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1846-3896
OLDEN JORIDER SOUVENIR FREEPORT, ILLINOIS,
7 Private In a small section
MOST REVEREND P. A. FEEHAN, ARCHBISHOP OF CHICAGO.
THE GOLDEN JUBILEE SOUVENIR.
THE HISTORY
OF
CATHOLICITY
IN STEPHENSON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
FREEPORT : F. CHAS. DONOHUE, BOOK AND COMMERCIAL JOB PRINTER. 1896.
277.73091 All. Heat. Sewing
M59 h
TO THOSE BRAVE HEROES AND HEROINES OF FAITH AND PATRIOTISM, THE CATHOLIC PIONEERS OF STEPHENSON COUNTY,
THIS SIMPLE RECORD OF THEIR FIDELITY AND ITS NOBLE RESULTS IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED.
Freeport, Illinois. Feast of the Immaculate Conception, 1896.
PREFACE.
W HEN introduced to a stranger, who is henceforth to be an acquaintance, and perhaps a friend, one's impulse is to study the individual's countenance, to learn from each feature a trait of his character, and to judge from the expression gleaming in the eyes and lingering about the mouth, what sort of a moral and intellectual existence he has based upon that character.
A preface should not only introduce the book to us, but it should aid in that scrutiny of features and of expression which will make the book more than a mere acquaintance, so that we shall begin and continue its perusal in that spirit of friendliness which kindly overlooks imperfection, and, with affectionate pride, slightly magnifies excellence.
What, then, are the features of this little volume, between the covers of which you are about to glance, kind reader ? Plain and homely it may be, but clear-cut, and bearing the impress of that honesty of purpose without which no face is truly attractive, no work truly noble. The expression that lights up these features and gives them a beauty, not intrinsically theirs, comes from the spirit of faith, and hope, and charity.
This book is to dwell in each home in St. Mary's parish; it is to be one of the household, a friend who cheers, by recalling sweet and sacred memories of the past, basing on them the still sweeter and more sacred hopes of the future.
If it enters homes in other parishes, it will be as a messenger bearing good tidings of exceeding great joy, and its voice will pro -. claim the worthy deeds of a noble people, urging those who wel- come its message " to go and do likewise."
Thus it is sent forth, as a loving friend to one, as a kind messenger to another ; may the welcome accorded it, by one and all, be as heartfelt and sincere as are the sentiments and motives that have given it an existence among the creations of the great literary world.
- CAROLA MILANIS.
St Mary's Church in 1836.
ST MARY'S CHURCH IN 1855
· FACTORS In the Life of the Catholic Church.
In the wonderful life of the Church of God, we find three grand factors: the militant, the suffering, and the triumphant armies of immortal souls. Of widely different characters, yet of almost equal powers, these magnificent factors, through the beautiful alliance of spiritual forces called the Communion of Saints, have effected glorious results which to-day illumine the world, radiating, as they do, from great beacon fires set blazing, (in many a critical epoch of the world's history) by saintly hands on towering mountain heights, and fanned, in our day, to a glowing heat and brightness by the profound thought and sacred . eloquence of His Holiness, Leo XIII.
Revelation, that ineffably precious gift of an Infinite Intel- ligence to finite minds, has granted us much knowledge of that supreme factor in the Church's sacred activities, the triumphant souls in, heaven, also of the powerful band of holy sufferers undergoing their purification. Faith assures us and we proclaim in the words of the Creed, our belief that the triumphant and the suffering souls fail not to fulfill, in behalf of the militant, many an office of grave import, while a union of the activities of the three mighty divisions of the Church furthers the grand work of religion. Though we shall ever bear in mind the silent workings and hidden influences of the other two, it is with the efforts, the struggles, and the labors of the militant factor that we are now concerned ; these we are to study and to describe, these we hope to glorify.
More efforts are made, by the ordinary men and women
HIGH SCHOOL
STUDENTS LIBRARY
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Golden Jubilee Souvenir.
about us, with a direct intention to please God and to increase His ultimate glory, than we permit ourselves to believe. The Church Militant rests on its arms less frequently than we think ; it is on guard more frequently than we realize. Much of the noble strife is silent; many of its shouts of victory are so clear and high that only the angels hear them.
