USA > Missouri > A history of Missouri from the earliest explorations and settlements until the admission of the state into the union, Volume II > Part 37
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BISHOP DUBOURG
On Christmas day they were at the mouth of the Ohio, and on the evening of that day the boat stopped at or near the farm of widow Fenwick, a Catholic, opposite Grand Tower, where they were happy to visit. On the evening of the 30th of December they arrived at Ste." Genevieve, and early the next morning sent a messenger to the Rev. DeAndreis to announce their arrival. They were received with great ceremony, and on the first day of the year, 1818, Bishop Dubourg celebrated the first Pontifical mass at Ste. Genevieve. From Ste. Genevieve the rest of the journey was made by land by way of Prairie du Rocher and Cahokia to St. Louis. Here he also was received with great pomp; and as soon as he became personally known to the people, was greatly esteemed and loved. Bishop Flaget now re- turned to Kentucky, and Bishop Dubourg began his episcopal labors in a territory extending over the whole western portion of the Mississippi valley, from New Orleans to the Rocky mountains and the Great Lakes. In all upper Louisiana there were then only four priests under his spiritual jurisdiction and to his visible temporal authority, seven small chapels were subject. But he was a man of zeal, who had well planned his work before he came to St. Louis.64 While in Italy he induced Rev. Felix DeAndreis, Rev. Joseph Rosati and others to come to America to take up their residence in upper Louisiana. They were members of the "Congregation of the Priests of the Mission of St. Vincent de Paul." While residing in St. Louis he annually visited New Orleans and lower Louisiana. In 1824 he removed the seat of his episcopal residence from upper Louisiana to New Orleans.
Among the priests Bishop Dubourg induced to come to upper Louisiana, Father Felix De Andreis was certainly the most eminent. Before his departure from Italy for America Bishop Dubourg appoint- ed him Vicar-General of his diocese.65 Father DeAndreis was born December 13, 1778 at DeMonte, Piedmont; studied rhetoric and
64 Bishop Louis William Valentine Dubourg was born at Cape François, on the island of San Domingo, February 14, 1766; educated in France; studied theology at St. Sulpice; driven from France by the Revolution; fled to Spain; came to Baltimore in 1794 ; a priest of the order of St. Sulpice in 1796; president of St. Mary's Seminary; established the Sisters of Charity in Baltimore; in 1815 went to Rome, consecrated Bishop there of upper and lower Louisiana; in 1815 founded in America the Society for the Propagation of the Faith; re- moved from St. Louis to New Orleans in 1824; in 1826 was made Bishop of the see of Montauban in France, and in 1833 was Archbishop of Besançon; he died October 1833. A man of great energy, zeal and piety. "A man," says Lucas, "of distinguished talents and personal accomplishments." Letter dated August 18, 1817.
65 Life of Felix DeAndreis, p. 97.
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philosophy at Cuneo; at the age of sixteen made application to join the Congregation of the Priests of the Mission of St. Vincent; entered as a novitiate in the house of the Mission at Mondori, and in 1797 assumed the habit of St. Vincent, and under the guidance of the Rev. Joseph Giordana applied himself to his holy vocation. In 1800 he studied at Turin, and afterward at Placentia, and so assiduous was he in pursuing his studies, " that he became a profound philosopher, a learned theologian, an erudite historian, besides being well versed in literature, chemistry, natural history, astronomy, mathematics, medicine, music, geography, and skilled in Hebrew, Greek, French, and Spanish languages. As for Latin, he spoke it fluently, and wrote it with elegance." He was "gifted with so piercing an intellect that he penetrated at first glance, the most difficult questions and most abstruse theories." His memory was extraordinary, and having once read a book he could, years afterward, repeat many passages and give a resumé of its contents. He had a marvelous knowledge of the sacred Scriptures, the works of the holy Fathers, the canonical decisions of the church, the moral and ascetic books by the most eminent divines, and the great writings of St. Thomas, St. Augustine, St. Bernard and St. John Chrysostom. Such were his qualifications in 1801, when in Placentia he was promoted to the priesthood. After his ordination he was at once entrusted with the complete exercise of the apostolic ministry, and became a conspicuous missionary, teach- er and director of collegians. But his ardor for knowledge did not lead him away from the "science of the saints," and he kept contin- ually in mind the admonition of St. Vincent to students, not to allow "an inordinate avidity for learning to invade their hearts." Hence he resolved. only to "give to study a stated portion of time," and be- yond that to "banish every thought of it" because, he says, "Study is not God, nor even the most direct road to him." He resolved there- fore to more assiduously "exercise piety" and "practice virtue, " and labor to "overcome self esteem" because "humility is the gate to truth," and remembering that the "prudence of the flesh kills the soul," he resolved to practice mortifications by giving up certain com- forts of life in which he had indulged, under the pretext that they pre- served his health and strength.
