USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > Historical review of Chicago and Cook county and selected biography, Volume I > Part 21
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Rt. Rev. Alexander J. McGavick, auxiliary bishop of the diocese of Chicago, was consecrated to his high position on the Ist of May,
BISHOP 1899. After a short time he assumed the charge McGAVICK. of Holy Angels church on the south side, and has as his assistants in the extended work of his Vol. I-14.
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large congregation, Rev. T. C. Gaffney, D. D .; Rev. Bernard Heeney, Rev. J. E. McGavick and Rev. Timothy O'Shea.
Alexander J. 'McGavick is a native of Illinois, born at Fox Lake, on the 21st of August, 1863, being a son of James and Catherine (Watt) McGavick. Until he had reached the age of fifteen years he attended the public schools of his home neighborhood, and soon after graduating from the common school system commenced a long course of preparation for the priesthood. In 1879 he entered St. Via- teur's College, at Kankakee, Illinois, and in 1887 graduated from that institution with the degree A. M. He was ordained to the priest- hood in the same year, and after well performing the duties attached to minor, charges in Chicago churches was appointed pastor of St. John's church. This was in 1897. The result of his faithful and efficient work in this capacity was his advancement to an auxiliary bishopric in the Chicago diocese, to which he was consecrated May I, 1899. He is especially designated titular Bishop of Marcopolis. Since 1900 he has served as pastor of Holy Angels church.
Among the Roman Catholic clergy of Chicago there are none who stand closer to the hearts of the faithful, or higher in the minds of those who admire loyalty to the church and broad
MICHAEL J.
FITZSIMMONS. ability in its support and propagation, than Rev. Michael J. Fitzsimmons, pastor of the Cathedral of the Holy Name, who for a quarter of a century has spent an open, helpful and Christian life in the city of his birth. He was born in Chicago of Irish parents, on the 23d of October, 1850, and has been the highest credit to his race, his parentage, his birthplace and his country. His father, Michael Fitzsimmons, came to the United States as a boy, and remained an honored citizen of Chicago and later of Morris, Illinois, until his death in 1855.
Rev. Michael J. Fitzsimmons obtained his preparatory education in the parochial schools of Morris, going thence for a classical course to St. Joseph's College, Teutopolis, Illinois, whence he graduated in 1878. His studies for the church included courses of a year at St. Viateur's Seminary, near Kankakee, Illinois, and three years at St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, Maryland. His ordination to the priest- hood occurred in August, 1882, and it is a somewhat remarkable co- incidence that the ceremonies took place in the cathedral of which he is now pastor. Father Fitzsimmons' first appointment was to St.
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Mary's Church, Wabash avenue and Eldredge court, but before the close of the year he was transferred to the Cathedral of the Holy Name, and has since remained a vital factor in its spirtual and chari- table activities and for a time in the administrative work of the dio- cese. From assistant pastor he was promoted to the chancellorship of the archdiocese in 1887, and on the death of the Very Reverend P. J. Conway, in 1888, was made rector of the cathedral. Ile had the direct supervision of the rebuilding and renovation of the edifice, on North State and Superior streets, in the years from 1890 to 1893, which transformed the Cathedral of the Holy Name into one of the most beautiful church edifices in the United States and fitting memor- ial to perhaps the most important archdiocese of the Roman Catholic church in the country.
Rev. Peter J. O'Callaghan, C. S. P., rector of St. Mary's Church, on Wabash avenue, corner of Eldredge court, and superior of the
Paulist Fathers, presides over the mother church
PETER J. . O'CALLAGHAN. of the Roman Catholic faith in Chicago. Among the earliest pioneers of Fort Dearborn and Chicago were numbered not a few good Catholics, and in April, 1833, the bishop of St. Louis appointed Father J. M. I. St. Cyr priest of St. Mary's parish. Less than two years before he had come from France, but when he reached Chicago to take charge of his little flock he had sufficiently mastered the English language to be able to converse and preach in that tongue. The parishioners first met in Mark Beau- bien's little log cabin, on Lake street near Market, but in the fall the tiny wooden church of St. Mary's was completed on the south- west corner of Lake and State streets. Rev. Father St. Cyr remained in Chicago until 1837, when he returned to St. Louis. The brick St. Mary's Church, afterward built on the corner of Wabash avenue and Madison street, was destroyed by the great fire of 1871, and two years afterward the edifice at Wabash avenne and Eldredge court was dedicated. On account of the destruction of the Cathedral of the Holy Name, St. Mary's was used as the pro-cathedral from the time of the purchase of the property in the spring of 1873 until the removal of the bishop to the north side in 1876. It is this historic institution, so linked with the progress of Catholicism in Chicago, over which Father O'Callaghan has presided with such faithfulness, dignity and characteristic zeal for the past four years.
