.

STATE OF NEW YORK (1642-1708).

Missions among the Iroquois— Father Jognes— Father Bressanl— Father Le Moyne—
Emigration of Christians to Canada— Close of the Jesuit Missions in New York.

When the Jesuit Father Andrew White landed in Maryland
in 1634 with the colony of Sir George Calvert, the Dutch were
already planted on that part of the American coast now com-
prised in the State of New York ; but the English missionaries
of the seventeenth century, too few to meet the religious wants
of Maryland, did not seek to penetrate within the borders of
New Netherland, and the first Catholic priest? who trod its soil
were the French Jesuits from Canada. In 1608 the English
captain, Henry Hudson, sailing in the service of the Dutch West
India Company, discovered New York Bay and the beautiful
river which still bears his name. The same year, Samuel Chara-

* For what we have said of the three dioceses of Pennsylvania, we have
been fortunate enough to receive important information from Bishops
O'Connor and Young, and Archbishop Kenrick, and we now express to
these venerable prelates our sincere gratitude.

IN THE UNITED STA'l

816

plain, in the name of the King of France, founded Quebec, and
in 1615 brought over some Recollects to labor in converting the
Indians. The Algonquins, the Montagnais, and the Hurons,
were soon evangelized by these religious, as well as by the Jesuits
who joined them in 1625. The Hurons from the outset showed
a friendship for the French, which has never cooled ; and the
colonists of Canada became by this simple fact the enemies of
the five Iroquois nations who dwelt scattered over the northern
part of the present State of New York, between the Hudson and
Lake Erie. The Iroquois, continually at war with the Hurons,
constantly bore oflf prisoners, whom they tortured to death, and
in the same way a priest was dragged in captivity to the banks
of the Mohawk, in the very neighborhood of where Albany now
stands.

In 1642 Father Isaac Jogues was proceeding from Quebec to
the Huron country, where he had devoted himself to the mission
for over six years, when he fell into the hands of a party of Iro-
quois as he ascended the St. Lawrence. These Indians led him
a captive to their village with young Ren6 Goupil, a holy young
man, who had devoted himself to the service of the missions, and
who was called from this fact a " donn6." The brave Goupil,
after courageously enduring the most cruel tortures, was put to
death for having been seen teaching a child to make the sign of
the cross.* As to Father Jogues, he remained for fifteen months
among the Mohawks, and had daily new martyrdoms to undergo
at the hands of those savages. They successively cut ofi", joint

ire have
Jishops
aress to

* Ren6 Goupil, or Good R4n6, as the missionaries called him, was born at
Angiera, and studied medicine. He entered the Society of Jesus as a
novice, but his health did not permit him to remain. On recovering, he gave
himself to the Canada mission, and rendered great service by nursing the
sick and in aiding the Fathers as a catechist. He was put to death on the
29th of September, 1642, and Father Jogues calls him " A martyr not only
of obedience, but also of the faith and the cross." (Shea's History of the
CiiUiolic Missions, p. 210.)

1 1

816

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

by joint, almost all his fingers on both hands ; they mutilated in
the same way his, feet by tearing the very flesh with their teeth,
and applied red-hot irons to different parts of his body. The
Jesuit had several opportunities of escaping to the Dutch Fort
Orange, now the city of Albany ; but as long as he had around
him Huron prisoners to assist in their torments, he would not
escape from his tortures. At last Father Jogues, being left
almost the sole survivor of the band, listened to the generous
proposals of the Dutch, who paid his ransom after he had escaped
from the hands of the Mohawks. The Dutch minister at Fort
Orange, Dominie John Megapolensis, nursed tht missionary with
touching compassion. At New Amsterdam, now New York,
Governor Kieft received Father Jogues with marks of distinction,
and gave him a passage in the first vessel for Europe ; but the
vessel, shattered by a storm on the coast of England, was plun-
dered by wreckers, who stripped the Jesuit and his companions.
At Falmouth he took passage on »\ collier's bark, and landed in
Brittany, near St. Pol de Leon, on Christmas-day, 1643.

In a rude sailor's coat, dragging himself along with pain, lean-
ing on a staff, the venerable Jesuit was no longer recognized.
Hospitality was no less cordially extended to him in a peasant's
humble cot ; here he was invited to share their morning meal,
but the missionary's only thought was to celebrate duly the fes-
tival by receiving the Eucharist, and he had the nearest church
pointed out to him, where he had the happiness of approaching the
altar. For sixteen months the pious religious had been deprived
of communion. The good Bretons lent him a hat and a little cloak
to appear more decently in church. They thought him to be
one of those unfortunate children of Catholic Erin whom persecu-
tion frequently drove to the shores of France ; but when, on his
return from Mass, his charitable hosts saw the horrible condi-
tion of his hands, Father Jogues was compelled to satisfy their
pious curiosity by relating modestly his history, and the peasants

IN THE UNITED STATES. flf

of Leon fell at his feet overwhelmed with pity and admiration.
He himself relates how the young girls, moved by his account of
his misfortunes, gave him their little alms. " They came," says
he, " with so much generosity and modesty to oft'er me two or
three pence, which was probably all their treasure, that I was
moved to tears." A native of the spot where this touching scene
took place, we hope to be pardoned for relating it at length.

Father Jogues did not employ his captivity solely in his own
sanctification ; he celebrated seventy baptisms among the Mo-
hawks, and heard the confessions of the Huron prisoners. At
New Amsterdam he found two Catholics — a Portuguese woman
and an Irishman — whose confessions he heard, and it was the
first time that the sacrament of penance was administered in the
city of New York, which now contains twenty-three Catholic
churches. In France the fellow-religious of Father Jogues, who
had supposed him dead, received him with transports of joy ; the
queen, Anne of Austria, rushed to kiss the mutilated hands of the
martyr, and the Pope granted him a special dispensation to cele-
brate Mass, saying " that it would be unjust to refuse a martyr of
Jesus Christ the privilege of drinking the blood of Christ" — " in-
dignum esset Christi martyrem Christi non bibere sanguinem."*
They wished to retain him in France, but Father Jogues sighed
after his American missions, and returned to Canada in 1645.
He took part in the negotiations for peace between the Hurons
and the Mohawks, and conceived great hopes of converting the
Five Nations. He was accordingly, at his own request, sent to
the Mohawks — the Agniers of the Canadian writers — to found a
mission ; but scarcely had he approached their village than he

* Father Jogues landed in Brittany on the 25th of December, 1643. Pope
Urban VIII. died on the 7th of July, 1644, and Pope Innocent X. was elected
on the 18th of September, 1644. It was, therefore, in all probability, Urban
VIII. who granted Father Jogues the glorious dispensation rendered tiecea-
eary by his mutilation.

818

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

wa« treacherously seized, together with John Lalande, his faithful
companion, and the next day both received the nujitai blow.
The head of Father Joguea, severed from the body, was set up
on one of the village palisades, and his body cast into Caughna-
waga Creek. Thus, on the 18th of October, 1646, perished the
first missionary who bore the cross within the territory of New
York, and his blood has not been shed in vain for the faith. New
Amsterdam, where Father Jogues found two Catholics, is now
the See of an archbishop ; Albany is a bishopric ; and near the
spot where he received his death-blow rises the city of Schenec-
tady, where St. Mary's Church daily sees the Holy Sacrifice
offered to heaven for the salvation of mankind.*

Before the death of Father Jogues, another missionary was
dragged into Mohawk bondage. This was Father Bressani, who
likewise, on his way to the Huron country, in the month of April,
1644, fell into the hands of these savage enemies. He had to
undergo the same torments from those barbarous executioners,
who cut off nine of his ten fingers, and after four months of tor-
ment of every kind, sold him to the Dutch at Fort Orange. They
treated him kindly, and sent him to France. Father Bressani
landed at Isle Rhe, but returned to Canada in the month of
July, 1645, and labored for five years more among the Hurons,
till the extinction of the Huron mission. He wrote a history of
it in Italian,! and we know nothing more fitted to melt the

* Isaac Jogues was born at Orleans on the 10th of January, 1607. Ho en-
tered the Society of Jesus at Bouen in 1624, and was sent to Canada in 1626.
In love of suffering, tender piety to the Holy Eucharist and the Blessed Vir-
gin, he has ftcldom been surpassed.

t "Breve relatione d'alcuni Mii-siono," etc., printed at Macerata, Statos of
the Church, in 1653, and dedicated to Cardinal de Lugo. A French trnnsla-
tion of it, with a valuable biography and notes, was published at Montreal in
1852, by the learned Father Felix Martin, of the Society of Jesus, President
of St. Mary's College. Father Bressani was born at Rome, and entered the
Society of Jesus at the age of fifteen. He came to Canada in 1644, and on
his recall to Italy in 1650, devoted many years to giving missions. He died

IN THE UNITED STATES.

819

heait of a Christian, to fsxcite piety, and animate the fervor by
the recital of the toucliing conversion of the Indians, and by the
acts of the martyrdom of their holy apostles. We seem to recog-
nize the scenes of the primitive Church, beholding on one side
BO much purity, simple and trusting faith in the catechumens ;
on the other, so much courage and unshaken firmness in the
missionaries when the Iroquois burst upon them. We even feel
ourselves more sensible to the sufferings of our modern martyrs,
Brebeuf, Lalemand, Daniel, Chabanel, Menard, than we are to
the torments of a St. Bartholomew or St. Agatha. For the
latter, the halo of immortal glory which environs them, the
difference of manners, and the remote period which witnessed
their labors and sufferings, prevent our being especially touched ;
but human nature shudders at the torments endured without a
murmur and without shrinking by victims so near our own t' les,
speaking our own language, whose handwriting and memorials
we can yet touch and handle.

The massacre of Father Jogues in 1646 was the signal of new
wars on the part of the Iroquois, and their war parties overspread
Canada, sowing desolation and terror around them. In 1663
Quebec was in a manner besieged by these Indians, and the
wretched inhabitants were menaced by famine, not daring to
venture beyond the fort to reap their harvest. At the sight of
this misery one of the Jesuits, Father Poncet, encouraged some
harvesters to go to the field of a poor woman, himself leading the
way ; but he was at once taken prisoner by the Mohawks, who
led him to their villages, subjecting him to cruel tortures. A
change in the policy of the Mohawks, however, soon led them to
desire peace with the French, and they restored Father Poncet to
liberty in order to conciliate the missionary. The latter returned

at Florence on the 9th of September, 1672. During his captivity he was
able to baptize only one— a captive Huron at the stake. (Shea'a Catholic
MisBionn, pp. 198-212.)

11*

320

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

to Canada, after visiting the Dutch at Fort Orange, where he
heard the confession of several Catholics. Father Joseph An-
thony Poncet de la Riviere, born at Paris about 1610, studied at
Rome, and came to Canada in 1639. After preaching the Gos-
pel to the Hurons for six years, and being long pastor of Quebec,
he was recalled to France in 165*7, and resided for some time in
Brittany. We find him next at Loretto, Penitentiary of the
French ; but his zeal could not endure this sedentary life, and
Father Poncet obtained an appointment to the mission of Mar-
tinique, where he died in 1675, leaving a remarkable reputation
for science, talents, and sanctity.

Another Iroquois nation, the Onondagas,* also asked peace at
this period, expressing their desire to have missionaries. To
judge of their dispositions, Father Simon le Moyne left Quebec
for their canton on the 2d of July, 1654. Arriving at the mouth
of the Oswego river, he ascended it to the Onondaga village, and
was welcomed by the tribe. His presence especially filled with
joy the numerous Huron Christians captive among the Iroquois,
and all recognized in him one of their former missionaries.
Father le Moyne enabled many of these poor exiles to partake
of the sacraments ; he baptized children, and even adults, who
had been prepared for this grace by their Huron prisoners.
Achiongeras, one of the chiefs, was the most zealous of the neo-
phytes, and received the name of John Baptist. In the month
of September Father le Moyne returned to Quebec to give an
account of the hopes of the mission, and announcing the speedy
coming of an Onondaga embassy. But the war which the Fries
were waging on them delayed the departure of the Onondaga
envoys, who reached Quebec in the summer of 1655. Their

* The Five Nations of Iroquois have left their names in the State of New
York— in the Mohawk river, and the lakes and counties of Oneida, Onon-
daga, Cayuga, and Seneca, which will perpetuate the residence of those
clans and the labors of the Catholic missionaries.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

321

good dispositions and promises excited the confidence of the
Jesuit Superior, and he appointed Father Claude Dablon and
Peter Chaumonot* to found a permanent mission on the banks
of the lake where the city of Syracuse now rises. On the 18th
of November, 1655, they began the construction of St. Mary's
Chapel, the first church where the Holy Sacrifice was ever offered
in the State of New York The Indians cheeifully aided in rais-
ing this sylvan shrine, and schools were soon opened at Onon-
daga, where whole choirs of girls were trained to chant the
hymns of Christianity. Meanwhile, as the nation desired a
French colony to protect them against the Eries, Father Dablon
returned to Quebec in May, 1656, to make known to the gov-
ernor the dispositions of the Indians.

The recital of the missionary produced a great impression, and
on the l7th of May, 1656, he set out again for Onondaga, with
Fathers le Mercier and Rene Menard,f and Brothers Ambrose
Broar and Joseph Boursier. Captain Dupuis, with some soldiers,
formed part of the convoy, and were sent to build a fort near the
Jesuit mission. Onondaga then became the centre of the labors

* Claude Dablon came to Canada in 1655. In 1661 he accompanied Father
Druillettea in his overland expedition to Hudson's Bay. In 1668 he was
on Lake Superior with Father Marquette, and became Superior of all the
missions in 1670. He was still alive in 1694.

Peter Mary Joseph Chaumonot, born in 1611, near Chatillon-sur-Seine,
entered the Society of Jesus at Rome in 1632. He came to Canada in 1639,
and was sent to the Huron mission, where he remained till 1650. He died
at Isle Orleans, near Quebec, in 1693. (Shea's Catholic Missions, pp. 98-241.)

* Father Francis le Mercier arrived in Canada in 1635, and was connected
with the Huron mission till its ruin in 1650. He was still in Canada in 1670,
but subsequently went to the West Indies, where he died in the odor of
sanctity.

Father Ken^ Menard, born in 1C14, in France, came to Canada in 1640,
labored among the Hurons and Algonquins, and died of hunger or exhaus-
tion in the woods of Upper Michigan in August, 1661.

Father Paul Eagueneau, born at Paris in 1605, arrived in Canada in 1636.
After being attached to the Huron mission and being Superior at Quebec, he
returned to Paris to fill the post of Procurator, and died in 1680.

14*

322

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

of the Fathers. The Cayugas, Oneidas, and tSenecas were iu
turn evangelized, and conversions everywhere rewarded the mis-
sionaries for their toil, at the same time that Huron prisoners,
scattered among the tribes, received with joy the consolations of
religion. In the month of July, 1657, two more Jesuits came
from Quebec to aid the Fathers, who were sinking under their
toil. These were Father Paul Ragueneau and Father Francis
Duperon.* But a change was soon perceived in the dispositions
of the heathen Iroquois, who still formed the great majority.
Their medicine men persuaded them that baptism destroyed
their children, and a plot was formed to cut ofl* all the French.
Warned in time, the missionaries resolved to escape from their
butchers, and on the 20th of March, 1658, after giving a ban-
quet to the tribe to lull their vigilance, the French escaped by
night in boats and canoes which they had secretly prepared, and
hastened to Canada as their only shelter from Indian massacre.
Thus ended, after an existence of three years, the first Onondaga
mission, and we shall soon see it arise again and produce new
fruits of benediction.

Father Simon le Moyne had visited the Mohawks in the
month of April, 1655, and after imparting the sacraments to the
captive Hurons, he had continued his journey to Fort Orange and
New Amsterdam, where the crews of two French ships had
recourse to his ministry. During the next two years, Le Moyne
again braved the perfidious cruelty of the Mohawks. Constantly
menaced with death, constantly baffling the plots formed against
his life, he never lost courage in his labors among the captives,
and flattered himself with being able to smooth the way for a
sedentary mission. But in the month of August, 1657, he was
retained captive by the tribe, and would have had the glory of
martyrdom had not the Governor of Canada, D'Ailleboust, seized

* Father Francis Duperon arrived in Canada iu 1638, and died at Cham-
bly, November 10, 1665,

IN THE UNITED STATES.

323

all the Iroquois in Canada as hostages. Restored to liberty
in the month of May, 1658, Father le Moyne returned to Mon-
treal, and during the next two years the Five Nations carried on
a most furious war against the French in Canada and their allies.
The Onondagas were the first to ask for peace, thanks to the
influence exercised over them by the chieftain Garacontie, the
friend of the missionaries. He saved from death all the French
captives whom he could rescue from the stake ; he had preserved
intact the chapel of St. Mary's, and permitted the Huron prison-
ers to assemble there to chaii' hymns and recite their Loads. In
1660 a peaceful embassy sent by Garacontie arrived at Montreal,
and as soon as he saw the opening, the unwearied Father le
Moyne set out for the Onondaga country, where he concluded
peace with the tribe. He profited by his short stay to baptize two
hundred children, and returned to Montreal in the month of August,
1661. This was his last missionary excursion to the land of the
Iroquois. He died at Cap de la Madeleine in 1665, and must
deserve our veneration as the successor of the martyred Jogues,
the first missionary who of his free choice proceeded to the wig-
wams of the terrible Mohawks. In spite of the praiseworthy
efforts of Garacontie, war continued to ravage the fields of Can-
ada, and it was only on the 31st of August, 1666, that peace
was signed at Quebec, with all the nations except the Mohawk,
ever sullen as the bear, whose name he bore. But now isolated,
this tribe was vigorously chastised in a campaign which the
Viceroy de Tracy made against them, and they at last agreed to
lay down their arms, asking for missionaries.

The Jesuits, who awaited this moment with a holy impatience,
hastened to respond to the call of the Iroquois, and in the month
of July, 1667, Fathers Fremin, Bruyas, and Pierron left Canada
for the Mohawk country. The last was soon left alone, while his
associates proceeded to the more westerly cantons; but in 1668
Father Francis Boniface came to second Father Pierron, and

i.fi

324

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

conversions became so frequent among the terrible Mohawks — re-
alizing a vision of Father Jogues, in which he saw the words
"Laudent nomen Agni" — that Father Thierry Beschefer and
Father Louis Nicolas were sent to their assistance. At this
epoch Father Julian Garnier was. preaching the Gospel to the
Onondagas. Father Stephen de Carheil was among the Cayugas,
where he built the chapel of St. Joseph. Father Bruyas had
his residence among the Oneidas, and Father Pierron among
the Senecas, while Fathers ]\Iilet and Fremin repaired from town
to town, distributing the benefits of their apostolate on the
various tribes of the league.* We may say that in 1668 the
cross towered above the five Iroquois cantons, and for sixteen
years Canadian missionaries succeeded each other in the very
heart of the present State of New York. But it was especially
among the Mohawks that the Jesuits obtained the most con-
verts; and in 1673 the two principal villages, Caughnawaga and
Tinniontoguen, were organized as regular parishes, where
schools were opened for the young, while the course of religious
instruction was graduated for the difierent ages and brought
within the reach of the feeblest minds.

* Father James Fremin, whom we find among the Iroquois in 1656, was
employed there many years, and died at Quebec in 1692.

Father James Bruyas, born apparently at Lyons, arrived at Quebec in
1666, and in the following year visited the Iroquois country. He was alive
in 1703.

Father Julian Garnier, born at Connerai, in the diocese of Mans, about
1648, arrived in Canada in 1662, being still a scholastic. He was ordained in
1666, and was yet alive in 1722.

Father Stephen de Carheil arrived from France in 1656, and remained
among the Cayugas till 1684, and was then sent to the Ottawa mission. He
died at Quebec in 1726.

Father Francis Boniface died at Quebec in 1674.

According to a printed list of Canadian clergy. Father Louis Nicolas
arrived in 1656, and died in 1682. Father Thierry Beschefer arrived in
1686, and died in 1691, but the Jesuit Journal, which is conclusive on the
point, makes the former arrive in 1664 and the latter in 1665.

Father Milet arrived in 1667, was a prisonor at Oneida from 1689 to 1694,
au<l died in 1711.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

325

Still it was only a minority of the nation which had the hap-
piness of opening its eyes to the light of the faith, and the
majority of the Mohawks remained obstinate in their idolatry
and in that disregard of morality which Catholicity alone can
overcome. The virtue of the Christians was incessantly exposed
to the greatest perils amid the depravation of the villages, ren-
dered more frightful by the abuse of spirituous liquors which the
Dutch supplied. The neophytes frequently met, too, cruel per-
secutions in their own families ; and to shelter them from these
trials and dangerous temptations, the missionaries resolved to
found a Reduction in Canada, under the protection of France,
composing it entirely of Christian Indians. The first establish-
ment took place in 1669 at La Prairie, near Montreal, and Father
Peter Raffeix built the church of St. Francois Xavier des Pres.
A pious squaw of the Erie nation who had been adopted by the
Oneidas, and whose name was Catharine Ganneaktena, was the
first to settle there with her family, and she drew so many
Indians around her that in 1670 the village numbered twenty
families, comprising sixty persons. The missionaries who suc-
cessively ministered among the Mohawks from 1675 to 1681,
Father James de L'ambervilk Father Bruyas, and Father Vail-
lant de Gueslis, favored this ei ligration with all their powers,*
and when all the Christians had left the Mohawk territory, the
Jesuits retired with them to Canada. The numbers of these
good Indians led to a change of the site of the Reduction, the
lands at La Prairie not being adapted to support so many, and

* Father Peter Raffeix arrived in 1668, and never left America. In 170S
we find him still at Quebec, worn by age and infirmities.

Father James de Lamberville arrived in 1673, and died in 1718 (Quebec
list).

Father Vaillant de GuesHs arrived in 1675, died in 1698 (Quebec list); but
thia is another example of the inaccuracy of this list. Charlevoix says that
Father Vaillant was among the Senecas in 1704, and in 1711 he celebrated a
luiirriage at La Prairie, near Montreal. -*

326

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

in 1676 the mission was transported some leagues up the St.
Lawrence to Sault St. Louis, or Caughnawaga, where the church
of St. Francis Xavier du Sault was built by the Iroquois. Even
now the village is occupied exclusively by the descendants of
these Indians, who adhere inviolably to the faith of their pilgrim
sires, transmitted, without interruption, for near two hundred
years.

The admirable fervor of the first converts was a subject of edi-
fication for the missionaries themselves ; and the example of
Catharine Tehgahwita proves what faith can do to elevate a sav-
age nature to an eminent degree of sanctity. This maiden, born
in 1656, and left an orphan at the age of four, felt from child-
hood a strong attachment to Catholicity, and even before receiv-
ing baptism, had made an offering of her virginity to God. All
the persecutions of her relatives to force her to renounce her
generous design fell harmless before her stem resolution ; she
received holy baptism at the age of twenty, and then, in or-
der to give herself entirely to the exercise of her piety, she emi-
grated, in 1677, to the Reduction of Sault St. Louis, in Canada ;
there she lived three years in austerity and the practice of the
most sublime virtues, and died in 1660, leaving a memory which
is still in veneration, not only among her tribe, but throughout
Canada. "We find in the " Lettres Edifiantes et Curieuses" a
sketch of the life of this Christian virgin, abridged by Father
Cholenec from a still existing manuscript life composed by her
confessor. Father Chauchetiere. Father Cholenec relates the pil-
grimages which were made at her tomb, and the miraculous
cures obtained by her intercession, and gives at length the testi-
mony of the Rev. Mr. de la Colombiere, Canon of Quebec, and of
Captain du Lud, Governor of Fort Frontenac, both cured by the
invocation of the venerable Catharine. Many other graces obtained
by her intercession have long made the Canadians desire to see
the process of her beatification begun.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

327

It is the first time that we have had occasion to cite
the " Lettres Edifiantes," and in fact that precious collection,
begun by Father Charles Legobien in 1704, and continued after
him by Father J. B. du Halde, speaks only incidentally of the
missions of the seventeenth century. These last, so far as North
America is concerned, are recounted in the rare collection of
" Jesuit Relations," a series of forty volumes, giving the history
of the French missions in Canada for the years 1611, 1626, and
from l! 32 to 1672. But it is, so to speak, impossible to obtain
these Relations, and the years 1654-5 and 1658-9 are not known
to exist.* It seems that the government in Canada took offence
at the narrative of the Jesuit Fathers, and suppressed in France
the volumes already published, forbidding their further impres-
sion. However, the Relations for the years 1673 to 1679 still
exist in manuscript at Rome or in Canada, and Shea, who care-
fully studied the whole collection, has ably selected all the im-
portant facts in his admirable " History of the Catholic Missions
among the Indian Tribes of the United States." The present
Canadian government, more enlightened than its predecessor in
1672, has recently voted funds to reprint the complete series of
the Relations. This will be an eminent service rendered to the
cause of history and religion.

* A learned bibliophile of New York, James Lenox, Esq., has enriched
his collection with thoae two rare volumes. He has also had the happy idea
of reprinting a small edition of the Relations of 1655-76, and of the Rela-
tion of Father Gabriel Druillettes to New England in 1650, and the Relation
of the Travels and Discoveries of Father James Marquette during 1673 and
tlie following jears. By a refinement of typographic exactitude, Mr. Lenox
has made these editions a complete reproduction of the originals of the sev-
enteenth century. He has had type, head, and tail-pieces, so that the vol-
umes due to his taste seem to the most practised eye to have been printed
two centuries age. It is, as Boileau says,

" Aux Saumalses futura preparer des tortures."
The gentleman who thus devotes his taste to the reproduction of the Jesuit
Relations is not prompted, as some imagine, by religious feelings, being a ue-
voted Presbyterian, but by a wish to preserve what is rare and valuable in
an historical point of view.

t fe.

328

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

While emigration to Canada led to the close of the mission
in the Mohawk territory, causes of a different character put an
end to the labors of the Jesuits among the other Iroquois can-
tons. As long as the Dutch remained in possession of New
Netherland, they merely traded with the Five Nations, without
pretending to obtain of them any act of submission and surren-
der of their independence ; but on the capture of New York by
the English in 1664, and especially on the arrival of Colonel
Thomas Dongan as governor of that colony in 168S, a far differ-
ent policy presided over the intercourse between the English
and the Iroquois. Dongan, considering their territory as form-
ing part of the territoi*^ of New York, declared himself the
protector of the Five Nations, and displayed remarkable ability
in ruining the French influence in the council of the Iroquois
league. The governor directed his efforts especially to expel
the Canadian missionaries, and to inspire the Indians with
greater confidence, he promised to send them English Jesuits,
/ and build them churches in their cantons. These intrigues suc-
_ / ceeded with the simple children of the forest, and towards the
V^ close of 1683 Father Milet had to abandon his Oneida mission,
/ ^ while Father Fremin, Father Pierron, and Father Garnier retired
/ from the Seuecas. The next year. Father de Carheil, after being
I subjected to every brutahty, was driven from the castles of the

Cayugas, and there remains d only the two brothers John and
James de Lamberville, the riissionaries at Onondaga.

These, for some years more, baffled all Dongan's threats and
the resources of his political craft. They possessed the confi-
dence of the Onondagas, and to all the colonel's injunctions or-
dering them to expel the French Jesuits, the Onondagas answered
that the Fathers did no injuiy. But what England's power
xjould not effect, became the consequence of the crime of a
French governor. In 168*7, Jacques Rene, Marquis de Denonville,
who commanded in Canada, received orders from France to send

IN THE UNITED STATES.

329

over a certain number of Iroquois prisoners to be put in the
king's galley^. Unable to take piisoneis in war, the governor
had recourse to treachery, and availed himself of the influence
of Father John de Lamberville among the Onondagas to induce
those Indians to come to a grand council at Cataracouy, now
Kingston. But as soon as they had unsuspectingly assembled,
troops surrounded them on every side ; and the unhappy victims
of this trap were sent to France, and put in chains in the gal-
leys. At the news of this crime, indignation rose to its height
in the cantons of the league, and Father John de Lamberville
had well-nigh paid with his life an act of which he was guilt-
less. The sachems, however, knew too well the sanctity of their
missionary to suspect him of perfidy. They protected his
flight, warning him that they could not answer for the conduct
of the young braves, when once they had chanted the war-song,
and urging him not to delay. Such was the sad close of the
mission begun twenty years before, in 1667.*

During the wars which ensued. Father Milet was, like Jogues
and Bressani, led a prisoner to the country of the Iroquois, and
for several years was detained at Oneida. The Iroquois Chris-
tians, who had emigrated to Canada, showed themselves faithful
allies of France, and behaved with rare bravery in all the cam-
paigns of that period. But this conduct drew upon them the
hatred of their pagan countrymen, and when Christians were
made prisoners, they were subjected to the cruellest tortures.
Some, too, not taken in arms, met the same fate for refusing to

* Count Frontenac, appointed Governor of Canada in 1689, brought back
the poor Iroquois, whose liberation from the galleys he had obtained, and
did liis best to dissipate in the minds of the Five Nations the etfect of his
predecessor's conduct. The Marquis de Denonville, on his recall, became
sub-governor of the Duke of Burgundy, and was distinguished for his vir-
tues and piety in that honorable post, wliich he owed to the friendship of
Bertuvilliers. We cannot conceive how, by a transient derangement, he could
commit such a flagrant treachery towards poor Indians.

330

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

abuse Christianity. The most courageous of these martyrs were
Stephen de Ganonakoa and Frances Gononhatenha, whose con-
stancy in the faith of their baptism drew upon them a truly hor-
rible treatment. These generous neophytes confessed Jesus cru-
cified at the stake, while the savages tore out their nails, and
roasted or slashed their bodies ; and to every question which
their executioners addressed them, they answered, to their latest
sigh, " We are Christians." All the tribes did not, however,
share this sanguinary rage, and many of the Iroquois desired to
see the missionaries return amongst them. On the peace of
Ryswick in 1697, the Jesuits hoped to restore their missions, in
spite of the intrigues of the Earl of Bellamont, Governor of New
York, who sent the Dutch pastor Dellius to preach to the Mo-
hawks. The minister failed completely, and did not even take
up his residence among the tribe whom he was commissioned to
convert. The governor employed all means to keep up the Iro-
quois hostilities against Canada, in spite of the treaty signed in
Europe. Maugre his efforts, the Five Nations concluded a sep-
arate peace with Canada in 1701. Fathers James de Lamber-
ville, Julian Garnier, and Vaillant du Gueslis, with a lay brother,
all old Iroquois missionaries, immediately started from Quebec to
raise their fallen altars amid the Senecas and Onondagas. Dep-
utations of these tribes had called for the Jesuits, and soon after
Fathers James d'Heu and Peter Mareuil joined their comrades
in New York.*

Father Lamberville was escorted to Onondaga by the Sieur de
Marecourt, a man of great popularity among the Indians, and
was well received, only one family opposing him. The English

* Father Jamea d'Heu arrived from France in 1706, and waa unfortunately
drowned in 1728 (Quebec list). However, he was Superior at Montreal in
1729.

Father Peter Mareuil arrived in 1706, died in 1747, according to the list
of Quebec ; but he died really at the College of Louis le Grand, at Pariri, in
1742, 08 Charlevoix assures us.

IN THE

UNITED STATES.

331

governor had ordered them to send the missionary to Albany ;
but disregarding thi.-i, they allowed Father Latnberville to erect,
his house and chapel, which he opened with a solemn Mass and
the chant of thanksgiving, Te Deum.

Among the Senecas, Father Gamier, old and infirm, after re-
storing the mission, left Father Vaillant to continue the active
labors. That missionary labored earnestly to maintain peace,
and as long as he remained, thwarted Schuyler's plans for the ex-
pulsion of the envoys of Catholicity. He was, howevc, suc-
ceeded by Father d'Heu in the following year, and in 1709, as
war was about to break out, Abraham Schuyler repaired to
Onondaga, and by expressing his pretended regret at being com-
pelled to rouse the Indians to war, induced Father de Lamberville
to hasten to Montreal to confer with Vaudreuil ; then working
on the fears of Father Mareuil, he got some drunken Indians to
pillage the chapel and mission-house, and even to destroy them
by fire. On this. Father Mareuil, thinking that he owed his
very life to Schuyler, agreed to accompany him to Albany, and
wrote to Father d'Heu, at Seneca, to accept the proffered hospi-
tality of the statesman of Albany. Joncaire, however, a French-
man of great influence with the Senecas, prevented any violence
there, and brought Father d'Heu safely to Canada. This Father
was accordingly the last actually on the mission among the In-
dians, and though he escaped a violent death, where his prede-
cessors had fallen, he became soon after a victim of his zeal, having
been drowred while in the exercise of his ministry.

When peace was restored by the treaty of Utrecht, Louis
XIV. acknowledged the right of England to the whole territory
occupied by the Five Nations, and thus completely closed the
entrance to the cantons on the missionaries of France.

Yet we shall find in 1*748 the Sulpitian, Francis Picquet,
resume the work of the Jesuit Fathers, and found within the
colony of New York the Reduction of the Presentation- But

332

THB CATHOLIC CHURCH

the history of this zealous man will be given hereafter. The
Apostohitc of the Jesuits began with Father Jogucs in 1042, was
carriod on at intervals for over sixty years, and was arrested, not
by the persecution of the idolaters, but by the intolerance of
Protestantism, which would not suffer the children of Loyola to
devote themselves to the task of transforming the savages into
Christians. The blood of the martyr and the sufFering of the
confessor had not been useless, and now two thousand five hun-
dred Iroquois at Caughnawaga, St. Regis, and at the Lake of
the Two Mountains, still practise Catholicity, and preserve the
name of their sires, while many other tribes have disappeared
forever, destroyed by debauchery and war, or absorbed in the
swelling tide of white immigration.

It may be asked how the missionaries proceeded in converting
these savage tribes ? In his interesting Relation, Father Bressani
answers this question. He gives in some sort the method
which succeeded best among the Hurons, and which was most
probably employed among the Iroquois :

"We advance the motives of credibility usually assigned by
theologians; those which answer best are these three: The
first is the conformity of our law and the commandments of
God with the light of reason. The faith forbids nothing that
reason does not equally, and all that faith commands is approved
by reason. . . , Our Indians understand and discuss well ;
they yield frankly to sound reasoning. The second argument
was our writings ; I allude not merely to the Holy Scripture,
but to ordinary writings. By this argument we silenced their
false prophets, or rather charlatans. They have neither books
nor writings of any kind. When, therefore, they told us their
fables of the creation of the world and the deluge, of which tluiy
have some confusod ideas, and of the spirit-land, we asked thcni,
' Who told you this V they replied, ' Our ancestors.' ' But,'
retorted we, ' your ancestors were men like yourselves, liars like

you, w

frequei

you?

of wha

lieth n(

man, al

"An

we este

certain!

in the i

ments, i

simple i

pains of

tremblii

Felix.

"But
own pe
losing ir
ans, as t
labors ui
tions anv
preach h
our Indij

We
devoid oi
tread in

IN THE UNITED 8TATK8.

333

by
The

:» of

that

►vecl

dl;

Inent

Lure,

their

)oks

ihoir

Itlicy

you, who often exaggerate and alter facts which you relate, and
frequently invent and falsify — how then can I safely believe
you ? While we,' we added, ' bear with us irrefragable testimony
of what we say, the Scriptures, which are the Word of God, who
lieth not. Writing does not change and vary like the voice of
man, almost by his very nature a liar.'

"And after admiring the excellence of writing, an art which
we esteem too lightly from its commonness, they realized the
certainty of the Divine Oracles which we showed them written
iii the sacred books dictated by God himself, whose command-
ments, threats, and promises we read to them, and often the
simple and artless narrative of the Divine Judgment and of the
pains of hell prepared for tlie guilty, filled them with fear and
trembling, as in the Acts we read it filled the unjust judge,
Felix.

" But the most powerful argument was that drawn from our
own persons. In imitation of the great apostle, who, without
losing in the least his profound humility, related to the Corinthi-
ans, as though it were of another, not only his sufferings aiidholy
labors un^?- gont in the service of the Lord, but even the revela-
tions ana miraculous gifts bestowed by Him who had sent him to
preach hi» Gospel to them, we did not hesitate to speak thus to
our Indians."*

We have inserted this interesting page, which cannot be
devoid of interest to such of our young missionaries as aspire to
tread in the steps of a Jogues and a Bressani.

* Bressani, Brev o Belatione.

384

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

CHAPTER XXI.

PROVINCE OF NEW YORK — (1640-1760.)

The Dutch— The English occnpation and Governor Dongan— First Colonial Assembly
In 1683— Jesaits at New York- Revolution, and persecution of the Catholics — Pre-
tended negro plot, and execution of the Bev. John Ury.

While the interior of New York was visited with so much
perseverance by the missionaries, the cities long remained closed
to their preaching. The Dutch were zealous Calvinists, and in
the first chapter of the " Liberties and Exemptions" of the colony,
was impliedly confirmed what was formally expressed in the
amended charter of 1640: that the Protestant religion, as set
forth by the synod of Dort, should be maintained by the Com-
pany and the Director. According to the decrees of that synod,
no other religion was to be tolerated. Yet the people of New
Netherlands did not evince any special intolerance. We have
seen how charitably and kindly they welcomed the Jesuit Fathers,
Jogues and Bressani, after their countrymen at Fort Orange had
rescued those missionaries from the hands of the Indians. The
ministers themselves. Dominie Megapolensis and Bogardus, set
the example of the most generous conduct, and we must state the
fact to their honor. During the period of the Dutch rule, the
only case of oppression on the Catholics was the prosecution in
1658 of a Frenchman by the Sheriff of Breuckelea (Brooklyn),
for refusing to contribute to the support of the Rev. Domiuie
Polhemus. The delinquent, for insolently pleading the frivolous
excuse that he was a Catholic, was fined twelve guilders. There
was in this, however, no persecution of the Catholics specially, for

IN THB UNITED STATES.

335

lave
hers,
had

The

, set

the

on in

lyn),

minie
olous
here

the same day an Englishman was subjected to the same fine for
refusing to pay his church rate, on the ground that he did not
understand Dutch.* -

It is true that the number of Catholic settlers at that time was
then very limited ; yet there were some, as we learn by a letter of
Dominie Megapolensis, which Dr. O'Callaghan has given in his
history of New Amsterdam. In this letter, addressed to the
Classis in Amsterdam, the minister says that Father Le Moyne,
the Jesuit missionary, had visited him at Manhattan, " on account

accommoda-
have arrived

of the Papists residing here,
tion of the French sailors, ,
here with a good prize."f j
When the Dutch col6n^
York, and especially when
governor in 1683, the numbe!
New York must have increased
the latter would have been

and to encourage the new-comers by grants of land,
able governor was not long enough in office to realize all his
plans for the good of the colony, where he had expended for the
public good most of his private fortune. In this, as in many
other points, the Catholic Governor Dongan forms a striking
contrast with the mass of colonial rulers who sought their own
profit at the expense of the countries submitted to them. To
Dongan, too. New York is indebted for the convocation of the
first legislative assembly, the colony having been till then ruled
and governed at the good pleasure of the governor ; and this
readiness to admit the people to a share in the government is a
fact which the enemies of James II. should not conceal in their
estimate of that Catholic monarch. The first act of the Assembly

* Bayley, Sketch of the Catholic Church, p. 14.
t O'Callaghan, New Netherland.

336

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

passed October 30, 1683, was a charter of liberties, declaring
that " no person or persons, ^vrhich profess faith in God by Jesus
Christ, shall at any time be any ways molested, punished, dis-
quieted, or called in question for any difference of opinion or
matter of religious concernment, who do not actually disturb the
civil peace of the province ; but that all and every such person
or persons may, from time to time, and at all times, freely have
and fully enjoy his or their judgments or consciences, in matters
of religion, throughout all the province — they behaving them-
selves peaceably and quietly, andnot using this liberty to licen-
tiousness, nor to the "civil injury or outward disturbance of
others." By another article, all defiominations then in the prov-
ince were securbd the fr^e exercis6 -of 'their discipline and forms,
and the same privilege extended to such as might come. It was
only l^ favor of such a liberality that Colonel Dongan could
hope tolDbtain tolerati6ii>for Catholicity ; but these laws making
all equal, and thus -tafmonizing with the avowed doctrines of
Protestantism, did not survive the Catholic rule which had pro-
mulgated them. The New York Assembly of 1691 declared
null and void the acts of the Assembly of 1683, and instead of
the Charter of Liberties, passed a Bill of Rights, which expressly
excluded Catholics from all participation in the privileges which
it conferred. It had been the same in Maryland, where Catholics
had first proclaimed religious liberty, and where the Protestants,
who soon gained the ascendency, proscribed the Papists and
their creed.

We have seen in a previous chapter that Governor .Dongan
used every effort to stop the French Jesuit missions, in order to
destroy at the same time the influence which France possessed in
the councils of the Iroquois league. Such hostility in time of
profound peace gave rise to complaints on the part of Louis XIV.,
and James II. ordered his representative to favor the enterprises
of the Fathers, instead of thwarting them, with all his power.

*0'Cj|
Sketch,

IN THE UNITED STATES.

337

Dongan wished to see the Iroquois Christians ; but he wished
them to be English, not French ; and to reconcile the interests of
religion and loyalty, he asked for English Jesuits to station in
the cantons in the place of the French missionaries. Some
Fathers arrived for this purpose at New York, but their ignorance
of the Iroquois dialects at first prevented their proceeding beyond
the city, and the recall of Dongan, followed by the overthrow of
James, annihilated all hopes of an apostolate among the Five
Nations. Campbell cites from a Roman Catalogue of the Society
of Jesus, the names of three Jesuits as having resided at New
York at that time. Of these. Father Thomas Harvey was in that
city from 1683 to 1690, and then withdrew to Maryland, but
returned to New York in 1696, though he finally went back to
Maryland, and died there in 1719, at the age of eighty-four.
Father Henry Harrison was in New York in 1685, and returned
to Ireland in 1690, though we find him in Maryland in 1697.
Father Charles Gage was also in the colony in 1686 and 1687.
These religious profited by their stay in New York to open a
college ; but the Catholic element was too weak to support it, as
we may judge by the following letter, written by Jacob Leisler, a
fanatical usurper of the government, to the Governor of Boston,
in August, 1689 : "I have formerly urged to inform your Honr.
that Coll. Dongan, in his time did erect a Jesuite Colledge upon
cuUouv to learn Latine to the judges West. Mr. Graham, Judge
Palmer, and John Tudor did contribute their sons for some time,
but noboddy imitating them, the colledge vanished."*

The historian of the colony. Smith, who wrote more than fifty
years later, greatly exaggerates the disafiection of the people to
the government, and represents the whole people as trembling
for the Protestant cause, because several Catholics came over as

* O'Callaghau, Documentary History of Now York, ii. 28.
Sketch, p. 19.

Bayley, Brief

338

THB CATHOLIC CHURCH

settlers, and because a Latin-school was opened. The appoint-
ment of a Catholic as collector of the port enabled Jacob Leisler,
a fanatical and ambitious merchant, to create some excitement
by a refusal on his part to pay the duties to a Catholic ; and for
this conduct he has been lauded, even in our day, as a champion
of liberty ! He became the leader of those who refused all social
intercourse with Catholics ; and when the news arrived of the
fall of James, Nicholson, the Lieutenant-governor of Andross, the
successor to Dongan, found that Leisler was plotting to seize
him, and fled. Leisler immediately, with the help of his satel-
lites, seized the £;overnment, ard although the members of the
council sought to uphold the government in being, they were
compelled to fly to Albany. Every means was now lesorted to
to keep alive the feeling which had raised him to power, and it is
impossible to read without a blush of shame the numerous docu-
ments of the period collected in the Documentary History of New
York — depositions of men that they had seen the lieutenant-gov-
ernor at Mass ; that the Papists on Staten Island, where Dongan
resided, had threatened to cut the throats of the inhabitants and
burn the town ; that Mr. de la Prairie had arms in his house for
fifty men, and that a priest was concealed in the fort, where a
good part of the garrison consisted of Irish Catholics.

The popular hostility excited by such means doubtless drove
from New York most of the Catholics who had settled theia
during the reign of James II., and if v;o can rely on the census
of 1696, there were then only seven Papists.^ or, at most, seven
Papist families in New Y k. The smallness of this number
should have calmed the fears of the Protestants, but it was not
so, and in lYOO an act was passed, of which the following was
the preamble : " Whereas, divers Jesuits, Priests, and Popish
missionaries have, of late, come, and for some time have had
their residence in the remote parts of this province, and others of
his majesty's adjacent colonies, who, by their wicked and subtle

IN THE UNITED STATES.

339

insinuations, industriously labored to debauch, seduce, and with-
draw the Indians from their due obedience to his most Sacred
Majesty, and to excite and stir them up to seditious rebellion and
open hostility against his Majesty's government," &c. The
enacting part was as cruel as the preamble was false. It declared
that every priest coming into the province after the first of No-
vember, IVOO, or remaining after that day, should be "deemed
and accounted an incendiary and disturber of the public peace
and safety, and an enemy to the true Christian religion, and shall
be adjudged to sufier perpetual imprisonment." If he broke
prison and were retaken, the penalty was death, and any one
that harbored a priest was made liable to a fine of £200 sterling,
and to stand three days on the pillory. It is due, however, to
the people of New York to state that this sanguinary act, inspired
apparently by earlier legislation of New England on the same
subject, was the work of the fanatical Earl of Bellaraont, then
governor, and was so opposed by the people that he got it
through his Council only by voting as a member, and then giving
a casting vote as president of the body, and sanctioning it as
governor.

In lYOl a law was passed excluding Catholics from office, and
depriving them of the other branch of the elective franchise, that
of voting. The next year Queen Anne granted liberty of con-
science to all the inhabitants of New York, Papists excepted.
Such intolerance, it is evident, kept from New York all Catholic
immigration, and the few of the faithful who resided there were
subjected to many trials, as the popular mind was rendy to
ascribe any calamity to them. Few dared to avow themselves
Catholics, and in the absence of priest and church it was impos-
sible to fulfil the duties of religion, as there was no way but the
then long and expensive journey to Philadelphia.

But the most remarkable fact, to prove how sadly the public
mind had been envenomed, since the English began to exceed

340

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

the Dutch in numbers and influence, is the execution of the
unfortunate John Ury, against whom the popular hate was
excited, in consequence of the belief that he was a Catholic
priest. In the early part of 1741, the city of New York, which
then contained 20,000 inhabitants, was seized with one of those
inexplicable panics to which assemblages of men are more sub-
ject than individuafs. A rumor, arising out of a number of fires
in different parts of the town, accused the negroes of a plot to
burn the city and massacre the inhabitants. On this groundless
suspicion the whole people were thrown into the greatest alarm.
The lieutenant-governor, George Clarke, who, in his dispatch
of the 22d of April, ascribes the fire in the fort to an accident,
which he fully explains, by the 15th of May had discovered a
horrid conspiracy and plot,* in consequence of which he offered
a reward of a hundred pounds sterling and a free pardon to any
white person who would reveal the authors of the plot, and then
an indented servant, named Mary Burton, came forward to
accuse a number of persons of being concerned in the conspiracy.
The prosecutions were instituted with a disgusting thirst for
blood, and carried on without throwing any light on the mystery
which they sought to unveil. Three months passed in illusory
interrogatories, and three persons had been hung as authors of
the plot, when on the 19th of June the lieutenant-governor, as
deluded as the worst,f took it into his head to offer pardon to all
who should confess before the first of July. " The poor negroes,"
says an impartial reporter, "being extremely terrified, were fux-
ious to take the only avenue of safety that was offered, and eac.
strove to tell a story as ingenious and horrible as he could ipan-
ufacture. The territ)le cry of Popery was now raised, which
struck terror to the hearts of aii, and led to the sacrifice of an
amiable and interesting clergyman, of whose innocence there can

• New York Colonial Dooumonta, vi. 186.

+ Ibid. vi.

IN THE UNITfiD STATES.

341

as
all

icli
an

can

scarcely remain a doubt, so absurd was the charge against him,
and so feebly was it supported."*

It was now that, for the first time, Mary Burton denounced
John Uiy. This man was arrested as a Catholic priest, tried as
a Catholic priest, coud'^mned and executed as a Catholic priest,
and yet to this day a mystery so complete hangs over his fate
that it is utterly impossible to say whether he was either a
Catholic or a priest. Although it would have been enough for
him to prove that he was not a priest, to have dissipated the
hatred gathered against him, and thus probably escaped an
ignominious death, Ury never formally denied the accusation,
or defended himself from the charge of being a Catholic. Al-
though uncertainty rests on his real character, it is most certain,
however, that Ury was condemned only because iudfje, jury,
counsel, and people believed him an ecclesiastic of the dreaded
Church of Rome ; and the crime of intention, if not of fact, rests
with full force on the fanatical population of New York in 1*741.

All that is certainly known of Mr. John Ury is, that he was
the son of a secretary of the South Sea Company. According
to a strange journal o^ his published by Horsemanden, in his ac-
count of the trial, ho arrived from Europe at Philadelphia, Feb-
ruary, 1Y39, and opened a little school in New Jersey, and then,
in November, 1*740, came to reside in New York. Here he
taught, and baptized some children. Several witnesses proved
that he shut himself up in his room with se\ ral persons to cel-
ebrate religious ceremonies ; that he had wafers made, and a
stand in the form of an altar ; that he preached frequently, and
had candles lighted in the daytime. The only doubt can be,
whether Mr. Ury was a Catholic priest or a nonjuring Angli-

* American Criminal Trials, by Peleg W. Chandler (Boston, 1844), i. 222.
See U. S. Catholic Magazine, v. 678. " At first," says Governor Clarke, on
August 24th, '* we thought it was only projected by Huson and the negroes,
but it is now apparent that the hand of Popery is in it."

342

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

can ; but in an able dissertation on the subject, B. U. Campbeh,
Esq., proves clearly that the second hypothesis is inadmissible,
because Ury would not have failed, in that case, to exculpate
hirns^ J' from the charge of being a priest ; while under the for-
mer hypothesis, the fear of compromising the few Catholics of
New York would compel him, on his trial, to be silent as to his
priestly character. He was not at all thought of in connection
with the plot until long after Huson's execution, when an ab-
surd letter of General Oglethorpe's, declaring that Jesuits in the
interest of the Spaniards were in all the towns, filled all minds
with panic fears of Jesuits in disguise ; and every effort was
made to discover one. On the 20th of June, the lieutenant-gov-
ernor wrote : " There was in town, some time ago, a man who is
said to be a Romish priest, who used to be at Huson's, but has
disappeared ever since the discovery of the conspiracy, and is not
now to be found."* On his trial, he defended himself ably, but
saw the evident impossibility of obtaining a just hearing, the
fanatical hativ^d of the Catholic religion demanding his blood .f
After Ms conviction, Mr. Ury asked a short reprieve, to enable
him to prepare for death ; and on its expiration, was hung, on
the 29th of August, 1741. Eleven negroes were burnt alive at
the stake, eighteen hung, and fifty transported to the West In-
dies, in expiation of this pretended plot ; and Mr. Campbell thus
concludes his interesting dissertation on the most innocent of
these victims of a popular delusion :

" The melancholy fate of the Reverend John Ury was one of
peculiar hardship. Accused of an infamous crime, without coun-
sel to advise or defend him, he was tried by an excited tribunal,
whose strongest prejudices were invoked against him, on account
of his faith and religious character ; and he was convicted upon

* New York Colonial Dociimenta, vi. 198.

+ Sec Horaemanden, Account of the Negro Conspiracy.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

843

the testimony of profligate and perjured witnesses. Doomed to
the death of a felon, he met his fate with manly fortitude and a
Christian resignation. As he believed that his sacerdotal char-
acter was the cause of his condemnation, it would have been a
consolation in his last moments to have declared himself a Cath-
olic priest. But as such an acknowledgment would have com-
promised those friends who had shown him hospitality and kind-
ness, his sense of honor and gratitude restrained him from an
avowal that would have conferred upon his death the dignity of
martyrdom."*

The fearful trial of which we have spoken shows that in 1*741
there were some Catholics is New York ; but they scarcely
durst avow it to eacn oth jr, and this state of intimidation lasted
till the Revolutionary War. Father Josiah Greaton was the only
Catholic priest in Philadelphia in 1*739, and it is probable that
Mr. Ury was in correspondence with him, for Judge Horseman-
den admits that the dying speech of the priest was printed at
Philadelphia by his friends, soon after his execution ; but this
version is unfortunately lost.f

But Ury was not the only victim to hatred of Catholicity.

Of the negroes arrested as concerned in the plot, some were
Spanish negroes, taken on a Spanish vessel in time of war, and
sold as slaves, instead of being treated as prisoners, for they were
freed men. Most, however, of those executed were negroes raised
in the colony by English or Dutch families. The former showed
education, talent — ill that constitutes a man ; the latter were

* Life and Times o' the Mos'^ Rev. John Carroll, U. S. Catholic Magazine,
vi. 38.

t The only authonty for these nala is Horse manden's book, "The New
York Conspiracy, rr a History ot ^he Negro Plot, «fec., New York, 1744."
Chandler, already cited, pronounces he whole a ('.elusion, and believes that
Mr. Ury was not a priest, but a nonjuring minister. Mr. Campbell con-
cludes that he was a priest ; Bishop Bayley expresses no opinion ; and Mr.
Shea adopts Chandler's view of the matter.

344

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

like dumb cattle. Unaided by a lawyer — for every member of
the bar was arrayed against them — the Spanish negroes took ob-
jections which certainly would have weighed with any but a
prejudiced judge ; yet, in spite of all their arguments and testi-
mony, they were condemned. The New York negroes made no
attempt at defence, and, indeed, were incapable of any. They
made any accusation or admission that was asked. At the stake,
the diflference was even greater : the poor native negroes were
led out like so many brutes, unattended by any clergyman, with
no attempt to convert them, bul^ chained to the stake, and
burned amid their howls of despair. The conduct of the Span-
ish, and consequently Catholic negroes, was striking even to the
savage justice, Horsemanden, who chronicles the plot. Priest
there was none to prepare them for death ; they were left to
themselves, and yet a few brief words of the justice speak a eu-
logy on the Catholic religion, which could make such a different
result : " Juan de Sylva, the Spanish negro condemned for the
conspiracy, was this day executed according to sentence : he was
neatly dressed in a white shirt, jacket, drawers, and stockings,
behaved decently, prayed in Spanish, kissed a crucifix, insisting
on his innocence to the last."*

* Metropolitan for 1855, p. 270.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

845

CHAPTER XXII.

STATE OF NEW YORK — (1776-1786).

CJonstitution of the State— The English Party and Protestantlbm— Commencement of
Catholic worship In the city of New York— St. Peter's Church— Father Wholnn nnd
Father Nngent— A trustee of St Peiers in 1786.

The population of the colony of New York made common
cause with the other colonies from the outset of the Revolution-
aiy War ; but the city of New York, after the disastrous battle
of Long Island, remained in the hands of the English till 1783,
and was the last large town evacuated by the British troops.
On the 31st of May, 1776, Congress advised the several States to
adopt constitutions, and the New York Convention met for this
purpose at Kingston, on the 6th of March, 1777. The Consti-
tution, as proposed, gave the Legislature power of naturalizing
such foreigners as came to reside in the State, on their taking an
oath of allegiance. But Mr. John Jay proposed as an amend-
ment that every foreigner should " abjure and renounce all al-
legiance and subjection to all and every foreign king, prince, po-
tentate, and State, in all matters ecclesiastical and civil ;" and in
spite of the efforts of several honorable delegates, such as Morris
and Livingston, the amendment was finally adopted. Thus, a
foreign Catholic, a Lafayette, Pulaski, De Kalb, or Kosciusko,
could not become a citizen of the State of New York ; and this
state of things lasted till 1789, when the General Government
of the United States, reserving to itself the question of naturali-

r.*

846

THE Catholic church

zation, annulled virtually the reserves and restrictions contained
in the Constitution of the State of New York.*

The clause relative to the liberty of worship was thus in the
Constitution as proposed : •' Free toleration of religious profession
and worship shall forever hereafter be allowed to all mankind."
This clause came up for debate on the 20th of May, and Mr. Jay
did not fail to offer an amendment. He wished to tolerate in
the State the presence of no Catholic who did not deny on oath
the power in the priesthood of remitting sins. This restriction
was too absurd to be entertained by the Convention ; it wns
withdrawing with one hand the liberty proffered by the other ;
but Jay craftily drew up another, to exclude Catholics ; and the
article of the Constitution was adopted with his amendment, in
these terms : " Provided that the liberty of conscience hereby
granted shall not be so construed as to excuse acts of licentious-
ness, or justify practices inconsistent with the peace or safety of
the State."

This fanaticism at once drove from the soil of Now York a
body of industrious and thrifty settlers. In the valley of the
Mohawk, a number of the clan McDonald had settled under the
auspices of Sir William Johnson ; they were all strict Catholics,
old adherents of the Stuart cause, whose blood yet thrills at the
name of Charles Edward. They had hoped to enjoy the rights
of freemen and the privilege of worshipping God in the Western
wilderness ; but when the new government of New York de-
prived them of both, they emigrated in a body'to Upper Canada,
and have formed the celebrated Glengary clan.

But while the British government favored the Catholics in
Canada, it prevented all public exercise of their worship at New
York during its possession of that city. Anglican fanaticism
was displayed in an especial manner in 1778. In February of

* Journal of Provincial Convention, 846.

*GrJ

Sketch
Motte
Was Bti
iised as
for a tir
fined h«

IN THE UNITED STATES.

847

•rn
e-
a,

that year, a large French man-of-war was taken by the English
in Chesnpeako liay, and brought on to New York to be con-
demned. The chaplain of this vessel was Mr. De la Motte, of
the Order of St. Augustine ; and, like the officers, he was put
on parole, and allowed to visit the city freely. The few Catho-
lics of New York begged Mr. De la Motte to grant them the
satisfaction of hearing Mass ; and the chaplain solicited permis-
sion from the British commander, but received a peremptory re-
fusal. Whether he misunderstood the reply, or resolved to dis-
regard it, Mr. De la Motte celebrated the holy mysteries for the
poor people, who in all probability assisted for the first time in
many years. But the chaplain was a ested ^' r the act, and
strictly confined in prison till he was exchanged.

As soon as the colonies opened negotiatious and farmed an
alliance with Fiance, the English par'. / '.; ught to ideiiiify their
cause with that of Protestantism, and lo excite the fanaticism of
the populace by presenting as a danger for the Reformation,
either liberty of woi-ship or the French alliance. The honors
paid by Americans in the funeral ceremonies of the army of
France were presented as religious treasons; and we read in
Rivington's Royal Gazette of December 11, 1782: "On the
4th of November the clergy and selectmen of Boston paraded
through the streets after a crucifix, and joined in a procession for
praying a departed soul oui ^n purgatory ; and for this they gave
the example of Congress and other American leaders on a former
occasion at Philadelphia, pome of whom, in the height of their
zeal, even went so far m to sprinkle themselves with what they

* Greenleaf 8 HiRtory of the Churches of New York. Bishop Bayley,
Sketch of the Catholic Church, p. 85. The prison in which Mr. De la
Motte was conflnod was the Old Sugar-house, which, but a few years sIdco,
was standing beside tlio Post-office, in Liberty-street. The church now
used as a Post-offlco was used by the English troops as a riding-school, and
for a time as a hospitid ; and the confessor of the faith was doubtless con-
fined here also.

11*

848

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

' call holy water."* General Arnold, who endeavored to sell his
native land to England, had also been scandalized by the tolera-
tion which Catholics were beginning to enjoy ; and if we may
believe the celebrated traitor, his conscience did not permit him
to remain faithful to a party which thus sacrificed the essential
interests of Protestantism. In his address to the inhabitants of
America, Arnold laments that the gieat interests of the country
" were dangerously sacrificed to the partial views of a proud, an-
cient, and crafty foe ; regards her as too feeble to establish their
independence ; charges her with being an enemy to the Protest-
ant faith ;" and in the proclamation to the officers and soldiers of
the Continental army, he says that " he wished to lead a chosen
band of Americans to the attainment of peace, liberty, and safety,
and with them to share in the glory of rescuing their native
country from the grasping hand of France, as well as from the
ambitious and interested views of a desperate party among them-
selves, who had already brought the colonies to the very brink of
destruction." Even their last stake, religion, he represented to
be in such danger as to have no other security than what de-
pended upon the exertions of the parent country for deliverance.
In proof or illustration he asserted a fact upon his own know-
ledge, viz., that he had lately seen their mean and profligate
Congress at Mass for the soul of a Roman Catholic in purgatory,
and participating in the rites of a Church, against whose anti-

* 1 < eneau's pooms, p. 288. This republican poet cites it to explain the four
following lines, which he puts into liivington's mouth :

" If the greatest among them submit to the Pope,
What reason have I for indi'.Igence to hope ?
If the Congress themselves to the chapel did pass,
Ye may swear that poor Jemmy would have to sing Mass."

Rivington was a bookseller, who published a Tory paper, and had a shop
in St. PauPs Churchyard. Ho kept also a coffee-house, much frequented
by the oflTioers, many of whom, when they evacuated the city, forgot to pay
hirn.

*Dod
June 2,

tit is
prior to

IN THE UNITED STATES.

349

Christian corruptions their pious ancestors would have witnessed
in their blood.*

The English army evacuated New York and set sail for Europe
on the 25th of November, 1783, and it is probable that Father
Farmer, who had organized a congregation previous to the war,
and who still resided at Philadelphia, seized the first opportunity
to revisit his little flock of Catholics at New York.f The part
taken by France had rendered the clause introduced by Jay a
nullity, and no obstacle existed to the open celebration of the
Catholic worship. A tradition preserved in the city tells us that
the firat chapel was a loft over a carpenter's shop, and Mr. Camp-
bell, in his version of the tradition, states that service was actually
performed in 1781 or 1782. This must have been outside of the
city, where the English exercised less influence ; but it seems
very doubtful. Although it is impossible to prove Father Far-
mer's presence in New York in 1782, it is beyond all doubt that
he visited the city in the following year. In one of his letters he
says that about the month of December, 1783, he spent five days
at Fishkill among the Canadian refugees, in order to revive the
faith among them ; and the missionary could scarcely have gone
from Philadelphia to Fishkill without passing through New York.
Father Farmer's mission comprised New York and New Jersey ;
and even in 1785, when there were three priests in New York,
Father Farmer directed them from Philadelphia.

The restoration of peace and the assembling at New York of
the foreign ministers, gave the Catholics more energy and cour-
age. They even solicited the use of a room in the Exchange for
the purposes of divine worship, and though the authorities re-
jected the petition, heard Mass in Water-street, in or near the

* Dodsley'B Annual Register for 1781, p. 47, cited in the American Celt,
June 2, 1855.

t It is impossible to fix the date of his visits to New York, and of those
prior to the war we have only vague tradition.

850

THE CATHOLIC CHUKCH

residences of Don Thomas Stoughton, the Sparl^sh consul, or
of Don Diego de Garde lui, the minister of the same power, who
took up his residence in New York in 1786, when it became the
temporary seat of the Federal government. Hardie, in his de-
scription of New York, also speaks of the halls hired by the
Catholics in 1784 and 1785 to meet on Sunday in prayer; and
Greenleaf tells us that prior to 1786 they used as a church "a
building erected for public purposes in Vauxhall Garden, situate
on the margin of the North River."* In 1785 an act of incor-
poration was obtained by St. Peter's Church from the State of
New York, and early in 1786 a lot was purchased in Barclay-
street to erect the first Catholic church in New York. On the
Feast of St. Charles Borromeo, patron of his Catholic Majesty,
the Spanish ambassador laid the corner-stone, and his sovereign,
Charles III., allotted a considerable sum to aid in erecting the
holy temple. The French consul, Mr. St. John de Crevecoeur,
was also one of its chief benefactors.

At this epoch Father Farmer continued to be the vicar for
New York of Father John CarroJl, the prefect-apostolic ; but he
did not reside there permanently, and other priests actually
settled there exercised the functions of the ministry. In the
month of October, 1784, Father Charles Whelan, an Irish Fran-
ciscan, arrived at New York, and asked Father Farmer to be
employed as a missionary. Father Whelan had been a chaplain
on board one of the vessels in Admiral de Grasse's fleet, which
wa defeated by Admiral Rodney on the 12th of April, I'^'^o,
and was taken prisoner in that great naval battle. After revisit-
ing Ireland he came over to America with his two brothers,
whom he induced to settle there. Father Whelan had his eccle-
siastical recommendations in regular form, but he had no appro-
bation from the Congregation of the Propaganda at Rome, and

* Hibtory of th«» Churches of New York, p. 888.

m THE UNITED STATES.

351

ht that period the apostolic-prefect was authorized to grant facul-
ties only to such as were sent by the Propaganda. This restric-
tion seemed very embarrassing to Father John Carroll, who used
every endeavor to obtain more ample faculties from Rome. Yet
the measure was dictated by prudence ; it sheltered the United
States from priestly adventurers, and it would have saved Father
Carroll himself many trials and chagrins if he had not solicited
the removal of a restriction really beneficial to the future of the
Church. Father Whelan accordingly at first obtained only
power to say Mass ; but availing himself of the powers he had
in Ireland, he proceeded to hear confessions and celebrate mar-
riage. This led to a long struggle between him and Father
Farmer, in which the latter's authority was not always respected.
At last, in the month of July, a rescript of the Propaganda ar-
rived, and enabled Father Carroll to regulate the position of
Father Whelan.

But scarcely had the affairs of the Church in New York seemed
to be restored to tranquillity, when new troubles arose to sadden
it. Towards the close of 1785, a second Irish Franciscan, Father
Andrew Nugent, arrived at New York, and endeavored to force
himself on the ecclesiastical authorities. As he was n better
preacher than Father Whelan, the laity immediately took ihe
preacher's part,* and asked Father Farmer to withdraw Father
Whelan. The good Jesuit having endeavored to pacify them,
the trustees threatened to apply to the Legislature to obtain a
law enabling them to dismiss a clergyman, when they became

* '* A good preacher, alas ! is all that some want, who never approach
the sacraments," wrote Father Farmer. At tliis time, the Catholics ol" New
York took steps to get from Ireland Father Jones, a Franciscan at Cork, who
was called a "great preacher." But that religious did not yield to their
entreaties. " The dilFerent sectaries have scarce any other test to judge of a
clergyman, than his talents for preaching, and our Irish congregations, such
as New York, follow the same rule," wrote Father Carroll, on tlie 15th of
Decemher, 178.^. Campbell, in U. S. Catholic Magazine, vi. 102.

352

THE CATHOIJC CHURCH

dissatisfied with him. All attempts at conciliation proved use-
less, and at Christmas, 1*785, the trustees decided that the Sunday
collection should no longer be given to Father Whelan. This
was the only resource of the missionary, and after remaining at
his post till the 12th of February, 1*786, he resolved to leave
New York, and join his brother at Johnstown, forty-five miles
from Albany. Father Whelan intended to return at Easter, but
aflfairs were not arranged in the interval, and the prefect, whose
coufidence he had preserved, empowered him to found a mission
in Kentucky.

By the retreat of Father Whelan, Father Nugent's party tri-
umphed, and hoped to have their favorite as pastor. The latter,
disregarding his want of regular powers, announced that he
would hear confessions : and Fath^ r Farmer, announcing this im-
prudent conduct to the Very Rev. Mr. Carroll, formally requested
the suspension of Father Nugent. But it seems that the Prefect-
apostolic preferred to temporize, for fear of greater scandals, in
case the priest openly disowned his authority. This melancholy
condition of affairs continued till November, 1787, when Father
Carroll committed the parish of New York to Father William
O'Brien, a Dominican Father from Dublin. Father Nugent re-
mained at New York, though without exercising the ministry,
and Bishop Bayley found on the minutes of St. Peter's Church,
that in 1790 the trustees made a collection to pay the passage of
their ex-pastor, who embarked for France in the T61emaque.*

We must avow that nothing is more sad than tho commence-
ment of the Church in New York. Disobedient priests, rebel-
lious and usurping laymen ! But this picture should serve as a
lesson to American Catholics, as Mr. Campbell justly observes :
" It will show the pernicious tendency of the trustee system, to re-
mark, that at the period of this presumptuous interference of the

* Bayley, Catholic Church in New York, p. 49.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

353

trustees of the Catholic congregation of New York with the
spiritual government of the Church, they were not in possession
of an edifici of tL^ir own in which to perform divine worship,
but were under the necessity of hiring a room for the purpose."*
Yet, of a Catholic population of one hundred, about forty ap-
proached the sacraments ; and, to maintain the devotion of this
Uttle nucleus of the faithful, Father Farmer made frequent jour-
neys to New York. He continued these periodical visits till
shortly before his death, which occurred at Philadelphia in 1786 ;
and after him, Fath^er O'Brien succeeded in extending piety and
pacifying the troubled minds. Thus, amid the cockle, the good
grain showed itself at New York ; and in spite of the preten-
sions and exactions of the trustees, we cannot refuse them a cer-
tain merit for preserving the name of Catholics amid the jarring
sects of Protestantism, and for having built the first church,
which, for twenty-three years, was the only shrine of the faith in
New York.f But were they really Catholics? We might al-
most doubt it, from the writings of the best known of them,
Hector St. John de Crevecoeur.

