USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Century of Catholicism in western Massachusetts; being a chronicle of the establishment, early struggle, progress and achievements of the Catholic church in the five western counties of Worcester, Hampden, Hampshire, Berkshire and Franklin > Part 1
USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Century of Catholicism in western Massachusetts; being a chronicle of the establishment, early struggle, progress and achievements of the Catholic church in the five western counties of Worcester, Hampden, Hampshire, Berkshire and Franklin > Part 1
USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Century of Catholicism in western Massachusetts; being a chronicle of the establishment, early struggle, progress and achievements of the Catholic church in the five western counties of Worcester, Hampden, Hampshire, Berkshire and Franklin > Part 1
USA > Massachusetts > Hampshire County > Century of Catholicism in western Massachusetts; being a chronicle of the establishment, early struggle, progress and achievements of the Catholic church in the five western counties of Worcester, Hampden, Hampshire, Berkshire and Franklin > Part 1
USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Century of Catholicism in western Massachusetts; being a chronicle of the establishment, early struggle, progress and achievements of the Catholic church in the five western counties of Worcester, Hampden, Hampshire, Berkshire and Franklin > Part 1
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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 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37
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GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS
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BEAVEN-KELLY HOME FOR AGED MEN
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02884 7066
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A century of Catholicism in western Massachusetts
MOUNT TOM
NOVITIATE AND SUMMER HOME SISTERS OF ST. JOSEPH
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A CENTURY OF CATHOLICISM IN WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
Supplement to THE Catholic Mirror
Springfield, Massachusetts
SEPTEMBER, 1931
A CENTURY of CATHOLICISM in
WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
Being a chronicle of the establishment, early struggle, progress and achievements of the Catholic Church in the five western counties of Worcester, Hampden, Hamp- shire, Berkshire and Franklin, in the Bay State, whose Catholic citizens have responded nobly to every challenge of citizenship, whether it be a call to the colors or to the highest civic posts within the gift of
MASSACHUSETTS
DATE MICROFILMED JUN 1 1995
5
ITEM #
G. S.
PROJECT and
CALL #
ROLL #
XL1B 7P102
2135 . 1598330
GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS
PUBLISHED BY THE MIRROR PRESS, INC. PUBLISHERS OF The CATHOLIC MIRROR, SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS MICHAEL J. SHEA, Editor
27 974.4 K25
WITHDRAWN From the .emily History Library
Allen County Public Library 900 Webster Street PO Box 2270 Fort Wayne, IN 46801-2270
The CheMi
· Catholic irror
SPRINGFIELD · MASS
To stimulate interest in Catholic activities, to spread Catholic truths, to present Catholic news in proper form and to point out false and misleading opinions in current events, is the aim of this publication.
Member National Catholic Welfare Conference News Service Member Catholic Press Association Yearly Subscription $2.00 Entered at the Springfield Post Office as Second Class Matter
Bishop's Approbation
The CATHOLIC MIRROR, of Springfield, we officially recognize as our diocesan Catholic organ, assured as we are that it merits our com- mendation and the patronage of our Catholic clergy and laity. Cheer- fully do we give it our commendation and earnestly do we invoke for it the support of all our Catholic people.
For twelve years The CATHOLIC MIRROR has been a champion in the cause of right, justice and truth, and an ardent defender of the religion we all love so well. One thing alone has prevented it from being the effective agency it aimed at being-the lack of patronage on the part of our Catholic people.
We now officially authorize it to solicit that patronage, and we be- speak for it the warm interest and encouragement of our clergy and our people. Backed by our united support its mission will be a success and our good people will soon realize how necessary it is to have a vigorous diocesan paper in every Catholic family, if the faith is to be preserved in all its strength and purity and meet successfully the daily challenge of secularism and materialism.
Then the apostolate of the Catholic Press will exercise in our diocese the offensive and defensive powers it is using so advantageously for God and Church wherever it is securely entrenched in diocesan ac- tivities. With this assured support of priests and people, we may look forward with confidence to the day when our official diocesan organ will enjoy the prestige and power which come from a large and in- fluential roll call of enthusiastic subscribers. A paper that has this general support cannot fail to reflect honor on the diocese and do credit to ourselves.
THOMAS M. O'LEARY, Bishop of Springfield.