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Peter J. O'Callaghan is a native of Milford, Massachusetts, born on the 6th of August, 1866, his parents both coming to America from their Irish home when quite young. They were reared in Massa- chusetts and were there united in marriage. The youth graduated from the high school at Salem, and finished a course at Harvard Uni- versity in 1888, but the call of the church drew him to the Catholic University of America in Washington, and in 1893, soon after his graduation therefrom, he was ordained to the priesthood. His first service was as assistant in the St. Paul the Apostle parish of New York City, and he was then sent on missionary work to various sec- tions of the country. In 1901 he was made Novice Master, and after- ward returned to the missionary field. In the performance of these duties he visited Chicago in 1903, and in the following year was called to his present position as pastor of St. Mary's Church. His charge is now one of the most important in Chicago, and he has ten brother priests to assist him in the conduct of the great work.
Dr. F. A. Purcell, rector of the College of the Sacred Heart, Chi- cago, one of the most noted preparatory seminaries for the education F. A. PURCELL. of the Catholic priesthood in the country, is still a comparatively young man. He is a native of Chi- cago, born March 17, 1872, son of James and Jo- hanna (Brazil) Purcell. His parents, who are of Irish descent, set- tled in Chicago in the fifties. The son was reared in this city and received his earlier education in its public schools. He afterwards pursued a course in literature at St. Benedict's College, Atchison, Kansas, from which he graduated in 1893, afterwards completing his theological studies at St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, Maryland.
Father Purcell's first work for the church was performed as assistant pastor of St. Anne's Church, Chicago; but in 1903 went to Rome, and in the famous University of the Minerva he pursued a post-graduate course in philosophy, theology and denominational pedagogy, which peculiarly fitted him for the position which he was called upon to fill in Chicago. He returned to that city in 1905 and at once assumed his position as rector of the new diocesan and pre- paratory seminary for the education of young men for the priesthood.
By virtue both of his important office and the strong qualities which he brings to bear upon it, he is one of the influential agencies in the diocese working for the advancement of his church.
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Rev. Thomas James McCormick, C. S. V., pastor of St. Viator's church, corner of Belmont and Fortieth avenues, was born in Man-
THOMAS J. chester, New Hampshire, on the 31st of July, 1860.
MCCORMICK. His parents, Thomas and Mary ( Donoher ) McCor- mick, were both natives of Ireland and were married in his native city. There were eight children in the family. When Thomas was seven years of age his parents removed to LaSalle, Illinois, in whose public schools the boy obtained his preliminary education.
Father McCormick completed his higher literary studies and his preparation for holy orders at St. Viator's College, Kankakee, Illi- nois. He spent the period from 1885 to 1894 in thoroughly train- ing for his life work, and soon after his graduation in the latter year he was formally received into the priesthood. The following four years were spent in earnest and effective work on the teaching staff of his alma mater, and in 1893 he was transferred to St. Viator's church of Chicago as an assistant priest. In 1901 he assumed charge of St. Edward's parish, Mayfair, and in 1903 was appointed principal of the boys' parochial school at the Cathedral parish. Father Mc- Cormick's capacity for broad and useful work was further strength- ened in the following year by his appointment to the pastorate of St. Viator's church, with its larger and more important field of priestly labors. About five hundred families are included in his parish, and the parochial school, of which he also has charge, has an average attendance of some two hundred. The parish has been established eighteen years, and has never been more flourishing than under his pastorate.
Rev. Bernard P. Murray, the earnest, able and beloved pastor of St. Bernard's church, whose parish is in the southern section of
BERNARD P. the city, formerly known as Englewood, has accom-
MURRAY. plished a notable work for the cause of Catholicism in this section of the state and country. He has within the past twenty years organized a stronghold of the faith, where before it was virtually unknown.