This personage, born at Caen, in Normandy, of a noble family,
in 1*731, probably bore the name of St. Jean ; and his long stay
in England and America doubtless induced him to adopt that of
St. John. At the age of sixteen, he went to Enjrland, and
thence, in 1'764, to America, wher<* he displayed great energy as
a pioneer. But when the Revolui; oa broke out, he lost much by
the Tiivages of the tories and Indians. Wishing to return to
Europe in 1780, he obtained a safe-conduct to go to New York,
then in the ha^y? of the English. Yet he was detained as a pris-

* U. S. Catholic Magazine, vi. 148.

t Tlie first trustees were Hector St. John de Crevecoeur, Consul ,■ f France,
Jose Roiz Silva, J. Stewart, and Henry Duffy. The first Mass .- said in
St. Peter's by Father Nugent, November 4th, 1786. The sacristy, portico,
and pews were not finisho''. till 179Sj.

354

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

oner for three months, and having reached France by the way of
Ireland, was api>ointed, by the Minister of the Marine, French
Oonsul at New York. He accordingly teturned to that city on
the 19th of November, LYSS, and his lirs; :are ras to call upon
Mr. V«''illiam Seton, the father-in-law of the future fci^ -ilress of
the Sisters of Charity at Emnetsbur^. Mr. S^tou ba<j ^ndered
great service to Mr, St. John, lu 1180, in obtaining his release
from prison, and the hVcr now tjought to obtain tidings of his
wife and children, whom he liad left on his fnrm ; bu , he had
the affliction to learn that during Ids absence his wife had died,
his houi-ie been burnt, and his chiUren curned ".T by the Indians.
Hk clkildren, however, carried fmally to Boston, had been recov-
(ii-BQ by Mr. Seton, and were restored to their father's arms,
ij «>lng his stay abroad, he published in English his "Letters of
an American Farmer," of which he issued also a French edition,
dedicated to the infamous Abbe Raynal. In this book, Mr. St.
John shows himself an adherent of the philosophic school, and
profoundly indiiferent to religion. He advances this religious in-
difference as the striking point of the American character, and
pleasantly 'lotails its advantages. Such were the sentiments of
the president of the trustees of the hrst Catholic church in New
York ; and we need not wonder if the body showed itself rebel-
lious to its pastor.*

"■ Letters of an Aiaerican Farmer, written to a frienc' in England, by
Hector St. John, a Farmer in Pennsylvania. Tha letters • re addressed to
W. S**"*n, Esq. (Williain Seton), and the dedication (dated A'bany, May 17,
1781) to General liafayette. The French edition is edited by tho eldei
Laorctelle. The work ran through several editions, and was much en-
larged. He also wrote " Voyage dans 1r Haute Pennsylvanie," Paris, 1801.
The Dictionnaire Historique de Bouillet ausforms him into " Sir John de
CrevecoBur, an American Economist." \\ returned to France in l^PS, and
died in 1313.

!d to

yi7,

?ldei
en-

.801.

in tie

and

IN THE TJNITED STATES.

355

CHAPTER XXIII.

STATE AND DIOCESE OF NEW YORK (1787-1813.)

Father O'Brien and the yellow fever In Now York— The negro, Peter Toussaint— The
Abb* Sibourg— Fathers Kohlmann and Fenwick— Erection of an episcopal See at
New York— Rt. Rev. Luke Concanen, first bishop— His death at Naples— Father
Benedict Fenwick, administrator— The New York Literary Institution— Father Fen-
wick and Thomas Paine— Father Kohlmann and the secrecy of the confessional.

The rising Church of New York, so vexed for some years, at
last found rest under the pastoral care of Father William
O'Brien, of the Order of St. Dominic, whom the prefect-apostolic,
towards the close of the year lYSY, sent to replace Mr. Nugent.
Father O'Brien was a highly zealous and intelligent priest, who
knew how to fulfil his duties so as to edify his flock and please
his ecclesiastical superior. Soon after becoming pastor of St.
Peter's he proceeded to Mexico, in order to solicit aid for the
completion of his church, and seems to have been replaced du-
ring his absence by the Rev. Nicholas Rourke, whose name ap-
pears in the New York City Directory from 1*790 to 1792.*
The Archbishop of Mexico at this time, Don Alonzo Nunez de
Haro, had been a fellow-student of Father O'Brien's at Bologna,
in Italy, ^nd the prelate received the missionary with the great-
est cordiality. Bishop Bayley found in the proceedings of the
trustees that Father O'Brien collected in Mexico four thousand
nine ' undred and twenty dollars; and that he brought besides
bc'^eral beautiful paintings, with which he adorned his church,
and a iioble donation of one thousand dollars made him by the

* New York City Directory for 1791, '2, and 1792, '8.

856

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Bishop and Capter of Puebla de los Angelos, that happy city,
which holds the body of the Blessed Sebastian de la Aparicion,
the only beatified servant of God whose body reposes in North
America. This was not the only occasion when the clergy and
Catholics of Mexico have displayed their generosity to their
brethren in the faith in the United States. Some years since,
the Rt. Rev. Magloire Blanchet, Bishop of Nesquely, and the Rt.
Rev. John Timon, Bishop of Buffalo, successfully appealed to
Mexican charity for the necessities of their dioceses, as did also
the Jesuit Fathers, De Luynes and Maldonado, in behalf of the
college of their Order in the city of New York. These are facts
which should remain in the memory of the faithful, and inspire
lasting gratitude for their fellow Catholics of Mexico.

Father O'Brien di">played all the qualities of a g'^od pastor,
whether in preaching the word of God to the faithful, or in visit-
ing the sick durag the ravages of the yellow fever, which for a
time yearly desolated New York. The scourge was most severe
in the summers of 1Y95 and 1798, and the good Father multi-
plied himself so as to leave none of his dear parishioners without
religious succor.* Among them he found a compassionate
being, ever ready to devote himself to the care of the sick, in the
person of a young negro, full of more piety and virtue than Mrs.
Stowe could pour into the hero of her tale. But it was not in
the chill of Protei:tantism that Peter Toussaint found the source
of his charity. He did not, perhaps, constantly read and as
constantly misunderstand the Bible ; but he nourished his soul
daily with the '• Imitation of Christ," and put it in practice. He
did not set himself up as a revolutionist, exciting a war of races;
but he spoke to meii of his color, more of their duties than of

* The victims of the fever in 1798 were two thousand and eighty-six, of
whom eighty-six were interred at St. Peter's. Bardie's account of the ma-
lignant fever; New York, 1791;. This gives, however, an imperfect idea of
the number of deaths among the Cathol.^s>, as many were buried in the Pot-
ter's ' leld.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

367

i
"%

their rights, and his name deserves to be known and esteemed
by all American Catholics, as it has been for sixty years by the
whole population of New York.

Peter Toussaint was born in 1766, on the plantation of Lati-
bonite, parish of St. Mark, in the island of St. Domingo. Son
of a slave, himself a slave, he soon became the confidential serv-
ant of his master, Mr. John Berard ; and when the revolution
broke out in the island, th3 latter brought him to New York,
where he left him with Mj dame Berard while he returned to
the West Indies to collect the wreck of his fortune. But Mr.
Berard died on the voyage, leaving his wife without any re-
sources at New York, Toussaint was the sole support of his
mistress, and he resolved to devote the whole fruit of his toil to
her maintenance. He was very expert as a ladies' hairdresser,
and by his intelligence and politeness he soon became the fash-
ionable hairdresser to the best society in New York. Madame
Berar*3, wishing to be no longer dependent on her slave's purse,
subsequently married one of her country nn en, Mr. Nicolas, who,
after being a rich pla' ':r in St. Domingo, v'as reduced to play
the violin in the orchestras. Toussaint, howevrf did not con-
sider himself exonerated from his duty to* his mistress, and con-
tinued to place in her hands, no less eagerly than delicately, all
his savings. Besides this, Toussaint found time to visit the sick
in their houses, and the incidents related of his charity are as
numerous as they are touching. One day he learned that a
poor priest, just landed, was languishing alone in a garret, a prey
to the typhoid fever. Toussaint repaired tn the spot, brought
the sick man down to the street in his anui, j/rocured a carriage,
took him to his house, and nursed him till he recovered. At
another time the yellow fever was ravaging New York, and
raged so .iolently in Maiden Lane that the police barricaded
the ends r'' the street and caused the survivors to remove.
Toussaint heard that a woKian had been abandoned in one of

{

858

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

the houses ; he crossed the barrier, and took his place by her
bedside, lavishing every care upon her.

In 1810 Madame Nicolas, on her death-bed, emancipated her
fait',""! i«'%t5, and God blessed Toussjaint's charity by enabling
L'Ui to a;quIro a modest competence. He devoted the greater
part of his income to good works, and not content with gi ;ing
himself, he was always ready to go round with subscription lists
for churches, convents, orphan asylums, any thing that concerned
religion and cln-il} ,t ».en he thus solicited alms for others,
he knocked at the doors of his old customers : and donations of
many Protestant families to works essentially Catholic are due
to the influence of Toussaint. Thus he lived doing good till the
age of eighty-seven, and we are assured that for sixty years he
never failed to hear Mass overy morning. Having survived his
wife and children, he left the principal part of his property to a
lady who had been one of his kindest patrons, but whom an un-
fortunate marriage had reduced to the utmost misery. He died
as he had lived, on the 30th of June, 1 S- 1, and a rich P '>testant
lady who attended his funeral thus describes it in a priv.. letter
to a friend :

"I went to town on Saturday to attend Toussaint'e fune al.
High Mass, incense, candles, rich robes, sad and solemn music,
were there. The Church gave all it could give to prince or noble.
The priest, his friend, Mr. Quin,made a most interesting address.
He did not allude to his color, and scarcely to his station ; it
seemed as if his virtues as a man and a Christian had absorbod
all other thoughts. A stranger would not have suspected that a
black man, of his humble calling, lay in the midst of us. He
said no relat' ve \v as left to mourn for him, yet many present
would feel In the had lost one who always had wise counsel
for the rich, words > <f encouragement for the poor, and all would
be grateful for having known him.

" The aid he had given to the late Bishop Fenwick, of Boston,

IN THE UNITED rfTATES.

359

to Father Po^^ era, of our city, to all the Catholic institutions,
waft dwelt upon at large. How much I have learned of his
charitable deeds which I had never known before 1 Mr. Quin
said : ' There were left few among the clergy superior to him in
devotion and zeal for the Church and for the glory of God ;
among laymen, none.' "

Another Protestant lady, Mrs. H. F. Lee, has written the life
of the venerable negro, to whom she not inaptly applies the ex-
pression of the old English author, Thomas Fuller: "God's
image carved in ebony."* The abolitionists of Boston justly ex-
tol the virtues and intelligence of Toussaint, and his merit must
have been of no ordinary character when his being a Catholic
did not put him on the index of New England Puritanism. For
us, who know that men, all equal before God, may be unequal
on earth, we admire piety wherever it shines forth, in the heart
of the slave as in the soul of a king.

Father William O'Brien, so devoted in the hour of pestilence,
was no less sensible to the importance of giving children a
Christian education, and in 1 800 he opened a free-school in St.
Peter's Church, which soon numbered five hundred pupils.
About the same time the Rev. Matthew O'Brien arrived from
Ireland, and was attached to the same paiish in New York.
The latter enjoyed a high reputation in Ireland as a preacher,
where a volume of his sermons had been published.f He was
consulted by Mrs. Seton in the long indecision which preceded
her conversion, and he enlightened her by written arguments in
reply to the treatises which Dr. Holtart wrote to retain that vir-
tuous lady in error. We have ilro'idy related the life of Mother
Seton, the venerable foundress of the Sisters of Charity at Em-

* Memoir of Pierre Toussaint, born a Slave in St. Domingo ; by the au-
thor of Three Experiments in Living, etc., etc. ; third edition. Boston,
Crosby & Nichols, 1854.

t Sermons on some of the most important subjects of morality and reli-
gion ; by the Rev. Matthew O'Brien, D. D. Cork, James Haly, 1798.

860

THE CATHOLIC OHUiiCII

motsburg. The Rev. Dr. Matthew O'Bi :.a Iiad the consolation
of receiving her abjuration in St. Peter's Church on Ash Wed-
nesday, March 14, 1805; on the 25th she made her first com-
munion in the same church, and on the 26th of May received
confirmation at the hands of Bishop Carroll.*

In 1805 the Abb6 Sibourd was an assistant pastor at St.
Peter'fl This ecclesiastic came from Europe about 1798, but
we do not know in what parish the Bishop of Baltimore placed
him before 1805. He became for a time confessor and director
of Mother Seton, and it was in consequence of his representations
to Bishop Dubourg that the latter earnestly urged the pious
convert to leave New York for Baltimore. When Dr. Dubourg
was consecrated to the See of New Orleans, he persuaded his
friend to accompany him to his diocese, and in 1820 Mr. Sibourd
was Vicar-general of New Orleans. On the 25th of March, 1 824,
he acted as assistant to Monseigneur Dubourg at the consecra-
tion of Bishop Rosati, which took place in the parish Church of
the Assumption ; and when the former prelate left America in
1826 to fill the episcopal See of Montauban, Mr. Sibourg also
returned to France, and died Canon of Montauban. Among the
letters of the Rev. Simon Brute, the future Bishop of Vincennes, '
is a letter dated in 1811, with the following passage : " Mr. Du-
bourg will go to New Orleans as spiritual administrator, as Mr.
Sibourd absolutely persists in refusing."

It is impossible to follow exactly the changes in the clergy at
New York ; yet it is certain that in 1805 a Rev. Dr. CafFrey ex-
ercised the holy ministry at St. Peter's. In 180*7 the Rev.
Matthias Kelly aad Rev. John B3rrne also resided at New York,
and their names figure in a list of subscribers to Pastorini's His-

* The Rev. Wm. O'Brien continued to act in New York till hia death on
the 14ih of May, 1816, though not apparently a» pastor. Dr. Matthew
O'Brien, however, left New York in consequence of difficulties which arose,
and died at Baltimore on the 20th of October, 1816.

tory of th
These twr
year, and
Anthony
with four
mer, born
in 1806 t(
his two y
general, G
3d of Sept
novitiate <
priesthood
two Fathe
presence (
the divisio
1808, Pop
Baltimore
Philadelph

Father
was discha
and librari
and receiv
at the han
Bishop Co
was sent t<
of the H<
which, at
St. Mary'6
in Rome,
logical stu
he was sel

* At the e
three Domin

IN THK UNITED STATES.

36'

tory of the Church, published by Bernard Dornin in that ysivf.
These two eccicsiaatics probably left the city in the following
year, and were replaced by two Jesuits from Georgetown — Father
Anthony Kohlmann and Father Benedict Fenwick — who came
with four inombi^rs of their Order to found a college. The for-
mer, born in Alsace on the 13th of July, 1771, went to Russia
la 1806 to solicit admission into the Society of Jesus, and after
his two years' novitiate, was sent to America by the Superior-
general, Gabriel Gruber. The latter, born in Maryland on the
3d of September, 1782, was one of the first to enter the Jesuit
novitiate opened at Georgetown in 1806, and was raised to the
priesthood in the following year. On arriving at New York the
two Fathers hoped soon to be gladdened and comforted by the
presence of a bishop. Monseigneur Carroll had long solicited
the division of his immense diocese, and by his brief of April 8,
1808, Pope Pius VII. had acceded to the request by erecting
Baltimore into a metropolitan See, and creating new Sees at
Philadelphia, New York, Boston, and Bardstown.

Father Luke Concanen, of the Order of St. Dominic, who
was discharging at Rome the functions of prior of St '"'ement's
and librarian of the Minerva, was elected Bishop of im ■-. - uk,
and received episcopal consecration on the 24th of Ami, I '>08,
at the hands of C-,ainal Antonelli, prefect of th». P'opngHiKl.a.
Bishop Concanen was born in Ireland, but u. .< fjiiJei igo
was sent to receive the white habit in Lorraine, in mo - .v'ent
of the Holy Cross, belonging to the Irish Dominicans, from
which, at the expiration of his novitiate, he was reni jved to
St. Mary's, in the Minerva, commonly called "the Minerva"
in Rome. At the termination of his " college" course of theo-
logical studies, during which he had acquired great distinction,
he was selected to be professor in St. Clement's,* the college of

♦ At the epoch of the so-called Eeformation, there were in Ireland forty-
three Dominican 'onvents, of which twenty-three had been founded durityp

862

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

the Irish Dominicana in the same capital, and then commenced
that brilliant career in jRome which ended in his nomination
by the Holy See, first, to the See of Kilmacduagh in Ireland,
and afterwards to that of New York, then erected for the first
time into a diocese. The reasons which may have influenced the
Hcly See in making cliuice of Dr. Concanen for promotion to
such a high oflSce in the Church may be easily explained. For
several years previously he had filled the ofiice of Theologus
Casanatensis, a chair founded at the Minerva in connection with
the celebrated library there instituted and endowed by the mu-
nificence of the illustrious Cardinal Casanate. It may be men-
tioned that according to the terms of this foundation there were
usually six cathedratici and theologi, one being selected from
each of the great provinces of the Order of Preachers in Europe ;
viz., France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Great Britain and Ireland,
and the Low Countries, or Poland. The Cardinal was devotedly
attached to the doctrines of St. Thomas Aquinas, and among
the qualifications, therefore, for the oflBce which he thus insti-
tuted, a Mastership — that is to say, a Doctorship, acquired by
teaching the course of St. Thomas — was indispensably necessary.
Some of the ablest men that Rome has seen, continued to repre-
sent their respective countries and languages in the oflSce alluded
to up to the period of the first French Revolution, and not the
least among them was the representative of the Hibernian Do-
minicans, Dr. Luke Concanen. While residing at the Minerva
in the capacity just mentioned, Dr. Concanen became agent to
the late Dr. Troy, Archbishop of Dublin, and subsequently to

the thirteenth century. St. Clement's, together with St. Sixtus's, was made
over by a general chapter of the Order shortly after the suppression of con-
vents in Ireland to the Hibernia Dominicana, for the purpose of educating
missionaries for this country. A similar one was founded in Lisbon, and
another in Lorraine (now no longer in existence), and these were the means
of preservation of the Dominican Order in Ireland during the days of perse-
cution.

"^"•'■'^'y^rv^''-

IN THE UNITED STATES.

368

all the bishops of Ireland. It might be said that such was the
high esteem in which he was held at the Propaganda while
thus engaged, that he either altogether influenced or certainly-
had a part in advising every appointment that was made for
Ireland and the British colonies.

It may be worth recording that Dr. Concanen was well known
in Rome also as a preacher in the Italian language — a rare thing
for a foreigner to succeed in, or even attempt. Between his du-
ties at the Minerva in his double capacity of Theologus Casana-
tensis and feocius (or Secretary) for his own province of Ireland
to the head of the Order, and the agencies he had to discharge at
the Sacred Congregations, he was brought into immediate and
constant contact with the principal authorities at Rome, and it is
therefore not surprising that he should have been solicited on
various occasions to accept such a mark of favor as a mitre. His
motive for declining the honor was that his health began to suf-
fer from the eflfects of an attack of dysentery, and he dreaded
coming to encounter the damp climate of Ireland. In 1810 he
accepted that of New York in preference to the one offered him
in his native land, on account of the southern latitude of the
former and the favorable account he had received of its climate.
Probably the disturbed state of Italy, then overrun with invading
and hostile armies, had its weight in inducing him to leave the
city in which bis heart was centred, and where he had resided for
nearly forty years.

He had long taken an interest in the Amencan missions, and
it was chiefly by his advice that the first convent of Dominicans
had been founded in Kentucky in 1805, and he constantly, as
long as he lived, showed himself a generous benefactor of that
house. Wlien nominated to the See of New York he accepted,
believing that his health would there enable him to discharge the
onerous duties which the episcopacy in a newly-erected See

364

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

would impose upon him.* He set about his preparations, in-
tending, as soon as he took possession of the new diocese, to call
in missionaries of his Order. Unfortunately, death struck him
down before he could leave Italy, and this prematu -e death,
which for eight years deprived New York of a bishop, iefeated
entirely the project of a foundation of the Dominicans.

Soon after his consecration Bishop Concanen proceeded to
Leghorn, in order to proceed to his See ; but, as he wrote to
Archbishop Troy, " after remaining four months in Leghorn and
its environs, at a hotel, and expending a very considerable sum
of money, I was under the necessity of returning to this city
(Rome). You will do me a singular favor in procuring me some
information from Dr. Carroll. I wish to know what assignment
or provision there is for the support of the new bishop. You
will oblige me by any information on this head before my depart-
ure from hence, which will be God know& when."f

As Father Kohlmann remarks in one of his letters, the bishop,
had he known the utter absence of any provision, would not, in
his feeble health, have attempted to take possession of the See ;
but of this he was unaware, and believing the task not beyond
his strength, tried all means in his power to repair to his beloved
flock ; but the unhappy circumstances of wars and revolutions
always prevented him from attaining the end of his most ardent
desires, till at length he had reason to believe, after a series of
disappointments and expenses, that the long-wished-for period
had arrived which would enable him to obtain a passage to
America. Naples was the port from which he contemplated
sailing, whither he repaired in order to avail himself of the op-
portunity of a vessel there bound for the United States. He
had already secured his passage, when the government of Naples,

* Letter of Father Robert A. White, O. S. D., of Dublin, the nephew of
Bishop Concanen, who has kindly furnished the information,
t Letter of Father Kohlmann, communicated by Fath.r G. Fenwiok, S. J.

•:r',.wr-'^__-^\yf

IN THE UNITED STATES.

865

informed of his arrival and intention, arrested him as a prisoner
and ordered him, under the severest penalties, not to embark in
any vessel. This disappointment is thought to have aflfected him
so sensibly, on seeing himself probably debarred from ever being
able to consecrate the remainder of his days to the welfare of his
flock, that he fell dangerously ill, and in a few days after, not
without suspicion of poison, terminated his exemplary and edify-
ing life in the great convent of St. Dominic, in the city of Na-
ples, on the 19th of June, 1810. There, too, on the following
day, were celebrated the funeral obsequies of the first Ci^tholic
Bishop of New York, whose desire of being useful had induced
him, at the age of nearly seventy, to take the resolution of com-
ing to this country, after having resided nearly forty years at
the Court of Rome, where he had rendered signal and important
services to the Church in England and Ireland.*

By his will, made doubtless before his consecration, he be-
queathed to the Dominican Convent of St. Rose, in Kentucky,
his rich library and a legacy of twenty thousand dollars ; and
these were also lost to the diocese of New York. The Sovereign
PontiflF learned with deep grief the death of a prelate whom he
honored with the title of friend. Pius VII. was then the prisoner
of Napoleon, and in this situation could not proceed to a new
jiomination. The See of New York, accordingly, remained va-
cant, before ever having been occupied ; and it was only in
1814, when thf' Holy Father returned to Rome, in the plenitude
of his power and liberty, that he gave a successor to Bishop
Concanen.

During this long and sad widowhood of the Church of New
York, Father Anthony Kohlmann, and subsequently Father Fen-
wick, exercised the functions of Vicai-general.

Of the state of Catholicity in New York at the period when it

* Notice in the N. Y. Commercial Advertiser, October 6, 1810.

366

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

was thus deprived of its pastor, we find an account in the letter
of Father Kohhnaun of the 2 1st of March, 1 809. " Three months
ago," he writes, " Archbishop Carroll, with the agreement of our
worthy Superiors, sent me to New York to attend the congrega-
tion, together with the diocese, till the arrival of our Right Rev.
Bishop, Richard Luke Concanen, lately consecrated at Rome.
This parish comprises about sixteen thousand Catholics, so neg-
lected in every respect, that it goes beyond all conception." This
Father, with his zealous coadjutor, immediately began to improve
St. Peter's, and excite the piety of the faithful. Their efforts
were not unrewarded. Ere long, he wrote, consolingly: "The
communion-rail daily filled, though deserted before ; general con-
fessions eveiy day (for the majority of this immense parish are
natives of Ireland, many of whom have never seen the face of a
priest since their arrival in the country) ; three sermons, in
English, French, and German, every Sunday, instead of the sin-
gle one in English ; three Catechism classes every Sunday, in-
stead of one ; Protestants every day instructed and received into
the Church ; sick persons attended with cheerfulness at the first
call, and ordinarily such as stand in great need of instruction
and general confessions ; application made at all houses to raise a
subscription for the relief of the poor, by which means three
thousand dollars have been collected, to be paid constantly every
year."

The increased number of the faithful in New York called loud-
ly for the erection of a new church, and Father Kohlmann did
not shrink from undertaking it. A large plot of ground was
purchased in what was then the unoccupied space between
Broadway and the Bowery road, and here " the corner-stone was
laid by the Rev. Mr. Kohlmann, Rector of St. Peter's Church,
and Vicar-general of the diocese, amidst a large and respectable
assemblage of citizens, exceeding three thousand," on Thursday,
the 8th of June, 1809 ; and, in conformity with the suggestion

IN THE UNITED STATES.

367

of the venerable Archbishop Carroll, the new church was called
St. Patrick's.

Father Kohlmann hoped to conclude the church before* the
end of the year, but owing to various delays, the Cathedral of
St. Patrick was not consecrated till Ascension-day, 1815, when
the illustrious Dr. Cheverus, Bishop of Boston, performed that
ceremony, the mayor and aldermen of the city taking part in
the procession, with the trustees of St. Peter's, who directed the
temporal affairs of the new church till 181*7, when the Legisla-
ture, by a special act, created a new board of trustees for the
Cathedral.f

Although the functions of the parochial ministry must have
filled up the days of Father Kohlmann and Father Fenwick, the
two Jesuits did not lose sight of one great object of their com-
ing — the education of youth. They had brought with them four
young scholastics of their order, Michael White, James Red-
mond, Adam Marshall, and James Wallace ; and early in 1809
opened a school, the basis of a future college. Lots in front of
the Cathedral were purchased as a site, and in July, Father
Kohlmann wrote : " As to our school, it now consists of about
thirty-five of the most respectable children of the city, both
Catholics and of other persuasions, among whom four are board-
ing at our house, and in all probability we shall have seven or
eigat boarders next August." This school was transferred to
Broadway in September, but in the following; year removed to
what was then the country, the corner of Fifth Avenue and Fif-
teenth-street. This rising college now assumed the name of The
New York Literary Institution, and was the instrument of im-
mense good. A biographer of Bishop Fenwick, speaking of its
usefulness, remarks : " The New York Literary Institution, under

* U. S. Catholic Almanac, 1850, p. 59.

t The acts bear date Aprii 11 and April 14, 1817. The Roman Catholic
Benevolent Asaociation was incorporated about the sama time.

mmm

-"--'iOT?5*.T<^l

368

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

his guidance, reached an eminence scarcely surpassed by any at
the present day. Such was its reputation, even among Prot-
estants, that Governor Tompkins, afterwards Vice-president of the
United States, thought none more eligible for the education of
his own children, and ever afterwards professed towards its presi-
dent the highest esteem."

The teachers were talented men, and Mr. Wiiilace, who y :;s
an excellent mathematician, compiled a very full treatise on
Astronomy and the Use of the Globes,* one of the first contri-
butions of the Society of Jesus in America to exact science, a
field in which Fathers Curley, Sestini, and others, have since so
successfully labored. Besides those already named. Father Peter
Malou, and Mr. Joseph Gobert, lay teacher, aided in the work of
instruction.

It soon became, however, painfully evident to Fathers Kohlmann
and Fenwick, that in the actual position of the society, it was im-
possible for them to carry on the college. At this time, it will be
remembered, the illustrious Pontiff, Pius VII., had not restored
to the Christian world the Society of Jesus ; it existed in Russia,
Sicily, and America, but the distance between these countries
prevented its development, and even ready intercourse.

As soon as the fact became known, Archbishop Carroll and
his holy coadjutor were deeply grieved, though both felt the pro-
priety of the step. The college actually contained seventy-four
boarders in 1813, and the prelates sought, if possible, to maintain
it, if the Jesuits withdrew. Father John Grassi, then Superior of
the American Jesuits, in a letter to Father Kohlmann, exposes

* A New Treatise on the Uro of the Globes and Practical Astronomy, by
J. Wallace, member of the New York Literary Institution. New York :
8mith & Fonnan, 1812, 512 pp. James "Wallace, born in Ireland, about 1783,
died on the lo.ii of January, 1851, at the age of sixty-eight, in Lexington
District, S juth Cirolina. He was for many years Professor of Mathematics
in the coJege at Columbia, S. C, occasionally, however, exercising the min-
istry.

IN THE UNITED STAl'BS.

369

the interest felt concerning this institution of learning : " The
Rev. Mr. Marechal, a Sulpitian, paid a short visit to this college
(Georgetown). It is confidently asserted that he is to be Bishop
of New York, and the great concern he showed for the Literary
Institution confirms me in this idea. I exposed to him our situa-
tion, the want of members, and he was sensible that such an in-
stitution is onus insupportabile for us, in our present circum-
stances, and for several years to come. I consulted again, quite
lately, the Most Rev. Archbishop Carroll on this very subject ;
and he answered, that as the want of proper persons to carry it
on is evident, this ought to be represented to those who are con-
cerned in it.'*

The Fathers could not foresee the speedy restoration of their
Society, nor its subsequent wonderful progress. In the summer
of 1813, they retired from the direction of the college, in which
they had endeared themselves to their pupils and won the admi-
ration of the best families in the city, Protestant as well as
Catholic.

Another religious order was at this momeni in the city of New
York, and to their care the Fathers of St. Ignatius resigned the
care of the college which they had created. This order was the
monks of La Trappe, of whom we shall speak hereafter. Mean-
while, we return to the apostolic labors of the Fathers of the
Socieby of Jesus.

Th 3 two eminent Jesuits, Father Benedict Fenwick and Father
Anthony Kohlmann, were only a few months at New York, when
they were called to the death-bed of one of tho greatest eceraies
of the Church of Jesus Christ, the infidel who played in America
the part of A^oltaire in France, and who had tlie odious glory of
creating in the New World a school of anti Christian philosophy.
The visit of the two priests inspired the dying man with no salu-
tary refiectiops. He was already abandoned by God, and given
up to despair ; but the details of this inter\dew, nevertheless, de-

16*

mmmm

" J^ili^^v ||ii|)f p

870

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

serve to be known, to show to what an awful state of degradation
impiety falls, when in the presence of death.

Thomas Paine, born in Norfolkshire, England, on the 29th of
January, 1737, was successively a staymaker, a political writer
in America, an envoy from Congress to Louis XVI., and finally,
representative of Calais at the National Convention. This cos-
mopolitan philosopher, who did not even speak French, neverthe-
less sat as judge on the king, whose favor he had gone to seek
eleven years before. Returning to private life, Paine wrote in
France his infamous work, " The Age of Reason,' in which he
attacks revelation, and preaches up natural religion. His disso-
lute life having discredited him at Paris, he returned to the
United States, at the commencement of the present century.
Here he published works hostile to religion, and died, consumed
by his debaucheries, at Greenwich Village, near New York, on
the 8th of June, 1809.

A fortnight before his death, the philosopher, seeing himself
abandoned by his physicians, was plunged into a gloomy despair.
Amid the silence of the night, he was heard crying, " Lord !
help me ! My God, what have I done to suffer so ? ±Jut there
is no God. Yet, if there is a God, what will become of me ?"
He could not bear to be left alone, and begged to have at least
a child near the bed, in which he wallowed in abject filth.
Seeking new remedies in every direction, Paine saw a Shaking
Quakeress, whom Father Fenwick had baptized some weeks be-
fore ; and she told him that no one but a Catholic priest could
do him any good. The wretched freethinker^ who cared only
for his body, immediately believed that a priest might prolong
for a few days his wretched existence ; and he immediately sent
for Father Fenwick. The latter, who was then only twenty-six
years of age, dreaded his own inexperience, and begged his col-
league, Fat'.er Kohlmann, to accompany him, and the two Jes-
uits proceeded to the house of the infidel. But as soon as Paine

IN THE UNITED STATES.

871

saw his erroi -as soon as he heard his pious visitors speak to
him of his soul, instead of prescribing a remedy for his physical
evils, he imperiously silenced them, refused to listen, and ordered
them out of the room. " Paine was roused into a fury," wrote
jb'tther Fenwiclr giving « > account of this interview : " he grit-
ndu his teeth, twisted and turned himself several times in his bed,
uttering all the while the bitterest imprecations. I firmly be-
lieve, such was the rage in which he was at this time, that if ho
had had a pistol, he would have shot one of us ; for he conduct-
ed himself ujorc . L:e a madman than a rational creature. ' Be-
gone,' says he, * and trouble me no more. I was in peace,' he
continued, ' till you came. Away with you, and your God, too ;
leave the room instantly : all that you have uttered are lies —
filthy lies ; anu if I had a little more time I would prove it, as I
did about your impostor, Jesus Christ.' ' Let us go,' said I then,
to Father Kohlmann : ' we have nothing more to do here. Ho
seems to be entirely abandoned by God !' "*

Thomas Paine soon expired, in the anguish of despair, having
repulsed the L^ilixisters of Protestantism as obstinately as he drove
away the Catholic priests. For him, as for Voltaire, death was
the most fearful of trials; and tie recollection of their blasphe-
mies haunted hoth in their last moments, and made them en-
dure by anticv ition the tortures of another life. They knew
only remorse, for oheir pride closed the way to repentance. In
both cases, priests came with unequalled charity to save these
souls from the flames of hell ; for priestly devotedness braves
the outrages of the dying infidel, as it does the miasma of con-
tagion at the bed of the plague-stricken. In France, Voltaire
has lost the glli tor of his popularity ; but in America, the wide-

* Death-bed of Tom Paine. Extract from a lettt of Bishop Fenwiok to
his brother in 6e igetown College. U. S. Catholic Magazine, v. 558. The
Bi<^aphie Universelle mentions briefly hia interview with two CBthoIio
prieBtB.

'T'^#»f-

872

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

spread tiect of infidels more and more honor the memory of
Paine, as the greatest benefactor of humanity. The anniversary
of his b r . k celebrated by the partisans of his impiety. ITiey
asccJttble at gorgeous banquets and festi' i!i?B : ladies, children,
whole families, take part in these glorificc'Juxid of atheism. They
drink to the extinction of all religions, to the overthrow of all
priesthood, and, blaspheming the name of God, dance on the
very threshold of eternity.

Some years later. Father Kohlmann had occasion to render an
important service to religion by firmly resisting the orders of a
tribunal, which called upon him to reveal the secrets of the con-
fessional. This afiair, which produced a great sensation in the
United States, suddenly arose, from a combination of very com-
monplace circumstances. A Catholic merchant, Mr. James Keat-
ing, entered a complaint, in the month of March, 1813, against
a man named Phillips, and his wife, for receiving stolen goods,
which belonged to him. Soon after, two negroes, Bradley and
Brinkerhofl^, were suspected of being the thieves ; but before
the /rial came on, Mr. Keating recovered his property, and asked
m Imvo ihe case dismissed. This was out of the question ; and
Oil hdhig asked his reasons, Keating stated that restitution had
been made to him through the Rev. Mr. Kohlmann, who was
immediately cited as a witness, to prove from whom he had re-
ceived the stolen property. Father Kohlmann appeared, but
declined to answer, denying the right of the court to question a
priest as to facts which are unknown to him except through the
confessional. He availed himself of the circumstance to set
forth at length the doctrine of the Church on the sacrament of
penance ; and his discourse, heard with attention by a vast throng,
was spread and commented on by the press, provoking passion-
ate discussions on the part of several Protestant ministers. The
question of the admissibility of the evidence, and of the right of
exemption claimed by Father Kohlmann, were now a more im-

IN THE UNITED STATES.

373

portant matter than the conviction of two negroes. A day was
appointed for the argument of the point whetlier i aher Kohl-
mann should be committed for contempt of court in refusing to
answer. The pleading of the counsel, the deliberation of the
judges, the thousand technicalities of American law, prolonged
the affair for two months; and at last, on the 14th of June, 1813,
the Honorable De Witt Clinton, Mayor of the city, and President
of the Cuurt of General Sessions, pronounced the decision of the
court. After s n 'ections remarkable for the wisdom of .»i
viev 9 and a spirit ih crality in favor of the Catholic r i .,'i>n
this distinguisi . n concluded that u priest could not be called
upon to testify a cts known to hira )nly by virtue of his

ministry ; and hiti opinion concludes with these words :

" We speak of this question not in a theological sense, but in
its legal and constitutional bearings. Mthough we differ from
the witness and his brethren in our religious creed, yet we have
no reason to question 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 author-
ize the application of insult to their faith, or of torture to their
consciences."*

The principle maintained by Father Kohlmann was thus adopt-
ed by the tribunal ; but it might, like any other solution of juris-
prudence, be again called in question. However, in 1828, when
De Witt Clinton was governor of the State, the Legislature of
New York, in its Revised Statutes, adopted a clause which pre-
vented any renewal of the attempt, by deciding that " no min-
ister of the Gospel, or priest of any denomination whatsoever,
shall be allowed to disclose any confessions made to him in his

* The Catholic Question in America: — Whether a Roman Catiiolic Clergy-
man be, in any case, compelled to disclose the Secrets of Auricular Confea-
sion. New York : Edward Gillespie, 1818, p. 114.

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(716) 872-4503

874

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

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professional character, in the course of discipline enjoined by the
rules or practice of such denomination."* Yet this law has no
force beyond the limits of the State of New York ; and a simi-
lar discussion, which, as we have seen, took place in Virginia in
1855, proves that other States need to imitate New York, and
fill up this omission in their code. ' ' '"

Father Eohlmann published the whole proceeding, followed
by a very full exposition of the doctrine of the Church on the
sacrament of penance ; find this book excited several refutations
from the Protestant clergy. .The most elaborate was that from
the pen of the Rev. Charles H. Wharton,f who, after having been

* R. S., Pt. iii., Ch. vii., Art. 8, Sec. 72. t

It is an error in Cretineau Joly to represent this an a qneation of life or
death for Cutliolicity. No : Catholicity would not be dead in America if the
court had ordered the Jesuit to reveal the secret of the confessional. As
Father Eohlmann woald have refused, he would have been condemned to
imprisonment for hia contempt during the term of the court, and no longer.
The law of 1828 has not been imitated in other States which have no law to
protect the conscience of the clergyman ; y^^t the recent affair at Kichmoud
is almost the only example, since Father Rohlmann's, in which n court has
sought to intrude between the prieat and his penitent. The case in 1818 is
important chiefly from the fact that it drew the attention of Protestantd to
the doctrines of the Church, and gave a wide circulation to Father Eohl-
munn'a eloquent exposition.

t Charles H. Wharton, bom in Maryland in 1748, was ordained in Eniarland
in 1760. He was pastor at Worcester when, in 1788, he left his parish and
came back to America. The next year he published " A Letter to the Boman
Catholics of Worcester," to announce that he had gone over to Protestantism,
and justifying the stop. The Kev. John Carroll replied, in '* An Address
to the Boman Catholics of the United Sttites of America, by a Catholic Cler-
gyiniin," Annapolis, 1784; and tiiis noble refutation confirmed the minds of "
Catholics, disquieted and mortified at Wharton's apostasy. That gentleman
became JSpisoopal minister at Burlington, New Jersey, where he resided till
his death in 1888, at the ago of eighty-six. He was twice married, and died
before the arrival of a priest for whom he had sent. Strange to say, the
man who so combated confession, heard a confession and gave absolution in
1832. His Catholic servant-girl, dangerously sick, was begging for a priest;
none could be found ; and Mr. Wharton told her, " Although I am a minis-
ter, I am also a Catholic priest, and can give absolution in your case ;" which
he accordingly did. His controversy with Carroll is published under the
titl«. " A Concise View of the Principal Points of Controvtmiy betwelen th«

IN teB UNITED STATES.

876

a priest for twenty-four years^ fell, unhappily, into apostasy.
This man, now quite aged, seeing the eflFect produced by " The
Catholic Question," seized his envenomed pen to defame anew
the faith of his ancestors. His pamphlet drew a learned reply
from the Rev. S. F. O'Gallagher,* a Catholic priest of Charleston,
to which Wharton retorted in a second pamphlet. The length
and duration of this controversy show how widely had been
spread the defence of Father Eohlmann ; and the learned Jesuit
followed up this work by a more extended publication, in refuta-
tion .of the errors of the modem Arians, known in the United
States as Unitarians. - -

In the widowed state in which the Church of New York lan-
guished, deprived of a bishop. Fathers Fenwick and Kohlmann
neglected nothing to prevent the Church fr-»Tn suflfering from the
vacancy of the See ; and as they had sought to provide for the
education of young men, so, too, they actively endeavored to
meet the wants of the other sex. We read in a letter of the
Rev. Mr. Brut6 to Bishop Flaget, on the 16th of April, 1812 :
" Two Irish priests have just arrived at New York ; one of them
of great merit, the archbishop says. With these two gentlemen
came three Ursulines for Mr. Eohlmann, who wished to found a

Protestant and Boman Churches, hy the Bev. C. H. Wharton, D. D. New
York, 1817."

* " A Brief Reply to a Short Answer to a True Exposition of the Doctrine
of the Catholic Church touching the Sacrament of Penance, by S. F. O'Gal-
lagher. New York, 1815."

In 1798, the Rev. Dr. O'Gallaghc-r, a native of Dublin, was sent to
Charleston by Bishop Carroll, and Bishop England calls him a man of ex-
traordinary eloquence, of a superior intellect, and finely cultivated mind.
" While zealously exorcising the duties of the ministry, he was obliged to
teach for his support. In the Life of the celebrated Attorney-general, Hugh
Swinton Legar^, it is related that no competent Latin teacher could be
found for this descendant of the Huguenots but Dr. O'Gallagher. This
missionary was sent to Savannah in 1817, and some years after went to
Louisiana." Bishop England's WorKs, iii. 251. Writings of Hugh Swinton
Legar6, i. xii.

876

THE CATHOLIC CHU)tCH

convent with them." These three religious, named Christina
Fagan (Sister Mary Ann), Superior, Sarah Walsh (Sister Frances
de Chantal), and Mary Baldwin (Sister Mary Paul), are the first
who have resided in the diocese of New York. They came from
the celebrated Blackrock convent at Cork, in Ireland, and were
obtained by Father Kohlmann through Father Betagh, of Lon-
don ; and notwithstanding the short duration of their establish-
ment, which did not exceed three years, they deserve that we
should give a brief account of their too little known Institute.

From the destruction of the monasteries by Henry VIII. till
the middle of the eighteenth century, Ireland possessed, so to
say, no religious community of women ; and, as is known, all
Catholic teaching was forbidden, under the severest penaltie8.i
About 1760, a holy young woman. Miss Nano Nagle,* touched
at the wants of the people, resolved to devote herself to the edu-
cation of poor children, and secretly opened schools, first at Dub-
lin, and afterwards at Cork. Some companions joined her in
this good work ; but, to give it permanence, it was necessary to
bind them by the vows of religion, and following the advice of
the Rev. Dr. Moylan,f afterwards Bishop of Cork, four of them
set out for Paris, to make their novitiate with the Ursulines at
St. Jacques. They began it on the 6 '. September, 1769, and
on the 18th of September, 1771, tooK possession of the house

* Miss Nano Nagle, born &t Ballygriffin, on the banks of the Black-
water, in 1728, belonged to a distinguished Irish family. She died April
26, 1784.

t Colonel Moylan, aid-de-camp to Washington during t'ae Revolutionary
War, was brother of this bishop. Washington attached him, for a time, to
the person of the Marquis de Chastellux, major-general in Rochambeau's
tormy ; and the marquis 'lays, in his memoirs, " Colonel Moylan is a Catholic.
One of his brothers is Bishop of Cork, another a merchant at Cadiz, a third
a merchant at L'Orient, a fourth at home, and a fifth studying for the priest-
hood." The Bishop of Cork had also a sister, Miss Louisa Moylan, who
was the first to join the Ursulines on their arrivd at Cork in 1771, where she
died in 1842, at the age of ninety.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

877

which had been prepared for their reception at Cork. It was
not, however, till 1779 that they ventured to aesurae the habit
of their order, so great was the dread of the penal laws under
which Ireland then groaned.

Miss Nagle had not accompanied her companions to France,
but h^ continued to direct her schools in Ireland, and on the
return of the young Ursulines to Cork, joined the community of
which she is regarded as the foundress. She soon, however, per-
ceived that her vocation called her to devote herself exclusively
to poor children, while the Institute of the Ursulines undertakes
principally the education of the more wealthy classes. Miss
Nagle accordingly left the Ursulines, and recruited new auxilia-
ries, who became, with her, the root of the Presentation order.
It was only after her death, and in September, 1791, that Pope
Pius VI. approved the object of the Institute, and recognized its
existence. That of the Ursulines had been approved by Pope
Clement XIV., on the 13th of January, 1773 ; so that the same
lady has the glory of having founded two communities which
now cover Ireland w'th convents, and which have more than
twenty thousand girls in their academies and schools.*

The Ursulines of New York were incorporated by an act of
the Legislature, on the 26th of March, 1814, and even prior to
that, they had opened an academy and poor-school. But they
had come to America on the express condition, that if in three
years they did not receive a certain number of novices, they
should return to Ireland. The Catholics were poor, vocations
few, and among the young women who would have entered,
none could furnish the dowry required by the Ursulines. They

* The Life of Miss Nano Nagle, Foundress of the Presentation order, by
the late Right Kev. Dr. Coppinger, Bishop of Cloyne and Ross : Dublin,
1843. Dublin Review for 1S44, p. 863-386. There were in Ireland, in 1844,
four Ursuline convents, and thirty of the Order of the Presentation ; and
the number has greatly increased there and in the colonies since.

873

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

accordingly left New York at the expiration of the term fixed
upon, and it was not till 1855 that religious of the same order,
coming from St. Louis, restored to the diocese of New York the
daughters of St. Angela. The convent of 1812 was situated
near the Third Avenue, about SOth-street, and was afterwards
occupied by the Rev. Mr. Huddard, a Protestant clergyman, as a
boarding-school.*

The Ursulines had for aome time as chaplains the Trappist
Fathers, of whom we have spoken ; but the stay of these sons
of St. Bernard "was only temporary. The storm of persecution
drove them to the New "World; and when the tempest had
spent its fury, they returned to the European monasteries from
which they had been driven. In 1*791, the French Government
having seized the property of the monks of La Trappe,f twenty-
four of the religious, guided by Dom Augustine, sought a refuge
at Val Sainte, in the canton of Fribourg, where they wera nobly
welcomed by the cantonal authorities. They arrived there on
the 1st of June, 1791, and under the able administration of Dom
Augustine, they had gathered their brethren, dispersed by the
Reign of Terror, and sent colonies in various directions, when
the invasion of Switzerland by a French army compelled the
Trappists to abandon in all haste their holy asylum, in the
month of February, 1*798. They wandered in various parts of
Bavaria and Austria, without finding a spot to rest their weary

* The Ureuline order was founded in 1587, at Brescia, diocese of Verona,
by Angela Merici, born in 1511, at Dezenzano, on the Lago de Garda. She
died in 1540, and was canonized in 1807. She put her spiritual daughters
under the protection of St. Ursula, who had, about 450, governed so many
virgins, and led them to martyrdom.

t The Abbey of Our Lady of La Trappe is situated in the department of
Orne, near Mortaque. Founded in the year 1140, and occupied by monks of
the Order of Citeaux, it was reformed, in 1662, by the Abb6 de Banco. The
name of La Trappe has since been given to all the monasteries which have
adopted the reform of Abb6 de Bance. In 1791 there were at La Trappe
fifty-five choir monks and thirty-seven lay-brothers.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

379

heads, till at last the Emperor Paul I. promised them hospitality
in his States, and the courageous monks aiTived in Russia in
August, 1799. But their quiet was not to be of long duration.
The following year, the Czar issued a ukase, ordering all French
emigrants to leave his States, and the Trappists resumed their
route on the 13th of April, 1800. Austria closed its frontiers to
Dom Augustine and his companions ; they had humbly to ask
a refuge from Protestant Prussia, which temporarily granted the
favor so brutally refused by Catholic Austria. Then it was that
the Trappists resolved to seek an asylum in America; and a
party of them, under the guidance of Father Urban Guillet, em-
barked at Amsterdam for Baltimore on the 29th of May, 1803.
They arrived on the 4th of September, and after a brief sojourn
at Pigeon Hill, in Pennsylvania, set out for Kentucky in the
month of July, 1805. The story of their labors in that State
and in the neighborhood of St. Louis will find its place, in due
time, in another part of this history.

Meanwhile, the horizon cleared for a moment on the Trappists
in Europe. The deliverance of Switzerland, in 1804, soon per-
mitted the monks to return to Val Sainte, and in 1805 Napo-
leon granted them authority to establish themselves in his em-
pire. Mount Valerian, which rises at the gates of Paris, soon
beheld a monastery of this austere order arise, and the disper-
sion caused by the Reign of Terror seemed repaired ; but when
the emperor began to persecute and imprison the Pope, he could
not find accomplices in the fervent disciples of the Abb6 de
Ranee.

In 1810, Dom Augustine having made his monks solemnly
retract the oath of fidelity taken to the constitution of the em-
pire, Napoleon, provoked at the step, ordered all the houses of
La Trappe to be closed, and the courageous abbot to be tried by
court-martial. Dom Augustine would have been shot, but he
succeeded in escaping to Switzerland ; and thence, traversing Ger-

mmmm

- "IT-'^nT"?^ J "^^T^ ■,■'

380

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

many, pursued by the imperial police, embarked at Riga for
England, and then at London for the United States. There he
found a second colony of Trappists awaiting him. Father Vin-
cent of Paul, Superior of the house at Bordeaux, had left France
with two monks and one Trappist nun, on the closing of the con-
vents in 1810, and arrived at Boston on the 6th of August, 1811.

Bishop Cheverus received them with his usual goodness —
lodged them in his house, and offered them a generous hospi-
tality as long as they stayed at Boston. Father Vincent trav-
elled to several parts to find a suitable abode, and choose among
the lands offered to him. Pennsylvania presented nothing to
suit him, and at last, with others of the brethren from Europe,
he installed himself at Port Tobacco, in Maryland, on a tract
selected by the Archbishop and the Sulpitians of Baltimore.
The Trappists immediately began their agricultural labors, which
were interrupted by disease ; and these trials obliged them to
retire to Baltimore, where the venerable Abb6 Moranville, pas-
tor of St. Patrick's, showed them the most generous hospitality.

Towards the close of 1813, Dom Augustine arrived at New
York, and resolved to take up his residence in the neighborhood
of that city. He accordingly ordered Father Urban to leave
Missouri, and join him at New York. Father Vincent de Paul
received the same instructions, and ere long all the American
Trappists were united in a single conmiunity. Dom Augustine
purchased for ten thousand dollars a large piece of property,
and gave the house the form of an abbey. " Thirty-one poor
children, almost all orphans, there found instruction and the
necessaries of life. A community of Trappist nuns was founded
by the same zeal, and supported by the same vigilance. Finally,
at three or four miles distance, was an Ursuline convent, which
derived great advantage from the arrival of Dom Augustine.
These holy sisters had no priest to attend them ; the persecution
which drove the Trappists from the French empire gave them

IN THE UNITED STATES.

881

many. Omnia propter eUctoa!'* Father Vincent de Paul was
appointed to go there every Sunday and holiday to hear confes-
sions and say Mass.

The Trappist nuns, who also had a temporary establishment
at New York, were founded in 1786, in Bas Valais, by Dom
Augustine. This holy abbot, seeing that a host of nuns of va-
rious orders haa been driven from France for their fidelity to
their vows, resolved to gather these fragments of other insti-
tutes scattered in* a foreign land. Under the new name of
Trappist nuns, he reconstituted the Cistercian nuns ; and as
Humbeline, Sister of St. Bernard, had, by her example, induced
the convent of Grully to embrace the observance of Citeaux, so
Mademoiselle Lestrange generously seconded the zeal and pro-
jects of her brother. The austerities of the nile, moreover, al-
lured the Princess Louise Adelaide de Cond6, who became the
Trappist Sister Mary Joseph ; and her vocation was most
precious to the whole order of La Trappe ; for it was purely
from respect for this grand-daughter of Louis Xl^. that the Czar
permitted the fugitive Trappists to rest in his States. In all
the vicissitudes of this period, the nuns of La Trappe felt every
blow directed against the monks ; and in this way several of the
Sisters sought refuge at New York.

Meanwhile, the fall of Napoleo'; opened France to the Trap-
pists, at the same time that it delive ed the Church. Dom Au-
gustine availed himself of the moment to restore to his native
land the order of St. Bernard, convinced that his efforts would
be more successful in the Old Word. Leaving Father Vincent
de Paul, with six brothers, to wind up their affairs in New York,
he embarked for Havre in October, 1814, with twelve monks,
the Sisters, and pupils. Father Urban Guillet sailed at the

* Les TrappiBtes oa I'Ordre de Citeanx au XIX. Sidole, par Casimir GaiUar-
din, u. 886.

r-\;v\

382

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

same time for Bochelle, with fifteen monks ; and in the follow-
ing May the rest set sail for Halifax, whence they proceeded to
France. By an accident, however, Father Vincent de Paul was
left on shore, and founded La Trappe at Tracadie, in Nova Sco-
tia.* During their stay in the United States, the Trappist nuns
had formed several novices ; but as these preferred not to leave
the country, they obtained entrance among the Sisters of Charity,
.through the influence of Rev. Mr. Moranvill6.f The monks,
too, had accessions ; among others, a pastor from Canada, who
took the name of Father Mary Bernard, and who effected much
good in the "West by his preaching.J

Thus did the long vacancy of the See from ISlOto 1816 de-
feat the establishinent of the Dominicans, Ursulines, and Trap-
pists. Doubtless, had a bishop then watched over the interests
of the diocese, religion would have prospered much sooner, and
the prelate would have taken measures to secure the communi-
ties which had already planted their tents there. Napoleon, by
persecuting the Church and imprisoning the Holy Father, caused
fatal delay in the election of Bishop Concanen's successor ; and
if a single diocese, so remote from the centre of Christianity,
had so much to suffer from the emperor's invasion of the rights
of the Holy See, we may conceive their deplorable eflfects on
the whole Christian world.

♦ Louis Henri de Lestrange (Dom Augustine) was born in Vivarais, in
1754, and on his nomination as coadjutor to the Archbishop of Vienne, in
1780, retired to La Trappe, to become the saviour of the order during tlie
revolution, and founder of the Trappist nuns. He died at Lyons, July
16, 1827.

t Sister Mary Joseph Llewellyn and Sister Scholastica Bean, of Emmets-
burg, had been Trappist nuns. Another, unable to remain at Emmetsburg,
from ill health, still survives.

I Louis Antoine Langlois Germain, born at Quebec, November 25, 1767,
was ordained in 1791, and successively acted as Curate of Quebec, Pastor
of Isle aux Coudres, and Chaplain, Director of the Ursulines. In 1806, he
joined the Trappists at Baltimore, and died on the 28th of November, 1810,
in high repute for sanctity and austerity.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

883

CHAPTER XXIV.

DIOCESE OF NEW YORK (1816-1842).

Bight Bov. John Connolly, second Bishop of New York— Condition of th« diofiesa—
Sketch of the Bev. P. A. Malou— Bisliop Connolly's first acts— His clergy— The Bey.
Mr Taylor, and his ambltloas designs— Conversions— The Bev. John Bioliard— Spread
orCathollclty— Death of Bishop Connolly— Very Bev. John Power, Administrator-
Bight Bev. John Dabol^ third Bishop of New York— VisiUtlon of his diocese- His
labors for the cause of education— Controversies with the Protestants— Very Bev.
Felix Varela— Bev. Thomas C. Levins— Difllcultles with trustees— German lmmigr»*
tion— Conversion of Bev. Maximilian (Ertel- Appointment of a Coadjutor— Death
of Bishop Dubois.

The Society of Jesus, during the period in which the affairs of
New York had been committed to its care, had labored with all
the zeal which is characteristic of its sons ; and nothing but the
prolonged absence of a bishop and their own want of subjects
had prevented their establishing foundations of permanent good.
A second bishop had now been appointed to the See of New
York, and the Fathers at that city only awaited iiis arrival to
return to Maryland, where their order greatly needed their co-
operation.

The, f,hoico of the Holy Father again fell on the Order of St.
Dommic, and he chose Father John Connolly, then, like his pred-
ecessor. Prior of St. Clement's, to organize the new diocese of
New York. The Right Rev. John Connolly was bom on the
banks of the Boyne, near Navan, in 1750, and was educated in
Belgium. At an early age he proceeded to Rome, and there
spent most of his life in the convents of his order. He was for
many years the agent of the Irish bishops, and filled various
chairs as professor. So great was his knowledge of divinity and

884

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

sacred leutiing, that he was selected by the Cardinal Bishop of
Albano as the examiner of candidates for the priesthood. In all
these varied duties he displayed the greatest ability and virtue,
and is still remembered by his pupils — and many of them have
been eminent in the Church — as a man of more than ordinary
mildness and gentleness of character. His predecessor, as we
have seen, had made inquiries as to the state of the diocese, and
its possibility of supporting. Bishop Connolly seems to have
obeyed the Vicar of Christ, and assumed cheerfully the burden
of the episcopate. Yet, for a man of nearly seventy, it was a
weight far too heavy. He could, indeed, still inspire respect by
his learning and piety, bat all the vigor of his younger days was
needed for the arduous task of bringing into system and order
the unorganized elements of an American Church, where all,
clergy and laity alike, seemed in those days equally restive of
control. He was appointed in the fall of 1814, and was conse-
crated on the 6th of November that year. Having made some
preparations, he left his peaceful abode in the Eternal City in the
month of January, 1815, and set out to take possession of his
diocese. On his way, he visited his native island, and bid an
eternal farewell to all his kindred ; for he resolved on no consid-
eration to have about or near him a single relative. To secure
the nucleus of a clergy, he apparently applied to Kilkenny Col-
lege for some aspirants to holy orders, and obtained the Rev.
Michael O'Gorman, whom he ordained and brought with him.
After this, he set sail from Dublin, but his voyage was long and
dangerous, and only after being tossed about for sixty-seven days
did he reach the city of New York, where all supposed that
Providence had again deprived them of a chief pastor.

The diocese of which Bishop Connolly took possession, early
in 1816, comprised the State of New York and part of that of
New Jersey. Over this space were scattered some thirteen thou-
sand Catholics, with three Jesuit Fathers and one secular priest,

IN THE UNITED 8TATK8.

885

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the Rev. Mr. Carberry, as the sole representatives of the clergy.
New York had, indeed, two churches, Albany another ; but these
were the only shrines of religion. Two of the Jesuit Fathers
were soon after recalled, and the Rev. Mr. Carberry proceeded to
Norfolk ; so that most of the missionary labors devolved on the
good bishop, who unmurmuringly assumed the duties of a parish
priest.

The Jesuit who remained, and after leaving the order, died at
last in the city of New York, was the Rev. Peter A. Malou, whose
history is so varied, that we cannot forbear giving it at some
length. Peter Anthony Malou, born at Ypres, in the parish of
St. Peter's, on the 9th of October, 1763, was always firmly at-
tached to the faith ; but at first experienced no vocation to the
ecclesiastical state, and on the 2d of June, 7 / 77, married, at Brus-
sels, Mademoiselle Marie Louise Riga. By this marriage he had
two sons, the elder of whom, John Baptist Malou, is now senator
of the kingdom of Belgium. The latter had six children, one of
whom has been Minister of the Finances, and another is Mon-
seigneur John Baptist Malou, Bishop of Bruges, universally known
by his solid and learned works. It is well known that in 1786 the
Belgians, driven to extremity by the religious innovations of the
emperor, Joseph II., rose against their oppressor, and after many
years of parliamentary struggle and bloody combats, they suc-
ceeded in expelling the Austrian troops from the country. On
the 26th of December, 1789, the States of Brabant solemnly
declared their independence ; and Catholic Belgium would have
been constituted at that period, forty years prior to the revolu-
tion of 1830, had not France treacherously invaded the country
in 1792, under the pretext of protecting it against the attacks of
the emperor. In this heroic resistance, inspired by the purest
attachment to the faith, the pupils of the theological seminary at
Louvain gave the example to the people, and rose on the 7th of
December, 1786, because the emperor wished to force upon them

386

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

professors imbued with Josephine principles, and the theological
works of Dr. Eiybal, which had been condemned at Rome.
When Peter Malou saw the emperor closing the seminaries, dis-
persing religious, seizing the property of the Church,, everywhere
fomenting a spirit of revolt against the Holy See, and forbidding
all communication between the clergy and Rome ;* when he saw
that Joseph II. aimed at nothing less than the destruction of
Catholicity in his States, he put himself at the head of the move-
ment with an ardent patriotism, and played a very important
part in negotiation and on the field of battle. He was repeatedly
intrusted with the most delicate missions by the States of" Flaa-
ders, which then governed the country ; and maintained a very
active correspondence with the chiefs of the movement in the
other provinces. Having become general, he traversed West
Flanders to enrol volunteers, and organized an army : he equip-
ped several companies at his own expense, and gave his estate
and his person in defence of the cause of his country and
Church.

When the National Convention of France menaced Belgium
with a republican invasion. General Peter Malou was sent to
Paris by the States of Flanders, and boldly appeared before that
terrible assembly. He solicited at least delay, for it would have
been useless to ask more ; and he besought the French govern-
ment to defer the violent measures which had been decreed.
This dangerous appeal was made on the 2'7th of January, 1793,
BIT days after the infamous execution of Louis XVI. ; and so

* Coxe's House of Austria, v. 862. This author, a Protestant clergyman,
attests the good government of the Belgian provinces, and blames Joseph
II. for seeking to destroy their religious institutions. " In spite of the
power and immunities of the clergy, no country in Europe possessed a
denser population, more opulent cities, or more widely diffused happiness.
These are incontestabln proo'fs that the government was not, in general,
badly administered, and that, on the contrary, it was adapted to the geniua
and niHnners of the people."

• ' 11 ■win

r-:

IN THE UNITED STATES.

387

plainly did he show the injustice of the Convention, that the
Moniteur gave only a mutilated version of his speech. It is to be
found in full in the seventh volume of the Proceedings of the Pro-
vincial Assembly of West Flanders, as the historian Borgnet notes.*
The correspondence of Mr. Malou attests that the President of the
Convention, who had treated the other speakers with revolution-
ary coarseness, showed him much courtesy, and even kindness.
His generous efforts were, however, fruitless. The Convention
had resolved to invade Belgium, in order to find in its plun-
der means of continuing war ; and no arguments could prevail
against such a decision. In consequence of these discussions,
Mr. Peter Malou was brought into contact with the most cele-
brated men in Europe. He was in active correspondence with
Genera! Dumouriez, with Merlin of Douai, and other renowned
conventionists. In a letter of Merlin's to the deputies of West
Flanders, we find this familiar expression — "Your famous Malou" —
which attests and depicts the position which the future Jesuit had
assumed among his fellow-citizens.

Mr. Malou had opposed with all his energy the French inva-
sion. On the approach of the armies, he had to become an exile,
and retired to Hamburg, whence he wrote an apology of his
conduct, in reply to the unjust accusations which always pursue
misfortune. He came to the United States in the month of
July, 1*795, intending to prepare the way for the emigration of
his family. But during this voyage he had the affliction of losing
his wife, who died at Hamburg on the 18th of December, 1*797,
and he returned to Europe in 1*799. The destruction of his hap-

* Histoire des Beiges au fin du XVIII. Siecle, par Mr. Borgnet. Brus-
sels, 1844, ii. 141. This author speaks in the highest terms of the political
conduct of General Malou. Feller, in his '• Journal Historique et Litternire"
of August 1, 1790, published an address of Mr. Malou to the patriot volun-
teers. The proceedings already cited contain several of the speeches,
proclamations, and a part of the correspondence of this brave defender of
his countrv.

m I I ^.^ !Kmmfmmmmmmmmmmmmmllll|K|KKt(^

388

\ 1

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

piness gave another turn to his thoughts, and in 1801 he re-
solved to embrace the ecclesiastical state. In October he entered
the Seminary of Wolsau, in Franconia, where he received minor
orders. Then, in 1805, he presented himself, under an assumed
name, at the novitiate of the Jesuit Fathers at Dunaburg, in
White Russia, and humbly asked admission as a lay brother.
Zealously employed in the lowly task of gardening, Brother
Malou was recognized by a visitor, who informed the Superior of
his real name ; and the ex-general was obliged to take upon him
more important functions. He was the model of the community
in fervor, humility, and perfect obedience. In 1811, he was sent
as a missionary to America, and arrived with Father Maximilian
de Rantzau. Attached at first to the New York Literary Insti-
tution, he was afterwards one of the priests at St. Peter's, and
died in New York on the 13th of October, 1827, at the age of
seventy-four. His last days were embittered by the ingratitude
of the trustees : feeble in health, and suffering from lameness, he
was an object rather of their reverent care ; but in order to com-
pel him to leave, they applied to the Superior of his order at
Georgetown, who, however, declined to act on their request, re-
ferring them to the bishop. Dr. Connolly at last yielded to their
importunity, and requested his recall. Deeply grieved at this,
to him, apparently unkind treatment, the aged priest asked to
withdraw from the Society of Jesus, and remained in New York,
awaiting means from Europe for his support.* In 1825, the Su-
periors invited him to return ; but, from motives which satisfied
the general of the order, he preferred to remain a secular priest.
He was an exemplary missionary, loving poverty* and the poor,
and devoting himself to the service of the sick, to whom he gave

* For these facts we are indebted to extracts of letters furnished by the
kindness of the Abbd J. B. Ferland, of Quebec, whose historical labors en-
able him to throw great light on our Church history, and whose courtesy
4nd kindness to fellow-laborers nrc beyond expression.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

889

all that he had. Political troubles had -wasted the great fortune
which he had possessed in Belgium. His brother-in-law, Canon
Riga, who had saved the wreck, sent him a trifling pension, in
which the wretched always had a share. He also took a great
interest in the schools, which he often visited, questioning the
pupils, to observe their progress ; and the pupils long preserved
their veneration for Father Malou, and told their children, in turn,
how, when they were good, he would show them his snufF-box,
on which was painted the miniature portrait of one of his chil-
dren. The scholars were greatly astonished that the Jesuit
Father had been married ; but he offered God in sacrifice the
pain of being separated from his children. He left them as a
heritage a venerated name, and the example of his ecclesiastical
virtues ; and vOatholic Europe knows how well the illustrious
Bishop of Bruges has followed in his steps.*

Such was almost the only priest whom the bishop had to rep-
resent the body of his clergy; but he zealously assumed the
charge of his immense diocese, and endeavored to provide for its
wants. Remaining himself at New York, he dispatched the
Rev. Mr. O'Gorman to Albany and the northern parts of the
State, extending his visits to Carthage, where a church was soon
erected amid a Catholic population, and saying Mass in many
parts for scattered Catholics who had not seen a priest for years,
and whose children looked on the service of the Church with
amazement.

On investigating the state of his diocese, the good bishop soon
saw a work of difficulty before him. In the churches that ex-
isted, he found every thing in the hands of trustees, who seemed
to have very little idea of the constitution of the Catholic
Church, or disposition to submit to it. That a bishop should ap-

* We have been so happy as to receive from Bishop Malou many details
as to the political life of his eminent grandfather.

I !