271.74 CHAS
1240
COPYRIGHT 1931 MIRROR PRESS, INC. PUBLISHERS OF The CATHOLIC MIRROR SPRINGFIELD, MASS.
18.39
1
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Right Reberend Bishop O'Leary
U
We respectfully and lobingly dedicate this Centenary Edition of The Catholic Mirror to Right Reberend Thomas Mary O'Leary, D. D. Bishop of Springfield
Unfailing friend of the Catholic Press, who has recognized The CATHOLIC MIRROR as the official organ of his great diocese, commended it for its fearless championship of Catholic Truth, and recommended it to the priests and people of the Springfield Diocese as "a champion in the cause of right, justice and truth, and an ardent defender of the religion we all love so well." Through his encouragement and assistance, The CATHOLIC MIRROR weathered its early storms, made its earlier diocesan drive for support of the Catholic Press, and now presents a centenary edition as a tribute to the Catholicity whose cause it expounds and espouses
Contents
I Foreword In Retrospect, by Right Reverend Bishop O'Leary Catholicity's Pioneers Map and Statistics of the Dio- cese of Springfield Right Reverend Patrick Thomas O'Reilly, D.D. Right Reverend Thomas Daniel Beaven, D.D. Right Reverend Thomas Mary O'Leary, D.D.
II Our Vicars General Our Monsignori Our Chancellors Catholic Education Catholic Hospitals and Chari- table Institutions.
III The Beginning at Worcester Chronicle of Worcester County The Start in the Connecticut Valley Chronicle of Springfield, Hol- yoke, and Hampden County
IV Chronicle of Pittsfield and Berkshire County Chronicle of Northampton and Hampshire County Chronicle of Greenfield and Franklin County
V Springfield and the Missions Our Religious Institutions Our Catholic Colleges Catholic Lay Societies Springfield's Contribution to the College of the Apostles
VI Our Diocesan War Record Some Outstanding Catholic Leaders Some Distinguished Visitors Epilogue
VII Publicity Section Officials of the Diocese
Directory of Diocesan Clergy
Directory of Diocesan Institu- tions Directory of Parishes Diocesan Seals
PHOTOGRAPHS BY WOODHEAD, COMMERCIAL PHOTOGRAPHER, SPRINGFIELD PRINTING BY PHELPS PUBLISHING COMPANY, SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS ART WORK AND ENGRAVINGS BY SPRINGFIELD PHOTO-ENGRAVING COMPANY
Foreword
BY THE EDITOR
N PRESENTING this special edition to the Catholics of the Spring- field Diocese, we have a twofold object in view: to recall to the minds of all the noble heritage of piety and self-sacrifice be- queathed to us by heroic for- bears, and to make The CATHOLIC MIRROR, Spring- field's diocesan organ, better known to the Catho- lic people whose cause it represents, and to the advertisers whose message it transmits to Catholic firesides.
Seventy-five and one hundred years ago, our ancestors were proving to us "it is the Mass that counts," by the journeys they made and the hard- ships they endured to assist at the Holy Sacri- fice, at times in humble hut, or often open field. As Father Blunt says so beautifully :
Came they not with blazing trumpets, came they not with flying flags ; Came they not as a host defeated, in its battle-tattered rags ; But with heart of bold crusaders did they tread the stranger sod, And they builded here a city to the Everlasting God.
What these heroes and heroines of the Cross handed down unimpaired to posterity, the Faith that emerged unscathed from penal law and pro- scription, the "faith of our fathers, living still, in spite of dungeon, fire and sword," it behooves us to preserve as untarnished as it came to us, and hand on with new lustre to generations yet un- born.
Too much credit cannot be given to the fer- vent priests who shared their people's trials that they might break with them the Bread of Life. As we read the thrilling narrations of priestly journeyings before the days of rapid transit or modern roadbeds, we marvel at the ground covered, the obstacles overcome, and wonder if they had a home and when they visited it. There
was a time when one priest covered the state; later, one priest cared for a county ; then a single priest visited a score of towns, that, of those entrusted to them, not one might be lost. Space forbids paying merited tribute to them all, these pioneers on our Massachusetts frontiers of the Catholic Faith, but we scatter, here and there, through our rapid narrative, appreciation of a few by whom we recall all. An appropriate monument to "The Unknown Priest" of a century ago would be a black-robed figure, cast in heroic mold, with the features of the Good Shepherd, and eyes fixed in loving charity on for- bidding hill and trackless plain, whither he trudges, with pilgrim staff, in quest of the one who has wandered afar from the ninety and nine.