Father Murray is a native of county Antrim, Ireland, born in Glenariffe, near Cushendall. In 1856, when a young child, he was brought to America by his parents, and received his earlier education which was to prepare him for the service of the church in the state
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of New York. He graduated from St. John's College, Fordham, and received from that institution the degrees of Bachelor and Master of Arts. . Later, his theological studies were pursued at St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, Maryland, and on the 17th of December, 1881, he was ordained by Archbishop (now Cardinal) Gibbons.
Father Murray served as assistant priest at Galena, Illinois, until he was transferred to St. Bridget's church, Chicago, being then ap- pointed secretary to Archbishop Feehan and chancellor of the arch- diocese. In these capacities he drew to himself the affection and respect which are inseparable from the nature of his character, and it was with the deepest regret that he departed for the scene of his diffi- cult labors in the parish of St. Bernard, which Archbishop Feehan had established in July, 1887. Prior to that time the so called "En- glewood district" had been almost non-Catholic, but Father Murray's zeal, persuasiveness and executive ability were the means of building up one of the strongest Catholic congregations in the city-and all this within the succeeding decade. In 1897 the imposing evidence of this fact arose at the corner of Stewart avenue and Sixty-sixth street in the form of a massive and graceful marble edifice, said to be the first in the city to be erected of that material. This work has made him one of the strongest forces in the expansion of the Roman Catholic church in the west, and of late years it has been necessary to call to his assistance the services of two brothers in the priesthood. Father Murray is also recognized as a profound scholar, deeply and broadly cultured in Irish and church history, and in this connection it is worthy of comment that the widely known Catholic historian, the late Dr. John O'Kane Murray, was his brother.
Rev. J. D. Laplante, principal of St. Viator's Normal Institute, corner of North Fortieth and West Belmont avenues, is a native of J. D. LAPLANTE. Osceola, Michigan, born on the 22d of December, 1874. After attending the public schools for about four years, he pursued courses at St. Ann's Acad- enny, Lake Linden, Michigan, and at St. Viator's College, Kankakee, Illinois, spending seven years in the latter. He entered the Congre- gation of the Clerics of St. Viator August 30, 1894. The young man then went abroad to complete his education and training for the priest- hood, spending most of the time in Paris and Cambrai (Department of Nord), France. Four years were thus profitably spent, almost
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equally divided between these places, and on June 29, 1902, Father Laplante was ordained to the Catholic priesthood.
Father Laplante came to Chicago soon after his ordination, ar- riving in the city on the 6th of August, 1902. . At first he took charge of the novitiate department of the institute, but it very soon became evident that he was fully qualified to assume more important respon- sibilities, and on the 23rd of August, 1907, he became principal. Ilis six years' work in St. Viator's Normal Institute indicates that Father Laplante has been placed in a position of great and good influence on the rising generations of his church, and those who teach them in its ways and tenets.
Rev. Thomas Pope Hodnett, founder of the well-known west side Catholic parish of St. Malachy and for a number of years pastor of
THOMAS P. the Immaculate Conception church on North ave-
nie, near Schiller, is one of the fathers of the faith HODNETT. who, for more than a quarter of a century, has well proven his strength as a missionary and promoter of Catholicism. He is a native of Glin, County Limerick, Ireland, born February 2, 1845. and the son of Thomas Pope and Elizabeth Griffin (Hallinan) Hod- nett. When thirteen years of age he entered a private academy and the following year St. Munchin's Jesuit College, at Limerick, where during the four years of his course he completed with honor the whole "course of humanity." He then entered the affiliated college of the Catholic University of Ireland at Ennis, known as St. Flannan's, where he passed the examination with the highest honors and received his papers from Rt. Rev. Dr. Woodlock, afterward bishop of Ardagh, Ireland. After this he attended the concurcus of the diocese of Killa- loe, held in Nenagh, north riding of Tipperary, and, as meritorious competitor, was assigned to a place in the Irish College, Paris, France. Here he remained as a distinguished student from 1863 to 1866, resigning in the latter year to come to Chicago.
