USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > The story of the Irish in Boston, together with biographical sketches of representative men and noted women > Part 14
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I. Absolute right of inspection and supervision by the local School Commit- tee of every private school in which any children between the ages of eight and fourteen were being educated.
2. That every parent and other person having control of a child able to attend school, and between the ages of eight and fourteen, and needing instruction, who would not cause such child to attend a public school, or a private school, approved by the local School Committee, would be subject to a penalty of twenty dollars, whether it appeared the child was receiving a good education elsewhere or not.
3. That the local School Committee shall only approve of a private school when the teaching therein is in the English language, in the branches provided by law, and the text-books used therein are such as may be approved by the committee, and when they are satisfied otherwise of the progress and condition of the school.
4. That any person who shall attempt to influence any parent or other person having under his care or control any child between eight and fourteen years, to take such child out of, or to hinder or prevent such child from attending a public or approved school by any threats of social, moral, political, religious, or ecclesiastical disability, or disabilities, or any punishment, or by any threats, shall forfeit a sum not exceeding $1,000, and not less than $300, in each offence.
The petitioners for this bill tried to invest their cause with some respectability by securing as counsel ex-Governor Long. The counsel for the Catholic parochial and private schools was again Charles F. Donnelly, and the counsel for Protestant private schools, Nathan Matthews, Jr.
The proposed bill was discussed before the Committee on Education in fourteen hearings, from March 20 till April 24, inclu- sive. On April 25 the closing arguments were made. Represent- ative Lund was assistant counsel for the petitioners. Two Protestant ministers-the Revs. A. A. Miner and J. B. Dunn - were constant in their attendance and advocacy of the bill. The presence among the petitioners of Superintendent Bartlett, of the public schools of Haverhill, resulted from the fact that the Haverhill School Committee had brought in an order of their own, asking for legislation on the inspection and approval of private schools, moved to this course by finding their powers insufficient for the suppression of the French Canadian parochial school, St. Joseph's. More than a third of the pupils attending this school came from homes in which only the
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French language was spoken. Part of the teaching was, therefore, of necessity in the French language. This, and the fact that the text-books were not identical with those used in the public schools, decided a hostile school committee, after a hasty examination, to refuse to approve the school.
The Rev. Oliver Boucher, rector of St. Joseph's, offered to make every reasonable concession to the School Committee. Neverthe- less, parents were ordered to withdraw their children from St. Joseph's and send them to the public schools, or otherwise be prose- cuted under the truant law. The French parents stood up bravely for their parental and conscientious rights. Several test cases were brought before Judge Carter, of Haverhill, who decided in favor of the defendants, giving it as his official opinion that St. Joseph's School, even without the modifications made by Father Boucher in the hope of securing the approval of the School Committee, amply met the requirements of the compulsory education statute. Then the cry was raised by some of the Boston bigots that the French people were coerced by the priests into sending their children to the parochial schools. On the other hand, it was maintained that the French kept up parochial schools, and had their children instructed in the ancestral tongue with a view to eventually annexing New England to the Province of Quebec !
French Canadians came in great numbers from Haverhill, Lowell, Lawrence, Marlboro', Worcester, Fall River, and Holyoke, to testify to their preference for a distinctly Catholic education for their children, and to their absolute loyalty to the United States. Among their conspicuously able spokesmen were Rep- resentative Dubuque, of Fall River, and Emil Tardivel, editor of "Le Travailleur," Worcester. The inquiry developed a fact little to the taste of the petitioners; namely, that the French Canadians of Massachusetts are becoming naturalized rapidly, and in great numbers, and are, as a rule, in favor of the annexation of Canada to the United States. Three priests testified: the Revs. J. P. Bodfish, of Canton; Joseph F. McDonough, of Taunton; and the Rev. Richard Neagle, Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Boston.
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Other remonstrants were Col. T. W. Higginson, J. W. McDonald, principal of the Stoneham High School, Edward Hamilton, Arthur A. Hill, editor of the "Haverhill Gazette," all Protestants; Julius Palmer, Jr., and Thomas J. Gargan, Catholics. The searching and comprehensive examination to which the Catholics were subjected would give a disinterested hearer the impression that the Catholic Church was on trial for her life in Massachusetts.
In the face of the fact developed during the hearing, that the Catholics number about two-fifths of the total population of the Commonwealth, and in many cities and towns are in the majority, Massachusetts legislators, whatever their political affiliations or relig- ious sympathies, began to shrink from open identification with the Anti-Catholic School Bill. While the hearings were still in progress, the House, to avoid the burden of a decision, appealed to the Supreme Court of Massachusetts for an interpretation of the statute relating to private schools. The Court refused an opinion.