The message which they bore, in the sweat of their brows and at the risk of life and limb, to scattered groups, must be flashed into modern ears by the myriad voices of pulpit, school and press. The modern assault on Catholic Christi- anity and all Christianity is none the less danger- ous because more insidious and insinuating. The voice of every modern Pope and Bishop, the actual experience of every Catholic nation, join in an unanimous warning that today the pulpit must be augmented by the press, and the sermon must be reinforced by the Catholic editorial. As Pius X, of blessed memory, warned us, we shall build churches and schools in vain unless we give them the defense of a modern, militant press.
The knights of the pen have already rendered memorable service to the cause of truth. Such editors as Veuillot, Bourassa, de Mur, O'Reilly and a host of others have made contributions which no one but an editor could make. How- ever, a paper is influential only in proportion to the numbers of its readers, and so we place the story of Catholicity in our diocese before our half-million Catholics as a pleasing approach for our diocesan organ to its prospective readers. We solicit their support and hope our present issue will add to our friends until they include the read- ing public of our entire diocese.
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This Holiness Pope Pius XI
Pimen C FELICI
SUPREME PONTIFF OF THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH BISHOP OF ROME AND VICAR OF JESUS CHRIST
Retrospect
By Right Reverend Thomas M. O'Leary, D.D. Bishop of Springfield
T IS fitting and proper that The CATHOLIC MIRROR, as our offi- cial diocesan organ, should make its initial bow to our diocese as a whole by recalling the glorious achievements of our Common- wealth since the coming of the Puritans and the rapid spread of the Catholic Church within its borders, once the legal restric- tions of colonial days had been removed, review- ing particularly the fine progress of our Catholic flock in Western Massachusetts during the ad- vance of a glorious century.
These notable anniversaries, happily almost co- inciding in time, teach their own lesson that loyalty to ecclesiastical and civil authority go hand in hand as promoters of the highest welfare in a Christian state, and remind us how valiantly the Fathers of our Republic and our forefathers in the Faith hewed toward the light of a better understanding in a more perfect citizenship. No one beyond the forbidding frontiers of Soviet Russia would deny today that "For God and Country" is an imposing motto for Christian manhood and womanhood, and a guarantee against the undermining of Chris- tianity's bedrock by the siren voice and insidious assault of Bolshevik propaganda.
True, from the viewpoint of religious tolerance, the Puritan forbears left much to be desired, but they erred honestly, acted in the light of their his- toric day and trained a sturdy race who, in the dawn of a better day, placed Massachusetts in the forefront of revolutionary activity and made not- able contributions to the leadership which gave us the Bill of Rights. Three hundred years have given us a Commonwealth which they would scarcely recognize, of many of whose statutes and constitutional provisions they would not approve, but in which the fruit of their sturdy characters and unfailing devotion to the right as they saw the right are everywhere manifest. Their courage in facing the dangers of unknown seas to erect
homes in the trackless forests of unknown lands is evidence of a sincerity and conscientious pur- pose to which we, after the lapse of three cen- turies, cannot but pay tribute. Their love of one religion has blossomed into a constitutional ac- knowledgment that everyone has the same God- given right to follow his conscience in his fealty to his Creator, and that the trained conscience is the safest guide at the ballot box as well as at the altar.
Although Catholic feet trod the soil of our be- loved state much farther back than a century, the Catholic was legally proscribed until our revolu- tionary legislation made him welcome. Hence it was that, one hundred years back, the first sturdy Catholic missionary sought out the scattered groups of Catholic laborers along the railroads and canals, to give them the consolations of religion. Father Fitton, of blessed memory, blazed the pioneer trail of priestly activity. One hundred years ago, we can visualize that lone figure, on foot or on horseback, on hand car or freight train, cov- ering the vast area, from the confines of Boston to the New York line, and from the borders of Vermont to Hartford. That lone pioneer estab- lished missions and stations from Worcester and Webster and Blackstone on the East to Springfield and Chicopee and Westfield and Barrington and Northampton on the West. It is only justice. a century later, that we lay this wreath of gratitude to the memory of this great worker who. at Worcester, built the first church in Western Massa- chusetts, and said the first Mass at its temporary altar amid a terrific electric storm which failed to hinder the priest or scatter the flock. That scene, momentous in the annals of Catholicity in Western Massachusetts, was symbolic of Peter's Bark, which, in spite of the storms of the ages. has ex- tended its cruise and unfurled its standard of sal- vation over every harbor around the world's cir- cumference.
