THE SULPICIANS in THE UNITED STATES HERBERMANN \ THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES BY CHARLES G. HERBERMANN, LL.D. EMEBITCS PBOFE880B OT LATIN IN THE COLLEGE OF THE CITT OF NEW TORK; EDITOB-IN-CHIEF OF THE CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA; PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES CATHOLIC HISTORICAL SOCIETY NEW YORK THE ENCYCLOPEDIA PRESS 23 EAST FORTY-FIRST STREET Nihil Obstat REMIGIUS LAFOBT, D.D. Imprimatur ^JOHN CABDINAL FARLEY Archbishop of New York New York, October 7, 1916 ENCYCLOPEDIA PRESS, INC.. 1916 CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. THE CALL 1-23 n. THE BEGINNINGS OF ST. SULPICE IN THE UNITED STATES 24-52 HI. ST. MARY'S SEMINARY, 1791-1810 53-75 IV. ADMINISTRATION OP M. JOHN MARY TESSIER, 1810-1829 76-90 V. ST. MARY'S COLLEGE, 1805-1830 91-123 VI. OTHER SUBSIDIARIES OP ST. MARY'S SEMINARY . 124-139 VIE. THE SULPICIAN MISSIONARY BISHOPS AND MIS- SIONARIES 140-193 VIII. ST. MARY'S SEMINARY. THE ADMINISTRATION OP M. DELTJOL 194-214 IX. THE PROTEGEES OP THE SULPICIANS 215-236 X. ST. MARY'S COLLEGE, 1829-1852 237-244 XI. THE COLLEGE OP ST. CHARLES, BALTIMORE . . 245-264 XII. SULPICIAN MISSIONARY BISHOPS 265-291 XIII. THE ADMINISTRATIONS OP MM. LHOMME AND DUBREUL 292-311 XIV. THE ADMINISTRATION OP M. MAGNIEN .... 312-337 APPENDIX 339-343 INDEX 345-360 111 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS St. Mary's College, Baltimore Frontispiece FACING PAGE Most Rev. John Carroll, First Archbishop of Baltimore . . 4 Very Rev. James Andrew Emery, Ninth Superior General of St. Sulpice 10 Jean Jacques Olier, Founder of the Society of St. Sulpice . 28 The Old House Which Became St. Mary's Seminary ... 36 Rev. Demetrius A. Gallitzin 44 M. Francis Charles Nagot 54 M. Jean Marie Tessier 76 M. Antoine Gamier 88 John Dubois, Bishop of New York 126 Rt. Rev. Benedict Joseph Flaget, First Bishop of Bards- town 142 Rt. Rev. John Baptist David 162 Rev. Gabriel Richard, Pastor of St. Anne's Church, Detroit, 1799-1832 166 Most Rev. William Dubourg, Founder and First President of St. Mary's College 172 Most Rev. Ambrose Marechal, Third Archbishop of Balti- more 1" Very Rev. Louis Regis Deluol, Third Superior of St. Mary's Seminary Charles Carroll of Carrollton .... 206 First Building of St. Charles' College 220 Sanctuary of St. Mary's Seminary Chapel 230 Rev. Oliver L. Jenkins 246 St. Charles' College, Ellicott City, 1859-1878 ... .256 Chapel of Our Lady of the Angels, Old St. Charles' ... 264 v VI LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FACING PAGE Rt. Rev. Simon Gabriel Brute, First Bishop of Vincennes . 268 Old St. Charles' College 280 Rt. Rev. John J. Chanche, First Bishop of Natchez . . . 284 Rt. Rev. Augustine Verot, First Bishop of St. Augustine . 290 Very Rev. Francis Lhomme, Fourth Superior of St. Mary's Seminary 294 Very Rev. Joseph Paul Dubreul 306 James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore . . . 310 Chapel of Our Lady of the Angels, Catonsville 318 Very Rev. A. L. Magnien, Sixth Superior of St. Mary's Seminary 332 PKEFACE I am glad to connect my name with the work to which Mr. Herbermann devoted the last months of his nohle life, and in which he displays his generous Catholic feelings. It is regrettable that he had not, hefore his health began to fail, taken up the study of Sulpician influence in this country. It merits recognition. The Sulpicians, though not numerous in our land, have done a work, both in the ministry and in their seminaries, altogether out of proportion to their numbers. On the mission-field they have everywhere left in the districts in which they worked as priests or bishops, a reputation for personal holiness, great labors and public spirit. Their missionary record is especially noteworthy for men trained to the cloistered life of the seminary and laboring in a strange land. Again it would be difficult to overrate the extent of their help in securing for our needy missions in times past a large supply both of French priests and of French money. This service is, as has been remarked, not unlike that which the French nation rendered ours at the period of the Revolution. Within their own vocation, to which, as Mr. Herbermann shows, they clung with great tenacity, they have exercised an influence of the first im- portance. No cause can have finer leaders than a brotherhood who lavish upon it their toil, their resources, and their lives, and who hearten their followers by the persuasive sum- mons, "follow us." Now, the sacred cause of clerical training has won this devotion of the Sulpicians. They have the Gospel ideals for the formation of priests, they make this training their one passion and pursuit; they vii Vlll PREFACE have the wise traditions of old St. Sulpice which secure unity of effort, corporate management of the seminary by all the fathers in council, and close personal care of the students by spiritual direction given by all the fathers, and, most important of all, open, steadfast example of priestliness, which the students may see with their eyes and handle with their hands. I feel, then, that I am voicing the sentiments of the thousands of priests in this country who have been trained by the Sulpicians, when I affirm that the coming of Father Nagot and his companions to found the first seminary in the United States was a signal blessing of God to our Church. And now, with a knowledge of the one hundred and twenty-five years of our history since the foundation of St. Mary's at Baltimore, and the experience, besides, of a long life in the holy priesthood, I repeat the judgment of Bishop Carroll who brought the Sulpicians to the States. Writing to Father Emery, the Superior General of the Sulpicians, in 1801, he says : "I declare to you, as I have declared it in every cir- cumstance, that I have nowhere else known men more able than your priests, by character, talents and virtues, to form such clergymen as the state of religion demands now. Accordingly, I believe that it would be one of the great- est misfortunes that could befall this Diocese ever to lose the gentlemen of the Seminary." Archbishop of Baltimore. October 13th, 1916. Feast of St. Edward. INTKODUCTOKY The present history of the Sulpicians in the United States appeared at first in the "Historical Kecords and Studies," published by the United States Catholic His- torical Society of New York City. Some years ago the author had his attention drawn to the fact that among the many wants to be found in the historical literature of our country, a record of the work of the Sulpician Fathers in the United States was one of the most cry- ing, and at the request of some of the Sulpician Fathers and with their aid, he undertook the study of the work accomplished in this country by the Company of St. Sul- pice. As he progressed in his labor, he found that his task was even more attractive than he had conceived it to be. The noble aims of the Sulpicians, the admirable character of the men, the attractive nature of their meth- ods, their sympathy with our country's institutions, their services in its necessities and their universal loyalty to the cause of Catholicity, did not fail to attract the writer's sympathy and admiration. The zeal with which they gave themselves to the cause of clerical education, the fidelity with which they insisted upon their principles, were worthy of all praise, especially when we bear in mind the obstacles which they encountered and the will- ingness with which they aided the first bishops in the missionary and secular educational fields, when this was a need, demand the enthusiastic approval of the Catholic and the scholar. The writer, therefore, soon found his task a labor of love, the more so, as the Sulpician Fathers, in accordance with their promise, threw open to him their archives to help him fill in gaps in the published ix INTRODUCTION literature on the subject. He can testify that their help was characterized by sympathy and honesty, no less than by zeal and courtesy. To his friend, the Kev. A. Boyer, he owes the most cordial thanks for his constant and most valuable services. To Father Anthony Vieban, also, and Father Francis P. Havey, he wishes to acknowledge his obligations, as well as to the Very Eev. Edward Dyer, the Superior General of the Sulpicians in the United States. CHABL.ES G. HEBBEBMANN BIBLIOQEAPHY. Anndles de la Propagation de la Foi; Bulletin Trimestriel des anciens Eleves de St. Sulpice; Golden Jubilee Volume of St. Charles' College (Balti- more, 1898) ; Gosselin, Vie de M. Emery (Paris, 1862) ; Hassard, John K. G., Life of Archbishop Hughes (New York, 1866) ; Hewlett, William J., St. Thomas' Sem- inary (St. Louis, 1906) ; Icard, J. H. Pretres de St. Sulpice (Paris, 1886) ; L'Universite Catholique; Lemcke, Life of Gallitzin (Minister, 1861) ; Memorial Volume of the Centenary of St. Mary's Seminary (Baltimore, 1891) ; Sadlier, Agnes, Elizabeth Seton, Foundress of the Sisters of Charity (New York, 1905) ; Shea, John Gilmary, History of the Catholic Church in the United States (New York, 1892); Spalding, Life of Bishop Flaget (Louisville, 1852); Steiner, History of Edu- cation in Maryland; The U. S. Catholic Historical Mag- azine (1887-1893); Webb, Benj., The Centenary of Catholicity in Kentucky (Louisville, 1884); White, Charles L, Life of Mrs. Eliza A. Seton (New York, 1904); The Catholic Encyclopedia; Seton, Kobert, Memoirs, Letters and Journal of Elizabeth Seton (New York, 1869). XI THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES CHAPTER I * THE CALL The twenty-seventh of February, 1785, is the birthday of the organized Catholic Church of the United States. On that day the Keverend John Carroll signified to Cardinal Antonelli, then Prefect of the Propaganda, his acceptance of the office of superior of the mission of the thirteen United States, to which Pope Pius VI had ap- pointed him. The new head of the budding American Church was fully conscious of the many difficulties he would have to surmount in performing the work which had been confided to him. Not that the flock entrusted to the new shepherd was counted by the hundreds of thou- sands, not that the clergy which he was to guide was unmanageable because of its numbers, for, as he tells us in his letter of acceptance, the Catholic laity of Mary- land consisted of some 15,000, and that of Pennsylvania of 7,000 souls; of these several thousand may have been imaginary. New York, he tells us, was estimated to hold some 1500 Catholics. In the remaining States the faith- ful were not worth mentioning, and the northwestern ter- ritory, i.e. the Illinois country and Michigan, was the home of a few thousand half-settled Canadians, under the charge of two or three Canadian missionaries. All told, the flock of the new shepherd probably did not exceed 25,000, hardly more than enough to fill three large New York parishes at the present time. To guide and 1 2 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES rule this flock, the Reverend Mr. Carroll tells us, he could look to the assistance of some twenty-five priests nine- teen in Maryland, five in Pennsylvania, and two or three without definite station. Of these, two had passed three- score and ten, and several others were close to this goal. The clergy of the United States, therefore, hardly ex- ceeded twenty-five; now if clergy and laity had been evenly distributed over a moderate area the clergy could have easily satisfied the spiritual needs of the faithful, but this was not the case. Twenty-five priests scattered over Maryland and Pennsylvania were wholly unable to attend to their spiritual wants, even if we leave the Church members scattered over the eleven other States entirely out of consideration. Moreover, as we learn from the new superior's letter of acceptance, a steady though slow Catholic immigration had already set in, and these new Catholics, especially in the large cities, were of very doubtful quality and required exceptional pastoral care. These facts had deeply impressed the Rev. Mr. Car- roll, and even in his letter of acceptance he speaks of the need of high schools and a seminary as among the most pressing necessities of the new American Church. Little assistance could he expect from the Catholic countries of the Old World. Ireland and England still drew the priests of whom they were in want from the missionary colleges of France, Spain, Italy, and the Low Countries. The native clergy of Europe hardly suf- ficed for the needs of the several European nations and their colonies. And the prospects of the future were not more promising than the present conditions were sat- isfactory. The Society of Jesus had been suppressed, and thus a source of supply which, for more than two centuries, had furnished many missionaries, had been cut off. Yet if the newly organized American Church had relied upon self-help, she must have been condemned to THE CAIX 3 make bricks without straw. The Reverend Mr. Carroll realized these difficulties of the situation from the begin- ning, and he was not the man to remain idle when the necessities of his flock loudly cried for action. It is true, as we learn from one of the superior's letters to the apos- tolic nuncio at Paris, that he had received offers of serv- ice from German and Portuguese priests already in the country, but such help as this must needs have been spo- radic. In 1786 and 1787 we find him expressing to his European friends and to the officials of the Propaganda the conviction that the only hope for the steady supply of priests and for the growth of the Church depended on the, establishment of a school for higher studies and of a semi- nary in the United States ; nay, more, at the same time he used his utmost efforts to induce the Society of the Mary- land and Pennsylvania missionaries to take practical steps toward the foundation of an academy at Georgetown. In spite of opposition on the part of some of the clergy, he persisted in his project, and in 1789 the first Catholic college a very modest institution was opened at George- town in the District of Columbia. Pius VI and the heads of the Propaganda saw the wis- dom of the Rev. Mr. Carroll's plans, and when the Pope, in his bull dated November 6, 1789, appointed him bishop of the newly created see of Baltimore, the bull not only approved of the design to found a seminary in the new diocese, but made it the bishop's duty to establish such an institution. This injunction, which was in such marked agreement with Bishop Carroll's own views, no doubt inspired him with new energy to bring about the establishment of a clerical seminary, and he corresponded with various ecclesiastical authorities in Europe with a view to realizing the desires of the Holy Father and of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. Among 4: THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES the prelates whose aid he invoked was the apostolic nuncio at Paris, Mgr. Dugnani. We need hardly remind our readers that Bishop Car- roll's nomination to the see of Baltimore was only a few months subsequent to the outbreak of the French Kevo- lution. The taking of the Bastille on July 14, 1789, and the violent proceedings of the French States-General produced a profound impression upon the entire Chris- tian world ; above all, on the civil and religious authorities in France. The wisest and best men everywhere anx- iously foreboded the coming troubles, which threatened throne and Church alike. Among the most able and far-seeing of the French clergy was the Very Eev. James Andrew Emery, the ninth general superior of the Society of St. Sulpice. This distinguished ecclesiastic, prior to his appointment as head of the Sulpician Society, had held important posi- tions in that body, and as vicar-general of Angers had acquired much practical experience and great insight into political and ecclesiastical conditions in France. He had followed with a keen and attentive eye the disquiet- ing course of events and foresaw at an early date the dan- gers which threatened the French Church. His own So- ciety, he foresaw, might ere long be drawn into the revo- lutionary whirlpool and destroyed, and he began to cast about for a haven of refuge should disaster overtake it. The Abbe Emery had his attention drawn to America, partly, no doubt, because his Society already possessed a flourishing establishment in Canada, partly because the French had been the allies of the Americans in the War of Independence, and partly because in 1790 some French noblemen were organizing a French colony in the valley of the Ohio. Next to Bishop Carroll, it is the Abbe Emery to whom the Catholics of the United States owe the manifold bene- MOST REV. JOHN CARROLL, First Archbishop of Baltimore. THE CALL i> fits which have accrued to them from the labors of the Sulpician Fathers, and it is therefore proper to give a short account of the life of this remarkable man. Born at Gex, near the Swiss frontier, in August, 1732, he was entrusted to the Jesuits after the usual prelimi- nary education, and then took up his philosophical stud- ies at Lyons, and by competitive examination won a place ; mong the so-called Robertins in Paris. In both places AQ won distinction by his scholarship. Ordained to the priesthood in 1756, he not only successfully filled various places in the Sulpician seminaries, but when, in 1776, he was placed in charge of the Seminary of Angers, the bishop, M. de Grasse, soon named him chief vicar-general of the diocese. The duties of this position made him acquainted with active practical life, with the require- ments of business and the character of men. The wisdom and success with which he governed the diocese drew the attention of his brethren more and more to his many merits, and when, in 1782, the eighth superior-general of St. Sulpice, M. Le Gallic, resigned his position, M. Emery- was elected his successor and took up his residence in Paris. Here his wise and sympathetic qualities gained him the good-will of all within and without his own So- ciety. When, after the outbreak of the Revolution, the Archbishop of Paris, Mgr. de Juigne, left France, he ap- pointed M. Emery one of his vicars-general who were to govern the great Archdiocese of Paris during the days of the Terror and the critical times that followed, until the Concordat revived the French hierarchy in 1802. Dur- ing all this time, beginning with the taking of the Bas- tille (1789), he remained at his post, residing in his sem- inary, when most of the churches of Paris and its eccle- siastical institutions were closed. With firmness he con- demned the constitutional oath of the clergy and with discretion he helped to guide the much-tried priests of 6 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES Paris amid the many successive problems which tortured their consciences. M. Emery was not destined to go through these dreadful times without personally experiencing the terrors of the Revolution. On Pentecost Day, May 19, 1793, he was arrested at his home, taken to the Maine, and thence to St.-Pelagie, one of the convents of Paris then used for a prison. However, his imprisonment did not last long, for, owing to the influence of a relative, Mme. de Villette, he was liberated on May 31, and took refuge in that lady's house. But on the 16th of July following, he was again arrested and taken to the Cannes, whence he was trans- ferred to the Conciergerie, where he remained in prison for sixteen months. He was repeatedly taken before the revolutionary tribunal, and more than once expected to be guillotined. What were the mental tortures through which he passed during this imprisonment may be seen in part from the following letter to the Rev. Mr. Nagot, at that time the superior of the Sulpicians in Baltimore : "In a few hours I am about to appear before the revo- lutionary tribunal, my dear Nagot, and I expect to be sentenced to death. I avail myself of these last hours of my life to give you and all your confreres my blessing, and to assure you that in heaven, where I hope to be re- ceived through God's mercy, I shall not forget you. I shall not cease to beg of God to protect you and to make all your plans prosper, which, He knows, seek only His glory. I have sought to the end to help you, and I hope you will find assistance after my death. A letter of M. Martel, which informed me that he received a thousand ecus which you had left in the care of Mme. Gouy and that were confiscated, furnished one of the grounds for bringing charges against me. What a consolation to die the victim of my love for the Church and of my affection for you. In the name of God, I trust that your house and THE CALL 7 the young men destined to be brought up there will always be looked upon as the nucleus of the undertaking. The blessings which result therefrom are unbounded. Do you, therefore, and the professors strive without ceasing to prepare yourselves for this work by studying local preju- dices and opinions and by preferring the spirit of retire- ment and prayer the inward spirit to every other good work that you may be able to do and all of which must be subordinated to the great work which Providence has entrusted to you. "You know and have under your eyes the rules of St. Sulpice. God will bless your works the more closely you observe these rules. Be one and all of you men of peace; show yourself such in the controversies in which you may be engaged, or rather, which you will avoid to the best of your ability, as far as prudence will permit, for I am convinced that your piety, your regularity, your retirement, and your withdrawal from the world, and your unselfishness will bring you more respect and will gain more souls for the Church than all the most learned dis- cussions. I need not ask you to love all your confreres as a father loves his children. Providence has made you their superior. Every society must have a center of unity, and the superior of Baltimore should always be the su- perior of the Sulpicians employed elsewhere in the United States. For your security and the maintenance of your little property, use all the means suggested by Christian prudence. Do not put off until to-morrow what can be done for this purpose to-day. "I fear I shall not have the time to close my letter. I hasten to beg of you to convey to Messrs. Levadoux, Rich- ard, Flaget, Ciquard, my last expression of affection for them. How delighted I was to receive news from the first three in my prison ! I am anxious that my answer should reach them. You will also convey my regards to Messrs. 8 THE STTLPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES David and Marechal. I cordially greet all the colleagues that work in the same house as yourself. God knows how dear they are to my heart. "I finish with St. Paul's words: 'Ego scio quia non amplius videbitis faciem meam. . . . Et nunc commendo vos Deo, et verbo gratia ipsius, qui potens est cedificare et dare hcereditatem in sanctificatis omnibus.' "I must not forget the young gentlemen you took with you; you will tell them that I thought of them during my last moments and that I pray God to strengthen them and to confirm them in His grace. "Please assure Mgr. Carroll of the deep respect which I entertain for him. Tell him that I recommend you and all your confreres to his kindness and protection, of which I hope you will continue to be worthy. "God bless M. Delavau; he must feel that God inspired him with the thought of accompanying you. I wish the domestics with you all peace and blessing." * On April 4, 1Y94, M. Emery was transferred from the Conciergerie to the College de Plessis, another Parisian prison, improvised during the Terror. His letter, written from this prison to M. Montaigne, one of his Sulpician brethren, and dated April 28, 1793, gives us even a clearer insight into the spirit, the aims, the motives, the principles, and the interests of this man. It shows us his faith in God's mercy, his coolness and courage in what he believed to be the presence of death, his attach- ment to his Society and his brethren, and his special in- terest in the Sulpician colony at Baltimore as destined to keep alive the institute of which he was the guardian: "In a few hours I am to appear before the revolution- ary tribunal. I have no doubt that I shall be condemned * The original of this letter Is In the archives of the seminary at Balti- more. Gosselln, "Vie de M. Emery," vol. 1, p. 343 sqq. THE CALL 9 to death. So I must express to you without a moment's loss my last sentiments. I begin by thanking you for the affection which you have shown me during the last days of my life, for the zeal with which you have worked to prolong my days, and for your anxiety to provide for all my needs. May God reward you therefor both here on earth and hereafter. Please assure my worthy predeces- sor, M. Le Gallic, and MM. Crenier, Bechet, Montevis, and Duclaux that my feelings toward them have remained the same to the end (these are well known to them) . That I earnestly wish them the lengthening of their days in these difficult times and that I pray God with all my heart that, like you, they may grow in grace and in char- ity and that we may be all reunited in heaven. Please tell the young men who have been faithful to us to the end, and especially tell Lagardiole, that I die greatly moved by their kindness, and grateful to them for the favors they have done us and for all the services they have rendered us. "Please thank Adam, also, and Bazin, 1 and assure them of my friendship. I recommend them to your con- sideration. "If it is in your power hereafter to keep up communica- tion with members of the Society of St. Sulpice, tell them that I died a victim of my love for them; for it was in order to be able to help them, to be a medium of corre- spondence for them whilst this was possible and allowable, to watch over the venerated remains of M. Olier and M. de Bretonvilliers, that I have resisted all kinds of pressure urging me to withdraw from the seminary and to disap- pear. I do not fathom God's designs; they are impene- trable, and I bow before them. I dare not, therefore, speculate on the restoration of peace in our country, on the return and the reunion of my brethren. I only remark 1 The former was M. Emery's domestic and the latter the porter of the seminary. 10 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES that it is my most ardent wish that they may be reunited. "I die in the hope and consolation that the name and spirit of St. Sulpice will not wholly perish. Maryland will preserve them. You know my sentiments as to that institution, so dear to my heart and so important to re- ligion. I have every reason to think that you will make these known if necessary and that you will carry them out faithfully. Farewell, my dear M. Montaigne. If this let- ter reaches you before my decease, you will aid me with your prayers at the moment of death, and with those of the persons whom you will inform of my situation. I die trusting to God's mercy, which has never helped me more strikingly than during the last days of my life. "May the blessing of M. Olier and of all the holy priests of our Society rest on you." 1 But M. Emery was not destined to perish by the guillo- tine. When Robespierre fell, six months after this letter was written, the gates of the College de Plessis were thrown open, and most of the unfortunates who had so long lin- gered there in fear and trembling were restored to the outer world, and among them M. Emery (October 25, 1794). His friend, M. Montaigne, at first gave him hos- pitality, but the superior of the Sulpicians felt that the seminary was the proper place for him. Still, he soon rec- ognized that the storm had not blown over and that Paris was not a place of safety for him. He betook himself to his birthplace at Gex, on the Swiss border. Immediately on his arrival there he sent a letter to Pope Pius VI, with whom he had already corresponded during his captivity. He gave the Pope an account of the condition of his So- ciety and his plans for the future. As to his own person, he expressed the desire to join his brethren who were working in the United States, for "if France were lost to the Catholic Church it is very likely that God has pre- 1 Gosselln, op. cit., vol. 1, 379. VERY REV. JAMES ANDREW EMERY. Ninth Superior General of St. Sulpice. THE CALL 11 pared in the United States a compensation for the loss of France." x From the answer sent to M. Emery, March 10, 1796, by M. Caleppi, at the Pope's command, we learn that Pius VI was much impressed by the zeal and devotion to the Holy See evinced by M. Emery and his Society during the trials of the ^Revolution, and that he approved his in- tention to betake himself to the United States. At the same time, M. Emery was advised that, however much his American plans were appreciated, his presence in France, where he had so great an influence for encouraging and guiding the clergy, was, for the time being, more impor- tant. In accordance with this suggestion, the loyal old priest remained in his native country. He returned to Paris, where he resumed his activity as one of the vicars- general who governed the archdiocese of Paris in the ab- sence of the archbishop, Mgr. de Juigne. By his prudence and wisdom he maintained harmony, as far as possible, among the remaining loyal priests, and prevented the widening of the schism which was the result of the civil constitution of the clergy. In this way he tided over the dangerous eddies which threatened to wreck the metro- politan Church until Bonaparte brought order to the French state and comparative peace to the French Church. His ability and wisdom soon became known to Na- poleon, who respected his learning, his practical wisdom, and the mixture of simplicity, boldness, and tact which led him to speak the truth without fear of the conse- quences. Thrice the emperor offered him a bishopric, which Emery thrice refused, for to him it appeared trea- son to abandon the cause of his Society, all broken up and dispersed as it was. Though at first angered by the good abbe's refusal of the sees of Arras, Autun, and Troyes (1802), the stubborn-minded Corsican soon became recon- ciled to his sturdy sense of duty, and permitted him to i Gosselin, op. cit., vol. 1, 379. 12 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES build up again the Society of St. Sulpice. However, the head of St. Sulpice never possessed the real confi- dence of the wily Corsican. One day he would advise his uncle, Cardinal Fesch, to lay in as valuable a store of theological knowledge as M. Emery possessed, on the next he would criticize the same cardinal for being too much under the influence of the Sulpicians, who were a pack of intriguers. Meantime the unwearied superior continued rebuilding his Society, and in a few years it again had control of a dozen diocesan seminaries. Nor did M. Emery give way in the least to the spirit of innovation. What MM. Olier and de Bretonvilliers had enacted must be carried out to the letter, ancient rules and customs observed, and the spirit of the founders respected in every detail. When Na- poleon had consulted Cardinal Fesch he found all these pro- ceedings of the aged superior, who had now become a decid- ed septuagenarian, praiseworthy, or at least tolerable ; but when he lent his ear to the whisperings of that treacherous policeman, Fouche, he threatened the very existence of the reviving Society. Nevertheless, he appointed M. Emery to the council of the newly founded University of France, and made him a member of a commission of cardinals and bishops summoned to find the means of circumventing the imprisoned pontiff, Pius VII, who was struggling for the rights of the Church. The cardinals and bishops found a way out of the labyrinth, but Emery mildly but posi- tively declined to sign their document. He did not openly condemn Napoleon's marriage with Marie Louise, but he stayed at home when the ceremony took place. At last Napoleon's patience was exhausted, and in May, 1810, under the influence of Fouche, he ordered the Minister of Public Worship to dissolve the Congregation of St. Sul- pice and to compel the venerable superior, who was in his seventy-eighth year, to leave the seminary. Again the TJ1K CALL 13 threatened blow was not delivered, though M. Emery him- self was obliged to quit the seminary. Once more the em- peror called a commission of cardinals and bishops, making M. Emery a member, and again he was the only simple priest on the commission. The violent language of the arbitrary Corsican and his tools dragooned the prelates into an effort to comply with his wishes. They sacrificed the Pope's right to confirm the emperor's candidates for va- cant bishoprics, and even went so far as to consent to a national council, which was only too likely to lead to a national schism. M. Emery, in moderate but positive terms, disagreed with them. Then Napoleon summoned the entire commission to ap- pear before him and the grandees of his council of state, and at great length inveighed against the obstinacy of the Pope and threatened the most radical measures. Not a word of protest or dissent came from the great ecclesiastical dignitaries. Then Napoleon turned to M. Emery and asked him what he had to say on the question. "Sire, I can have no other opinion than what is contained in the cate- chism published by your orders," and then he showed that, according to the catechism, the Pope was the supreme ruler of the Church. Napoleon was struck by this answer and impressed by the aged priest's further exposition of his position. Three times he modestly but firmly con- tested the emperor's views and defended the pontiff's rights. Of the distinguished prelates Napoleon hardly took any notice. When he arose to dismiss the conference he po- litely bowed to M. Emery and to no one else. M. Emery left at once, whereupon several of the prelates approached Napoleon to excuse the octogenarian. "You are mistaken," he replied; "I am not at all displeased with M. Emery; he spoke like a man who knows his business. I like to be spoken to in this way. Of course, he does not agree with my views, but every one must have his own opinion free 14 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES here." Before leaving, Talleyrand, who had been present at the conference, said to one of the prelates: "I knew M. Emery had much pluck, but I did not think he had so much. He has the ability frankly to give his views to the emperor without displeasing him." A few days after- ward Napoleon told his uncle, who desired to speak to him on Church matters: "Be silent; you are an igno- ramus. Where did you learn your theology ? M. Emery, who knows his theology, is the man with whom I must speak on these matters." 1 A few months later, death called the venerable Sulpician to his reward. To the last he met his trials with gentle- ness, firmness, and a smiling face, convinced that St. Sul- pice, though for the second time under his rule smitten and broken up, would rise again and do even more glori- ous work in the future than it had done in the past. Such was the man destined by Providence to help Bishop Carroll in his need, and to assist him to establish a semi- nary according to the best European pattern, to furnish him with missionaries especially fitted to do the work of the Church in the new republic, and to dissipate much of the prejudice still rampant there, notwithstanding the toleration proclaimed by its constitution. The men whom M. Emery could send to the aid of the head of the Ameri- can Church were the best-trained educators of candidates for the priesthood to be found in Europe, devoted to this work and to nothing else, having no other aims and no other vocation. Their rules forbade them to take up any exterior form of ministry, as they called it. They were not to preach to the faithful, no matter what their elo- quence; not to assume the direction of nuns or of ladies in the world, whatever might be their wisdom; they were solely to perfect their scholarship and to develop their science of guiding the future pastors of souls, not only 1 Gosselln, op. cit., vol. 11, p. 300 sqq. THE CALL 15 by their extensive learning, but also by practising and inculcating the practice of all that wisdom and experience had shown to be productive of solid virtue, good habits, and moral steadiness. Such men must needs bring out all that was best and admirable in the scholars entrusted to them ; they must make a very favorable impression upon the people among whom their lot was to be cast, for, as events proved, these learned but unpretentious gentlemen were fated to be for many long years most effective mis- sionaries in their new home. They went forth to preach the Gospel, not among sav- ages, where the missionary must combine self-denial and enthusiasm with something of the spirit of adventure, but among people whose civilization differed but little from their own and who must chiefly be impressed by the holi- ness, the self-sacrifice, and the learning of the men who brought them new views and a new religion. It was a great advantage to the budding Church of the United States that Dubourg, Dubois, Marechal, Flaget, Brute, and David were men, not of the type of missionary who might impress an Indian tribe, but who in learning, scholarship, and culture were vastly superior to the average American minister of the Gospel. They were well equipped to mingle in the foremost ranks of society, as we may see from the impression produced by the Abbe Dubois on the best men of Virginia. The same favorable impressions were created by the other Sulpicians whom M. Emery sent to America. They combined fervent zeal for the Catholic faith with polished and agreeable manners, great tact, and the absence of all aggressiveness. We now return to Bishop Carroll's efforts to establish the first American seminary. As already mentioned, among the European prelates whose assistance he sought to carry out his plan, was the papal nuncio in Paris, Mgr. Du- gnani. Just at this time M. Emery, foreseeing the dangers 16 THE SULPICIANS IN THE TTNITED STATES threatening the Society of St. Sulpice in France and cast- ing about for a new field of activity for his Society, had his attention drawn to the United States. But he little thought of settling his brethren at Baltimore, his eyes be- ing at first directed farther westward, toward Ohio. In 1789-90 M. du Yal d'Espremesnil, the Marquis de Marnesia, and a number of other Royalist gentlemen em- barked on a fantastic scheme of colonization, 1 which at- tracted great attention in France among all classes of peo- ple, including the journalists. The authors of this scheme, which for various reasons proved a total failure, not only planned but partly made several settlements in the Scioto district, among them Marietta and Gallipolis. One of the Sulpicians of Paris, the Rev. M. Gallet, suggested that the Society found a seminary at Gallipolis, but when M. Emery discussed the scheme with Mgr. Dugnani, the latter drew his attention to the newly founded bishopric of Baltimore and to Bishop Carroll's plan of founding a seminary for the education of native priests. The hint was not thrown away on M. Emery. Some time afterward, shortly before August 15, 1790, he called a general assem- bly of his Society at Paris. He spoke to his brethren of the danger of their dispersion, and, waving aside the thought of joining the Scioto colony, he warmly espoused Mgr. Dugnani's views on the foundation of a seminary at Baltimore. The assembly was convinced; it approved of the project, and, what is more, it authorized the su- perior-general to devote at least a part of the savings of the Society to the realization of the scheme. M. Emery lost not a moment, but forthwith put himself in communication with Bishop Carroll, who, since the early part of the summer, had been in England arrang- ing for his consecration, which was administered by Bishop Walmesley at Lulworth Castle on August 15, 1790. In 1 See Herbermann, "A French Emigre 1 Colony In the United States, 1789-1793," In "Historical Records and Studies," vol. i, pp. 77-96. THE CALL 17 his letter M. Emery begged Bishop Carroll, if he approved the proposal and if the latter intended to pass through Paris, to allow him to confer with him on the subject At the same time he offered him the hospitality of the semi- nary. 1 For some reason unknown to us, the bishop did not go to Paris, but it was agreed between him and the Sulpician superior that the Eev. M. Nagot, at that time a director of the Paris Seminary, should meet him at Lon- don. A letter from Bishop Carroll to the Papal Secretary of State, Cardinal Antonelli, dated September 9, 1790, gives us his version of the transaction. "At the request of His Excellency, the apostolic nuncio, one of the directors of St Sulpice (M. tfagot) came to London. In our con- ferences we have determined to establish a seminary at Baltimore. From this institution we must hope great ad- vantages will accrue to religion. In my opinion, it is clearly a providential dispensation, in our regard, that such excellent priests are inspired to bring us such valua- ble help at a time when our new diocese is in such pressing need of their services." 2 About a month after his consecration, Bishop Carroll wrote to Lord Arundell as follows : "We arranged all pre- liminaries and I expect at Baltimore early in the summer some of the gentlemen of that institution to set hard to work ; and I have reason to believe they will find means to carry their plan into effect. Thus we shall be provided with a house fit for the reception of, and further improve- ment in the higher sciences of, the young men whom God may call to an ecclesiastical state after their classical edu- cation is finished in our Georgetown academy. While I cannot but thank Divine Providence for opening on us such a prospect, I feel great sorrow in the reflection that we owe fons* Sulpiclennes" in "L'UniversiW Catholique," Aug. 15th, 1905, p. 570. 18 THE STJLPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES such a benefit to the distressed state of religion in France." * M. Emery did not fail to inform the Roman authorities of his agreement with the Bishop of Baltimore, and re- ceived a letter warmly approving it. This letter of the Holy Father greatly encouraged the Sulpicians, and they proceeded at once to carry out the new undertaking. The first step was to select the pioneers who were to found the seminary at Baltimore. The choice made by M. Emery showed alike his knowledge of the needs of the new estab- lishment, his acquaintance with the characters of his confreres, and his determination to give to the Church of the United States the very best forces that he had at his disposal. He selected to be head of the new seminary M. Nagot, a man full of wisdom and of years (he was fifty-seven years of age), who had been connected with the Paris Seminary for many years. Before becoming a di- rector there, he had been professor of theology and head of the school of philosophy. That he enjoyed the special confidence of the superior-general, is evident from their correspondence. One of M. Emery's last letters was di- rected to his venerable friend. Among his former scholars had been the Irish priest, the celebrated Abbe Edgeworth, who, at the risk of his life, prepared Louis XVI for death. Next to M. Nagot, must be mentioned the Eeverend M. Gamier, a very able man, especially as a linguist, and destined in after times to become a close friend of M. Emery. He was twenty-nine years of age at this time, but had already been professor of theology at Lyons. The other two Sulpicians who accompanied M. Nagot were the Rev. M. Levadoux, director of the seminary at Bourges, and the Rev. M. Tessier, a native of the diocese of Angers, then thirty-two years of age, who had been professor for two years at the seminary at Viviers. There was a fifth 1 Shea, "Life and Times of Archbishop Carroll," vol. il, p. 379. THE CALL 19 priest in the company, but he was not a Sulpician. This was the Very Rev. Canon Delavau of the diocese of Tours. The wild excesses of the Revolution had so impressed the old gentleman that he determined to leave his country in good time, and had arranged with the Sulpicians to live with them at Baltimore and pay for his support. M. Emery was certainly happy in the choice of the priests whom he sent to America, but he did more for the new institution. As a seminary without students would be a paradox, and as it was very doubtful that Georgetown, Bishop Carroll's new academy, would be able to furnish students of theology for some years to come, he made vigorous efforts to secure such students in the French seminaries under Sulpician guidance, and he was not un- successful. Five young Levites, all of them speaking the English language, volunteered to become the pioneers of the Baltimore seminary theologians. They were MM. Tulloh and Floyd, both natives of England ; Perrineau, an English-speaking Canadian; Edward Caldwell, born at Elizabethtown, New Jersey, a recent convert, and, lastly, Jean de Montdesir of the diocese of Chartres. Nor was the material side of the new institution neg- lected. A friend of M. Emery had made him a donation of 30,000 livres with which to start this new branch of the Sulpicians. From the savings of the Society of St. Sul- pice, as we learn from a letter of the Sulpician superior to Bishop Carroll, Father Emery devoted 100,000 francs to the establishment of the new seminary. We know that, in addition to the purchase money of the seminary build- ings and grounds, many other expenses were covered. The Society of St. Sulpice paid, not only for the passage to Baltimore of M. Nagot and his fellow-professors, but also for their maintenance during two years after their arrival. Moreover, they were provided with the necessary sacred vessels and vestments for the use of the priests, altar-lin- 20 THE SULPICIANS Iff THE UNITED STATES ens, and decorations, and a collection of theological and other spiritual books as the beginning of a library. Surely Providence had been kind to Bishop Carroll when it pro^ vided him, not only with a splendid seminary staff, but also with its material outfit, without entailing any outlay on his part. But M. Emery was not satisfied with providing for the physical needs of his brethren. His motives for dispatch- ing them to the new world were nobler and loftier, his foremost aim being that they should carry on the work of St. Sulpice in the same spirit with which it had been in- spired in France, the work of providing worthy and holy priests for the faithful. We cannot do better than to trans- late a part of the instructions, which, along with the rules of the Society, were to be the guide of M. Nagot and the other professors: "The priests of St. Sulpice sent to found a seminary at Baltimore," wrote M. Emery, "will endeavor, above all things, to be inspired by the loftiest ideal of their vocation. They will bear in mind that their seminary is the first and will be for a long time the only institution of the kind in the United States of America, that it is intended to edu- cate in this seminary all the apostolic laborers who in the designs of Providence are destined to strengthen Catholics in their faith, to bring back heretics to the bosom of the Church, to bear the light of the Gospel to the Eedskins; in a word, to spread the kingdom of Christ and His Church in a country much larger than the whole of Europe. Therefore, they will do everything in their power to reach a high degree of sanctity, convinced that they will do more good by their holy lives than by their teachings and their exhortations. Let them often call to mind that they are destined to perpetuate the spirit and the name of their Society in the new world ; and let them always keep before THE CALL 21 their eyes the rules and the practices of St. Sulpice, in order to be guided by them as far as possible. . . . Since it has pleased God to bless till now the work of the So- ciety of St Sulpice, experience convinces us that its spirit is good; and since its proper and characteristic aim is to concern itself only with the education of the clergy, the directors of the seminary at Baltimore will confine and con- secrate themselves entirely to this work ; and if at the be- ginning and under unusual circumstances they find them- selves compelled to take up duties foreign to this work, they must consider themselves to be under conditions out of their element, and not to be satisfied until they can re- turn to their special mode of life. . . . "The peculiar spirit of the Society, moreover, is a spirit of unworldliness. They will, therefore, have as little in- tercourse as possible with the world ; and of all their pious practices, those to which they will especially devote them- selves are meditation and their annual retreat. In order to strengthen themselves in their love of the inner spirit, they will adopt the festivals in honor of the inner life of Our Lord and the Blessed Virgin. . . . "The seminary at Baltimore will bear the name of St Sulpice, will be under the special protection of the Blessed Virgin, and will also accept the other patrons of St. Sul- pice. . . ." Having thus provided for their wants, both corporal and spiritual, M. Emery bade farewell to his brethren who were destined to bring the Society of St. Sulpice to the United States. They embarked on April 8, 1791, at St. Malo, in Brittany, where an American vessel had been chartered. Among their fellow-passengers was the celebrated Chateau- briand, at that time a young man twenty years of age, for whom the Sulpicians seem to have had no charm. He him- self tells us that he met them four years too late, having in the meanwhile become strong-minded, that is to say, 22 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES interpreting his comment, weak-minded. Their voyage was long and painful, lasting three months and two days (July 10). Bishop Carroll was still in Europe, and so the Sulpician company was welcomed at Baltimore by the Reverend Charles Sewall, resident pastor at Baltimore, who took them to a house at 94 Baltimore Street. This house, which was near the present city hall, has disappeared, owing to the opening of the present North Street. Bishop Carroll had made sure of a hospitable welcome for the heads of the new seminary by announcing their coming to the faithful of his diocese. "I propose," he said, "fixing them very near to my own home, the cathedral of Baltimore, that they may be, 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 mel- ancholy reflection that we owe so great a blessing to the lamentable catastrophe in France." M. Nagot, the superior of the new seminary, lost no time in finding a home for himself and his brethren in the metropolis of Maryland. At this time, of course, Balti- more was but a village compared with the great city of to-day. M. Nagot, on looking around for a suitable site and building, for there was no time to erect a new building for the seminary, chose the place where the seminary is still located, at Paca and St. Mary's Streets, which, in 1790, was occupied by a public house called "One Mile Tavern." This he hired at first, but shortly afterward he bought it for 850, equivalent to about $2,266.66 at the present time. Alterations were made without delay and pushed with such vigor that on the 18th of July the Sul- picians were able to occupy their new home. Four days later M. Nagot could celebrate the first Mass in the chapel. The other rooms were next altered according to need, fur- iGosselin, op. ctt., vol. i, p. 234; Shea, "Life and Times of Archbishop Carroll," vol. ii, p. 380. THE CALL 23 rushed for the new occupants, and on the 3d of October the regular work of the seminary was begun. From the very beginning the impression made by the seminary priests on bishop, clergy, and laity was most fa- vorable. As early as the 23d of April, 1792, only a few months after his return from Europe to Baltimore, Bishop Carroll wrote to the Cardinal Prefect of Propaganda: "The establishment of a seminary is certainly a new and extraordinary spectacle for the people of this country ; the remarkable piety of these priests is admirable, and their example is a stimulant and spur to all who feel themselves called to work in the vineyard of the Lord. Such are the great and remarkable effects of God's bounty. But what is still more important is that, owing to the establishment of this seminary, the clergy will be brought up in the purity of faith and in holiness of conduct. All our hopes are founded on the seminary of Baltimore. Since the arrival of the priests of St. Sulpice, the celebration of the offices of the Church and the dignity of divine worship have made a great impression, so that, though the church of Baltimore is hardly worthy of the name of cathedral, if we consider its style and its size, it may well be looked upon as an episcopal church in view of the number of its clergy." * 1 Andrfi in "L'Universite Catholique," Lyons, vol. llx, nouvelle sfirie, pp. 574-575. CHAPTER II THE BEGINNINGS OF ST. SULPICE IN THE UNITED STATES The Eev. M. Nagot and his fellow-professors had now permanently made their home in Baltimore and were ready for work. But before we begin the story of these pioneer Sulpicians, it seems not inappropriate to say a few words in general about the gentlemen of St. Sulpice and their association. In many particulars the Sulpicians are unlike the other Catholic religious. In fact, they do not call themselves religious and are not such in the canon- ical sense of the word. Because their lives and their work do not bring them in contact with the world, they are but little known even among the Catholic laity. If the other orders be likened to the golden sunflower, which stands in the open and challenges the attention and admiration even of the casual passer-by, the Sulpicians may be com- pared to the modest violet, which conceals its fascinating colors and its charming fragrance in some unobserved nook. The Sulpicians are numbered by the tens where many other religious societies are numbered by the thou- sands. It is, therefore, not surprising that they should be comparatively unknown and that it should appear need- ful, when beginning this record of their work in the United States, to say a few words about their aims, their peculiarities, and their history. One of the most vital and fruitful measures of the Council of Trent was the decree for the reform of clerical education passed on July 15, 1563. It provided especially 24 BEGINNINGS OF ST. SULPICE IN THE UNITED STATES 25 for the training of poor candidates for the secular priest- hood. The wealthy could go to the universities and the monks to the monastic schools, while a large proportion of the secular clergy received a superficial and mostly practical education from the country pastors. It em- braced the explanation of the Pater Foster, the Credo, the liturgical formulas, the Poenitentiale, the Church cal- endar, the liturgical chant, the ability to write documents and letters, and the explanation of the most important parts of Holy Writ, especially the Psalms. 1 When the Reformation, therefore, invaded the rural parishes and preachers from the towns appealed to the village farmer, it was clear that the country priest must receive a new and fuller training. In England Cardinal Pole started this new education in his diocese in 1556, and here for the first time we meet with the word seminary to desig- nate an institution for the education of candidates for the priesthood. After the Council ' of Trent, more or less strenuous efforts were made in various countries to carry out its decree and to establish seminaries. The decree requiring the establishment of diocesan seminaries was passed largely under the inspiration of the archbishop of Milan, St. Charles Borromeo, in July, 1563. He was the nephew of Pope Pius IV, and strongly urged his uncle to compel the enforcement of the decree. The Pontiff readily responded, and in 1565 the Grand Seminary of Rome was founded. The Council of Trent adjourned shortly after the passage of the seminary de- cree, and the returning Fathers were face to face with this new practical problem. In Italy the work was taken in hand at once by several prelates, foremost among them, Cardinal Borromeo, who in 1565 opened his Grand Seminary at Milan, which he placed in charge of the Jesuits. 1 Slebengartner In Herder's "Klrchen-Lexlkon." 26 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES As the Tridentine decree enacted that the episcopal seminaries were not to be placed in the hands of regulars except with the special sanction of the Holy See, this ar- rangement proved only temporary. A few years later, St. Charles placed his seminary in charge of the Oblate priests of his diocese. Like the Oratorians of St. Philip Neri, the Oblates were a society of secular priests, who lived in community, but took no permanent vow. Their superior was the archbishop. Although not founded ex- clusively to be seminary teachers, for they undertook all kinds of sacerdotal work, nevertheless, if the Milan semi- nary was to be placed in the hands of secular priests, the Oblates were obviously especially well fitted for this work. We have dwelt upon this foundation, as the Oblates of St. Charles were the first society of secular priests to whom was confided the education of candidates for the priesthood in diocesan seminaries, and their example, no doubt, greatly influenced the later seminary movement in Prance. In Germany the seminary movement, as we may call it, proceeded more slowly, doubtless being retarded by the religious wars which afflicted the country at that time. The first seminaries we learn of were rudimentary, the earliest being established at Eichstaedt (1564), Wiirz- burg (1570), and Breslau (1571). Their professorial staff was limited and their disciplinary arrangements more or less experimental. However, here, as elsewhere, the organization of institutions followed, in the main, the plan of the Collegium Germanicum, founded by St. Ig- natius of Loyola at Koine in 1552 for German clerical students. We must not forget to state that in Germany, too, a society of secular priests had a great share in the foundation and conduct of seminaries. The first attempt at carrying out in Spain, though im- perfectly, the Tridentine Decree on seminaries was not BEGINNINGS OF ST. SULPICE IN THE UNITED STATES 27 made until 1570. In France we hear of seminary proj- ects, first of all, at the assembly of the clergy in the year 1579, and later at various diocesan synods. Whether these resolutions brought any immediate practical fruit is not so clear. Only so much is certain, that the founda- tion of seminaries greatly depended on the assistance of the government. On the other hand, it is in France that we meet, as early as 1584, with a society of secular priests organized Hke the Oblates of St. Charles Borromeo, and especially devoted to clerical instruction. This was the Congrega- tion of Adrian Bourdoise, which had charge of the semi- naries of Paris, Beauvais, and Chartres between 1584 and 1655. The Priests of the Mission, better known to us as Lazarists, were also approved by the Popes as a society of secular priests, one of whose objects was the government of clerical seminaries, and St. Vincent de Paul, their founder, laid down special rules which were to guide them in governing their institutions. The foun- dation period of the Lazarists extended from 1632 to 1658. In 1611-1613 Cardinal de Berulle established in France a modified form of the Congregation of the Ora- tory founded by St. Philip Neri in 1583. While St. Philip's Society, which, like the Oblates of St. Charles, was a society of secular priests, stood aloof from the semi- nary problem, the Oratory of Cardinal de Berulle devoted itself vigorously to the work of higher education, espe- cially with the view of improving the education of the clergy. Cardinal de Berulle died in 1629, at which time the Oratorians had made great progress in France, though they seem to have had little to do with seminary educa- tion. Toward the middle of the seventeenth century, Jean Jacques Olier (1608-1657), a zealous priest who, among other reforms, had tried to put an end to duelling, had his 28 THE STJLPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES attention drawn to the crying need of institutions for the education of the secular clergy in France. He was a close friend of St. Vincent de Paul, who was no less con- vinced than the Abbe Olier that immediate steps should be taken to supply the wants of the French clergy in this direction and to carry out more perfectly the decree of the Council of Trent. In fact, as is evident, the idea of meeting this pressing want was in the air in France about the middle of the seventeenth century, leading to the foundation of the Vincentian Congregation by St. Vincent de Paul and of the Sulpician Society, in 1642, by the Abbe Olief. The missionary experiences of M. Olier and of St. Vincent de Paul had impressed upon them the necessity of speedily remedying the evils which had sprung from the inadequate training of the clergy, especially of the lower and country clergy. Both had for a number of years been engaged in missionary labors in many different parts of France, in city and country. Being keen observ- ers, endowed with sound judgment, as well as men of ac- tion, they set to work without delay. In 1642 the Abbe Olier was called to be the pastor of the parish of St. Sul- pice at Paris, looked upon at the time as the least godly parish in the metropolis, and M. Olier at first felt disin- clined to shoulder the burden. But becoming convinced that it was God's will that he should undertake the work, he did so with vigor and wisdom. Some of his old mis- sionary friends, men full of the same spirit and zeal as the pastor himself and cherishing the same ideas regarding the education of the French clergy, joined him at St. Sul- pice, ready to help him realize his schemes. In a short time the parish of St. Sulpice was reformed, and they were prepared to inaugurate the work of training the young levites for the Church of France. As M. Olier was eminently a practical man, his new JEAN JACQUES OLIER, Founder of the Society of St. Sulpice. BEGINNINGS OF ST. SULPICE IN THE UNITED STATES 29 position as pastor of St Sulpice was utilized by him to help along the scheme which more than all others filled his heart and mind. He made the education of his semi- nary students directly practical by associating them with himself in the care of the parish. Sunday after Sunday they came from the seminary to take part, according to their degree, in the services of the church, familiarizing themselves with the liturgy and lending additional gran- deur to the offices of the Church. They catechised the young people of the parish so that they became well in- structed in the commandments of God and the Church. This system was so fruitful in its results that it was con- tinued as long as the seminary maintained its connection with the church of St. Sulpice. In fact, it gave to the new association of seminary teachers the name of "So- ciety of St. Sulpice." The new Society was not the product of mere theory. It was built up on the experience which the founder had gathered in his missionary days, and on that which he was gathering as the practical shepherd of souls in his new parish. Like a thoroughly practical man, he did not bind the new institute by hard and fast lines from the beginning, but left the rules and regulations of the Society to be developed by the test of time. But he had a clear con- ception of what he meant to accomplish. He meant to train up clergymen thoroughly fitted to fulfil the essen- tial duty of the priest of Christ, that is to say, to sanctify and make like unto Christ the faithful committed to his charge. His experience as a missionary had proved that this meant the instruction of the faithful in their duties in the law of God, but it meant also the training of their wills to carry out Christ's precepts. This training of the will, he was convinced, could best be done by means of example, and therefore the young levites entrusted to his care must first of all sanctify them- 30 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES selves, and in order that their teachers might aid them to achieve this, they, too, must be an example to their pupils. Consequently, the seminary priests must share the lives of their pupils, pray with them, eat with them, study with them, in short, live with them. They were to be, as it were, the elder brothers of the students, sharing their toils, partaking of their joys, and obedient to the same rules. In all but the purely intellectual domain they were to teach by example more than by word of mouth. They were to be the friends and brothers rather than the su- perintendents and watchmen of the young levites en- trusted to their care, for their own idealistic training and their characters as gentlemen made them unfit to act any other part. Hence their dealings with their pro- teges were at all times open and frank. They studied the characters of their students for the purpose of better fitting them for the deeply responsible work of guiding their future flocks, advising them and pointing out short- comings, nor did they shrink from suggesting withdrawal from the seminary if they saw that the candidate for the priesthood was deficient in earnestness, talent, or virtue. Their recommendation of a student to the bishop for or- dination was not a mere act of routine, being always the result of careful personal observation and charitable con- sideration, the charity extending not only to the candidate, but also to the congregations destined in the course of time to be entrusted to his government and guidance. It follows from this that the true Sulpician must spend all his time with or for his pupils, that he must cut himself off from the world, that he must daily strive to fit him- self better for the lofty task assigned to him by God, that he must have no ambition except to develop his young charges into true and loyal servants of God's people. Hence, except in very unusual circumstances, a Sulpician BEGINNINGS OF ST. SULFICE IN THE UNITED STATES 31 once is a Sulpician for life, and neither mitres nor ben- efices have any attraction for him. Holding that the spiritual growth of the young clerics should be the main and only end of the Sulpician teacher, M. Olier felt satisfied that when a Sulpician begins to doubt his vocation his usefulness as a trainer of priests is at an end. He made it a rule, therefore, that any gen- tleman of St. Sulpice might withdraw according to the dictates of his own conscience, and that, therefore, the members of the Society should make no vows. He felt convinced that men imbued with the spirit of these rules and guiding their lives by them would find little use for money or property, except for benevolent purposes. Therefore, he did not require his brethren to take the vow of poverty. In short, they were secular priests like other secular priests, except that Sulpicians, while they re- mained Sulpicians, lived in community and bound them- selves to obey their superiors. At the same time, the Sulpician superior regularly couched his orders in the form of requests, and we have the word of the historians of St. Sulpice that these requests were complied with as if they were sacred commands. In fact, notwithstanding the freedom allowed to the Sulpician to withdraw when he pleases, he rarely makes use of this right. Even dur- ing the terrors of the French Revolution, when out of some one hundred and twenty Sulpicians eighteen fell victims to the gallows or the guillotine, and many more sturdily showed their loyalty before the revolutionary tribunal, no Sulpicians took the constitutional oath of the clergy, nor did any of them give up their sacred duties to become men of the world. After the restoration, the scat- tered members of the Society, with almost no exceptions, resumed their old work in the seminaries. Another cardinal principle laid down by Olier and rig- idly adhered to by his successors was that the gentlemen 32 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES of St. Sulpice must have one and only one aim as a so- ciety. St. Sulpice was founded to train priests, and for no other purpose. If a gentleman who had joined the So- ciety was found to be possessed of unusual oratorical gifts, so that he might render more efficient service to God and the Church as an orator than as a seminary professor, he was entirely free to withdraw, and in some cases he was actually advised to do so. Bishop Fournier of Mont- pellier, in whose arms M. Emery died, was advised by the latter to become a secular priest because of his great eloquence. But the Fathers of St. Sulpice were almost universally convinced that as seminary professors, as trainers of the men destined to be the shepherds of God's flock, they were able to do more and greater and more far-reaching good than they could do as bishops and prel- ates, though they revered the episcopate as the perfection of the priesthood. Of course, a body of men exclusively devoted to one purpose, the training of the clergy, could not be a numer- ous body, especially as M. Olier had no intention to send his brethren outside of France and its colonies. Indeed, the United States, with the exception of Canada, is the only country outside of France where the Society of St. Sulpice has taken charge of seminaries. Moreover, the Council of Trent placed the organization and control of clerical seminaries entirely in the hands of the bishops. If, therefore, the gentlemen of St. Sulpice had charge of a diocesan seminary, it was in accordance with a contract or agreement made with the bishop, and such an agree- ment, of course, was not necessarily perpetual. The nat- ural result was that the Sulpicians at no time since their foundation have controlled all or even the majority of the French seminaries. In 1Y91, when the Society was dis- persed by the French Eevolution, it numbered sixteen the- ological seminaries and ten other houses for clerical edu- BEGINNINGS OF ST. SULPICE IN THE UNITED STATES 33 cation in France. 1 In 1904, when the third French Be- public dissolved the Sulpician seminaries, they numbered about thirty. It may not be possible to gather absolutely accurate statistics on this point, but it is safe to assume that the Society never counted more than 430 members. Indeed, the earlier superiors-general seem to have limited the membership to seventy-two, to which must be added the superior and his twelve assistants. We must draw attention to another point. The life of a Sulpician was designedly a quiet, retired life, without worldly interests, craving for no wealth or worldly for- tune, not aiming at fame or eclat; it did not encourage the publication of theological or other literary works by its professors. Indeed, many manuscripts, containing val- uable treatises on the various provinces of theology, writ- ten by men respected as eminent scholars and teachers in their day, are still preserved in the archives of St. Sul- pice. It may be correctly stated that the publications of the Sulpicians are not a fair standard of their learning and that this is due to the love of retirement which is the characteristic of the Society. Another peculiarity of the Society is its disinterested- ness. The houses of the Sulpicians are often theirs only in virtue of their agreement with the diocesan bishops. They are, therefore, partly under episcopal control. Their property as a corporation is owned by them less abso- lutely. Their restriction to one purpose is a limit to their extension and to acquisition of property. While the in- dividual Sulpician may own property and sometimes when dying devises it to his Society, the order, as a whole, has never become wealthy. It has been a principle with the Sulpicians, in the case of bequests, never to enforce these bequests by law-suits, even if the testator was a member of the order. The Sulpicians have readily sur- Gosselin, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 451. 