390

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

point a pastor to a church, seemed to them ridiculous ; on the
Protestant principle, they themselves looked out for a good
preacher, or what they considered such, and invited him. Bishop
Connolly was immediately called upon by the trustees to be the
channel of these invitations. Those of Albany wished the Rev.
Mr. Corr, of Mary's Lane Chapel, and offered eight hundred dol-
lars a year ; two trustees of St. Peter's, in New York, desired to
have as their pastor Father William V. Harold, then at St.
Thomas's College, near Dublin, offering to pay his passage and
settle his salary when he came. Other trustees wished him
to write to Ireland for Rev. Messrs. England and Taylor, of
Cloyne.

We find these scanty notes in his diary,* but we do not know
to what extent he acceded to their wishes. The last named of
these clergymen we shall soon find at New York, and giving to
the encroachments of the trustees all the influence he possessed.

The good bishop sought and obtained clergymen with whose
abilities and principles he was acquainted, and gathered several
young aspirants to holy orders, who, under his training, became
zealous and devoted priests. In 1817 and 1818 we find the Rev.
Arthur Langdill and the celebrated Father Charles D. Ffrench
in the active discharge of the ministry in his diocese, the former
at Newburg, and generally on the North River, except at New
York and Albany ; the latter at New York. Father Ffrench was
a convert, and the grandson of one who obtained titles and
honors from the English government in 1798. But while the
head of the family thus assumed the badge of servitude and
treachery, several members of it embraced the Catholic faith,
and devoted themselves to the service of their Catholic coun-
trymen at home and abroad. Among those was Father Charles
D. Ffrench, who, after entering the Order of St. Dominic in

* See Bishop Bayley's Sketch of the Catholic Church.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

391

Ireland, came to America, and attempted to establish a house
of his order at St. Johns, New Brunswick, then subject to the
Bishop of Quebec. He came in the winter of 1817 to New
York, where he had relatives among the most influential Catho-
lics, and was soon made one of the pastors of St Peter's ; but
the trustee troubles which ensued induced him to leave, and he
then for many years labored in the missions of Maine and other
parts of New England, and at last died at Lawrence, in Massa-
chusetts, in January, 1861, at the advanced age of eighty-five
years, in the fifty-first year of his priesthood.*

The Rev. Mr. Taylor, invited by the trustees, came apparently
in 1818, and soon gave the trustee encroachments in a new form.
He was a popular preacher, and deeming the bishop a good but
incapable man, aspired to the See himself, and actually formed a
party, into which he even drew some of the clergy, the object of
which was to have Bislfop Connolly recalled and himself chosen.
He actually went to Rome to effect this, but failed ; and as the
bishop refused to receive him, he proceeded to Boston, where he
gained the esteem of Bishop Cheverus, and following him to
France, died while preaching at the Irish College in Paris, in
1828.t

During his short stay in New York he mingled much in Pro-
testant society, and sought to remove all prejudice from their
minds. To what extent he carried his concession may be seen
by a prayer-book — " The Christian's Monitor ; or, Practical
Guide to Future Happiness" — which he compiled and published.
This book is remarkable for its apologetic notes, and still more
so for some of the headings, the strangest being that which
reads, " The celebration of the Lord's Supper, together with the
Holy Communion, commonly called the Mass !"

* Catholic Almanac, 1852, p. 248.

t See his observations on Bishop Hobart's charge, entitled " Corruptions
of the Church of Rome," cited by Dr. White in his Life of Mrs. Seton.

892

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Hopes of extensive conversions were probably entertained, and
were not unreasonable, as the conversions of the Rev. Messrs.
Thayer, Holmes, and Barber, in New England, had been followed
in New York by that of the younger Barber, Rev. Mr. Richards,
of the Methodist Church, the Rev. Mr. Kewley, rector of the
Episcopal Church of St. George, and subsequently of the Rev.
George Edmund Ironside, the last named of whom, in reply to
the assaults made upon him, openly defended the step he had
taken. Bishop Hobart himself, the Episcopalian Bishop of
New York, repeatedly, expressed a wish to end his days in the
bosom of the Roman Catholic Church, and from the friendship
which subsisted between him and Bishop Connolly, hopes were
entertained that his visit to Rome, with letters of introduction
from Dr. Connolly, would lead to his conversion. This grace,
however, in the designs of Providence, was reserved for his
daughter, the god-child of Mother Seton, and wife of the Rt.
Rev. Levi S. Ives, Bishop of North Carolina, who has so lately
sacrificed all to become an humble member of the flock of Peter.

Of 'the earlier converts, Mr. Kewley returned to his native
country,* and is said to have become a religious in Belgium.
Mr. John Richards was in 1807 a Methodist clergyman, zealously
preaching in various parts of Western New York. In order to
extend his sect he crossed to Upper Canada, and finally, in Au-
gust, 180*7, reached Montreal. Here, in his zeal, he wished to
convert the Sulpitians of that city, and waited upon them for
that purpose. They received him with the utmost courtesy, and
gave him books explaining the Catholic doctrines. He read
them attentively, and returned, not to convert, but to be in-
structed. For several months he was closely engaged in examin-
ing the grounds of the Catholic faith. "As I progress," he
writes in his diary, " the truth seems to me more clear, so that I

* Stone, Life of Rev. Dr. Milnor, p. 212.

'■' i; ' , ' .J4 > l l >i » OTIW

■"■'/r

m THE UN1T£D STATES.

898

jd, and
Messrs.
)llowed
chards,
of the
le Rev.
eply to
he had
ihop of
in the
endship
)es were
)duction
8 grace,
for his
the Rt.
\o lately
of Peter,
native
ielgiiim.
;ealously
lorder to
', in Au-
ished to
[hem for
;esy, and
^e read
be in-
examin-
•ess," he
;o that I

am fully convinced no doctrine has been more misrepresented, as
far as I can understand it. I see nothing but what has the sanc-
tion of God's word." Called upon by the Methodist Society to
explain his visits to the Catholic clergy, he declined till he had
finally made up his mind. He then announced his determina-
tion in a letter of remarkable candor and earnestness.

This step excited the greatest consternation among the Meth-
odists, and as Mr. Richards had abstained from any public expo-
sition of the causes of his conversion, it was not easy to refute
the arguments which had influenced him. One Methodist cler-
gyman, however, undertook to counteract the evil dond*, and in a
curious little book, begins by supposing the grounds on which
Mr. Richards acted, and then, quite to his own satisfaction, shows
them to be fallacious.*

Of all this Mr. Richards took no notice. He entered the sem-
inary, and after a thorough course of study, was ordained, and
for many yeara edified Canada by his zeal and devotedness.
Candid and upright in life, in death he was a martyr of charity.
The number of Catholics who were thus gained by conversion
was, however, small ; but the Catholic population was now rap-
idly increasing; emigration had become a tide, and in three
years ten thousand Irish Catholics landed at New York, actually
doubling the number of the faithful. For these, churches,
schools, every thing were to be provided.

We have seen how hopefully Catholicity had begun in New
York, with its Ursuline convent, its Jesuit college, its Trappist

* An inquiry into the fundamental principles of Soman Catholics, in a
letter to Mr. John Eicharda ; by Samuel Coate. Brooklyn, 1809. Mr. Rich-
ards' journal at the time of his conversion is still extant, and we are indebted
for a copy of it to the Sulpitians of Montreal. Mr. Richards was ordained on
the 25th of July, 1818, and died at Montreal on the 28d of July, 1847, of the
typhus, caught while attending the emigrants. Martin ; Manuel du Pelerin
de N. D. de Bon Secours. He is mentioned with singular praise and mod-
eration in Bangs' History of the Methoplist Episcopal Church, i.

17*

394

THB OATHOLIO CHURCH

monastery. All these, however, had disappeared, aud Bishop
Connolly was unable to supply the deficiency. Without reve-
nues, relying entirely on the bodies of trustees and their caprice,
with a cathedral loaded with debt, he did not even venture to
think of erecting a seminary, and had no schools in which to
imbue Catholic youth with Catholic sentiments, or counteract
the " almost invincible repugnance of the American youth to the
ecclesiastical state."

In ISIT he applied, however, to his future successor, the Rev.
John Dubois, then director of the Sisters of Charity, for Sisters
to direct the orphan" asylum at the cathedral. Mrs. Seton could
not resist the appeal from her native city, and chose Sister Rose
White, Cecilia O'Conway, and Felicitaa Brady, who arrived in
New York on the 20th of June, 1817, and "commenced in an
humble way an institution destined to become a most flourishing
asylum, and what is more, founded, by the introduction of their
order, those many establishments of charity, mercy, and educa-
tion which cover the State of New York, and in which alone
the rule and dress of Mother Seton are preserved unaltered.

" A small wooden building on Prince-street sufficed then to
hold the Sisters and the five orphans first committed to their
care ; but the number rapidly increased, and schools under their
direction multiplied in various parts."*

The Erie Canal, which was begun in 1819, drew the Irish
emigrants to that part of the State, and first gave the Catholics
numerical importance in Central New York. Three years later,
Bishop Connolly made a visitation of his diocese, which was pro-
ductive of great consolation to himself and good to his widely
scattered flock. At Albany he received into the Church Mr.
Keating Lawson and Miss Eldredge, both of Lansingburg ; and
proceeding westward, enjoyed the hospitality of Dominic Lynch,

* White's Life of Mrs, Soton, p. 389.

ssam

//•

IN THE UNITED STATES.

895

Esq., at Rome, and John C. Devereux, Esq., of Utica, in both of
whom the Church found zealous and able suppoiiers.*

Bishop Connolly was not insensible to the progress of Catho*
licity in other parts of the Union, but actively co-operated with
his brother prelates, and essentially contributed to the erection
of new Sees. Under his administration the good bishop had
seen several churches arise — St. John's at Utica, St. Patrick's in
Rochester. In 1822 he could number eight priests on the mis-
sion, three of them ordained by himself. One of these, the Rev.
Mr. Bulger, an unwearied missionary, then served, as his parish,
the present diocese of Newark ; the parishes of the Rev. Michael
Carroll and the Rev. John Farnan comprised the diocese of Al-
bany, and that of the Rev. Patrick Kelly that of Buffalo ; while
not a single clergyman was stationed in what is now the diocese
of Brooklyn, where in 1823 the Rev. Mr. Shanahan said his first
Mass and began to gather a congregation.

Every priest at this time had his appointed catechism classes
before divine service on Sundays, and had rosary societies, not
only in each church, but in most of the stations attached to them.
Their duties, especially out of the city, were very laborious, and
subjected them to many hardships, of which they have left us no
record. #

The bishop subsequently ordained three other clergymen, two
of whom still survive in the active discharge of their duties.f
The Rev. Mr. O'Gorman was fey some years with the bishop at
the cathedral, but in the month of November, 1824, he and the
Rev. Mr. Bulger, like himself a native of Kilkenny, and ordained
by Bishop Connolly, expired within a week of each other, and
(he good bishop, worn out with toil and trouble, soon followed
them to the tomb. He was taken sick on his return from Mr.

* For many of these details, and much valuable information as to this pe-
riod, we are indebted to the venerable Rev. John Shanahan.
t Rev. John Shanahan and Rev. Mr. Conroy.

396

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

■.

i \\

0*Gorman*8 funeral, but struggled through the winter, discharge
ing without complaint the additional duty devolved upon him,
and actually officiating within a week of his death. Attended
by the Rev. Mr. Shanahan, he expired at his residence on Sexa-
gesima' Sunday evening, February 6th, 1825.

His funeral was attended by thousands, and all sympathized
with the devoted Catholics, who regretted the loss of "the pious,
worthy, and venerable Bishop Connolly."

The Rev. John Power, who now became administrator of the
diocese, was bom near.Roscarberry, in Ireland, of a very respect-
able family, on the 19th of June, 1*792. After a distinguished
course of study at Maynooth, he was ordained, and for a timo
taught divinity in the Diocesan Seminary at Cork. Invited by
the trustees of St. Peter's, he came to New York in 1819. He
was an able theologian, a most eloquent preacher, and a faithful
priest. His zeal and charity are still proverbial, and the yellow
fever, which ravaged New York at the time of his arrival, afford-
ed him ample exercise for his devotedness. He administered the
diocese for two years with great ability, the death of two priests
and the suspension of two others greatly increasing the difficulty
of his position.*

Under the next Bishop of New York h« became vicar-general,
and continued in that important post till his death. Possessing
great eloquence, his appeals, especially those on behalf of the
orphans, always obtained a mo«t plentiful collection from the
charity of the faithful. As a controversialist he possessed great
skill and power, free from all acrimony and bitterness, and his
writings,* doctrinal and controversial, effected at the time no un-
important good. St. Peter's Church was the only field of his
ministry from his arrival in New York to his death, and under
his care the present noble pile was reared.

* Bishop Beyley'B Sketch of the Catholic Church.

,'/

^ IN THE UNITED STATES.

897

While the Very Rev. Dr. Power administered the diocese of
New York, the Church gradually extended. The Catholics in
the city had become too numerous, and many too far removed
from the cathedral and St. Peter*8, to be able to attend them or
find accommodations there. A church in Sheriflf-street, belong-
ing to the Presbyterians, was accordingly purchased in 1836,
and opened for divine worship on the 14th of May in that year.
In the opening discourse pronounced by the pastor, the Rev.
Hatton Walsh, he says : " At no distant period a single church
had been amply suflScient to contain the Catholics of that vast
•commercial city ; and when it had been deemed expedient to
erect a sumptuous cathedral in honor of the Most High, it was
more than the warmest fri nds of Catholicity could then expect
that its spacious aisles should be filled with the followers of the
ancient faith ; but so diligently had the vineyard of the Lord
been cultivated, and so fruitfully had it flourished, that in order
to afford an opportunity to every one of assisting at the sacred
mysteries of our religion, it had been considered necessary to
procure for their accommodation this additional temple."*

Meanwhile the Holy See had, on the recommendation of the
American prelates, raised to the vacant See the Rev. John Du-
bois, founder of Mount St. Mary's College, at Emmetsburg, whose
labors in Virginia and Maryland have been mentioned elsewhere.
Bom at Paris on the 20th of August, 1764, he had received a
careful education at the college of Louis le Grand, at the time
that the Abb6 Proyart was the director, and when it numbered
among its pupils M'Carthy, afterwards a celebrated preacher of
the Society of Jesus ; Legris Duval and Leonard, both eminent
clergymen, and also (men whom France will ever remember with
horror) Robespierre and Camille Desmoulins. After reading di-

* A discourse delivered at the opening of St. Mary's Cburoh, by the Rev.
Hatton Walsh. New York, 1826 ; p. 7.

898

THE OATHOUO OHUBOH

vinity with the Oratorians, he was ordained about 1789, and sta-
tioned at St. Sulpice. Having in a moment of weakness taken
the constitutional oath, he soon saw the danger, and resolving to
leave France, sailed for America with letters of introduction from
Lafayette, and after arriving safely at Norfolk in 1701, became
an inmate of the family of the Hon. James Monroe, afterwards
President of the United States, whose relative and namesake is
now a member of the true fold.

On hie appointment to the See of New York, Dr. Duboif^ i.ie-
pared, notwithstanding his advanced age, to assume lie uuuus
which devolved upon him, and having received his cross and
ring from the kindness of the venerable Ch -rles C rroll of Car-
roUton, was consecrated at Baltimore on Sunday, 1 uo 29th of Oc-
tober, 1 826, by Archbishop Mar6chal, amid a crowd of his old
pupils, who wished to give this last mark of attachment to their
old director, and three days later took possession of his See.*
On his arrival at New York his cathedral was crowded, no less
than four thousand of the faithful pressing around its altar
to receive the blessing of the new pastor.f Murmurs however,
were heard ; Lhe Catholics of New York were chiefly of Irish
origin, and in their eyes the new bishop was a foreigner ; nor
did they conceal their dissatisfaction. Firm and decided in his
opinions and conduct. Bishop Dubois was not disposed to flatter
or soothe. " He is going to govern strongly in his strong way,"
wrote his holy friend. Dr. Bmt6, the future Bishop of Vin-
cennes ; and the bishop soon issued a pastoral, in which, claiming
the rights of an American citizen, both by his naturalization
and services, he denied any grouii<i v> object to his nationality,
and commenting severely on I a.- ,f« > loh prevailed, he avowed

* Bishop Bayley's Brief Sketch of the Catholic Church, pp. 80-86. An-
nales de la Propagation de la Foi, iv. 251.

t Annales de la Propagation de la Foi, iv. 447. Bishdp Bayley's Brief
flkBtoh, p. 9*.

IN THE UNITED 8TATKS.

399

his determination to bring the discipline of the diocese to the
standard of the sacred canons.

fsew York citj then contained, according to liis calculation,
thirty-five thvjusand Catholics, and the diocese one hundred and
fifty thousand, with eight churches and eighteen priests. To
realize the actual position oi affairs the aged prelate hejjan a
visitation of his vast diocese, encouraging tho Catho hearing
confessions, and admiuistenug the sacraments. Albau\ i<>^ded
encouragement in building a new church, and tho presence th«
bishop gave it. At Butfalo he said Mass in the Oour house, re-
ceived a grant of land for the erection of the since famot church
of St. Louis, and blessed it ainid the general adnv ation '^atho-
lics of Ireland, France, German v, and Switzerlan<i harmouiousl)
joining in the ceremony. Before returning to his episcopa' *y,
Bishop Dubois also visited the Ii dian village of St. Regis, h

lay partly in his diocese, and wi.ere the American part u

open opposition to its pastor, whc dwelt on the Canadian - le.
Here, as elsewhere, he administeret the sacrament of conlii
tion, but was not called upon to baptize or confess., the Indw „
being, for all their foolish obstinacy, more blessed than tli< r
white brethren in the possession of a 'hurch and regular pastor.

The wants of his diocese were noN\ before the bishop, and he
saw the pressing necessity of a seminary and college, of schools
for boys, of a hospital, especially for em grants, and of asylums to
save the orphans, as well as of churches at almost every point to
enable the scattered Catholics to worship 'xod. How much would
he have realized, had he been seconded I the flock committed to
his care ! But unfortunately the die hai. been cast ; the trustee
interest was arrayed against him, and his projects were either
traversed or disregarded. Still, he never forsook them, and to the
last labored to supply the deficiencies under which the diocese
labored.

Without awaiting the project^ Council at Baltimore, he re-

Vir ■■'

400

THE CATHOLIC CHUBCH

solved to proceed to Europe in search of aid, and befoi j departing,
received from the Association for the Propagation of the Faith
a considerable allowance — a favor which his friend Dr. Brut6
had obtained him. With this he aided the Catholics of Albany
in erecting their church, and redeemed that of Newark, just
about to be sacrificed. Thus relieved on two points, he next, in
1837, purchased Christ Church, in Ann-street, from the Episco-
palians, and stationed in Brooklyn the Rev. John Walsh, who
thus became the first resident pastor in that city, now one of the
largest in the Union, and itself an episcopal See.

Bishop Dubois reached France in October, 1829, and pro-
ceeded to Rome to confide his pains, his trials, and the number-
less obstacles which Jjj^e met, to the father of the faithful and the
venerable Cardinal Prefect of the Propaganda. On terminating
the affairs which had called him to the Holy City, and having
procured such aid as he was able, he returned to New York, and
began his endeavors to rear the establishments of which he saw
the greatest need.

A house of education for youth and seminary combined was
his project. An Irish Brotherhood, under Brother Boylen, had
proposed schools in the city, but the trustees would not consent
to the deed being made to the brothers direct, and Brother Boy-
len himself proving very unfit, the plan failed. The bishop, con-
ceiving that a spot at some distance from the city would be
most advantageous for the purpose, purchased some property at
Nyack, on the North River, and laid the corner-stone of the col-
lege on the 29th of May, 1833. This step aroused all the big-
otry of the enemies of Catholicity ; the pulpits echoed with loud
declaimers against the Church ; the application for an incorpora-
tion was opposed by an eager body of remonstrants, and the Rev.
Dr. Brownlee preached so zealously in the neighborhood of
Nyack, and so deeply impressed on the inhabitants of that part
the danger of having a Catholic college there, that the college

IN THE UNITED STATES.

,;■,..

401

itself was accidentally destroyed by fire I No doubt can exist in
the mind of any reasonable man that the torch of an incendiary
was applied to this Catholic institution, as it had already been to
St. Mary's Church in 1831 ; for threats had not been withheld,
and the bishop had even sought the protection of the authorities
for his rising seat of learning.* Yet so it was : the men whose
chief capital was to accuse Catholics of ignorance, moved heaven
and earth, and branded their own souls with guilt, in order to pre-
vent Catholics from aftbrding a suitable education to their children.

Bishop Dubois next endeavored to establish a college at Brook-
lyn, where Cornelius Heeny, Esq., ofiered ground for the purpose ;
but his conditions proved onerous, and the plan was abandoned.
A subsequent attempt at Lafargeville, in the northern part of the
State, was more successful, but it was too remote from the great
body of the Catholics, and the college was finally closed.

The excitement against the Catholics, of which we have
spoken, was entirely the work of clergymen who lost no occasion
of attacking the Catholic doctrines- and the character of Catho-
lics as individuals and as citizens. They were not, however, un-
answered. The Very Rev. Dr. Power, the Very Rev. Felix
Varela, the Rev. Mr. Schneller, and the Rev. Thomas C. Levins,
met their antagonists with zeal and ability. Of the first of
these clergymen we have already spoken. The Rev. Mr. Varela
was no less eminent a man. Born at Havana, in the island of
Cuba, in i 787, he early devoted himself to the ecclesiastical
state, and became a distinguished professor in the University of
San Carlos, in his native city. A man of great charity, he was
known and esteemed by all, and was unanimously chosen a
deputy to the Spanish Cortes under the Constitution in 1822.
Protesting against the overthrow of the new government, he
became an exile, and in 1823 chose for his new home the soil

* Varela, Cartas a Elpidio, ii. 148. New York, 1838.

402

THE CATHOLIC CHUECH

of the United States. He was totally unacquainted with the
language, and the climate during the first years of his residence
nearly proved fatal to him. In spite of honorable invitations to
proceed to other countries, he preferred to remain and labor for
the Catholics of the United States. " I am in affection," he
says, " a native of this country, although I am not nor ever will
be a citizen, having made a firm resolution to become a citizen of
no other country after the occurrences which have torn me from
my own. I never expect to see it again, but I think that I owe it
a tribute of my love and respect by uniting myself to no other."
He landed in Philadelphia in 1823, but soon proceeded to
New York, and was successively assistant at St. Peter's, pastor
of Christ Church, and of the Church of the Transfiguration, which
he erected. He was a solid theologian, and wrote several works
in his native language, which circulated extensively through Cuba
and Spanish America, and in English contributed extensively to
the Catholic papers and periodicals. Of these fugitive pieces of
his, that entitled " The Five Different Bibles distributed and sold
by the American Bible Society" was probably the happiest, and
attracted most notice. It compelled that Society to throw off
the mask, and not condemn a Catholic translation in one lan-
guage while they circulated it in another, or to omit in one
edition certain books as uninspired, and put them in another as
inspired. Dr. Varela did not shrink from oral discussion, and
as early as 1831 accepted an invitation to defend the Catholic
doctrine in an assembly of ministers presided over by the noto-
rious Dr. Brownlee, who, finding the audience completely aston-
ished and convinced by the reasoning of the talented Cuban
ecclesiastic, endeavored to persuade the meeting that Dr. Varela
had stated what was not Catholic doctrine, and that he would
be surely suspended by his bishop.*

* Cartas a Elpidio, ii.

itssmitsssi

IN THE UNITED STATES.

403

It is, however, chiefly for his zeal as a pastor, and for his
boundless charity, that he will be remembered by the faithful of
New York. How he lived was a wonder to his friends, for he
gave away every thing to the poor — the clothing off his back,
the spoons from his table, when he had not the money to be-
stow ; and these acts would not have been known, had not the
objects of his charity been on two occasions, to his great distress,
arrested as thieves. He inspired his congregation with a spirit
of piety, and will long be remembered by the faithful whom he
guided in the way, together with the holy Carthusian Father,
Alexander Mopiatti, who was for a time the partner of his labors.
After nearly thirty years' labor in the ministry, the Rev. Mr.
Varela died, on the 18th of February, 1853, at St. Augustine,
whither he had retired for his health.

The Rev. Mr. Schneller is still in the ministry, in the diocese
of Brooklyn, and was long pastor at Albany, as we shall see
elsewhere. The Rev. Thomas E. Levins was a member of the
Society of Jesus. Possessing great mathematical talents, skilful
as a lapidary, a thorough theologian and dialectician, he was too
versatile to endure the confinement of a college, and, contrary to
the rules of his order, contributed to the Washington press arti-
cles which attracted universal attention. When the authorship
became known, he was compelled to leave the Society of Jesus,
and came to the diocese of New York. As pastor of St. Pat-
rick's, he was the favorite of the people, especially from his con-
troversial talents, and the opponents of Catholicity justly dreaded
his arguments. Unfortunately, he was deficient in amiability of
character, and his asperity led him to treat the bishop with dis-
respect and disobedience. At last, Bishop Dubois silenced him,
and a struggle at once arose : the trustees of St. Patrick's ad-
hered to Mr. Levins, and refused to pay the salary of the new
pastor appointed by the bishop. To widen the breach, they also
lamed the Rev. Mr. Levins rector of the Free School, with a

404

THE CATHOLIC OHUBCH

salary sufficient for his support. A new conflict resulted : a
Sunday-school teacher appointed by the bishop was ordered out
of the house by the rector, and on his return the next Sunday, he
was sfopped by a constable ready to arrest him on the written or-
der of the trustees. The bishop, grieved to the heart at an insult
to his authority thus openly given, addressed a letter to the con-
gregation of his cathedral. " The trustees seem to think," he
says, " that they are at liberty to employ whatever power they
can extract from the charter, or obtain from the civil laws as a
corporation, in a kind of perennial conflict with and against the
ecclesiastical authority and the discipline of the Church, which
they should be the firmest and foremost to uphold, aa Catholics
first, and as trustees afterwards. It is possible that the civil law
gives them power to send a constable to the Sunday-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 inten-
tion that such power 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 firee, the Council of Trent fully recognized, and the laws
of the Church applied to the government and regulation of the
Church."

Proceeding to the root of the evil, the usurpation by the
trustees of authority which the Church never gave — that of ap-
pointing the pastor to administer the sacraments, the choir to
take part in the performance of divine worship, the sexton to
take care of the altar, the teacher to guide the young — he
showed how utterly inconsistent it was with the very first ideas
of the Catholic Church, and announces his resolution to extirpate
it. " Do not suppose that the Church of God, because she has
no civil support for her laws and discipline, is therefore obliged
to see them trampled on by her own children, without any means

IN THE UNITED STATES.

405

for their preservation. She has means ; and it is necessary that
her discipline be restored, and the abuses on the part of your
trustees, to which we have alluded, be disavowed and re-
moved."

The trustees, however, did not yield ; they threatened to cut off
the bishop's own salary, unless he gave them such clergymen as
they asked ; but they little knew the spirit of the aged prelate.
" Gentlemen," he replied, " you may vote me a salary or not ; I
need little ; I can live in a basement or a garret ; but whether I
come up from my basement or down from my garret, I shall still
be your bishop."

The Rev. Mr. Levins was, however, sensible that this struggle
could only injure him, and retired from the field. Irreproach-
able in his moral conduct, he resided near the bishop, engaged
in literary pursuits or mathematical studies, and even employed
his talents as engineer on the Croton Aqueduct. Restored
some years after, he died at New York, on the 6th of May,
1843.

These were not the only troubles under the administration of
Bishop Dubois. The outrage at Charlestown had its sympathi-
zers in New York, and a couple of years later, a mob assembled
to destroy St. Patrick's Cathedral ; but they knew little of the
Catholics of New York when they devised their plans. The
church was put in a state of defence : the streets leading to it
were torn up, and every window was to be a point whence mis-
siles could be thrown on the advancing horde of sacrilegious
wretches; while the wall of the churchyard, rudely crenelled,
bristled with the muskets of those ready for the last struggle for
the altar of their God and the graves of those they loved. So
fearful a preparation, unknown to the enemies of religion, came
upon them like a thunderclap when their van had nearly reached
the street leading to the Cathedral ; they fled in all directions, in
dismay ; and so complete has the prestige been, that neither in

■■f'lr-'.irTWT'jTi'"

406

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

1844 nor in 1866 was there any demonstration against the
churches in New York.*

New York could now number several churches, and others had
arisen in various parts of the diocese. These were not all, how-
ever, for Catholics of the English tongue. Emigrants from Ger-
many began to pour in, many of whom were Catholics, and
among the new churches we find that of St. Nicholas, for the
Germans, due chiefly to the zeal and devotedness of the Rev.
John RaflFeiner, a native of Brixia, in the Tyrol, who, in 1833,
arriving in the country, first began to labor exclusively among
the German Catholics, not only in New York, but in the vicinity,
at Brooklyn, Williamsburg, Macopin, in New Jersey, and even as
far as Boston, Utica, and Rochester, in almost all of which he
erected the churches or prepared the ground completely for
others.f

This German emigration was not all induced by political rea-
sons, or the desire of bettering their condition in life. In aston-
ishment and shame, the Protestants of the United States beheld
numbers arrive whom the intolerance of the Prussian king had
forced to abandon their happy homes. Whole villages, with
their Lutheran pastors, preferred to risk all in seeking the New
World, to submitting to the tyrannical behests of their Prot-
estant monarch, who sought to constitute the various churches,
as he did his array. Among the pastors who accompanied the
exiles was Rev. John James Maximilian (Ertel, a graduate of the
University of Erlang. He had hoped, in free America, to fiod
the Lutheran churches faithful to their original form ; but, to his
disappointment, he beheld them voluntarily blending with those
churches which all the power of Prussia could not force him to
accept. All the doctrines of Luther had been abandoned, ex-

* Cartas a Elpidio, ii. 142.

t He erected St. Nicholas's and St. John's at New York, Holy Trinity at
Boston, Holy Trinity in Williamsbiirj;, and another at Maoopin.

MIMIiii

i^r-

IN THE UNITED STATES.

407

gainst the

)ther8 had
I, all, how-
from Ger-
lolics, and
IS, for the
: the Rev.
), in 1833,
ely among
tie vicinity,
,nd even as
' which he
ipletely for

olitical rea-
In aston-

ates beheld
king had

ages,

with

t the New
their Prot-

churches,
panied the
uate of the
ica, to find

but, to his
with those
irce him to

doned, ex-

)ly Triuity at

oept his hostility to Rome; and this feeling, which had been
nursed by the arbitrary princes and parliaments of Europe, he
thought least characteristic of all of the Church founded by our
Lord. He began to examine the great religious question, and he
was soon convinced that the Reformers had no divine mission to
alter the received creed and worship of Christendom; and
that, without such mission, their work was but a sacrilege, such
as God punished of old by sudden vengeance on those who pre-
tended to assume the priesthood' of .His worship. Mr. (Ertel
became a Catholic, and after being received into the Church, has
devoted himself to editing a German Catholic paper.

Academies for the instruction of girls were also formed by the
Sisters of Charity, the first having been opened in 1830, during
the absence of Bishop Dubois in Europe. Another very flour-
ishing one was afterwards established in the Seventh Ward, and,
under the able direction of Sister William Anna, trained many
young Catholic ladies in useful learning and accomplishments,
adorned by the practice of religion. This school, at a later date,
gave rise to the Academy of Mount St. Vincent, at Harlem,
which is now the mother-house of the order, as founded by
Mrs. Seton.

Among the clergymen who joined the diocese of New York
during the episcopate of Bishop Dubois, we cannot omit to men-
tion the Rev. Charles C. Pise, so well known by his popular
writings in prose and verse, and as an accomplished scholar and
preacher. Before coming to New York, he had published a suc-
cinct Church History, and subsequently wrote the Lives of St.
Ignatius and his companions, several volumes of poems, tales, a
work on the Doctrines of the Church, and several minor trea-
tises. In fact, he first endeavored to give the young Catholics of
America reading which would be attractive and innocent. Like
many good works, this at first found many assailants, and, borne
down by the fierce criticism of Catholic reviewers, the publisher

408

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

of these popular Catholic works was compelled to stop the pub-
lication. All, however, now admit the necessity of a literature of
this kind, of which Dr. Pise must be considered the founder.*

About 1837, Bishop Dubois began to sink under the labors
which the increase of his diocese imposed upon him. He so-
licited a coadjutor, and the Rev. John Hughes, of St. John's Church,
Philadelphia, was appointed by the Holy See, Bishop of Basile-
opolis in partibus infidelium, and Coadjutor of the Bishop of New
York. At this time, the dif)ce8e comprised seven churches in the
city of New York, eleven in other parts of the State, and four in
New Jersey, attended in all by fifty clergymen, who, besides, vis-
ited regularly twelve other stations where churches had not been
erected ; the college at Nyack had been abandoned, and the
schools of the Sisters of Charity at New York and Albany were
the only academies, and their orphan asylums, in the same cities,
and at Brooklyn and Utica, the only eleemosynary institutions.

Such was the result of the administration of Bishop Dubois,
whose zeal, ever checked or poorly seconded, had not been able
to endow his diocese with those establishments which its necessi-
ties imperatively called for. Of the clergy whom he had gath-
ered around him, it was, however, consoling to think, that sixteen
had been ordained by his own hands.f

About a fortnight after the appointment of his coadjutor, the
venerable bishop, whose health had been gradually failing, was
attacked by paralysis, and never finally recovered. The duties
of his office devolved on Bishop Hughes, who was in the follow-
ing year appointed administrator of the diocese. Bishop Dubois
prepared for his last moments with all the calmness and tranquil
piety which had characterized him in life, taking the deepest in-
terest in the spiritual welfare of the flock to which he had been

* For a notice of Dr. Pise and his works, you may consult Duyckinck's
Cyclopaedia of American Literature — in vain 1
t Catholic Almanac for 1888, p. 88.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

409

80 long attached. He expired at hii sideuce, on Tuesday, the
20th of December, 1842, without a struggle and without a sigh,
with a prayer on his lips, and a sweet hope of heavenly rest in
his heart. At his own humble request, he was interred under
the pavement before the main door of his cathedral.

Bishop Dubois can never be forgotten in the annals of the
American Church : whether we regard hira in the outset of his
career as the young missionary, of iron constitution, teaching for
his support and evangelizing Norfolk and Richmond ; or as pas-
tor at Frederick, visiting the vast district committed to his care,
when, to use the words of the venerable clergyman who pro-
nounced his funeral discourse, "he was the pastor of all "Western
Maryland and Virginia, and for some time the only Catholic
priest between the city of Baltimore and the city of St. Louis ;"
or, at a later date, erecting the college at the Mount, and, by di-
recting Mrs. Seton, taking so active a part in the good accom-
plished by the Sisters of Charity. As bishop, he did not forget
his early predilection, and was ever more assiduous in catechising
the young than in preaching to the grown. His career as a
bishop we have seen one of unostentatious, but active and un-
tiring benevolence. His visitations of his diocese were frequent,
and, though ever anxious for the preservation of ecclesiastical
discipline, he was a kind father to his clergy, a friend and bene-
factor to the poor, a pastor full of solicitude to supply abundantly
the spiritual wants of his extensive diocese.*

His worth was not unrecognized. Immediately after his death,
the faculty and students of Mount St. Mary's convened, and re-
solved to erect a monument at the mountain to " the founder of
Mount St. Mary's College and Seminary, and the father of the
Institution of Sisters of Charity in this country."

* Sov. John M'Caffrey, Discourse on the Right Eev. John Dubois, D. D.,
Gettysburg, 1843. Bishop Bayley, Brief Sketch, pp. 103, 104. Catholic Al-
manac, 1845, p. 43. White, Life of Mrs. Seton, 446.

f1^

410

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

CHAPTER XXV.

DIOCESE OF NEW YORK — (1888-1856).

Eight Rev. John Hughes, Coadjutor and then Bishop of Now York— He overthrows
trusteeism — The school question— Bishop Hughes before the Common Council— St
John's College — The Ladies of the Sacred Heart and Madame Galiitzin— The Re-
demptorists — The Tractarlan movement, and the conversions resulting from it—
The French Church and the Bisliop of Nancy — Appointment of Right Rev. John
McCioskey as Coadjutor— The Sisters of Mer ;— Reorganization of the Sisters of
Charity — Division of the diocese— Brothers of the Christian Schools — Progress of
Catholicity In other parts of the diocese — Now ^ork erected into an archiepiscopal
See— Erection of the Seee of Brooklyn and Newf.rk — First Provincial Council of New
York— The Church Property Bill and the discussion with Senator Brooks— Ret-
rospect.

No prelate of the Church in the United States has been more
widely known, or attracted a greater share of the public atten-
tion, than the Right Re\'. John Hughes, who, under the title of
Bishop of Basileopolis, became, in 1838, the Coadjutor of the
Diocese of New York. Possessing in an eminent degree the
talent of discerning the public mind, and its constant fluctua
tions, able and eloquent as an orator and controversialist, he
will rank among the statesmen no less than among the prelates
of America. Born in Ireland, of a family originally Welsh, but
long identified with the Scoto-Irish, he was the son of a farmer
of moderate but comfortable means, and owed his early training
to the care of a kind and careful mother, to whom he thus beau-
tifully alludes in his letter to General Cass : " The first person
whose acquaintance I made on this earth was a woman. Her
pretensions were humble, but to me she was a great lady — nay,
a very queen and empress. She was more — she was my earliest
friend ; my visible, palpable guardian-angel. If she smiled ap-

/ /

IN THE UNITED STATES.

proval on me, it was as a ray from Paradise shed oi mv heart.
If she frowned disapproval, it seemed like a partial or tola. «clip»e
of the sun."*

Without friend, protector, or patron, he came to the United
States in 1817, and proceeded to Mount St. Mary's, in order to
enter as a seminarian. No vacancy existed, and for a time he
pursued his studies privately ; but soon obtained entrance, and
for seven or eight years prosecuted his studies and taught the
various classes committed to his care. Ordained priest, he was
sent to Philadelphia, and here, for eleven years, won general re-
spect and esteem by his zealous discharge of the duties of a
Christian pastor. He erected St. John's Church to meet the in-
creasing wants of the Catholic public, and established a perma-
nent reputation as a controversialist by his discussions with the
Rev. John Breckenridge, a Presbyterian clergyman, who had
publicly challenged the Catholics to discuss the great question
of religion with him. The controversy was at first carried on
in writing, on the subject, " Is the Protestant religion the religion
of Christ ?" and Mr. Breckenridge, after some months, defeated
at every step, virtually abandoned the field. He subsequently
returned to the attack, and insisted on an oral discussion. Again
did the Rev. Mr. Hughes meet the champion of Protestantism,
on the question, " Is the Roman Catholic religion, in any or in
all its principles or doctrines, inimical to civil or religious liber-
ty ?" and again, by the common consent of all impartial judges,
most signally triumphed over his adversary, upholding the truth
of history, showing not only that the Catholic Church had never
sanctioned persecution, much less made it a part of her creed,
but that Protestantism rose by rapine and persecution, and only
by violence had been able to maintain its existence.f

* Keply to General Cass, p. 15.

t Oral Diacusaion on the Roman Catholic Religion. Philadelphia, 1836.

412

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

These discussions were not fruitless : they enabled the Rev.
Mr. Hughes to gain to the Church many Protestant funiilics, and
among other persons of eminence, Dr. W. E. Horner, a physi-
cian whose eminent reputation for medical science was by no
means confined to his native country, and whose anatomical
works enjoy the highest reputation.

The appointment of Dr. Hughes as Coadjutor of New York
was a new era for Catholicity in that extensive diocese. He
came at a moment when trusteeism was in open array against
the Episcopal authority, and he resolved to overthrow a sys-
tem so much at variance with the discipline of the Church, and
which had in the United States proved so prejudicial to religion.
As the trustees claimed to hold the treasury and so rule the
house of God, he at once appealed to the faithful, whom the
trustees could in no sense be said to represent ; and advised the
people to give their collection, not to their rebellious trustees, but
to their duly appointed pastors, whose support was by the laws
of the Church obligatory upon them. Following up the ground
taken in the pastoral address of Bishop Dubois to the congrega-
tion of his Cathedral, in February, 1838, he presided at a meet-
ing, and so clearly developed the real state of the question, that
it was determined that the whole system should in future be
made to conform to the canon law. Another cause soon led to
the complete overthrow of trusteeism : this was the extravagance
of the expenditure of the Church moneys by the boards of trus-
tees, and the bankruptcy of five boards of as many churches in
the city of New York, out of eight, the whole number then ex-
isting. Of these, that of St. Peter's, in Barclay-street, owed
debts amounting to nearly one hundred and fifty thousand dol-
lars. The churches were all assigned or sold by the sheriff, and
passed into the hands of Bishop Hughes, who purchased them in
his own right, to save them from desecration. The State gov-
ernment, which had viewed with satisfaction this sad state of

IN THE UNITED STATES.

413

Catholic affaire, produced by the operation of the act of roligioua
incorporation, seems to have regretted that the bishop should
have been able to secure the buildings again tor Catholic wor-
ship, and, as we shall see, passed one of the most extraordinary
acts which can bo found on the statute-books of any civilizod
country ; an act which pretended to take from the bishop prop-
erty which ho had purchased, and restore it, without compensa-
tion, to the very boards of trustees whose legal title had been
legally sold by operation of law !*

Soon after his consecration. Bishop Hughes resolved to visit
Europe, and obtain the succor which religion needed in the dio-
cese to which he had been appointed. For this purpose, in the
course of the year 1839 he visited France, Austria, and Italy,
everywhere impressing those whom he met with his rare ability.
Having obtained much momentary aid and fonned his plans for
the religious institutions of his diocese, he returned without de-
lay to his post. There a question of great importance had at
last come before the public, and one in which the bishop could
not be a mere spectator. New York had its free schools, sus-
tained by the State, and its public schools under the control of a
private society, but receiving public moneys to carry on their
establishments. Not one of these schools was such that a Cath-
olic parent could conscientiously send a child to it. In all, the
reading of the mutilated version of the Scriptures, termed the
King James's Bible, was obligatory, and it was expounded by
Protestant teachers ; in all, the school-books contained slanders,
insults, and absurdities in regard to Catholics and their religion ;
and such schools, supported by public money, were the only free
schools in which the poorer Catholics could obtain the rudi-
ments of knowledge. Had Protestantism been the established

* See hia Letter on the moral causes that have produced the evil spirit of
the times, p. 10.

414

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

religion of the State of New York, this would have been en-
durable ; but, as the law established no religion. Catholics pro-
tested. So flagrant did the wrong appear, that a Senator of the
State inserted an article in a Catholic paper mooting the ques-
tion of a regulation of the schools so as to make them free to all.
The Catholics began to hold meetings, formed an association, and
devised plans for obtaining relief; the governor of the State called
attention to the matter in his message, but the New York Com-
mon Council rejected the memorial of the Catholics. It became
the great question of the day.

Such was the condition of affairs when Bishop Hughes return-
ed to his See. To prevent the matter from being made a politi-
cal hobby, he resolved to attend the meetings, and, exercising his
right as a citizen, did so. " In these meetings," we quote his
own language, " the question was discussed — the imperfect edu-
cation afforded by our own cliarity schools — the vast number
who could not be received at them — and would not be sent to the
schools of the Public School Society, on account of the strong
anti-Catholic tendencies which they manifested through the me-
dium of objectionable books, prejudiced teachers, and sectarian
influences."*

The most important of these meetings was held on the 20th of
July, 1840 ; the Very Rev. Dr. Power presided, and the bishop
for the first time addressed the Catholics, and advised careful but
firm action. On the 10th of August an address of the Roman
Catholics to their fellow-citizens appeared, to which the Public
School Society issued a reply. Then, in a general meeting, the
Catholics, on the 21st of September, adopted a petition to the
Common Council for relief, which, after exposing the sectarian
character of the Public Schools, and the fact that Catholics had

* Letter on the moral causes that have produced the evil spirit of the
times, p. 8.

been en-
lics pro-
)r of the
;he ques-
ee to all.
tion, and
ite called
rk Com-
, became

B return-

a politi-

ising his

note his

(ect edii-

number

nt to the

strong

the me-

lectarian

20th of
bishop

eful but
Roman
Public

ing, the
to the

ectarian
ics had

it of the

IN THE UNITED STATES.

415

been compelled to erect schools of their own, which they offered
to submit to the conditions of the law with regard to religious
teaching, concluded thus : " Your petitioners, therefore, pray that
your honorable body will be pleased to designate as among the
schools entitled to participate in the Common School fund, upon
complying with the requirements of the law, or for such other
relief as to your honorable body shall seem meet," St. Pati'ick's,
and six other schools which they named.

To this petition two remonstrances were made — one by the
trustees of the Public School Society, and the other by a com-
mittee appointed by the pastors of the Methodist Episcopal
Church. On the 29th of October, 1840, the parties appeared
before the Common Council. On the side of the Catholic peti-
tionei-s, the bishop set forth their claims and answered the re-
monstrances ; the Public School Society had employed two emi-
nent lawyers, Theodore Sedgwick, Esq., and Hiram Ketchum,
who now answered the arguments of the bishop : the former
by an historical view of our Common Schools, and an attempt
to show that the Public School Society, being good and suffi-
cient, was entitled to a monopoly in the matter of public in-
struction ; the latter wrecked his reputation as an advocate by
personal attacks on the bishop, whom he could style only " the
mitred gentleman," and by completely ignoring the petition, and
representing it as an attempt of the Catholics to deprive Prot-
estants of the Bible. These were followed, on subsequent even-
ings, by Rev. Drs. Bond, Bangs, and Reese, of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, Rev. Dr. Knox, of the Reformed Dutch
Church, and the Rev. Dr. Spring, of the Brick Presbyterian
Church, each of whom, in turn, seemed tb suppose that the
Catholic religion was the subject of discussion, and commented
on its tenets with all the zeal of partisans. When all had ended,
the bishop rose to reply. Summing up the real question, so
much lost sight of, he said : " It is the glory of this country, that

416

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

;

when it is found that a wrong exists, there is a power, an irre-
sistible power, to correct the wrong. They have represented us
as contending to bring the Catholic Scriptures into the Public
Schools. This is not true. They have represented us as ene-
mies to the Protestant Scriptures, ' without note or comment ;'
and on this subject I know not whether their intention was to
make an impression on your honorable body, or to elicit a sym-
pathetic echo elsewhere ; but whatever their object was, they
have represented that even here Catholics have not concealed
their enmity to the Scriptures. Now, if I had asked this hon-
orable board to exclude the Protestant Scriptures from the
schools, then there might have been some coloring for the cur-
rent 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
may be wrong, as you may be ; and, as you exercise your judg-
ment, be pleased to allow the same privilege to a fellow-being
who must appear before our common God, and answer for the
exercise of it. I wish to do nothing Uke what is charged upon
me ; that is not the purpose for which we petition this honor-
able board in the name of the community to which I belong.
I appear here for other objects ; and if our petition be granted,
our schools may be placed under the supervision of the public
authorities, or even of commissioners to be appointed by the
Public School Society ; they may be put under the same super-
vision as the existing schools, to see that none of those phan-
toms, nor any grounds for those suspicions, which are as unchari-
table as unfounded, can have existence in reality. There is,
then, but one simple question — Will you compel us to pay a tax
from which we can receive no benefit, and to frequent schools
which injure and destroy our religious rights in the minds of our
children, and of which in our consciences we cannot appro\'e ?

4'<

IN THE UNITED STATES.

417

That is the simple question."* He then, in a most able speech,
answered all his opponents, legal and clerical, and showed con-
vincingly that not a solitary principle laid down by him, or laid
down in the petition, had been refuted by them, and that there-
fore there must be something powerful in the plain, unsophisti-
cated, simple statement of the petition, when all the reasoning
brought against it had left it just where it was before.

Simple as lue petition of the Catholics was — that their schools
conforming to the law should enjoy a share in the public moneys
monopolized by the Public School Society, a Protestant institu-
tion which ignored the law — the question was misstated in the
hall of the Common Council, and has been misre^ resented a
thousand times. The fact that the Catholics proposed to sub-
ject their schools to State supervision, and conform the teaching
to the State requirements, is perpetually overlooked, and the
charge that Catholics asked the exclusion of the Bible repeated
in a thousand shapes. The question was no longer before the
tribunal of justice; it had been evoked before that of prejudice
— what wonder that the petition of the Catholics was rejected?
But the blow had been struck : the fact was clear that the
Catholic bishop had met triumphantly the best array of legal
and clerical talent in the city, and though the Common Council
might decide against him, the whole country beheld him with
admiration.f

The Catholics had anticipated the result ; but the step taken
was necessary before submitting the case to the Legislature of
the State. In due time petitions were forwarded, signed by a
large number of citizens. Catholics and Protestants, natives as
well as foreigners. The prayer of this petition was received fa-
vorably, because it seemed to be but reasonable and just. A

* Report, p. 4.

t Bayley, Sketch of the Catholic Church, 111.
18*

•^v

418

THE CATHOLIC CHUBCH

bill was drawn up which passed the Assembly, but at the close
of the session was lost in the other house ! All now looked for-
ward to the next Legislature ; and no calumny that ingenuity
could devise was left untried to prejudice the popular mind
against the Catholics, and to lead to a resistance to any change
in the law. As the election drew nigh, the opponents of free
education called on voters to require the candidates of both po-
litical parties to pledge themselves to refuse the prayer of the
petitioners. The candidates of the Whig party did so; the
candidates of the Democratic party, to which the great mass of
the Catholics belonged, did so ; and the Catholics saw an elec-
tion approach, at which every candidate, without waiting for a
discussion in the legislative halls, had decided to deny them jus-
tice. No alternative was lefL. Those who asked schools free from
sectarian bias — where teachers should not be allowed to attack
any creed, where no school-books should slur on any church,
where neither Protestant nor Catholic Bible should be forced on
those who disowned it — resolved to adopt a new and indepen-
dent ticket. As the bishop well remarked, " they would deserve
the injustice and degradation of which they complained, if they
voted for judges publicly pledged beforehand to pass sentence
against them."*

This step, totally unexpected by the Democratic party, which
counted the Catholics as its willing slaves, left them in a minor-
ity, and they were totally defeated. The election showed the
numerical force of the Catholics, and the Whigs now sought to
gain, the Democrats to recall them. All the politicians who had
scorned the petitions of the Catholics became suddenly sensible
that the old school law was very defective, and before long a
new act was passed, erecting ward-schools on a far more equita-

* See the whole matter in the important and interesting debate on the
claim of the Catholics to a portion of the Common School Fund. New York,
1840.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

419

lose

for-

uity

aind

ange

free
bpo-
f the
; the
ass of

elec-

for a
im jus-
se from

attack
;hurch,
reed on
idepen-
deserve

if they
lentence

|r, which
minor-
red the

Lught to
irho had
sensible
long a

le equita-

ite on tbe
lew York,

ble basis. " Experience has since shown," says Bislitop Bayley,
" that the new system, though administered with as much fair-
ness and impartiality as could be expected under the circum-
stances, is one which, as excluding all religious instruction, is
most fatal to the morals and religious principles of our children,
and makes it evident that our only resource is to establish
schools of our own, where sound religious knowledge shall be
imparted at the same time with secular instruction."

We have seen in Philadelphia how this question, distorted
and misrepresented, was made by fanatics the means of organiz-
ing a new political party, which, under the name of Native
Americans, for a time carried the elections, and left as monu-
ments of its history, riots, rebellion, murder, devastation, and
sacrilege. Then and since, whenever it has been the policy of
the fanatic to fan the flame of ignorant bigotry, the conduct of
the bishop has been made the subject of misrepresentation and
accusation. In his letter to the Hon. James Harper, Native
American mayor of the city in 1344, he says, and defies contra-
diction : " I have never asked or wished that any denomination
should be deprived of the Bible, or such version of the Bible as
that denomination conscientiously approved in our common
schools. I have never reqi isted or authorized the blackening of
the public school books in the city of New York." Charged
with intriguing with political parties, he denied it absolutely,
and says : " When no alternative was left to fhe people, long de-
prived of the rights of education, but to vote for candidates
bound by pledges to deny them justice and even refuse them a
hearing, and this on the very eve of the election, I urged them
with all the powers of my mind and heart to repel the disgust-
ing indignity of this stratagem. I told them to cut their way
through this circle of fire, with which the opponents of the
rights of education narrow-mindedly and ungenerously sur-
rounded them. I told them that they would be signing and

420

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

sealing their own degradation if they voted for men pledged to
refuse them even the chance of justice. But then no party — no
individual of any party — had any thing to do with the prompt-
ing of this advice but myself. It sprang from my own innate
sense of duty — my own conception of the rights of a constituency
in a free government."

Such is in brief the history of the famous School Question in
New York — a question simple in itself, but which Providence
permitted to be the instrument of evoking to life and strength
the dormant hatred of' Catholicity slumbering in the bosom of
American Protestantism. The words of freedom and equality
had been repeated till they were actually supposed to exist ; but
when Catholics sought to make them realities, they found that
they were mere conventional symbols, names of political myths.

The bishop's labors for education were n(rt limited to this.
Like his venerable prelate, he sought to erect a college, and ad-
vanced rapidly the arrangements of St. John's College at Ford-
ham, which he had purchased in 1839. To his great consolation
and the joy of the Catholics of his diocese, it opened on the 24th
of June, 1841, the Rev. John M'Closkey, the present Bishop of
Albany, a graduate of Mount St. Mary's, and universally esteemed
for his talents, prudence, and amiableness, being the first presi-
dent. Under his administration it soon acquired a name which
it has ever preserved. He was soon, however, succeeded by the
able and learned Dr. Ambrose Manahan, one of the most emi-
nent clergymen in the United States, and then by the Rev. John
Harley, a man peculiarly fitted for his post, who introduced an
admirable system of study and discipline, and won in a singular
degree the affection and esteem of the pupils.

The same year that beheld the opening of this new college
saw rise beside it a beautiful building for the theological semi-
nary of the diocese — another fruit of the zealous labors of the
bishop. This institution hoR over since continued in a flourishing

IN THE UNITED STATES.

421

college

setni-

lof tbe

condition, having in 1845, when the college, as we shall see,
passed into the hands of the Fathers of the Society of Jesus, re-
ceived professors of that celebrated Order, under whose zealous
care nearly fifty priests have been formed to the ecclesiastical
state.

The introduction of a religious Order capable of giving the
highest order of education to young Catholic maidens was an-
other object of the zealous prelate, and he succeeded in obtaining
from the Ladies of the Sacred Heart a colony of their Order.
The Sisters selected by the Mother-general of the Order arrived
in 1841, and, founding a house of their Order, immediately
opened an academy at the comer of Houston and Mulberry
streets, in the building now occupied by the Sisters of Mercy,
Of the origin of this society we have spoken elsewhere, as well
as of their rules and system of education, both based on the ad-
mirable discipline of the Society of Jesus. The Superior of the
community who founded the convent in New York — now be-
come the mother house of the province, or vicariate of the North
— was Madame Elizabeth Gallitzin, whose history we cannot but
insert. Born in Russia, of that princely family which had given
the American Church one apostle, she was brought up in the
Greek Church, although her mother had secretly embraced the
Catholic faith — a circumstance of which she was not aware until
her fifteenth birthday. On the morning of that day, her mother
having called her into her private apartment, disclosed to her the
secret of her religion. The communication deeply aflBiicted the
young Elizabeth, and, withdrawing from her mother's presv^nce,
she wept bitterly at what she considered a heinous crime. After
some time she began to reflect upon the causes that had led to
her mother's change, and unable to discover any other, she con-
cluded it must have been owing to the influence of the Jesuits,
several of whom visited the house. Filled with the deepest
anxiety, she said to herself, " If these hypocrites have so seduced

r 1":tn. (^r-

422

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

my excellent and prudent mother, what effect will not their influ-
ence have on me !" and she recalled to mind with terror that one
was actually her preceptor in the Italian tongue. She sought
with earnestness a protection against the dangers by which she
felt herself surrounded, and a sudden thought flashing upon her
mind, she resolved to write a solemn oath never to change her
religion, and to recite it daily. Having done this she was more
composed, and retiring to rest, slept, as she herself expresses it,
" better than usual." From this time the tone of her existence
seemed changed. Her mother's fearful secret, the discovery of
which involved exile or death, hung heavily upon her mind, and
though during the daytime she appeared gay, at night she
watered her couch with tears. Deference for her mother and
fear of wounding feelings sacred in her eyes, however mistaken
and criminal she might consider them, imposed likewise a re-
straint upon her intercourse with their Jesuit visitors, and par-
ticularly her preceptor. The latter was in the habit of presenting
her pictures, rosaries, etc., and though her very soul loathed
these emblems of Catholic faith, yet through affection for her
mother she accepted them.

To a mind like hers, this appearance of deceit, however justi-
fiable in its motives, was intolerable. She finally resolved to re-
turn her preceptor his gifts, with a note explaining her reasons,
and she did so, after submitting the note to her mother, for not-
withstanding her repugnance, she never forgot the respect due
her parent.

Some months after, her Italian preceptor having died, her
mother requested her to attend the funeral service. Elizabeth
consented, though unwillingly. As she entered the church she
seemed to hear an interior voice say, " You hate the Catholics,
but you will one day be a Catholic yourself." This thought so
distressed her that she wept bitterly. Still the dictates of her
naturally noble heart soon reminded her that it was wrong to

r f

IN THE UNITED STATES.

423

indulge feelings of hatred against any one. Conscience re-
proached her for her dislike of Catholics and Jesuits, and falling
on her k les, she poured forth fervent prayers for them.

Another incident painful to her heart soon occuned. One of
her near relatives became a Catholic. Elizabeth was much
grieved, but with characteristic generosity forbore to censure in
any manner her cousin's conduct. "She thinks her course
right," said she, " and therefore I commend her for acting as she
has done." This lady, in a conversation with the princess, pressed
her to read some books whose titles she mentioned, and even
presented her with one, oflfering to send her the others whenever
she should desire them. Elizabeth took the book through cour-
tesy, but replied to the oflfer, that being thoroughly convinced of
the truth of her religion, she did not anticipate having any need
of information concerning other creeds. These were her words
in the morning; the ensuing night beheld her a Catholic in
heart and truth.

Returning home, for the first time she hesitated to renew her
oath — that oath which for twelve months no weariness could in-
duce her to omit. A feeling of its rashness came over her; she
paused ere she knelt to repeat the solemn words — a powerful
grace was busy in her heart. She laid the paper aside and re-
tired to rest. Tumultuous and various thoughts agitated her ;
she could not sleep, and finally rising from her restless couch,
her eyes fell upon the book presented her in the morning. She
opened it ; nor had she read many pages before the full light of
truth beamed upon her — she fell upon her knees — she was a
Catholic.

But arguments were necessary to meet the objections that
would be urged against her faith. She hastily wrote the follow-
ing words to her cousin : " Send me your books — pray for me,
and hope." Some hours after she was summoned to meet her
mother, to whom she had yet to communicate her joyful secret.

424

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Her fiill heart was relieved by a flood of tears, amid which she
poured forth to her rejoicing parent the recital of all that had
passed within her during that eventful night.

The young princess had received from God a favor, great in-
deed, but his mercy in her regard did not stop here. She heard
the voice of his grace speaking to her heart, and calling her to
his spouse. Long years, however, elapsed before she could re-
spond, the czar obstinately refusing permission to leave the coun-
try ; and it was not till the age of thirty that she was free. She
then immediately offered herself to the Society of the Sacred
Heart, and was received into the Roman novitiate, where she
edified all by her fervor and exact fidelity to the rules.

After her profession she discharged with great prudenf^e many
high offices in the S ./ciety, and was finally sent by the Superior-
general to America as Visitatrix of the Order. Two special ob-
jects were also intrusted to her zeal and care — the foundation of
the house at New York, and of the Pottowatamee mission. The
former, by the aid and encouragement of the worthy bishop, she
soon accomplished ; and having seen the academy frequented by
pupils of the highest order, she set out for the West, and by long
and laborious journeys reached the Pottowatamee village. There
her indomitable energy and the grace of Him to whom she had
devoted her life, and for whose interest she labored, triumphed
over every obstacle. This mission still exists, the work of predi-
lection of the Order.

Madame Gallitzin then proceeded to visit the houses of her
Order in the South, and twice sailed from Paris to New Orleans
in the discharge of her duties, edifying all by her piety, her inex-
haustible charity, and readiness to serve others. Ever forgetful
of herself she endeavored in her humility to conceal her great
talents ; but her hfe, a living picture of religious virtues, only
showed them a clear relief. On arriving at St. Michael's, in
Louisiana, in the latter part of the year 1843, two of the Sisters

muni

fined,

vanta^

.the es

they (

they h

city its

speak 1

been m

easily v

cultivat

elegant

almost r

parish s<

The I

which re

invited h

dies in t:

their spec

i"elieved t

IN THB UNITM) STATES. ,„.

were attacked by the yellow fev„, m .

good mothe, nhhough i 7 ."'"''""'' °«"''^'°. '*« .

nursed them herself, /„d yfeSto T"^ ,"""" " »'"'* f--.
ease, passed on the 8th of Decel!l"' "'fl'"^ "^ " '^"■«' dis-
fesfval of her Xm,„ao„la.„ C„u^ "tion ^^'■''"' '''"' ""■'y "'«

Heart of which she had bee'1 1 ","'"°" "'"' """ Sacred
on earth. ^^ '" "l^^'ed an adorer „„d servant

Her singular enero-v nf h
i- conveying i„st.u„fL' her'l"' 'T ^^ ''" ''"«"'- "Wli.y
- W solid virtues and e'x lEtir ^'^ """-' "' -"
graven on the hearts of her Sisto '' °"« ''''"'''■' »-

-nityowesi.. -te„irir,3^ 77 f-'^ey, that the -»
fi»ed, they removed to vlstoria *"''='"'■"& ">« oity too con-
vantages, and in 1846 the ladi.I ""''''^ '"«' "» <i«ad-
l^ estate of the ,ate ^l trilrL'Tr ^' '" -^'-
tiiey established themselves in T .*"'"'"''"""«• ''•'ere
tiey have founded a new consent in' .""^ ^"'^ "'»- "'»■'
"ty itself, and houses at Albany an B!ffT''r'r'"''' ■" "■«
»Peak hereafter. Their efforts^ ,2 "" °' "'''"'' "* suall
been most successful, and the nli "T" "^ education have
easily vocations to the rdilns T , ""*'"'" '"'<'- ''o-
""'tivated. Their labors rn;conrTr"r' ''^'^ "'s'" >«
elegant academies to which weT '" """•'■'^""■o" "f «>«

almost maintain gratuitous schol Z. '''" *""''^<'' «>ey
parish schools in the city ' ^ '^"•^"' "»<' "^ 'he largest

.-S?,;S,'r srCE^r- -at wants unde.
■fW his attention. Zn^Zfl'^" t*- -oessities now
-*« in this city was con^de""w^a„1 r"": ''"" «^™» Cath-
">- special use. Fortuna y t th s . "'" ""'^ "'^^^^ f-
'■'■■eved the bishop of one of hesldM r" "'"'"^ ""« "••»

these difficulties, and reared a shrino

426

cJf'

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

for the exclusive use of the Catholics of France in the city of New
York. The Germaim were the next object of the solicitude of
the Bishop of New York. Wo have seen the zeal of the Rev.
Mr. Raft'finer in erecting the church of St. Nicholas; in 1839 he
also reared that of St. John the Baptist in Thirtieth-street, but
difficulties ensued, and the bishop sought to obtain a religious
Order who would accept the mission and devote themselves to
it. He applied to the Rev. Father Alexander, Superior of the
Redemptorists at Baltimore, who, in 1842, sent Father Gabriel
Rumpler to take charge of the Church of St. Nicholas ; but as
the trustees would not cede the house to the Order, Father
Rumpler purchased lots in Third-street, where the Society erect-
ed a convent and schools, with a temporary chapel, replaced in
1853 by that noble pile, the Church of the Most Holy Redeemer,
in which the offices of religion are performed with a pomp and
display most consoling to the hearts of the exiled Germans.

The Redemptorists of New York have also erected the Church
of St. Alphonsus for the use of the Germans in the lower part of
the city, and have another house in Buffalo. Although devoted
in a special manner to the use of the German Catholics, they
were, through the excellent Father Rumpler, instrumental in
bringing into the Church a number of young Episcopalian semi-
narians, whom the Tractarian movement had led to the study of
Catholicity. Of these, Mr. Arthur Carey was considered the
leader ; and so notorious were his Catholic views, that when
the Protestant Bishop Onderdonk was about to ordain him, two
of the attendant clergymtjn protested against any such mockery
as ordaining a minister of their body one who held that the
decrees of the Council of Trent were binding. Mr. Carey was
ordained, but died soon after in Cuba, without having embraced
the truth ; for one link had been wanting, and that was devotion
to Mary. Many of the other seminarians were now removed 01*
retired, but their course was not clear before them. One of

'N THE „N,TED 8TATM.
them »|),,|iod to Fatl.^H p , '

•"™*« '.i» ,-•.„,„ :;:,,,''::''';:;;';■<'. "'-''"' ■•■■ « «- -

"- "«^--'y "f saving Lis „„',"T' '" "'"'-•I' ''" «tood,
forts for tl,„t c,„l ol^; •"'"""■^''«'''-'-'yof„,i, •

t e.r abjuration. Anxiou, t„ dZ. ,1 " r"*-"'"™' '■«''-•-«•'
o< «od ,„ l,i, ci,„„l, several o. ,1 ' "-'T """ '" "'« »«"■"«"
order, and proceeded to Boll! , ^'^'" "^■"'^''"' "'to the

A"er their ordination, „o,t, Car T"" """'^ "-'"'"«•
'""'od to the United States' Ithe A '" *""■""' ''"•-• ■•«■

order, and there are a suflicic" , ..tr'T""". '""" '■"""'••'' "'^'
the manner of St. Alphonl . r '''° ""■'»'°»«. ""er

"'-fy. The ,„ost eminen j-t"'"" ™'"" ?""» »'' «-
^«the,.r.T.Heeker,antl,orof"Q r; ""':'" "'"W"'™ are
^- Howit, translator of the 'J TT "' "'" ^'°"''' R'tl-er

Father Wal.onh, son of l,a,fch: ', ° '^"'"=^"' ""--g'-,"
Yo.t, the eo,npi,er of the "iW^'Tt"' °'"" '""» "''N-
: :» ^^P'^'- - the United ^^^L^T^^l^' ^'"•- I>e3hon,
missions ,s evident, and the calls Z2' r ? '"""^"'J' "^ ^''•'h
t «y can meet; Others will, ho:;"""." .'''"■^'" "^ --ore than

»'e»ti- 'h„s called to this meal o/;'"'" "'""""' "'«' th"
-- of the Jesuits, Lazari ts fnd oth""!i^ "' '"'"'• *« ""-
«ew development. ^ ^ °*<"' "'■''^'^ "fe aeqniring a

The young seminarians of whom w. i,

""'y convert, p.,d„ced by the "lel^TnT"'" '^^"'^ "»' '""^

■"o-ement. Some account of this 17 , " ^''"'^™''

""mber of the clergymen and n, '"'' ""^"^^d ^cre. A

of the Fathers, becfle onvtc , Z' ,t ^^'"^''' "^ *<' ^^"i

fi'W error, bnt hoped to slow !u *' ^"'■"^''tion was I

^"" « pan of the'chu^h c'h;^ ?/"?'r «'-'' was
. ___J^«hohc^,„,ght resume much

^ners, were among the semi-

428

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

that had been, as they would have it, not rejected, but merely
lost sight of in times of trouble. The antiquity of the Mass
was evident, with its doctrine of transubstantiation ; the power
in the Church of forgiving sins no less so. A host of other Cath-
olic dogmas were in the same position. To prepare the public
mind to resume these points, and to cut oflf Anglicanism from
all connection with the continental reformers, these Oxford di-
vines began, in 1833, to issue a series of tracts, and at the same
time published many devotional works drawn from Catholic
sources, with translations of our ascetical works, and lastly, a
most beautiful series of lives of the early English Saints. At
the same time, they attempted to restore the monastic orders and
Catholic ascetic'sra.