In the Providence of God. famine in Ireland, oppression in Poland. industrial necessity in
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\ CENTURY OF CATHOLICISM IN WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
THE Catholic Mirror
Canada sent large reinforcements to Catholic ranks. The laborers were few but energetic to the point of tirelessness. To help Father Fitton came Father Brady and Father Cavanaugh to Chicopee, Father Gibson to Worcester, Father Cuddihy to Pittsfield, so that, in paraphrase of Parkman, we can truthfully say that not a canal was built, not a railroad constructed, not a mill operated but a Catholic priest appeared.
With the return of peace after the era of re- construction, came permanent structures of brick and mortar to replace the inadequate frame build- ings which sheltered our Eucharistic God and His faithful flocks in the romantic but trying days of Catholicity's early struggles. A lion-hearted, clear visioned pastor at Chicopee established the first Catholic school in charge of religious teachers, soon to be followed by St. Jerome's at Holyoke and St. John's at Worcester. Who can say that Father Healy, with the courage to begin the great work of Catholic education, had not the foresight to see that, in little more than half a century. Catholic schools would shelter fifty thousand pupils in these counties where he erected his soli- tary asylum of Catholic education ?
In 1870, with the erection of Western Massa- chusetts into an episcopal see, new impetus was given to the spread of the Faith. Bishop O'Reilly's reign of twenty-two years, followed by the twenty-eight years of Bishop Beaven's able leader- ship, saw Catholic ranks grow apace, Catholic homes of worship multiply. With the erection of beautiful temples to the Master, the self-respect and the esprit de corps of the Catholic rank and file showed proportionate growth. They felt a becoming pride in the self-sacrifice, perseverance and triumph over appalling obstacles which bright- ened every page of the story of Catholic pioneers who, coming where they were not welcome, re- mained to be welcomed and esteemed. When they realized the wonders wrought by the widow's mite, the workman's dole and the servant's pittance, they faced the future with hope and courage, as though meditating : What can we not do with the business man's generosity, the professional man's donation, and the banker's contribution ? Surely, "if such things were done in the green wood, what would be done in the dry"?
Our addition to the achievements of a century has been an earnest effort to enlarge and beautify the superstructure, whose foundations had been laid deep and strong by priestly zeal and self- sacrifice, and lay self-denial and generosity. Our
contribution to Massachusetts' story in the busy decade now drawing to a happy close has given new hospitals to our suffering, new schools to our little ones, and a new college to crown the educa- tion of our girls. Today, from the kindergarten to the college degree, we point with pride and gratitude to the fact that our Catholic educational facilities measure up to the exacting requirements of our Holy Father's momentous encyclical on the necessity of making the Catholic school as omni- present as the church. Today, the sombre garb of our parochial clergy is no more familiar in our diocese than the school uniforms characteristic of the daughters of Mary, St. Joseph, and St. Ann. and the sons of Loyola and St. Augustine.
We recall, too, that the best of all proofs that we appreciate the Faith which the Master calls "the pearl of great price" is our readiness to hand it on to others, especially to those who, without our apostolic efforts, would continue to sit in dark- ness. Tried by this standard, our people have met the test triumphantly, and the splendid spread of the Society for the Propaganda throughout the diocese is indisputable demonstration that what the pioneers of Catholicity did for us, we are eager to do for others on the far flung frontiers of Catholicity's universal line. Our Catholic laity today, in furthering the works of God, are surmounting industrial depression and econo- mic hardship as cheerfully as their prede- cessors met the challenge of virgin forest and scanty wage and hostile surroundings. To both, God giveth the increase.