34 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES rendered the direction of congregations founded by them, such as that of the Colored Oblate Sisters of Providence and the Seton Sisters of Charity, and have given up colleges, like Mt. St. Mary's College and St. Mary's Col- lege, Baltimore, because to maintain them was some- what out of harmony with their principles. Readers of Sulpician history must be struck by the cir- cumstance that these gentlemen in their histories and bi- ographies of the Society are usually called directors, not professors. Still, we should not be surprised thereat. The professor suggests the man of learning, the director the guide. Now, highly as M. Olier and his successors valued learning, they did not speak of teaching the young clerics, but of forming them, i.e., of moulding their char- acter, of making them good, holy, wise men, capable of spreading holiness and justice in the world which was to be the scene of their labors. The word "director," there- fore, was eminently suitable for the men that formed the Society of St. Sulpice, because it emphasized the side of their work on which they laid the greatest stress. We have endeavored in this brief sketch to bring out the most salient features in the spirit and the life of the Society which was destined, under the direction of Bishop Carroll and the Abbe Emery, to play such an important role in laying the foundations of Catholicism in the United States. The principles and rules which we have set forth above as the guiding ideas of M. Olier's Society did not, as Minerva leaped full-armed from Jupiter's head, come as a complete and ripe system from his pen. They were rather the accumulation of wisdom on the basis of experience. Olier became pastor of St. Sulpice in 1642 ; ill health forced him to leave his dearly beloved seminary and church in 1647, only five years after he began to realize the project of his Society and ten years before his death. He never drafted a constitution or by- BEGINNINGS OF ST. SULPICE IN THE UNITED STATES 35 laws for the organization that he was creating. He him- self was the living constitution and the living rule of the Society. His friends, de Bretonvilliers and Tronson, were the depositaries of his thoughts, the confidants of his views, and the witnesses of his practice. When, therefore, Home, through Cardinal Chigi, its nuncio in France, approved the Society of St. Sulpice on August 3, 1664, and when the Parliament of Paris gave them its sanction in 1708, and a constitution and rules had to be submitted to these authorities, it was M. de Bretonvilliers, the first, and M. Lechassier, the third successor of M. Olier, who drew up the required docu- ments. It is touching to read in the records of MM. de Bretonvilliers and Tronson, his successor, the evidence of the veneration and the faith they had in their beloved master and friend. Olier's practices became rules and Otter's suggestions, principles, and all this without any superstition, for Olier was indeed a wonderful fountain of sanctity and wisdom, which he distilled into his friends and associates, and they into their successors. We can now picture their disciples before our mind's eye, men devoted to Christ's cause and that of His Church, pious and devout, with a special devotion to the Mother of God, modest, disinterested, retiring, straightforward, and simple, without ambition and without guile ; men of learning, too, life-long students, working not for reputa- tion, not for vanity, not for wealth, but for the Kingdom of God. When we come to the further history of the Society of St Sulpice, it will not long detain us. In the epigram- matic sense of the current phrase, we may say that it has no past. No scandals, nay, not even accusations, mar the simplicity and purity of its records. Its soul was charity and its works were free from bitterness. Love of God and His truth were their animating principle and the 36 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES spirit of God, which sheds the sunlight and pours out the fertilizing rain even on his erring children, filled the hearts of its sons. They were true and devoted sons of St. Peter and his successors, and defended the rights and authority of the Koman See. But, like Pius X, they trusted rather to the all-prevailing power of truth and gentleness than to the efficiency of the slashing, contro- versial pen. In the Jansenist controversy their position was never doubtful, but they were proclaimers of the truth, rather than assailants of the champions of error. They sought to put down heresy, rather than the heretic. They were Gallicans, like the vast majority of the French bishops and clergy, like Bossuet and Fenelon, but much more moderate and much less inclined to be the tools of kings and parliaments. They were retiring, studious, and conscientious schol- ars, filling the hearts and the minds of the young levites entrusted to them with their own spirit, with their mod- esty, their simplicity, their unworldliness, their love of truth, and their love of the Church. The quality of their work begot the admiration of the wisest and the best of the French bishops, who had entrusted fully sixteen semi- naries to them before the wild orgies of the Eevolution played havoc with all that was lofty and holy. Until the rise of the Terror, they had worked for the cause of the Church, steadily but peacefully. But when the day of death and danger came, when the most pacific of men could no longer profess and practice the religion of the Prince of Peace without exposing themselves to denunci- ation and death, then perhaps the boldest champion who stood for right and for truth was the diminutive superior- general of the Sulpicians, the Abbe Emery, who quailed neither before Eobespierre nor before Napoleon Bona- parte. The greatness of St. Sulpice shone forth most brightly BEGINNINGS OF ST. SULPICE IN THE UNITED STATES 37 in the days of adversity and trial. The story of St. Sul- pice is essentially a story of peace and loyal work; and, therefore, as the world's history is the story of war and bloodshed and strife, rather than of tranquillity, union, and harmony, as its heroes are the wielders of the sword and the destroyers of mankind, rather than the promoters of charity and good-will, so history has not found in the Sul- picians a profitable and attractive theme. But this will not prevent the thinking man who can delve beneath the surface from recognizing their merits and from conclud- ing that the Society, which for 150 years trained the best and most virtuous elements of the French clergy, which had given to France a succession of holy and zealous bish- ops, fifty-nine of whom suffered exile in the day of trial, was indeed a living source of countless blessings to the Church of France. They sought not the glare of public- ity, but their modest, humble, persistent works were reg- istered in the hearts of their pupils and in the pages of the Book of Life. Before we take up again the story of the Baltimore Sul- picians, we must not fail to remark that almost from its foundation the Society was destined to extend its activity to the new world, and even to the territory which subse- quently became the United States. As early as 1636, six years before taking up his residence at St. Sulpice, M. Olier had become interested with de la Dauversiere in the project of establishing on the island of Montreal a city to be called Ville-Marie. This town was to be the focus of missionary activity, embracing in its purview all the Indian tribes within reach of Montreal, for the island of Montreal had for many years served as a tryst- ing-place for the Indian and French traders. After vari- ous delays and negotiations, in 1641 the new enterprise was launched, under the direction of the knightly and pious de Maisonneuve and the devoted Mile. Mance, the 38 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES Jesuit Father Vimont celebrating the first Mass in the new colony. In 1657, until which time the settlement re- mained in the charge of the Jesuits, the managers offered the spiritual direction of the island to the Sulpicians. The first superior was M. de Queylus de Montmorency. He and his companions, of course, at first acted as mis- sionaries, and in 1661 two of them were massacred by the Iroquois. These missions before long brought them to dis- tricts bordering on what is now the United States, or with- in that territory. As early as 1668, M. de Queylus sent two of his priests, MM. Trouve and de Salignac-Fenelon, to found a mission at Kent Bay on Lake Ontario. M. de Salignac-Fenelon, by the way, was a younger brother of the great Archbishop of Cambrai, who had himself been a pupil of the Sulpicians. M. de Salignac-Fenelon and his confrere extended their missionary labors as far as Niagara Falls, and were thus probably the first Sulpicians who set foot on the territory of the great American Re- public. It is interesting to learn that even now one of the feeders of Lake Ontario bears the name of Fenelon, after this enterprising missionary. Among the settle- ments shortly afterwards founded by the Sulpicians, we must not forget that which has since become the city of Ogdensburg and which is certainly within the limits of the American Union. About the same time, the Sulpician Fathers gathered about them in settlements reserved for them great numbers of Eedskins, coming from what is now United States territory. We readily recognize among them tribes like the Hurons, Iroquois, Algonquins, Nipis- sings, Sioux, Miamis, and Flatheads, whose hunting grounds certainly extended into our territory. We cannot, of course, give an account of all the Sul- pician missions in eastern Canada which did not come in contact with the country that now belongs to the United States. We must not, however, fail to draw attention to BEGINNINGS OF ST. SULPICE IN THE UNITED STATES 39 the Sulpician missionaries who brought the Gospel to the Micmacs and other Indian tribes in the north of Maine. They and their Jesuit confreres so strongly imbued these kindly Redskins with Christian love and faith that many years after the missions were given up and the neophytes left to themselves they implored Bishop Carroll to send them again their beloved Black Robes. In the west, we must draw attention to the part which Sulpicians and their scholars took in the exploration of the Mississippi valley. The name of Rene-Robert Cave- lier, Sieur de La Salle, is a household word in American history as that of the man who first descended the Mis- sissippi to its delta. Subsequently, he undertook to ex- plore the river, starting from the south, and on this occa- sion M. Tronson, the third superior-general of St Sul- pice, detailed to accompany him de La Salle's brother, the Abbe Jean Cavelier de La Salle, and his two nephews, one a Sulpician belonging to the Montreal seminary, the other an inmate of the seminary of St. Sulpice, Paris. M. Tronson had intended to found a mission in Louisiana, but the murder of de La Salle in 1687 forced him to give up the project. It appears, therefore, that the Society of St. Sulpice had not been strangers to the soil of the United States when in 1791 they settled in Baltimore. When, on Oc- tober 3d of that year, the regular academic exercises were opened, the seminary had a full staff of professors, but only the students that they had brought with them from Trance. Father Nagot and his colleagues, strictly follow- ing the instructions of M. Emery, carried out the rules, the religious exercises, and the course of studies so fa- miliar to them in the seminary of St. Sulpice at Paris. They rose and retired at the same hours, they took their meals with the students at the same hours, they practiced the same ascetic virtues and were animated by the same 40 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES spirit of piety and devotion. So far as the spirit, man- agement, and direction of the seminary were concerned, everything went without flaw and promised the best re- sult for the future. What Bishop Carroll thought of the conduct of his seminary, which he so justly considered to be one of the foundation stones of the Church in the United States, is clearly and strongly expressed in the let- ter quoted at the end of our first chapter. And yet it soon became evident that sore days of trial awaited the new institution. A seminary is made up not only of professors, but also of students, and the students are just as necessary for its success as the faculty. In the stu- dents, or rather in the absence of students, lay the dan- ger threatening the seminary of Baltimore. Father Nagot began the spiritual retreat for the seminarians on December 10, 1791, and on December 15 he dedicated the chapel. But the retreat was followed only by the students brought by him from France, and perhaps by only a part of them, for the name of neither Mr. Cald- well nor of Mr. Tulloh, who accompanied the Sulpicians from St. Malo, is found in the list of priests ordained at St. Mary's Seminary. From other sources no students were added to this diminutive roll. When in the follow- ing year three new seminarians appear, we still find no American; two were Frenchmen, M. Barret and M. Ste- phen Badin, ordained in 1Y93 as the first American priest. The third was the celebrated Prince Demetrius Gallitzm, whose father was the Kussian ambassador at The Hague and whose mother was the Princess Gallitzin, one of the foremost members of the Catholic literary circle at Mun- ster in Westphalia, and the friend of Goethe and the Schle- gels He came to the United States under the name of Smith, for the purpose of studying the conditions in the new republic. In the course of his travels he felt a call to the priesthood, was received into the Baltimore semi- BEGINNINGS OF ST. 8ULP1CE IN THE UNITED STATES 41 nary, and ordained in 1795. He even joined the Society of St. Sulpice, but Bishop Carroll made him promise to devote himself to missionary labor. From 1795 to the summer of 1797 the seminary was without students. In 1797 M. Montdesir returned from Georgetown College to resume his theological studies, and was raised to the priest- hood in 1798. Mr. Matthews entered the seminary in 1797, and was the first American-born student raised to the priesthood (1800) from St. Mary's. If it be asked why candidates for the priesthood were not forthcoming at Baltimore during the last years of the eighteenth century, it is not difficult to find an answer. Owing to the revolutionary troubles in Europe, young American Catholics could not pursue their preliminary studies in the old haunts of American students on the con- tinent of Europe. In the United States, it is true, Bishop Carroll had founded Georgetown College in 1789. But the short time which had elapsed since then was insuffi- cient to provide an adequate number of graduates to sup- ply the needed recruits for the seminary. In fact, when Georgetown began to send forth graduates, the instruc- tors needed for the college itself were to be found only in the ranks of its alumni, and if they meant to study the- ology they did this at the college itself, at the same time teaching the younger students. Of course, this might have been foreseen. But the zeal and enthusiasm of Bishop Carroll, as well as of M. Emery, probably led them to entertain the hope that students would appear from other sources. Meantime M. Emery sent new supplies of professors to Baltimore. Thus on March 29, 1792, in company with MM. Badin and Barret, came Fathers Chicoisneau, David, and Flaget, and on the 24th of June of the same year arrived Fathers Marechal, Richard, and Ciquard, while Father Dubourg, afterward bishop of New Orleans, 42 THE SULPICIANS Itf THE UNITED STATES arrived in December, 1794, and joined the Society of St. Sulpice in 1795. Of course, M. Emery knew full well that all these gentlemen could not find work as professors in St. Mary's Seminary. Indeed, notwithstanding his vigorous insistence that the training of theological stu- dents was the sole aim of his Society, he had assented to the plan of sending Levadoux, Richard, and Chicoisneau as missionaries to the west in the Mississippi Valley. Here there were many French and French-Canadian set- tlers who were sadly in want of pastoral care and many Indians who had been converted to Christianity by the old French missionaries. To bring them the needed spir- itual aid, he thought, would be continuing the old Sulpi- cian missions of Canada, and therefore the work of M. Olier. To Bishop Carroll this work was most welcome, for hitherto he had been unable to do much for the evan- gelization of these western districts. Accordingly, Fa- thers Levadoux and Flaget set out without delay for their new sphere of action, where we shall leave them for the present. But the other Sulpicians, even the original companions of Father ISTagot, sought for work outside of the seminary also. Father David took charge of three missions, resid- ing at Sakia in lower Maryland, and developed a wonder- ful activity, giving four retreats a year to his parishioners. Father Gamier, one of the seminary professors, founded the parish of St. Patrick in the lower part of Baltimore called Fell's Point, and built a church for the faithful. At intervals, in conformity with Bishop Carroll's desires, he turned his steps to districts lying farther away from Baltimore, where he attended to the spiritual wants of the people. Neither fatigue nor the terrors of the yellow fever hindered him in the performance of these duties. Father Tessier, another member of St. Mary's faculty, in company with M. Chicoisneau, organized a little par- BEGINNINGS OF ST. SULPICE IN THE UNITED STATES 43 ish within the seminary itself, where they busied them- selves especially with instructing the faithful. Later he became interested in the negroes, and together with Father Dubourg established a small negro parish. For thirty-one years he taught catechism to the colored children of the neighborhood, also devoting much time to the promotion of the spiritual interests of their parents. Father Ciquard was sent by Bishop Carroll to the northeast extremity of his all-embracing diocese, to the forests of Maine. Here the remnants of the Micmacs, who had received the Christian faith, in part at least, from Sulpician missionaries, and had preserved it for many years after the English drove out the French, had sent envoys to beg Bishop Carroll to send them some Black Eobes. The bishop sent M. Ciquard, who remained with them until he joined his brethren at Montreal. One of the later Sulpician arrivals, Father Marechal, destined to be the second successor of Bishop Carroll, spent some time among the old Maryland Catholics of St. Mary's County. In 1793 he was sent to Bohemia Manor, Maryland. He served this mission up to 1799, giving, moreover, much attention to the temporal administration of the Manor. In 1802 he was sent to Georgetown College, where he taught philosophy. Father Flaget was destined by M. Emery for the western missions in the Illinois country, and thither he went shortly after his arrival. Only two years later, however, he was re- called from the west by Bishop Carroll and named vice- president of Georgetown College, where he worked for two years. In 1799 we find him at St. Mary's Seminary and in 1802-1808 his name appears as one of the pro- fessors of St. Mary's College. In 1795 Father Nagot, the American superior, with the consent of the superior-general, Father Emery, re- ceived into the Society of St. Sulpice Fr. Dubourg, who 44 THE STTLPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES later on became bishop of New Orleans. This energetic and eloquent clergyman had for several years been presi- dent of a boys' seminary at Issy, having been appointed to the position by M. Nagot, though he was not yet a Sulpician. In 1792, when so many of the Sulpicians were imprisoned and slain in Paris, M. Dubourg only escaped disguised as a fiddler; in 1794 he reached America; in 1795, being a man of great executive capacity and of a very attractive manner, he was placed at the head of Georgetown College by Bishop Carroll, who had great con- fidence in him. He resigned this position in January, 1799, to return to the seminary. However, both of these gentlemen about this time went to Cuba to assist another Sulpician exile, M. Babad, to found a college at Havana. The enterprise proved a failure, for the Spanish Govern- ment, suspecting the three Sulpicians because they were Frenchmen, forbade them to carry on their educational work, and MM. Dubourg and Babad returned to Balti- more. M. Flaget fell ill and returned in July, 1801. They had made a very favorable impression on the inhabi- tants of Havana, however, and brought with them a dozen Cuban boys, with whom M. Dubourg attempted to open an academy. Bishop Carroll looked with disfavor on this project, as it appeared to him likely to enter into competi- tion with Georgetown College. But to enable the Sulpi- cians to recover their outlay on the new institution, he per- mitted them to carry on the scheme for two years. Fathers Levadoux and Eichard, the latter of whom arrived in the United States on June 24, 1792, shortly afterward turned their way westward, where we find them first at Louisville and later at Vincennes, Detroit, Sault Ste. Marie, and other places, busily engaged in the French and Indian missions. Another Sulpician, M. Dilhet, was also sent to the west, where he worked in conjunction with MM. Levadoux and REV. DEMETRIUS A. GALLITZIX. BEGINNINGS OF ST. SULPICE IN THE UNITED STATES 45 Kichard. After his ordination in 1795, Prince Gallitzin, who had become a member of the Society of St. Sulpice, immediately began his activity as missionary in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia. His ability and zeal were a guarantee of his success, and his name has become a house- hold word in Pennsylvania because of his successful estab- lishment of the colony of Loretto. Eleven of the twelve Sulpicians who during the last decade of the eighteenth century had sought our shores were thus either wholly or partly engaged in ministering to the wants of the faithful in the vastly extended new republic. They worked as missionaries in far eastern Maine, on the Great Lakes, in the valley of the Missis- sippi, in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia; they worked as missionaries among the whites, the blacks, and the redskins, as evangelizers among Catholics and Prot- estants ; they became the masters of the American youth in Bishop Carroll's deeply cherished College of George- town. Even the venerable superior, Father Nagot, be- sides the care of his Society and his seminary at Balti- more, assisted the American bishop in the work of the cathedral and took part in the earliest synods gathered by him in the capitol of the American Church. But Father Nagot, and still more the head of the Society, M. Emery, felt that they were drifting away from the primary and chief object of the Sulpician Society. The one had come to the new world and the other sent thither his brethren to be the pioneers in the work of the clerical education of the new Church. They did not spare effort, or money, or prayers to found St. Mary's Ecclesiastical Seminary; they had dreamed of providing the Church of the new republic with a learned and zealous national clergy, and now the halls of St. Mary's were practically vacant ; and the day when these lifelong trainers and teachers of wor- thy ecclesiastics might expect efficiently to fulfil their 46 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES chosen vocation seeming more and more to recede, nat- urally filled them with sad misgivings and forebodings. As the years advanced, affairs mended in France. The advent of Napoleon and the conclusion of the Concordat again opened the French seminaries. After the blood- shed and desolation of the Revolution, the want of an active, youthful and expanding French clergy cried aloud for the reopening and creation of seminaries. M. Emery was appealed to from many quarters to furnish his well- tried and experienced ecclesiastical educators to revive clerical activities in his native country. But his Society had been paralyzed for a dozen years, and few recruits had come to devote themselves to the absolutely necessary seminary work. Naturally, his eyes wandered across the great western main, where so many of his brethren conse- crated to clerical education were working hard, but work- ing for ends which, however laudable, were foreign to the primary aims of the Society. All these considerations naturally tended to make him feel that he and his breth- ren were practically faithless to the very purpose of the Society and that the American St. Sulpice was betraying the cause of ecclesiastical education. He exchanged views with his dear old lieutenant, Fr. Nagot, and that gentle soul, who up to the age of sixty had devoted his time and his entire self to the work of the Sulpician seminary, could not conceal from himself that the American Sulpi- cians, whilst strenuous workers in the vineyard of the Lord, were not faithful disciples of the Reverend M. Olier. What was to be done ? M. Emery had long ago become convinced that it was impossible to make bricks without straw; in other words, that the upper seminary presup- posed the lower seminary or its equivalent. He had, therefore, impressed upon the Sulpicians who went west- ward the necessity of starting ecclesiastical academies for boys who showed signs of a priestly vocation. There are BEGINNINGS OF ST. SULPICE IN THE UNITED STATES 4:7 letters extant impressing this necessity upon Bishop Flaget and others. The old superior-general, notwith- standing his occasional disgust and horror at the Revolu- tionary excesses in France, always remained a loyal Frenchman, and this made him feel that, though the east- ern United States might prove but barren soil for priestly vocations, the settlements of the French-Canadians in the west would turn out to be all the more productive. But the facts did not answer his expectations, and the story of New Orleans and the experiences of Father Gibault demonstrate that there was no violent devotion to the Church to be looked for in the valley of the Mississippi. The failure of the Sulpician disciples to build up boys' seminaries in the west was very discouraging to M. Emery and M. Nagot. Nor was Bishop Carroll's check to M. Dubourg's attempt to create an academy at Baltimore by any means likely to ease the old superior's mind. George- town furnished no students to St. Mary's Seminary; the west furnished no students, and now the Baltimore Sul- picians were not permitted to help themselves. Was it not evident that at this rate the St. Sulpice of America could no longer be the St. Sulpice of M. Olier, that the men who had devoted themselves to the education of the priesthood must inevitably become missionaries and par- ish priests ? And while every new message from America impressed this sad picture of failure and faithlessness more deeply on his mind, the bishops of France from day to day cried more loudly for the fulfilment of M. Oner's schemes for the creation of new seminaries whither his brethren might be summoned to do the work for which they had become Sulpicians. Of course, these views and feelings found their expres- sion in M. Emery's correspondence with Bishop Carroll and with Father Nagot. By vocation and lifelong prac- tice, M. Nagot was a Sulpician and sympathized with 48 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES the feelings and schemes of his superior. On the other hand, was Bishop Carroll wanting in sympathy with M. Emery's views? He had been too good a Jesuit not to appreciate loyalty to one's order. But what impressed the American prelate more than the necessities of the Society of St. Sulpice were the necessities of his diocese, the necessity of his flock spread over a large part of the continent. What was he to do? All in all, he had but a few priests. What could he do if at one fell swoop twelve of them were taken away from him, twelve of the most efficient helps in his apostolic work? There have come down to us four letters, two from the Bishop of Baltimore to M. Emery, and two from the Sulpician su- perior to Bishop Carroll, which are in a way the pathetic expression of the mental struggle that went on at this time in these equally well intentioned and zealous men. We cannot do better than to present them to our readers now. M. EMERY TO BISHOP CARROLL, AUGUST 9, 1800 "I had advised our gentlemen to bring up in their house young men showing a disposition to become priests accord- ing to the wish of the Council of Trent; but M. Nagot has informed me that you declined to authorize this policy because you feared in this way to injure the interest of Georgetown College. I respect your intentions, Mon- seigneur; I respect your wisdom, and at this distance from Baltimore it does not become me to judge of the reasons which led you to object to our plan; but it seems to me that what outweighs every other consideration is the creation of an American clergy ; for what is a diocese whose priests are all strangers, many of them unknown, and who are brought there by circumstances of a pass- ing nature? BEGINNINGS OF ST. SULPICE IN THE UNITED STATES 49 "M. Nagot tells me that it was believed possible to es- cape this difficulty by educating a certain number of young men without reference to the priestly vocation, because it is hoped to pay for the expenses of seminary students from the profit thus made. But I noticed from his let- ters that all this was not done without some dissatisfaction on your part. In regard to this I have the honor to assure you, Monseigneur, I shall never approve any undertak- ing of our gentlemen which meets with your sincere and constant opposition. Such approval on my side would be entirely opposed to the spirit of our Society, which can do nothing except in harmony with the bishops. I have, therefore, not approved the establishment of the academy because it lacked your approval." l BISHOP CARROLL TO M. EMERY, JANUARY, 1801 "I am not astonished that you have been pained because the seminary founded at the cost of so many sacrifices on your part and such promising hopes has been without students for so long a time. Like yourself, I am thor- oughly persuaded of the little reliance to be placed on the recruits which come from Europe, so to say, by accident, and of the great advantages to be derived from the priests brought up in the spirit and under the discipline of the seminary. I declare to you, as I have always said every- where, that I have never seen or known anywhere men better able by their character, their talents, and their virtues to train ecclesiastics, such as religion requires at present, than the gentlemen of your Society. Therefore, I believe that it would be one of the greatest misfortunes that could happen to this diocese if it were to lose them. I have these feelings so strongly impressed on my mind that I was frightened when I heard that for a short * GoBselin, op. oit., roL 11, p. 102 sqq. 50 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES time you had intended to recall them. I earnestly beg of you to give up this thought and to feel sure that in the end they will fulfil the purpose of your Society and the views you had when you sent them here." 1 BISHOP CARROLL TO M. EMERY, SEPTEMBER, 1801 "... I conjure you by the bowels of Our Lord not to take all of them away from us, and if it is necessary for me to undergo the trial of losing the greater number, I beg of you to leave us at least a seed, which may yield fruit in the season decreed by the Lord. . . ." 2 In a later letter, when M. Emery continued to insist on the return of the American Sulpicians, the bishop takes a sharper tone and complains of the entire suppression of an institution, on the lasting character of which he had always counted, and declares that if the Sulpicians go back to Europe the only monument they will leave behind them will be a college. In reply M. Emery, to justify his action, wrote the following letter: M. EMERY TO BISHOP CARROLL, FEBRUARY 2, 1803 "... I come to the root of the matter; surely in the entire course of the French Revolution nothing was done similar to what we did for you and your diocese. A small Society like ours, in fact, the smallest Society of all, offers to establish a seminary in your diocese; it sends you quite a large number of members; it even sends you seminarians to enable you to start the seminary work at once ; the Society sends them at its own expense ; it undertakes to support these members, and, in fact, has ever since then supported them ; it sacrifices to this insti- tution the greater part of its savings and gives nearly 1 Gosselin, op. cit., vol. li, p. 103 ff. 'Gosselin, op. cit., vol. 11, p. 104 sqq. BEGINNINGS OP ST. SULPICE IN THE UNITED STATES 51 100,000 francs. What is the result of all this ? At the end of ten years things stand as they did on the first day. At present there is no question of giving up the Baltimore Seminary, because that seminary, in truth, has never existed; there is question only of giving up the project of the seminary. From time to time promises were made that students should be sent there; we were made to regard this as a grace and favor ; but the students did not come, and difficulties arose where we should have least expected them. You tell me, Monseigneur, that the Society will leave behind it no monument except a college. I hope that you will bear in mind to some degree all the services which its members have rendered you during ten years. If there is question of complaining, it seems to me that I have a right to complain, since at the end of a ten years' stay, and after many promises, we have done nothing and been able to do nothing of all that we meant to do when entering your diocese. However, I am very far from finding fault with you; we know that you have not been able to do what you wished, and we are always grateful to you for all the kindness you have shown us." 1 It is clear from this correspondence that black clouds had arisen, threatening the very existence of St. Mary's Seminary, and disaster seemed to be in the air. What power could disperse the clouds and restore serene skies to the troubled atmosphere ? The Father of Christendom, Pope Pius VII, proved to be the savior. In 1804 the much-tried pontiff came to Paris to assist at Napoleon's coronation. M. Emery, like a true and loyal son, took the first opportunity to call upon him, and he discussed with him the interests of the Church in France and America. He placed before him his scheme of infusing new life into the French seminaries by recalling the Sulpicians he had sent to America and giving up St. *Gosselin, "Vie de M. Emery," vol. 11, p. 104 ff. 52 THE STJLPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES Mary's Seminary. "My son," said the venerable pontiff, "let it stand yes, let that seminary stand; for it will bear fruit in its own time. To recall its directors in order to employ them here in other seminaries would be to rob Peter to pay Paul." To M. Emery, the Pope's words were a command from heaven. St. Mary's Sem- inary stood and brought forth fruit a hundred-fold. CHAPTEE III ST. MART'S SEMINARY, 1791-1810 ADMINISTRATION OF M. FRANCIS CHARLES NAGOT The essential purpose of the Society of St. Sulpice, as conceived by M. Olier, which was the education of the secular clergy, and the management of clerical seminaries, had been constantly kept in view during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and this was the chief end, as" M. Emery often emphasized in his letters, for which he sent his Sulpician colony to the United States. We have seen how this scheme originated, how it was favored, nay, almost dictated, by a variety of circumstances in France and in the United States. We have accompanied the Sulpicians on their voyage to Baltimore, seen them land, and with prompt action establish themselves on the very spot which has been the scene of their devoted labors to this day. We have seen M. Emery's original colony increased in numbers by new arrivals, we have seen most of these accessions scattered northward and westward to work as missionaries in the Lord's vineyard. But though necessity knows no law, and though M. Emery, as a practical man, was ready to give way to necessity, still he always clung with unwavering firmness to his original plan and to the ideals of his Society. It is time for us to revert to the story of Bishop Car- roll's and M. Emery's initial scheme and to trace the annals of St. Mary's Seminary, as the new institution was called. We shall not conceal from our readers the 53 54 THE STJLPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES fact that the early records of this institution, destined to be in the truest sense the nursery of the American Church, are far from full. Its beginnings were very small, and its childhood necessarily modest and quiet. Its growth, like that of all organisms destined to thrive, was slow, and its development stormy. But childhood is in many ways the most interesting period of man's life, and the same is true of the life of institutions. Therefore, notwith- standing its insignificant beginnings, the story of St. Mary's Seminary challenges our interest from its infancy. The professors sent by M. Emery to lay the foundations of his new seminary may be regarded as the acorn from which the great oak was to bud and grow. To enable us, therefore, to watch its early fortunes nothing will be more serviceable than to study the men placed by M. Emery at the head of St. Mary's Seminary. He had been care- ful and wary in selecting the new faculty, having observed the natural processes of life too closely to be unaware that a young institution must be animated by young life, that youth with its suppleness can weather many storms to which even the gnarled oak would fall a victim. So he had selected as his two principal professors men in the very heyday of youth, M. Gamier, twenty-nine years old, and M. Tessier, thirty-three. But as vigor without wisdom is exposed to many reverses, he gave them as guide and director a gentle sage approaching the sixties, a man tried in practical life, a good organizer, who only five years before had trans- formed the lower seminary of which he was superior from an institution with four classes to one with seven classes, wholly changing its scope and character. This was M. Francis Charles ISTagot. He was a man accustomed to command, but sympathetic and prudent. M. Emery had selected him to conduct his negotiations with Bishop Carroll. M. Nagot had shown himself deserving of the M. FRANCIS CHARLES NAGOT. ST. MABY'S SEMINABY, 1791-1810 55 superior's confidence, for his mission had ended in suc- cess. Moreover, M. Nagot had more than ordinary lit- erary talents, for Emery had chosen him to write a life of M. Olier, which was ready for publication at the time Nagot sailed for America. The troubles of the French Revolution put off its publication until 1818, when it was printed by order of M. Duclaux, M. Emery's successor as superior-general of the Society of St. Sulpice. M. Nagot was suggested to M. Emery as the right man to conduct the new American enterprise to a successful issue, not only by his past successes, but also because he had gained the good will of Bishop Carroll, and this he retained during all the time that he guided the destinies of the seminary. He was a kind-hearted man, a gentle- man in the true sense of the word, of attractive manners and a sympathetic heart. M. Emery's letters to him during his imprisonment, when death stared him in the face, show how close were the ties which united him to Nagot and how completely he trusted him. Nagot de- served this confidence, for while, on the one hand, he was sympathetically responsive to his friend's wishes, he was, on the other hand, firm enough and honest enough to speak his mind when he thought the superior wrong. This was the case when, in 1797, Nagot wrote to M. Emery disapproving of his adhesion to the oath of liberty and equality and urged him to withdraw from its support. The letter stung the old superior, but he trusted Nagot to the day of his death. Only a short time before his decease, in 1811, when his Society's existence was threatened in France, Emery p^vposed to make M. Nagot the superior- general of St. Sulpice in America, including Canada. The tatter's health and other circumstances forbade the carrying out of this project. Such was the man selected by M. Emery to be the first head of St. Mary's Seminary, and experience proved the wisdom of his choice. 56 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES If we ask what was the sphere of M. ISTagot's activity in the new seminary it would be misleading to say that it comprised the usual duties of the head of a house for clerical education. Of course, he performed all the duties of this position, but he did a great deal more. He de- termined its plans and its future policy, infusing into it his spirit, which was the spirit of loyalty to M. Olier and to M. Emery and above all to himself, for M. Nagot was not only the agent who carried out the aims and inten- tions of his superiors, but their convinced disciple, their honest incarnation. He carried out M. Emery's injunc- tions to be guided by the views of M. Olier and his suc- cessors, not merely in a spirit of obedience, but because he was convinced that their spirit and policy were expe- dient, rightful, and necessary. So from the beginning he strove to make St. Mary's another St. Sulpice, and because he and his brethren were imbued with its spirit he succeeded in doing so. Not that the new home of clerical learning was a slavish imitation of the French model. This would not have been in the spirit of M. Olier and M. Emery. But what was vital in the principles, in the practices, and in the spirit of the older institution was faithfully reproduced in the new. What these practices and customs were will appear later on. Meantime, we must realize at least some of the extraordi- nary duties laid on M. Nagot by the novelty of his position. To begin with, he was obliged to acquire a new lan- guage, and while this was equally true in the case of M. Tessier and M. Gamier, M. Nagot's task was far more difficult. An old gentleman of sixty finds it much harder to acquire a new language than a man of thirty. Again, all the Sulpicians had to fit themselves for their new environment, for the peculiar needs and requirements of the young, rapidly rising town with few established ST. MABY'S SEMINARY, 1791-1810 57 traditions, to the busy life of men for whom little had been done by their ancestors and who must work out for themselves nearly all that constitutes the comforts and adornments of life, and to accommodate themselves to the American spirit of self-help, which was the natural out- come of the juvenile conditions of the land. Nagot was a Frenchman cast among Americans, a Frenchman well advanced in years and of strong con- servative tendencies, but at the same time a very intelli- gent French gentleman. How much that meant was shown both by the testimony of their American contem- poraries, who treated men like Cheverus, Flaget, and Dubois not only with respect, but even with reverence, and also by Protestant England, who did herself immortal honor by her generous treatment of the exiled clerical victims of the French Revolution. M. Nagot's spotless character, his unselfish devotion, his earnest desire to promote the interests of the young American Church, and his whole-souled sympathy with the moderate freedom of the American Republic soon gained him friends and influence. He was beloved and trusted by Bishop Carroll. His native moderation and good temper and his prudent diplomacy made him an ideal intermediary between the Sulpician superior-general and the Bishop of Baltimore. He was always ready to be of service to the latter and always truly loyal to the traditional principles of the former. Along with his brethren of the seminary he became an impressive ele- ment of the Catholic clergy. Sunday after Sunday their presence at the principal functions added to the distinc- tion and solemnity of divine service. During the week, he and his brethren helped the bishop and his regular assistants in every possible way. Gradually the Sulpician Fathers, having sufficiently mastered the English language, aided the secular clergy 58 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES in the pulpit, and long before the end of M. Tessier's administration in 1829, we see that gentleman and others of the faculty of St. Mary's able to grace the pulpit even on unusually festive occasions. Of course, though he had M. Tessier as econome or procurator to aid him in the management of the temporalities of the house, M. Nagot naturally felt that his was the principal responsi- bility for the economic progress of the seminary. No doubt, also, whenever there were student classes in the house, and in fact at all times, he presided at the com- munity exercises and inspired his brethren with his own gentle and charitable spirit by both word and example. To all these domestic activities were joined, if not a supervisory, at least an advisory authority over the other Sulpicians who were serving Bishop Carroll at a distance from Baltimore, either as missionaries or as professors, nay, even as presidents in Georgetown College. M. Nagot was a man of many duties and responsi- bilities, and a wise, faithful, and industrious servant of his Society, his bishop, and his seminarians. He was not a young man, and the wear and tear of his new life in Baltimore could not fail to make an impression on his constitution. As early as 1795, when he had just entered the sixties, his strength began to fail. A stroke of apo- plexy, though slight, must have greatly impaired his vigor and power of work, but he recovered to a certain degree. When in 1804 he was recalled to Franc by M. Emery he was ready to obey, though, like MM. Gamier and Tessier, he had grown fond of his new home and was the trusted and devoted friend of Bishop Carroll. How- ever, he was detained by illness, apparently connected with the paralytic stroke which prostrated him ten years before. He therefore continued his work at Baltimore and eventually M. Emery changed his plans and resolved not to disturb the Sulpician colony at Baltimore. ST. MART'S SEMINARY, 1791-1810 59 M. Nagot was more than ever determined to make the seminary a success. When other sources of supply failed to send the needed students, he determined to provide them himself. He was now some seventy-three years old and needed rest or at least some quiet regular employ- ment. But the fire of zeal was still burning in the veteran. He left Baltimore, which had become a second home to him, and betook himself to a farm located at Pigeon Hill in Pennsylvania, where he founded a lower seminary, which was attended by the German Catholic boys of the neighborhood who showed a vocation for the priest- hood. Their numbers did not go beyond ten or twelve, but he was not discouraged. He opened his school and astructed the boys in the elements of a high school edu- cation. In 1809 M. Emery congratulated him on his zeal and on the progress of his undertaking. But at the very time that the superior-general wrote his letter of congratulation, Pigeon Hill, or Friendly Hall, had ceased to exist and its students had been transferred to Mount St. Mary's, near Emmitsburg. M. Nagot returned to St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, and nursed his gradually developing institution until 1810, when after his sacerdotal golden jubilee he was allowed to resign. This was about the time that M. Emery proposed to make the venerable priest, now in his seventy-seventh year, the general superior of the Society of St. Sulpice in America. M. Nagot was an industrious writer. He was not only the author of several books but also the translator of a number of English Catholic classics into French. A list of his literary works is subjoined. 1 The youngest and perhaps the most distinguished member of St. Mary's faculty was M. Anthony Gamier, 1 "Recuell de Conversions remarquables. nouvellement operees en quel- ques Protestants," Paris, 1791 ; a "Life of M. Oiler," 1818. He translated Hay's "Miracles" and "Devout Christian." Butler's "Feasts and Fasts," Challoner's "Catholic Christian Instructed," etc. 60 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES who at the time of his arrival in Baltimore was twenty- nine years old. He had been for several years professor of dogma at Lyons, and presumably M. Emery intended him to fill the same chair in Baltimore. He ended his career as superior-general of the Society of St. Sulpice. M. Gamier, when settled at St. Mary's, soon accommo- dated himself to the new atmosphere. He was a gifted linguist and when, twelve years later, he returned to France, he spoke and wrote the English language well. He soon made many friends at Baltimore, and no member of his theological faculty so captivated Bishop Carroll as M. Gamier. On the other hand, the latter became very fond of his American surroundings, and when M. Emery recalled him to France, in 1803, he honestly confessed that to comply with the call was to tear asunder many ties and many friendships which bound him to his new home. It was not without a struggle that he returned to Paris, but, like his brethren, M. Gamier knew no compromise in a question of duty. When he read the letter of recall to Bishop Carroll, the latter suggested that he might with a good conscience remain at Baltimore, since M. Emery had not bidden him return by virtue of his vow of obedi- ence. Gamier made haste to reply, "But, Monseigneur, the Sulpicians do not take any vows and our superiors do not give any commands." A few weeks later he was in Paris. During the years (1791-1803) that M. Gamier spent at St. Mary's his professorial work was not very absorb- ing. As we know, students were lacking at the seminary. But Gamier was a man of energy and hated idleness. He was a conscientious professor of philosophy, and we learn from his correspondence that he was an active worker on the missions. The very year after his arrival at Balti- more, the bishop entrusted him with the task of organizing ST. MARY'S SEMINABY, 1791-1810 61 St. Patrick's congregation at Fell's Point, near the harbor of Baltimore. This is still one of the most populous parishes in the city. Bishop Carroll was so much pleased with his work that he wished to take him away from the seminary altogether. But to this M. Emery objected, and M. Gamier, who was a born student, devoted himself to his studies. Besides being a student of philosophy, he was a He- brew scholar, and much of his leisure time at Baltimore, we may infer, was given to perfecting his knowledge of that language. After his return to Paris, Napoleon's Minister of Worship offered him the Hebrew professor- ship at the French University, but Gamier was too loyal a Sulpician to be tempted. He preferred to teach Hebrew at the Seminary of St. Sulpice. A young and vigorous scholar and teacher like Gamier was an ideal man for a young institution. On the one hand, he was inspired by love of learning and of teaching; on the other hand, he was a very practical man. On his return to France he became M. Emery's most confidential friend and his constant companion at St. Sulpice. The old superior understood his man well, and when he looked about for one to whom he could safely entrust his personal fortune he chose M. Gamier, and made him his sole heir. He could not have made a better choice. It is refreshing to read the executor's account of how he baffled both Napoleon's Minister of Worship and Cardinal Maury, the Archbishop of Paris, when they sought to appropriate the furniture of St. Sulpice and the property at Issy. It is hard to say whether he is entitled to more credit for his shrewdness or for his firm- ness. At all events, no native American could have done better than this attractive, scholarly French Orientalist, who earned the gratitude of many generations of Sul- pician students by saving for them their attractive home 62 THE STJLPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES at Issy. Gamier had a considerable reputation as a humorist, and in Sulpician circles in Paris many an amusing story is still told of him. M. Garnier's departure from the United States did not extinguish his interest in the American Republic and least of all in the seminary with whose early fortunes he had been so closely associated. He not only kept up his American friendships, but was deeply interested in the progress of St. Mary's, and induced several young Sulpi- cians to come to Baltimore. M. Deluol was one of them. Two years after his election as superior-general in 1827, he sent M. Carriere to Baltimore as his visitor, or special rep- resentative, of whose activity we shall have occasion to speak hereafter. M. John Mary Tessier was selected by M. Emery to be the third member of the new Baltimore faculty. Like M. Gamier, he remained at the seminary permanently, never leaving it even during the two or three years when no students were there. He was more closely associated with its history than either M. Nagot or M. Gamier, for, having become the head of the seminary after M. Nagot's resignation in 1810, he ruled its destinies until 1829. He was the treasurer or econome of the institution, and as such had much to do with the domestic order of the house.. His office, of course, required his constant presence at Baltimore, even when there were no students at the seminary. His work included classes in both moral and dogmatic theology. Whether he taught any other branches, such as liturgy or sacred music, we do not know, though it is likely enough, and we may with much probability assign Sacred Scripture to M. Gamier. But M. Tessier, who was in his thirty-fourth year when he came to the United States, was no more inclined to be a drone than were MM. Nagot and Gamier. At Bishop Carroll's request and ST. MAST'S SEMINABY, 1791-1810 63 with the approval of M. Emery he, too, devoted much of his time to outside work, in which we find him interested even after the stagnation period of St. Mary's ceased, and he had assumed the direction of the seminary in succession to M. Nagot. The missionary work with which M. Tessier's name is most closely connected, and which in fact gives him a special place in the history of the Catholic Church in the United States, was the care of the colored people in Baltimore. In 1801 there were in that city a large num- ber of colored Catholics who had come thither with their French masters from San Domingo and other West In- dian isles. Their unfortunate position appealed to the good Sulpician professor. He devoted himself to their interests, made them a part of the congregation at St. Mary's chapel and worked for them heart and soul, until finally it became a special negro parish. Even after his elevation to the presidency of the seminary he continued to be deeply interested in their welfare. How greatly appreciated was his activity in St. Mary's Seminary in its early days appears from the fact that when M. Nagot resigned as superior in 1810, M. Tessier was designated as his successor. Up to the year 1803, MM. Nagot, Gamier, and Tessier practically formed the faculty of St. Mary's Seminary. At intervals, it is true, other Sulpician Fathers resided with them at Baltimore. Thus we find that M. Levadoux was at St. Mary's from 1791-92, and again from 1802-03. But to one who knows the customs of the Sulpicians it seems more likely that M. Levadoux was a temporary guest in the house than a definitely appointed professor. After a short sojourn in Philadelphia and St. Mary's County, Md., M. Marechal l spent five years at Bohemia Manor. Then he taught theology at St. Mary's for a short 1 According to the table In the "Memorial Volume of the Centenary of St. Mary's Seminary of St. Salplce, Baltimore, Md.," M. Marechal wa 64 THE STJLPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES time (1799-1801), and from 1802 to 1803 he taught phil- osophy at Georgetown. We may, therefore, safely assume that MM. Nagot, Gamier, and Tessier constituted the faculty of St. Mary's from its opening until 1803, the date of M. Garnier's return to Europe. Having become acquainted with the governing body of the new seminary, we must now briefly study their work, and this all the more as we rarely meet elsewhere a picture of Catholic seminary life. When on the point of sailing for Baltimore, M. Nagot received the instructions from M. Emery contained in the previous chapter. The superior-general impressed upon the head of the American mission the paramount importance of implanting in his American colony the spirit, the virtues, the traditions, and, as far as possible, the rules received by the Sulpicians from their founder, M. Olier. These words were not wasted on M. Nagot, and from the very day of the dedication of St. Mary's began the rule of M. Oner's spirit and regulation. We have already set these forth in a general way. What we now propose to -do is to examine how the principles of St. Sulpice were put into action. Our readers will remember that M. Emery had pro- vided Bishop Carroll not only with a seminary and pro- fessors, but also with five students, who were to be the seed later to develop into the great seminary of Balti- more. Most of them had already begun their theological studies in various French seminaries. They had, there- fore, been to some extent impregnated with the Sulpician spirit, and were well fitted to spread it in the new insti- tution. Of course, this did not relieve the faculty of the chief burden so far as establishing its spirit and discipline was concerned. at St Mary's from 1792-1803. Bnt this is contradicted by the article "Marshal" in Appleton's "Encyclopedia of American Biography" and by passages in Shea's "History of the Catholic Church in the United States " The dates in the "Memorial Volume" are not altogether reliable. ST. MARY'S SEMINARY, 1791-1810 65 Seminary life, according to the Sulpician idea, was not merely, nor even chiefly, the life of a student. It was the training of a man willing to become the guide and helpmate of his fellow-Christians, according to the de- signs of Providence. Therefore, the seminarians were not merely to study, but also to practise the virtues to instil which into their future parishioners would be the principal object of their lives. They were to make good Christians by first being good Christians themselves. They were not to preach first, and to practise afterward, but to preach by practising. They were to teach respect for authority by displaying submission to their superiors. According to the rule of St. Sulpice, the young men entrusted to the care of the Fathers rose every morning at five o'clock, and this rule was carried out at Baltimore as soon as the institution was organized. After dressing, they devoted from three-quarters of an hour to an hour to meditation and then attended Mass. An hour or more was then given to study. Breakfast took place at eight o'clock. In France, after the fashion of the country, fifteen minutes sufficed for the Sulpician breakfast, but in Baltimore the climatic conditions and American cus- tom somewhat prolonged that meal. The dinner bell rang at twelve o'clock and tea was served in the evening at seven. Between a half hour and forty-five minutes were allowed for the former meal and about a half hour for the latter. Both meals were followed by an hour's recreation, while fifteen minutes were allowed for recrea- tion after breakfast. The students, whether of philosophy or theology, had two lectures a day, one at nine o'clock in the morning, the other in the afternoon at three o'clock, both of which lasted an hour. After the lecture the pro- fessor remained in the lecture room for a quarter of an hour to allow students to propose questions on points which they had failed to understand. 66 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES The seminarians could not absent themselves either from meals or from recreation without being authorized to do so by the superior of the house. While the physical needs of the young Levites were thus diligently cared for, their spiritual wants were not neglected. Throughout the day their studies and their recreations were interspersed with short exercises of piety, which impressed upon them the fact that they were preparing to become in a special sense God's servants. Fifteen minutes before dinner they assembled in chapel for the examination of conscience, which was prefaced by reading on their knees a chapter from Holy Writ. At dinner a chapter from the Bible, the life of a saint, or some Church history was read, and, as is usual in religious houses, the martyrology, that is to say, a list of the saints whose feast falls on the day. The after dinner recreation was closed by the recitation of the rosary. Before tea half an hour was devoted to spiritual reading, consisting of explanations of the rules, or treatises on the Christian virtues. The time not appointed to exercises of devotion, to meals and recreation, was assigned to class instruction and to private study, two hours daily being allotted to philoso- phy for the students of that science, and one hour each daily to dogma and to moral theology for the theologians. If we analyze this distribution of time it will be found that every day eight hours, or one-third of the twenty- four hours, were given to sleep. Of the remaining sixteen, about three hours were assigned to prayer, four hours to meals and recreation and eight or nine to class and private study. This daily program, we are told by M. Icard, who was superior-general of St. Sulpice in the eighties of the last century, in his interesting and instructive work entitled "Traditions de la Compagnie des Pretres de Saint-Sul- pice," varied but slightly from the distribution of time ST. MABY'S SEMINAET, 1791-1810 67 in vogue in M. Oiler's own day. As we shall see here- after, M. Magnien, the superior of St. [Mary's Seminary during the last decades of the nineteenth century, sub- divided the subjects of study more definitely, and made some other changes. But at bottom the daily program of studies in Sulpician seminaries does not vary radically from that followed by St. Mary's students from its very foundation. Besides these daily exercises there were others that were weekly or monthly. On Saturday before night prayers, and at the same hour on the eves of greater fes- tivals, the young men assembled to listen to one of their fellow-students who delivered a discourse on the Gospel of the following day, or on some other topic suited to the season. These discourses were subject to criticism by the professors. On Sundays and festival days the semi- narians with their professors assisted at the high Mass, Vespers and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament in the cathedral, and Bishop Carroll in some of his letters refers to the great impression made on the worshippers in the cathedral by the solemnity accruing to the services from the presence of the seminary professors. The rules of the institution required the seminarians to confess weekly. As to communion, there was no hard and fast rule. Students were expected to lead so virtuous a life that their directors would permit them to communicate very frequently. The entire body of rules was obviously dictated by a spirit of manliness and common sense and inspired by a full appreciation of the lofty mission for which the young levites were destined. Such in the main were the regulations which governed the new seminary of the Society of St. Sulpice from the time when it was opened in October, 1791. There were only five students, if indeed there were so many, for of the five gentlemen selected by M. Emery to be the pioneers 68 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES of St. Mary's, we find that only three were ordained there. At least two of these spoke English, perhaps also the third. Besides their regular studies they prohably acted as in- structors in English to their professors. Perrineau and Floyd were theologians, for they were ordained in 1794 and 1795, while Montdesir, who was a philosopher, was not ordained until 1798. In 1792, St. Mary's received a new student in the per- son of Stephen Badin, who was to have the distinction of being the first Catholic priest ordained in the United States. He was born at Orleans in 1768, and while en- gaged in his theological studies was compelled to seek refuge in America from the terrors of the French Revo- lution. In 1793, a year after his arrival in Baltimore, he was ordained. The next year he spent at Georgetown teaching and perfecting his knowledge of English. Then he went to Kentucky and remained in the West during the remainder of his life, except during nine years, from 1819-1828, which he spent in Europe. In Kentucky he built a number of churches for the pioneer Catholics, and proved an equally successful missionary among the Pot- tawattomie Indians after his return from Europe. He was besides a man of literary tastes, being the author of the first Catholic book published in the West, entitled "Principles of Catholics." He also wrote Latin verse, several of his poems having come down to us. The writer's friend, Father Charles Hippolyte de Luynes, S.J., who was professor of theology in Bishop Flaget's seminary in Bardstown during the thirties of the last century, and was himself a graduate of St. Sul- pice in Paris, knew Father Badin in the West and spoke of him as a genial, clever man, with no little Gallic wit, very popular among Catholics and non-Catholics alike. To Father de Luynes the writer is indebted for the fol- lowing story, which is too good not to be recorded. ST. MABY'S SEMINARY, 1791-1810 69 Father Badin's Sunday missionary trips often brought him into contact with some of his Protestant confreres, who put up at the same inns as himself. Badin was a great favorite with them all and equally popular was his mare, which the old missionary had ridden for many years. One Saturday evening Father Badin came to a certain inn mounted on a new horse, and immediately two or three of his Protestant colleagues became solicitous and inquired for the priest's quadruped friend. Badin with every sign of grief told them that the mare was dead. One of the ministers thereupon expressed the hope that Father Badin had given her Extreme Unction. The latter ruefully shook his head and, manifesting his disgust, de- clared that the old mare had apostatized and turned Prot- estant. Badin died in 1853. The second recruit who came to St. Mary's Seminary was the Eussian prince, Demetrius Augustine Gallitzin. He became a student of St. Mary's in November, 1792, and was ordained in 1795 under the name of Schmet or Smith. He did not, as is sometimes stated, become a Catholic in Baltimore, having taken this step five years before. He was a son of Prince Gallitzin, the Russian ambassador at The Hague, and his wife, a daughter of the Prussian General von Schmettau. Both the Prince and the Princess grew up as Rationalists, but in 1786 the Princess became a Catholic, and later was the center of the Catholic literary circle in Minister, Westphalia. Prince Gallitzin, the son, before his ordination asked to be received as a member of the Society of St. Sulpice. His reception took place on February 23, 1795. Bishop Carroll insisted upon his going on the mission, and the Prince never rejoined the community. He founded various Catholic colonies in Pennsylvania, the best known of which, Loretto, exists to this day. His name became a household word in the mountainous districts of Pennsyl- 70 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES vania and Maryland. Several biographies of the Prince have been published, one in German by Father Lemcke of Minister and one in English by Miss Sarah Brownson. M. Perrineau, after studying two and one-half years at St. Mary's, was raised to the priesthood in 1794. John Floyd, an Englishman and convert, was ordained Decem- ber 19, 1795, and also proved to be a worthy son of St. Sulpice. Even before his ordination he had been associated with M. Gamier in his missionary labors at Fell's Point among the people of St. Patrick's congregation. After receiving Holy Orders he was appointed their pastor and built the first St. Patrick's Church, a very simple build- ing, which was the precursor of the present church of the same name. Floyd's career was destined to be short but edifying. In September, 1797, he attended a parish- ioner prostrated with yellow fever and immediately after- ward was stricken by the plague and carried off. At his own request he was buried before the church door, the first fruit of the Sulpician mission. M. Montdesir, the youngest of M. Kagot's pioneer stu- dents, taught at Georgetown; he returned to St. Mary's in 1796, was ordained in 1798, exercised the ministry up to 1801 and then returned to France, where some of his memoirs have been published. The first native American student who received Holy Orders at St. Mary's Seminary was Father William Mat- thews (1800), the nephew of the Most Reverend Leonard Neale, second Archbishop of Baltimore. In 1805 he became the pastor of St. Patrick's Church in Washington, a position which he held until his death fifty years later. In 1808 he was for a time the president of Georgetown College. He seems to have been interested in educational and literary matters throughout his long life. Of the four other alumni of St. Mary's, previous to 1808, two were Frenchmen, of whom we only know the date of their ST. MABY'S SEMINABY, 1791-1810 71 ordination, and one, Father Ignatius Brooke, was a Mary- lander. The fourth, Father Michael Cuddy, ordained in 1803, became the first resident pastor of St. Patrick's Church, at Fell's Point, where he died in 1804, a victim of yellow fever, contracted while visiting the sick of his parish. Though it is true that during the first ten or twelve years of its activity St. Mary's Seminary had not many students, it is equally true that her alumni were men of character and a fair proportion of them men of distinction, of whom their alma mater has every reason to be proud. The fact that a number of them were not only zealous missionaries but also men of literary accomplishments certainly bears witness to the scholarly spirit infused into them by their Sulpician teachers. From 1803 to 1808 there is a gap in the list of St. Mary's alumni, the cause of which has already been re- ferred to. Here we need only say that not only Bishop Carroll, but also the gentlemen of St. Sulpice themselves made strenuous efforts to procure students for the semi- nary. MM. Babad and Dubourg established St. Mary's College in Baltimore, the history of which we shall treat more at length hereafter. M. Flaget, shortly after his arrival in America, went to the West, partly to investigate what prospects there were for a preparatory college in the old French settlements near the Mississippi. But the results were disappointing. In 1806 another preparatory seminary was established at Pigeon Hill, on a farm in Adams County, Pennsyl- vania, donated to the Sulpicians by M. Joseph Harent, a French gentleman who subsequently joined the Society of St. Sulpice. This institution, strictly reserved for young men desiring to become priests, drew its scholars,, some dozen in all, from the neighboring Pennsylvania Germans. Besides M. Dilhet, the venerable head of St.. 72 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES Mary's Seminary, Father Nagot himself, went there to instruct the boys in the elements of the classics and mathematics. When, however, a year or two afterward M. Dubois opened Mount St Mary's College at Emmits- burg, the Pigeon Hill students were transferred there. Surely the American Sulpicians by these repeated ef- forts showed how thoroughly in earnest they were to meet the views of M. Emery and to create conditions promis- ing a richer and steadier supply of students for the Balti- more Seminary. At all events, through their vigorous efforts and those of the bishop there came about a marked change for the better. According to the Abbe Gosselin, 1 the seminary in 1804 had as many as twelve students and in 1806 seven tonsured students were promoted, the larg- est number thus far ordained at one time in the United States. The year 1808 was even more remarkable in this respect, for Bishops Carroll and Neale in that year promoted to the priesthood no less than six candidates, the former two at Baltimore, the latter four at George- town. It should be remarked that the four ordained by Bishop Neale, after pursuing their studies for a time under