From Placentia, Father DeAndreis was transferred to Monte Citoria in Rome, where he soon became celebrated on account of his missionary labors in many parts of Italy. Here he taught theology to the priests of his own order and also to the clergymen
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of the college of the Propaganda, by order of Pope Pius VII, and thus were discovered the vast treasures of sacred learning he possessed. Bishop Rosati who attended these lectures says that they "inflamed" the hearts of his listeners, and that "his words pierced the inmost depths of the soul." When he spoke of the "truths of religion," or the "maxims of eternal salvation," his coun- tenance, naturally pale, "perceptibly changed its color" and it seemed when he addressed the students of the Propaganda, that he "longed to transmit to their hearts the heavenly fire that would make them fervent apostles for infidel lands, to which they were destined." 66 His fame soon filled Rome. Cardinal Della Somaglia attended his lectures, and afterwards told the Pope that he seemed to hear a "St. John Chrysostom or a St. Bernard." During this period of his career he had frequent presentiments that he would go to America and die there. As early as 1810, he told Bishop Rosati that they both ought to learn English, and he then predicted that that language would be needful to them. This presentiment was finally realised, when in the year 1815, Bishop Dubourg came to Rome to be con- secrated as Bishop of Louisiana. But not without a struggle did Bishop` Dubourg secure this brilliant and shining light of the priest- hood of Rome. Accidentally, or providentially, some would say, one evening he passed a public hall where he heard a young priest "in sonorous language address a large audience;" he entered and listened attentively, and turning to the young student of the Propaganda who escorted him, asked who was the young priest that was preaching so well; he then learned his name and that he was a missionary of the Congregation of the Missions, and said "O, how glad should I be if I could have some of these priests for my diocese." Then the student told him that Father DeAndreis desired nothing more ardently than to be employed in foreign missions. This was enough for Bishop Dubourg. His rare energy, persistence, intelligence and indomi- table will were directed to secure Father DeAndreis and missionaries of his order. He became personally acquainted with DeAndreis, met many obstacles but overcame them all, and at last, December 27, 1815, secured the establishment of a seminary of the order of St. Vincent for Louisiana.
On the 14th of October Bishop Dubourg surrounded by a little colony of missionaries, destined to plant a seminary of the "Congregation of Missions" in his diocese, composed of Fathers
66 Life of Father DeAndreis, pp. 18, 31.
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HISTORY OF MISSOURI
Felix DeAndreis, Jean Baptiste Acquaroni and Joseph Rosati and Mr. Joseph P. Peira, postulant priest, and Mr. Leo Deys, a student of the Propaganda, and Anthony Boboni, postulant lay brother, in an audience with the Pope received his apostolic blessing. The Pope conversed with them for over one hour, exhorting them to put their entire trust in God, animated them to bear cheerfully the many labors they must necessarily undergo, and predicting that in- numerable blessings would flow from their work. They then bade farewell to all their friends, and on the 21st day of October departed from Rome. As they went out of the Flaminian gate their "hearts palpitated with holy joy and the most lively gratitude to God for the apostolic ministry," to which they were destined in a foreign land, for the sufferings they would meet "while laboring to extend the kingdom of Jesus Christ." Thus was laid the foundation of "St. Mary's Seminary" established in what is now Perry county in 1818, incorporated by the territorial legislature of Missouri, and generally known among the Catholic hierarchy as "St. Mary's of the Barrens," the mother-house and the nursery of many priests and bishops of the Catholic church of the United States.
