USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Metropolitan Boston; a modern history; Volume V > Part 1
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.
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 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42
A
.
Gc 974.402 B65La v.5 1247269
M. L.
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
V
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01100 8908
0
METROPOLITAN BOSTON
A Modern History
Editor-in-Chief ALBERT P. LANGTRY Ex-Secretary of State of Massachusetts
VOLUME V
LEWIS HISTORICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC. NEW YORK 1929
COPYRIGHT LEWIS HISTORICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC. 1929
1217269
Engraved : CAMPBELL
W. Card Monnell. auf. Boston
METROPOLITAN BOSTON
CARDINAL WILLIAM HENRY O'CON- NELL-One of the priests of the Roman Catholic church who has led in the spiritual life of America is Cardinal William Henry 'O'Connell, the first Cardinal Archbishop of Boston, elevated to his present position in the Church in 1911, and who has demonstrated to Call his unconquerable faith that the divinely established Church of Christ is ever under the >guidance of the Holy Spirit. A man and a priest of great strength, both of physique and of character, Cardinal O'Connell maintains this faith despite the most substantial ob- stacles placed in his path-a faith that, in the words of his biographer, the Rev. John E. Sexton, D. D., "is behind the splendid aggres- siveness of the Cardinal" and "is strong like his bodily strength, almost to overpowering." The Rev. Dr. Sexton went on to say: "It is a strength which disdains mere surface piety- it would sacrifice a thousand expressions of devotion for one act of obedience. There is no pose in this-it is the man himself, who could not, if he would, counterfeit the sturdy founda- tion and glorious superstructure by any mere outside decoration."
had owned a prosperous farm in the township of Enagh, County Cavan, Ireland, but had lost their possessions through failure of the potato crop and the ravages of the plague among their livestock. Ireland was as impoverished as the O'Connells themselves, so that the fan- ily of six young children found small oppor- tunity there to earn a livelihood; while the parents were readily attracted by glowing tales of conditions in Lowell, Massachusetts, as portrayed by relatives in America. With mixed feelings of sadness and hope, they de-
parted from their native land forever, and were in a short time happily established in the New World. John O'Connell, of the "dreamer" type of man, at home more in the realm of books and the imagination than in the every- day world, died when his son William was only four years old; and Mrs. O'Connell, a more practical sort of person, assumed her position as head of the household. William Henry O'Connell, possessing the rare com- bination of traits inherent in the somewhat opposite characters of his two parents, was fitted by temperament for the work that he has since been given to perform, requiring a most forceful executive nature on the one hand and on the other an almost limitless idealism.
He received his first schooling in the Ed- son School, at one corner of the South Com- mon of Lowell. There the Catholic children were in a small minority, and the teachers were unused to the Celtic temperament. His mother did everything in her power, however, to replace the boy's sensitiveness in regard to treatment he received from others by sturdier qualities. He came to take part extensively in sports-fishing, swimming and skating, as well as baseball games and all sorts of outdoor play. Also introduced early in life to the world of music, he possessed a pronounced talent at
This great Churchman began life in Lowell, Massachusetts, where he was born on Decem- ber 8, 1859, son of John and Bridget O'Con- nell, immigrants to the United States. They . the piano. In his early manhood he was or- ganist in Catholic churches, and was often called upon to entertain his friends by playing for them. His early life was filled with a diversity of influences that helped to round his character and make him appreciative of all the things of living, while at home the re- ligion that was practiced by his family was of an utterly simple and natural sort, not strained or characterized by ostentation, but an insep- arable part of life. In high school, the inspira- tion of his chemistry instructor, Edwin Lord, stirred his mind to conscious activity on a
Bos.ii-1
2
METROPOLITAN BOSTON