Fascinating indeed is the study of the world's mighty con- flicts; delightful is it to trace the great events of history to their sources, to unveil their causes, to discover their tendencies, to develop their results and to guage the full importance of their effects. Such studies are replete with interest and profit at any time, but the fascination, the delight, the interest and the profit are a hundred-fold increased when the events dwelt upon concern religion, when the influences under consideration effect changes in the moral world, when the causes lie mysteriously hidden in the Infinite Mind, when the results affect the destiny of immortal beings and all the tendencies are heavenward. Well indeed may the interest of such studies be thus increased tenfold and the profit thus become immeasurable.
The history of a locality comparatively insignificent, among earth's widespread nations and princely cities, might, if purely secular, be deemed somewhat unimportant, its value doubtful and its necessity a disputed point; but once introduce the factors mentioned above, but once let the Church and her mighty hosts of triumphant, suffering and militant souls enter into the con- sideration, then no locality is insignificant, no event of its history is unimportant. The value of such history, as giving glory to God and edification to souls, will be undisputed, hence our pages, devoted to the progress of Catholicity in Stephenson County, will bear information of superlative interest to the mind filled with the light of faith, and of immense value to the heart that is full of hope and charity. To the mind of God, and in the science of the saints, the souls existing in Stephenson County are of as great value as those enjoying life and its activities in New York, London, or Paris.
The loss of a soul in mountain solitude, or the triumph of
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Stephenson County, Illinois, 1896.
a soul in desert wilderness, the offering of Holy Mass in darkest Africa, or the giving of the sacraments to the savages of the Pacific islands, are events that far surpass in importance the victories of an Alexander or the triumphs of a Buonaparte.
Thus it is that matters which relate to the vast interests of immortal souls are not limited in importance, or lessened in value, by mere distances or boundary lines. Where souls are concerned, Heaven touches very closely upon earth ; it is a trans- forming touch, too, causing temporal affairs to expand into eternal results, and the finite to gain everlasting possession of . the Infinite. These noble, fundamental principles must be borne in mind by him who reads our simple account of more than fifty years in the life of the Church among simple, God-fearing peo- ple, in a locality unknown, perhaps, beyond the boundaries of our own State.
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Chi. Photo.EnQ. C.
ST. MARY'S CHURCH, FREEPORT, ILL., 1896. REV. W. A. HORAN, PASTOR,
Introduction of Catholicity into Illinois.
Can we doubt that the Church Triumphant, seeing all things in the Beatific Vision, watched, in ecstatic joy, the pro- gress of the frail canoe that carried adown the great "Father of Waters " the weight of a nation's spiritual inheritance ? We may well believe that never did king or qucen, however great and powerful, make so royal and magnificent a progress through mighty kingdoms and rich cities, as that of the precursor of Christ in the Valley of the Mississippi, as that of the heaven- appointed bearer of glad tidings, as that of Father Marquette through primeval forests, over virgin prairies, and on the waters of unknown rivers. Since all worldly pomp and ceremony were lacking, the more were heavenly visitants attracted. The greater the simplicity, from a human point of view, the greater the invisible glory of the joyous guard of angelic beings established about the sainted missionary and, the more lonely his pathway, the more magnificent were the winged processions of glad spirits that followed him, as in the name of God most high, he took pos- session of the virgin soil of Illinois. Here, amid bands of scat- tered savages, he planted the tiny seed that, among civilized growths, has become so stately a tree. Of its fruitful development we have evidence in the prosperity of the Archdiocese of Chi- cago and its dependent dioceses of Alton, Belleville and Peoria, for not only to the savage children of the forests did Father Mar- quette bring his heavenly message ; sacred tradition, that never failing voice of the Holy Spirit, bore it down through the centuries to the white settlers. They had brought with them their faith, it was strengthened by words and hymns still re-echoing through the swect, untainted air which the saintly one had set in vibration.
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And now-where once were Indian farms, are flourishing dioceses ; where wigwams stood, tower the steeples of stately cathedrals.
We read, in books of varied titles and by different authors, the same sweet story of Father Marquette's journey down the Mississippi ; of his return, in 1673, with his companion, Joliet, a Canadian merchant, and of their brief stay with the tribe of the Peorias.
