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JOSEPH M. FLYNN, M. R., V. F.
Rector of the Church of the Assumption of the B. r. M. Morristown, N. f.
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MORRISTOWN, NEW JERSEY MDCCCCIl^
Copyright, 1904 By JOSEPH M. FLYNN, M. R., V. F.
PRESS OF
THE publishers' PRINTING CO
32 AND 34 LAFAYETTE PLACE
NEW YliKK
OUR FOREFATHERS IN THE FAITH—
"The Dumbly Brave who did their Deed, and Scorned to Blot it with a Name"
— -?3i£(I)op£(, IJncBtB, anH Laitp ;
AND TO THEIR
Successors, in Garnering the Harvest and Reaping where they
have Sown ; and to their Children reflecting all the
V^irtues of their Forefathers — Guarding well the
Sacred Deposit ot Faith — Illustrious by
Righteousness and Good Works,
tbi» \Jolumc irf
MOST LOVINGLY DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR.
PREFACE.
In presenting to the Catholics this chronicle of the planting and developing of the seed of Catholic faith in the State of New Jersey by their forefathers, most of whom have long since slept in the Lord and passed to the reward of their sacrifices and their constancy, I would apologize for the imperfections of this volume, which, owing to the short time allotted for its completion, were inevitable. It is lamentable that this work was not undertaken at an earlier date, when the facts might have been gathered from the lips of the actors and witnesses of this mighty and heroic struggle, and entrusted to an abler pen than mine. But the project was a flash which the approaching Golden Jubilee created, and the hope was cherished that this volume might appear on the anniversary of the instalment of our first bishop. There is a limit, however, to human efforts, and to gather all the facts connected with the progress of religion in our State from the close of the seventeenth century to the present, to cull the authentic from the fabulous, to verify apparently conflicting statements, and embody the whole into the present work, has required the constant, unremit- ting efforts and labor of the author for the last three months. Proprio tnotii he would have shrunk from the task, as he did when asked by the late Archbishop Corrigan to write the history of the Diocese of Newark. Yielding at length to the solicitation of es- teemed brethren in the priesthood, and unaware of the magnitude of the work, which grew on his hands day by day, at last he is able to present it to a kind and, he hopes, an indulgent public, who, in the full light of the above facts, will overlook any remiss- ness or shortcoming in its pages. Not the last in his encourage- ment to take up this work, nor the least in his efforts to assist by every means in his power to make a complete and finished record,
IV
PREFACE.
was our worthy bishop, the Rt, Rev. John J. O'Connor, D.D., who was kind enough to write the following letter :
Bishop's House, 552 South Orange Avenue, South Orange, N. J. September 12th, 1903. Very Rev. dear Dean Flynn:
I most cordially approve of your undertaking to vYrite a his- tory of Catholicity in the State of New Jersey for the Golden Jubilee of the Diocese of Newark which we are preparing to cele- brate, and I beg the rectors of the various churches and the su- periors of the different religious communities to supply you with all the information which you may desire from them, in order that this history may be as complete as possible. Believe me
Very sincerely yours in Christ,
♦ John J. O'Connor.
To this an almost general and immediate response was made, not only by the priests of the diocese of Newark, but by a great number of the priests of the diocese of Trenton. It was deemed only fair to incorporate the history sent by them, as nearly as pos- sible, verbatim, both as a recognition of the labor involved, and at the same time shifting upon them the responsibility of the details. Furthermore, the varied style adds an additional charm to the nar- rative. But to none are we more obligated than to the venerable Bishop of Rochester, nor will the pleasant memory soon pass away of the delightful evenings spent in his rural home, amid his vines, with the forest at our feet, dipping down to the placid crystal waters of Hemlock Lake, and the melody of his voice ringing in our ears, as his marvellous memory recalled events and faces and facts of fifty years agone. Most of the early history is his nar- rative, and for many of the facts of the last score of years does he stand sponsor. To Mr. Stephen II. H organ are we indebted for the admirable illustrations, many of which would have been unat- tainable without him. With reluctance, where all have been so kind and so painstaking, do I single out as specially deserving of my grateful recognition the Rev. Charles J. Kelly, D.D., who
PREFACE. V
not only supplied me with valuable sources of information, but assisted me greatly in the onerous and responsible work of proof- reading, and the composition of the index; to the Rev. George W. Corrigan, M.R., who placed at my disposal his collection of memorabilia ; also to the Rev. Joseph C. Dunn, and the Rev. Patrick J. Hayes, the Secretary of the Archdiocese of New York, and the Very Rev. Dean Mulligan, M.R., for important docu- ments and generous aid.
The cover, perhaps, requires some explanation : the seal in the upper left-hand corner is that of Archbishop Bayley ; and that on the opposite right-hand corner, of Archbishop Corrigan ; the one in the lower left-hand corner is that of Bishop Wigger; and, in the lower right-hand corner, of Bishop O'Connor; all grouped around the seal of Seton Hall, which has been the one institution upon which all have lavished their tenderest care and solicitude. The seal on the reverse cover is that of the State of New Jersey. The cover, as well as the histor}', has been copyrighted.
Great pains have been taken with the clergy list, which, never- theless, is incomplete ; but it is hoped in a second edition to fill the lacunae and correct whatever errors have crept in. The Cath- olics of our State have just reason to be proud of their history; and, while they are thrilled with the tale of the sufferings, priva- tions, and generosit)^ of those who have gone before them, they may take the assurance that they, too, are deserving of a large measure of praise, for the sacrifices they have made and are mak- ing, and for the splendid example they are giving to the world of virtue, and loyalty to Church and country, helping, on their part, to make the diocese of Newark peerless among all the dioceses of the country. May this volume give to all the same pleasure in reading it as the author found in writing it.
MoRRiSTOWN, N. J., Januarj' 7, 1904.
HEMLOCK LAKE, N. V.
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
The following have been consulted and have proved valuable sources of information :
Narrative and Critical Historj' of America Winsor.
England in the Eighteenth Century Lecky.
Smith's History of New Jersey, a Reprint Sharpe.
Historical Collections of the State of New Jersey Barber and Howe.
Old Order Book Morristown Headquarters
H istor}' of New York Brodhead
Laws of the Colony of Nova Ca?sarea
H istory of New Jersey Rauni .
New Jersey as a Colony and as a State .... Lee.
Persecutions of Irish Catholics Moran.
The Battle of the P'aith in Ireland O'Rourke
The Story of Ireland Sullivan.
A Child's History of Ireland Joyce.
Irish Settlers in America McGee.
The Catholic Church in the Ll^nited States DeCourcy-Shea.
The Catholic Church in the United States Shea.
The Life and Times of Archbishop Carroll Shea.
History of the Catholic Church in New York Bayley.
Life of Montalembert Lecanuet.
Principles and Acts of the Revolution Niles.
Account of Negro Plot Horsemanden.
Life and Times of Archbishop Carroll Campbell.
History of Wyoming Miner.
Field Book of the Revolution Lessing.
Life of Mother Margaret Seguier
Records of American Catholic Historical Society, Phil- adelphia
Historical Records and Studies, United States Catholic Historical Society, New York
American Catholic Historical Researches Grififin.
History of Sus.sex and Warren Counties, N.J
History of Jersey City
A Century of Catholicity in Trenton, N.J Fox.
History- of Mercer County
Story of a Pari.sh Flynn.
Life of Madame D'Youville Ramsay.
Register of Clergy (2 vols.). Diocese of Newark
vii
viii SOURCES OF INFORMATION.
Letter Book of Arclibishop Bayley
Letter Book of Archbishop Corrigan
Diary of Archbishop Corrigan
Church and State in the United States Spalding.
Essays of History and Literature Fiske.
Historical Records of Morris County, N.J Green.
Memorial Address, the late Rev. John Rogers ... O'Grady.
Historical Address, Sesqui-Centennial of Sussex County Swayze.
Various Parish Chronicles; History of Catholic Church in Paterson, Schreiner; Sketch of St. Joseph's Church, Svvedesboro, Leahey ; St. Mary's, Berth Aniboy, Leahey; Story of Our Parish, Boonton; St. Mary's Catholic Church, Salem; A Half Century of Catholicity in Phillipsburg, McCloskey ; St. Nicholas's, Atlantic City; Brief History of St. Paul of the Cross. Jersey City; History of Catholic Church in Bloomfield ; History of St. Agnes's, Paterson; History of St. Patrick's Church, Chatham; and St. Leo's, Irvington, N. J., Dunn; Catholicity in Bound Brook; Seton Hall College: A Memoir; St. Mary's Church, Plainfield ; History of Catholicity in Lakewood ; and, through the courtesy of Rt. Rev. Monsignor Stafford, the Records of the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception from 1868 to the present.
And newspaper files of The Truthteller. Metropolitan Magazine, London Tablet, New York Freeman's Journal, Catholic World, Catholic Mis- cellany, United States Catholic Magazine, Boston Pilot, Catholic Ex- positor, Sussex Register, Newark Advertiser, Newark Evening News, Jersey City Journal, Daily Times, New Brunswick; Catholic Messen- ger, Elizabeth ; Irish Ecclesiastical Record, and Catholic Directory (40 vols.), and various documents in the Newark Library and that of the New Jersey Historical Society, Newark.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
CHURCHES
Cathedral of Sacred Heart. Fro7ttispiece
PAGE
Atlantic City, St. Nicholas's 331
Avondale, Our Lady of Grace 459
Bayonne, St. Mary's 358
" St. Mary's 357
St. Henry's 543
Belleville, St. Peter's no
Bloomfield, Sacred Heart 465
Boon ton, Mt. Carmel 191
Butler, St. Anthony's 461
Camden, Immaculate Conception 333
Chatham, St. Patrick's 415
Cranford, St. Michael's 441
East Orange, Help of Christians 514
Elizabeth, Holy Rosary 527
" St. Mary's 141
Sacred Heart 414
St. Patrick's 356
" St. Michael's 257
Gloucester, St. Mary's 195
Greenville, St. Paul's. 366
Guttenberg, New Church 395
Old Church 393
Hackensack, Newman School 372
Harrison, Holy Cross 373
Hibernia, St. Patrick's 370
Hoboken, St. Francis's 532
" St. Joseph's 436
" Sts. Peter and Paul's 534
" Our Lady of Grace (Interior) 171
Our Lady of Grace 169
First Catholic Public School 158
Hohokus. St. Luke's 378
Irvington, St. Leo's 456
Jersey City, St. Nicholas's 522
" " St. Lucy's 520
St. Anthony's 519
X LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Jersey City, St. John Baptist 517
St. Bridget's 408
St. Peter's 99
First St. Peter's Church 96
" St. Peter's 96
St. Aloysius's School 547
" St. Patrick's 411
" St. Paul of the Cross 405
" St. Boniface 380
" " St. Mary's 363
" St. Michael's (Interior) 345
" " St. Michael's (Exterior) 344
" " All Saints' 545
St. Joseph's 337
Kearney, St. Cecilia's 541
Lakewood, First Church 237
Lodi, St. t>ancis de Sales's 3-4
Macopin, St. Joseph's 462
Church 35
Madison, .St. Vincent's 115
Mendham, St. Joseph's 355
Montclair, Tegakwita Hall 310
Morristown, All Souls' Hospital 223
St. Margaret's 217
" Assumption 214
" P'irst Church 213
New Brunswick, St. Peter's 89
Netcong, St. Michael's 475
New York, Old St. Peter's Church 50
Newark, St. Bridgit's 531
" St. Mary's Academy 594
" Blessed Sacrament 582
St. Michael's 467
" St. Aloysius's 473
" St. Antoninus's 454
" St. John's 73
" St. John's First Catholic Church 68
St. Mary's 136
" St. James's 305
" St. Augustine's 452
" St. Columba's 445
" St. Philip Neri's 551
Convent of Good Shepherd 427
" St. Joseph's 39S
" St. Benedict's 350
St. Peter's 329
" St. Mary Magdalen's 542
" St. Rose of Lima 539
" St. Lucy's 53S
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xi
PAGiL
Newark, Mt. Carmel 537
St. Stanislaus's 535
St. Patrick's Pro-cathedral 199
Newton, Old Church 314
Present Church 317
Orange, Our Lady of the \'alley 448
Mt. Carmel 576
St. John's 323
Passaic, St. Nicholas's 327
" First Church 326
" St. Joseph's 575
" Assumption 474
Paterson, St. George's 511
" St. Bonaventure's 460
St. Mary's 435
" St. Joseph's 401
St. John 's 76
" St. Boniface's 254
Philadelphia, Old St. Joseph's 23
Plainfield, First Church 249
St. Mary's 250
Princeton, St. Paul's 182
Rahway, St. Mary's 187
Ridgewood, House of Divine Providence 596
Rockaway, St. Cecilia's 369
Roselle, St. Joseph's 444
Salem, First Church 179
St. Mary's 180
Shadyside. Sacred Heart 446
Stony Hill, St. Mary's 189
South Orange, Our Lady of Sorrows 529
" " Seton Hall College 599
Summit. St. Teresa's 370
Swedesboro, Second Church 339-
Trenton, Sacred Heart 387
St. Mary's Cathedral 384
St. Francis's 234
" St. Francis's 173
Union Hill, St. Augustine's 526
" " Holy Family 351
Vineland, Sacred Heart 382
West Hoboken, St. Michael's 240
" " St. Joseph's 241
Westfield, Holy Trinity 438
Weehawken, St. Lawrence's 524
Whippany, Our Lady of Mercy 325
Wyckoff, St. Elizabeth's 379
xii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
MISCELLANEOUS
PAGE
Academy of Madame Chegarry (Old Seton Hall) 278
Academy, Old St. Elizabeth's 285
Bayley, Most Rev. James R 266
Brownson, Orestes A 147
Bulger, Father 37
Carroll, Archbishop 39
Cauvin, Rev. Anthony 151
Corrigan, Most Rev. M. A 207
Consecration Procession of Bishop O'Connor 554
U'Arcy, Rev. James 120
Doane, Rt. Rev. George H 198
Dubois, Rt. Rev. John 79
Farmer, Father 25
Geiger's House ; 178
Hogan, Rev. John in
Howell, Rev. Isaac P 14-
Hughes, Most Rev. John 84
Jubilee, Golden. 201
Kilpatrick, (ien. Judson 319
Kelly, Rev. John 97
Kraus, Rev. D 381
Mother Mary Xavier Mehegan 591
Mass in the Woods 117
Mackin, Rev. John 61
Madden, Rev. Michael A 119
Messmer, Most Rev. S. Ci 497
McFaul, Rt. Rev. J. A 177
McGovern, Rev. P 2 16
McGorien, Rev. Francis 174
McKay, Rev. James 322
McQuaid, Rt. Rev. Bernard 202
O'Connor, Rt. Rev. John J 553
O'Connor, Consecration of Rt. Rev. John 200
O'Farrell, Rt. Rev. Michael J 95
O'Reilly, Rev. C 360
Pardow, Rev. Gregory Bryan 68
Pitcher, Molly • 44
Power, Very Rev. John, D.D 49
Prieth, Rev. Gottfried 330
Revere, Gen. J . W 232
Rogers, Rev. John 91
Senez, Rev. Louis D 83
Shea, John Gilmary. LL.D.. 149
Sheppard, Rt. Rev. J . A 346
Sisters of Charity, Mother House 589
Sister Mary Catharine Nevin 592
Sister Mary Agnes O'Neill 593
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xiii
PAGE
Smith. Rev. Anthony 385
Tighe, Rev. John J 192
\'enuta. Rev. A 338
\'on Schilgen, Rev. Albert 258
Ward, Old Mansion (Newark) 274
Wigger. Rt. Rev. W. M 87
Wimmer. Arch Abbot 138
Women of Elizabeth Defend Church 145
Young, Rev. Alfred, C.S.P 183
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN NEW JERSEY
Colonial Period.
The Cross erected by Columbus on one of the Bahamas, in the year of our Lord 1492, was, under the Providence of God, to be the harbinger of blessings to countless generations, driven by the mighty forces— even at that time shaking Continental Europe to its very centre — to seek a refuge and a home, free from tur- moil and conflict, in a virgin land. The fifteenth century wit- nessed kingdoms and the church of the living God tottering to destruction. The spirit of revolt, emboldened in its successful attack by Luther and his colleagues on the sacred deposit of dogma, was soon to assail in its citadel one of the most cherished of Christian traditions — the divine rights of royalty — and the head of a Charles I was to fall under the executioner's axe by the order of the Protector of the Commonwealth. In France, a sect was to feel the mailed hand of power, and after paying with tor- rents of blood, the best testimony of their good faith, was driven forth to seek in foreign lands that freedom denied them in their own. Fire and sword had swept over fair lerne, and the discov- ery of a new world saw a nation prostrate and a people in chains.
Let us turn again to Columbus and his crew, clustered around the Cross — the wondering natives standing afar — with what fervor from a heart overflowing with gratitude went up to heaven the prayer of the saintly captain, which has come down to us : " O Lord, Eternal and Almighty God, who by Thy sacred word hast created the heavens, the earth, and the seas ! May Thy name be blessed and glorified everywhere! May Thy majesty be exalted, who hast deigned to permit that by Thy humble servant Thy sacred name should be known and preached in this other part of the world ! "
And forth from their hearts burst the great Ambrose's hymn — "Te Deum Laudamus," i.e., We praise Thee, O God — forget-
I
2 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
ful of their past dangers and perils on the broad and trackless waters of the Atlantic — whose echoes were again to be taken up, like a theme in music — to be borne along the ages in full and fer- vent harmony by the sons of the Cav^alier and Roundhead, by the impulsive Celt and sturdy Saxon, by the children of mighty Rome, and by the sons of the fierce Goth, who had spoiled of all its glory the city of the Caesars.
Was it chance or was it providential that among the crews of Columbus were to be found both a Saxon and a Celt, representa- tives of two races through whose activities the new world by its progress, ingenuity, political complexion, and industrial initiative were later on to startle and amaze the older world ? Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of America, says : The list of the companions of Columbus in his first voyage to the new world in 1492 shows among them an Irishman, "Gulliermo Ires, natural de Galwey, en Irlanda " — that is, William Herries, a native of Galway, Ireland (ii., p. 11).
The story of the acquisitions of the different sections of the newly discovered land by exploration or by conquest has been so often told that it does not come within the scope of the present work. Although the voyage of Cabot, in 1497, had established the English claim, yet it was not until Sir Humphrey Gilbert, in 1759, and Sir Walter Raleigh, in 1584, had landed the one as far north as the mouth of the Kennebec, and the other in Virginia, that any serious attempt was made by Raleigh to establish a colony in the new possessions.
Notwithstanding the patent Queen Elizabeth had given Ra- leigh and his heirs, to discover and possess forever, all such coun- tries as were not then possessed by any Christian prince, King James, in 1606, granted a new patent of Virginia, in which was included what is now known as the New England States — New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland — to Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Somers, Richard Hakluyt, Clerk, Edward Maria Wingfield, Thomas Hanham, Richard Gilbert, Esqs., William Parker, George Popham, Lord Chief Justice of England, and others. The land extended from the thirty-fourth to the forty- fifth degrees of north latitude, with all the islands within one hundred miles of the coast. This patent was divided into two districts, called North and South Virginia, the latter vested in the Company of the London Adventurers ; and the former, granted to Thomas Hanham and his associates, was called the Plymouth Colony.
IN NKW JERSEY 3
But the Dutch, although proverbially slow, in that day swept with their fleet the waters of the globe, and one of their vessels, the Half Moon, manned by an English captain and fitted out by the East India Company, entered Delaware Bay, August 28th, 1609. On account of the shoals navigation was difficult, and Hudson set sail again, hugging the eastern shore of our State, and anchored September 3d, 1609, within Sandy Hook. He sent a boat ashore for the purpose of exploration and of taking sound- ings. His men penetrated some distance inland, in the woods of Monmouth, where the Indians they met received them kindly and offered them green tobacco and dried currants.
Heaving anchor, Hudson continued his voyage up the noble river, buttressed by the Palisades, to which was given his name. Claiming to have purchased the chart Hudson had made of the American coast, and having obtained a patent from the States, in 1 614, to trade in New England, the Dutch founded a settlement on the island of Manhattan, which they called New Amsterdam. They built many forts in their new possessions, among them one near Gloucester, N. J., which they called Fort Nassau; and made a settlement in Bergen in 161 7.
King Charles I, however, regarded this occupation as an inva- sion of his territory and an intrusion on the part of these early Knickerbockers, and determined to dispossess them.
Charles I, in 1632, granted to Sir Edmund Plowden a grant of land embracing New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Mary- land, and this despite the grant of Maryland to Lord Baltimore two years previously. Under this charter, in 1634, Plowden granted 10,000 acres to Sir Thomas Danby on condition that he would settle one hundred planters on it, but not to suffer " any to live there not believing or professing the three Christian creeds, commonly called the Apostolical, Athanasian, and Nicene."
The Earl Palatinate visited his vast domain personally in 1642, sailing up the Delaware River — which two other adventurers had named the Charles — and found at Salem City, N. J., a settle- ment of seventy persons who had come hither from New Haven to continue their avocation as whalers. Their officers did not hesi- tate to swear allegiance to him as governor.
Owing to his retirement to Virginia, the execution of Charles I, and the advent of Cromwell with his Commonwealth, he lost grip of his possessions which fell into other hands, and although his grandsons, Thomas and George Plowden, came to America to assert their claims to New Albion in 1684, little seems to have
4 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
come of it. One Charles Varlo purchased one-third of the char- ter, and in 1784 came with his family, as he says, "invested with the proper power as governor to the Province," going even so far as to enter suit in chancery, but defeat sent him back to England, and the claim of the Plowdens, and the name New Albion, passed into oblivion.
