History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 142

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1358

USA > Missouri > St Louis County > St Louis City > History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men > Part 142

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Louis the Jesuits, from Florissant, in 1829; the Sis- ters of St. Joseph, in 1836, from Lyons, France, the first of their order in America; the Ladies of the Sacred Heart, in 1827 ; the Sisters of the Visitation, and the Sisters of Charity, for whom he founded St. Louis Hospital. He also established two colleges for young men, three academies for young ladies, and the first orphan asylum in the city. Hc was an active member of the first four Provincial Councils of Balti- more, held in 1829, 1833, 1837, and 1840, and his pastoral letters and sermons there awakened wide ad- miration in Europe as well as America by their learn- ing and eloquence. In 1840 he was called to Rome, and sent to. Hayti by the Holy See on a diplomatic mission to settle questions growing out of the Haytien revolution. Before his departure for Rome, Bishop Rosatti consecrated, in 1841, Archbishop Kenrick, and settled him as coadjutor over the diocese of St. Louis. Bishop Rosatti's diplomatic success in Hayti was so signal that he was reappointed on other missions, in the discharge of which he continued until his death in Romc, Sept. 25, 1843. He was buried at Monte Citario, in a chapel dedicated to St. Vincent de Paul, whose order he had so highly adorned, in the Church of the Lazarists.

In 1843, Rt. Rev. Peter Richard Kenrick, D.D., succeeded as bishop of the diocese. Archbishop Kenrick was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1806, and was educated at Maynooth College, near that city. He was ordained in Dublin in 1831, by Archbishop Murray, and served as curate in Dublin, and subse- quently as president of the Theological Seminary, and vicar-general in Philadelphia. On the 9th of De- cember, 1841, he was consecrated at St. Mary's Church, St. Louis, Bishop of Drasis, and coadjutor to the Bishop of St. Louis. There were four bishops pres- cnt,-Bishop England, Bishop Rosatti, Bishop Ken- rick, and Bishop Lefevre,-besides Archbishop Du- bois, of Baltimore. Bishop Rosatti officiated as con- sccrator, and Bishop England preached the sermon. Bishop Kenrick succeeded Bishop Rosatti in 1843, and on the erection of the diocese of St. Louis into an archdiocese became archbishop.

Archbishop Kenrick is one of the most distin- guished prelates in the American Church, a learned theologian, an able administrator, and a mnan of the greatest generosity and benevolence. In 1858 he received a handsome bequest, but used it, or a great part of it, in endowing the hospital of the Sisters of Charity, and making it free to all, regardless of creed or color. At the Ecumenical Council of 1868 he took strong ground against the definition of papal infallibil- ity, and his speech, prepared for the occasion, was pub-

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lished in Naples in 1870, and in New York in 1872. He subsequently, however, acquiesced in the dogma, and promulgated it in his archdiocese. He is the author of a work on " Anglican Ordinations," which is regarded as the leading authority on the subject, also of the " Month of Mary," which has been repub- lished in London, with an introduction by the cele- brated Father Faber, besides translations and devo- tional works. He is an accomplished linguist, know- ing well the Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Frenclı, German, Italian, and Spanish languages, and an excellent sci- entific scholar. During his administration of the dio- cese, and subsequently of the archdiocese of St. Louis, he has been called upon to deal with three great crises, -the cholera epidemic of 1849, the civil war, and the Fenian agita- tion of 1865. His course throughout all these trying periods was courageous, but conservative and pru- dent, and his guidance, both of clergy and peo- ple, firm and unfalter- ing. On the 12th of January, 1861, the fol- lowing notice was pub- lished :

" To the Roman Catho- lics of St. Louis : Beloved brethren, in the present distressed state of the pub- . lic mind, we feel it our duty to recommend you to avoid all occasions of pub- lic excitement, to ohey the laws, to respect the rights of all citizens, and to keep away, as much as possible, from all assemblages where the indiscretion of a word or the impetuosity of a momentary passion might endanger puhlic tranquillity. Obey the injunction of the Apostle St. Peter, ' Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man can see God.'

" PETER RICHARD, " Archbishop of St. Louis."