But a long and arduous journey and many labors were still before Father DeAndreis and his little band, before they were permitted to lay the foundation of their seminary in the wilderness, to rear the humble log cabins in which to preach and practice the precepts of their order and begin their religious educational labors. Although they did not understand the English language they yet aspired to preach and teach in this language. To master the tongue they devoted many hours and days. Father DeAndreis with brother Martin Blanka, made the journey across the Alps and expected to meet his compan- ions with Father Rosati, in the South of France. At this day we can hardly realize the hardships such a long tour by land across the mountains in the inclement season of the year then involved. Leav- ing the balmy air and sunny land of Italy, Father DeAndreis on this journey crossed Mont Cenis in January, walking much of the distance through snow knee deep with the cold and frigid wind almost taking away his breath and incrusting his clothes with a thick coating of ice. At last he reached Montpelier most anxious regarding Father Rosati and his companions, of whom he had heard nothing for a long time. He was then told that of 21 vessels that had sailed from Italy for the southern ports of France, 19 had perished, and this filled him with great and lively apprehensions for their safety. But on
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TRIP TO BARDSTOWN
the 24th day, at Toulouse, he joyfully embraced them all, to learn that they had been equally distressed on his account.
On the 30th of January they arrived at Bordeaux where they remained until the 12th of June following. They then embarked on a brig called the "Ranger," bidding adieu to Bishop Dubourg who in the meantime, had also arrived but was obliged to remain in France to adjust some affairs of his diocese. In addition to those already named, Fathers Carretti and Ferrari, and Messrs François Xavier Dahmen, Joseph Tichitoli and Casto Gonzalez, seminarists, also joined the party of Father DeAndreis, and three young laymen, François Moranville, Medard Dilatre and John Flegifont, who had some intentions to enter the order. These missionaries were almost the only passengers on the brig, and their voyage across the ocean was made very pleasant because the Captain, although an unbeliever, facilitated as much as he could, the perform- ance of their religious exercises, and took pleasure in assisting at divine service and hearing them speak of religious subjects. But all efforts to convert him, Father DeAndreis says, failed because he would candidly say "that the business of this world seemed to him more important than that of the next;" on which Father De Andreis comments : "What lamentable blindness!"
On the 26th day of July, at 10 o'clock in the morning, they landed in Baltimore. They were received by Father Bouté, the Presi- dent of St. Mary's College, a house of the Sulpicians, with great joy. DeAndreis enjoyed "the honor of singing high mass at the cathedral," but he says that it was "a painful thing for me, to hear bells pealing from magnificent temples, and to be told that these edifices belonged to heretics." In Baltimore they remained until September 10th when they started in "a stage" for Bardstown, Kentucky, then the residence of Bishop Flaget. As can be well imagined, this journey was a revelation to Father DeAndreis and his companions. The falling rain, the frightful roads, the wretched taverns, the swollen creeks and rivers, reduced them to a pitiful condition, and some of the party could "not refrain from shedding tears." The expenses, too, of the trip were such as to threaten to leave the party without means, and in order to economize they put their baggage into a wagon, separated into bands and set out on foot, and "then it was," says Father DeAndreis, "happening to be alone and somewhat apart from the rest of the company, in the midst of these frightful mountains, in doubt as to the road, and scarcely knowing how to get on, the smiling
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HISTORY OF MISSOURI
picture of Rome, its churches, and the friends I had left there, pre- sented themselves to my mind in glowing colors, and like daggers, made me experience, for an instant, all the tortures of melancholy." But, he adds, "God, faith, and the desire of the salvation of souls, soon brought back to my soul, peace and serenity." On the 22nd of September the party reached Pittsburg, and, at last, on the 19th of November, 1816, they arrived at Louisville and from there, on horse- back, Father DeAndreis went to Bardstown, forty miles distant. Here he met Bishop Flaget and accepted his generous offer that he and his companions remain awhile at his seminary, St. Thomas, four miles from Bardstown, a resolution which Bishop Dubourg at first dis- approved, but subsequently, when he arrived on the spot, applauded. Here DeAndreis met Father David, Superior of the seminary, and afterward Bishop of Mauricastro in parti- bus, and coadjutor of the Bishop of Bards- town. At this time twenty young ecclesi- astics resided there in a log house covered with rough boards, the attic of which served as a common dormitory. Not far from this collegiate building was the episcopal resi- dence, also constructed of logs but two stories high, the first floor divided into three rooms, the largest of which served as a school room and refectory, and in the other two smaller FATHER DE ANDREIS rooms Father DeAndreis and Rosati were located. The Bishop occupied a room in the upper story, while near his room was a small library and cabinet which he also gave up to one of the band of Father DeAndreis.