The region between the Hudson and the Delaware rivers, of which little was known beyond the few hamlets near Manhattan, was called "Albania." It offered the greatest attraction to emi- grants, because it was " the most improveable part of the province, in respect not only to the land, but to the sea-coast and the Dela- ware River, the fertility of the soil, the neighborhood of Hudson's river, and, lastly, the fair hopes of rich mines."
Charles H issued a patent to his brother, the Duke of York, in which were included among other lands the provinces of New York and New Jersey. The Dutch, totally unsuspicious and un- prepared for war, capitulated to Sir Robert Carre, after articles of agreement had been mutually accepted which secured them in the possession of their property and in the practice of their relig- ion. The Duke of York on his part, thus having secured posses- sion of this vast territory, in consideration of a competent sum of money, granted and conveyed unto Lord Berkeley, baron of Stratton, and Sir George Carteret, of Saltrum, " all that tract of land to the west of Manhattan Island and Long Island, and bounded on the east part by the main sea, and part by Hudson's river, and hath upon the west Delaware bay or river, and ex- tendeth southward to the main ocean as far as Cape May, and to the northward as far as the northermost branch of the said bay or river of Delaware, and crosseth over thence in a straight line to Hudson's river, which said tract of land is hereafter to be called Nova Csesarea, or New Jersey."
This document bears the date of June 23d and 24th, 1664. Berkeley and Carteret, being now sole proprietors of New Jersey, agreed upon a constitution, which by its broad liberality, especially in the matter of religion, was calculated to attract settlers. Article seventh declares: No person qualified, as aforesaid, shall at any time be molested, punished, disquieted, or called in question, for any difference in opinion or practice in matters of religious con- cernment ; but that all and every such person and persons may, from time to time, and at all times, freely and fully have and enjoy his and their judgments and consciences, in matters of religion, throughout the said province, etc., etc.
IN NEW JERSEY 5
While the Dutch were in power in New York, no laws adverse to Catholics were enacted, the bigotry afterward dominant being of English origin.
The laws promulgated by the Duke of York in 1664 required the establishment of a church in each parish. This was inter- preted by Governor Andros and his council as requiring all per- sons to contribute, whether belonging to the congregation or not, and he asserted that this was not an infringement of the liberty of conscience, "as some pretend." This last was aimed at the Dutch, in the minority in some parishes, who complained that the articles of capitulation, August 7th, 1664, guaranteeing to the Dutch " liberty of their consciences in divine worship and church discipline," were thereby violated.
Colonel Dongan, a Catholic, afterward Earl of Limerick, suc- ceeded Andros in 1683. One of his first acts was to summon a provincial assembly, thus giving to the people of the colony what they had not hitherto enjoyed, a voice in the framing of the laws and the administration of the government. This was the conces- sion of a Catholic proprietor, and was carried into effect by a Catholic governor, at the very time when the colonists of New England were deprived of their charter. The first act of the first assembly of New York was the "charter of libertys," passed October 30th, 1683, and reads as follows: That no person or persons which prof esse ffaith in God by Jesus Christ shall, at any time, be any wayes molested, punished, disquieted, or called in question for any difference of opinion, or matter of religious con- cernment, who do nott actually disturbe the civil peace of the province, butt thatt all and every such person or p'sons may, from time to time, and at all times, freely have and fully enjoy, his or their judgements or consciences in matters of religions through- out all the province, they behaving themselves peacefully and quietly, and nott using this liberty to licentiousness, nor to the civil injury or outward disturbance of others." Another provision was, that whereas all the Christian churches then in the province seemed to be privileged churches, they were thereby secured in their property and discipline, and the like privileges were guaranteed to other Christian churches coming into the province, in regard to divine v\Aorship and church discipline.
Some years anterior to these events are discerned the first traces of Catholicity in New York. In 1622 there were two Catholic soldiers in Fort Orange, now Albany ; and, when Father Jogues, the saintly apostle of the Indians, escaped from the Iro-
6 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
quois, in 1642, he found "a Portuguese woman and a young Irish- man on the Island of Manhattan, whose confession he heard {Bay ley, C. C, on Island of N. V., I/)." The young Irishman is said to have come from Virginia.
When Dongan arrived in New York, he was accompanied by an EngUsh Jesuit, Father Thomas Harvey, who remained there seven years. He was joined by Father Henry Harrison, S. J., Father Charles Gage, S. J., in 1685-86, and two lay brothers. There was a Catholic chapel in Fort James, just south of Bowl- ing Green ; and an attempt was made to open a classical school on the King's Farm, near or on the site of Trinity Church.
We are informed " that Papists began to settle in the colony under the smiles of the Governor." Even at that day Wood- bridge, N. J., was known for the fine quality of clay found there — "the finest in the world." This attracted many settlers, and among them some Catholics, since we find Fathers Harvey and Gage visiting both Woodbridge and Elizabethtown, the capital of East Jersey, settled by Carteret, and named for his own wife. The old records show Hugh Dunn, John and James Kelly, to be in Woodbridge in 1672, and Robert Vanquellen, or La Prarire, a native of Caen, France, in 1668, and Surveyor-General of that sec- tion of New Jersey, 1669-70. The documents connected with Leisler's usurpation give us another glimpse of the presence of Catholics, for "they allege that the Papists on Staten Island did threaten to cut the inhabitants' throats and to come and burn the city ; that eighty or a hundred men were coming from Boston . . , several of them Irish and Paptists; that a good part of the soldiers in the fort already were Papists; that M. de la Prearie (the same Vanquellen, whose name was pronounced and spelled out of all semblance) had arms in his house." One of the most prominent Catholics in New York in that day was Major Anthony Brockholes.
After the reconquest of the province, King Charles appointed Andros governor, specifying, at the same time, that in case of the death of Andros Lieut. Anthony Brockholes was to succeed him in his office. Brockholes, of an old Catholic family of Lan- cashire, England, was known to be a Papist, and would have been excluded from holding office, were it not that the " Test Act " of March 23d, 1673, did not apply to the British American Plantations. Brockholes was an efficient officer and served the colony well, until the Leisler usurpation, when a price was set upon his head, and he and Arent Schuyler sought in New Jersey refuge from the
IN NEW JERSKY 7
storm. In 1696 they together bought five thousand five hundred acres of land, and large tracts m other parts of the State, extend- ing in part from Paterson to Pompton, where Brockholes passed to the end of his days a very retired life. He entered a matri- monial union, so often fatal to the heritage of faith, espousing Susanna Maria, daughter of Paulus Schrick, a member of the Dutch Reformed Church, in which their children were all bap- tized. They were, of course, brought up Protestants, and his son Henry made a gift to the Dutch Reformed Church of Paterson " for one acre of land I give to the good will I owe, and the regard I have, for the low duch (sic!) Reformed Church of Holland." Pew No. I of that church belongs to his heirs forever. Henry Brockholes, or Brockholst, as the family later pleased to spell the name, was a member of the New Jersey Legislature in 171 7. •Thus, the faith that resisted unto blood the , persecution of Ed- ward and Elizabeth, collapsed utterly through an unfortunate union with one of alien faith.
In the ship Philip, which brought Carteret to this country, there were thirty emigrants, several of whom were Frenchmen, skilled in making salt, which was evidently intended to be the staple of New Jersey. They were, doubtless, Alsatians, since in that province extensive works of that kind were found; and this conjecture is supported by the fact that they were Catholics whom Fathers Gage and Harrison visited at the close of the seventeenth century, and other priests at a later period.
The peace of Westminster, which concluded the war between the Dutch and the British, unsettled the position of the proprie- tors in the colonies. In the opinion of many jurists, who were consulted, the old patents were void, and on the strength of this opinion Charles again granted to his brother James, Duke of York, all that he had previously conveyed. James did not regret this decision, as he was anxious to recover the territories he had squandered on Berkeley and Carteret. But these wily courtiers had learned well their lesson, and were able to parry the blow. Berkeley, on his return from the lieutenancy in Ireland, was made ambassador to France.
Shortly after the treaty, in consideration of ^1,000, Berkeley sold to John Fenvvick, an old Cromwellian soldier, in trust for Edward Byllinge, a broken-down London brewer, his undivided half of New Jersey, together with such "franchises, liberties, govern- ments, and powers as had been granted to him in 1664." This deal was concluded before Charles made his second grant to
8 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
James. As for Carteret, he finally succeeded in wheedling James into confirming his grant in severalty of that portion of New Jersey extending south as far as Barnegat, and west as far as Rankokus Kill, or Delaware River.
Dongan was removed from office in 1691, and the Assembly of New York passed a resolution that all laws made by the late Assembly were null and void ; and thus the first anti-Catholic legislation was enacted, to be the more fully exploited by the law-makers of July 31st, 1700.
This is the preamble: " Whereas, divers Jesuits, priests, and papist missionaries have of late come, and for some time have had their residence in the remote parts of this province, and other of his Majesty's adjacent colonies, who, by their wicked and subtle insinuations industriously labored to debauch, seduce, and with- draw the Indians from their due obedience unto his most sacred Majesty, and to excite and stir them up to sedition, rebellion, and open hostility against his Majesty's Government." It then enacted that every priest, etc., remaining in or coming into the province after November ist, 1700, should be "deemed and accounted an incendiary, and disturber of the public peace and safety, and an enemy to the true Christian religion, and shall be adjudged to ^v&QX perpetual tviprisomnent." In case of escape and capture to suffer death. Harborers of priests to pay ;^200 and stand three days in the pillory. (Lazes of N. Y., p. 38.)
On September i6th, i70i,a law was enacted by which "papists and popish recusants are prohibited from voting for members of Assembly or any office whatever, from thenceforth and forever." {Col. of Lazvs, i., p. 42.)
How truly does Lecky remark " that among the Irish Catholics, at least, religious intolerance has never been a prevailing vice, and those who have studied closely the history and character of the Irish people can hardly fail to be struck with the deep respect for sincere religion in every form which they have commonly evinced " (England in the Eighteenth Centiny, ii., 423). It is a memorable fact that not a single Protestant suffered for his religion in Ireland during all the period of the Marian persecution in England (ibid.).
Leisler was a religious fanatic, a worthy predecessor of the new governor, the Earl of Bellomont, whose father. Colonel Coote, had been one of the bloodiest butchers of Irish Catholics in Cromwell's time. The son inherited all the sanguinary and fiendish ferocit}' against the Catholic religion of his father, coupled with the shrewder statecraft of the unprincipled politician.
In the first general assembly, held at Elizabeth town. May 26th, 1668, William Douglass, the member from Bergen, was excluded
IN NEW JERSEY 9
because he was a Catholic ; and two years later he was arrested as "a troublesome person," sent to New York, whence he was ban- ished to New England and warned not to come again into the Duke's territories.
A little incident, in 1679, gives us another glimpse of the sad condition of the little band of Catholics in Elizabeth and near by.
Joseph Bankers and Peter Sluyter, followers of Labadie, an apostate Jesuit, came to America in search of land for a settle- ment. In one of their letters, under date October ist, 1679, they say:
"At Mill Creek, a good half-hour's distance from Elizabeth- town, N. J., there was a tavern on it kept by a French papist, who at once took us to be priests, and so conducted themselves toward us in every respect accordingly, although we told them and protested otherwise. As there was nothing to be said further, we remained so to th^ir imagination to the last, the more certainly because we spoke French, and they were French people. We slept there that night, and at three o'clock in the morning we set sail."
On November 14th they again " reached the point of Eliza- beth's Kil, where we were compelled to anchor. We all went ashore and lodged for the night in the home of the French peo- ple, who were not yet rid of the suspicion they had conceived, notwithstanding the declaration we had made accordingly."
Under date of January ist, 1680, they were on Woodbridge Creek: "We landed here on Staten Island to drink at the house of the Frenchman, Le Chaudronnier, where we formerly passed a night in making the tour of Staten Island. He related to us what strange opinions, every one as well as himself, entertained of us."
Martin I.J. Griffin claims that Elizabeth Brittin, daughter of Lionel Brittin, the first to arrive in the Delaware (1680), father of the first white child born in these parts, on the first panel of jurors, and the first convert to the Catholic faith in Pennsylvania, was married to Michael Kearne}-, a prominent man in East Jersey. Now the most distinguished man of that name in this part of the colony lived about one half mile from Whippany, where he had an estate of nine hundred and ninety-nine acres, called the Irish Lott. Here he entertained in lordly style, and his hospitality won for him hosts of friends. His tomb may still be seen on a charming knoll, with pleasant views of hill and woodland on every
10 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
side. When last seen by the writer, it was in a dilapidated con- dition.
The inscription on the huge stone is:
t
SACRED
TO THE MEMORY OF
CAPTAIN MICHALE KEARNEY
OF HIS
BRITTANIC MAJESTY'S NAVY.
HE DEPARTED THIS LIFE AT
THE IRISH LOTT
THE SEAT OF HIS RESIDENCE IN HANOVER
ON THE 5 DAY OF APRIL A.D. 1797 Aged 78 Years, 6 Months and 28 Days
IN THE naval SERVICE HE WAS A BRAVE AND INTREPID
OFFICER WHICH SECURI:D TO HIM SEVERAL
MARKS OF DISTINGUISHED
RESPECT AND CONFIDENCE.
IN PRIVAIE LIFE HE EXERCISED THE VIRTUES OF
BENEVOLENCE, HOSPITAI(«i:)ETY AND
GENTEEL URBANITY.
In May, 1682, an attempt was made by the Legislature to secure for West Jersey a separate coinage. The necessity for small coinage was pressing, and Mark Newbie, a Quaker, one of the earliest settlers of Gloucester, was empowered to supply the demand. The act provides: That Mark Newbie's half-pence, called Patrick's half-pence, shall from and after the said eighteenth instant pass for half-pence current pay of this province, provided
A PATRICK PENCE.
he, the said Mark, give sufficient security to the speaker of this House for the use of the General Assembly from time to time being, that he, the said Mark, his executors and administrators, shall and will change the said half-pence for pay equivalent upon demand ; and provided also that no Person or Persons be hereby obliged to take more than five shillings in one payment.
IN NKW JERSEY ii
There is considerable obscurity as to the manner in which tliese coins came into the possession of Nevvbie, and hkevvise as to their origin. By some it is thought that they were struck abroad in the reign of Charles I, or that they were minted on the Continent and authorized by the Kilkenny Assembly, and circulated by the confederates when other money was scarce in Ireland. There were several varieties, but the most common shows a king kneel- ing, playing a harp, with the motto " Floreat Rex " ; and on the obverse side is a figure of St. Patrick, with one hand outstretched, while the left clasps the archiepiscopal cross, and on the extreme right a church, with the motto " Ouiescat Plebs."
There is no doubt that Mark Nevvbie secured these coins in Ireland, as he embarked from one of its ports on the 19th of Sep- tember, 1681, in a narrow-stemmed pink called " Ye Owner's Ad- venture," under the command of Mate Daggett. After a voyage of two months he arrived " by the grace of God, within ye Capes of De La Ware," and after spending the winter in Salem, finally took up a twentieth share of land, nearly midway between Cooper's Creek and Newton Creek in what was known as the Irish Tenth.
When Sir Edmund Andros was commissioned captain-general, and governor-in-chief, in 1686, by James II, over his "Territory and Dominion of New England in America," i.e., Massachusetts Bay, New Plymouth, New Hampshire, Maine and the Narragan- sett counti")', to secure him in his government, two companies of regular soldiers, chiefly Irish papists, were raised in London, and placed under his orders (Brodhead, History of Nezv York, ii.,
450-
In 1687 our attention is called to the woes of another Catholic
who, despite his ability and the conscientious discharge of a deli- cate office, was dismissed in disgrace because of his religion.
Mathew Plowman, a Catholic, was appointed by King James II " Our Collector and Receiver of our Revenue in our Province of New York and the Territories depending thereon in America," so that the sphere of his jurisdiction extended from Maine to Delaware, Rhode Island and Connecticut excepted. He, together with Captain Baxter and Ensign Russell of the fort of New York, were known to be Catholics, and for this the lieutenant-governor, on the accession of William and Mary, " to avoid jealousies, sent them out of the Province."
While Catholics in America were thus dismissed from office because of their religion, Lecky writes :
" The terror that was excited by the ambition of France en-
II THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
listed a great part of the Catholic Europeans on the side of Wil- liam. The King of Spain was decidedly in his favor, and the Spanish ambassador at The Hague is said to have ordered Mass in his chapel for the success of the expedition. The Emperor employed all his influence at Rome on the same side, and, by sin- gular good fortune, the Pope himself looked with favor on the Revolution " (^England i)i the EigJiteenth Century,'^ i., p. 22).
" It was asserted, though probably with some exaggeration, that there were no less than 4,000 Catholics in the army with which William came over to defend the Protestantism of Eng- land " {ibid., p. 294).
"The penal laws against Roman Catholics, both in England and Ireland, were the immediate consequence of the Revolution " (p. 294).
In other parts of King James's domain Catholics paid the pen- alty of loyalty to their faith.
The first execution for witchcraft, in 1688, at Charlestown, Mass., was "an Irish woman of a strange tongue" named Glover. Her daughter was accused by a child of her "master" with having stolen family linen. The "scandalous old hag" Glover was "a Roman Catholic; she had never learned the Lord's Prayer in English." She was "condemned as a witch and executed" (Bancroft, iii., 76, ed. 1842).
The first victim of the Salem witchcraft of 1691 was "Bridget Bishop, a poor and friendless old woman." She was hanged June loth, 1692.
The drastic laws enacted in New York, on the accession of William and Mary at the close of the seventeenth century, found an echo in New Jersey.
The law of 1698, declaring what are the rights and privileges of his Majesty's subjects in East New Jersey, directed "that no person or persons that profess faith in God by Jesus Christ, His only Son, shall at any time be molested, punished, disturbed, or be called in question for difference in religious opinion, &c., &c., provided this shall not extend to any of the Romish religion the right to exercise their manner of worship contrary to the laws and statutes of England."
When Lord Cornbury assumed the government of New Jersey in 1 701, his instructions directed him to permit liberty of con- science to all persons except papists. Matters remained thus with the Catholic Church in New Jersey until the end of the Brit- ish rule.
IN NEW JERSEY 13
In her "Instructions" to Lord Cornbury, November i6th, 1702, Queen Anne, among others, directed him to have oversight that no man's Hfe, member, freehold, or goods be taken away, or harmed, otherwise than by due process of the law ; that liberty of conscience be allowed to every one "except papists," and the "test" oath be administered "for preventing dangers which may happen from papish recusants."
Early in the eighteenth century almost every church in our State had a school attached to it. " By the side of the log church the primitive school-house was erected ; and schools, supervised and supported by the church authorities, were established in all the larger settlements of East Jersey. The pioneers in West Jersey were Quakers. To them school-houses w^ere scarcely sec- ond in importance, and were usually placed under the same roof with their place of worship " (Raum, History of Nezu Jersey, ii., 284). Private schools were also established, sometimes in a pri- vate house, sometimes in a rude building, and here the children were taught by an itinerant school-master, occasionally a college- bred man, and, not unfrequently, a Scotch or Irish redeniptioner. This leads us to some of the saddest pages of the history of the Irish race.
The war ended in Ireland in 1652. According to the calcula- tion of Sir W. Petty, out of a population of 1,446,000, 616,000 had in eleven years perished by the sword, by plague, or by famine artificially produced; 504,000, according ta this estimate, were Irish, 112,000 of English extraction. A third part of the popula- tion had been blotted out, and Petty tells us that according to some calculations the number of the victims was much greater. . . Famine and sword had so done their work that in some districts the traveller rode twenty or thirty miles without seeing one trace of human life, and fierce wolves — rendered doubly savage by feeding on human flesh — multiplied with startling rapidity through the deserted land, and might be seen prowling in num- bers within a few miles of Dublin, Liberty was given to able- bodied men to abandon the country and enlist in foreign service, and from 30,000 to 40,000 availed themselves of the permission. Slave-dealers were let loose upon the land, and many hundreds of boys and marriageable girls, guilty of no offence whatever, were torn away from their country, shipped to the Barbadoes and sold as slaves to planters (Lecky, England in the Eighteenth Century, ii., 188).
The archives of the Ministry of War of France show that
14 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
700,000 Irish soldiers gave their hearts' blood on a hundred bat- tlefields under \\\q. fleur-de-lis and the tricolor of the French mon- archy and republic {Life of Montalcinbcrt, Lecanuet, i., 107).
In twenty years there were at least four of absolute famine, and that of 1 740-1 741, although it has hardly left a trace in history, was one of the most fearful on record. One writer states that 400,000 perished this year through famine or its attendant diseases (Lecky, ii., 238). The details of the sufferings and deaths are sickening and revolting. Whole parishes were desolate, and whole thousands perished in a barony.
Newnham, on "Irish Emigration," remarks: "If we said that during fifty years of the eighteenth century the average annual emigrations to America and the West Indies amounted to about 4,000, and consequently that in that space of time about 200,000 had emigrated to the English plantations, I am disposed to think we should rather fall short of the real truth " (Lecky, ii., 284).
The Abbe MacGeoghegan says: By calculation and by re- searches made in the war office it is found that from the year 1691 to the battle of Fontenoy, in 1745, more than 450,000 Irish soldiers died in the service of France.
Sir William Petty, writing in 1672, states that six thousand boys and women were sold as slaves from Ireland to the under- takers of the Anierican islands. Bruodin estimates the total num- ber of the exiles from Ireland at 100,000. A letter, written in 1656, cited by Dr. Lingard, reckons the number of Catholics thus sent to slavery at 60,000. "The Catholics are sent off in ship- fuls to the Barbadoes and other American islands. I believe 60,000 have already gone; for the husbands being first sent to Belgium and Spain already, their wives and children are now destined for the Americas " {Persecutions of Irish Catholics, Moran, 323).
In the course of years many of these Irish exiles became proprietors of the estates on which they labored, attained great wealth, had their black slaves, who assumed their names, and to- day one may meet them, black as ebony, bearing such names as T. Kelly Smith, S. M. Burke, Rachel Dunn, J. Harris Carr, and speaking English with a rich brogue.