Their publications excited great attention both in England and
this country, from the singular ability of the writers, among
whom were Dr. Pusey, Professor of Hebrew, Keble, Faber, New-
man, Froude, Dalgairns, Oakley, and Ward ; and in all parts a
party arose, which were often styled Puseyites, from the apparent
leader of the movement. The series of tracts went on till the
ninetieth appeared, in 1841, which was an attempt to show that
the Thirty-nine Articles, properly understood, were not at vari-
ance with the decrees of the Council of Trent, and that they
were no bar to a union with Rome. So strange a theory roused
a storm of discussion ; the tracts were stopped, pamphlet after
pamphlet appeared on the question.* In fact, the culminating
point had arrived, and the Oxford divines were compelled to
forego their ground, and become Protestants, to remain Angli-
can, or submit to the Holy See, in order to be really Catholic.
In consequence, many clergymen who had embraced their views,
became Catholics in the following years, and in 1845 the Rev.
John Henry Newman, the leader of the movement, and author

* Cardinal Wiseman^s Eaeays, ii. 265.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

429

of the celebrated tract, with the Rev. William George Ward,
author of the " Ideal of a Christian Church," Rev. Frederick
Oakley, Rev. Robert A. Coffin, and Rev. Frederick W. Faber,
authors of many of the Lives of the English Saints, and the last
a most beautiful and accomplished poet, were received into the
Catholic Church. Every mail brought to America the names of
new converts among the clergy, and lists of eminent laymen
who followed their teachers. In this wonderful season of God's
grace and mercy in England, some thousands were won to the
faith. As the Metropolitan of Halifax well observed, " Innu-
merable souls, which had long flitted over the deluge of unbelief,
have happily returned to the Ark of rest. The tempest-tost, who
were ' carried about by every wind of doctrine,' have at length
found the divine security of Peter's bark. Egypt has been de-
spoiled, and the People of God are enriched with the most valu-
able treasures. Their great champions and noblest ornaments
we have made captives of faith, and docile members of God's
Holy Church. Their most learned doctors, with all the edifying
simplicity of little children in Christ, have descended from their
chairs, and, seated at His feet, have begun to learn the very rudi-
ments of the science of salvation, in His school of humility and
meekness. And these marvellous changes, these magnificent in-
tellectual triumphs, have been achieved by sound arguments from
reason and Scripture, aided by divine grace ; most certainly not
by bribes, coercion, or any species of physical force. And it is
not alone the poor, the lowly, the simple, the untitled and ob-
scure : no ; but the rich, the noble, the learned, the pious, the
truly honest, have been converted; men whose great sacrifices
are the surest test of the depth of their convictions, and the un-
impeachable sincerity of their motives."*

With the progress of the movement in England, that in

* Most Rev. William Walsh, Pastoral for Lent, 1851.

iipl

PMHiil

430

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

America kept pace. The Tractarian ideas found a warm advo-
cate in the Right Rev. L. S. Ives, the Protestant Episcopal Bishop
of North Carolina, and more moderate ones in the two Onder-
donks, Bishops respectively of New York and Philadelphia, but
a sturdy opponent in Bishop Mcllvaine, of Ohio, who published
a large octavo work to refute the Catholic ideae put forward by
the Oxford divines. They found a defender in Van Brugh Liv-
ingston, Esq., a layman of the Episcopal Church, who, in a work
on Oxford divinity, maintained their opinions.

In all parts of the country, clergjrmen began to introduce the
Oxford ideas ; and Bishop Ives founded the Brotherhood of the
Holy Cross, one community of which was at Valley Crucis, a
wild and beautiful spot in Ashe county, in the northwest corner
of North Carolina. Here, in a most neglected part of the coun-
try, a few clergymen and devout laymen observed a community
life, laboring for their own sanctification, and, by preaching and
visits to the surrounding country, endeavoring to contribute to
the salvation of souls. In other parts, clergymen exhorted to
confession, and endeavored to restore the sacrament of pen-
ance.

Such matters soon excited the attention of the Conventions,
bodies part clerical, part lay, which rule each diocese in the
Episcopal Church of the United States. The Bishop of Phila-
delphia resigned; his brother in New York was tried on a
charge of improper conduct, and suspended from the adminis-
tration of his diocese ; the Bishop of North Carolina was ar-
raigned, but his explanations for a time appeased his opponents,
although the Brotherhood was dissolved.* When, however,
Mr. Newman and the other leaders actually abjured Protestant-
ism, their example was followed in America ; and a still in-
creasing number of Episcopal clergymen have embraced the

* Hecker, Questions of the Soul, 84.

;■- :■lc^:r^:

IN THE UNITED STATES.

433

faith : among whom may be mentioned the Rev. William H.
Hoyt, a deacon in Vermont ; the Rev. J. R. Bay ley, now Bishop
of Newark ; Rev. J. M. Forbes, and his assistants, the Rev. Messrs.
William Everett, Donald McLeod, and Thomas Preston ; the Rev.
Ferdinand White, Rev. J. V. Huntington, Rev. Mr. Wadhams, Rev.
Mr. Wheaton, all in New York ; Rev. Mr. Major, in Philadelphia ;
and lastly, Dr. Ives, the Bishop of North Carolina, whose long
hesitation was compensated by his noble submission, by which,
as he justly remarks, he " abandoned a position in which he had
acted as a minister of the Protestant Episcopal Church for more
than thirty years, and as a bishop of the same for more than
twenty, and sought late in life admission as a layman into the
Holy Catholic Church, with no prospect before him, but sim-
ply peace of conscience and the salvation of his soul." The
greatness of the sacrifice which he was called upon to make may
well be conceived, and we cannot but bless the Almighty for the
abundance of the grace which enables those whom He called to
triumph over every human consi4eration, and early prejudice.
Dr. Ives was received into the Church in 1853, and ^proceeding
to Rome, laid at the feet of the Holy Father the insignia of his
episcopal rank. Such was the Tractarian movement, vhich has
given to the Church in England and America some of the no-
ble^^ of its clergy, and most talented of its writers.* We
must, however, return to the diocese of New York, and its
progress.

The German Catholics had been provided for by the zeal of
the Redemptorists ; but the French were still without a church
for their special use. We have elsewhere spoken of the mis-
sions preached in the United States and Canada by the Bishop
of Nancy, Monseigneur de Forbin Janson. His first apostolic
labors were devoted to the inhabitants of Louisiana and Canada ;

* Ives, Trials of a Mind, l»j, H.

432

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

but on his arrival at New York, in Febraary, 1841, the prelate
opened a spiritual retreat in St. Peter's Church, and in a sermon
on the 10th of April, proposed to the French residents of New
York the erection of a church, to be attended by priests of their
own tongue. " In this great city," said he, " where the Irish and
German Catholics have recoiled from no sacrifice to have their
own churches and priests, how is it that *he French, so famous
for the faith of their fathers, alone remain indifferent ? They
are wanting both to the high interest of their salvation, and to
those of their nationality. How, in fact, can this nationality be
long preserved in a foreign land, without the powerful bond of
religion ? This church," he concluded, " is ardently desired by
Bishop Hughes, the holy and talented administrator of the dio-
cese, for which he expects great benefits from it. What a pow-
erful recommendation !"

It is certain that at this time a part of the French residents
of New York lived in great religious indifference. They might,
indeed, have fre,^<uented the various Catholic churches which the
city possessed, but the dread of an English sermon was a sufficient
pretext for many to remain away from the offices of the Church.
There exists in the city a Protestant church founded by Hugue-
not refugees in 1*704, nineteen years after the revocation of the
edict of Nantes. The pastor of this had profited by the apathy
of some of his countrymen, to draw them to his church, where
they were charmed to hear French spoken. He performed their
marriages, baptized their children, so that ere long families ori-
ginally Catholic became inpf^nsibly Protestant, in order to remaiii
French. It was therefore nighly necessary to give a church to
a population menaced with a loss of faith. The manly eloquence
of the Bishop of Nancy had drawn crowds of French aroand
his pulpit ; his appeal aroused his hearers, and the next day a
large meeting of the French resolved upon the erection of a
church, appointing a committee to receive subscriptions. The

;7 Virf^^yswj ir7-,v-^-5.

Ti'T^'Vir-^mfr'

■^.'.v;*!^,'^''

-:';j-p

IS THE UNITED STATES.

433

committee soon purchased the site of the Church of the Annun-
ciation, a Protestant church then recently destroyed by fire, and
on the 11th of October, 1841, the Consul-general of France, Mr.
de la For6t, laid the coiiier-stone.

The generous Bishop of Nancy did more than support, by his
eloquence, the work which he b-^d inspired : he lent six thou-
sand dollars to aid in constructing the church, and subsequently
bestowed thp principal on the diocese. The Association for the
Propagation of the Faith has several times made important do-
nations, and by these different resources the French church was
erected. Since 1842, the Rev. Annet Lafont has been the zeal-
ous pastor. He belongs to the Institute of the Fathers of
Mercy, of which the founder in France was Father Rau-
zan; and it is to be hoped that the church will still be
confided to some zealous congregation, if the will of His
Holiness remove Mr. Lafont from the theatre of his labors.
If this church owes much to the Association for the Propagation
of the Faith, it now contributes to the common work of the mis-
sions, and for several years the French Catholics have responded
to the appeals of the American bishops in favor of the work.
St. Vincent's Church is the organ of communication of some of
the other churches also ; and we find that in 1855, with the
churches of St. Peter and the Nativity, it remitted over fifteen
hundred dollars to the General Council of the Association.* In
order to make the society known, the Rev. Mr. Lafont delivers
an English sermon on the feast of St. Francis Xavier, which is
attended by thousands, and is always followed by the formation
of new decades. Ere long, we trust that none of the churchtc
in the large cities will forbear to join in this irovement, and, by
forming decades of members of the Association, help to swell

♦ Proceedings of the Board of Trustees of the Church of St. Vincent de
Paul.

484

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

by their alms a treasury which has given so much to the atrug-
gling missions of the United States.

This is not the only work in which the French Church is in-
terested, and which has been established by the zeal of its pastor.
To liim New York is indebted for the Brothers of the Christian
Schools, whom he introduced to direct his male paT-ish school,
and who have since extended so rapidly. The church has also a
free school, where eighty girls receive an excellent education,
and the Ladies' Benevolent Association annually raises the funds
necessary for its suppbrt. Like the similar association ir the
other churches, these ladies also visit the sick and relieve the
poor ; but none equals in zeal and extent of its labors that under
the patronage of the apostle of charity. j

The Church of St. Vincent de Paul is also the rendezvous of
the missionaries and sisters of various orders arriving from France,
invited by our bishops, and who are overjoyed to find a priest of
their own land to guide and direct them in a country where all is
new and strange. Father Lafont receives his fellow-missionaries
with the most cordial hospitality, and takes every pains to serve
them ; but his rectory is more confined than his generosity, and
this leads us to remark, that, considering the numbers of priests
and sisters who arrive at New York from Ireland, France, Ger-
many, and Italy, on their way to various parts of Canada and
the United States, one of the greatest wants is a good hotel kept
by a Catholic, where French and German should be spoken.
Such a hotel, approved by the episcopacy of the Uir'ted States,
might welcome these pious im: migrants on their arrival iV l Eu-
rope, pass their baggage from the Custom-house, give them infor-
mation as to the city and country, and put them on their route
to their different destinati'^ns. In this, the modesty of religious
women consecrated to God would be spared many affronts ; tlieir
poverty, heavy expenses ; their confidence, much imposition. As
it is, these good sisters are often abandoned on a wharf, amid an

■^ ■ "WT'T' i-Mi-wir:)^

IN THE UNITED STATES.

435

indifferent or scornful crowd, then bewildered by the vulgar run-
ners, who seek to lead them to low houses, or to sell them spu-
rious tickets. For many, the first hours in America are a mar-
tyrdom, such as they had never painted to themselves in their
most fervent contemplations.

The example set by the French in New York has been imita-
ted in other parts of the State and in Vermont, so that many of
the cities now possess churches, where the Catholic of France
may hear in his own tongue the religious instruction to which he
has been accustomed.

The Bishop of New York, having accomplished so much for
the well-being of his diocese, issued, on the 28th of July, 1842,
a circular letter convoking a diocesan synod, and after a spiritual
retreat at St. John's College, the clergy of the diocese of New
York met for the first time in synod, at St. Patrick's L^atliedral,
on Sunday, the 28th of August. " During the session, twenty-
three decrees were put forward in regard to various matters of
discipline, and the administration of the sacraments ; many prac-
tices, such as the baptism of infants in private houses, and others
of a similar nature, which had been permitted on account of the
exigencies of the timep ere entirely forbidden. The most strict
and salutary regulations were made in regard to secret societies,
and the manner of holding and administering ecclesiastical prop-
erty." At the close of the synod, the bishop, in a pastoral let-
ter, communicated to the people the result of their deliberations
and enforced the regulations. Following this up, he subsequently
issued a series of "Rules for the Administration of Churches with-
out Trustees," under which the property of the Church in the dio-
cese has been most advantageously managed, notwithstanding at-
tempts on the part of the State government to create such confu-
sion as would lead to its being sacrificed.*

* Bishop Bayley, Sketch of the Catholic Church, 116-18.

436

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

The extent of the diocese made it almost impossible ''or the
bishop to giv€^ his superintendence to all the rising churches and
institutions. He solicited a coadjutor, and the Rev. John McClos-
key, who had, as we have seen, been the first President of St.
'' jhn's College, and was at the time Pastor of St. Joseph's Church,
was, in 1844, appointed Bishop of Axiern, and Ci^adjutor of New
York. Two other of the clergy of New York were at the same
time raised to the episcopal dignity — the Rev. William Quarter,
long Pastor of St. Mary's, as Bishop of Chicago, and the Rev.
Andrew Byrne, Pastor of St. Andrew's, as Bishop of Little Rock.
The three prelates were consecrated on the 10th of March, 1844,-
by the Right Rev. Bishop Hughes, assisted by the Bishops of
Boston and Richmond. Bishop McCloskey at once entered on
his duties, and joined with his diocesan in all his plans for the
good' of the faithful. The eminent prelate himself was at this
time assailed by all the fanaticism which the periodical anti-
Catholic fever could evoke ; but while all was in desolation at
Philadelphia, the Bishop of New York, in a letter to the Mayor
** On the Tuoral causes which had produced the evil spirit of the
times," set the Catholic body, and himself as their pastor, so truly
and fairly before the public, that all unanimously condemned their
assailants. A striking proof of the respect entertained for the up-
rightness and ability of the illustrious Archbishop of New York is
found in the fact, that when the war with Mexico began to be
imminent, the Cabinet at Washington actually solicited him to
accept the embassy to Mexico, which the duties of his diocese,
and a feeling that the exigency of the case did not call him to
public life, compelled him to decline. Yet, had he been sent,
there can be but little doubt that his character and position
would have enabled him so to arrange existing difficulties as to
save both countries from a desolating war. No aspirant to po-
litical honors, he would have been but too happy to sacrifice
private convenience to the public good ; and so far was he from

•

IN THE

UNITED STATES.

437

seeking,

that he declined c

I high position, for which he deemed

80 many better fitted than himself.*

The interest which Catholicity takes in the country, and its at-
tachment to it, is evinced in its many benevolent institutions ;
and to refute the calumnies of its accusers, the bishop added one
more to the many with which he ':ad endowed his diocese. In
December, 1845, he proceeded to Europe, to procure, if possible,
Fathers of the Society of Jesus, Brothers of the Christian Schools,
and Sisters of Mercy. In both his applications he was success-
ful, and returning in the spring, prepared a house for the Sisters,
who arrived on the 15th of May, 1846. The object for which,
especially, the devoted pastor wished to secure them, was to es-
tablish a house in which young Catholic women, when out of
employment, might find a temporary refuge, where their inno-
cence would be out of danger. The Church had constantly to
mourn over the fall of many who, in these moments, were drawn
to places where, losing virtue, they entered a headlong course of
misery. The House of Protection has been of incalculable ser-
vice, and furnishes not only a shelter to innocence, but enables
families to obtain excellent servants; for during their stay, the
Sisters instruct them in the various departments for which they
are competent. Nor is this the only work of these good reli-
gious : they conduct a poor school for girls, visit the poor and
sick, and regularly attend at the New York City Prison, the no-
torious Tombs, where they instruct the unfortunate women de-
tained there, and use every endeavor to draw them to a life of
virtue. Criminals condemned to death are also objects of their
peculiar care, and that care has been rewarded by most extraor-
dinary and consoling conversions. The community of Sisters of
Mercy has extended to other cities, as we have before stated.f

* Maury, Statesmen of America, 243..

t Villanis, Cenni Istorici del Pi^greao del Cattolicismo negli Stati

Uniti, 89.

438

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

The Brothers of the Christian Schools arrived in October, but
as affairs were not satisfactorily arranged, their establishment was
for a time abandoned. '

In seeking to recall the Society of Jesus to New York, the
bishop wished especially to confide to their care the College of
St. John, which he had so firmly established, and which the Legis-
lature of the State incorporated on the 10th of April, 1846,
chiefly through the exertion of Hon. George Folsom, a gentleman
of literary acquirements, who, though elected by the Anti-Catho-
lic, would not stoop to any bigoted harassing of the Catholics,
such as has disgraced Massachusetts with regard to the College
of the Holy Cross.

The Jesuits of the Province of Paris, who had, in June, 1881,
begun a mission of their order in the diocese of Bardstown, at
the instance of the sainted Bishop Flaget, for many years
directed St. Mary's College, in Kentucky, and began a college
and church in Louisville.* Difficulties, however, compelled them
to withdnvw from the diocese; and as, in 1842, other Fathers of
their province, under the jurisdiction of Father Chazelle, the Su-
perior of the mission in Kentucky, had founded a house in Mon-
treal, and subsequently others in Upper and Lower Canada, those of
Kentucky sought to approach these, and in consequence of the
application of the Right Rev. Bishop Hughes, removed to the
diocese of New York, and assumed the charge of the College of
St. John. Father Chazelle, the Superior since the foundation of
the mission, died at Green Bay in 1845, while visiting the West-
ern missions, and the Rev. Clement Boulanger was appointed
Superior, and remained such till the year 1866.

The direction of the college and of the seminary, which was
confided to their care, did not satisfy the zeal of the Fathers :
they sought to establish a church and college in the city itself;

* Bishop Spalding, Life of Bishop Flaget, 270, 801.

' V

IN THE UNITED STATES.

489

and in 184*7, Father John Larkin having acquired a church for-
merly belonging to a Protestant congregation, opened it under
the title of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, and established in
connection with it an academy, the nucleus of a future college.
Scarcely, however, had the whole been successfully organized,
when a conflagration, the result of an accident, laid the building
in ashes. The Fathers immediately transferred their academy
to the basement of St. James Church, and subsequently to a
house in the Third Arenue ; but having, in 1860, under Father
John Ryan, purchased a site on Fifteenth-street, they began the
erection of a college, and with it of the new Church of St
Francis Xavier.* The college was completed in the summer
of 1860, and the Fathers entered it with their pupils in September.
Its plan of study is the same as that at St. John's, embracing a
full college course, with the usual preparatory classes ; and its
pupils are usually about two hundred in number.

Besides these two houses, the Fathers have in the State a
church at West Troy, and another at Buffalo, in all of which
they labor in the various objects of their institute. This mission
numbers in the various dioceses of New York and Canada thirty-
six Fathers and twenty scholastics.

While the Bishop of New York was thus increasing the
means of saving souls, he was almost deprived of the oldest re-
ligious body laboring among his flock. The Sisters of Charity
at Emmetsburg had long opposed the employment of members of
their order in male orphan asylums, and finally ordered the Sisters at
New York to resign the care of those which they had so long direct-
ed. In consequence of representations made, the Very Rev. Superior
of the Sisters addressed a circular to those in New Yorlc, author-
izing all who chose, to remain, and organize as a separate body.

* Bishop Bayley, Sketch of the Catholic Church on the Island of New
York, p. 128.

440

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Of the fifty Sisters at that time in the diocese, thirty-one remain-
ed; and on the 8th of December, 1846, the feast of the Immac-
ulate Conception of the Blessed Virgin, the Right Rev. Bisliop
Hughes constituted the Sisters of Charity in this diocese a local
community, under the title of Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent
of Paul — the Sisters adhering to the original constitutions, rules,
dress, and customs of the order, as founded by Mother Seton.
Since the Sisters of Emmetsburg have adopted the French dress
and rules, those of New York now represent the Society as
founded by Mother Seton. To add to their consolation, the
Holy Father has approved their organization, and granted them
all the faculties and privileges enjoyed by those at Emmets-
burg.

The mother-house of this body was fixed at Mount St. Vin-
cent, a delightful spot near Harlem, where the Sisters speedily
opened an academy, which has proved most beneficial to the
city, by the excellent education which it affords. They soon after
(in 1849) established in the cfty itself St. Vincent's Hospital, which
in one year accommodated nearly a thousand patients. Be-
sides these institutions, they direct six orphan asylums, and a
great number of free schools. The missionary establishments in
the States of New York and New Jersey dependent on Mount
St. Vincent number twelve ; besides which, there is one in the
province of Nova Scotia.*

Such was the state of Catholicity when, in 1847, the Holy
See, to the great joy of the prelate, divided his extensive dio-
cese, and committed the See of Albany to his able coadjutor.
Bishop McCloskey, and appointing to the new See of Buff'alo the
Rev. John Timon, of the Congregation of the Missions, who was
consecrated on the I7th of October, 1847, in the Cathedral

* Heroines of Charity (American ed.), p. 220. Villanis, Cenni Istoricl
del Progreso del Cattolicismo negli Stati Uniti, p. 40.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

441

Church of St. Patrick. By this division of the State, the Bishop
of New York retained as his diocese the city of New York, with
all the counties south of the forty-recond degree of north lati-
tude, and the portion of New Jerso}' previously dependent on his
See. While the newly appointed prelates proceeded to organize
the dioceses to which they had been called, he devoted himself
with greater zeal than ever to the improvement of the less exten-
sive district confided to his care.

We have seen how earnestly he had endeavored to plant
in his diocese the Brothers of the Christiun Schools, and how
unsuccessful his effort proved. Scarcely, however, had the di-
vision of the diocese been eflfeci'd, wh( ■. he w} consoled by
seeing them permanently introduced by the zp-iI ^nd persever-
ance of the Rev. Annet Lafont, who, overcoming the cSstacles
previously raised, establislu d this excell ;ib order firmly at New
York. In 1848 four Brothers commenced a house near the
Church of St. Vincent of Paul, in Canal-street, where they had
charge of three classes and an attendance of two hundred pupils.
So successfully did the Brothers conduct this school that its
numbers soon augmented, and in spite of their scanty accommo-
dations they were obliged to yield to the general wish, and
opened a select boarding-school. Other churches solicited mem-
bers to direct their parish-schools, and they soon had under their
charge those of the Cathedriu rvd of St. Mary's, St. Stephen's,
St. Joseph's, and of St. Francis Xavicr's, and even of some in
Brooklyn. Anxious to place them on a firm footing, the Most
Reverend Archbishop encouraged them to open an academy
near the city, to be in a manner the mother-house. The Acad-
emy of the Holy Infancy, near Manhattan ville, put in operation
in 1853, owes its existence to his devotedness, and crowns the
labors of the order. Here young lads, not intended for college,
are trained to virtue and the ordinary branches of an English
course — the necessity of such an institution being a great want

19*

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

near & large commercial city, where many parents seek to fit
their sons for commercial and not for professional pursuits.
The Brothers also direct a select academy in the city, and in
all their establishments count nearly two thousand pupils — the
number of Brothers being thirty-three.*

From the commencement of his administration the zealous
bishop had constantly multiplied the number of churches around
him, and freeing the older from debt, enabled them to erect
school-houses and meet other parochial wants. In 1850 the city
o^ New York alone contained nineteen churches, and the rest of
the diocese forty-seven, being twenty more than the whole State
contained at the time of his appointment. So important had
New York become that the Holy Father, by his brief of October
3d, 1850, erected it into an archiepiscopal See, with the Sees of
Boston, Hartford, Albany, and Buffalo as suffragans. The Most
Reverend Archbishop soon after proceeded to Rome and received
the pallium from the hands of the Holy Father.f

In a short time a new division was proposed, to lighten still
more the burden attached to the See of New York. Part of
New Jersey depended on it and part on the See of Philadelphia.
The Holy See deemed it now for the interest of religion to unite
the whole State of New Jersey under a bishop whose See was
fixed at Newark, and appointed as the first bishop, the Rev. James
Roosevelt Bayley, then secretary of the archbishop. The city of
Brooklyn, which had become one of the largest in America, was
also made a See, and conferred on the Very Rev. John Loughlin,
r'car-general of the diocese. The two prelates were consecrated
in St. Patrick's Cathedral, with the Rev. Louis de Goesbriand,
Pishop-elect of Burlington, by the Most Rev. Cajetan Bedini, pro-
nuncio of His Holiness, on the 30th of October, 1863.

* Sketch of the Christian Brothers in Catholic Herald, January 12, 1856.
U. S. Catholic Almanac, 1848-1856.
t Baylay, Sketch of the Catholic Church, p. 127.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

443

L2, 1856.

As these Sees were also in the province of New York, these
prelates attended in the ensuing year the first Provincial Council
of New York, which was opened on Sunday, the 1st of October,
1854, and closed on the following Sunday. The Fathers of the
Council were the Most Rev. John Hughes, Archbishop of New
York, presiding ; the Rt. Rev. John M'Closkey, Bishop of Albany ;
the Rt. Rev. John B. Fitzpatrick, Bishop of Boston ; the Rt. Rev.
John Timon, Bishop of BuflFalo ; the Rt. Rev. Bernard O'Reilly,
Bishop of Hartford; the Rt. Rev. John Loughlin, Bishop of
Brooklyn ; the Rt. Rev. James R. Bayley, Bishop of Newark ;
and Rt. Rev. Louis de Goesbriand, Bishop ot Burlington. Six
decrees were passed, expressing their devotion to the Holy See,
confirming and renewing the decrees of the Councils of Balti-
more. Besides these they made new and stringent regulations
as to church debts, urged on all the clergy the importance of the
education of the younger portion of their flocks, and regulated
the exercise of the ministry by clergy in other dioceses than
those for which they had obtained faculties.*

The meeting of the prelates, moreover, enabled them to de-
cide on many points of discipline of which the enforcement had
been delayed, and it was among other things resolved to enforce
the publication of banns, and to use every effort to establish the
Association for the Propagation of the Faith in their respective
dioceses. The pastoral letters issued by the Fathers of the
Council on the 8th of October, announced this determination,
and after reviewing the position in which Catholics were daily
assailed with charges of unfaithfulness to their country, urged
them to forbearance and obedience to the laws. " Should any
portion of the community assail you, as if you were unworthy to
be members of this free and enlightened republican government,
let your refutation of their calumnies be less in writings and in

• Concilium Neo Eboracense Primum, p. 20.

444

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

words than in deeds and actions. Your first d'ucy is supreme
loyalty to God and your holy faith. Your second — subordinate,
but in its own sphere equally supreme — loyalty to your country,
in all her vicissitudes of prosperity or adversity, if God should so
permit her to be tried. Next to your country, in this secondary
order, your families, your kindred, your neighbors, your friends
and enemies, your countrymen and all mankind." This letter
also urged on all the necessity of a proper and Catholic educa-
tion of the young, and wai'ned them against the idea so insidi-
ously kept up by the enemies of Catholicity, that every edition of
paper which circulated among Catholics was an organ for which
the Church or its prelates were responsible.

The decrees of the Council were approved by the Holy See on
the 9th of July, 1855, and the Holy Father, in his letter to the
prelates of the province, commended their zeal, and urged them
to unite in an endeavor to establish an American college or ec-
clesiastical seminary at Rome. " By its means," says the Holy
Father, " young men chosen by you, and sent for the hope of re-
ligion to this city, will grow liko Louder plants in a nursery, and
here imbued in piety and learning, will draw uncorrupted doc-
trine from its very source ; and learning the rites and sacred
ceremonies from the custom and manners of that Church which
is the mother and mistress of all, r.nd formed to the best disci-
pline, may on their return to their native land discharge with
success the duties of pastors, preachers, and teachers, edify by an
ex mplary life, instruct the ignorant, recall the erring to tlie
paths of truth and justice, and by the aid of solid learning, re-
fute the fallacies and silence the madness of designing men."

The wish of the Holy Father found an echo in the hearts of
the American Catholics, and one gentleman — the late Nicholas
Devereux, of Utica — proposed that a hundred of the more
wealthy Catholics should, by each subscribing a thousand dol-
lars, raise a fund to begin the college. The others will doubtless

.r If /-•'■: ^

IN THE UNITED STATES.

445

rts of
tholas
I more
dol-
Ibtless

scon present themselves ; if not, a general collection among the
Catholics will easily give the necessary means to give America
its representative college at Rome beside those of England, Ire-
land, France, and Germany.

Soon after the conclusion of the Provincial Council, the Most
Reverend Archbishop resolved to visit Rome in order to be pres-
ent at the definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Concep-
tion ; and with the Archbishops of New Orleans and Baltimore,
and the Bishops of Pittsburg, Buffalo, and Philadelphia, he had
the consolation of taking part in the solemnities of the auspicious
day.

During his absence the enemies of Catholicity, whom a period
of fanaticism had enabled to obtain an influential position in the
Le2^slature of the State, on a petition of the trustees of St. Louis
Church, Buffalo, without examination into its truth, without any
discussion of the question by committees, but exulting in a pre-
text which enabled them to hide their desire of overthrowing
Catholicity under the mask of zeal for the public good, pagsed
a law concerning church property in open violation of common
sense, common honesty, and constitutional rights. Assuming
that the majority of the Legislature are the owners of all real
and personal property in the State, and that the actual owners
are merely tenants at their pleasure, they enact^ed that all prop-
erty held by any person in any ecclesiastical office or orders
should, on his death, vest in the occupants or congregation using
it, if they were incorporated or would incorporate, and in default,
in the people of the State. Another clause provided that no
deed of property +o be used for divine worship should be legal
or have any force unless made to a corporation. By these ab-
surd enactments no individual can purchase a lot for a chapel,
and though he pay the value the deed is inoperative ; and if,
prior to the passing of the act, any individual owned property
used for divine worship, it would, on his death, pass not to his

446

THE CATHOLIC CHUBCH

heirs, but to any set of men to whom he might have let it, or
who had even intruded into it.*

The absurdity of the whole aflfair was, however, but a cloak to
the real desire of seizing the property of the Catholics or ham-
pering them in its use. '

Scarcely had the act passed the Senate when the Most Rev-
erend Archbishop returned from Europe, and having read the
strange documents, including petition, act, and the speeches
made in regard to it, deemed it due to himself to protest against
the false statements in regard to himself on which it was based.
These were chiefly an assertion in the petition of the trustees of
St. Louis Church that he had attempted to compel them to
convey the title of their church property to him, and an assertion
made by Erastus Brooks, editor of the .New York Express, and
member of the Senate, that the Archbishop of New York owned
property in the city of New York to an amount which he sup-
posed not much short of five millions of dollars. The plan of
the schemers was evident ; they wished to represent the Cath-
olic prelates as grasping at all property, and as already owners
of immense amounts.

The archbishop at once came forward and so completely re-
futed the trustees of St. Louis that they admitted that he never
had demanded the title of their property. Mr. Brooks attempted
to show that his assenion was well founded, and in a long series
of letters, full of abuse and old records, attempted to make good
his case ; but the archbishop followed him, step by step, and so
completely exposed the unjust" means used to pass the act, and
the intrinsic usurpations of the statute itself, as to destroy all the
advantage which the enemies c^ Catholicity wished to obtain.
In the letter closing the controversy he says: "This is, I think,

* See this ridiculous law in the Laws of the State of New York for 1856.
oh. 880.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

447

the first statute passed in the Legislature of New York, since the
Revolution, which has for its object to abridge the religious and
encroach on the civil rights of the members of one specitic reli-
gious denomination. Hitherto, when any denomination of
Christians in the State desired the modification of it^ laws afiect-
ing church property, the Legislature waited for their petitions to
that effect, took the same into consideration, and when there
was no insuperable objection, modified the laws so as to accom-
modate them to the requirements of the particular sect ov de-
nomination by whom the petition had been presented. Thus
the law of 1784, though still on the statute book, has become
practically antiquated and obsolete. From its odious and often
impracticable requirements, the Episcopalians, the Presbyterians,
the Methodists, the Dutch Reformed Church, the Quakers, and
perhaps others besides, have at various times solicited exemption
at the hands of the Legislature, and obtained special enactments
more in accordance with their faith and discipline respectively.
Now this antiquated law is the one which is revived, reinvigor-
ated, strengthened by provisions for contingent confiscation of
church property, and forced upon the Catholics of the State of
New York as suflSciently good for them. They had not peti-
tioned for it ; they did not desire it ; they will not have it, if
they can lawfully dispense with its enactments."

As this attempt on the rights of Catholics, and the discussion
which grew out of it, attracted grc-xt attention, the archbishop
publislied the controversy, with an introduction,*in which he re-
viewed the whole history of trusteeism in the United States, and
especially the evils which it had produced in St. Peter's Church,
the cradle of Catholicity in New York. The faithful have in-
deed been so thoroughly convinced of the miserie - that system,
that not a single congregation in any part of the State showed
the least approval of the conduct of the trustees of .1 Louis
Church, but all regarded the attack as an insidious attempt to

448

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

defraud them of the shrines which with so many sacrifices they
had reared to the service of Almighty God.*

While a great wrong was thus rneuitated, the archbishop was
consoled by the arrival of two now cc'onies oi religious women
to aid in the great cause of education. These wen) th^ Ursulines
and Sisters of the Holy C'voss. llie fo/ioer iv'ert-, av- we have
seen, no strangers in the d"*^cese, ti*eir order having been the
first to establish a covjrent in l^ew York — that, however, had
long been closed when this new colon} of the Paugl ters of St.
Angela Merici Appeared. It coi .sisted of elever; leligious, under
the ruidance of Mother Mafjda'en Stehlen, ho, on the 16th of
Ma}. 1855, founded at East Mornsania, in the county of West-
(1 ( fiter, tilt, eleventh house of their order which has existed in
flie Uuited States. These Ursulines came from a convent at St.
Louis, hi the State of Missouri, founded in the year 1848, through
the zeal and exertions of Mother Stehlen and two other Sisters,
who, with the permission of their diocesan, left the Ursuline con-
vent at Oedensburg, in Hungary, to labor in America. Joined
by other Gfirman Sisters from the convent of Landshut, in Ba-
varia, the house prospered rapidly, and in 1855 was enabled to
send a colony to New York, where, as elsewhere, they devote
themselves to the education of children of their own sex.f

The Sisters of the Holy Cross had a special object in view.
The orphan asylums at New York had been for years under the
direction of the Sisters of Charity^ who brought up the children
with a zeal and care beyond all praise ; but on aiT-fving at a cer-
tain age the children were bound out as apprentices, and many,
thus thrown upon an unfeeling world, were lost to religion and

* Brooksiana ; o. the controversy betwfso.n Senator Brooks and Archbishop
Hughes, grown out of the recently en- ' Church Property Bill ; with au
introduction by the Mo3t Eeverend A bop of New York. New Yoik.

■f- -• 9tropolitan Mtgazine, iv. V/t.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

449

tbey

,p was
/omen
mlines
I have
sen the
Br, had
\ of St.
I, under
16th of
f West-
isted in
it at St.
through
Sisters,
ine con-
Joined

in Ba-
bied to

devote

|in view.

jider the
jhildren
it a cer-

|d many,

lion and

[•chbishcp

with au

lew York,

society. The object of a new establishment was to teach these
girls trades in a house under the direction of some pious Sisters,
aad thus enable them to earn a livelihood, and attain an age less
liable to be deceived before entering on the career of life. The
Sisters of the Holy Cross chosen for this work were founded in
France by the Rev. Basil Mary A.nthony Moreau, in the year 1839,
and are consecrated to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of
Mary. They unite teaching with the various works of mercy as
the objects of their institute.

The Sisters of the Holy Cross were introduced into the United
States in connection with the Priests of the Holy Cross about
1842, and have an extensive establishment at South Bend, Indi-
ana, where there is a novitiate of the order. The community in
Indiana numbers thirty -three professed Sisters, thirty-eight novi-
ces, and twenty-five postulants. Among their fields of labor
there which they have faithfully cultivated is the manual-labor
schools, and these they have successfully introduced at New
York, where, as we have seen, they instruct the female orphans
in the various trades.*

Thus terminates our rapid sketch of the diocese of New York,
where Catholicity has made such progress under the episcopacy
of the Most Reverend John Hughes. Of him it has been well
remarked, " that a man who has obtained so great a mastery
ovpr his fellow-man must have greatness in him." No prelate of
the Catholic Church has ever attained in the United States a
position such as his : with a singular talent for unravelling at a
glance the intrigues and movements of political men, and of fore-
seeing the results of public measures and agitations, his writings
ar<^ evei dmely, profound, and convincing. Whenever a move-
mou;: attects the Church, his voice is listened to with attention

* De Courcy, Les Se.vantes de Dieu eu Canada, p. 108. Memoir of the
Rev. Mr. Cointet. A full account of the order will be given hereafter, in
'>ur sketch of Indiana.

^.■J'iisJf' •*■' "

460

THE OATHOLIO OHUROH

by all, and »he press from one extremity of the country to the
other reproduces and comments his words as those of a public
document. No man accordingly has more bitter opponents, or
more enthusiastic adherents : his name is in the mouths oi all,
and all view in him the uncompromising advocate and expound-
er of Catholic views.

Nor has the Archbishop of New York attained this eminence
by deserting, like the courtly prelates of other days, his episcopal
duties for the arena of secular affairs. His voice is never raised
but in matters connected with the Church, and Catholicity in
New York is the proof of his devotedness as a pastor. Overcom-
ing by his talents the dissensions and parties that existed among
the clergy and laity, he gave unity and power to the Catholic
body, who instead of wasting their energies and means, no less
than piety and devotion, in strife and rebellion, have since sought
to enrich the State with churches, colleges, academies, schools
for rich and poor, — with asylums where every human ill is cared
for, — cloisters and monastic halls where a higher ascetic feeling
is cultivated or welcomed. These are his eulogy.

..».iW»

IN THE UNITED STATES.

461

the
ublio
ts, or
)i all,
ound-

inence
scopal
raised
city in
ercom-
among
Jatholic
no less
I sought
sclioola
is cared
feeling

CHAPTER XXVI.

DIOCESES OF ALBANY, BUFFALO, BROOKLYN, AND NEWABK.

Dloceae of Albany— Early Oatholto affairs— Cbnrcb and Mission of the Presentation at
Og<len8b':.g— St Regis — Obaplains at. Ticonderoga and Crown Point— Rev. Mr. de !•
^ Yalin'iere and his church on Lake Chainplain— Church at Albany — Early pastors—
Inoretse of Catholicity— Appointment of Rt Rev. John MCloskoy as first bishop—
His administration — Institutions— Religious Orders— Jesuits— Ladiea of the Sacred
Heart— Brothers of the Christian Schools.

Diocese of Buflhlo — French chaplains at Fort Niagara— Early Catholic matters— Ap-
pointment of the Rt Rev. John Timon as bishop — ^The Jesuits, Redemptorists, Fran-
ciscans, Christian Brothers, and Ladies of the Sacred Heart — Sisters of Charity, Sis-
ters of St Joseph, Sisters of St Bridget and of Our Lady of Charity— State of the
diocese.

Diocese of Brooklyn — Catholicity on Long Island— First church in Brooklyn— Progress
— Rt Rev. John Loughlin first bishop — Visiiation Nuns— Sisters of Charity— Sisters
»>f Mercy— Dominican Sisters.

Diocese of Newark — Catholicity in New Jersey— Its progii.^s — Appointment of Bt
Rev. Jamed B. Bayley, first 1 . .lop — Seton Hall.

In our opening chapter on the Church in the State we dwelt
at some length on the early Catholic missions among the Fire
Nations of Iroquois, an J of their close in consequence of political
schemes and intrigues.

The treaty of Utrecht in IV 13, by acknowledging the author-
ity of England over the Five Iroquois Nations, had forced the
missionaries to abandon the Iroquois to *^"i^ new master.
Nothing but a war could again open to rei\t;j jl the way to the
cantons. In 1Y45 the Abbe Francis Picquet accompanied his
flock — the Indians of the Lake of the Two Mountains — in the
expedition a^jainst Fort Edward. During the continuation of
hostilities he had occasion to see the New York Iroquois, and
found them disposed to embrace Catholicity ; but as he could no*
•^V'iu think of attempting a mission in the Indian towns in the

452

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

interior of New York, where the English would not have toler-
ateri his presence, the Abb6 Picquet resolved to found a Reduc-
tion r • r the embouchure of Lake Ontario into the St. Lawrence,
ill cclMi L attract to that spot the well disposed among the In-
dian.^ of the League. His project was approved by the Governor
of Canada, and in the month of May, 1748, he set out to choose
a site, and decided on a beautiful port at the mouth of the Oswe-
gatchie, where the .•'*' '^f Ogdensburg now stands. With the
help of his French and Indians, the missionary erected a store-
house and palisade fort, to which he gave the name of the Pre-
sentation, in honor of the holiday which is the patronal feast of
the Congregation of St. Sulpice, to which he belonged. In the
month of October, 1749, a war party of Mohawks set fire to the
Presentation, and occasioned the Abb6 Picquet a loss of thirty
thousand livres. Undiscouraged, however, he at great expense
repaired the loss, and having begun his mission with six Indian
families, he had the consolation of counting, in 1751, four hun-
dred families, comprising three thousand souls, and c nposed
almost entirely of Onondagas and Cayugas.

The success of Mr. Picquet silenced the envy and jealousy in
Canada which at first had ridiculed his projects, and people bj-
gan to re'Jilizfc the religious and strategic importance of this post
in the very heart of the province of New York. In 1762 the
Bishop of Quebi , Henry Mary du Breuil de Pontbriand, visited
the Presentation mission, and after spending several days in in-
struciing the neophytes, baptized one hundreJ and twenty, and
confinned many. This was doubtless the first episcopal act per-
formed by a Catholic ^bishop within the present limits of the
State of Ne^' York. On this occasion the ladies of Montreal
embroiderer th mission a beautiful banner, still preserved at
the Lake of the Two Mountains. The Abbe Picquet organized
a civil government, by appointing a council of twelve chiefs^ who
took an oath of fidelity to France. He also visited the interior

IN THE UNITED STATES.

458

of the cantons, and was everywhere well received by the Indians.
They had in vain awaited the missionaries promised by the
English, and as their chiefs declarea in reply to the reproaches
of the English, they felt the necessity of Christianity, and were
disposed to emigrate in a body to the St. Lawrence to obtain it.
To effect this, Mr. Picquet would have needed other priests to
aid him, skilful, like himself, in gaining the confidence of the
Indians; but he was almost alone, and the Society of Jesus,
whose suppression the Catholic sovereigns of Europe were de-
manding, could not renew their efforts of the previous century.
In 1*753, Mr. Picquet went to France, leaving his mission to the
Rev. Peter de la Garde, a Sulpitian, and the following year he
returned to the Presentation with two priests. But the war
which was to end in the conquest of Canada was already enkin-
dled, and instead of peacefully continuing amid his beloved In-
dians the labors of the apostolate, he had to accompany numerous
military expeditions. For six years Mr. Picquet multiplied his
endeavors to draw the cantons to the cause of France, cement
alliances or encourage the warriors. So great was his influence
over the tribes that the Marquis du Quesne, Governor of Canada,
said that the Abbe Picquet was worth more than ten regiments,
and in battle the mdians always believed him in their midst,
even when he was actually hundreds of miles off. But all the
efforts of Canada could not prevent the progress of the English,
whose armies invaded that colony on all sides, while it was ac-
tually abandoned without resources by tie mother countiy. In
IT 5 9 the Rev. Mr. Picquet had been forced to retire from the
Presentation and settle with his Indians on Grande He aux
Galops, in the midst of the St. Lawrence, to be less exposed to
the English. There he built a chapel, and on the 2d of Septem-
ber, 1769, was invited to bless Fort Levis, which the French
were erecting on another island in the St. Lawrence. On the
25th of August, 1760, this fort was forced to surrender to the

THE OATHOLIO Olf :^BCE

English after a vigorous defence, directed by Captain Pouchot,
and during the whole siege the Abb6 de la Garde remained on
the island to take care of the wounded.* In the month of May,
in the same year, the Rev. Mr. Picquet bade adieu to his mission,
in conformity with the advice of the governor, to avoid falling
into the hands of the English, and he descended' to Louisiana by
the lakes and the Mississippi. He spent nearly two years at New
Orleans, where his preaching produced a great deal of good, and
at last seeing that France sacrificed all her American possessions,
he returned to his native country, which his zeal had so faithfully
served abroad for thirty years.f

On the peace, the Rev. Mr. de la Garde obtained permission to
resume the care of the mission of the Presentation, but the
English garrison at the fort ere long demoralized the natives ;
and after a few years the more religious dispersed, seeking, after
many vicissitudes, a refuge at Canadasaga, Caughnawaga, or
St. Francis Regis. This last-named village, situated on the St.
Lawrence, northeast of the Presentation, is now divided by the
boundary between New York and Canada, and is thus partly in
the diocese of Albany. It was founded about 1760 by the Jesuit

* John Peter Besson de la Garde, born in France about 1728, remained in
Canada after the conquest, and died on the 10th of April, 1792, Curd of St.
Genevieve.

t Lettres Edifantes et Curieasen. Mdmoire sur la vie de M. Picqnet, mis-
Bionnaire au Canada par M. la Lande de l^Acaddmie des Sciences. Sliea's
History of the Catholic Missions, pp. 884-840. Manuscripts of the Hon. I.
Viger, Com. St. Greg. Francis Picquet, born at Bourg en Bresse, on the
6th of Decem^jer, 1708, entered the Congregation of St. Sulpice at an early
age. In 1788 he solicited and obtained permission to go to Canada, and de-
voted himself to the Iroquois miMsions with equal zeal and success. When
in 1758 he came to France to interest the government in his mission, hie
family wished to detain him at Bresse, and, on his refusal, disinherited him.
On his return to Paris in 1762, he received testimonials of esteem from tho
clergy of France and from the Sovereign Pontiff, and died at Verjoii on the
15th of July, 1781. The astronomer, La Lande, his countryman, who wrote
the memoir cited above, was an infidel of the worst stamp, and was one of
the authors of the Diotionnaire des Athdes.

Father I
from Ca
the Prof
death in
troubles,
tho Rev.
them till
B. Roupo,
suspicion
prisoner b'
8or, the Re

as to be t
American
Caughnawa
nowned as
chisms and
» all the (
grammars w
treasure to t
Since 183
^egis, and a
State of New
the jurisdicti
missionaries
hundred sou
American sid
Catholic Iroq
fathers of the
Date territoria
Americans is

^ * The Canadia
term.

t See sketch ol

IN THB UNITED BTATIS.

A^jii

Father Mary Anthony Gordon, with some Iroqnois families lent
from Caughnawaga, and in 1806 it received the refugees from
the Presentation. Father Gordon resided at St. Kegia till his
death in 1777. After that, in consequence of the war and its
troubles, the Iroquois had no permanent pastor till 1795, when
the Rev. Roderic McDonnell, a zealous Scotch priest, directed
them till his death in 1806. To him succeeded the Rev. John
B. Roupe, a Sulpitian of Montreal, who, becoming an object of
suspicion to the Americans during the war of 1812, was taken
prisoner by their troops, in an attack on his village. His succes-
sor, the Rev. Joseph Marcoux, was so favorable to the Americans
as to be termed by his flock, Ratsihenstatsi Wastonronon, the
American priest.* He was subsequently for many years at
Caughnawaga, where he died on the 29th of May, 1855, re-
nowned as a philologist and a devoted missionary. His cate-
chisms and prayer-books are used, by the direction of the bishop,
in all the Catholic Iroquois missions, and his dictionaries and
grammars will ever remain a monument to his learning and a
treasure to the missionaries.f

Since 1832 the Rev. Francis Marcoux has been pastor at bt.
Regis, and although part of the village is, as we have said, i:i tln3
State of New York, the Bishop of Albany leaves the vWp undor
the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Montreal, who sends > .luad^nr-
missionaries there. St. Regis contains a population ot e • » i
hundred souls, governed on the Canadian side by chiefs, ^ ^.he
American side by trustees ; and they form the only remnant of
Catholic Iroquois in the State of New Ycwk, where their fore-
fathers of the Five Nations were once so powerful. The unfortu-
nate territorial division of their village between the English and
Americans is still, for the Indians, a source of trouble and intes-

* The Canadians term all Americans Boatonais, and the Indians adopt the
term,
t See sketch of his litis and labors in the Metropolitan, iii. 589.

•i^li-^:'

.&/

HmH

456

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

tine difficulty. The Protestant sects, taking advantage of such a
situation, have made great eflforts and greater outlays to pervert
the tribe, and imagined that they had succeeded when they ob-
tained, as an instrument of proselytism, a son of the tribe, whom
they have made an Episcopal .'ergyman. The Rev. Eleazar
Williams, not content with playing 'his part, vfished to ape a
still higher one; and since 1852 nothing will satisfy his vauity
but to be the dauphin of France — Louis XVII., son of the victim
of the French Revolution. Some Protestant clergyman, it would
seem, must always endorse an imposture in America, whether it
be Maria Monk or Eleazar Williams, and in consequence, the
Rev. John H. Hanson, and even the Rev. F. L. Hawks, lent the
pretender the aid of their influence and personal consideration.
To maintain his thesis, the Rev. Mr. Hanson published a volume
of five hundred pages, besides several articles in a periodical ;*
and it is not easy to conceive how a man of sense can talk so
much of good faith in a work where he tortures historic truth at
every line.f

After having frequently sought to fathom the motives which

*' The Lost Prince ; facts tending to prove the identity of Louis XVII. of
France and the Rev. Eleazar Williams. By John H. Hanson. New York,
1854. Putnam's Monthly, February and April, 1858, and February, 1854.

t At the first attempt to impose this gross fable on the public, the present
writer refuted it step by step in the New York papers. This opposition did
not please the partisans of the Lost Prince, for Mr. Hanson had gained his
hero many very sincere and enthusiastic friends. The author of the book
himself came to see us, to convert us to his ideas, and failing, represented
us as an agent of the Bishops in Canada, the emissary of all the Bourbons,
paid by the Catholics and royalists to discredit the American Louis XVII.
Yet we produced the sworn statement of Mary Ann Williams, Eleazar's mo-
ther, who in 1853 still survived at St. Regis, though more than eighty years
of age, and who solemnly attested that Eleazar was her son. We also pub-
lished certificates of the principal Iroquois chiefs at Caughnawaga, affirming
that Eleazar was born in their village, and we believe that we did something
to prevent the imposture from spreading. He btill preserves his partisans,
and the Church to which he belongs is not ashamed to credit this ft.ntastic
pretension of one of its clergymen.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

457

induced Mr. Hanson and his colleagues to accredit this fable, we
find only one plausible explanation. The first arti(5le in the pe-
riodical, " Have we a Bourbon among us 1" was thrown before
the public at a moment when the Episcopalians of America were
filled with vexation and shame at the striking conversion of one
of their bishops, Dr. Levi S. Ives. It was necessary to divert
attention from a fact so fitted to inspire reflections and seek the
truth sincerely. Curiosity was to be stimuiii,ied by leaving a
considerable interval between the articles, and Episcopalian vanity
to be flattered, by persuading them that if they had lost a bishop
they had gained i». king. In fact, they succeeded for several
months in engaging the popular attention with the imaginary
adventures of the Dauphin of France ; but it would seem that
the instigators of the movement having used their instrument,
have cast it aside, leaving Mr, Williams to turn to account, as
best he may, his royal origin.*

Independently of the missionaries whom France sent into the
interior of New York to evangelize the Indians, other priests took
up their residence in the fortified post^s where the French had
garrisons, and the efforts of the governox-s of New York failed for
eighty years before the perseverance of their Canadian neighbors.
In vuin did they endeavor to drive the French beyond the St.

* The following advertisem'^nt appep.red in the New York papers, in Jan-
uary, 1854, and i» a sample of those used to draw a crowd around his pulpit.
"The Rev. Eleazar Williams, said to be the long-lost Dauphin of France,
will preach an interesting sermon to-morrow evening at St. Paul's Church,
Brooklyn, and a collection will be taken up to build a church for the St. Ke-
gis Indians, of whom he is the spiritual pastor. The Eev. Mr. Williams is
67 years old, and claims to be the identical Louis XVII. of France. This
caniiOt fail to make his sermon interesting to the people of Brooklyn." This
pious call is a series of voluntary errors. The Rev. Mr. Williams is not pas-
tor of the St. Regis Indians, who despise him, and have repeatedly driven
from their villag.^ a man who seeks to lead them into apostasy. Repulsed
by the Canadian government, which told him that the St. Regis Indians had
a Catholic pastor, Mr. Williams collects funds in the United States to seduce
Ills countrymen.

458

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Lawrence; they succeeded only when the white flag of the
Bourbons disappeared in Canada.

In 1732 the French reared a fort, towhi?h they gave the
name of St. Frederic, on the southern shore of Lake Champlain,
in order to cover Montreal from the attacks of the English. This
point bore the name of Pointe a la Chevulure, which the English
translated Crown Point. The Swedish naturalist, Kalm, tells us
that Fort St. Frederic was so named in honor of M. de Maurepas,
and that there was within the fort a well-built church, where the
soldiers assembled morning and evening for prayer. " The French,"
he adds, " give much more time in their colonies to prayer and
outward worship than the English and Dutch settlers in the
English colonies."* He remarks, too, that in the craft in which
he ascended the Hudson the hands performed no devotions, while
in the French sloop that took him down Lake Champlain he was
edified by the religious conduct of the crew, especially on Sun-
day.f

Of this fort the names of the chaplains have fortunately come
down to us, and among them is Father Emmanuel Crespel, fa-
mous for the interesting narrative of his shipwreck, whom we
shall also find at Niagara.^

* Kalm, Travels in North America. Translated from the Swedish, by J.
R. Forster : Warrington, 1770 ; iii. 148. The travels of this learned natu-
ralist are very interesting, especially as regards Canada. He speaks well of
/eligion, and describes judiciously the churches, convents, and other estab-
lishments at Quebec and Montreal. Ho was much pleased with the Jesuits,
with whom ho frequently dined, and among whom he found, as he avows,
scientific men fully equal to himself. On his return to Sweden he was made
a Lutheran bishop,
t Kalm, iii. 44.

t The names of the chaplains at Fort St. Frederic, or Beauharnuis, as
drawn by the learned Mr. Jacques Vigor, of Montreal, from the register still
preserved in the prothonotary's office, are-
John Baptist Lajus, 1782-33. Alexis du Buron, 1743-46.
Peter BaptitJt Resche, 1738-84. Bouaventure Carpentier, 1747.
Benardine de Cannes, 1784-3 j. Hypolite Collet, 1747-54.
Emmaiiuel Crespel, 1785-86. Didacu.i Cliche, 1754-58.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

459

»f the

e the
iplain,

This
English
ells us
urepas,
ere the
rench,"
yer and

in the
a -which
18, while
1 he was
ou SuD-

}ly come
espel, fa-
horn we

lisli, by J.
tned natn-
Iks well of
Vher estab-
[le Jesuits,
Ihe avow?,
1 wft8 mode

liarntvis, as
Igister still

(4^-46.

I47.

|47-54.
I54-58.

In 1755 the French built a fort still farther towards the capital
of New York, at Carillon, now Ticonderoga, and here in 1757
they repulsed the army of General Abercrombie. This was,
however, the last effort of their power, and on the 26th of July,
1759, Bourlamarque had to evacuate Ticonderoga and fall back
on Canada. Some weeks after Montcalm was killed, and Quebec
surrendered to England. The conquest of Canada was a momen-
tary triumph for Protestantism, and- the missionaries disappeared
from the State of New York.

When the American army under Montgomery entered Canada,
a number of the French settlers joined their standard, and were
enrolled in Lieber's and Oliver's companies, as we have stated
when speaking of the political mission of Father Carroll. Among
the young men of Chambly, Assumption, and Machiche the
Americans also found some sympathizers, especially in the Aca-
dians. It is easy to conceive the deep-seated hatred of the
English government which they nurtured in their hearts. Some
had been treacherously banished from Acadia in 1755, and after
an exile of greater or less duration, had joined the Canadians,
fellow-countrymen in their eyes ; oth j had fled to Canada when
the English began the work of pillage and devastation in Acadia.
All nourished an inveterate hatred against their oppressors, and
seconded the Americans in their enterprise to wrest the St. Law-
rence from Great Britaio On the evacuation of Canada in 1776
those most compromised followed the retreating army, and re-
mained till the close of tlie war incorporated in various regiments
of the American army. Their families in many cases were also
compelled to follow. A letter of General Schuyler's, dated Au-

PeUr Verquaillie, 1736-41. Anthony Deperet, 1758-59.

Daniel, 1741-43. Felix de Bercy, 1760.

The last entry in the register, a baptism, is dated Jan'y 12, 1760, but F. do
Berey could not have performed it at Crown Point, which the Frond had
loft in the summer of 1759.

460

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

gust 18, 1776, contains a pressing recommendation in favor of
the Canadians of Livingston's, Hazen's, and Duggan's corps, then
at Albany, representing them as in the greatest destitution and
nakedness. The general adds that many Canadian refugees not
in the army were in the same state.* The latter were even more
miserable, isolated in a foreign country, whose language they
knew not, and whose religion they did not share. The State of
New York at last took pity on part of these unfortunate people,
and in 1789 and 1790 granted lands northwest of Lake Cham-
plain to about two hundred and fifty Canadian and Acadian
refugees. These lands are situated in the present county of
Clinton, and the villages of Chazy and Corbeiiu are inhabited in
part by the descendants of these soldiers of the Revolution.
Others of the Canadians settled at Fishkill, where we have seen
the apostolic Father Farmer laboring among them; others at
New York, and more at Split Rock Bay, on Lake Champlain.

Both those at New York and those at Split Rock were for a
time attended by a clergyman whose sufferings and eccentric life
require some details. Peter Huet de la Valiniere, born at
Nantes, in Brittany, on the 10th of January, 1732, was received
into the Congregation of St. Sulpice, and came to Montreal a
sub-deacon in 1755. He was ordained priest at Quebec in 1757,
and was one of the twenty-eight Sulpitians who submitted to be-
come English subjects when twelve of their brethren returned to
France. Mr. de la Valiniere does not, however, seem to have
succeeded in conceiving a very lively affection for the new mas-
ters of Canada, and in 1776, while pastor at the Assumption, fell
under the suspicion of government for his political conduct and

* American Archives, Series V. vol. i. 1031. The same collection, S. IV.
vi. 923, mentions a captain's commission given by Sullivan to Francis Guillot,
of Eiviere du Loup ; and in V. i. 798, names the Canadians, Loseau, Al-
ler, Basad6, and Menarece (Menard), as officers in Col. .James Livingston's
regiment. Colonel Fremont, the explorer, is the son of a Canadian wh^ '^m-
igrated to the United States in 1790.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

461

his sympathy for the army of the United States then in the
colony.* Even before receiving the complaints of the governor,
the bishop had several times removed Mr. de la Valiniere from
one point to another away from the frontiers, but as that clergy-
man still expressed his opinions freely, Sir Francis Haldeman
seized him in 1780, and sent him in a frigate to England. After
remaining eighteen months in a prison-ship he was set at liberty,
and reached Brittany towards the close of 1781. Soon dissatis-
fied with his family, and meeting, in consequence of his eccen-
tricity, a rather cool reception from the Sulpitians at Paris, he
resolved to return to Canada, and set sail for Martinique. From
this point the Abbe de la Valiniere proceeded to St. Domingo,
and had scarcely recovered from an attack of the yellow fever
when he took passage in a small craft for Newburyport. From
this Massachusetts port he travelled on foot to Montreal, where
he arrived in the early part of June, 1785. He remained till
August ; but the Rev. Mr. Montgolfier, the Superior of St. Sul-
pice, wished him to leave the country, and the Bishop of Quebec
gave him very favorable letters for the United States. Again he
set out on foot for Baltimore, and having been received by the
Rev. Mr. Carroll, asked Father Farmer to be allowed to reside at
New York and exercise the ministry for the Canadians and
French. Or transmitting this request to Father Carroll, on the

* On the 12th of August, 1776, M. de Montgolfier, Superior of St. Sulpice,
wrote to the Bishop of Quebec : " As to the clergy, they remain in the best
disposition with regard to submiesion to lawful authority I have hith-
erto observed silence as to the three missionaries of Sault St. Loui(», Lon-
gueuil, and Assumption (M. de la Valiniere), the most culpable and least re-
covered of all. I should like him got out of the country ; he is very volatile,
and, though of correct life, will undoubtedly give us some trouble." Ar-
chives of the See of Quebec.

The missionary at Sault St. Louis was Father Joseph Huguet, S. J., who
wns stationed there from 1757, till his death, May 6, 1783. The government
either would not or durst not remove iiini. The Cure of Longuenil, from
17G8 to Oct. 1, 1777, was the Eev. Claude Carpentier, a secular priest. He
was removed, in 1777, to Vercheres, where he oied in 1798.

462

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

2*7 th of December, 1785, Father Farmer adds : " I have no doubt
Mr. de la Valiniere's stay among these poor people, and his dis-
courses to them, will revive their past devotion. My answer to
him was, that till your pleasure be known, he might exercise r L
New York, with respect to the Canadians and French only, those
faculties which your reverence had given him. To this answer I
was moved by the extreme spiritual necessity of these poor peo-
ple. Another motive was mentioned by himself, and it is that
formerly, in Canada, he had been the ordinary pastor of those
voluntary exiles ; and may we not add to these motives that he
was our fellow-missionary in America, and that he comes with
approbation from a neighboring bishopric ?"*

When the revolted trustees drove leather Whelan from New
York in February, 1V86, Mr. de la Valiniere received powers as
parish priest, without restriction to the French and Canadians.
But the incessant troubles of the congregation induced him to
abridge his stay ; and besides, the worthy priest had too restless
a mind to dwell long in one spot. Accordingly, towards April,
he journeyed off to Philadelphia, then made his way as a pedes-
trian to Pittsburg, and descending the Ohio in a batteau — not
without frequent pursuits from the Indians — he went and offered
himself as pastor to the French in Illmois. But they did not
accept his services ; and after three years' strife, of which we
shall speak in connection with that part, he descended to New
Orleans by the Wabash and Ohio. There, after narrowly es-
caping death from a serious disorder, the Abbe de la Valiniere
took passage on a vessel for Havana ; thence visited successively
Florida, Charleston, Stonington, and New York, and in the
month of October, 1790, he greatly astonished his old associates
of St. Sulpice by asking hospitality from them at Montreal. He
wap chartably received; but he was entreated to make his stay

* Campbell iu U. S. Catholic Magazine, vi. 146.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

46a

as short as poaaib'e, as they did not wish to compromise them-
selves with the English government. Before the close of the
mouth he left Montreal, to take up his abode ov the banks of
Lake Champlain, near Split Rock Bay, where, as we have seen,
some of the Canadian refugees had settled. Here Mr. de la
Valiniere built a chapel and house for himself, and of his own
authority, and, without jurisdiction, formed a parish. After
three years' stay, he set his parishioners so much against him,
that, to get rid of their pastor, they set fire to his church and
house. He then returned to Canada, where the Seminary of
Montreal gave him an annual pension of twenty-five pounds, on
condition that he would remain quietly in the parish of St. Sul-
pice. He lived till 1806, preserving to the close his restless
chr.racter and singular devotions, combined with an exemplary
r.Qsterity of life. He was killed at Repentigny, by a fall from a
wagon, on the 29th of June, 1806.*

Poetry, as he understood it, was his great consolation in his
troubles; and in 1792, while residing on the banks of Lake
Champlain, he printed at Albany a poem of 1644, recounting
his adventures. The preface is to the air of the Enfant Prodigue^
and the twelve chapters that follow are to the tune of the air
Folies cfEspagne. This original character deserves to be bet-
ter known in America, for it was in consequence of his sympa-
thy in the IJLited States, that the Abbe de la Valiniere was sub-
jected to numberless trials during the last thirty years of his
]ife.f

In consequence of the troubles of 1838, a still greater Cana-
dian emigration to New York and Vermont took place ; and
besides these political causes, there is periodically the seducing

* Biogrnphie de M. de la Valiniere, by the Very Kev. F. X. Noiseux, for-
mprly Vicar-general of Quebec. This sketch we had to rectify at almost
every line, by documents from the archives of the See of Quebec.

t The title of the poem is, " Vraie histoire ou simple precis des infor-
tunes, pour ne pas dire des persecutions qu'a eoiiffert et souffre encore le

464

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

reason of a higher price of labor to induce the people of Canada
to cross the frontier. The faith of these poor people, and es-
pecially that of their children, runs great danger anid the
Protestant and freethinking population of the United States ;
hence we cannot be surprised to find the Canadian clergy disap-
prove, in ge^ sral, this emigration of Catholics, leaving their vil-
lage churches to wander at hazard in search of material goods,
and setting the wants of the body above the essential interests
of their souls. The parish of Corbeau, inhabited chiefly by easy
Canadian farmers, has had for the last twenty years a church, and
pastor who speaks French. The Canadiar. population is about
four thousand souls. But in other localities the landholders
are the exception ; and the general condition of the French
Canadians in the State of New York is that of farm-hands, or
laborers in the forges and furnaces which dot the little rivers in
the north of the State. For the last two years a French priest
has resided at Keeseville ; he counts three thousand Canadian
Catholics in his parish, and serves also Elizabeth and Westport,
where he assembles at the altar three hundred of the faithful
scattered in the neighborhood. At Plattsburg the Oblates have
undertaken to build St. Peter's Church, and the census made by
Father Bernard in 1853 gives a total for his parish of six hun-
dred Canadian families, or three thousand three hundred and fifty

R6v. Pierre Huet de la Vftlinidre, mia envers par lui-m^me en Juillet, 1792.
A Albany, 5mprim6 aux depens de I'auteur."

The reader will see that the versifier must have borne the expense of the
publication, when he reads such couplets as —

" La Havane, la Florido Espagnole, '.

Charlestown, et Stonington, et New York,
N'ont nen pour moi qui me paraisse drflle.
Je pr^ffere du Canada le pore"

In 1828, the house which he occupied at St. Sulpice having become the
Hotel Robillard, our friend Mr. Jacques Viger stopping there one niglit,
found the woodwork all covered with little medallions, in which the aged
priest had written verses exhaling his griefs.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

465

Bouls. One of the Oblfte Fathe's also serves Redwood, where he
numD. Tf. four hundred Catholic families. In the city of Troy,
one ot the churches is reserved for the Canadians. At Cape
Vincent, on Lake Ontario, there is a parish made up chiefly of
the descendants of French colonists, sent thither by Mr. Leray
de Chaumont, who h»d '•'^nsiderable property there.*

We have seen that the clergy of France and Canada have gone
in search of those emigrants who have abandoned the neighbor-
hood of their j ari&ix churches, not knowing where they should
find a priest to hear tl i confession of their faults and to instruct
their children. Still, many churches and missionaries are needed
to preserve these poor people from losing tbc? faith; and most
frequently they have not means to raise a chapel and support a
priest. Not very cordially viewed by the Catholics of other ori-
gins, the Canadians retire and isolate themselves ; and while a
priest who preaches in their language, and specially interests
himself in them, obtains the happiest resuHs, the Irish or Amer-
ican priest does not inspire a confidence which he does not
seek.

We need not wonder, tl*'>n, if the faith has lost some of its
children among the desc udants of the Canadian emigrants, when
they are deprived of all religious succor. But the missionary
who settles amid these families easily awakens Catholic senti-
ments, unless they have lost the French language. Unfortu-
nately, sensible losses to the Church result from the necessity in
which widows with families are of placing their children in
American houses, where, with Engiist, they learn all t > preju-
dices of Protestantism or inf-'elity. Mixed marriages are another

* Bishop Dubois wrote on this subjecfc from Rome, on the 16th of March,
1830, " I should never cease, were I to speak of all the hamlets that I find
abandoned along the lakes and the St. Lawrence. Half tlia population of
these villages are Freni ^ > ■:•> Canada, who have come and settled on the
American side." Annf.i.:» u^ la Propagation de la Foi, iv. 469.

20*

1 ".SI

5 ''J

I "l'>

468

THE CATHOLIC CHUilCH

source of apostasy, especially whe e f iie wife is a Protestant. The
American women, having more superficial education than the
simple Canadians, puffed up with their little learning, and fanati-
cised by their books and ministers, are untiring in their eft'orts to
shake the faith of their husbands, and gain them to their conve-
nient and not troublesome creed. Finally, the public schools are
a great danger ; and the habitual contact ot Catholic and Prot-
estant children cannot but be injurious to the former.