the Sulpician instruction had joined the recently revived Society of Jesus. During the remainder of M. Nagot's administration only two seminarians were promoted to the priesthood. But these last fruits of the good old superior's educational activity did no less credit to their teachers than their pred- ecessors. Most prominent among them was Benedict Fenwick, one of the young men ordained at Georgetown, whose scholarship and activity proved a blessing wherever they found a field. The year after his ordination he aided Father Anthony Kohlmann, S. J., in his duties as vicar- general of the new diocese of New York. He was the mainstay of the New York Literary Institution, the first 1 Gosselin, op. cit. t vol. ii, p. 151. ST. MARY'S SEMINARY, 1791-1810 T3 Jesuit high school in that city. Later on he became president of Georgetown College and gave a great impulse to its prosperity. Then he restored harmony and order among the quarreling Catholics of Charleston, S. C., and after again administering Georgetown College he was ap- pointed Bishop of Boston (1825) to succeed Cardinal Cheverus. As head of the New England diocese his in- fluence was felt, from the Indian missions in Maine to the limits of the New York diocese, organizing parishes and building churches, so that at his death, in 1846, in- stead of the fifteen churches and chapels he found there in 1825, he left fifty to his successor. He had, moreover, built the well-known convent at Charlestown, which was burned by a mob of bigots, and established Holy Cross College at Worcester, Mass., at present the most flourish- ing Jesuit college in the United States. Enoch Fenwick was another of the four young Jesuits ordained by Bishop Neale at Georgetown. His merits may be inferred from the fact that he was president of George- town College in 1822. Of the secular priests, the best known was the Rev. M. F. Roloff, who was active on the missions in various places. After his ordination, having taught for some time at Pigeon Hill, he was sent to the German parish of the Holy Trinity in Philadelphia. Later he was noted for his activity in what is now West Virginia, at Martinsburg and Wheeling, and in 1841 we find him entrusted with the task of building the first Ger- man Catholic church in Boston, Mass. Father Roloff was a native of Bavaria, and was probably the first Ger- man American priest ordained in the United States. In 1810, the last year of M. Nagot's administration, the only student ordained at St. Mary's was the Rev. James Hector Nicholas Joubert de la Muraille, the descendant of a noble French family. He left France at the time of the Revolution and accepted an office in the 74 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES tax department in San Domingo, where a wealthy uncle of his had settled. He escaped from the island during the negro uprising and reached Baltimore in safety. There he entered the seminary, and after his ordination de- voted himself to the service of the black race, many of whom, faithful to their masters, had fled with them to Baltimore. The difficulties of catechizing these poor peo- ple led him and Father Tessier, in 1828, to organize a little society of colored women to aid in their instruction. They drew up for them a body of rules, which was ap- proved by Pope Gregory XVI in 1831. In this way M. Joubert became the founder of the Oblate Sisters of Providence, which at present numbers some ten houses in the United States and Cuba, with a membership of about one hundred and forty nuns. The Rev. M. Joubert became a Sulpician and resided at St. Mary's Seminary to the end of his life. After M. Gander's recall to France in 1803, he was replaced by M. John Baptist David, a Breton, born near Nantes, in 1761. After his ordination, in 1785, he joined the Society of St. Sulpice, and was professor of philosophy and theology in various French seminaries until the dis- orders of the French Eevolution sent him to Baltimore in 1792. Bishop Carroll entrusted him with the missions in the lower part of Maryland, where he proved a zealous pastor of souls. He, it is said, was the first in America to preach retreats to lay people. For two years he taught philosophy at Georgetown and in 1804 he was called to St. Mary's Seminary, where he remained until 1811, prob- ably attending to most of the work which M. Gamier had done until 1803. Another distinguished Sulpician who was connected with the seminary during this period was the saintly M. Flaget The institution during these years was, therefore, in excellent hands, and quietly but effectively grew in ST. MABY'S SEMINARY, 1791-1810 75 strength and numbers. In one particular only St. Mary's was at a disadvantage. M. Nagot, since his return from Pigeon Hill or Friendly Hall, was failing in health, hav- ing passed the traditional three score and ten and never having recovered completely from his paralytic stroke in 1795. Age was now dealing harshly with the venerable superior's diminishing reserve of strength. As the years wore on he felt more and more the ravages of time. Un- willing to cling to an office for which he was conscious he had no longer the strength, he determined to place the interests of St Sulpice on younger and more vigorous shoulders. Accordingly, in 1810, he resigned his office as superior and became a simple inmate of the house which he had governed so wisely, so loyally, and so gently for nineteen years. He continued to dwell at St. Mary's, revered and cherished by all his brethren, whom he loved, and to be for them an example of piety, simplicity, and devotion to duty until he was called to his reward in the year 1816. CHAPTEB IV ADMINISTRATION OF M. JOHN MARY TESSIER, 1810-1829 M. John Mary Tessier was the successor of M. Nagot as superior of St. Mary's Seminary (1810). Every con- sideration of wisdom and expediency pointed him out as the man to take up the first superior's work. He had been associated with M. Nagot from the very foundation of the seminary, and he was still in the vigor of his strength, having reached the age of fifty-two years. From the first he had been appreciated by Bishop Carroll for his admirable qualities of character and learning and for his practical views of things. We find his name associated with the bishop's on such occasions as the opening of the first Synod of Baltimore in 1791 and the blessing of St. Patrick's Church at Fell's Point in 1792. He always retained the bishop's confidence, which he had gained thus early. He was thoroughly familiar with the temporal needs and resources of the institution, for from the beginning he had been its treasurer and business man- ager. Of the original professors, now that M. Gamier was in Europe and M. Nagot was shelved by age, he was the only one left. His appointment was, therefore, almost a necessity. M. Tessier was a man of vigorous physique, sturdy and robust. His prominent, substantial nose, his thin and drawn lips, and round face suggested a man of determination. His was a serious but a kind and affable face, on the whole inspiring confidence in his good will as well as in his power to protect all who were committed to his care. 76 M. JEAN MARIE TESSIER. ADMINISTRATION OF M. JOHN MART TESSIER 77 In 1810 the only Sulpician at St. Mary's besides M. Tessier was M. John Baptist David, whose name is in- separable from that of the great Bishop Flaget, and who became the latter^ coadjutor at Bardstown. He was a rotund, good-natured Breton, whose learning was equaled by his piety, but he was not destined to stay with M. Tessier for a long time. In 1811, at the request of M. Emery, he accompanied Bishop Flaget to Bardstown, and was the chief pillar of the Bardstown Seminary for many years. His place at St. Mary's was taken in 1812 by M. Ambrose Marechal. This gentleman, who became the third Archbishop of Baltimore, was a native of Ingres, near Orleans, having been born there in 1768. He at first studied jurisprudence, but his pious disposition led him to the seminary and finally induced him to join the Society of St. Sulpice. When, in 1792, the hor- rors of the Revolution drove him, before he could say his first Mass, to seek refuge in the United States, he seemed at first destined to be a missionary. But he was nat- urally a student. After five years' service at Bohemia Manor we find him at the seminary, from which he at- tended the Winchester Mission, twenty-two miles distant from Baltimore. For a year (1801-02) he taught philoso- phy at Georgetown. M. Emery recalled him to France in 1803. There he was active as professor of theology at St. Flour, Aix, and Lyons until Napoleon suppressed the Sulpicians shortly before his fall. So it came about that in 1812 he was made professor of theology at St. Mary's, Baltimore, and during the next five years became the principal professor of theology there. He was eminently fitted for the place, not only by his theological learning and his virtues, but also by his loyalty to his adopted country. How well his patriotism fitted him to inspire the young clergymen who were to instil love of country into the minds of the future 78 THE SUXPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES Catholic citizens of the United States, we may infer from his bold and vigorous opposition to the interference of foreign prelates in the administration of the Church in America. We have in mind here the attempts in this direction, at Norfolk and at Richmond, Va., about 1818 and 1820. M. Marechal's success at the seminary was so great, and the impression he made so marked, that he was ap- pointed coadjutor to Archbishop Neale, who, however, died before the arrival in Baltimore of the Bulls creating M. Marechal his assistant, with the right of succession. When they finally came, M. Marechal was forthwith con- secrated Archbishop of Baltimore, and so the seminary lost the services of this distinguished and able Sulpician. His place was taken by M. Louis Regis Deluol, who was professor of theology until the arrival of M. Fredet in 1831. M. Deluol had taught theology at the seminary of Viviers after the suppression of the Sulpicians by Na- poleon. When, however, the Society was reconstituted by Louis XVIII in 1814, M. Deluol was admitted as a member and in 1817 was sent to Baltimore. He as- sumed his new duties with great energy, and soon was master of the English language. He became quite an orator, as appears from the fact that he delivered the funeral oration of Archbishop Whitfield, October 21, 1834. He was also the preacher at the Synod of Balti- more, held November 8, 1831. M. Deluol proved to be a man of great practical and administrative talent, which led to his being named su- perior-general of the Sisters of Charity at Emmitsburg, a position he filled so well that even after resigning this office, in 1829, he greatly influenced the government of the Sisterhood. M. Deluol was a distinguished scholar and an able teacher, and so during the administration of ADMINISTRATION OF M. JOHN MARY TESSIER 79 M. Tessier St. Mary's faculty, though small, was efficient and successful. In the last chapter we saw that about 1804 there was an increase in the number of students who attended the seminary. This does not mean that about this time the attendance at the seminary grew to great proportions. A large number of theologians was not desirable, because the number of Catholics in Bishop Carroll's diocese was still very small. Moreover, the great diocese of Baltimore was divided in 1808, and other clerical seminaries sprang up in different parts of the country. But after the acces- sion of M. Tessier as superior of the seminary there was an uninterrupted stream of candidates for the priesthood. In the nineteen years during which he governed the insti- tution, forty-eight priests were ordained, according to the "Memorial Volume of the Centenary of St. Mary's Semi- nary" (p. 49 sqq.). The largest number ordained at one time, namely five, was in 1819, while in the years 1813, 1816, 1822, 1823 only a single student was raised to the priesthood. The yearly elevations of alumni to the priesthood sug- gest that the stream of students, if not great, was steady. As a whole, St. Mary's candidates for the priesthood were quite representative of the Catholic population of the archdiocese and its suffragans. Among the forty-eight young men who completed their studies there under M. Tessier we notice some fourteen whose names sug- gest Maryland descent, such as Elder, Wheeler, Jami- son, and Knight. This shows that the old Maryland families had lost none of their devotion to the Church, and that they still formed a strong factor in the ecclesias- tical life of the archdiocese. We count nineteen Irish names, some of which, of course, may belong to the old Maryland stock, but most of whom probably belong to a more recent immigration. The seven German students 80 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES were, in all likelihood, the offspring of the old German Jesuit parishes in Pennsylvania, which had remained un- der the pastoral care of the former Jesuits even after the suppression of the Society. As the French students seem to have been all, or for the most part, native Frenchmen we can not go far wrong in assuming that they were drawn to Baltimore by the influ- ence of the Sulpician Fathers, and this inference is con- firmed by the fact that several of them afterward joined the Society of St. Sulpice. Even the convert element in the population of the new Republic was duly represented by such men as Samuel Eccleston and Samuel Cooper, both of whom were scions of old Protestant families. The student body at St. Mary's was truly catholic in the num- ber of nations represented, and catholic in the feeling of charity which bound them all in one harmonious com- munity. MM. Tessier and Deluol achieved this remark- able result not only by the exercise of their authority, but, perhaps, even more by their gentleness, and by the spirit of M. Olier, whose watchword was peace and love. What contributed not a little to the harmony and suc- cess which characterized the seminary was the fact that the institution was the home of industry and work, and was animated by the spirit of scholarship and love of literature. The number of scholars, Catholic and Prot- estant, at this time to be found in the United States was naturally small, and one of the great difficulties with which all American institutions of higher learning strug- gled was the lack of scholarly teachers. Even in the older colleges we often find young Bachelors of Arts promoted to professorships with surprising rapidity. The Catho- lics, who had been tolerated only since the year of Inde- pendence, suffered no less from this evil than non-Catho- lics. How Georgetown was cramped in this particular we have already seen, and it has been remarked that St. ADMINISTRATION OF M. JOHN MARY TESSIER 81 Mary's was retarded in its growth by the needs of George- town. In the same way many of the graduates of Mount St. Mary's, Emmitsburg, and many of the students in its seminary were drafted to instruct the students in the lower classes of that institution. St. Mary's College had ex- isted alongside of the seminary grounds since 1799. The history of the seminary makes it clear that the pedagogic work of its students was in some ways beneficial to these young men themselves. The authorities of the seminary saw to it that they were not overburdened with work, and the mental drill which is of necessity connected with the teacher's work was a decided advantage to them in their theological studies. It made them more critical in their own work and markedly advanced them in their mastery of the vernacular. As a consequence not a few of these student teachers afterward became skilful writers, and their acquirements enabled them, in the contemporary journals and by the publication of scholarly books, to con- tribute to the defense of Catholic doctrine and the in- struction of the Catholic laity. Among the alumni of St. Mary's who were active in this field was Rev. George A. M. Elder, a Kentuckian, who was one of the editors of the "Catholic Advocate," published in Bardstown, Ky. He was also the author of a pamphlet entitled "Letters to Brother Jonathan." We may add that he was likewise the founder of St. Jo- seph's College, Bardstown (1820-23), and its first presi- dent. The Rev. Ignatius A. Reynolds, afterward Bishop of Charleston, was the editor of Bishop England's works. The most prominent Catholic litterateur in the United States in the first half of the nineteenth century was the Rev. Dr. Charles Constantino Pise, ordained at St. Mary's in 1825. He wrote not only a history of the Church in five volumes, but also several novels and a vol- 82 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES uine of poems. He was likewise the editor of the "Met- ropolitan" and the "Catholic Expositor." He has the distinction of having been the only Catholic chaplain of the United States Senate and was a great friend of Henry Clay. That their teaching experience at St. Mary's remained a lifelong inspiration for some of its alumni is evident by the zeal for the cause of education displayed by many of them. We do not claim that we have gathered the names of all the alumni of this period who deserve to be recorded as educators. We have already mentioned Father George A. M. Elder, the founder and first presi- dent of St. Joseph's College, Bardstown, Ky. Associated with him in this work was the Rev. William Byrne, a most enthusiastic apostle of education, who, besides St. Joseph's, founded several boys' and girls' schools in Penn- sylvania. He died a victim of his devotion to his pastoral duties during the cholera epidemic of 1832. Another alumnus who was especially interested in edu- cation was the Eev. Michael F. Wheeler, to whom the Academy of the Visitation is indebted for many bene- factions, and who remained its friend to his death, which, like Father Byrne's, was due to cholera. He had been president of St. Mary's College, Baltimore, from 1827-28. To the Rev. J. P. Cloriviere, the Georgetown Academy of the Visitation owes an equal debt of gratitude. This remarkable man, better known as Chevalier de Limoelan, had fought the French Republic in the Vendee under Ca- doudal. Having been implicated in the plot of 3 Nivose he succeeded in evading the French police, crossed the At- lantic, and determined (1808) to give the rest of his life to the Church. His eminent services to the Sisters of the Visitation have never been forgotten by them. 1 The Rev. John Larkin was ordained at St. Mary's in 1 See "A Sketch of J. P. Limoglan de Cloriviere," by P. Marlque, Ph.D., In "Historical Records and Studies," vol. viii, pp. 197-208. ADMINISTRATION OF M. JOHN MARY TES8IEE 83 1827. He was a native of Newcastle-on-Tyne in Eng- land, but of Irish extraction. He had been a pupil of Dr. Lingard at TJshaw, where Cardinal Wiseman was one of his fellow-students. Subsequently he had begun his theological studies at St. Sulpice in Paris and had come to Baltimore to complete them. After his ordination he joined the Society of St. Sulpice and went to Canada, where he acquired a great reputation as a classical profes- sor. How closely he was associated with his old teachers is proved by the fact that when, in 1841, he thought of becoming a Jesuit he consulted his professor, M. Deluol, at Baltimore before taking the final step. As a Jesuit he was equally reputed as a scholar, an orator, and a wise and prudent administrator. He was the first president of the Jesuit high school in New York which afterward became St. Francis Xavier's College (1847-49), and in 1851 he became rector of St. John's College, Fordham. Prominent among this galaxy of educators was the Right Rev. George A. Carrell, who died Bishop of Cov- ington in 1868. After filling a chair at the University of St. Louis, he was its president from 1845 to 1848. Between 1851 and 1853 he was president of Purcell Man- sion College, Cincinnati. Dr. Charles Constantino Pise, of whom we have spoken above, was for some years pro- fessor at Mount St. Mary's College, Emmitsburg. Fa- thers Damphoux, Xaupi, Hickey, and Harent joined the Society of St. Sulpice and rendered notable services to education at St. Mary's College, Baltimore. Harent, moreover, donated to the Society of St. Sulpice his farm in Pennsylvania, the farm on which M. Nagot founded the lower seminary of Pigeon Hill or Friendly Hall. M. Chanche, who became the first Bishop of Natchez, after being for many years a member of St. Mary's faculty, served as president of the college, 1835-1840. M. Olier and the other Sulpicians, regarding as they 84 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES did the formation of a true Christian apostolic character as the foremost aim of their Society and of their semi- nary work, the aspirants to clerical honors and dignities were first of all to be filled with the spirit of charity and devotion to their flocks and their duties. The men who left St. Mary's during M. Tessier's administration real- ized by their lives and their work the ideals which their teachers placed before them. Throughout a great part of the United States, not only in Maryland and Kentucky and the South, but also in Pennsylvania and farther north, their lives constitute the annals of the Church. They were good, earnest missionaries and pastors, zealous teach- ers and founders of boys' and girls' schools when the opportunities of acquiring elementary learning were scant and difficult of access. We find them eager to help the sick and the poor by founding institutions of charity for the relief of every kind of human misery. They built hos- pitals and orphan asylums as well as churches. When those dreadful scourges, cholera and yellow fever, invaded our country they defied their terrors and unhesitatingly gave their lives for their flocks, as we have seen in the case of Fathers Byrne and Wheeler. But St. Mary's furnished not only most of the parish clergy to the archdiocese of Baltimore and its suffra- gans, but it also gave able, distinguished, and pious prel- ates to many sees in different parts of the Republic, men who proved that their instructors understood not only how to train them in virtue and learning, but also how to de- velop in them the wisdom, foresight, and authoritative character which are indispensable to the good governor. Two of these prelates, besides being pupils of the Sul- picians, joined the Society of St. Sulpice. These were Bishop Chanche of Natchez and Mgr. Eccleston, the fifth Archbishop of Baltimore. Bishop Chanche, after teaching at St. Mary's for twenty-three years, and serving ADMINISTRATION OF M. JOHN MARY TE8SIER 85 as its president (1835-1840), and having twice refused the mitre, finally accepted the bishopric of Natchez, a see without church or priest Here he not only huilt eleven churches and established thirty-two missionary stations, but introduced various Sisterhoods to take charge of the schools, academies, and orphan asylums which he founded. He died in 1853. Mgr. Ignatius Chabrat, coadjutor of Bishop Flaget after being a zealous missionary in Kentucky, directed for some years the famous convent of Loretto. The loss of his eyesight caused him to resign as bishop. The Rev. Ignatius A. Reynolds was an unusually able and energetic priest. After proving himself a faithful missionary, an inspiring teacher and an eloquent orator in his native diocese of Bardstown, he became president of Bardstown College. Nearly fifty years afterward the writer heard his old friend, Father de Luynes, who dur- ing the fourth decade of the last century had been pro- fessor in Bardstown Seminary, speak of him with un- bounded admiration. He was the first Catholic pastor of Louisville, where he founded an orphanage and where he subsequently became vicar-general. As Bishop of Charleston, S. C. (1844-52), he gained the love and re- spect of Catholics and non-Catholics, so that he was scarcely less popular than Bishop England had been. Of Bishop Carrell, who became a member of the So- ciety of Jesus before he was raised to the see of Coving- ton, we have already spoken. After his elevation to the episcopacy he proved himself a vigorous administrator, building churches, establishing schools, founding hospi- tals and orphan asylums, and building St. Mary's Ca- thedral in little more than two years. The most distin- guished prelate sent forth by the Baltimore Seminary during M. Tessier's term was the fifth Archbishop of Bal- timore, the Most Rev. Samuel Eccleston. Born in Kent 86 THE STJLPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES County, Maryland, in 1801, Dr. Eccleston became a Cath- olic while a student of St. Mary's College, and after his ordination, in 1825, continued his theological studies at Issy, near Paris. He then joined the- Society of St. Sul- pice, became a member of the faculty of St. Mary's Col- lege, Baltimore, and finally its president (1829-34). As Archbishop of Baltimore, in addition to watching over the interests of education and looking after the Ger- man Catholics, who were unable to speak English, he se- cured a more perfect system in the government of the Church by holding five provincial councils. He regulated the relation of the Church to the State by settling the mode of transmitting Church property from bishop to bishop, and confirmed the principle that a State divorce is not valid before the tribunal of the Church. In short, Dr. Ec- cleston was universally regarded as the model of a wise, watchful, scholarly, and patriotic prelate, an honor to the old Maryland stock and to the men who had reared and trained him in virtue and religion. No further words are needed to convince the reader that under M. Tessier St. Mary's was an eminently useful institution; that its professors were men markedly fitted to train students in learning and virtue, and to develop in them all those qualities of mind and morals which made them useful men, useful alike to Church and State, able to advance the cause of education, of literature, of civic order, and of religion. To achieve this result was the purpose of the daily work of both professor and stu- dent. But all the energy of M. Tessier was not expended within the four walls of St. Mary's Seminary. The Sul- pician Seminary, and especially its head, stands in a pecu- liarly close relation to the bishop of the diocese, who is in fact as well as in theory the supreme head of the semi- nary. One of the chief preoccupations of the leading men ADMINISTRATION OF M. JOHN MARY TESSIEB 87 in St. Sulpice had, therefore, always been to gain the con- fidence of the ordinary of the see and to aid him in every manner. M. Tessier did not neglect this duty. His was fortu- nately so attractive a character that he won for himself the hearts of Archbishops Carroll and Neale, as well as the good will of his brother in St. Sulpice, Archbishop Marechal. On occasions of great solemnity he and his brethren of the seminary appeared as members of the suite of the archbishop. When, in October, 1821, Archbishop Marechal went to Europe, M. Tessier acted as adminis- trator in his absence. It was the Sulpician superior who blessed St. Peter's Church in Washington (November 4, 1821) and the chapel of the Convent of the Visitation. M. Tessier seems also to have been the right hand of Arch- bishop Whitfield of Baltimore, who appointed him his vi- car-general. He had then acquired a competent knowl- edge of the English language, for at the Synod of Balti- more, held November, 1831, he was one of the official preachers. Of course, all the students of St. Mary's were not au- thors, college presidents, and archbishops in embryo, but the proportion of men of character and ability was very high, and the remainder of the seminarians were good men, conscientious, industrious, and intelligent, all of whom proved worthy laborers in the vineyard of the Lord and brought honor to themselves and their alma mater. The community life of such a company was fully as at- tractive as it was laborious. Tastes were created and satisfied that gave joy and consecration to the rest of their lives. Friendships were contracted which neither time nor separation could tear asunder, and these friend- ships were formed not only among the students but also between them and the professors. Life was restful and 88 THE STTLPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES happy, but not tedious or monotonous, and every year made the institution more useful and promising. There were occasions, however, when St. Mary's felt the stirrings of unusual life and hope, when the gay colors of progress and festivity adorned her halls and when the outside world participated in her triumph. Per- haps the most distinguished of these festive occasions was celebrated on January 25, 1824. On that day Archbishop Mare"chal, who some time before had paid a visit to the Holy Father and asked him to make his seminary a uni- versity, acting as the representative of Pius VIII, sol- emnly conferred on St. Mary's Seminary the rights and privileges of a university. The celebration took place in the cathedral, and was graced not only by the presence of the diocesan clergy and the students of the seminary, but also by many citizens, Catholic and non-Catholic, and by the entire body of the students of St. Mary's College. Various congratulatory addresses were delivered, among them one in Latin by a senior of the college which at- tracted much attention on account of its taste and schol- arly diction. The young orator was Samuel Eccleston, destined later to become Archbishop of Baltimore. The new university without delay exercised its rights and conferred the doctorate of theology on the vicar-general of the diocese, later Archbishop Whitfield; on M. Deluol, professor at the seminary, and on M. Damphoux, presi- dent of St. Mary's College, Baltimore. The following year all the seminary took part in the public Fourth of July celebration, at which the Kev. Mr. Eccleston, only lately ordained, had been invited to say the opening prayer. Notwithstanding the constitutional modesty of the Sul- pician Fathers, therefore, their merits had been appre- ciated not only at Rome, but also by the non-Catholics in their new country. No doubt, no one was more delighted M. ANTOINE GARNIER. ADMINISTRATION OF M. JOHN MARY TE88IER 89 with the progress of the seminary than the venerable su- perior, M. Tessier. St. Mary's is still in possession of his "Epoques du Seminaire de Baltimore," and of his diary recounting the incidents in its history that he thought note- worthy. It is not difficult to sympathize with the joyous notes which we meet in its pages. No doubt the administration of M. Tessier, so far as the government of St. Mary's Seminary goes, was emi- nently peaceful and prosperous. But in that capacity he had also the supervision of the other Sulpician institu- tions which had sprung up since the beginning of the cen- tury, that is to say, of St. Mary's College, Baltimore, and, for several years at least, of Mount St. Mary's College, Emmitsburg. The history of these institutions we shall give more fully in subsequent chapters. Here it will suffice to say that the financial affairs of these institutions had given much care and anxiety to the gentle superior, whose years had now reached the traditional three score and ten. The superior-general of the Society of St. Sulpice at this time was M. Gamier, who had himself been a member of St. Mary's faculty and who had always retained a warm interest in the American institution, where he had spent some dozen or more very happy years. To him M. Tessier confided these difficulties, and he besought the superior-general to come in person to Baltimore in order to regulate matters. This was in the year 1828 when, un- der Charles X, things were shaping themselves in France for the July Revolution of 1830. Under the circumstances, M. Gamier could not think of leaving Paris, but he felt that M. Tessier's request should not be entirely ignored- He therefore sent a representative in the person of M. Car- riere, who arrived in Baltimore in 1829, and immediately set about investigating the condition of the Sulpician Soci- ety in the United States. This enabled M. Tessier to trans- fer his office into the hands of the visitor. When, on Octo- 90 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES her 4, 1829, the first Provincial Council of Baltimore was opened, M. Tessier was one of its most prominent members, not as superior of St. Mary's, but as its dean. As such the burden of his work as superior was taken from his shoulders, and we find him thereafter fre- quently accompanying Archbishop Whitfield on his visi- tations. In fact, as the archbishop's vicar-general, he took part in the Synod of Baltimore (1831), where he was one of the prominent orators, and accompanied the prelate in his visitation of Kichmond. When his duties as vicar- general did not call him away from Baltimore, he resided at the seminary as before and continued his pastoral work in connection with the seminary chapel. He was a popu- lar confessor and spiritual director ; tradition has it that he had more than two hundred regular penitents, many of them colored, whom he had served for more than thirty- one years. Thus after his retirement he led an active and useful life at his old home, popular both inside and out- side of the seminary. On March 16, 1840, M. Tessier was seized by a fever, which forbade his saying his Mass. The following day, St. Patrick's feast, Father Deluol, who had attended him from the beginning of his illness, found his condition much worse. Two days later, on St. Joseph's day, he peacefully passed away, after receiving all the consola- tions of religion at the hands of Father Deluol. The mourning in the seminary, the college, and in fact in the entire city, was general, and the funeral ceremonies were most solemn. Archbishop Eccleston sang the Requiem, and Father Deluol in his funeral oration proclaimed the many virtues of the departed Sulpician and the serv- ices he had rendered to St. Sulpice, to the archdiocese, and to the Church. CHAPTER V ST. MARY'S COLLEGE, 1805-1830 The gentlemen sent to Baltimore by M. Emery in 1791 were, in accordance with the primary aim of the Society of St. Sulpice, intended to found and direct a clerical seminary. On their arrival at Baltimore they supplied the personnel needed for such a seminary, the buildings, and the outfit, but they could not provide the students. Accordingly, the Sulpicians who came to the United States in 1792 were subsequently, with M. Emery's con- sent, sent to work on the American missions both east and west. In fact, M. Emery had no choice, for these were the days of the bloody Terror. Eighteen men of his small Society had been guillotined or otherwise put to death. Belgium and Western Germany were threatened with invasion by the sans culottes; Spain was swarming with exiled French priests and the hospitality of Eng- land, a Protestant country, was utilized to the utmost. The United States afforded a vast field for clerical work. But only a few men could be of use for the purpose of ecclesiastical education. Priests were needed, but candi- dates were lacking. Bishop Carroll had established Georgetown College in 1789, partly with a view to supply- ing candidates for the ministry. But the Catholics of the United States were few and, therefore, but few stu- dents could be expected at Georgetown and very few semi- nary students could be looked for from that college. In- deed, the pressing need of instructors at Georgetown ab- sorbed those of its graduates who had clerical aspirations. 91 92 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES If Georgetown could furnish no clerical students, where were they to come from? The position was such as necessarily to suggest self-help to the Sulpicians. They must provide their own students "by providing the pre- paratory institutions of higher education. These might be of two kinds: either such as trained only aspirants to the priesthood, that is to say, lower seminaries, or such as gave higher education in general. Students of the former kind are usually supported by the dioce- san authorities, while students of the latter sort support or at least contribute to the support of their col- leges or academies. In 1791, and as we shall see for a long time after, neither the bishop nor the Sulpicians had the pecuniary means to support a lower seminary. There were no endowments extant nor any to be expected. The few American Catholics were not overburdened with wealth and there were endless appeals to them to pro- vide for their most pressing spiritual needs. If the Sul- picians were to make an effort to supply the students for their seminary it must be by creating self-supporting in- stitutions, that is to say, colleges or academies whose stu- dents paid for their own tuition. This meant that the colleges must be open not only to future students of the- ology, but to students who sought higher education for any purpose. To have any seminary at all, the majority of the Sulpicians in Baltimore saw before long that they must establish general colleges or academies. To refuse to do so would be to pour out the baby with the bath. Only reluctantly did they open their eyes to this necessity. If the Sulpicians hesitated on principle to open colleges, Bishop Carroll, on grounds of expediency, did not favor their doing so. His Georgetown College was as yet a fee- ble infant, and its supply of food was not too plentiful. Any further colleges would threaten to deprive it of some of its needed nourishment, so both the bishop and the Sul- ST. MAST'S COLLEGE, 1805-1830 93 picians, especially M. Emery, shrank from making more foundations. But necessity knows no law. The students of St. Mary's, few from the beginning, grew less and less, and the seminary which was expected to supply a nation with priests consisted of empty halls. The Sulpicians at first made timid experiments. Only a year or two after their arrival at Baltimore, when they had overcome to some extent their ignorance of the English language, they gathered about them some boys living in the neigh- borhood of the seminary and began to instruct them in the rudiments of academic learning, but it soon became ap- parent that without a systematic plan nothing could be achieved. MM. Flaget and Richard tried what could be done among the French in the Middle West. Failure was the result. About 1796 or 1797 circumstances suggested the possibility of employing the surplus of the French Sul- picians in another part of America. These hopes were held out from the island of Cuba, whither a member of the Society, M. Babad, had found his way from Spain, having become convinced that that country offered no hope of useful activity to the exiled members of his So- ciety. At Havana things looked smiling and bright. He was warmly received by many of the prominent colonial families, who stood ready to entrust their children to him and his confreres. Accordingly he wrote of his prospects to M. Nagot and invited him to send to Havana some of the members of St. Sulpice who could be spared from the United States. At the time, M. Nagot foresaw that M. Dubourg and M. Flaget, the former of whom had been president of Georgetown since 1796, and the latter vice-president, would be open for other work in 1798. Accordingly he communicated to them the news of M. Babad's plans at Havana and left them free to go to Cuba on a reconnois- 94 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES sance. Both men were ready to join M. Babad in Cuba and examine the prospects. We must here make our readers acquainted with the Eev. M. Dubourg, who was the founder of St. Mary's College. Louis William Valentine Dubourg was born at Cap Frangois in the island of San Domingo in 1766. When he grew up he was sent to France for his education, and having determined to devote himself to the service of the Church, he entered the lower seminary connected with St. Sulpice. After his ordination, he was, by M. Nagot's advice, placed in charge of the classical school at Issy. There during the early days of the French Revo- lution his life was threatened and he fled to Spain. But as in the case of M. Babad, Spain soon proved an un- congenial place of refuge. Accordingly, M. Dubourg turned his eyes westward, and in 1794 reached the United States as a secular priest. He was received with open arms, not only by Bishop Carroll, but also by his French fellow-exiles, the Sulpicians of St. Mary's. He naturally felt himself drawn toward them, and in 1795 M. Nagot re- ceived him into the Society of St. Sulpice. M. Dubourg from the first made a most favorable impression on Bishop Carroll, so that only two years after his arrival in Balti- more the bishop confided to him the presidency of his favorite institution, the College of Georgetown, where M. Flaget, later first Bishop of Bardstown, Ky., was his lieutenant as vice-president. M. Dubourg was an attractive personality. His man- ners were most sympathetic. He was a gifted orator and a good scholar, and during his administration of George- town College there was a marked increase in the number of students. But for reasons unknown to us he was with- drawn from Georgetown in 1798, and then it was that, in accordance with M. Nagot's suggestions, he resolved with M. Flaget to make an attempt to establish a college at BT. MAST'S COLLEGE, 1805-1830 95 Havana. The prospects seemed bright, but suddenly the sky became overclouded. The Sulpicians were French- men, and the Spanish Government, which habitually ex- cluded even native Cubans from any places of trust in the island, refused to permit the French priests to found a college in Havana. M. Dubourg, therefore, prepared to return to Baltimore, but not before he had arranged, both in Havana and in Baltimore, to take with him to the lat- ter place a number of the Cuban youth who were to have become students of the Sulpician College in Havana. Without delay, therefore, in 1799, M. Dubourg re- turned to the United States with his charges and opened his school with four students, this number being soon in- creased by the children of San Domingo exiles. M. Flaget was then struggling with an attack of yellow fever and had to be left behind. In fact, he did not return to Baltimore until 1801, when he brought with him three young Cubans, who became students of the new Baltimore academy. The boys brought to Baltimore by M. Dubourg were lodged in St. Mary's Seminary, which afforded abundant room for them. Their arrival did not wholly please Bishop Carroll. Notwithstanding the more promising aspect of the future of Georgetown College, it was still a very weak plant What would be its fate if the Sulpicians established a rival college at Baltimore? Experience could not en- lighten him as to the answer, and the good bishop was not a little alarmed. However, the Sulpicians had been at considerable expense in fetching and housing the Cubans. They had lost the property at first assigned to them at Bohemia, and invested the greatest part of their French savings in the Baltimore property. Manifestly they must be treated with consideration and fairness. So the prel- ate agreed to the temporary establishment of the new academy. It was made a condition, however, that no 96 THE STJLPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES American students should be admitted, and that even the number of West Indians should be limited. According to the "Memorial Volume" of St. Mary's, Bishop Carroll at first allowed only twelve students to be admitted to the academy, but later extended this number to twenty-five. This arrangement proved satisfactory for the time be- ing. A goodly number of boys came in from the West In- dies. M. Flaget, in 1801, brought back three from Cuba, and others came both before and after. If we may trust the biographer of Bishop Flaget in "Appleton's Bio- graphical Dictionary," who declares that the Balti- more academy was crowded with West Indians, the num- ber of scholars at the academy must have been quite large. We may infer this also from the fact that when the Spanish Government in 1803 required the return of the students to Havana, it was necessary to send a man- of-war for them. The same conclusion follows from the fact that many years afterward, in 1812 and in 1817, when the college was in financial difficulties, M. Harent was sent to the West Indies and collected rather a large amount of money due the Baltimore Sulpicians for un- paid fees. Meantime, the existence of the budding academy was threatened from another quarter. M. Emery, as appears from his letter of August 9, 1800 (Gosselin, vol. ii, p. 102), in view of the bishop's objections to the establish- ment of the Baltimore academy, withdrew whatever con- sent he had given to its foundation. At the same time he seems to have regarded the bishop's opposition to a Sulpician academy as a bar to any plan of self-help on the part of his Society, and therefore as a kind of sen- tence of death to the seminary itself. Affairs had taken a turn favorable to the Church in France, and M. Emery foresaw that he could usefully employ in the mother coun- try all the men of his Society. In 1801, therefore, we ST. MARY'S COLLEGE, 1805-1830 97 find him issuing a recall to the American Sulpicians, against which the bishop remonstrated most earnestly. The correspondence between Bishop Carroll and M. Emery grew warmer and warmer, while the position in Baltimore became more and more unpleasant. Buildings had been put up for the academy by M. Dubourg, his Cuban pro- teges having been quartered in the seminary building, and additional accommodation of a temporary character pro- vided on the seminary grounds. But M. Dubourg was not a man content with half measures. He had excellent taste, and the new edifice was spoken of with admiration, though on the other side there were not lacking persons who criticized his lavishness. M. Emery seems to have shared the views of these critics, while Bishop Carroll re- garded M. Dubourg's tendency to couple the ornamental with the useful as a constitutional and quite pardonable foible. When these new buildings were completed, at con- siderable expense, it was announced that the academy was about to lose all, or a greater part, of its students. The Spanish Government had ordered the West Indian boys to leave Baltimore without delay. This was in 1803. But the darkest hour of the night is that immediately preceding the dawn. So it proved in this case. We have seen how M. Emery accepted the advice of Pope Pius VTI and abandoned all thought of withdrawing his Society from the United States. About the same time Bishop Carroll agreed to open the Sulpician academy to American students. "In the fall of 1803," says the "Memorial Vol- ume," "it was announced that the doors of St. Mary's College would be open to all American students, day schol- ars or boarders, without distinction of creed. Many boys at once flocked to the institution. . . . The number of pupils in 1806 amounted to one hundred and six. Addi- 98 THE SULPICIANS II* THE UNITED STATES tional buildings had then been erected and others were in progress." But this was not all. Owing to the manifest merits of the Sulpician academy, it had gained for itself not only the hearts of the Baltimoreans and Marylanders, both Catholic and Protestant ; it had likewise gained the favor of the governor and Legislature of the State. It seems proper here to glance at the condition of higher education in Maryland at the beginning of the nineteenth century in order to realize the position of the new Sul- pician college among its fellow-institutions. This will enable us also to appreciate the advantages and disad- vantages with which it had to contend and the causes of its rapid progress. In drawing this picture, we shall take as our guide Dr. Bernard C. Steiner's "History of Edu- cation in Maryland," published by the United States Bu- reau of Education in 1894. The chapters from which we shall draw chiefly were written by Basil Sollers. The physical configuration of the State of Maryland did not favor the spread of learning in colonial times. The land is too much cut up by hills and streams, and the population was too thin and sparse to make it possible to find sites fit to be centers of school activity. Even dis- trict schools for elementary education were hardly feasi- ble, for a district containing enough children to warrant the opening of a common school assumed the proportions of a county. In fact, many of the more prosperous col- onists kept tutors or governors for their children, while the less fortunate but more zealous taught their children themselves. The General Assembly of the State early made efforts to establish county schools, but these efforts frequently re- sulted in paper institutions of quite formidable propor- tions. While little is said of elementary learning, the learning called for was usually instruction in moral phi- ST. MAEY'S COLLEGE, 1805-1830 99 losophy, the learned languages, and mathematics, the lat- ter being generally entrusted to the writing-teacher. This description fits most of the county schools which were created by acts of the Assembly prior to the War of In- dependence. Even at the end of the war, which left the State coffers empty and the people's means slim, there was no immediate change for the better. The Assembly was busy in grinding out educational laws. Unfortunately it was kept so busy that it is quite apparent that as these laws did not execute themselves, they died a natural death and each Assembly had to repeat the benevolent legisla- tion of its predecessor. However, from all the medley of educational legislation it appears that two institutions soon outstripped their rivals and acquired considerable distinction. The first of these was Washington College, located at Chestertown, on the eastern shore of Maryland. It was the creation of the Rev. Dr. William Smith, who came to Chestertown in 1780, formed a class and combined it with the Kent County School in 1782. The resulting institution had one hundred and forty scholars. It was by resolution of the Assembly duly created a college. Its faculty con- sisted of a president, a vice-president, and professors of natural philosophy and logic. Besides these three men of learning, whose names are given, two tutors and a French teacher are spoken of. The name of only one of these can be found; he had been the principal of the Kent County School. The laurels gained by Washington College on the east- ern shore, made a great impression on the people of the western shore. These felt them as a challenge, which was duly accepted. In 1784, the Annapolis School, an insti- tution similar to the Kent County School, was duly erected by law into St. John's College, It seems not to have been organized until 1789. But this did not prevent the Mary- 100 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES land Assembly of 1785 from combining St. John's Col- lege and Washington College into the first University of Maryland. When St. John's was organized, on August 11, 1789, its board of visitors and governors, presided over by Bishop Carroll, elected Dr. John McDowell pro- fessor of mathematics and the Rev. Ealph Higginbotham professor of languages. The former became principal immediately after the formal opening of the college, on November 11, 1789, on which occasion Charles Carroll of Carrollton, who was one of the visitors and governors, was present. Washington College always remained a modest insti- tution of learning. The number of its students did not grow markedly. Ten years after its foundation the Due de la Rochefoucauld Liancourt writes of St. John's : "The college is another very considerable building. It has an endowment of $5,000, raised by certain duties of the State, such as licenses, fines, etc., but of the west part of Maryland only. There are a hundred scholars there, and it is said that the masters of it are very good. The Eng- lish, the learned languages, French, mathematics as far as astronomy, some philosophy, and some common law are taught there." Of Washington College at the same time (1796), the same Due de la Rochefoucauld Liancourt says : l "The college building is in a deplorable state of decay, although it is not yet finished. There is no glass in any of the win- dows ; the walls have fallen down in many places and the doors are without steps. Yet this is the second college of the State, in which there are only two. It maintains a president and three masters; the number of scholars, however, is not more than forty or fifty, though for $16 all the branches of learning which are taught may be ac- quired. Boarders pay $80 or $90 for their board. Twelve i "Travels through North America." second edition, vol. iii, pp. 548-550, as reported in Steiner's "History of Education in Maryland. ST. MABY'S COLLEGE, 1805-1830 101 or fifteen hundred dollars have already been expended upon this building. It is constructed on a plan large enough to receive five hundred students. The clergy- man of the place received $300 from his parish and $800 and a residence as president of the college." Washington and St. John's colleges maintained a more or less precarious existence as the first University of Maryland until 1805. Their halls were never crowded. But St. John's College at least included among its grad- uates and its students a number of men who became dis- tinguished in the history of the State and even of the Union. Both colleges, as the Due de la Rochefoucauld states, received at times subsidies from the Maryland As- sembly, but these subsidies were mere trifles when com- pared with the costs of a modern college. The University of Maryland dragged on its nominal existence until 1805, when the Legislature "caused the suspension of St. John's College by withdrawing the State grant This caused the death of the old university, and in 1812, though the old charter had never been repealed, the old institution was so thoroughly extinct that the Legislature chartered a new University of Maryland." l At the time, therefore, when the Maryland Assembly created St. Mary's College in 1806, it was the only active collegiate institution in the State. What was the nature and activity of the contemporary colleges in Maryland appears sufficiently from the scanty account we have given of them. Indeed, the records which modern investigators have been able to find are very imperfect. That the or- ganization of the Maryland colleges was very simple can hardly be questioned. The curriculum usually included some Latin and Greek, some algebra and geometry, with lectures on ethical and sometimes religious subjects. That the very simplicity was in some respects an advantage ap- 1 Steiner, "History of Education in Maryland," p. 70. 102 THE SULPICIAN3 IN THE UNITED STATES pears from the distinction gained by so many of their alumni. No doubt, a few of the larger New England colleges may have been in a more developed condition than the Maryland institutions. But it is hardly rash to assume that these, as they claimed, were the peers of many of the American colleges. Our picture of these institu- tions, imperfect though it be, reveals enough of the con- ditions of higher education to enable the reader to form a just estimate of the work of St. Mary's College, to which we now return. When in 1803 the doors of the Sulpician academy of Baltimore were thrown open to American students, it was expressly stated that there would be no distinction of creed. The perusal of M. Emery's correspondence con- vinces us that this policy was by no means in harmony with his idea of a Sulpician institution, the project of an academy being sufficiently at variance with his ideals, but his home was thousands of miles from Baltimore, and he had not the means of judging what was required by the situation. However, the circumstances at Baltimore were such that if the Sulpicians were to have a college at Baltimore at all, it must admit non-Catholic students. Baltimore was then a small town, whose charter was only ten years old. In 1800 the entire number of its inhabitants was 26,000. The number of Catholics able to pay for the collegiate edu- cation of their children was very small. In those days, it is true, professors were cheap, and $800 secured the services of a college president, and the college students paid only $16 a year, or with board $80. The alternative was, either admit non-Catholic students, or have no col- lege at all. Besides, the Catholics would prefer to send their boys to a Catholic college where Protestant boys were tolerated, for Catholics had been treated with no little consideration ST. MAEY'S COLLFGE, 1805-1830 103 when St. John's College was founded, which was, of course, on paper, several years before the establishment of Georgetown College. Bishop Carroll was not only a trus- tee of the secular college, but at one time chairman of the Board of Trustees, on which board we find the names of Nicholas Carroll, and of the signer of the Declaration of Independence, Charles Carroll of Carrollton. Though the feeling of universal toleration was neither as general nor as strong as it is to-day, the philosophic and basic prin- ciples of Catholics and of other Christian denominations more nearly approached each other than they do at the present time. This can be proved in a striking way from the first commencement program of Washington College, held Wednesday, May 14, 1783: "Dr. Smith opened the exercises of the day with prayer, afterward with a Latin oration to the learned and collegi- ate part of the audience, as custom seems to have required. The candidates then proceeded with the public exercises, as follows: (1) A Latin salutatory oration by Mr. John Scott. (2) An oration in French by Mr. James Scott. (3) A Latin syllogistic dispute: 'Num ceternitas pcenarum contradicit divinis attributis?' Respondent, Mr. Charles Smith; opponents, Messrs. William Barrel and William Bordley. (4) An English forensic dispute: 'Whether the state of nature be a state of war ?' The speakers were Messrs. John Scott, William Barrel, William Bordley and James Scott. (5) Degrees were conferred as follows: Upon Messrs. Charles Smith, James Scott, John Scott, William Bordley, and William Barrel, the degrees of bachelor of arts ; and upon Samuel Kerr, one of the tutors in the grammar school, honorary A.B., and upon Mr. Colin Ferguson and Mr. Samuel Armor, professors in the col- lege, the honorary degree of A.M. (Mr. Armor was al- ready an A.M. of the College of Philadelphia). (6) An 104 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES English valedictory oration, 1 which concluded with a strik- ing and prophetic poem on the progresses of the sciences and the growing glory of America, hy Mr. Charles Smith. (7) The principal closed the exercises with a pathetic charge to the graduates respecting their future conduct in life, and what was expected of them as the eldest sons of this rising seminary." 2 From all this it follows that when M. Dubourg, with the consent of MM. Nagot and Emery, embarked on the scheme of founding an academy at Baltimore to be opened not only to future priests but to Catholic and Protestant students generally, he did so because he had no other choice. They must make the venture or withdraw from the educational field altogether. M. Dubourg set to work with skill and vigor. His success proves that he had the loyal support of Bishop Carroll, and that the Catholics of Maryland had great influence with both the governor and the Legislature. St. Mary's College in 1805 received its charter endowing it with all the rights and privileges belonging to similar institutions in the United States or in foreign countries. Not satisfied with this, the General Assembly in 1806' granted to the newly chartered college the privilege of holding a state lottery, the proceeds of which, not to ex- ceed $40,000, were to be expended for the benefit of the new college. It was enacted at the same time that the trustees of St. Mary's College were to guarantee its main- tenance for at least thirty years. This clause, at first sight somewhat mysterious, appears natural enough when we bear in mind that the first Maryland University had existed less than twenty years. It should likewise be remarked that the raising of monies by state lotteries waa oration was printed in full In the "Maryland Journal" for July 8 TT83 ' a Steiner, "History of Education in Maryland," p. 77. ST. MAET'S COLLEGE, 1805-1830 105 not an uncommon expedient at this time in Maryland. 1 The records we possess of the beginnings of St. Mary's College are naturally somewhat scanty, but they are nev- ertheless well worth studying. Let us bear in mind that prior to 1805 it existed as a mere academy and chiefly as an academy for West Indian boys. The number of stu- dents was limited to a dozen or at most twenty-five. To teach this little flock, besides the president, M. Dubourg, occupied the time and the efforts of three priests and one layman, and the priests were all men of distinction. They included, besides the future Bishop of New Orleans, Du- bourg, the future Bishop of Bardstown, Flaget, the fu- ture head of the seminary, M. Tessier, and M. Babad, who for twenty years or more taught Spanish and was, so to say, the patron of the Spanish-American boys. The laymen, MM. Guillemin and Ayme, who taught each for one year only, were Frenchmen, as were all the Sulpi- cians, which makes it likely that a large percentage of the students were French West Indians. This is confirmed by the names of the students which have been preserved, such as Dubourg, Pagot, La Eeintrie, Meynadier, Le Batard, Cottineau, De Mun, Basile, and so forth. 2 The year 1803 brings us a new order of things. Such names as O'Brian, Lipp, Clark, Wilson, Burns, Brent, and Digges indicate that the academy was no longer an exclusively West Indian institution, but had become strongly Americanized, the students coming not only from Baltimore and Maryland, but also from Pennsylvania, Washington, and Ireland. Some of the names also suggest that their bearers were probably non-Catholic. If we 1 180Tf. Lottery of $40,000 for the Medical College. (Steiner, "History of Education in Maryland," p. 119.) 1817, June. Rev. Mr. Cooper authorized to arrange a lottery to raise $30,000 for Washington College. (Steiner, "History of Education In Maryland," p. 84.) 18S1. The Legislature allowed St John's College to raise 180,000 by lot- tery. $20,000 was realized and invested as a College fund. (Steiner, "History of Education in Maryland," p. 96.) 3 In 1802 MM. Faquiet and de Chevlgn* were a valuable addition to the teaching staff. 106 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES call to mind that three or four teachers were the usual allotment of the Maryland county schools, the number of instructors at the Sulpician academy, which from the start numbered four or five, for from twelve to twenty- five boys, proves that the pupils were not neglected, so far as their instructors went, and their subsequent careers convince us that these instructors were men not only of merit but of distinction. These facts must have become generally known, for in 1806, three years after St. Mary's was opened to Ameri- can students, and had been raised to the dignity of a uni- versity, the number of students had risen to one hundred and six and the number of instructors to ten. Of these, six were laymen and four priests, all Sulpicians except one, the Eev. M. Paquiet. The latter, however, was deeply interested in the welfare of the new college, for he remained there for many years, and in 1812 became its president, a position which he filled for three years. M. Paquiet felt himself thoroughly at home among the gen- tlemen of St. Sulpice and soon acquired a reputation in Baltimore for his merits as a scientist. Another instruc- tor, whose reputation as a mathematician secured many friends and scholars for the college, was M. de Chevigne, who was a member of the college faculty from 1802 to 1825. He had been a sea captain, but had not found his true vocation until he became professor of mathematics at St. Mary's College. He evidently felt himself thor- oughly at home in his new sphere, and he evinced his loyal attachment to his Sulpician colleagues by making them the heirs of all he possessed at his death. A further study of the records of St. Mary's College as laid down in the "Memorial Volume of St. Mary's Semi- nary," informs us that as long as M. Dubourg remained at its head, that is to say, until 1812, the college continued to grow both in the number of its professors and in that ST. MABY'S COLLEGE, 1805-1830 107 of its students. Of the former there were now twelve, but we can not give the exact number of the students. The proportion of laymen in the faculty continues about the same, that is to say, about half of the faculty consisted of clergymen and half of laymen. As the number of American students increased, we notice that the faculty acquires professors with English surnames, such as Mul- len, Graham, Woods, Sinnot, and Fenwick. Evidently these gentlemen taught the English literary subjects, while the classics and mathematics remained in the hands of the French instructors. M. Babad, we are informed, taught Spanish from the very inception of the academy until 1820. As M. Babad was not the only Spanish teacher at the college we must infer that among its stu- dents there must still have been N a fair percentage of Spaniards, and that the Spanish language was a desidera- tum among the patrons of St. Mary's. At all events, a comparison with the history of other colleges proves without doubt that St. Mary's College was in advance of most of them, so far as the teaching of mod- ern languages goes. 1 Indeed, its courses seem to have been both thorough and broad, if we judge by an account of the curriculum taken from a Baltimore newspaper of September, 1818. An analysis of this document shows that the class hours at St. Mary's at the time covered six and a half hours daily, the college sessions lasting from the first Monday in September to the middle of July. A modern grammar school or college proposing such a pro- 1 It will be of interest to note that as early as 1814 there was a clamor In the United States for college education without Latin or Greek. An advertisement published in a Baltimore paper in 1814 gives the views of the authorities of St. Mary's College on this topic at that early date : "It has hitherto been a regulation of the college that no student should be admitted but upon the condition of learning Latin. The president and the directors are determined to maintain and promote, as much as is in their power, the study of that language, as the basis of a literary education. However, they daily receive so many applications for pupils who want to be dispensed with the aforesaid rule, that they will admit students to fol- low at their choice English. French and Spanish, geography and the nse of globes, practical arithmetic, mathematics in their branches, and natural philosophy." (August 1, 1814.) 108 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES gram to its students would hardly escape a strike, espe- cially in view of the fact that the boys of a hundred years ago had to sit in class six and a half hours a day, whereas at the present time four to four and a half hours are prescribed as the maximum. This time was apportioned to the several studies very differently from the modern distribution. Colleges of those days knew nothing of sociology, economics, and political science, sciences ap- parently so called on the liwus a non lucendo principle. Even history is missing from the curriculum and moral philosophy is the only philosophical study mentioned. On the other hand, the program demands a great deal of solid, hard work. An hour and a half a day is given to mathematics, an hour and a half to Latin, an hour and a half to English, modern languages, science, and Greek, and the rest of the time to various other subjects, including higher mathematics, natural philosophy, rhet- oric, geography, and the use of the globes. Even writing, drawing, music, and dancing are provided for. Some time during the day an hour or so was devoted to study in a large hall especially assigned for the purpose. The Latin course seems to have embraced six years, an hour and a half a day; the Greek three. The students seem to have acquired a competent knowledge of the former language, for they not only delivered Latin discourses at their commencements, but some of them are mentioned as the writers of occasional Latin verse. Though the gentlemen of St. Sulpice were for the most part natives of France, they were too good pedagogues to neglect the study of English. Several of the professors at St. Mary's, Between 1810 and 1830, are mentioned as capable instructors in English literature, for instance, Messrs. Doyle, Hickey, and Sinnot. At this time it may not be useless to remind our readers that the study of English literature did not form a prominent feature in ST. MABY'S COLLEGE, 1805-1830 109 the programs of most American colleges, and St. Mary's is probably in this respect rather in advance of the usual American college curriculum. In American colleges much importance has been at- tached to the yearly commencement exercises. Indeed, it may be said that in some respects they have been quite characteristic of the spirit and aims of American academic institutions. Fortunately, we possess the programs of some of these exercises at St. Mary's during the second decade of the nineteenth century. They differ greatly from the proceedings now in vogue, especially at the more ambitious colleges, where commencements are gradually being reduced to the awards of degrees and honors. A hundred years ago, several days were sometimes devoted to the strict collegiate exercises, without taking into con- sideration the reunions of students and graduates and their societies. At St. Mary's College in the year 1816, the commencement exercises were of a very varied char- acter. We copy from a contemporary newspaper account : "On the 16th instant (1816) the usual experiments of natural philosophy took place at St. Mary's College. Some fireworks practiced with the inflammable gases had a brilliant effect; a small balloon of hydrogen gas was launched and soon disappeared, taking its course to the north. A larger one took fire. In the afternoon the fol- lowing orations were delivered: On the Advantages of Natural Philosophy, by William de St. Martin; On the Fine Arts, by Thomas Middleton; On Eloquence (in Latin), by Robert Ross; On Chivalry, by Enoch Magru- der ; On Astronomy, by Charles de Chapotin of Savannah. Afterward the degrees of A.B. were conferred on the above gentlemen and the degree of A.M. on Jasper Y. Smith, Edward Coleman, W. Howard, F. J. Didier, James Mosher. On the following afternoon two dia- 110 THE STJLPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES logues were spoken: 1st. Moderation in our pursuits. 