As late as 1785 the trade of "soul driver" was plied, and human cargoes of fifty or more were purchased from the inhuman captains of the ships which brought them over, by dealers, who drove them through the country and disposed of them to the farmers. Thus were the shipmasters compensated and enriched
IN NEW JERSP'T 15
for the expenses of the immigrants' passage over-sea. " All strata of society," says B. F. Lee, "were represented among the redemp- tioners, most of whom, in New Jersey, were Palatinate Germans, Scotch, English, Irish, and Scotch-Irish, sons of good families, street waifs, soldiers of fortune, young girls fresh from farms, dis- solute women from the purlieus of London and the great cities. Some in search of a new home, some desiring to reform wayward lives, some seeking adventure, were huddled upon ships and brought to Philadelphia, New York, Salem, Burlington, and Am- boy. Once landed, they v/ere offered to the highest bidder, placed on show like cattle, and hurried off to near-by farms, to become assimilated in a population which was as yet shifting and hetero- geneous. The advertisements of these sales crowd the columns of the newspapers of the day. The boys were ' likely ' and ' willing,' the girls ' hearty ' and ' used to country work.' Here and there was one who could serve as a school-master, as a ' taylor,' or as a shoemaker. Others there were who had trades, and many were ' pock-fretten.' "
Once in the hands of a new master, the life of the redemp- tioner was more distasteful than that of a slave. Some owners recognized that their tenure over the life and liberty of the redemp- tioner was brief and uncertain, and, moved by selfish impulses, cruelly overworked their bondsmen. As a result, the redemptioner often performed more degrading work than a slave, and was treated with greater severity. Under such circumstances escapes were frequent, the advertisements in the newspapers described with great particularity the personal appearance and dress of the fugitive. Rewards, usually proportioned to the length of years the redemptioner had to serve, were offered, and from time to time notices appeared in the public prints advising those inter- ested that redemptioners had been taken up and were held in the common jails awaiting proper proofs of ownership.
In the mutations of fortune the position of master and redemp- tioner was occasionally reversed. Upon completing his time a redemptioner would obtain possession of land, and, by successful ventures, become a proprietor. His sons would marry the daugh- ters of his former master, and families in the State trace their genealogies to such alliances. Nor was it uncommon for the redemptioner to secure a position in after-life as one of his Maj- esty's justices, although he seldom aspired to a seat in the House of Assembly, or hoped for a place in council.
These redemptioners were made up of the Irish, the Scotch,
i6 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
and some from the German Palatinate, who were offered for sale at the docks of Philadelphia, Egg Harbor City, and elsewhere at from sixty to eighty dollars each, as late as in 1831. This trade introduced a new word into our language — " kidnapper." Of it Bailey, in his dictionary, has this to say : " Kid, formerly one trepanned" {i.e., entrapped) "by kidnappers; now, one who is bound apprentice here {England) in order to be transported to the English colonies in America^ Kidnapper, a person who makes it his business to decoy either children or young persons, to send them to the English plantations in America {Historical Magaaine, N. Y., June 1871, 399).
The lowest and most degraded engaged in this infamous traffic, and one of them, Capt. William Cunningham, before suffering the death penalty he so richly deserved for his many and fiendish crimes, made a confession, a part of which is :
"In the year 1792 we removed to Newry, where I commenced the profession of scowbanker, which is that of enticing the me- chanics and country people to ship themselves for America, on promise of great advantage, and then artfully getting an indenture upon them in consequence of which, on their arrival in America, they are sold or obliged to serve a term of years for their passage " {Principles and Acts of tJie Revolution, H. Niles, Baltimore, 1822,
P- 274)-
" When the Irish emigrants landed on the shores of Virginia, the laws against Catholics obliged them to embark again and set sail for Montserrat, in the West Indies, long known as an Irish colony. Sir George Calvert, also, was excluded from the native State of Washington because he was a Catholic, and for that rea- son founded his colony of Maryland. But amid their persecu- tions some Jesuit Fathers sought to extend around the succours of religion, for some Catholics were even then to be found in Vir- ginia, chiefly as slaves or indentured apprentices — Irish men and women, torn from their native land and sold into foreign bondage. After the struggle of 1541, and the Protestant triumph which en- sued, the Irish Catholics were relentlessly banished, and the State documents of Cromwell's time enable us to reckon from fifty to one hundred thousand forcibly transported to America. The ma- jority were given to the Barbadoes and Jamaica, but a great num- ber of women and children were also sold in Virginia, the men having been pressed into the Protector s navy. In 1652 the com- missaries of the Commonwealth ordered ' Irish women to be sold to merchants and shipped to Virginia,' and th^se ynfortunate fe-
IN NEW JERSEY 17
males, reduced to the condition of slavery as African negroes, sunk in great numbers under the labors imposed upon them by their masters" (De Courcey-Shea's History, p. 158).
The hatred of the Virginia colonists toward Catholics was in- tense, and laws were passed by which no Catholic could hold ofifice, or vote, or keep arms, or own a horse, or even be a witness in any cause, civil or criminal. Papists were driven out of the colony, or out of the fold ; and when the Irish emigrants landed on its shores their reception was so hostile that they re-embarked for Montserrat, in the West Indies.
The laws enacted by the first proprietors held out such induce- ments that it was to the interests of shipmasters to bring over as many, and of the colonists to buy as many redemptioners as their means would permit, as it meant for them larger concessions of territory. " We do hereby grant unto all persons who have al- ready adventured to the said Province of Nova Caesarea, or shall transport themselves, 150 acres of land, English measure; and for every able servant he shall carry with him 150 acres; and for every weaker servant or slave, male or female, exceeding the age of fourteen years, seventy-five acres of land ; and for every Chris- tian servant, exceeding the age aforesaid, after the expiration of their time of service, seventy-five acres of land for their own use (The Concessions and Agreements of the Lord Proprietors of the Province of Nova Caesarea)."
In the press of the middle of the eighteenth century may be found curious advertisements for such redemptioners who would from^time to time take French leave.
Forty Sillings Reward
Little Britain Township,
Lancaster County, June, 1769. Between the Sixth and Seventh day, Mary Nowland ran away; Her age I know not but appears To be at least full twenty years ; The same religion with the Pope.
Penn. Gazette, yuiie 2g, Ij6g.
Sept. 4, 1769. The jSIorning of this very day, My servant, John Stoge ran away, He came from Limerick the last fall, He's five feet seven inches tall.
i8 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
He reads very well and writes a good hand, And arithmetic does well understand, As he can well use the scrivener's tool, He will incline to teach a school.
Pcjin. Gazette, Sept. 28, 1769.
About three thousand Alsatians came to Pennsylvania by invi- tation of the proprietors in 1682, who, says their historian, "while they were building their homes dwelt in caves and rude huts."
Many of them settled at Haycock on the banks of the Dela- ware, and kept the faith alive across the river in West Jersey. Their descendants found their way as far north as New Bruns- wick, and, unlike many offshoots of sturdy Catholic stock, are still loyal to the religion of their forefathers, and among thera to-day are the Witts, Hunridges, and others.
A great deal of stress and an exaggerated importance has been laid by non-Catholic writers on the numbers of Huguenots who came to this country after the revocatioii of the edict of Nantes, 1685, and some claim that as many as half a million were driven from France, and most of them found shelter, refuge, and a wd- come in the colonies from Nova Scotia to Florida.
"Weiss," says Gilmary Shea, "exaggerates beyond all limits the importance of that immigration, and draws an imaginary sketch of the influence exercised on America, by the French Huguenots, in agriculture, literature, politics, arts, sciences, civil- ization, and so forth. We shall be much more in truth's domain when we affirm that the French Catholic families, driven from the West Indies by the frightful consequences of the revolution, and who came to seek peace and liberty in the United States, far ex- ceeded in number the Protestant immigration of the previous cen- tury. Nay, more: Misfortune having purified their faith, these Creoles were distinguished for their attachment to religion, and often became models of American congregations. Without count- ing Martinique and Guadeloupe, the French part of San Domingo contained, in 1793, forty thousand whites. All emigrated to escape being massacred by the blacks. Many mulattoes followed them, and of this mass of emigrants a great part settled in the United States " (De Courcey-Shea's History of CatJiolies in United States, p. 74). Now and then in some martial achieve- ment, or by the betrayal of some racial weakness, or an outburst of genius and learning — for which the Celt has ever thirsted, and, possessing, has ever been eager to impart to others — there flashes
IN NEW JERSEY 19
forth from the gloom a name, unmistakably indicative of the na- tionality and religion of its bearer. Perchance it is a pursuit, or an exploit, mayhap, the result of a perverted morality, but always a pointer, fixing our attention on the many-sided character of the sons of Erin, whether in commercial enterprises or in the ar- rested development of the better part of his nature, when deprived of the help and aid of religion.
Shortly before the outbreak of the Revolution, Brant and his savages were devastating the settlements in what are now the counties of Warren and Sussex with fire and tomahawk. The hardy pioneers rallied together in common defence, and, armed with their muskets, marched forth to meet the cruel foe; and, near the water of the Minisink, the fierce conflict raged long and doubtful, till at last the Indians fled, leaving on the field many of their dead and wounded. The settlers, too, suffered severely, and among the slain was one Thomas Dunn.
We read again that Christopher Beekman, son of Col. Ger- ardus Beekman, one of Leisler's council— all of whom were pro- nounced guilty of treason, their estates forfeited, and themselves sentenced to be hung — a large land-owner in Somerset County, was united by marriage to Maria Delaney, in New York, January 28th, 1704. Of their eight children four were daughters — Cor- nelia, Magdalene, Maria, and Katherine.
As one rides from Pluckamin toward Somerville there stands an old house near a brook, built in 1756, by Squire Laferty, and known in the old surveys as the " Laferty House." Laferty was an Irish emigrant \\\\o lived there with his wife and their daugh- ter Ruth, a handsome girl, but of questionable morals. A fellow- countryman and forn>er friend of the- squire once called on him, and was guilty of the heinous offence of wearing his hat in pres- ence of the august upholder of tJie law. The squire commanded him to remove it. " You gray lampreen," retorted the incensed visitor, " to command me thus ! You roa-sted praties many a time by my fireside when you had no hearth of your own."
Ruth, his daughter, brought sorrow to the family, whe-n the wild, dissolute offspring of an illicit union — handsome and way- ward as his moth-er — was the first and, to 1873, the only white man ever executed in Somerset County.
The jail, a rickety affair, was in charge of one O'Brien, over six feet tall, a strapping, bold, and fearless man from Virginia.
In this neighborhood lived also at that time John McBride, who came from Ireland late in the eighteenth century, and settled
20 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
in Lamington; and an "old " Mr. Boylen kept a store in Pluck- amin. Others there were connected with tragedies to which, perhaps, they had been driven by their cruel taskmasters.
In 1750 Daniel O'Brien, "who," according to the N. V. Ga- settc Review in tJie Weekly Post Boy, "put up at Mr. John Thompson's at the Thistle and Crown, known by the name of 'Scotch Johnney's,' gives notice to 'Gentlemen and Ladies' that he conducts a Stage boat ... if Wind and Weather permit " from New York to Amboy and thence by stage to Bordentown, where another stage boat runs to Philadelphia. The rates are the same as between New Brunswick and Trenton and " the roads gener- ally drier" (Lee, i., 233).
The broad liberality of the Friends tolerated the presence of Roman Catholics in West Jersey. Among the BVench servants of Dr. Daniel Coxe, at Cape May, earlier than 1700, there were probably many Catholics.
" It has not been clearly demonstrated that John Tatham, about whose title to the governorship of West Jersey there was dispute, was not a Catholic. Certain it is that his library, which over- looked his famous garden in Burlington, contained books of Cath- olic theology, a rare circumstance, indeed, considering that two centuries had elapsed since any library of a theological partisan was filled with volumes dealing only with one side of the question " (Lee, iii., 319). Tatham, whose name, it appears, was an alias for John Gray, was not only Dr. Coxe's agent, but the owner of lands in Neshanning, Pa. Griffin, in his Researehes, says : " We are now satisfied that 'John Gray ye R. C was John Tatham whose career was so fully told in October, 1888 (July, 1890, p. 109)."
Of his title to be considered one of the governors of New Jer- sey, an excellent authority says : " So averse were the opponents of the proprietors to the re-establishment of their authority, that for a time the public sentiment was in favor of a continuance of this state of comparatively imperfect organization as a govern- ment. For, on the arrival of Hamilton in England and the death of Governor Barclay, October 3d, 1690, the proprietors appointed John Tatham to be their governor, and subsequently, in 1691, Col. Joseph Dudley, but both nominees the people scrupled to obey, on what ground is not stated (W. A. Whitehead, Coll. N.J. Hist. Soe., i., 2d rev. ed., p. 185).
To Tatham belongs the credit of initiating the pottery indus- try, as he built the first pottery on this side of the Atlantic.
IN NEW JERSEY 21
The inventory of his effects includes, among other things: "Church Plate/' i handle cup, i small plate, 1 box £10. 12; i small case, ;^i. 2. 6; 1 universal dial; i round armed silver cruci- fix; I plate of St. Dominique, i small silver box with reliques, i wooden cross with image of Christ, ^i. 12. In his library were: " Pontifical Rome," Sir Thomas More's works, " Liturgy of Ye Mass," "Faith Vindicated," "Theologia Naturalis," "No Cross, No Crown," " Consideration of Ye Council of Trent," " Necessity of the Church of God," " Bibli Vulgati," "A Survey of Ye New Religion," "The Following of Christ," "Theologia Moralis," "Office of Ye Blessed Virgin" in French, "A Mass of Pious Thoughts," "Ambrosia Officia," "Defence of Catholic Faith." There v^-ere four hundred and seventy-eight volumes by actual count, mostly with Latin titles, treating of church discipline, com- mentaries on the Scripture, law, logic, theology, controversy, hi.s- tory, medicine, music, astronomy, and kindred subjects.
The spirit of intolerance outlined in the Instructions of Queen Anne was not soon alla)'ed; and the so-called Negro Plot of 1741 gave the fanatics an opportunity to show their spleen against the Catholic Church, and to accentuate how criminally unjust even educated men may be when they permit themselves to be swayed by passion and bigotry. All this is evident in the trial and con- viction of John Ury, about whose priestly character there has been much contention. Despite the opinion of Bishop Bayley to the contrary, it seems to be about certain that he was a Catholic priest.
John Ury, a priest, began teaching school in Burlington, N. J., June 1 8th, 1739, and remained there twelve months. After a while he went to New York, engaged again in teaching, and received his board gratis (Horsemanden's Account of N^cgTo Plot, 1744). During his stay it appears that he celebrated Mass pri- vately in his room, first locking the door to ensure privacy. There is also evidence that he administered infant baptism. In April, 1741, he was engaged to teach school by John Campbell, and resided with him. In Campbell's house he had a private room, in which Father Ury had erected a temporary altar, and in it he gathered a number of persons, to whom he preached, and for whom, no doubt, he offered the holy Sacrifice; but he was ever careful not to expose himself to the severe legal penalties by appearing in the garb of a priest or noisily exercising his priestly office. He lived in so much obscurity, his conduct was so blame-
22 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
less, and his deportment so humble, that he escaped censure, although he was known to not a few as a Catholic priest. The so-called Negro Plot, in 1741, enkindled the passions of the mul- titude and gave rise "to confusion and alarm, to folly, frenzy, and injustice, which scarcely has a parallel in this or any other country " (^American Colonial Trials, Peleg W. Chandler, Boston, 1844). The result of this delusion was the hanging of four whites, the burning of eleven and the hanging of eighteen negroes, and the transportation to the West Indies to be sold as slaves of fifty.
The examinations and trial had gone on for three months without any attempt to connect Father Ury with the plot. On the flimsiest kind of testimony, all the accused, together with John Ury, whose principal offence was his " being a priest, made by the authority of the pretended See of Rome " — "the heinous- ness of this prisoner's offences, and of tJie Popish religion in gen- eral''— were condemned, and Ury was hanged.
Campbell, who wrote the Life and Times of Archbisliop Car- roll, is of the opinion that Ury was a Catholic priest, but Bishop Bayley differs from him and thinks that he was a non-juror {Hist. C. C. on Island of N. Y., p. 46).
In the centennial sermon preached by Father Clarke at St. Joseph's Church, Philadelphia, the preacher stated Mass had been celebrated in the City of Brotherly Love as early as 1686, but there is no evidence that any chapel was built there prior to 1733, when its Catholic population amounted to forty persons. The summer of 1732 was very hot, and the winter of 1732-33 very severe. In the spring of 1733 Father Greaton, who had been visiting the Catholics of Philadelphia as early as 1720, was sent to build a chapel and take up his permanent residence within its limits. Although the land was bought from John Dixon and his wife Mary, there is no other name than that of " Mary " on the legal transfer from the original patent in 1701-02; and thus it happened that the first Catholic church in Philadelphia was erected on Mary's land, and placed under the patronage of St. Joseph.
A certain Jacob Duche gives the following pen description of the chapel : Mr. Harding was so obliging as to invite my friend, the merchant, and myself to spend an hour with him in his little Carthnsian cell, as he called it. This small apartment adjoins an old Gothic chapel, and together with another opposite to it (which is occupied by an assistant German priest, viz.. Father Farmer) forms a kind of porch, through which you enter the chapel (January 14th, 1772).
IN NEW JKRSKY
n
Father Greaton's congregation was made up of twenty-two Irish and the rest Germans. This good priest labored among his httle flock, with occasional assistance from Maryland, until 1741, when the Rev. Henry Neale arrived from Maryland in the month of March, having been prevented from coming earlier by the deep snows of the winter. He fonnd the good repute of the Catholics somewhat exaggerated, yet " the congregation a growing one " ; but that one priest was as yet suflficient, an assistant being needed
OLD ST. JOSEPH S CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA.
" Whence radiated the living streams of grace " (page 23).
for the country Catholics, some of whom lived sixty miles away. They "were very poor and most of them are servants or poor tradesmen."
St. Joseph's was the first parish house of Catholicity in Penn- sylvania, New Jersey, and New York for at least fourscore years. This was the centre whence radiated the living streams of grace to wherever a faithful child of the Church was found, and by its faithful, saintly priests was fostered and nourished the little mus- tard seed now grown into so noble and stately a tree. The old church is a shrine worthy of our veneration, for underneath its altars are buried the carthlv remains of those " who sowed in
24 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
tears, that we might reap with joy." Father Greaton remained at his lonely post until 1750. His successor, the Rev. Robert Harding, came to this country from England in 1732. When he arrived in Philadelphia, August, 1749, it was a city of two thou- sand homes.
* Father Harding " is the first priest to have visited New Jersey, whose labors could not have been prior to 1762" (De Courcey- Shea). This is hardly accurate, for we have seen that other priests had visited and exercised their sacred ministry in Eliza- bethtown and Woodbridge at the close of the seventeenth cen- tury, and very likely at a much later period. Father Harding died September 2d, 1772, in the seventieth year of his age, and is buried under the altar of St. Mary's.
The priest of that venerable sanctuary most closely identified with Catholicity in New Jersey was the Rev. Ferdinand Farmer, whose family name was Steinmeyer. This truly apostolic man and devoted and indefatigable missionary was born at Swabia, Germany, October 13th, 1720. He entered the Company of Jesus at Landerperge, September 26th, 1743, and was selected for the China Mission; but the "finger of God" intervened and the young priest was sent to this country. No picture of him is ex- tant ; but we are told that he was " of slender form, having a countenance mild, gentle, and bearing an expression almost seraphic."
It appears that he arrived in Philadelphia in 1758, and from that time until he was called to his reward, August 17th, 1786, he was untiring in his labors for the salvation of souls.
Every spring and every autumn saw him starting off on his journey along the Delaware River, across country to Long Pond (now Greenwood Lake), Mount Hope, Macopin, New York City, Basking Ridge, Trenton, and Salem.
While good Father Farmer was one of the first apostles who spent himself in carrying the comforts of religion to the little com- munities scattered over New Jersey, he was by no means the first missionary priest, nor, after his death, were the Catholics totally abandoned. The names of these zealous, godly men are blotted out with their heroic deeds, but they are graven in the Book of Life. It is nigh impossible for us to realize the perils, discom- forts, and risks they encountered in their journeyings.
The roads, at best, were only paths and Indian trails, of which one led from Philadelphia to Delaware Falls, now Trenton, north- easterly to Indian's Ferry, now New Brunswick, thence to Eliza-
IN NEW JERSEY
25
FATHER FARMER.
One of " these men of God, sometimes on horseback, . . . trudging through the forests . . . welcomed as an angel sent from God " (page 26).
