USA > Alabama > A Catholic history of Alabama and the Floridas Volume 1 > Part 19
USA > Florida > A Catholic history of Alabama and the Floridas Volume 1 > Part 19
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Although the English sacked St. Augustine again and again, and preached Reformation doctrines from its most sacred strongholds, it is still, though poor and its spendors vanished forever, a typical Catholic city. Its sacred ruins, its massive garden walls, the sweet tones of its passing bell, " the Agonea," the old fort with its Spanish bastions-the Catalan songs of the light-hearted fishermen, as one watches the dip
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of the oar in its shining waters-the oldest convent- ual building in the territory of the United States, the balmy climate, the refreshing breezes of the sea- all this makes the ancient city a Paradise for invalids. There is, perhaps, no other place on this vast continent where one feels more consoled by the Communion of Saints, for there is scarcely a spot on which Saints have not prayed for sinners, and united their suffrages to those of Christ, shed their blood for souls in union with the grand and awful sacrifice of Calvary.
Of the small population about six thousand, per- haps scarcely one third is Protestant. Several non- Catholics live in St. Augustine for its delightful cli- mate. Some persons said to us when we visited this dear old city: "I could make more money in other places, but I could not have good health anywhere else." Although one no longer sees the brown hab- ited Franciscans, wending their way from the Con- vent on errands of mercy, or pious civilians dropping on their knees on the orange bordered roads, so full of fragrance, at the music of the Angelus, still the sweet city, with its fading splendors, has a thoroughly Catholic aspect. It is easy to go back to its early days, and feel one's self in the ages of faith, and poetry, and religious enthusiasm.
St. Augustine is flourishing as to religion. The religious spirit is better than it was twenty years ago. But, of course, it is not what it was in the old Spanish times, when only Catholics were here. Those times we have not seen, but we frequently hear of them. The ancient cemeteries are as they were long ago, but are not now used as such.
Some years ago, houses formerly used as residences for the various Bishops who labored in Florida were
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still standing on the Church property. These old buildings were torn down, and in their place was erected a large brick block, which is rented out in stores, offices, living rooms. It is said that in time this will bring a large income for religious purposes, but, at present, not any, as the money to build it was borrowed. The church has not yet got the property claimed by the United States. The Franciscan monas- tery, used as a barracks, is in good condition.
The history of the labors of the Irish clergy in America is, practically unwritten. This is especially true of the clergy who came under the Spanish flag. A grand chapter has yet to be added to the glorious story of the Catholic religion in these ancient colonies, and under the Stars and Stripes.
The good health enjoyed by the Ursuline Commu- nity and their household, in colonial times, was most remarkable. There was seldom a case of illness even among their pupils or orphans; the nuns almost in- variably lived to a great age. The climate was whole- some, and the laws of health seem to have been well observed. In Mobile and in New Orleans, the most serious disease complained of was "some access of fever," which yielded readily to simple treatment. Every nun had a small flower garden in which she raised a few flowers for the altar, and many medicinal herbs for the sick within the enclosure and outside of it, especially sassafras, which it was thought would cure all diseases.1
1 The medicinal qualities of herbs were well understood by the Ursuline ladies. They knew the plants whose leaves are for " the healing of the nations," and those good for food and pleasant to the eye. And flowers, roots, bark, and fruit, for the care of the various diseases that flesh is heir to, were produced in their well-kept gardens. Their tisanes equalled the " yarrub teas " of New England.
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In the first half of the nineteenth century, the Con- vent was attended by Drs. Carr, Labatut, Stone, Faget, and Rance, physicians who are not yet forgotten by the older Creoles, especially the great surgeon, Dr. Stone. The most distinguished visitor in Bishop Portier's time, was certainly the great Bishop of Charleston, S. C., Right Rev. Dr. England.
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CHAPTER XLVI.
BY his pen, his preaching, his example, Bishop Eng- land did good throughout the whole United States, but especially in the South. He was the most ac- complished prelate of his time, and one of the fore- most men in the world, the glory of the hierarchy. " If I had Bishop England at my back," said a kindred spirit, O'Connell, " I would not fear the entire world before me." He became Bishop of Charleston, 1820. The three States which formed his diocese were slave states. Most of his children literally sat in darkness and the shadow of death. He spoke of having two millions, but half of them were slaves.