A few weeks later, Representative T. W. Bicknell, for the majority of the Committee on Education, reported to the Legislature a bill which, though divested of the prominent anti-Catholic features of the Gracey Bill, was still so bigoted and inquisitorial as to be objec- tionable to all fair-minded people. Representatives McEttrick and Keane, of the same committee, put in a minority report setting forth the needlessness of any additional legislation. Various substi- tute bills were offered and debated, but that which finally passed both branches of the Legislature, with slight amendments by Repre- sentatives Dubuque and Davis, was the bill of Representative Ward- well (Republican), of Haverhill. This bill does not change, but merely defines, the existing school laws; clearing Section I. (the Compulsory Education Statute) of the obsolete "poverty " and " half-time school " clauses, and explaining in what " the means of education " consist.
Concluding this outline of the school controversy of 1889, it must be said that the Catholics, forced by the tactics of their oppo- nents to defend the teachings of their Church, as well as their citizen and parental rights, were most fortunate in their counsel, Mr. Charles F. Donnelly, who conducted their case with a dignity, disinterested-
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ness, and ability which shaped public opinion at an early stage of the contest, and foredoomed all anti-Catholic and inquisitorial legis- lation before the close of the legislative hearings. That famous advocate of Catholic popular education, the Right Rev. Bernard J. McQuaid, of Rochester, N.Y., voiced the general Catholic conviction, when he said in Boston, before the Free-Thought Association, in 1876, that Massachusetts will yet settle the school question on an equitable basis for the whole country. This conviction of the national value of the outcome of the Catholic case in the Massachu- setts school controversy attracted national interest to Mr. Donnelly's procedure, and won grateful recognition from the American Catholic press, for the value of the weapons which he has furnished to the arsenals of those on whom in other commonwealths a similar conflict may be forced. Massachusetts Catholics have reason, also, to be pleased with their representatives in the Legislature, notably the faithful and loyal Mr. M. J. McEttrick.
Prominent among the Catholic charitable institutions of Boston is the House of the Angel Guardian, founded in 1850 by a pious convert priest, the Rev. George F. Haskins. It is for orphan boys, and is conducted by Brothers of Charity from Montreal, Canada.
The Home for Destitute Catholic Children, on Harrison avenue, deserves more than a mere naming.
The Home for Destitute Catholic Children was organized in June, 1864. It was first known as the Eliot Charity School, and was conducted by benevolent ladies and gentlemen at a house on old High street, in this city.
The original committee for this work was the Very Rev. John J. Williams, now Archbishop of Boston; the Rev. James A. Healy, now Bishop of Portland, Me .; Messrs. Patrick Donahoe, William S. Pelletier, Charles F. Donnelly, William S. Mellen, the last-named since deceased.
A meeting, composed mainly of the superintendents of the various Catholic Sunday-schools, was held in the basement of the Cathedral chapel on the evening of Palm Sunday, March 20, 1864.
It was ascertained that at least one thousand children between
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the ages of eight and twelve years were annually prosecuted before the courts of Boston. The judges and officers before whom they appeared could only look upon them as homeless vagrants. They were for the most part children of Catholic parents.
It was, therefore, proposed that a temporary home be provided for such children, or any other destitute child, regardless of creed, color, or nationality, where they might be cared for until they could be transferred to permanent and good homes.
In 1864 George W. Adams was elected to the position of superintendent, which he held until 1866, when he was succeeded by Bernard Cullen, whose labors for the Home covered a period of twelve years. Mr. Cullen died Feb. 12, 1878, and immediately his son, James B. Cullen, became his successor to the superintend- ency of the institution by a unanimous vote of the corporation. He did the duties of superintendent from Feb. 12, 1878, until May, 1883, when he voluntarily resigned and engaged in mercantile pursuits. John A. Duggan succeeded to the position made vacant by the younger Mr. Cullen, and he still occupies it.
The association became a corporate body under the laws of the State, with fifteen members to constitute the board of managers, who are elected from the different parishes of Boston.
The domestic management of the Home was under the super- vision of matrons until 1865, and then the Sisters of Charity were induced to assume the management of its domestic affairs. In 1870 the present spacious and well-appointed building on Harrison avenue was erected.
When it is remembered that over seven thousand eight hundred destitute, homeless, neglected children have been received and pro- vided for at this establishment, without pay or compensation of any kind, and that the heavy indebtedness of the institution, incurred by a land purchase and crection of its buildings, together with the annual payment of about twelve thousand dollars ($12,000) for house expenses, it will be seen that, in order to place it on its present sound financial basis, much care, skill, and self-sacrifice were neces- sary.