Father DeAndreis and associates remained here until September and learned "many useful things" of which if they had been ignorant, he says frankly, "might have been very prejudicial to ourselves and others." He also found that "a certain amount of toleration is laudable" and, that "if it had always been observed by other mission- aries, many scandals would have been prevented," that the "enemies of Christianity would not have had so many arguments against us," and that the "adjuration of heretics and the conversion of infidels and savages would have been a work of much less difficulty." But the irreproachable and austere life led by the two Bishops of the sem- inary, the total abstinence from all intoxicating liquors they practiced, - the invariable rule by which they banished such liquors from their
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ST. MARY'S OF THE BARRENS
table and the seminary table, and refused for themselves to accept any donation of the same on pretense of thus recruiting their strength, was an example of mortification, a source of much edification to Fathers DeAndreis and Rosati, and they determined to follow it in the same manner as soon as settled in their new home. Of course Father DeAndreis, during his residence at St. Thomas, daily gave instructions in theology and other subjects, and he and all his companions also assiduously studied English. Father DeAndreis began to preach in English, hear confessions in English, and began to translate his sermons into English, studied English prose and poetry, and always in his walks with his pupils conversed in English.
When Bishop Flaget made his trip to upper Louisiana, already mentioned, to ascertain the sentiments of the inhabitants, Father DeAndreis accompanied him, and also brother Blanka. When, after a journey of nine days, he and Bishop Flaget came to Kaskaskia he was moved to tears "at the sight of the cross that rose on the spire of the church," at that time but seldom seen in the cities and villages of the United States. At Kaskaskia he and Bishop Flaget were re- ceived with great hospitality at the residence of Colonel Pierre Menard. From there they went to Ste. Genevieve where Father Henri Pratte was the parish priest, and thence to St. Louis, arriving October 17, 1817, where Bishop Flaget, as we have seen, successfully arranged for the residence of Bishop Dubourg.
While they were in St. Louis two members of the parish of "St. Mary's of the Barrens," situated about eighteen miles from Ste. Genevieve, came to St. Louis at the instance of Father Dunand, the last Trappist priest remaining in the Missouri country, who occasionally visited that parish, and in the name of the other members of the congregation, numbering thirty five families, requested the Bishop to intercede with Bishop Dubourg to choose their parish as the location for the future seminary. They offered to donate six hundred and forty acres of land to that end. They received the assurance that the wish of the inhabitants, on the arrival of Bishop Dubourg, would be favorably entertained. Bishop Flaget then re- turned to his own diocese, after leaving Father DeAndreis at Ste. Genevieve, where afterward, as we have seen, he received Bishop Dubourg. Bishop Flaget sent Father Pratte to St. Louis to remove any difficulties that might arise there, prior to the arrival of Bishop Dubourg. Father DeAndreis remained at Ste. Genevieve, and this was the first scene of his apostolic labors in the diocese of Louisiana.
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HISTORY OF MISSOURI
From Ste. Genevieve he wrote Father Sicardi, "We need whole col- onies of missionaries with considerable pecuniary resources in order to make rapid progress in these immense woods."
As his Vicar-General, Father DeAndreis went with Bishop Du- bourg to St. Louis. As soon as the Bishop was settled there, another delegation from the parish of "St. Mary's of the Barrens" waited on him and repeated the proposal made to Bishop Flaget. The Bishop was much impressed by the generosity of the offer, and the ardor of the faith which animated the people. He promised to personally visit them and examine the location; when shortly afterward he did so, he found the location very satisfactory and so reported to Father DeAndreis, who immediately, as Superior of the order in America, approved the plan to establish a house of the Congregation of the Missions there. The work of erecting St. Mary's Seminary was now ordered begun which for half a century was to shine "like a beacon light of learning in the west," and give celebrity to the name of the "Barrens." The name "Barrens" was applied to the small prairies of South- western Kentucky, from whence most of the early settlers came, and by them BISHOP ROSATI bestowed on the prairies they found in their new home. In speaking of the seminary, the old students usually simply refer to it as "the Barrens."