It is a commendable and happy thought, then, for The CATHOLIC MIRROR, in a special centenary edition, to place before our fellow citizens and fellow Catholics the deep debt which we owe to our civic past and our religious ancestry and the high responsibility which is ours to keep aloft the flag of the Republic and the standard of the Cross, our dearest heritages from the days that are gone, but will never die. To keep alive the memory of that heritage, to herald all current achievements which add to it, to warn of any dangers which assail it, to defend its promoters and champions, and, "with malice toward none and charity toward all." to set aright the ill-informed who misrep- resent it and to rebuke the malicious who defame it-this we conceive to be the mission of The CATHOLIC MIRROR in our diocese and the Catholic press everywhere. May God speed its message to the homes of our diocese and the firesides of the faithful !
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Photo by Felici
INTERIOR VIEW, ST. PETER'S BASILICA, ROME This remarkable photograph suggests the splendor and magnificence of the Vatican Basilica which will accommodate 75,000 people
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BASE CLEARTYPE MAP, COPYRIGHTED AMERICAN MAP CO., NEW YORK
Catholic Population .
449,000
Catholic Priests
597
Catholic Churches 230
Catholic Parishes with Schools
91
Catholic Grammar Schools 90
Catholic Seminaries, Colleges, High Schools and Academies
28
Students in Catholic Schools 47,000
Catholic Hospitals
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Catholic Charitable Institutions .
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Catholic Churches with Resident Priest 203
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Orphans .
530
Total Young People Under Catholic Care 47,530
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Inmates 333
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NOTE :- Above is a copyrighted map. The law prohibits the reproduction or copying of same, by any persons for personal usc or resale without permission from American Map Co., New York City.
Catholicity's Pioneers
THOUGH we follow the tercentenary celebration of our state by calling attention to the centenary of Catholicity in the territory which comprises our diocese, we do not wish to leave the impression that Catholicity here or hereabouts goes back only one hun- dred years. The Irish monks who, in the sixth century, founded bishoprics in Iceland. and, later on, moved to some greater Ireland on the mainland. to make way for Norwegian newcomers, may have visited what we know as New England. Later, to the north of us and in the present State of Maine, the intrepidity of the Catholic mis- sionary, recalled by the current canonization of the Jesuit martyrs, began a glorious chapter of Catho- lic activity and heroism in our land, even before the Indians near Plymouth and Boston listened to the missionary of the Puritan or the Pilgrim. When the Catholic Acadians were driven into that exile whose pathos our own Longfellow has immortalized in his beautiful poem, Evangeline, one group of them settled in Worcester, the first Catholics of whom we have any record in the "Heart of the Commonwealth."
At the close of the Revolutionary War. Catholics in Massachusetts were not numerous. In colo- nial days, their presence was proscribed. The twenty-five or thirty Irish families, with a handful of French and Spanish residents in and near Boston, were the sole representatives of our Church in a commonwealth which, at present, is nearly, if not fully, fifty per cent Catholic. There is no more arresting phenomenon in the post-revolutionary era in our state than the rapid multiplication of Catho- lic flocks and the advance of their members in wealth, social position and political prominence.
This marvellous growth dates back a little over one hundred years. The first large influx of Catho- lics was composed of hundreds of Irish laborers, who came to work on the Blackstone Canal and the Great Western Railroad, then in process of construction across our state. They settled at Worcester and Blackstone and in the valley towns, along the line of railroad as it moved west to Springfield and Westfield and the Berkshires. Such indefatigable pioneers as Fathers Fitton, Brady and Cavanagh ministered to their spiritual needs, and built the first humble houses of worship in our diocese. Father Fitton, first pastor of old St. John's, the first parish within the present limits of our diocese, covered Worcester County and was a church builder par excellence. Father Brady, from his home parish in Hartford, covered the Connecticut Valley, while Father Cavanagh pursued his minis- try among the scattered groups in Berkshire.
Others soon came to lend needed assistance. Father Gibson and Father Boyce, the "Paul Pep- pergrass" of literary fame, did yeoman service in furthering and continuing Father Fitton's efforts in the eastern county, while Father Blen- kinsop and Father Healy, later vicar general of the diocese, labored in the Springfield sector, and Fathers Cuddihy and Moran covered the Berk- shire district. "On foot and on horseback, on handcar and train," these sturdy warriors of the cross and their co-laborers followed the Catholic workmen along the Boston and Albany, the Fitch-
Christ Church, Worcester, later known as St. John's Insti- tute, the first Catholic church in Worcester and Western Massa- chusetts. The structure has been demolished.
THE Catholic Mirror
A CENTURY OF CATHOLICISM IN WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
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