higher plane than it had attained before, and awoke in him the will to excel. The years that immediately followed brought for him a continued awakening to the great breadth and vastness of the world before him, a world just as vast as human mind could encompass. "I took a book at random from the table," he wrote to a friend, "and strolled out into a grove of hemlocks nearby. . .. After a while I opened the book and began reading 'Thana- topsis.' I had read it scores of times before, but now for the first time I realized the sheer beauty of its language. Before it was meas- ured speech; now it really became music,- music so sweet, so pathetic, that it moved me as a great requiem might. It seemed a new sensation, a new revelation, this love of mere language." In all phases of life he likewise found himself expanding in vision and ap- preciation, and at the same time in the awe- some regard that he cherished for the universal scheme of things. Upon finishing his high school course, he went to St. Charles' College, in Baltimore, Maryland, where for the first time he experienced a school life in a Catholic environment and began to study men-the stu- dents about him, as well as the instructors and professors, whose foibles he noticed, too. Here, also, he came into contact for the first time with ecclesiastical dignitaries. Archbishop Gibbons and Monsignor Conroy, who was then Apostolic Legate to Canada, paid the college an unofficial visit, giving William O'Connell an opportunity of noting, from his place in the student body, "the something which, I fancy, must stamp all great men: a certain security of themselves and kindliness to others." His second summer vacation was interrupted by the illness of his sister, Mary, who, it became evident, was not long for this world. But both he and she, seeing duty clearly, were convinced that his only possible course was to return to college. But when she died, he suffered a physical collapse, and had to leave college. Regaining his health after a time, he determined to renew his studies under the Jesuit fathers at Boston College, where thoughts of a priestly vocation came
to the fore in his mind. From Boston College he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1881, and also captured the prizes in philosophy and physics and the second award in chemis- try.
Walking along Washington Street, Boston, one day, he chanced to attend the funeral services for the late rector of the Cathedral, at which Archbishop Williams spoke the eulogy, telling in simple words the mission of the priest, "coming and going between God and God's people," helping humanity, glorifying God; and, listening, on bended knees, William H. O'Connell felt his mind clarified and his heart fixed in its desire for the priesthood. Next day he visited Archbishop Williams, who then had little idea that one day the two of them would be associated in the government of the diocese: He accepted, however, the boy's offer to serve in the priesthood of the Arch- diocese of Boston, and later fulfilled an old ambition when he promised to send the new candidate to make his studies in the American College in Rome. There William H. O'Connell found the formality at first a little forbidding, but was awed by the infinite riches that Rome offered to an eager mind, the beauty of many institutions and the triumph of her architecture, especially of the glorious chapel at the Ameri- can College, and by the fact that there Christianity had fought its early struggles and the Popes had labored through long centuries. Two professors here especially impressed him, Father Francesco Satolli, who held the chair of Dogma, a thin, pale man who seemed scarcely of this world, but who held his stu- dents spellbound by his eloquence and trans- figured them by the truths that he spoke; and Father Agliardi, Professor of Moral The- ology, a thoroughly practical man, who typi- fied the very authority of Rome itself. Here was the contrast that appealed to the two natures of William H. O'Connell, the practical and the esthetic, each battling for the upper hand and combining to make him a leader in the church. Dominating everything was the personality of Pope Leo XIII, whose interest and activity radiated through every depart-
3
METROPOLITAN BOSTON
ment of the church's life and work and were felt alike by the youngest student and the most august cardinal. William H. O'Connell studied Leo's life, and from it learned cer- tain principles which afterward remained basic in his philosophy: firstly, that obedience to lawful superiors was for every reason the most desirable rôle of the priest, as, under God's Providence, obedience led to success, measured both in the life of the obedient priest and in the larger life of the Church; and, secondly, this principle being a corollary of the first, that the priest should never seek promotion and never refuse it when given, since God's Providence calls all men to places wherein He can most fittingly use them, and by hum- bly accepting God's call, one can be sure of the grace to fulfill one's duty and achieve all that God has predestined. Three years passed. And on June 8, 1884, in the great Basilica of St. John Lateran, William Henry O'Connell was ordained a priest. His health was again threatened, this time by a lingering case of grippe, and, after he had said his first Mass at the shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, he was ordered to rest at the seashore. In the fall he returned to the college as the first prefect of the student body; but, once more finding the cold and dampness of the Roman winter too severe, he was ordered by his doctor to give up his plan of seeking the Doctorate in Theology and to return home. As his superiors at college concurred in this decision, he regretfully left the Eternal City without having achieved the Doctorate. Arch- bishop Williams welcomed him, and, on De- cember 27, 1884, appointed him to St. Joseph's parish in Medford, where the pastor, Father Donnelly was very ill; and here, as curate, Father O'Connell acquired his first practical experi- ence in the Church, winning many by his preaching, and, by his gentle companionship and devotion, made easier the last days of Father Donnelly, who died in October, 1886. Father O'Connell was then appointed to another St. Joseph's parish, this time in the West End of Boston; and, although he had dreaded work in a busy city parish, he ac-