The archbishop's course with regard to the Fenian movement was outspoken and unequivocal, as is shown by the following :

" To the Roman Catholics of St. Louis : The undersigned has read in the Republican of this morning an announcement of a funeral to take place next Sunday from St. Patrick's Church, in

ARCHBISHOP KENRICK.

this city, of a deceased memher of the Fenian Brotherhood, who died at St. Paul, Minn., on the 24th instant. The occasion is evidently made for a display on the part of those in St. Louis who are members of that association, hence the deferred inter- ment, and the pageant which is to accompany the hurial. The connection of St. Patrick's Church, where the religious service is announced as to take place, and where, without any authority from the pastor of that church, it would appear, an oration, by a gentleman of this city, is to he delivered, imposes on me the obligation of forhidding, as I have done, the pastor of that church to permit any funeral service or other religious ceremony to take place on that occasion. I have furthermore directed the superintendent of the Calvary Cemetery not to admit any procession of men or women bearing insignia of Fenianism within the gate of the cemetery. I use this occasion to state publicly, what I have uni- formly stated in private conversation, that the members of the Fenian Brotherhood, men or wo- men, are not admissible to the sacraments of the church as long as they are united with that associa- tion, which I have always regarded as immoral in its ohject, the exciting of re- hellion in Ireland, and un- lawful and unlegal in its means, a quasi military organization in this coun- try while at peace with England, to be made effec- tive in the event of war with that power.

" PETER RICHARD, Archbishop of St. Louis." "ST. LOUIS, Aug. 30, 1865.

In 1868, during the absence of the arch- bishop at the Ecumen- ical Council, Father Patrick J. Ryan, then pastor of St. John's Church, was appointed by the Holy Sce to take temporary charge of the diocese, with the title of Bishop of Tricomia, and in April, 1872, he was consecrated in St. John's Church, and has con- tinued to act ever since as coadjutor bishop.

Right Rev. P. J. Ryan was born at Thurles, Tip- perary County, Ireland, in 1831, and attended a school in Dublin. At an early age he evinced a predilection for the sacred calling, and in 1847 he entered Carlow College, ncar Dublin, where he received a thorough ecclesiastical training. At this institution he filled the position of prefect of the lay house, and was or- dained a sub-deacon while still very young. After leaving college his attention was attracted to the

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RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.

United States as being a promising field of labor, and he determined to emigrate to this country. He ar- rived in St. Louis in 1852, and for some three months was stationed at St. Patrick's Church with Father Wheeler, but his rare oratorical powers procured him an invitation to preach at the Cathedral, though not then in priestly orders. About this time he was ap- pointed Professor of English Literature and Elocu- tion in Carondelet Theological Seminary, a position which he filled with remarkable success until in 1853, shortly after attaining his majority, he was ordained priest and appointed assistant pastor at the Cathedral, being associated with Fathers Heims, A. S. Paris, E. Saulnier, James Duggan, and P. R. Donnelly. He remained at the Cathedral until 1860, when he took charge of the Church and Parochial School of the Annunciation, which were erected through his exer- tions. While pastor of the Church of the Annuncia- tion, during the war, he was appointed by Arch- bishop Kenrick chaplain of the Gratiot Street mili- tary prison, where he la- bored earnestly, minister- ing to tlie prisoners and baptizing as many as six hundred of them.

Through the recommen- dation of Gen. Blair to the authorities at Wash- ington, Father Ryan and Rev. Dr. Schuyler (rector of Christ Protestant Epis- copal Church) received commissions as chaplains in the United States army. Father Ryan declined the appointment, but continued to perform the labors of a chaplain at the prison. Subsequently he was transferred from the Church of the Annunciation to St. John's Church, as successor to Rev. P. T. Ring, who had had charge of that church after the departure of Father Bannon for the South, to act as chaplain in the Confederate army. Subse- quently Father Ryan visited Europe, and spent a year in Ireland, France, Germany, and Italy. He was in Rome during the celebration of the papal centenary, and during the following Lent was invited by the Pope to preach the English sermon, an honor which had been bestowed upon Cardinal Wiseman, Archbishop

+ P. S. 1/ 8y ac,.

Hughes, the celebrated Father Burke, and other promi- nent divines. In 1866 the University of New York conferred on him the degree of LL.D., and during the same year he preached before the second Plenary Council, at Baltimore, on " The Sanctity of the Church." Two years later (1868) he was appointed vicar-general of the archdiocese, and during the absence of Archbishop Kenrick acted as bishop, having previously been made Bishop of Tricomia in partibus. On the 14th of April, 1872, he was con- secrated bishop in St. John's Church (his former pastoral charge), and made coadjutor of Archbishop Kenrick. Bishop Ryan is one of the most eloquent prelates of the Catholic Church, and as an admin- istrator is careful, pains- taking, and indefatigable.