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All poor, homeless, and friendless children between the ages of three and twelve years are received and sheltered, without any distinction of race, color, or religion.
The names of the officers of the Home corporation, with the date of their election, are as follows : -
1864- Patrick Donahoe; Charles F. Donnelly, James Havey, Matthew Keany, John Lyons; 1869 - James Bonner; 1871 - Patrick Grealy, John W. McDonald, James McCormick, John B. O'Brien; 1877- John Donovan, James W. Dunphy, James Dool- ing, James McMahon ; 1877 - Patrick Norton, Owen Nawn, David A. Ring; 1878 - Christopher Blake, Patrick T. Hanley; 1880 - Patrick Collins, Rev. W. H. Duncan, S.J., John Miller, Patrick F. Sullivan ; 1882 - William Peard, Denis Cawley, Patrick Doherty, Thomas F. Doherty; 1889- Rev. Richard Nagle. Twenty-eight members in all, two vacancies existing in the board. Officers for 1889-President, John B. O'Brien; Vice-President, Charles F. Donnelly; Treasurer, Patrick F. Sullivan; Secretary, James Havey ; Executive Committee, James W. Dunphy, John W. McDonald, John Miller.
The Home celebrated its Silver Jubilee on Sunday, May 26, 1889, in Music Hall, by a grand Catholic demonstration, at which Archbishop Williams presided, and Bishop Healy, of Portland, Me., delivered the chief address.
Boston has not a more interesting public institution than the Working Boys' Home, on Bennet street. It was begun in a small building on Eliot street, in the spring of 1883, by the Rev. David H. Roche, with four boys. Under his direction the present spacious and well-appointed brick building on Bennet street was erected. In 1888 the Rev. John F. Ford succeeded Father Roche as superin- tendent. There are at present nearly one hundred boys in the Home. Sisters of St. Francis, from Allegany, N.Y., have charge of the domestic arrangements. Besides comfortable dormitories and refectories, there is a well-furnished gymnasium, and Father Ford has started a library and reading-room. The Home is open to working boys, without distinction of race or creed.
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A Home for Working Girls was opened in June, 1888, on Dover street, Boston, under the patronage of Archbishop Williams. It is directed by Grey Nuns from Montreal. It is not a charitable institution, but a house where home protection and home comforts can be supplied at a modest sum to girls employed in stores, offices, etc. An association of prominent Catholic ladies, called the Work- ing Girls' Friends' Society, has been organized for the benefit of this institution. Its president, in 1888, was Mrs. Hugh O'Brien ; in 1889, Mrs. M. E. P. Fennell.
The priesthood of Boston have always been earnest advocates of Irish Home Rule. On Jan. 25, 1881, almost immediately after the great National Convention of the Land League, in Buffalo, N.Y., Archbishop Williams and all the priests of the archdiocese met at the house of the Vicar-General, Boston.
The meeting endorsed the principles laid down in the Buffalo Convention as justified by religion and morality, and framed an address to the bishops, priests, and people of Ireland, expressing fraternal sympathy in their struggle, admiration for their splendid self-control in the face of extreme provocation, and speaking strong words for land reform and home rule. It thus concluded : "We pray the Giver of all good gifts that he may reward Ireland's cen- turies of suffering and fidelity to religion with the fullest civil liberty, peace, and prosperity, so that she may be once again the home of learning and science, and- a source of blessings to other nations." The address was signed as follows : -
John J. Williams, Archbishop of Boston; William Byrne, V.G .; William A. Blenkinsop, Church of Sts. Peter and Paul, South Bos- ton, Chairman; M. F. Flatley, St. Joseph's, Wakefield, Secretary ; T. H. Shahan, St. James, Boston; T. Magennis, St. Thomas, Ja- maica Plain ; M. J. Masterson, St. John's, Peabody.
The address was followed by a generous contribution from the Boston priests to the funds of the Land League.