cepted the transfer with the obedience that he had learned from the Fathers in Rome and from his own life and its experiences. The new church was the "busiest, happiest, rush- ing, tussling household in all Christendom." Seven years of work again reduced him to a state of poor health, whereupon he took a vacation in Rome. But this visit was more than a vacation, for he studied and prepared special lectures for the summer school at Plattsburg, New York, which, when they were delivered, were so well liked by their audiences that they were printed and bound as Father O'Connell's first work. Also, while on that trip to Rome, he talked with everyone he could meet, and read much in the literature of the Eternal City and in the inscriptions in the Vatican and the catacombs. That was in 1894. In 1895 the board of directors of the American College, comprising the arch- bishops of Baltimore, Boston, New York and Philadelphia, selected him to replace Mon- signor Dennis O'Connell, who had resigned from the rectorship of the American College in Rome. In addition to his duties as college administrator, he was the representative of the American Church in Rome, and so was burdened with countless duties of an execu- tive and diplomatic character. The college it- self was still regarded in Rome with some suspicion, so that Father O'Connell had a tre- mendous task before him, that of gaining for it the confidence of Roman authorities. On Candlemas Day he was summoned in audience before Pope Leo XIII, who observed him with careful scrutiny, and told him how he, as rector, must do much to unite more closely the Church in America with the Church in Rome. The Pope's final words, "Be of good courage"-in Italian, "Coraggio!"-rang with inspiration for the difficult days that followed. One of the students wrote his recollections of the college in the days in which Father O'Connell was its rector, and commented especially on the talks, the walks and the meals under the administration of the new rector, who "went to the kitchen every day to see that the food was of the best." The
4
METROPOLITAN BOSTON
student wrote on: "We had less of institution- like sameness than I have ever known else- where. And pranzoni! He took every oc- casion to make a festa." On his second Candlemas Day audience before the Pope, the Pope told him how his work was approved everywhere, closing the audience with the words, "I have perfect confidence in you." He was then made "Monsignor O'Connell, Do- mestic Prelate of His Holiness," and his posi- tion became easier. On April 22, 1901, he was appointed Bishop of Portland, Maine, his consecration as bishop having taken place at the Church of St. John Lateran in Rome on May 19 of that year. He was installed in the Cathedral of Portland on July 4, 1901, and there did a marvelous work. In Jan- uary, 1905, he was named assistant at the Pontifical Throne, while in August of the same year he was appointed a special papal envoy to the Emperor of Japan. On Septem- ber 14, he left for San Francisco and Japan, and bore greetings of good will from the Roman Pontiff to the nation which had just emerged victorious from her struggle with Russia. There he delivered the church's thanks to the Emperor for Japan's kindly treatment of Catholics during the war, both at home and in Korea. On November 10 he was received in audience by the Mikado, and on November 18 was the guest of honor at a meeting of more than 4,000 persons. The mayor of Tokyo extended welcome to the "nuncio sent by His Holiness the Pope to His Majesty the Emperor," and said: "We, as a people having just fought a dreadful war for the sake of peace, are glad now to wel- come an ambassador sent by the direct suc- cessor of the Prince of Peace." As a result of his visit, several schools were started in Japan under Catholic auspices, and the great missionary work of the Church began in the Island Empire. In the middle of January, 1906, Bishop O'Connell returned to Rome with a private report and a personal letter from the Mikado to the Pope. Before leaving Japan he had been decorated with the Japanese Order of the Golden Treasury, the highest honor
ever accorded a foreign diplomat; while in Rome both the Cardinal Secretary of State and the Pope himself expressed deep satis- faction at his success. As the years went on Cardinal O'Connell rose still higher in the ranks of his church's priests, and in March, 1906, was named Archbishop of Constance and Coadjutor with the Succession of Boston. Then, on the death of his friend and com- panion of many years, Archbishop Williams, he succeeded, on August 30, 1907, to the See of Boston. Finally, on November 27, 1911, he was elevated to the cardinalate.