2nd. Inconveniences of a Spirit of Mockery. Then Colo- nel Howard delivered the premiums." Of the commencement in 1813, we find the following account : "In presence of a numerous assembly, the following gentlemen delivered orations: Mr. Ebenezer Jackson of Savannah on The Influence of Governments on Litera- ture; Mr. Woodrop Sims of Philadelphia on The Advan- tages of Society; Mr. H. M. Byrne of Pennsylvania on Moral Philosophy; Mr. Charles Carroll of Hagerstown on Traveling; Mr. William Kemper Sitgraves of Phila- delphia on Painting and the Fine Arts ; Mr. W. H. Brent Sewall of Prince George on Patriotism. The degree of A.B. was then conferred on them and the exercise was concluded with an address and prayer by the president." We may add that other reports show that it was a regu- lar custom to give one day to a species of public exami- nation, in which special stress was laid on science and scientific experiments. We can readily conceive that at the time when science was mostly confined to the lab- oratory and when the application of physics and chemis- try was not to be found in every highway and byway, ascents of hydrogen balloons must have produced no little sensation. Of course, the college enjoyed much scientific fame, and this lasted as long as it existed. MM. de Chevigne and Paquiet were well-known scientists in the beginning of the century. M. Verot, another of St. Mary's scientific professors, afterward Bishop of St. Au- gustine, Fla., was noted as a scientist toward the mid- dle of the century. He corresponded with Professor Henry of the Smithsonian Institution and other notables of that period. An examination of the subjects of the discourses deliv- ST. MAKY'S COLLEGE, 1805-1830 111 ered at these commencements shows that the young Ciceros spoke on academic themes rather than on live political questions. To-day we find our colleges crowded with em- bryo statesmen who settle the knottiest international ques- tions by the most cocksure assertions. A hundred years ago St. Mary's Seminary did not, as it does at present, lie in the middle of the city, but formed a part of the suburbs of Baltimore. The students were boarders, probably even the Baltimoreans. The class hours extended to as late as six o'clock. The students rose at half past five o'clock, had morning prayer in common and Mass at six, followed by an hour and a half of study, succeeded by a recess and breakfast at a quarter past eight. Dinner was served at half past one o'clock and was pre- ceded by half an hour's recreation. In those simple days few attractions tempted the boys to seek their amusements outside of the college grounds, theatrical performances being rare and opera unknown. Not even baseball caused any infraction of college dis- cipline. We must not, however, underestimate the im- portance of the chief disciplinarian or prefect of disci- pline, as he was called. Men like the future Bishop Flaget and M. Joubert laid at St. Mary's College the ba- sis of their renown as disciplinarians. The studies extended from the beginning of September till past the middle of July, leaving only six weeks of vacation. During the vacations most of the boys went home. M. Tessier records their departure by the Phila- delphia public stage. On one occasion the dogs followed them probably as far as the Susquehanna, and returned after two days of absence. But when the boys lived at too great a distance, the college took care of them during vaca- tion also. Most of these vacation students were West In- dians. The way in which they spent their holidays illus- trates Maryland life a hundred years ago and also the rela- 112 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES tions existing between professors and students. Though situated in the suburbs of the town, St. Mary's was not suf- ficiently rustic for the summer residence of the vacation boarders. Fortunately for the boys Pigeon Hill or Friend- ly Hall, the former home of M. Harent, after its consolida- tion with Mount St Mary's, or Emmitsburg, in 1808, of- fered its hospitable doors to them. MM. Tessier and Deluol in their diaries have left us the story of the vacation joys of St. Mary's West Indian boarder students. We con- dense their accounts: On the appointed day, the boys, in charge of some of the instructors and Fathers, and accompanied by a variety of dogs and guns, took their seats in the private stages which were to take them to Friendly Hall, in Adams County, Pa. Their arrival was a gay day for the neighborhood. The neighboring farmers welcomed the college boys and showed themselves quite hospitable. Once settled down, the boys had a fine time, though they were not altogether free from the pedagogue's yoke. They rose an hour later than at Baltimore, breakfasted and dined longer, but had to study and work the greater part of the forenoon. We find no program for the afternoon, which means that the boys spent it in their own way. Their chief sport seems to have been hunting and their principal playmates the dogs. They roamed north and south from Pigeon Hill, accompanied by their faithful hounds, and sometimes they must have gone to a considerable distance. While gunning was the chief, it was not the only, sport. Fishing, of course, filled the leisure hours of the men who had no desire to become Nimrods. To both fishermen and hunters the fruits of the country were legitimate booty. At times they also harnessed the horses and tended the cows. Of course, some of the prefects always accompanied the young hunters. The boys were not allowed to enter any houses, whether public or otherwise. They received ST. MAKY'S COLLEGE, 1805-1830 113 strict instructions controlling their general behavior; for example, the boys must not enter towns or go to swim- ming-places except when accompanied by one of their teachers. The gunners must not take any guns but their own nor lend their guns to any one elsa They must not shoot at horses or other animals nor injure the crops by marching through the fields. They must carry their guns with care, and never, even in fun, point them at any one else. These jolly vacation amusements continued until 1847, when Friendly Hall was sold. About the same time a summer-house was built on the grounds of St. Charles College, but probably the sports at the latter place could not be compared with the Pigeon Hill experiences. One thing is certain, the farmers who dwelt in the neighborhood of Pigeon Hill greatly enjoyed the students' visits, and their pranks are still spoken of in Adams County. Such was college life and discipline at St. Mary's Col- lege about a hundred years ago, and such the spirit which animated the institution. As in their seminaries the Sul- picians strove to be the equals, and as much as possible the brothers, of the seminarians, so at the college they ruled and taught in a spirit of mutual confidence and bonhommie, a spirit, however, which never failed to im- press on the scholars the earnestness of their work. Of M. Dubourg's popularity we have already spoken, as well as of his good nature. With these qualities he coupled an impressive dignity, which did not fail to lay stress on externals. The college buildings which he reared were not only solid and lasting, but in their day they were the handsomest academic buildings in Baltimore. In fact, some of his Sulpician brethren thought that they were too attractive, or what is more to the point, too expensive. M. Emery thought it necessary to clip Du- bourg's wings in this direction, but Bishop Carroll, prob- ably with an amused recollection of the old medieval THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES principle that every being acts in accordance with its na- ture, was of the opinion that the president of the college could not avoid doing what he did. At all events, M. Dubourg's policy impressed parents and attracted students and the college grew apace. When in 1812, in accordance with Bishop Carroll's recommenda- tion, the government of the new diocese of New Orleans passed into the hands of M. Dubourg, St. Mary's was out of its infancy. M. Paquiet, the secular priest, who suc- ceeded M. Dubourg, was thoroughly acquainted with the college and its needs. He understood the spirit of its pa- trons and was, moreover, a scholar of scientific tastes. Accordingly, the college maintained its high reputation and especially continued to draw many non-Catholic stu- dents, as will have been seen from the commencement programs which we have placed before our readers. In 1815 M. Paquiet retired and the Rev. Simon Brute, a Sulpician, took his place. Brute was a remarkable man, the details of whose biography will be given in another chapter. In 1815 he succeeded M. Paquiet, as head of St. Mary's, maintaining the spirit and policy which had so far characterized the institution, as we may infer from the commencement program for the year 1818. At all events the college continued to flourish under him. But in the fol- lowing year he was called to Mount St. Mary's, Emmits- burg, to become, by the side of M. Dubois, one of the mainstays of that institution. The headship of St. Mary's thereupon passed over to M. Damphoux, who ruled its fortunes for the next eleven years. That the condition of the college was very promising in 1819 can not be doubted. The number of instructors had risen to twenty, of whom twelve were priests and eight laymen. In 1829, the last year of M. Damphoux's administration, the college faculty maintained the same figures, the lay and clerical elements being fairly balanced. ST. MABY'S COLLEGE, 1805-1830 115 We may, therefore, assume that there had been no loss in the number of students. If we suppose that the propor- tion of instructors to students remained the same as in 1806, the students must have numbered a little more than two hundred, which may be rather below than above the true figures. Having obtained from our imperfect sources as good a picture of life and work at St. Mary's College as they afford, it is time to turn our eyes toward the faculty and the students. We have already seen that the Sulpician college was not behind other academic institutions in Maryland, so far as the number of instructors is con- cerned. Indeed, from the beginning it could hold its own against contemporary Maryland institutions. Of the first and second presidents we have already spoken. They were both men of more than fair executive ability and M. Paquiet had, moreover, a deserved reputa- tion as a scientist. The third president, the Sulpician Simon Gabriel Brute, was not only a trained French scientist and a thorough theologian, but also a gentleman who, wherever duty placed him, showed himself a man of tact and ability. Unfortunately circumstances called him away from St. Mary's to Emmitsburg to assist his friend, M. Dubois, and M. Edward Damphoux became president of St. Mary's. As is proved by the fact that the degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred on him by Rome in 1824, M. Damphoux was a good scholar, and his remaining at the head of the college for eleven years is evi- dence that he was not without administrative talent. How- ever, during the last years of his rule at St. Mary's differ- ences of opinion seem to have arisen between him and some of his confreres. In 1827 Father Wheeler for a time took his place as president, but failing health led to his with- drawal, and M. Damphoux resumed the presidency. When M. Carriere came from France, in 1829, as the representa- 116 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES tive of M. Gamier, the superior-general, M. Damphoux re- signed the presidency of St. Mary's, and left the Society of St. Sulpice. He was appointed rector of the Baltimore Cathedral, which position he filled for many years. Among the professors who during this period shed lus- ter on the faculty of St. Mary's were several men whose ability and vigor are guaranteed to us not only by their work at St. Mary's, but also by their careers as distin- guished prelates after their departure from its academic halls. MM. Deluol and Lhomme were promoted to the presidency of St. Mary's Seminary. We shall have oc- casion to speak of them hereafter. MM. Eccleston and Chanche were raised to the episcopacy, the former becom- ing the fifth Archbishop of Baltimore and the latter the first Bishop of Natchez. Archbishop Eccleston was an elegant Latin and English scholar and a fine speaker, while Dr. Chanche was a good classical scholar and an authority on rhetoric. Father Wheeler, who was the president of St. Mary's from 1827 to 1828, was a practical man, as appeared from the help he gave the Sisters of the Visitation in Washington. He proved his moral fiber when, in 1832, he laid down his life for his principles during the great cholera epidemic. Father John Larkin won his spurs as a professor when a Sulpician at St. Mary's. We must not forget the names of the Sulpicians J. Randanne and E. Knight, who adorned St. Mary's faculty for more than twenty-six years each. The lay professors F. G. Foster and William T. Kelly were also members of the faculty for many years. Mariano Cubi y Soler, professor of Spanish after M. Babad's retirement, was the author of a Spanish grammar. The system of drawing the teachers for the lower classes from the students of the seminary continued in force dur- ing this period. In fact, it was even extended, and from the general prosperity of the institution, we may con- ST. MABY'S COLLEGE, 1805-1830 117 elude that this system had no evil consequences for the college. Even more interesting than our survey of the life and studies of St. Mary's and of the character and doings of the faculty, is a study of its students. It is regrettable that no contemporaneous pen has sketched for us the composition of this heterogeneous but characteristic gath- ering of young Americans. Our chief source of informa- tion is the list of the students in the "Memorial Volume of the Centenary of St. Mary's Seminary of St. Sulpice," published in 1891. It is a valuable historical document and perhaps unique of its kind. 1 It offers to us much food for reflection and suggests many problems. It illus- trates the character of the population of the Southern States, and to some extent of Pennsylvania, during the first thirty years of the nineteenth century. Perhaps outside of Georgetown College and Mount St. Mary's, no Ameri- can college has so kaleidoscopic a character. But whether Georgetown and Mount St. Mary's ought to be classed with St. Mary's, Baltimore, is doubtful, for in their case we have no document similar to this roster of the students of St. Mary's. It is certain, however, that our modern Catholic colleges in the East are in many respects a contrast to old St. Mary's. While in the former the names are homogeneous and for the greater part indicate that the ancestors of their bearers lived in the Green Isle, St. Mary's cata- logue is very cosmopolitan. It is true that we rarely meet with a Cuban, but there is no dearth of Mexicans and South Americans. French names abound, some belong- ing to French West Indians and others to Louisianians and others again hailing from Baltimore itself. We are struck by the frequent repetition of a Belgian name from the city of Brussels. It is the name of Seghers, 1 In the list some names occur twice, and as It was compiled from frag- mentary documents It Is not quite complete. 118 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES afterward borne by the great Archbishop of Oregon, who was slain by his man attendant on the banks of the Yu- kon. Whether the Seghers of St. Mary's were related to the archbishop our catalogue does not say. We meet with a strong contingent of Germans, some, no doubt, direct importations from the Fatherland, while probably not a few are descendants of the old Catholic families of Pennsyl- vania. The North and East naturally contributed few students, though St. Mary's, Baltimore, was at the time probably the northernmost and easternmost of Catholic colleges. The reason is plain. There were at this time few Catholics in the Eastern States, and the Protestants were well supplied with colleges of their own. Being entirely or for the most part a boarding-college, St. Mary's students numbered but few poor scholars. We find among them representatives of the best known fam- ilies, Catholic and non-Catholic, in Maryland and the South. Prominent on the list are such Catholic Maryland names as the Carrolls, and not only the Carrolls of Car- rollton, but also the other branches of the family are rep- resented here. Not less striking is the name of Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte, the first of the Patterson Bonapartes and son of the King of Westphalia. Whether the Henry Patterson, nearly contemporary with the Patterson Bona- parte, was a relative of his we can not determine. We meet with a Henry Chatard, no doubt an ancestor of the later Bishop of Vincennes. A Catholic college in Balti- more without representatives of the Jenkins family would have been an anomaly. Perhaps there is no more illus- trious Catholic name contained in the list than that of Alexander Gaston of North Carolina, probably a relative of the great jurist of Newbern. The foremost Irishman in Baltimore at this time was Luke Tiernan. 1 Several 1 See Meehan, In "Records and Studies," vol. vl., pt. 11, p. 203. ST. MABY'S COLLEGE, 1805-1830 119 of Mr. Tiernan's sons received their education at St. Mary's. Young Patterson Bonaparte represented the imperial families of Europe. America's imperial representative was Angelo Iturbide, the son of Augustin, the first Itur- bide of Mexico, who had lost his life and his throne a year or two before we meet his son Angelo as a student of St Mary's. Angelo's son, Augustin, was adopted by Maxi- milian of Mexico. We notice also the name of the Nen- ningers, who figured as lay instructors at the college al- most as long as it existed. Charles Boarman reminds us of the old Maryland Catholic Boarman family, several of whom were Jesuits in the olden time, and to which be- longed Rear-admiral Charles Boarman. Andrew Bien- venue Roman, after filling divers other places of public trust, served two terms as Governor of Louisiana. He founded Jefferson College, did much to drain the neigh- borhood of New Orleans and protect it against overflow and was repeatedly a member of State constitutional con- ventions and a strong advocate of the Union. Among the boys who sought their education in St. Mary's College in 1812 and the following years, was Edward Kavanagh of Damariscotta, Maine. In 1821 M. Tessier conferred on him the degree of M.A. with many complimentary words. Edward Kavanagh was destined to become the first Catholic governor in the New England States. After rendering many services to his native State as congressman and to the Union as Minister to Portugal, he became acting governor of the State in March, 1843. In 1831 we find that Mr. Kavanagh had not forgotten his alma mater, for in M. Deluol's diary he records the fact that the Maine congressman dined with him. 1 The Catholic students of St. Mary's, therefore, include 1 See article on Gov. Edward Kavanagh by Very Rev. Monsignor Charles W. Collins in "Historical Records and Studies," vol. v, p. 249 sqq. 120 THE STILPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES some very interesting names, and the same is true of the non-Catholic students. We do not pretend that our se- lection is complete, for we are not sufficiently familiar with all the distinguished Southern families. Let us be- gin with the well-known South Carolina families of the Pinkneys and the Rutledges, both belonging to the old Southern aristocracy of ante-Civil War times. The name of the former Governor of Maryland, Warfield, occurs as that of a student between 1819 and 1825, and he was not the only Warfield among the alumni of St. Mary's. Twice or three times, we observe the name of the Pennsylvania Quakers, Ellicott, the best known representative of which family was the distinguished engineer and friend of Wash- ington and Franklin, the first to determine the height of Niagara Falls, and whose name survives in that of Ellicott City. Among the students of St. Mary's from 1821 to 1823 was Benjamin H. Latrobe, son of the architect of the na- tional capitol at Washington, as well as of the Baltimore cathedral, who was the scion of a Huguenot family which left France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Benjamin H. Latrobe was the worthy son of a worthy father. After being admitted to the bar, he turned his attention to engineering, became chief engineer of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and was one of the consult- ing engineers on the board that approved the plans of the Brooklyn Bridge. In 1827 and 1828 and for some years afterward, Severn Teakle Wallis was a student at St. Mary's. He was a prominent figure in Maryland literature and politics until his death in 1894. Besides being a frequent contributor to contemporary periodical publications he was an ardent student of Spanish literature, and his reputation as a Spanish scholar led to his election as a corresponding member of the Eoyal Academy of Madrid. A similar ST. MABY'S COLLEGE, 1805-1830 121 honor came to him from the Society of Northern Anti- quaries of Copenhagen. During the stormy days in Maryland which preceded the Civil War, Mr. Wallis was one of the champions of the anti-war party, and in con- sequence was imprisoned for more than fourteen months. Being set free without trial, he returned to the prac- tice of the law and was honored in various ways by his fellow-citizens. He was named provost of the Maryland University in 1870, and delivered the memorial oration on Chief Justice Taney in 1872. Besides a life of George Peabody, he published several works on Spain. In the account of the commencement exercises of July 16, 1816, we meet the name of Howard among the grad- uates. On the same occasion the premiums were distrib- uted by old Colonel Howard, the hero of the battle of the Cowpens and of many other battles in the Kevolutionary War. He had been Governor of Maryland from 1789 to 1792 and United States Senator 1796-1803. In short, the Howards were at this time one of the most prominent of Baltimore families, whose name is borne by a county in Maryland and a well-known street in Baltimore to this day. Another Protestant student borne on the rolls of St. Mary's College at this time was Samuel Eccleston, a na- tive of Kent County, Md., and a graduate of the year 1819. During his residence at the college he became a Catholic and subsequently a member of the company of St. Sulpice. We have already mentioned him several times as a distinguished scholar and orator, who in 1834 was appointed the fifth Archbishop of Baltimore. We- shall have occasion hereafter to speak of his episcopal ca- reer, which lasted till 1851. The chronicle of St. Mary's College which we have- placed before our readers sufficiently establishes the fact that from its very foundation until the end of M. Dam- 122 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES phoux's administration, in 1829, the institution was a success. There may have been some financial difficulties at the start, but these were overcome and probably ex- aggerated. Neither the American nor much less the French Sulpicians at the time had any prevision of the rapidity of the commercial growth of the new American Republic. In this regard Bishop Dubourg seems to have been in advance of his time. From the academic point of view the merits of the col- lege were undoubted. Compared with the older non- Catholic colleges the teaching staff was more than ade- quate, the proportion of students to instructors being less in Baltimore than in the other academic institutions of the State. The Sulpicians were good Latin scholars and some of them good Hellenists. In matherdatics, too, and the sciences then taught .at colleges they had several able men, like Brute, Paquiet, and de Chevigne. French and Spanish, by force of circumstances, received unusual attention. We have seen that the old Sulpicians, while appreciating the classics at their full value, were no su- perstitious worshippers of Latin and Greek. Hand in hand with this reasonable treatment of the curriculum went a rational, gentlemanly system of disci- pline, based on an appeal to self-respect and character and not on spying and terrorism. Their success in satis- fying both their Catholic and their non-Catholic scholars is a proof of their fairness and justice. The Sulpicians were especially fortunate in the character of their pupils. They were not a collection of self-conceited plutocrats or aristocrats, for Maryland, while boasting of the respecta- bility of her colonists, had fostered no privileged classes and respected the ethical virtues more than wealth. Be- sides, the youth of those days, as well as their parents, had not lost the feeling that experience is the mother of wis- dom, and that age is the guide of youth, it not having ST. MABY'S COLLEGE, 1805-1830 123 occurred to them to regard youth as the director of old age. The Sulpicians had the respect and attachment of their pupils, not only Catholic but also non-Catholic, though it is noteworthy that the Protestant students of St. Mary's, like the Protestant students of Kentucky, as Father Thebaud tells us, rarely became converts. But their attachment to their old teachers was marked, and as long as St. Mary's ex- isted, its alumni rarely sent their children to any other col- lege than their alma mater. Those were not the days of academic advertisement, but the Sulpicians unquestionably profited by the best form of academic advertising, the good will and the praise of their former pupils. Such was St. Mary's College during the first half of its existence. It was the home of all the academic virtues. The favor, not only of its students and their friends, but indeed of all the State, Catholic and non-Catholic, prom- ised greater and greater prosperity. The resignation of M. Damphoux was not the result of any financial crisis nor of otherwise untoward circumstances. It was not even due to a feeling that it was time for Americans to replace the French Fathers, although as a matter of fact M. Damphoux's successor, M. Eccleston, was an American. We close our chapter here because M. Carriere's mission marks, in a way, the consolidation of the traditional policy of St. Sulpice and the beginning of a new period of pros- perity. CHAPTER VI OTHER SUBSIDIARIES OF ST. MARY'S SEMINARY St. Mary's College, Baltimore, was the offspring of ne- cessity, the necessity to find students for St. Mary's semi- nary and candidates for the priesthood. Even many years before the establishment of St. Mary's College, in fact within a year after the arrival of the first Sulpicians, they had gathered together boys likely to have a call to the priesthood who had lived in the neighborhood of the sem- inary. But the effort led to no practical result. It was not long after the arrival of M. Nagot's party that M. Emery was convinced that to produce fruits, the Baltimore seminary must have feeders. Therefore, when, in 1792, he sent over the second party of Sulpicians, among them MM. Flaget and Eichard, he instructed them if possible to start preparatory seminaries in the western missionary field allotted to them. In the same year, in a letter to M. Nagot, he bids him see to it that M. Flaget and the other Sulpicians sent to the West turn their at- tention to providing seminary students for Baltimore. The Sulpician missionaries in the West earnestly strove to carry out these instructions, but the Illinois soil proved to be a barren recruiting ground for the Baltimore semi- nary. In 1T95 Bishop Carroll recalled M. Flaget from the Illinois mission and sent him as vice-president to Georgetown. M. Kichard, who went to the West about the same time as M. Flaget, had no greater success, though his zeal to carry out M. Emery's plans was no less than M. Flaget's. 124 His activity covered not only the Illinois country, but ex- tended northward to Michigan, where he settled at De- troit, whither we shall follow him in due time. Here it suffices to say that his efforts to provide seminary stu- dents for Baltimore bore no fruit during the last decade of the eighteenth century. While the attempt to secure recruits for the seminary among the French population of the West proved abortive, M. Dubourg's attempts at Havana and later in Balti- more turned out equally unsatisfactory. St. Mary's Col- lege was a flourishing institution, it is true, but it pro- duced few or no vocations. Yet these repeated failures did not discourage M. Emery, and on M. Nagot, the vet- eran superior of the seminary at Baltimore, they acted as a stimulant. Among the friends of the Sulpician Fathers in Balti- more was a gentleman from Lyons, a Monsieur Harent. Like the Sulpicians, he was a refugee, expelled from the land of his birth by the excesses of the ^Revolution. He must have saved some of his fortune, however, for after his arrival at Baltimore he had enough means left to buy a farm in Adams County, Pa., in the midst of a Catholic German population. Here the gentleman from the south of France, who lived in Baltimore during the winter, spent his summers. But being an intelligent and a pious man, he often asked Father Nagot to pass his vacation on his farm, which was called Pigeon Hill. After the re- establishment of order in France by Napoleon, M. Harent felt homesick, and in 1803 he returned to France, leaving to Father Nagot his Pennsylvania farm. Pigeon Hill was a retired place, and lay in the midst of a Catholic popula- tion, which had preserved its faith vigorous and earnest under the direction of the old Maryland Jesuits. The sons of the German farmers were zealous and enthusiastic. The superior of St. Mary's naturally thought this the 126 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES , very spot for a Sulpician preparatory seminary. He resolved to put his hand to the plow himself, and in 1806 began the experiment. His pupils consisted only of boys who felt a vocation for the priesthood. Of such candi- dates, he found about a dozen among the German farmers scattered throughout the neighborhood, to whom for two years the veteran professor of theology and philosophy undertook to teach the rudiments of Latin. M. Roloff, himself a German, was his assistant, and perhaps one or other seminarian from Baltimore also aided him. Studies flourished at Friendly Hall, as the new institution was called. Nevertheless, it was not destined to last, for in 1808 M. ISTagot returned to Baltimore. Pigeon Hill had been given up or rather consolidated with a new institu- tion, Mount St. Mary's College, Emmitsburg. Of the stu- dents of Pigeon Hill three became priests, namely, Messrs. Moynahan, Schoenfelder, and Wheeler. Of all the collegiate institutions founded by the Sul- picians, Mount St. Mary's College, Emmitsburg, is the only one which still exists. When we say "collegiate" in- stitutions, we mean institutions not restricting their work to the education of candidates for the priesthood. Still, Mount St. Mary's at its origin was intended, no less than Pigeon Hill, or St. Mary's College, Baltimore, to be a lower seminary for clerical candidates. When, about 1805, M. Dubourg had thrown open St. Mary's College to American youths in general and was preparing to accept a university charter from the Maryland Legislature, he felt that he was stepping aside from the strict line of work for which M. Olier had founded his congregation. He regretted this as much as did M. Nagot or M. Emery, but he was obeying the dictates of necessity. At this very time we find him writing to his friend, M. Dubois, who was then the pastor of Frederick, urging and encouraging him to start a lower seminary in the strict sense of the OTHEE SUBSIDIABIES OF ST. MARY'S SEMINARY 127 word on the slopes of the Blue Ridge in Western Mary- land. M. John Dubois, from 1808 a member of St. Sulpice, was born at Paris on August 24, 1764. 1 His father, who left him an orphan in early youth, was a respectable bour- geois. He had married a woman of sterling character, great intelligence, and deep religious convictions. She was able to pay for her boy's classical education at the College Louis le Grand, where he was the classmate of two of the most notorious champions of the French Revo- lution, the pitiless Maximilien Robespierre, and that wild journalist, Camille Desmoulins. M. Dubois never forgot Robespierre, who was no more attractive in his youth than he proved to be in the days of his manhood. As a stu- dent young Dubois was a gifted scholar, especially in the classics, and a young man of determined character, imaginative, but restraining his imagination by love of truth and principle. When, early in the eighties of the eighteenth century, he had finished his classical studies, he felt a strong call to the priesthood, and entered the Sem- inary of St-Magloire, which was directed by the Fathers of the Oratory. There he was the contemporary of the later Cardinal Cheverus and of the celebrated Jesuit ora- tor, Abbe Macarthy. He was no less respected by his fellow-students for his solid qualities than beloved be- cause of his affability. After his ordination, on September 22, 1787, he was appointed chaplain of an institution for the insane and for orphans in the Rue de Sevres in Paris, which was in charge of the Sisters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul. The experience he gathered here was of great value to him when he became the guide and adviser of Mother Seton, at Emmitsburg. Only a few years after his ordi- nation the madness of the Revolution drove him, like so iFor a more detailed biography, see "Historical Records and Studlea," vol. 1, pp. 278-355. 128 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES many other French priests, to leave his country, and he determined to take refuge in the United States. At the request of his Parisian friends, La Fayette gave him letters of introduction to a number of eminent Virginians, such as Patrick Henry, James Monroe, the future Presi- dent, the Lees, Eandolphs, and Beverleys. By these he was warmly welcomed when, at the age of twenty-seven, he arrived in Virginia in 1791. Patrick Henry even taught him the English language. His friendly reception no doubt was partly due to La Fayette's warm recom- mendations, but partly also to his own elegant manners and attractive qualities. Even in his old age, when he was Bishop of New York, Andrew Jackson declared him to be the most refined gentleman he had ever met. He was full of life and a ready talker. For children he al- ways showed great sympathy. Quick of speech, quick of wit, quick of conception, he was also quick of temper. In short, he was in all respects a good representative of the well-bred Parisian. The first two years of M. Dubois' American life were spent in mastering the English language and in mission- ary excursions throughout different districts of Virginia, undertaken from his headquarters at Mr. Monroe's resi- dence. In 1795, however, Bishop Carroll entrusted him with the pastorship at Frederick, Md., to succeed the Rev. Mr. Frambach, who had become unable to fulfil his duties as a missionary owing to the weight of his years. He soon felt himself at home in every part of his parish, which extended from Frederick over Western Maryland and even beyond. A great part of his time was spent on horseback. He rode from county to county, from State to State, visiting his scattered flock and becoming the friend of all, especially of the children. In this way he became acquainted with the Catholics who dwelt about Emmitsburg and at the foot of the wooded OTHER SUBSIDIARIES OF ST. MARv's SEMINARY 129 Blue Ridge. This spot exerted a peculiar charm over him and he never tired of chanting its praises to his friends and fellow-Sulpicians, for in 1808 he was received into the Society of St. Sulpice, and thus in a manner devoted himself to the cause of education. M. Dubourg was im- pressed by his friend's eulogies of the beauties of the Mountain and the friendly spirit of the farmers who had settled in its neighborhood. Seeing that his own college, owing to the innovations of 1803 and 1806, could not even imperfectly realize the ideal of a Sulpician prepara- tory seminary, and being convinced of the necessity of such an institution, he urged M. Dubois to establish a lower seminary at Emmitsburg, writing to this effect as early as 1805. His friend did not hesitate long. With Bishop Car- roll's consent, he turned over to the Society of St. Sul- pice the property he had acquired and the houses and church he had built on the Mountain even before he him- self had become a Sulpician. Subsequently, M. Dubourg and he bought five hundred additional acres at Emmits- burg. The next year he bade farewell to Frederick and settled on the Mountain. In 1808 he opened a school, numbering seven scholars. 1 These included a Pennsyl- vania named Lilly and probably the sons of mountain villagers. Some of the scholars boarded with M. Dubois i This current account of the beginning of the college does not Mem to be well established In fact. M. Dubois doubtless gave the Mountain congregation special attention while he was building the mission churc thorr- in 1S07. but th.-r.- i- n.> virl.Ti.-.- to sli,w th:.r h- IKH! j-uj.iN -n !, hands at the time. In one of the earliest public notices of tie college that of the "Laity's Directory" of 1822. M. Dnbois himself gives M -.>.- the year of the foundation, and his statement agrees with the records of St? Mary's Seminary. On November 10, 1808 M. Dubpurg and a builder named Weiss went to the Mountain to plan the buildings f the college. M. Dubois spent some days at the seminary in X*"*** fig**^ and was received Into the Society of St. Sulpice, December 8 1808 superior, M. Nagot, sent him to Emmitsburg to Improve the farm and to direct the construction of the college, and he resigned his charge of Frederick on Mar ch21. 1809. On April 26 of that year MM. rfagot Dubonrg and Cooper, with three students for the new college, arr ved at Emmitsburg, and M. Nagot spent the month of May withal. Dnbois. About that time the Pigeon Hifl students were transferred to Emmits- burg, but as the new buildings were not ready they were lodged. som 1 a brick house, some In M. Dubois' log house (See Shea, 'The Life and Times of Archbishop Carroll," vol. Ill, p. 343). A. B. 130 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES and others in the neighboring houses, while the classes were held in a little brick building near by. This was the cradle of Mount St. Mary's, Eminitsburg, which soon became a household word among the Catholics of the United States. M. Dubois was almost the entire faculty, for he had only one assistant. Messrs. Smith and Moyna- han J were his first adjunct professors, and each of them stayed only one year. Meanwhile the energetic college president, assisted financially by the Baltimore Sulpicians, had built two more log houses to receive the students. In the spring of 1809 his academic family was increased by all the stu- dents of Pigeon Hill, sixteen in number, making a total of twenty-three. In 1811 these had increased so as to number forty, and in 1812 sixty. The faculty grew apace. Sixty students, of course, made a respectable begin- ning for a preparatory seminary. But before long M. Dubois was face to face with the same difficulties that turned St. Mary's College into a general institution of learning. The Baltimore Sulpicians were proud of their new institution and omitted nothing that might inspire the professors and students with a feeling of brotherhood. The Emmitsburg boys came to attend the commencement exercises at Baltimore, and the vacation students of the Baltimore college, together with such of their teachers as were free, spent a part of the summer on the Mountain. As M. Dubois' building operations required more money, the brethren at Baltimore at first generously provided for the needs of the Mountain. M. Tessier, the superior of the Baltimore seminary, at times made tours of inspection to Emmitsburg, and the Baltimore faculty deliberated re- garding the future of St. Mary's on the Mountain. At first all the Emmitsburg boys were certainly Catho- 1 MM. Smith and Moynahan (Monahan) were recruits from Pigeon Hill. In the following September four seminarians were sent from Baltimore to the college on the Mountain. OTHEE SUBSIDIARIES OF ST. MABY's 8EMINABY 131 lie and, it appears, hypothetically at least, candidates for the priesthood. No fear was entertained for the growth of the institution, but when the superior at Baltimore paid his visits to the Mountain, he found that its expenses were becoming continually more formidable, while its income remained inadequate. If we compare the development of the two St. Mary's colleges it is plain that, notwithstand- ing the comparative modesty of the buildings at Emmits- burg, the Baltimore institution was financially the more prosperous. Evidently the Baltimore students could be better depended upon as a source of income than the students on the Mountain, where not a few of them were charity students. At all events, only a few years after the opening of Mount St. Mary's College we find the ques- tion raised whether students should be admitted who had no aspiration to the priesthood or, for that matter, Protestant students. In 1815 both M. Gamier and the superior-gen- eral of the Society, M. Duclaux, had had their attention called to this problem, for they wrote both to their breth- ren at Baltimore and to the archbishop that it was the wish of the Sulpicians in Europe to have the Emmitsburg institution maintained strictly as a preparatory seminary. 1 In 1818 things came to a crisis. The debts of the Moun- tain college swelled from year to year and began to dis- quiet the faculty of the mother institution, which had so far supplied its financial needs. 2 Could they continue to supply the money deficits and maintain the two col- leges? Would it be wiser to consolidate them into one institution or must the Mountain college be given up? These vital questions were debated by the Baltimore Sul- picians, on May 22, 1818, at a meeting at which Arch- bishop Marechal was present, but which reached no final i See Andre*. "Histoire de Saint Sulpice aux fitats-Unis" in "Bulletin ni,' as legal owner, was responsible for the debts of the Mountain, but another difficulty arose from the dearth of teachers. In 1818 there were only eight Sulpicians to direct a seminary and two colleges. 132 THE STTLPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES conclusion. The archbishop opposed the suppression of the Emmitsburg college, but was obliged to leave the meet- ing while the question was still being discussed. Nothing was done except to send M. Damphoux, the president of St. Mary's College, Baltimore, to Emmitsburg in order to ascertain the views of the Emmitsburg faculty. These opposed any radical measures. Both colleges, they de- clared, were doing good, and consequently both should be allowed to exist, at least for the time being. But the Bal- timore Sulpicians considered the situation critical and action urgent, as the Emmitsburg students must be in- formed without delay where they were to go in the fol- lowing September. The Mount St. Mary's authorities replied that, before taking extreme measures, the gen- eral superior at Paris ought to be consulted. Perhaps, they said, it might be possible to find some way out of the difficulty and maintain both colleges, in view of the serv- ices both were rendering to the Church. The Baltimore gentlemen thought it unnecessary to wait or to trouble the superiors in Europe with the problem which they, be- ing on the spot, were in a better position to understand. When the vote was taken, it was in favor of suppressing the college on the Mountain. M. Tessier, the head of the Baltimore, and therefore of the American Sulpicians, immediately recalled MM. Hickey and Kandanne, who were then professors at Emmitsburg. This step surprised and shocked the European superi- ors. M. Gamier communicated with Archbishop Mare- chal and a satisfactory arrangement was brought about, whereby the Emmitsburg college remained a Sulpician institution. The title of the property passed to M. Du- bois, who held it for the Society of St. Sulpice. Arch- bishop Marechal allowed his seminarians, then teaching at the Mountain, to continue to do so for some years at least, and reinforced its faculty by sending a newly or- OTHEB SUBSIDIABIES OF ST. MAEY's SEMINARY 133 dained priest, the Rev. Mr. Cooper, to assist M. Dubois. The two institutions became entirely independent of each other, and both continued to take students who had no clerical aspirations. But M. Dubois did not give up the idea of making a genuine preparatory seminary of his in- stitution on the Mountain. He was as ardent, indefati- gable, and confident as ever, and his college, in spite of the obstacles it encountered, grew and prospered. For the purpose of obtaining a more intimate knowl- edge of Mount St. Mary's and of becoming acquainted with its students and faculty nothing could be more use- ful than a register of the professors and students such as we possess of St. Mary's College in Baltimore. But such a register, as far as we know, does not exist, and we must, therefore, strive to get what light we can from no- tices scattered here and there through other documents. The head of the faculty, of course, was M. Dubois, and with all his kindness and elegance of manner he was the ruler of the institution. The boys were very fond of him, but this did not prevent them from calling him the "little Napoleon," a very significant term. He was the chief, not only in the church and the college and the adjoining Convent of St. Joseph's, the mother-house of the Sisters of Charity, but in the carpenter shop, in the garden, and on the farm as well, directing and working. But if he was authoritative, he was also good natured, and if he was a Napoleon, he was a democratic Napoleon, who was felt to be a father rather than a general. M. Dubois' chief lieutenant and confidential adviser was M. Simon Brute. We have already made his ac- quaintance in the preceding chapter as president of St. Mary's College, Baltimore, where he succeeded M. Pa- quiet. To this position he had been called from the col- lege on the Mountain, which had been his home since 1812. However, M. Brute's absence from the Mountain was of 134 THE SUI/PICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES short duration, for in 1818 he rejoined M. Dubois and remained at Emmitsburg until 1834. M. Brute supplied some of the qualities in which the president of Mount St. Mary's College was deficient. He was a careful man, slow to act, but vigorous in action. In fact, from 1818, as a result of his wise advice, there was a remarkable im- provement in the financial situation of Mount St. Mary's College. Of the other Sulpician professors at Mount St. Mary's, we know M. Randanne chiefly as a faithful professor at St. Mary's College, Baltimore. There he spent the best part of his life, being a member of the faculty from 1818 to 1852. The Rev. M. Hickey, who had a reputation as a disciplinarian and as an English scholar, was a mem- ber of the Emmitsburg staff from 1814 to 1818, when he was called to Baltimore. However, he returned to the Mountain in 1826, when this college was finally severed from the Society of St. Sulpice. The greater part of the Emmitsburg faculty consisted of the young men who were at the same time studying theology. As at Baltimore, they proved their competence by their success. Many reached high stations when they entered upon their active work in the world. Among these must be mentioned John Hughes, the great Archbishop of New York. As to the students of Mount St Mary's College, it has been its well-known distinction from the beginning to supply a large number of ecclesiastics to the American Church, and not only faithful priests but also able bishops. We have just mentioned Archbishop Hughes. His suc- cessor, Cardinal McCloskey, was likewise a student at Emmitsburg during the Sulpician period of the college. The cardinal's successor, Archbishop Corrigan, was also an alumnus of Mount St. Mary's, though at a later date, so that from 1826, when M. Dubois became Bishop of OTHEE SUBSIDIARIES OF ST. MARY'S SEMINARY 135 New York, until 1902, men of the Mountain swayed the destinies of the great diocese of New York. Among the other alumni of Mount St. Mary's, most of whom were members of the corps of instructors, were the future Archbishop of Cincinnati, John B. Purcell, Bishop George A. Carrell of Covington, Bishop William Quarter of Chicago, Bishop Kichard V. Whelan of Wheel- ing, W. Va.; Rev. William Byrne, the founder of St. Mary's College, Kentucky, and many other distinguished clergymen. Among the distinguished lay alumni we may mention Captain William Seton of the United States Navy, Mr. James McSherry, a graduate of 1828, who became a lawyer of note and wrote a widely read history of Maryland. A comparison of the faculties and students of the two St. Mary's colleges establishes the fact that each had its well-marked characteristics. At Baltimore the influence of the French Sulpicians always remained predominant. At Emmitsburg, though MM. Dubois and Brute, whose influence was paramount in the foundation of the col- lege, were also French Sulpicians, the American and Irish-American element soon grew powerful. At the same time, Mount St. Mary's never had as large a rep- resentation of West Indian students, nor was the Prot- estant element as strong there as at Baltimore. Again, Mount St. Mary's, though not strictly a preparatory semi- nary, contributed a much larger quota to the Catholic clergy of the United States than did its sister institution. For many decades it supplied a large share of the bishops of the United States, among them many men distinguished by scholarship as well as by administrative talent. M. Dubois was, therefore, correctly inspired when, in 1818, he insisted with all his vigor on the maintenance of his beloved Mountain college. He infused into it new life, 136 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES and before long the clearest evidences of success and, pros- perity began to appear. The scattered frame buildings, which had hitherto been the only homes of the Mountain muse, were found to be insufficient. In 1822 the old president began to build for the Mountain students a new home, dignified and sufficient for the needs of the institution. With his usual energy he pressed forward his undertaking, and the struc- ture was all but completed when in the night of June 6, 1824, it was destroyed by fire. M. Dubois, who had been aroused from his bed, stood by impotent to save the structure on which he had built so many hopes. But the old hero was not discouraged. "The Lord hath given," he cried out, "the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." Then he pointed out to his stricken friends the spot on which he would forthwith build a new and improved home for his students. Events proved that M. Dubois was not too hopeful, for within a few weeks he started his new building and everybody was ready to second his efforts. Not only his faculty but his students spread over the country and brought home substantial tokens of the interest which Maryland and the adjacent States took in the hard-tried college. In 1826 the students, who had meanwhile occupied the old frame dwellings, were able to take up their new quarters, and the future promised even more success than had been achieved before the catastrophe. The fire which destroyed Mount St. Mary's proved the beginning of a new era in more senses than one. The comparatively new building was replaced by a newer and better. At the same time the institution severed its connection with the Society of St. Sulpice. M. Dubois was not to guide the destinies of St. Mary's of the Mountain much longer. The year 1826, which sev- ered the connection between Mount St. Mary's College OTHER SUBSIDIARIES OP ST. MARY's SEMINARY 137 and the Sulpicians, also severed that between Mount St. Mary's and its founder and president. Late in the sum- mer of 1826, the Bulls arrived from Rome appointing M. Dubois Bishop of New York. Reluctantly he accepted the honor and agreed to bid farewell to his beloved college and to his Maryland friends. The retreat preparatory to his consecration was made among his Sulpician breth- ren at Baltimore, who wished him every success in his new career. Of his activity as a missionary bishop, we shall speak in our next chapter. In the course of these events M. Flaget's attempt to found a preparatory clerical school in the West, according to M. Emery's suggestion, had proved a failure. About the same time as M. Flaget, two other Sulpicians, M. Levadoux and M. Richard, began missionary life in what was then called the Northwest, and to work there for the cause of clerical education. The former of these gentle- men was an old professor of the Society of St. Sulpice, who prior to the Revolution of 1789 had been a director in the Seminary of Limoges. He had been a member of the first band of Sulpicians who arrived in Baltimore in 1791. M. Richard was a young man about twenty-four years of age who had just joined the Society of St. Sul- pice at the end of his theological studies. He came to Baltimore with M. Flaget and M. Ciquard. As their serv- ices were not needed at the Baltimore seminary, Richard was sent to the West by Bishop Carroll, and at first evan- gelized the French and Indians of the Illinois district. Later M. Levadoux penetrated farther north and settled in Detroit, then a village of about 2,000 souls, mostly French. In 1798 M. Richard came to Detroit, and jointly with M. Levadoux attended to the spiritual needs not only of Detroit but of the entire Lake region as far as Sault Ste. Marie. In 1803, M. Levadoux was recalled to France and became professor of theology at Saint Flour. 138 THE STJLPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES M. Richard remained in sole charge of Detroit and its vicinity, where he proved to be one of the most energetic and notable missionaries in the northwest of the United States. This is not the place to enlarge upon his achieve 1 ments as pastor of the Detroit congregation of St. Anne nor as a missionary to the Indians, our present concern being with his endeavor to carry out M. Emery's instruc- tions to start preparatory seminaries. In 1804, only one year after M. Levadoux's departure for France had left him superior of the Detroit mission, he undertook to es- tablish a seminary for the education of young clerics. The year before he had prepared for the venture by found- ing some elementary schools taught by ladies. In his seminary were taught Latin, geography, ecclesiastical his- tory, Church music, and the practice of mental prayer. 1 But the zealous Sulpician's enterprise was doomed to speedy destruction. The following year (1805) his school shared the fate of the rising village of Detroit and was reduced to ashes, along with the Church of St. Anne and M. Richard's home. The story we have told in the present chapter shows how loyal to Father Olier's idea were the gentlemen of St. Sulpice who came to America. Cast out of their own land, refugees in a strange country, their first and their constant thought was the education of the clergy. Failure did not discourage them. Whether in the East or in the West, the Sulpician missionary, as soon as he was settled in his new home gathered about him young men who gave proof of a clerical vocation. We can not help admiring their steadfastness. They failed at Baltimore, they failed at Pigeon Hill, they failed at Emmitsburg, they failed in Illinois, they failed at Detroit, but never even for a mo- ment did they waver in their loyalty to the purpose of their company. Their almost grim determination to stand 1 See Rev. John J. O'Brien, "The Rev. Gabriel Richard, Educator, States- man, and Priest" in "Historical Records, and Studies," vol. v, p. 81. OTHEB SUBSIDIAEIES OF ST. MABY's SEMINARY 139 by the program of MM. Olier and Emery is a characteris- tic of their endeavors and their history. That is the principal moral to be drawn from the story we have re- cited. CHAPTER VII THE SULPICIAN MISSIONARY BISHOPS AND MISSIONARIES In one particular M. Olier had deviated from the prin- cipal aim and ideal of the Company he founded. The seventeenth century was for the Church of France, as well as for the Church in general, a great missionary period. To the West as well as to the East bands of zeal- ous, nay, heroic men, set forth to bring the glad tidings of the Gospel. M. Olier did not resist this universal cur- rent, and sent his brethren to Montreal to share in the glorious work of conquering the children of the redman and gathering them into Christ's fold. When, therefore, the wild fanaticism of the French Revolution drove out a large part of M. Olier's sons to seek refuge in America, the never quailing chief of the Company, M. Emery, saw in M. Olier's settlement of Montreal a warrant for send- ing his confreres forth as missionaries to gain over to Christ's flock both the whitemen and the redmen of the new world. We must not be understood as representing M. Emery as an obstinate idealist, for apart from M. Olier's example many weighty reasons almost compelled him to embrace this policy. With difficulty did the new Republic main- tain one seminary, and only a few of the sons of M. Olier could be employed directly in the cause of sacerdotal train- ing. On the other hand, the cry for missionaries was loud and insistent from every quarter. The forests of Maine, the islands of the Great Lakes and the prairies of the Mississippi valley all clamored for black robes to 140 6ULPICIAS M1SSIONABT B.SHOPS AT.D MM8IO1.AMES 141 spread the Gospel among the native children of the lani The adventurous countrymen of Champla.i -J"* Salle craved for missionaries to succeed Brebeuf, Jo Marquette and Hennepin, and the youn Amencan SS Blowing in the footsteps of her Europe^ ters was keenly conscious of her duty to place her ties" d her Sample before the separated brethren who al? centuries of persecution, had ^ ^olumb - hospitable doors to Catholics as well as to other Chn Now the Sulpicians were at the time the only apostles of Catholicism'in a position to satisfy *^ st va r-rrese sr s; S, W., and the polish, gentleness and ^*f^ aat?s' < S*S? dence had ordained *at "thers o he ^ntlem s w rth: our great S body of churchmen 142 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES were growing few and feeble through age. Accidental ar- rivals from divers countries of Europe were of various merit and unfit for concerted effort, and learning for the most part was not a striking feature in their equipment, while naturally enough their manners were marked by energy rather than by elegance. In most respects the Sulpicians presented a distinct con- trast to these accidental apostles. They were received by American gentlemen as representatives of the faithful allies of struggling America. Learning was their profes- sion, inasmuch as they were dedicated to a life of scholar- ship. They claimed the sympathies of the Americans as educators. Controversy they avoided as much as possible, but when it did come their intellectual war was carried on in a way that convinced their adversaries that the con- quest they sought was peace and agreement. In France, while they sought retirement on principle, many of them had been by circumstance brought into contact with the scholars and aristocratic world of pre-Kevolutionary times. Besides all these attractions they were strangers, not Eng- lishmen, and the very imperfection with which they spoke the English language added piquancy, interest and charm to their conversation. Above all they were models of Christian life, not only modest and retiring, but ever ready to do service to friend and foe, charitable without narrow- ness, zealous without aggressiveness, elegant without ef- feminacy, dignified without pride. It goes without saying that such men were almost pre- destined to become leaders in the young Church of the new world, and naturally it is not at all remarkable to find a large number of the early prelates of the Ameri- can Church taken from the ranks of the pious and learned sons of St. Sulpice. Their lives and their gentle achieve- ments were not the least part of the history of St. Sulpice in America, though of course their elevation to the episco- RT. RKV. BENEDICT JOSEPH FI-ACKT. First Bishop of Bardstow.i. SITLPICIAN MISSIONABY BISHOPS AND MI8SIONAKIE8 143 pate broke to some extent the ties between them and their Company. However, though no one felt this rupture more than these loyal Sulpicians themselves, still in some respects it was more apparent than real. They ceased to be Sulpicians but the spirit of St. Sulpice never departed from them. They remained the same zealous, modest lov- ers of learning; they were animated by the same earnest- ness in the cause of clerical education, and in truth of all education; they were the same indefatigable laborers; they led the same democratic life of simplicity which dis- tinguished them as seminary professors. The history of the Sulpicians would be incomplete without a sketch of these devoted and noble representatives of their Company and the Church. I RIGHT REVEREND BENEDICT JOSEPH FLAGET, S.S. The first member of M. Olier's Society to become the shepherd of a flock in the United States was in many ways, heart and soul, a typical Sulpician. We speak of Bishop Flaget. The command of the Holy Father severed his immediate connection with his brethren, but to the end of his life the principles and instincts which characterize a true Sulpician filled his heart and guided his actions. Bishop Flaget was an Auvergnat, having been born in the small town of Contournat in 1763. He was brought up by the Sulpicians and joined the Company at the early age of twenty. Even before his ordination in 1788 he was professor of dogma at Nantes in Brittany, and imme- diately after his ordination we find him a professor of the theological faculty at Angers, where he remained until his departure for Baltimore, in 1792. He came to the United States in the prime of his man- hood, a thorough Sulpician by education and by practice. Though his family was not distinguished, his parents be- -1 . . - l i~-l TT -TTffir. JLi i^ s3iff tanff ic -was Igrtfc. SnnB ae off H. EBBSHT,, o^tt 5ir i izne- jod IB leaJmaartEr mi i-^rii- r^ :?* zx l^OL Hs le Inane a OHO- of tdk* u: STL ILtr*^ .In n mn tftc adniBad HBsiB. In. I '.- M" j rv "TfM rmni ftwflflnp i e in lie atut* r^nff- t&ri iranosAKT BZBHOTS ASTD MHHJIII 145 for this pocztaon, which pnetaeallT COB- mitted to his charge the eatire Xorthweet a* far a* Michi- gan, and ulimkJ aueikwmrd BO as to include Temeone. Bishop Carron thought K Flaget especially fitted for the see of Bardstown because of his virtoea, his qualities as a ruler and his acquaintance with with hueu spiritual government he was to he But M. Flaget was wholly oneoosooBS of all this, being conrinced that **ffc**' hi Aeoloneal learning nor fci other weD-txied qualities fitted him for the position of bishop. Beeideihadbe not promised never to mjuiflo an episcopal see and never to accept one except bj the torv orders of the Holy Father ? When therefore die of his elevation reached him at Finmiiahaig, he hurried down to BaMmore and set every e ipmlifM in motion to nullify the Bull The fett man he met on reaching the Seminary was 34- David, whom rumor had designated for the see of Bardstown. and who took tike htshop-efect by Ike haad, gufE 1 '** 1 "^ 1 * 11 ^ liim and offered to go to Ken- tocky to aasi^ him. M. Flaget thanked him for his offer, MBiiiiii^ Kim that had M. David been named Bishop of Bardstown he would here offered his own earricee to him. Them M. Flaget aied tiie advice of tie other Baltimore Snlpicians. They prayed and fasted for several days and then resolved that every effort should be made to avert the misfortune which threatened 1L Flaget They went to Bishop Carroll, told him of their prayers and fasting and begged him to use his utmost efforts to turn aside die threatened catastrophe. The bishop liatmd jieliiellj and riM Msuiul them that he had also prayed, and not only he, but the Holy Father. The result of these protests was that Bishop Car- roll wrote both to M. Emery and to the Pope. M. Flaget was hopeful When he received no M. Emerv nor from the Holy Father, he started off to 146 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES France, for M. Emery, he thought, would surely help him. When he entered his room, M. Emery received him with the words : "My Lord Bishop, you should be in your dio- cese." This sentence came like a thunder-clap. Then M. Emery told him that he had just received a letter from the papal authorities bidding M. Flaget accept the episcopal dignity, and made him prepare at once to attend to his duties. The loyal Sulpician did not appreciate his su- perior's display of authority. He complained that he was not being treated fairly, that he had been always a faithful Sulpician, had worked for the welfare of the Company and had said three Masses for each of his de- ceased confreres, expecting that the Company would do the like by him at his death, but that now, being cast out of the Society, he would lose this advantage. The Superior General began to console him. "You will not cease to be a member of the Society," he declared, "for you accept the bishop's miter in obedience to my mandate. Moreover, I will see to it that when you die every Sulpician shall say three Masses for you." M. Flaget was checkmated and bowing to the inevitable, secured what assistance he could in France and prepared to return to the new world. When the Superior General bade him farewell, he was unusually cordial, agreeing to allow M. David to go to Bardstown to help the bishop for at least three years. Moreover, he gave him two presents, a box of needles and a French cook book. The former, he said, belonged to the necessary outfit of every good bishop, while the latter might prove valuable, as some of his future lambs had not yet learned European cookery, and the bishop might stand in sore need of a French culinary hand-book. Armed with these and many other gifts, among them some vest- ments highly valued by the Sulpicians and a chalice which had belonged to M. Olier, and which is now at St. Mary's Seminary, he came back to Baltimore. Bishop Carroll SULPICIAN MISSIONABY BISHOPS AND MI8SIONABIE8 147 he declared, and no one else, should consecrate him, for it was he who had put this burden upon him. As soon as he was consecrated, he planned to go to his diocese, but alas ! he lacked the needed means. M. Badin, whom he had named vicar general, offered to collect the necessary money in Kentucky, but the bishop would not hear of beginning his activity by imposing a tax on his people. Fortunately his Baltimore friends were ready to help him, and in May, 1810, he made his entry into Bards- town. He was received cordially by both clergy and laity, though neither were formidable on account of their num- bers. Kentucky, which was the heart, so to speak, of his diocese, numbered about six thousand Catholics, divided up into thirty congregations, each consisting on an average of about two hundred souls. But only ten of these con- gregations had a church, the rest worshiping wherever they could find a home. The Dominicans had a primitive mon- astery dedicated to St. Rose and a few of the secular pas- tors had plain residences. These buildings together with six plantations constituted the wealth of the Church in Bishop Flaget's diocese proper. Outside of Kentucky, the new prelate also governed all the faithful to be found on the eastern bank of the upper Mississippi including Indiana, Illinois and even Michi- gan, as well as the few Catholics settled in Tennessee. The Kentucky Catholics were mostly pioneer descendants of Maryland emigrants, while the Catholics to the north of Kentucky were French Creoles who had spread southward from Canada. In the Illinois country and in Michigan many Indians were still to be found, a number of them Catholics, whose ancestors had been converted by Jesuits and other priests, while many were pagans. The Bishop of Bardstown, therefore, had a flock demanding all the skill and resources of a wise and energetic shepherd. Mon- 148 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES seigneur Flaget lost no time in proving both his wisdom and his vigor. The history of the Sulpicians does not call for the de- tailed story of the episcopal activities of the Sulpicians who were placed in charge of bishoprics, but in the case of Bishop Flaget we shall feel ourselves justified in laying before our readers a more detailed picture of his work, especially inasmuch as this illustrates the Sulpician aims and spirit. Moreover, if in the case of other Sulpician bishops we refrain from entering with equal fullness on their history, our picture of Bishop Flaget's doings will enable our readers to fill in more satisfactorily the story of these good and worthy prelates. Nor shall we feel ourselves bound to follow the chronological order in every particular. We shall group the facts with a view to make them show most vividly what kind of a man Bishop Flaget was and to what extent he represented the Sulpician type. 1 The Sulpician, we must repeat, is first and foremost an educator of clerics. Hence one of the first works taken in hand by the new bishop was the formation of a native clergy, trained to fulfill the duties of good pastors. M. Emery had promised the bishop-elect the loan of M. David for three years, which meant that even then the bishop and the superior general had resolved that one of the first measures of the new administration was to be the organiza- tion of a seminary. We use the word organization because neither the diocese nor the bishop had the means allowing them to think of erecting even a very modest building. Bishop Flaget lost no time, but forthwith appointed M. 1 Fortunately, Bishop M. J. Spalding of Louisville, one of Bishop Flaget's closest friends, who was Intimately associated with his later days, who became his successor, and ultimately Archbishop of Baltimore, has left us a most interesting Life of Bishop Flaget. It Is to a great extent based upon Bishop Flaget's diary, which not only records his doings but por- trays the inner life of the man ; his piety, modesty, fear of. and trust in God, his unselfishness, devotion to duty and love of his clergy and his flock. It is in every way an admirable work, not only edifying but con- vincing and placing before the reader an undistorted and unadorned pic- ture. We commend to all our readers these "Sketches of the Life. Times nd Character of the Rt. Rev. Benedict J. Flaget, First Bishop of Louis- ville," 8vo., Louisville, 1852. SULPICIAN MISSIONARY BISHOPS AND MISSIONARIES 149 David superior of the seminary. At first he constituted the entire faculty, but in the course of time the faculty increased, and the priests sent forth by the seminary are sufficient evidence of the excellence of the spirit and methods of M. David and his assistants. As a missionary, the new bishop had before him the example of the early Sulpicians sent by M. Olier to Canada and an extensive missionary field. Like the Canadian Sulpicians he did not neglect the Indians, but in his missionary activity, as in everything else, he com- bined zeal, energy and method. During the first years of his episcopate he did not personally go outside of Ken- tucky, but that territory would make a very respectable European kingdom. Besides he was a bishop without a cathedral, for it would be misleading to give this title to the chapel of St. Stephen, now Loretto, where his vicar general, Father Badin, had resided, and where a log cabin sixteen by sixteen was his palace. He had therefore plenty of work before him at home. Nevertheless we learn that during the first four months of the year 1812 he traveled eight hundred miles, visiting various missions. These visits he usually made on horseback and when his work took him beyond the line of the more civilized dis- tricts, it was not uncommon for him to sleep in the open air under the clear sky of heaven. Of course, after 1814, when he extended his missionary trips beyond Kentucky to Vincennes, Indiana and St. Louis, Missouri, he rode much longer distances and had probably much tougher fare. Still we do not hear of his having had recourse to the French cook book presented to him by M. Emery. His vicar general, the Reverend Stephen Badin, claimed to have ridden more than 100,000 miles on his missionary tours. We have no records enabling us to calculate pre- cisely how many miles Bishop Flaget traveled, but we may safely assume that his journeys covered tens of thousands 150 THE STJLPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES of miles. Nor were his travels always pleasant tours, the rides being at times too lengthy for such a purpose. In the year 1818 he extended his journey farther northward and on May 26th reached Fort Finley, Ohio. The traveler's comforts he enjoyed here were not en- chanting. There was but one bed-room for fourteen or fifteen guests. They spread their blankets on a very rough floor and slept as well as they could. The menu for breakfast was of the simplest, bacon being the meat on the occasion and corn bread the only cereal product served. Both were prepared by the landlady and her daughters, who, as well as the other attendants, were suffering from the itch. The guests drank from the same vessels as the attendants and we may doubt whether the usual condi- ments were at hand. At all events, on the day before the bishop had met and ministered to a party of Indians, and the squaws, to express their gratitude, had presented his lordship with a pound or two of sugar. We may infer that sugar was not too plentiful near Fort Finley. To these discomforts we must add the almost universal ab- sence of roads. Where roads existed they were rude and elementary, and the traveler on horseback had frequently to struggle with branches and underbrush as well as with swamps. Moreover, we must not forget the rains, against which in this sparsely settled country there was but little shelter. But there were other inconveniences which our episcopal traveler had to face. In fact, to a cultured man with a delicate conscience they were even more annoying and more torturing than the physical trials to which we have called attention. If we refer to Bishop Flaget's diary, we find that in the year 1817, when returning from St. Louis to Bardstown by way of Illinois, he came to an inn whose principal room, according to Bishop Spalding, was "crowded with wagoners, who did nothing but utter con- STJLPICIAN MI8SIONAEY BISHOPS AND MISSIONARIES 151 tinually the most horrible oaths and blasphemies. For- tunately a negro man came in, who began playing on the violin, left-handed, while a negress danced! The back- woodsmen stopped their swearing, in their admiration of the remarkable fiddler and the novel danseuse. Even the Bishop could not refrain from laughing at the grotesque scene, while he blessed God for having thus put an end to blasphemies so revolting; and though he heartily dis- liked dancing on all occasions, yet he now willingly tol- erated it, as the less of two evils." During a later trip to Indiana we come upon another incident illustrating the uncouth character of the people whom traveling missionaries were likely to encounter. On this occasion Bishop Flaget had with him as traveling companion the Reverend Mr. Abell, a refined young American. "They put up for the night," says Bishop Spalding, "at a way-side house of entertainment, which was a one story log cabin, with a garret or loft, approached by a ladder. The prelate and his companion lodged in this garret, the floor of which was covered with loose boards ; while the family and some wagoners occupied the lower room. The Bishop had an alarm clock and he set it so as to go off at four o'clock his usual hour for rising. In the morning, the clock created quite an alarm among the occupants of the lower floor. Several sprang to their feet in fright; when a more knowing or a more drowsy wagoner calmed them with the illuminating explanation, 'Lie still, you fools ! it is only the old priest's clock which has busted.' " Amid such hardships the old gentleman, for he was forty-seven years old when he was consecrated, continued his visitations till his eighty-sixth year, traveling not only from village to village and county to county, but from State to State. His journeys, besides every part of Ken- tucky, covered Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, Illi- 152 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES nois, Michigan, and Canada as far as Quebec. Every- where his eyes were open to the needs of the people. Where he found half a dozen familes he organized a con- gregation; where he found the churches neglected he re- stored them ; where he found the congregations quarreling, he reconciled them, and not only congregations, but fam- ilies and individuals. A case of this kind is recorded by Bishop Spalding. 