Bishop England's saintly Sister, Mary Augustine, remained in the New Orleans Ursuline Convent for three years during which she was engaged chiefly in the novtiate. Like every member of her gifted fam- ily, she was refined and highly educated, and worked incessantly for the glory of God and the welfare of souls.
Before entering the Convent, the young lady, Sister M. Augustine was shown the famous Cathedral, the great monument to the piety of Don Andres Almon- aster y Roxas. Her party was received at the main entrance by the Swiss Guard. This official, in bright garb with gold buttons and heavy straps; on his chest is a heavy band in which his sword was firmly fixed.
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To no one but Our Good Lord will he take off his cocked hat, in which is a large white feather. He is the terror of noisy children, and the dogs fear him. But address him as "my Captain," and you win his undying friendship.
The besetting sin of the gay Southern Capital was that balls and theatres were so carried on that it was dangerous, if not positively sinful, to attend them. The great orator preached so forcibly on these crying evils that the managers complained of their being de- serted by the women. One young lady, whose father had forced her to attend, actually turned her back to the stage during certain plays, and thus relieved herself of the violence done to her principles. For, the father, not wishing to expose himself or his daughter, to public ridicule, ceased to importune her to attend.
The slaves were the Bishop's first care. He said mass for them every Sunday at 7 a. m., and preached for them in the afternoon. He gave them the pref- erence over all others. He tried to have them taught, and to found schools for them. But legislation for- bade this, apart from social ostracism, as all dwellers in Slave States know.
Yet Chancellor Kent said: "He restored learning and classical education in the South." "To know him was certainly a liberal education." Bishop Eng- land's first effort was to form a domestic priest-hood, animated with his spirit and bound by ties of long- time friendship, and he was eminently successful. It was said of his clergy: " They harbored no thought but religion, no aspiration but missionary toil, no love but God, His holy Mother, His angels and Saints."
The Bishop was a ceaseless, untiring worker. He
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trained his disciples by word and example, and with such success that Bishop Persico said that, formed by his training, every one of them was worthy to wear a mitre. His visitation of his diocese was a stupen- dous labor. Sometimes on foot, occasionally on horse- back, no protection from the heat in summer or the frost in winter, often a prey to the blood-thirsty in- sects of which even the early apostles so eloquently complained. His success was great but dearly bought. He drank the cup of sorrows to the very dregs, and the bitterness of its water was never sweetened save by the wood of the cross.
"Let us kill him and Lazarus also, lest the Romans come and take our country." Mobs bent on rapine and murder, such as had, unhappily, disgraced other cities, were now ready for their evil work in Charles- ton. But the brave, true men of the city were called out. It became evident that any attempt at mob vio- lence would inaugurate the reign of terror which the persecutors affected to dread. The mayor and city officers without whose connivance matters could not have become so serious, became active peace-agents. Thanks to their great Bishop, the Carolinians were saved from disgracing their city and country by re- ligious riots.
April 1I, 1842, this great man, of whom the world was not worthy, passed away, fortified by the rites of the Church he loved so well.
" Consider, O Israel, for them that are dead, wounded in thy high places. The illustrious of Israel are slain upon thy mountains. How are the valiant fallen and the weapons of war perished? There was cast away the shield of the valiant, as though he had not been anointed with oil. I grieve for thee; as the mother loveth her only son, so did I love thee.
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All external signs of grief appeared. Thousands visited the sacred remains with every mark of sorrow, as they lay in state in his poor Cathedral. The city was in mourning, the flags on the shipping in the harbor and on public buildings were at half mast. Business was suspended and the bells even in non- Catholic churches tolled mournfully.
The great Bishop Kenrick of Baltimore presided at his obsequies and admonished the people to be mindful of his teachings and example. "He it was," said he, " who had organized the Provincial Councils, framed their decrees, established the discipline of the Catholic Church in America, and was venerated as its Father." Several times Bishop England went as dele- gate to Hayti, by appointment of the Holy Father, and did much towards creating a revival of Church discipline on that island, where the first bishopric in America had been established.
Bishop Reynolds collected and published the com- plete works of his great predecessor, in five Octavo volumes, for it was not by preaching alone, but by the pen as well that Bishop England exercised a power- ful influence on the whole Church of the United States.