We have dwelt on the religious wants of the Canadian popu-
lation of the State of New York, in order to attract the attention
of France to them, and preserve them from heresy. We have
said it : these emigrants are poor, and the most they can by any
effort do, is to rear a church and give the priest a scanty support.
Every village should, moreover, have its French Catholic school,
confided to religious congregations, and Canada will joyfully
fuinish colonies of its educational Sisterhoods to preserve the
faith of its children. The admirable Association for tbo Propa-
gation of the Faith gives much to the different dioceses in the
United States. We are confident that it will take an interest in
founding French schools among the descendants of the French,
where language is a safeguard to religion. We cannot too
strongly recommend this Canadian population to the solicitude
of the two Councils of Paris and Lyons, and we express our
earnest wish that special grants of theirs will enable the Cana-
dians to finish their churches at Plattsburg and Cape Vincent;
pay the most pressing debts which the French clergy have had
to contract ; to build new chapels in places where the nucleus of
a Catholic population already exists ; in fine, to call in Sisters
and Brothers to instruct the children of poor families in their
religion and language. It is doubtless a noble work to call to
the faith a nation seated in the shadow of death ; but when
thousands of Catholics are pastorless, and these Catholics are the
descendants of the French, the task of preserving them from the

IN THE UNITED STATES.

467

The
n the
anati-
>rts to
•onvo-
)ls are
[ Prot-

i popvi-
tentioii
e have
by any
iupport.
school,
joyfully
prve the
Propa-
in the
ierest in
French,
not too
ilicitude
[ress OUT
le Cana-
incent;
lave had
icleus of
Sisters
in their
;o call to
lut when
Is are the
from the

seductions of error especially recommends itself to the generosity
of France.

If the bishops and clergy of Lower Canada grieve to see emi-
gration tend to the United States, when it might find resource?
in the upper par' tb- province with ut diminishing the ri
merical strength of r 'city; if this sentiment has been ^ti
petuateJ since th. of 1775 to draw the Canadians to the

American cause, hi ill ishops interest then, selves in the fate

of their children whu nave forsaken them ; and Monseigneur
Bourget, the present Bishop of Montreal, was long Vicar-general
of the diocese of New York for the Canadi ms in the north of
that State. He has frequently administered confirmation at Cor-
beau and other parishes within the United States, and the de-
scendants of the French there honor the arrival of the prelate
with demonstrations and an enthusiasm which astonish American
phlegm. Ever since the foundation of the See of Baltimore in
1790, the Canadian clergy have taken a lively interest in the
hopes of religion in the United States ; and in proof of the as-
sertion, we are happy to be able to cite the following letter, ad-
dressed to Bishop Carroll, on the 6th of December, 1791, by the
Right Rev. John Francis Hubert. It will prove that if, in 1776,
Father Carroll saw the clergy of Montreal avoid him, it was only
in consequence of the political character borne by the zealous
restorer of religion in Maryland :

" I profit by a moment of repose left by the affairs of the dio-
cese, to send you my tardy, but at the same time most sincere
felicitations, on your promotion to the See of Baltimore. God
has used you, Monseigneur, to give birth to a new Church, to es-
tablish in North America a second diocese, which will, I hope,
hereafter constitute a considerable portion of Christ's kingdom
on earth. You surely have not established it without great pain
* and great merit. With all my heart I pray Divine Providence
to reward you, and I thank Him for having given my diocese tho

♦'.'1*4

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33 WEST MAIN STREET

WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580

(716) 872-4503

468

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

•.

advantage of having another Catholic diocese in its neighbor*
hood.

" Letters from Paris tell me that you had a design of estab-
lishing a seminary in your episcopal city, and that Mr. Nagot, a
priest of St. Sulpice, had gone thither with a dozen young ec-
clesiastics. You could not, Monseigneur, give a more solid base
to the preservation and increase of true faith in these parts. The
particular merit of that director, the renown of the house to
which he belongs, are so many arguments that prove that God,
in calling you to the episcopate, has given you the necessary
economy and wisdom to fill it with success. May He long pre-
serve a life which must be infinitely dear to the glory of His
name, and the spiritual good of your diocesans."*

At the National Council of Baltimore in 1852, the Right Rev.
Armand de Charbounel, Bishop of Toronto, bound still closer
the bonds of spiritual brotherhood between the hierarchy of the
United States and that of Canada, by coming to i>ake a seat with
the Fathers of the C&uncil, and share in their deliberations.
The American prelates have often gone to represent their wants
to the Catholic population of New France, and returned with
considerable alms.

The Bishops of Burlington and Cleveland have recently called
to their dioceses Canadian Sisters, whose zeal equals their piety.
The two prelates have found that it was much more economical
than to draw religious from Europe ; and it is an example which
others of their venerable brethren would imitate, if Canada can
deprive herself of new colonies, in her numerous and varied fami-
ly of handmaids of the Lord.

We have thus dwelt at some length on the connection of the
Canadian Church with that of the State of New York, in re-

* Archives of the See of Quebec. John Francis Hubert, ninth Bishop of
Quebec, consecrated Coadjutor in November, 1786, died in October, 1797.
He had been misMonary at Detroit.

■i r

if'

IN THE UNITED STATES.

469

bor-

jtab-
ot, a
5 ec-
base
The
ise to
, God,
essary
g pro-
of His

it Rev.
[ closer
of the
at "with
rations.
X -wants
ed with

y called
ir piety.
»nomical
which
lada can
led farai-

In of the
[v, in re-

BiaViop of
aber, 1797.

gard both to the early labors of Canadian missionaries among
the Indian tribes and of the Catholic part of the population which
is of Canadian origin and still looks to Canada for spiritual sue-
cor. The rise of Catholicity among the people of New York in
the diocese of Albany now claims our attention.

Under the Dutch and British rule we find no trace of Catho-
licity at Albany down to the period of the Revolution. The
Catholic Highlanders in the Mohawk valley seem to stand alone,
and even they were unattended by clergymen, so far as we know.
After the war, however, a number of Catholics were to be found
at the capital of the State, and as early as 1*798 we find them
erecting a church in which to worship God according to the
faith of their fathers. Thomas Barry and Louis Le Couteulx
are mentioned as founders, and their names are connected with
early Catholicity in other parts. A notice in the Albany Gazette
informs us that the contributions for its erection came not only
from the Catholics of Albany and their fellow-citizens, but from
the liberal in other cities of the United States and Canada. It
was under roof, glazed, and floored early in September, and we
are informed by the papers of the day " that it is a neat building,
and will be an ornament to the city and a lasting blessing to all
who are members in communion of that church.'* In their ap-
peal to the Catholics generally for means to complete it, the
founders say : " Such of our Catholic brethren in this neighbor-
hood as have riOt already contributed, it is hoped will now come
forward and offer their mite to discharge the last payment of
the contract, there being but a small sum in hand for that pur-
pose. To give to the Church, is it not to lend to the Lord, who
will richly repay the liberal giver with many blessings ? Should
not all the members unitedly raise their voices in praise to God,
who has cast their lot in this good land, where our Church is
equally protected with others, and where we all so bountifully
partake of His goodness f What is man without religion, which

470

THKXJATHOLIC CHTTBCH

teaches us the love of God and our neighbor, and to be in charity
with all mankind ? Surely without this he is nothing."*

As appears by the names of the foundei's, the first Catholics
were French and Irish, and among the former we may mention
Count de la Tour de Fin and his wife, a daughter of Count Dil-
lon, of the Irish brigade, who, after serving in Rochambeau's
army during our Revolution, perished in the Reign of Terror.f

The resident clergyman under whose impulse this church rose
seems to have been the Rev. John Thayer, of Boston, whose con-
version to the faith was one of the earliest triumphs of religion
here. His stay was, however, short, and in the following year
we find him in Kentucky, and in 1800 the Rev. Dr. Matthew
O'Brien seems to have been stationed there, as he preached the
funeral oration on Washington in the church in the month of
February, and officiated there later in the year.J

About 1807 the Rev. Mr. Bushe was stationed here, and, we
believe, died on the mission ; but when Father Eohlmann, as
vicar-general, was charged with the affairs of the newly-formed
diocese of New York, Albany seems to have been without a
priest, and on the 1st of May, 1811, we find him entreating the
Rt. Rev. Joseph O. Plessis, Bishop of Quebec, tc d missiona-
ries into the State of New York.§ Soon after, however, the

* We are indebted for thene extracts to E. B. O'Calla^han, Esq., so well
known for his historical works. As he infcrms us, the comer-stone of the
church bears the following inscription :

(Skull.) I. H. S. (Cross-bones.)

THOif AS Barry, I Founders.
Louis Lb Coctettlx, )

E. C. QuxN, Master Builder.

A. D. 1798.

t Watson, Memoirs. Memoirs du Due de la Bochefducauld.

i Information given us by Dr. E. B. O'Callaghan and C. J. Cannon, Esq.
8ee Spaldiufir's Sketched of Kentucky, p. 78. A full account of the Kev. Mr.
Thayer will be given under the diocese of Boston.

S Archives of the Diocese of Quebec, for the examination of which we are
indebted to the Kev. J. B. Ferland.

.i:.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

471

irity

lolica
ntion
tDil-
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or.f
h rose
ie con-
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linnon, Esq.
le Kev. Mr.

Ihioli we are

Rev. Mr. McQuaid was stationed there, but on the arrival of
Bishop Connolly, that clergyman resolved to return to Ireland,
notwithstanding the urgent appeals of the newly-appointed
bishop. For a time Albany was without a pastor, but the good
bishop sent up the Rev. Michael O'Gorman, little as he could
spare him from New York. This clergyman not only served
Albany, but extended his labors to the Indians at St. Regis, visit-
ing on the way the scattered Catholics in various parts, saying
Mass, instructing, and baptizing.

In 1822 the Rev. Michael Carroll was pastor of Albany, visit-
ing also Troy, Lansingburg, Johnstown, and Schenectady. Since
then it has had a regular succession of pastors, many of them
men of remarkable devotedness and zeal. Just at the period of
Bishop Dubois* appointment, the Catholics of Albany were en-
deavoring to erect a new and larger church, but met with such
diflBculties that they succeeded in completing it only by aid
which he obtained from the Association for the Propagation of
the Faith.* As his clergy increased, he p' ^ced pastors in the
neighboring cities, and the Rev. John Shanahan was for many
years the devoted pastor of Troy, visiting also Lansingburg,
where a number of Catholics had gathered.

About 1830 the Sisters of Charity came to Albany, and as-
sumed the charge of the orphan asylum and schools, which they
have continued to direct to the present time.

The Catholics in this diocese are more widely scattered than
in that of New York, and we find them from an early period
gathering at certain points, of which we shall give a few brief
notices before commencing an account of the labors of the amia
ble prelate who fills the See of Albany.

St. James' Church, at Carthage, was built in the year 1819 by
James Leray, Esq., a Catholic gentleman, who owned a large

* Annales de la Propagation de la Foi, iv. 451.

472

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

property there, to which he drew many Catholic settlers, who,
with their descendants, still occupy the spot, directed by a cler-
gyman brought up in their midst. Having had the advantage
of living together under the shadow of the Church, they are as
faithful to their religion as though they lived in the most favored
Catholic country. By their industry most are now easy farmers,
owning the greater part of two townships, and numbering about
ten thousand. Their schools, made up exclusively of Catholics,
are well attended and well conducted.*

Utica was another point where the Catholics centered and
have increased prosperously. John C. Devereux, and his wife's
family, the Barrys, from Albany, settled here about 1800, and
were joined a few years later by Nicholas Devereux, ^ hose recent
loss is so milch deplored. This little band of Catholics seems to
have been first visited about 1813 or 1814 by a clergyman from
Albany, probably the Rev. Mr. McQuaid, and he certainly visited
them occasionally down to the period of his departure for Ire-
land. On Sundays the Catholics generally met to read Mass
prayers, though many attended Protestant meetings. At last, on
the 10th of January, 1819, after hearing Mass celebrated by the
Rev. Michael O'Gorman, the Catholics prepared to incorporate
themselves according to law, and on the 25th, John O'Connor,
John C. Devereux and Nicholas Devereux of Utica, Morris Hogan
of New Hartford, Oliver "Weston, Thomas McCarthy, and James
Lynch of Salina, John McGuire.of Rochester, and Charles Car-
roll of Genesee River, were duly elected " Trustees of the First
Catholic Church in the Western District of New York." Pur-
chasing three lots of ground, tbey collected means and erected a
church, designed in very good taste, which cost about four thou-
sand dollars. The Devereux were the chief benefactors of it,
contributing more than a fourth of the amount, and many Prot-

* InformatioD from Rev. M. E. Clark.

■•;■« J

IN THB UNITED STATES.

478

d and
wife's
lO, and
recent
jema to
in from
r visited
for Ire-
Mass
last, on
by the
uporate
Connor,
[sHogan
^d James
rles Car-
bhe First
." pur-
jrected a
,ur thon-
►rs of iti
my Prot-

estants contributing liberally, for the number of Catholics was
small.

The first pastor at Utica was the Rev. John Farnan, who vis-
ited also the Catholics of Western New York, and even beyond
the frontier of the United States. St. James', at Carthage, was
also visited by him, and he attended the various stations along
the Erie Canal. His career here was not exemplary, and his
faculties were withdrawn. The Rev. Richard Bulger, a holy and
apostoUc man, and the Rev. John Shanahan, whom we have seen
laboring at Troy, were next stationed at Utica, where the latter
is still remembered for his zeal and disinterestedness. A number
of other clergymen followed, all for brief periods, inasmuch as
here, too, trustees claimed to hold all, and frequently deprived
the pastor of a competent support. By such ill-judged conduct
they deprived the Catholics of Utica of the Rev. Dr. Cummings
and Rev. James B. Cahill, two accomplished clergymen, who
came from France in 1830 in consequence of the revolution of
July, which raised Louis Philippe to the throne. The Rev. Wal-
ter J. Quarter, afterwards Administrator and Vicar-general of the
diocese of Chicago, at last became pastor, and first gave stability
to affairs at Utica; yet even then the trustees would not grant
any salary to his assistant, the Rev. Wm. Beecham.

In 1834 the Sisters of Charity, under Sister St. Etienne as
Sister Servant, came to Utica to take charge of an asylum and
girls' school, erected by the Messrs. Devereux at an expense of
nearly ten thousand dollars. They, on a subsequent occasion, by
a liberal yearly contribution, enabled the Sisters to remain when
want of support was compelling them also to retire.

The church at Utica proving too small, the Rev. Mr. Quarter,
in 1835, undertook the erection of a new one, in which he hap-
pily succeeded. Mass being sa! 1 in the new edifice for the first
time on Christmas-day in the following year. Among the cler-
gymen who were from time to time assistants of Mr. Quarter

474

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

were two who have since been raised to the episcopacy — the Rt.
Rev. D. W. Bacon, now Bishop of Portland, and the Rt. Rev.
John Loughlin, now Bishop of Brooklyn.

The Rev. Thomas Martin, of the Order of Preachers, was pas-
tor from 1841 to 1845, and distinguished himself by his zealous
efforts to put down intemperance, and for an earnest protest
against the intolerance of the State government, which forced the
employees in the State Lunatic Asylum to attend Protestant
worship. By this time many of the stations served from Utica
had become parishes, with churches and pastors of their own.*
Rome, visited in 1836 by the Rev. William Beecham, a graduate
of Carlow College, had by 1840 exchanged the cooper's loft for
the modest church of St. Peter's, which became a centre from
which the pastor visited a district of a hundred miles around
him. Churches arose, too, at Verona, Oneida, Florence, Consta-
bleville, Waterville, and West Utica, so that Central New York

^an to blossom like a garden with the flowers of Catholic faith
and piety.f

Salina, now a part of Syracuse, had a church in 1829, due to
the exertions of James Lynch, Esq., and Thomas McCarthy, Esq.
It was occasionally attended from Utica till 1832, when the Rev.
Francis O'Donoghue was appointed the first resident pastor.
From 1839 it has been the field of the labors of the Rev. Michael
Heas, who has seen many others grow up around him. The
Catholics of Syracuse, among others, purchased a lot in 1842, to
which they removed an Episcopalian church similarly purchased.

By this time, too, Schenectady, Sandy Hill, Keeseville, Malone,
Binghamton, Little Falls, and Saratoga had their churches and
resident pastors ; and so extensive had become the followers of
Catholicity in that part of the State, that the Holy See resolved

* Memoir furnished by the kindness of the Rev. F. P. MoFarland.
t Information derived from the Bev. Wm. Beecham, the pioneer pastor
of Borne. •

to ere

beAIi

the li

limits

to the

The

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The Sist

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It now o(
the girls' schi
and 66 orphai

IN 'fHE UNITED STATES.

476

to erect that portion into a new diocese, the See of which shoula
be Albany. The diocese is bounded on the north and east by
the limits of the State, and extends westward to the eastern
limits of Cayuga, Tompkins, and Tioga counties, and southward
to the forty-second degree. .

The Rt. Rev. John McCloskey, born at Brooklyn, and actually
coadjutor of the Bishop of New York, was transferred in 1847 to
the new See of Albany, which he has ever since governed with
the greatest harmony and advantage to the cause of religion.
On taking possession of his See, Albany contained St. Mary's,
which became his cathedral, with three other churches, one of
them exclusively for the Germans. The oi-phan asylum of St.
Vincent EadTrbm about 1830 been under the charge of the Sis-
ters of Charity from Erametsburg, who also directed a school for
girls. The remainder of his diocese contained about forty
churches and less than that number of clergymen. The zealous
prelate immediately devoted himself to the task of endowing his
diocese with all that the wants of the faithful required. This task
has been the more diflficult, as the Catholics are scattered, few of
them wealthy, and prejudices against them more bitter than in
parts where Catholics and Protestants are constantly in c i act
with each other. Under his impulse Troy founded an orpuan
asylum confided to the Sisters of Charity, and in 1851 the bishop
had ihe happiness of securing the Brothers of the Christian
Schools, who opened at Troy the Academy of St. Joseph, and at
the same time assumed the direction of a second orphan asylun,
intended exclusively for boys.*

The Sisters of Charity, thus relieved of a part of their labors,
sought a new field for their devotedness, and in the same year
opened a hospital, which has been of signal service to the city,

* It now contains 850 boys under the charge of the ChriBtian Brothers ;
the girls' school, under the charge of eight Sisters of Charity, has 850 girls
and 56 orphans.

476

THE OATHOLIO CHUBOH

no less than seven hundred and eighty-nine patients having been
received into it in one year.

Moat of these creations are due, under the excellent bishop, to
the zeal, devotedness, and perseverance of the Rev. P. Haver-
mans, pastor of St. Mary's Church.

To give his diocese an institution in which young ladies
might obtain a higher degree of education than the schools
already in operation afforded, Bishop McCloskey applied, and
not unsuccessfully, to the Ladies of the Sacred Heart. A colony
of that order arrived in Albany in 1852, and opened an academy
in a central and agreeable position. The high standard of in-
struction afforded by these pious followers of the Sacred Heart
has here, as in all other parts, met with general appreciation.
The Brothers of the Christian Schools meanwhile extended the
institutions of their order in the diocese. In 1854 they assumed
the direction of a new asylum for boys, erected by the bishop on
a farm about a mile from his cathedral, and in the following
year opened a large academy at Utica, which cost over seven-
teen thousand dollars, ^nd is due chiefly to the zealous exertions
of the late Nicholas Devereux of that city.

The churches and clergymen in the diocese have increased in
proportion to the other institutions. The churches now amount
to eighty-seven, with nine more in process of erection. The
clergy numbers seventy-four, among whom are, as we have seen,
several Fathers of the Society of Oblates of Mary Immaculate, in
charge of the French parishes in the north of the State, and
Fathers of the Society of Jesu8,_who direct St. Joseph's Church
at Troy and a Germanjchurch at Syracuse.

The Congregation of Missionaries (Oblates) was founded in
1815 at Aix, in Provence, by the Rev. Qhart^ Jos^h'' Eugene
Mazenod, now Bishop of Marseilles. Feeling himself called to de-
vote himself to the spiritual service of the poor and prisoners, he
began regular instructions in the churches and visits to the

IN THK UNITED STATICS.

477

►een

p,to
ftver-

prisons. Others soon joined him, and in order to consolidate the
work, he drew up constitutions and rules. The fathers beheld
in these the will of God, and applied themselves to attain reli-
gious perfection by close adherence to them. The prelates of
Provence and Dauphiny all approved the new institute, and urged
the founder to solicit the confirmation of his rule by the Holy
See. After a long examination by a congregation of cardinals,
Pope Leo XII. solemnly approved the institute and rule on the
l7th of April, 1826, and the missionaries received from the Holy
Father himself the name of Oblate Missionaries of Mary con-
ceived without sin. Letters apostolic, by an exception made in
their favor, were issued on the 21st of March in the same year,
canonically establishing the congregation.

Their objects are, parish missions, the direction of theological
seminaries, the spiritual direction of young men, the poor, prison-
ers, and those in special need of instruction ; and lastly, the for-
eign missions. Like the Society of Jesus, they place their ser-
vices iu a special manner at the command of the Vicar of Jesus
Christ, and are ever ready to repair to any part of the world for
the good of religion.

The Congregation had spread to various parts of France,
Switzerland, Savoy, and Sardinia, when, in 1841, the Bight Rev.
Ignatius Bourget, Bishop of Montreal, solicited a colony for his
diocese. While the order afterwards spread rapidly in £urope,
it assumed a no less remarkable development in America. A
novitiate was opened at Montreal, which many devoted clergy-
men entered, and ere long the Oblate missionaries were directing
institutions of learning, and exercising the holy ministry wherever
the need was the greatest. The Indian missions especially at-
tracted them, and from the Saguenay to the Pacific they may
now be found, laboring to evangelize the aborigines. Already
has this new order furnished the ancient Church of Canada
with two zealous prelates. Of their entrance into New Ycik,

4Y8

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

and their labors among the forsaken Canadians, we have already
spoken.*

Before leaving the diocese of Albany, we cannot omit re-
counting a conversion which brought many Protestants of Onon-
daga into the Church. Syracuse, the chief place of the county,
numbered among its earliest, and still among its most influentiul
residents, the families of Lynch and McCarthy, by whose zeal
chiefly the house of God has been erected and upheld. Yet
Catholicity was all but unknown. One evening in tht; spring of
1836, an Irish peddler, urging his horse and wagon through the
miry roads, broke down not far from the house of Colonel

D f a wealthy farmer, near Pompey. With the friendly

feeling usual in the country, the colonel went out to offer his as-
sistance; but it was evident that the harness needed repairs,
which would detain him till morning. He accordingly invited
the peddler to pass the night there : the latter accepted the kindly
welcome, and after stabling his horse, entered the house. Sup-
per was scarcely ended, when Mrs. began to feel anxious

about his remaining ; for the man was Irish, evidently, and prob-
ably a Catholic. The peddler, little aware of the terror he was
causing, freely avowed his faith, and now nothing could exceed
the distress of the gentleman and his wife. Too good-hearted to
turn the man out, they prepared themselves for some terrible
mishap. The colonel talked with him for a time on religious
matters, but the peddler was not able to give such explanations
as he needed. When bedtime came, he was carefully, but si-
lently, locked in the kitchen, and the family retired to uneasy
beds. On departing the next morning, after having repaired the

accident, the peddler oflfered Mr. D a small book on the

Catholic religion, which, with some others, formed part of his
stock ; and, thanking him for his hospitality, journeyed on. The

* Annales de la Propagation de la Foi, xii. 281.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

479

eady

it re-
3nou-
3unty,
lential

. Yet
•ring of
igb the
Colonel
friendly
r his a8-

repaiw,
ff invited
le kindly
ie. Sup-
anxious
«id prob-

ox he was
exceed

learted to
terrible

religio^i*
Sanations

ly, but si-
uneasy
)aired the
pk on the
[art of his
on. The

colonel read the book, and was filled with surprise and astonish-
ment : he induced his wife to take it up ; she was no less
amazed. Catholicity, as Catholics know and practise it, was,
she saw, as diflferent from Catholicity portrayed by Protestant
ministers and tracts, as day is from night. When the peddler
returned, they took such other books as he had, and finding, in
the end of one, a catalogue of Catholic books, they ordered them
from New York. Conviction began to dawn upon their minds
that the Reformation was a mere human act, entirely unauthor-
ized by any divine commission, and completely at variance with
Christ's promises. They consulted the Presbyterian minister to
whose church they had belonged, but were so far from being
satisfied with his explanations, that they lost no occasion ot
proving to their neighbors that the Reformation was all wrong.
Provoked at this, the minister had them both arraigned for here-
sy, and formally cut off from the communion of the Presbyterian
Church.

They now entered into correspondence with a Catholic clergy-
man, and all doubts being soon cleared away, they were baptized
at Utica, on Christmas-day, 1836. Many other members of their
family and neighbors imitated their example, and in less than a
year sixteen persons abjured Protestantism, and embraced the
faith. Others have since joined this nucleas of the faithful ; and
thus, by a special providence of God, a number of Protestants,
amid a population embittered against Catholics by prejudices
and falsehoods, which designing men even now, in the light of
boasted freedom, are not ashamed to perpetuate, were led, with-
out even hearing the words of a priest, into the very Church of
Christ.*

On the division of the State, a See was fixed also at Buffalo,
with a diocese comprising Cayuga, Tompkins, and Tioga coun-

* Annales de la Propagation de la Foi, xii. 281.

480

THE CATHOLIC CHUBCH

ties, and all tJiose west of them. To fill this See, the choice of
the Holy See fell upon the Rev. John Timon, a priest of the
Congregation of the Missions. Bora in Mi^setrfi, he at an early
age entered the novitiate at the Barrens, and while still a divinity
student, commenced a public course of controversy in reply to
the attacks of some Protestant clergymen.* Soon after his or-
dination, when the Rev. Mr. Green, a Protestant minister, inter-
fered between him and a poor culprit whom he had converted
and baptized, he challenged the minister to a public discussion,
and completely silenced him.f His missionary career was most
varied ; and Texas, especially, may regard him as the founder of
its present Catholic establishments, while hardly a city of the
West has not telt the efiect of his missions and retreats-J At
the time of his nomination to the See of Buffalo, he was Visitor
of his Congregation in the United States, and had twice listed
as Superior in the sessions of the Provincial Councils at Balti-
more.§ He was consecrated at New York on the iTth of Octo-
ber, 1847, and on the 23d arrived in Buffalo, accompanied by
the Right Rev. Bishops Hughes, Walsh, and McCloskey. Here
he was enthusiastically received by a large body of Catholics,
who escorted their prelate in procession to the Church of St.
Louis, where he bestowed upon them his episcopal benedic-
tion.!

The portion committed to his care was the last settled in the
State, and Catholicity is there of more recent date. The old
French fort at Niagara, begun originally in December, 1678, by
the celebrated explorer. La Salle, as one of his line of posts, had
been more or less regularly attended by chaplains from that
date. It was visited, in 1679, by the romantic Father Hennepin,
of the Order of Recollects, or Reformed Franciscans, and by the

* Annales de la Propagation de la Foi, ii. 365.

X Id., xii. 84, 279 ; xv. 865.

S Conoilia Balbimori habita, 211-238.

t Id., V. 595.
I Id., zzJi. 81.

. 'tr—n- 'f,-

IN THE UNITED STATES.

481

ce of
if the
early
vinity
ply to
bis or-
, inter-
iverted
jussion,
as most
mder of
r of the

ts-t At
B Visitor
) Assisted
at Balti-
of Octo-
[anied by
Here
lathoUcs,
5h of St.

still more distinguished Fathers Gabriel do la Ribourde and
Zenobe Membre, of the same order, both martyrs to their zeal in
endeavoring to plant the faith amid the wilderness.* Here, on
his departure for the West, La Salle left as chaplain another
Recollect, Father Melithon Watteau, with a small party. Hither
La Salle returned on foot, baffled, but not discouraged, in April,
1680; and he set out from it again in 1682, on his memorable
expedition, which had the gloiy of first descending the Missis-
sippi to its mouth. On the disastrous end of La Salle, his post
at Niagara was abandoned, and the Jesuit missionaries in the
Seneca country, of whom we have spoken elsewhere, were the
only priests of Catholicity in W<^«tern New York. In 1687, the
Marquis de Denonville, in spite oi' the protests of Governor Don-
gan, took possession of the spot in July, and began to rebuild
the fort. Denonville had just returned from his expedition
against the Senecas, and restored Niagara, as a check upon them.
The Jesuit Father John de Lamberville was the first chaplain of
the new fort, having reached it in September, 168*7. But the
garrison, closely blockaded by the Indians, was attacked by the
scurvy, and the missionary, sick himself, was dragged on the ice
to Fort Frontenac, which he reached almost in a dying condi-
tion. He was succeeded by Father Peter Milet, who remained
till the evacuation of the fort in September, 1688. The official
account of the commandant at that time states that he demol-
ished the ramparts, leaving the houses and cabins, in order to
prove possession, and, in the midst of the fort, a cross eighteen
feet high, which the officers had planted on Good Friday, after
it had been solemnly blessed by Father Milet. This cross bore
the inscription, " Christus vincit, Christus regnat, Christus im-
perat ;" and it remained to foretell the future triumphs of reli-
gion, where, almost beneath its shadow, now rises the noble

* Shea, HiRtory of the Catholic Missions, 412, 48i.

482

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Cathedral of Buffalo. The chaplain's cabin is thus described :
" The Rev. Father Milet's cabin, furnished with its chimney, win-
dows and sashes, shelves, a bedstead and four boards arranged
inside, with a door furnished with its fastenings and hinges, the
whole cabin being made of twenty-four boards."*

In 1*721 the French resumed possession of Niagara, which they
held till the fatal battle in which the gallant Aubry was defeated,
in his attempt to relieve it. The fort then surrendered, in 1759.
During this interval of thirty-eight years, the fort had undoubt-
edly a Recollect chaplain, because the king assigned one to every
fort holding over forty men, and the garrison at Niagara always
exceeded that number. We do not, however, find any mention-
ed by name, except the celebrated Father Emmanuel Crespel ;
and the register of the fort is unfortunately lost, having probably
been carried to Albany after the surrender.f

The Revolution checked the progress of settlements in that
part, and emigration did not revive till the close of the century.
The number of Catholics who settled here continued to be very
small for many years ; and these were ^' ag without a pastor. It
was not till Bishop Connolly took possession that a priest was
stationed in this part of New York ; and, strange as it may
appear, the first pastor sent to seek out the strayed sheep in
that district is still alive, and in the exercise of the ministry.
This is the Rev. Patrick Kelly, who, sent to the West, erected,
about 1820, St. Patrick's Church in Rochester, then a small vil-

* Dc amentary History of New York, i. 243-275. Colonial Documents,
ix. 887.

t Father Emmanuel Crespel, of the Order of St. Francis, came to Canada
in 1728, was chaplain at Crown Point, and then at Niagara. He also visited
Detroit, and attended an expedition against the Fox Indians in Wisconsin,
in 1728. He set sail for Europe in 1742, but was wrecked at tiie mouth of
the St Lawrence. Those who reached the shore, almost all perished of
cold or hunger. Father Crespel survived, and on his return to Europe, pub-
lished an account of his travels, which is remarkably interesting.

N THE UNITED STATES.

483

ibed :
, win-
anged
js, the

li they
ifeated,
1 1759.
adoubt-
o every
, always
[lention-
3vespel ;
probably

; in that
, century.

be very
istor. It

riest was
it may

sheep in

ministry,
erected,

small vil-

)ocument9,

lags, and visited various stations along the Erie Canal, as far
east as Auburn, and westward to Buffalo.* The Laity's Directory
for 1822 says, " In Auburn, an agreeable littla town, there is
likewise a Catholic church, recently erected." The Right Rev.
Bishop Dubois had, as we have seen, found no churcli in Buffalo
in 1829, but blessed the ground for St. Louis Church, given to
him by William B. Le Couteulx, Esq. " Here," he writes at the
time, " I found seven or eight hundred Catholics, French, Cana-
dians, Swiss, and Irish, instead of fifty or sixty, as I had been inform-
ed. Although I did not understand German, I was obliged to hear
the confessions of two hundred Swiss, who understood neither
English nor French. These good people experienced an inex-
pressible joy at being enabled to approach the sacraments. I
celebrated a solemn Mass in the courthouse, more than eight
hundred Catholics and Protestants being present. An altar had
been erected on the platform where the judges us^^ally sat.
The presence of a bishop, the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice,
the number of communicants, the beauty and gravity of the
chant, the administration of the sacrament of baptism, which I
conferred on thirty or forty persons, produced a general emo-
tion."f

In 1834, twelve years later, so slow had been the progress of
Catholicity, that we find only two priests then employed in what
is now the diocese of Buffalo. These were the Rev. Nicholas
_Mertz and the Rev. Bernard O'Reilly. Father Mertz was a na-
tive of Geriaaliy, ordained in his native country in 1791, but
received into the diocese of Baltimore in 1811, by Bishop Carroll,
by whom he was always much respected and esteemed. He
spent fifteen years at Baltimore, three at Conewago, but the re-
mainder of his career at Buffalo and Eden, where he labored

* Letter of the Rev. John Shanahan.

t Annalea de la Propagation de \a Foi, iv. 455.

484

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

with the most untiring zeal from the year 1829 till his death, on
the 10th of August, 1844, when he expired, at the age of eighty-
one.* V\^U%

The Rev. Bernard O'Reilly, whose loss in the ill-fated Pacific
all are now deploring, was connected with the church at Roches-
ter from about 1832 till the period of his nomination to the
episcopal See of Haitford. In that city his zeal and labors were
untiring ; and most of the institutions there, of which we shall
have occasion to speak hereafter, are due to his energy and devo-
tedness.

In 1835, Williamsville had as pastor the Rev. Mr. Wyatt, fol-
lowed soon by the Rev. Mr. Schneider, who long labored here.
Auburn, too, had a pastor, in 1834, in the person of the Rev. J.
O'Donoghue, who purchased a small Methodist meeting-house,
and made it the first Catholic church in the place. But during
the effervescence of minds at that time, the presence of a cler-
gyman was so disliked, that a young man was surprised in the
act of setting fire to the church while the poor and scanty con-
gregation were assembled in it.f In 1838, Eden and Lockport
had also their pastors, and the Germans had erected at Rochester
a church, attended by Father Joseph Prost and Father Simon
Sanderl, both of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer,
whothus inaugurated the missions of their order in Western
New York, which have continued to the present time, and been
fruitful in good. They have also a large and still more flourish-
ing church of their order at Rochester, where four Fathers are
constantly employed in the ministry.

Other churches arose at other points, and when the diocese
was divided, the Right Rev. Bishop found, on taking possession
of his See, eighteen clergymen in the district committed to his

* Catholic Almanac, 1845, p. 179.

t Annales de la Propagation de la Foi, viii. 254. Letter of Bev. P.

O'Flaherty.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

485

care, three churches in Ba£fa1o, four in Rochester, and churches
or stations in every county. Rochester also possessed an orphan
asylum, under the care of the Sisters of Charity of St. Jo-
seph, founded in 1845, and an academy, conducted by the same
Sisters.

Bishop Timon began his administration like a veteran mis-
sionary. On the 21st of November, 184Y, less than a month
after his arrival, he consecrated the Church of St. Louis, and
confirmed over two hundred persons. He then proceeded to
Rochester, where he gave a retreat, preaching three times a day,
and making two meditations for the people, spending the rest of
his time in the confessional. The next month he gave retreats
in Java and Buffalo ; in January, at Lockport. Besides these
labors, he preached, instructed, and gave confirmation at Attica,
Geneva, Ithaca, Elmira, and Scio, besides visiting the prisoners
at Auburn, where, of over four hundred, he found only twenty-
eight Catholics.*

One of his earliest plans was the foundation of a college ; and
in 1848 the Rev. Julian Delauno, late President of St. Mary's
College, Kentucky, opened, under the auspices of the bishop, the
College of the Sacred Heart at Rochester; but it met with diflficul-
ties, and closed in 1852. Another institution, St. Joseph's Col-
lege at BuflFalo, was opened in 1849, and conducted for a time
by secular priests and the seminarians of the diocese ; but this
being found a plan attended with much difficulty, the college
was, in the year 1851, committed to the care of the Oblate
Fathers. Those Fathers conducted it until the year 1855, when
it was found necessary to suspend it, to the great regret of the
bishop.

The foundation of a hospital at Buffalo was attended with
happier results. It was confided to the care of the Sisters of

Annales de la Propagation de la Foi, xxi. 81.

486

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Charity, who won the admiration and confidence of the commu-
nity ; 80 much so, indeed, that a Protestant clergyman by the
name of Lord thought that his creed was in danger, and by
anonymous communications in the papers, or articles over vari-
ous letters of the alphabet, endeavored to create prejudice
against the hospital, and excite suspicion in the minds of his
fellow-citizens. The Very Rev. Bernard O'Reilly came out in
reply, and forced Mr. Lord to throw off the mask. A long con-
troversy ensued, in which the endea^'ors of Mr. Lord to escape
rather justly prejudiced all honest men against himself.* In-
stead of injuring the hospital, this attack added to its popularity.
Up to December, 1851, twenty-four hundred persons were re-
ceived into the hospital, most of whom, but for the care thus
afforded them, would have sunk to their graves. A medical
journal, edited by a Protestant physician, said, " The fact that
the services of these intelligent, educated, and pious Sisters are
bestowed without compensation, contributes greatly to the econ-
omy of the institution ; but apart from this, the same capabili-
ties and fidehty could not be purchased by any pecuniary con-
siderations. No salary, however great, could afford a substitute
for motives derived from the religious obligations which urge
those devoted females to consecrate their lives to the offices of
charity."f

The exertions of the bishop in the cause of education were
not confined to the colleges : he sought to endow his diocese
with a house of religious women devoted to the highest order of
teaching, and rejoiced to find that the Ladies of the Sacred
Heart were able and willing to aid him. A colony, accordingly,
came from Manhattanville in 1849, and founded a convent of

* Discufision relative to the Buffalo Hospital of the Sisters of Charity,
between the Rev. John C. Lord and the Very Eev. B. O'Reilly, 72 pp. Buf-
falo, 1850.

t See Second General Report of the Buffalo Hospital, Buffalo, 1852.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

487

their order in Buffalo, which was in 1865 transferred to Roches-
ter, as a more central point for their academy.

Besides these institutions, the untiring bishop established a found-
ling hospital and asylum for widows, and has within the last year
introduced the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity, a colony of the
original order, as founded by Father Eudes, in 1 645. They have
not yet been enabled to open a penitent asylum, and are labor-
ing under great diflficulties ; but the devoted pastor will overcome
all obstacles to his good works. The Sisters who founded this
convent, the first of their order in the United States, were Sister
Mary de St. Jerome Tourneny, as Superior, Sisters Mary de St.
Etienne Vardey and Sister Mary de St. Cyr Corbin, with the lay-
Sister Mary of St. Martin : they were a filiation from the con-
vent of Rennes, and arrived in Buffalo on the 1st of June,
1855.

These are not the only accessions within the last year : the
Brothers of the Holy Infancy of Jesus have been introduced to
direct the boys' orphan asylum ; and the Sisters of St. Bridget,
an order founded about the middle of the last century in Ireland,
by the Right Rev. Dr. Lanigan, in honor of the Virgin Patroness
of the island, now devote themselves to the instruction of poor
gills at Buffalo and Rochester.

The impulse given by the good bishop was felt in other parts
of the diocese, and the zealous pastor of Canandaigua, the Rev.
E. O'Connor, whom we find laboring in the diocese in 1848,
and at Canandaigua since 1851, resolved, after erecting chapels
at the most important points around him,* to give his parish
such establishments of mercy as would perpetuate the faith.
The religious order to which he applied was the Sisters of St.
Joseph, who had a house at St. Louis and in other cities of the
Union. Of the origin of this order we have given an account

* Bloomfleld aod Lushville.

488

THS CATHOLIC CHURCH

when speaking of the diocese of Philadelphia, and need not re-
peat it here. On the 8th of December, 1854, the veiy day when
all the Christian world exulted, by its representative bishops at
Rome, on the definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Con-
ception by his Hohness Pope Pius IX., a colony of the Sisterg
of St. Joseph arrived at Canandaigua from St. Louis. Mother
Agnes, the Superior, had as companions Sisters Frances, Joseph,
Theodosia, and Petronilla, followed by two others from St. Louis
and one from Philadelphia. Devoting themselves to the various
good works contemplated by their rule, they opened an acade-
my, which is numerously attended, and enables the Sisters to un-
dertake other works of mercy. Besides an orphan asylum, they
have a Home for poor girls of good character, when out of place,
or overtaken by sickness. This latter object, peculiar to this
Home, is the more essential, as, from the absence of a hospital,
the poor girl had previously no alternative but the poorhouse.

As the Sisters have opened a novitiate, and already had postu-
lants, there is every prospect that the order is firmly planted at
Canandaigua.*

While this order was thus diflFusing the odor of sanctity
around Canandaigua, the western part of New York beheld the
Recollects once more return to the scene of their early labors.
Nicholas Devereux, Esq., of Utica, owned a large tract in Alle-
ghany and Cattaraugus counties, to which he had endeavored to
draw Catholic settlers, facilitating in every way the erection of
churches and establishing of missions. But the progress of
Catholicity did not correspond to his zealous wishes, and hav-
ing visited Rome in 1854, applied to the Irish College of St.
Isidore for Fathers of the Order of St. Francis to found a mis-
sion in New York, ofiering five thousand dollars and two hundred
acres of land for the new convent. He wished seven Fathers in

* Letter of Bev. E. O'Connor. Notice in the Baffalo Sentinel.

IN TH£ UNITED STATES.

489

order to begin the mission, but as there were not so many able
to speak English who could be sent, it was resolved to defer the
intended colony for two years. The Right Rev. Bishop of Buf-
falo was, however, in Rome, and, from his zeal, objected to any
such delay. On this, some of the Fathers so earnestly besought
the General of the order for permission to go and restore the
Franciscan order in that part of the world, where their own
brethren had been the first apostles, that he consented, and the
Fathers received all due faculties.

Of this new colony of Recollects, Father Pamphilus de Mag-
liano is the Warden, or Superior, having under him Father
Sixtus de Gagliano, Father Samuel da Prezza, and the lay-
brother, Salvador de Manarola. They are all Recollects, or
Reformed Franciscans, of the same family as the early missiona-
ries of Canada, and the chaplains whom we have had occasion
to mention.*

Two of the Fathers were professors of theology at or near
Rome, the Superior at the Irish College, Father Sixtus at the
convent of St. Bernardine, at Urbino ; Father Samuel was at the
College San Pietro Montorio, in Rome, having just completed his
studies. Father Pamphilus and Father Sixtus had long nour-
ished a desire of devoting themselves to the foreign missions, and
had selected the United States as their chosen field of labor ; so
much so, that a few days before Mr. Devereux's application, they
had declined an invitation to proceed to Buenos Ayres.

With the blessing of the Holy Father, and authority to estab-
lish a province of their order, they left Rome on the 9th of

* The FranciBcans, or Friars Minor, comprise, Ist, The Observantinesj'the
Kecollects, and Alcantarines, who number about ninety thousand, and are
subject to the Minister-general of the Order of Minors. The present Gen-
eral is Father Venantius da Celano, a Recollect. 2d, The Capucins. 8d, The
Conventuals. 4th, The Tertiaries : the last three having each a General of
their own. The Capucins number about forty thousand, the Convontuala
seven thousand, and the Tertiaries a number almost incalculable.

21*

490

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

May, 1856, and reaching New York on the 19th of June, pro-
ceeded to Ellicottsville, where they began their labors. A con-
vent and college will soon arise in Allegany City, whence the
Fathers will minister to the Catholics in all the adjoining coun-
try.* Already have their labors been fruitful : everywhere, in-
deed, have the good Fathers of St. Francis, as humble and gentle
as their martyred brother. Father Zenobe Merabre, or the aged
Gabriel de la Ribourde, won the confidence and affection of all.
As their numbers increase, Canada will doubtless too claim a
house of the order of her sainted Caron.f

Only one difficulty troubled the administration of Bishop
Timon, and this arose in the Church of St. Louis. The ground
for that church had been deeded to Bishop Dubois, at the time
of his visit to Buffalo in 1829, by Louis Le Couteulx, Esq. Grad-
ually the church had been erected, and a body of trustees or-
ganized, under the general law of the State. To them the
administration of the church was transferred, the bishop having
full confidence in their integrity as men, and fidelity as Catholics.
This hope was, however, delusive : ere long they began to usui-p
powers not their own ; and on the issuing of the pastoral letter
of the Right Rev. Bishop Hughes, after the Diocesan Synod in
1842, the trustees of St. Louis's Church peremptorily refused to
submit to the regulations contained in it. These regulations re-
quired every church to act under its pastor, subject to the ulti-
mate decision of the ordinary in the appointment of teachers,
sexton, organists, choir, and other persons employed in the house
of God. It also subjected the expenditures of the church funds
to the supervision of the pastor and bishop, and required the ac-
counts to be open to their inspection. By the terms of the pas-
toral, any church refusing to submit to these regulations within

* Letter of Father MagliaDO.

t Bee History of the Catholio MiBaions.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

491

six months, was to be deprived of a pastor. The Church of St.
Louis, notwithstundiDg the refusal of the trustees, was not de-
prived by the bishop of its pastor, but the trustees and their
adherents compelled the Revmr. Pax to quit his post and leave
the country.*

The bishop declined to put another clergyman at their mercy,
but sent two priests, who erected a new church, leaving fhat of
St. Louis closed. On the next visitation of his diocese by Bishop
Hughes, he received the voluntary submission of the schismatic
trustees, who agreed to observe the regulations of the pastoral.
A priest was again placed there, and, as we have seen, the Right
Rev. Bishop Timon consecrated the church soon after his arrival,
on being informed that the title of the church was in the bishop.
The trustees, however, soon resumed their usurpation, and the
pastor publicly insulted, menaced, and ordered by a daring mi-
nority to quit, withdrew, bearing with him the Blessed Sacra-
ment. A new church was begun for the faithful part of the con-
gregation, as beforcf

The trustees still maintained their opposition, however, and
appealed to the Holy See. As the Supreme Pontiff was just
about to send to this country, for the first time, a Nuncio, in the
person of the Archbishop of Thebes, the Most Reverend Cajetan
Bedini, he confided to him, among other things, the considera-
tion of the case. In a long and able letter, that eminent prelate,
on the 25th of October, 1853, discussed the whole question, and
showed them that the canons of the Church were imperative,
and that the charter under which they claimed, being merely
permissive, must be construed so as not to conflict with their
duty as Catholics. " The privilege which the civil law grants is
permissive ; you may igo it, or not. It is your duty to consult
the principles of your faith, to ascertain when and how you

^ Brooksiana, p. 68.

t Reply to Mr. Babcook^ Speech, p. 6*

402

THE OATHOLIO OHUROH

ought to use it*** Having shown them that the management of
the pious offerings belonged to the bishop, as they were mode
for the support of divine worship, which clergymen appointed by
him alone could perform, he urged them to comply with the
wishes of their prelate ; but they obstinately refused, rejecting
the decision of the very tribunal to which they appealed.

The good bishop did not despair, and the Rev. Father Francis
X. Weninger, of the society, an eminent missionary, having of-
fered to preach a retreat there, the bishop cheerfully consented,
and the erring men at last yielded, and once more enabled the
Holy Sacrifice to bo offered in the church.

The diocese of Buffalo, so poorly provided with missionaries
when the untiring bishop was promoted to the See, so destitute
of those ^institutions of charity and education needed above all in
a country where education and benevolence are a mask for pros-
elytizing error, is now one of the most richly endowed in the
country. It contains one hundred and twenty churches and
chapels, a hundred other statiuiis, seventy-eight priests, inclu-
ding, besides the secular clergy, Ji suits, Redemptorists, Oblates,
and Franciscans, a theological seminary, five orphan asylums, a
Home for the innocent, a Refuge for the penitent, a hospital for
the sick, and schools directed by Sisters of St. Joseph, St. Bridget,
Notre Dame, and Charity.

Brookltn. — The last diocese in New York formed by the
Holy See is that of Brooklyn, comprising the whole of Long
Island, an island named by the early Catholic Ui^ <>v ^rms the
Isle of the Holy Apostles. The eastern portion t«>v. ><: it\l&<' Irom
New England, the western by the Dutch in early times, and few
Catholics have settled there. Brooklyn, from a mere suburb of
New Y( ' •. has grown within a few years to be one of the largest

•Letter of il'.s ^!oat Rev. Archbishop of Thebes, in New York Freemftn'a
Jouroal, NovemHir 5, 185S. j^/^

W THE TTNITEn STATES.

493

cities in America, and miioh of it« population consista of rath*.-
lics. In 1822, there was l\^>^ a Catholic church on the Ishmd.
The next year, St. James's Church, in Juy-street, was »ro('ted,
under the auspices of Bishop Connolly ; and here, in September,
1823, on a few boards clumsily put together^
R( V. J )ha Shanahan said his first Mass. T|
|, \it jr >>ere was the Rev. John Walsh, who]
the loinder of the mission, having laborec
many years. In 1837 the Rev. Mr. Bradley
Williamsburg, which, with Staten Island,
Tbo next year, Brooklyn had a second churcl
after, the Rev. James O'Donnell erected St.
hurg, a small frame, which has since been r^
Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, through the exefl
Rev. S. Malone ; and the zealous Rev. Mr. Raffeiner reare^-t
Church of the Holy Trinity for his German countrymen. But
even these churches were not sufficient. In the following year,
the Rev. D. W. Bacon, whom we have seen on the mission at
Utica, and who now fills the See of Portland, purchased a build-
ing which a priest had, in a moment of insubordination, erected
as an ludependent Catholic Church. This, dedicated to the
worship of God, became the Church of the Assumption. The
Protestant Episcopal Church of Emmanuel became the Church
of St. Charles Borromeo about the time that Bishop Ives, who
had there ordained the Rev, Donald McLeod, became, with that
g ntleraan, a submissive child of the Catholic Church.

When the Holy See resolved to erect Long Island into a dio-
cese, it called to the episcopate, as Bishop of Brooklyu, the Very
Rev. John Loughlin, for many years Vicar-general of the diocese
of New York, and well known in the city of New York for his
devotedness as a pastor in that most trying of all missions, an
extensive paiij.h in a crowded city. Educated at the Seminary
of Mount St. Mary's, he had been exercising the holy ministry

r ! I 1

494

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

in New York from 1841. He was consecrated by the Most Rev-
erend Cajetan Bedini, Nuncio of His Holiness, at St. Patrick's
Cathedral, on the 30th of October, 1853, at the same time as
the Right Rev. James R. Bayley, Bishop of Newark, and the
Right filv. Louis de Goesbriand, Bishop of Burlington. The
new^felate immediately took possession of his diocese, which
thjSn contained, in Brooklyn and Williamsburg united, ten church-
es,^nd in the rest of the island eleven, with seven stations, the
w^li^ole attended by a body of twenty-three priests. To aid them
fhero, were 'two . oi'phan asylums, one directed by the Sisters of
X^harity, who ha|d been laboring in Brooklyn from 1836, having
cnarge both yf the asylum and the free-schools for girls. The
Christian Bi'others had, however, within a year or two assumed
the direction of the free-school at St. James's Church.

The bishop zealously applied himself to afford his flock the
advantages for education and aid which their condition required.
He purchased a house for a colony of Dominican nuns, which the
Very Rev. Mr. RafFeiner had pieviously procured from Bavaria.
In September, 1855, the prelate also obtained some Visitation
nuns of the house at Baltimore. These then founded, with
Mother Juliana Mathews as Superior, the first monastery in New
York of the order planted in America by the venerable Alice
Lalor. Their academy is already in a prosperous condition, anil
will supply a want which Brooklyn has long felt.

The good bishop was no less successful in his appeal to the Sis-
ters of Mercy at New York, who in the same year, under Mother
Vincent Haire, founded the convent of St. Francis Assisium, and
having obtained a delightful house for the purpose, now devote
themselves to all the works which their rule contemplates.

Newark. — The State of New Jersey, forming the diocese of
Newark, had been confided to the care of the Right Rev. James
Roosevelt Bayley, born at New York ; and though a nephew, on
his father's side, of the venerable Mother Seton, and even con-

■ ^»■^J:*»'-JJSW7-r■

IN THE UNITED STATES.

495

, Rev-

tiick's

me as

id the

The

which
shuvch-
mb, the
d them
sters of

having
s. The
assumed

flock the
requiied.
^hich the

Bavaria.

isitation

ed, with
in New
Ible Alice

tion, anil

10 the Sis-

ir Mother
Lium, and
|)W devote
tes.

liocese of
3V. James
l^phew, oil
iveu con-

nected with the family of Doogan, Earl of Limerick, the Catho-
lic governor of New York, he was born and brought up in the
Protestant religion, and resolved to enter the ministry as an
Episcopalian clergyman. He was stationed for some years at
Harlem, where he witnessed the faith and piety of the Irish
Catholic laborers, who ever found in him a kind and generous
friend. Early moved by the doctrines of the Oxford divines, he
proceeded to Rome, and there, convinced of the necessity of era-
bracing the one true faith, he renounced error with a genorous
spirit of sacrifice, conscious that the step would deprive him of
the accumulated wealth which an uncle reserved for his favorite
nephew. Proceeding to Paris, he entered the Seminary of St.
Sulpice, and after his course of studies, was ordained at New
York, on the 2d of March, 1844. He was subsequently Vice-
president and President of St. John's College, Pastor of Staten
Island, and then secretary to the archbishop, an office which
he filled down to the time of his consecration to the See of
Newark.

His jun'sdiction extends to the whole State of New Jersey,
previously subject partly the See of Philadelphia, and partly to
that of New York. Of the rise of Catholicity in the State, it
becomes us here to say a few words. The first Catholic priest who
is known to have visited New Jersey is the Rev. Mr. Harding,
whose labors could not have been prior to 1762 ; but of the
time and place we have no details. The chief Catholic congre-
gation was at Macoupin, settled by a colony of Germans from the
neighborhood of Cologne, who were brought over to conduct the
iron-works begun in New Jersey a little over a century ago.
Two of the families settled at Macoupin, Marion and Schulster,
were pious Catholics, from Baden ; and their descendants, to this
day, have preserved the faith and devotion of their ancestors,
gaining even the children of Protestant fellow-emigrants, so as to
form a Catholic colony rcmai'kable for its fervent piety. A Rev.

496

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Mr. Langrey, an Irish priest, is said to have beeo the first to visit
them ; but the venerable Father Ferdinand Farmer, distinguished
in Europe as an astronomer and philosopher, and even honored
as such here,* but known to Catholics by his devoted labors as
an humble missionary, seems to have been the first to visit New
Jersey regularly. In his baptismal register, cited by Mr. Camp-
bell, we find him oflSciating at Geiger's in 1759, Charlottenburg
in 1769, in Morris county, at Long Pond, and Mount Hope, near
Macoupin, in 1776. Indeed, he is said to have visited Macoupin
twice a year for a considerable period. The Revolution, which
made New Jersey the battle-field between the contending armies,
interrupted his visits, and we do not find him reappearing till
1785, in Sussex county, Ringwood and Hunterdon.

Other priests also visited the scattered Catholics, and among
these are mentioned the Rev. Mr. Malenx, Rev. Mr. Katen, and
Rev. Mr. Kresgel ; the last named a German priest, who was at
Macoupin in l775.f

Except, however, the Catholics at Macoupin, no traces now re-
main of those scattered through the State, prior to the Revolu-
tion. The schoolmaster at Mount Holly in 1762 was an Irish
Catholic, Thomas McCurtain, a nephew of the Gaelic scholar ;
but he removed to Philadelphia after the war, in order to enjoy
the advantages of religion.J Others, doubtless, did the same,
and swelled the congregations of Philadelphia and New York.

Towards the close of the century, a number of French families
from St. Domingo and other parts of the West Indies settled in
New Jeraey, at various points. And in 1806, we find the Rev.

* He was one of the trustees of the University, and a member of the Phil-
osophical Society. U. S. Catholic Magazine, iv. 257.

t Campbell, Life and Times of Archbishop Carroll, in U. S. Catholic
Magazine, vi. 484. N. Y. Freeman's Journal, 1847. Bishop Bayley, Brief
Sketch, p. 97.

X His wife was a convert, and the writer feels pride in saying that not one
of his desoendants has ever f^len from the Churoh. — J. O. S.

IN THB UNITED STATES.

497

Phil-

[Ifttliolic
Brief

bot one

Mr. Tisseraut living at Elizabethtown with a colony of them.*
lie was there, however, only a visitor, which was the more to be
regretted, as Bishop Cheverus, in recommending Mrs. Seton to
apply to him, styles Mr. Tisseraut a most amiable and respectable
man, equally conspicuous for his learning and piety.

After New York had the consolation of possessing a bishop,
the Rev. Richard Bulger, who was ordained by the Right Rev.
Dr. Connolly in 1820, was stationed at Paterson, and during his
short career devoted himself with great fidelity to the care of the
Catholics scattered amid a most bigoted population. In the
course of his ministry, the Rev. Mr. Bulger was often exposed to
insult and hardship, which he bore with patience and cheerful-
ness, often laughingly recounting his own mishaps. Nor was his
patience denied its fruit. The present Bishop of Newark relates
the following instance in which a conversion repaid humiliation,
and edifying patience was a lesson of truth :

" Trudging along one day on foot, carrying a bundle contain-
ing his vestments and breviary under his arm, he was overtaken
by a farmer and his wife in a wagon. The farmer invited Mr.
Bulger to ride ; but it having come out, in the course of his con-
versation, that he was a priest, the wife declared that he should
not remain in the wagon, and he was consequently obliged to get
out, and resume his journey on foot. But the farmer afteiwards
applied to the Rev. Mr. Bulger for instruction, and was received
into the Catholic Church."f

The Church of Paterson is mentioned in the Almanac of
1822 as the only church in the State, Mr. Bulger being the pas-
tor.]; His zealous career was, however, terminated by a prema-
ture death at New Yoi-k in November, 1824.

As part of the State was subject to the Bishop of Philadel-

* Bishop Bayley, Britf Sketch, p. 51. See White's Life of Mother Setou,
p. 171.
t Bp. Bayley, Brief Sketch, p. 75. t Laity Directory for 1822, p. 105.

498

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

phia, we find soon after clergymen visiting that portion, and
establishing stations at Pleasant Mills and Trenton, which con-
tinued to be visited till the diocese of Newark was erected.

Newark had a pastor, about 1830, in the Rev. Gregory B.
Pardow, a native of New York, whom we find, in 1834, the only
priest actually residing in New Jersey. The next year, how-
ever, he was succeeded by the Very Rev. P. Moran, who has for
more than twenty years labored on that mission, and contributed
most essentially to the progress of Catholicity, many of the in-
stitutions, and especially the Orphan Asylum, being due to his
zeal.

Madison, Jersey City, New Brunswick, and Paterson next had
resident pastors; and in 1841, the devoted Rev. John RafFeiner
raised a German church at Macoupin, the more than centenarian
son of Mr. Marion assisting at the ceremony. Two years later,
a German church also rose at Newark, directed by the Rev. N.
Balleis.

On assuming the direction of this diocese, the Right Rev.
Bishop found in the State thirty-three churches and thirty cler-
gymen, with an orphan asylum at Newark, containing fifty-one
children, guided by five Sisters of Charity, and parish schools
attached to many of the churches. During the short period of
his incumbency, he has erected a fine cathedral, founded a sec-
ond Orphan Asylum at Paterson, and is about to open at Mad-
ison, Setou Hall College, an institution which will doubtless soon
rank with the older Catholic colleges of the Union.

and

con-

)ryB.

(i only
hovv-
bas for
ributed
the in-
; to his

IN THE UNITED STATES.

499

CHAPTER XXVII.

1853, 1854.

Mission of the Nnndo, the Most Eev. Archbishop Bedinl— His arrival— Plot of the
Italians— Their slanders — Refutation— Death of Sassi—Eeaction —Violence of the
Germans— Result of his mission.

While the Holy See was examining with its usual maturity
the suggestions of the Plenary Council held in Baltimore in 1852,
it was resolved to testify its interest in the American Church, by
sending one of its representatives to bear the Apostolic benedic-
tion to the United States. Accordingly, in the spring of 1852,
the Most Rev. Cajetan Bedini, Archbishop of Thebes,* Nuncio
to Brazil, was commissioned to visit the United States, in order
to judge of the state of Catholicity in that vast Republic ; and
we may say, that such a mission, the first confided to an envoy
of the Holy See in the American confederacy, hao inaugurated
an important era, of which the future will develop the importance.
This mission coincided with the erection often new episcopal Sees ;
and marks the epoch when the Church in the United States be-
held its hierarchy completed, so as to meet the progress of the

* The Most Eev. Cajetan Bedini is a native of Eome, and was for many
years secretary of the Prince, now Cardinal Altieri, Nuncio at the Court of
Vienna. From the ability displayed by the Abate Bedini here, he was sent
as Internuncio to Rio Janeiro, where he distinguished himself as a diploma-
tist, and especially for his noble stand in fovor of some German immigrants,
wliose wrongs found an ardent sympathizer in the Papal envoy. On his
return to Italy, he was intrusted with the government of Bologna and tlie
tour legations, during the most troubled times. His ability here induced
tlie Holy Father to raise him to the episcopal dignity, as Archbishop of
Thebes, and appoint him Nuncio to Brazil.

600

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

faith and the incessant increase of the faithful. Religion in the
United States has had three distinct periods : the first began with
the missions of the Jesuits of Maryland and New France, whether
among the Indians of the Chesapeake, of Maine, New York, Il-
linois, and Michigan, or among the European Catholics of Mary-
land, Pennsylvania, and the West. The second period, dating
from 1790, beholds the Holy See giving a centre to all these
scattered missions, by the erection of an episcopal See at Balti-
more. Some years later, the United States became an ecclesias-
tical province, and in 1808, on the eve of being torn from Rome
and dragged into captivity, Pius VII., extending his pastoral solici-
tude to America, founded the dioceses of Boston, New York,
Philadelphia, and Bardstown. These new Sees had multiplied
in 1853 to the number of forty-one, forming seven ecclesiastical
provinces ; and with this expansion of the episcopate begins the
third period — that in which the Holy Father chose to be repre-
sented directly, or at least temporarily, amid a flourishing Church,
in order to make America better known at Rome, and also to
make Rome better known in America.

The mission of Archbishop Bedini was, as we say, essentially
temporary. Was it desirable for the good of religion that it
should be followed by the establishment of a nunciature, or per-
manent legation, either at Washington or New York ? We
think so, and still retain the hope that circumstances will permit
this at a day by no means remote. The presence of an envoy of
the Holy See in the United States would facilitate extremely the
relations of the episcopate and religious communities with Rome.
For the foundation of new Sees, for inquiries as to bishops pro-
posed, for dispensations, the examination of Provincial Councils,
a solution would be more speedily obtained by the presence and
intervention of this pontifical envoy. But the Pope, at the same
time that he is the head of the Universal Church, is temporal
sovereign of a European State ; and hence his representatives, in-

IN THE UNITED STATES.

501

trusted with the interests of the Church, are also accredited as
ministers to the governments of foreign nations. In Europe,
where the State almost universally enters into the sphere of re-
ligious interests, and where concordats between the State and
the Holy See regulate the relations of the secular and ecclesias-
tical powers, such a union of functions excites no surprise. The
United States, as a government, is expressly debarred from in-
terfering in ecclesiastical matters ; by the very words of the
Constitution, as amended, " Congress shall pass no law concern-
ing the establishment of a religion, or prohibiting the free exer-
eise thereof." Here, therefore, the State can never enter into
any negotiations with the Holy See for the purpose of drawing
up a concordat as the base of its harmonious legislation in eccle-
siastical matters. In the political point of view, however, there
exists nothing to prevent the Holy See from having its repre-
sentative at Washington, as the United States actually has a
Charge d' Affaires at Rome. The frequent visits of Americans
to Italy, the sometimes prolonged residence there of prelates,
clergymen, students, artists, and others, and even the emigration
of Italians from the Papal States to this country, all justify the
residence at Washington of a Nuncio as minister or charge of
His Holiness.

This representative may or may not be the depositary of pow-
ers in matters ecclesiastical ; but this is a matter with which tho
government of the United States has, and can have, no concern.
If the resident minister at Washington, or any other, is invested
with the powers of a Nuncio in matters ecclesiastical, the prin-
ciple of liberty of worship would protect him in his relations
with the episcopate — relations which would of course be limited
to the domain of religion.

Catholics, like all other citizens of the United States, have,
by the Constitution and laws, a right to the full and fair en-
joyment of their religion, and, in the government of their

t >

502

THE CATHOLIC CHURCh

Church, to such arrangements and dispositions as they deem
necessary. No American will deny them this right, or take um-
brage at it ; for, in spite of the agitations caused by foreign fa-
natics, or occasional ebullitions of old prejudice, the Americans,
as a people, have never shown a desire to molest their Catholic
fellow-citizens in the free enjoyment of their religion, or deprive
them of social equality.

Among Catholics, opinions may differ as to whether the epoch
has yet come when the residence of a Nuncio in the country is
called for by the wants of the time, or whether it should be de-
ferred for a season. As the Holy See has already made a step
towards the establishment of a Nunciature, we have expressed
our opinion, or rather our wish, openly, perfectly aware that the
matter rests with the Holy See, and that, in whatever action
shall be taken, thq prelates of the United States will evince not
only the devoted attachment of the Bench of Bishops to the
Chair of Peter, but the no less cordial attachment of the clergy
and people over whom they preside ; and who, divided as they
may be from each other by origin, language, early education,
and associations, present a spectacle almost unparalleled in his-
tory, of union among themselves in religious matters, affectionate
submission to their pastors, and devotedness to the Apostolic
See. There is an instinct of self-preservation in the Catholic life
which makes all cleave to Rome with an attachment and an
ardor as strong as that expressed by Fenelon for it in language
borrowed from Scripture.

Another result of the creation of which we are examininof the
advantages, would be to exalt the character of religion not only
in the minds of Protestants, but even in the eyes of Catholics
whose faith has been weakened by unhappy circumstances. Till
these later times, the expansion of Catholicity in America has
encountered an obstacle in the prejudice which viewed it as the
religion of the servant and the laborer. The Prqiestant

IN THE UNITED STATES.

4)03

deem
LC um-
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iricans,
Jatbolic
deprive

lb epoch
)vintry is
Id be de-
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expressed
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in language

felt himself drawn to us, had to overcome human respect ; and
while his kindred would have had no objection to his changing
from sect to sect, and from Methodist, for example, become a
Baptist, or vice versa^ they become indignant when one of them,
brought humiliation on the family by embracing the faith of the
servant-girl and the immigrant. It is not easy to form an idea
how many of our separated brethren have been retained in mis-
belief by such wretched considerations. Travelling in Europe
has had its influence in converting, often been the primary cause ;
and we have been told by come, that had they remained at
home, they should probably have found in self-love an obstacle
to the light of faith ; while in the Old World, seeing the reli-
gion practised by the highest classes of society, they discovered
that they could be Catholics without ceasing to be gentlemen.
But a whole nation never goes abroad, or becomes tourists, as a
path to the truth. We must, then, go to it, and give high hu-
man ideas of our Faith, in order to prepare them for its recep-
tion. Now the presence of a representative of the Holy See
would, it seems to us, prepare the way for & fashionable restora-
tion of Catholicity. His character would permit him to mingle
in society, or have receptions in his salons. Protestants would
there meet members of the clergy, whom they knew only by cal-
umny or fanaticism. Prejudices would disappear in this inter-
course ; and Americans would see that they might, without
abasement, embrace a religion whose head delegated such emi-
nent ambassadors. Catholics, on their side, would find motives
for exalting their character ; they would no longer think of apol-
ogizing for being Catholics, or seeming as little Catholic as pos-
sible, for fear of giving their Protestant friends a low idea of
their intelligence and taste ; for to such a feeling we must, it is
conceded, ascribe many of the defections which occurred in past
years.
Moreover, on examining the efforts of infidelity to thwart '^

504

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

temporary mission of Archbishop Bedini, we have a sure means
of appreciating its impoitance. Hell is crafty in its enterprises,
and when it accumulates falsehood, calumny, and violence, to
.defeat an undertaking, we may be certain that it dreads to see
souls wrested from its empire. Before dispatching the Arch-
bishop of Thebes on his mission, the Court of Rome, with its
usual prudence, had taken the precaution of sounding Mr. Lewis
Cass, the Charg6 d' Affaires of the United States at the Holy
See. The oflBcial reply was, thai the government at Washington
would behold with pleasure the mission of Archbishop Bedini,
and, in consequence, that prelate set out for New Yc'c. His
arrival at first gave no umbrage to the American Proiostants.
After a short stay at New#York, Baltimore, and Philadelphia,
the Apostolic envoy, accompanied by the Most Rev. Archbishop
Hughes, proceeded as far west as Milwaukie, studying with the
bishops the state of religion in these dioceses, visiting the con-
vents and colleges, and charming all who approached him by his
lofty views, distinguished manners, and courteous address. At
Washington, he presented to President Pierce the following au-
tograph letter of His Holiness :

" Illustrious and honored Sir, Greeting :

" As our venerable brother, the Archbishop of Thebes, accred-
ited as our envoy in ordinary, and Nuncio of the Apostolic See
near the Imperial Court of Brazil, has been directed by us to
visit those regions (the United States), we have at the same
time especially charged him to present himself in our name be-
fore your Excellency, and to deliver into your hands these our
letters, together with many salutations, and to express to you, in
the warmest language, the sentiments we entertain towards you,
which he will testify. We take it for granted that these friendly
demonstrations on our part will be agreeable to you ; and least
of all do we doubt but that the aforesaid venerable brother, a

man ei

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IN THE UNITED STATES.