Upon arriving in this city, Father Hodnett became a student at St. Mary's of the Lake University, and at the expiration of a year entered St. Francis Seminary, near Milwaukee, where he completed his theological course under the Very Rev. Michael Heiss, the pro- found theologian who subsequently became archbishop of Milwaukee. At that institution he was ordained by the widely known and es- teemed pioneer prelate, Archbishop Henni, and was appointed by him
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assistant pastor to Rev. John W. Norris, D. D., of Watertown, Wis- consin. There he remained one year, during which he assisted largely in procuring the property on which now stands the College of the Sacred Heart. In 1868 he became pastor of St. Thomas church, Potosi, Wisconsin; after three years was transferred to St. Clement's church, Lancaster, and subsequently to St. Jerome's church, Ocono- mowoc, both charges being in Wisconsin.
In January, 1874, Father Hodnett returned to the diocese of Chi- cago, and Bishop Foley appointed him pastor of St. Patrick's church, Lincoln, Illinois, with the affiliated missions of Elkhart and Atlanta. He remained with this charge for nearly a year, or until the forma- tion of the Peoria diocese, when he was transferred to St. Patrick's church, Dixon, Illinois, having also under his spiritual jurisdiction the missions of Harmon and Ashton, Lee county. On June 10, 1882, he was summoned by the Rev. Archbishop Feehan to organize the new parish of St. Malachy, Chicago, out of portions of the two parishes of St. Jarlath and St. Columkill.
St. Malachy's parish originally embraced the territory lying be- tween Chicago avenue and Adams street and between Rockwell and Robey streets to Kinzie, where the eastern boundary extended to Hoyne and thence to Chicago avenue. Having obtained permission from the building committee of the city council to erect a frame chapel on the lots purchased at Western avenue and Walnut, Father Hodnett was pushing its erection with characteristic energy when officers of the fire department forbade the work to proceed. But hav- ing municipal authority behind him and not being legally enjoined, he collected a large force of men and boys and in seven hours (on July 3, 1882) he had erected and enclosed a frame building, chris- tened it the "Wooden Ark," and floated over it an American flag. This he used as a temporary church until the completion of the per- manent structure in December, 1884. He also reared a stone school house south of the church. Originally there were about 300 families connected with the parish, but under Father Hodnett's zealous and wise pastorate, which terminated in February, 1901, that number was increased threefold. Since becoming pastor of the Immaculate Con- ception church, on the north side, this parish has also witnessed a great development. His assistants in the present field are Fathers J. J. Hurley, J. J. O'Meara and Edward Gahagan. During his continuous
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service for the church in Chicago since 1882, Father Hodnett has not only been of broad use in secular work, but has been foremost in movements of charity and morality, having been an especially strong factor in the progress of temperance. This distinguishing feature of the church work was early marked in his career, to which the states of Wisconsin and Illinois can enthusiastically testify. When the Peace Jubilee, celebrating the close of the Spanish-American war, was held in Chicago in October, 1898, Father Hodnett delivered an address at the Auditorium in the presence of the president, members of the cabinet, and many distinguished men in official and civil life.
Father Hodnett's advent to the Immaculate Conception church was signalized by the organization of the different societies of St. Vincent de Paul Conference, Father Mathew's Total Abstinence So- ciety, Woman's Temperance Association and Brotherhood of Our Mother of Good Counsel, two courts of Catholic Foresters, Ladies' Benevolent Association, Tabernacle and Rosary Sodality, Young La- dies of the Immaculate Conception, Children of Mary of St. Agnes and St. Aloysius (boys' sodality). The Dominican Sisters conduct- ing the school have also trained a surpliced choir, which lends a pe- culiar charm to the solemn mass on Sunday. In addition to his con- tinuous organization and development of church societies and the gen- eral promotion of secular work, Father Hodnett has made many marked improvements of church property. He has laid a new floor- ing in the church, installed elegant pews, set up chaste and classic stations of the cross and erected richly tinted and variegated stained glass windows. The latter were imported from Munich, Bavaria, and in their artistic beauty and harmony are not surpassed in Chicago, their symbolic significance being the missionary spirit of Ireland. through the apostles whom she sent forth in the sixth, seventh and eighth centuries and who succeeded in evangelizing most of what is now modern Europe. The cost of these improvements was some $12,000; besides which Father Hodnett has built a new vestry, en- larged the pastoral residence into one of the most commodious priests' houses in the archdiocese, and a little over a year ago completed an- other school edifice. The auditorium of the latter, which has a seat- ing capacity of seven hundred, is used for commencement exercises, entertainments, meetings of societies and other parochial gatherings. These improvements involved an additional outlay of $35,000 and
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furnish added evidence of Father Hodnett's determination and suc- cess in keeping the parish in the front ranks of progress.
