USA > Illinois > Stephenson County > The history of Catholicity in Stephenson County; Illinois > Part 13
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13
It was a source of constant edification and frequent bewilder- ment to the editor of this work, when a stranger in St. Mary's parish, to behold such stately funeral services taking place, as a
203
Stephenson County, Illinois, 1896.
matter of course; as it is an ordinary occurrence, it no longer excites surprise.
On Sundays, in summer, the Masses are at 8 and 10 a. m .; in winter, at 8:30 and 10:30. Except for a few Sundays in August, the last service of the morning is always a High Mass, and the children's choir, its members selected from among the pupils of St. Mary's School, sings at the first Mass. At each Sunday morning service there is a formal sermon, and in the evening, the whole year round, on Sunday, the Rosary is recited and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament given. For a part of the year, Vespers are chanted, the boys in the sanctuary singing alternate verses of the psalms and hymns with the grand choir. Every Sunday afternoon, there is a meeting of two or more of the religious and benevolent associations existing in the parish. On the first Sunday, the Married Ladies' Sodal- ity meets at 3 p. m., and the Columbus Club at 4. On the third Sunday at 4 p. m., the Young Ladies' Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary recites the Office of the Immaculate Con- ception, after the same form as that used at the Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago. The older members of St. Thomas' Sodal- ity (those who have made their first communion) meet to recite the Office of St. Thomas at 2 p. m., on the second Sunday of the month.
No child not attending St. Mary's School is permitted to be- long to St. Thomas' Sodality. The pastor never fails to be present each Sunday at the meeting of whichever Sodality is assembled. He always gives an instruction on these occasions, and then re- pairs to the club room to assist at a meeting of the Business Men's Committee. This is an important body in the parish, for while acting in perfect harmony with the pastor, and deferring most cordially to his opinion, they are responsible for all the financial affairs of the parish, for which reason their meetings are frequent, important and rather laborious.
Here, as in all well ordered parishes, baptisms occur on Sun- day afternoon.
Two Masses are offered each month for the benefactors of
204
Golden Jubilee Souvenir.
the " Christian School," as the pastor fondly calls it in his public utterances. Two Masses are also offered monthly for the donors. to the altar fund. Each Sodality receives Communion in a body on the morning of the Sunday mentioned for its monthly meet- ing, and on that morning the pastor offers the Holy Sacrifice for the Sodality in question.
On the first Friday of each month, and on the holy days of obligation, there is a Mass at 6 a. m., for the accommodation of the laborers.
On the evening of each first Friday, there is a service con- sisting of the recitation of the Rosary, the reading of Act of Conse- cration and of Reparation to the Sacred Heart, and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.
The Rosary Procession, which is a beautiful feature of the evening service on the first Sunday of each month, is formed of St. Mary's school children, from the wee tots in the chart class, to the members of the high school; also the altar boys and two priests. The children's choir and the grand choir unite their voices on this occasion.
Among the annual customs, the Christmas novena ranks high. For nine successive evenings, immediately preceding Christmas, the sanctuary is glorified by the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, amid many lights, and surrounded by a full choir of sanctuary boys, while at the foot of the altar kneels the pastor.
The novena consists of psalms, prophecies, canticles and hymns, chanted alternately, by the sanctuary choir, the latter supported by the rich voice of the assistant pastor, whose solo parts; in the chanting of the prophecies, constitutes no small part of the charm of this exquisite service.
It is a custom to have a small representation of Bethlehem in the Church during the Christmas holidays. Just above the stable or cave gleams a large star of burning gas jets, and within the evergreen bower, that represents the sacred birth-place, are the usual figures grouped, with unusual taste and with an un- usual regard for congruity.
205
Stephenson County, Illinois, 1896.
During Lent, the customary devotions, common everywhere, are conducted in St. Mary's. The Repository, on Holy Thursday, is much enhanced in its beauty by the presence of a marble altar.
On Christmas and Easter, the grandeur of the choir service is greatly increased by the accompaniment of an orchestra of from six to eight pieces.
Two triduums are celebrated each year; one for the school children's retreat of three days preceding the feast of St. Thomas Aquinas, and another of three days preparation for the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, during which the women of the parish make a sort of retreat, devoting these three days to more frequent prayer, also to meditation and hearing Holy Mass each morning. The triduum ends with the reception of Holy Communion, on the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Every evening in May, the devout people of St. Mary's con- gregation, and there are large numbers of them, assemble before the altar of our Blessed Lady to recite her rosary, listen to hymns and spiritual readings in her honor, and to join in the Litany of Loretto.