1 The bishop in 1817 visited Scott County with his vicar general, Father Badin, their chief purpose being to recon- cile two neighbors who were leading men in the congre- gation. For two weeks the two clergymen rummaged through old papers and documents but made little prog- ress. "At last one of the quarrelers remarked with some bitterness of tone that he wished he had burned all his papers and never brought up that matter for adjudica- tion. The bishop seized eagerly on the hint and at once earnestly exhorted them both to burn their papers and to forget the past. They could not resist his touching appeal uttered with so much fatherly feeling. . . . The next morning the Bishop said Mass in the house of one of these men, the other being present. . . . Before the Com- munion, the Bishop turned round and addressed them one of his most fervid exhortations. After Mass the papers were solemnly burned ; the two enemies shook hands ; and the feud was terminated much to the joy and edification of all present, many of whom could not restrain their tears." He heard countless confessions, urged the building of schools and not only encouraged the religious instruction of his own flock, but when occasion offered explained the doctrines of the Church to non-Catholics. He devised a novel method of instruction which proved both so popular and effective, that he had recourse to it to the end of 1 Spalding, "Sketches of the Life, Times and Character of Bishop Flaget," pp. 245-246. STTLPICIAN MISSIONABY BISHOPS AND MISSIONARIES 153 his life. The first time he tried it was at Detroit in 1818, on which occasion M. Richard, his old confrere, faced him in the sanctuary, putting questions to him on the doctrines of the Church, and the bishop answered by explaining them. When he was visiting the various parts of his dio- cese, he preached almost daily and sometimes he preached as often as three and four times a day. Nay, at times he preached regular retreats of a week or more in order to instruct his people. Besides these episcopal visitations, during which he also administered the Sacrament of Confirmation, he per- formed, whenever it was necessary, the duties of a plain parish priest. Thus in 1820 and 1821 during the absence of the Reverend M. Nerinckx in Europe, he attended to the six or seven congregations regularly under the care of that worthy missionary. Similarly, on other occasions he took charge of the flocks of the Reverend Mr. Abell, the Reverend M. Chabrat and others. He took this pastoral work most seriously, not only visiting the sick in the ca- thedral congregation, but when, in 1832-33, the cholera ravaged Kentucky he was ready to help the sick in every part of the State. On the Monday after Pentecost the plague broke out in the family of Mr. Roberts (a Protestant gentleman), re- siding some eight miles from Bardstown. Three of his servants and a daughter fell victims to it. All the neigh- bors fled, whereupon two Sisters of Loretto went to the aid of the stricken and were followed by two Sisters of Nazareth and the Reverend Dr. Reynolds, later Bishop of Charleston, S. C. One of the Sisters died of the dis- ease. The bishop himself next appeared at the desolate home, baptized a daughter of Mr. Roberts and anointed a dying servant. When the cholera reached Bardstown, the bishop was equally intrepid. As long as the plague lasted he faced it boldly and escaped infection, but when 154 THE SUXPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES it seemed to die out it laid hold of the sturdy bishop and brought him almost to the grave. For three days his physicians despaired of his life, but his sturdy constitu- tion, bold heart and God's help restored him to health, to the joy, not only of his own flock, but also of the entire city of Bardstown. Bishop Flaget, following the example of the old Sul- pician missionaries of Montreal and of Canada generally, showed the greatest interest in the American redskins. The days were past when the savages tortured the Chris- tian missionaries to death, and many of the Indians had already found their homes beyond the Mississippi. But wherever the bishop met with them, he did not fail to provide for his redskin children. When in 1792 the small- pox raged in Vincennes, especially among the Indians, he was an ever active pastor among them. During his visit to Canada it gave him great pleasure to inspect the Indian settlements near the residence of his friend, M. Malaud, at St. Anne. He was edified with their singing, admired their superb "Calvary" and was amused with their sports. He promised to send missionaries to the redskins of his own diocese. In 1818, when 10,000 Indians were gath- ered at St. Mary's to make a treaty with the United States, Bishop Flaget was in their midst and remained there for a great part of the seven weeks taken up with the negotiations. At St. Mary's he met the government agent, Colonel Johnson, who, after Bishop Flaget's death, published his reminiscences of his relations with the prelate, which show how faithfully the latter practised M. Olier's principles. He avoided all controversy with non-Catholics, who treated him with the utmost respect "His conduct," writes the Colonel, "throughout his sojourn with us was so marked by the affability, courtesy and kindness of his manners with the dignity of the Christian and gentleman SULPICIAN MISSIONARY BISHOPS AND MISSIONARIES 155 that he won all hearts. Added to this, he possessed a fine proportioned and commanding person; few persons ex- celled him here, when in the prime of his years." On this occasion, too, he carried out the Sulpician views on the accumulation of money. When the officials had collected the sum of $100 (a large amount at that time), for a present to him, he positively declined to accept it. How deeply his dignified Christian bearing impressed non- Catholics appears on all occasions when he came in con- tact with them. As early as 1792, General George Rogers Clark showed him every attention at Vincennes. In 1814 Governor Clark of Missouri Territory, the partner of Lewis in his explorations of the Northwest, invited him to his house and prevailed on him to baptize his three children and to become their god-father. In 1818, on his way to Detroit, he was invited to be the guest of Mr. Anderson, the Con- gressman of that district, who was very kind to him. On June 2, 1818, when at Detroit, he received the visit of Governor Cass of Michigan and of General Macomb, who commanded the United States troops at Detroit. They showed him the greatest attention while he remained in that city, and he dined with them a week after their visit to him. In September of the same year, he was visited by Governor Jennings and Judge Park. On his return from Canada the same year the Governor-general of Can- ada met him on board the steamer and showed him every courtesy. It is interesting to find the bishop on board a Canadian steamboat so short a time after Fulton had built the first steam craft at New York, indicating as it does his progressive spirit. But it is needless to multiply these proofs of the great esteem in which Monseigneur Flaget was held by his non-Catholic contemporaries. This is further confirmed by the readiness with which successive Kentucky legislatures granted charters and similar privi- 156 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES leges to the convents at Loretto and Nazareth at the bishop's request. The Dominicans who had settled in Kentucky prior to his appointment to the see of Bardstown were encouraged and helped by Bishop Flaget whenever he could do so. In 1812, with the approval of the bishop, Father Nerinckx founded the congregation of the Sisters of Loretto, and about the same time Bishop David established the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth. Seven years later the Dominican Superior, Father Wilson, established the monastery of St Magdalene, now called St. Catherine's. His zeal and fore- sight in securing candidates to the priesthood were proved by the establishment of two colleges, both at first run on the plan of St. Mary's College, Baltimore, with the help of the seminary students. These were St. Joseph's, under the di- rection of Father Elder, and St Mary's, under the direc- tion of Father Byrne. Monseigneur Flaget expressed his anxiety to have the assistance of the Society of Jesus in his diocese and in 1832 the president of St. Mary's College, the Very Reverend William Byrne, turned over his college to its care. 1 Devotion and loyalty to the See of Rome is another tra- ditional principle in the Society of St. Sulpice. We should therefore look for it in the life of so thorough a Sulpician as Bishop Flaget. His struggle to escape the episcopal dignity has already been described, but at last Rome spoke and M. Flaget ceased his resistance. In 1825, when he thought of paying his ad limina visit to Rome, he first asked for the Pope's permission to leave his diocese. The Holy Father thought it wiser for him to stay at home and he did so. Ten years later he sailed for Italy. The impression his loyalty had made on Gregory XVI we may gather from the bishop's account of his first interview with 1 Only two years before his death In 1848 he received into his diocese about forty Trappists from the Abbey of Melleray in France. He estab- lished them at Gethsemane, some eight miles from the city of Bardstown. STTLPICIAN MISSIONARY BISHOPS AND MI88IOWABIE8 157 the pontiff, who assured him that "he had followed all my footsteps from Havre till my arrival at Rome, that he was satisfied with my conduct, that I was a worthy successor of the apostles." It was at the request of the pontiff that he undertook to present the claims of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith to the people of France and visited no less than forty-six dioceses with this object His success was both immediate and lasting. "Thousands and tens of thousands joined the pious Association ; and what was even far more consoling, piety revived and fervor was aroused under his preaching in the various cities and towns of France." When, after traveling through every part of France for the purpose of securing its aid for the American missions, his friends urged the venerable prelate (he was seventy- seven years of age), to remain with his relatives in Europe, he asked the pontiff's advice. Gregory XVI, who had re- ceived many letters from the United States insisting on Bishop Flaget's speedy return, advised him to go back to his diocese. There was not a moment's hesitation. To his chaplain, who spoke to him of remaining in Europe, he declared, "No, no, my dear child ; I was already fully de- cided to do the will of the Pope, and if he had answered that I should neither remain in France nor return to America but should depart for China or join the Arch- bishop of Cologne, 1 in case that venerable Confessor could find there a place for me, I should have departed on the instant." He did as he said and returned to his flock, reaching New York on August 21, 1839. Thence he hastened to Bardstown and forthwith proceeded to carry out the Pope's last commission. He brought the pontifical bless- ing to his flock. The religious communities were the first to receive his visits, but he did not forget the great mass 1 Clemens August von Droste-Vlscberlng, who was then imprisoned In m Prussian fortress for maintaining the righto of the Church. 158 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES of the faithful who were scattered over the State of Ken- tucky. During the next two years he traveled six hundred miles on horseback, bringing everywhere the papal blessing and being received almost like a messenger from heaven. Then he settled down at home, where he continued to exercise, for the advantage, not only of his own diocese but of the American Church in general, the great influ- ence which was the result of his noble, disinterested char- acter and of the confidence which both the American bishops and the Roman authorities placed in his wisdom. For his own diocese he secured colonies of the nuns of the Good Shepherd and of the Trappist monks and placed the Jesuits in charge of St. Joseph's College. But what especially engaged his attention was the transfer of the see from Bardstown to Louisville. This scheme he had laid before Gregory XVI when at Rome. The Pope referred the matter to the Congregation of Propaganda and some time after his return to Bardstown, in 1841, the bishop received the approval of this important step. He felt deeply the separation from Bardstown, the home of so many successful and happy years, where he was universally respected and reverenced, but time had shown that Louisville, not Bardstown, was the most im- portant city of the State. Though the time of removal had been left to his discretion, he did not hesitate long, being certain of his welcome in Louisville, where Catholics and Protestants were ready to aid him in building a new cathedral. Toward the end of the year 1841 he made Louisville his home. Eight years later, though ill, the bishop witnessed from the balcony of his residence the ceremony of laying the cornerstone of the cathedral, whence he gave his blessing to the thousands of his flock and his friends. He was not privileged to see its completion. The eighty-seven years of a strenuous and eventful life had done their work. His health began to fail, his body to SULPICIAN MIS8IONABY BISHOP8 AND MISSIONARIES 159 grow feeble, his eyes to lose their power and the results of ancient accidents to revive. He could no longer read the office of the Church, and said his beads instead. He was no longer able to offer the Sacrifice of the Mass, and bowed his head in patience and submission. He could no longer give the benediction to the faithful, and unseen in his private gallery, he knelt to receive God's blessing. He always remained the simple, patient, God-fearing and God-trusting servant of the Lord, until he slept in peace amid the tears of his friends, the respect of his fellow citizens and the universal mourning of his flock. He passed away on February 11, 1850. The work done by Bishop Flaget, whether as a student in the Seminary or as a professor at Nantes; whether in the land of his birth, or as an exile in the land of his adoption; whether as a missionary, or as a bishop, was inspired by the same thought. He wished to do his duty, to serve God and the Church. He did this consistently and strenuously and joyfully and wisely. Without desir- ing it, he won the admiration of men. With simplicity and without ambition he achieved great results. Without looking for it, he won the praise of his superiors and his wards, of the simple faithful and the Supreme Pontiff. But what most impresses us is his beautiful, inner Chris- tian life. To the diary which he kept from his youth he confided his inmost thoughts. Our readers will no doubt appreciate some of the spontaneous outbursts of the noble man which we cull from this book. The sight of Niagara suggested to him the torrents of grace God pours into men's hearts, which reject them like the hard rock. "Is not this the case with my own heart? O God! do not permit this!" he prayed. "My God ! how many thanks should I not render Thee, for having always given me a love for the life of the Seminary, in spite of the distractions in which I am forced 160 THE SULPICLLNS IN THE UNITED STATES to live!" His scrupulous desire to carry out the laws of God and the Church is expressed in the following: "Vouchsafe, O my God, to enlighten me, that I may do nothing to weaken the discipline of the Church ... in order to be found after my death among the faithful serv- ants." When throngs of people came to see him during his visit to Detroit in 1818, he exclaims: "O my God! What is there in me to rivet the attention of these people ?" In his report to the Holy Father, dated 1836, he thus expresses his love and solicitude for his clergy: "Oh! may God bless my clergy ! May He bless their continual sacrifices and generous devotedness, without which there would be nothing remaining of all that exists in my dio- cese! But, alas! these young priests soon become ex- hausted; on them old age and infirmities come prema- turely the evident result of their long journeys and painful missions." His detachment from life in the world was ever in evidence but especially toward the end. To his friends, who often wished him better health and many more years of life, he constantly replied : "O no, pray not for a longer life, but pray for a holy and happy death." We shall close the story of Bishop Flaget's life by lay- ing before our readers a picture of his diocese as he left it to his successor. When he went to Bardstown in 1810 he found there but a single institution, the Dominican Monastery of St. Rose. At his death, the diocese had a seminary with nineteen students; a preparatory seminary with fifteen students, two priests and five teachers; a high school with thirty students; four colleges, one in the hands of the Jesuits; three religious Sisterhoods in charge of a large female orphan asylum, an infirmary and eleven flourishing academies for girls. Bishop Spald- ing does not mention the number of churches, schools SULPICIAN MISSIONARY BISHOPS AND MISSIONARIES 161 and parishes, but we know that under the bishop's care they too had increased and multiplied. II EIGHT EEVEEEND J. B. DAVID, S.S. Bishop Flaget's dearest friend and most faithful aid was his old Sulpician confrere, Bishop John Baptist David. The story of their friendship and collaboration is truly edifying and touching. Indeed, the life of Bishop David sheds new light on the life of Bishop Flaget. Still, the two men were in many respects quite unlike each other. Both were genuine Sulpicians, but while Bishop Flaget represents the best type of missionary Sulpician, Bishop David, though the coadjutor of his friend, was es- sentially the professor and such he remained till the end of his days. John Baptist David was a Breton, sturdy, heavily built and endowed with a vigorous intellect and a sympathetic heart. He was born in 1761, near Nantes, and therefore was Bishop Flaget's senior by two years. After completing his classical studies he entered the Sulpician Seminary at Issy, where he was ordained in 1785. He then joined the Company of St. Sulpice, and taught philosophy and theology in various seminaries until these were broken up by the revolutionary disturbances in France (1791). He was one of the companions of M. Flaget in 1792 and thenceforth they were intimate friends. On his arrival at Baltimore, Bishop Carroll sent him to the lower part of Maryland, where he remained until 1803. He proved to be a zealous and active missionary priest and is said to have been the first to introduce in the United States mis- sions for lay congregations. 1 However, he was not destined for missionary life and in 1803 we find him as professor 1 M. David resided at Lower Zacchia. now Bryantown. from which place he served Upper Zacchia. now St. Peter's. Waldorf and Matta woman. We are Indebted for this Information to Rev. E. J. Devltt, S. J. 162 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES at Georgetown, whence he was soon transferred to St. Mary's, Baltimore. When Bishop Flaget went to Bards- town in 1810, M. David, who had volunteered to accom- pany him, went, by M. Emery's directions, to Kentucky, and was placed in charge of the new bishop's seminary. The seminary at first had only three students, who in five years increased to fifteen, but the sturdy Breton president, who composed also the entire faculty, conducted their studies with as much regularity and system as if there had been a hundred. His seminary was a true Sulpician seminary. The next year the new seminary was trans- ferred from St. Stephen's to the farm of St. Thomas on the plantation given to Monseigneur Flaget by Mr. Thomas Howard, a devout and zealous Kentucky Catholic. Here M. David and the seminarians, whom their superior had imbued with the same devotion to their work which animated himself, while continuing their studies, built a new seminary, thirty feet square. Professors and students spent their recreation time in making bricks and erecting the building, which sufficed for twenty-five persons and could be heated so as to make it habitable in winter. The students had likewise a considerable share in the erection of the convent of the Sisters of Nazareth. They did not, however, on account of these labors neglect the prescribed lectures or seminary exercises. After the death of Bishop Egan of Philadelphia, in 1814, M. David was appointed to that see. But miters had no more attraction for M. David than for the other Sulpicians and could not tempt him away from his beloved seminary. Subsequently he refused the diocese of Xew Orleans. In 1817, however, he was appointed coadjutor to Bishop Flaget, but he remained loyal to his much be- loved seminary. He also had charge of some congregations in its neighborhood. An enterprise in which he took a special interest was the ]?T. KEY. JOHN* BAPTIST DAVID. SULPICIAN MISSIONARY BISHOPS AND MISSIONARIES 163 Sisterhood which is now so well known in Kentucky and the South as the Sisters of Nazareth. Like all institutes destined to flourish and to last, its beginnings were very humble. About a year after the removal of M. David's seminary to the farm of St. Thomas, i.e., in 1812, he undertook the direction of two pious women who wished to consecrate themselves especially to the service of God. Other ladies soon joined them. In June, 1813, when their community had increased to six, they started their organization in a brick building near the seminary on the old Howard farm. M. David undertook to draw up their rules, which were based on those of the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul. These he modified so as to meet the needs of the changed circumstances, and the nuns dedicated themselves to the care of the sick and the teaching of the young. M. David's work turned out to be very practical and satisfac- tory. In 1822 the mother-house was transferred to Naza- reth, whence the congregation spread not only throughout Kentucky but over many States of the South and South- west. M. David continued to be the director of these good ladies after he became Coadjutor Bishop of Bards- town, until his failing health compelled him to relinquish to Bishop Keynolds of Charleston this work which had been his charge for upwards of twenty years and which had grown so dear to him. But M. David's principal care always remained St. Thomas' Seminary. Until the building of the Bardstown cathedral in 1819 the seminary was his regular home, and here Bishop Flaget also had his residence and helped along the work of the seminary. Meantime the extent of the bishop's diocese, his manifold duties and his frequent absences from home, impressed on him his need of an as- sistant. Rome received his request for a coadjutor favor- ably and also approved M. David, the candidate he had 164 THE SULPICIASTS IN THE HUTTED STATES suggested. The Bulls appointing him titular Bishop of Mauricastro were dated July 4, 1817. M. David used every means to escape the promotion, pleading his inex- perience, his age, for he was the senior by two years of Bishop Flaget, and the fact that his having advocated the appointment of a coadjutor might seem to have paved the way to his own preferment But the Roman authorities set aside these reasons and M. David yielded, but even then the old Sulpician was true to his calling, for he con- tinued to be the president of the seminary, directing the studies and delivering his lectures just as before. ISFor did his labors cease there, for he continued to supervise the work of the Sisters of Nazareth, was at the same time the rector and the organist of the Bardstown cathedral, and served four adjoining missions, as well as that of St. Thomas, of which he had long been pastor. His heart always remained with the seminary work, which bore fruit a hundred-fold. Archbishop Spalding, one of his old seminary students, declares that the older clergy of Kentucky who were trained by him and who knew him well, long held his name in benediction. Laden with work but happy amid all his labors, Bishop David gave no thought to anything but his duties, when in 1832 he was suddenly upset by the arrival of a Bull appointing him Bishop of Bardstown to succeed Bishop Flaget who had resigned two years before, and the whole diocese shared his perturbation. Bishop Flaget was visit- ing Bishop Rosati at St. Louis, when he received Bishop David's letter announcing the news from Rome. He strongly protested against the change, and returned to Bardstown, accompanied by the Bishop of St. Louis. But the opposition of both the clergy and laity of the Ken- tucky diocese was so pronounced that the three bishops thought it best to bow before it. Bishop David offered Rome his resignation and Bishop Flaget placed himself SULPICIAN MISSIONAEY BISHOPS AND MISSIONARIES 165 at the disposition of the Holy Sea As a consequence, after being Bishop of Bardstown for about a year, Mon- seigneur David's resignation was accepted and Bishop Flaget was restored. The faithful old coadjutor retired to his seminary where he remained until the condition of his health and the solicitude of his daughters of Nazareth induced him to seek recovery in the midst of the Sister- hood that he had founded. They lavished on him every attention, but the noble and intrepid soldier of Christ had finished his task. He died at Nazareth on July 12, 1841. Bishop David was an indefatigable worker. He labored not only on the missions and among the Sisters of Charity, not only as a seminary professor and executive, but also as a writer. His writings, a list of which follows, were among the earliest fruits of the Catholic press in the West, and include several translations from the French : "Vin- dication of the Catholic Doctrine Concerning the Use and Veneration of Images," "Address to His Brethren of Other Professions," "On the Rule of Faith, True Piety ; or, the Day Well Spent," and a Catholic hymn book. Bishop David, like men of his large and powerful build, was kind and good natured, though also of quick and emo- tional temperament But his ire quickly passed away. He was strict with those under his charge but no less strict with himself. When in 1823 the first clerical retreat of the Bardstown diocese took place, Bishop David, fancying that he had been slighted in some matter, lost his temper and gave offense by his language. But before long he realized his mistake and nothing would satisfy the humble and contrite bishop but a public apology before the assem- bled priests. The incident produced a profound impres- sion among the clergy and increased the love and the re- spect of all. The simple characters of both Bishop David and Bishop Flaget were illustrated by another incident 166 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES which occurred when both were advanced in years. Not long before Bishop David's death, Bishop Flaget received from Europe a box containing pictures, beads and medals which was opened in the presence of Bishop David. The latter asked Bishop Flaget for some of these trinkets with a view to distributing them among his friends. With a smile on his lips Bishop Flaget answered : "You always ask me for something and never give me anything." Bishop David's reply was irresistible : "I have given you all that I have, I have given you myself," and he got what he asked for. Ill REVEREND GABRIEL RICHARD, S.S. 1 Among the gentlemen of St. Sulpice sent to the United States in 1792 was the Reverend Gabriel Richard. He was a young man only twenty-five years old and had been born at Saintes in the department of Charente-Inferieure. His family was distinguished in the history of the Church, for it had given to France Bossuet, the eloquent Bishop of Meaux. M. Richard made his classical studies at his birthplace and then studied philosophy and theology un- der the Sulpicians at Angers. He joined the Company of St. Sulpice before his ordination, which took place at Issy in 1791. The Seminary at Issy was still open in the fall of 1791, and young Richard taught mathematics there. When the house was closed by the violence of the Revo- lution and the faculty was dispersed, M. Richard was sent to Baltimore and thus ended his career as a teacher. There being no work for him in the Baltimore seminary, Bishop Carroll sent him to the West to labor among the French Creoles and the Indians. On the way to his mis- sion, late in 1792, we find him at St. Louis with MM. Flaget and Levadoux. Thence he proceeded to Kaskaskia 1 For a fuller biography of the Rev. G. Richard, see that by the Rev. John J. O'Brien in "Historical Records and Studies," voL v, p. 77 sqq. PASTOR OF ST. ANNE'S CHURCH. DETROIT. ; 7 9 9 1 S 3 2 SULPICIAN MISSIONABY BISHOPS AND MISSION ABIES 167 and Prairie du Rocher, to which missions Cahokia was added in 1796. At Kaskaskia he found a congregation of some eight hundred French Creoles, who were far from being models of virtue. The congregations at Prairie du Rocher and Cahokia, however, were much better. In Illinois and Indiana he worked with zeal and devotion until 1798, when, in company with M. Dilhet, he was called to Detroit to assist the Reverend M. Levadoux who, in 1801, was recalled to Baltimore and subsequently re- turned to France. Detroit was a French settlement and the center of the local fur trade with the Indians. M. Richard's missionary work gradually extended also to Michilimackinac, Sault Sainte Marie and Arbre Croche, where there were Indian stations. M. Richard was therefore following closely in the footsteps of the gentlemen sent by M. Olier to Mon- treal. In 1802 when M. Levadoux left Detroit, M. Rich- ard became pastor of the old church of St. Anne, founded in 1755, and vicar-general of the Bishop of Baltimore. That the new pastor vigorously seized the reins is appar- ent from the fact that only a year after his installation no less than 521 members of his flock were confirmed by Bishop Denaut of Quebec. Then he took in hand the im- provement of education at Detroit, where hitherto hardly anything had been done in its behalf. In 1804 he opened an academy for girls with five instructresses. In the same year, in accordance with the spirit of the Sulpician Com- pany and the directions of M. Emery, he founded a high school for boys, or rather a preparatory seminary for young men. Here were taught Latin, geography, ecclesi- astical history, Church music and the practice of mental prayer. Probably he and M. Dilhet were the principal, perhaps the only, instructors. In 1805 Detroit was vis- ited by a great conflagration which swept away the greater part of the city and destroyed M. Richard's church and 168 THE STTLPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES schools. Among the citizens of Detroit who assisted the city to rise from its ashes there was no more strenuous worker than the Catholic pastor. He gathered provisions for the unfortunate victims and secured the respect of all his fellow citizens, for in the distribution of his charity he made no distinction of class, nationality or creed, nor did he neglect the interests of education. Three years after the fire Detroit could boast of six elementary schools and two academies for girls. M. Kichard was also eager to restore his high school, but we do not know how far he pro- gressed in his plans. We do know, however, that he ac- tively promoted the establishment of what has since become the University of Michigan. This was founded by act of the Legislature in the year 1817 under the title of "Catholepistemiad," a name given to it by Judge Woodward. In spite of this handicap, and his thirteen didaxiims or professorships, it survives to this day as the University of Michigan. The president, Keverend John Monteith, a Protestant clergyman, held seven of these didaxiims and Father Eichard, the vice- president, the remaining six. His yearly salary was $18.50. Whether he actually performed any of the duties of his didaxiims is not certain, but probable. At all events, the Catholepistemiad was short lived. In 1821 the charter of 1817 was repealed and replaced by a new charter establishing the University of Michigan, of which M. Richard was one of the trustees. As he had a reputa- tion as an eloquent speaker he may well have lectured at times in the university. At all events, from 1807 he delivered addresses to his Protestant fellow-citizens in the council house. These were religious lectures, inculcating the fundamental principles of morality and Christianity, which tended to dissipate non-Catholic prejudice, and, no doubt, brought some of his hearers to the Catholic Church. About 1808 or 1810 M. Richard paid a visit to Balti- SULPICIAN MISSIONARY BISHOPS AND MISSIONARIES 169 more. 1 Ever attentive to the needs of his Michigan flock and convinced that it sadly needed good Catholic reading, he purchased a printing press, which was one of the first used in that State. He now became an editor and founded the "Michigan Essay," which, however, did not take root, its first number being also the last. Nevertheless, the printing press was not a failure, for it enabled M. Rich- ard to print a number of books, in both French and Eng- lish, dealing with religion and education, of which the reader will find a list in Father O'Brien's article. 2 During the War of 1812 against England, M. Richard gave free expression to his patriotic attachment to his adopted country and thereby roused the wrath of the Canadian authorities, who had him arrested and im- prisoned at Sandwich. There he ministered to the reli- gious wants of England's Indian allies and saved some Americans from torture and death. A unique distinction fell to bis lot in 1823. He was chosen delegate to Congress for the Territory of Michigan and was the only Catholic priest who ever sat in Congress. He performed his duties to the entire satisfaction of his constituents. The greater part of the salary that came to him as a member of Congress he devoted to the rebuilding of St. Anne's Church. He established Indian schools at Green Bay, Arbre Croche and St. Joseph's. He took an interest in the education of the deaf-mutes and in popu- lar education generally, for we find him delivering lectures before the students of the Normal School of Detroit. In fact, he worked for every cause which advanced the civil and religious interests of the people of Michigan. In 1832 this State, like other parts of the West, was visited by the cholera. Intrepidly, like Bishop Flaget, he stood at the bedside of the stricken and fell a victim to the per- *M. Richard was in Baltimore Dec. 30, 1808. He left for Detroit March 1, 1809 (Tessler's "Epoques"). * "Historical Records and Studies," vol. v, p. 77 sqq. 170 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES formance of his duty. Judge Cooley, a non-Catholic, spoke of him in words of marked eulogy. "Father Rich- ard," he said, "a faithful and devoted pastor under many discouragements, did what he found it in his power to do to restore or convert the people to Christianity and to moral and decent lives. He would have been a man of mark in almost any community and at any time." IV RIGHT REVEBEND WILLIAM VALENTINE DUBOTJRG, S.S. In our fourth chapter we have traced the career of M. Dubourg while he was president of St. Mary's College Baltimore, until Bishop Carroll appointed him admin- istrator of the diocese of New Orleans. He thus became one of the Sulpician missionaries. His success as presi- dent of Georgetown and president of St. Mary's College was ample proof that Bishop Carroll had made no mis- take. His enterprise, his polished, attractive manners and his power to make friends fitted him to overcome the obstacles that he had to meet in his new position. His gentleness combined with prudence and determination promised solid achievements. The ecclesiastical administration of the part of the United States which was then included under the name of Louisiana was by no means an easy undertaking. It had become a part of the United States only eight or nine years before (1803), when Napoleon, who had held the sov- ereignty for a few months only, had sold it to our govern- ment. For thirty-eight years prior to 1800 Louisiana had belonged to Spain, having been transferred to that power after the Seven Years' War, when France lost Canada and the rest of her colonies in the New World. Under the French power, Louisiana was in its infancy. Its religious interests had been in charge principally of SULPICIAN MISSIONARY BISHOPS AND MISSIONARIES 171 the old Indian missionaries, mostly Jesuits, and the bishops of Quebec. Under the Spaniards the religious authorities also were changed and the War of Independ- ence had not helped to improve the moral and religious status of the inhabitants, whether Creoles or redskins. At New Orleans, on the southern bank of the Missis- sippi, more active communication with France had brought into the country the French literature and principles which had done so much to prepare the Revolution. Con- sequently religious fervor was not marked and religious practices were irregular. Owing in part to the repeated changes of administration, the clergy also had degenerated and ecclesiastical discipline had become relaxed. In 1763 the Bishop of Santiago, Cuba, was charged with the ad- ministration of Louisiana. But before long it was found that a bishop residing in Cuba had but little authority over a clergy residing in Louisiana, especially as both clergy and laity, mostly French, had little sympathy with their Spanish superior. At the request of the Bishop of Santiago, therefore, Rome, in 1772, appointed a resident coadjutor for New Orleans. His jurisdiction extended over the present States of Louisiana, Alabama, Florida and the banks of the lower Mississippi and Missouri. In the entire country there were seventeen parishes and twenty-one priests. Notwithstanding the small number of his subjects, the new coadjutor's administration proved no more successful than the bishop's and, what was worse, he did not agree with the bishop's views. In 1793 the trouble became so acute that Bishop Escheveria dispensed with the services of the coadjutor, who thereupon retired to Catalonia. Pius VI thought that to remedy the evil it was best to make Louisiana an independent see, and accordingly Don Penalver y Cardenas was named Bishop of New Orleans. He was a good man and a wise governor. The 172 THE STJLPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES evils he had to contend with were serious and almost in- curable. Religious life was fast dying out Of 11,000 faithful in the cathedral parish only three or four hun- dred made their Easter duty. Less than half attended Mass on Sundays. The religious character of marriage was ignored and concuhinage was quite common. Add to this the general spread of the irreligious French literature of the eighteenth century and we can conceive without diffi- culty the troubles of the new bishop. Things grew worse and worse after 1801, in which year Bishop Penalver y Cardenas was transferred to Guatemala. His successor never reached his diocese, but died at Rome in 1802. The administration was then in the hands of a vicar general whose regularity was doubtful, and in 1804 this doubtful vicar general died. New Orleans was in this state of religious anarchy when in 1805 the Holy See entrusted the administration of Louisiana to Bishop Carroll. He felt that a resident bishop was needed, and sent to Rome the names of Father David and Father Nerinckx as men suitable for the new bishopric. But neither the one nor the other was ambi- tious for the honors of a miter. Some years of negotia- tion followed, which probably did not help to improve the situation in New Orleans. At last in 1812, at Bishop Carroll's suggestion, Rome appointed M. Dubourg admin- istrator, and he accepted the office reluctantly. Indeed his new field of labor was a far from inviting post. What has been said sufficiently suggests the disorderly, nay, al- most desperate condition of spiritual affairs at New Or- leans. But this was not all. At the gates of the city stood an English army ready to attack it. Surely, M. Dubourg was a man of great pluck and determination to accept the administratorship in spite of these obstacles. M. Dubourg's first steps at New Orleans were no less energetic than had been his administration of St. Mary's MOST REV. WILLIAM DUBOURG, Founder and First President of St. Mary's College. SULPICIAN MISSIONARY BISHOPS AND MISSIONARIES 173 College. Seeing the critical state of things, he appealed to his flock to support the American general, Andrew Jack- son, and insisted upon the duty and merit of patriotism. His words were not thrown away. General Jackson, hav- ing won the glorious battle of New Orleans on January 8, 1815, M. Dubourg invited him to assist at the Te Deum in honor of his victory. Jackson, who was no less im- pressed by M. Dubourg's eloquence than by his energy and patriotism, enthusiastically recognized the adminis- trator's services to the American cause. M. Dubourg's patriotic action impressed not only General Jackson but all the people of New Orleans. However, so disordered had ecclesiastical affairs become in Louisiana that even before the administrator's arrival some of the clergy and laity of the city openly refused to recognize his authority. The leaders of the opposition were a Spanish priest named Anthony Sedella and two other seditious clergymen. When the administrator re- solved to put an end to these disorders by direct appeal to Home and appointed Father Sibourd his vicar general during his absence, Sedella denied M. Dubourg's authority to name a vicar general. He succeeded in spreading the spirit of revolt throughout the city and diocese, and finally appealed to Congress to subvert the administra- tor's authority and vest the control of various parishes in boards elected by the congregation. M. Dubourg, natur- ally a man of moderation and ready to use every means to re-establish peace, plainly foresaw the failure of all his endeavors. It was high time for him to go to Rome. At Rome he met with a warm and friendly reception. Not only were his views and plans received with favor, but he was appointed Bishop of New Orleans in accord- ance with Bishop Carroll's suggestion, immediately con- secrated (1815), and without delay began his labors for the development of his diocese. While it contained more 174 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES priests perhaps than other parts of the United States there was also a larger flock to be cared for. Besides, many of the clergy were broken down by age and some of them were decidedly seditious. His first effort, there- fore, was to secure new missionaries, who by their zeal, energy and loyalty would change the face of affairs. Suc- cess was immediate. At Rome, he obtained the services of the distinguished Lazarist Fathers, de Andreis, Eosati and Aquaroni, as well as others of the same Congregation. In Belgium, too, he found a number of priests and semi- narians ready to follow him to the new world. His experi- ence at New Orleans had convinced him that the aid of some French Sisterhoods would greatly facilitate his mis- sionary work. He therefore brought with him from Europe nine Ursuline Sisters and a few Religious of the Sacred Heart, a new congregation recently founded by Madame Barat. The superior of this latter community was Madame Duchesne. When he reached Annapolis on September 4th, he was accompanied by five priests and twenty-six seminarians. 1 The company, headed by the bishop, started westward at once, and finally reached Bardstown, where he was received with open arms by his Sulpician brethren, Bish- ops Flaget and David. The new bishop carefully consid- ered his plan of campaign. To go to New Orleans di- rectly was to invite riot and rebellion. Accordingly, he resolved to enter his diocese at its northwestern end, in other words, to go to St. Louis before returning to New Orleans. In fact, he had prepared the way for this policy by asking Bishop Flaget, who was well known and popu- lar at St. Louis, to pay a visit to that -city in 1817. Mon- seigneur Flaget had complied with Bishop Dubourg's re- 1 From September 10th to November 4th Bishop Dubourg resided at the seminary, where, on his arrival, the college students complimented their former president. During his stay he officiated pontlflcally at the cathedral, St. Patrick's church and the seminary chapel. Five of his students received orders at his hands, M. Bertrand being raised to the priesthood. SULPICIAN MISSIONARY BISHOPS AND MISSIONARIES 175 quest, although in St. Louis, too, there were active ele- ments of opposition. But these disappeared during Bishop Flaget's visit When Bishop Dubourg learned of this favorable turn of affairs, he decided to go to St Louis forthwith, but thought it wise to ask Bishop Flaget to accompany him. In the latter part of 1817 the two bishops set out on their journey. 1 At St. Louis the party was received with great enthusiasm and the bishop re- solved to make the city his home for the present and to proceed to New Orleans gradually, thus avoiding any conflict with the seditious elements in his episcopal city. This plan was not only prudent but also in harmony with the gentle, peaceful character of the bishop and eventually proved eminently successful. The bishop's first care was the establishment of a dio- cesan seminary. The inhabitants of a place called The Barrens, not far from St. Louis, generously offered the needed ground and helped in the erection of the buildings. The institution was entrusted to the Lazarist Fathers un- der the presidency of Father de Lacroix (1818), and though at first there were but few students, their number grew from year to year and the seminary was a success from the beginning. The establishment of the Religious of the Sacred Heart in the diocese progressed no less successfully. Three nuns arrived at New Orleans, May 30, 1818, and were at first settled at St. Charles, which place was, however, soon ex- changed for Florissant. As early as 1821 a second con- vent was necessary and was founded at Grand Coteau. Meantime the bishop had settled at St. Louis and built a cathedral. His activity was prodigious. He was erect- ing a cathedral, a church, a college and a convent simul- taneously and daily shared his meals with some twenty i It Is Interesting to note that at Louisville ther took a steamboat for St. Louis. This was less than ten years after the Invention of steam navi- gation by Fulton. 176 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES persons. The fare, however, it is needless to say, was plain and simple in the extreme, as was the episcopal fur- niture. A friend from New Orleans who saw the plain spruce cot on which the bishop slept was shocked and sent him a more respectable bedstead. Here is the bishop's letter of thanks : "My palace is too small and too shabby to admit so decorative a piece of furniture. You will, therefore, my friend, allow me to exchange it for some- thing more useful. Bread is what I need, I and my house- hold. Everything here is. unreasonably high and I dare not treat myself to the smallest piece of furniture. Would you believe that we have but a single writing desk, which passes from one member of the household to the other. But this does not lessen my good humor." 1 Scarcely had he finished building his cathedral at St. Louis when he started out to visit his diocese. He now found the warmest reception everywhere, even to the very gates of ~New Orleans. The people not only helped him to build churches but offered him the ground on which to build them. The generous contributions of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith enabled him to gratify at once his own generous nature and the needs of the faithful. In a few years he had erected forty churches down the valley of the Mississippi from St. Louis to New Orleans. The zeal and the gentle spirit of the bishop produced their natural effects even among the rebels of ]STew Or- leans. At first the chapel of the Ursuline convent suf- ficed to receive the entire loyal flock of the diocese under its vicar general, M. Sibourd. Gradually two churches opened their doors to the vicar general and the loyalists, and finally even Sedella showed signs of a change of heart. When in 1820 the bishop renewed his visitation, opposi- tion had disappeared. Six miles from "New Orleans he 1 See Andre In "Bulletin Trimestriel," No. 52, p. 83. SULPICIAN MISSIONAEY BISHOPS AND MISSIONARIES 177 was met by a deputation of the faithful, headed by Vicar General Sibourd. Most notable among the party that came to welcome him was the converted rebel Sedella. They accompanied the bishop all the way to the city and took him to his cathedral, where he pontificated on Christ- mas Day, 1820. These visitations and missionary excursions were a fea- ture of Bishop Dubourg's life while his episcopate lasted. Many of them were far from being pleasure parties and sometimes were not without danger. In 1825 he paid a missionary visit to Natchitoches, of which the letter of his companion, M. Anduze, gives us a graphic account We subjoin a short extract: "On Tuesday, September 13th, we departed. M. Rossi had provided us with a guide and the necessary horses and kindly accompanied us for five miles beyond Opelousas. From this point began our expedition, properly so called. Our order was as fol- lows: 1st. The guide on horseback leading a mule with baggage by a long cord. 2d. Charles also on horseback. He had a whip to hurry his mule's pace. I came next and the Bishop closed the procession. Here we bade fare- well to mankind and buried ourselves in the desert. . . . On reaching the Bayou-Boeuf we were obliged to re- lieve the horses, who had the greatest trouble to cross the stream, though they carried only their saddles. But we were specially puzzled how to get out of our own troubles. ... I proposed to lunch on the opposite bank: the Bishop approved my proposal and wished to be the first to cross. The only means to cross the Bayou were two large trees which had broken loose from the two banks and lay top-to-top in the middle of the creek. This bridge had, moreover, the disadvantage of being covered by water more than one foot in depth throughout its length, so that all in all the crossing was quite dangerous. Our 178 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES good Bishop, resting on the arms of the guide, undertook to face the difficulty. "But he had hardly reached the point where the two trees met when the uppermost tree on which the Bishop was crossing was upset and our two travelers stood up to the arm-pits in water. This shock, though violent, did not discourage him; he climbed on the second tree and with the guide's help reached the other bank. . . . He got only a few scratches of which the Bishop made very light. The guide and the negro carried the baggage as well as they could. Finally we took up our march in the same order as before. The path we followed was at most three or four feet wide and passed over boggy ground bristling with cypress roots ending in sharp points, on which we feared every moment to be thrown by the horses which drew up their backs to extricate themselves from the sticky mud. . . . We had scarcely escaped hence when we plunged into impenetrable thickets of reeds which, crossing in every direction, threatened to pierce us. . . ." * These were only the initial difficulties which they had to encounter before reaching Natchitoches. They suffice to show what were the enjoyments of missionary bishops at the time. Besides these parochial visitations, which took up a great part of the time, Bishop Dubourg was also an Indian missionary or rather the director of a great part of the western missions to the redskins. He came in contact with them for the first time in St. Louis in 1820 when the head chief of the Osages called upon him there. The next year he sent the Lazarist, Father de Lacroix to visit the Indians in their homes up the Mississippi. The fol- lowing year, he repeated his visit and penetrated fifty miles further west, beyond the homes of the Osages. Ac- cording to Odin he divided up the Indian missions be- 1 See Andre, loo. cit., No. 53, pp. 219-220. STJLPICIAN MISSIONARY BISHOPS AND MISSIONARIES 179 tween the Lazarists, who labored on the upper Missis- sippi, and the Jesuits, who evangelized the redskins on the banks of the Missouri. As to the Jesuits, M. Dubourg deserves the credit of not only founding the Indian missions later made famous by Father De Smet and his Belgian confreres, but of se- curing the services of these missionaries for the West There had arrived from Belgium in 1821 a band of Jesuits consisting of Father De Smet and five others, some of them novices, and they had taken up their residence at Whitemarsh, Maryland. Various discouragements led them to think of returning to their native land, when Bishop Dubourg accidentally paid them a visit (1823). He was then engaged in negotiations with the Government at Washington relative to the Indian missions in Mis- souri and farther west The Indian superintendent had received him with much favor and listened with approval to the project of sending to the redskins the blackrobes, for whom they had applied. As an earnest of this ap- proval the United States Government promised to pay $200 annually to each of four or five missionaries. The young Flemish Jesuits enthusiastically welcomed the pro- posed Indian mission, and agreed to transfer their novi- tiate to Florissant, near St. Louis, thus becoming the apostles of the Indians on the upper Missouri and farther west. 1 Bishop Dubourg had thus successfully provided for the most urgent necessities of his extensive diocese. At the same time he felt that one man did not suffice to supply the needs of this widespread field of labor. Accordingly he had the distinguished Lazarist, Father Rosati, ap- pointed his coadjutor (March, 1824), and left to him the government of upper Louisiana, devoting himself espe- cially to New Orleans. Here, however, he found that the 1 Letter of M. Dubourg to his brother, March 17, 1823. In -Bulletin Trl- mestriel," No. 53, p. 214. Also letter of August 16, 1823, ibid., p. 215. 180 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES old spirit of unrest had not yet died out. Believing that it might be easier for another to surmount the difficulties which met him here he sent his resignation to Home. The Holy See, however, was unwilling to part with the serv- ices of so able a bishop. While his resignation was therefore accepted, he was transferred in 1826 to the see of Montauban in Trance, to succeed Cardinal Cheverus. For seven years he had presided over its destinies to the satisfaction of Eome and his flock, when he was promoted to the archbishopric of Besangon. He was not, however, to enjoy his new honors for long, being called to his re- ward on December 12, 1833. Bishop Dubourg was the author of "The Sons of St. Dominick" and of a pamphlet entitled "St. Mary's Semi- nary and the Catholics at Large Vindicated," besides other controversial writings. V MOST REVEREND AMBROSE MABECHAL, SS. Until the year 1817 Sulpician missionary bishops had been appointed only for the western and southern sees of the United States. In that year, however, the archbish- opric of Baltimore was conferred on the Most Reverend Ambrose Marechal, a Sulpician, who for five years be- fore his promotion had been professor of theology at St. Mary's Seminary. Born at Ingres in 1764, he pursued his classical studies at Orleans and then chose the law for his profession. Before long, however, he felt him- self called to the clerical state and entered the Seminary of Orleans where he pursued his theological studies under the Sulpicians. He was compelled to flee from France on the very day of his ordination and reached Baltimore with MM. Richard and Ciquard on June 24, 1792. He was sent by Archbishop Carroll to the missions in St. Mary's County and on the eastern shore of Maryland, SULPICIAN MISSIONARY BISHOPS AND MISSIONARIES 181 where he worked until 1799, when he was appointed pro- fessor of theology in St. Mary's Seminary. In 1801-02 he taught philosophy at Georgetown College and in 1803 M. Emery recalled him to France where there was a great want of Sulpicians in various dioceses. The expulsion of the Sulpician Fathers from the French seminaries by Napoleon in 1811 brought M. Marechal back to Baltimore and to his old position in St. Mary's. Here he gave himself to his duties with heart and soul, and soon gained the confidence, not only of his confreres and scholars, but also of Archbishop Carroll. M. Mare- chal was not only a theologian of distinction but a scholar of great attainments in literature and mathematics, as appeared from the papers on the latter subject left by him at his death. He was a well-read historian and a man of general information. Moreover, his learning was always at his command, for he shone in conversation, shedding light on every subject which he discussed. Above all he was a charming gentleman, attractive, polite and kind, without pretension and full of consideration for others. That such a man should have riveted upon himself the eyes of all who came in contact with him was natural. Accordingly, we find that in 1814 the American bishops with one voice recommended him for the vacant see of New York. Outside influences, as well as his own re- luctance and the efforts of his Sulpician brethren, saved him from what he looked upon as a heavy burden, but the trial was only postponed. On July 3, 1816, the Bulls appointing him to the see of Philadelphia as the successor of Bishop Egan reached him at Baltimore. Again he strove to avoid episcopal honors and made an earnest ap- peal to Cardinal Litta, the head of the Congregation of the Propaganda, to spare him the dreaded change. The cardinal appealed to him to submit, but as he did not re- quire submission in virtue of obedience, M. Marechal 182 THE STTLPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES thought himself justified in persisting in his refusal, and escaped promotion the second time. But the relief was only temporary. The following year (1817) Archbishop Neale felt that his health required him to ask Rome for a coadjutor, and proposed M. Mare- chal as his assistant. On July 4, 1817, the Roman au- thorities signed the Bulls appointing him coadjutor of Bishop Neale with the right of succession, and they reached the bishop-elect at Baltimore on November 10th. Meantime, however, Bishop Neale had been called to his reward. Monseigneur Marechal was therefore immedi- ately consecrated archbishop and took charge of the diocese without delay. He sought first of all to become well acquainted with his diocese. He therefore lost no time in visiting its vari- ous parts, but especially the cities of Norfolk and Charles- ton, which were distracted by unpleasant disorders. At Charleston the notorious Father Gallagher had for many years kept the faithful in a turmoil and usurped the rights of the lawful parish priest, Father de la Cloriviere; while at Norfolk the Dominican, Carbry, was causing no less trouble with the help of the parish trustees. Arch- bishop Marechal firmly opposed the usurpers, and by ju- diciously mingling authority with charity, succeeded in restoring peace and order. By his wise action in another matter which was disturbing the American Church, he de- served its gratitude for all times. Reference has already been made to the small number of the American clergy at the time Archbishop Carroll was named bishop in 1789, and to the difficulty of filling its ranks during the administration of Archbishop Carroll, notwithstanding all his efforts to build it up. It is true that besides the native clergy a number of priests from abroad had come into the country and that among them there were men of great ability and character. This is 8TJLPICIAN MISSIONABY BISHOPS AND MI8SIONABIE8 183 especially true of the priests who were expelled from France by the Terror. But as might be expected, some undesirable elements had likewise found their way to the United States, and they were to be found not only in New Orleans, Charleston and Norfolk, but in Phila- delphia and New York, where, as in the South, they exer- cised considerable influence among the laity, especially the trustees. Now, when in course of time bishops were multiplied in the country, and Archbishop Carroll became head of a hierarchy, the question arose as to how the bishops were to be selected, of whom the country stood in need. Rome, of course, had the final appointive power, but who was to advise Rome in making the selection and from whom was the selection to be made? At first Bishop Car- roll was the only bishop, and his remote situation made it desirable to have his judgment supported by others. Be- sides there was but a small number of candidates who pos- sessed the virtues and ability requisite in a bishop. It should be borne in mind, that of the priests laboring in the Lord's American vineyard there were two classes who, by their own choice, were excluded from the epis- copacy, and who were perhaps best qualified for its duties. These were the Jesuits and the Sulpicians. The Jesuit, as is well known, at his entrance into the Order promises to decline the episcopal dignity unless the Pope should give him a positive command to accept it. Besides, after its suppression, the Order had been re-established in the United States only since 1807. The elder members were therefore unavailable for episcopal sees because of their advanced age and the younger members because of their being relatively inexperienced. The members of the Society of St. Sulpice, though not bound by positive vows to refuse the episcopacy, promise on entering the Society to avoid, ecclesiastical dignities. 184: THE STTLPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES and the entire history of the Company proves how thor- oughly in earnest its members were in making this prom- ise. Even in the youthful American Kepublic, the Sul- picians who were raised to the episcopal dignity accepted it only after positive unwillingness. This was true in the cases of Bishops Flaget, Dubourg and David, and Arch- bishop Marechal himself had given repeated proofs of the same disposition before his final elevation to the see of Baltimore. When the far from numerous secular clergy offered a suitable candidate, as was the case with M. Cheverus, who was consecrated Bishop of Boston in 1810, Eome did not hesitate to raise him to the episcopal rank. Eome's attitude was the same towards such regulars as possessed the requisite qualifications and were resident in the coun- try, and who were not prevented by their vows from ac- cepting the bishopric. Thus she named the Franciscan, Father Egan, Bishop of Philadelphia in 1810, and the Dominican, Father Edward D. Fenwick, Bishop of Cin- cinnati in 1822. But when in 1808 a bishop was to be nominated for the new see of New York, the Eoman au- thorities conferred the dignity on the Dominican, Father Luke Concanen, who resided at Home and had never been in the United States. When Bishop Concanen died in Naples (1810) before being able to reach his see, his successor was the Dominican, Father John Connolly, a resident of Eome, who was equally unacquainted with his future field of activity. Dr. Henry Conwell, Vicar Gen- eral of Armagh, Ireland, was appointed Bishop of Phila- delphia in 1820, although he was a stranger to the United! States. Similarly Dr. Patrick Kelly, president of Birch- field College, Kilkenny, Ireland, was selected to be Bishop of Eichmond, Virginia, in 1820. He was not only a stranger to the United States, but at his consecration in Europe took the oath of allegiance to George III. At the SULPICIAN MISSIONARY BISHOPS AND MISSIONARIES 185 same time the distinguished and able Bishop England, who had up to that time been president of the Cork semi- nary, was promoted to the recently created see of Charles- ton. He, however, positively refused to take the oath of allegiance to the King of England tendered to him at the time of his consecration. Thus it is evident that a few years after Monseigneur Marechal was raised to the see of Baltimore and about the time he set out for Rome on his ad limina visit in 1821, four out of eight American bishops had been ap- pointed to their sees without having seen the country which they were to govern. No doubt it was not unusual at Rome to send to missionary countries bishops who were strangers to their sees before their appointment, but the United States could not be placed in the same class as China and Japan. Moreover, in some cases, the prelates sent had proved to be unacceptable to the government of the United States, because they were subjects of the power with which the United States had recently been at war. When, therefore, Archbishop Marechal reached Rome in 1821, he drew the attention of the Propaganda to these considerations and to the fact that from the beginning of the American hierarchy Archbishop Carroll had urged that American appointments should be recommended by members of that hierarchy. He showed so much tact and ability in pleading his cause that the Pope and the Propa- ganda were readily convinced of the wisdom of the policy advocated by him. "We admit," said the Archbishop in a memoir to the Sovereign Pontiff, "that we have no right to present candidates for the episcopacy, but unquestion- ably someone must nominate them. Who then will be able to know the candidates worthy of being entrusted with such important missions ? Strangers can not claim to be acquainted with the needs of the country." * *Andr In "Bulletin TrimeBtriel," No. 64, p. 865. 