His promise to this tribe that he would return to establish a mission among them and " the gentle Illini " was kept, late in the year 1674. With that admirable courage that always dis- tinguished him, the devoted priest started from the Straits of Mackinaw, crossed Lake Michigan and then passed along its western shore until, worn out in body, but indefatigable in soul, he reached the mouth of the " Chicagou." Not being able to pro- ceed on his way to the expectant tribes of the Illinois valley, he sent a messenger to inform them of the fact, and many of them hastened to his side, happy to be of service to him, until such time as his restoration to health should enable him to become of infinitely greater service to them. His holy ministrations brought spiritual joy, and the peace of God, to the inhabitants of many an Indian village, before he again turned his face towards the north and began his last journey through the wilderness. Illinois was,. at that time, a wide, uncultivated territory, teeming with rich promises of the agricultural wealth of the future. It had then no white inhabitants, but they were not to be long in coming nor were they slow, when once arrived, in rendering this one of the fairest and richest of the great states; neither did they fail to devote part of its noble resources to the support and to the prop- agation of the faith.
Illinois is now dotted, over all its extent, with church edi- fices, and, everywhere that the number of children requires it and means render it possible, a school stands beside the church, as- outworks beside a citadel, for mutual support and protection.
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Stephenson County, Illinois, 1896.
Early History of Catholicity in Chicago.
Like the gleam of the fire-fly in the twilight, was the brief delay of Father Marquette at the mouth of the "Chicagou ;" the light of faith and fervor did not again illumine the spot, until one hundred and fifty years had elapsed. The locality became known, successively, as a traders' point, a government reservation, and a frontier outpost. Here Fort Dearborn was built, for the protection of the few white settlers against their red enemies. In times of peace, to this point came the Indians to claim the sup- plies of goods and of money promised them by the government in exchange for their lands. Here too came the Jesuit mission- aries, also Father Baden and others, from Bardstown, Ky., and Vincennes, Ind., the religious priests seeking to convert the In- dians, and the secular clergy endeavoring to give temporary spiritual comfort to the Catholic soldiers and traders stationed at this outpost.
The missionary period of the seventeenth century passed away ; but not until 1833 did the church in Chicago become perma- nently established. Its present life and strength originated in the efforts of Father St. Cyr, authorized by Bishop Rosati of St. Louis, to take charge of the two hundred souls constituting the Catholic population of the town growing up at that time on the spot where Father Marquette had paused to preach and to pray in 1674. It required two weeks of unpleasant traveling for Father St. Cyr to reach the mission at Chicago, nor did he find much at his journey's end to rest or comfort him. From Bishop Rosati he had recived a letter of appointment, commanding him to " report to the Bishop of Chicago, when Chicago should have a Bishop "! None but a prophetic soul could have seen, at that
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time, in the wild little town, any of the characteristics of a bishopric.
The first episcopal visit to Chicago was that of Bishop Brute of Vincennes, Ind., who gave confirmation to the few persons who had presented themselves to Father St. Cyr for preparation. The congregation comprised, at that period, the paschal season of 1835, four hundred souls of various nationalities, French, Irish, German, American and Canadian, all of whom attended the ser- vices in the poor little frame edifice called "St. Mary's of the Lake"; to these services there likewise came, quite frequently, the Commandant, accompanied by his staff and by the garrison of the fort. This was the embryo, as it were, of the towering and wide-spreading tree, to whose rich growth we have already referred. Later in the same year, 1835, came the famous rush of Irish emigrants, from seaport towns, to the village beside the great lake. This was caused by the proposed construction of a canal to join the waters of Lake Michigan with those of the Illinois river. The numbers who came so greatly increased Father St. Cyr's flock that he was obliged to appeal to the bishop for help in min- istering to so great a number of souls. Assistance was granted him and to his own were joined the labors of Rev. Fathers de St. Palais, Fischer, Schaefer and Dupontavice. The last named took charge of Joliet, and two Vincentian Fathers of the Mission de- voted themselves to the faithful residing at LaSalle. The other Rev. Fathers named above, together with Father St. Cyr, found plenty to do along the course of the canal, the construction of which brought the Catholic laborers to a different point almost daily, making of them a sort of wandering or pilgrim congrega- tion gathering in camps, in cabins and in log huts to assist at a service no whit different, in essentials from, that which is to-day celebrated, with so much pomp and glory, in the handsome ca- thedral of the Holy Name. Sore need had the poor people of the sacred comfort that only religion could afford them, for those were the dread days of the cholera, which were followed by the financial disasters of 1837.