26 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
bethtovvn, where wayfarers were carried by boat to New York, From a point near Rahway another trail, starting from Navesink, on the Shrewsbury River, led to Minisink Island, in the extreme north, in the Delaware River. In West Jersey a road extended from Trenton to Crosswicks, thence to Burlington, to Trenton, to Salem, and later to Cohanzy Bridge, now Bridgeton. But be- tween New Brunswick and Trenton lay a narrow waste of thirty miles of country, which, owing to the unpleasant relations between the two sections, remained for a long time a barrier which barred communication. Through this wilderness was an Indian trail, along or near which the Legislature of 1795 ordered a road to be constructed. Picture, then, these men of God, sometimes on horseback, sometimes afoot, with their sack strapped across their back, containing the altar-stone, vestments, chalice, and wine for the Sacrifice, trudging through the forests, over mountains, cross- ing streams and rivers in the rude "dugouts," picking their way through the swamps, at times wet to the skin by the tempests which overtook them, again almost prostrated by the intolerable heats, resting under the shelter of the trees or in some rude cabin, perhaps of one hostile to their faith, or in the humble home of an exiled child of the Church, who welcomed them as an angel sent from God. " I remember," said Bishop McOuaid, " one of my visits to Franklin Furnace. While driving along the wretched road I remarked a dilapidated stone house, and, hearing the noise of my buggy, a woman came to the door. I greeted her, as I always did those I met, and I suspected from her accent that she was Irish. I soon learned that she was both Irish and a Catholic and that she kept boarders. There were three rooms in the house — a kitchen, and two others which served as bedrooms. After I saw that my horse was cared for, I asked if she could accommo- date me for the night. She showed me a room in which were two beds, and pointing to one she informed me that I could sleep in it, and her sister and herself would sleep in the other. For supper we had some soggy bread . Afterward I heard confessions, and then went to the bed assigned to me ; but the odors were too much for me, and I returned to the kitchen, saying that I would read my office. I was a long time at that office, and meanwhile the tallow-dip was growing smaller. A thought flashed across my mind. I went out to my buggy, and, wrapping myself in the horse-blankets, passed the night tolerably well. Morning came, bright and early, I heard more confessions, began Mass, preached a sermon, as I always did, rubbing it into them that though iso-
IN NEW JERSEY 27
lated from their priests they must remain staunch to the Church and Hve up to its laws, gave holy Communion, and then sat down to breakfast. But again that soggy bread, together with a very much salted mackerel, swimming in grease. It was too much for my stomach, so bidding them Godspeed I started again on my journey, and did not break my fast till evening."
But this is modern history, and the discomforts of the priests of that day, grave enough indeed, were as nothing compared with their earlier brethren in the missionary field.
Some time in the middle of the eighteenth century, three brothers, Sebastian, Ignatius, and Xavier Waas, fled from their native country, Germany, to avoid the military conscription so tyrannically exercised at that time, and, landing at Philadelphia, crossed over into West Jersey, and, taking up an Indian trail, through moor and morass, across streams, and through the for- ests, made their way to the north side of a beautiful stream of water, known now as Clark's or O'Neill's branch, in Waterford Township, Gloucester County, and there built a square and com- fortable cabin of cedar logs. This rude dwelling they called Shane's Castle, but the Celtic aroma that lingers about the name of the adjacent stream would lead one to believe that some lone wanderer from Erin had preceded them, and seeing, perhaps, some resemblance to another dear spot far over the great ocean, gave it a name which even the Indians respected, and which clung to it after he, like so many others of his countrymen, had passed into oblivion. However, by that name was it known and enshrined by tradition.
The memory of one of the brothers, Sebastian, is hallowed with a pretty romance. Before his flight from fatherland he had plighted his troth to a plucky Gretchen who vowed to follow after him whithersoever he went. She escaped the vigilance of her parents, and before they could overtake her she was safe aboard a sailing-vessel, bound for Philadelphia.
Sebastian's vigil was a long one, but his faith in his spouse was unshaken, and, at last, after a long voyage, the ship landed her human freight safe on the Delaware's shores. But, alas ! Sebastian was unable to bring her to his home and brethren, for, having no money wherewith to pay her passage, she was to be sold as a " redemptioner." This did not disconcert Sebastian, for with his trusty gun he soon secured pelts sufficent to defray all expenses, and with his loved one, now doubly cherished because of his efforts to save her from temporary serfdom, went to a priest
28 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
in Philadelphia, who blessed their union. The brothers welcomed their new sister, and another charm was added to their sylvestral home. Furthermore, they were to erect a shrine where the mys- teries of their religion were to be celebrated, and thither came, not once but often, good Father Farmer, who kept alive in their and their neighbors' hearts the fire of faith. There is scarcely any doubt that holy Mass was offered for the first time in Shane's Castle, the home of the Waas. Here the little seed was cast that was destined to grow into a mighty tree. His records show that Father Farmer christened five children of this union. Two daughters survived, married, and inherited the estate ; but the memory of the old castle has almost entirely faded away.
It seems that time did not soften the asperity or hostility either of the ruling powers abroad or of their subjects in these colonies toward our religion. George II in 1753 proclaimed an ordinance which was not only not less bitter, but more provocative than the instructions of William and Mary.
"To the Governor, Council, and General Assembly of our Province of New Jersey, 13th day of October, 1753.
" Oath prescribed for all civil and military officers.
" I, A. B., do swear. That I from my heart abhor, detest, and abjure, as impious and heretical, that Damnable Doctrine and Position, that Princes, excommunicated or deprived by the Pope or any authority of the See of Rome, may be deprived or murdered by their subjects or any other whatsoever.
" I, A. B., do solemnly swear and sincerely in the presence of God, Profess, Testify, and Declare, That I do solemnly believe that in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper there is not any Tran- substantiation of the Elements of Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, at or after the Consecration thereof by any person whatsoever. And that the Invocation or Adoration of the Virgin Mary, or any other Saint, and the Sacrifice of the Mass as they are now used in the Church of Rome, are Superstitious and Idolatrous, etc., etc."
With this as a cue, we need marvel not that in his Instructions, in 1758, Gov. Francis Bernard orders, "You are to permit a Libert}' of Conscience to all persons (except Papists)." Lest he should forget it, Father Farmer had this slip pasted on the fly- sheet of his register. The forbears of our present non-Catholic brethren had thus the spirit of intolerance and hostility to Cath- olics so rubbed into them that an occasional ebullition of this
IN NEW JERSEY 29
same spirit in our day may be pardoned. Of all human weak- nesses, fanaticism dies the hardest.
And withal these protagonists of pure religion were exceedingly superstitious. Ghosts, witches, phantoms, and papists haunted their imaginations and confused their thoughts. The witch scare which disturbed the Puritans of Charlestown and Salem in the seventeenth century seems to have disturbed the ecjuanimity of the Quakers living in Burlington. A noble buttonwood tree standing on beautiful Green Bank, the former residence of William Franklin when governor of New Jersey, was known as "The Witches' Tree," and around it was woven a legend of spectral dames astride of broomsticks, soaring to the stars with the speed of forked lightning. This is one of the verses of the song they were heard to sing :
First Witch. I saw Dame Brady sitting alone, And I dried up the marrow within her hip bone. When she arose she could scarcely limp. Why did I do it? She called me foul imp !
About this same time, 1765, a tragic event occurred in Bur- lington by which two of our co-religionists paid the penalty of a crime which to-day would have been punished with a term of im- prisonment. On Wednesday, August 28th, 1765, at Gallows Hill, Burlington, John Grimes and John Fagan, Catholics, were exe- cuted for burglary and felony, committed at the home of Joseph Burr. Grimes was twenty-two years old, Fagan twenty-eight.
The chronicles of Burlington contain a sketch of a singular and mysterious character. " Four miles from hence, a recluse person, who came a stranger, has existed alone, near twelve years, in a thick wood, through all the extremities of the seasons, under cover of a few leaves, supported by the side of an old log, and put together in the form of a small oven, not high or long enough to stand upright or lie extended ; he talks Dutch, but unintelligibly, either through design or from defect in his intellects, 'tis hard to tell which ; whence he came or what he is nobody about him can find out ; he has no contrivance to keep fire, nor uses any ; in very cold weather he lies naked, stops the hole he creeps in and out with leaves ; he mostly keeps in his hut, but sometimes walks before it, lies on the ground, and cannot be persuaded to work much, nor obliged without violence to forsake this habit, which he appears to delight in, and to enjoy full health; he seems to be
30 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
upward of forty years of age ; as to person rather under the mid- dle size; calls himself Francis" (Smith, N. J., 495).
Another account is :
" With several friends in a couple of light wagons went to see the hermit in a wood this side of Mount Holly.
" He is a person thought to have travelled along from Canada or Mississippi about ten years ago. He talks no English, and will give no account of himself" (Diary of Hannah Callender, 1762, 6th mo., 5th day, Pa. Mag., January, 1769, p. 456).
Burlington, January 28th, 1778.
On the 19th inst. died Francis Furgler, the hermit, in the sixty-sixth year of his age, who existed alone twenty-five years, in a thick wood four miles from Burlington, through all the inclem- encies of the season, without fire, in a cell, made by the side of an old log, in the form of a small oven, not high or long enough to stand upright or lie extended. It was supposed he intended this mode as a penance for some evil done in his own country. He was a German — a Catholic, and was buried in the Friends' Ground at Mount Holly (Watson's Annals, ii., 292).
Francis Furgler, age sixty-six, a hermit who had existed twenty-five years alone, died January 19th, 1778. "He was found dead in his cell with a crucifix and a brass fish by his side " (Moore's '' Diary of Rev.;' ii., 8).
" The earliest account that we have of Catholics in New Jer- sey is in 1744, when we read that Father Theodore Schneider, a distinguished German Jesuit who had professed philosophy and theology in Europe, and been rector of a university, coming to the American provinces, visited New Jersey and held church at Iron Furnaces there. This good missionary was a native of Bavaria. He founded the mission at Goshenhoppen, now in Berks County, Pa., about forty -five miles from Philadelphia, and minis- tered to German Catholics, their descendants and others. Hav- ing some skill in medicine, he used to cure the body as well as the soul; and travelling about on foot or on horseback under the name of Doctor Schneider (leaving to the Smclfnnguscs to dis- cover whether he were of medicine or of di\inity), he had access to places where he would not otherwise have gone without per- sonal danger; but sometimes his real character was found out, and he was several times raced and shot at in New Jersey. He used to carry about with him on his missionary excursions into this
IN NEW JERSEY 31
pro\'ince a manuscript copy of the 'Roman Missal,' carefully- written out in his own handwriting and bound by himself. His poverty or the difficulty of procuring printed Catholic liturgical books from Europe, or, we are inclined to think, the danger of discovery should such an one with its unmistakable marks of 'Popery ' about it (which he probably dispensed with in his manu- script) fall into the hands of heretics, must have led him to this labor of patience and zeal. Father Schneider, who may be reck- oned the first missionary in New Jersey, died on the eleventh of July, 1764. Another Jesuit used to visit the province occasionally after 1762, owing to the growing infirmities of Father Schneider, and there still exist records of baptisms performed by him here " {The Catholic World \\\ 1875).
In his Life and Times of Archbishop Carroll, Campbell writes of one of the oldest, if not the oldest, Catholic settlement in New Jersey :
"It is known that Rev. Mr. Harding, who was a priest in Philadelphia in 1762, occasionally visited New Jersey, and Rev. ¥ . Farmer for many years performed missionary duty in that State at several places. In his baptismal register the following among other places are named: Geiger's, 1759; Charlottenburgh, 1769; in the year 1776 Morris County, Long Pond, and Mount Hope; and in 1785 Sussex County, Ringwood, and Hunterdon.
" In his semi-annual visits to New York, which were continued to the year of his death in 1786, Father Farmer visited an inter- esting Catholic settlement known then and later as Macopin (now Echo Lake). Macopin was settled by a colony of Germans from the Rhine, near Cologne, who came to New Jersey to engage in the iron industr}-, which opened up about the middle of the eigh- teenth century."
The following notice appeared in the Freeman's Journal, New York :
" One of the oldest and most interesting Catholic congrega- tions in the whole country is to be found in Macopin, this wild little place, fifteen miles distant from Paterson. The first settle- ment was made here by two German families some time before the American Revolution. They were a long time without seeing a priest, till at length a Mr. Langrey, from Ireland, paid them a visit. After this the Rev. Father Farmer from Philadelphia visited Mount Hope, in the vicinity of Macopin, twice a year He continued doing so for ten years, during which time the Revo- lution took place. These semi-annual visits were afterward con-
32 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
tinned by Mr. Malnix, Mr. Katen, and Mr. Kresgel. The last- named priest was a German, and visited them first in 1775."
Some years ago the duties of his sacred ministry brought the writer to Mrs. Littell, then ahiiost a nonogenarian, but intellectu- ally bright and radiantly reminiscent. As she talked of the old times her eye would kindle and the color come to her wrinkled cheeks, and a cheery laugh would accentuate the humorous inci- dents which now and then would sparkle through her narrative. On my return to the rectory I jotted down, as far as I could remember, the salient points of her story, clothing it as far as possible in her own language, and gave it to the first number of the Sacred Heart Union for publication under the title " Grand- mother's Reminiscences." Care was taken that she received a copy, and as she read it for the family — that was her self-imposed task and office — she cried out to her daughter : " Why, Mary, this is what I was telling Father Flynn the other day ! "
As it gives a vivid portrayal of that ancient stronghold of Catholic faith — stronghold is used advisedly, for such it has proven to be, since the generations of that sturdy stock are all stanch Catholics today — it is here reproduced:
" I came from a little town in the County Cavan, adjoining Fermanagh and Monaghan, to this country in 181 6. I will pass over the long and stormy voyage across the Atlantic, and begin my story with my arrival in New York. In those days two sail- boats served as a ferry to convey passengers. One w^ent to Paulus Hook, now Jersey City, and the other to the Elysian Fields, Ho- boken. We crossed over to Paulus Hook, and hiring a wagon we started out on our journey to Caldwell. There was only one street then in Jersey City, and it was called the Rope Walk. After riding all day long we arrived in the evening at Caldwell. There was not a single Catholic in the neighborhood. You may imagine how strangely we felt, and you will not be surprised that in a few months we moved to Macopin, where we heard there was quite a gathering of Catholics. A year or two before our arrival Charley O'Brien diqd in Newfoundland, some miles distant from Macopin. He went there as a school-teacher, saved his money, bought his land, built factories, and soon was the wealth- iest man in that section. He owned as far as he could see, and was the first to build bark factories and an iron mill. Charley took sick and sent to New York for a priest. The priest came all the way on horseback, and the close-fisted man gave him five dollars for his trouble. He left him, however, fifty dollars in his
IN NEW JERSEY 23
will, but his heirs never executed the wish of their father, and the priest never received his legacy. But his possessions melted away, and eventually his own son died in the poor-house.
"John Gormley arrived there four or five years before we did, but his children intermarried with Protestants, and one of his grandsons is now a Methodist minister. Oh, yes, there were the McGees of Wynockie ; but they clung to the faith, and although their descendants have experienced many ups and downs in life, they are all stanch Catholics. Then there were the Littells, a family who came from Ireland. Mr. Littell was a cooper and the most influential man in the settlement. To him was deputed the duty of examining the credentials of the visiting priests so as to secure the faithful few from impostors, and to his house they always came and partook of the old-fashioned hospitality. Not only priests, but every poor exile from Erin was directed thither, and scarcely a day passed that some stranger did not accept of a generous meal and comfortable bed, under the roof-tree of the Littells. I remember one night, coming in from his shop, Mr. Littell met a poor fellow warming himself at the log fire. He began: 'Well, my man, where do you come from.?' 'From County Cavan, sir.' 'Ah, and perhaps you know William Lit- tell?' meaning his cousin. 'Troth, I do. Bad luck to him! for if it wasn't for him I wouldn't be here.'
"The topic was immediately changed.
" Thirty years before we came, a Father Farmer, from Phila- delphia, had visited Macopin, and not a priest had the Catholics seen since. I remember one day seeing a man coming up the road in short coat and knee-breeches ; as soon as he spoke I knew he was an Irishman, and thought he was a school-teacher. He inquired for the Littells. He turned out to be a Father Langan, and he said Mass in our house two or three times. This was about 1 819. I must not forget to mention the Seehulsters, the Merrions, and the Strubles. Old Mrs. Seehulster was a remark- able woman — a regular missionary ; every Sunday she would gather the Catholics in Dominick Merrion's house, say the rosary, dis- tribute holy water, and teach the children catechism. God re- warded her, for, obeying a secret impulse, Father O'Reilly, then pastor of St. John's, Paterson, came out to Macopin, saw that this valiant woman was very ill, gave her the last rites of the Church, and an hour after she was a corpse. Then there was old Anthony Merrion, who died about 1822, having reached the good old age of one hundred and five. I remember well when Mass 3
34 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
was said lor the first time in Macopin. Many of the young Catholics who had never seen Mass celebrated, and Protestants who viewed the whole thing as witchcraft, crowded and hustled the old folks who were kneeling around the priest. The altar was a chest — we had no bureaus in those days. After Mass, when we were going home, old Anthony straightened his tall form, closing his fists and rapping them sharply together. 'Oh,' said he, ' I've seen the day I could rap their heads together.' John Reardon was another of the old settlers, who with a few others and their families numbered about one hundred Catholics all told.
"Our next priest was Father Bulger, a native of Ireland, a tall, handsome man, but with a beardless face. He was ordained by 'little Bishop Connoll)',' as he was called, and came to us about 1820. Mr. Littell had been notified to e.xpect a priest, and vainly looked among the passengers of the mail-coach for his Reverence. The driver told him that a passenger had booked for Macopin the night before, but had failed to put in his appearance.
" Later that afternoon a stranger drove up to the shop on horseback, and thus addressed Mr. Littell: 'Did you expect a visitor, sir .? ' 'I did, sir.' 'How did you expect him.?' 'By the mail.' 'Might I ask whom you expected.?' 'Well,' said Mr. Littell, somewhat nettled by this cros.s-examination, 'I expect a Catholic priest.' 'Well, suppose you take me for a Catholic priest.' Surveying the beardless youth from top to bottom, Mr. Littell tartly replied : ' Go back to your wooden college, sir, before you come to jialm yourself off on me as a Catholic priest.' 'Per- haps,' thought Mr. Littell, 'I may after all be mistaken; he may be a priest ' ; and giving him another searching look, he inquired : 'Am I talking to P"ather Bulger.?' 'You are,' said the young P'ather, smilingly; and his laughter drowned the apologies and put to flight the discomfiture of good Mr. Littell. Father Bulger was a regular apostle ; he travelled through Hudson, Passaic, and Sussex Counties. I remember he was once invited to preach in Newton, and the Presbyterian Church was offered to him. But when the day came for the lecture the 'blue-lights' feared to admit the papist into their sanctuary. So to the dismay of the most prominent member of the congregation — an Irishman — they gave a point-blank refusal to allow him to preach in their church. Chagrined but undaunted, the Irishman went to the judge who was then })residing over the Sussex Circuit, related to him all the circumstances, and asked him to adjourn the court so that the priest might give his lecture, The court was adjourned; the
IN NEW JERSEY
35
The Catholics gathered at Dominick Alt-rriun-s house, .Macoiuu, biiying the
rosary (page 33).
2,6 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
judge and a host of legal fledglings, who have since risen to fame and honor, listened to the young priest's masterly handling of the doctrine of the Real Presence. ' I did not believe,' said an ex- United States senator — Frelinghuysen — 'that the Catholics had such solid proofs for their doctrines.'
" Returning on foot one cold wintry day, with the snow inches deep on the road, from Hohokus, where he had been saying Mass, a farmer and his wife invited him into their sleigh. Of course, the farmer's curiosity made him forget the world's politeness and institute a series of leading questions. Are you a peddler 1 No. Perhaps you will open a store in town } No. A physician ? No. A lawyer .? No. Then, may I ask, what do you do for a living } Thus driven to the wall by the persistent questioner. Father Bulger was obliged to confess that he was a Roman Catholic priest. The good wife was horror-stricken, and commanded the dutiful Benedict to stop the horse and put the papist out ; and out he went, and he was obliged to trudge through snow and cold all the way to Paterson. Another night an attempt was made to set fire to the house in which he was living in Paterson.
"He offered Mass for the first time in 1816, in Mr. Gilles- pie's house, the grandfather of Sister Genevieve, now a Sister of Charity in St. Elizabeth's Convent, Madison. There were present the Grifiiths, Karrs, Burkes, Plunketts, Bradleys, Wades, Mahans, and Levasquez. Ground was afterward bought and a church built in 1822. He did not live many years, and is buried in St. Pat- rick's church-yard, New York. Fathers Conroy, O'Gorman, and Shanahan used to come out occasionally to say Mass. Then came Father Donohue, who determined to build a church. There was a great dispute as to whether it should be of logs or boards. The 'log' partly carried the day, and Father Donohue called on Mr. Littell for his contribution. 'What is it going to be, Father.?' 'Logs,' said he. 'Then Fll give $10 to pull it down as soon as built.' So the matter was reconsidered, and finally 'planks' pre- vailed. In 1830 it was dedicated. The night before, a furious rain storm set in, and Father Donohue and Father Ffrench were drenched to the skin. We had a great time finding dry clothes for the poor Fathers, but could find none big enough for Father Ffrench. -I can see tjiem now sitting before the big fire, drying their clothes and saying their office. The children had great fun with Father Ffrench, who amused them with his ventriloquism. Father Duffy next succeeded Father Donohue ; and he used to stop in Paterson with Dr. Binsse, who was a celebrated French
IN NEW JERSEY
37
"The good wife was horror-stricken, and commanded the dutiful Benedict to stoD the horse and put the papist " (Father Bulger) " out " (page 36).
38 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
doctor and lived on Main Street, opposite Congress Hall. Then good old Father Raffeiner came and spent one winter with us. After him came the Redemptorist Fathers Mailer and Tabert. Father O'Reilly succeeded Father Duffy in Paterson.
"Then came Father Ouin, and the troubles which Bishop Hughes came out to queh. Then Father Senez, Father Beau- devin, Father Callan, and Father McNulty. Now you know as much about the present as I do ; but when I look back to the day when there was not a single church in New Jersey, nor a single resident priest, I feel God has blessed the fidelity of the old folks; and I begin to feel lonesome, for almost all have gone home."
Grandmother many years ago joined her compeers in the blessed reward of the saints.
Bishop Bayley has this to say of Macopin :
" Three German families settled at this place some years be- fore the Revolution. They were from Baden (Silva Nigra) ; their names were Marion, Schulster, and Stobel. Stobel was a Prot- estant, but most of his descendants became Catholics. They form still a little Catholic colony, remarkable for their fervent piety. The son of the founder of the colony, Marion, who was but four years old when he came to this country, lived to be up- ward of a hundred years old. In the notice of the blessing of the church in the TrutJiteller of December, 1849, he was spoken of as being one hundred and five years old, and in good health " (Bayley, 121).