505

man eminently distinguished for the sterling qualities of mind
and heart which characterize him, will be kindly received by
your Excellency. And inasmuch as we have been intrusted by
Divine commission with the care of the Lord's flock throughout
the world, we cannot allow this opportunity to pass without
earnestly entreating you to extend your protection to the Catho-
lics inhabiting those regions, and to shield them at all times with
your power and authority. Feeling confident that your Excel-
lency will very willingly accede to our wishes, and grant our
requests, we shall not fail to offer up our humble supplications
to Almighty God, that He may bestow upon you, illustrious and
honored Sir, the gift of His heavenly grace, that He may shower
upon you every kind of blessing, and unite us in the bonds of
perfect charity.

"Given at Rome, in the Vatican, March 31, 1853, the seventh
of our Pontificate.

" Pius IX., Pope.
'•To his Excellency the

" PaESISBNT or THE UNITED StATBS."*

• « Pros P p. IX.
" iLLVtrTRis ET HONosABiLis Vnt, Salxtteic :

*' Cum venerabilia Frater Cajetanus, Archiepiacopus Thebanornm ad ordi-
narii nostri et ApostolicGB Sedis Nuntii munua apud Itnperialem Brazilien-
Bem aulam abeundnm a nobis dosttnatus per istas transeat.regionen, eidem
in praecipuis mandates dedimus ut nostro Nomine Nobilitatenj tuam conve-
niat, Tibique has nostras reddat Litteras, plurimam fialatem dicat et simul
nostri in te animi sensus luculentis verbis exprimat atquo testetur.

"Prooerto habemus hseo nostra in te stadia pergrata tibi fore, ac minime
dubitamus, quineundem Venerabilem Fratrem egregiis animi, ingeniique
dotibuB ornatum pro eximia tua humanitate, benignisaime sis excepturus.
Et quoniara universi Dominici gregis cura nobis divinitus est commissa,
idcirco baud possumus quin hao quoquo occasione libentissime utontes, a
Te totis viribus enixa efflagitemus, ut Catholicos in istis regionibua degentea
valido Tuo patrocinio et auctoritate tegere et tueri semper velia. Dum
autein confidiraus, NobJlitatem tuam nostris hisce desideriis ac postula-
tionibus perlibenter esse, satisfacturam baud omittimus a Deo optimo
Maximo humiliter exposcere, ut Te, Ulustris et Honorabilis Vir, coelojitis

506

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

It might have been expected that public opinion would con*
tinue to respect a person of eminence, who confined himself ex-
clusively to his religious and pacific sphere. But, as we have
said, the spirit of falsehood, alarmed at the increase of the legit-
imate influence of Rome, sought to oppose it ; and for this work
of iniquity, excited some Italian refugees, who distinguished
themselves in America by a blind hatred of the religion which
is the glory and fortune of their native land. Banished from
Italy, which their momentary reign had brought to the verge of
ruin, these demagogues sought to obtain support abroad by flat-
tering Protestantism, by defaming the Papacy, and seeking to
destroy the faith in which they were baptized. Their paper,
L"* Eco d^ Italia, and their orator, the ex-Bamabite friar Gavazzi,
undertook to alarm the Americans, by tales of the perfidious and
ambitious intrigues of Rome, at the same time that they attacked
the Nuncio in person. The press soon repeated the calumnies
of the Italians, and Gavazzi, especially, accused the prelate of
having condemned the unfortunate priest, Ugo Bassi, an ex-Bar-
nabite, and oflScer in the horde of Garibaldi, who was seized by
the Austrians ia 1849, during the flight of that chieftain of the
Condottieri. Now at that time. Archbishop Bedini, although
pro-legate of the Pope at Bologna, actually exercised no authori-
ty. The Austrians were masters of the place, and Ugo Bassi,
who had but too well deserved his fate, was put to death by the
Austrian forces, without any act of the pro-legate.

Besides this calumny, which the New York Express complai-
santly echoed, that sheet gave the list of fifty pseudo-patriots
shot, it averred, by the orders of Archbishop Bedini ; and sum-

sn89 gratiee donis, omnique vera felicitatis genere cumulet, ac perfecta nobia
cum caritatd conjungat.

"Datum Bomee apud fcJ. Petram die 81 Martii, anno 1853, Pontiflcatus
nostri anno septimo.

'« Pius P. P. IX."

IN THE UNITED STATES.

607

moned the Catholics to produce authentic documents, if they
wished to exculpate the Nuncio from all participation in these
executions.

Would it have become the dignity of the noble represent-
ative of the Holy See to descend at that time into the arena of
discussion, and allow his august person to be defended, as if he
were an arraigned culprit on the ground where the perfidious
Italians sought to drag him ? Doubtless not ; and the silence of
contempt was the only merited reply to the furious blasphemies
of the enemies of the Papacy. Still, if it was useless and undig-
nified to enter into a justification of the political career of the
Apostolic Nuncio, it might be useful to confound the imposture
of the Italian Carbonari, in order to unmask them in the eyes of
the honest American public. This easy task we publicly under-
took to perform, on the 8th of April, 1854, and we now fulfil
our promise. If any one is surprised at our delay of two years,
we answer, that truth can wait, because it is eternal. A ven-
erable authority thought justly, that it was better to let the pop-
ular feeling first subside : then, instead of producing the impor-
tant documents by the way of the press, it was preferable to
reserve them for a volume, in which they would remain an
inexorable monument, and, in fact, a pillory of the guilty de-
famers.

We prove, then, by documents extracted from the official ga-
zette of Bologna, which will be found in the Appendix, that
Archbishop Bedini neither tortured nor put to death the patriots
of the Four Legations ; for the Austrian military governor, pro-
claiming the state of siege on the iTth of May, 1849, concen-
trated in himself all powers, and terminated his official notifica-
tion with these remarkable words :

" I hope that this exceptional state of things may cease in a
short time, through the good conduct and good sense of the citi-
zens, and that the Envoy of His Holiness, appointed to represent

i&M

608

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

him, may soon directly and fully exercise his peaceful mission in
your midst."

On the I'Zth of May only, the city of Bologna had been put
in the state of siege ; but, by a notification of the 5th of June,
this exceptional state was extended to the Four Legations, and
thus annulled the edict of the 26th of March, by which Arch-
bishop Bedini, when he first entered Bologna, declared the civil
and criminal courts restored to the free and full exercise of their
respective functions. With the procedure and sentences of these
courts, the Apostolic Commissary had no power to interfere.
The will of the Pontifical envoy was to restore the civil laws all
their sway ; the perversity of the lawless compelled the Austrian
general to concentrate all powers in himself.

The question de jure is settled by these documents. The ques-
tion de facto receives the same solution, by taking up the names
of the fifty would-be patriots, said to have been put to death by
Archbishop Bedini, and by giving the official record of the
crime, sentence, and death of each one, thus showing that, in
point of fact. Archbishop Bedini had nothing to do with their
death. The official documents in the Appendix will also show
that the majority of these martyrs of freedom were robbers and
bandits. Does this deprive them of the title of Italian patriots I
On the contrary, the hordes of Mazzini and Garibaldi were re-
cruited among the scum of society. May this lesson teach
Americans whether all the political refugees from Europe de-
serve their sympathy ! Because in the United States the Repub-
lican form of government is justly loved by all the citizens, many
would view in every European republican a brother ; but can they
not understand that the best form of government for a country
is that which is upheld by the majority of the people ? Go, in
Europe, into a tavern, gambling-house, prison, or galley, and in-
quire the political opinions of the frequenters and inmates of
such places : all will tell you that they are republicans, per-

IN THE UNITED STATES.

509

ion in

!n put

June,
IS, and

Arch-
ie civil
)f their
)f these
iterfere.
aws all
Austrian

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e names
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is, many
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country
Go, in
and in-
lates of
ms, pel'-

haps. Frequent the saloon, the store, the shop, the academy,
the bench, the bar, the country : you will find all professing mo-
narchical principles. The exceptions to this rule are the ambi-
tious, who flatter the lower orders, in hopes of rising and ruling
in their name. •

"We also give in the Appendix various letters which prove that
the Rev. Ugo Bassi was shot at the Austrian head-quarters, and
that the ecclesiastical authorities, far from showing indifference
to his fate or memory, took the liveliest interest in both. Ugo
Bassi died in the most edifying sentiments of piety and repent-
ance ; he wished his retractation made public ; but the Austrians
opposed it ; and all arguments and requests were lost on them.
Their censorship was inflexible. We have procured these impor-
tant documents through the kind offices of the Rev. Dr. Cum-
mings, who took the trouble to translate them. This distinguish-
ed clergyman, who rendered important services to the Nuncio
during his mission, both at Washington and New York, could
not but take a lively interest in placing him in a true light be-
fore the American people.

The Carbonari lodges of Europe had sworn, in their secret
meetings, to defeat the mission of the Most Reverend Archbishop
of Thebes. Gavazzi started from London as chief of the plot,
and concerted his plans with the confederates in America. The
Italian apostates soon found an echo in fanaticism ; and the most
virulent enemies of the Papacy soon filled the press, the pulpit,
and the rostrum with infamous attacks on the mild and pious
prelate, who was held up to the fury of the masses as the Roman
hyena. For several mouths Gavazzi dogged every step of Arch-
bishop Bedini, like his shadow : he followed the Nuncio to every
city ; and there the ex-monk endeavored to create scandal, and
initato the crowd, by vomiting torrents of calumny in public dis-
courses on the venerable object of his hatred. A man is never
held up to the vengeance of a people without their arising as

610

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

avengers. In the summer of 1853, a Sardinian frigate landed at
New York eighty-three Italians, recommending them to the hos-
pitality of Americans, as political refugees from Rome and Lom-
bardy ; but in reality there were among the number criminals
condemned, for various ofiences, to transportation. For these
men, attacks with word and pen on the Nuncio soon seemed to
legalize a crime of another dye, and a plot was formed among
them to assassinate the prelate. However, the remorse of one of
the conspirators enabled the Archbishop of Thebes to be on his
guard. Sassi, at the peril of his life, informed the Nuncio of the
attempt to be made for his assassination ; but his visits to the
spot where the envoy of His Holiness resided had not been un-
observed. Sassi was stabbed to the heart at night, in the streets
of New Yc^k.* Before expiring, their victim made revelations
to the police, and also to the Abbe Cauvin, a priest of Nice, who
endeavors to enlighten his countrymen with a zeal which nothing
repels. Mr. Cauvin applied to Archbishop Bedini, whom the
news of the murder surprised in Canada, to know how he should
act ; and the touching reply of the worthy representative of Pius
IX. was as follows :

"Mjt dear Abb^ :

" I beg you to take no steps on my behalf with the authori-
ties, as to the affair of poor Sassi. It is not in the least ray
desire to pursue any one whomsoever, with the sword of justice.
My life is in the hands of God, far more than in those of men.
My ministry is one of peace and pardon, and my heart can only
love those who hate me.

" Continue to comfort the hearts of the poor Italians, who,

* To cover the plot, the guilty and their favorera endeavored to make
Sassi's death a private quarrel ; but the evidence la so clear as to preclude
all doubt. Had the American people been convinced that Sassi had been
murdered from political motives, the foreign refugees would have lost all
credit in a moment ; and the murderers knew this well.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

511

after all, cannot but be ever exasperated by the sufferings of
exile. Poor people ! they are indeed to be pitied. Rest assured
that I will recommend them especially to God's mercy ; and,
unable to extend my hand to relieve them, since I do not know
them, I extend it gladly over them to bless them all — be they
who they may.

" Believe me, my dear Abbe, &c.,

"C. Bedini,
"Archbishop of Thebes,

" Apostolic Nuncio.
"St. Htacinthb, September 20tli, 1853."

The iniquity of a controversy which puts the poniard into the
hands of assassins, and the contrast between these diabolical at-
tacks and so much mildness, soon opened the eyes of many
Protestants, who had at first been misled by the incessant cal-
umnies of the refugees. A remarkable article in the Courier
and Enquirer^ a well known and influential journal in New
York (November 1), was the signal of the reaction. The politi-
cal press almost all took up the defence of the Nuncio ; and
then it was that the Mayor of New York officially invited the
representative of the Holy See to visit the public establish-
ments and benevolent institutions — an honor accorded only
to the most eminent guests of the city. This excursion took
place on the 10th of November; and after visiting the Institute
for the Blind, and the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, Orphan Asy-
lums, Schools and Hospitals, the Nuncio sat down to a sumptuous
banquet, tendered to him by thie Commissioners of Emigration,
Everywhere Archbishop Bedini charmed the authorities of the
city, and the many tbrlorn ones whom it gathers into its public
institutions, by the appositeness of his remarks, and the pro-
found knowledge displayed by his questions ; but, above all, they
jenthusiastically applauded the phrase by which he closed his

612

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

thanks to the assembly for drinking his health : " As you all des-
ignate the Pope by the name of Holy Father, let us hope that he
may one day call you all his children."

During this period, the least harassed in his stay. Archbishop
Bedini was enabled to celebrate the most solemn and most in-
teresting ceremonies of the Catholic worship, in order to corre-
spond to the invitations which met him from every side. Without
regard to fatigue, he was seen in turn dedicating cathedrals, cele-
brating ordinations, giving the veil to religious, receiving the ab-
jurations of Protestants, opening ecclesiastical retreats, presiding
at college exhibitions, visiting convents and hospitals, consoling the
sick, and blessing the orphans — everywhere welcomed as an envoy
of mercy, and everywhere leaving piety, editlcation, and devoted-
ness to the Holy See. To see the incomparable dignity which
the Archbishop of Thebes brought to the discharge of these
diflFerent functions, priests and laity conceived the highest idea
of the Roman Court ; and the faithful in America, who admired
the spectacle of so much pomp united to so much piety, asked
themselves what must be the august majesty of the Holy Father,
whose ambassador possessed so striking a reflection of it. The
grandest ceremony of all was the consecration of the Bishops of
Burlington, Brooklyn, and Newark, which took place in the
Cathedral, at New York, on Sunday, the 30th of October, 1853,
by the hands of Archbishop Bedini. The Catholics of America,
ordinarily habituated to a religious simplicity required by the pov-
erty of their sanctuaries, were filled with enthusiasm at a solem-
nity which gave them some idea of the brilliant festivals of
Christian Rome : they admired the clear accentuation and har-
monious chant of the Nuncio, when pronouncing the canonical
interrogatories and the magnificent prayers of the Episcopal
consecration ; they followed with pious curiosity the various
ceremonies, so new to most of them ; and if the mission of
Archbishop Bedini had had no other result than the deep impres-

IN THE UNITED STATES.

613

sion produced by the majesty with which he maintained the
pomp of worship, it would have rendered considerable service to
religion.

In the month of December, the Apostolic Nuncio set out to
visit the Western States, stopping in the principal cities of Penn-
sylvania, and especially at Pittsburg, where the enthusiastic wel-
come of the Catholics was troubled by the insults of some fanat-
ics. At Cincinnati, however, these acts of violence assumed a
more serious character. The desperate attacks of the Italian
refugees had, as we have seen, failed to excite public opinion
against the venerable object of their hate. Unable to arouse
the Americans, the Italians called upon another party of the
socialist immigration, and the German infidels, more numerous
and more influential than the Italians, might well hope, by in-
timidation, to drive out the Representative of the Holy See. If
we term them infidels, we merely give them a name which they
adopt and are so proud of, that they glory in what others would
deem an insult. The political emigration of the last few years,
and Kossuth's travels, have organized these Germans into a fear-
ful league against Catholicity ; but the introd '3tion of the Ger-
man element into the population of the Unitea States dates far
back. Ever since the close of the seventeenth century, the fer-
ment of that amalgam of stubborn thinking nations has period-
ically sent its portion to America. Every war, every treaty that
transmitted a province from one sovereign to another, the sect
that believed itself persecuted, or that which lost the power
of persecuting, sought a refuge in emigration ; and thus the
New World successively received the descendants of the fierce
Hussites, who abandoned Silesia ; the fragments of the wild
Anabaptists, crushed at Munster, but ever seeking to raise their
heads ; or else the Lutherans of the Palatinate and Salzburg,
unwilling to live in their own country when the Catholic wor-
ship w \s tolerated there. From all these, and more recent emi-

22*

514

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

grations, has resulted a German population estimated at no less
than four millions.

Thinking men have long dreaded the anaxcshy menaced by the
impious audacity of a part of these Germans. Their hundred
papers are almost unanimous in their socialist and even atheistic
tendency. War against all religions in general, and Catholicity
, in particular, is the motto of almost all these gazettes, which
openly preach the deification of the creature, and the satisfac-
tion of every appetite, of every passion. This poisoned press
was now to undertake to excite its readers against the Nuncio,
in order to bring on a general war against the Catholics ; and
the arrival of Archbishop Bedini at Cincinnati was followed by
the appearance of a frightful article in the Hochwcechter, a Ger-
man paper in that city. To appreciate this bloody polemic,
traced with the stiletto of the assassin, we must cite a few
hues.

After calling the archbishop a murderer, a human butcher, a
Patagonian cannibal, ofiering in sacrifice the tears of poverty,
and after saying that, for the solemnity of Christmas, the
Church prepares horrible and bloody mysteries, the journalist
continues :

" What name shall we deserve, if the butcher of Bologna re-
turn home safe and sound, and leave the starry Republic full of
life, his body untouched, and his limbs unbroken ? If it is so,
let us talk no more of the power of ideas of liberty to conquer
the world ; let us no longer exalt the valor and dignity of man ;
let us keep our mouths shut and our eyes fixed on the ground.
Posterity will spit upon our cowardice, and will feel only con-
tempt and disdain. Whenever the opportunity of vengeance
offers, it must be seized at once, and used to its furthest limit.
Every man who has motives to exercise his vengeance, should
exercise it when he can. The sons of Italy are too few among
us to punish the bloodhound of Bologna for his dark and sp. i-

guinar
and lo\
pies : c
still le!
are nur
they an
not disc
heart oi
heits Fr
posed to
dred anc
covered
fact, thai
Freund i
a hyena,
he may
minds ar
beast of
try. Wl
liberty.
Republic
a monster
reason to
This sa
and the n(
after the
Germans c
of the Hoi.
N'uncio.
their work
^ute tnen,
disperse,
which eigl

IN THE UNITED STATES.

515

guinary deeds. The Yankee is too absorbed in his speculations
and love of money ; the Yankee has neither feelings nor princi-
ples : do not trust to the Yankee for your vengeance. Rely
still less on the sons of Green Erin, the vulgar Irish. They
are nurtured in ignorance and vulgarity ; their eyes are blind ;
they are incapable of seeing beyond a priest's gown ; they can-
not discern under the ross and the rosary the heart of flint, the
heart of the hyena 1 Germans, you are the elect. The Wahr-
heits Freund (German Catholic Paper) is on the track ; it is dis-
posed to believe that the assassin of Ugo Bassi, and of one hun-
dred and thirty-three other patriots, that Bedini, that murderer,
covered with opprobrium, is not precisely safe among us. In
fact, that sheet is not wrong. We laugh at what the Wahrheits
Freund is pleased to call American hospitality ! Who will suffer
a hyena, a tiger, among men ? Bedini goes about seeking whom
he may devour. He thinks but of murder — the murder of
minds and ideas. He is not our guest ; he is a thief; he is a
beast of prey, plotting the destruction of the peace of the coun-
try. Whoever offers him hospitality in America is an enemy of
liberty. Such is Bedini. Is there a hospitable roof in the starry
Republic for tigers and hyenas ? Is there no ball, no dagger for
a monster never equalled on earth ? The Catholic journal has
reason to tremble for Bedini's life in Cincinnati."

This sanguinary article appeared on the 24th of December,
and the next day, while the Nuncio was reposing in the evening,
after the fatigues of the ceremonies of the day, five hundred
Germans of the Society of Freemen, headed by Hassaurek, editor
of the HochwcBchter, marched to the temporary residence of the*
Nuncio. They were armed, and carried torches to light them in
their work. The police were on the alert, and a hundred reso-
lute men, stopping the march of the rioters, ordered them to
disperse. Firearms were discharged, and after a struggle in
which eighteen persons fell, the Germans took flight, leaving

• I

516

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

seventy of their party in the hands of the police. The latter
had done their duty nobly, and for a few days public opinion
rejoiced at their energetic suppression of the riot. But the Ger-
mans soon succeeded in awakening to a ceitain point the ever
active Protestant fanaticism, by representing themselves as vic-
tims, and their defeat as a triumph of Popery. The rioters were
accordingly enlarged, and the policemen guilty of having dona
their duty were arrested or broken ; and the Germans then, cer-
tain of impunity, enjoyed the satisfaction of burning the Nuncio
in eflfigy, amid the vociferations of impiety and wrath. By these
menacing demonstrations, they wished to alarm the Nuncio ; but
the courageous prelate was not shaken, and did not the less pro-
long his stay in Cincinnati for a whole week. " I had an-
nounced," wrote he, " that I would bless a new church, and I
could not let the infidels triumph by setting out before ; more
especially as the German Catholics, who are very numerous at
Cincinnati, begged me to visit their church and their establish-
ments. Thus I spent the week, led about at the desire of these
pious faithful. I celebrated Mass in some German churches, I
inspected their schools, seminaries, the Jesuit college, and sev-
eral convents, and I everywhere received the most satisfactory
impressions of the spirit of faith, science, and charity which
reigns in these remarkable institution i. Oh ! how many recip-
rocal consolations ! how many blessing given and received with
a heart moved, but trusting in Providence ! The devil must
have shuddered at these holy transports, and the warm-hearted
welcome extended to the representative of the Holy See."

Thus we behold this prelate never turned aside from his mis-
sion ; and when, some days after, a riot threatened him at Wheel-
ing; when men armed with swords and clubs sought as the
troop led by Judas sought the Saviour of the world. Archbishop
Bedini will not think of himself; he will think only of the grief
of the Holy Father, Pope Pins IX., on learning the outrages of

IN THE UNITED STATES.

617

latter

ipinion

le Ger-

le ever
as vic-

rs were

ag dona

len, cer-
Nuncio

By these

icio •, but
leas pro-
had an-

•h, and 1

re', TaoxQ

nerous at
establish-
of these

Ihurches, 1

I and sev-

jatisfactory
^ty which
lany recip-
[eived with
ievil must
•m-hearted

|m his mis-
latWheel-
|rht as the
Archbishop

Lf the grief
(Utrages of

the wicked. " They again amused themselves with burning me
in eflBgy," wrote he on the 10th of January, 1864. " What a
mortification it will be to the Holy Father, as it is to all good
Catholics here !" We must, however, repeat our declaration,
that these manifestations were confined to the circle of German
infidels ; and to the close the Americans were spectators, taking
no part. But in the United States a fanatic minority can keep
up a long agitation under the cloak of liberty of worship, liberty
of speech, and liberty of the press. The electric telegraph was
employed by the conspirators to increase and spread their demon-
strations, and the journals of the Union were filled with dispatch-
es announcing that in such a city a rising was m preparation
against the Roman hyena; that in another he was burnt in
effigy; and in a third, they had broken the windows of the
churches. This news was generally false or exaggerated ; but
the blow was struck, and, thanks to the mania for imitation, the
month of January, 1854, saw groups of Germans in most of the
cities of the United States enjoying the satisfaction of burning a
mitred figure, amid the most impious shouts.

After the danger to which he was exposed at Cincinnati and
Wheeling, the Nuncio returned to Washington, where he enjoyed
some days' repose ; and he wrote from that city on the 1 7th of
January, " I here enjoy the amiable and generous hospitality of
the French Minister, the Count de Sartiges, who lavishes every
attention upon me ; and I am infinitely happy to see that it is
always France that upholds the dignity of religion and the Holy
See, even when men wished to humiliate them. This morning I
received a most touching letter from the most distinguished
CathoUcs of Baltimore. These gentlemen inform me that they
will come to Washington to-morrow with their families, in order
to show to the representative of the Holy See their respects and
protestations against the late demonstrations. Here marks of at-
tentions are not wanting on the part of the most distinguished

518

THE CATHOLIC CHUBCH

persons of the country, as well as of the diplomatic body, and
I am most satisfied with my stay. The reception of the deputation
from Baltimore will take place at the French embassy — another
subject of just pride for the eldest daughter of the Church."

But, apart from marks of politeness and compliments of con-
dolence, the government at Washington took no measures to
protect the person of the Nuncio, and nothing could induce it to
shake oflF its indiflference. They took refuge behind the plea
that the Archbishop of Thebes was Nuncio only to Brazil ; and
as the dispatches of Mr. Lewis Cass, Charg6 d' Affaires of the
United States at Rome, mentioned the complimentary mission of
the prelate to the President of the United States, these dispatches
were carefully lost, and to all the demands of the Senate, Mr.
Marcy's answer was, that they could not be found.* In presence
of this pusillanimous forgetfulness of international duties, the
Senate took up the cause of right and justice, and the 23d
of January was spent in discussions in which the violence of
the Germans against the Nuncio was denounced, and the per-
sonal character of that eminent prelate avenged from the calum-
nies heaped on his head. General Cass spoke first, and after him
eight other Senators successively expressed the severest censure
on the turbulent manifestations of European refugees. Only one
member pretended that the will of the people was to be respected
even in its vagaries ; but we must say that it was the Senator
from California ; and it is easy to feel that, for an envoy from
that State, scenes of disorder, unless attended with assassinations,
seemed not worthy of repression.

* We give in the Appendix Lewis Cass's dispatch of March 20, 1853,
which Marcy could not find for the Senate. It was the very letter the Sen-
ators wanted, and the one that settled the question mooted as to Mon-
seitrneur Bedioi's complimentary mission. We alAO publish Mr. Lewis
Cass's letter to Cardinal Antonelli, " to assure his Eminence of the cordial
reception which Monseigaeur 3edini would receive from the governmeDt
at Washington," and the cardinal's totter to Maroy.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

519

Tho debates in the Senate attracted much attention, and hon-
est men of all parties and creeds applauded the eloquent mani-
festation of the sentiments of the country. It was understood
that the Nuncio was soon to start for Europe, and had had his
final audience with the President. Emissaries of the secret so-
cieties tracked his steps to inform the conspirators, and get up
insulting mobs in every city he was to pass through. For sev-
eral weeks, on the departure of every steamer for Europe, crowds
of Germans flocked to the whaif, ready to rush on the Nuncio
as soon as he appeared. These tumultuous scenes were re-enacted
at New York and Boston, and everywhere, the telegraph and the
reports of the hostile papers increased the disorder, and increased
a hundred-fold the number of the rioters, in order to alarm the
city authorities, and banish all idea of repressing riots which
were represented as so formidable. This conspiracy of falsehood
was not unsuccessful, and the mayors of several cities, even those
who had publicly entertained the Nuncio some months before,
now entreated him to keep himself concealed, and shorten his
stay, in their fear at the prospect of a riot which it would re-
quire all their limited forces to keep in check.

But the unbridling of every bad passion was an undeniable
proof of the good realized by the memorable mission of Arch-
bishop Bedini. For infidelity and socialibm, the Papacy is the
great enemy to combat. As, in the time of Voltaire, the cry
was, "We must crush it," or at least wound it in America;
for six months they employed successively falsehood, calumny,
menaces, insults, the press, the pulpit, the riot, and the dirk of
the assassin. These machinations sowed with thorns the painful
way of the mild and illustrious Pontifical envoy ; but on leaving
New York, he nevertheless bore precious consolations. He left
the Catholics of the United States filled with admiration of his
virtues and angelical patience. He had witnessed their attach-
ment to the chair of Peter, and he had powerfully contributed

520

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

to increase it in their hearts. He had shown the divided Prot-
estants the august spectacle of unity in the promptness of the
hishops of the United States and Canada to honor the repre-
sentative of the Holy See, and to give him information as to
their respective dioceses. These are important results, which still
subsist, now that the clamors of impiety have died away.*

CHAPTER XXVIII.

1864-1856.
Beaotion against the Catholica— Organization of the Know-Nothlngs.

As we have said, the Americans, generally, kept aloof from
the manifestations against the Nuncio-apostolic, as the Germans
themselves avowed. Still, Protestant fanaticism, dormant since
the riots of 1844, was aroused by the anti-Catholic ravings of
the political refugees of 1848, and especially by the envenomed
preachings of Gavazzi ; and a new coalition against the Catholics

* Archbishop Bedini had engraved at New York, in 1854, a copy of the
Madonna of Rimini, iu order to distribute it among the Catholics, as a re-
membrance of his mission, and to increase devotion to the Blessed Virgin.
Tliis engraving hud the following inscription, with the arma of the uoble
prelate :

To the Catholics
Of the United States and Canada,
, C. Bedini, Archbishop of Thebes, Apostolic Nuncio,

Edified and Grateful,

presents this picture

of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God.

It was while Archbishop Bedini was pro-legate at Bologna in 1850, 1851,
that the Madonna in the Church of Santa Chiara, at Bimini, several timeii
miraculously moved the eyes.

was for

niios oi

their or

and the

outrage

well thij

since th(

no fable.

emancipi

churches

employ n

streets an
pocially (
after the
alarm is j
under the
hurries to
cils for th(

In the
place at ]
streets of
out, but ir
who recon
gatherings,
after Sund
the CJiurcI
who assume
Scotland ai
lowed the s
became the
S^'ites; and
plaint, they .
P'lssions exc

IN THE UNITED STATES.

521

was formed in the nhadea of iecret oath-bound clubs. The ene-
mies of religion, known ten years before as Native*, now gave
their organization a new name, without changing its character ;
and the Know-Nothings soon adopted a system of provocation and
outrage against the Catholics. The name they chose characterizes
well this class of fanatics, whose ignorance is pitiable, and who,
since the days of Luther, have learned no truths, and forgotten
DO fable. They still seek to celebrate by acts of Vandalism the
emancipation of their reason, and believe that, by destroying
churches, they will destroy Catholicity. Their first plan was to
employ mad preachers to declaim against Popery in the public
streets and squares, in hopes of provoking the Catholics, and es-
pecially the Irif»h Catholics, to resent their insolence. Then,
after the precedent of 1844, they rush on the Catholics; the
alarm is given, the conspiratoi's flock together from all sides,
under the pretext of protecting liberty of speech, and the mob
hurries to the nearest church, already marked out in their coun-
oils for the vengeance of in^ut^ .

In the month of Dev -mber, 1853, tumultuous meetings took
place at New York, in consequence of the preaching in the
streets of a porter nfvmed Parsons. The militia were called
out, but in constHjueuce of a letter from Archbishop Hughes,
who recommended the Catholics to keep aloof from all such
gatherings, no collision gratified the efforts of malice. Sunday
after Sunday, Parsons thundered away against the Pope and
the Church, surrounded by an armed band. Orr, a madman,
who assumed the name of the Angel Gabriel, and whose path in
Scotland and Guiana may be traced in fire and blood, next fol-
lowed the same course ; and ere long preaching in the open air
became the order of the day in the principal cities of the United
States ; and although the Catholics bore these insults without com-
plaint, they did not, withal, escape being frequently the victims of
passions excited by their enemies. On the 3d of July, 1854, a

sr ft.

PHfi

622

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

furious mob nished on the cburch of Manchester, in the State of
New Hampshire, and destroyed it from top to bottom. The riot
lasted for two days, and all the houses inhabited by Catholics
suffered more or less. On the same day, and in the same State,
the church of Dorchester was destroyed by an explosion, the
Know-Nothings having blown it up with powder. On the 8th
of July, at Bath, in the State of Maine, a mob, led by the furi-
ous Orr, burst in the church doors ; and while some made a pile
of the pulpit and altar, others climbed the steeple and tore down
the cross. Then the whole chirch was reduced to ashes, in pres-
ence of a considerable crowd, and amid the exulting cries of the
sacrilegious incendiaries. A year after, on Sunday, November
18th, 1855, the Right Rev. David W. Bacon, the newly conse-
crated Bishop of Portland, attempted to lay the corner-stone of a
new church on the site of that destroyed, but the people would
not permit it ; a mob took possession of the place, overthrew all
that had been prepared for the ceremony, broke the crosses, and
beat all who showed any disapprobation of their conduct.

On the 4th of September, 1854, the German church at New-
ark, in the State of New Jersey, was demolished in broad day-
light, by an Orange procession from New York, on the pretext
that a pistol had been fired on the procession from a window in
the church. The assertion was entirely destitute of foundation,
as all the independent papers admitted, and as the judicial in-
vestigation proved. The Socialist paper of New York, the
Tribune, on this occasion observed justly, " It is worthy of re-
mark, that while five or six Catholic churches iu this country
have been destroyed or ruined by an excited populace, not a sin-
gle Protestant church can be pointed out which Catholics have
even thought of attacking."

The procession was armed, and, in firing on the spectators,
killed several ; but even this could not provoke any breach of
the peace on the part of the Catholics.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

523

)tate of
he riot
itholics
e State,
on, the
the 8tli
he furi-
ie a pile
re down
, in pres-
38 of the
November
ly conse-
itone of a
pie would
rthrew all
osses, and

ct.

at New-
.road day-
^e pretext
indow in
mndation,
idicial in-
ork, the
•thy of re-
19 country
not a sin-
lolics have

spectators,
breach of

On the 8th of November in the same year, the day f Aer an
election, in which the Know-Nothings had almost everywhere
triumphed, the latter celebrated their victory by attacking a
Cathohc church at Williamsburg, near New York. They tore
down the railing, broke in the doors, and carried oflf the cross in
triumph to their place of meeting. Insult to the symbol of our
redemption, the sign of the Son of Man, is indeed the noblest of
exploits in their eyes. The military arrived just as they were
going to set fire to the church, and after arresting the trustees
and such Catholics as they found, protected the church from
ruin. As usual, the rioters pretended that they had been pro-
voked by the Catholics, and that they Avished to avenge the
death of one of their party killed during the election ; but the
inquest proved that the principal author of the troubles, a man
named Lee, arrested as the murderer, was an Orangeman spe-
cially appointed to make trouble.

Thus our churches, reared at the expense of so many sacrifices
and liberal alms, are at the mercy of the first miscreant ; for in
not one single instance on record in the whole United States of
America has an author or promoter of such a work of destruc-
tion been punished, and in very few instances has even the mock-
ery of a judicial prosecution been adopted. And while the mob,
unchecked and unpunished, seeks to destroy the edifice, the
State governments, under the impulse of the same feeling, pass
laws to confiscate all the property held by the Catholic prelates
and clergy for pious and charitable uses.

But the fanaticism is not content with destroying the church,
or seizing the property, it sought also to intimidate the clergy ;
and two events, one in the North and the other in the South, ex-
cited alarm amid the Catholic population.

In the spring of 1854, Father John Bapst, a Jesuit, and pastor
of the Catholics at Ellsworth in the State of Maine, asked the
schoolmasters to exempt the Catholic children from reading the

524

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Protestant version of the Bible; and he made his request so
mildly that the teachers conformed. Tho school-committee,
however, interfered, and ordered the teachers to make the Cath-
olic children read the Protestant Bible under pain of expulsion.
The Catholics appealed to the competent tribunal to establish
their rights, and this step so exasperated the fanatics against Fa-
ther Bapst, that the town-meeting, espousing the cause of the
school-aommittee, adopted the following resolution, inscribed on
the records of the town on the 8th of July, 1854 :

" Whereas we have reasons to believe that we are indebted to
one John Bapst, S. J., Catholic priest, for the luxury of the pres-
ent lawsuit, now enjoyed by the school-oonimittee of Ellsworth,
therefore

" Resolved, That should the said Bapst be found again on Ells-
worth soil, we manifest our gratitude for his kindly interference
with our free schools and attempts to banish the Bible theretVoiii,
by procuring for him and trying on an entire suit of new clothes,
such as cannot be found at the shop of any tailor, and that thus
apparelled he be presented with a free ticket to leave Ellsworth
upon the first railroad operation that may go into effect."

This resolution, welcomed with applause, passed without a dis-
senting voice, and the council, far from blushing at the act, de-
cided that it should be published in the two papers of the place.

Father Bapst, who resides at Bangor, went to Ellsworth on
Saturday, the 14th of October, to celebrate Mass there the next
day. In the evening, at a meeting of the two fire companies of
Ellsworth, it was proposed and adopted to put in execution the
resolution of the council ; and about nine o'clock in the evening
the mob surrounded the house of Mr. Kent, whose hospitality
the missionary was enjoying, and where he was actually hearing
confessions. Father Bapst was dragged out of the house, stripped
of his clothes, placed on a rail, and borne along amid the traints
and insults of these hellhounds, till the rail breaking dashed on

the groui
naked bo
"Itwouh
hoirible b
all that th
and bloodi
outrage la;

When
Bapst ami
alone to i
himself fro
coverc ' i
Mr.Ke',
it was past
celebrate M
rather than
ther Bapst s
lent nervous
enabled him
celebrated 1i
worth.f

The outrag
States, and th
tnown author
% felt that tl
father Bapst (
gor made up j

* One at all eve
"■e trc-ited Jesus (
+ Father John

""d^vas brought, i
„ Society of Jeg
l^ was at first e

IN THE UNITED STATES.

the ground the victim of this "" "^^

«al<ed body with melted tar and rT'*^'^'" ""^ """^'^^ his
"It would be in,po,sible;;r^:n?'''™'"'--'he« left him

homble blasphemies and ind'^ncil Z^TT'-"" "'^"^ «''«
all that the imagination <•.. """ *^"^^'« "'nhf but

-db,oodahedlt::;;;;™o« of absolute m1,tL^^^^^
o-fige lasted two hours a It • I ""P'""' ^--^'^hes- The
„ When his assailan" ;: ;'t;r, '''"''^.'''' ""> '^'"•'-"
%»t amid the mud, raHn/ , T""*'"^ *'"' '«« father
^'onetothehouseofiisCtand ifrn "^ ^'•''«^^<' "imsel
I'-nself from the filth, tar, »d fell "■ .""^ """ '" ''^''"''■'g
«>'^^^ ■ ^-^ order to calm hi! ^ "'* "'"'"'' ''« •>»d been
*•«- ^ -dhimto"i'L7!^ "'" '"'^"■'^'" -ff-»i
« "» past midnight and tLT ' "' »' '^'^^ « ''""k; bm
«'f-'e Mass of S ::', ptfS??'- '"'" '^ ^^ <>
«her than break his faat.^' ^gt "" ^ .^" *'"' """"'"e ""iret
,«■- Bapst spent the rest of the 1^ , ."'""^ *'»''-• F-
'»t nervous agitation, but intb? ^ 'P''^' ■" "'^ "o^t vio-
»;Med him to surmount hssurn?'"'. "' l""'''^ ■" " P-'-
:^- Mass before the h:^:str 'oSr Xf.^

«««» autho,. of this ho,:L wXt^'o P^"--'^ *« well.

%felt tbat they had gone too far ^'it 5"T''"'^-«' S^"-
P«*er Bapst of his watch and puL Trt""" ""^ ""'^^
^^aadeup a subscription .» off^tb r' ^""^"""« of Ban-
— ______P^«^ offer the Jesuit a beautiful gold

^e Was a^ a . ^' ^"^ remuined till is^s ""^ ."'f^, There too ho entere 1

526

THE CATHOLIO CHURCH

watch, and accompanied the present with an address, in which
they eloquently protested against the conduct of the people of
Ellsv ith.

Some months after, on the 12th of May, 1855, another Jesuit,
Father F. Nashon, was assaulted near Mobile and violently beat-
en ; and he was told that he should meet a similar treatment as
often as he should attempt to go and say Mass in the village of
Dog River Factory.

We do not make the leaders of the Know-Nothing party re-
sponsible for all the crimes of which we have only given those
of the blackest dye. But when men preach fanaticism, we can-
not be astonished at their exciting such hatred ; if the wind is
sown, the whirlwind must be reaped. Ere long the rapid de-
velopment of their secret organization enabled the plotters to
think that legal means would suffice to check the onward march
of Catholicity. The elections of November, 1854, had sent to
the State Assemblies many members of the new party. Their
infuence was ii..mediately felt, and in the month of March, 1855,
the New York Legislature enacted, as we have elsewhere shown,
that every legacy or donation for pious or charitable uses should
be null unless made to a body of trustees, and in other ways em-
barrassing the Catholic bishops and clergy in carrying out the
discipline of the Church. In some cases the State absolutely
cofiscated the property, unless the Catholics would submit to be
Protestantized to suit the caprice of ? Calvinist legislature.

On its side, the Legislature of Masbachusetts, which was made
up to a considerable extent of Protestant ministers, appointed a
committee to inspect the interior of the convents ; but the infa-
mous conduct of this committee, and the examinations to which
it led, covered with opprobrium the instigators of this inquisito-
rial measure. In their visit to a house of Sisters of Notre Dame,
at Roxbury, the members of the committee acted with the gross-
est indecency ; in their excursion to Lowell, one of the commit-

wind is

pid de-

tters to

i marcli

, sent to

, Their

h, 1855,
shown,
should
rays era-
out the
)solutely
flit to be
•e.

as made
lointed a
,he infa-
;o which
nquisito-
Dame,
le gi'o^i^-
I commit'

IN THB UNITED STATES.

627

tee was accompanied by a loose woman, whose expenses he
charged to the State ; and these very fair samples of Massachu-
setts guardians of public morals, going to see whether any dis-
orders existed in Catholic convents, themselvea gave every ex-
ample of dishonesty and debauchery. The whole Know-Nothing
party blushed at the dishonor they had drawn upon themselves,
and to satisfy the public clamor expelled Mr. Hiss, one of their
members, making him the scapegoat.

Early in June, 1856, a National Convention of Know-Nothings
met at Philadelphia, and after stormy debates published its party
profession of faith. This document abounds in common-places,
such as telling us that oflSces are made for men, not men for
oflSces. The following are the articles which concern Catholics :

"VIII. Resistance to the aggressive policy and corrupting
tendencies of the Roman Catholic Church in our country by the
advancement to all political stations — executive, legislative, ju-
dicial, or diplomatic — of those only who do not hold civil alle-
giance, directly or indirectly, to any foreign power, whether ec-
clesiastical or civil, aud who are Americans by birth, education,
and training — thus fulfilling the maxim, ' Americans only shall
govern America.' The protection of all citizens in the legal and
proper exercise of their civil and religious rights and privileges ;
the maintenance of the right of every man to full, unrestrained,
and peaceful enjoyment of his own religious opinions and wor-
ship, and a jealous resistance to all attempts by any sect, denom-
ination, or church to obtain an ascendency over any other in the
State, by means of any special privileges or exemptions, by a"y
political combination of its members, or by a division of their
civil allegiance with any foreign power, potentate, or ecclesiastic.

"XL The education of the youth of our country in schools
provided by the State, which schools shall be common to all,
without distinction of creed or party, and free from any influence
or direction of a denominational or partisan character. And in-

528

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

asmucli as Christianity, by the constitutions of nearly all the
States, by the decisions of the most eminent judicial authoritiea,
and by the consent of the people of America, is considered an
element of our political system, and as the Holy Bible is at once
the source of Christianity and the depository and fountain of all
civil and religious freedom, we oppose every attempt to exclude
it from the schools thus established in the States."

The articles may be resumed in these two words : " In the
name of unfettered liberty of worship, Catholics shall be excluded
from all employments and their children shall be compelled to
frequent schools where eveiy effort shall be used to make them
Protestants." All understand that the Know-Nothings do not
believe that the Pope in any way requires the obedience of the
Catholics of the United States in matters of state. But this con-
spiracy would not dare to doom any class of citizens to civil in-
capacity, if it could not by some pretext treat them as subjects
of a foreign power. On this plea Catholics are adjudged to be
royalists, whose participation in the public oflBces would compro-
mise the safety of the Republic ; and every measure of hostility
against them, far from being a violation of the Constitution, be-
comes a meritorious action in defence of liberty ! On such prin-
ciples, the votary of the most degraded sect may make laws for
the Republic ; the impostor prophet of the Mormons may be
elected President and transfer his seraglio to Washington, but
the most virtuous Catholic cannot drive a hack.

The article relative to education presents iio less contradiction
than that which begins by excluding Catholics from office, and
closes by promising to protect all citizens in their civil and re-
ligious rights. They wish to compel ail children to frequent the
public schools ; they declare that these shall have no religious
character, and yet they insist on having read there, what is called
and is, the Protestant version of the Bible, a version rejected by
Catholics as mutilated and corrupt. They wish to cast the rising

JN THS UNITED STATES.

529

aU the
lovUies,
ired an
at once
in of all
exclude

"In the
excluded
ipellcd to
take tbem
igs do not
Dce of the
tt this con-
to civil in-
as subjects
idged to be
lid compro-
of hostility
titutiou, he-
1 such prin-
ike laws for
ons may be
iiiBgton, but

generations in the mould of the State ; they hope to make Protr
estants, hut in fact they rear infidels.

This solicitude for the Bible, this enthusiasm for public schools,
this pretended dread of the usurpations of Rome, had been, as
we have seen, the pretext of the native movement of 1844 ; and
to complete the resemblance of the two epochs, the Louisville
riots are a companion-picture to those of Philadelphia. Already
had the St. Louis elections of 1854, closed by a slaughter of
adopted citizens ; but the events at Louisville were still more
deplorable. On the 6th of August, 1855, at the occasion of the
elections, the Know-Nothings rushed on the Catholics, many
houses were burned or pillaged, more than twenty persons per-
ished, some in the flames, others beneath the murderous hand of
the a.^ Hssin, who spared not even women or children. By insin-
nations worse than open calumny the party papers pretended
that the Catholic clergy, and even the Bishop, excited the faith-
ful to acts of violence. The mob advanced on the Cathedral,
threatening to set it on fire, under pretence that the Catholics
had amassed arms there. At this juncture Bishop Spalding con-
fided the keys of his Cathedral to the J yor, who was notoriously
a Enow-Nothing, and he, alarmed at the responsibility thrown
upon him, calmed the rioters.

Such is the great anti-Catholic movement of 1855-6 ; and we
see how fearfully the spirit of fanaticism has spread within the
last thirty years, fanned by the pulpit and the press, joint insti-

tors of religious hatred. The destruction of the Ursuline con-
vent at Charlestown in 1834 was universally condemned; the
culprits were arraigned and a trial conducted with considerable
fairness, although the jury acquitted the offenders. In the Na-
tive movement ten years later, churches and private dwellings
were destroyed at Philadelphia, but here too the city by making
good the loss at least in part condemned the act, as it had sought
by troops to quell the riot. But when after the lapse of another

630

THB CATHOLIC CHURCH

decade, the feeling evinces itself by overt acts, it is not in one
place, out in the whole length and breadth of the country ; it is
in the mob and the legislature ; in the fire company and the
militia ; in tk^ bar and the bench. The church destroyed, the
priest a martyr, the Nuncio of His Holiness all but assassinated ;
the convent violated ; the jury-box peijured to acquit the guilty ;
the legislature framing laws to seize the Catholic property ; the
general government officially insulting the first representative of
the Holy See ; — the picture is a sad but a true one. As the
Sovereign Pontiff, who as the Bishop of all Catholic Bishops,
feels for his persecuted spiritual children and cannot address the
State governments which have no external existence as sovereign
States, he well addresses to the general government of the United
States, in the person of the President, a prayer for their relief.
" Inasmuch as we have been intrusted by Divine commission with
the care of the Lord's flock throughout the world, we cannot al-
low this opportunity to pass without earnestly entreating you to
extend your protection *^o the Catholics inhabiting those regions,
and to shield them at all times with your power and authority."

■-i:.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

531

CONCLUSION.

Ha', ing thus brought to an end tliese desultory sketches of the
rise and progress of the Catholic Church in the three original
dioceses of Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York, and the oth-
er Sees which have been formed from them since the creation of
the latter, we cannot conclude without a ^jtrospect on the field
over which we have travelled, and a glance at the general prog-
ress of Catholicity in the United States.

In the portion planted by France and Spain the faith was coe-
val with the settlement, and Catholicity at St. Augustine, the
Kennebec, the Chesapeake, and the Mississippi is ancient com-
pared to the Protestantism around us. But those colonies were
feeble, and form, absorbed into the Republic, but a slight element
in the general mass. In the English colonies Catholicity had to
struggle for existence ; penal laws hung over the clergy, deprived
the laity of civil rights, and even of social equality, reducing him
to the rank of the negro slave. The Revolution began in a ha-
tred of Catholicity, which tinged the early acts of Congress and
gave some of the new constitutions the leprosy of religious intol-
erance, eventuated however in an anomalous state of affairs — a
general government disavowing any interference in matters of
religion, professing to treat all creeds on the san.e footing, and in
our day actually making this a pretext for urging European
States to do the same — and yet concurrent with it State goverrt-
ments having exclusive authority within their limits, some with
State churches, others with disabling laws against the followers
of certain doctrines, laws perpetuated to this day.

532

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Still the impulse had been given ; through the influence of
Catholic France, Catholicity in America was free. In what
formed the United States in 1783 there were in the Atlantic
colonies, chiefly Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, about
forty-five thousand Catholics ; in the Northwest and in Illinois
ten thousand more.* Louisiana, since admitted nto the Union,
had then a population of fifteen thousand ;f Florida, Texas,J New
Mexico, and California at least ten thousand more. The de-
scendants of these widely separated Catholics form at the present
day one portion of the faithful in the United States, and if they
have multiplied in the same proportion as the rest of the people,
must now be represented by 660,000.§ j

Another source of addition to the number of Catholics has
been emigration, first from Ireland and latterly from Germany;
it came slowly at first, but for some years became a tide unpar-
alleled in history. The first Irish emigrants were chiefly Prot-
estants, the later however Catholics, while the Germans are about
equally divided. The churches in the North and East were at
first almost composed of Irish Catholics ; at this time they and
their descendants form the mass of the faithful. Of the total
immigration and its increase, one half, or 2,750,000, may be

* Including Catholic Indians in Maine, New York, and Ohio.

+ Gayarr^.

X Texas in 1778, according to Father Morfl, contained 8108 bouIs.

j Malthus supposes a people to quadruple by natural propagation in 90
years ; but we know that in Canada 65,000 French in 1763 are now repre-
sented by over 700,000, which is more than decupling. But as the Americans
are less prolific, we bave taken tieven as the medium, and this tallies exactly
with the present population. The United States at the peace
contained three millions, which septupled would give 21,000,000

Emigration has since given three and a hulf millions, but as
this has been chiefly within the last twenty-five years, and more
than thaViis needed to double, we will allow for its increase two
millions, 5,500,000

Population of the United States in 1856 by this calculation,

and in fact 20,500,000

, --^-.-.,^. ,.,... -^r ■ f-^T--;?' V\ /■ -nrj- ^-

IN THE UNITKI) 8TATK8.

533

claimed as Catholic, which will give as the whole number of the
children of the Church in the United States, about three and a
half millions, which is the cfitimato actually formed by the illus-
trious Archbishop of New York in a recent lecture.*

This immigration came without its proportionate number of
priests ; many of the immigrants were ignorant, others careless,
others in time ashamed of their religion, and as the lecture truly
declares, " hundreds of thousands of the descendants of the Cath-
olic immigrants have fallen away from th«^ir religion."

But while such a loss took place when churches and priests
were few ; when Catholic schr 'ols, academies, and colleges were
unknown ; when the Protestant poorhouse or asylum was the
only refuge of the helpless Catholic, such is no longer the case,
except in the densely crowded cities of the Atlantic shore. Still
Catholicity lost many by these defections ; and the calculations
would show this strikingly, had not the loss of some been made
up, as it ever is in God's providence, by the vocation of others.
Just as at the Reformation,

" India repuir'd half Europe's loss,"

80 in the United States in many ways, by his duly appointed
ministers, by the paths of learning and study, by the unconscious
layman, nay even by the violence of the en-^mies of the Church,
God in his mercy has brought many to the faith. These con-
versions, of which the remarkable ones alone are chronicled, have
been and continue to be very numerous, few clergymen on the
mission being deprived of the consolation of receiving some eveiy
year, and one great movement having, as we show, given to the
cause of truth the noblest and purest of the clergy and laity of
the Episcopal Church.

* Present Condition and Prospects of the Catholic Church in the United
States, delivered before the Young Catholic's Friend Society of Baltimore,
January 17, 1856.

584

THE CATHOLIC CBURCB

Such are the component parts of the Catholic body now blend*
ed into one harmonious whole.

And what has been its progress ! From the time when Fa-
ther Carroll as newly appointed bishop received petitions from
his Indian children in Maine, the few Catholics at Boston and
New York, the French at Cahokia, down to our day, when seven
archbishops and thirty-five bishops govern the wide-spread
Church, when in two thousand churches and stations the holy
sacrifice is regularly ofiered, and almost overy existing religious
order in the Church has rommunities here ministering to the
soul and body, nursing vocations to the sanctuary and cloister
amid a people absorbed above all others in the cares and turmoil
of life.

Catholicity in America has its literature, its organs, whose
power is felt, felt so much that it is all on the part of the Prot-
estants carefully avoided. In every department their power is
acknowledged : Brownson, a philosopher of extraordinary abil-
ity, has for years in his Review handled every question of vital
interest with skilful learning and the depth of genius ; Arch-
bishops Kenrick and Hughes, Bishops England, Spalding, and
O'Connor, amid their liaborious duties have defended the
Cathdlic cause, and given to Catholic doctrines that lucid
explanation which leaves the maligner no ground for a pre-
text of ignorance ; while the Rev. Doctors White and Pise in
periodicals, and the talented converts McMasters, Huntington,
Major, Rosecrantz, and Chandler in the editorial chair, have
given the Catholics able organs to refute the calumnies daily
raised against them, and to expose mendacity to the world.
All these too, and others whose names might be added, by le«-
tures in various parts of the country give solid instruction and
pleasing entertainment, which is evidently appreciated.

A culminating point seems to have arrived. The great immi-
gration has ceased for a time, and that time is precious to organ*

ize and i

that the

merly m

"Whi

" what is

prospect

dies bor

tages, an

country,

is that C)

of their i

ceived, ar

will exten

the momc

&11 away

IN THK UNITED STATES.

585

ize and form the Catholic congregations already existing, and see
that the body now sustain none of the losses which poverty for-
merly made unavoidable.

" What then," asks the illustrious Archbishop of New York,
"what is the prospect with regard to the Catholic religion? The
prospect is, that it is going on increasing by the medium of Cath-
olics bom in this country. The prospect with superior advan-
tages, and the benefits of instruction in almost evjry part of the
country, and the presence of priests looking to spiritual interests,
is that Catholics will instil into their descendants the knowledge
of their religion, and the lessons of virtue which they he e re-
ceived, and which they prize more than life. And this religion
will extend, not by miraculous means, but will hold its own from
the moment that immigration diminishes. It will not h ^w^ and
&11 away into inciifference, much less into infidelity."

BUL

Whe

to the

of our J

of rulin,

gaged, i

are unit

pastors,

life and

vine H8S

precepts

to prom<

advantaj

checking

heavenly

carried a

Divine r

which en

able faith

manners,

is hurriec

submit th

by Jesus

is intrustc

tion, whic

may learn

for the obi

* From tt
land, and of
"91, page i:

APPENDIX

BULL OF HIS HOLINESS POPE PIUS

NEW SEE OF BALTlMd"

FOB THE PERPETDAL MEMORY OF THE Tj

When, fVom the eminence of our apostolical station, we ben?
to the different regions of the earth, in order to fulfil, to the utmos!
of our power, the duty which our Lord has imposed upon our unworthiness,
of ruling and feeding his flock ; our care and solicitude are particularly en-
gaged, that the fuithful of Christ, who, dispersed through various provinces,
are united with us by Catholic communion, may be governed by their proper
pastorn, and diligently instructed by them in the discipline of evangelical
life and doctrine. For it is our principle, that they, who relying on the Di-
vine assistance, have regulated their lives and manners, agreeably to the
precepts of Christian wisdom, ought so to command their own pasnions, as
to promote, by the pursuit of justice, their own and their neighbor's spiritual
advantage ; and that they, who have received from their bishops, and, by
checking the intemperance of self-wisdom, have steadily adhered to the
heavenly doctrine delivered by Christ to the Catliolic Church, should not be
carried away by every wind of doctrine ; but, grounded on the authority of
Divine revelation, should reject the new and varying doctrines of men,
which endanger the tranquillity of government — and rest in the unchange-
able faith of the Catholic Church. For in the present degeneracy of corrupt
manners, into which human nature, ever resisting the sweet yoke of Christ,
is hurried, and in the pride of talents find knowledge, which disdains to
submit the opinions and dreams of men to the evangelical truth delivered
by Jesus Christ, support must be given by that heavenly authority, which
is intrusted to the Catholic Church, as to a steady pillar and solid founda-
tion, which shall never fail, that from her voice and instructions, mankind
may learn the objects of their faith i.nd the rules of their conduct, not only
for the obtaining of eternal salvation, but also for the regulation of this life

* From the Short Account of the estnblishment of the new See ofBaltimore, In Mary-
land, and of consecrating the Kt Rev. John Carroll first Bishop thereot Philadelphia,
1791, page 11.

540

APPENDIX.

and the maintaining of concord in the society of this earthly city. Now this
charge of teaching and ruling, first given to the apostles, and especially to
St. Peter, the prince of the apostles, on whom alone the Church is built, and
to whom our Lord and Redeemer intrusted the feeding of his himba and of
his sheep, has been derived, in due order of succession, to Bishops, and es-
pecially to the Soman Pontiflfs, successors of St. Peter and heirs of his power
and dignity, that thereby it might be made evident, that the gates of hell
can never prevail against the Church, and that the Divine Founder of it will
ever assist it to the consummation of ages, so that neither in the depravity
of morals, nor in the fluctuation of novel opinion3, the episcopal succession
sha'l over fail, or the bark' of Peter be sunk. Wherefore it having reached
our ears, that in the floyirishing commonwealth of the Thirteen American
States, many faithful Christians, united in communion with the chair of Pe-
ter, in whicn the c^nt^e of Catholic unity is fi.\ed, and governed in their
spiritual concerns'by^heir own priests having care of souls, earnestly desire
sthjt; a Bisl^p* fnay'be appointed over them, to exercise the functions of epis-
copal order, to feed the^ more largely with the food of salutary doctrine,
iCfid' to guard more carefully that portion of the Catholic flock ; we willingly
embraced this opportunity, which the grace of Almighty God has afforded
us, to provide those distant regions with the comfort and ministry of a
Catholic Bishop. And that this might be effected mire successfully and ac-
cording to the rules of the sacred canons, we commissioned our venerable
brethren, the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, directors of the Congre-
gation de propaganda fide, to manage tliis business with the greatest care,
and to make a report to us. It was therefore appointed by their decree, ap-
proved by us, and published the twelfth day of July, of the last year, that
the priests who lawfully exercise the sacred ministry, and have care of soula,
in the United States of America, should be empowered to advise together,
and to determine, first, in what town the episcopal See ought to be erected;
and next, who of the aforesaid priests appeared the most worthy and proper
to be promoted to this important charge, wiiom we, for this first time only,
and by special grace, permitted the said priests to elect and to present to
this apostolical See. In obedience to this decree, the aforesaid priests, exer-
cising the cure of souls, in the United States of America, unanimously
agreed, that a Bishop with ordinary jurisdiction ought to be established in
the town of Baltimore ; because this town, situate in Maryland, which prov-
ince the greater part of the priests and of the faithful inhabit, appeared the
most conveniently placed for intercourse with the other States, and because
from this province Catholic relig'on and faith had been propagated into the
others. And at the time appointed for the election, they being assembled
together, the sacrifice of holy mass being celebrated, and the grace and as-
sistance of the Holy Ghost being implored, the votes v.^ all present were ta-
ken, and of twenty-six priests who were assembled, twenty-four gave their
votes for our beloved son John Carroll, whom they judged the most proper
to support the burden of episcopacy; and sent an authentic instrument of
the whole transaction to the aforesaid Congregation of Cardinals. Now all
tilings being maturely weighed and considered in this Congregation, it was

APPENDIX.

541

this
lyto
and
:id of
d es-
•ower
f hell
it will
ravity
essioii
jacV.ed
lerican
of Pe-
ri their
r desire
of epis-
octrine,

/lUingly

afforded

try of a

r and ac-

enerable

I Congre-

test care,

icree, ap-
ear, that
of souis,

together,
erected ;
id proper

gillie only,
ireaent to
ists, exer-
Lnimonsly
jlished in
[lich prov-
,eared the
U because
d into the
Lssembled
,co and as-
i\, were ta-
Igave their
lost proper
;ruuicnt of
Now all
•ion, It wiw

easily agreed, that the interests and increase of Catholic religion would be
greatly't^romoted, if an episcopal See were erected at Baltimore, and the said
John Crrroll were appointed the Bishop of it. We, therefore (to whom this
opinion has been reported by our belovod son, Cardinal Antonelli, prefect of
the said Congregation, having nothing more at heart, than to insure sufjcess
to wliatever tends to the propagation of true religion and to the honor and
increase of the Catholic Church), by the plenitude of our apostolical power,
and by the tenor of these presents, do establish and erect the aforesaid town
of Baltimore into an episcopal See forever, for one Bishop to be chosen by
us in all future vacancies; and we therefore, by the apostolical authority
af:>resaid, do allow, grant, and permit to the Bishop of the said city, and to
his successors in all future times, to exercise episcopal power and jurisdic-
tion, and to hold and enjoy all and every right and privilege of order and
jurisdiction, and of every other episcopal function, which Bishops, constitu-
ted in other places, are empowered to hold and enjoy in their respective
churches, cities, and dioceses, by right, custom, or by other means, by gen-
eral privileges, graces, indults, and apostolical dispensations, together with
all pre-eminences, honors, immunities, graces, and favors, which other Ca-
thedral Churches, by right or custom, or in any other sort, have, hold, and
enjoy. We moreover decree and declare the said episcopal See, thus erect-
ed, to be subject or suffragan to no metropolitan right or jurisdiction, Lut to
bo forever subject immediately to us and to our successors the £omun Pon-
tiffs, and to this apostolical See. And till another opportunity shall be pre-
sented to us, of establishing other Catholic Bishops in the United States of
America, and till other dispositions shall be made by this apostolical See, we
declare, by our apostolical authority, all the faithful of Christ, living in
Catholic communion, as well ecclesiastics as seculars, and all the clergy and
people dwelling in the aforesaid United States of America, though hitherto
they may have been subject to other Bishops of other dioceses, to be hence-
forward subject to the Bishop of Baltimore in all future times : and to this
Bishop, and to his successors, we impart power to curb and check, without
appeal, all persons who may contradict or oppose iheir orders ; to visit per-
sonally or by deputies all Catholic churches ; to remove abuses ; to correct
the manners of the faithful; and to perform all things, which other Bishops
in their respective dioceses are accustomed to do and perfor' saving in all
things our own authority, and that of this apostolical See. .\nd, whereas,
by special grant, and for this first time only, we have allowed the priests,
exercising the euro of souls in the United States of America, to elect a person
to be appointed Bishop by us, and almost all their votes have been given to
our beloved son, John Carroll, Priest; we being otherwise certified of h:3
fiiith, prudence, piety, and zeal, for« . ;icli as by our mandate he hath du-
ring the late years directed the spiritual government ' f soulSj do therefore
by the plenitude of our authority, declare, create, appoint, and constitute
the said John Corroll, Bishop and pastor of the said church of Baltimore,
granting to him the faculty of receiving tb*^ rite of consecration from any
Catholic Bishop holding communion with the apostolical See, assisted by
two ecclesiastics, vested with some dignity, in case that two Bishops cannot

a*..

'I;

lit a

542

APPENDIX.

be had, first having taken the usual oath, according to the Soman Pontifical.
And we commission the said Bishop elect, to erect a chnrcli In div^i stiid city
of Baltimore, in form of a Csithedral church, inasmuch as tlie dines uad cir
oamstances may allow, to i!»i\titute a body of clergy depuicj. tc' D'^irie wor-
ship, and to the service of the said church, and moreover to rit>tablif.I. an
episcopal seminary .; f.her in the same city or elserhere, na hfl eici.i'- jn -l-o
most expedient, to administer ecclesiastical income.-, and t*. execute all oliicr
things, which he shall think iu the Lord to be expodient fc ' he increase of
Catholio faith and the augiri',otfl.tion of fl(.> worship and splendor of the
iiew-erected church. We more'>v.?r enjoin M.ci said Bishop to obey the in-
junctions of our venerable bri.lhian, the cardinals directors of the Bacred
congregation de propaganda fid-e, to transmit to thci;i, at j , oper timet, a n;-
kuon of his visitation of his church, and to iiiibrm them of ail thin^ti ^hicli
be shall j'-id^o to bo , seful to the spiritual good and laivation oJ tb ook
trustad t*> <i\h oharge. We thoolbre decree, that ■.h&m onr lett'^rs art and
ev<sr BliaU V .-. firm, valid, and eflacficlous, and shall obtain their full and en-
tire eji'ect, «;U'l be . I .reived ir-vjolably by all persons whom it now doth or
here<^.i:V«r may v^oBC'ira : and thiit all judges, ordinary and delegated, even
Riiditortj of Ciiusrifci uf the esored apostolical palace, and cardinals of the Holy
Boiiis.n Ci.\urcii.. mutit thu.j judge and define, depriving all and each of them
of ah povver and aathority to judge or interpret in any other manner, and
declujiug all to be null and void, if any one, by any authority, should pre-
suraCj either knowingly or uoknowingly, to attempt any thing contrary
there into. Notwithstanding all apostolical, general, or special constitutions
and ordinations, published In universal, provincial, and synodical councils,
and all itiugs contmry whatsoever.

Given at Rome, at St. Mary Major, under the Fisherriian's Eing (Seal),
the 6th day of Nc'amber, 1789, and in the 15th ^aar of our Pon-
tificate.

DHPLIOATB.

[L.S.3

B. CARD. BRASCHI ONESTL

IT.

MEMBERS OF THE SYNOD OF 1791— FATHERS OF THE PROVIN-
CIAL AND PLENAR-S COUNCILS.

NOTES ON THE MEMBER 8 OF THE SYNOP •>! 1791.

James Pellentz, S. J., V. G. for the whole diocese, bom '■.■.. irmany, January

19, 1727, professed in 1756.
James Frambach. T., bom in Qertuany, Jau^ u~v i728, professed in

1760, died Aug 796.
Robert Mcdyaenz, 8. J., V. G. of the Southern Wim- • »om at Fo'rnby, Lan-

APPENDIX.

548

oashire, June 24, 1788, professed November, 1767, died at Georgetown,
December 9, 1808.

Francis Anthony Fleming, V. G. of the Northern District.

Francis Charles Nagot, President of the Seminary of St. Sulpice.

John Ashton, S. J., born in Maryland, May 24, 1748, first on the mission in
Yorkshire, died in 1814.

Leonard Neale, S. J.