The growth of the Cath- olic Church under a succes- sion of able and energetic bishops has been healthful and rapid, and from the nu- cleus of Father Meurin's mission has sprung a great and flourishing diocese. In the city of St. Louis there are now thirty-six parish churches, twenty-seven par- ish schools, five Catholic hospitals, six convents, three Catholic colleges, seven Catholic orphan asy- lums, three female protec- torates and reformatories, with about sixty secular priests and forty-five priests belonging to orders, all ac- tively at work; and there are thirteen female and seven male religious orders, and twenty-four Confer- ences of St. Vincent de Paul, numbering over twelve hundred active members, and distributing each year in systematic and judicious charity nearly thirty thou- sand dollars ; the Catholic population now numbering over one hundred and fifty thousand. The archdio- cese of St. Louis, comprising all that part of Missouri east of Chariton River and of the west line of Cole, Maries, Pulaski, Texas, and Howell Counties, was created in 1847, and Bishop Kenrick was made its first archbishop.

The ecclesiastical government of the archdiocese is composed of Most Rev. Peter Richard Kenrick, archbishop; Right Rev. Patrick J. Ryan, coadjutor

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HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

bishop; Very Rev. H. Muhlsiepen, vicar-general ; Council of the Archbishop, Right Rev. P. J. Ryan, Very Rev. H. Muhlsicpen, Rev. C. Ziegler (secretary), Rev. H. Van der Sanden (chancellor).

The Jesuits in Missouri .- One of the first steps taken by Bishop Dubourg after assuming charge of the diocese of Upper and Lower Louisiana was to sccure missionaries for the religious and secular in- struction of the Indian tribes. The whole of the country west of the Mississippi was in his jurisdiction, and consequently the Indians were especially within the purview of his efforts. Soon after reaching St. Louis he applied to Father Anthony Kohlmann, at that time provincial of the Jesuits in Maryland, to send out Fathers to establish a college and act as mis- sionaries to the Indians. Owing to the fact that there were not more members of the society than were nceded for the work in that State, Father Kohlmann was not then able to comply with the request. Early in 1823, Bishop Dubourg had an interview at Wash- ington with President Monroe and the Secretary of War, John C. Calhoun, on the subject of educating and civilizing the Indians, and at Mr. Calhoun's sug- gestion he requested Father Charles Neale, provincial of the Jesuits of Maryland and the District of Colum- bia, to supply him with missionaries. Two years before, in 1821, Rev. Charles Nerinckx, founder of the Loretto Society of Nuns in Kentucky, had re- turned from a trip to Belgium, accompanied by a company of novices who intended to devote themselves to the work of the Society of Jesus. Among them were F. J. Van Assche, P. J. de Smet, J. A. Elet, F. L. Verreydt, P. J. Verhaegen, J. B. Smedts, and F. De Maillet, all of whom with the exception of De Maillet were Belgians. These young men, who, with other novices, had received a course of instruc- tion at the Jesuit Seminary at White Marsh, Prince George's Co., Md., decided to accept the invitation of Bishop Dubourg.

On the 11th of April, 1823, they set out under the charge of Rev. Charles Van Quickenborne, Superior, and Rev. Peter J. Timmermans, his assistant, accom- panied by three lay brothers,-Peter de Meyer, Henry Reisselman, and Charles Strahan. They made the journey on foot to Wheeling, with wagons to transport their effects, and to rest such as should become ill or disabled. They carried their own bedding with them, lodging at night where they best could, and generally cooked their own meals. Father Van Quickenborne was the only exception ; he rode a handsome roan horse that had been presented to him by Father Mc- Elroy, of Frederick, Md. At Wheeling they pur- chased two flat-boats and floated down the Ohio, the

boats lashed together, and drifting day and night. At Shawneetown, a small village below the mouth of the Wabash River, they sold their flat-boats, sent their heavy baggage by steamboat to St. Louis, and started, accompanied by a light spring-wagon, on foot across the prairies. They reached St. Louis Saturday, May 31, 1823, and on the day after their arrival, being Sunday within the octave of Corpus Christi, Father Van Quickenborne carried the Blessed Sacrament in procession through the streets, with music and firing of cannon. In June following the Jesuits took pos- session of the farm near Florissant which had been tendered them by Bishop Dubourg, it having been ceded to them by Mr. O'Neil, magistrate of Florissant, although his lease was yet unexpired. In the mean time they had been hospitably entertained by the Sisters of the Sacred Heart at Florissant, who lodged and fed them in their school-house.