Several years ago, being in Charleston, the writer expressed a desire to see Bishop England's grave. Accustomed from childhood to hear the story of his sublime virtues, from loving lips, we were glad to breathe the atmosphere he once breathed, and gaze on the salient points of " the city by the sea " in which he toiled incessantly for God and for souls. We had heard from his eldest Sister, Mother Catherine Eng- land, Superior of the North Presentation Convent, Cork, of his grand intellectual qualities, his love for
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slaves and free, his superhuman labors among the fever-stricken and the ignorant. Extracts from the beautiful story of his life were printed on white satin, and displayed in the reception-room, where every caller was introduced to the grand prelate. These chaste memorials had been done in his dear city of Charles- ton, and forwarded to Cork, from which he would have brought his Sister to Charleston to train his beloved children there to the religious life which she so thoroughly understood, and so faithfully practised. But the Bishop of Cork refused to allow her to leave her native soil. And, full of piety, this worthy Sister of a great brother continued to devote her grand in- tellectual gifts to saving the poor children, who as- sembled daily in hundreds at the Convent. She died at a great age, in sentiments of tender piety.
Not far from the Convent of Mercy, Queen St., Charleston, was a square of ground in which were three graves, about the same size, covered with ivy. Here, without tomb or cross were the graves of the first three Bishops of Charleston. A Cathedral in course of erection was mentioned as the monument of Bishop England, and the prelates who rested near him. A former Cathedral had been destroyed by fire. The flames shivered into fragments the flags that covered Bishop England's tomb and bared the interior to the light of day. Recently a fine Cathe- dral has been erected to his memory.
Forty years after the death of the great Bishop, business brought us to several places once under his jurisdiction. We can testify that from the worthy Bishop Becker, who loved and revered his memory, to the lowest of his flock, we found Bishop England spoken of with love and reverence as if he had but
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recently left them. Every one had some anecdote to relate of his zeal and charity, nor could the people say enough in his praise.
" The souls of the just are in the hands of God, and the torment of death shall not hurt them. In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die . . . but they are in peace."
" A man is his own star ; Our acts our angels all For good or-ill."
Bishop Portier was in Charleston in March, 1858, and no doubt prayed fervently by the grave of his revered friend, R. I. P., who had done so much for the Catholic religion throughout the South.
In 1829, Mobile had ten thousands inhabitants. Bishop Portier returned from France, via New Or- leans with two priests, four subdeacons and two clerics. There was only a rough wooden Cathedral. The peo- ple had fallen into lamentable laxity. Father Pon- jade, the first priest he ordained, died of yellow fever, 1831.
In 1830, Father Chalon, a relative of Bishop Portier, and Father Loras were commissioned by the Bishop to make a thorough visitation of Alabama. In a seven months' tour they gathered up Catholics wherever they could find them, and enabled them to hear mass and approach the sacraments.
On a beautiful site, near Mobile, Bishop Portier erected Spring Hill College, a brick building 100 x 44. It opened under Fathers, Loras and Bazin, and in its first year had fifty pupils, and later seventy.
During the English domination in Florida, William
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Panton, a wealthy merchant, opened branches of his business at Pensacola, Mobile, and St. Augustine. A building erected by Panton and Leslie, with a wharf in front, is still standing. Its solid brick walls are those of the Hospital of Dr. James Herron, an emi- nent physican of Pensacola. The handsome dwelling house of this gentleman stands on the site of the Council Chambers of Fort St. George, called the old Fort, or St. Michaels. The business of these mer- chant princes extended to the Tennessee River, and even beyond it. Their long lines of pack-horses car- ried all the supplies the Indians needed, and brought back all their savage customers provided for barter. The pony used by these stout traders was a hardy little animal, which carried one hundred and eighty pounds and traveled twenty-five miles a day. The missioners sometimes availed themselves of this mode of transit.
The entrance to Spring Hill College was from the South, from the old Pascagoula Road. The central portion was built of brick. A frame church stood west of the college. In 1832, there were one hundred and twenty-five students, and Father Bazin was named President. Besides the Bishop and Vicar-general Loras, there was only one priest at that time in Mobile, Rev. Gabriel Chalon. They not only min- istered to the spiritual wants of the faithful, but with a few laymen, constituted the teaching staff of the college.