The Catholic Press, October 30th, 1830, published a letter con- taining additional items of interest :
•' Seventeen miles west of Paterson, at Mocassin, there is a highland ridge in Bergen County, where there are at present more than one hundred Catholics, descendants of one common stock, Mr. Meriam, who is yet living. He came from Germany to this country before the Revolution, and settled with his little family at Queen Charlotte's in the northern part of New Jersey. He has lived to see his descendants to the fifth generation, who unite a zeal for liberty with a firm attachment to the holy Catholic faith of their ancestors. They were for many years attended by Cath- olic clergymen from Philadelphia, among whom they frequently mention the Rev. Mr. Farmer, whose memory among them is recollected with benediction. When a bishop was sent from the Holy See to New York, the Jerseys were divided according to the old division line (which runs from Easton, Pa., to Little Egg Harbor) between the dioceses of New York and Philadelphia; so
IN NEW JERSEY
39
that Mocassin, falling within the district of Paterson, was fre- quentl)' visited by the Rev. Mr. Bulger, and it is pleasing to state that a church has been lately erected in this last-mentioned town."
The Revolutionary Period.
The thread of our narrative brings us now to a stirring period in the history of our country and our religion, when the day-star of religious toleration begins to dawn, and the plenteous stream
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ARCHBISHOP CARROLL
of blood flows from Irish hearts and from Catholic veins to sanc- tify the soil, and knit indissolubly the bonds of the children of freedom. Republics are proverbially ungrateful, and ours is no exception. The Irish, both the laity and the priesthood, from the
40 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
beginning gave to the struggling republic their most earnest moral and physical support. Ours might have been Canada, and these children of St. Louis our allies and brothers in the conflict, had John Jay and his stripe been at least more tactful, if not politic.
When Archbishop Carroll was engaged by General Washing- ton to induce the Canadian clergy to join in the Revolutionary struggle, his mission totally failed from the lavish abuse of popery in which the old colonies — from New England to Georgia — indulged.
" Now," they said, "we believe, as you do, our religion to have been established by Jesus Christ, and that those good men and their forefathers in leaving our body made an innovation upon the unchangeable institutions of our Saviour. They complain of the King of England as guilty of tyranny for observing the treaty which secures to us our religion, and which he appears disposed to observe. If it be tyranny to permit us to follow the dictates of our consciences, and that those gentlemen wish to destroy tyranny, we must give up our religion in joining their union; we prefer, sir, to abide under the government of a king who is complained of for his justice to us, than to trust to the friendship of men who tell us that we are idolaters and slaves and dolts, and yet invite us to aid them against him whom they have abused for protecting us in our rights ; neither do we forget the zeal which they manifested in hunting and shooting Father Rasle and others of our mission- aries upon their borders."
Thus was the aid of Canada lost by the abuse of popery (Eng- land, Works, iii., 223), and the mission of Franklin and Bishop Carroll a failure.
On Bishop Carroll's return from his fruitless mission to Can- ada, he passed his time pleasantly in Philadelphia with Fathers Ferdinand Farmer and Robert Molyneux. " These reverend gen- tlemen were then engaged in laborious duties among the numerous Catholics in that city, as well as several other congregations at a distance."
" Father Farmer extended his visits to New York, and organ- ized the first Catholic congregation in that city, in which there was no resident priest before 1785" ("Memoirs of Archbishop Carroll" in U. S. CatJiolic Maga.zinc, April, 1844, p. 248).
Notwithstanding the bitter hostility of many, if not most, of the founders of the republic, the money, the services, and the blood of Catholics were placed on the altar of our country's lib- erty, and never did they once swerve from their allegiance in
IN NEW JERSEY 41
defeat, hunger, and cold. Of the foreign officers of our faith may be mentioned Lafayette, Du Coudray, Rochambeau, Roche de Fermoy, Kosciusko, de la Neuville, Armand, and Uuportail.
From Bunker Hill to Yorktown, whether in Dillon's old brigade of the French allies, or in the Pennsylvania or Maryland line, Irish hearts throbbed to the music of the drum, and never faltered on land or sea, whether under Saucy Dick Barry, or Moylan, or Fitzgerald, to display the traditional bravery which has won for them the laurel of victory on the battlefields of every nation except their own.
Montgomery, Sullivan, Knox, Wayne, Irving, Thompson, Stewart, Moylan, Butler, all Irish by birth or by descent, whose very names awaken memories of glorious deeds, by which our liberties were achieved and the colonies made one, free, and inde- pendent. And every child knows the services rendered to the republic by Charles Carroll of Carrolton, and his illustrious cousin the first bishop of Baltimore. None was more conscious, more appreciative of these services than the Father of his Country — the immortal Washington.
" I presume that your fellow-citizens will not forget the patriotic part which you took in the accomplishment of their Revolution and the establishment of their government, or the important as- sistance which they received from a nation in which the Roman Catholic faith is profes.sed " (" Reply of Washington to Address of Roman Catholics "). Hodnett says that next to George Wash- ington Bishop Carroll rendered the most valuable services to the colonies. It was Carroll who induced the Pope to use his influ- ence with the French King in behalf of the colonies. Franklin was in Paris, as an envoy from this country, to enlist the services and financial aid of France in the struggle which was becoming desperate. His success was meagre, and he was in despair. One day the papal nuncio roused him from his stupor : " Mr. Franklin, Mr. Franklin, I have good news for you. I have just secured the promise of the King to send over a French army and navy to aid your countrymen." Franklin, astonished and delighted, clasped the hand of the nuncio. " Oh ! " said he, " convey to his Holi- ness, the Pope, my thanks in the name of the American people. We shall never, no never, forget Rome."
"Mr. Franklin," replied the nuncio, "you must thank Father Carroll, for he it was who induced the Pope to send me here in the interest of the American people."
Of Bishop Carroll, Washington said : " Of all men whose influ-
4i THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
ence was most potent in securing the success of the Revolution, Bishop Carroll, of Baltimore, was the man." So, too, thought King George of England, who called Bishop Carroll " Washing- ton's Richelieu, who got the Pope of Rome to use his influence with the French court for the Americans." When William Pitt asked the King to sign the Emancipation Bill in favor of Ireland, the King replied : " I will sign no bill granting Catholic Emanci- pation, after the action taken by the bishop of Baltimore. He detached America from my dominion by aid of the French army and navy, and the force of Irish Catholics. No, no, Mr. Pitt, you need not stop to argue the question with me ; my mind is made up on that point." So innocent, helpless, prostrate Ireland was punished for Bishop Carroll's patriotism and her children's devo- tion to the cause of freedom, and had to bear the yoke of slavery for twenty years longer.
Meanwhile, John Wesley, the founder of Methodism— the sect which claims to possess the only true brand of patriotism — was denouncing the colonists for their treason ; and the Presbyterians anathematized our Constitution ! In the light of future events, it is well to keep these facts to the forefront. The stream of emi- gration began again to set toward America from Ireland, France, and the West Indian islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique.
The Maryland Journal, published in Baltimore, August 20th, 1773, has the following:
"New York, August 12th. — Within this fortnight 3,500 pas- sengers have arrived at Philadelphia from Ireland."
"Philadelphia, August nth. — Since our last arrived here, the ship Alexander, Captain Hunter, with 500 passengers; and the ship Hannah, Captain Mitchell, with 550, both from Londonderry. The ship WalwortJi, Captain McCausland, sailed from London- derry for South Carolina about June ist, with 300 passengers and servants, who were obliged to leave their native country, not for their misbehavior, but on account of the great distress among the middle and lower classes."
It would seem that Ireland even at that time was sending more than her quota of emigrants to people America. Philadel- phia then could not have had more than 20,000 of a population, and this addition of 3,500 was equal to one-sixth of its population {CatJi. Family Aim., i?>77, p. 77).
The unhappy Acadians, torn from their homes most cruelly, in 1756, were scattered along the coast from Maine to Carolina, but in a few years almost every trace of them was lost. But the emi-
IN NEW JERSEY 43
gration of the French took place at various periods, mainly at the negro insurrection in San Domingo and at the outbreak of the French Revolution. A great number settled in different sections of New Jersey, and later on will be seen their influence on relig- ion in these respective localities. "We affirm," says Shea, "that the French Catholic familes, driven from the West Indies by the frightful consequences of the Revolution, and who came to seek peace and liberty in the United States, far exceeded the Protest- ant immigration of the seventeenth century. Without counting Martinique and Guadeloupe, the French part of San Domingo con- tained in 1793 forty thousand whites. All emigrated to escape being massacred by t lie blacks; many mulattoes followed them, and of this mass of emigrants a great part settled in the United States" {Hist, of CatJi. ChurcJi, p. 74). Of all these strangers coming to our shores at this period, it may be said that it was the initial impulse of that tide of sturdy, sterling, adventurous spirits — sufficiently daring to hazard the perils of the deep, the horrors and uncertainty of a long voyage, stout-hearted enough to cut away from the dearest ties that hold a man to his native land and kindred, possessed of those virtues which promote the best results in the sphere of civics, commerce, and religion, and destined eventually, like bread cast upon the waters, to leaven the older world with the fruit of these triple blessings. In the dark and trying days of our struggle many instances might be cited to illustrate the devotion of the impulsive Celt, too ready to resent a wrong, but always willing to forgive it. When, in July, 1778, the Americans met in Wyoming with a crushing defeat, among the captured was an old man named Fitzgerald. He was placed on a flax-brake, and told he must renounce his rebel principles and declare for the King, or die. " Well," said the patriotic old fellow, " I am old, and I have little time to live anyhow, and I had rather die now a friend of my country, than live ever so long and die a Tory." The British were magnanimous enough to let him go (Miner's Hist, of Wyoming, p. 200). But our own little State was the theatre on which is written in ineffaceable lines the hero- ism of our ancestors, not only men, but women. The son of an Irish emigrant, James E. Kelly, the sculptor, a genius whose name is little known in our day, but is destined to be ranked among the masters when future generations will think less of pelf and more of art, has carved in eternal bronze, on the battle- field of Monmouth, the heroism of the Irish lass — Molly Pitcher, or, before her marriage, plain Mary McCauley. Of her Lossing
44
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
says: "She was a sturdy young camp-follower, only twenty-two years of age, and in devotion to her husband, who was a cannoneer, she illustrated the character of her countrywomen of the Emerald Isle. In the battle of Monmouth, while her husband was man- aging one of the field-pieces, she constantly brought him water from a spring near by. (The day was intensely hot.) A shot from the enemy killed him at his post ; and the officer in com- mand, having no one competent to fill the place, ordered the piece to be withdrawn. Molly saw her husband fall as she came from the spring, and also heard the order. She dropped her bucket, seized the rammer, and vowed she would fill the place of her hus- band at the gun and avenge his death. She performed the duty with a skill and courage which attracted the attention of all who saw her. On the following morning, covered with dirt and blood, General Greene presented her to General Washington, who, admiring her bravery, conferred upon her the com- mission of sergeant " {Field Book of the Rcvolutioii).
She is described as "a stout, red-haired, freckled- faced young Irish woman, with a handsome, piercing eye."
On this same battlefield, a son of an Irish Catholic father and mother distinguished himself, and the story deserves to be told.
Somewhere in 1750 a young couple who belonged to rival families were the actors in a runaway match, and immediately em- barked for Philadelphia.
The young man, whose name was John Mullowney, invested his money in a few ships, and carried on a lively and lucrative trade between Philadelphia and various foreign ports. Six chil- dren were born to the Mullowneys, all of whom died in their infancy. The seventh child, a son, was robust, and filled his father's heart, who gave him his own name, with great hopes. The Revolution broke out when the boy was eight years old, and his father at once espoused the cause of the patriots.
At this time, their pastor, a Catholic priest, visited the family, and urged that young John be dedicated to the priesthood, and
MOLLY PITCHER AT THE BATTLE OF
MONMOUTH.
(Tablet on Princeton Monument by J. E
Kelly.)
IN NEW JERSEY 45
that his preHminary studies begin at once. In the privacy of their chamber the proposition of the priest was earnestly discussed by the anxious father and mother, and the boy, who slept in an adjoining room, overheard all that was said with bated breath. In the early dawn of the next day he put into execution a sudden im- pulse to flee beyond the power of priest and parents. Dressing himself hastil}', he stole away from his luxurious home, and thr jugh difficulties which might have chilled the enthusiasm of a strong man (for Philadelphia was then in possession of the Brit- ish), reached Washington's army, near Germantown.
He arrived, it is said, at his ilestination, with bleeding feet and ragged clothes, thoroughly beaten out with exhaustion and hunger. He stoutly maintained that he wanted to share a soldier's life, adding that he knew how to "drum." So a drummer boy he be- came, not as John Mullowney, but, with a wisdom beyond his years, under an assumed name. In the following summer came the battle of Monmouth. At a certain point in this hotly con- tested battle, a scjuad of infantry was ordered to hold a vital point upon which the enemy was marching. The redcoats charged furiously and the Americans gave way, whereupon John seized his drumsticks and pounded out " Yankee Doodle " with so much spirit and force that the retreating Continentals took heart, returned to the charge, dro\'e off the British, and held the stategi- cal position to the end of the battle. A few weeks after the tire- less search of the father for the truant was rewarded. John was recognized by a birthmark on the right shoulder, but his plead- ings, united with those of the officers, prevailed, and the parental consent was reluctantly given. John remained with the army until peace was declared. He then entered the navy, and ren- dered efficient services in the war of 181 2 and in the capture of slavers. Not only did he rescue the poor Africans, but placed them in good homes in Philadelphia and adjacent cities. On his retirement from the na\'y. Captain Mullowney was made consul to Tangier by President Monroe, a difficult post, in which he maintained the honor and dignity of our country for seven years. Many years afterward his daughter visited a grizzled veteran, more than ninety years of age, and asking him if he remembered John Mullowney, he exclaimed : " Remember John Mullowney ! That I do; he was just a slip of a lad when he used to beat that old drum." At the battle of Princeton scores of the Pennsylvania line shed their blood, defending Princeton Seminary, the strong- hold of Presbyterianism in New Jersey.
46 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
Another of our faith deserves mention in this connection :
Patrick Colvin was the only CathoHc hving in Trenton at the time of the Revohition. He sheltered Father Farmer and often ferried him across the Delaware on his semi-annual visitation of his scattered Catholic flock in New Jersey.
Colvin, a Catholic, and McConkey, an Irish Presbyterian, furnished the boats which transported Washington and his army across the Delaware on that bitter cold Christmas night, 1776, and thus enabled him to win the battle of Trenton on the 26th. When the Father of his Country journeyed to New York to be inaugurated President of the republic he had fought to make, it was Patrick Colvin who took charge of the presidential party and personally ferried them across the river.
The Trenton Monument Association selected a site but a few paces from Father Farmer's headquarters when visiting that city.
As New Jersey was the battle ground of the great conflict of the Revolution, the number of Catholics at various times in the State must have run into the thousands. With the troops priests have doubtless traversed the State. We read of the presence of one, the Rev. Seraphin Bandol, who was sent from Philadelphia to Morristown in April, 1780, to administer the last sacraments to a distinguished Spanish nobleman, then a guest of Washington. Don Juan de Miralles, a Spanish agent, arrived in camp, April 19th, 1780, accompanied by the Chevalier de la Luzerne, Minister of France, and was almost immediately stricken down with pul- monary trouble, which ended fatally on the 28th. The chaplain of the French Ambassador, the Rev. Seraphin Bandol, hurried on from Philadelphia and administered the last sacraments to the dying Spaniard in the Ford house, now Washington's head- quarters.
It was by P'ather Bandol, very probably, that the holy Sacrifice of the Mass was first offered in Morristown, and most likely in headquarters, where Washington then lived.
The journal of Dr. James Thatcher, surgeon to the Revolu- tionary army, contains a very graphic account of this the first pub- lic Catholic funeral in Morristown:
"29th April, 1780.- — I accompanied Dr. Schuyler to headquar- ters to attend the funeral of M. de Miralles. The deceased was a gentleman of high rank in Spain, and had been about one year resident with our congress from the Spanish court. The corpse was dressed in a rich state and exposed to public view, as is custo- mary in Europe. The coffin was most splendid and stately, lined
IN NEW JERSEY 47
throughout with fine cambric, and covered on the outside with rich black velvet and ornamented in a superb manner. The top of the cofifin was removed to display the pomp and grandeur with which the body was decorated. It was in a splendid full dress, consisting of a scarlet suit, embroidered with rich gold lace, a three-cornered gold-laced hat, and a genteel cued wig, white silk stockings, large diamond shoe and knee buckles ; a profusion of diamond rings decorated the fingers, and from a superb gold watch, set with diamonds, several rich seals were suspended. His Excellency, General Washington, with several other general offi- cers and members of Congress, attended the funeral solemnities and walked as chief mourners. The other officers of the army, and numerous respectable citizens, formed a splendid procession, extending about a mile. The pall-bearers were six field-officers, and the coffin was borne on the shoulders of four officers of artil- lery in full uniform. Minute guns were fired during the proces- sion, which greatly increased the solemnity of the occasion. A Spanish priest performed service at the grave in the Roman Cath- olic form. The coffin was enclosed in a box of plank, and all the profusion of pomp and grandeur were deposited in the silent grave in the common burying-ground, near the church at Morristown. A guard is placed at the grave lest our soldiers should be tempted to dig for hidden treasure. It is understood that the corpse is to be removed to Philadelphia. This gentleman is said to have been possessed of an immense fortune, and has left to his three daughters one hundred thousand pounds sterling each. Here we behold the end of all earthly riches, pomp, and dignity. The ashes of Don de Miralles mingle with the remains of those who are clothed in humble shrouds, and whose career in life was marked with sordid poverty and wretchedness" (p. 193).
The body of this distinguished nobleman was exhumed and sent to Spain, but in what year the most careful investigation has failed to ascertain.
In Morristown, also, was the first official recognition of St. Patrick's day, as will appear from the following order, copied from the order book still preserved at Washington's headquarters :
MoRRiSTOWx, N. J., March i6th, 1780.
The adjutants are desired not to detail for duty to-morrow any of the Sons of St. Patrick. On the 17th the parole is "Saints," the countersign " Patrick " and " Sheelah."
Marbois, the charge at Philadelphia, writing to Vergennes,
48 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
March 25th, 1785, gives the number of CathoHcs in New York and New Jersey as 1,700 (Bancroft's Hist. Form, of Constit., i., 420). If this estimate be approximately correct, it is more than Hkely that the greater part was in New Jersey {Am. CatJi. Hist. Researches,'' April, 1888).
Be this as it ma}^, no attempt was made at that time by the Catholics to build a church ; but we find the Catholics of New York City obtaining an act of incorporation from the legislature of the State in 1785. Much earlier, however, 1763, 1765, 1767, 1768, and as late as 1786, Father Farmer had gathered together the little flock and offered for them the consolations of religion. It is true he entered the city by stealth and in disguise, for the odious proscriptive law of 1700 was still not repealed. It is known that he offered the holy Sacrifice in the house of Don Thomas Stoughton, the Spanish consul, and also in that of Don Diego de Gardequi, the Spanish ambassador. A Capucin Father, the Rev. Charles Whelan, a chaplain in De Grasse's fleet, resigned in order to devote himself to the little band of Catholics in New York City and near by. Of him Archbishop Bayley writes: " Father Whelan was the first regularly settled priest in the diocese of New York. He found only twenty communicants in the city, but " plenty of growlers." During his pastorate the trustees pur- chased from the trustees of Trinity Church the site of the present St. Peter's, and erected a church. There were then about two hundred Catholics in New York. Father Whelan was more at home in French than he was in English, and gave little satisfac- tion as a pulpit orator ; so, when a rival appeared, more gifted with eloquence and intrigue, the Rev. Andrew Nugent, O. M. Cap., good Father Whelan had to retire, and died in Maryland, 1809.
On the 4th day of November, 1786, the first Catholic church, and the thirteenth of any denomination, was opened for divine service, and Mass was publicly celebrated in presence of a large congregation of persons of different religious belief. A second charter was obtained in 1787. Among the first Catholics of the future great Catholic city are found the names of Sieur de St. Jean de Crevecoeux, consul of France ; Don Diego de Gardequi, plenipotentiary of Spain; Jose Roiz Silva; Thomas Stoughton, consul of Spain ; Dominick Lynch, James Stewart, Henry Duffin, Andrew Morris, Gibbon Burke, Charles Naylor, William Bryson, William Mooney, George Barnwell, John Sulliv^an.
In 1788 the Rev. William O'Brien succeeded Father Nugent as pastor, and continued until May 14th, 1816, when God called
IN NEW JERSEY
49
him to his reward. His remains are interred lieneath the church.
An examination of tlie structure, April 8th, 1836, revealed its unsafe condition, and, June 5th, it was determined by the pastor and trustees to rebuild it. Mass was celebrated for the last time in the old church August 28th, 1836. The corner-stone of the new church was laid by Bishop Dubois, October 26th, 1836, as- sisted by the Very Rev. John Power, who delivered an e.Kcellent address on the occasion. On the first Sunday of September,
1837, mass was celebrated in the basement; and February 25th,
1838, it was solemnly dedicated by Bishop Hughes. The Very Rev. Father Power preached a most eloquent sermon to an audience of more than four thousand persons, who thronged the sacred edifice from pew to organ-loft.