Florissant, or St. Ferdinand township, seventeen miles northwest of St. Louis, had been settled shortly after the founding of St. Louis, and the adjacent country was beautiful and fertile. In extending the invitation to the Jesuits of Maryland, Bishop Du- bourg had proposed not only to give them his farm at Florissant, but also his own church and residence in St. Louis. The latter offer, however, had been declined. The houses on the farm were merely log cabins, small, and of the rudest construction, and the first efforts of the missionaries wcre directed to the cnlargement of their quarters. For this purpose they hewed the timber, going for it to an island in the Missouri River, which, on the night after they had hauled the last load needed, was totally washed away, not a vestige of it being left.1

Shortly after the mission had been established, Rev. Charles Delacroix, who was then stationed at Florissant, made over the church there to Father Van Quickenborne, and departed for Louisiana. About the same time Father Van Quickenborne was made spiritual director of the Community of the Sacred Heart. An incident of the early days of the mission was a visit from the venerable Father Ne- rinckx, who had brought the young missionaries over from Europc, and who spent some days with his Belgian friends at Florissant. Father Nerinckx

1 The island stood a short distance above the Charbonnière, a bluff on the Missouri River some three hundred feet high, and so called from a layer of coal that underlies it, but which, being nearly on a level with the surface of the water and of in- ferior quality, has been little worked. Above the bluff there is visible, in low water, a bed of reddish stone, which extends far out into the river, and may have been the seat of the island. Possibly the concussions and disturbances caused by felling the trees precipitated the washing away of the land.

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RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.

died at Ste. Genevieve on the 12th of August, 1824. Francis De Maillet and Charles Strahan, of the original band, had separated from the Jesuit society shortly after their arrival in Missouri, and had engaged in other occupations. By the death of Father Timmer- mans the community was still further reduced, and now numbered nine members. In 1825, Father Dc Theux and lay Brother O'Connor arrived from Mary- land and joined the mission, the former as assistant to Father Van Quickenborne. In the same year the missionaries opened a school for Indian boys, and in- duced the Sisters of the Sacred Heart to establish a similar school for girls. Despite their persevering labors, however, the attendance did not increase be- yond fourteen children at either school. In 1830 the school for boys was finally closed. In the mean time; J. B. Smedts and P. J. Verhacgen were, about the beginning of 1825, raised to the priesthood, and in 1827, P. J. de Smet, J. F. Van Assche, J. A. Elet, and F. L. Verreydt were ordained, Bishop Ro- satti officiating on both occasions. Fathers Verreydt and Smedts were transferred to St. Charles, and Father Van Quickenborne madc an excursion to the Osage Indians. He subsequently (in 1829 and 1830) paid other visits to the same tribe, but it was not until 1847 that the Jesuit mission among the Osages was established. Having satisfied them- selves that they could labor much more profitably and accomplish more tangible results among the white population than with the savages, the Jesuit Fathers, upon the invitation of Bishop Rosatti, in 1828 re- moved to St. Louis and established the St. Louis University. On the 24th of March, 1836, Father Verhacgen, who had been chosen first president of the university, was made Superior of the Jesuit mission in Missouri, as it was then called,-a branch of the province of Maryland,-and resigned to Father Elet the presidency of the university. The mission- house at Florissant was now abandoned as the resi- dence of the Superior, who thenceforth lived in St. Louis.