186 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES The principles then suggested by the Archbishop of Baltimore have ever since regulated the selection of bish- ops in the United States, and the Church of the United States has recognized his service to its true interests. On the same occasion, he drew the attention of the Ro- man prelates to the controversy on the rights claimed by lay trustees to control the church property in the United States, and the Sovereign Pontiff issued some rules on the subject, which tranquillized the troubles for the time but did not settle them definitely. His visit to Rome, there- fore, proved most beneficial to his diocese and the entire American Church. He returned to Baltimore at the end of 1822. Before leaving for Rome, Archbishop Marechal had the satisfaction of consecrating his new cathedral (May 21, 1821). This then much admired specimen of architecture was in a way especially the work of the Sulpicians. When, because of the expense, Archbishop Carroll hesi- tated to select the spot on which it now stands, the memo- rial of MM. Nagot, Tessier, David, Babad, Flaget and Dubourg led him to waive his objections. In 1821 the people of Baltimore saw the beautiful structure finished and Archbishop Marechal dedicated it to God's service to the great satisfaction, not only of the Catholics, but of the Protestants as well. During his stay in Rome the archbishop, in order to encourage the seminary, had induced Pope Pius VII to erect it into a papal university by a brief dated April 18, 1822. By way of showing its new rank, the degree of Doctor of Theology was conferred on the Reverend M. Whitfield, Vicar General of Baltimore; M. Deluol, one of the professors in St. Mary's Seminary, and M. Dam- phoux, the president of St. Mary's College, on January 25, 1824. Clearly the archbishop had not forgotten his old confreres of St. Sulpice and was determined to MOST REV. AMBROSE MAR&CIIAI,, Third Archbishop of Baltimore. SULPICIAN MISSIONARY BISHOPS AND MISSIONARIES 187 strengthen his seminary by every means in his power. He conferred these degrees at a solemn function in the new cathedral, which made a great impression on the people. With a moderation which is so distinctive a quality in the Company of St. Sulpice, St. Mary's Seminary has seldom exercised the prerogative. Having settled to his satisfaction all the disorders and troubles which faced him at the beginning of his episco- pate, Monseigneur Marechal ruled his flock in peace after his return from Rome. Throughout his diocese every- thing promised progress, and elsewhere, in every part of the new Republic, the Church gave evidence of prosperity. He did not, however, fail to see that this prosperity would bring new problems, and planned to summon a great Pro- vincial Council to provide for future needs, and especially to secure the regular and uniform development of the American Church. He was not in favor of premature action, however, and thought it wise to postpone summon- ing this Council. But in the year 1826, while giving Confirmation at Emmitsburg, he was taken with an ill- ness which soon developed into the fatal disease of which he died on January 28, 1829. His death was regretted by all the citizens of Baltimore and the people of his dio- cese. VI RIGHT REVEREND JOHN DUBOIS, D.D. Right Reverend John Dubois, D.D., third Bishop of New York, is an old acquaintance. A cultured Parisian gentleman, he was forced, a few years after his ordina- tion, to leave France; was introduced by La Fayette to many distinguished Virginians, such as President Monroe and Patrick Henry; was a zealous missionary in Mary- land and founder of Mount St. Mary's College, Emmits- burg. In 1826 when the Papal Bulls took him away from 188 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES his beloved Mountain College which he had twice rebuilt, he was sixty-three years old and a vigorous, clever and affable man, whom President Andrew Jackson pronounced the most perfect gentleman he had ever met. He had been a Sulpician for seventeen years, and though the cir- cumstances of the last year had severed his connection with the Sulpician Company, he remained a Sulpician in spirit. As an old confrere he made a preparatory retreat before consecration at St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore. He bore with him to New York the friendly sympathy of the Sulpicians and the best wishes of the Maryland people, among whom he had spent so many happy years. The aged Charles Carroll of Carrollton presented him with the episcopal ring. The new cathedral at Baltimore, where he was consecrated by Archbishop Marechal, was filled with throngs of well-wishers, and yet the man who had been specially selected to convey the good wishes of his future flock bade him no friendly welcome, but prophe- sied evil days for the bishop on that festive occasion. The Reverend Mr. Taylor, who was guilty of this remark- able piece of bad manners, had the good sense to resign the following week as the pastor of the "New York ca- thedral and betook himself beyond the Atlantic. Still, Mr. Taylor's greeting foreboded unpleasant days for the new Bishop. There were in "New York at this time ambitious men who craved for undeserved honors. They had been a thorn in the side of the late Bishop Connolly, and they did not hesitate to charge Archbishop Marechal with intriguing to fill the diocese of New York with his friends, to accuse the Bishop-elect of vulgar ambitions and to impute to the Society of St. Sulpice a spirit wholly un- known to it. But though the archbishop and bishop and the Sulpicians generally repelled these unworthy insinua- tions, the new prelate was doomed to taste the fruits of this malicious spirit. On the Sunday following the con- STJLPICIAN MISSION AEY BISHOPS AND MISSIONARIES 189 secration, Bishop Dubois preached in his cathedral in Mul- berry Street. He strove to impress upon his flock that he was animated by nothing but benevolence toward them, and especially assured them of his broadmindedness, which saw no difference between the children of St. Louis and the children of St. Patrick. His friendly words could not dispel the spirit of suspicion and malevolence. The writer has met ladies and gentlemen who knew the old bishop, who had the pleasure of entertaining him at their homes, and who still kept the room in which they gave him hospitality exactly as it was when he was their guest They bore witness enthusiastically to the kind, noble and generous character of the bishop, and scorned the idea that there was in him anything unworthy or insincere; and such testimony as they gave agreed with that of the men and boys of the Mountain College and with the rec- ord which the bishop had made for himself in Maryland. We cannot dwell at length upon the pettifogging attempt to annoy the good prelate, which was due principally to the clergy of his own cathedral, such as Father Levins, a clever but erratic man. The troubles were the sequel, partly of the disorders under Bishop Dubois' predecessor, and partly of the doings of small spirits, some of whom were narrow rather than wicked. Suffice it to say that these annoyances did not interfere with the efficiency of the Bishop's administration. Immediately on his accession, he showed that he was determined to do his duty to the full. Forthwith he made excursions to the New Jersey part of his diocese and to the neighborhood of the metropolis, dedicating churches, encouraging the clergy and inspiring the laity. When he had become familiar with the situation in the neighborhood of New York he set out to acquaint himself with the more distant parts of the diocese. Alone and unattended, the old gentleman went, by way of the Hud- 190 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES son, to Albany, to central New York, a,nd to Buffalo, preaching, hearing confessions and administering the Sac- raments. At Buffalo he strove to settle the quarrels that had arisen between the pastors and their flocks. He even visited the only Indian colony~in his diocese and induced the redskins to give up some of their claims. To this visitation, which covered 3,000 miles, he devoted four strenuous years, not without greatly impairing his health. From the beginning of his administration he gave his attention to the problem of providing good and loyal pas- tors for his flock. The great diocese had no seminary, and his means were of the scantiest, but this did not dis- courage him. He determined during his visit to Rome (1831) to lay this essential need before Pope Pius VII and request his assistance. The Holy Father had a sym- pathetic heart and an open purse for him. From his scanty means he furnished him the sum needed to buy the land required for his first seminary at Nyack on the Hud- son. The work of building went on apace; the faculty, including the priest who later became the first American cardinal, was already selected and had taken possession of the new home of learning ; an attractive new chapel had been built; the old Knickerbockers who had looked with suspicion on their strange new neighbors, had not only become reconciled but friendly, when one fatal night the seminary became the prey of the flames and the Bishop saw his most cherished plans doomed to disappointment (1834). Nothing daunted by this disaster, a year or two later he appealed to his clergy and laity to further this necessary work and to spare no personal efforts to provide the much needed seminary. In 1838, he bought the fine mansion of M. John Lafarge, of Lafargeville in Jefferson County, to be the home of a new seminary which was to provide education, not only for students of theology, but for those 8ULPICIAN MISSIONARY BISHOPS AND MISSIONARIES 191 pursuing secondary studies in general. The success of Mount St. Mary's College had convinced him that he might expect the same in a place distant from New York. But though the new home of learning was most attractive, its inconvenient location wrecked it, and St. Vincent de Paul's Seminary of Lafargeville died after a year. When, however, in consequence of declining health, Bishop Du- bois had received the assistance of a coadjutor in the per- son of John Hughes, who, as a pupil of the Mountain Seminary, was equally convinced of the need of a semi- nary and college for the great diocese of New York, the coadjutor, in the name of the bishop, bought and or- ganized St. John's Seminary and College at Fordham in 1841. This measure, which was in harmony with Bishop Dubois' seminary policy, was taken but a short time be- fore the old prelate's death. This request for a coadjutor had been made in 1838. Bishop Dubois had been approaching old age when ap- pointed to the see of New York. His three visitations of his diocese had worn down and finally broken his health, which had been also impaired by the constant annoyances already referred to. But in spite of these drawbacks and of the disaster which foiled some of his best intentioned efforts, Bishop Dubois' administration proved a blessing to the diocese. He encouraged the Sisters of Charity whose director he had so long been at Emmitsburg. He was the founder of hospitals and orphan asylums, of which, in his days, the Catholics stood in sore need. The Catholic places of worship grew under him in number and in beauty; Catholic education was fostered with a loving hand; Catholic publishers started up, and periodical literature was encouraged and grew in influ- ence, for those were the days of the "Truth Teller," found- ed by Messrs. Pardow and Denman just before the bishop's 192 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES accession. This progress was made in a few years, not- withstanding the fact that the times were marked by the first outbreak of Protestant bigotry, which threatened the liberty of the Church and the existence of its institutions. But the veteran who had seen the days of the French Terror was not daunted by these new gadflies, which could not thrive in American air, and besides he had placed at his side his old Emmitsburg pupil, the vigorous, stout and fearless John Hughes, who was destined to inaugurate a new era as the first Archbishop of New York. In 1838 the masterful old prelate determined, in spite of his years and his infirmities, to make another visita- tion of his diocese. The will was there but the strength of the bishop was fairly exhausted. He had suffered re- peated paralytic strokes which weakened him both men- tally and physically. The attention of Eome had been called to the situation and in August, 1839, two months after his return to New York from his last visitation, Archbishop Eccleston of Baltimore was commissioned to announce to him the decision of the ecclesiastical authori- ties. It transferred the administration of the diocese from shoulders unable any longer to bear their burden to the vigorous shoulders of the young coadjutor, Bishop Hughes. At first the old prelate could not realize the blow which had fallen upon him. His mental weakness took the form of obstinacy and he could not reconcile him- self to abandon the exercise of authority to which he had been accustomed for a lifetime. But gradually he grew conscious of his own feebleness and retiring from all pub- lic life he prepared himself for the end by exercises of devotion, for he had ever been a man of exemplary piety. Daily he celebrated the holy sacrifice and even on the day which summoned him to his reward he was not obliged to forego this much valued privilege. He died in the Lord SULPICIAX MISSIONABY BISHOPS AND MISSIONARIES 193 on December 20, 1842, with a gentle smile on his lips, after invoking the holy names of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. 1 X ? r u a f S 11 ? r a <*out of Bishop Dubols' administration see the article vol B i ish ! ^ 7 1 ^ ubo18 ' b y Charles O. llerbermann, la "Records and Studies" CHAPTER VIII ST. MART'S SEMINARY THE ADMINISTRATION OF M. DELUOL, 1829-1849 It is time to return to the history of St. Mary's Semi- nary, the mother institution of the Company of St. Sul- pice in the United States. When we spoke of it last, we> reported the arrival in 1829 of M. Carriere at Baltimore as visitor representing M. Gamier, the superior-general in Paris. He had come at the invitation of M. Tessier, the aged superior of the American Sulpicians, and was to examine into the condition, not only of the seminary, but of the entire Society in the United States. For M. Tes- sier, besides being the head of the seminary, had authority over all the members of the Society, whether employed in seminary or in missionary work. The visitor, M. Carriere, was a very distinguished mem- ber of the Company of St. Sulpice in France. He had the entire confidence of the superior-general, M. Gamier, and knew his views. That he possessed the confidence of all the French Sulpicians alsoj appears from his stand- ing in the French Company of St. Sulpice, for he was not only a scholarly theologian but held the place of Vicar- general of Paris, and subsequently (from 1850), that of superior-general of the entire Society. Of course, when he arrived at Baltimore, he was received with the honors due to his position, not only by the Sulpicians, but also by Archbishop Whitfield, who invited him to share in the deliberations of the first Council of Baltimore. What was the mission of this distinguished gentleman? According 194 ADMINISTRATION OF M. DELTTOL, 1829-1849 195 to the wishes of M. Tessier and M. Gamier he was to ex- amine into the American branch of St. Sulpice, and not only to report thereon to M. Gamier, but he was also to take such immediate steps as the situation suggested. The first consequence of his mission was M. Tessier's spon- taneous resignation of his office and its acceptance. The reason of this step was sufficiently plain. The old superior, for he was now seventy years of age, had already repeated- ly asked in vain to be relieved of his duties and may have foreseen that his age ill-fitted him to inaugurate the changes demanded by the times. But M. Tessier's with- drawal was only the first result of M. Carriere's mission, to appreciate which it will be necessary to review in brief what St. Mary's Seminary and its dependencies had be- come. From the year 1826, when the Sulpicians gave up the College of Mount St. Mary at Emmitsburg, only two in- stitutions remained under the control of the Company, St. Mary's Seminary and St. Mary's College. In these twelve members of the Society were employed, including M. Tessier, the superior. The other members were MM. Damphoux, Deluol, Lhomme, Elder, Randanne, Wheeler, Knight, Hoskins, Joubert, Chanche, Hickey and Eccles- ton. MM. Deluol and Lhomme with M. Tessier formed the faculty of the seminary, the other gentlemen being offi- cials of St. Mary's College. To the seminary was attached a beautiful chapel which had practically become a par- ish church for that district of Baltimore. The gentlemen of St. Sulpice also assisted at the Sunday services at the Cathedral together with the seminary students, and some of the priests acted as directors of St. Joseph's Convent, Emmitsburg (the community of Mother Seton), and of the Oblate Sisters of Providence, which community was then in process of formation. Several of the older mem- bers of St. Sulpice, such as Monseigneur Flaget and Mon- 196 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES seigneur Dubois, had become bishops, and were therefore independent of the Society and in no wise subject to the rule of its superior. St. Mary's Seminary had measurably progressed. Its spirit was excellent, as is shown by the subsequent career of the seminarians. It numbered some twelve or fifteen students at this time. To M. Carriere this appeared a small number as compared with the French seminaries, and especially because the education of seminary students according to the tradition of St. Sulpice, was primarily the only work of the Sulpicians. If he now looked at the other Sulpician institution in Baltimore the visitor could not fail to be pleased with its prosperity. St. Mary's College numbered some two hun- dred students whose work was entirely satisfactory to its patrons. Unquestionably the nine members of St. Sulpice who directed the institution were accomplishing a useful and much appreciated task. But to M. Carriere, who saw with the eyes of MM. Olier and Emery, this work, though excellent, was not the true work of St. Sulpice. In 1826 the Society gave up the Mountain college, because it con- tinued to teach theology. This action logically constrained them to surrender the college at Baltimore, and this with all the more reason, since the latter diverted the energies of a larger number of members from their primary work. But it may be questioned whether the dictates of logic were the dictates of common sense. To abandon the col- lege was to leave the seminary without a feeder and was therefore to condemn it to death. M. Carriere saw that inasmuch as the solemn contract with the Legislature of the State bound them to maintain the college for at least thirty years, that is to say, for eight years longer, it could not be given up immediately, while at the same time there must be no delay in restoring St. Sulpice to its ideal purity. St. Mary's College was a necessary evil for some VERY RKV. Louis Rfiois DEI,I:O!.. Third Superior of St. Mary's Seminary. ADMINISTRATION OF M. DELUOL, 1829-1849 197 ten years longer, but meantime, the preliminary steps might be taken to establish a genuine lower seminary after the ideal of St. Sulpice. Moreover, the parish work of the Fathers and their spiritual direction of other religious communities must be gradually given up, and the weeds which had crept into the Sulpician garden must be rooted out. After carefully examining the prospects and the possibilities of the Sulpician work in the United States, M. Carriere looked for the man best suited to carry out the reforms and improvements which he had in mind. His choice fell upon M. Deluol, the oldest of the French Sulpicians and the principal professor of theology in the seminary. Louis Eegis Deluol, a native of St. Privat, near Aube- nas, Vivarais, was born on June 16, 1787. During the French Revolution his parents concealed a priest, the Rev- erend M. Bernard, in their house for a year and a half, during which time young Deluol daily served his Mass, an experience which made a profound impression on the boy. Having made his collegiate studies at the College of Aubenas, he entered the seminary of Viviers (1807), which was in charge of the Snlpicians. Before being or- dained he was appointed professor of philosophy, which he taught while awaiting Napoleon's permission to take Holy Orders. This arrived in 1811. He was raised to the priesthood on December 21st of this year, shortly after the suppression of the Society of St. Sulpice by Napo- leon's order. The following years were a troublesome time for the French seminaries, owing to the political disturb- ances, during which M. Deluol gave proof of his fear- lessness and firmness against unjust interference. After the re-establishment of the Sulpicians under Louis XVllI, M. Deluol became a member of the Company and entered the novitiate at Issy on October 26, 1816. The following 198 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES year he set sail for the United States and reached Balti- more on the 24th of October. He had hardly time to settle down in the seminary when he began his classes of theology on November 12th, lec- turing to ten students. Henceforth he was a very busy man, teaching theology and philosophy, and from October 7, 1819, was also business manager of the seminary. He proved himself a skillful man of affairs. Energetic and practical, he gained the confidence of his superiors and confreres, and was of much service in straightening out the financial troubles between the seminary and the Em- mitsburg college. Combining great charm of manner with sound judgment, he was loved and respected by all with whom he came in contact. Many years after his return to France streams of American friends came to see him at St. Sulpice, to consult him on matters of importance or to show him that time had not been able to extinguish the affection which they had conceived for him in the United States. Finally, he was a man of unusual learn- ing, well versed in both philosophy and theology and a Hebrew scholar of note. It was no wonder that M. Carriere felt convinced that M. Deluol was the very man to smooth over difficulties and to realize the plans on which he and the superiors of the Society laid so much weight. At the meeting at which M. Deluol was named superior by M. Carriere, he gave expression to the most kindly sentiments for all and promised in every way to promote harmony in the Com- pany. In accordance with the visitor's views he resigned his position as confidential counselor of Mother Seton's nuns, who were then known as the Sisters of St. Joseph, naming Father Hickey to fill his place. As regards the substitution of a real lower seminary for St. Mary's Col- lege, the new superior forthwith set to work to realize the ADMINISTRATION OF M. DELUOL, 1829-1849 199 schemes of the visitors and M. Gamier, and circumstances greatly favored his initiative. In the year 1801, when the Federalist party retired from power, Charles Carroll of Carrollton withdrew from political life. The leisure time which was now at his disposal he devoted to literature and philosophy and es- pecially to religion. He dwelt at his Manor of Doughore- gan. Even as early as 1799, the gentlemen of St Sulpice became, so to say, the chaplains of the Carroll house, say- ing Mass there at least one Sunday in each month. Among the chaplains who successively officiated at the Carroll manor were MM. Gamier, Flaget, David, Dubourg and Marechal. These gentlemen, especially the last, became the intimate friends of the old statesman. Archbishop Marechal continued his friendship after his elevation to the see of Baltimore and Mr. Carroll had an open ear for his suggestions. As a former confrere, the archbishop was naturally a warm friend of the Sulpician Company and strove by every means to further its interests, which he considered the interests of the diocese. What was needed by the diocese and his former confreres, he thought, was a lower seminary, and Mr. Carroll seemed to him the man to pro- vide it. As the archbishop felt his end approaching he was unable to visit Doughoregan Manor as often as be- fore, but he found an ally and advocate of the preparatory seminary in Miss Caton, later Mrs. Mactavish, the be- loved granddaughter of the old statesman. To her the archbishop trusted the cause that he had so much at heart. Toward the middle of 1828, half a year after Monseigneur Marechal's death, the plans took definite shape and she proposed to her grandfather to give the dio- cese a part of the Doughoregan Manor. But to this Mr. Carroll, who felt that it was his duty to keep the hereditary estates of the family intact, strongly objected, and Miss 200 THE SUI/PICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES Caton did not urge the point After the Archbishop's death, the friendship between the signer and the Sulpi- cians continued as before. M. Tessier and M. Deluol and other gentlemen of St. Sulpice were not unfrequent visit- ors at Doughoregan Manor. In fact, according to M. Deluol' s diary, when the visitor sent by M. Gamier came to Baltimore, one of the first visits he paid in company with MM. Tessier, Eccleston and Deluol, was to the old signer, by whom they were received with the utmost kind- ness and courtesy. Nevertheless, Miss Caton did not forget her promise to Archbishop Marechal. In the fall of 1829 she proposed that her grandfather devote a different plot of ground situ- ated near Doughoregan Manor, on the other side of the road to Frederick, to the same purpose. "Oh, yes," said Mr. Carroll, "that plot does not come to me from my forefathers; I bought it myself; I can therefore give it away without impairing the Manor. Besides, I noticed that in the old deeds it is called 'Marye's Plot.' Well, since it bears that name, I can give it to the Church for the purpose you suggest." * So he had the plans drawn immediately and on January 21, 1830, he sent them to the directors of St. Mary's, asking whether they were suitable for a preparatory seminary such as they thought of estab- lishing. Mr. Carroll next asked the Legislature of Mary- land for a charter for the proposed college, which was granted readily on February 3, 1830, and on the following day he sent a copy to the Sulpicians. This gave to the five trustees named in the charter, to wit, MM. Deluol, Chanche, Elder, Tessier and Eccleston, the property in question and authorized them to acquire new property, fixing the maximum income at six thousand dollars. The purpose for which this property was to be held was the education of young Catholics preparing for the priesthood. 1 Gosselin, op. cit., vol. li, p. 39. ADMINISTRATION OF M. DELUOL, 1829-1849 201 On the death of any of the trustees the remainder were to fill the vacancy by electing a Catholic clergyman who was a citizen of the United States. On March 27th Mr. Car- roll drew up the deed of trust and sent it to M. Deluol, along with fifty shares of the United States Bank for the construction of the buildings. To this sum, M. Adol- phus Williamson added $3,000, to provide cut granite for the facade, and the Congregation of the Propaganda at Eome donated 500 crowns. The corner-stone was laid in 1831 by Archbishop Whit- field, in the presence of the venerable Charles Carroll and of a great crowd of interested Catholics. M. Deluol, as president of the Board of Trustees, did his best to push forward the work of erection. According to his diary, while the building was in course of erection he made fre- quent visits of inspection to St. Charles' College, and on one of these, which took place October 12, 1831, he dined with Mr. Carroll. He observes that the latter was full of humor and quick witted, though at the time ninety- four years of age. 1 M. Carriere returned to Europe October 20, 1829. Of course, he reported the good news of Mr. Carroll's dona- tion. In accordance with the request of the Baltimore brethren he hastened to send over two more members of the Sulpician Company, MM. Verot and Frdet, to strengthen the Society in the United States. But all the zeal of M. Deluol and all the good will of the French Sulpicians failed to achieve the end they so 1 Mr Carroll was not fated to see bis college finished. M. Delaol in his diary elves us an account of his death which shows how close the rela- tions of the signer to the Sulplclans were to the end. We quote from the "Nov. 7th. M. Chanche gave the last rites of the Church to Cmrroll, the 'A>? Uth Mr. Carroll died at 4 A. M. In the arms of Mrs. Mnrt.ivlnh. in the presence of Mr. and Mrs. Caton. also of M. Chanche, who gave him the plenary indulgence in articulo mortto. "Nov nth. Remains of Carroll transferred to the Manor. The GOTCT- nor of Maryland used his fist to quiet a man who was under the Influence Sf liquor ^You can rule both with your head and with your fist/ said I to the Governor." 202 THE STJLPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES ardently desired. The outside of St. Charles' College was indeed finished, but the interior remained uninhabitable, the trustees not having the money to finish it. In vain M. Deluol and Archbishop Eccleston appealed to the So- ciety for the Propagation of the Faith. In vain the prel- ate, as he tells us, went from door to door to collect the needed sum. At last in 1840 the prospect seemed to im- prove, when the Reverend M. Piot, pastor of Ellicott City, offered his entire savings, $6,000, for the completion of the preparatory seminary, on condition that he should be supported in his old age. But the sum offered only suf- ficed to pay the debts and to make a few improvements in the interior of the house. In fact, the enterprise lay dor- mant until 1848, when it was again set in motion. If we seek for the causes which paralyzed the activity of the new lower seminary, Archbishop Eccleston in a let- ter to the Society for the Propagation of the Faith tells us it was lack of funds and lack of the "personnel" to con- duct the new institution. We must bear in mind that the funds required were not only for the completion of the building, which was a mere trifle, but that being done, it was necessary to pay for the maintenance of the buildings as well as for the teachers and the maintenance of the stu- dents. Experience has taught us that it is much easier to build a parochial school than to maintain it. We must remember that the number of Catholics in the archdio- cese of Baltimore, as well as in its suffragan dioceses, was comparatively much smaller before the great immigration of 1846 set in. Indeed many of the suffragan sees cannot maintain a seminary at the present day, not to say a seminary and a lower seminary. Archbishop Eccleston's statement that the opening of St. Charles' was delayed for want of the needed "person- nel," may refer both to the students and to the professors. The Sulpicians could not supply the number of teachers ADMINISTRATION OF M. DELUOL, 1829-1849 203 needed to furnish the faculties of both St. Mary's and St. Charles' colleges, especially as one of the purposes of cre- ating St. Charles' was to put an end to the system of em- ploying seminarians as subordinate instructors in the colleges. The immediate suppression of St. Mary's was out of the question, since it was impossible to pay the fine which M. Dubourg, in the name of the Company, had agreed to pay, if the college were given up in less than thirty years after its chartering. Moreover, it would be a great injury to the students and their parents to wipe St. Mary's College out of existence without providing a place where the young men might continue their studies, and such a place was not in prospect before the foundation of Loyola College by the Jesuit Fathers. Hence, the personnel of which Archbishop Eccleston spoke probably referred to the students as well as to the instructors. A few years before the opening of St Charles' the great immigration due to the Irish famine began. This increased the Catholic population, as well as the need of priests on the one side and the candidates for the priesthood on the other. It is plain, therefore, that the conditions for the success of St. Charles' College had considerably improved between 1832 and 1848. We need not be surprised, therefore, that M. Deluol could not achieve in that year what was accomplished by Father Jenkins sixteen years later. In the seminary, however, M. Deluol proved himself an energetic superior and a vigorous man of progress. In- deed he showed himself to be the very man for the posi- tion. He was a splendid executive and represented the university before the Church and the country most ac- ceptably. Of his executive ability from the financial point of view he had given proofs for more than ten years. His learning as a theologian, a philosopher and a linguist, se- cured for him the respect of the most distinguished men 204 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES in Church and State. He enjoyed the entire confidence of Archbishop Whitfield and was the intimate friend of Archbishop Eccleston. In fact, he followed the old Sul- pician tradition of standing well with his episcopal su- periors. To Archbishop Eccleston he was attached by special bonds of friendship, for in 1843 he accompanied that prelate on his long visit to the West. In 1844 he conducted the funeral rites for Mrs. Stenson, the Arch- bishop's mother, and by his will Archbishop Eccleston appointed his long and faithful Sulpician friend one of the executors of his last testament. With the other members of the American hierarchy he was on equally confidential terms. When Bishop Du- bois was called to rest in 1842, M. Deluol was one of the first churchmen to whom Bishop Hughes wrote the intel- ligence, and when differences of opinion arose concerning the Sisters of Charity in New York the matter was ulti- mately settled between the bishop and M. Deluol. In 1844 Bishop Kenrick of Philadelphia fled from his epis- copal city, under the threats of the Native American move- ment which had laid some of the Philadelphia churches in ashes. He took refuge with M. Deluol at St. Mary's Semi- nary and was received with open arms. Among other bishops whom the hospitality and fame of the president drew to St. Mary's were Bishop Fenwick of Boston, his colleague as promoter of the first Council of Baltimore, the Canadian, Bishop Charbonnel, and the future Bishop of Charleston, Dr. Lynch. He was also on terms of friend- ship with Dr. Purcell of Cincinnati, Dr. Whelan of Rich- mond, and Dr. Timon of Buffalo. Before Bishop Barren went to start the American mission in Liberia, he, as well as Father Kelly, was the guest of M. Deluol, and Father De Smet received the privilege of holding a collection for his Indian missions at St. Mary's. We find M. Deluol equally respected and honored by the ADMINISTRATION OF M. DELUOL, 1829-1849 205 most celebrated statesmen and scholars of his day. His friend, General George Stewart, introduced him to the greatest contemporary American man of letters, Washing- ton Irving, and Mr. J. P. Kennedy to the greatest orator, Daniel Webster. In 1841, Napoleon's adjutant-general, Bertrand, who had accompanied the emperor to Elba and St. Helena, paid a visit to St. Mary's. The French scientist, Nicollet, who spent several years in this country on a mission from his government, often advised M. Deluol as to the best means of improving the scientific course in his institutions, and when he was in his last illness, the president of St. Mary's offered him the consolations of religion. Professor James Hall, the emi- nent New York geologist, visited M. Deluol just before his conversion in 1837. These names, probably only a few of many equally distinguished visitors, we have culled from M. Deluol's diary, but they are sufficient to prove the wide range of his influence in the Church, in scientific and in social circles. It must not be thought that the president of St. Mary's Seminary neglected his immediate duties in order to ex- tend his personal influence. The picture drawn by his diary in his relation to the students of the seminary is uncommonly attractive. In the house, he was full of sympathy with the seminarians, loved to exchange a joke with them, and did not disdain an occasional use of slang. He accompanied the seminarians on their weekly tramp, and when a festival or some special occasion took them to a picnic, he was frequently with them. Though not born in the United States, M. Deluol was a staunch American. Year after year, we find that he took his students and fac- ulty out to some country place to celebrate Independence Day, not only looking after the feast of reason and the flow of soul, but also providing for their bodily comfort. Two of the places which are especially mentioned by him 206 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES as scenes of their holiday sports are Gable's Fountain, and Cromwells', and it cheers one's heart, even seventy years later, to see how well he provided for his seminari- ans. On July 4, 1839, he took his company, consisting of six priests and nine seminarians, out to Gable's Foun- tain. To supply their corporal wants, seven loaves of bread, ten chickens and half a ham were provided. When Pigeon Hill was sold by the college authorities, he saw to it that the seminarians found a new place for summer excursions at St. Charles'. During the early part of his regime, the archaeological researches which later on affected the curriculum of many seminaries had barely begun, and even church history as a separate branch of theological study was but slightly emphasized in them. But M. Deluol carefully scanned the progress of theological learning and the needs of his institution. We are not surprised, therefore, to learn that Hebrew was one of the subjects taught in the Baltimore seminary, M. Deluol himself, who was a well-versed He- braist, delivering the lectures on this subject. M. Fredet, whom M. Carriere had recently sent to Baltimore, was the professor of church history. His volumes on ancient and modern history made his name almost a household word among Catholic American college students during the second half of the nineteenth century. 1 The students of philosophy in the seminary were not forgotten. M. de Courson, the Sulpician head of the Mantes seminary, had expended his private fortune to provide a course in science for the seminarians 2 of Nantes in Brittany. M. Deluol instituted a similar course in St. Mary's under the Sul- pician, M. Verot, who taught here for many years with 1 Besides these histories, M. Fre"det published the following works : "In- spiration and Canon of Scripture," "Original Texts and Translations of the Bible," "Interpretation of Scripture," "Necessity of Baptism," "Effects of Baptism and the Obligation Attached to It," "Lay Baptism and Doc- trine of Exclusive Salvation," "A Treatise on the Eucharistic Mystery." 2 See Thfibaud, "Three Quarters of a Century," In "Records and Stud- ies," vol. 1, p. 204 sqq. ; and p. 209 sqq. CHARLES CARROLL, of Carrollton. ADMINISTRATION OF M. DELUOL, 1829-1849 207 much distinction, until he was appointed Vicar Apostolic of Florida in 1858. M. Verot soon became a correspond- ent of the Smithsonian Institution and a friend of Pro- fessor Henry. With M. Nicollet, of the French Bureau of Longitude, who came to the United States in 1832 and represented his department until his death in 1843, M. .Verot cultivated social and scientific relations. The col- lege in consequence procured a transit, refracting and reflecting telescope and other scientific instruments. In 1842 by the advice of M. Nicollet, a magnetic observatory- was erected on the seminary grounds. The courses in theology continued to be given witK much distinction and the reputation of the seminary in- creased from year to year. The number of students did not greatly increase during M. Deluol's administration, but their quality, as shown by their subsequent careers, entitles them to the greatest credit. Of the thirty-six priests ordained during this period five were raised to the episcopate, viz.: Bishop McGill, of Richmond (1850^ 72) ; Bishop Loughlin, of Brooklyn (1853-91) ; Bishop Bacon, of Portland, Me. (1855-74) ; Bishop Foley, of Chi- cago (1870-79), and Bishop Edgar P. Wadhams, first Bishop of Ogdensburg. Bishop McGill was a publicist of note. At Louisville he edited the "Catholic Advocate," in which he wrote a series of controversial articles which produced a great impression. His other works were: "The True Church," "Faith the Victory," a criticism of Macaulay's "History of England" and a translation of Audin's "Life of John Calvin." In 1840 Reverend John B. Gildea was chosen president of the Catholic Tract So- ciety of Baltimore, a society founded to throw light upon Catholic doctrine and history. Prominent among the publicists sent forth from St Mary's Seminary during M. Deluol's administration was the Reverend Charles I. White, who was ordained in 208 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES 1830, having graduated from St. Mary's College in 1823. Between 1843 and 1845 he again resided at St. Mary's, where he taught, and two years later made the seminary his home while preparing his examination for the degree of D.D., which was awarded to him by the faculty of the seminary. For twenty-three years, i.e., from 1834 to 1857, he was the editor of the "Catholic Almanac." In 1842 he founded and edited the "Keligious Cabinet," which, however, lived for one year only. It was replaced in 1843 by the "United States Catholic Magazine" which to this day is one of the most important sources of Cath- olic contemporary history. On its demise in 1849 it was replaced by the "Catholic Mirror," a weekly jour- nal which lasted until 1908. In 1853 Father White pub- lished a Life of Mother Seton. He rendered a great serv- ice to the Catholic cause by translating Balmes' famous work entitled "Protestantism and Catholicism Compared in Their Effects on the Civilization of Europe" (New York, 1850), which was followed by a translation of Chateaubriand's "Genius of Christianity" (1856). In 1857 he became pastor of St. Matthew's Church in Wash- ington, a place which he filled with distinction until his death in 1877. Dr. John H. McCaffrey, for forty-four years president of Mount St. Mary's College, Emmitsburg, was an orator of mark, whose funeral orations on Bishops Dubois and Brute are spoken of as models of this kind of eloquence. His published works include a series of lectures delivered before the Philomathean Society of Emmitsburg, and before the Catholic Association of Baltimore, as well as a series of catechisms. The Reverend Edward Knight and the Reverend John Hoskins, who were ordained respectively in 1830 and 1832, joined the Company of St. Sulpice and became prominent professors at St. Mary's College. The Very ADMINISTRATION OF M. DELUOL, 1829-1849 209 Reverend Henry Coskery, who was vicar-general under two Archbishops of Baltimore and refused the see of Portland, Maine, was a classmate of Father Starrs, whom all New Yorkers of the middle of the last century will remember as the vicar-general of Archbishop Hughes. A scholar will appreciate at once the value of the donation received by St. Mary's Seminary in 1845, when Mr. Adolphus Williamson bequeathed his valuable library to the Seminary. This was the same Williamson who had already earned the gratitude of the Sulpicians by his contribution to St. Charles' College. However, the government of St. Mary's Seminary did not by any means exhaust the activity of M. Deluol. Though he turned over the directorship of the Sisters of St. Joseph to Father Hickey, the protectorship of the Sisterhood officially remained with him as the Superior of the American Sulpicians, the details of his administra- tion being given in Chapter IX. During the administration of M. Deluol, from 1829 to 1849, the first seven Provincial Councils of Baltimore were assembled. In all of these the Sulpician Fathers, and especially Father Deluol, took part, which entailed no little work on their part. M. Deluol was the theologian of the Archbishop of Baltimore at all of the Councils and played an important role in their transactions. It is in- teresting to find that even in 1833, the Council discussed the foundation of a national seminary which, in a way, found its realization in the Washington Catholic Uni- versity. In 1843, he was a member of the committee to which the difficult question of church property was en- trusted. In 1846 and 1849, the Council discussed the question of defining the Immaculate Conception as an article of faith, and on both occasions M. Deluol read a report on the subject, being evidently considered espe- cially fitted to give his advice on this important matter. 210 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES On other occasions, we find him discussing the questions of clandestine marriages and of the illicit character of such societies as the Odd Fellows and the Sons of Temperance. It is easy to see that the preparation of such important and difficult subjects must have required much learning and considerable time. In the year 1847 the name of one of the Sulpicians ap- pears in the Maryland law courts in connection with a case which contributed to settle a most important point con- cerning religious liberty in the United States. M. Hickey, one of the veteran professors of St. Sulpice, was cited before the court to testify before a jury concerning a sum of $14,000 restitution money received by him in con- fession. The learned professor declined, like Father Kohl- mann in New York, to violate religious liberty by violat- ing the secret of the confessional. On March 16, 1845, M. Gamier, the superior-general of the Sulpicians, departed this life after filling that high office for nineteen years. He had been the last sur- vivor of the little colony, sent by his Company to Balti- more in 1791. After his return to France in 1803, he had continued to take the liveliest interest in his American brethren and their fortunes, and he had been especially urgent with his brethren at Baltimore to give up all em- ployments not strictly connected with clerical education, and with that purpose in view had sent M. Carriere to the United States in 1829. At that time, however, many in- superable obstacles had prevented the Sulpicians from surrendering their parochial work connected with the seminary and their patronage of the Sisters of St. Joseph, Emmitsburg, as well as from giving up St. Mary's Col- lege. Matters remained in this condition during the life- time of M. Gamier. After his death, M. de Courson, the superior of the Sulpician house at Issy, was chosen his successor. The ADMINISTRATION OP M. DELUOL, 1829-1849 211 new superior determined to take immediate steps to harmonize the American houses of the Company with those of France. This determination of M. de Courson imposed many sacrifices and many changes on the Ameri- can Sulpicians. It required them to give up duties and relations which had become endeared to them and to the persons concerned: to cut the ties which bound them to the Sisters at Emmitsburg, to sever their connection with the numerous French and English congregations that loved to worship at the seminary, above all, to give up St. Mary's College, which had become a flourishing institution and one which through its alumni was influential in the civil affairs of Baltimore and Maryland. The American Sul- picians, as it might be supposed, deeply felt these sacri- fices, though some of them had been foreseen many years before. Above all, their superior, M. Deluol, must have felt the sacrifice, yet it was he who worked with his usual zeal and prudence to place the supervision of the Sisters of Charity in the hands of the Lazarists. It was he who, next to Archbishop Marechal, had labored most for the creation of St. Charles'. It was he who, in 1837, imme- diately after the expiration of the period during which the Sulpicians, according to their pact with the Maryland Legislature, were obliged to maintain St. Mary's College, entered into negotiations with the Jesuit superiors for the sale of the college, which negotiations, it is true, came to nothing. In 1848 his opinion on the prospects of St. Charles' and the advisability of transferring St. Mary's College seem to have undergone a change. He expressed grave doubts as to the success of St. Charles', as a prudent man might very well have done. The great Irish immigration was of but very recent date and had touched Baltimore to only a slight extent. Though M. Deluol himself had, through his relations with the New England bishops and 212 THE STJLPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES the Sisters of Charity, paved the way for the extraordinary help which New England gave to the success and pros- perity of St. Charles', more than a prophet's eye was re- quired to foresee this in 1848. As a matter of fact, the Baltimore superior was mistaken, being but human, but he was not obstinate. On September 26, 1848, he records in his diary: "The Archbishop calls and is determined to open St. Charles' College; I do not believe in the success of the enterprise but since the Archbishop wants it, it shall be done." M. Deluol had therefore approved of Father Jenkins' appointment to the presidency of St. Charles' before the Archbishop informed the latter of it on September 29th. At all events after the 26th of September the Baltimore superior is found acting wholly in sympathy with the archbishop. 1 This appears from another entry in his diary, dated October 30th: "The Archbishop, his two acolytes, Coskery and Hickey, dined here with M. Raymond and 0. L. Jenkins. The dinner is given in honor of the latter, who is to start to-morrow to open St. Charles' College." We shall speak of the success of St. Charles' in a future chapter. M. Deluol's activity at Baltimore was not destined to last much longer. On the one hand, his health had, under the influence of age and trials, shown symptoms of weak- ening, and on the other hand, M. de Courson thought it wise to write the American superior to leave the scene of his thirty years' work. He was thus obliged to give up his occupations, his interests, his friends. It was, no doubt, a severe blow for the old gentleman, but he did not 1 Some remarks of M. Faillon, who came to Baltimore as M. de Cour- son's official visitor, on April 21st of the year following, have been inter- preted to mean that Archbishop Eccleston was offended by M. Deluol's stand on the question of opening St. Charles'. But the archbishop was not the man to take offense with his old teacher for respectfully express- ing his opinion, and M. Deluol's submission as expressed in his diary would surely satisfy any superior. Moreover, the two gentlemen remained on the same friendly footing as before, and what is unquestionably deci- sive, when in 1851, the archbishop died at Georgetown, M. Lhomme tells us in his diary, under date of May 12, 1851 : "In a paper found to-day, the late archbishop appointed administrators : first, Deluol ; second, Ray- mond ; third, Coskery." ADMINISTRATION OF M. DELUOL, 1829-1849 213 quail. M. Faillon remained in Baltimore five months, when he started for Montreal. M. Deluol departed for Paris December 7, 1849. He did not leave the land of his adoption without an expres- sion from his many friends of all ranks, clerical and lay, showing the esteem in which they held him. His confreres, the Emmitsburg Sisters, the many social friends who had so often entertained him and his seminarians, from the Jenkinses to the Crom wells, crowded round to bid him an affectionate godspeed, and above all his dear sem- inarians, the companions of his walks and his enjoyments, whether in the house or on holiday celebrations, the ob- jects of his daily prayers, bade him a most affectionate and sincere farewell and wished him many years of use- fulness in the land of his birth. They did not stop here. For the remaining years of his life they pursued him with letters and rejoiced him with their visits. His diary lovingly records the number of American letters, reach- ing sometimes as many as twenty in a month, which showed him that he was not forgotten in the land for which he had labored with heart and brain, and which followed his life to the end. Among the friends who visited him at Issy or at Paris we find the new Archbishop of Baltimore, the learned Archbishop Kenrick, accompanied by his friend, the fu- ture Coadjutor Bishop of Chicago, Father Foley. In the years that succeeded, we notice among his visitors Archbishop Hughes, with his friend Bishop McNeirny of Albany; Bishop de Goesbriand of Burlington; Arch- bishop Blanc of New Orleans; Bishop Timon of Buffalo; Bishop Amat of Monterey and the saintly Bishop Neu- mann of Philadelphia. It would take up too much space to record all the priests and laymen from the United States who paid him their respects, but we cannot refrain from mentioning the name of a distinguished Englishman 214 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED' STATES who sought his advice and his friendship after his con- version. This was Mr. Robert Wilberforce, the partisan of Pusey, the friend of Newman, the son of the man who abolished the African slave-trade, and the brother of the distinguished and eloquent Bishop of Oxford who was known as "Soapy Sam." But M. Deluol was not the man to spend his days in receiving the homage of his friends. For two years after his return to France, his health needed much attention and care. Then he resumed the life of the disciple of M. Olier and became professor of Hebrew in the Paris sem- inary. Here his ability was such as to permit him to teach Hebrew together with M. Le Hir, the greatest He- brew scholar whom the Company of St. Sulpice has pro- duced, and the man to whom Ernest Kenan owed his He- brew scholarship. Occupied with his favorite studies, and planting the seeds of learning in the Seminary of St. Sul- pice, he spent in useful work the evening of the life which had been so eminently fruitful to two continents. One joyous event above all made him happy during the latter days of his life. In two Councils of Baltimore, he had striven with might and main, with all the powers of his intellect and the vigor of his will, to move the American bishops to approach the Holy See with the petition that the Church should proclaim the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. In 1854, he saw his dearest wish gratified and we can sympathize with the triumphant reception which he gave to this glorious news in his diary. His death, like his life, was that of a pious Christian and a model priest. He died on November 15, 1858. CHAPTER IX THE PROTEGEES OF THE SULPICIAWS St. Vincent de Paul, the founder of the Lazarists, had aided the Blessed Louise Le Gras to found the Sisters of Charity; M. Olier, the founder of the Sulpicians, had enabled Jeanne Mance to found the great Hotel-Dieu at Montreal; and the Sulpicians of Baltimore were destined to lend a helping hand in the establishment of two con- gregations of women in America, the Sisters of St Jo- seph, which name was changed later to that of Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, and the Oblate Sisters of Providence. As the protection which they gave to these charitable societies is not the least of the services which the Society of St. Sulpice has rendered to the Catholic Church in America, a history of the Sulpicians in the United States which omitted an account of these would be incomplete. No excuse is necessary, therefore, if we lay before our readers the details of this story. THE SISTERS OF CHARITY In the autumn of 1807, the Sulpician, Father William Valentine Dubourg, at that time president of the newly founded St Mary's College, Baltimore, was on a visit to his friend, Father Sibourd, then curate at St. Peter's, "New York. While giving Holy Communion at his Mass, a day or two after his arrival, he was greatly struck by a lady who approached the Lord's table in a flood of tears. He related the incident to his friend, M. Sibourd, who 215 216 THE STJXPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES told him that the devout lady was a widow, Mrs. Elizabeth A. Seton. He proceeded to give the Sulpician an ac- count of the young woman (Mrs. Seton was thirty-two years old at the time), and was speaking of her in terms of the warmest admiration, when there was a tap at the door and Mrs. Seton herself was ushered in. After the usual greetings, M. Dubourg, who was a remarkably sympa- thetic man, became interested in the widow's story, which we shall here briefly relate. Mrs. Seton was born in 1774, of Episcopalian parents, her father being Dr. Richard Bayley, a New York physi- cian of eminence, for he had been Health Officer of the port. She lost her mother when she was only three years old. The father, however, who, while not especially in- terested in religion, was deeply conscious of his duty to his little orphans, made Elizabeth the companion of his life, and developed in her feelings of the warmest affec- tion, which grew more intense as the years rolled by. Elizabeth, who had been born a year before the out- break of the War of Independence, partly because of the turbulence of the times and partly because the New York of those days afforded but few educational advantages, grew up with little more than a plain English training. She was naturally bright and fond of reading and her father fostered this taste. She read serious books by pref- erence, and above all gave much time to the reading of the Bible, which was her daily companion. He developed her natural talents, and in the course of time she became a thoughtful girl, whose mind naturally expressed itself in striking images, and who took pleasure in writing down her thoughts, whether in letters to her friends or in notes for private use. She also took great delight in the beauties of nature, the glories of the heavens and the charms of animal and plant life, all of which were to her an expression of the greatness and the power of God. THE PROTEGEES OF THE 8ULPICIAN8 217 In her twentieth year she was married to Mr. William Seton, a young New York business man, son of a gentle- man who was highly respected as a member of the promi- nent firm of Seton & Maitland. The union proved a very happy one and was soon blessed with a daughter, Anna, and later with four more children. However, after the birth of the second child, when Mrs. Seton barely escaped with her own life, her husband began to show symptoms of the disease of which he died ultimately. Before her marriage, Elizabeth, although attentive to her religious duties and showing the religious sentiment usual among the young ladies of the Episcopal denomination, gave no signs of remarkable piety. Her husband and his family, except her eldest sister-in-law, Rebecca, were by no means unusually devout. On the other hand, the deaths of her father-in-law and her father made a deep impression upon her and led her to feel the omnipotence of God and to meditate on the problem of eternity. Naturally her hus- band's incurable disease influenced her in the same direc- tion. At this time a clergyman of Trinity Church, the Eeverend Mr. Hobart, acquired no little influence over her. He seems to have been sympathetic and to have had a clear understanding of her character. All these influ- ences strengthened her religious feelings and her letters and writings plainly show their effects. As years passed, the disease which had gripped her hus- band gradually increased its hold on him and, as a last remedy, Mrs. Seton resolved to take him to Italy, where, before his marriage, he had been greatly benefited by the climate of Pisa. He had become acquainted in the United' States with Mr. Philip Filicchi, who, with his brother, Antonio^ was a prosperous merchant in Leghorn. To Leghorn, therefore, Mrs. Seton, accompanied by her daughter Anna, resolved to take her sick husband. But all to no avail. William Seton died in Pisa and his death 218 THE STTLPICIANS Itf THE UNITED STATES was followed by further misfortunes. Anna was infected by scarlet fever, and after her recovery Mrs. Seton herself was stricken with the same complaint. From the time of their arrival in Leghorn, the Filicchi family had done everything that the truest friendship could do for the American wanderers, but their kindness never shone more brightly than during these sad days. Nothing that good will could suggest was left undone. The brothers Filicchi were remarkable gentlemen. They were great merchants, but greater Christians. They were able business men, but their hearts were even more in- terested in the cause of virtue and religion than in com- merce. During her husband's illness and after his death, Mrs. Seton's deeply religious character had excited the admiration of the brothers and interested them in her spiritual welfare. They had drawn the attention of the American lady to the claims of the Catholic Church and the deficiencies of the Episcopalian. On her part, Eliza- beth, both during her husband's and her own sickness, was profoundly impressed by the religious life and principles of her Italian friends, for Philip Filicehi was a man well versed in Catholic doctrine and enlightened his guest on many points of controversy. He copied for her a state- ment of Catholic doctrine written by a learned friend of his at Gubbio, named Joseph Pecci, remarkable in its brevity and clearness. 1 Shortly before her departure from Italy, Mrs. Seton also visited several of the churches of Florence and its vicinity, where she was greatly moved by the divine service and was above all impressed by the Catholic belief in the Real Presence. All her re- ligious experiences, aided by the always ready scholar- ship of Philip Filicchi and his well selected books explain- ing Catholic teaching and ritual, led Mrs. Seton to con- 1 This document Is given In full In vol. 1, p. 151, of Archbishop Robert Seton's "Memoir, Letters and Journal of Mrs. Seton," and is a powerful, concise and cogent explanation of Catholic doctrine. Was Joseph Peed a relative of Leo XIII ? THE PBOTEGEES OF THE 8ULPICIAN8 219 ceive a great admiration for Catholics and their Church. She was determined to examine the claims of the Catholic Church and was, in fact, all but satisfied that it waa the Church established by Christ and the Apostles. During her homeward voyage she continued her studies, and on her arrival in New York she was in a state of mind that bordered on conviction. But serious struggles awaited her. Most of her husband's family spared no effort to prevent her from deserting their Church and the Eev. Mr. Hobart did his best to deter her from taking what he thought would be a fatal step. She hesitated, and consulted some of the Catholic clergymen to whom Antonio Filicchi, who had come with her to the United States, recommended her. It is touching to read her appeals for advice and instruction made to Bishop Carroll, Father Cheverus and others. At last, with the help of God, she made a strenuous effort, and on March 14, 1804, was re- ceived into the Church by the Rev. Matthew O'Brien at St. Peter's, New York. By thus following her convic- tions, she drew down upon herself a storm of bitterness from most of her husband's family and many of her friends. She had returned from Europe a poor widow, for her husband's fortune was wrecked. She had hitherto depended upon her relatives, but this support was now withheld. Under these critical circumstances Antonio Filicchi, in his own and his brother's name, came forward most generously to assure the existence and the support of the widow and orphans. He was willing to pay for the education of the two boys at a Catholic school in Montreal, and there was some talk of Mrs. Seton's going to teach in a Montreal convent, where the girls were to be entered as scholars. But these plans had no practical results. The boys were afterward sent to Georgetown, where the Filicchis paid the fees. To Mrs. Seton they made an allowance of $600 a year, and this with her salary as 220 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES teacher in a New York private school enabled her to main- tain herself and her girls. In all these arrangements Mrs. Seton was guided by some of the Catholic friends to whom she had been introduced by Antonio Filicchi even before her conversion, the most notable of whom were Bishop Carroll of Baltimore, the Rev. Mr. Cheverus, the Rev. Dr. Matignon and especially a French clergyman named Tisserant, residing in Elizabeth, N. J. Besides these the pastors of St. Peter's Church in New York, chiefly the Rev. Mr. Sibourd, were her confidential advisors. We have thus brought down Mrs. Seton's story to August, 1807, when she met with the Sulpician presi- dent of St. Mary's College at the rectory of St. Peter's. The conversation naturally dealt with the plans of the widow, who spoke of her effort to enter the convent at Montreal where her daughters were to be educated. The Sulpician, who was a sympathetic and generous soul, at once suggested that she start a school in Baltimore. This, he thought, might lead to the foundation of a Con- gregation of nuns to further Catholic education. The idea was entirely in accord with the feelings of Mrs, Seton, but no practical steps were then taken to realize the scheme. She continued to make her living by board- ing some school children, in a cottage on the outskirts of New York, where disagreeable incidents often reminded her of the precariousness of her position. In this way the time passed until the spring of 1808, when M. Dubourg came to New York on the occasion of the burial of Mr. James Barry, a mutual friend. When he met Mrs. Seton the latter half playfully alluded to the scheme of starting a school in Baltimore. The Sulpician warmly urged her to come to that city, telling her that instead of waiting to erect a building on the seminary grounds it would be more advantageous to rent a house on Paca Street, only a few hundred feet away from St. Mary's College. M. Dubourg THE PBOTEGEES OF THE SULPICIANS 221 spoke with such earnestness from the fulness of his ex- perience that Mrs. Seton's doubts were dispelled. She began at once to make preparations for her removal and on June 9, 1808, set sail for Baltimore. She arrived there on Corpus Christi day and assisted at the dedication of the seminary chapel. "After Mass," Mrs. Seton tells her sister-in-law, "I was in the arms of M. Dubourg's sister, surrounded by so many caresses and blessings. My wonder is how I got through it all. The feelings were lost with delight." Next she was taken to the house of M. Dubourg's sister, Mrs. Fournier, where she met that lady's children and her brother. In the evening one of Mrs. Fournier's children recited a poetic welcome to the new arrival, written in French by the Sulpician Father Ba- bad, who so impressed Elizabeth that she chose him to be her confessor. With the help of her new acquaintances she was soon established in her Baltimore home and before long had a circle of interested friends in the Maryland city. The Sulpician Fathers, especially, showed her in every way the warmest proofs of their friendship, from the venerable superior, M. Nagot, down to the youngest member. She herself was busy preparing to open the school in Septem- ber, when to her great joy there was no lack of pupils, every place in her school being filled. Nor was the project of making the school the basis of a new congregation of teaching Sisters, especially for poor children, lost sight of, and M. Babad warmly supported the scheme, which had the approval of Bishop Carroll, M. Cheverus and Mrs. Seton's other friends. It was Father Babad who brought the first recruit to Elizabeth from Philadelphia in the person of Miss Cecilia O'Conway, a young lady who at the time thought of going to Europe to join a religious order. She was followed by two more Philadelphia ladies, 222 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES Miss Maria Murphy and Miss Mary Ann Butler, who were soon joined by Miss Susan Glossy of New York. When, in the spring of 1809, Father Dubourg saw this little band gathered in Mrs. Seton's school, he thought it time to take steps in order to realize the plan of the new religious organization. She and her companions, therefore, assumed a uniform dress, and with M. Du- bourg's assistance a code of rules was devised for the regular government of the community. At the same time Mrs. Seton bound herself by a formal vow, taken in the presence of Bishop Carroll, to the practice of poverty, chastity and obedience. M. Dubourg was appointed eccle- siastical superior of the community so organized in a tentative way, though for the time being it was not de- termined to associate it with any existing body of religious. While no name was definitely adopted for the new organ- ization, the members were temporarily designated as the Sisters of St. Joseph, at the suggestion of Mrs. Seton. About this time there was as a student of theology at St. Mary's Seminary a convert from Philadelphia named Samuel Cooper. 