The children's choir, so often mentioned, is in charge of the music teacher at the Convent of St. Mary's ; under her direction they chant a variety of beautiful litanies during the May devo- tions, and also at the October services, which are held every evening, in that lovely autumn month, in honor of our Lady, Queen of the Holy Rosary.
On the evening of the first Sunday in May, after the Rosary procession, a sacred and very beautiful ceremony takes place. It is the Crowning of the May Queen. At the top of a high pyra- midal-shaped structure, which is constructed in the sanctuary for the occasion, is placed a statue of our Blessed Lady. White- robed children stand at the foot of this lofty throne; each one addresses our Blessed Mother in poetic language of love and praise, presents a bouquet of flowers and then mounts to one of the steps on the slanting sides of the structure, until all the steps are occupied, as it were by angels, supported in the air by their
206
Golden Jubilee Souvenir.
wings. The last to speak mounts, to the very top of the throne, and crowns the statue with white flowers, while uttering suitable . sentiments in the language of verse. Appropriate hymns are chanted at the beginning and at the close of this beautiful cere- mony.
On the occasion of the "Crowning of the May Queen," in the Jubilee year, that is, May, 1896, a flash-light photograph was taken of the scene; the resulting picture may be found in the early part of this volume.
At St. Mary's, of course, as at every church in the diocese, the Forty Hours Devotion takes place once in each year, and is carried out with all the solemnity and magnificence possible to willing hearts and hands.
It is the pastor's custom to visit the sick, the infirm and aged on every great feast day, and on the first Friday of each month, administering to them the Holy Eucharist, for their strength and comfort.
On the evening that finds friends and neighbors assembled around the dead, that the living may be comforted by kindness and sympathy, and that the departed souls benefited by the fre- quent prayers of many, "gathered together in His name,"-on such occasions, the pastor always appears, at some uncertain hour of the evening, and recites aloud, with the assembled friends, the Rosary of our Blessed Lady.
The many good results of such a custom will be evident to the reflecting mind, but were there no other than the identifica- tion of the pastor, in the family's hour of darkness and grief, with all that is kind, sympathetic and helpful, it were worth the slight trouble it entails.
Let the reader judge the customs that exist in St. Mary's parish as he may, he cannot but deem it the height of wisdom for the pastor to be, as is expressed in the Jubilee address, pre- sented to Father Horan, "The man at the centre."
There are few of us who have not watched, with eager in- terest, the result, when some boy with conscious pride in his sup- erior ability to "throw a stone," has sent one spinning gayly
207
Stephenson County, Illinois, 1896.
through the intervening distance into the very centre of the pond. Instantly, as it, with the impetus gained by flying through the air, touched the surface of the water, there sped forth, from the centre, a gleaming, glittering, quivering circle of sunlit water, then another and a wider; another, still wider, until they became countless in their joyous hurrying for the shore.
Could there be a better figure of the wide influence of " the man at the centre "? Let the circles of moral, political or social influences once start, on their ever-widening way, they will bound
ELIZABETH GRACE PECK.
First girl baptized in the new church.
CHAS. HORAN DONOHUE.
First boy baptized in the new church.
MARY ELLEN GRANT.
First girl baptized in the consecrated church.
the earth before they stop, and many voices will ask, " Who did this ? Who is the man at the centre ?"
We have said elsewhere, that what is true of large bodies is very likely to be true of smaller ones. There are circles of influence for the town as well as for the nation. And it is a grand thing to be " the man at the centre " of even small areas of influence, for only God can measure their true extent.
It is a magnificent picture that spreads before the mind, as
208
Golden Jubilee Souvenir.
the imagination portrays the thousands of centres in the Church -popes, archbishops, bishops, priests and religions-from whom are circling forth the noble influences of a stable, heaven-inspired, divinely protected faith.
With that picture before your mind's clear vision, dear reader, we leave you. That there are thousands of records such as that of St. Mary's parish, and of the Church in Stephenson County-records even brighter and grander-does not detract anything from the glory of our brief history, for the work it is in- tended to commemorate and preserve from oblivion is God's work, and naught that God has instituted or accomplished for the salvation of immortal souls, can be either small or insignifi- cant. Much has been done in our time and our place, to Him be the glory.