Charles Sawall, S. J., bom in Maryland, July 4, 1744, sent to St. Omers in
1758, entered the Society of Jesus in 1764, died November 10, 1806.

Sylvester Boarman, born in Maryland, entered the Society in 1762. '* With-
out much pretension to talents, he showed himself a diligent and pre-
cious missionary in his native land, where God called him to Himself in
1797."

WiUiam Elling.

James Vanhutffel.

Robert Plunket, S. J., bom in England, April 23, 1752, entered the Society
in 1769, died in Maryland, in 1815.

Nicholas Cerfoumont.

Francis Beeston.

Lawrence (or Aloysius) Gressel, S. J., died 179C.

Joseph Eden.

Louis Caesar Delavau, Canon of Tours.

John Tessier.

Anthony Gamier.

John Bolton, 8. J., bora October 22, 1742, entered the Society in 1761, sent
soon after to Maryland, Pastor of St. Joseph's, Philadelphia, in 1791, died
September 9, 1807.

John Thayer, paster of Boston, died at Limerick, February 5, 1815.

* Fr^ST Pbovznoul Counoii. of Baltiiiobi.

i'he theologians were —
Sehinart. — 1. Rev. Louis Deluol, S. S. S. Arrived in 1817; Professor of
Philosophy and Theology, and Superior; returned to France in No-
vember, 1849.
2. Rev. Edward Damphous, S. S. S., Chaplain of the Carmelites in 1856.
Theohgiam ((f Bishop of JiardsUnon—RQv. F. P. Kenrick, now Archbishop of

Baltimore.
»^ '» LTiarleston—TlQv. S. Bnit^, died in 1889, Bishop of

Vincennes.
Ctncinnatir^'Rc-v. ilr. De Bnrth, died in 1844.
St. Louia — Rev . Aug. Jeanjean.
Boston — Rev. Anthony Blanc, now Archbishop of
New Orleans.
Administrator of Philadelphia — Rev. Michael Wheeler.
Master of OertmonieB—'S.tv. John Olanohe, died in 1882, Bishop of Natohex.

< .

«i

((

$4dt APPENDIX. ' '

Second Cottnoil of Baltimobb (1883). See pag«

Third Oocnoil of BxtTiHORK (ISS^). ' '

List of the Fathers, Theologiana, and Officers qf the Council.

Baltimore Moat Rev. S. Eccleaton, Archbishop.

Bev. John J. Clanohe, and Bev. Peter Schreiber, The>
olof^lans.
St. Louis Bight Bev. Joseph Bosati, Bishop.

Bev. Begis Loizel, Theologian.
Boston / Bight Bev. B. J. Femviok, Bishop.

Bev. Th. J. MuUedy, 8. J., Theologian.
Philadelphia Bight Bev. F. P. Kenrick, Bishop of Arath.

Bov. L. de Barth, Theologian.
Cmcinnati Bight Bev. J. B. Purcell, Bishop.

Bev. 8. T. Badin, Theologian.
Bardstoton Bight Bev. Jgn. Chabrat, Bishop of Bolin, Coadjator.

Bev. I. A. Beyn<;lds, Theologian.

Bight Bev. John England.
C^rletton Biglit Bev. WiUium Clancey, Bishop of Orien, Coad-
jutor.

Bev. John Huglies, Theologian.
Vmeennes Bight Bev. 8. G. Brat6, Bishop.

Bev. P. B. Kenrick, Theologian.
JL/eu> Orleans Bight Bev. Ant. Blano, Bishop. *

Bev. Aug, Verot, Theologian.
Ifew Torh Bev. Felix Varela, V. G., Procurator.*

Bev. T. W. MoSherry, Superior of the Jesuits of Mary-
land.
. Bev. 8. J Verhoegen, 8. J., Superior of the Jesuits of
Missouri.

Bev. L. E. Deluol, Second Promotor.

Bev. Edward D.amphoux, Secretary.

Bev. C. J. Whitt<, Assistant Secretary,

Bev. Fr. Shaurae, and Bev. H. Griffin, Masters of Cere-
monies.

Bev. John Eandanne, and Bov. P. Fredet, Cantoro.

Bight Bev. John Dubois, Bishop of New York. Se
Excusatum Labcri rogavit.

Sardttow

Charleston
St. Louis,,

Boston ...

Ifobile

■Philadelphi

Cincinnati .

^«u> Orleans

^wcennes ...

Baltimore

FoTJBTH Council of Baltimore (1840).
Fathers, Theologians, and Officers of the Council.
.Most Bev. S. Eccleston, Archbishop.

Eev. L. B. Deluol, Bev. J. J. Ciibuohe, and Bev. N.
Eerney, Theologians.

£<dtitn<:,re

^oiton

APPENDIX. 545

Bardttown Bight Bov. B. FlAgef, Bishop.

Bev. 8. Chazelle, 8. J., Theologian.
Char'jeston Bight Bev. J. Enginnd, Bishop.

Bev. J. Power, and Bev . D. J. Barry, Theologians.
St. Louia Bight Bev. J. Bosati, Bishop.

Bev. J. Lutz, Theologian.
Botton Bight Bev. B. J. Fenwick, Bishop.

Bev. H. B. Coskery, Theologian.

Mobile Bight Bev. M. Portier, Bishop.

FhUadelphia Bight Bev. F. P. Kenrick, Administrator.

Bev. M. O'Connor, Theologian.
Cincinnati Bight Bev. J. B. Purcell, Bishop.

Bev. J. McElroy, S. J., Theologian.
Jfew Orleans Bight Bev. A. Blano, Bishop.

Bev. J. BouiUler, C. M., Theologian.
Dubuque Bight Bev. M. Loras, Bishop.

Bev. 8. Baymond, Theologian.
NasMUe Bight Bev. B. P. Miles, Bishop.

Bev. B. Bayer, Theologian.
Vwoennet Bight Bev. C. B. L. de la Hailnndi^e, Bishop.

Bov. P. P. Lefevere, Theologian.

Bight Bev. C. A. M. J. de ForbLx Janson, Bish^:- of
Nancy (France).

Bev. V. Badin, Theologiao.

Bev. C. P. Montgomery, Procurator of th^ T ominicans.

Bev. J. Frost, Superior of the Bedemptorists.

Bev. P. Moriarty, Superior of the Hermits of St. Augus-
tine.

Bev. J. B. L. E. Damphouz, and Bev. C. 8. White, Sec-
retaries.

Bev. F. Lhomme, and Bev. J. B. Donelan, Masters of
Ceremonies.

Bev. J. B. Bandanne, and Bev. P. Fredet, Cantors.

Fifth Counozl or Baltdcore (1848).
Fathers, Theologians, and Officers of the Ooundl.

BdUmuire Moat Bev. S. Eccleston, Archbishop.

Bev. G. Baymond, S. T. D., Bev. P. S. Schreiber, and
Bev. J. F^^, C. S. B., Theologians.
Boston , .Bight Bev. E. J . Fenwick, Bishop.

>I. B. Coskery, iheologian.
i&Wfe Kight Bev. M. Portier, Bishop.

T. Hiokey and C B^mpon, Theolo;;^ ans.

'^m

546 APPKNDIX.

PhilaeUlpMa Bight Rev. F. P. Kenrick, Bishop.

V< '■. Th. Heyden, Tijeolojrian.
Omeinnati C u ' n r . J. B. Purcell, Bishop.

Kev, 1. Henni, Theolofrian.
Louiaville JRight Rev. G. J. Chabrat, Coadjutor.

Rev. J. B. Randiinne, Theologian.
New Orleans Right Rev. A. Blano, Bishop.

Rev. A. Verot, Theologian.
Dubuque Right Rev. M. Loran, Bishop.

Rev. S. Mo?:!"' ' ., ^. P., Theologian.
New Torh Right Rev. J. Hufrhea, Bishop.

Rev. A. Penco, C. M., Theologian.
yaahvUU Right Rev. R. P. Miles, Bishop.

Rev. E. H. Pozzo, O. P., Theologian.
yincenntt Right Rev. de la Hailandidre, Bishop.

Rev. T. 8. Doiiaghoe, Theologian.
Natchez Right Rev. J. J. Chanoha, Bishop. \

Rev. J. Lancaster, Theologian. '

Biehmond Right Rev. R. G. Whelan, Bishop.

Rev. S. Ryder, S. J.| Theologian.
Detroit Right Rev. P. P. Lefevere, Administrator.

Rev. G. Hammer, Theologian.
St. Louia Right Rev. P. R. Kenrick, Coadjutor.

Rev. S. B. Tornatoro, C. M., Theologiau.
Texat Right Rev. J. M. Odin, Vicar-apostolio.

Rev. J. B. Gildea, Theologian.
(Jha/rU»ton Rev. R. S. Baker, Vicar-general, Administrator.

Rev. ?, Lynch, S. T. D., Theologian.

Rev. L. R. Deluol, 8. T. D., Superior of St. Sulpice.

Rev. J. Timon, Superior of the Congregation of tlie

Mission.
Rev. P. J. \ rhoegen, S. J., Provincial of Misaouri.
Rev. P. Morlarty, Gom.-general of the Hermits of St.

Augustine.

Rev. J. B. Damphoux, and Rev. C. I. White, Secre-
taries.
Rev. F. Lhommc, Master of Ceremonies.
Rev. T. Folej , and Rev. O. Jenkins, Assistants.
Rev. '* Blenkinroy, and Rev. G. D. Parsons, Cantors.

Sixth Council of BALTnuoRX (1846).

Fathers, Theologians, and Officers of the Oouneil.

BaUvmort Most Rev. Samuel Ecdeston, Archbishop.

Rev. Gilb. Raymond, S. T. B., Rev. H. B. CoBkery, and
Rev. C. i. White, Theologians.

^ \

APPKNDII.

547

J£obil4 Bight Sev. M. Portier, Bishop.

Rev. A . T. Elder, Theologian.
PUladtlphia Right Rev. F. P. Kenricli, Binhop.

Rev. J. B. Tornatore, Theologian.
Oineinnati Right Rev. J. B. Purcell, Binhop.

Rev. E. T. Collins, Theologian.
LoxiisviUe Right Rev. 0. J. Chabrat, Coadjutor.

Rev. M. J. Spalding, 8. T. D., Theologian.
Ntw Orleans Right Rev. A. Blnnc, Bishop.

Rev. A. Verot, Theologian,
Dubuqvt Right Rev. M. Loras, Bishop.

Rev. M. McAleer, Theologian.
New York Right Rev. J. Hughes, Bishop.

Right Rev. J. MoCIoskey, Coadjutor.

Rev. F. Varela and Rev. J. McCaffrey, Theologiui*.
NuhvUU Bight Rev. R. P. Miler, Bishop.

Rev. C. J. Carter, Theologian.
Tineennet Right Rev. de la Hailandi^re, Bishop.

Rev. J. B. Randanne, Theologian.
Natchez Right Rev. J. J. Chanche, Bishop.

Bev. J. B. Saint Qermain, Theologian.
Richmond Right Rev. R. V, Wheliiu, Bishop.

Rev. H. Tappert, C. SS. R., Theologian.
Detroit Right Rev. P. P. Lefevere, Administrator.

Rev. C. C. Pise, Theologian.
St. Louia. Right Rev. P. B. Kenrick, Bishop.

Bev. J. Melcher, Theologian.
Ttxat Bight Bev. J. M. Odin, Vicar-apostolio.

Bev. J. Dolan, Theologian.
PUtsbur^ Bight Rev. M. O Connor, Bishop.

Bev. T. Hoyden, Theologian.
LUtle Bock Bight Bev. A. Byrne, Bishop.

Bev. J. Corry, Theologian.
Chicago Bight Bev. W. Quarter, Bishop.

Bev. 0. L. Jenkins, Theologian.
Ear^ord Bight Bev. W. Tyler, Bishop.

Bev. E. MoColgan, Theologian.
CSiarUston Bight Bev. I. A. Beynolds, Bishop.

Bev. J. Barry, Theologian.
MUwauHe Bight Bev. J. Henni, Bishop.

Bev. T. Hickey, Theologian.
£oit<m Bight Bev. J. B. Fitzpatrick, Coadjutor.

Bev. J. V. Qniblier, Theologian.

Bev. B. L. Deluol, Rector of St. Mary's Seminary.
Bev. J. Timon, Superior of the Congregation of th«
Mission.

HS APPENDIX.

Rev. P. Czaokerl, Sap«iior of the Congregation of the

Most Holy Bedoemer.
Bev. G. A. "Wilson, Prov'l of the Order of St. Dominic.
Bev. P. J. Verlioegen, S. J., Provinoiul of ttie Jesuits

for Maryland.
Eev. J. O. Vandevelde, 8. J., Vice-provincial of tlie

Jesuits of Missouri.

Bev. J. B. Damphouzand Rev. F. Lhotnme, Secretaries,
s ^ Bev. F. Lhomme, Master of CeremonieB.

Bev. W< D. Parsons, Cantor.

^ ' I ' ' Sbvknth CotTNOiL OF Baltqiobs (1849).

Fathers, Thedogiant, and Officers qf the CbuneU. \

Saltimors Most Bev. S. Eccleston, Archbishop.

Bev. S. Raymond, Rev. C. I. White, and Bev. H. B.
Coskery, Theologians.
St. Louis Most Bev. P. R. Kenrick, Archbishop.

Rev. S. A. Paris and Rev. Th. Foley, Theologians.
Mobile Right Rev. M. Portier, Bishop.

Rev. J. M. Portier, Theologian.
PhiladelpAia Right Rev. S. P. Kenrick, Bishop.

Rev. T. Amat, C. M., Theologian.
Oinemnati , Right Rev. J. B. Piirceil, Bishop.

Rov. J. F. Wood and Rev. W. Untertheiner, 0. P. M.,
Theologians.
Jfino Orleans Right Rev. A. Blanc, Bishop.

Rev. A. Rouqnette and Rev. J. McCaffrey, Theologians.
Dubuque Right Rev. M. Loras, Bishop.

Rev. A. Pelamourgues, Theologian.
Iflw York Right Rev. J. Hughes, Bishop.

Bev. J. Lou^hlin and Rev. J. Rafifeiner, Theologians.
NashmUe Right Rev. R. P. Miles, Bishop.

Rev. J. P. Donelan, Theologian.
Natchez Right Rev. J. J. Chanche, Bishop.

Rev. J. Hickey, Theologian.
Jfiflhrnond Right Rev. R. V. Whelan, Bishop.

Rev. T. O'Brien, Theologian.
Detroit Right Rev. P. P. Lefevere, Administrator.

Rev. P. Kindekens, Theologian.
Gaketton Right Rev. J. M. Odin, Bishop.

Rev. A. Verot, Theologian.
Pittsburg Right Rev. M. O'Connor, Bishop.

Bev. J. O'Connor, Theologian.

Albanp

Jfartfun

CharUiio

MUwawci

Jlotton. . .

Cleveland

•Sfifalo..,

^ieville.

Vincennet,

APPENDIX.

549

Albany Right Rev. J. MoCloskey, Bishop.

Rev. J. J. Conroy, Theolojfian.
Hartford Kigiit Rev. W. Tvler, Bmliop.

Kcv. J. Fittou, Tlicolotfian.
CharUtlon Right Ho v. I. A. KuyiioUls, Bishop.

Kev. J. Ryder, 8. J., Theologian.
Milwawctn Riglit Rev. J. M. Henni, BiHhop.

Rev. M. HeiHH, Theologian.
£oiton Right Rev. J. B. Fitz|mtriek, Bishop.

Rev. T. Connolly, Theologian.
CUvdand Right Rev. A. Rnppe, Biithop.

Rev. T. B. Randanne, Theologian.
Buffalo Right Rev. J. Tinion, Bishop.

Rev. B. O'Reilly, Theologian.
LouiavUU Right Rev. M. J. Spalding, Coadjutor.

Rev. W. Elder, Theologian.
VincenfUB Right Rev. M. de St. Palois, Bishop.

Rev. J. Corbe, Theologian.
Cliicago Right Kev. J. 0. Vandevelde, Bishop.

Rev. C. C. Piao, Theologian.

The Right Rev. A. Byrne, Bishop of Little Rock, was not pres-
ent at the Council, but his Theologian, Rev. W. Starrs, wrs.

Rev. L. R. Deluol, Rector of St. Mary's Seminary.
Rev. M. Mailer, Superior of the Congregation of the

Mission.
Rev. B. Wimmer, Superior of the Order of St. Benedict.
Rev. J. S. Alemany, Provincial of the Order of St.

Dominic. •

Rev. J. P. O'Dwyer, Oom!:i. General of the Hermits of

St. Augustino
Rev. J. Broc<;icl, Provincial of the Jesuits of Maryland.
Rev. J. A. Elet, Vic. Prov. of the Jesuits of Missouri.
Rev. C. Boulanger, Superior of the Jesuits of New York.
Rev. B. Haf kenscheid. Provincial of the Congregation

of the Holy Redeemer.

Rev. J. B. Daraphoux and Rev. F. Lhomme, Secretaries.
Rev. F. Lhomme and Rev. F. E. Boyle, Masters of

Ceremonies.
Rev. L. Gillet, 0. SS. R., and Rev. W. D. Parsons,

Cantors.

550

APPENDIX.

Ptbnahy Counoil of Baltimore (1862).
Fathers, Theologians, and Officers of the Council.

Baltimore Most Eev. F. P. Kenrick, Archbishop, Delegate of the

Holy See,

Eev. H. B. Coskery, V. G., Eev. C. ; TVhJte, S. T. D.,
and Eev. Aug. Verot, S. S. S., Tht,:!.gian3.
Oregon Most Eev. F. N. Blanchet, Archbiahop.

Eev. J. Hickey and Eev. A. J. Elder, Theologians.
St. Louis Most Eev. P. E. Kenrick, Archbishop.

Eev. A. O'Eegan and Eev. G. O. Oertlieb, Theologians.
New Orleans Most Eev. A. Blano, Archbishop.

Eev. N. Perche and Eev. J. Dolan, Theologians.
New TorJi Most Eev. J. Hughes, Archbishop.

Eev. J. Loughlin, V. G., and Eev. J. E. Bailey, Theol.
Cincinnati Most Eev. J. B. Purcell, Archbishop,

Eev. J. Ferneding, V. G., and Eev. J. M. Young, Theo.
Mobile Eight Eev. M. Portier, Bishop.

Eev. J. J. Mullon, Theologian.
Dubuque Eight Eev. M. Loras, Bishop.

Very Eev. A. Pelamourgues, V. G., Theologian.
Nashville Eight Eev. E. P. Miles, Bishop.

Eev. L. Obermeyer and Eev. J. B. Byrne, Theologians.
Natchez Eight Eev. J. J. Chanche, Bishop.

Eev. J. Fitton, Theologinn.
Wheeling Eight Eev. E. V. Whehin, Bishop.

Eev. il. P. Gallagher, Theologian.
Detroit .'rcigl't Epv. P. P. Lefevere, Administrator.

Very Eev. P. Kinderkena, V. G., Theologian.
Galveston Eight Eev. J. M. Odin, Bishop.

Eev. E. Quigley, Theologian.
Pittsburg Eight Eev. M. O^Connor, Bishop.

Eev. E. F. Garland and Eev. A. T. Peyton, Theologians.
Little Bock .Eight Eev. A. Byrne, Bishop.

Eev. P. Behan, Theologian.
Albany Eight Eev. J. McCloskey, Bishop.

Very Eev. J. J. Couroy, V.^G.. Theologian.
Charleston Eight Eev. 1. A. Eeynolds, Bishop.

Eev. J. M. Forbes and Eev. S. Malore, Theologians.
Boston Eight Eev. J. B. Fitzpatrick, Bishop.

Eev. D. Hearne, Thcj'^'ogian.
Cleveland Eight Eev. A. Rappe, Bishop.

Very Eev. A. T. Caron, V. G., Theologian.
Buffalo Eight Rev. J. Timon, Bishop.

Eev. W. O'Eeilly, Theologian.
Louisville Eight Eev. M. J. Spalding, Bishop.

Eev. C. J. Boeswald, Theologian.

APPENDIX.

551

Chicago Right Rev. J. 0. Vandevelde, Bishop.

Very Rev. W. J. Quarter, V. G., Theologian.
NesqiMly .Right Rev. A. M. A. Blanchet, Bishop.

Rev. R. Mullen, Theologian.
Monterey Right Rev. J. S. Allemany, Bishop.

Rev. T. Martin, O. P., Theologian.
Hartford Right Rev. B. O'Reilly, Bishop.

Rev. J. McElroy, 8. J., Theologian.
Savannah Right Rev. F. X. Gartland, Bisliop.

Rev. J. McCaffrey, 8. T. D., Theologian.
Bichmond Right Rev. J. McGill, Bishop.

Rev. L. de Gandarillas, Theologian.
New Mexico Right Rev. J. Lamy, Vif ?,r-apo8tolio.

Rev. J. Truxillo, Theologian.
Indian Territory ....Right Rev. J. B. Miege, Vicar-apostolic.

Rev. F. Burlando, C. M., Theolojfian.
Philadelphia Right Rov. J. N. Neuman, Bishop.

Very Rev. E. J. Sourin, V. G., Thsologian.
Toronto (^Canada PT.). Right Rev. A. de Charbonnel, Bishop.

Right Rev. M. Eutropius, Abbot of St. Mary's of La

Trappe.
Very Rev. P. E. Moriarty, S. T. D., Assist. General 0. 8.

Aug., and Comm. General of the Order.
Very Rev. R. A. White, S. T. M., Visitor-general of the

Order of St. Dominic.
Very Rev. B. Wimmer, Superior-general of the Order

of St. Benedict.
Very Rev. W. Unterthiner, Sup'r of the Freres Minors.
Very Rev. J, Ash wander, S. J., Provincial of Maryland.
Very Rev. W. Murphy, S. J., Vic. Prov'l of Missouri.
Very Rev. C. Boulanger, S. J., Superior of the Mission

of Canada and New York.
Very Rev. A. Jourdaut, S. «., Superior of the Mission

of New Orleans.
Very Rev. B. J. Haf kenscheid, Provincial of the Con-
gregation of the Holy Redeemer.
Very Rev. M. Mailer, Superior of the Congregation of

the Mission, Director of the Sisters of Ciiarity.
Very Rev. F. Lhomme, Society of St. Sulpice, Rector

of St. Mary's.

Rev. E. L. Damphoux. Notary.

Very Rev. P. L. Lyncli and Rev. T. Foley, Secretaries,
Rev. F. Burlando, C. M., Master of Ceremonies.
Very Rev. L. de Goesbriand, V. G., and Rev. J. Dough-
erty, Cantors.

652

APPENDIX.

CESTIFICATE OF THE MARRIAGE OP JEROME BONAPARTE
• (as entered in the handwriting of eishop Carroll).

Baltimore, December 2Uh, 1803.
With license, I this day joined in holy matrimony, according to the rites
of the holy Catholic Church, Jerome Bonaparte, brother of the First Consul
of France, ond Elizabeth Patterson, daughter of William Patterson, Esq., of
the city of Baltimore, and his wife. 4* John, Bkhop of Baltimore.

IV.

LIST OF PRIESTS ORDAINED IN THE DIOCESES OF BALTIMORE,
PHILADELPHIA, NEW YORK, ALBANY, BUFFALO, BROOKLYN,
AND NEWARK.
Ordinations at St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, and Georqetown.

NAME.

1
2

8
4
5
6

7
8
9
10
11
12
18
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
80
81
82
83
84
86
8fi
87
8S
89

Stephen Theodore Badin

Demetrius A. Gallitzin

John Floyd

John T. M. E. P. Demondesir

William Mathews

Ignatius Baker Brooke

John Monnereau

Michael Cuddy

George M. do Perigny

William O. Bryan

Francis Eoloff.

John Spink, S. J,

Leonard Edelin, S. J

Enoch Fenwick, 8. J

BENBDicr Fenwick, 8. J

Michael Byrne

James N. Joubert

Adam Marshall, 8. J

John Carey, 8. J.

Joseph Picot de Clorivi^re. . .

Joseph Harent

James Redmond, 3. J

Edward Damphoux

John Moy nihan

John Hickey

James Wallace, 8 J

Charles Bowling, 8. J

Roger Smith

Joseph Gobert, 8. J

Patrick O'Connor

John Holland

John McElroy, 8. J

Roger Baxter, S. J

Nicholas Kenny.

Fairclongh

George Shenfelder.

Ilonore X. Xaupi

John Clanohe

Timothy O'Brisn

Orleans, France...
St. Mary's Sem'y . .

Chartrcs, France..
St. Mary's Sem'y..

Liege

Rieux, France

St. Mary's Sem'y..

Blois, h ranee

St. Mary's Sem'y . .

PLACE OP STUDY.

Georgetown.

St. Mary's Sem'y..

Georgetown,

France and Geo't'n
St Mary's

Georgetown

France &'8t. Mary's

Georgetown

St. Mary's . .
Georgetown

St. Mary's . .

Georgetown

St. Mary's.

Mount St. Mary's.
St, Mary's Sem y .

WHEN
ORDAINED.

May 25, 1793.
March 18, 1795.
Sept 19,1795.
Sept 80.1798.
March 29, 1800.
March 21. 1801.
April 22, 1802.
May 14, 1803.
June 20, 1808.
April 11, 1808.
June 11, 1808.
March 12, 1808.

Sept 28, 1809.
Sept 22, 1810.
June 8, 1811.
Dec, 1811.
Aug., 1812.
May 19, 1812.
March 21, 1813.
June 12, 1818.
Aug. 7, 1813.
Sept y4, 1814.
Nov. 17, 1814.
June 18, 1815.
Aug. 2, 1815.
Aug. 27, 1815.
Dec 13, 1815.
Nov. 80, 1816.
May 81, 1817.

March 18, 1818

Aug. 15, 1818.
June 5, 1819.

BY WHOM.

Achb'p Carroll.

Bishop Neale.
((

u
u

Bishop Carroll.
((

Bishop Neale.
«i

Bishop Carroll.

Bishop Neale.

Bishop Carroll.
»

Bishop Neale.

Bishop CnrrolL

Bishop Neale.

Bishop Carroll.

Bishop Cheverui

Archb"p Neale,
it

Abp. MarechaL

40'j8n)(

41 Geor

4y John

48 Hem

44 Peter

46AIexi

46,Michj

47Steph

4Si Virgii

49;AIoysl

60 Peter

61 John f

62 lONAT

68,Ferdin

o5iFrancl(
5') Charicfl
'57!renatin

6'^'Michaei

S^jSAMUEt

6«,Matthe>
ol George

62jJames F
53 Anthonv

64 John La

65 Peter Sc

66 Thomas

67 Jumes Vi
69 James N

69 John 6il(

70 John Cur

Jl Francis J

i2^;-ancisS

'■1 Alexandc;

J4| Edward iL

_(5j George fJ

'6 Jfenry Ml

77 fciifrene jj

I'lJolin Hosi

<9|rhomasLl

oO James Cuf

4'-^"co
^8 John Don]

S')Michael gI

w, Michael hI

°t'l^ugu.stlnor
«7|J,-.me8 StrA
8^ Patrick Col

^0 John H. Jm

J2 "ugh Orlf

fl4!E,lward da

9fi Peter' O'Kli
97 James Powl
; .^ "g" Die; I

""./'atrJckCof

APFEXDIX.

55a

CnrToll
Neale.
Carroll,
hevcrui

Nertle.

ai'U'

cbaL

NAME.

PLAOB OF BTCDT.

40
41
4'-'
48
44
45
46
47
48 1
49
60
61
62
68
64
65
56
67
68'
69
60
61

62
63
64
65
66
67
6S
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
88
8)
85
86
87
8^!
89
90
91
92
93
94
9:,
9fi
97
OS

ll.)
i;io

James Cummiskey

George D. Hogan

John Murphy, 8. J

Heni'y Verhoegen, 8. J

Peter J. Tlnimermans, 8. J.

Alexins Elder

Michael Whelan

Stephen Du Buisson, 8, J. .

Virgil II. Barber, 8. J

Aloysius Mudfl, S. J

Peter Walsh. 8. J

John Smith, 8. J.

Ignatius Rkynolds

Ferdinand Cosker

John Gerry

Francis J. Vanhorsigh

Charles C. Pise

lenatlns Combs, 8. J

Michael Douj'herty

Samuel Ecclkston

Matthew P. Deiigle

George Fenwick, 8. J

James Hcerner

Anthony Kenny

John Larkin

Peter Schreiber

Thomas Finigan. 8. J

Jhmes Van de Velde, 8. J.

James Neill, 8. J

John Gildea.

John Curtin

Francis Jamison

Francis StilUnger

Alexander IHtselberger

Edward Night

Oeorge Flaut

Henry Myers

Eugene J. Pellssier

Jolm Hoskyns

Tliomas Lilly, 8, J

James Curley, 8. J

Bertrand Plot

Henry Coskery

John Donele'

Michael Gal.lher

Michael Hfas

Augustino Bally, 8. J

James Strain, 8 J

Patrick Corry, 8. J

Ambrose Obermeyer

JohnH. McCaffry

Thomas MeCafl'ry

Hugh Griffin

David W, Bacon

Edward Colgau

Jbvc: DoUn -

Peter O' Flanagan, 8. J

James Power, 8. J

Hoger Die. 2, 8. J

Henry Muiphy

, Patrick Co irtney

St Mary's Sem'y .
Georgetown

8t. Mary's 8em'y .
Georgetown

St Mary's

Georgetown
8t Mary's. . .

WHEN
OBDAINKD.

BT WHOM.

March 25, 1820, Abp. Marechal.

U It

July 28, 1820. • »

8t Mary's.

Aug. 18, 1820.

Aug. 7, 1821.
Dec. 8, 1822.
March 19,1823.
May 23, 1828.

Oct 24, 1823.

-July 22, 1821.

March 19, 1825.

March, 1825.
tt

April 24, 18-25.
Sept 28. 18J6.
jOct 28, 1826.

Isept 28. 1826.
'Oct 6, 1826.
jAug. M, 1827.

Georgetown 8ept 25, 1827.

St. Mary's

8t Mary's . . .
Emmetsburg

St. Mary's

8t Mary's

Georgetown

feu Mary's

Georgetown

8t Mary's . . .
Etumetsburg

Georgetown

Nov. 25, 1827.
March 25, 1829.
July 14, 1829.
Sept b, lfe29.
Feb. 2S, 1830.
May 25, 1380.
Aug. 81, 1830.
Oct 2, 1830.
Septs, I'iSI.
April 17, 1S81.
Aug. «0, 1832.
June 1, 1833.

Sept 1, 1888.

Sent 20, 1884.
July 24, 1686.

Mav 4, 1887.
May 6, 1837.
July 23, 1837.

Dec. 8. 1887.
March 10, 1838.
Dec. 1, 1838.
Dec. i3, 1888.

Sept 1. 1889.
Doc. 18, 1840.
April 6, 1840.

June 29, 1841.
Sept 8, 1842.

Bishop Cheverus.
Bishop Dubourg.
Abp. Marechal.

Bp. E. Fenwick.
Jas. Whiteflcld.
Abp. Maruclial.

Bp. SommnrivM.

of Modena.

Abp. MarudiHl
it

Bb. E. Fenwick.
Abp. Whitetleld.

Abp. Ecclestrm.

Bl.sliop Rosatl.
Abp. Eccleston.

a
it
tt
ti

■A. ^i'

554

APPENDIX.

101
102
108
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
118
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
128
124
12ft
126
127
128
129
180
131
182

i:«

184
18ft
186
137
188
189
140
141
142
148
144
145
146
147
148
149
160
161
152
163
154
155
156
167
168
169
160
161
162

VAMX.

J.,

BeneiJlct Donelan ....
James Ward, 8. J.,...

John .<lox, 8. J

William Clark, S.J...
Charles 8tonestreet, 8,

William Logan, 8. J

William Blenkinsop

John Aiken, 8. J

Miles Gibbons, S. J..

George Vllliger, 8. J.

Michael Tuffer. 8. J

Thomas O'NelL

Joseph MHguire

Michael Slattery

Oliver L Jenkins.

Charles Brenan

William Pwsons

John Early, 8. J.

Augastine McMullen, 8. J

Daniel Lynch, 8. J

Augastine Kennedy, 8. J

Thomas M. Jenkins, 8. J

Peter Blenkinsop, 8. J

Camillas Yicinanza, 8. J

Thomas A. Foley

Francis X. King.

Patrick Dalton

Joseph Flnotti, 8, J

James Clarke, 8. J

Robert J. Lawrence

Charles King. 8. J

-lohn McGuigan, 8. J.

Anthony CiampI, 8. J.

Angelo Paresce. 8. J

Livius Vigilante, 8. J

Basil Pacciarlni, 8. J

Peter do Meulenieester, 8. J .

Francis Lachat, 8. J

Hippolyte de Neckere, 8. J...

Edward Caton

Peter Lenaghan

John Gillespie, 8. J

William Lambert

John Larkin

Edward J. O'Brien

John Slattery, 8. J

Bernard Wiget, 8. J

Burchard Vllliger, 8. J.

John Voors, 8. J

Bernard Mngairc, 8. J

Alphonsns Gharlier, 8. J

John Nally

Francis E. Boyle

Patrick Duddy, 8. J

Henry Hof-in, S. J

Peter Folchl, S. J

Jatnes Tracy

Samuel Lilly, 8. J.

Patrick Creighton, 8. J

Michael Haring, 8. J

John J. Dougherty

James Walters . . :

PLACE OF BTVDT.

Georgetown

St. Mary's Sem'y.

Georgetown

U
«t
U

u
u

St Mary's Sem'y.

Georgetown

Fribourg . . .
Georgetown
St Mary's . .

Georgetown

Georgetown
Switzerland.

Georgetown

St Mary's . .
Georgetown

Georgetown

WHEN
OEDAINri

Dec. 17, 1S42.
July 4, 184a

Sept 8, 184.3.
July 21, 1844.

Aug. 10, 1844
Sept 1, 1844.

Dec 21, 1844

July 6, 1845.
it

«i

July 18, 1846.

iJuly 26, 1846.
It

Aug. 17, 1846.
April 11, 1847.
June 18, lSt7.
Aug. 21, 1847.

July 12, 1848.

July 28, 1848.
it

Feb. 2, 1849.

Aug. 11, 1849.

Sept 1, 1849.
it

Sept 22, 1849.

Oct 4, 1849.
it

June 2, 1850.
Aug. 11, 1860.

Jan. 12, 1851.

Sept 27, 1851.
ii

Nov. 21, 1851.
it

June 12, 1852.

July 21, 18.52.
Aug. 27, 1842.

BY WHOM.

Abp. Eccleston.

it
tt
it
It
ii
ti
It
ii
Ii
It

Bp. Fitzpatrick.
Abp. EcclestoD,

8t Mary's Sept 04 1868.

Sept 23, 1858.

Bp. Fitzpatrick.
Abp. EcclestoQ.

Bp. Fitzpatrick,
Abp. Eccleston.

Bishop Garland.
Bishop McGill.

Arclib'pKenrick.

Bishop McGiU.
It

it
Archb'p Kenrlok.

Oct

APPENDIX.

555

OeOINATIONS in the DioOESK of WHEKtINO.

NAHBB.

Seminary, Wheeling. . .
St Mary's Semin'ry, Bait

Rev. Bartholomew Stack.
Kev. Denni"-, Brennan. . . .
Rev. John T. Brazil 1 ....

Rev. Stephen Huber

Rev. H. F. Parke

Rev. James Cunningham.

Rev. John Walters

Rev. Joseph Hcidencamp|8erainary, Wheeling
Rev. Henry Malone . ' '

WHERE SSrOATED.

WHEN
OKDAINED.

Dee. 30, 1849.
Dec. 9.8, ISftO.
June Ifi, 1861.
March 28,1862,
Dec. 21, 1851.
Aug. 16, 1868.

May, 1856.

BT WUOH.

Bishop Whelan.

Obdinations in Philadklphu from 1820 to 1832.

<i 11

rick.

StOD.

Most Rev. John Hughes, now Archbishop of New Tork.
Right Rev. F. X. Gartland, late Bishop of Savannah.
Right Rev. G. A. Carrell, now Bishop of Covington.

Rev. B. Eeenan.
" P. RafTerty.
" Mr. Mean.
" Mic>'»pl Curran, Jr.

Rev. Th. Egan.
" Oh. J. Carter.
"■ Th. Hayden.
" Mr. Dwin.

Rev. J. O'Reilly.
" J. Stillinger.
" E. J. Sourin.

Out of the Seminaky of St. Charles Bohromeo from 1832 to 1856.

Rev.

itrick.
leston.

Itttrick,
leston.

jarland.
IcGlU.

[enrlck.

^cQill•
l.enrlok,

Henry F. FitzMmmons
Michael Barker.
Patrick Reilly.
Peter Maher.
Daniel F. Devitt
James Malrony.
Michael Gallagher.
Edward McGinniS.
Francis J. Dean.
James Miller.
Daniel Megorien.
Christo'r W. Loughran.
Patrick Nugent
Peter Steinbuekcr.
Patrick Prendergast
Matthew W. Gibson.
Patrick Sheridan.
-Nicholas Cantwell.
Hugh Lane.
Hugh Fit/simmons.
Philip O'FarrelL
John Mackin.
Dominick Forrestall.
Robert Kleineidam.
John Walsh.
James Power.
John Berbigier.
Michael Malone.
Richard O'Connor.

Rev. Michael Martin,

" Jeremiah Aliern.

" James Cullen.

" James WcGinnis.

" Thomas Reardon.

" JamoH O'Kane.

" P*vtrick Flanigan.

" James O'Keeffe.

" Sylvester Eagle.

" John Loughran.

" Hugh McMahon.

" Arthur Haviland.

" Michael Wizzfleld.

' John O'ShauKhnessy.

" Matthew McQrain.

" John Davis.

" Moses Whithy.

" Matthew Cobbin.

" Peter Carbon.

" Philip Gough.

" Edward Murray.

" Edward Q. S. Waldron

" Patrick O Brien.

«' Henry Finniifan.

" Michael L. Scanlau.

" John McQovern.

» John Kelly.

" John Power.

»• " Francis X. Georga.

Rev. Michael Phelan.

" John Qulnn.

" Wm. McLaughlin.

" John Flanigan.

" John Prendergast

" Wm. Kean.

" Daniel Sheridan.

" Patrick Noonan.

" John Power.

" Francis J. Walter.

" Rudolf Kunzer.

" Walter Power.

" John McCosker,

" Patrick Fitzmorria,

" Pacrick McArdle.

" Dennis O'Harra.

" James McGinn.

" Richard Kinnehan.

" Maurice Walsh

" Ediiiond Fitzmorrls,

" Thomas Lyndon.

" Charles MoEnroy.

" James Barrett.

" »fohn Scanian.

" J<>i<n McAnany.

" Thomas Kearns.

" David Whelan.

" Patric'ic ATcSwlggan.

'• Nicholas Walsh.

556

APPENDIX.

Okdinations in the Diocese of New Yobk.

T-:m

MAHKS.

Rev. Michael O'Gorman .

Rev. Richard Bulger

Rev. Patrick Kolly

Rev. Ciiarles Brennan . . .

Rev. John Shanahan

Rev. John Conroy

Rev, Luke Berry

Rev. John Walsh

Rev. Joseph A. Schneller.
Rov. Gregory B. Pardow.
Rev. William Quarter. . . .
Eev. Bernard O'Reilly. . .

Rev. James Terwooren . .

Rev. Patrick Moran

Rev. Walter J. Quarter . .

Rev. John Kelly

Rev. John M'Cioskey . . .

Rev. William Starrs

Rev. Patrick Bradley . . .
Rev. John M'Nulty ....
Rev. James Dogherty , .
Rev. Patrick Costello. . .
Rev. John N. Neumann .
Rev. David Bacon

Rev. Edward O'Nlell...

Rev.P. Coyle

Rev. John Longhlin....
Rev. Miles Maxwell ....

Rev. J. Mackay

Rev. B. L. Laniza

Rev. k. Manahan. D.D. .
Rev. Chaa. D.M'Mallen.
Rev. Theodore Noethen
Rev. Carberry J. Byrne.
Rev. Jobc Uarley

Rev. John J. Conroy. . .
Rev. Lawrence Carroll.

Rev. Richard Kein

Rev. William IIogfi.n ...
Rev. James Keveny. ...
Rev. Anthony Farley. . .
Rev. Francis Donahue. .
Rev. Isaac P. Howell

Rev. Michael M'Donnell,
Rev. J. R. Bayley

Rev. William M'Clellan . ,
Rev. Michael Curran, Jr,
Rev. Michael Riordan . . .

WHBBB KDUCATEO.

Kilkenny CoUVe, Ireland.

U U It

It tl it

Mount St. Mary's College,
tl It It

tt it tl

Seminary at Montreal. . . .

St Mary's Coll., Balllm'e.
Mount St. Mary's College.
St. Mary's Coll., Baltim'e.

Propaganda, Rome

Mount St. Mary's College

Chambly and Mount 8t

Mary's College

Mount St. Mary's College.

tt tt tl

St Mary's Coll., Baltim'e.

Seminary at Montreal.
Chambly

WHEN
ORDAINED.

Seminary at Montreal and

St Mary's Coll., Balti'e.

Mount St Mary's College.

Lafargeville & Fordham .

Fordliam

Lafargeville & Fordham.

Propaganda, Rome

Lafargeville

Fordham

Mount St Mary's College.

It
II

Lafargeville and Fordham

It It

Hem. of St Charles Boro-
meo, Phil., & Fordham.

Seminary at Fordham . . .

St Sulpice, Paris, & Sem-
inary at Fordham

Seminary at Fordham. . . .

A. D. 1815.
A. D. 1820.
A, D. 1821.
A. D. 1822.
A. D, 1828.
A. D. 1825.
Jan. 1, 1827.
Septem., 182T.
Dec. 24. 1827.
Sept 8, 1829.
Sept 19, 1829.
Oct 15, 1881.

June 11, 1882.
Nov. 9, 1882.

Aprl! 28, 1888.
Sept U, 1888.
Jan. 12, 1834.
Sept 12, 1834.
Dec. 8, 1834.
May 20, 1885.
July 14, 1885.
March 25, 1836,
June 25, 1836.

Dec. 18, 1888.
Oct 18, 1840.

Jan. 5, 1841.

Aug. 29, 1841.
Dec. 18, 1841.

June 4, 1842, St
Marv's Chap-
el, Fordham.
II

Jan.29,1848,8t
Mary's Chap-
el, Fordham.

Jan. 29, 1843.

March 2, 1844.

April 14, 1844

BT WHOU.

Bishop OonnoHy.

Bishop Dubois.

Bish'p Kenrick of

Philadelphia.
Eiiibop DuDois.

tl
11
II
tl
tl

Bishop Hughes.

II
w

Card'al FranzonL
Bishop Hughes.

II
i(
II

II
u

M
II
l(

II
II

M
M
M
M

APPENDIX.

657

WHEN

VAMXS.

WUESK XDUOiLTII\

OBDAINKD.

BT WHOM.

Kev. John Hackett

Seminary at Fordham . . .

April 14, 1344.

Bishop Hughes.
Bia'p M'Closkey.

Rev. John Sheririan

" "

Aug. 15, 1S44.

Kev. Tliomas M'Evoy . .
Rev. William O'Reilly...

li u

" " '.'.'.',

Kev. Sylvester Malone. . .
Rev. Matthew Illeglns. . .
Rev. George M'Closkey. .

" " ! ! ! *

" " '.'."

U tl

Rev. Patrick Kenny

Propaganda, Rome, and

Fordham

Eev.F.P.MTarland....

Mount St. Mary's College,

and Fordham

May 18, 1846.

Bishop Hughes.

Rev. Valentine Burgos. . .

St Si:lpice and Seminary

at Fordham

11
II

Rev. Patrick M'Kenna. . .

Seminary at Fordham . . .

Rev. John JTMenomy...

U i(

Rev. Patrick Murphy

" " '.'.'.'.

Oct 21, 1846.

Rev. J. W. Cummings,

D.D

Propaganda, Rome

Seminary at Fordham.. ..
Scholastic S. J

Jan. 8, 1847.

Monsig. BrnnellL
Bis'p M'Closkey.

Rev. James Hourigan . . .

Feb. 7, 1847.

Re V. M. Fcrrard

.1
May 80, 1847.

tft

Rev. Eugene Maguire ....
Rev. Thomas Daly

Seminary at Fordham

Blshon Hughes.

u H

Rev. John Curoe

Mount St. Mary's, and" si

Joseph's Seminary

Rev. Dennis Wheeler

Mount St Mary's, and St

Joseph's Seminary

Rev. Aagustus Eegnier . .

Scholastic S. J

Rev. Charles Sheansky , .

Rev. Augustus Kohler. . .

Rev. James O'Sullivan. . .

St Joseph's Seminary. . . .

Aug. 80, 1847.

Bis'p M'Closkey.

Rev. Bernard J. M'Quaid.

" "

Jan. 16, 184S.

Bishop Hughes.

Rev. John M. Murphy . . .
Rev. Thomas Ouellet

l< u

Scholastic S. J

II
May 8, 1S48.

Rev. Francis M'Keone. . .

St. Joseph's Seminary. . . .

Rev. John Boyie

Rev, Thomas Farrell ....

" " . .

Mount St. Mary's College.

Rev. Edward Reilly

St. Joseph's Seminary

Sept. 23, 1848.

Rev. lohn Quinn

" "

Rev. Stephen Sheridan . .

t( II

June 14, 1849.

Rev. Thomas Quinn

" " '.'.'.'.

Rev. J. Xavier Marechal.

Schohst.c S. J

Rev. Claude Pernot

Rev. John B. Duffy

Rev. John Ranfeisen ....

RedemptorSst

St Joseph's Seminary

Oct 3, 1849.

Rev. Edward Briady

Seminary of Montreal

Rev. Thomas Doran

St Joseph's Seminary.. . .

Nov. 1, 1849.

Bis'p M'Closkey.

Rev. John Carroll

11 II ...

Dec. 22, 1849.

Bishop Hughes.

Rev. Henry O'Neill

" "

Rev. Patrick M'Carthy . .

11 II

Rev. Michael Madden

II II

May25, la-vO.

Rev. Hugh Sweeny

II i<

t>i

Rev. Victor Beaudevin . .

Scholastic 8. J.

((

Rev. Marie Desjacques. . .

Rev. Theodore Thiry

Rev. John Comerford

Nov. 16, 1850,

St Joseph's Seminary —

Bis'p M'Closkey.

T'.ev. John M. Forbes

II II

Rev. Thomas S. Preston .

11 II

Rev. John Rejran

II ii

iiev. Eugene Cassidy

II «i [ j

Aug. 1, 1851.

Archh'p Hughes,

Rev. Thomas M'Laughlin.

II <i

Rev. Daniel Mugan

Mount St Mary's College.

558

APPENDIX.

MAUE.

WHXBS EOVOATXD.

WHEN
ORDAINED.

BY WHOM.

Eev. Thomas Mulrlne. ..

Mount 8L Mary's College

Aug. 12. 1861.

Archb'p HuKbea,

Rev. Janjes Coyle

Kev. 'I'itus Joslin

St Joseph's Seminary

March 18, 1862.

ii '

U t(

Kev. Cornelius Delubunty

" "

Rev. James Wcger

Scholastic 8. J.

Kev. Arthur J. Donnelly.

St Joseph's Seminary. . . .
Mount St Mary's College.

Oct 6, 1862.

Rev. Andrew Bohan ....

Rev. WilUara M'Oloskey.

U U " 11

Eev. Patrick O'Neill

MaynooU "'ollege

Rev. Patrick Eean

Rev. Bernard h arrell

St. Josepu's deminary

Jan. 29, 1868.

ii ti

Rev. Patrick M Govern. .

ii Ii

Rev. Thomas Mooney . . .

ii ii

Il«v. William Everett . . .

" 'i

Rev. Benj. Allaire

ii ii

Oct 16, 1863.

ArchblB'p Bedinl

Rev. Martin Dowling....

ii it

Rev. Daniel Durning

ii ii

Rev. Williiim Keegaii

ii ii

Kev. Chas. Oicaterri. 8. J. .

it
It
It

Rev. <Jo8t.'|ili C'aredda. 8.J.

Kev. Peter Tissot, S J

Kev. Pet. P. llilienmeyer,

S. J

Jan. 21, 1664.

Bishop Loughlin.

Rev. Peter M'Carron

St Joseph's Seminary —

Rev. Benj. OCaliaghan...

li*^ ii

Rev. James Breniian

ii ii

Kev. Patrick Mahoney. . .

" "

Kev. Francis J. Buldanf. .

ti it

Aug. 17, 1854

Archb'p Hughes.

Rev. John Ciimnbell

Kev. Francis MNearney.

it it

it It

Kev. Edward Lynch

it it

Rev. James Kelly

Rev. Cornelius Canning. .

ti II

II It

Rev. Philip M'Mahon....

it It

Rev. John Barry

II II

Dec. 23, 1854

Bishop Loughlin.

Rev. Edward M'Glnn

It II

Rev. John Murray

ii ti

Rev. Jatnes Boyce

Ii it

Aug. 17, 1866.

Archb'p Hughes.

Rev. John M Evoy

It t'.

° it

Rev. Philip O'Donohue..

ii II

Kev, John M'Dermott . . .

ii 11

Rev. Johu Majfer

ii 11

Kev. J. A. Cunningham,

8. J :.....

It
It

Rev. Hen. M. Hndon, 8. J.

Rev. Philip H.Choniii,S.J.
Rev. John M. Aub er, 8. J.

Ordinations in the Diocese of Brooklyn.

NAME.

•WHEN ORDAINED.

BY WHOM.

Rev. John Dowling.

August 13, 1854

^ptember 22, 1854

August 15, 1856

May 1, 1856.

Bisliop Loughlin.

Rev. Kliihard Baxter, 8. J

Rev. Thomas W. McCleerv

Rev. Daniel Whelan

Rev. Aloysius Euders

APPEN'>IX.

OltDINATIONa IN THE DiOCESE OF AtBANY.

559

NAMIS.

WnKRK KDCOATKD.

Rev.
Rev.
Rev.
Rev.
Rev.
Rev.
Rev.
Rev.
Rev.
Rev,
Rev.
Rev.
Rev.
Rev.
Rev.
Rev.
Rev.
Rev.
Rev.
Rev.

K . John's, Fordhw 1
.. -ish College, Paris.

Maynooth, Ireland...
Irish College, Paris.

John J. Herbttt....

Micliael Power

William McCallion.
H«)nry i jrfkins....
Eilgar P. Wadhams ..!St.Sulplce,Baltlraore,Md.

Michael Hacket

Patrick Kenna.'.

Mnurlce Koohe

Maurice ShMhan

William Coghlan

Michael Clarke

Bartholom. McLoghlin

Thomas Callan

Eugene Carroll

Cornelius Fitzpatrick

JameA "mith

Jf^^epu xtleyer

uls Desroches. ....

'• in Ludlen

Ciiarles Biady

DATB OP ORDINA-
TION.

Mt 8t Mary's, Emmetsb.
St. John's, Fordbam

Montreal

Montreal .

St. John's, Fordbam .

Julvl';, 1347.
November, 1848.

January 18, 1850.
May 8, 1850.

August 15, 1860.
May 8, 1850.

August 16, 1860.
1851.

Eastertide, 1852.
Pentecost, 1858.
1868.

Summer 1858.
1853.

January 21, 1854.
December 6,1854

BT WHOM.

Bp. McCloskey.

ti
It

u
it

u
It
u
it

t{
u
u
It
u
u

Ordinations in the Diocese of Buffalo.

Kev.
Eev.
Rev.
ILpv.
Eev.
Eev.
Rev.
Eev.
Eev.
Eev,
Eev.
Eev.
Eev.
Eev.
Eev.
Eev.
Eev.
Eev.
Eev.
Eev.
Eev.
Eev.
Eev.
Rev.
Eev.
Eev.
Eev.
Eev.
Rev.

Edmund O'Connor Ordained

John Donnelly "

John Fitzpatrick •'

Michael O'Brien "

Joseph Bigglo "

Peter Bede "

Charies Tierney. "

Michael Walsh "

M. Bcheuiger. . , "

Thomas Cunningham "

Joseph Lennon "

Eichard Harmon "

Francis N. Lester . , "

Francis 8. Urich "

Daniel Dolan "

Peter Colgan "

William Stephens "

Daniel Moore ■ "

Francis Krautbauer "

Francis O. Farrell . "

Nicholas Burns "

J.Early "

Bernard McCool "

Thomas Brady - "

Martin Kavanagh "

Michael Purcell "

William Gleeson i» "

Eichard Storey "

N.Geimar "

April 22, 1848.

1848.

1818.

1849.

1849.
March 80, 1849.
June 17, 1849
June 17, 1849.

1849.
September 15, 1850.
September 22, 1860.
1860.
" 1860.

" 1850.

December 22, 1860.
» 1850.

March 9, 1851.
April 27, 1851.
Jane, 1861.
July 19, 1851.
October, 1852,
May, 1853.
January, 1864.
January, 1864
AugLSt, 1854
1854
1854.
1856.
1864.

56(

APPENDIX.

DOCUMENTS r.^'.LAT^NG TO THE NUNCIATURE OF Tfi P. MOST

iiEV. C. BEDINI, ARCHBISHOP OF THEBEP

[From the New York Freeman's Joarnal, Saturday, April 8th, 1804.]

Thb New York Express feigns surpriwe that, in his letter to the Arolibishop
of Baltimore, Monseigneur Bedini floca not speak of Ugo Bassi, and does
not descend to a justification of lum.-ielf from the calumnies of which that
paper made itself so accommodating an echo. But the Express forgets that
the Nuncio did not address his communication to the Messrs. Brooks ; and
does it suppose that we. Catholics, need to have the charges of the Italliin
refugees refuted ? The Excess, however, is too quick in its exultation, if it
thinks that n :> one is occupied in gathering together the authentic pi jof» of
the falsehood of what the Italian emigrants have so shamelessly uttered.
We have accepted the part that it was not proper for the eminent character
of a Pontifical Envoy to assume, because it belongs to the press to undo tlie
evil done by the press, and we assure the editor of the Express that he
shall have lost nothing by waiting. Wo have taken the pains to send to
Bologna some copies of the Express containing the report of the Italiim
meeting of last February (7th), the time when those unhuppy people showed
the ass's courage in kicking at their absent victim, Monseigneur having de-
parted two days before. The Wall-street journal must feel very strange,
finding itself in. the hands of honorable men in Bologna ; but, in fact, wo
had a desire to sho v io what a degree of madness the enemies of the Papacy
give themselves v.-y h\ the blindness of their hatred. We asked, at the
same time, that <.■ c ,0 ic whom we sent the Express would be kind enough
to furnish us s'^>-tu- feuthentic documents relative to the military executions
of 1849 and 1850. Tba following is the reply we receive from an honorable
judge jf the Tribunaie d' Appelo :

** Bologna, March 4, 1854.

* * * «« J gee no better way of answering the calumniators of Mon-
seigneur Bodini, than to send to America an authentic copy of the military
ordinances of 1849 and 1850, by which martial law was proclaimed, and the
military tribunal established ; and I might join to this a copy, word for
word, of the diflferent condemnations which were successively pronounced.
All these sentences are, without one exception, pronounced by a judgment
civil and military (' Quidizio Statario e militario'), and signed by the general
in command, who was at once civil and military governor. The fifty indi-
viduals cited by the American papers f.8 having been put to death and
skinned by Monseigneur while he was Pontifical Commissioner Extraordi-
nary, I find recorded in the gazettes of Bologna between the months of
May, 1849, and September, 1850; and I read there that they wero all ar-
rested, condemned, and shot by the Austrian military commandant, and
not by the Pontifical Commissioner ; and their condemnations, as well as the
consequent executions, are published by notifications signed by the mili-
tary governor himself. On collecting these various items, with tlndr re.

) /

APPENDIX.

661

<5 pvin|)athizing, active pro-

'putfHtble when he thinks
Hlush. •

Ms.

opcc'ivo dates, r.nct nending them to America for publication, it seoros to me
that MonHcignenr will bo made to triumph over hia calumnitttors, and that
they will be forced to bluHh for their wiokedne»H. I have commenced tlie
examination of these documentn, and if you wiuh, I will continue the liibor.
•' Yenterday I went from house to houde, fni i office to office, to an-
nounce to hia fVionda the good nowfi of Monaeigtiour's arrival at Rome, and
to all 't was a joy, a comfort, an agreeable surprise. The happy return of
hia Excellence seemed to every one aa a cause of thankfulneaa to God, and
as glad tiding!*, and a reason for h( mo. In ow- word, the people here regard
him as a messenger of God and of peac
tector of every one that has need of help.'

The honest judge, howevi , dreams of t1
any thing can bo done to make these caliu

lis He sent fait un front qui <) r

"Their cheek has lost the pow< i."

But beyond those artiticers of falsehood, who have curs and hear not, and
outside of Catholics who have no need of any refutation, there is the great
mass of the American public, who have no otiier desire than to ascertain
the facts ; and it is for these that we will cause all the documents tt t>e
brought forward of which our correspondent speaks.

If, in the accomplishment of his high political functions, Monsoigneur
Bedini had been reduced to the sad necessity of signing any sentence of
death, we would not seek to exonerate him from a responsibility that bo-
longed to him. Washington waa not an assassin for having signed the
death-warrant of Major Andr6 ; and he would have sent Arnold as well to
the scaffold, had the traitor fallen into hia hands. But it is a proper thing
to see that there is *' rendered to Csesar the things that are Caesar's," and to
Austria tho things that belong to Austria.

Apropot, we have not yet heard that the Secretary of State has found
the famous letter of Lewis Cass, Jr., which had announced officially
to our government the mission intrusted to Monseigneur Bedini. But we
have in its place a document written by Mr. Cass to Monseigneur Bedini
during the Lent of the last year, to recommend to him several Americans
who desired to assist at the procession of Palm Sunday, and to receive a
palm from the hands of His Holiness. The letter terminates with these
words :

"iVW our countrymen consider they have a right to address themselves
to you, especially as I have already announced to my government your com-
plimentary mis8ion,/tf/* whicJi lean assure you beforehand a most distinguished
reception.''''*

Mr. Cass, in writing thece lines, had not his eye on the Italians of New
York.— H. D. C.

♦ The words were written in French by Mr. Cass, and we give thorn :
"Maintenant nos compatrlotes s'imaginent avoir lo droit de s'adresser A vous, 8p6-
cialmont comtne j"al deji annonco d nion gouverneinent votro mission complimen-
taire, pour Jaquolle je pals vous assurer d'avance une reception bien distinguSe.'"

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662

APPENDIX.

I t

Tbs Itauan Patriots versus Bedini — Highly Intebestino Speeohis—

CONDKMNATOKY RESOLUTIONS AND UNANIMOUS FaoOEEDINOS.

[Reported for the New York Express.]

A VERT large assemblage of the Italians who were obliged to fly their
country for their devotion to the cause of liberty in 1848, gathered last night
at the Stuyvesant Institute, in order formally, and as a body, to deolure their
opinions as to the public and private character of Monseigneur Bedini.
The room of the Young Men's Democratic National Club was excessively
crowded by the exiles, among whom we observed several Italian ladies.
The proceedings were marked by the warmest enthusiasm, and the com-
pletest unanimity of feeling and action.

At .eight o'clock, Signer Gajani nominated Professor Felix Foresti as
Chairman, which the meeting unanimously approved.

Signer Gajani, in turn, was elected Vice-president, and Signor Manetta,
Secretary.

Letters of apology were received from General Avezzana and Mr. .Hugh
Forbes, both of whom declared their sympathies with the objects <>f the
meeting, but were unavoidably absent from serious indisposition.

A deputation of Frenchmen, from the "Mountain Division of the Society
of Universal Kepublicans," here entered the room, and proceeded to the
President's table ; they were received with great cheering. One of their
number addressed the President on behalf of the Society, after which they
retired to the front form, and remained during the entire proceedings.

Signor Foresti then rose, amid reiterated applause and shouts of " Bravo,"
to address the meeting. He spoke in Italian, to this effect :

" Bedini entered the conquered city with his Croats.

He, clothed with perfect sovereign power, proclaimed martial law throughout
idl the territory of the Four Legations. By this brutal law are suspended
at once all other laws, preservative of order and justice ; customary forms of
procedure abol shed ; judges are constituted from soldiers of rank, and sen-
tence is summarily passed, by tap of drum, to death, to the gaUeys, to
exile, to the bastinado. This law was enforced by a priest — by Bedini. It
came not, it could not come, from the Austrian general. To make or ab-
rogate laws is an attribute of sovereignty, and this attribute had been dele-
gated by the Pope to Bedini, and not to the general. But this law was a
terrible instrument of vengeance in the hands of Bedini, and he made use
of it without mercy. We defy the apologists of Bedini to deny it. Let
them read all the journals in the pay of the government at that accursed
epoch. They will see that in Bologna, in other cities, in the towns or vil-
lages of the Four Legations, there were published numerous sentences of
death, of imprisonment, or of exile. They may find in these journals the
names of the victims, and the day of their sacrifice. They will see that
the police of Bedini, like hungry wild beasts, hunted after and ferreted out
the republicans. On overy side, families had some of their members under
interdiction from leaving the house under severe penalties ; others sutferiiig
domiciliary perquisitions for suspected papers ; at the post-offlco, the sa

-^. -,;,.,.-.,.

APPENDIX.

563

ervdnesv of sealed letters wa» violated ; persons were sammarily banished
without form of trial ; for the slightest doabtful expression, or even word;
for the slightest nuapioion was awarded prison and persecution. The gov-
ernment of Bedini was, in nhort, a real reign of terror.

" Bedini, say his apologists, had not the right or the power to oheok or
modify the evils arising from the existence of martial law in the provinces.
But I ask, who could and who did proclaim this martHal law f The Sov-
ereign alone, the Pope. Who represented the Pope in the Four Legations f
Bedini. What was the position of the Austrian general in Bologna ! Sim-
ply that of a general, called and paid, together with his troops, to reconquer
for the Pope the Romagna from the power of the Bepublicans. The spirit
and the will was Bedini — the corporeal part of the compound was the Aus-
trian general. Who collected and put into judicial form the evidence and
the witnesses to condemn the patriots ? The local police. Who arrested
the persons suspected ! Who assigned their prisons ? Who directed their
administration ! Who named the Italian ConcUUre of the court-martial t
Who caused the accused to bo brought before the court-martial ? The local
police. Who was it who directed this policb t Bedini.

" For these reasons, the populations of the Bomagna do not curse so much
the court-martial, but Bedini.

" Had such a service been undertaken by a military officer, he would, like
Haynau, have lost every particle of reputation for humanity. But what
shall we say of a priest, a minister of God, a preacher of the Gospel, a mes-
senger of peace, who can undertake such an office V*

M. G. Gajani next addressed the meeting, as follows :

" ITgo Bassi had also landed, and was seeking an

asylum in the same wood, when he was taken and made prisoner of war.
The body of troops who captured him was commanded by Prince Ernest,
son of the Archduke Bassini, who sent Bassi, with the other prisoners, to
Bologna, to be placed at the disposition of the ' Extraordinary Commissioner
from the Four Legations.* This post is most important, because it bestows
sovereign power, and is no>ver created but in very perilous times, and is
always given to a prospective cardinal-legate ; but it was then held by
Bedini, because no cardinal dared go to Bologna at that period. Each
Extraordinary Commissioner has annexed a so-called military commission,
to judge political crimes, of which ccuncil he is the supreme president ; it
is composed of the most infamous of the Pope's police. Bedini had added
to it some Austrian officers, but only for form sake, as they did not under-
stand the Italian language. General Gorzkowski, who commanded the Aus-
trian garrison at Bologna, had not the least authority over this counoilf
which alone was invested with judicial authority, and continued to sen-
tence criminals during the whole time that Bedini was there. Furthermore,
this general, who was iu Italy for the first time, and was ignorant of our
language and our a£fairs, certainly knew nothing of Bassi, and it could have
been no advantage to him to execute a poor priest who had offended ih«
Popib by becoming a Christian ; and if he had known him, he might petsi-

564

APPENDIX.

) i

bly h»ve Bympathy with him, for Qeneral Oorzkowski is not a Bomanist
Bat Bedini, who felt againnt Baasi malignity of oaate, and the hatred of the
vile againut the great and virtuous, sent him to the Commission, with or-
ders to condemn him to death; but so great was Baasi^s reputation for
tAlent and virtue, that even these vile instruments of barbarous vengeance
hesitated. Bedini (so says a Turin paper) entered the council-chamber, and
ordered the sentence of death to be pronounced. The whole city was in
commotion, and multitudes interceded for Bassi, among whom was the old
Cardinal-archbishop Oppizzoni ; but Bedini was inexorable, and cited a
special order of the Pope which he had received previously to the capture.
Thus it is not he, but his officious defenders, who wish to shoulder the
crime upon the Austrian general."

Speech of Siomob Manbtta.

" The friar Ugo Bassi, that spirit fired with poetic

patriotism, was made prisoner by the Austriaus, at the same time with
Ludovico Liveraghi. Being sent to Bclogna, his native city, he was jol^ned
on the way by other prisoners, whom the Papal troops ha«l hunted without
mercy. On the 7th of August, those unhappy men entered Bologna. What
had happened was known to all the city. Bassi and Liveraghi being
brought, by a mock process, before a court-martial, were condemned to
death. The Canon Oppizzoni, to whom many impute the murder of the
Bolognese monk, made a visit to Bedini on this subject. Bedini, speaking
of Bassi, said, with cold and implacable hardness of heart, ' The Pope de-
sires his death.' Before executing his sentence, he determined that he
should be barbarously martyred. The priests of the Vatican do not content
themselves with killing— that is a small revenge for them — they wish to feel
the vitals of their dying victims 'nitate in their hands — they wi«ih to be
drunk with blood — they desire t cate the hyena, who, before devouring
his prey, tyrannizes over its agoi< bs for a whole day. Ugo Bassi was dis-
oonsecrated ! The parts which had been anointed with the holy oil were
skinned with the knives of the priests ; and on the morning of the 8th,
seven Croat bullets completed the sacrilegious holocaust."

' Mr. Bisco next t'ddressed the meeting in Italian, showing that Bedini
was the person responsible for the barbarities committed in the Four Lega-
tions, during his administration of the government from 1849 to 1852. lie
especially demonstrated the falsehood of the assertion, that Ugo Bassi had
been executed in the hurry of martial law and insurrection. Ugo Bassi, he
aaid, was taken prisoner, near Comachio, by a patrol of Papal gend'arms
and Croats niixed, and was conducted about fifty miles, to Bologna. Bedini
himself urged his condemnation, while the Archbishop of Bologna exerted
all the influence he possessed to have him spared. There was considerable
time consumed in all this, and in the ceremony of desecration, so cruelly
performed by the orders of Bodini — so much time as to let the circumstance
of his condemnation become a fact well known through the whole city the
night procpclinff his execution, which occurred at 5 p. M. on the morning of

,.:tj.^,i.)i. . ^. .-.:

APPENDIX.

665

Angtwt 8, 1848. His destrnotion had long been decided upon by tbe Papal
authorities, if ever he fell into their hands. His having sincerely preached
liberal doctrines was a crime unpardonable in tlie eyes of the Popish ec-
clesiastics. Had Ugo Bassi been guilty of rape, murder, theft, or any thing,
such crimes as we consider infamous, we know, by too many examples, that
the incompetency of any secular tribunal to judge him would have been
instantly insisted on by the Romish clerical authorities, for the honor and
inviolability of the sacred office of priest."

The resolutions, which had previously been presented in Italian by Signor
Oajani, were now read in English by Theodore Dwight, Esq., and passed
unanimously.

"Jiesolved, That this meeting echoes the universal sentinrent of the Italian
people, in denouncing Bedini as the spy of the Pope in Bologna — as the
implacable, cruel, vindictive enemy of all republicans ; and as the person
next responsible after the Pope for the butchery perpetrated at Bologna.

" Resolved, That the various nationalities who have so generously demon-
strated their sympathy for the oppressed Italians, and their horror for the
butcher of Bologna, are entitled to our warm thanks.

^^Besohedy That a copy of these resolutions be forwarded to Bedini and
to the Pope."

[From the New York Express.]
A Call fob Information.