In 1844, when its population had become 12,000 and a num-
LA HIGH SCHOOL
TROENTS' LIBRARY Stephenson County, Illinois, 1896.
17 ANGELES, CAL. ber of small towns had sprung up in its vicinity, Chicago was raised to the dignity of an episcopal see, with Rt. Rev. William Quarter as bishop. The varied events of his administration are the subjects of very interesting chapters in " The Souvenir Volume of the Silver Jubilee of Archbishop Feehan." St. Mary's Church, in Chicago, which was to have been Bishop Quarter's cathedral, was in an unfinished condition, at the time of his arrival, and even lacked the requisite furniture for sanctuary and altar ; more- over, there was a considerable debt on it, for the payment of which there seemed absolutely no provision. However, the Bishop and his brother, Very Rev. Walter Quarter, having united their personal funds, to pay off the three or four thousand dollars due on the work already accomplished, the people were encouraged to contribute sufficient amounts to complete the structure. Not long after the bishop's arrival, then, the cathedral was finished, and it was his happy privilege to send towering to the sky, its cross-laden steeple, the first to point heavenward from a church in Chicago. It is needless to dwell upon the rapid and marvel- lous changes in the diocese, since that time. The advancement and improvement that edifies and delights us, at this hour, began in Bishop Quarter's administration, and though he continued only four years his sacred duty to the young flock scattered throughout Illinois, yet the ordination of twenty-nine priests, and the erection of thirty churches, constituted but a small part of his arduous labors during that brief, but exceedingly fruitful period. " He began with six clergymen in his diocese, and not even one ecclesiastical student ; he left after him forty priests, besides twenty students preparing for the priesthood, while on the many im- provements which he had originated there was not a cent of debt." Poverty and privation had been the portion of priests and people, this had been cheerfully shared by their bishop, and he united with them in transformning hardships, by patient endur- ance, into the unfailing riches and abundance of eternal dwelling płaces.
Our space will not permit us to enter into details regarding the administrations of Bishop Quarter's successors, but we hope our
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readers will not fail to become acquainted with the contents of the volume we have already recommended, where they will find the labors of Rt. Rev. Jas. Van de Velde, Rt. Rev. A. O. Regan, Rt. Rev. Jas. Duggan, Rt. Rev. Thos. Foley, and Mt. Rev. P. A. Feehan, eloquently portrayed.
The diocese of Chicago now enjoys the spiritual services of three hundred and fifty-five priests ; its churches number two. hundred and twenty-eight; of chapels there are one hundred and six ; one hundred and forty institutions afford educational ad- vantages to Catholic youth, and seventeen are devoted to charity.
Forty-three thousand pupils attend the Catholic schools, academies and colleges and the population of the diocese num- bers four hundred and eighty thousand souls. Among them many nationalities are represented, Irish, German and Bohemian predominating.
A quotation from one of the many eloquent addresses pre- sented to His Grace of Chicago, on the occasion of his Silver Jub- ilee will correctly indicate the origin of the present prosperity of his important charge, " These churches, schools and charitable insti- tutions stand as monuments to the earnestness and generosity of the Catholic population. They are built by the voluntary con- tributions of the people, by the personal sacrifices and savings of zealous priests, by the untiring industry, self-denial and economy of devoted brothers and nuns. They evidence the influence which the Catholic faith exercises, where people are in possession of civil and religious liberty. They testify what can be accom- plished, by a believing flock, when unhampered by state influence or interference-what can be done by a free church in a free state."
Perhaps in no diocese has the truth of the above been more evident than in that of Chicago. The church, in our county, is an off-shoot of that great tree of which our parish of St. Mary's is a sturdy, healthy, fruitful branch, and now we will do a little rev- erent botanizing-tracing from soil to root, from root to tree, from tree to branch, the sacred life of religion in Stephenson County, Illinois.
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Stephenson County, Illinois, 1896.
THE EARLY HISTORY Of Catholicity in Stephenson County.
The nature of the soil, if only it be watered by the dews of divine grace, or by the crimson floods of martyrdom, matters lit- tle to the growth of the Church. So watered, and with men of truly apostolic spirit to till it, richly productive has been the soil of every part of our great country, from ocean to ocean, and from gulf to great lakes.