The Bishop was the life of the college. He was often seen taking part in the games and pastimes of the boys. The next President, 1835, was Father Mauvernay, who boasted that he had been a soldier under Napoleon; he died in 1839. Five Fathers of
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Mercy came to the aid of the college. By a decree, Aug. 29, 1840, His Holiness, Pope Gregory XVI, granted the college power to confer degrees in theol- ogy and philosophy. In 1841, the Fathers resigned the college, and Bishop Portier again took charge. De- spite the efforts of the Bishop and the Eudist Fathers, who came in 1844, the college was closed in 1846.
Bishop Portier finally applied to Very Rev. Father Roothan, general of the Jesuits, who referred him to Father Malliard, provincial of France. Negotia- tions succeeded, and Father Gautrelet and four other Jesuits arrived in Mobile, January, 1847. Fathers, Yenni and Soller met them from New Orleans.
The college was re-opened under the presidency of Father Gautrelet. Father Bazin was appointed Bishop of Vincennes, Ind. In 1850, Father Matthew, Apostle of Temperance, visited the college, also Father de Smet, the famous Indian missionary. It was visited too by Archbishop Blanc of New Orleans, Bishops, Reynolds of Charleston, Purcell of Cincinnati, Lamy of Santa Fe, and Vandevelde of Natchez. Dr. O. A. Brownson was also among the visitors.
Spring Hill College was incorporated in 1836, by the Legislature of Alabama, with all the rights and priveleges of a University.
While visiting the old Catholic city of Lyons, 1829, Bishop Portier thought of renewing his acquaintance with its Archbishop, Cardinal Fesch, and for this pur- pose, as well as to receive the Pope's blessing he went to Rome. The Bourbon Government had decreed banishment as the penalty of being the uncle of Bona- parte. The Cardinal was glad to see his friend of former days, now a missionary Bishop, and gave him thirty thousand francs in aid of the college, and, as
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a mark of personal friendship, presented him with a beautiful painting, now among the treasures of Spring Hill College. In token of gratitude, the college was dedicated to St. Joseph, the patron Saint of the Car- dinal.
The Bishop was always the genius of the spot. He might be seen axe in hand, marching into the woods at the head of his young people to fell the forest and prepare the way for future cultivation. "This " he remarked, "may not seem very episcopal, but it is very apostolic, otherwise, St. Paul made a mistake in showing us how to work with our hands." Father Bazin wrote: "Every moment we could spare from our studies and the ministry was devoted to manual labor. Forests had to be felled, gardens and orchards to take their place, grounds had to be fenced, lands cleared, planted, tilled. But always and everywhere, under our eyes, was the stirring example of our Bishop. Not an enterprise in which he, axe in hand, did not lead the way."
Cholera was epidemic in Mobile in 1849 but the college escaped. Several other diseases appeared in the city from time to time, but they touched the in- mates of the college lightly, if at all. The old city was not so fortunate. A society was formed in June, 1838, for "the support and education of destitute orphans, and children neglected by their parents, also indigent families or individuals reduced to distress by sickness or other inevitable misfortunes, and though Catholics shall have the first claim, yet others shall not be excluded." To administer these charities, Brothers of the Sacred Heart from France were in- vited by the Bishop. They had been established in Lyons, 1820, to take charge of schools and Asylums.
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Five came in 1847, and began their charitable minis- trations among the orphan boys of Mobile, which they still continue. The Bishop established a society of ladies for visiting the sick and poor, so that none were excluded from his universal benevolence. Mainly through the exertions of Very Rev. Father McGara- han, the Providence Infirmary was built, and placed in charge of the Sisters of Charity. Three of Mobile's venerated Bishops breathed their last in this holy In- stitution : Bishops Portier, Manncy, and O'Sullivan -R. I. P.
The name of Very Rev. James McGarahan is fre- quently mentioned in the records of those benevo- lent works, as aiding them in every possible way, and his lamented death, in 1865, was bewailed as an ir- reparable loss. The orphans for whom he labored for more than twenty-five years, were deprived of their greatest benefactor. Nothing could exceed his kind- ness to these children. When they left the Asylum he continued to watch over them.
We find the following entry in the proceedings of the Board of Managers, Aug. 6, 1844:
" Resolved by the Board: That the Rev. James McGarahan be authorized to send to Tuscaloosa for Mary A. Hines, formerly an orphan in the Asylum. As the family with whom she was placed have since left for the North, she is considered by them to be at present left in a situation, not tending to her good."