1 He was a man of some means which he felt he ought to give to God and the Church. The thought came to him that he could do most good by devot- ing it to the education of poor Catholic children and he spoke of his purpose to M. Dubourg. Simultaneously Mrs. Seton spoke to M. Dubourg of her desire to give her- self especially to the education of the children of the poor. The Sulpician brought the two together and Mr. Cooper resolved to appropriate to this purpose some $8,000 that he had at his disposal. Next arose the question of select- ing a place for the new institution and the advice of Bishop Carroll and the Sulpician Superior, M. JsTagot, was sought. After some hesitation they approved of Mr. 1 Mr. Cooper was born in Norfolk, Va., becoming a convert to the church while in Philadelphia. THE PBOTEGEES OF THE SUXPICIAN8 223 Cooper's choice, which was the now well-known St. Jo- seph's Valley, near the village of Emmitsburg, in western Maryland. M. Nagot himself at one time intended to accompany the Sisters to Emmitsburg, but ill health finally prevented the carrying out of this purpose. On June 21, 1809, Mother Seton with her daughter, her two sisters-in-law and Sister Cecilia O'Conway, left Balti- more to occupy the Emmitsburg property. On arriving there, however, they found that the house which was to be their home was not ready for occupancy, and the Sul- pician, Father Dubois, afterward Bishop of New York, surrendered his own residence to them, and withdrew to the seminary, which was not yet completed. M. Dubois was afterward the superior of St. Joseph's community for a number of years. During the want and distress which afflicted St. Jo- seph's community during the first year or two of its strug- gle for existence, and in the prolonged illness of some of the Sisters, especially Mother Seton's sisters-in-law, M. Dubois faithfully and generously helped the nascent Sis- terhood with material means where he could, and with personal service at all times. When less trying days at length smiled upon the patient little band, it was thought wise to organize the proposed congregation more defi- nitely. Meantime some changes had occurred among the superiors of Si Joseph's community. M. Dubourg, the first superior, had been called to new duties as Bishop of Louisiana and his place had been filled by M. David, afterward coadjutor to Bishop Flaget at Bardstown. M. David in his turn had been replaced by M. Duboia, the head of Mount St. Mary's College, Emmitsburg. Bishop Carroll and the Sulpician superiors of St. Jo- seph's, in casting about for the rules to be adopted by their protegees, had concluded that, with some modifications, the rule of the Daughters of Charity, founded by St Vin- 224 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES cent de Paul, would best meet their wants. When, there- fore, M. Flaget, after his promotion to the see of Bards- town, visited France, he was requested to obtain for St. Joseph's a copy of the constitutions which St. Vincent de Paul had drawn up for his foundation. On his return they were given to Mother Seton for her examination, and by her were turned over to Bishop Carroll and M. Du- bourg. After careful consideration and study, it was determined to adopt as far as possible the rules of the Daughters of Charity. The principal point on which the rules were changed in order to adapt them to American conditions concerned the activities of the Sisters in the schools, for the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de- voted themselves entirely to the service of children unable to pay for their education. This could be done in France because the nuns had an assured income from other sources. In the United States, on the contrary, Mother Seton's Sisterhood had no income whatever, and the Sis- ters must therefore earn their daily bread in part by their teaching activity. However, from the beginning, Mother Seton's community devoted themselves largely to the edu- cation of the poor, and in later years this has been their principal work. Father Dubois, therefore, felt obliged to recommend to Bishop Carroll a change in the rules so as to allow the American Sisterhood to take charge of schools for pupils who should pay for their tuition. An- other proposed change was temporary. This permitted Mother Seton, notwithstanding her vows, to remain the legal guardian of her children. With these changes the rules were approved by Arch- bishop Carroll in the following words : "I have read and endeavored in the presence of God to examine the consti- tutions of the Sisters of Charity which have been sub- mitted to me by the Eeverend Superior of the Seminary of St. Sulpice and have approved them, believing them THE PBOTEGEKS OF THE 8CLPICIAN8 225 inspired by the Spirit of God and calculated to conduct the Sisters to religious perfection." The following docu- ment also accompanied the new constitutions: "After having read with great attention the constitu- tions of the Sisters of Charity, and approved all that they contain, I have presented them to the Very Reverend Arch- bishop Carroll to obtain his approbation. At the same time I have confirmed and here confirm anew the nom- ination of Rev. John Dubois as Superior General of the Congregation. "Jean Tessier, Superior of St Sulpice." The constitutions vested the government of the Society in a Mother Superior and her Assistant, a Treasurer and a Procuratrix, but provided besides for a Superior-general, who was to be consulted in all important matters both temporal and spiritual. As first Superior-general, M. Tessier appointed M. Dubois, the President of Mount St Mary's College, thus continuing the traditional guardian- ship which the Sulpicians had from the beginning extended to the Sisters of St. Joseph. The constitutions, which Archbishop Carroll had thus approved, were submitted to the votes of the twenty Sisters who were members of the Society at this time, and who were informed that they were free to sever their connection with the Society. Only one availed herself of this right. The Sisterhood so established with the aid of the Sul- pician Fathers grew more and more prosperous from year to year under the Superior-generalship of Father Dubois and the government of Mother Seton. Before long St Joseph's was strong enough to send a colony to Philadel- phia and this was followed by a delegation of three ! ters to Mount St Mary's College. In June, 1817, the new orphan asylum of New York was confided to the 226 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES spiritual daughters of the New York lady who had been practically forced by her relatives to leave her native city. Until 1817 the Sisters of St. Joseph had not been legally incorporated. Their property was held in the names of Samuel Cooper, William Valentine Dubourg and John Dubois, the last two members of the Society of St. Sulpice. After the adoption of the constitutions, it was befitting that the new Society should be incorporated and legally invested with its property at Emmitsburg. It is related that Mother Seton, who did not see the advantage of this change, asked of what service it would be to the Sister- hood, and was told that it would enable the Sisterhood to sue and be sued. Mother Seton shook her head and re- mained unconvinced. The friends of the Sisters, how- ever, appealed to the Maryland Legislature for an act of incorporation, and through the influence of General Robert Harper, son-in-law of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, this was granted in January, 1817, and the Sisters of St. Joseph became the legal owners of the Emmitsburg prop- erty. The Society of St. Joseph expanded and flourished for eleven years under Mother Seton, who, despite her poor health, which began to fail in 1818, was able to send out several colonies before her death on January 4, 1821. She was assisted in her last moments by another Sulpician who had proved a devoted friend to her not only in the govern- ment of her Society but also in family affairs. This was the sympathetic M. Simon Brute, later Bishop of Vin- cennes, a man who in character and disposition was in many ways the counterpart of Mother Seton. Mother Seton was succeeded as superior by Sister Rose White, a Baltimore lady who had proved her executive ability as sister servant, as the superior is called, of the house at Philadelphia. M. Dubois guided and assisted the new head of the Society with the same zeal and fidelity THE PBOTEGEES OF THE 8ULPICIAN8 227 with which he had aided the foundress. Indeed, he took such a lively interest in the Sisterhood that on his being raised to the see of New York, he thought of transfer- ring the mother-house from St. Joseph's Valley to the metropolis, a suggestion that did not meet with Arch- bishop Marechal's favor. When Bishop Dubois settled in New York, M. Louis Regis Deluol took his place as su- perior of St. Joseph's. He lost no time in showing that the Sisters had a valuable friend in their new superior, working with such unwearied zeal in their behalf that some of his Sulpician superiors in Europe deemed it wise to moderate his zeal. In 1829, appeared M. Carriere, who received M. Tessier's resignation and appointed M. Deluol superior of St. Mary's Seminary. The program of the French Superior, M. Gamier, was, as the reader will remember, to free the American Sulpicians from all duties except those of seminary professors. M. Carriere there- fore advised M. Deluol to give up his position as imme- diate superior of the Emmitsburg Sisters. This he did and named M. Hickey his successor. However, his title of superior of the Seminary gave him a sort of guardian- ship or protectorate over the Sisters of Charity, whose confidence in the wisdom and business ability of their old director was very great, and he continued to work with vigor and zeal for their interests. It was in no slight degree due to his energetic work that during his admin- istration the Sisters were charged with nine parochial schools, seven orphan asylums, three academies and four hospitals. In 1846, during the administration of Mother Etienne, who succeeded Mother Rose White, took place the separa- tion of the New York Sisters from the Sisters of St. Jo- seph at Emmitsburg. The differences between the bishop and the sisterhood originated in a rule adopted by the American nuns from the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent 228 THE STILPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES de Paul, which allowed the Sisters to have only a limited superintendence of boys' orphan asylums. In New York the American Sisters managed the boys' orphan asylum as well as that of the girls. M. Deluol and Mother Etienne and her council thought it was time to revert to the strict rule of St Vincent de Paul, while Bishop Hughes insisted upon maintaining conditions as they were. This led to a correspondence conducted on the part of the Sis- terhood by M. Deluol. In the end, he agreed on behalf of the Society that he would give a dispensation to those of the Sisters stationed in the New York diocese who pre- ferred to become members of the new Sisterhood with rules to a great extent the same as those of the Sisters of St. Joseph, but of which Bishop Hughes was to be the superior (1846). The rest of the Sisters of St. Joseph remained under the government of their superior-general, Mother Etienne, and under the supervision of the Archbishop of Baltimore and the protectorate of M. Deluol. From 1841, when M. Hickey gave up the directorship of the Sisters, M. Deluol had assumed the duties of that office, and he now redoubled his efforts to promote their work, with what success we have already seen. The Sisters now had houses in many of the Middle and Western States. The bless- ings scattered throughout the United States by these modest ladies cannot be overestimated and their name is held in honor throughout every part of the Church in America. To such prosperity the Sisters of St. Joseph had at- tained with the assistance of their Sulpician directors and under their wise guardianship. The ties between the Sis- terhood and the Society of St. Sulpice were very strong, and the Sisters looked with gratitude and confidence to the Fathers who had aided their institution from its birth to its present state of vigor. M. Deluol, on his part, as time went on devoted himself to the duties of his protec- torate with more and more ardor. Still, he did not forget THE PROTEGEES OF THE 8ULPICIAN8 229 that the laws of his Society and the wishes of his superiors in France had decreed the separation of the Sisterhood and the gentlemen of St. Sulpice, and as early as 1835, he had inaugurated active measures for relinquishing the guardianship which the Sulpicians had always exercised over the Sisters, seeking to unite them with the French Sisters of Charity founded by St. Vincent de Paul. In that year Archbishop Eccleston requested the Lazarist visitor-general, M. Timon, afterward Bishop of Buffalo, to urge the Lazarist superiors in France to bring about the union of the American Sisterhood with the Daughters of St. Vincent de Paul. The French superiors did not approve of the plan. Ten years later, however, shortly before the differences between Bishop Hughes and the Sisters of St. Joseph occurred, new negotiations were opened. The bearer of these new proposals was Bishop Chanche of Natchez. He represented Archbishop Eccles- ton, M. Deluol, and Mother Etienne, the superior-general. The Lazarist superior, whose name was also Etienne, at first did not listen with favor to the American bishop. However, when the latter presented to him the formal demand of the American Sisterhood to be united with the French Sisters of Charity, signed by the Archbishop, the Sulpician Protector and Mother Etienne, the Lazarist asked time for consideration. At that time Father Mailer was in the United States as visitor-general of the Lazarist houses. To him, on April 5, 1849, M. Etienne wrote re- garding the project and instructed him to see personally the Archbishop of Baltimore, the Sulpician Fathers and the Sisters at Emmitsburg. He did so and reported that all the parties interested sincerely desired the union of the American with the French Sisters. Before his departure for France, M. Deluol entrusted to him a letter to M. Etienne, impressing upon the latter the advantages of the proposed union. M. Mailer's report convinced the Laz- 230 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES arist Superior of the opportuneness of the step, and the request of the American Sisters was duly granted on July 7, 1849. When on March 25, 1850, the American Sisters renewed their vows, it was done according to the forms used by the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul in France. Finally the Emmitsburg Sisters and the Sisters of all the houses dependent upon them assumed the habit of the French Sisters on December 8, 1851. Be- fore departing for Europe M. Deluol resigned his func- tions as Protector of the Sisterhood and at his last visit to St. Joseph's convent, Emmitsburg, bade them an affec- tionate farewell, at the same time impressing upon them the advantages they would derive from their new connec- tion and wishing them godspeed for the future. Thus were severed the ties that bound the Sisters of St. Joseph to the Society of St. Sulpice, forty-two years after Mother Seton, with the help of M. Dubourg and his confreres, laid the foundation of the Sisters of St. Joseph. The Sulpicians had stood by the Sisters in the days of trial and poverty. They had guided them through the dangers and weakness of infancy until the humble house at Emmitsburg had become the mother of many schools, hospitals, and orphan asylums scattered over the Middle, the Western and the Southern States, and promising further expansion in the future. The Sulpicians gave up their charge, which they had so faithfully and la- boriously carried out, not for reasons of self-interest, but because they saw in it the advantage of the Sisterhood and because their superiors were convinced that it was God's will, as expressed in their rules and traditions. THE OBLATE SISTERS OF PROVIDENCE The French Revolution brought in its wake a series of revolutionary disorders in the island of San Domingo and SANCTTARY OF ST. MARY'S SEMIXAKY CHAPEL. THE PBOTilGEES OF THE 8ULPICIAN8 231 other French coloniee. As a consequence many colonists were murdered and others fled from their homes, of whom many took refuge in the United States and especially in Baltimore. Many of them were saved by their faithful slaves, who accompanied them in their flight, and in this way not a few colored Catholics came to Baltimore, who were mostly persons of exemplary piety. On settling in Baltimore, they were hospitably received by the Sulpician Fathers of St. Mary's Seminary. This was all the more natural as the West Indian refugees did not speak Eng- lish and therefore sought spiritual assistance from the gen- tlemen of St. Sulpice, whose native language was French. Moreover, among the Sulpicians recently arrived was M. William Valentine Dubourg, afterward Bishop of New Orleans, who was a native of San Domingo, and therefore took a special interest in the poor colored refugees. He it was who, in 1796, started a catechism class for them. When he departed from Baltimore, he left his colored pro- tegees to M. Tessier, who afterward became the second superior of the Sulpician Fathers. This faithful priest became devotedly attached to his colored flock and for thirty-one years zealously looked after the spiritual in- terests of these good people, serving them as a regular con- fessor and instructing them in their religion. In 1827, the San Domingo colored Catholics were trans- ferred from the care of M. Tessier to that of the Kev. James Nicholas Joubert de la Muraille, who was destined to become the founder of the colored Sisters of Providence, M. Joubert began his ministry on the same plan as that followed by M. Tessier, by catechising the children. His experience was not very happy. On the first Sunday his lass knew but little of their lesson, and notwithstanding his earnest exhortation, the next Sunday brought no better resnlts. Nor was this strange, since the class, both young and old, hardly knew how to read. M. Joubert pondered 232 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES over the situation, but he could not see much hope unless his scholars first learned to read the catechism. This, he saw, would require the founding of a school. He was fully conscious of the obstacles in the way of such a plan, but he was not easily daunted. He spoke of his plan to M. Tessier, who approved of it, but reminded him that it required money, and he did not see where the money was to come from. He directed M. Joubert to Archbishop Marechal. That prelate equally commended the plan, but also shrugged his shoulders when there was question of finding the means. M. Joubert saw that for the time be- ing patience was the only remedy. Seven months later, under date of March, 1828, we read in his diary that he was more convinced than ever of the need of a school for colored girls, and he again spoke of his scheme to M. Tessier and to Monseigneur Whitfield, the administrator of the diocese. They left him free to try whether he .could not find a way to realize his plan. He was not the person to shirk difficulties when he had made up his mind that something ought to be done, his training and experience having made him a man of determination, whom obstacles rather attracted than discouraged. James Nicholas Joubert de la Muraille was a native of St. Jean d'Angely, on the west coast of France, where he was born September 6, 1777. At the age of three or four, his parents moved to Beauvais, whence in due time he was sent to the military school at Rebois-en-Brie. How- ever, for some reason, he abandoned the soldier's career and secured a position in the tax department. At the age of twenty-three he was commissioned by the .French tax department to go to San Domingo, which was a hot- bed of disorder. He remained there for three years, when he was driven out by the rebels and took refuge in Cuba. His uncle, C. Joubert de Maine, who had been a wealthy and prominent man in San Domingo, was also obliged to THE PROTEGEES OF THE 8ULPICIAN8 233 leave the island and he and his nephew later found their way to Baltimore. Here in 1805 Nicholas entered St Mary's Seminary. In 1810 he was ordained and shortly after became a member of the Society of St. Sulpice. Hia character and career pointed him out to his superiors as a man of business, likely to enforce order. Accordingly from the first we find him employed as the chief disci- plinarian of the college, to which was subsequently added the treasurership. At the same time, he was instructor in French and geography. While as teacher and disci- plinarian he maintained the strictest order, he was, never- theless, well liked by the students. Such were his duties from 1810 to 1828, when he was placed in charge of the catechetical instruction given to the colored people. Having been left free by the administrator of the dio- cese and his superior to try his plan of establishing a school for the instruction of the colored people, his eyes were directed primarily to the colored San Domingo exiles. It was they who formed the whole or the principal part of the catechism classes instituted in the seminary chapel. As these people for many years spoke only the French language, the catechism was at first taught only in French, but as M. Joubert took charge of this colored catechism class more than thirty years after the establishment of the colored congregation by MM. Dubourg and Tessier it is probable that by that time the catechism was taught in English. From entries in the diary of the Sisters, we learn that addresses in French were delivered before them even much later, and that the Sisters regarded their French address as a peculiar favor, whence we infer that English was the language usually employed in the discourses de- livered in the church. At all events, it is certain that the colored San Domingo exiles were much better educated than the average Ameri- can slave population, for the colored ladies whom. M. 234 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES Joubert called upon to assist him to found the Oblate Sis- ters of Providence were teachers, then presiding over a school for colored children in Baltimore. One of these was a Cuban lady named Elizabeth Lange, while the other two, 'Marie Rosine Boegue and Marie Frances Balais, came from San Domingo. In March, 1828, M. Joubert met two of these women and learned from them that for some ten years preceding they had thought of founding a school for colored girls, that MM. Babad and Moran- ville had encouraged them in this project and that in fact for the last year they had kept such a school where they taught colored children gratuitously. However, as they had not the means to continue the work, they had given up the school. M. Joubert on thinking over his plans concluded that to make the school permanent, it would be better to start a society of religious, who would be kept together by their vows and their piety. As this was an idea already entertained by the colored women, his plan was readily accepted. On April 22d, therefore, he met two of the three women and agreed to begin work. To provide the money necessary Mrs. Chatard, wife of the well known Baltimore physician of that name, their grand- son being future Bishop of Indianapolis, and Mrs. Ducatel volunteered to gather subscriptions among their friends. The colored women thereupon hired a house on St. Mary's Court and took possession of it June 13, 1828. Eleven boarders and nine day scholars attended the school from the start. Though the Sisters were still novices, Elizabeth Lange was made superior of the community. Before they had concluded their novitiate on June 1, 1829, they were joined by Marie Therese Duchemin, who prepared herself to take her vows along with the other three women. This event took place on June 2, 1829, not without some alarm on the part of the Sisters. There were rumors in the THE PROTEGEES OF THE 8ULIMCIAX8 235 city of what was going to take place and some narrow- minded people declared that the profession of the colored Sisters would be a profanation of the habit. The women in their simplicity consulted M. Joubert, who encouraged them and told them not to fear. Afterthoughts, however, made him hesitate and he went to consult Archbishop Whitfield, who authorized him to proceed with the cere- mony, saying that he had considered every phase of the case beforehand. As we hear no more of opposition to the Sisterhood and as ladies of the highest rank, like Mrs. Chatard and Mrs. Ducatel and their friends, did not hesi- tate to become their patrons openly, we are justified in inferring that the good Sisters were frightened by idle rumors. Moreover, they were convinced before long that they were under the protection of the highest authorities in the Church. On October 21, 1829, Archbishop Whitfield, accompanied by Bishops Flaget, Fenwick and Rosati, and by the future Bishops Brute of Vincennes and Blanc of New Orleans, paid his first visit to the school. When asked to bless the Sisters, Bishop Flaget told them that though they were but four at the time, they would number twelve in two years. A fortnight afterward Bishop Eng^ land of Charleston honored the new community with a visit and after reading the rules of the Sisters expressed his full satisfaction. The school flourished from the start. Less than a twelve-month after it was opened, the house occupied by it was too small. The Sisters purchased a home from Dr. Chatard, which had to be enlarged to satisfy the needs of the school. On July 12, 1830, the children who had been prepared for first Communion, their parents and their friends, assembled in the lower chapel of the seminary, where the ceremony took place, to the great edification of parents and pupils. In due time, the commencement wag at ganda n of the vows, to be renewed ^ long the Sisl ^ Baltimore, on the occa to render service to tne cuy The the most edifymg s.mp hcrty te and diree- ,. CHAPTER X ST. MABY'S COLLEGE, 1829-1852 The sword of Damocles threatened St. Mary's College from the time of M. Carriere's visit in 1829 and the life of the college hung, so to say, on a thread. Yet these were the halcyon days of the institution. It grew in the number of its teachers and of its scholars, in its reputation and popularity and in the thoroughness of its work. It is now time to return to the history of the college and to pursue its inner and outer fortunes. In 1829 M. Damphoux, who had been the president of the College for eleven years, resigned his office and severed his connection with St. Sulpice. He was succeeded by M. Samuel Eccleston, whom we have encountered on more than one occasion in the course of our narrative. He was himself an alumnus of St. Mary's College, a distinguished scholar, an attractive orator and a man of affaire. He was affable and dignified, a learned priest who inspired respect and love and whose merits were appreciated by his col- leagues as well as by the students of the college. He was an admirable representative of Sulpician methods and the Sulpician body. But M. Eccleston was not destined to rule St. Mary's for a long time. So distinguished and able a man, no matter how modest, how averse to promotion to the hierarchy, and how true to the Sulpician principles, could not escape the fate of being raised to the episcopate. In 1834, when he had been president of St. Mary's for only five years, M. Eccleston became the fifth Archbishop of Baltimore. 237 238 THE SUI.PICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES His successor as president of the college was his most ic ^f^ -Born in 1795 of French parents, who had been Knl-mPlRTlS at Jjailimuicj O..LIVJ. , M. . - ST. MABY'S COLLEGE, 1829-1852 239 its prosperity, and was not forgotten by its alumni half a century after its closing. The course of studies followed at St. Mary's during the last twenty years of its existence did not essentially differ from the curriculum we have described above. Indeed, these were days of educational conservatism, and through- out the length and breadth of the land, among Catholics and non-Catholics, there was no evidence of revolutionary innovation in the field of education. Besides, from the time of its organization, the college had been in the van of the educational movement and maintained itself in this position until the close of its career. The faculty and instructors during this time were not inferior to the edu- cators who had given so progressive an impulse from the start. Some of the best professors who had done most to give St. Mary's its initial reputation were still alive. Others had passed away, but had been replaced by men of -equal merit. The Sulpicians, MM. Joubert, Hickey, Elder, Knight and Lhomme, had been members of the faculty, some for a longer, some for a shorter time be- fore 1829, and all but M. Hickey remained to the clos- ing of the college. The faculty, as far as its principal members were concerned, consisted of well-tried veterans, of whose ability and experience there could be no question. We are already acquainted with the merits of M. Joubert as a disciplinarian and of M. Hickey as teacher of English literature and rhetoric. M. Lhomme was an able Greek scholar and M. Randanne, the professor of Latin, was the author of a Latin Grammar which was used at St. Mary's and in other institutions for many years. Its merits were attested by the fact that it had a number of editions. To the Sulpician members of the faculty must be added M. Verot, the scientist, and Mr. Pizarro, the professor of Spanish, who were prominent members of the teaching body. Professor Pizarro published a book of Spanish 240 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES dialogues. He was the teacher of S. Teakle Wallis, who subsequently became a corresponding member of the Spanish Academy, but never forgot what he owed to his old professor. He is said to have helped his former teacher in his old age, and to have provided for his burial in his own family plot. Of M. Verot, who afterward be- came Bishop of Savannah, we have already said that he was a distinguished scientist and mathematician, who be- came the friend of many other American scientific schol- ars, especially of Professor Henry, the head of the Smith- sonian Institution. The elementary instruction and the discipline of the college were largely in the hands of seminarians, some of whom subsequently acquired a considerable reputation. However, there were also lay professors who taught at the college for a number of years and who were probably not seminarians. Among them, we note the younger Wenninger, whose activity at the college extended from 1815 to 1839; Samuel Smith (1820-51) ; M. S. Gallagher (1827-34) ; and H. J. Myers (1827-36). Mr. Kelly was professor of music (1823-1852). The professor of Ger- man in 1843-44 was Maximilian Oertel, a converted Lu- theran minister. Whether he studied for the priesthood we are not aware, but he is well known as the pioneer of the Catholic German press in the United States, having founded the "Katholische Wahrheitsfreund" of Cincin- nati. In the fifties he founded the New York "Kirchen- zeitung," which was a well-known Catholic journal in the sixth and seventh decades of the nineteenth century. 1 We see that the faculty of St. Mary's had every claim to be regarded as an able and experienced body and we are not surprised that the college attracted numerous students, many of whom, as a result of their training, became men 1 See biography of M. Oertel by the present writer in "Records and Studies," vol. iv, p. 139 sqq. ST. MARY'S COLLEGE, 1829-1852 241 of note. The jubilee volume published by St. Mary's Seminary in 1891 furnishes us with most of the namea of the college students who were matriculated there until its close in 1852. This list, while it cannot be considered complete, at least enables us to study the student body in some detail and furnishes the means of learning its com- ponent parts and of ascertaining the relative number of the students. The results of this study are most inter- esting. We do not learn, it is true, the exact number of students at any time, but it is certain that it never reached three hundred. During the last few years, when the ap- proaching suppression of the college became known, the number of students inevitably decreased, but even to the end, the college had a surprisingly strong grip upon ita clientage. In this, as in the early period of the college, a large proportion of the students were non-Catholics, the namea being equally balanced between English and non-English. In the latter category we include Irish, German, French, Spanish and Italian names, with a very slight sprinkling of Jews. The Hebrews probably did not number more than three in all. Expressed in percentage, we find that the English names amount to about 55 per cent of the whole, whereas about 11 per cent each must be credited to the Irish, German, French and Spanish names. We are surprised that the Irish element should prove so weak, but our astonishment is not justified if we bear in mind that in 1852 the strong Irish immigration had only just begun, and that we should not expect recent immigrants to be able to send their children to a boarding college. Of course, the Irish, Spanish and French contingents were entirely Catholic, and the German students were mostly so, being largely derived from the old Catholic Pennsyl- vania settlement. The 55 per cent of English names, of course, is largely 242 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES descended from the old Catholic settlers in Maryland. In fact the records of the college show that between 1818 and 1827 the number of Catholic and Protestant boys near- ly balanced one another. In some years the Catholics were in the majority, while in others, sometimes even the very next year, the Protestants were the more numerous. But the excess on either side was usually very small. Surely this is a remarkable testimonial to the tolerance and kindly feeling both of the Catholics and the Protestants. Most of the distinguished names from South Carolina, how- ever, which we remarked in the early period of the college, have disappeared, while we note the new name of Legare from Charleston. North Carolina sends a respectable con- tingent of students, while a much smaller proportion comes from Virginia. The French students are largely Balti- more and Louisiana boys; the number of West Indians seems to diminish. All in all, St. Mary's has kept a strong hold on the Spanish and French West Indians and can still boast of the cosmopolitan character of its students. Of the Catholic Maryland families we find on the rolls of the college the Carrolls, the Jenkinses, the Knotts, the O'Donnells, the Chatards, the Tiernans, the Boarmans, the Chapelles, the Blenkinsops; of the non-Catholics, the Howards, the Ellicotts and the Johnsons. Of Pennsyl- vania Catholic names we note that of Bouvier and of the New York names that of Thebaud. The Iturbide name has several representatives, as had the family of Garesche, said to have its home in Delaware. Among the distinguished alumni of St. Mary's College during this period appear Thomas Foley, Coadjutor- Biahop of Chicago (1870-1879), and his brother John Samuel (1851), Bishop of Detroit; and the Jesuit, Father Charles Hitzelberger of Baltimore (1841). The Rev- erend J. A. Walter became well known as the pastor of St. Patrick's Church in Washington, being also distil*- ST. MARY'S COLLEGE, 1829-1852 243 guished for his charity. 1 The Reverend J. J. Dougherty was for a short time administrator of the archdiocese of Baltimore. We have already mentioned Severn Teakle Wallis, who was graduated in 1832, and Robert Milligan McLane, graduated in 1833. After graduating at West Point in 1837 and distinguishing himself in the Seminole and other Indian wars, the latter became a lawyer, and was elected to Congress 1845-1851, afterward serving as minister to China and then to Mexico (1859). He withdrew from political life during the Civil War, but subsequently re- turned to Congress. He became Governor of Maryland in 1883, resigned in 1885 and was appointed minister to France the same year, dying there in 1898. Christopher Johnston (1836 and after) became an eminent physician and surgeon, professor of anatomy and physiology and eventually of surgery in the University of Maryland. He was also president of the Maryland Academy of Sciences. Charles O'Donovan (1850) was, like Professor Johnston, a physician of note. Simon Bolivar Daniel Danela (1844), son of John Daniel Danels, captain in the Colombian navy, was for a long time consul for Venezuela at Baltimore. Oden Bowie, who was graduated in 1845, became Governor of Maryland in the sixties. A. Leo Knott became a distinguished jurist, was Attorney-Gen- eral of Maryland 1867, 1871 and 1875 and Assistant Post- master-general under President Cleveland. St. Mary's College was therefore a flourishing institu- tion in 1845, when M. Gamier died and M. do Coureon became Superior-general, and nothing seemed to stand in the way of its further progress. But to the French and to many of the American members of St. Sulpice it waa looked upon as an anomaly. They therefore sent M. Fail- 1 Father Walter attended Mrs. Surratt before hr witlon. f which he wrote an account, published In the "United Stntf* Catholic IlUtorlcal Magazine," vol. ill, p. 353 sqq. 244 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES Ion to the United States, where he arrived in 1849. The obstacles which, at the time of M. Carriere's visit, had made it difficult, if not impossible, to give up the college had now been in part removed. The contract of the trustees of the college with the Legislature had been com- pletely fulfilled. Moreover, the Jesuit Fathers were then inclined to establish a college in the city of Baltimore. Negotiations were therefore entered into between the Sul- pician and the Jesuit superiors, which promised a satis- factory arrangement. Thus St. Mary's College was destined to disappear from the list of American academic institutions. It had kept faith with the State of Maryland, which had so liberally befriended it in its infancy. It had met the educational requirements of the parents who had so long shown their confidence in the gentlemen of St. Sulpice by entrusting to them their sons. It had earned the gratitude of its alumni by being their true and intelligent mother, who most conscientiously satisfied their moral and intellectual needs. It was to pass away by a voluntary act of devotion to principle, to which it sacrificed the most favorable pros- pects for the future. CHAPTER XI THE COLLEGE OF ST. CHARLES BALTIMORE By the charter of the Maryland Legislature, passed on February 3, 1830, the College of St. Charles was created a corporation. Its walls and framework were completed in 1832, its opening was advertised in the "Catholic Al- manac" from 1839, its interior fittings provided and ita debts paid by the donation of the Reverend B. S. Piot in 1840. But notwithstanding all these circumstances, the college was not opened. Of the original Board of Trus- tees numbering five, a bare quorum, consisting of MM. Eccleston, Deluol and Elder, remained. In 1848 Arch- bishop Eccleston of Baltimore, who had always, like hia former Sulpician confreres, been convinced that a lower seminary was needed in the Baltimore diocese, thought that the time for opening St. Charles' had come. Whether this conviction was due to the small number of priestly vocations which St. Mary's College had thus far fur- nished, or to the increase of the Catholic body in Baltimore and the United States or to M. de Courson, the newly elected superior of the Sulpicians in France, or to all three factors, we do not know. Nor do we know how M. Raymond, then president of St. Mary's College, arrived at the same conclusion. Suffice it to say, that in a con- ference with M. Deluol on September 26, 1848, Arch- bishop Eccleston declared his determination that the new college should be opened on November 1 of that year. M. Deluol, who had his grave misgivings as to the timeliness 245 246 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES of this, said that he would abide by the archbishop'8 opinion. After night prayers, on September 27, 1848, M. Ray- mond called to his room Father Oliver L. Jenkins, then a teacher in St. Mary's College, spoke to him of the arch- bishop's wish to open St. Charles' College on the first of November, and told him that his name had been pro- posed for the presidency. Father Jenkins replied that if this was God's will he was quite ready to undertake the work. The following day at dinner M. Raymond read a paragraph from a newspaper in which Father Jenkins was mentioned as the president of St. Charles'. All the Sul- picians present congratulated him but he declined the title, because, as far as he knew, the superior (M. Deluol) had not authorized any such appointment. On Septem- ber 29, Father Jenkins received the following letter, en- closing $250, from Archbishop Eccleston: "Rev. and Dear Sir: I am truly delighted and con- soled at the prospect of having St. Charles' College at length thrown open to receive the future ministers, and, I trust, ornaments of the sanctuary. When this, the most ardent and long cherished wish of my heart, shall have been accomplished, I will be almost anxious to say my Nunc Dimittis. I am happy also to add that in your ap- pointment as its first president, I have the strongest guar- anty of its stability and successful operation. . . . "Wishing you every blessing, especially in the dis- charge of the important trust committed to your zeal and piety, I am devotedly yours in Christ, "Samuel, Abp. Bait." After some hesitation, Father Jenkins sent the follow- ing reply to the Archbishop: "Your Grace: "The peculiar circumstances in whieh I find myself REV. OUVKK L. JKXKINS. THE COLLEGE OF ST. CHABLE8, BALTIMORE 247 in regard to the letter which I received from you have prevented my answering it immediately. Though I feel greatly honored by the expression of your good will, I cannot consider myself president of St Charles'. At the same time I cannot, because of the respect and obedience which I owe to my superior, take any steps in the under- taking which you have so much at heart before being aware of M. Deluol's wishes nor without having been ex- pressly named by him. Up to this moment I have not heard a word from him on the subject. The importance of the work in question, as well as considerations of deli- cacy, forbid my taking the initiative or taking any steps that may in any way influence his decision. I shall there- fore keep the generous gift contained in your note until I know something definite. In any case, I shall always be grateful to you for the warm expression of your confi- dence in me and for your good will. With the help of God, I shall endeavor to do nothing that might cause the loss of the former or the lessening of the latter. "I am ever, "Your affectionate and obedient son and servant, "Oliver Jenkins." On the afternoon of the very day on which this letter was written, M. Deluol had an interview with Father Jen- kins and informed him that, though it would give him pain to part from him and though he had his doubts as to the success of the enterprise, he thought it was the will of God that "I should accept the office which the Arch- bishop wished to entrust to me." A few days later, on October 4, Archbishop Eccleston, M. Deluol and M. Elder, as the only members of the Board of Trustees, met and filled the vacancies due to the death of M. Tessier and the promotion of M. Chanche * The above text la translated from Andr* In "Bolletln Trinietrl*l," No. 59, p. 565. 24:8 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES to the see of Natchez, by electing MM. Raymond and Oliver L. Jenkins. The two new members of the Board were immediately installed and chose Father Jenkins as president of St. Charles'. 1 Thereupon he laid before the Board a prospectus of the college which he had prepared the night before and which seems to have been approved by the Board. Thus, eighteen years after its incorpora- tion, St. Charles' College received its first president. But it had as yet neither students nor income. Forthwith the Archbishop called a meeting of the clergy for October 12, to provide for the maintenance of the professors and the students. 2 He placed before them the reasons which led him to open immediately the College of St Charles, and appealed to their generosity to support the new institu- tion. The Archbishop's proposal was approved and four- teen of the pastors pledged themselves to give $100 each for the support of one student in the new college. On October 15, by the Archbishop's order, a collection was taken up, which brought the sum of $1,400, which was spent on the needed furnishings of the College. Four students were selected from the schools of the Christian Brothers in Baltimore, to wit: John B. Con- nolly, Michael Dausch, Joseph Gross and William Gar- vey. On the eve of All Saints' day, 1848, they entered St. Charles' College, led by their new president, Father Jenkins, and accompanied by a young deacon from St. Mary's Seminary, Mr. Edward Caton. The record does not neglect to tell us that they brought with them a house- keeper to provide for the material wants of the faculty and students. At night the first meditation was held, and 1 This fact is not stated in the documents, but it follows necessarily from the other statements made therein. According to the charter the president was appointed to office by the trustees. Now according to the ^Notice sur le semincire de Baltimore," found at the end of Gosselln s "Vie de M. Emery" (p. 396), the trustees had not held a single meeting during the preceding sixteen years. Father Jenkins' official appointment could not, therefore, have been made prior to the meeting of October 4, on which occasion the vacancies in the Board of Trustees were filled. 2 In 1848 there were six parishes in the city of Baltimore, five in Washington, Georgetown, and Alexandria, Virginia. THE COLLEGE OP 8T. CHARLES, BALTIMORE 249 Father Jenkins' diary informs us that this brought the inauguration of St. Charles' College to a satisfactory close. During the following weeks new students came in one by one, four from Washington, four from Baltimore and six from the country towns, so that the entire diocese was fairly represented. Before the end of the year, which was satisfactorily completed in July with simple com- mencement exercises, this little flock had been reduced to twelve. The president was obviously the most important person in the embryo college, and accordingly he deserves our special attention as being practically the cornerstone of the new institution. Father Oliver L. Jenkins was a Baltimorean by birth, his family being descended from the old Catholic settlers in the Maryland colony. They were prosperous and noted for their loyalty to the Catho- lic Faith. Oliver was educated at St. Mary's College, where he graduated with distinction at the age of eight- een, in July, 1831. His first preference was for a busi- ness life, and as there was at the time a vacancy in the Union Bank of his native city, he was appointed to fill it. He was a successful banker from 1831 to 1841, spending the year 1837-38 in European travel. However, after his return his mind took a different direction. He deter- mined to become a priest and entered St Mary's Semi- nary in 1841. He was ordained on December 21, 1844, and joined the Society of Si Sulpice in 1846, teaching at St. Mary's College both before and after his ordination. Father Jenkins' business career, however, left an im- pression upon his character, giving him a positive and practical turn of mind which, joined to deep piety and great charity, made him an ideal president of St Charles' College. He had a distinguished, courtly bearing which, in conjunction with his positive character, stamped his manner with the impression of authority. He was con- 250 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES sequently both beloved and respected as the president of St. Charles', though his first connection with the college was soon interrupted. He and Mr. Caton were the only teachers of the young flock, but there was plenty of work of an executive nature to keep him busy, and the former banker showed himself a vigorous business man. Indeed, his business administration of St. Charles' was so suc- cessful that it caused his temporary separation from the new college and placed him at the head of old St. Mary's during the last three years of its existence. At St. Charles', which was in its infancy, a less strenuous head sufficed, whereas the management of St. Mary's, which even in the years before its dissolution counted upwards of a hundred students, required much tact and firmness. Accordingly, M. Eaymond, president of St. Mary's, who, although a very attractive man, was not endowed with ex- ecutive gifts, was transferred to St. Charles', and Father Jenkins took his place at St. Mary's. But M. Raymond did not long rule St. Charles', for in 1850 he was re- placed by M. Stanislas Ferte, a native of the diocese of Beauvais, where he was born on August 30, 1821. He was ordained in 1846, being thereupon appointed by his bishop professor of dogma. Two years later he joined the Society of St. Sulpice, made his novitiate and in 1849-50 taught philosophy at Issy. In 1852 Father Jenkins returned to St. Charles' and gave himself heart and soul to the interests of the insti- tution. To it he devoted not only the best part of his large private fortune, but all the powers of his mind and the service of his heart. He taught there for seventeen years, besides watching over the discipline of the stu- dents. Naturally his business training had not made him a deep and varied scholar, but he was an excellent mathe- matician, an interested student of English literature, and a graceful writer of vigorous English. As he considered THE COLLEGE OF ST. CHARLES, BALTIMORE 251 that the current histories of English literature did not do justice to Catholic writers, he wrote "The Student's Handbook of British and American Literature," which was published by M. Ferte after his death, its merits be- ing attested by the eleven editions which it has reached. As a disciplinarian, Father Jenkins inspired great re- spect. He was energetic and forceful in the maintenance of order, and a direction once given was rarely withdrawn or modified. When occasion required it, he became em- phatic and plain-spoken, though his natural earnestness usually sufficed to secure the result he wished to achieve. In some respects the discipline was stricter in the early days of the college than it is at present. Father Jenkins, for instance, strictly banished all novels, and it is a tra- dition that no such unholy book crept into the college in his day. 1 In March, 1849, St. Charles' College numbered twelve students. Under Father Raymond and Father Ferte and up to 1853, eighty-one students had been registered, of whom, however, only forty-five remained in July, 1853. The first class, having completed their six years' course, graduated the following year and entered the seminary. They were only four in number, but this need not surprise us, since in all American high schools we find the same tale. Rarely do 25 per cent of the students who enter a high school finish their course. During the first four years all the students of St. Charles', except seven, came from the archdiocese of Bal- timore, but the following year we find that the college at- tracted students from a distance, New York and New England contributing not a few. Indeed, from 1854 a steady stream of youthful seminarians came from the New England States, a phenomenon that continued until iThe oresent writer remembers that In the fifties and alxtiea of tb nineteenth century, the reading of romancea waa by no meane encour- aged In his own alma mater. 252 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES the end of the century. In 1895, for instance, New England sent fifty-nine students, while Maryland con- tributed only thirty-one. New York also furnished, at times, a large contingent, as did also some of the dioceses which had no colleges of their own. New Jersey, in Bishop Bayley's time, stood sponsor for as many as a dozen seminarians. St. Charles' never received many students from the Southern States, probably because they had few candidates for the priesthood, as was natural in view of the weakness of the Catholic element in the population. The Middle- Western and Western States of the Union were scantily represented on St. Charles' regis- ter, doubtless for another reason, inasmuch as from the days of Bishop Flaget, these States had maintained lower seminaries of their own. The same explanation may be given for parts of Pennsylvania, though now and then as many as a dozen Pennsylvanians were matriculated at the same time at St. Charles'. If we inquire to whom and to what influence St. Charles' owes the large number of students it has al- ways received from dioceses other than Baltimore, we are largely reduced to conjecture. No doubt the excel- lence of the education provided for the students by the gentlemen of St. Sulpice and the approval of the special character of the college by the various bishops of the coun- try and especially of the New England States, explain the patronage of the institution, once its merits had be come known. But the fact that this patronage began so soon after the opening of the college, may perhaps be ascribed to the great influence and popularity of Father Deluol. He was a universal favorite with the bishops and priests of the Eastern and Middle States. His fre- quent journeys northward, even as far as Montreal, on the business of the Seminary and of Mother Seton's Sis- terhood, enabled him to impress bishops and clergy with THE COLLEGE OP ST. CHARLES, BALTIMORE 253 the merits of his Sulpician confreres. While we may thus reasonably credit to his influence the success of St Charles' even after he had returned to France, we shall not go wrong in attributing it, in part, to the energetic and business-like measures of Father Jenkins. It is well known that in most American dioceses the education of the clergy is to a large extent provided by the- bishops, the priests and the faithful of the diocese, though of course some of the students pay for their own educa- tion. Financial considerations had always been a grave difficulty in the way of starting a lower seminary, but this difficulty was triumphantly overcome at St Charles. The history of the college, as illustrated by a single year r shows that about 26 per cent of the tuitions are paid for by the bishops, 21 per cent by clergymen, 41 per cent by the students or their parents, 7 per cent by patrons and 3 l /2 per cent by scholarship funds. The yearly tuition fee at St Charles' was at first $100: Some ten years later, it was found necessary, in order to- provide for the expenses, to raise the amount to $140, and in the seventies it was raised to $180. Concessions were made, however, to the Baltimore students and to poor scholars. Another source of income was the farm. This consisted at first of about 240 acres, which was gradually increased till it measured some six hundred and forty acres. It produced all the vegetables needed for the college community, besides furnishing the meat and the flour- Many of the Sulpicians took great pleasure in agriculture, and, under their superintendence, a relatively small num- ber of workmen was sufficient to take care of the farm. In the nineties, the value of the farm produce was set down- at $10,000. To donations also, the institution owed a considerable sum, always bearing in mind the fact that the middle of last century was not the era of millionaires. A competent 254 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES judge estimates the amount of the donations from various sources during the twenty years following the foundation of the college at $45,000, while the donations of the president alone are estimated by some as high as $70,000. The principal donors were Father Jenkins, Mr. William Meredith, Kev. J. J. Hickey, S. S., Colonel Drury, Mrs. Harper, a member of the Carroll family, Mr. J. Maes and Father J. B. Randanne, S.S. The college received but little aid from scholarships. Among the contributors to this fund we record M. Ferte, S. S., and Mr. William Kennedy, who founded the first two scholarships. But the strictest economy on the part of the managers and the admirable spirit of sparing and assisting the Fa- thers, which impelled the students to lend their helpful hands on all occasions, had a very large share in tiding over the early days of the institution. Professors, stu- dents and servants vied with one another in doing the farm work. There are still alive men who saw the stur- dier students felling trees, sawing and splitting seasoned logs and carrying wood during the winter. In favorable weather in the spring and autumn, the entire community might have been seen giving their holiday afternoons to planting and husking corn, gathering hay, or binding and stacking sheaves of wheat. No sports so pleased both young and old as this farming work, which was usually rewarded by a liberal lunch consisting of bread and mo- lasses. Of course, these agricultural occupations ceased when modern labor-saving inventions made the boys' help less necessary, and the romantic heroism of the primitive age passed away. However, the teachers were the great- est benefactors of the institution. As members of the Society of St. Sulpice they had not to be solicitous for their support when age or sickness should put an end to their labors, and while they were able to work they were satisfied with food and raiment. THE COLLEGE OP ST. CHARLES, BALTIMORE 255 The number of students attending the college in the semi-centennial year reached 225. In the early yean of St. Charles', however, the capacity of the buildings largely influenced the number of the students. The Jubilee vol- ume published in 1898 informs us that forty-five was the largest number of students the college could accommodate in 1853. Two years later, by re-arranging the house and adding a third story, it afforded room for seventy. In 1859, by lodging some of the students in the summer residence provided for the seminarians of St. Mary's, Baltimore, St Charles' was able to accommodate 102. In 1860, notwithstanding the approach of the Civil War, the trustees resolved to enlarge the college. The new plan conceived the college originally built, which had a front eighty feet long and sixty feet in depth, as a wing of the entire edifice, the central part of which was sixty- seven feet long and somewhat higher than the two wings. Though it was intended to erect only the center of the edifice at this time, eventually the second wing was added immediately on the completion of the center. The struc- ture being, therefore, almost thrice the size of the original building, was roomy enough for the needs of the imme- diate future. In 1873, under the Reverend Stanislas Ferte, the suc- cessor of Father Jenkins, the number of students having exceeded 190, further extensions were resolved upon and begun. However, the financial storm which shook the en- tire country towards the end of 1873, and the conse- quent diminution in the number of students, led to the postponement of building operations. They were resumed in 1876 under the Reverend P. P. Denis, who had suc- ceeded Father Ferte. On this occasion, the structure was both enlarged and beautified, and St. Charles' presented an architectural whole which justified the admiration of its students and alumni. Thenceforward it afforded am- 256 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES pie room for 250 students. It was not destined to af- ford hospitality to so large a body of inmates, however, though their number kept constantly increasing till it reached 203 in 1911, the year in which the college was destroyed by fire. Before finishing our story of the growth of the college in numbers and the extent of its buildings, we must turn our attention to its chapel. The Sulpicians have always regarded the chapels of their seminaries as an important educational element. We are therefore prepared to see them devote much taste, attention and money to the chapel of St. Charles' College. The original chapel was but a small room adjoining the entrance in the building erected in 1831, and served not only as a chapel for the boys but also as the meeting place on Sundays for the Catholics liv- ing in the neighborhood. In 1855, when other provision had been made for the external congregation, a new chapel for the students was opened on the second floor, where Divine worship was conducted with becoming dignity and impressiveness. But Father Jenkins, whose energy and enterprise planned the extension of the college in 1860, did not for- get that a fine chapel should be the most striking part of a Sulpician college. Accordingly, he called upon M. Fail- Ion, the representative of the French superior-general, a gentleman who had a great reputation for architectural skill, to furnish the plans for the new edifice. This turned out to be a very ambitious addition to the group of college buildings. It was planned in imitation of the Sainte Chapelle at Paris and was a building one hun- dred and ten feet long, thirty-four feet wide and fifty feet high. On this chapel, Father Jenkins lavished the greater part of his fortune. From the beginning of St. Charles', he had been, next to Mr. Carroll, the most generous sup- THE COLLEGE OP ST. CHARLES, BALTIMORE 257 porter of the institution, but his heart was bound up more closely with the chapel than with any other part. Owing to the high cost of labor and materials during the Civil War, the chapel was not finished until 1866, but its dedication was made memorable by the presence of Arch- bishop Spalding and a large assemblage of priests from far and near. Well might Father Jenkins' heart be filled with pleasure and satisfaction to see his life-work crowned by so noble and suitable a building as was the new chapel, for even in the primitive simplicity which characterized it on its birthday, it challenged the admiration of the great crowd that witnessed its dedication. Successive gen- erations of old students and friends, among them all the bishops whom St. Charles' College had given to the Church, vied with one another in beautifying and dec- orating the home of their youthful studies, which had pre- pared them for the priesthood. The retarding of the building operations was not the only drawback which the college suffered from the Civil War, which for a time threatened the prosperity of the institution. In 1862, the number of applicants for en- trance fell from forty-five to twenty-five, but rapidly re- covered so as to amount to forty-two in the following year. Strange to say, the loss affected the students from New England proportionately less than the Maryland stu- dents. In 1861-62, only three applicants matriculated from the diocese of Baltimore. The crisis was rapidly surmounted, and thenceforth St. Charles' flourished more and more. The course of studies pursued by the students of St Charles' College extended over six years. It took charge of a boy at the end of his grammar school studies and fitted him for entrance into the seminary. At his en- trance, therefore, the student was supposed to be able to read and write and to know the elements of arithmetic. 258 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES The course at St. Charles' corresponded in a general way with the course pursued in the Jesuit colleges about the middle of the last century except that, to this six-year course, the Jesuit colleges added a year of philosophy and somewhat more advanced science. The catalogues of the college do not indicate the distribution of the time among the various subjects taught, but it is safe to assume that a large proportion of it was awarded to the classics, besides which the course embraced algebra and geometry, French and English. The French course lasted six years and the boys might fairly be expected to master the French lan- guage so far as literary reading is concerned. Its mer- its did not fall below those of American non-Catholic col- leges, but were probably superior. Much attention was given to English, especially to practical English composi- tion. The English studies included a course of history of English literature, for which Father Jenkins wrote the book mentioned above. The mathematical course differed but little from that of other colleges, the Sulpicians being careful not to neg- lect a branch which they had especially cultivated since they opened their first collegiate institution at St. Mary's. The classical program varied most from that of the typical American high school and college. Of course, the usual Latin authors, Phaedrus, Csesar, Cicero, Ovid, Livy, Vir- gil, Horace and Tacitus, were the backbone of the course. To these, however, were added Lactantius' "De Morte Per- secutorum" and selections from the Fathers of the Church, which gave the course a somewhat religious tone. It should be remarked, moreover, that great emphasis was laid on Latin prose composition, i. e., the translation of English into Latin, and, to some extent, on Latin conver- sation. Similarly in Greek, while the traditional writers such as Xenophon, Homer, Plutarch and the tragedians were retained, the students also made the acquaintance of THE COLLEGE OP ST. CHARLES, BALTIMORE 259 St. Luke's Gospel and the discourses of St. John Chrysos- tom, St. Gregory Nazianzen and St Basil. In fact, both in the classics and in the modern languages, stress was laid upon the great orators. Probably this had in view the training of the future pulpit orator. The Greek was especially strong in the last two years, though, as it is possible that not all the authors in the cur- riculum were taken, but only a selection of them, the measure of Greek in the usual college curriculum may not have been exceeded. The religious instruction consisted in the study of various catechisms, the catechetical form of instruction being preferred for religious studies in St. Charles', as it is in most Catholic institutions. In the early years of the college, Butler's Catechism was the only textbook available; this was later replaced by Collot and Deharbe. 'Recently the Catechism of the Council of Trent in the original Latin has been used. It should be noted that the preparatory seminary, not- withstanding its significant name, was not overstocked with religious instruction, as many non-Catholic school- men suppose. St. Charles' College, though a lower semi- nary, provided for its students a complete liberal college education, which does not differ substantially from that of the traditional college. This is true not only as far as the study of the classical languages is concerned, but also in its English and historical departments. The study of English composition, it may be said, was always a prac- tical study which insisted upon the students frequently practising English composition in all its varieties. While they did not neglect the history of English literature, the Sulpicians did not, on the other hand, lay too much stress upon the history of the English classics, as is often done in other courses. The historical program awarded much more time and attention to Bible history than is custom- ary elsewhere. In the later years, however, the usual 260 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES historical studies were taken up and in the early his- tory of the college seem to suggest no special features. As a whole, the program of studies at St. Charles' College entitled it to be classed as a college in the best sense of the word. From the curriculum, we turn naturally to the faculty of the college. We have already laid before our readers the life of its first president, Father Jenkins. In its early days, he was practically the entire faculty of the college and his influence did not diminish as the years rolled by and the college increased in numbers and importance. Still, as it grew, the faculty grew with it, and the stu- dents felt more and more the influence of their professors. The peculiarly Sulpician character of the institution be- came more pronounced long before Father Jenkins' death. The thoroughness of the work in every department, the fidelity of the professors to their duties, their gentleman- liness, their sympathetic attitude and their dignified com- radeship were an example and a lesson to the boys, which taught them the duty of work and the right manner of working. The emphasis which their teachers laid upon the interior life suggested the combination of modesty and efficiency, while the honors which were the reward of those who were faithful to their studies guarded them against an indolent lack of interest. The man who in the early days of the college did perhaps more than any one else to impress this spirit upon the students, was Father Menu, whose combination of earnestness and kindness the alumni never forgot. On hearing of his death in 1888, Cardinal Gibbons spoke of him as one of the pillars of the college. Before St. Mary's was given up, and even afterwards, the members of the teaching body were not all Sulpicians, Mr. Caton, who at first was Father Jenkins' only assist- ant, being a student from the seminary, and until 1852, THE COLLEGE OP ST. CHARLES, BALTIMORE 261 up to which time many of the Sulpicians were needed to teach at St. Mary's College, not a few seminarians were drafted to teach in St. Charles'. It even happened that secular priests, not formally connected with St Sulpice, such as Father Griffin, were a part of the faculty for many years. 1 But after 1852 the number of laymen in the faculty became markedly less and it consisted more and more of Sulpicians. Many Sulpicians who had been most successful teach- ers at St. Mary's College, taught the higher classes at St Charles'. Father Randanne, who has been mentioned as the author of a Latin grammar, long taught the Latin classics there. The historian Fredet also lent lustre to the faculty of the new college, his place as professor of his- tory being taken after his retirement by Rev. A. Vuibert, the author of an ancient and of a modern history. Some years ago he became the first president of a lower semi- nary in Menlo Park, California. Father Rince, though he was cut off by a premature death, had published a much esteemed edition of Ovid. Among the early lay instructors who later became priests were the late Thomas M. A. Burke, for many years Bishop of Albany, and the late Archbishop P. I. Chapelle of New Orleans. Many Sulpicians associated with Father Jenkins in the faculty of St. Charles' subsequently distinguished themselves in other Sulpician institutions. MM. Ferte, Guilbaud, Rince, Dumont and Fonteneau left St. Charles' to occupy chairs in St. Mary's Seminary, while MM. Dumont and Chapuis were transferred to the Catholic University Seminary. The following gentlemen were successively promoted to the presidency of St. Charles' College: M. S. H. Ferte (1850-52); M. P. P. Denis (1876-86); M. 1 Rev. H. Grlffln had taught for twenty years in St. Mary' College when he became a member of the faculty of St Charles'. 262 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES Dumont (1886-94) ; M. C. B. Rex (1894-96) ; M. C. B. Schrantz (1896-1905) ; F. X. McKenny (1905-13). By the terms of its charter, St. Charles' College was a lower seminary for the preparation of youths intending to devote themselves to the priesthood. Its graduates, therefore, must be sought for principally in the ranks of the Catholic clergy, primarily of the diocese of Balti- more, but also in many other dioceses throughout the United States and even Canada. As is well known, how- ever, while their students are under their care, the gen- tlemen of St. Sulpice watchfully observe them. If they become convinced that a student does not promise to be- come a worthy shepherd of the fold of Christ, they frankly inform him of the fact, and he is free to devote himself to another profession. Of course, if the student him- self reaches the conclusion that the ministry is not the place for him, no obstacle is placed in the way of his withdrawal. The number of such withdrawals is by no means small, and proves how careful the Sulpicians are, on the one hand, to provide the Church with a worthy clergy, and, on the other, to seek the happiness of their students in a fitting and congenial vocation. The statistics on this point furnished by the Jubilee volume of St. Charles' in 1898 are not only interesting but instructive. We learn that during the period from 1848 to 1888, of 2,109 students that passed through the institu- tion, 761, or 36 per cent, were promoted to the priesthood. This may appear a small percentage, but not if we bear in mind that in a six years' college course some students die, many are obliged to give up their studies because of ill-health or in order to assist parents who require their help, and that, among so large a number of boys entering the college at the age of thirteen or fourteen, many must naturally find that they have not the taste nor talent to warrant their continuing the experiment. The experi- THE COLLEGE OF ST. CHABLE8, BALTIMORE 263 ence of other high schools and colleges teaches that the percentage of students graduated is certainly not more than one-half of those who began their academic studies. The efficiency of an institution can be best tested by its fruits. The entire Catholic clergy of the United States constitute a body respected for their attention to duty, their charity and their labors for the cause of social prog- ress. It is unnecessary to say more than that the alumni of the Sulpicians share this general esteem. That they have contributed a proportionate share of the men, who, as members of the hierarchy, have been called to the gov- ernment of the Catholic Church, its annals testify. At the head of this picked body of scholars and administra- tors, St. Charles' College glories in its own favorite son, the present archbishop of Baltimore. Among the metro- politans, it points with pride to Archbishops William H. Gross of Oregon City, J. J. Kain of St Louis, and John J. Keane of Dubuque; and among the bishops, to the Right Reverend P. T. O'Reilly of Springfield, J. O'Sul- livan of Mobile, T. M. A. Burke of Albany, George Montgomery of San Francisco, and John J. Monaghan of Wilmington. It would tire the patience of our readers to name the alumni of St. Charles' who have achieved dis- tinction as orators, administrators and, above all, worthy shepherds and advisers of the rich and the poor. In fact, it is not an easy matter to select from the thousands of names of worthy priests those who have eclipsed their fellow-clergymen. Yet we cannot, in jus- tice to the college and to its students, refrain from mentioning a few, at the same time begging the pardon of perhaps hundreds who may be equally worthy of being recorded. The first names we shall mention are those of two Sulpicians, the Reverend Charles B. Rex, for some years the beloved president of the college, who did much to extend and beautify the buildings, and the Reverend 264 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES Edward R. Dyer, who has been the successful head of St. Mary's Seminary for many years. Among the noted ora- tors from St. Charles' are the Eight Reverend Mgr. Wil- liam T. Russell, of St. Patrick's Church, Washington, D. C., the Paulist, Father Bertrand L. Conway, and the Sum- mer School lecturer, Father Bernard M. Bogan. The Reverend Dr. Edward A. Pace, professor of philosophy at the Catholic University in Washington, is one of the most distinguished scholars whom America owes to St. Charles'. The Reverend Dr. Philip J. Garrigan, after rendering eminent service to his theological alma mater at Troy, was appointed vice-rector of the Catholic University in Washington. Since then he has been promoted to the see of Sioux City. In 1898 the college celebrated the fiftieth year of its existence. The celebration attracted to its halls the Arch- bishops of Baltimore, many bishops and a little army of clerical alumni who revived the exploits of their youthful days and congratulated one another on the distinction achieved by its alumni and the services rendered by them to the Church and their country. Providence had des- tined that this should be the last great gathering of the sons of St. Charles' at its old home near Ellicott City. A few years later, on March 16, 1911, a fire destroyed the old college, hallowed by the memories of Father Jen- kins and so many of his worthy coadjutors. But this dis- aster was but the occasion of fresh effort and of greater success. A new and more beautiful college, in a more convenient position at Catonsville, has taken the place of the buildings consecrated by the success of more than fifty years and bids fair to scatter blessings a hundredfold over the diocese of Baltimore and the United States. 