The French refugees from the revolution and the insur- rections in Martinique, Guad- eloupe, and San Domingo set- tled in considerable numbers in Elizabeth and along the highway from that town to Bottle Hill, now Madison. Thither came the Van Schalk- wick Beauplands, the Boisau- bins. Cornet de St. Cyr, Blan- chets, Lavielle Duberceau, and Thebauds. The Beauplands were descended partly from the Dutch Van Schalkwick, who, expelled from Holland for harboring Catholics, was excluded from Mar- tinique because, coming from an heretical countr}', he was not regarded as orthodox in faith, and was obliged to proceed further and settle in the more hospitable island of Guadeloupe. He was accompanied in his wanderings by a French relative, a married woman, who, although only thirty years of age, was at that time the mother of thirty-one children. This matron would certainly de- serve an honorable mention from our present distinguished chief executi\e. The Rev. Peter Vianney, an assistant in St. Peter's, 1804-09, it is said, celebrated the first Mass in Madison in the home of Mr. Lavielle Duberceau, whose house was for a long time 4
VERY REV. JOHN POWER, D.D.,
Pastor of St. Peter's Church, Barclay- Street, New York. (1819-1849.)
50
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
the only sanctuary in that portion of the State. A certain Father Tissorant remained with the CathoHcs in EUzabeth from 1805 to 1806. The Rev. John S. Tissorant was simply on a visit to this country, and in his zeal he determined to give his services tempo- rarily to his compatriots in Elizabeth. Bishop Cheverus says " he was a most amiable and respectable man," "equally conspicuous," adds Dr. White, "for his learning and piety." In or about 1795, several French families from Belgium and the West Indies set- tled in Princeton, and bought farms in and around Cedar Grove and Cherry Valley. They were men of character, intelligence, and refinement, some of them men of wealth, and others had occupied posi- tions of prominence in their own country. It is doubtful if some were Huguenots, and certain that most, if not all, were Catholics. Among their names were Viennet, L' Hom- me, Tulane, Joubert, Boissinot, Pothier, Lejoy, Ancellein, Hurage, Teisseirs, St. John, St. Louis, Malou, La Rue, Chielon, Bona, and, strangest of all, the Rev. Anthony Smith, whose grave is in the Presbyterian cemetery. He evidently accompanied these families in their exile, which was not at all unusual. Among them one demands our atten- tion. Pierre Malou, a general in the army of the Belgians, resident in Princeton, 1795-99, purchased five hundred acres of land in Cherry Valley, three miles from Princeton, and erected a mansion whose magnificence is still a tradition among Prince- tonians. There was a chapel attached to the house, with altar, stations of the cross, etc., etc. He returned to Europe for the purpose of bringing his wife and two sons to their new home ; but, on the voyage back to America, his wife was stricken with a mortal illness and died before reaching port. He sold his property in Cherry Valley, returned again to Belgium, disposed of
OLD ST. PETER'S CHURCH, Barclay Street, New York Citj'.
IN NEW JERSEY 51
all his possessions, and journeyed to Russia, where, finding" a house of Jesuit fathers, he entered under an assumed name as a lay brother. One day some visitors were walking through the gardens, and one of them, an ex-officer, recognizing his old general laboring among the flowers in the garb of a Jesuit brother, ga\-e him the military salute. The fathers were astonished, and the more so when, on returning to the house, he told them the history of their distinguished subject. He was transferred at once, and took up the study of theology, and in time he was raised to the priesthood.
In the beginning of the nineteenth century the Jesuit Fathers opened a school on the corner of Fiftieth Street and Fifth Ave- nue— a portion of the present site of St. Patrick's Cathedral — which was called the New York Literary Institution. Father Pierre Malou was one of the staff. But, after a time, his health broke down, and as it was thought that there was no prospect of his recovery and that he would be a burden to the community, efforts were made to induce him to return to Europe. This he refused to do.
Father Malou afterward left the societ}-, and was attached to St. Peter's. He visited Madison, and was the first priest to reside there permanently, living upstairs in the old frame rectory, the lower apartments of w^hich were used as a church. He was a lo\-able character, and idolized b)' the children, to whom, when they were \ery good, he would show a miniature of his children. Cardinal McCloske}', who was in his catechism class, used to say that the children often marvelled how he, as a priest, could have children.
One of his sons was John Baptist Malou, a senator of Belgium ; and of his grandsons one was Minister of Finance, and another John Baptist Malou, bishop of Bruges.
Father Malou died in New York, October 13th, 1827, and is buried under St. Peter's Church.
Of Father Anthony Smith there does not appear to be a single record, and the fact that he is mentioned here is due to the cour- tesy of the Rev. Robert E. Burke, the present pastor of the University town. Over his grave is a stone, which bears the fol- lowing inscription :
IN MEMORY
OF THE
REVEREND ANTHONY SCHMIT
WHO DIED
ON THE 12TH OF FEBRUARY. 1S07. Aged 75.
52 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
The Formative Period.
The various industries opening up in different parts of the State of New Jersey invited skilled artisans to leave the scenes of conflict and carnage in their own country to settle in the new land where they might live with their families in peace and security. Before the middle of the eighteenth century glass-works were opened near Salem, N. J., and a number of German Catholics were among those employed. Thus was Father Schneider induced to run the risk of arrest and visit them in August, 1743. He was skilled in the art of healing, and, in the guise of a physician, he was able to exercise his priestly ministry. He celebrated holy Mass in the home of Maurice Lorentz, and in the month of Octo- ber, 1743, at the Glass Home, about ten miles from Salem. The next year he repeated his visits, and in the month of June admin- istered baptism in the house of Matthew Geiger. This name occurs frequently in the records of Father Farmer, and this house for nearly half a century was the rallying point of the Catholics in South Jersey.
In the northern part of the State the iron industry was begin- ning to attract the attention of capital, and laborers began to flock thitherward from Pennsylvania about 1750.
"The Irish and the Scotch-Irish came into Warren County, and many of them early worked their way into Sussex. . . . As travel increased, taverns became a necessity, and within six years after the county seat was fixed at Newton (by act of 1753), a tract of land of three-tenths of an acre at the northwest corner of the green was conveyed by Jonathan Hampton to Martin Delaney, evidently for a tavern, and a public house was kept on that spot until within the last fifty years.
William Kirby, a deserter from the British army during the French and Indian War, passed through Sussex County in 1762, stopping at Sussex Court House, where he sold a pair of stock- ings for seven shillings. "There," he says, "we bought a bottle of rum, and on our march we met an old woman and gave her a dram." He went from the Andover Mine to Ringwood.
He tells how the men tried to cheat each other. The wood chopper piled his wood so as to cheat the collier. The collier put his charcoal into baskets in such a manner as to deceive the iron master; and the iron master, not to be outdone, sold his provisions to the men at an extortionate price. As a consequence,
IN NKW JERSEY 53
" when they had worked six months, if they had anything coming, they ma)' perhaps get a few rags to cover their nakedness at a very dear price, but as for money they will get none though they have ever so much need of it." '
From 1750 to 1772 we find mines and furnaces in operation at Mount Pleasant, Denmark, Dickerson Mine, Mount Hope, White Meadow, Ringwood, Greenwood Lake, Hibernia, and Dover. These, doubtless, brought a number of Irish and Ger- man Catholics, who formed the little flocks so faithfully attended by Father Farmer.
July 3d, 1776, the Provincial Council of New Jersey asked the Committee of Public Safety of Philadelphia to send troops to Mon- mouth Court House to check the Tories and defend the approaches to Staten Island.
Three battalions, although ill-equipped and uniformed, were ordered there in reply to this appeal. The women of Philadelphia hastened to prepare lint and bandages, awnings and sails were made into tents, and clockweights were cast into bullets. Thomas Fitzsimmons was captain of the Third company, composed almost entirely of Irish and Catholics. Their tour of duty brought them to Elizabeth, Woodbridge, and vicinity. In December, 1776, they were at Trenton, and on the twent)--eighth of the same month they were in Burlington, where some of them have taken care to record that they were regaled with mince pies. In January, 1777, they arrived and were encamped on the Jockey Hollow road near Morristown. Thomas Fitzsimmons was not only an ardent patriot, but a man of exceptional ability. With Alexander Hamilton he was associated in establishing the financial policy of our government, and he is acknowledged by both Madison and Webster to be the father of that political principle and dogma of the present Repub- lican party known as the "protection of American industry."
When P'ather Farmer visited the little flock in New York he not only administered to them spiritually the consolations of relig- ion, but it is beyond doubt that he built for them a church some time before the Revolution. Its exact location is not known, and it was swept away by the conflagration which followed the evacua- tion of the city by the Continental troops, after their crushing defeat by the British at the battle of Brooklyn. In 1787, Bishop Carroll, then the very reverend Prefect, appointed the Rev. William O'Brien, a Dominican, pastor of St. Peter's Church, New York,
'"Semicentennial Address of Judge Swayze," Newton, N. J., Sept. 2d, 1903.
54 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
and of him it is said " that he had ah-eady done parochial work in New Jersey."
Just where he labored is not known, but no doubt he visited the field which the intrepid Father Farmer had culti- vated with so much labor and in the face of so many perils and dangers.
The large share Catholics had in the formation of the republic and in wresting from a powerful nation their liberties cannot be gainsaid. Still, with the dawning of a new order of things, our coreligionists did not reap the immediate fruits of religious equal- ity, or the full measure of the reward which their sacrifices seemed to deserve.
In 1788, in a pamphlet entitled Rcviaj-ks on the Origin of Govenuncnt and on Religions Liberty, ascribed to Governor Livingston, in speaking of liberty of conscience and contrasting the prevailing condition in our State " with the spiritual tyranny in England," the writer goes on to say " how beautiful appears our Catholic Constitution (of New Jersey) in disclaiming all jurisdic- tion over the souls of men," "that no Protestant inhabitant of this State shall be denied the enjoyment of any civil right merely on account of his religious principles," and that "all persons profess- ing a belief in the faith of any Protestant sect shall be capable of being elected to any office of trust or profit, or being members of either branch of the legislature." These sentiments drew forth from the well-known Catholic publisher of Philadelphia, Matthew Carey, a reply in which he said : " This clause falls far short of the divine spirit of toleration and benevolence that pervades the American Constitution: 'Every Protestant is eligible to any office of profit or trust.' Are Protestants, then, thereby capable or upright men in the State ? Is not the Roman Catholic thereby disqualified } Why so 1 Will not every argument in defence of exclusion tend to justify the intolerance and persecution of Eu- rope } " ' And later on he voiced the indignation of his church- men in a spirited protest, which appeared in the General Adver- tiser. " The greatest wonder of all is that at the close of the eighteenth century, among the enlightened, tolerant, and liberal Protestants of America, at the very instant when the American soil was drinking up the best blood of Catholics, shed in defence of her freedom, when the Gallic flag was flying in her ports and the Gallic soldiers fighting her battles, then were constitutions framed
' A;jierican Ahiscitiiu vol. iv.
IN NEW JERSEY 55
in several States degrading those very Catholics and excluding them from certain offices. O Shame ! where is thy blush ? O Gratitude ! if thou hast a tear, let it fall to deplore this indelible stigma ! " ' When the convention met at Philadelphia in May, 1787, to amend the articles of confederation and to draft our present Constitution, the question of religion did not come up until the sixth article was reached. Charles Pinckne}', of South Carolina, proposed that a clause should be introduced preventing any religious test. North Carolina was the only State that voted against it. When the people were called upon to appro\-e the Con- stitution, New York, strongly anti-Catholic in its organic law, reluctantly approved it; Rhode Island and North Carolina, where Catholics were practically unknown, rejected it absolutely. It has been charged that Catholics were instrumental in having enacted the First Amendment to the Constitution: Congress shall make no law establishing religion, or to prevent the free exercise thereof, or to infringe the rights of conscience. There is not the slightest proof for any such contention. Dr. Schaff says: "The credit of the Amendment is due to the first Congress, which proposed it, and to the conventions of the States of New York, Virginia, North Carolina, New Hampshire, and the minority of Pennsylvania, all of which suggested it, directly or indirectly, in substantially the same language." ° Of it Bishop Spalding writes : " There is no foundation, we think, for the opinion which we have sometimes heard, that the First Amendment to the Constitution was intended as a tardy act of justice to the Catholics in the United States, in gratitude for their conduct during the war, and for the aid of Catholic France. It, in fact, made no change in the position of the Catholics, whom it left to the mercy of the differ- ent States, precisely as they had been in the colonial era. Various causes were, however, at work, which by modifying the attitude of the States toward religion tended also to give greater freedom to the Catholic Church. The first of these was the rise of what may be called the secular theory of government, whose great ex- ponent, Thomas Jefferson, had received his political opinions from the French philosophers of the eighteenth century. The State, according to this theor}', is a purely political organism, and is not in any w^ay concerned with religion ; and this soon came to be the prevailing sentiment in the Democratic party, whose acknowl- edged leader Jefferson was, which may explain why the great mass
1 1792. ^ The C/nirr/i and State in the United States^ ii., 4.
56 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
of the Catholics in this country have ahvays voted with this party." '
CathoHcs have many times since the foundation of the repub- Hc been made to feel the sting of ingratitude, but they have alvva)s found among them a skilful pen or an eloquent voice to resent it.
"Tell me not, in the beautiful fiction of the poet, of the Pil- grims of Massachusetts :
"' They left untouched what here they found, Freedom to worship God ! '
Tell me not of the liberal principles of Roger Williams, under whose rule of nearly a half century at Providence the Rhode Island ordinance excluded the Catholic from the franchises of his own asylum from Puritan persecution ! Tell me not of the char- ity of Penn, who could rebuke his officers for toleration of the Catholic worship ! . . . While the Puritan of the East was perse- cuting the Catholic, the churchman, the Antinonian, the Baptist, and the harmless Quaker ; while Winthrop was recording his dis- content at the ' open setting up of the mass in Maryland ' ; and the law-established church in Virginia was wielding the scourge of universal proscription — the Catholic of Maryland alone was found to open wide his door to the sufferer of every persuasion, in the sentiment of the sweetest, the all but inspired poet of antiquity, has ascribed to the injured Dido:
"' Myself an exile in a world unknown, I learn to pity woes so like my own ! '
"The firmness of the sons of Maryland, marshalled by a Small- wood, a William, a Gist, a Howard, or a Smith, under every aspect of danger and every form of privation, from the frozen plains of Valley Forge to the svveltry high hills of Santee — while their bones were whitening every field of Revolutionary glory or her dashing Barney was guiding them to victory on the ocean ! The talent, the learning, the patriotism of her Chases, her Martins, her Dulaneys and Pinckneys, or the Wirts and Harpers whom adoption has made her own, these and the thousand incidents that illustrate them must be told by a more eloquent tongue than mine.
" But there was one on whose lustrous character even I may venture with friendship's privilege to dwell. I need not name that venerable model of the Christian, patriot, and gentleman, the
' Catholic Church in United States, 1 776-1876, p. 23.
IN NEW JERSEY 57
relative of the first American archbishop, and his associate in the estabhshment and support of American Hberty. I need not name the ardent youth, who, at a time when his rehgion disfranchised him in his native province, engaged with all the energies of a vig- orous and accomplished mind in successful conflict with the legal dictator of his age, for the violated rights of that very country. I need not name the man who threw into the scale, where the pa- triots of '76 staked ' life and fortune and sacred honor,' more brilliant earthly expectations than all perhaps beside him; and who lingered among us, an exemplar of their virtues, till the whole immortal band had passed away. He lived till the controversial title of ' first citizen,' by which the early gratitude of his admir- ing patriots addressed him, was literally realized. Even he so much his junior, like whom
"' This earth that bears him dead
Bears not alive so stout a gentleman,'
the hero ' of Cowpens and Eutaw, who nourished witlT his blood the tree of liberty that Carroll's " hand had helped to plant, and who upheld it, with strong arm and unwavering heart, when shaken rudest by the storm of war, the pride of the Maryland line had struck his tent, and gone forth on his march of eternity, and the survivor of the Declaration of Independence was without a
peer.
"' He lived, till age his brow with snows
Had crowned, — but, like the Syrian hill, Amid the waste of life he rose, And verdure clasped his bosom still.' "
(Speech of William G. Read, Esq., at first Commemoration of the landing of the Maryland Pilgrims.)
To James Madison more than to any of the early statemen be- longs the credit of removing religious disabilities. An attempt was made in the Virginia legislature, in 1784, to lay a tax upon the people " for the support of teachers of the Christian religion." Madison saw the danger which lurked behind this attempt to erect a state church. He wrote a Memorial and Rcmojist ranee, set- ting forth its dangerous character, and labored industriously to obtain signatures for it. In the election of 1785 the question of religious freedom was the issue.
' John Eager Howard, died October 12th, 1827.
'■* Charles Carroll, of Carrolton, died November 14th, 1832,
58 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
The odious bill was defeated, and in its stead was enacted " that no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any relig- ious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burdened in his body or in his goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or be- lief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities." '
It was, indeed, becoming that Virginia, with its hideous past of religious proscription, should be the standard-bearer of religious equality in the States.
To be done with this painful question of intolerance, suffice it to say that not until 1 844 was the clause excluding Catholics from office in New Jersey abolished.
Among the first converts in this State, if not the very first, was the Rev. Calvin White, who from 1791 to 1795 was pastor of the first Presbyterian church built in Morris County, at Whippany, in 171 8. After " exercising a useful ministry of four years " in this congregation he resigned and attached himself to the Episco- pal Church, becoming eventually rector of St. James's parish, Derby, Conn. Although he became a Catholic he did not enter the priesthood, but by his edifying life and intelligent grasp of the teachings of the Catholic Church was a veritable confessor of the faith in Connecticut. He was a Tory and just escaped hanging at the hands of a mob, because he refused to shout " property and liberty." It is said that he was first led to examine the doctrines of the Catholic Church by the correct life and intelligence of an old Catholic soldier in the Continental army. He was the grand- father of Richard Grant White, the distinguished art, literary, and dramatic critic. He died in Derby, Conn., March 28th, 1853, in his ninetieth year, fortified by the sacraments of holy Church. Much of the progress of Catholicity in Connecticut was due to his efforts and example.
The yellow fever in Philadelphia, in 1793, and the massacre of San Domingo filled the little town of Mount Holly with a surplus population, many of whom were Catholics. The gaiety and volu- bility of the P"rench imparted a lively tone to the little community, in strong contrast to the staid, sober, but no less happy Quakers. About this time Stephen Girard, "famous for his riches and gifts," landed at Egg Harbor, came across the country on a ped-
' Fiske's Essays, History and Literature, i., 194.
IN NEW JERSEY 59
dling tour, and took up his residence in the village. He lived in Mills Street, where he opened a cigar store, and sold raisins, by the penny's worth, to the children. He is said to have been "a little unnoticed man, save that the beauty of his wife, whom he married there, worried and alienated his mind."
In 1793, September 19th, we find the last record of Father Graessl, "the worthy bishop elect," who celebrated the marriage of Julia Vinyard to John Philip Seeholzer at Charlottenburg.
In 1795 there came to our State a man of brilliant mind, a dis- tant relative of Archbishop Carroll, a member of the Society of Jesus until its dissolution by Clement XIV, but an apostate from the faith after twenty years in the ecclesiastical state. The Rev. Charles Henry Wharton, D.D., became principal of an academy in Burlington, N. J., and three years later became rector of St. Mary's Episcopal Church, a position he held thirty-five years. He was twice married, but he had no children. He died at Bur- lington in his eighty-sixth year.
" The great lights of the Church of Rome he regarded with unaffected reverence. Of Archbishop Carroll, his antagonist in controversy, as he was his kinsman in the flesh, he spoke to the very last with warm affection. 'It was a remarkable trait in his character,' says Bishop White, 'that from the beginning to the end of my acquaintance with him, he was a decided advocate of Jesuits, with the exception of the tenets of the Roman Catholic creed' " ( Wharton's Remains, G. W. Doane, i., 66).
It is said of him that when a servant of his household was stricken with a mortal illness, and realizing the impossibility of getting a priest from Philadelphia, for she was a Catholic, Wharton said to her, " Although I am a parson, I am also a Catholic priest, and can give you absolution in jv;//' case." She made her confes- sion to him, and he absolved her, thus giving her that little com- fort before she died. Wharton's nephew, a good Catholic and a magistrate in W^ashington, is responsible for this story.
Not long after Bishop Carroll returned from England, where he had been consecrated, to take possession of his vast see, De- cember, 1790, there came to this country a priest, who as an officer under Rochambeau had taken part in the struggle for our inde- pendence, the Rev. John Rosseter. On his return to his country with the French forces he entered the Augustinian order, but his eyes turned toward the country he had helped to free, and his heart thirsted for other victories more glorious and more stable — the conquest of souls.
6o THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
Bishop Carroll gave him a warm welcome, and located him about thirty miles from Philadelphia, probably at Wilmington, Del. In 1795 he was joined by the Rev. Matthew Carr, from St. Augustine's Convent, John Street, Dublin, whose purpose in coming was to found a house of the Hermits of St. Augustine.
In 1796 the Augustinian Fathers secured a site on Fourth Street, below Vine, in Philadelphia, and immediately started to collect funds to build a church. Washington and many other Protestants were among the contributors.
By an indult granted May 27th, 1797, they were given the necessary authority to establish convents of their order in the United States.
After the death of Father Farmer, the Augustinians took up missionary work in New Jersey, and the Catholics of this State must ever hold the members of this order in grateful remem- brance. Among the missions founded by them in the early part of the nineteenth century were Cape May Island, x'isited about 1803 by the Rev. M Hurley; Trenton, by the Rev. Dr Matthew Carr in 1805 ; and Paterson, first visited by the Rev. Philip Lariscy about 1 82 1.
This brings our narrative to the establishment of the first regular Catholic parish in the State of New Jersey, and this credit belongs to Trenton.
Sacred Heart, Trenton,
Formerly, St. John's Parish. 1799-1899.