The Sisters of Charity came from Emmittsburg to Mobile, Dec. 16, 1841.
Mar. 3, 1846, the Mother Superior of the Sisters of Charity notified all concerned, that her Sisters would be withdrawn from all male Asylums after April 1, 1846. At this date there were two hundred
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and two children in the Asylums. The Bishop was now obliged to provide for the boys of his flock de- prived of their parents.
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Alabama has had four capitals: St Stephens on the Tombigbee, Cahaba on the Alabama, Tuscaloosa on the Black Warrior and Montgomery on the Ala- bama. The Indians were always associated with the missionaries and the fur-traders. The search for some wealthy region was often renewed, caravans moved westward like an army of galleys. But the coast bounded by the Mexican Gulf never was famous for mineral wealth. Coureurs de bois brought peltries from the Indians down the rivers to New Orleans, Biloxi, and Mobile. Sometimes they made trouble for the missioners by introducing that most injurious of all imports, fire-water. It was said to be an axiom among some Indians: "Do not strike even with a flower, a woman with a hundred vices." But many a poor industrious squaw felt the weight of her drunken husband's arm. Indian conflicts often meant treachery, assassination, scalping. During the life of the Rou- quette brethren, Adrien and Dominique, much impetus was given to labors among the Indians. Adrien was the more intellectual of the pair-par nobile fratrum, -Only heaven knows who was the holier. Their labors in the pine regions of Louisiana and Missis- sippi are famous. Father Adrien was a wonderful singer of nature in all her diversified moods-in sylvan dells, in umbrageous forests, among the moonlit charms of exquisite scenery. Father Rouquette was a friend of every literary character of his day in Lou- isiana, as Judge Gayarre, Rev. Richard Kane, who
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admired his genius and revered his virtues. "Some day " says an admirer, "a gifted pen, recalling the legends and traditions of Louisana, will resurrect from the silent tomb the grand poetic leonine face of Father Rouquette and surround it with a halo of sanctified poesy."
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CHAPTER XLVII.
MANY Indians sought refuge in Mobile where they were hospitably received.
In the Apalache country thirteen considerable towns were destroyed, each with a good church, and a Con- vent for the missionaries. They were plundered of plate, vestments, and everything that could tempt cu- pidity. Fairbank, an historian of Florida, states that " the remains of these mission stations may be traced in several localities " to-day. At Lake City and other places the outlines of the surrounding earthworks can be distinctly traced.
Those who had the interest of religion at heart had long desired the appointment of a Bishop to reside in Florida. Don Dionisio, a native of Havana, was selected for this dangerous dignity and was also made auxiliar to the Bishop of Santiago. He was conse- crated at Meriden Yucatan, in 1709, and proceeded at once to Florida. He conferred confirmation, June 26, 1709, in the church of St. Augustine, on a multi- tude of persons of every rank. July Ioth he made a formal visitation of the Church, of which Rev. Law- rence Acevdo, was parish-priest, as shown by the Register. The long pastorship of Father Acevedo ended Aug. 13, 1735.
In the war with Carolina, the Christian Indians were nearly exterminated. Only three hundred survivors
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were left to represent the numerous towns of native converts.
In 1726, there were three Yemassee missions, each with a Convent and church of palmetto, three of the Ygnasa nation, Guadaloupe, with a church of boards, Nombre de Dios had a stone Church, and some others. The heathen Indians, all sided with the English. The occupation of Georgia by Oglethorpe completed the ruin of the Indian missions in this section.
The Governor, Mannel Joseph de Justiz, bears tes- timony to the zeal and exertions of Bishop Tejada who had aroused piety among the Spanish settlers, having processions of the Rosary on Holidays, reviving the prequentation of the sacraments and omitting no means to draw all to the fear and love of God. His school was the only one in Florida, all the rest having been closed since the terrible English invasion. The chapel was only fifty feet by thirty six. Most of the congregation remained in the street. Though the Catholic King appropriated forty thousand dollars to rebuild the Parish Church, there was nothing to show for this sum but four bare walls. The Bishop and others exerted themselves to have it finished, but it remained unfinished until Florida passed out of the hands of the Catholic King. We were surprised to learn that this poor church had the luxury of a good organ. The King paid the organist two hundred and seventy-five dollars a year, a much larger sum then (1738) than now.
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