Rev. James A. Hynes, pastor of the Church of Our Lady of the Angels, situated on North Hamlin avenue, corner of Iowa, has JAMES A. HYNES. within the past decade accomplished fine mission- ary work in this section of the city. Since 1896 he has been in charge of the parish, the nucleus of which when he then came into the field was little more than a small brick yard; in the face of this discouraging outlook he went to work energetically, bravely and intelligently, and has the present satisfac- tion of knowing that he has raised up for the good of his church a flourishing parochial school and an earnest congregation of four hun- dred and fifty families.
Father Hynes is a native of New York City. In his young boy- hood the family located in Chicago, where James received his educa- tion-first, at the old Franklin public school, and then at the school of the Immaculate Conception, one of the first Catholic parochial schools on the north side. He afterward pursued advanced courses at the St. Ignatius College, on West Twelfth street, Chicago, and at the Niagara University, Niagara Falls, New York. In 1886 he was ordained to the priesthood at the latter institution, and then came to Chicago to assist in the spiritual work of St. Sylvester's parish, whose church edifice is on North Humboldt boulevard. Father Hynes re- mained in the faithful and efficient performance of these duties for ten years, and in 1896, as stated, was called to his present charge. Since that time he has established a congregation of some four hun- dred and fifty families, and a parochial school of some three hundred and fifty pupils, whose mental and spiritual welfare is under the im- mediate supervision of nine Sisters of Charity of the B. V. M. He has also built churches at Cragin and an academy connected with St. Genevieve parish, on Fifty-first street near Hamlin avenue. Ably assisting him in such manifold duties as are here indicated is Rev. Thomas F. Troy. From the above bare record of facts it is evident that Father Hynes is possessed of untiring zeal and is an important factor in the spreading influence of his church in the section of the city where he has so long labored.
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Rev. George A. Thomas, C. S. S. R., pastor of St. Alphonsus' church, Southport avenue, corner of Wellington street, is well known
GEORGE A. as one of the most zealous missionaries of the Ro-
man Catholic church, and is now at the head of a
THOMAS. large and important parish. He is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana, born on the 3rd of December, 1867. IIe received his preparatory education in Kansas City, Missouri, and was ordained by Bishop Hogan to the priesthood in 1892.
Father Thomas was initiated into the practical work of the church as assistant pastor of St. Alphonsus', and after continuing thus for a number of years entered the missionary field. For more than a dec- ade he was thus engaged in different parts of the country, and in 1907 he was called to Chicago to assume the pastorate of his present charge, succeeding Rev. Nicholas L. Franzen. In the conduct of his pastoral work he has six assistants, and a capable force of Sisters to do the active teaching in the parochial school. In addition to the heavy responsibilities which devolve upon him, Father Thomas vol- untarily bears the burden of personally conducting much of the work of relief and spiritual instruction in the "slum" districts of Chicago and in the Houses of the Good Shepherd Sisters, where his work among those children is deeply appreciated.
Rev. Patrick J. McDonnell, the pastor in charge of St. Mel's church, one of the largest and most rapidly growing Catholic parishes
on the west side, has been zealous and influential in
PATRICK J. the local extension of his faith for the past twenty- McDONNELL. eight years. The church property fronts on both Washington boulevard and Forty-third avenue, and includes a mag- nificent building costing $100,000, erected in 1907, on the boulevard named, and devoted to the education of the girls and boys of St. Mel's parish. Also a convent erected in 1908, costing $40.000. The main entrance of the unfinished church is on Forty-third avenue.
Father McDonnell is a native of Ireland, and he obtained his edu- cation in the motherland, graduating from All Hallows' College in 1880, and being received into the priesthood of the church in the same year. In that year also he came to Chicago, and assumed his first active duties as an assistant to the pastor of St. Gabriel's church on West Forty-fifth street. In 1883 he was transferred to the parish of which he is now rector, then known as St. Philip's. When he took
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