FINIS.
ALPHABETICAL INDEX.
Altars, Description of. 112
Arch, Triumphal. 104
Associations, Religious and Literary. 186
Burke, Rt. Rev. J. 113
Banquet, Jubilee.
104
Children's Reception to Jubilee Guests
145
Church, First in Stephenson County
23
First St. Mary's. 40
Old St. Joseph's and Old St. Mary's
52
Choir, St. Mary's and St. Joseph's 64,92
Jubilee 115
Corner Stone
60
Closing of Jubilee Celebration.
189
Consecration of St. Mary's Church
99
Committees, Jubilee and Business.
. 56, 106
Dedication of St. Mary's Church.
65
of St. Joseph's Church
85
Debts and Donations. 58
Early History of Catholicity in Stephenson County 19
of Catholicity in Illinois 13
of Catholicity in Chicago. 15
of Catholic Settlers in Stephenson County 23
9
Feehan, Most Rev., His Address
28
First Mass in Freeport.
33
in St. Mary's.
34
in Stephenson County
25
in Irish Grove.
22
Foundation of St. Mary's Parish
33
Father Horan's Life and Labors 83
Du Four's Life.
87
Kalvalege's Life. 93
Meyer's Life.
96
Factors in the Life of the Church.
210
Index.
Golden Jubilee Celebration.
99
Day. 131
Hennessey, Most Rev. J.
133
Hospital, St. Francis
96
Hall, St. Mary's.
74
Horan, Rev. Wm.
83
Jubilee Celebration
99
Kalvalege, Rev. Clement
95
Parish Customs
202
Mass, Jubilee .
114
New St. Mary's Church.
51
Old St. Mary's Church.
34
Oration, Jubilee, by Hon. J. F. O'Donnell
192
Orphan Asylum, St. Vincent's.
199
Record of St. Joseph's Church.
88
Reception of the School Children
145
Riordan, Rev. D., Sermon.
115
Record of Jubilee at St. Joseph's Church
184
Religious and Literary Associations.
186
Rt. Rev. Guests of Father Kalvalege.
185
St. Mary's School
77
School Journal, Santa Maria
81
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Archbishop Feehan Frontispiece
Hennessey. 111
Arch, Triumphal. 10
25
Bishop Burke.
113
Janssen ..
121
Messmer 123
Barron, Mr. and Mrs
135
Church, St. Mary's in '36 and '55.
7
St. Mary's in '38 and '96 12
Irish Grove, Old and New 21
Lena and New Dublin . 21
91
Convent, St. Mary's.
81
Choir, Jubilee
115
Soloists and Singers of Parts
141, 143
Committee, Members of. 149, 151, 165, 167, 169
109
Eight of St. Mary's Rev. Pastors
41
Eight Lady Parishioners of the Old Church.
37
Early Parishioners and Their Wives
Exterior of St. Mary's School and Hall
75
of St. Vincent's Orphan Asylum
20
of St. Joseph's School
93
Egan, Mrs. C.
28
Five Pioneers and Their Wives.
35
Father Horan 85
Kalvalege 89
Du Four 87
Meyer
96
F. Kalvalege 34
D. Riordan
119
Crowning of the May Queen
39
of St. Francis Hospital
97
St. Joseph's.
Barron, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas
212
Illustrations.
Gen. Geo. Jones, of Dubuque 24
Hogan, Miss Mary . 22
Interior of St. Mary's Rectory 69,71
of St. Mary's School 79
of Joseph's School .
94
Mary's Church at Jubilee.
103
St. Joseph's Church at Jubilee 105
Mansfield, Mr. G. S.
73
Murphy, Mr. and Mrs. P. H
77
O'Donnell, Hon. Jas. F.
193
Pictures of Noted Parishioners.
61, 65
Pictures of Well-known Parishioners
45, 47, 50, 53
Rear View of St. Mary's Rectory
67
Side View of St. Mary's Church and Rectory
65
Seven Pioneers.
27
Staff of "Santa Maria "
82
Three Famous Infants. 207
Wall, Mrs. M. 37
46 VNA $35.00
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA
277.73091M59H C001 THE HISTORY OF CATHOLICITY IN STEPHENSON
3 0112 025276350
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.