Father DeAndreis now called Father Rosati and the other mem- bers of his order from Bardstown to "the Barrens," to push the work of erecting the new seminary. Father De La Croix, a priest skilled in architecture, was sent there by Bishop Dubourg. In the spring of 1818, with the assistance of the people, the work had already made considerable progress. Some ground had been cleared, log cabins erected, and the foundation for a church laid. In December, 1818, all the members of the Congregation had arrived from Bardstown at "the Barrens" where, says Father DeAndreis, reside "the best Cath- olics in the diocese, all Anglo-Americans, an honest and industrious people." In this year Father Carretti, a native of Porto Maurizio who came to America with Bishop Dubourg, died in St. Louis. Father DeAndreis also records that Father François Xavier Dahmen and Father Tichitoli studied theology under him in St. Louis. Father
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BUILDING THE SEMINARY
Dahmen afterwards, from 1822 to 1840, was parish priest of Ste. Gene- vieve.67 In this year Father Cellini and two students, F. Borgna and another, arrived there from Italy to attend the seminary. Father Cellini was parish priest of St. Michaels (Fredericktown) from 1827 to 1849. He died January 6th, 1849 at St. Louis, old age rendering him unfit for active ministerial duty.
During the progress of the work, Bishop Dubourg and Father DeAndreis frequently visited "the Barrens" and gave assistance as appears from what Father DeAndreis writes to Father Baccaria, the Superior of the order, at Monte Citerio. In a letter dated 19th of September, 1819, he says, "I wish I could give you some idea of our establishment which covers about one square mile of land, seemingly uncultivated since the time of Adam. Our house will be habitable next November; the expense of building in this country is enormous, though we are as saving as possible and everyone does his share of the work. Father Cellini labors like any hired workman, and the Bishop himself does not shrink from helping to carry the lumber, he remains the whole day in the heat of the sun spurring on the workmen and superintending the undertaking." In the meanwhile, he says, the seminary is "in a miserable log cabin" made of logs roughly put together, and that the rules of the order were observed with as much exactitude as the situation would admit. He, however, observes that the fare was very poor, consisting of ill-baked bread, water instead of wine, meat now and then, potatoes, cabbage and other vegetables, milk and bread being their choicest food. He complained of the extremes of heat and cold, and also of the insects, of which he counted ten different species, "which attack us in the night," but, of all these, "the tick" which buries itself in the flesh, caused the great- est suffering, and he concludes, that "the glory of God and salvation of souls" alone is what induced him to remain. All this, however, did not prevent Father Beccari, who had succeeded Father Sicardi, from sending new colonies of missionaries to "St. Mary's of the Barrens."
In 1820, this first and oldest collegiate institution of Missouri was well established. But now, too, the life of Father DeAndreis was fast ebbing away, and October 14, 1820, he died at St. Louis, much regretted and lamented. Father Leo R. DeNeckere, then a young priest of the "Congregation of the Missions," but afterwards Bishop
67 He was the first priest consecrated in St. Louis by Bishop Dubourg; he had been a soldier in Bonaparte's army. The famous priest Father Charles Nerinyck on the 24th of August, 1824, died at his house on his return from Perryville where he had founded the Bethlehem convent of the Sisters of Loretto.
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of New Orleans, watched at his bed-side during the closing days of his life. From St. Louis his body was carried to St. Mary's of the Barrens, and there beneath the altar of the church, rest his mortal remains. Before his death he appointed Father Rosati68 Superior of the "Congregation of the Missions" in America, and under his able and energetic management, the Seminary of St. Mary's of the Barrens soon attained a wide reputation. In 1827, Father Rosati was appointed Bishop of Tenegra in partibus, and in 1829, first Bish- op of St. Louis. The church of St. Joachim at Old Mines, in Wash- ington county, consecrated on the 29th day of October, 1820, was one of the first fruits of the missionary labors of this order.69
Among the many eminent men who received their training at St. Mary's Seminary Bishop John Timon should also be mentioned. He became a resident of St. Louis in 1819 and engaged in business there. But in 1823 he abandoned worldly pursuits, entered St. Mary's Seminary as a theological student, was admitted to the priest- hood, performed much missionary work and died Bishop of Buffalo. When he entered the seminary it consisted only of several small log houses. "In the largest cabin," says his biographer, "one story in height was the university; in the northwest corner of the building was the theology department for study and lecture; in the northeast corner was the room for philosophy and general literature; the south- west corner was used for a tailor-shop, and the southeast for a shoe- maker's department." All the surroundings indicated poverty, but
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