1 1 See In Appendix the tribute of Cardinal Gibbons to the character of the training given by St. Charles' College. CHAPEL OF OfR LADY OF THI AM;F.I.S. Old St. Charles. CHAPTE* XII SULPICIAN MiSSIONABY BlSHOPS Simon Gabriel Brute John Joseph Chanche Samuel Eccleston Guy Ignatius Chabrat Augustine Verot In Chapter VII has been told the story of the early Sulpician missionaries from Bishop Flaget to Archbishop Marechal. The first Council of Baltimore (1829) had inaugurated the systematic development of the Catholic Church in the United States, and the work was under way at the death of Archbishop Marechal in 1828. The episcopate had been organized so as to provide a regular government for the Church in all its parts ; its clergy had been multiplied and, while still leaving room for mission- ary effort, had for the most part become a permanent force throughout the greater part of the country. The principles according to which the bishops and the pastors were to be selected had been at least provisionally settled at Rome, and the seminaries and colleges required for the Church's development and propagation had been estab- lished where they were most vitally needed. The native priesthood which Archbishop Carroll, M. Emery and the Sulpician founders of St. Mary's Semi- nary at Baltimore regarded as the most essential need of the infant American Church, and for which they had prayed and worked so earnestly, promised a supply of en- ergetic and wise bishops. The Society of St Sulpice had from its foundation disapproved of the promotion of its members to the episcopate, but the rules and interests of 265 266 jTHE SULPICIAN8 IN THE UNITED STATES the company had been subordinated to the exigencies of the period and, up to 1830, the Society of St. Sulpice had furnished a very large proportion of the American bishops. The Society of St. Sulpice, both in France and in the United States, worked with singular consistency and per- sistency for what they considered the essential purpose and end of their Company, and gradually they resigned to other hands the care of the colleges they had founded, the convents they had helped to establish, the parishes they had organized, withdrawing more and more to the re- tirement of their class-rooms. Moreover, the individual Sulpicians had always shrunk from the dignities of the episcopate. From Flaget to Marechal they had striven to escape its burdens and, as far as was consistent with obedience, resisted the Roman bulls placing that burden upon their shoulders. The bishops who were taken from the ranks of the Company after 1830 were as loyal to the principles of their founder as were Flaget and Marechal, but like them, they were forced to yield to the Roman pontiffs, who wisely saw in them the very men demanded by the special needs of some dioceses. Their mission, however, was gradually changed and while their predecessors travelled thousands of miles to perform their episcopal functions, the new generation of prelates trav- elled merely hundreds. The Indians had been gradually driven to the West. In fact, the dioceses governed by the later Sulpician bishops were normal in their organi- zation and in their demands upon their chief pastors. Gradually the number of Sulpician bishops became pro- portionately fewer and when, in 1848, the Company of St. Sulpice had re-established itself in the form conceived by MM. Olier and Emery and devoted itself exclusively to the training of priests and bishops, its members ceased to fill the sees of the country and were content to prepare subject of the p ntl'hT "^ P"*"" 1 * i Simon Gabriel CT 1 1 ^ ' the 8ame cl - - bom at Be n nes? n d w t tbe^r f ?u 0f Vine ""* Sulpician confreres, a naZ O f K ' ** "**' f his ho had had chargl O f ' O ' B . ntto * Hi. fa, her , had died in Simon's chidhldH ^ " Bri ' tan - T ' P bj his mother, a worn cL T"' therefore bro "ght elf to the bo/ 8 educTo ^ aracter ' wh ^'oted her- i-r y studies^ his nat ve' to'^ I ^"^ ^ P relin " t the po.vtechnic 35 wh7n theT 'TS" ' e - pset his plans. His mo the, h Revolu ''on ing office and vonngZ ^ml '^ his improved fort,L Tnlb^m N^ Eennes, whence he proceeded to Paris Tn 9 9 graduated in 1803 takino. th fi of a thousand eompVtitT Pme am n was di-tor in the seminar, of , gaged ,n th.s work (1810) , he me, Bishop' F,^, who 268 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES was seeking recruits for the American mission. Inas- much as M. Brute had already had his thoughts turned in this direction, and as Napoleon was on the point of sup- pressing the Company of St. Sulpice, he determined to follow Bishop Flaget's suggestion, and, with the consent of his superiors, he left for the United States and landed at Baltimore in the same year. He did not remain idle very long, being entrusted with a professorship of philosophy in St. Mary's Seminary, which he filled for two years. Then he was called to Em- mitsburg to teach, to do missionary work and to assist Mother Seton in laying the foundation of her Sisterhood, to promote which he used his utmost efforts. However, he did not lose his interest in St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore. During his student years and those of his professorship in France his scholarly instincts had led him to accumu- late a large theological and scientific library, numbering 5,000 volumes, a very large collection of books one hundred years ago. This collection he took with him to the United States and after leaving it for a time at St. Mary's Semi- nary, took it with him to Mt. St. Mary's and later to Vincennes. On his return to Baltimore, he was named president of St. Mary's College, but his health, which was never very robust, soon brought him back to Emmitsburg, where he was pastor of the congregation and chaplain of the Sisters of Charity, besides gradually taking upon his shoulders the duties of a whole theological and scientific faculty. He lectured on the Sacred Scriptures and taught philosophy and ethics in the seminary, as well as the nat- ural sciences in the college. When in 1826 Mount St. Mary's was separated from St. Sulpice and M. Dubois became Bishop of New York, M. Brute remained at Emmitsburg and continued to in- struct the seminarians and advise the Sisters of Charity. His fame as a sound authority on every branch of theology RT. RKV. SIMON GAIIIMKL Hurrfi. First Hi.shop of VinroniH's. BULPICIAN MISSION AST BISHOPS 269 and science had become nation-wide. He was consulted as an oracle by the bishops of the United States, many of whom had sat at his feet as students. In fact, during these years he was, if possible, more than ever true to Sulpician ideals. In 1833 the second Council of Balti- more took place and proposed to Rome the creation of sev- eral new bishoprics, among them that of Vincennes, which was to include the State of Indiana and the greater part of Illinois. When the American bishops looked around for the fittest man to fill the see, they unanimously named the learned professor of Emmitsburg. But M. Brute had the true Sulpician aversion to a miter. He made a re- treat among his old confreres of St. Sulpice and care- fully set down all his reasons for not accepting the prof- fered dignity. At last, he submitted the question to his friend, Bishop Flaget. That wise counselor decided that M. Brute was just the man for Vincennes, and the learned scholar of Mt. St. Mary's thereupon assumed the direction of the flock in what was at that time a part of the wild West. Like Bishop Flaget when he wished to start for Bards- town, M. Brute had not the means to pay for the jour- ney to his diocese, but at last the Sisters of Charity came to his aid and gave him $200. He was consecrated by Bishop Flaget in the new cathedral of St. Louis on Oc- tober 28, 1834. The Catholics of his episcopal city, as well as those of his entire diocese, gave him a royal wel- come, and before long Bishop Brute was one of the most popular men in the States of Illinois and Indiana. One of his first thoughts was to establish a diocesan seminary, and so strong was the old Sulpician within him, that when he was able to realize this project he took great delight in acting as professor. But we can give no better account of Bishop Brute's ac- tivity and no better description of the condition of a west- 270 ern diocese in the early thirties of the nineteenth cen- tury, than by citing a letter dated November 25, 1835, from the bishop to the editor of the "Annals of the Propa- gation of the Faith." * ". . . . After the departure of the bishops, I visited several portions of my diocese and blessed a new plain frame church in a village where I found 150 Catholic families. I placed them under the invocation of tha Blessed Virgin. I then returned to Vincennes, where I stayed for eight months until I left for France. I was therefore the pastor in a double sense, for I performed all the marriages and funerals in person; in a word, attend- ing to all the duties of a parish priest. I had found there as a cathedral a sufficiently large building 115 x 60 feet, but absolutely bare; it had not even been plastered. A poor wooden altar with six candlesticks and a crucifix, a gift coming from France, were the entire furniture of the church. I put into it a small painting of St. Francis Xavier, eight inches high, to prove that he was the patron of the church, and on the walls I placed two pictures, one of the Blessed Virgin and the other of St. Joseph, to mark the spot where I intend later on to place the two altars. On Sundays I officiated in this church alone in the sanc- tuary with some altar boys dressed in ragged surplices. A Canadian schoolmaster together with a few inhabitants of the town helped to sing parts of the Mass. On Christ- mas, on Easter day and Whitsunday, I thought I was obliged to celebrate pontifical High Mass. Then I went to the altar with crozier, miter and cope ; I placed in read- iness near a throne covered with a beautiful borrowed rug both my crozier and my miter. I put the latter on and took it off myself. i "Bulletin Trimestriel," pt. VIII, p. 226. SULPICIAN MISSIONARY BISHOPS 271 "On my arrival I published a pastoral letter in English. I placed the diocese under the protection of the Blessed Virgin and speaking to Catholics and Protestants alike, I tried to make them understand the great favor heaven granted them in permitting the establishment of a new see. This letter was, for the most part, well received. I explained it in French from the pulpit, and I saw my hearers alive to the hopes which I made them entertain. It is sad to think that of all this old French population of Vincennes, only a few persons can read; English is almost the universal language, except in some parts of the diocese where the Germans are quite numerous and need priests that can understand them. "At the time of my consecration, I had only two priests; at present I have four, viz., M. Ruff of the dio- cese of Metz; M. Ferneding, whom Bishop Flaget was kind enough to loan me for the Germans of the Southeast near the border of Ohio; M. Lalumiere, a native of Vin- cennes and the first priest of Indiana who was ordained by the Bishop of Bardstown. The fourth was sent to me by the Propaganda. He was about to arrive when I left. I had the pleasure of meeting him on the way. He is now officiating at Vincennes. Mgr. Rosati has also consented to send for the time M. St. Cyr, a native of Lyons, to Chi- cago on Lake Michigan, whom he had recalled at the time I was consecrated. "When I departed, these four priests whom I have just mentioned were stationed at the four ends of the compMi of a territory that in extent is equal to almost one-third of France. Except M. Lalumiere, stationed eight or nine leagues from Vincennes, all the others reside fifty to sixty- five leagues away. Moreover, each of them travels con- siderable distances from his station in order to visit the scattered Catholics. So it happens that some of them pass a month without being able to communicate with their con- 272 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES freres and this is one of the greatest trials they have to bear. But I hope that soon some good priests stationed at intermediate places will make their intercourse more frequent. "The care of the young was one of the first objects of my solicitude. I found that First Communions had been greatly neglected. At Christmas I had the consolation of seeing twenty young people make their First Com- munion and at Easter, sixty. A great part of the First Communicants were eighteen to twenty years old. I in- structed them as well as my many occupations and the sick calls allowed. These sometimes took me several leagues from home. I thought I noticed considerable talent in some of these youths, which made me regret that I had no college to test their fitness and their inclination for the holy priesthood. It must be my first endeavor to pre- pare young men for the clergy. But, of course, several years must pass before I can have native priests. Mean- while, and even to educate these young Levites, I must have candidates and I can look for them only in the old dioceses. May the Lord inspire several young men with this grand and holy vocation. "To inquiries about the number of Catholics in my dio- cese I find it difficult to reply- I do not think there are less than 25,000, but I cannot state any precise figures. The population of Indiana, which in 1800 numbered 4,800, at present exceeds 500,000. In the part of Illinois which belongs to my diocese, 80,000 is supposed to be the number. This population is spread over 6,000 square leagues. The Catholics are dispersed here and there in groups more or less considerable. Their scattered condi- tion forbids my guessing their number. Irish immigrants at the beginning, and of late years Bavarians, formed the majority of the Catholic population here. But what is most sad is, that in their scattered condition, their salva- SUUICIAW MISSIONARY BISHOPS 273 tion is greatly endangered and even in case of sickness, the consolations of religion are obtained with difficulty. "In general the immigrants here keep their faith. The lack of all faith becomes too striking in the midst of the many sects that are busy in the United States, not to in- spire contempt for infidels. But as they are so rarely visited by the missionaries, some remain Catholics only in name. They yield to bad example and surrender to a culpable indifference and their children whom they do not instruct end by becoming the prey of the sectaries who offer them a thousand temptations. "From Vincennes, I was often obliged to travel great distances. So that when I tell you that in eight months, besides my manifold duties, I have been obliged to travel more than one hundred leagues on horseback, this estimate, which may seem exaggerated, is really below the truth. A single trip which I undertook to visit distant Chicago, the Indians of M. Badin and those of the Tippecanoe River, extended over two hundred leagues. Luckily I have re- covered my skill in horse riding to an extent that I did not look for. Besides, the still longer trips of our older missionaries, stationed at the present time at various points of the country, forbid me to complain of this duty which is made necessary by the nature of the country where everything must be created in order to give it to the Church. "Since I have mentioned the Indians, I must say a few words about them. I visited those of the village of Poke- gan near the confines of my diocese, which belongs to the diocese of Detroit, though a part of the inhabitants re- side in Indiana, then the Indians of the village of Chit- chakos near the Tippecanoe River, twenty-five leagues south of the former. In the latter place I gave Confirma- tion to sixty Redskins. "I was moved by the piety and recollection of these 274 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES Indians. They pray with wonderful fervor and reproach themselves for the least distraction. They have printed books in the Ottawa language, containing prayers, a cate- chism and hymns. They readily learn how to read and several know all of these books by heart. You must not infer hence that it is easy to civilize them. M. Desseille, a Flemish priest of the diocese of Detroit, who has just visited the village of Pokegan, where he resides, and who is very much attached to them, believes it would be very difficult to teach them farming, but he thinks that it would be easier to teach them herding. . . . The policy of the United States is known to exclude from all civilized states and to send beyond the Mississippi all the savages, a policy which drives the Indians to despair. The num- ber of Indians in Indiana is estimated at 4,000. During my stay in the village of Chitchakos the good Indians, delighted to see the great prayer chief in the midst of them, wished to give him a mark of regard and at the same time so far as possible to secure for themselves the help of religion. They met in council ; then in the name of all, their chief Chitchakos l offered in a speech full of kind sentiment a site for a church and 320 acres for a school." Having closely surveyed his diocese and studied its needs, Bishop Brute, in 1835, sailed for France, where he asked help of his friends. To the Society for the Prop- agation of the Faith he appealed for financial assistance, which was granted him, and to secure clerical help he made a tour of some of the French seminaries. At the same time, he paid his ad limina visit to the Holy City, and was everywhere received with the greatest good will and honor. He brought back with him to Vincennes twenty priests and seminarians who had volunteered to 1 He was a Pottowatomie chief. SULPICIAN MISSIONARY BISHOPS 275 join him. He was welcomed home enthusiastically by both Catholics and non-Catholics and proceeded at once to use his European alms to the best advantage. His first care was to establish a diocesan seminary, some of the students for which he had brought back with him. An asylum next provided for the little orphans of his flock, and a free high school supplied the means neces- sary for the future aspirants to the priesthood. He com- pleted and adorned his cathedral and erected simple but adequate churches in many towns of the state. Having again visited the parishes of his diocese, he settled down in his see, resuming his old occupation of professor of theology at the seminary, and writing every second week to his parish priests to encourage and direct them. On Saturdays he heard confessions and was ever at the call of the sick and dying. Not satisfied with this episcopal and pastoral activity, he contributed to the "Catholic Telegraph" of Cincinnati a series of articles on the early history of his diocese. In short, he was an indefatigable worker in the Lord's vineyard. Amid all this work for his regular flock, he did not for- get the poor Indians, the faithful Pottowatoraies who, at the beginning of his episcopate, had so generously given him the site for a Catholic church and school. The de- cree of Congress forced them to emigrate against their will to the Indian Territory, and Bishop Brute had sent Father Petit to accompany them for 500 miles, to con- sole them and assist them to found their new homes. At the same time, however, he was actively visiting various parts of his diocese, although they were ravaged by cholera and other contagious diseases. The bishop did not hesi- tate to bring the last consolations of religion to the stricken sufferers, and this in spite of the fact that since his Euro- pean journey his health had been far from robust In the winter of 1837 he set out to attend the Third 276 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES Council of Baltimore. He travelled on an old-fashioned stage and was seated in front of the vehicle near the driver, exposed to the winds and the weather. Here he contracted a cold, which gradually developed into con- sumption. But even when his strength was ebbing and his body was wracked by disease he continued to visit the sick and to give them the last sacraments. It is recorded that after he was infected by the disease which proved fatal, he travelled four hundred miles, visiting various parts of his diocese. An apostle of charity to the last, he made sick calls when in fact he was more ill than the sufferers he visited, and when confined to his home he used his pen to appeal to persons who had given up the practice of their religious duties. At last, having given to all an example of Christian faith, charity and patience, he slept in the Lord on June 26, 1839, at the age of sixty years. Bishop Brute's extraordinary activity may be gauged in part by the material results of his five years' episco- pate. When he went to Vincennes to assume the adminis- tration of his diocese, he found one priest to help him. In the year after his arrival the diocese is credited with three churches, six stations and two priests. In 1839, when he had been bishop less than five years, his diocese numbered twenty-three priests, twenty-three churches, forty-eight stations, one seminary with twenty clerical stu- dents, one college, one girls' school, one convent and two charitable institutions. II. MOST REVEREND SAMUEL ECCLESTON, ARCHBISHOP OF BALTIMORE The fifth Archbishop of Baltimore, Samuel Eccleston, was the first native American member of the Society of 8ULPICIAN MISSIONARY BISHOPS 277 St. Sulpice raised to the episcopal dignity. He was of English extraction and a convert to the Catholic Church. He was born in 1801 in Kent County, Maryland, where his grandfather, a gentleman of good English family, had settled. The archbishop's father died when Samuel was but a boy, and his widow afterwards married a Catholic gentleman named Stenson, which marriage was followed by her conversion. When Samuel was sent to St Mary's College he was still a Protestant, but during his residence at the college he became convinced of the claims of the Catholic Church to be the only true Church, and accord- ingly he acted on this conviction. As a student, Samuel Eccleston displayed talents of an unusual order, especially as an orator, and even before his graduation he represented his fellow-students on the Fourth of July and other occasions. At the same time, he was a youth of extraordinary piety. It was not sur- prising, therefore, when, at the end of his college course, he entered the seminary, where he was ordained in 1825. He then applied to be admitted into the Society of St. Sulpice and went to France to make his novitiate in the Solitude at Issy. Returned thence in 1827, he was forthwith charged with the vice-presidency of St. Mary's College, where he proved himself as able a disciplinarian as he was a scholar and instructor. His success led to his being named president of the college in 1829. As such, he gained the confidence not only of his fellow Sulpicians, but also of Archbishop Whitfield, who, when his health failed and he felt that the end of his life was near, looked around for the man best fitted to be his successor, and was before long con- vinced that the young president of St. Mary's College was the man. This was not his opinion only, but that of most of the other American bishops, notwithstanding the extreme youth of Father Eccleston, who was then only 278 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES thirty-three years old. The insistence of all his clerical superiors overcame the candidate's reluctance to accept the new dignity, and on September 14, 1834, he was con- secrated coadjutor to Bishop Whitfield, with the title of Bishop of Thermias. The death only a month after of Mgr. Whitfield made him Archbishop of Baltimore, and in November, 1835, the arrival of the pallium from Rome clothed him with all the powers of the metropolitan. The new prelate was a very pious man, determined to do his duty to the full, looking about everywhere for the interests of religion and anxious to act in the spirit of the Church in all things. Archbishop Whitfield had been an invalid for some time before his death and thus unable to perform those duties of his office which would have required him to leave his home. The new archbishop lost no time, but set forth at once to admin- ister confirmation in his own diocese and that of Rich- mond. It was said that before his death there was not a place in Maryland and Virginia, no matter how small its parish, that he had not visited several times. Having become acquainted with the various needs of his flock, he proceeded to supply them. The German Catholics in the city of Baltimore had grown so numer- ous and the difficulties of finding acceptable pastors for them so great, that he called to his aid the German Re- demptorists, who in a short time gathered a numerous congregation in the newly built church of St. Alphonsus. 1 For other reasons he appealed for help to several of the religious orders, for instance the Lazarists. To provide the means of spreading education, religious and secular, he summoned from France the Christian Brothers, a body of men founded by Saint John Baptist de la Salle, an alumnus of St. Sulpice. Their principal school, Calvert 1 Long before, however, St. John's Church had been used by the Ger- man Catholics. 8UXPICIAN MISSIONARY BISHOPS 279 Hall, soon became a well known and popular institution in Baltimore. Nor did he forget to come to the relief of the sick and the orphans by the foundation of hospitals and asylums. Archbishop Whitfield, recognizing the importance of helping the spread of truth, not only among Catholics, but among their separated brethren, had begun the for- mation of a Catholic press by founding a weekly journal called "The Metropolitan." Archbishop Eccleston en- deavored to extend and intensify the movement thus in- augurated. To make known Catholic truth in clear and vigorous language, calculated to reach the educated and even the less intelligent, he called into life the Catholic Tract Society, appealing to his old and faithful con- freres of St. Mary's Seminary and to his clergy in gen- eral to furnish the necessary literature. His success was such that the resulting pamphlets were afterwards gath- ered into several volumes, which proved of great service in dissipating error and spreading the truth. He sought to place Catholic works within the reach of all those com- mitted to his care by providing cheap editions of the most serviceable books, and in 1837 the Catholic hierarchy pro- moted his plans by helping him financially. In 1843 the Archbishop turned over the remainder of this fund ($600) to the Sulpician Fathers, to help the Metropoli- tan Press, which they had established for the furtherance of his scheme. This Press printed larger works at reason- able prices, for instance, Alban Butler's "Lives of the Saints." This plan, however, was abandoned, as experi- ence proved that private enterprise was likely to produce more satisfactory results. How earnest and successful the archbishop was in bringing into being the preparatory seminary so long de- sired by his predecessors, we have already told. His share 280 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES in creating this new institution justly entitles him to the name of second founder of St. Charles' College. What was especially characteristic of his government of the metropolitan province of Baltimore was the frequency with which he called together his suffragan bishops to deliberate in provincial councils. Up to 1847 Baltimore was the only metropolitan see and the councils held un- der Archbishop Eccleston were therefore national coun- cils in all except name. According to the recommenda- tiona of the Council of Trent, he gathered the bishops of the Church around him every third or fourth year to de- vise plans for the development of the American Church, for ensuring its prosperity and the prevention of abuses, whether existing or imminent. Five times the prelates of the American Church assembled in the city of Baltimore under the wise guidance of the metropolitan, and delib- erated concerning what measures would strengthen the growing Church. They cautioned their flocks against the dangers of secret societies and mixed marriages ; they pro- vided safeguards for the valid reception of the sacrament of marriage; they exhorted Catholic parents to provide Christian schools for their children; they took measures for the most useful employment of pious and charitable funds; they made provision for the support of aged and infirm priests; lastly, they begged the Holy Father to place their native country under the patronage of the Mother of God, immaculately conceived, and to declare the Immaculate Conception a dogma of the Church. Surely, when we look back upon the history of the past sixty or seventy years, we cannot but admire the wisdom and the piety of these measures, nor refuse to acknowledge our indebtedness to the care and solicitude of Archbishop Eccleston. Besides the work thus summarized, the five Councils of Baltimore presided over by Archbishop Eccleston be- 8ULPICIAN MISSIONARY BISHOPS 281 stowed a special care on the organization of the Church as necessitated by its rapid growth. The Third Council of Baltimore (1837) was attended by the metropolitan and nine suffragans. Almost every one of the following councils, recognizing the needs of the various parts of the great republic, recommended to Rome the creation of several new sees and Rome acted upon the suggestion of the American bishops. At this time, however, Great Britain still claimed the Northwest Territory, including the present States of Oregon and Washington as a part of its domain. Rome was led by these British claims to create an Archdiocese of Oregon or Portland, with Walla- walla and Vancouver as its suffragans. Oregon had hitherto been considered a part of the diocese of St. Louis, and thus a see newly created was made to outrank the diocese of which it had been a part. This led Rome to create St. Louis an archdiocese in 1847. At the council officially designated as the Seventh Coun- cil of Baltimore (1849), there were present two arch- bishops and twenty-three bishops. Nothing impresses the great growth of Catholicity in the United States under Archbishop Eccleston more strongly upon the mind than these figures. For to the increase in the number of sees there was a corresponding increase throughout the length and breadth of the land in the number of the faithful, of the priests, of the churches, and of educational and chari- table institutions of all kinds. Archbishop Eccleston in 1849 might therefore feel justly satisfied with the result of his stewardship. Two years later the archbishop was called to his re- ward. He was still a young man, having just passed his fiftieth year. His tall stature and vigorous voice betokened strength and energy and he had been an en- ergetic shepherd of his flock for seventeen years. But in 1851 hia health declined. To combat his increasing 282 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES weakness he took up his residence near the convent of the Visitation in Georgetown, where all the care and at- tention which medical skill and the affection of his friends could suggest were lavished upon him, but in vain. He grew feebler and feebler and on April 22, 1851, he gently passed away, an example of piety in death as he had been in life. III. RIGHT REVEREND JOHN MARY JOSEPH CHANCHE, BISHOP OF NATCHEZ The closest friend of Archbishop Eccleston was John Mary Joseph Chanche, S.S., who died Bishop of Natchez. Though five years older than Archbishop Eccleston (he was born October 4, 1795), the two had met in early life at St. Mary's College and there formed a friendship which bound them together throughout life. Eccleston was of English extraction, Chanche the son of a San Do- mingo refugee who had settled in Baltimore only a few years before his birth. He became a student at St. Mary's College at the early age of eleven, and at sixteen we find him a teacher at that institution. From 1818 both the friends were instructors at the college, and taught there together for many years. Meantime, they had both grown up to be tall and stately young men, dignified and pol- ished gentlemen, both distinguished for oratorical talents and characterized by the poise which inspires respect and gives authority. Archbishop Marechal ordained M. Chanche in 1819. In 1829, when M. Eccleston became president of the college, M. Chanche was promoted to the vice-presidency, and he became his friend's successor as president when the latter was raised to the dignity of Archbishop of Bal- timore. When Archbishop Whitfield was seeking a co- adjutor who should be his successor, Bishop Fenwick of 8ULPICIAN MISSIONARY BISHOPS 283 Boston warmly advocated M. Chanche for the office, but M. Chanche succeeded in persuading the archbishop to prefer M. Eccleston, though five years his junior. The Bishop of Boston, however, was so entirely convinced that M. Chanche was eminently fitted to occupy the episcopal see that he proposed him first to be his own coadjutor in Boston, and afterwards as Bishop Dubois' coadjutor in New York. But M. Chanche with the aid of his friend, the Archbishop of Baltimore, again escaped the episcopal dignity and meanwhile raised St. Mary's College to greater and greater prosperity. But notwithstanding his obstinate refusal of the miter, he was destined not to escape it. The Third Council of Baltimore in 1837 pro- posed the creation of several new sees, among them that of Natchez, in the State of Mississippi, and for this place the Fathers of the Council proposed the learned presi- dent of St. Mary's College. Though we hear of no fur- ther opposition on his part, it is likely that he again tried to avoid the promotion, for he was not consecrated bishop until 1841. To an ambitious man, the see of Natchez offered but few attractions, but much and hard work for a zealous and vigorous shepherd. He tells us himself in 1845 that when he was installed as Bishop of Natchez he found not a single church or institution and only four priests, one of whom was on his death-bed and the others were about to leave the diocese. Where was he to begin when everything remained to be done? He did not hesitate, but began forthwith to build his cathedral, which he dedicated to the Mother of God and which proved to be a respectable monument of architecture. At the same time he scoured every part of the State of Mississippi, doing what he could to help his flock to erect the mu needed churches. In 1848 the Seton Sisters from Em- 284 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES mitsburg came to take charge of an orphan asylum, which was sadly needed. Like most bishops of his time, he found it necessary to seek assistance in Europe, and so in 1848-49 we find him in France, in search of men and money. Nor was he disappointed, for besides an alms from the ever chari- table Society of the Propagation of the Faith, he brought back to his diocese a number of priests from Brittany, that never-failing source of aid to the young American Church. With these new resources he renewed his ef- forts to help the poor and scattered Catholics of his dio- cese. Soon his clerical recruits were vigorously at work and we hear of churches springing up throughout the State. Some of the missionaries visited the various parts of the diocese that had not yet been provided with churches, and found to their satisfaction that there were many more Catholics than the most sanguine had suspected. Whites and blacks came at the call of the priests and one ancient colored woman from Maryland, who had not seen a priest for twenty years, but had remained true to the Faith, proved a source of special satisfaction to the missionary. Bishop Chanche's zealous labors naturally weakened his constitution and during the year 1850 he was for the most part an invalid. But he had much to encourage him, for in 1851, ten years after his consecration, in ad- dition to his cathedral, he had eleven priests, eleven churches and thirty-two missionary stations. So with hopeful heart he set out to attend the First Plenary Coun- cil of Baltimore. He took an active part in the work of the Fathers and was greatly pleased to see again the scenes of his youth and the field of his early labors. But his joy was not to last. 'The cholera, which at that time was ravaging Maryland, marked him out for a victim, and he died at Frederick on July 22, 1852. He requested that his remains be laid in the cemetery of the Baltimore RT. HKV. JOHN J. CIIAXCII First Hishop of Natohfz. 8ULPICIAN MISSIONARY BISHOPS L' v", cathedral, where he had been baptized, ordained and con- secrated. IV. RIGHT REVEREND GUY IGNATIUS CHABRAT, COADJUTOR OF BARDSTOWN Next to Bishop David, perhaps no priest attached to the diocese of Bardstown was more closely connected with Bishop Flaget than his second coadjutor, Guy Ignatius Chabrat, Bishop of Bolina. He was one of three young clerics enlisted by him during his stay in Europe previ- ous to his consecration. M. Chabrat was at that time in sub-deacon's orders. He was a native of Chambre and a student at the Seminary of St-Flour, of whih M. Levadoux was superior. He came to Baltimore early in 1811 and was there admitted into the Society of St. Sul- pice on March 18 of that year. With Bishop Flaget he started for the West and was a member of the party which travelled, on the Ohio, from Pittsburg to Louisville, in the famous flat boat on which M. David is said to have be- gun the Bardstown seminary of St. Thomas. On his ar- rival in Kentucky, young Chabrat completed his theo- logical studies and his priestly training under Father David at St. Thomas' Seminary in Marion County, where it is probable that deacon's orders were conferred on him. As the chapel at St. Thomas' was too small to accom- modate a congregation of any size, Father Wilson, the Dominican superior of St. Rose's Monastery, invited Bishop Flaget to accept the hospitality of his church for the ordination. Accordingly M. Chabrat was here or- dained priest on December 25, 181 1, 1 being the first priest ordained in the State of Kentucky. He was a welcome addition to the three or four priests already in the State, and was appointed without delay to the parish of St. 1 Rev. William J. Hewlett, "St. Thomas' Seminary," p. 57. 286 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES Michael's in Nelson County. In those days, however, the pastor of a Kentucky parish did not onfine his activity to the congregation which gave him his title, and, like the other Kentucky missionaries, Father Chabrat took care of the Catholics residing for many miles distant from his parish. Gradually, also, he organized stations, built new churches and prepared new parishes. Such was the tenor of his life for the first thirteen years of his priesthood. In 1824, however, while not relinquishing this exhausting missionary work, he as- sumed the charge, placed on him by Bishop Flaget, of the newly established Sisterhood of Loretto, whose or- ganization and work he directed for many years and which became a household word in the early Catholic history of Kentucky. His wisdom and prudence, both on the mis- sion anJ in the direction of Loretto, earned for him the well deserved confidence of Bishop Flaget, who in 1829, after well nigh twenty years of the episcopate, feeling that his strength was failing him and seeing that Bishop David's physique forbade an active outdoor life, looked around for a man to whom he might with confidence en- trust the administration of his vast diocese. He chose without hesitation the first priest whom he had ordained at St. Kose's. Kome approved of the old prelate's choice and in 1834 Father Chabrat was consecrated Bishop of Bolina and Coadjutor of Bardstown. From the time of his consecration, Bishop Chabrat relieved Bishop Flaget of many duties requiring travel or absence from his cathedral. He was seen visiting and conferring from one end of the diocese to the other. He also attended the Council of Baltimore called by Arch- bishop Eccleston in 1837. In the absence of the Bishop of Bardstown, it was he who proposed the creation of the see of Nashville, which proposal was accepted by the Fathers of the Council. In 1846 he appeared for the last 8ULPICIAN MISSIONARY BISHOPS 287 time at the Sixth Council of Baltimore, and even then was suffering from a disease which threatened to deprive him of his eye-sight. Shortly afterwards he left for France, to consult the foremost oculist of that country, without, however, being relieved. He resigned his bishop- ric in 1847, retired to his father's residence and shortly after became completely blind. He died in Mauriac, France, in 1868. V. RIGHT REVEREND AUGUSTINE VEROT, BISHOP OF ST. AUGUSTINE The last of the bishops whom St. Sulpice gave to the American church was the Right Reverend Augustine Verot, of whose efficiency and work as a scientist and pro- fessor at St. Mary's College, Baltimore, we have repeat- edly spoken. M. Verot was born in Le Puy, France, in May, 1804. He completed his collegiate studies in his na- tive town and thereupon entered St. Sulpice, Paris, in 1820, where he was raised to the priesthood in 1828, shortly afterwards becoming a Sulpician. With the his- torian Fredet, he came to the United States in 1830, at the suggestion of M. Carriere. We have repeatedly spoken of his success as a professor of science at St. Mary's Col- lege, Baltimore, his renown undoubtedly contributing much to the prosperity of the college, for, aside from the enthusiasm which he inspired as a teacher, he was a popular member of the faculty. He was always ready to join the students' swimming excursions, and an island in the Patapsco River, one mile from Woodstock, still bears the name of Verot's Island. On these occasions, he would rough it with the liveliest of the students. On the suppression of St. Mary's College in 1852, he was named pastor of Ellicott Mills. However, he kept up his connection with the Sulpician students at St 288 THE STJLPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES Charles', and at times invited them to Ellicott Mills, at which times he became a boy again. We learn that on one of these visits, M. Verot detained the seminarians a day longer than had been agreed upon, which brought upon him a reprimand from M. Lhomme, then superior of the seminary. But M. Verot was essentially a serious man. At El- licott Mills he took great interest in the fortunes of the colored people, making no secret of his sympathy with them and ever ready to do them a service. This atti- tude was not altered when he was raised to the episcopal dignity and led to his writing a pastoral letter on slavery, one of the most remarkable of his writings. In 1855 Father Villeneuve, one of the Montreal Sul- picians, came to Baltimore in the interest of Archbishop Hughes of New York, who was reorganizing his semi- nary. The Montreal Sulpicians had promised to supply it with a number of professors, and the archbishop was especially anxious to obtain the services of M. Verot as its president. Father Villeneuve's mission was to obtain Father Verot's consent to this arrangement. In this, however, he did not succeed, so the entire project failed. 1 Father Verot was not to remain long at Ellicott Mills, for in 1858 he was appointed Vicar Apostolic of East Florida and Bishop of Danaba. Florida was an old Spanish colony, and naturally suggests a large Catholic population with a numerous clergy, but the frequent changes of government, ecclesiastical and secular, had greatly retarded the growth of the beautiful peninsula. The new vicar apostolic found a limited flock with only four priests. He set to work without delay, his apostolic tours covering his entire diocese. He started new churches, founded schools, called both Sisters of Charity 1 See diary of M. Lhomme in the archives of St. Mary's Seminary, Bal- timore. 8ULPICIAN MISSIONARY BISHOPS 289 and Christian Brothers to his aid and lost no opportunity to instruct his people by means of pastorals which at- tracted much attention. Having roused the half-dormant spirit of his flock, he followed the example of many Amer- ican bishops of the period and in 1858 went to Europe. Here, besides material aid, he sought for laborers to help him in the cultivation of the Lord's vineyard, and his quest was not in vain. He brought back with him six priests and four Christian Brothers. Two years later, at the beginning of the Civil War, he was transferred from Florida to be the third Bishop of Savannah, which, however, included a part of his former diocese. Georgia had never been a specially flourishing tract in the domain of the Catholic Church, but the un- fortunate Civil War made the labors of the bishop un- usually difficult. It is therefore the more surprising that in the diocese of Savannah, amid most untoward circum- stances, churches and schools and missions sprang up as they did. During the war he not only worked with zeal and success for his own flock, but devoted his efforts to relieving the hard lot of the Federal prisoners in An- dersonville. At the conclusion of the war he again turned his attention to the colored race and did all in his power to promote negro education. In 1870 Bishop Verot was translated to the newly cre- ated see of St. Augustine, where he worked with new energy for the welfare of his people. He looked after not only their spiritual, but also their material good, and took a vigorous part in making Florida the winter health- resort which it has become. Meanwhile, the bishop passed from parish to parish and church to church, encouraging and aiding their interests, and giving special attention to the cause of education. He thus laid the foundation of a prosperity which lasted long after his death, which took 290 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES place, after a life of laborious zeal, at St. Augustine, June 10, 1876. He was not only an energetic administrator, but he was still more a scholar of no mean attainments. In St. Mary's College he gained the respect of the students and of his fellow scientists for his learning in physics and chemistry, and he left a deep impression as a phi- losopher and a theologian. At the various Councils of Baltimore, and even at Rome, during the Vatican Coun- cil, his views were listened to with respect. In the United States, through his pastorals and his periodical articles, he exerted no little influence in questions of theology, so- ciology and science. Bishop Verot thus ends the old line of Sulpician bishops in the United States. Our record shows that the mem- bers of the Society did their best to escape the episcopal honors which the Company looked upon as undesirable, but which they likewise regarded as burdens which duty and obedience to the Holy Father compelled them to accept. Many of them, by resigning, sought to throw off the burden after they had successfully carried it for a number of years. One and all proved that they were animated with the spirit of the Company. On the other hand, a just estimate of their achieve- ments and their merits compels us to declare that the Sulpician bishops were no less great as administrators than as teachers. It is difficult to understand how these men, after becoming accustomed in the classroom to the life of scholars, should return to the world and display such unusually great qualities as missionaries and gov- ernors, as practical men prepared to meet with equal suc- cess the statesman and the man of the world, the Catholic and the non-Catholic. They gained the admiration of their flocks and the assistance of men of other creeds, who RT. REV. AUGUSTINE Vfiaor Bishop of St. Auguttine. 8ULPICIAN MI88IONABY BISHOPS 291 saw the great good they were doing for their country as well as for their Church. Though for the most part foreign by birth, they did not yield to the native Ameri- can in true and enthusiastic patriotism, and when duty or sickness called them away from our shores they never forgot the years which they had spent in the great trans- Atlantic republic and the principles with which it had inspired them. If we ask why, after successfully guiding the early days of the Church in our great country, they suddenly dis- appear from the ecclesiastical roll of honor, the answer is easily found. They were true and sincere sons of St. Sulpice; they believed in its principles, according to which their mission was not to be governors of the Church, but educators of such governors. For a time they had consented to take upon themselves the burden of the episcopacy, because the supreme authorities of the Church had placed above the rules of the Company the necessi- ties of the Church, necessities which were removed through the exertions of the Company. This last fact should not hinder us from recognizing the great services which the Sulpician bishops rendered to Catholicism, and we may say, to the prosperity of the Republic. The names of Flaget and Dubourg, of Marechal and Eccleston, will ever be remembered by American Catholics as the syno- nyms of prudence, zeal, energy, charity and self-sacrifice. CHAPTER XIII THE ADMINISTRATIONS OF MM. LHOMME AND DUBKEUL With the departure of M. Deluol for France in 1849 begins a new period for the Society of St. Sulpice in the United States. The time was passed when necessity gov- erned its policy and action, the days of transition and makeshifts were over, and the rules of the Society, the norms prescribed by MM. Olier and Emery, became the law in America as in Europe. The period was drawing to .an end when the Sulpicians, in order to provide for the daily bread of their seminarians, felt obliged to maintain a college for all Catholics and non-Catholics willing to pay their yearly stipend, irrespective of the career they intended to follow. No longer did the Sulpician direc- tors provide laws and work for the Sisters of Charity, no more did they act as the spiritual guides and confessors of the laity. 1 The American Society of St. Sulpice now faced what was in many ways a revolution, and it becomes necessary to examine what were the means and resources wherewith the Society undertook its new task and entered on the problems of the future. When we bear in mind that the Society of St. Sulpice had charge of St. Mary's Seminary and St. Mary's Col- lege, we are amazed that in 1849 there should have been available as directors and professors for these two institu- tions only ten men. Now that M. Deluol had left for France, there remained of the faculty of the Baltimore 1 Father Elder, by special privilege, continued to hear confessions un- til his death in 1871. 292 ADMINISTRATIONS OF MM. LHOMME AND DUBREUL 293 seminary only MM. Lhomme, Verot and Fredet. M. Ray- mond was president of St. Mary's College, in which task he was aided by MM. Knight, Elder, Randanne, Joubert and Jenkins. MM. Verot, Fredet and Lhomme taught in both institutions. The first three gentlemen, of course, would still be needed for the seminary, but in case of the discontinuance of St. Mary's College not all of its profes- sors were necessary for the new St. Charles' College, which, for the first year or two, required only Father Jenkins or Father Raymond as president of the institution. This gives us an idea of the work to be done by the Sul- picians after the suppression of St. Mary's College and of the men available for the purpose. When the departure of M. Deluol for France was an- nounced at a meeting of the Sulpicians, it was given out that M. Lhomme was placed in charge of the Society of St. Sulpice, though his appointment as superior was made only in the following year. To him, therefore, was allotted the task of reorganizing the various institutions belonging to the Society in and near Baltimore. M. Francis Lhomme was born at Brioude in the diocese of Le Puy on November 13, 1794. He joined the Com- pany of St. Sulpice in France and in 1827 was sent to America, where he was immediately placed in charge of the Greek department at the college and given some the- ology classes at the seminary. Later he also taught Sa- cred Scripture, in which branch he took a lively interest He was a kind, pious man, not lacking in force, and under him the seminary was a model of order. In the year 1849, when his administration began, the seminary numbered some twenty-two students, while in 1860 the attendance had increased to more than forty. Hitherto the Archdio- cese of Baltimore had contributed the majority of the stu- dents in the seminary, but soon after M. Lhomme's rule began, the majority of the seminarians consisted of out- 294 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES siders, New England sending a large proportion. Under his regime bishops for every part of the United States were recruited from among the alumni of St. Mary's, among them Archbishop Leray of New Orleans, Bishops Edgar P. Wadhams, the first bishop of Ogdensburg, Eichard Phe- lan of Pittsburg, John Foley of Detroit and Patrick O'Keilly of Springfield. The admirable discipline which prevailed in the semi- nary in M. Lhomme's time was due, no doubt, primarily, to the spirit of order and to the example of the superior, but not a little to his popularity. Like MM. Tessier and Deluol, he saw to it that the students were allowed need- ful recreation and his diary contains several records of the excursions made by the theologians on the Fourth of July and other holidays, when they were the guests of Mr. Cromwell, who had been a student of St. Mary's College. While he thus provided for their necessary recreation he did not neglect their intellectual needs. The usual peace and harmony of the seminary were much disturbed during this administration by the so-called Knownothing movement. The Knownothings were an American nativist society, aiming at the expulsion of for- eigners, especially Catholics, from the United States. The spirit had been manifest for some time previous, but in 1854 the movement became active in Baltimore, its first demonstrations being directed against the Visitation Con- vent in Park Street. M. Lhomme tells us in his diary that on January 16, 1854, two hundred men marched down Pennsylvania Avenue on their way to Monument Square. In front of the Visitation Convent on Park Street they became riotous and fired some shots. This alarmed the Catholics of the district, who organized the Young Cath- olic Friends' Society, with headquarters near St. Alphon- sus' Church, whence they might extend assistance to the Visitation Convent or other places in danger. The dem- VERY REV. FRANCIS LHOMME. Fourth Superior of St. Mary's Seminary. ADMINISTBATIONS OF MM. LHOMME AND DUBBEUL 295 onstration on this occasion proved a flash in the pan, but the alarm created lingered, and as a result of the Know- nothings' threats of violence the seminarians were de- prived of their annual excursion on the 4th of July of that year. Even four years later the turbulence of the nativist fanatics had not subsided, for on January 7, 1858, while the students were taking their usual walk, they were as- saulted by a band of rowdies, who threw stones and even fired shots at them. Father Flammant was struck by a stone and Father Ferte sustained serious injury to his nose. Meanwhile the suppression of St. Mary's College, which had been decreed by M. de Courson, was in active progress, and when these Knownothing demonstrations disquieted the Sulpicians, they had barely recovered from the domes- tic disturbances resulting from this suppression. This ques- tion had been the chief reason for the recall of M. Deluol to France in 1849, but no immediate steps were taken by M. Lhomme after his accession to power. Our readers will remember that one of the difficulties to be overcome in this matter was the establishment of another Catholic col- legiate institution under the direction of the Fathers of the Society of Jesus. For some reason the negotiations to this end had failed, but in 1851 the question was taken up again by M. Lhomme, who on October 13 conferred on the subject with Archbishop Kenrick, the successor of Archbishop Eccleston, who had died on April 22nd of that year. M. Lhomme does not tell us of the results of this conference, but since on the same day he discussed with the Jesuit, Father Brocard, the question of surrendering his students to a Jesuit college to be founded in Baltimore, we may conclude that the project had the approval of the archbishop. In the following March, M. Lhomme wrote a long letter on the same subject to M. de Courson. The answer, which arrived on the 19th of April, authorized the 296 THE SULPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES Baltimore superior to treat with, the Jesuits regarding the surrender of the college. Of course, Father Clarke, the Jesuit superior, had to obtain the consent of the General of the Society of Jesus to this step on the part of his Society, and on June 12, the commencement day of St. Mary's College, Father Clarke notified Father Lhomme that he had received the neces- sary authorization from Father Roothan, his superior gen- eral. Father Jenkins, at that time President of St. Mary's College, announced in the Baltimore "American" of July 28, the news that St. Mary's College had ceased to exist. 1 The surrender of this flourishing institution to the spirit of the Company was unquestionably a great sacrifice, espe- cially as it took place at a time when its previous successes promised still further prosperity. But in comparison with the principle and spirit of the Society, success counted for nothing in the eyes of its loyal sons, now that no rea- son of honor or honesty could demand further delay. The* relinquishing of St. Mary's College naturally brought about the dispersion of its faculty. As early as 1850 the Sulpician, Father Knight, went to St. Peter's Church, Baltimore, where Father McColgan gave him a hospitable reception. In the same year, Father Raymond, who was at the head of St. Charles' College, was recalled to France. Messrs. Smith and Kelly, veteran members of St. Mary's faculty, died, the former on February 25, 1851, after twenty-seven years' service as teacher of pen- manship, and the latter, after having been professor of mu- 1 Three days afterwards, the following announcement appeared in the "Catholic Mirror" of Baltimore : "The President and Faculty of St. Mary's College respectfully inform the public that the collegiate and academic departments of this Institution will be permanently closed for the future. The members of the society will hereafter, in conformity with the spirit and object of their vocation, devote themselves ex- clusively to the education of candidates for the sacred ministry. The facilities for a thorough education are so greatly multiplied at this time that, it is believed, the step which has been taken will in no way em- barrass the parents who have so kindly confided to the Institution the care of their children. "For the liberal encouragement extended to St. Mary's College to the day of its dissolution, the President and Faculty take this occasion to tender their most grateful acknowledgments." ADMINISTRATIONS OF MM. LHOMME AND DUBRETTL 297 sic for twenty-nine years, on August 26, 1852. The Rev. Father Voirdye, who had taught at the college, left for Montreal on September 6 of the same year. But the most distinguished member of the faculty who was lost to the Society of St. Sulpice by the abandonment of St. Mary's College was M. Verot. During the administration of M. Lhomme, the Society of St. Sulpice had also lost by death the Rev. Peter Fredet. On the other hand, seven new members had arrived from France, namely, MM. Joseph P. Dubreul, Stanislas Ferte, Alphonse Flammant, Francis Dissez, John Baptist Menu, R. Blanc and H. M. Chapuis. Therefore at the time of M. Lhomme's death there were eleven Sulpicians in the United States. The relief of the seminarians from the duty of teach- ing in the lower classes of the college was one of the re- forms which the gentlemen of St. Sulpice, both in France and in America, had especially sought to effect by aban- doning St. Mary's College. In the main, this object was achieved, though occasionally we meet teachers in St Charles' who were at the same time students of theology at the seminary. Such was Mr. E. Caton, who, with Father Jenkins, was one of the first teachers in the new college. Such were also T. M. A. Burke, later Bishop of Albany, Placide Chapelle, later Archbishop of New Orleans, Rev. J. Haug, Rev. F. X. McKenny, Rev. D. E. Maher, Rev. G. J. Kraft of Charleston, Rev. H. C. Pouget, now in the Canal Zone at Panama, and Rev. D. S. Kelly, of the Dio- cese of Trenton. It may, therefore, be said that the sup- pression of St Mary's College practically accomplished the liberation of the seminarians from the duty of teach- ing. During M. Lhomme's rule the faculty of St. Mary's was reinforced by M. Alphonse Flammant, a man who com- bined holiness with learning, and, in addition to profound scholarship, had the gift of being an interesting and clear 298 THE STJLPICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES teacher. What enhanced his popularity was the fact that he performed his duties zealously and successfully, though throughout his career at the seminary (1856-62), he was a sufferer from lung disease. Archbishop Keane speaks of him with warm admiration, and relates that it was M. ITlammant who drew his attention to the love men owe to their country as a virtue and as a duty to God. Although M. Flammant's career was cut short by a premature death, another new-comer graced the faculty of St. Mary's for many years. M. Dissez arrived in Baltimore in 1857; taught philosophy at the seminary till 1862; moral the- ology till 1896, and pastoral theology until a few months before his death in 1908. He celebrated his golden jubi- lee, beloved and honored by his pupils, respected by four successive Archbishops of Baltimore and relied on as the wise and trusted counsellor of four superiors of his Com- pany. He was a gentle, God-fearing man, who, because of his wisdom and charity, enjoyed the confidence of sev- eral generations of priests in the United States. The abolition of St. Mary's College naturally affected the curriculum of the seminary. During M. Lhomme's administration, the course of studies assumed the following form. The theologians had an hour's lesson in moral the- ology every day except Sunday and Thursday, and a lec- ture on dogma on the same days at 4 o'clock p. m. After 1859, at the suggestion of the Visitors, MM. Faillon and Guitter, a lecture on Holy Scripture was given on Sundays at 11 a. m., and another on Thursdays at 9 a. m. One hour was assigned to liturgy on Wednesdays at 11.15, and three half hours to chant on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays at 2 p. m. Pastoral theology was the subject taught at 11.15 on Tuesdays and Fridays. During the vacations the semi- narians were required to write a sermon on a designated subject, which they were to bring back in September. The students studying philosophy attended two lectures daily, op MM tI[OMME cou ree of timely. students also "nqueationably Proved to be of f tho W rk ' and thi time carefully looked , inspire the piety and customary in Franf g - in tl gardlnor emed by the Sulpiciana ,nd in up in the garden by Archbifhop buildings. the Wh "' thesame Calculat 9; missionary **pui !% 28; and Montreal, 37; Nafot'* life of, 55, ; parochial work, 28, 34; aad TroMM, 35; and St Vlaeent de Paul. 28 "One Mile Taver*/' Balti-ot*, 22 356 INDEX Oratory, French, and clerical training, 27 O'Reilly, Patrick, bishop of Springfield, 263, 294 Osages, and Dubourg, 178 O 'Sullivan, Jeremiah, bishop of Mobile, 263, 308 Pace, Edward A., 264 Palin d'Abonville, Sulpician, 318 Paquiet, Sulpician, 105n, 110, 114, 115 Paris, diocesan seminary, 27; revolutionary period, 5 Parliament of Paris, and Sulpi- cians, 35 Peabody, George, Wallis' biog- raphy of, 121 Pecei, Joseph, Catholic doctrine, exposition of, 218, 218n Penalver y Cardenas, bishop of New Orleans, 171, 172 Pennsylvania, Catholic popula- tion (1785), 1; Jesuit mis- sions, 80; missionaries, 2 Perrineau, at St. Mary's semi- nary, 19, 68, 70 Phelan, Eichard, bishop of Pitts- burg, 294 Philadelphia, Charity, Sisters of, 225; Mare"chal, 181; nativist riots, 204 Pigeon Hill, seminary, 71, 112, 125, 126 Piot, B. S., and St. Charles' col- lege, 202,. 245 Pise, Charles Constantino, at St. Mary's seminary, 81 Pitaval, J. B., archbishop, 328 Pius IV, and seminary move- ment, 25 VI, and American semi- nary, 3; and Church in United States, 1; and Emery, 10, 11 VII, and Dubois, 190; and Napoleon, 12, 13; and St. Mary's seminary, 51, 186 Pizarro, Mr., at St. Mary's col- lege, 239, 240 Pokegan, Indian village, 273,. 274 Pole, Cardinal, seminary, 25 Portland, archdiocese, 281 Pottowatamie Indians, Badin, 68, 275 Pouget, H. C., at St. Charles, 297 Prairie du Uocher, Richard's mission, 167 Priests, secular, and seminary direction, 26 "Principles of Catholics," Ba- din, 68 Propagation of the Faith, So- ciety for the, and Flaget, 157 Property, ecclesiastical, Eceles- ton's regulations, 86; Mare- chal, 186 Providence, Oblate Sisters of, 74, 230-236, 330 Purcell, John B., archbishop of Cincinnati, and Deluol, 204; and Mount St. Mary's, 135 Quarter, William, bishop of Chi- cago, and Mount St. Mary's, 135 Queylus de Montmorency, de r Sulpician, 38 Eandanne, J. B., and Mount St. Mary's, 132, 134; and St. Charles' college, 254, 261; at St. Mary's college, 116, 195, 239 Eaymond, Sulpician, 238, 245, 248, 250, 251, 296, 299 "Eecueil de conversions remar- quables," by Nagot, 59n Eeilly, C., doctorate "Religious Cabinet," 208 INDEX 357 Keligious Orders, and seminary direction, 26 Betreats, first in America, 74 Bex, C. B., Sulpician, 262, 263, 318 Reynolds, Ignatius A., at St. Mary's seminary, 81; educa- tional work, 85; and cholera plague, 153 Bichard, Gabriel, 166-170; Con- gress, delegation to, 169; in Detroit, 42, 44, 137, 138; edu- cational foundations, 167; and Emery, 7; and Flaget, 153; patriotism, 169 ; publishing ventures, 169; at St Mary's seminary, 41 Rinc6, Sulpician, at St. Charles' college, 261; at St. Mary's seminary, 307 Rochefoucauld Liancourt, Due de, on education in Maryland, 100, 101 Roloff, M. R, priest, 73 Roman, Andrew Bienvenue, at St. Mary's college, 119 Rosati, Lazarist, 174; coadjutor- ship, 179; and Providence, Sisters of, 235 Buff, priest, 271 Bussell, William T., 264 Sacred Heart, Religious of the, and Dubourg, 174, 175 St Alphonsus' church, Balti- more, 278 St. Anne, parish, Detroit, 138, 167, 169 St Augustine, diocese, Ve>ot's episcopate, 289 St. Charles' college, Baltimore, 245-264 ; benefactions, 253, 254; building alterations, 255; Carroll's donation, 200; chap- el, 256, 257; chartered, 200; and Civil War, 257, 305; con- flagration, 264 ; corner tone, 201 ; curriculum, 257, 258, 259, 260; and Deluol, 211, 212, 212n; Kccleston, 245, 246; episcopate, alumni in, 263 ; fat- uity, 260; and Faillon, 300; Jenkins, 246, 247; ordinations, 262; Piot donation, 202; and Propaganda, 201 ; student body, 251, 252, 255, 256; stu- dent teachers, 203; tuitions, 253; trustees, 200, 201, 247, 248, 248n; Williamson gift, 201 8t Charles, Mo., Sacred Heart convent, 175 St. Cyr, priest, 271 St. Francis Xavier 's college, New York, first president, 83 St John's church, Baltimore, 278n St John's college, Maryland, 99, 100, 101, 103 St Joseph, Sisters of. See Char- ity, Sisters of St Joseph's college, Bardstown, 156 St Joseph's Valley, 223 St Louis, cathedral, 175; Du- bourg, 174, 175; Richard, 16; seminary, 175 St Mary's college, Baltimore, 71, 91-123, 237-244; aeademks standing, 122; alumni, distin- guished, 118-121, 242, 243; Brut*, 268; building*. 113; building alterations, 300; and M. Carrier*, 196; and Bishop Carroll, 96, 97 ; chart*r*d. 104 ; abuses, duration of, 108; clas- sical languages, 107n; eternal vocations, 125; commx*m<^>t (1813), 110; commenwnwnt (1816), 109; creed distine- 358 INDEX tions, 102, 104; curriculum, 107, 107n, 108; daily regula- tion, 111; discipline, 111, 113, 122; Eecleston, 277; Emery, 96; faculty, 105, 106, 115; and Georgetown, 95; and Pigeon Hill, 112; public examination, 110; records, 105; and St. Mary's seminary, 81; students, 241, 242; and Sulpicians, 196, 211; suppression, 244, 296, 296n; and Tessier, 89; univer- sity rank, 106; West Indian students, 96 St. Mary's college, Bardstown, 156 St. Mary's seminary, alumni, 71, 81, 207-209; Badin, 68; Brute, 268; buildings, 330, 331; Car- riere's visitation, 89; cente- nary, 334, 335; chapel, 329, 330, 330n; and Civil War, 303, 304, 305; and council of 1884, 333; Cuban contingent, 44; curricu- lum, 206, 298, 319-326; David, 74, 162 ; degrees, conferring of, 308, 309; Deluol's administra- tion, 194-214; Dubreul, 302- 311; episcopate, alumni in, 294, 308, 327, 328; faculty (1798), 54; foundation, 18; Gallitzin, 69; Gamier, 59, 62; and Georgetown, 19, 47, 80, 92; incorporation, 301 ; Levadoux, 63; Lhomme's administration, 292-302 ; Magnien 's adminis- tration, 312-337; Marechal at, 63; memorial volume, 117; and Mount St. Mary 's, 131 ; Nagot'a administration, 53-75; observatory, 207 ; ordination, first native American, 41; or- dinations, 79; paintings, 332; and Pius VII, 51; projected, 15 ; and St. Mary 's college, 95 ; scientific course, 206, 207; site, 22, 328, 329; student body, 19, 44, 45, 50, 93, 307, 326, 327; Tessier, 58, 62, 76; theological course, 207; university rank, 88; Williamson gift, 209 St. Matthew's church, Washing- ton, 208 St. Patrick's parish, Baltimore, 42, 61 St. Peter's church, Washington, 87 St. Rose's monastery, Bardstown, 147, 160, 285 St. Sulpice, parish, Paris, 28, 34 St. Thomas' seminary, Bards- town, 162, 285 St. Vincent de Paul's seminary, Lafargeville, N. Y., 191 Sakia, Maryland, Sulpician mis- sion, 42 San Domingo, uprising, 63, 74, 230 Sault St. Marie, Sulpicians, 44 Savannah, V6rot 's episcopate, 289 Schrantz, C. B., Sulpieian, 262 Scioto, French colony, 16 Seal of confession, and Fr. Hickey, 210 Sedella, Anthony, priest, 173, 176, 177 Seminaries, St. Charles Borromeo, 25; England, 25; episcopal control, 32; France, 27; Ger- many, 26; Italy, 25; Cardinal Pole, 25; Spain, 26; Sulpician system, 14, 65; term first used, 25; Tridentine legislation, 24, 26 Senate, United States, Catholic chaplain, 82 Seton, Anna, 217 , Elizabeth, and Babad, 221 ; biographical details, 216; and INDEX 359 Brute", 226; conversion, 219; and 8. Cooper, 222; and Da- bois, 127; and Dubourg, 220; and Filicchis, 217-220; vows, 222; FT. White's life of, 208 , William, and Mount 8t Mary's, 135, 217 Bewail, Rev. Charles, and 8ul- picians, 22 Sibourd, Father, vicar-general of New Orleans, 173, 176, 177; and Fr. Dubourg, 215; and Mrs. Seton, 220 Smith, Samuel, death, 296; at Mount St. Mary's, 130, 130n; at St Mary's college, 240 , William, and Washington college, 99 Spalding, M. J., bishop of Louis- ville, and Flaget, 148n Starrs, Father, vicar-general of New York, 209 Stenson, Mrs., 204 Stewart, George, general, and Deluol, 205 "Student's Handbook of Brit- ish and American Literature" (Jenkins), 251 Talleyrand, and Emery, 14 Taney, Chief Justice, Wallis' ora- tion, 121 Tanquerey, A. A., Sulpician, 320 Taylor, Eev. Mr., and Dubois, 188 Tennessee, Church in, 147 Tessier, John Mary, Sulpician, 18; and Baltimore diocese, 86, 87; and Bishop Carroll, 76; and Charity, Sisters of, 225; death, 90; and Mount St. Mary's, 132; missionary work, 42, 63, 74; and Nagot, 58; and negroes, 231; Providence, Sisters of, 236; resignation, 195; at St Mary's eollef*, 105; at St. Mary's semiaarT, 54, 62, 76 Tiernan, Lake, and 8t Mary'! college, 118, 119 Timon, bishop of Buffalo, and Charity, Sisters of, 229; and Deluol, 204, 213 Tisserant, Father, and Mrs. Se- ton, 220 Trappists, in Kentucky, 156n Trent, Council of, seminary leg- islation, 24, 26 Tronson, and de La Salle, 39; and Olier, 35 Trouve, Sulpician, 38 "True Christian, The," by Bishop McGill, 207 Trusteeism, Marshal's stand, 186 "Truth Teller," 191 Tulloh, M., at St Mary 'a, 19 United States, Catholic popula- tion (1785), 1; Church, growth of, 281; Church, organization of, 1; clergy (1785), 2; col- lege, first Catholic, 3; educa- tional problems, early, 92; French colonization, 16; immi- gration, early Catholic, 2; Jea- tiit, 183; ordination, first, 68; religious tolerance, 141; semi- nary, first, 15 "United States Catholic Maga- zine," 208 Ursulines, and Dubourg, 174 Val d 'Espremenil, M., colony, 1 Verot Augustine, bishop of St. Augustine, 287; at St Mary'i college, 110, 239, 240; at 8t Mary's seminary, 201, Z0; e4- cntiflc attainment*, 207 Verot 's Island, 287 360 INDEX Ville-Marie. See Montreal Villeneuve, Sulpician, 288 Vimont, Father, missionary, 38 Vincennes, Brut6 's episcopate, 269-276; statistics, 272; Sul- picians, 44 Vincent de Paul, St., and Sisters of Charity, 215; and clerical training, 27; missionary ex- periences, 28; and Olier, 28 Vincentian Congregation. See Lazarists Visitation Order, Georgetown, chapel blessed, 87; and FT. Wheeler, 82 Vuibert, A., at St. Charles' col- lege, 261 > Wadhams, Edgar P., bishop of Ogdensburg, 207, 294 Wakeham, R. K., Sulpieian, 318 Wallis, Severn Teakle, 121, 122; and Pizarro, 240; and Verot, 240 Walmesley, Bishop, and Bishop Carroll, 16 Walter, J. A., and St. Mary's college, 242 Washington College, 99; com- mencement program (1783), 103, 104; de la Rochefoucauld on, 100; lottery, 105n Webster, and Deluol, 205 Wheeler, Michael F., priest, 82; Providence, Sisters of, 236; at St. Mary's college, 116, 195 Whelan, Richard V., bishop, and Deluol, 204; and Mount St Mary's, 135 White, Rev. Charles I., 207, 208 , Rose, Sister of Charity, 226, 227 Whitemarsh, Maryland, Jesuits at, 179 Whitfield, Archbishop, and Car- riere, 194; doctorate, 88; and Dubois, 204; and Eceleston, 277, 278; funeral oration, 78; Providence, Sisters of, 235; and Tessier, 87 Wilberf orce, Robert, and Deluol, 214 Williamson, Adolphus, and St. Charles' college, 201; and St. Mary's seminary, 209 Wilson, Father, Dominican, 285 Winchester, Md., mission, 77 Worcester, Mass., Holy Cross col- lege, 73 Wurzburg, seminary, 26 Xaupi, Snlpician, 83 Torktown, centenary celebration, 333 Young Catholic Friends' Society, 294 000 749 493 3