The Cardinal was appointed by the Holy Father a member of the Sacred Congregation of Studies and Rites, and in the assignment of titular churches, he received the ancient historic church of St. Clement, which traces its history back to the fourth century, while its construction gives reason to believe in its still earlier origin, probably in the time of that very disciple of the Apostles from whom it was named. The address which the Car- dinal gave on taking possession of his titular church was concise and masterly. He pointed out the historic continuity of the Church, and then, noting that the church was under the care of the Irish Dominicans, took oppor- tunity to refer to "the invincible faith of the Irish people and their descendants-always marked by close union and attachment to the Holy See." He then referred to the con- demnation of the Pelagian heresy in that very church, in the early fifth century, and, al- ways an opponent of modernism, remarked the resemblance of Pelagianism to the modern idea of the self-sufficiency of man. He took possession of his titular church on December 8, his fifty-second birthday. Meanwhile, the people of the diocese had expressed their ap- preciation of the honor conferred upon them through the elevation of their Bishop to the Cardinalate by collecting, as Peter's Pence, the largest amount ever gathered in Boston. On December 19, the Pope received Cardinal O'Connell in farewell audience. Since then Cardinal O'Connell has done much for the promotion of Catholic education and of the
5
METROPOLITAN BOSTON
interests of Christ's Church in the United States, and wherever he has gone, has ever stood opposed to bigotry and narrowness, as was indicated by his pronounced condemnation of anti-Semitism several years ago, while at the same time he has made clear to all that he is firmly opposed to anarchy and all move -- ments built upon slipshod thinking. As a Prince of the Church and as a spiritual leader in the life of Americans, His Eminence has fulfilled a noble function in the life that has been his.
RIGHT REV. MONSIGNOR GEORGE J.
PATTERSON-One of the oldest pastors in point of service in the Boston Diocese is the Right Rev. Monsignor George J. Patterson, of St. Vincent de Paul's Church, corner of East and West Third streets, South Boston, and the parish to which he ministers is also one of the oldest in the city, dating back to 1848, when Andrew Carnegie, on behalf of Bishop Fitz- patrick, bought an old Unitarian meeting-house on Purchase Street, in the old Fort Hill dis- trict. This meeting house was converted into a Catholic place of worship and continued in use for that purpose until it, with other build- ings of the Fort Hill district, was razed by the city in 1872. The stones of the demolished building were then transported to South Boston and used in the construction of a new church, which was named for the old one, St. Vincent de Paul's. Coincident with this event there was a large exodus of Catholics from Fort Hill to South Boston, and these, naturally, became members of the new St. Vincent de Paul's. Before that time, however, the old church was attended by priests of the cathedral, as a mission church, until 1862, when it had been made a parish. Revs. M. T. Gallagher and E. J. Sheri- dan had served here, and in 1862 Rev. Michael Moran had been made pastor. Later, so many others came to live in this section that it be- came necessary to build another church, and in
1872 the territory was set off from the parish of SS. Peter and Paul and Rev. Michael Lane was appointed pastor. The new church was dedicated on the festival of St. Vincent de Paul, in 1874, and named for that saint.
Right Rev. Monsignor George J. Patterson was born in the Fort Hill district of Boston, Massa- chusetts, November 30, 1850, and after attend- ing the local public schools and graduating from the high school he became a student in Boston College for one year. He then began his theo- logical training in St. Charles and St. Mary's Seminary, from which he graduated and was ordained a priest December 23, 1876. He was sent to St. Patrick's Church, where he re- mained for a period of twelve years as curate. In 1888, the year of the "Great Blizzard" here in the East, he came to St. Vincent de Paul's, and since that time, with the exception of two years spent at St. Bridget's Church, in Abing- ton, Massachusetts, he has served here con- tinuously, aggregating a total service of thirty- eight years. During his long pastorate excep- tionally fine and effective service has been rendered by Father Patterson, and he has in- terested himself in some phases of social work which have been of untold benefit to the parish.