Each locality, in that wide expanse, has its beautiful history of suffering and self-sacrifice, joyfully offered in behalf of religious. prosperity ; our own region is no exception ; many a beautiful incident might be recorded in proof of the devotedness of the Catholics of Stephenson County in early days. The angels of God keep the record of these deeds, though earth may bear no. memorial of them.
A monument marks the spot where occurred the Black Hawk War, but no stately shaft or noble pile of stones marks the place, in the immediate neighborhood of this memorial, where occurred an event infinitely greater than any war, however serious in its. results. All devout souls will agree in regarding the celebration of the sacred mysteries as immeasurably greater in importance. and value than any event in profane history. Yet the solid memorial of the dread Indian war has no companion monument to tell the passer-by that here was offered, for the first time in our county, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The sacred cere- mony took place in the house of one Simon Brady, near Kel- logg's Grove, and Father Stephen Vincent Baden was the cele-
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brant. This was in October, 1827, as the good priest was on his way to visit Galena and Prairie du Chien, in which places miners were even then seeking for lead.
Six or eight years later, the Bishop of St. Louis, under whose jurisdiction the western part of Illinois had been placed, sent Father John McMahan to locate his dwelling in Galena and to attend the spiritual needs of the Catholics scattered throughout this section of the State. After a brief visit to Dubuque, Iowa, Father McMahan devoted himself to the service of the eight hun- dred Catholics in and about Galena. Authorities differ as to the date, but it was either in 1833 or 1834. The devoted priest's pastor- ate was short indeed, for he had labored only nine months among his flock, when God took him to his everlasting rest. His suc- cessor, Father Fitz Morris, was even a shorter time among the sorrowing people; in three months he followed his predecessor to the realms of eternity. His successor was Father Shanahan, who likewise departed this life while attending the spiritual needs of the early settlers of Galena. The bodies of these three priests, the first to die in our part of the country, were buried in the pub- lic cemetery, where they still lie, though it was proposed, in 1843, to remove them to the Catholic cemetery, that year opened for the burial of bodies consecrated by the sacraments of the Church.
Previous to the coming of Father McMahan, in 1832 or '34, Galena and Dubuque had been visited by Rev. Samuel Mazzu- chelli, an Italian Dominician missionary, so well known and so beloved, in Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois, that his life and labors constitute a sacred tradition rendering it unnecessary to repeat the events of the one or to describe the extent of the others in this work. Suffice it to state, in this relation, that one of the many church edifices built by him was St. Michael's in Galena, in which our brief history has an interest, because, from 1827 to 1843, the Catholics of Stephenson County were dependent upon the priests located at Galena for occasional opportunities to assist at the Holy Sacrifice and to receive the sacraments.
It was in 1835, after the death of Fathers McMahan, Fitz Morris and Shanahan, that Father Mazzuchelli laid the corner
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Stephenson County, Illinois, 1896.
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THE NEW CHURCH AT IRISH GROVE.
THE OLD CHURCH AT IRISH GROVE.
THE OLD CHURCH AT LENA. THE CHURCH AT NEW DUBLIN.
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stone of St. Michael's church in Galena; he then went to Wis- consin and his place in Galena was successively filled by Fathers Petiot, Brady, Oslangenberg and McCorick. It is well remem- bered by old settlers, that, in 1841, Father Petiot said Mass in the house of Michael Walsh, for the Catholic people of Irish Grove. The house is now owned by James Spellmann. From 1841 to 1846 Irish Grove was attended by the priest residing at New Dublin, and the services were held in private houses. Then a church was built which continued in use until 1895, when Rev. Michael Sullivan, the present pastor, replaced it by the fine frame structure of which the present congregation are so justly proud.
MARY HOGAN, OF NEW DUBLIN.
Our special interest in the Galena congregation ceases with the year 1843, in which Stephenson County received the services of its first resident priest, Father Derwin, appointed by the Bishop of St. Louis to the parish of New Dublin. The welcome pastor made his home with a family named Murphy and offered the Holy Mass in a log church, " 16 ft. x 24 ft. and seven logs high," which had been erected in 1836. In 1844, the Bishop of Chicago was given jurisdiction over all Illinois, and, in 1846, he appointed Rev. Jas. Cavanaugh to the charge of New Dublin and the mis- sions in its vicinity. This clergyman was succeeded by Rev. F. Kalvalege, who erected, in 1855, the church now in use in New Dublin.
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