It is impossible to say when Mass was first said in this city. Dr. John Gilmary Shea, in his History of the CatJwlic CJinrcJi in the United States, writes that in October, 1799, Rev. D. Boury, a Catholic priest from Philadelphia, officiated in Trenton. Bishop Carroll, of Baltimore, in a letter dated September 8th, 1 803, wrote that he was called to Trenton because of some trouble that had arisen in the congregation. "Next Monday, 12th, I will leave this place (Philadelphia) for the neighborhood of New York. The devil is always busy to raise obstacles in my way. He or his agent has made a disturbance at Trenton, where I did not expect any business, which will perhaps cause me some delay — so that I expect to cross Hobuck ferry before Wednesday." (Letter of Bishop Carroll to Jas. Barry, Esq., N. Y., September 8th, 1803.) In the following year, 1804, services were held in the printing-
IN NEW JERSEY
6i
office of Isaac Collins, which stood on the corner of Broad and State streets, but then called Queen and Second streets. From the year 1811 to 1814, Mass was said at intervals in the house of John D. Sartori, a Catholic gentleman, who lived on Federal Street. The priests who officiated were Fathers Carr and Hurley, of St. Augustine's Church, Philadelphia, and the Dominican Father, Rev. William Vincent Harold, also of Philadelphia. In 1 814 Mr. Sartori, Capt. John Hargous, and some other Catholic gentlemen, with the approval of Rt. Rev. Michael Eagan, Bishop of Philadelphia, purchased ground at the corner of Market and Lam her ton streets, and erect- ed thereon a small brick church, which was dedicated by Bishop Eagan, in the same year, and called St. Francis'. It was attended, more or less regularly, by priests from Phil- adelphia until about 1830, when Father Geoghen became its first resident pastor. He remained about two years, when on account of failing health he was obliged to give up the parish. Between that time and 1 844, when the Rev. John P. Mackin took charge, the parish had no less than seven different pastors.
Father Mackin, finding his church too small for the growing congregation, bought, in 1844, ground on Broad Street, the site of the present Sacred Heart Church, and erected quite a large brick church, which was dedi- cated to St. John the Baptist. The congregation increased so rapidly that it soon outgrew the capacity of this church, which in 1853 was considerably enlarged. Father Mackin continued to labor faithfully for the good of the parish until, his health failing", he was obliged to suspend his labors and go abroad. Dur- ing his absence Fathers O'Donnell and Young, in succession, had charge of the parish. In May, 1861, Rev. Anthony Smith, who was afterward to become so important a factor in the religious and secular life of Trenton, was appointed pastor of St. John's. In the following year he opened an orphan asylum
REV. JOHN MACKIN, Pastor of St. John's Church. (1843-1873.)
62 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
on Broad Street, and brought the first Sisters of Charity to Trenton.
When the Rev. Anthony Smith, in January, 1871, resigned St. John's parish to assume charge of St. Mary's, he was suc- ceeded by Father Mackin, who some years before had been pastor of St. John's, but was compelled to leave on account of ill health. Father Mackin died March, 1873, and Rev. Patrick Byrne was appointed his successor. Father Byrne saw at once the necessity of better school accommodations for the children, and in 1874 began the erection of St. John's school on Lamberton Street. This is a large brick building with sixteen rooms and a large hall on the top floor. The Sisters' house adjoins the school. After five years' zealous and successful labor. Father Byrne resigned charge of the parish and was succeeded by the present rector. Rev. Thaddeus Hogan, in the autumn of 1878. On Sunday even- ing, September 30th, 1883, St. John's Church was destroyed by fire. Father Hogan began immediately to prepare plans for a new church to be erected on the same site. The corner-stone was laid while Bishop O'Farrell was in Rome on his visit ad liniina on August 3d, 1884, by Bishop Shanahan, of Harrisburg, Pa. It was nearly five years in the course of erection, and was solemnly dedicated, on June 30th, 1889, by Bishop O'Farrell. This was a notable occasion ; Archbishop Ryan, of Philadelphia, celebrated pontifical mass, and Archbishop Corrigan, of New York, preached the sermon. The new church was called the Sacred Heart, and while it could not have been dedicated to an object more holy, many people regretted that the old name St. John's was not retained. The church is a massive stone structure in the Roman style of architecture, with two dome-shaped towers in front. The interior decorations and furnishings are in keeping with the building. The altars are made of white marble and onyx. Besides the church proper, there is a large basement which is used for week-day services. The stone rectory and club house were also built by Father Hogan. These grand structures are an evidence of P'ather Hogan's zeal and activity. The population of the parish is about three thousand, and the number of pupils in the school about four hundred and fifty.
Allusion has frequently been made to the causes which brought so many French to different parts of the United States and to so many localities in our own State. The French settlement at Madison, formerly Bottle Hill, was important not only in point of numbers, but on account of their wealth, lineage, and refinement.
IN NEW JERSEY 63
The Rev. Peter Vianncy, stationed at St. Peter's, New York, 1804-09, is said to have celebrated the first Mass in the house of Lavielle Duberceau, and for some time it continued to be cele- brated there and in the old academy which stood on the corner of the Convent Road and Ridgedale Avenue.
P'athers Vianney, Malou, Powers, Kohlman, Bulger Donohue, from Paterson attended successively to the needs of this little mission.
It is related of Pather Power that once on his way to Madi- son, after having landed at Elizabeth, the carriage which was to have conve)ed him to Bottle Hill broke down, and he was con- strained to accept the invitation of a passing farmer to ride into the village, seated on a load of hogs.
In 1789, Washington, then occupying the presidential chair, by a proclamation ordered Thiu'sday, November 26th, to be ob- served for the first time by the citizens of our country as a day of thanksgiving, in these noble and memorable words : " I recom- mend and assign this day to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be, that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation, . . . for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed." He prays " God to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue."
We are straying far afield from these lofty principles, built on the only solid foundation which can afford permanency to the cause for which the Eather of his Country fought and pleaded.
The visit of Bishop Carroll, before alluded to, brings to our notice two important cities in our diocese hardly distinguishable in their ancient vocable. " I am advised to go to Hoebuck's ferry, two miles above Powles' hook, to cross over in a boat always ready to the wharf of the new state prison " (Letter of Archbishop Carroll to James Barry, August 25th, 1803).
Hoebuck's ferry has developed into Hoboken, and Powles' hook has become our important seaboard mart — Jersey City.
The steady growth of Catholicity made it necessary for Bishop Carroll to apply to the Holy See for a division of his immense diocese, as it would be for the best interests of religion, and would best promote good order and discipline.
April 8th, 1808, Pius VII. divided the see of Baltimore, and
64 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
erected the sees of New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Bards- town. The learned Dominican, the Rev. Richard Luke Con- canen, was chosen for New York, and consecrated with great pomp in the church of the nuns of St. Catharine, Rome, April 24th, 1808.
He was unable, because of war between the French and English, to embark until June 17th, 1810, when his preparations to start for his new diocese seemed complete. But an unexpected embarrassment with the civil authorities at Naples, on the pretext that his papers were not satisfactory, thwarted him in his purpose. A sudden attack of illness carried him off, and on the 20th of June he was buried in the church of San Domenico Maggiore, in Naples.
Through the interference of Archbishop Troy of Dublin and other Irish bishops, who busied themselves overmuch in American affairs, the Hcly See was led into the blunder of appointing as successor to Bishop Concanen a worthy man, but a subject of Great Britain, then at war with the United States. Another country would have resented this as an insult.
The Rev. John Connolly was appointed bishop and consecrated November 6th, 1814. The relations between himself and the archbishop and the other prelates seem to have been of a strained nature. He arrived in the ship Sn/Iy, December 2d, 181 5, un- announced and without a single one of his priests to greet him.
In the division of the diocese of Baltimore, Hunterdon, War- ren, Burlington, Gloucester, Salem, Cumberland, and Cape May counties in New Jersey were assigned to the Philadelphia diocese ; and Sussex, Morris, Essex, Bergen, Somerset, Middlesex, and Monmouth counties to the diocese of New York.
For almost half a century, then, the bishops of New York and Philadelphia must look after Catholic interests in the respective divisions of our State, and this will explain to the present gener- ation the presence in New Jersey of priests who are to be found later on laboring and honored in the great metropolis of our coun- try and the City of Brotherly Love.
Industrial schemes, meanwhile, were in an active stage of development, and the little drops of that mighty flood of emigra- tion were beginning to fall in various parts of the State. At the beginning of the nineteenth century Morris County alone was able to supply all the iron ore needed in the United States. There were in the county two furnaces, two rolling mills, two slitting mills, and thirty forges^to say nothing of the iron mines.
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The Morris Canal and Banking Company was chartered, Decem- ber 31st, 1824, to build a canal from the Delaware River, near Easton, to Newark, and in 1828 was authorized to extend it to the Hudson River.
In 1 81 5, February 6th, the legislature granted what was per- haps the first railroad charter ever granted in the United States, by an act creating a company " to build a railroad from the river Delaware, near Trenton, to the river Raritan, at or near New Brunswick," and thus* inaugurated that vast system of commer- cial highways which has so promoted the prosperity of our State. In the furthering of these enterprises and the construction of these works labor was needed. Unavailable at home, it had to be sought abroad, and in the main these men of brawn and muscle were English, Irish, and Scotch. The first emigrants, coming from a condition of peonage, cowed by oppression, warped to duplicity, if not lack of veracity, by the too human effort to shield themselves from the iron hand of the oppressor, be he the land- lord or his agents, made suspicious of everybody and everything by the swarms of spies set upon them by a harsh government, no sooner did they breathe the air of freedom than, intoxicated by it, they cast off all restraint, which often led to disorders, fraught with scandal and annoyance, and disastrous to the faith of not a few.
In the first fifty years of our history there was scarcely a par- ish which did not suffer from these evils, and the heart of many a worthy priest was broken and his spirit crushed, and the flock torn by dissension from precisely these causes, which were inevit- able then, but now have happily passed away. The culprit was not the Celt alone, but his Gallic, Germanic, and, at a later period and in a lesser degree, his Slavic, Polish, and Italian brother. With these remarks, the unpleasant memories of their past mis- deeds may sleep with the dust of the victims and promoters, of whom these lived to regret and the others hastened to forgive.
From the moors and glens of old Ireland, from its valleys and mountains they came, their hearts filled with sad memories of stately ruins of the grandeurs of that old faith for which they together with their sires had sacrificed so much, and mindful of the desolation that had swept over their fair land in the stubborn effort they had made to uphold the glory and integrity of their national honor. And, as they strained their eyes with one long, lingering look at the bold headlands of Kerry's coast, and saw the mad waves leap in fury and dash their crested foam, helpless and 5
66 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
impotent, against the eternal hills, the tears veiled from their gaze a land they never hoped and, most of them, were never destined to see again.
And the Sassenagh, the ripened fruit of the bloody Hengist and Horsa, of the cruel Dane, of the freebooting, pitiless Norman and the unconquerable Briton, met again the old foe of their fore- bears, met them with that instinctive hatred which so often has characterized nations, clans, and families, and perpetuated feuds, enmities, and bloodshed for no other reason than a traditional pledge of mutual antagonism. Hence, the odious laws, the out- breaks, which go echoing along the cycles, bursting forth again and again into those unjust and cruel manifestations of Know- nothingism and Apaism. Even then this addition of a new ele- ment in our population did not fail to excite the alarm of many, and to them, when the question of emigration was discussed in Congress, in 1790, Representative Lawrence had this to say: "If the immigrant bring an able body, his labor will be productive of national wealth, an addition to our national strength."
These Irish lads and lasses distributed themselves over our State, as faith cultures, some settling in the larger towns, where employment might be had as laborers in factories or at service in families ; others trudged through the country, finding occupation on farms; or others still along projected lines of railroad and canal. And the priests were on their trail, and did not fail, even if there were no church, to build an altar of logs and stones, and under the shadow of God's own Gothic temple— a widespreading oak or chestnut tree — to offer the holy Sacrifice while the kneel- ing throng, bowed in silence, their hearts filled with consolation, and their memories carried back beyond the seas to other shrines and other SoggaitJis, not less loved and reverenced than the priest before them, whose language they could hardly understand, rever- ently adored their Eucharistic God.
" I will never forget the Mass I once heard in a country chapel. I happened one day at the foot of a lofty eminence. It was crested with fir trees and oaks. Up its sides I climbed until I found my- self in presence of a man on his knees. Soon I saw others in the same posture ; and the higher I went the more numerous was the throng. As I reached the summit I saw a humble building in the form of a cross, built of stones without mortar, and with a thatched roof. All around were crowds of big, brawny men, on their knees, with uncovered head, despite the pelting rain and the liquid mud under them. A stillness as of death hung over them.
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It was the Catholic chapel of Blarney, and the 'Soggarth' was saying Mass. I reached there just at the Elevation, and one and all bowed down to the very earth.
" I managed to edge my way within its crowded walls. No pews, no decorations, not even a floor. Everywhere the damp and pebbly earth ; oj^en windows and tallow dips instead of wax tapers. The good priest made the announcement in Irish, that on such a da)' he would hold a station in such a place, where he would hear confessions, say Mass, and visit the sick. Soon Mass was over; the priest mounted his horse and was off; little by little the crowd broke up and trudged off, some to their cabins, others with the sickle over their arm to the harvest, and others lolled along the road, stopping at some near-by cabin to accept its humble hospitality, not as a charity, but as a right. Others with their wives mounted behind them rode off to their distant homes. Full many, however, remained praying a long time before the Eucharistic God, prostrate on the ground, in that silent spot so dear to a poverty-stricken people, but so faithful in the hour of persecution. The stranger who sees such sights, and on his knees side by side with these poverty-pinched creatures, rises up with a heart overflowing with pride and happiness at the thought that he too belongs to that Church which knows not death, and which at the very time that unbelief is digging its grave, feels the throbbing of a new life in the desert places of Ireland and America, but free and poor as it was at its cradle " (Montalembert, Avcnir, January, 1831).
Our theme brings us now to the first Catholic settlement in the episcopal city of the diocese.
St. John's Church, Newark, N. J.
This beautiful edifice, located on Mulberry Street, is a land- mark, standing in an atmosphere of interesting memories. Its architect was the Very Rev. Patrick Moran, who was also the architect of St. Patrick's Cathedral and St. Peter's, of Belleville. It consists of the original church with a facade designed by Father Moran, and the whole structure is built of Newark brown- stone from the old quarry on Eighth Avenue. A rude hickory cross about six feet high, unstripped of its bark, surmounted the gable of the original structure, and was the first emblem of salva- tion reared in this State, spreading its arms to all.
The Rev. Paul McQuade, ordained in Canada, September 23d,
68
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
ST, JOHN'S FIRST CATHOLIC CHURCH
IN NEWARK. (1828.)
Built by Rev. Gregory Brj'an Pardow.
1805, lal)ored in Albany, N. Y., 1813 to 1817, according" to tradi- tion, offered the holy Sacritice for the first time in the city of
Newark in an old stone house, which stood for many years on the corner of High and Orange streets, or, ac- cording to another tradition, in the Turf house, corner of Durand and Mulberry streets. In 1829 the Rev. Gregory Bryan Pardow was named first pastor of the Catholics of Newark. Father Pardow, born in Warwickshire, England, on November 9th, 1804, of George Pardow and Elizabeth Seaton, was educated in Ston)- hurst, entered the Society of Jesus, but left and went to Rome. His father came to this country later, and was manager of the Truthteller, the first Catholic newspaper in this country. P^ather Pardow was ordained by Bishop Dubois, and after his appointment to Newark or- ganized the congregation then and now known as St. John's. It was designated St. John's Roman Catholic Soci- ety of Newark, N. J.
"In 1829, the Rev. Greg- ory Bryan Pardow, of New York, organized, under the patronage of St. John, the association of Catholics who founded St. John's church. The first trustees were Pat- rick Murphy, John Sherlock, John Kelly, Christopher Rourke, Morris Fitzgerald, John Gillespie, and Patrick Mape. Previous to the build- ing of St. John's church, the Catholics of Newark had met for divine service at a house on Mulberry Street, occupied by
REV. GREGORY BRYAN PARDOW, Born Nov. 9th, 1804. Died April 24th, iS
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Charles Durning. The trustees set about erecting a suitable place of worship, (jround was purchased on Mulberry Street and the erection of the church was begun in 1827. When the foundation was laid, the trustees found that their funds were ex- iiaustetl, and they decided to have a committee wait on the Rev. Dr. Power, of St. Peter's Church, New York, to ask him to assist them in their work, by delivering a lecture in Newark for the benefit of the struggling parish. He cheerfully consented, and ad\'ised the committee to have the lecture early and well adver- tised. As there was no public hall in the town at the time, the committee were at a loss how to proceed. This quandary was answered by the vestrymen of Old Trinity Church in the park. At the suggestion of Rev. Dr. Power, the committee called upon them to ask the use of the church for the lecture. After due consideration the vestrymen unanimously granted the request. On the appointed evening the lecture was given to a large audi- ence which filled the church and was about three-fourths non- Catholic, as at that time the Catholic population was very small. The proceeds netted o\'er three hundred dollars, quite a sum of money to realize from such an occasion in those days. The liberal and generous action of Trinity has been and al\va}s will be remem- bered by the Catholic citizens of Newark. But through the base- ness of one individual the money was lost to the struggling parish. The treasurer of the committee proved himself a veritable Judas, by making off with the entire receipts, and he was ne\-er heard of again. Let him be nameless ! Under the untiring zeal and energy of Rew P^ather Pardow the building was finished and dedicated to divine service in 1828. In the dedication ceremonies the Very Rev. John Power, who represented Rt. Rev. Bishop Dubois on the occasion, officiated.
" The old pioneers, now all passed to their reward, used to say tliat the front and rear ends of the first St. John's were of rough boards, and not infrequently the rain and snow were blown through the crevices on the worshippers seated on planks, raised on big, rough stones. The cross was of Jersey hickory, with the bark on it, six by four feet, and no doubt was the first raised on a sacred edifiice in the State. Those not of our faith looked askance at it, for it was then regarded as superstitious to venerate the cross, as it had not yet become fashionable, as it is now, to place the emblem of salvation on the churches of Presbyterians, Meth- odists, Baptists, and Episcopalians.
"The late Rev. Michael J. Holland, St. Columba's, Newark,
70 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
gave a pen-picture of places and persons in that city and it is con- sidered worth reproducing.
"Just about the time of the erection of St. John's Church, Newark as a city had begun to awake to quickening impulses. The Morris Canal was being completed, and work had already commenced on the railroad, which, the only one in the State, was about to connect the city with New York. Statistics give the population at that time as ten thousand white Americans, six hundred Irish, three hundred Germans, and three hundred and fifty negroes. The central portion of the town, still unincor- porated, was lighted with oil lamps sparsely scattered, and pos- sessed few buildings of any importance. There were but four wards, the north, south, the east, and the west, and but two docks upon the river above Bridge Street. Where now stands Clark's manufactory, in the writer's own recollection, was an old frame iron foundry, and above nothing but the marshy river banks. State Street on the north, High Street on the west, the line of the Passaic, and thence down River Street and Mulberry to Fair Street — the extreme southern boundary — might be called the city proper, though a number of outlying habitations existed beyond. A wide and swift-running brook, reaching into the interior, ran through a deep valley down a line parallel with Eighth Avenue, which formed four large and picturesque sheets of water above Broad, High, Sheffield streets, and the woodland district above, each of which supplied as many mill-wheels with power. This stream formed the water-shed of a wide extended territory, and after storms frequently rose very high. But two bridges, at Broad and High streets, spanned its current, and these were frequently overflowed. On this account many at times could not attend Mass from the North Ward and Belleville.
"As early as 1824 the holy Sacrifice was weekly offered in Newark, where thirty or forty attendants were considered a good congregation. It was for some time continued at the home of Mr. Burning in Mulberry Street, but was first celebrated at the residence of Mr. Sherlock, below Mulberry Street. Persons from Orange, Elizabeth, Belleville, Arlington, Springfield, and Rahway came here for divine service.
"The original church was constructed in a very primitive manner, having unplastered walls and boards arranged upon stone supports for seats. Men from the quarries dug its foundations, contributed the material, and performed most of the work. A graveyard large enough for the wants of the time existed in the
IN NEW JERSEY 71
rear. Some of the bodies were removed when the new church and its several extensions were built, but many of those old pioneer predecessors of ours still rest beneath the shadow of old St. John's. The first offshoot of this old church was St. Mary's, High Street, in 1842. Then followed St. Patrick's in 1848, which became the cathedral of the diocese in November, 1853. The other churches of the city were erected at varied intervals of a few years as the demands of necessity and opportuneness required. The growth of our faith in Newark during Father Moran's period vvas some- thing marvellous. He saw its first church and welcomed its first bishop. He was a man of earnest and persevering character, though by no means possessing rugged health, ' His body fainted, his heart — never ! '
"The first native of Newark ordained to the priesthood was Daniel G. Burning, son of Charles Burning, and its first ladies to embrace a religious life in the sisterhood were Winifred and Anna, daughters of Patrick Hart, then superintendent of the Mount Pleasant Cemetery. Of the latter, all are still living" {Sacred Heart Union, March, 1881).
As the cost of the building exceeded the estimate by a con- siderable sum, it was judged advisable to put the pews up at auc- tion. The first pew to the right of the middle aisle brought forty- two dollars, and the other pews brought smaller but respectable sums. By this sale a handsome fund was realized, and some of the more urgent bills of the contractors were paid. But there was still a large balance of unpaid indebtedness, and general stagnation of business ensuing, the trustees found themselves unexpectedly called on for payment and the church in danger of being sold. In this emergency, good Bishop Bubois came to the rescue. Through his friend. Bishop Brute, he secured a loan of 22,960 francs from the association of the Propagation of the Faith, with which the claims were paid, and from that time, 1829, St. John's parish pros- pered. The Rev. Gregory B. Pardow, the founder of the church, labored faithfully with the parish for three years, and through his energy, tact, and zeal insured its success. He was followed by the Rev. Matthew Herard, October 7th, 1832, and the Rev, P. Rafferty, October 13th, 1833.