The present church building, located on the corner of East and West Third streets, South Boston, is very large, and among its many at- tractions is a very large and beautiful picture of the Crucifixion, which is said to be one of the finest representations of that subject in the world and thousands of people come each year from all over the country to see it. Father Patterson, though he has been engaged in the service of the church for more than half a century, is still very active in the work of the parish, much of which has been organized and founded by him. Among the many activities in which he has taken a prominent part and which he organized is the Knights of Columbus Nursery. Here two sisters of St. Vincent de Paul care for children whose mothers are em- ployed during the day. Between forty and fifty children are cared for here each day, thirty chil- dren downstairs, ten babies upstairs, and in 1927 more than twelve thousand meals were
6
METROPOLITAN BOSTON
served to these children whom the economnic necessities of the family deprive of the mother's care. This work has been a wonderful blessing to thousands of families, and has helped to solve the pressing problems of many struggling mothers burdened with the double task of car- ing for a family and at the same time helping to earn the daily bread. In addition to the Knights of Columbus Nursery, the parish also has a band of twelve men, whose duty it is to look after the needs of the poor of the parish. A number of sodalities are connected with the church, including one for married and one for single women, and there is a large and active Holy Name Society of men, also St. Vincent de Paul's Conference.
Since coming to this parish Father Patterson has practically rebuilt the entire rectory and has repaired and remodeled the church. On Sunday as many as seven hundred children attend the children's mass, and on Holy Thursday as many as fifteen thousand people have passed through the doors of St. Vincent de Paul's. Another feature of Father Patterson's pastorate has been an unusual interest in music. Father Patterson is himself a musician of ability, and he has taken a deep and active interest in all the music con- nected with the church. He has secured the services of many of the finest singers in this section of the country, and has caused the Church of St. Vincent de Paul to become famous for its wonderful music. In addition to the regular choir there is also a large choir of boys who receive the very best of training, and who are carefully selected for the quality of their voices and for their general musical abil- ity. Though the work of the parish requires the services of two assistant priests, Father Patterson still is very active in all of the many lines of service in which the church and parish engage, and his long years of success- ful experience have brought him a rich wisdom, which is the potent influence in the guidance of affairs of the church and the activities of his two assistants. Throughout the parish he is loved by all, and especially by the children, and few pastors can look back over more or better used years in the service of the Holy Church.
MONSIGNOR MICHAEL J. SPLAINE- The appointment of Monsignor Michael J. Splaine, formerly pastor of St. Joseph's Church in Roxbury, Massachusetts, to the responsi- ble position of permanent pastor of St. Mary of the Assumption, at Brookline, Massachu- setts, on July 16, 1928, represents a fitting re- ward of long and exceptionally able service.
The parish of St. Joseph's, at Roxbury, dates back to the year 1845, and to the long pastor- ate, in St. Patrick's Church, of Rev. Thomas Lynch, who gave permission to young Rev. Patrick H. O'Beirne to collect in the parish during the pastor's absence in Ireland, money for the construction of a new church, which should be the center of a new parish to be set off from St. Patrick's. The money was collected, a site selected upon an eminence known as "Tommy's Rock," and in 1846 the basement of the new church was completed and dedicated under the patronage of St. Joseph. Father O'Beirne continued as pastor to the time of his death in 1883, a period of thirty-seven years, enlarging the church in 1860, and three pastors successively served from the time of the death of Father O'Beirne to the coming of Monsignor Splaine in 1915. These pastors had made important improve-
ments, remodelling the interior of the church, which is remarkable for its ceiling geometri- cally paneled, with nine bays of different de- signs, said to contain five miles of quartered wood; reopening the parochial school; building a new school and convent; and generally developing the parish.
Monsignor Michael J. Splaine was born in Watertown, Massachusetts, and received his early education in the local parochial and public schools. He graduated from the high school in 1894, and then entered Boston College, where he finished his course with graduation in 1897. As he had determined to devote his life to the service of the Church, he then went abroad and entered the American College, at Rome, Italy, where he received his theological degrees and was ordained a priest in 1901. After his ordination he returned to this country and was assigned to the Cathedral of the Holy
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.