Monseigneur Bedini, it is charged, during the revo-
lutionary struggle f6r freedom in Italy, in 1849 and 1850, ordered to execu-
tion a large number of persons who had espoused the liberal cause. Nay,
not only condemned them to death, but actually flayed them alive, and in-
dulged in sundry other acts of cruelty, which only a devil could devise.
Thiit is the charge. It has been made over and over again. It is thrust in
the face of the Nuncio wherever he goes, and we have publications in which
names, dates, and other specifications are advanced thus :

No.

Date.

May 28,

Jane 7,

July 24,

August 8,

10.

September 1,

•» 18,

1%,

N (1

18.

M i(

14.

M tl

1849.

STamea.
A. Bortolotti ,

Tears of Age.
21

C. Mariaui

L. Pratl

G. Lanzoni

N. Sangiorgi 26

B. Oermanl 28

L.Eicel 21

Ugo Bassi 48

G. Lieraghl f.... 48

S. Contoli..
G. Pinoohl.
G. Scrosta. .
B. Plazzl...
G. Oorini..

19
23
60
40
40

066

APPENDIX.

mm'

18.

ir.
i&

19.
M.
91.
89.
9&
94.
98.
98.
97.
, 98.
99.

88.
84
85.
36b
tf.

ii.
II

m
In

DaU.
Sept 18, 1849.

u
tt

October

91, "

97, ••

8, "

80, "

M
N

U
U

December 98, '*

Janaary 80, 1850.

ti It it

February 91, " .

March 98, " .

«* .11 It ^

H It it _

M •■ «i it ^

M tt tt

April 6, •♦ ,

September 6, " .

it it

M
W
H
M
M
M
M
M
N
W
«

tt
tt

tt
u
tt
ti
it
it
It
tt
tt
t«

It
tt

tt
It
Ii
it
ii
ti
it
it
u

^ '. Kamta,

T. OorlnL

G Scroata

G.BaldIni

S.Migani

0. Oatti

A. Tacconi....
N. Marettl....

B. BIczL

F. Lorenzini...
A. Tacoonl-...
O. Seleri

A. Ouerra.

B. Caravita . . .
O. Orazla

G. MoDtanari..
D. Bertoni . . . .
A. Cagnazzi . . .
0. Montanari . .
C Gulmanelli.
Ii. Barnffaldi..

P. Zappi

B.F0IH

G. Lamberti. . .
A. PoggtalL...

J.MIrri

0. Casolini

G. CSontavallL.

D. FolII

L. Lamberti. . .

A. Cazziari

S. Borgtai

G. AlbertazzL .

G. Farolfi

F. Mlta

P. Meluzzl....
A. GarottL....

83
27
21
20
96

528
25
28
80
80
25
27
81
27
28

22
24
21
23
25
21
28
84
21
22
28
20
22
25

We have said that the execution of all, and the extra torture of some, of
these persons, is said to have been the handiwork of Monseigneur Bedini.
The charge is made with sufficient deflniteness and circumstantiality to
entitle it certainly to consideration, under the peculiar circumstances in
which this ambassador of the Pope now finds himself. We do not know
that the allegations are true. We cannot .say whether M. Bedini is a mur-
derer or not. But we should like to know, and it is with a view to arrive
at the truth that we give the extraordinary charges against him a place in
our columns. We trust it will have the effect of bringing out the other side,
80 that, between the accused and his accusers, we may be enabled to form
an impartial judgment. We do not want vague denials for assertions, un-
supported by acknowledged facts. We earnestly desire M. Bedini's friends
to be at leasl as specific and particular, as regards dates and names, as his
op|M>neat8 are. We have had denials in general terms, enough, to be sure ;

7 -

. a»'.'j..^j=i.-.- j-.;tj^i .w.v'^'..j--:;»-.-.'

.. ifittii M^!(i^->^'s.ti:A*iiiaLi*;^i.#34=*i£?A*li i^iftiil i-.i_.5i^-ii?.tiJfUkt«-Jfc-*.i-

APPENDIX.

667

bat what we earnestly desire now are the tpeeijleationt. Is it tme that th*
above-mentioned persons were executed t Is it true that tbey were exe-
cuted for political offences, and that those offences were committed daring
the revolutionary struggle of 1848 } Is it true that these men came to
their death by the instrumentality of Monseigneur Bedini ? Is it true that
he not only deprived them of life, but that he compelled them to undergo
the moat excruciating tortures, before life was extinct V Is it true that the
hands of this illustrious stranger, whom our city government have been
formally honoring, are red with the blood of these Italian martyrs to Free-
dom ? We call upon the friends of M. Bedini to come

out in his defence, if they can ; to show the groundlessness of the grave
offences for which he is arraigned, if they can. We call upon the Freeman'*
Journal to speak out. Gentlemen, give us the documents 1 We have heard
the prosecution patiently— wo are now prepared to pass to the defence 1
What say you— guilty or not guilty t

''■*,>■.,

[From the ofBoial paper, Oazzetta di Bologna, No. 117, May 18, 1849.]

^Notification.

On account of the stubborn resistance made with arms in hand to the tri-
umphant Austrian forces destined to ro-qstablish in this city as elsewhere the
legitimate authority of the Supreme Pontiff, and on account of the faction of
wicked people, mostly foreigners, who had usurped the power in this place,
as well as on account of my desire to bring about peace and order, I have
come to the determination of deelaritiff for the present that the eity of Bologna
is in a state of siege. Accordingly I order what follows :

1. All persons who have arms of any kind, long or short, for cut or thrust,
or firearms, and all persons who have in their possession gunpowder or gun-
cotton, or any other warlike munitions, shall be obliged to give them all up
to the Commission appointed, and in the place named by the Magintracy,
within forty-eight hours from the publication of the present edict. In giv-
ing up such property each one is free to accompany it with a description of
the same, and with his name, for the purpose of reclaiming what belongs to
him in proper time. This dause does not extend to the corps of regular
troops.

2. The Pontifical Arms or Ensigns shall be put up again in the usual
places without delay.

8. The political meetings known by the name of Gircoli, Casini, and other
such titles, are forbidden.

4. Gatherings in the street, and other assemblages of a seditious nature,
are prohibited.

6. For the present no city gates shall remain open, except those of San
Felice, Galliera, Magglore, and Castiglione, with the proviso that they shall
')e closed from ten o'clock at night until daybreak.

6. By eleven o'clock at night all places of public resort shall be closed,
such as Hotels, Boarding-houses, Eating-houses, Taverns, .Wine-shops,

568

APPENDIX.

t /

Drinking-honiies, Coffee-houses, and such like ; and citizens most retire tc
their dwellings, not later than twelve o'clock at night.

In reference to the persons of Physicians and Ecclesiastios, proper excep-
tion will be made by granting such licenses as may be needed.

7. The Press is subject to censorship before publication.

8. Volunteer companies {corpi franchi) of every kind are disbanded ; the
militia {la oivioa) is suspended, and the former and the latter shall give up
their arms and munitions.

It is forbidden to wear the uniform or badge belonging to the bodies
aforesaid, or to wear the tricolor cockade, or other similtir party badges. It
is strictly enjoined upon all persons, whose position calls for it, to wear the
bicolor pontifical cockade.

Disobedience and carelessness wiU he punished with the full rigor qf martial
lam, and let it be well understood^ that this law condemns the offender ^ even for
holding or keeping warlike arms and munitions, by having him tried by court-
martial (gindizio statario), and shot within twenty-four hours.

I hope that this exceptional state of thinga may cease in a short time,
through the good conduct and good sense of the citizens, and that the Envoy
of His Holiness, appointed to represent him, may soon directly and fully ex-
ercise his peaceful mission in your midvt.

From head-quarters in Borgo Panigale, May 17, 1849.

GOBZKOWSKI,

Koyal Imperial Governor, Civil and Military, General of Cavalry.

- '' [From the oflScial paper, Oaccetta di Bologna, May 26, 1849.]

' ■ f. ■ "' . . Pontifical Goykrmment.

In the name of his Holiness, Pope Pius IX.,
To the people of the Legations of Bologna, Ferrara, Forli, and Ravenna.

Mict.

To the end that in the four provinces of Bologna, Ferrara, Forli, and Ba-
venna, now restored to the dominion of the Holy See, the public adminis-
tration be no longer retarded, we announce and provisionally ordain as fol-
lows:

1. The government of the Sovereign Pontiff is restored, and all acts shall
issue in his name. The Pontifical Commissary, invested with extraordinary
powers, is assisted by four Counsellors, one chosen for eacli province.

2. Each province shall have a Delegate with his Board of Counsellors.

8. The several police establishments are confirmed in each province with
the powers assigned by the Pontifical laws, the same to be in ordinary ser-
vice under the orders of the Civil Governor and local military authority, and
in other respects dependant on the Civil and Military Governor, and on
Monsignore the Commissary resident at Bologna.

4. (Bestores the mail communication.) ''

5. (Bestores censorship of the press.)

6. (Restores ofBoera in office on the IBth November, 1848.)

APPENDIX.

669

7. (Annnls any alienation of eooleaiastioal property.) "it . > ^ >, ,

8. (Maintains mnnioipal bodien as tliey are.)

0. Jadgea and tribunuld »hall resume the ezeroise of their funotiont*, ac-
cording to the laws and regulations in being on the 16th of November,
1848, and their decisions shall be executed* in the name of his Holiness Pope
Pius IX.

10. Canines pending can be resumed only before competent judges and
tribunals in the state and position in which they are, by the simple act of an
attorney, or parties where there is no attorney.

G. Bkdimi.
Bologna, May 26, 1849.

[From the official paper, Ouietta dl Bologna, No. 188, Jnne 8, 1849.]
' ' Notification.

For the purpose of making known to everybody what crimes, transgres-
sions, and derelictions of duty are judged by the military authorities and the
laws of war ; and, on the other hand, for the purpose of checking the bold-
ness and malice of some who seek to elude tiie regulations having for their
aim the safety of the state, of tlje army, of person, and of property, I find it
necessary to declare as follows :

All crimes, transgressions, and derelictions of duty taking place in the
Four Legations of Bologna, Ferrara, Ravenna, and Forli, are judged by the
military authorities, or by the ordinary civil authorities. The military au-
thorities judge either by Court-Martial {giudizio atatario), or by Council of
War (eoruilio di guerra). The Court-Martial (2o atatario) knows no punish-
ment but that of death.

A. — By the Court-Martial (atatario) are judged the following offences : '

1. High-Treason ; and hence every act directed to change forcibly the sys-
tem of Government, or to draw upon it or to increase any danger from out-
side the state.

2. The keeping, hiding, and tr r«vnitting of arms and munitions. Con-
sequently the public is specially ib'-ewarned that capital sentence will be
pronounced upon any individual, witiiout distinction of rank or of previous
irreproachable conduct, if arms or warlike munitions be found upon his
person, or in his dwelling, or in any place where it can be proven that they
were put by his act.

8. Participation in insurrectionary movements or sedition, with arms or
without.

4. Illegal enrolling, as also every attempt to induce to desertion individuals
bound to the military service.

5. Actual or violent resistance against sentinels, platoons, and in general
against Austrian or Pontifical soldiers, among whom are comprised the uni-
formed constabulary (i carahinieri). Notice is given that sentinels and
platoons have the right to fire upon those who should molest them.

6. Bobbery and plunder by violence, whether with the use of arms or
without, and whether it be the work of one or more persons.

570

APPENDIX

I (

B.— By ft Coanoil of War ftre Jadged the following ofTenoM :

7. The npreading of revolutionary doonments.

8. Every outrage towards a military pemou not embraced under No. 6 of
this article.

tt. Tlie bearing of revolutionary or party badgea not Austrian or Pontifical.

10. The flinging of revolutionary songn.

11. All kinds of publlo political demonstrations in the streets, o^ in other
public places.

12. Any disobedience to the orders and intimations of military authorities,
sentinels, platoons, &c.

18. Street gatherings and other assemblages of a seditious character.
U. Attending political meetings, whatever their name, unless embraced
under the regulations set forth under the letter A.

15. Omitting to close Coifee-bouses, Eating-houses, Taverns, and other
places of resort at the established hour.

16. Any transgression against the precautionary censorship of the Press.

17. Harboring strange persons without informing the authorities.

18. Destroying wantonly or tearing down Pontifical Arms or Ensigns.
All such offences will be punished, according to the importance of the

case, by imprisonment from one month to one or more years, or again by a
fine for the benefit of some charitable institution.

All other crimes, transgressions, or omissions, not embraced under the ar-
ticles headed by the letters A and B, are judged according to the existing
Pontifical laws by the proper civil authorities.

From head-quarters in the Villa Spada, June 6, 1849.

/ GURZKOWSKI,

Imperial Boyal Governor, Civil and Military, General of Cavalry.

[From the offloisl paper, Gazsetta di Bologna, No. SOT, September 6, 1849.]

Notification.

In reference to Article 6 of the proclamation 5th of last June, which places
under the cognizance of the court-martial (^mdmo atatario mUUare) all of-
fences of robbery and plunder by violence, and taking into consideration the
invasions and depredations which have been going on for some time past in
the country, to the serious loss and terror of peaceable inhabitants through
the auts of lawless men who prowl about with arms, and who up to the pres-
ent have managed to escape the vigilance of the armed police, the public are
informed as follows :

1. In addition to the respectable reinforcements sent to the corps of armed
policemen (carabinieri), who justly claim the merit of several important ar-
rests recently made, strong movable columns of the Imperial Boyal troops
will traverse the neighborhoods most infested by Brigands, so as to discover
their haunts, to arrest tliem, and shoot immediately all of them,

(a.) who should be taken in the flagrant act of an aggression or invasion;

(6.) who should ofifer resistance to the armed force ;

APPKNDIX.

671

(0.) who, 6ven wUhout opponition, should be fband holding imlAwfttlly
flreartnB or other deadly weapons, and fgniUy of former crimes ;

{d.) who should be Hccomplicea of the crimes of these bandltn by their
own actH, whether by offering to give them shelter, or by advising tiiem of
the danger near at hand, or by giving in any other way, of their own accord,
aid and comfort to the same.

2. It is not probablt) that such evil-doers can hold out long, where they do
not meet with active, or at least passive, aid on the part of their respective
towns and villages, which are obliged to keep watch over the country, es-
pecially at night, and to hinder idlers and vagabonds fVom roving at large ;
so therefore it is enacted that every township (commutu) legally proven to
have tolerated, sheltered, or supported such evil-doers, to have advised
them that the armed force was near at hand or already on the spot, to have
given in any way direct or indirect aid and comfort to the same, shall be
mulcted in a sum to be settled according to the circumstances of the case.
One half of this sum shall go to reimburue the injured parties, and the other
half to the acousertt, if there should be any, their name being kept secret.

8. Any person giving up to the military force, or to the police, a brigand
under sentence of arrest, and any person giving information leading to the
discovery and arrest of evil-doers held guilty of crimes against the public
safety, and found to be such by the court-martial {giudizio ttatario), or by
the council of war, shall receive a reward of tVom $20 to (100, according to
the importance of the case, and the denouncer shall be kept secret.

4. Public officers convicted of having neglected their duty in invigilating
and effecting the arrests of such evil-doers, shall be deprived of their places
forthwith, and take their chance before the criminal courts, in case they
should have acted furthermore with wilful malice. Those who draw no
salary shall be punished by imprisonment proportioned to their guilt.
From the Imperial Royal Governor, Civil and Military,

Count Stba soldo,
Imperial Boyal Lieutenant-Marshal.

Extract from the official gazette, giving the Sentences pronounced by the
Atutrian Military Authority on the Fifty Patriots^ aaid to have been
murdered by Monaignor Bedini,

1. BoBTOLorn Antonio. •

[Oazzetta di Bologna, No. 12a, May 24, 1849.]

To the Chief of Police, Bologna.

Having been arrested by the military forces, the celebrated robber and
murderer, Antonio Bortolotti, was brought to-day before the court-martial
{giudirh siatario mHitare), condemned to death, and shot. While this exe-
cution is officially communicated to the Chief of Police for the information
of the civil authorities, he is instructed to make it public through the Press.

Head-quarters at Villa Spada, May 28, 1849.

> GOBZKOWBXI,

Royal Imperial Governor, Civil and Military, General of Cavalry.

i I

572

APPENDIX.

1 I

\ 2. M ABUNx CosTANTDro. — 8. Pbati Luiol— 4. Lahsomi Oioyamnl

[Ouietta di Bolofnt, No. 184, Jan« 8, 1849.]
The following notice ban been publisbed to-day : '

Hia Exoellenoy tbe Royal Imperial Governor Civil and Military, General of
Cavnlry, by means of a government dispatch, No. 874, dated this day, hua
ordered the Chief of Police to publish as follows :

Tostantino Mariani, surnamed Somarone, son of Domenico living, aged
88, unmarried, peasant, born in the parish of Carpineta di Cesena, residing
in the parish of San Carlo.

Loigi Prati, surnamed Scoppone, of the township of Bertinoro, aged 24,
unmarried, peasant. Both of whom have been several times puniahed for
robbery and burglary, and recently indicted for similar crimes, and particu-
larly for a manslaughter committed on the person of their comrade Piotro
Bettani.

Lanzoni Giovanni, son of Angelo deceased, native of Stiatioo, aged 48,
public executioner of this city, also punished several times for larceny.

All three, held guilty for good reasons of highway robbery, were arrested
arms in hand, and therefore brought before the court-martial (giudikio atata-
rio) on the 7th inst., and sentenced to be shot ; they were accordingly ex-
ecuted the same day.

Bologna, June 7, 1849.
F. Boberti, Chief of Police of the Province.

■.I

S. Sangiorgi Natale. — 6. OERMAm Raffaile.
/ [OouetU di Bologna, No. 148, Jane 26, 1849.]

notification.

Germani Baffaele, native of Bologna, aged 28, married, no children, rope-
maker by trade, was caught on tbe 28d inst., at seven o'clock, P. M., hiding
at the corner of a street with a pistol in his hand, which he aimed without
effect at an Austrian soldier who was passing by the spot. Germani was
brought before the court-martial (giudimo atatario) on the 24th inst., and
sentenced to be shot.

Natale Sangiorgi, surnamed Risino, native of Solarolo, aged 26, laborer,
was arrested on the 21st inst., at Castel Bolognese, with a blunderbuss in
his hand and a dagger, brought this day before the court-martial and sen-
tenced to be shot.

The sentences were executed on the 24th inst., at seven o'clock, the bad
qualities of both the condemned standing against them, for they had both
been indicted before for robbery and manslaughter. If the circumstances
of the present time compelled me to have the above sentences executed, I
am still comforted by the thought that this salutary warning fell upon in-
dividuals already judged to be evil and dangerous to society. I trust that I
shall not be called upon for the future to resort to such severe measures,
and to contribute my share in preventing the occasion, I hereby grant for
the last time to the inhabitants of the Four Legations the peremptory term

APPENDIX.

678

of thre« days, ooantlng ft-ora the publioation of the preMot dooament, da-
ring which they may give up all arms and manitiona of war, forewarning all
that after auoh term I will execute the law to its fulleat rigor against every
offender, no matter who he may be.

QORZKOWSU,

Boyal Imperial Civil and Military Governor, General of Cavalry.

7. Rioci LuioL .,

[0«uettadiBo1ogna,No. 178, JoIySS, 1849.] '

Luigi Biooi (and not Eioel), surnamed Pettitoni, son of Baptist deceased,
and of Maria Passadura, native of Santa Agata in the territory of Faenza,
aged 21, already condemned to perpetual imprisonment for robbery, made
his escape while he was being conveyed to the workhouse. In the month
of June last he was caught with a gun and pistol in his hand : he jumped out
of a window to run away, and aimed his pistol at the force by which he was
followed. Bicci was brought before the oourt-martial ((fiudisio atatario) on
the 24th inst., he was condemned to be shot, and the sentence was executed
the same day at six o'clock, P. M.

8. BaSSI UqO. — 9. LlYBAOBI OlOVANNL

[Gstzetta dl Bologna, Na 180, Augost 8, 1848.] ^

The Imperial Boyal Austrian troops, by their untiring activity, have final-
ly succeeded in breaking up altogether the gangs of the notorious Garibaldi,
which under the color of patriotism caused this neighborhood to swarm
with adventurers, robbers, and assassins. Surrounded little by little on ev-
ery side by the Imperial Boyal troops, especially those belonging to the bri-
gade of the youthful and brave Major-general Archduke Ernest, these gangs
finally established thetiiselvea on a firm footing in the territory of San Marino.

However, as Garibaldi saw that the Imperial Boyal Commanders would
not be disposed in any way to recognize in him an adversary worthy of be-
ing allowed to capitulate, but that they would constantly insist upon his
surrendering at discretion, he found it the bettor plan, for the safety of his
own person and family, to get off under cover of night, together with about
a hundred of his most trusty followers, going by Sogliano and Savignano,
towards the seaboard.

With success worthy of a better cause, he succeeded, in fact, in reaching
the port of Cesenatico, and after having compelled the terrified inhabitants
to furnish him with whatever could be laid hold of, not caring at all about
the fate of his followers, he embarked, at eight o'clock on the morning of
the 2d instant, on some fishing barks which he found in the place.

Notwithstanding his fiight, there is hope left that he may f^l in with the
Imperial Boyal forces on the watch towards Bimini, as, with the small craft
on which he has trusted himself, it is next to impossible to put to sea.

His companions, left to themselves, and being without hope of escape,
surrendered, to the number of about nine hundred, to the Imperial Boyal
Austrian troops, sent to Bimini by his Exoellenoy, General of Cavalry, Qorz-

674

APPENDIX.

kowski, Civil and Military Governor, who, for the purpose of insuring
prompt and active measure*, was on the spot in penon.—{Oaze«ttat dkc, M.
181, Augtut ^th.)

BoLoaNA, August 4tli.

As we foresaw yesterday, it would have been impracticable for Garibaldi,
with a few followers and his Ashing smacks,' to get out to sea without op-
position from the Imperial Royal flotilla beating the waters of the Adriatic.

The facL was, that ho fell in with it, and after losing some of his boats,
he was driven in shore in the neighborhood of Magnavacca, where lie
made bold to land ; but the energetic and far-seeing General of Cavalry,
Qorzkowski, Civil and Military Governor, presupposing that such would be
the case, had already ordered Hve companies of Austrian troops, with two
field-pieces and a detachment of cavalry, to. scour that coast.

These troops captured two of Garibaldi's followers yesterday, and gave
chase to the others who were straggling in the neighboring woods, and
making every effort to escape. So then, if the bold adventurer does not
succeed in getting away unknown and alone, there is every prospect of his
being speedily oaught.—(,Oa»zettaf do., No. 184, Augxut 9ith.)

The notorious Ugo Bassi, of Bologna, and Giovanni Livraghi (not Lie-
raghi), of Milan, an Austrian deserter, both officers of the Garibaldi gang,
were taken with arms in hand in the Pontifical territory ; were therefore
found guilty, and executed this Sth day of August, 1849, in Bologna.

Notification.

The corps of Garibaldi have been nearly all taken prisoners, either on
land by the Imperial Royal troops pressing upon their tracks, or at sea by
the Austrian forces composing the flotilla of the Adriatic. Some, however,
of this band of marauders have succeeded in getting at large, either before
the embarkation at Ccsenatioo, when they were chased by the troops on
land, or after the debarkation at Magnavacca, when they were driven back
by the maritime force. Among these is Garibaldi himself, who bears with
him -his wife, in an advanced state of pregnancy.

All good citizens, especially in the country, are kept in a state of excite-
ment by these dangerous individuals being hidden in their neighborhood.
Every one is reminded that it is forbidden to give aid or comfort, shelter
or countenance, in any way, to such evil-doers ; and it is the duty of every
good citizen to drive them from him, and help all he can to discover them,
and to give them up to juHtioo. And all are forewarned that any person who
shall knowingly assist, shelter, or countenance the fugitive Garibaldi, or any
individual of the gang by liini led and commanded, shall be subject to the
judgment of the court-martial (f/iudkio statarw militare).

From head-quarters in Vil a Spada (near Bologna), August Sth, 1849.

GORZKOWSKI,

Imperial Royal Governor, Civil and Military, General of Cavalry.

APPENDIX.

676

10. CoNTOu Samtx.
[Oaztetta, Asc, No. 205, September 8d.]

Sante Contoli, nicknamed Faggiolino, sou of Vincenzo and Annunziata, aged
nineteen, unmarried, carpenter by trade, born and residing at Imola, arrested
for bearing arms. Hia case having been introduced and discussed on yes-
terday, September 1st, the court-martial on the same day passed sentence
that, considering the excessively bad antecedents of Contoli, who was for-
merly condemned to one year of hard labor on account of a wound he in-
flicted, who belongs to the notorious gang commonly called the " Sqaadrazza
of Imola," and who was held, for serious reasons, to be the author of five
oaces of manslaughter, that he should be condemned to death, and shot.
The sentence was executed on the same day.

Bologna, September 2d, 1819.

11. PiNoooHi Giovanni. — 12. Sorosta Nicola. — 13. Piazzi Saverio. —
14. OoaiNi Giuseppe. — 15. Gorini Taddeo. — 16. Sorosta 0.

(The last mentioned is not to be found among the condemned of this
period.)

[Oazzetta, Ac, No. 217, September 18th, 1849.]

In accordance with the terms of the notifications of May 17th and of the
6th of June last, and 5th of September, instant, the following individuals
were condemned to death by court-martial {militara statario), and shot :

1. Giovanni Pinoccbi, native of the plain of S>vn Lazaro d'Ancona, aged
28, porter by trade, convicted of having taken from an Imperial soldier his
bayonet, and with it stabbed another soldier in the thigh.

2. Nicola Sorosta, of Castelfidardo, aged 50, peasant, on previous occa-
sions tried and punished for robberies and violence ; an individual of ex-
cessively bad fame. On account of a gun found in his house loaded with
buckshot and ready capped.

8. Saverio Plazzi, of Cotignola, aged 40, laborer, already condemned as an
accomplice in committing a manslaughter ; an individual of the worst repu-
tation ; for having been found in possession of a loaded gun.

4. Giuseppe Gorini ; and,

5. Taddeo Gorini, both of Budrio, laborers, and guilty of previous crimes;
having been caught possessing arms.

or any
to the

:9.

avalry.

17. BALDim Giuseppe.

[Gazzetta, &&, No. 227, September 29th.]

On September 21st were discovered by the public force during the night,
near Alfonsine, five assassins, while attempting to enter, with arms in hand,
the house of the farmer Corini. One was severely wounded ; another, by
name Giuseppe Baldini, called Plazzini, a most wicked subject, son of Fran-

676

APPENDIX.

oesoo, deceased, was arrested. Being brought before the court-martial
(cotmlio statario), this man was condemned to be shot. The sentence was
executed in Lugo, on the 26th instant.
Bologna, September 28th, 1849.

18. MiOANi Sante. '''

[Oazzetta, See., No. 288, October 8th.]

Migani Sante, surnamed Tamburo, son of Domenico Antonio, living, aged
27, married, has children, peasant, of Passano, under the gr^-, emortship of
Coriano, condemned to imprisonment for life for burg'c^ry and robbery, es-
caped firom the fortress of Forli. Having been bu> dcquently arrested, and
found bearing a long, sharp dagger, he was brought before the court-martial
(gvudiaio atatario), and there, on Saturday, October 6th, Sante Migani was
condemned by a unanimous vote to be shot. The sentence was executed
the same day, in Bologna.

19. Gatti Carlo. — 20. Taoooni Antonio. — 21. Moeetti Vincbnzo. — 22.

Rizzi LUIGT.
[Gazzetta, &c.. No. 258, October Slst]
Ikpbbial Royal Govbrnment, Civil and Militart.

Notice.

The strict survei]l.^T''a exercised over the evil-doers and vagabonda who
swarm in the territory of the Legation of Bologna, and the activity with
which they are treated according to the terms of martial law in cases of at-
tempts and crimes against the safety of persons and of property, have not
sufficed, up to the present time, to hinder entirely such misdeeds, for they
are repeated from time to time in this neighborhood, and even in the city
of Bologna. Yesterday, however, an unheard-of burglary and robbery was
committed with unusual boldness, in broad daylight, in one of the principal
thoroughfares of this city, at San Felice, in the house of Marquis Descarani.
Several armed individuals effected an entrance into the rooms of the Secre-
tariate, situated on the ground-floor. They used outrageous violence on
the only clerk who was there at the time, and, muffling him up in a cloak,
they took possession of all the money and valuable effects they could lay
their hands on.

By a fortunate accident, the thieves having fled with their booty, were
discovered almost immediately, in the shop of the shoemaker Luigi Bizzi,
at the bridge of Sant'Arcangelo, one of the accomplices, where the police
force succeeded, with the assistance of the Imperial Royal soldiery, in cap-
turing the four individuals hereinafter mentioned, and nearly all the stolen
property.

Carlo Qatti, son of Domenico, deceased, aged 21, ropemaker by trade, un-
married, resident in Bologna.

APPENDIX.

677

Antonio Tacconi, son of Odoardo, deceased, aged 20, blacksmith, unmar'
riod, from Lavino di Mezzo.

Vincenzo Moretti, son of Carlo, deceased, surnamed II guerciOj aged 25,
Bhoemaker, unmarried, residing in Bologna.

Luigi Rizzi, son of Domenico, living, aged 28, shoemaker, unmarried, also
of Bologna.

The proofs of the guilt of these four evil-doers of notorious bad charac-
ter, already well known for previous outrages, were so strong, that, in spite
of their obstinate denial, it was impossible to hesitate on the application to
their new crime of the military law (leffge stataria) to its full extent.

In accordance, therefore, with the tenor of the notifications of the Impe-
rial Royal government, civil and military, dated June 5th and September
6th of the present year, they were all four condemned to death and shot
forthwith, near the guardhouse of Sant'Agnese, in the midst of a large con-
course of the population, who, being terrified by the outrages and robberies
that are repeated even in the middle of the city, and by the difficulty of
finding out their authors, called for a prompt infliction of well-deserved
punishpient in this case, in which Divine Providence brought the guilty so
epeedily into the hands of justice, as a solemn and salutary warning to
other evil-doers.

Bologna, October 80th, 1840.

28. LoBExziM FiLEPPO. — 24, Tav^ooni Antonio. — 25. Sellkri Gabtano.
[Gazzetta, &c., No. 300, December 29th.]

1. Lorenzini Filippo, son of Angelo, living, aged 19, bom in Baricella ;

2. Tacconi Antonio, son of Domenico, living, aged 26, born in Minerbio ;
8. Selleri Gaetano, son of Luigi, deceased, aged 26, born in Aitedo, all

three unmarried, country laborers, residing at Ca de' Fabbi, governorship
of Budrio, on the evening of the 21st instant entered, arms in hand, the
country residence and actual dwelling-place of Signer Antonio Codini, situ-
ated in San Giorgio di Piano, with the intention of robbing him by violence
of his money.

They knocked at the front door and passed themselves off for policemen,
by the word " PZatoon," and the door was opened. Lorenzini entered first,
and collaring the rustic who had opened the door, threatened to kill him,
and commanded him to point out to them the room of his m.\ster. Tac-
coni and Selleri entered almost at the same moment, and went up stairs
with the servant to the second story, and to the rooms where Signor Codini
was, with his family. The public force of the Pontifical Light Infantry, of
the detachment of San Giorgio, being previously apprised in secret of this
business, had been lying in wait in the place since the evening before, and
arrested in, flagrante Lorenzini alone, while the other two, Tacconi and
Selleri, took to their heels, going out the same way they had entered, the
door having been left open. During the night, however, they too were ar-
rested.

The trial having come on, one made a full confession of his guilt ; the

C78

APPENDIX.

other two, although denying every thing, were convicted by the confession
of their accomplice and the deposition of witnesses. Yesterday their case
was laid before the court-martial (giudizio atatario), and after discussion,
they were all three found guilty of the invasion as above described, and
condemned to be shot.

The sentence was executed yesterday at 8 o^clook p. ic., at Bologna, in the
meadow of Sant' Antonio.

26. OuERRA Antonio. — 21. Oaeavita Bonafede. — 28. Grazia G.

(The last mentioned is not to be found among the condemned of this
period.)

[Oazzetta di Bologna, No. 26, January Slst]

Boloona, January Slst, 1850.

Towards evening on the 14th day of August, 1849, a gang of seven or
eight armed marauders entered the dwelling of the brothers Amadei, landed
proprietors of San Savino, parish of Fusignano, robbing them, with vio-
lence and cruelty, of the best that could be found, to the value of $197.42.

The following persons were legally convicted of the crime :

1. Guerra Antonio, surnamed Scaranino, eon of Luigi, deceased, aged 25,
nnmarried, born at Fusignano, residing near Lugo ;

2. Caravita Bonafede, aged 23, unmarried ;
8. Caravita Francesco, aged 27, married ;

4. Caravita Costanti, aged 25, unmarried: sons of Bartolommeo, deceased,
country laborers of Fusignano ; and yesterday, by sentence of the court-
martial (giudisio statario), the two first were condemned to be shot, which
was done the same day ; the other two were condemned to fifteen years' im-
prisonment each.

29. MoNTANARi Gaetano. — 30. Bertoni Domenico. — 31. Cagnazzi Aoos-

UNO. — 82. MONTANARI CoSTANTE. — 33. GULMANBLLI CaRLO.

[Oazzetta, Ace., No. 74, April 2d, 1850.]

Bologna, April Ist, 1860.
On the evening of the 20th of last March, an entrance was effected into
the house of Signor Mauro Vassura, proprietor, by six armed marauders,
and a robbery committed of about $1000. The following persons were ar-
rested as authors of the crime :

1. Bianchi Gaetano, born at Ferrara, porter, married, with children, aged
88, residing in Borgo Adriano.

2. Montanari Costante, surnamed Guaccio, aged 81, laborer, born at San
Michele, married, with children, residing in Borgo Adriano.

8. Montanari Gaetano, surnamed Baiv^v^jo, laborer, born at Piangipane,
aged 80, married, with children, domioil in Borgo Adriano.

4. Gulmanelli Carlo, aged 27, born at Russi, unmarried, laborer, with no
fixed domicil.

5. Bertoni Domenico, surnamed Speutacchione, porter, married, with chQ-
dren, aged 25, of Borgo Adriano

I I

APPENDIX.

579

6. Cagnazzi .-..ijoBtino, surnamed II figlio delta Cavretta, aged 27, unmar*
lied, laborer, of Borgo Adriano : all of bad fame for grievouH larcenies,
having been found guilty by proofs, their own confession, the finding of a
good part of the stolen property, and of their weapons. On the 28d of
March they were sentenced by the court-martial (conaUio statario) to be
shot. The sentence was executed on the same day, at eleven o'clock a. ic.,
on the public square of the cattle market, outside of Porta Adriana, in the
aforementioned city of Bavenna.

84. Baruffaldi Luioi.
. [Oazzetta, &c., No. 77, April 5th.]

Bologna, April 6th, 1850.
Barnflfaldi Luigi, surnamed Scivolino, son of Girolamo, living, aged 28,
married, no children, ropemaker and fisherman, of Keno Centese, was
sought after by the police for repeated offences, especially in the line of rob-
beries committed by him during the summer of 1849, in the neighborhood
of Centese. He grew hardened, and gave himself up to the commission of
all sorts of outrages, and became the fear and terror of that neighborhood.
On the 24th day of last February, armed with pistol and dagger, he fell in
with one Nicola Franciosi, of Reno itself, and stopped him on the public
highway ; he compelled him. to kneel down and stretch out his arms,
searched his person, and finding only a few coppers, treated him with con-
tempt. He made him get up, however, and went with him to his dwelling.
' Here he gave serious ill treatment to him and his family, and left, taking
with him a gun and some things to eat. He was arrested on the night of
26th, 27th of February last, having a gun and dagger, and was put in jail.
His process having been drawn up and laid before the court-martial (gvudizio
statario\ he was this day, April 4th, condemned to be shot. The sentenoe
was executed to-day, on the meadow of Sant' Antonio, in Bologna.
Bologna, April 4th, 1850.

86. Zappi Pasqualk. — 86. Folli Davide. — 87. Lambeeti Giuseppe. — 88.
PoooiALi Antonio. — 89. Mirei Innooenzo, — 40. Casolini Caelo. — 41.

CONTAVALLI GlUSEPPE.— 42. FoLLI DOMENICO. 48. LaMBEBTI LuIGI.—

44. Oazziaei Antonio.— 46. Boeohi Sante. — 46. Albeetazzi Giuseppe
— 47. Faeolfi Giuseppe. — 48. Mita Francesco. — 49. Meluzzi Paolo.
— 60. ZoLLi Battista.

(Garotti A. is not found to be among the condemned of this period.)
[Oazzetta, No. 203, September 6tli.]

Bologna, September 6th, 1850.

IiiPEEiAii BoYAL Government, Militaby and Civil.

Notification.

1. During the night of April 20th, six armed marauders forced open a

window and burglariously entered the dwelling-house of Giovanni Ser-

menghi, surnamed Barabanino, situated in the parish of Ortodonico. He

580

APPENDIX.

was robbed of the best he had, to the value of $40 ; he was wounded, and
his daughter, wife of Antonio Gaiani, was violated.

2. In the dusk of the evening of July 26tb, 1849, four armed marauders
entered the dwelling-house of Andrea Costa, farmer, of Casola Canina, and
took away by violence a bale of linen and a trifling sum of money — loss in
all about $7.

8. Five robbers, early in the evening of 16th last January, went to Orto-
donioo, to the dwelling-house of Antonio Qolinelli, and, by threats of arson
and murder, they extorted from him |2.16 in money.

4. Leaving that place, they went during the same night into the parish of
Poggiolo, at the place called Monticino, and with similar threats of arson and
murder, they extorted from the farmer of the place, Giacomo Dal Pozzo,
11.08.

5. Passing themselves off for policemen, nine vagabonds, provided with
wooden stakes and a hodging-blade, went to the dwelling-house of Antonio
Contoli, of Gaiano, and breaking down the door at the entrance, they got
into the house, stealing money and effects to the value of $20. This bur-
glary took place during the night of January 20th.

6. On the evening of January 27th, about the time of the Ave Maria, a
gang of ten vagabonds burglariously entered the dwelling-house of the
farmer Agostino Tinti, in the parish of Castel Guelfo, having broken open
the door with their clubs ; and the said Tinti was violently robbed of money
and effects to the value of $60.47.

7. Four vagabonds, at the hour of ten o'clock in the night of February
9th, went to the dwelling-house of Francesco Castelli, of Zello, and, with
threats of arson, they extorted from him money to the amount of $2.

8. On the 10th of last February, eight marauders, bearing arms, and hav-
ing their faces covered with handkerchiefs, breaking down the door, en-
tered burglariously the dwelling-house of farmer Antonio Passini, of Linaro,
and violently robbed him of money and effects to the amount of $238.

9. During the night of 17th February aforesaid, seven marauders, armed
with pistols and daggers, entered the farmhouse of Lorenzo Gurdenghi, of
Castel San Pietro, having opened the door by violence, and robbed him of
money and effects to the amount of $100.

10. About eleven o'clock in the night of the said February 2l8t, three
evil-doers went to the dwelling of Domenico Savini, surnamed Ziona, of
Casola Canina, and extorted from him, by threats of arson and murder, $8.

11. On the evening of said February 28d, four malefactors extorted, by
threats of arson, from Sante Mongardi, surnamed Sulind^, of Casola Canina,
the sum of $11.25.

12. On the night of last March 2d, seven marauders, bearing arms, went
to the house of Giovanni Dal Pozzo, surnamed Dei Longoni, in Chiusura.
They attempted in vain to open the door of the dwelling, and were thus
unable to effect an entrance. They fired off their guns, however, and, by
threats of death, they extorted from Dal Pozzo the sum of $10.

18. Immediately afterwards, going to the house of Francesco Cavina, like-
wise of Chiusura, by threats of arson, they extorted from him the sum of
flO.60.

APPENDIX.

581

14. Thirteen maraudere, furnished with all aorta of weapons, went, during
the night of last March 10th, to the dwelling-house of Signer Sebastiano
Fantaguzzi, of Riolo. Assuming the name of police, and disguising their
faces, they entered said dwelling, and robbed Fantaguzzi of money and ef-
fects to the amount of |60.

15. Later during the same night, they went to the parsonage-house of
Oflsano, and robbed the parish priest, Don Giorgio Fantaguzzi, of money
and effects to the value of |50.

16. About midnight on last March 14th, eleven marauders, bearing arms,
opened by violence the door of the parish church of Piedevra, and after-
wards that of the canonical residence. Having their faces covered with
handkerchiefs, and having assumed military badges, they entered and rob-
bed the arch-priest, Don Antonio Zaccarini, of $160.

17. On the night of said March 27th, six marauders, armed with guns,
came to the dwelling-house of Stephano Seravalle, of Croce in Campo, and
attempted, without success, to open by violence the front door and effect
an entrance. However, by threats of arson and murder, they extorted from
Seravalle aforesaid $1.20.

18. Immediately afterwards they passed to the domicil of Stefano Gam-
betti,in San Prospero, and by threats of arson they extorted from him $2.40.

19. At the hour of eight o'clock in the evening of last April 7th, eleven
marauders bearing arms broke down several doors of the dwelling-house of
Antonio Longhini, of Castel Guelfo, burglariously entered the premises and
violently robbed Longhini aforesaid of money and effects to the amount of
$82.90.

20. Five vagabonds, about midnight of last April 16th, came to the house
of Paolo Dal Monte, of Mezzolano, territory of Castel Bolognese, attempted
without success to break open the door, and by threats of death extorted
from said Dal Monte $80.

21. At ten o'clock at night of said April 18th, seven marauders came to
the canonical residence of Pediano ; they cut the ropes of the bells, and
breaking down the doors they entered, having their faces covered with
handkerchiefs. They stole money and effects to the amount of $40 and took
their departure, after having forcibly violated the domestic of the parish
priest, Signor Don Luigi Mirri.

22. Four marauders, armed with pistols and daggers, went on the evening
of said April 80th to the dwelling-house of Domenico Bassani, farmer of
Mezzolano, and broke down the front door and effected an entrance. Hav-
ing done outrageous violence to Bassani himself, putting a halter round his
neck, they robbed him of money and effects to the value of $80.

Sentence was pronounced on the authors of the foregoing crimes, on the
5th inst., by the council of war {consiglio di guerra), and the following per-
sons were found guilty and condemned to be put to death by being shot.

1. Mondelii Domenico, son of Lorenzo deceased, aged 20, native of San
Prospero, residing in Ortodonico, unmarried, apprentice, surnamed Lizziri-
no, hitherto unindicted.

2. Zippi Pasquale, son of Paolo deceased, aged 28, native of Sosto, re<

582

APPjffiNDIX.

siding in Ortodonioo, unmarried, laborer, Burnamed Barooncino, hitlierto
unindioted.

8. Zolli Battista, son of Simon living, aged 28, unmarried, native of San
Spirito, residing at Oroce in Campo, peasant, alias Batistazza, liitherto uuin-
dictod.

4. Lamberti Giuseppe, son of Francesco living, aged 22, native of Ortodo-
nico, resident of San Spirito, unmarried, peasant, surnamed Baviolo Grande,
hitherto unindicted.

5. Poggiali Antonio, son of Prospero Casadio, native and resident of Sau
Spirito, aged 24, immarried, peasant, surnamed Poggelli, hitherto unin-
dicted.

6. Brusa Giuseppe, son of Giovanni living, aged 25, native of San Pros-
pero, resident of San Spirito, unmarried, servant-man and peasant, surnamed
II Bundito, previously indicted for wounds inflicted, and condemned to jail
for five years.

7. Mirri Inaocenzo, son of Francesco living, aged 21, native and resident
of San Spirito, alias Moniericco alias Prete, hitherto unindicted.

8. Casoliui Carlo, son of Giacomo living, aged 28, native of Croce Cpperta,
residing in Ponte Santo, unmarried, working-man, hitherto unindicted.

9. Contavalli Giuseppe, son of Simon, aged 25, native of Cantalupo, resi-
dent of Castel Nuovo, unmarried, peasant, nicknamed Ca lunga, hitherto
unindicted.

10. Folli Davide, son of Paolo living, aged 24, native of San Spirito, resi-
ding in Casalecchio, unmarried, peasant, surnamed Gagliazzino, hitherto
unindicted.

11. Lamberti Luigi, son of Francesco living, aged 21, native of Ortodonioo,
residing in Sau Spirito, unmarried, peasant, surnamed Baviolo Piccolo,
hitherto unindicted.

12. Cazziari Antonio, son of Domenico living, aged 18, native and resident
of Casola Canina, unmarried, shoemaker, surnamed Scapuzzo, hitherto un-
indicted.

18. Albertazzi Giuseppe, son of Domenico living, aged 22, native and resi-
dent of San Lorenzo di Dozza, married, peasant, surnamed Faffone del Cas-
tellazzo, indicted heretofore for holding arms.

14. Borghi Sante, son of Luigi deceased, aged 83, native of Campiano,
residing at Serra, unmarried, peasant, alias Dal Luoghetto, hitherto unin-
dicted.

15. Farolfi Giuseppe, son of Domenico living, aged 28, native and resident
of Croce Coperta, unmarried, peasant, surnamed II Frate, hitherto unin-
dicted.

16. Mita Francisco, son of Girolamo living, aged 80, native and resident
of San Spirito, unmarried, baker, surnamed Poradiso, hitherto unindicted.

17. Meluzzi Paolo, son of Giuseppe deceased, native of Giardino, residing
in San Spirito, unmarried, laborer, surnamed Merlone, hitherto unindicted.

18. Folli Domenico, son of Simon living, native of San Spirito, resident
of Croce in Campo, unmarried, peasant, surnamed 11 fratello di Battistuzza,
hitherto unindicted.

19. Luzzi Lorenzo, son of Luigi living, aged 28, native of Dozza, resident

i'l

APPENDIX.

588

of Linaro, unmarried, laborer, surnamed II Rosso di Linaro, hitherto indict'
ed for larceny.

20. Tozzi Paolo, son of Battista living, aged 21, nati> e of Dozza, living in
Dozza, unmarried, peasant, surnamed Dei Tortelli, hitherto unindicted.

21. Montevecchio Gaetano, son of Bartolommeo, agei 18, native of Casola
Canina, resident of Bubano, unmarried, laborer, surnamed II flglio di Zar-
dono, heretofore indicted for holding arms.

22. Lanzoni Giuseppe, son of Piotro living, aged 22, native and resident
of Bubano, married, coachman, alias II Bolognose alias II Brigante, hitherto
unindicted.

28. Beltrami Domenico, son of Giuseppe living, aged 21, native of Dozza,
resident of Imola, unmarried, porter, alius Liscino alias U flglio di Giusafetto
lungo, hitherto unindicted.

24. Zanoni Luigi, son of Giuseppe living, aged 21, native and resident of
Castel Bolognese, unmarried, laborer, surnamed Delia Lolla, heretofore un-
indicted.

25. Kossini Giuseppe, son of Domenico Antonio living, aged 88, native of
Sant' Andrea, resident of Felisio, married, trader in hogs, surnamed Luma-
ca, hitherto unindicted,

26. Minghetti Antonio, son nf Giuseppe living, ^ed 22, native of Zello,
resident of Borello near Castel Bolognese, peasant, unmarried, surnamed
Cassiuetta, hitherto unindicted.

resi-
Cas-

iident

!ted.

iiding

cted.

sident

ituzza,

iident

The following persons were judged and condemned as equally guilty :

27. Alboni Sebastiano, son of Giuseppe living, aged 83, native of Casola
Canina, bricklayer, surnam'jd Flglio di Presciutto, resident of Imola, indict-
ed for robbery, was conv'pted of public violence and extortion of money,
but only by circumstantial evidence, and hence condemned to five years of
imprisonment.

28. Martelli Pietro, son of Vincenzo, aged 26, native of Caccianello, resi-
dent of San Spirito, married, laborer, surnamed Cicala, heretofore unin-
dicted, was convicted of publio violence and extortion of money, but only
by circumstantial evidence, and hence •was condemned to five years' im-

, prisonment.

29. Dal Pozzo Vnoenzo, son of Domenico, deceased, aged 87, native of
Piedevra, resident- of Imola, married, has children, country agent, surnamed
II fattore Zaella, hitherto unindicted, stands confessed of public violence
for the purpose of extorting money. Condemned to three years on the
public works.

80. Munariai Giovanni, son of Giuseppe, living, a,(?ed 18, native and resi-
dent of Tosoanella, hitherto unindicted, convicted by circumstantial evi-
dence of the robbery on Antonio Longhini, condemned to ten years of
imprisonrnpnt.

81 . PaHucUi Giovanni, son of Domenico, living, aged 25, native of Pira^
tello, resident of Borgo Appio d'Imola, unmarried, laborer, surnamed Me^
lotto, hitherto uninuicted, convicted by circumstantial evidence of the rob-
bery f^n Antonio Contoli, condemned to ten years' imprisonment.

ft
584

APPENDIX.

( (

82. Vespignani Francenco, son of Pietro of Riolo, deceased, aged 18, sur«
named Mattiolino, hitherto unindioted, confeBsed to the robbery on "Do-
menico Bassani, sentenced to be kept for three years in s house of cor-
rection.

88. Dall *0sR0 Domenico, son of Oiuseppe, deceased, aged 44, native of
Minaro, resident of Ortodonioo, married, surnatned Mingone della Palazza,
hitherto unindicted, convicted by circumstantial evidence of holding and
possessing arms, confessed to trading in stolen goods, condemned to throe
years on the public works.

84. Sangiorgl Giuseppe, son of Vincenzo, living, aged 22, unmarried, na-
tive and resident of Kiolo, hackdriver, snrnamed Fittona, heretofore indicted
for robbery and inflicting wounds ; and,

85. Zaccarini Domenico, son of Luigi, living, aged 88, native and resident
of Biolo, married, oartman, suriitimed 11 Mantovano, heretofore condemned
for larceny to fifteen days of imprisonment and one year on the public
works.

The two last were legally indicted for the robbery on Domenico Bassani,
but the proofs being insufficient for their condemnation, the proceedings
will be stayed in both their cases.

His Excellency Lieutenant Marshal, Governor, Military and Civil, of Bo-
logna, taking into consideration the youthful age of some of those con-
demned to death, the confession made by them, the real advantages resulting
therefrom to the public safety; and again, in the case of some, the seqoudary
part which they bore in committing the abovementioned crimes, has granted
a commutation of the sentence of death in favor of the following indi-
viduals :

1. Mondelli Domenico, to twenty years of imprisonment.

2. Folli Domenico, to fifteen
8. Luzzi Lorenzo, to fifteen

4. Tozzi Paolo,

5. Montevocchi Gaetano,

6. Lanzoni Giuseppe,

7. Beltrami Domenico,

8. Zannoni Luigi,

9. Minghetti Antonio,
10. Rossini Giuseppe,

■ to ten years of imprisonment.

OFFICIAL LETTER WRITTEN BY MONSEIGNEDR BEDINI, THE
DAY AFTER UGO BASSI'S EXECUTION,

lb the Chmmisswn of three Cardinals named by the Pope to govern during hit

absence.

Most Eminsnt Lords :

As I have already informed your Eminences, the noted Ugo Bassi was ar-
rested in the Bosco Eliseo, in the territory of Ferrara, and brought here
with the other prisoners of Garibaldi's band, whope destination is Mantua.

APPENDIX.

585

I now learn that, at the instant of hia arrest, Basal waa asked his rank, and
replied that he was an officer in Garibaldi'a service ; and, in fact, he waa in
arms when taken.

The ooneequence of this was, that, in accordance with the Uggt atataria^
he wa9 sentenced and shot {passato per U artni) along with an Anstriun
deserter, the official gazette announcing him merely aa " the noted Ugo
Bassi." Neither I nor His Eminence the archbiohop, upon whom I have
jubt culled, received the slightoRt intimation that thiH execution wus to take
place ; of which circumstances I inform your Eminences, as in duty bound,
to forestall any reproach.

I have the honor, &o.,

O. Bkdini,
Pontifical Commissarv Extraordinary.
Bologna, August 9th, 1849.

LETTERS OF THE CHAPLAIN WHO ATTENDED FATHER BASSI.

Santa Maria dklla CARn<A,

Bologna, August 8, 1849

YouK Eminence :

Summoned at three-quarters past ten by a police agent to proceed with
another priest, at eleven o'clock on that day, to the Villa Spada, to assist
two men whose names were not given,* and who were to undergo the pen-
alty of deatii that day, I was compelled to refuse, in consequence of the
Office in the church and the Mass to be olianted at the very hour of
eleven. To provide at the moment for the pressing demand, I requested, by
virtue of tlie power given me by your Eminence on the 7th of June, the
Rev. Ludovico Pnolo Casali, and my chaplain, Cajetan Baccolini, who readily
undertook it, confident that 1 would relieve them, ob I proposed, at mid-
day.

They were conducted at eleven to the Villa Spada in a carriage, and re-
mained unemployed till noon. At twelve they were introduced into the
solitary chamber, in which were detained Father Ugo Bassi, a Barnabite, and
Giovanni Livraghi, of the district Vareae, province of Milan, brother of the
parish priest of Montunato. The priests above named soon influenced the
condemned to approach sacramental confession with resignation and truly
Christian sentiments. Both received ail the comforts of religion possible in
such an urgent haste, evincing their earnest desire to receive sacramental
communion. Edifying indeed, your Eminence, was the deportment of both,
and '..ne heroic resignation of Father Bassi deserves especial remembrance.

* The note ran .

** You will please send at eleven o'clock two piiosts to the Yilla Spada, to assist two,
who are to suffer the penalty of death to-day."

25*

586

APPENDIX.

To hia ninoere ropentanoe he added the most candid retractation, which he
would have put in writing, had it been permitted him. He char^red tha
prient Baccolini, and it waa alno hoard by the Signor CaHali, who wan pres-
ent, to make it known to everybody, and also to reqncKt the Father Provin-
cial, D. Paolo Venturini, to have it innerted in the papore, for tite puhlio
edification and bin own juBtiflcation. The foiiowinf^ words were permitted,
by the shortness of the time : " If there in ever found, in any writing; of
mine, a word, proposition, or maxim whatever, offensive to piety, propriety,
religion, I intend and wish it retracted in the most positive and ufflcncious
manner ; and so, too, I intend of any word or npeech made in public or pri-
vate, wishing to repair any scandal, and aid the spiritual good of ill; 1)e>
cause I wish and desire to die as a true Roman Catholic. I ccaT ,*id niy-
aelf to my beloved brethren of my order, my family, and n" gucl iuMi ,''
and he ordered to be expended in Masses the ten scudi vhl !. he tiad; tu'o
of which he gave to the priest Baccolini for Musses, and tl>ooti.- :•• if, which
he thought might be money sent him yesterda by 1 i; ister, ati 1 now in
the hands of the Austrian Auditor, and which he •^■.', <i fjosit in the pnlice-
offlco, when drawn by the said priest, aliould bo given iialf to the Sa'risty of
Santa Maria della Carita, and half to the Barnabite Futiier>«, for MasAut) as
above.

In this resignation he remained till one o^clock in the afternoon, when
the condemned were brought near the porticoes of the Certosa and shot,
constantly attended by the abovenamed priests, wlio furthermore testify
that they heard from the lips of Father Bassi the following expressions : "I
beg pardon of all, I pardon all. I urge all to bo faithful to religion, and I re-
joice to be able to die under the patronage of the Blessed Virgin of San
Luca."

This I now, in all spiritual joy, communicate to your Eminence, and, with
the aHKiatant priests who sign with me, kiss the sacred purple, and declare
ourselves

Your Eminence's most humble servants,

AoosTiNo Kicoi, Parish Prient.
Don Ludovioo Pablo Casali.
Don Gaktano Baccolini.

To his Eminence, the Mon<'-

Bev. Cardinal Chables Oppizoni,

Archbishop qfSologna,

Boi'OQNA, Santa Maria della CAsrrA, {
Augvst 8, 1849. )

Most Eeverend Father Superior:

I hasten to fulfil a most mournful duty, by informing your Reverence of
the recent death of your fellow-religious, Father Ugo Bassi, who, as you
will see by the gazette of this city, was shot at twelve o'clock to-day. I
cannot sufficiently praise the patience and resignation with which, in the

J,, .

APPENDIX.

687

•hort time allo\. A him, he propArod for death ; Mid I ofm tn ftU trnth and
lincerity aspnro you thut ho fulfllled all th« Jutiea of 'i<?ion, making i
good > onfoMion, and receivini; all other Hpiritiial coiiiforta poDHible, in nuch a
siiortanil inflanoholy respite, with seruimputu of th« hi^lientaiid inont exem-
^ ' iry •dirtoaliuu. Father Baaoi cspetMaliy ohar>?cd iheconsoionoeof the under-
bipned his confuanor, to it-'iure the Very Kev. Fttfher Frovitioial, D. Paolo Ven-
turini, or liis representative, a» i.'^ was absent trom liologi'u, of the sincerity
of hia BeniunentR, and lo declare that he never took any par ir. the robWer-
108 and murdora, even of these lutCHt times ; but that, as far uh iv« oould, he
had sought to prevent nil {vWHibli* in;ury; t»nd that he enrl>o^ '■ desired
thut throutth the Father Proviiicial, or .umo other, there Hl\(>uld be , Ushed
in the publiu papera h\» niont clear und uolenm retracttitiou, heMoeuli 'Hr tiM
Father Provincial himwelf to deciwra as follows to uil. The •* am ither
Bassi's own words : " If there i» ever found in any writing
word, propottition, or maxim whatever, otfensivo to piety, propri
I intend and wish it retracted in the most positive and llcnci^
and so, too, I intend of any word or speech made in imblio

nin» any

, relijrion,

mann<^r ;

|.riVM ■;

wishing to repair every scandal I r'\uy huvo given, and aid in the Kf>iriti<«l

Ilia

e ex-

imd

good of all, because I desire and ^\»h to die a true Kamun Oat)u>l)<
commended himself to his bolovui brethren of his religious ord<
relatives and all good men, and dir ctod that ten scudi, that he hu'
ponded in fifty Masses for the repose of hia soul, and that of his fm
of his comrade. Captain Giovanni Liv ''iighi.

Before giving up his soul to God, oi. arriving at the place of executi •, ho
repeated the following expressions, fix ng his eyes on the sanctuary >. an
Luca, which he continually regarded : "I beg pardon of all, I pardo .11,
1 recommend fidelity to religion, and rejoice to be able to expire in ■■ '\
under the protection of the Blessed Vir^'in of San Luca." It was hif-
to put; in writing a more extended retractation, but paper was refused
He, however, ratified what he said in pn ^ence of two priests, most wor
of all credit. All this I have already writ 'n to the most eminent Cardii. • -
archbishop, to whom I showed the propriety, utility, and necessity of giving
it public notice, for the example of all, and iu happy memory of him who
wished to end his life in such full sentimeni^ of religion.

In me you will ever find, as in the confobsor of the deceased and the as-
sistaut priest, a true and devoted servant.

Your humble s -rvanta.

Ago." -ino Kicci, Parish Priest.
D, L Dovico Paolo Cabali.
D. Gaktano Baccolim, Confessor,
To the Very Kev. Father

AxsssANDRo Maori,

Superior of the Barnabites

at Santa Litcia^ Bohgrui.

588

APPENDIX.

RESCRIPT OF M0N8IGN0RE GAETANO BEDINI,

Commissary Extraordinary qf the Fhur Legations, and Pro-Legate of Bologna,
endorsed on the request to insert in the Oazzetta of Bologna the Retractation of
Father Ugo Bassi, a Bamabite, shot on the 8/A of August, 1849.

The letter of the pastor of La Carita may be published on obtaining the
consent of the Austrian military authority, which is actually invested with
extraordinary powers in the Four Legations, and which principally, or rather
exclusively has been judge in this case.

6. Bbdini.

LETTER Of THE SUPERIOR OF THE BARNABITES.

BoLOONA, August 12, 1849.
Rev. Sir

I regret to inform you that, in spite of all my endeavors to insert in the
Oazzetta of Bologna the account of the edifying death of Father Bassi, I
have not yet succeeded. His Eminence and Monsignor Bedini consent, and
desire that it may be made public; but the political censor, Monsignor
Oamberini, does not think himself at liberty to allow its appearance, es-
pecially in the Oazzetta, without an explicit approval of the authorities, as
he states in writing, and with more clearness in words, without the appro-
bation of the Austrian police, which he foresees will easily be obtained.
To-morrow, however, the said Monsignor Gambcrini will have an interview
with the Commissary Extraordinary of these four provinces, Monsignor
Bedini ; but I foresee that they will come to no definite conclusion. If you
see any means of attaining our end, you will confer a great favor on me by
letting me know.

In the mean time, I take this opportunity to express for myself and all my
fellow-religious, the sentiments of our lively gratitude for the touching proof
of zeal given by you in all tliat concerns the honor and name of our poor
Father Bassi and us his fellow-religious.

In these unalterable sentiments, I have the honor to subscribe myself.
Your Rcvoronco's

Most humble servant,

D. Alessandro Maori,

Superior qfSta. Lucia,

To the Rev. Aoostino Ricoi,

Pastor ofSta. Maria della Oarita.

-y 7 ,

-„..„^y,

APPENDIX.

589

EEMAEKS OF THE EDITOR.

These documents reached Mr. dk Coukoy just on the eve of his departure,
and he alludes briefly to Ihem in his chapter on the Nunciature. To any
impartial reader they show,

1. That the Austrians held Bologna in a state of siege, and that Monsignor
Bedini had really no power in Bologna.*

2. That the fifty men shot were mostly banditti, condemned for robbery,
murder, rape, Ac, and consequently no martyrs to the cause of liberty.

8. That Father Bassi and his companion were taken as oflBlcers of Garibal-
di's corps, and as such shot.

4. That Father Bassi's execution was done in great haste and privacy,
without the knowledge of Cardinal Oppizoni or Monsignor Bedini.

5. That Bassi never was degraded, consequently did not undergo the
slight scraping of the thumb and finger ; and that to represent him and the
forty-nine others as being flayed alive ! can be accounted for only on the
principle of the story of the " Three Black Crows."

t. That Bassi died a Christian, repenting his unpriestly conduct, retracting
all that he said against Catholic faith.

7. That Monsignor Bedini, Cardinal Oppizoni, and the Superior of the
Barnabites, endeavored, but in vain, to have the retractation of Father Bassi
published.

* Extract from a ITote presented hy the Sardinian Plenipotentiaries, Cavour and
Villamarina, to the French and English Ministers at the Peace Congress,

" The Legations have been occupied by Austrian troopa since 1849. Tiie state of
siege and martial law have been in vigor since that time, withoat interruption. The
Pontifical government only exists in name, since above its legates an Austrian
general takes the tiVa and eoeeroiset thefimctiom of civil and military governor,

" Paeib, March 2Tth, 1856."

'.'.WjW ■

;" "-"^tyi"^' ■■ " , f -■;.'::'' ''•.'■>'^"""'""--*,-* l"-?^^!^. r^."''^"

590

APPENDIX.

VI.

DOCUMENTS RELATING TO MONSIGNOE BEDINI'S MISSION
TO THE UNITED STATES.

[OOP Y . ]

Leoation des Etats-Unis d'Amebique, )
Borne, U 19 Mara, 1858. S

Le souseign^, Charge d' Affaires des Etats-Unis d'Ara^rique, a I'honneur
d'aoouser reception k la communication da 17 Mars de Son Eminence Bme.
le Cardinal Sdcr^taire d'Etat, qui lui annonce le prochain depart de Mon-
seigneur B^dini, Arohevdque de Thdbes, et Nonce Apostoliqae prds la Cour
Imp^riale du Brcsil, charg^ d'une mission complimeutaire auprds du Presi-
dent des Etats-Unis d'Am^rique. Le soassigne a rcQU cette intelligence
aveo le plus vif int6r6t et il s'empressera de la communiquer k son gouvor-
nement. Assurant d'avance Son Eminence Bme. de la reception cordiale
que Monscigneur B^dini re^evra de son gouvernement, et de Textr^me
plabir qu'^prouvera le President des Etats-Unis d'Amdrique de cette favo-
rable marque des sentimens du Saint P^re, il profit de cette occasion pour
lui t^moigner Pexpression de sa plus haute consideration.

(Sign^) Cass.

A Son Eminence Bme.

Le Cardinal Antonelli,

secretaire d'Etat.

[Copt.— No. 56.]

Lbqation of the Uioted States, )
Borne, March 20, 1858. t

Hon. Edwabd Everett,

Secretary of State;
Sib:

I have the honor to transmit herewith the translation of a communication
which I have just received from Cardinal Antonelli, Secretary of State.

The reverend gentleman, Monseigneur Bedini, therein mentioned, is a
prelate of high standing in the Catholic Church, and distinguished for his
learning and attainments. He has filled several important posts in the civil
and ecclesiastical departments of this government under the present Pope,
as well as his predecessor, Gregory the Sixteenth. His oflEloial designation
is Monseigneur Bedini, Archbishop of Thebes, and Apostolic-nuncio to the
Court of the Brazils.

The mission thus conferred upon him is a new and additional teBtimonial

APPENDIX.

of the highly favorable and fViendly sentiments entertained by His Holiness
Pins IX. towards the government and institutions of the United States.
Monseigneur Bedini will probably arrive in Washington within eight or ten
days subsequent to the receipt of this dispatch. He will remain there, I
understand, but a few days.

I am, Sir, very respectfully,

Your obedient servant,
(Signed) Lewis Gam.

THE END.

• • • •

>• • • t

>■ • . •

k • * • • • t

• • • • I

• • I *

• • • • o •

fist at Munhm.

>|« John, Apb. of N. York 20 copies.

<f'F. P. Kenriok, Apb. Bait 10 "

V J. B., Abp. Cin 6 "

4* L. de Goesbriand, Bishop of Burlington 24 "

V John, Bp. of Brooklyn 12 •*

^I* John, Bp. of Albany 12 "

•i* Michael, Bp. of Pittsburg 12 "

»i« A., Bp. of Cleveland 12 "

^ J. B. F., Bp. of Boston 12 ••

A Andrew, Bp. of Little Rock 6 "

Rev. John Lewis, Clifton 12 "

Franciscan Convent, Eilioottsville ,. 6 "

Rev. G. A. J. Wilson, St. Dominick's Church, Washington.... 6 *•

Rev. Thomas Martin 4 "

Ladies' Sacred Heart, Detroit 6 "

Villa Nova College 8 "

Rev. M. Aiig, Washington 1 "

Rev. Mr. Wirzfeld, Elizabeth, N. J 2 "

Rev. T. Joyce, Coldspring 6 **

Rev. F. Fusseder, Oslikosh S "

Rev. Dr. Cumminge 1 "

St. Patrick's Rosary Library 4 "

Rev. V. Beaudevin 1 "

Rev. G. R.Brophy 1 "

Rev. A. J. Donnelly 2 "

Rev. K S. Briardy 8 «

Rev. Z. Druon, East Rutland 1 "

Rev. C. Rehre, Wis 1 "

Rev. M. Whitty, Scranton .-. 1 "

Rev. B. J. McQuaid. Newark 4 "

St Patrick's Rosary Society, Newark 6 "

Young Men's Catholic Association, Newark 2 "

Rev. Dr. Edward Lyman, Baltimore 2 "

Edward Dunigan & Brother 160 "

John Murphy & Co 100 '•

Patrick Donohoe , 100 "

Terence Donnelly, Esq 10 *'

D. Devlin 10 "

Andrew Carrigan « 10 "

W. J.Sullivan 1 "

George A. Rcmsal , 1 "

P. W. Poliard 1 "

694

A Rt Rev. James R. Bayley, Bishop of Newark 10 copies.

4* Peter PaqI Lefevere, Detroit 12

ii« M. J. Spalding, Bp. Louisville 12,

A M. De St Palais^ Ba Vincennes 6

Ai George A. Carrell, Bp. CoTingtoQ 6

Rev. L. Tucker 2

Rev. D. Edward Lyman, Baltimore 1

Rev. J. McMahon 1

Rev. John MoElroy 2

Rev. E. Auhri) 3

University of St. Louis 24

Georgetown College 12

Mt. 9t. Mary's College 12

St. Francis Xavier's College, N. Y 4

O. A. Brownson, L,D.D. 2

L.R Binsse, Roman Consul G

E. J. O'Brien, New Haven 3

John Gaynor 1

Bernard Casserly 1

C. E. Shea 2

J. M. Coughlin......... 1

Mariano Velazquez 1

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