On November 3d, 1833, the Rev. Patrick Moran was appointed pastor. He was eminently fitted for the place. He possessed good judgment, a refined and correct taste, and an educated mind. Under his management the affairs of St. John's advanced rapidly, despite the panic of 1837, and the sterling qualities of
72 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
their pastor continued to win for the congregation the confidence of their non-CathoHc neighbors. Father Moran soon had a hbrary of eight hundred and fifty vohnnes in circulation. He organized church societies, hterary, temperance, and benevolent associations. He erected a school-house and arranged for the free education during the evening of such as could not attend the day school. But his chief source of pleasure and pride was in his Sunday- school, which he raised to a high degree of excellence. Connected with the Sunday-school was a teachers' association, which was a model of its kind.
The Puritan element in those days confounded Catholicity with the nationality of St. Patrick's children, and hence to show their contempt for both, on March 1 7th, they were in the habit of hang- ing a stuffed " Paddy," a string of potatoes around his neck and a bottle sticking out of his pocket, from a tree or high pole ; and they took great delight enjoying the wrath and discomfiture of the Paddies. This kind of amusement was very popular all over the State, and sometimes these insulting figures were hung from Cath- olic churches. The last of these effigies to appear was about the middle of the fifties. It was strung across Broad Street, near the old First Church, Newark, from a noble elm to a house on the other side of the street. That night a good number of stalwart Irishmen, some Orangemen among the number, armed with axes, marched to the offensive figure, and, plying their weapon with lusty blows, the noble tree soon crashed across the street, carry- ing with it the ignoble sign, and blocked all trafificin the roadway. The lesson was taken to heart, and insolent bigotry was silent, if not extinct.
When the late Most Rev. James Roosevelt Bayley, D.D., was appointed first bishop of Newark, one of his first acts was to ap- point the Rev. Patrick Moran his vicar-general. The Very Rev. Patrick Moran, V. G., born in Loughrea, Ireland, in 1798, edu- cated at Mount St. Mary's, and ordained November 9th, 1832, was made pastor of St. John's, Newark, in succession to the Rev. P. Rafferty, November, 1833. He enlarged the church several times, acting as his own architect, designing the facade as it now is, and making many, if not all, of the interior ornaments with his own hands. Under him St. John's was the first consecrated church in the diocese. During a long pastorate of thirty-three years he labored incessantly with his own, and endeared himself to those of other denominations. Of a bright and cheerful dispo- sition, he imparted the glow of his kindly nature to all those with
IN NKW JERSEY
73
whom he came in contact, and more than all with the children. He is buried in old St. John's cemetery, in the rear of St. Michael's Church. He died July 25th, 1866.
The Fireman's Journal wrote of him, August 4th, 1866: " No notice we could write would do justice to the earnest and gentle character of Father Moran. He was sedulous in the discharge of
ST. JOHN'S CHURCH, MULBERRY STREET, NEWARK.
his duties as a pastor, watchful of what might promote religion, and fond of his library and his books. Of a highly cultivated mind, he had a most playful and exquisite wit, but it was of that rare kind that never offends charity." Archbishop McCloskey, Bishop Bacon, and many priests attended his funeral. Bishop Bayley preached amid the sobs of the congregation, the tears streaming from his own eyes. " Father Moran's systematic habits,
74 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
the care and devotion with which he recited the divine ofifice, the earnestness with which he prepared children for the first recep- tion of holy Communion and Confirmation — his reverence for the house of God and His sanctuary — all showed what an influence that saintly man (Bishop Brute) made upon his disciples " (Diary of Bishop Bayley). St. John's is the oldest church in the State, and the present is the fourth structure ; and it was consecrated May, 1858.
After the death of Vicar-General Moran, which occurred July 25th, 1866, the following were successively rectors of St. John's church : Rev. James Moran, nephew of the deceased rector, No- vember, 1866; Rev. Louis Schneider, November, 1867; Rev. Thomas M. Killeen, who built the new rectory adjoining the church and did much for St. John's, November, 1868; Rev. Pat- rick Leonard was rector in December, 1878; Rev. Louis Gambos- ville, who personally and with great care and labor rewrote the church's records of births and marriages from the foundation to his time, and who was the second incumbent to die (January, 1892); Rev. Thomas A. Wallace, administrator, from January, 1892, to February 27th, 1892; and February, 1892, Rev. J. P. Poels, the incumbent. The assistant rectors were Rev. Fathers Guth, 1837; Farrell, 1838; Bacon, 1838; Donahue, 1845; Hana- han, 1846; Callan, 1848; Senez, 1849; Conroy, 1852; McGuire, 1853; Tubberty, 1854; Castet, 1858; McCloskey, i860; Byrne, 1 861; Moran, 1863; Wiseman, 1867; Rolando, 1867; Nardiello, 1867; Whelan, 1878; Corrigan, 1879; White, 1882; McGahan, 1892; and John A. Fanning, D.D. Rev. Father Poels is now rector of St. John's, and his administration has already been signalized by a marked advancement of church affairs and an entire renovation of the church property.
The history of St. John's is in very fact the history of Cathol- icity in New Jersey. The "mother of all the churches " of the diocese, from her sanctuary have gone forth several zealous and exemplary missionaries to propagate the faith, and among these may be mentioned Most Rev. Michael Augustine Corrigan, D.D., Archbishop of New York; the late Very Rev. James A. Corri- gan, for several years vice-president of Seton Hall College ; Rev. George W. Corrigan, of St. Joseph's, Newark; and the late Rev. Martin O'Connor, of Peoria, 111.
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St. John's Church, Paterson.
The first priest who placed his foot within what are at present the corporate hmits of the city of Paterson was Father Phihp Larriscy, an Augustinian monk who spoke Irish well and came here from New York, probably in 1822. Just what year he came here is not positively known, but it seems to be tolerably well estab- lished that he was here for some years previous to Father Lajig- ion. The name of this priest is generally misspelled. He was the Rev. Arthur Langdill, and was given faculties throughout the diocese of New York by Bishop Connolly, October 22d, 181 7.
The first Mass in Paterson was celebrated in the residence of Michael Gillespie, which stood in Market Street on the site of the present Ekings building. Father Larriscy was a missionary priest who travelled between New York and Philadelphia and visited Paterson every few weeks.
Father Langdill was the second priest who celebrated Mass in Paterson. The Gillespies had removed to Belleville, and so a room for the holding of divine service was fitted up in the resi- dence of Robert McNamee on the corner of Broadway and Mul- berry Street. Here the Catholics attended Mass for several years. Father Langdill was also a missionary priest, going from New York to Paterson, to Macopin, Bottle Hill, and other places ; then returning to Paterson, which was a more important Catholic settlement than any in this part of the State. On his return to New York from Paterson Father Langdill stopped at the residence of Mr. Gillespie at Belleville, and after celebrating Mass there pro- ceeded to Newark, where there were very few Catholics, and from thence to New York. This seems to have been the route taken by the earlier Catholic clergymen, for even Father Bulger, who was not ordained until 181 5, said Mass in the residence of Mr. Gillespie.
Father Richard Bulger was educated at Kilkenny College, Ire- land, and was ordained a priest in 181 5 by Bishop Connolly. He was for some time the assistant pastor of the Cathedral in New York, but spent most of his nine years of priesthood in adminis- tering spiritual consolation to the Catholics in Paterson and vicinity. It was he who in 1820 erected the first building used exclusively for divine service by Catholics in Paterson, and he was the first parish priest in this city. Previous to this time he followed in the footsteps of his predecessors in journeying from
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I HE CATHOLIC CHURCH
place to place, preaching the word of God by the way and saying Mass and administering the rites of the Church whenever oppor-
ST. John's church, main and (jrand streets, paterson.
tunity afforded. In 1821 Mr. Roswell L. Colt, in behalf of the Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures, offered to all the
IN NEW JERSEY 77
\arioiis denominations in Paterson ground on which to erect houses of worship. This generous offer was accepted by the Cath- ohcs, and in this way tliey came into possession of a piece of prop- erty situated on the southwest corner of Congress (now Market) and Mill streets. The deed was given to the Catholics "for the purpose of erecting, maintaining, and keeping a building or house for the jiublic worship of (iod," a clause in the deed providing for reversion of the property to the donor as soon as the propert}' was used for any other purpose than that of divine worship. There were at that time onl}- thirteen Catholic families in Pater- son, but the prejudice against the Catholic Church which charac- terized its earlier history in this country had subsided, and the Catholics received aid from persons of other denominations. This, added to their own generous gifts of money and labor, pro- duced a building 25 x 30 feet in size and one story high. The room was furnished with a j^lain altar and a number of wooden benches without backs, which serxed as pews, and the attendance on Sundays did not exceed fifty, unless there was an influx of Catholics from some village not supplied with a church. Mass was celebrated every Sunday morning and vespers in the after- noon. The church was named for St. John the Baptist, and the building" still stands where it was erected in 1821, although it has been considerably altered Father Bulger was taken sick in 1 824, while assistant pastor at the Cathedral in New York, where he died in November of that year. He was buried in front of St. Patrick's Cathedral.
Although Father Bulger's years as a priest were few, the}^ were devoted to the cause of the Ford with an energy and faith fulness which made him so prominent a figure in the early his- tory of the Church in Paterson.
The Rev. John Shanahan, the successor of Father Bulger, was appointed missionary of the State of New Jersey — so much of it as was included in the diocese of New York — from Jersey City to the neighborhood of Trenton — with Paterson as a centre He had been educated at Mount St. Mary's, and ordained in 1823 b}' Bishop Connolly. On leaving Paterson he was associated with Father Moran in St. John's, Newark, 1846, to May 9th, 1848; thence he went to Utica, and afterward to California. He re- turned to New York and found a home in St. Peter's, where, although deprived of his sight, he led a cheerful life, edifying his ])riestly penitents by his resignation and serenity. After hear- ing their confession, the penance he usually gave them was ; " For
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your penance you will now sit down and read this book for me for fifteen minutes." He died August 8th, 1870, aged seventy-eight years.
Father Charles Brennan — or Brannin, as it is printed in con- temporaneous newspapers — came next. He had been educated in Kilkenny College, Ireland, and had been ordained by Bishop Con- nolly in 1822. He conceived the idea of erecting a new church, as the Catholics were rapidly increasing in numbers, and proceeded to carry his design into execution. He made a number of tours through the surrounding country soliciting subscriptions, and it was while thus engaged that he was taken sick. He went to New York, where he died in March, 1826, and his remains were in- terred by the side of Father Bulger.
While P'ather Brennan was lying sick in New York, Father John Conroy — uncle of the late Bishop John J. Conroy of Albany — was sent to Paterson to look after the welfare of St. John's con- gregation. Father Conroy was educated in Mount St. Mary's College and was ordained by Bishop Connolly in 1825. He was subsequently assistant at the Cathedral in New York and assist- ant at St. Lawrence's Church in Eighty-fourth Street, New York. He died chaplain of Calvary Cemetery.
Father Francis O'Donoghue was the next priest. He took up the work left unfinished by Father Shanahan and collected money for the new church. The construction of the Morris Canal at this time brought to Paterson a large number of Cath- olic Irishmen, and it was found that the congregation of St. John's received such numerous accessions that it was necessary to con- struct a gallery in the church building on Congress and Mill streets. Mr. Colt, in behalf of the Society for Establishing Use- ful Manufactures, showed a disposition not to extend to the Cath- olic Church any favors he had not shown to congregations of other denominations, and at first refused to give the church any more property or permit the sale of the real estate on which the church was situated. Rt. Rev. Bishop Du Bois then came to Paterson, and he and Father O'Donoghue called to see Mr. Colt. After a conference Mr. Colt was induced to withdraw his objections to the sale of the Mill Street property, and the congregation obtained from him the tract of land on Oliver Street on which stands the church in which St. John's congregation worshipped nearly a third of a century.
The consideration mentioned in the deed from the Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures to the trustees of St. John's
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Chapel is j82,ooo, but this amount is charged to Roswell L. Colt on the society's journal, folio 153, so that the Oliver Street prop- erty was a gift from Mr. Colt himself. There is a clause in the will of Mr. Colt by which his executors are directed to donate to charities one-tenth of his estate unless it shall appear that he during his lifetime had already disposed of one-tenth of his estate in this manner.
Father O'Donoghuc was greatly assisted in his work by a young man named Ambrose Manahan, who boarded at Mr. Hugh Brady's house and who re- ceived his instructions for the priesthood from Father O'Donoghue. Mr. Manahan was a young man of brilliant genius ; he subsequently went to the Propaganda at Rome, where he was ordained priest on August 29th, 1 84 1, by Cardinal Franzoni and made a doctor of divinity ; he sub- sequently returned to this countr}-, where he became president of St. John's Col- lege and pastor of St. Jo- seph's Church in New York. His remains lie buried in New York.
The arrangements for the building of a new church in Oliver Street were made in 1828, the year in which the trustees of St. John's Church obtained the grant of the land from Mr. Colt. Rt. Rev. Bishop Du Bois, who had so generously interested himself in the welfare of the congregation, solicited subscriptions, and among others obtained one of $2,000 from a Southern gentleman. Father Duffy and the trustees of the church were indefatigable in their efforts and in 1829 the foundation of the new church was laid. It was intended to erect a church fifty-five feet front and one hundred feet deep, and the work progressed favorably until the foundation wall had been erected and the lower window frames fixed in their places. Unfortunate dissensions among the mem- bers of the congregation then arose, and to this was added the debate of the question whether Church property in the State
RIGHT REV. JOHN DU BOIS, D.D.,
Third Bishop (1826) of New York.
Born Aug. 24th, 1764. Died Dec. 20th, 1842.
8o THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
should be held by trustees, as had hitherto been the case, or whether the title to the Church propert)- should be vested in the name of the bishop of the diocese. The result was that the work on the new church was stopped for the time being' and the con- gregation continued worshipping in the old church, on Market and Mill streets, which had been somewhat improved. In 1832 the trustees of the church were Charles O'Neill, John P. Brown, Joseph Warren, Andrew Lynch, James D. Kile}-, and Andrew Griffith. There was no question that the church on Market and Mill streets was too small and that something had to be done to accommodate the constantly and rapidly increasing congregation. So in the early part of 1833 the trustees above mentioned, together with a number of other gentlemen prominent in the church, held a meeting in the yard of the old church on Market and Mill streets and deliberated what to do. It was soon apparent that there were two factions. The one faction favored doubling the size of the church on Market and Mill streets and abandoning the Oliver Street enterprise. The other faction, of which Mr. O'Neill was the leader, insisted that a new church be erected on Oliver Street, and Mr. O'Neill argued strongly in favor of this project. The meeting finally adjourned without having come to any conclusion. The friends of the Oliver Street church then visited their oppo- nents at their residences, and by dint of argument and persuasion finally induced them to give their consent to the new project, so that at a meeting held two weeks after the first meeting it was resolved to go on with the work on Oliver Street. It was then discovered that some of the trustees and a portion of the congre- gation favored constructing the church on the foundations as originally built in 1829; the larger and more conservative ele- ment considered the limited resources of the church and finally prevailed. Changes were made in the plans, a poi-tion of the foundation was taken clown, so as to bring the windows nearer to the ground, and the second Catholic church in Paterson was erected. The church on Mill and Market streets had been sold for $1,625. Subscriptions came in better than had been antici- pated and the church was compelled to borrow but little ; that little was raised on the individual notes of prominent Catholics, and when the church was completed there was very little debt.
The work on the church was done under the superintendence of the trustees and Father Patrick Duffy, the pastor of the church. Father Duffy had no clergyman to assist him, but his energy and untiring zeal were equal to all occasions ; and when he left Pater-
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son in 1836 it was with the sincerest regrets of all the members of the congregation, and the most hearty wishes for his future welfare followed him to the new scenes of his labors, Newburg, Cold Spring, and Poughkeepsie, N. Y. Catholicity had not as yet taken deep root iir that vicinity and Father Duff}' had a large field but a small flock. With the increase in the number of the Catholics more priests were needed, and Father Duffy confined his labors to the city of Newburg, where he died, June 20th, 1853.
Father Duffy was succeeded by Father Philip O'Reilly, who still lives in the pleasant recollections of hundreds of citizens of Paterson. He continued until 1845 as the sole shepherd of St. John's congregation. He was a large and powerfully built man, of commanding presence and very social qualities. " Mad Phil " he was called by his brother priests, and was often seen walking- through the streets with a string of game, gun over his shoulder, followed by his hounds, in true hunting dress. He mixed a great deal with persons of other faiths, and by his sociability, brilliancy, and powerful arguments succeeded in destroying a great deal of prejudice which had previously existed against the Catholic religion.
A plate was always set for him at Colonel Colt's table, who was to the end a most ardent admirer of the bluff, honest, yet withal devoted priest. It is related of him that summoned, as well as the leading priests of the diocese, to the archbishop's resi- dence in Mott Street, and displeased with the nature of the busi- ness they were called to discuss, he arose to take his departure. Bishop Hughes attempted to stop him. "Stand aside, sir; this is no place for me, when my people are dying of the cholera," and off he went.
Father O'Reilly belonged to one of the oldest and most respectable families in Ireland. He was born in the town of Scraba, County Cav^an, a county which was once called O'Reilly's county. He traced his ancestry back to beyond the time of James I., and at the time of his labors in Paterson some of his kinsmen were still in possession of the estates which had belonged to the family for centuries. He was educated in Spain, being a member of the order of St. Dominic, and trav- elled through Italy, France, and England. For some years he was chaplain to the Duke of Norfolk, a position of ease and honor. The duties there were, however, not enough for the restless and untiring spirit of Father O'Reilly, and so when less than thirty years of age he left Europe to seek for sterner
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duties in this country. He was first stationed at Poughkeepsie and then came to Paterson. From this city he went to Cold Spring, N. Y., where he built the first Catholic church. He was then removed to West Troy, and afterward placed in charge of St. Bridget's Church in New York. As pastor of this church he died in the sixty-second year of his life on the 7th of December, 1854. His remains were interred on the 9th of the same month in St. Patrick's Cathedral, the funeral being attended by a large concourse of admiring and sorrowful friends, both of the clergy and laity.
In the latter part of the pastorate of Father O'Reilly the congregation of St. John's had so increased in numbers that it was found necessary to enlarge the church. Steps were accord- ingly taken in this direction, but the project was not carried into execution until some time after the advent of Father James Quin, who came to Paterson in 1845. There was considerable discussion concerning the plans of the addition, and the work was not begun until 1846. Instead of erecting the church to the size of the old foundation walls — which had been entirely torn down and used in the construction of the first part of the church in 1833 — the build- ing was made thirteen feet longer, so that the present size of the church is one hundred and thirteen feet deep and fifty-five front. The original plot of land obtained from Mr. Colt would not have permitted the erection of a building of that size, and so an arrangement was entered into with the county — which at that time was contemplating the erection of the present county jail — by which the congregation deeded to the county a gore of land in return for another gore of similar size. The addition to the church was built by Col. Andrew Derrom, and resulted in a vexa- tious lawsuit which was decided in favor of the congregation. Shortly after the completion of the addition the seating capacity of the church was considerably enlarged by the erection of a gal- lery on the sides of the church. The seating capacity of the church was about thirteen hundred. As was the case with the first half of the church building, the moneys needed for the construction came in in a very satisfactory manner, so that the church had very little debt when the structure was accepted from the contractors.
When P'ather James Quin came to Paterson to take charge of St. John's congregation, his brother, Thomas, was preparing for ordination, and after Father James Quin had been here about a year he was joined by his brother, who came to Paterson as soon as he had been ordained. Father James Quin was of delicate
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health, and in addition to the assistance of his brother had the occasional services of Rev. Dr. Cummings, who frequently came to Paterson from St. Stephen's Church. Father James Ouin died on the 13th of June, 1851, being at the time pastor of the church. He was the only priest who died in Paterson, and his remains are interred in the cemetery on Sandy Hill. Father Thomas Ouin succeeded his brother as pastor of the church and remained about a year. He was educated at St. Joseph's Semi- nary, at P'ordham, and was or- dained by Right Rev. Bishop Hughes on June 14th, 1849. His remains are interred at Rahway in this State, of which place he was pastor.
Father Thomas Quin was succeeded by Father L. D. Senez, who came in 1853 and remained until 1858. In the latter part of his pastorate he was assisted frequently on Sundays by Father G. McMahon. Father Senez came from St. Ann's, New York and when he left he went to Jersey City, where he bviilt St. Mary's Church. He made a number of im- provements to the Oliver Street church in this city, and it was with the greatest regrets that the Catholics of Pater- son saw him depart for other fields.
Father Victor Beaudevin succeeded Father Senez in 1858 and remained until October, 1861. He was a member of the Society of Jesus and was ordained a priest by Rt. Rev. Bishop Hughes on May 25th, 1850. When he left Paterson he rejoined the Order of Jesuits. He was assisted by Father J. Schandel, who was sub- sequently the first pastor of St. Boniface's Church of this city, in the erection of which church he received material assistance from Father Beaudevin.
Father James Callan came to St. John's congregation in 1861 and remained about two years, leaving here in October, 1863. He was one of the most energetic priests that ever came to Paterson.
REV. LOUIS DOMINIC SENEZ.
Born June, 1815. Died P'eb. nth, 1900
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He was quiet and unassuming, but continually busy with projects for the benefit of the Catholic Church. His death constituted one of the most romantic episodes in the history of the Catholic Church in this country. Some time after he left Paterson he
MOST RKV. JOHN HUGHES, Fourth Bishop (1838) of New York. Born June 24th, 1797. Died Jan. 3d, iS
went on a mission to California, travelling" thither by boat from New York. While going from San Francisco to his mission in Santa Barbara, the steamer on which he was, was discovered to be on fire. The wildest confusion ensued and an attempt to run the vessel ashore failed. While most of those on board were busy devising i^lans for their j^iersonal safet^• and resorting to all