A word about the chief Catholic Societies in Boston. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul, composed of laymen, who regularly devote some time to the visiting and relief of the sick and poor, was
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introduced into Boston by its present archbishop, the Most Rev. John J. Williams. In 1861, while pastor of St. James' Church, Boston, he established in that parish the first conference of St. Vincent de Paul. There is now scarcely a parish in the city without its conference. A conference of colored Catholics, called St. Peter Claver's, was established in the spring of 1889, under the presidency of Mr. Robert L. Rufin, with the Rev. John F. Ford, of the Working Boys' Home, as spiritual director. From the report of the Particular Council, for the year ending Dec. 31, 1888, we get a specimen year's work. The active membership at date was 547; families aided during the year, 1,532, comprising 5,378 persons; visits made to the poor, 22,953 ; moneys received during the year, added to balance in treasury, $34,866.56; moneys disbursed among the poor, $25,741.09 - leaving in treasury $9,125.47. The Particular Council is composed of a Council of Direction (constituted in 1889), as follows : -
Spiritual Director, the Very Rev. William Byrne, V.G .; Presi- dent, Thomas F. Ring; Vice-Presidents, Henry McQuade, Thomas Shay; Secretary, John J. Mundo; Treasurer, J. W. McDonald; and the spiritual directors, presidents, and vice-presidents of the vari- ous Conferences.
The Catholic Union, of Boston, was founded in March, 1873, under the inspiration of the words of the late Sovereign Pontiff, Pope Pius IX., recommending union and organization of the Catholic laity in the spirit of loyalty to the Church. To secure the perpetuation of a truly Catholic spirit in the Union, Sect. 2, Art. I., of the By-Laws provides that the Archbishop of Boston shall always be arbiter in all questions and cases that may arise in the Union. The first Ex- ecutive Committee of the Catholic Union (or the Council of the Cath- olic Union, as it was originally called) was thus composed : John G. Blake, M.D., Hon. P. A. Collins, Messrs. John F. McEvoy, William F. Connolly, H. L. Richards; Treasurer, Hugh O'Brien; Correspond- ing Secretary, William S. Pelletier; Recording Secretary, John Boyle O'Reilly. First Board of Officers: President, Theodore Metcalf; first Vice-President, Patrick Donahoe; second Vice-President, John
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C. Crowley ; Spiritual Director, the Rev. James Augustine Healy. Committee on Nominations : Hugh Carey, Gen. Patrick R. Guiney, John Boyle O'Reilly, Samuel Tuckerman.
The Union proposed to its members these permanent studies and interests : The Church, Catholic Education, Public Schools, Pub- lic Institutions, Catholic Charities and Protection, Sacred Music. The influence of a body of earnest, intelligent men, taking serious thought of such questions as are involved in the foregoing topics, was soon felt in the community. To the Catholic Union is due in great part the obtaining of freedom of worship for the inmates of the State penal, reformatory, and charitable institutions. It is interest- ing to add that one of the two honorary members of the Catholic Union is a lady, Miss Emma Forbes Cary, of Cambridge, Mass., distinguished for her labors in the spiritual and 'temporal interest of prisoners. The other honorary member is the Rt. Rev. James A. Healy, Bishop of Portland, Me.
The succession of presidents in the Catholic Union has been : Theodore Metcalf, 1873-75 ; Henry L. Richards, '75-76; John C. Crowley, '76-78; Hugh O'Brien, '78-80; Thomas Dwight, M.D., '81-82; John B. Moran, M.D., '82-84; J. A. Maxwell, '84-85 ; Joseph D. Fallon, '85-86; J. C. Crowley, '86-88; Thomas F. Ring, '88-89. The successive spiritual directors have been : the Revs. James Augustine Healy, Alexander Sherwood Healy, Joshua P. Bodfish, and Leo P. Boland .- The present board of officers (1889) : Honorary President, Archbishop Williams; President, James L. Walsh; First Vice-President, Thomas B. Fitz; Second Vice-Presi- dent, James A. Reilly; Recording Secretary and Treasurer, John J. Mccluskey ; Corresponding Secretary, Thomas J. Kelly; Executive Committee, the foregoing ex-officiis and William H. Grainger, Daniel L. Prendergast, Francis Martin, Stephen Murphy, J. B. Fitz- patrick; Committee on Nominations to Membership, M. C. Curry, Edward Harkins, T. J. Monaghan, F. B. Doherty.
To Father Bodfish, for so many years identified with it as Spiritual Director, the Union is indebted largely for its development and influence as a social organization. A brilliant and memorable
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event in the early history of the Catholic Union was the three days' festival in Music Hall, concluding on the evening of Nov. 13, 1873, in honor of Pope Pius IX. The programme included an address by the President, Theodore Metcalf; the address of the Catholic Union to Pope Pius IX., John Boyle O'Reilly; the reading of the Holy Father's reply to the Union's address, by William Summers Pelletier ; and the following addresses : "The Objects of the Catholic Union of Boston," Henry L. Richards; "The Growth of the Church in New England," Rev. James A. Healy, Spiritual Adviser to the Council of the Union; " The Catholic Charities of Boston," Patrick Donahoe; " Congratulatory," Dr. Henry James Anderson, President of the Catholic Union of New York; " Catholic Historical Society," John C. Crowley; "Catholic Institute in Boston," Patrick A. Collins ; "The State of the Church in Europe," Rev. Robert Fulton, S.J. The great feature of Part III. of the Festival's programme was the discourse on " The Duties of American Catholics," by the Rev. James Kent Stone. Dr. Kent Stone had been a clergyman of the Episcopal Church, and President of Hobart College, Geneva, N.Y. His con- version was a direct result of the fatherly appeal of Pope Pius IX., just before the Vatican Council of 1869-70, to non-Catholic Chris- tians to return to the unity of the faith. This appeal was also the inspiration of Dr. Kent Stone's celebrated book, "The Invitation Heeded." The author is now a member of the austere Passionist Order, founded in the last century by St. Paul of the Cross; and for seven years past has been doing wonderful missionary work in Buenos Ayres and other portions of the Argentine Republic and Chili, S.A.
Other notable events in the history of the Catholic Union have been the reception in honor of Cardinal Gibbons, March 12, 1888 ; and the celebration, at the Brunswick, of the Centenary of Washing- ton's Inauguration, April 30, 1889. The new President, Judge James L. Walsh, was chairman; J. P. Leahy, Esq., toast-master. The formal addresses of the evening were: "George Washington," by Hon. Thomas J. Gargan; "The Catholic Church," the Very Rev. William Byrne, V.G .; "The United States of America," Thomas
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Flatley, Esq. Addresses were also made by the Rev. J. P. Bodfish, the Rev. Leo. P. Boland, Spiritual Director of the Union, and ex- President Thomas F. Ring.
Catholic temperance work in Boston received its first notable impulse from the visit of Father Mathew, in 1849.
The city authorities gave him a public reception, and the use of Boston Common and Faneuil Hall for public meetings. On a single day, July 27, 1849, he gave the pledge to four thousand people, Catholic and non-Catholic.
Among Boston priests eminent and successful in temperance work we may name the Rev. Peter A. McKenna, now of Marlboro'; the Rev. Hugh Roe O'Donnell, of East Boston; the Rev. James F. Talbot, D.D., of the Cathedral. Boston has a flourishing Arch- diocesan Total Abstinence Union, with a membership, at latest returns, of 3,667, and officered as follows: President, J. Crowley, of Cambridge; Vice-President, Stephen Anderson; Secretary, Edward Mulready; Assistant Secretary, C. J. Fay; Treasurer, the Rev. P. A. McKenna.
The eighteenth annual convention of the Catholic Total Absti- nence Union of the United States was held in Tremont Temple, Boston, August 2 and 3, 1888, under the presidency of the Rev. Thomas J. Conaty, D.D., of Worcester, Mass. There were delegates representing 53,000 Catholic total abstainers. Among the eminent visitors who addressed the Union were the Rt. Rev. John J. Keane, rector, and the Rev. Philip J. Garrigan, vice-rector, of the American Catholic University, Washington, D.C .; the Rev. J. R. Slattery, rector of St. Joseph's Seminary, Baltimore, Md., for the education of candidates for the negro missions of the South; the Revs. Thaddeus Hogan, Jersey City, N.J .; Morgan M. Sheedy, Pittsburgh, Pa .; J. M. Cleary, of Wisconsin; and Walter Elliot, of the Paulist Fathers, New York. Protestants and Catholics alike crowded the galleries during the various sessions, and the revelation of the sound sense and effectiveness of Catholic methods of temperance reform was not lost on workers in the good cause outside the Catholic Church.
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Besides the associations above mentioned, every parish is well equipped with religious sodalities for men and women.
To summarize: Of Boston's 400,000 population, fully 225,000 are Catholics. Out of the total of children born in this city in a recent year (1887), seven-twelfths were baptized in the various Catholic churches. These Catholics have 35 fine churches, at- tended by 125 priests. The thirty-sixth, St. Cecilia's, in . the Back Bay district, is begun, and ground will soon be broken for two school-chapels in St. Joseph's parish, Roxbury. There is an ecclesiastical seminary with 81 students; a college with 275; three academies for girls with a total of 270 pupils, and 17 parochial schools with an attendance of over 10,000 boys and girls; three hospitals, five orphanages, two homes for the aged poor, a House of the Good Shepherd, a Home for Working Boys, and a Home for Working Girls.
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