The Florissant institution is now known as St. Stanislaus Novitiate. On the 3d of December, 1839, the mission was raised to the rank of a vice-province, and Father Verhaegen to that of vice-provincial ; he became provincial of Maryland, and was succceded in St. Louis by Rev. James Van de Velde, Sept. 17, 1843. Father Van de Velde was made Bishop of Chicago, and subsequently transferred to Natchez, where he died of yellow fever on the 13th of No- vember, 1855. His remains were removed to St. Stanislaus Novitiate, near Florissant, and reinterred there on the 20th of November, 1874. Rev. John

A. Elet became vice-provincial June 3, 1848 ; Rev. William S. Murphy, Aug. 15, 1851; Rev. J. B. Druyts, July 6, 1856 (he died of softening of the brain June 18, 1861); Rev. W. S. Murphy, tempo- rarily, February, 1861 ; Rev. Ferdinand Coosemans, July 16, 1862. On Dec. 3, 1863, the vice-province was elevated to the rank of a province, and Father Coosemans became provincial. Rev. Thomas O'Neil succeeded July 31, 1871 ; Rev. Edward A. Higgins, Jan. 1, 1879; Rev. Leopold Bushart, May 4, 1882.

The original intention of Indian missions was never wholly abandoned, but was pursued actively by Father Van Quickenborne and others after him through many years ; but when in 1837 Father Van Quicken- borne returned from the Kickapoo mission, near Fort Leavenworth, which he had started the year before, he succumbed to the hardships he had endured, and died Aug. 17, 1837. His remains were interred in the garden of the novitiate, near Florissant, where they are now surrounded by those of all but one of his early companions in Missouri.1 From the mother-

1 Charles Van Quickenborne, one of the prominent missionaries of Missouri, was born in the diocese of Ghent, Belgium, Jan. 21, 1786. He joined the Jesuit Society April 14, 1815, came to Maryland in 1817, and to St. Louis in 1823, and in the same year was made spiritual director of the Sacred Heart commu- nity at Florissant and pastor of the church there. Father Van Quiekenborne died at Portage des Sioux, Aug. 17, 1837. Peter J. Timmermans was born in Belgium, July 20, 1783; joined the Jesuits Aug. 18, 1817 ; was made pastor of the churches at St. Charles and Portage des Sioux in June, 1823, and died Juno 1, 1824. Judocus F. Van Asselie was born May 29, 1800, at St. Amand, near Antwerp. He came to Maryland and entered the Jesuit Novitiate at White Marsh, Oct. 6, 1821, an elder brother having preceded him thither in 1817. He remained at St. Stan- lislaus Novitiate, near Florissant, when the other priests removed to St. Louis to establish their college, and after his ordination be- eame pastor of the church there, continuing in its eharge, ex- eepting short absences, until he died, June 26, 1877. John A. Elet was born Feb. 19, 1802; was president of St. Louis Uni- versity, and later of St. Xavier College, Cineinnati, and vice- provincial of Missouri, which position he resigned on account of ill health, and died Oet. 2, 1851. Peter J. Verhaegen was born June 21, 1800, and he was the most thoroughly educated of the original band of noviees. He was pastor at St. Charles' in 1826, and successively the first president of St. Louis Uni- versity, Superior, then viee-provincial of Missouri, provincial of Maryland, and president of St. Joseph's College in Kentucky. He died at St. Charles, Mo., July 21, 1868. Felix Verreydt was born Feb. 19, 1798; went to Portage des Sioux in 1831 ; to the Kickapoo mission near Fort Leavenworth in 1837; began a mission among the Pottawatomie Indians at Couneil Bluffs in 1838; went to Sugar Creek Indian mission in Kansas in 1841 ; moved with the Indians to St. Mary's mission in Kan- sas in 1848; was transferred to St. Louis in 1859, and resided at College Hill, North St. Louis, until 1869, when he went to St. Xavier College, Cineinnati, where he still lives (October, 1882), being now nearly eighty-five years old and the sole sur- vivor of the original band. John B. Smedts was born April 11, 1801, and was stationed at St. Charles' from 1827 until Oet. 3,

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HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

house near Florissant have sprung eight colleges, one boarding-school in the country, twelve churches in the West and Northwest, with their attached parochial schools, eight churches, with residences, besides mis-

1843, when he was made master of novices at St. Stanislaus No- vitiate, near Florissant, where he remained until July 23, 1849, after which he resided successively at St. Charles', Florissant, and St. Louis University, where he died Feb. 19, 1855. Peter de Meyer was born Nov. 30, 1793 ; came to America with Father Nerinckx, and entered White Marsh Novitiate Aug. 5, 1817. He continued to reside as a lay brother at St. Stanislaus until he died there, Sept. 1, 1878. Henry Reisselman, also a lay brother, was born March 12, 1784, and came to the United States in 1807, and joined the Trappist monks in Casey County, Ky. He removed with them to Missouri in 1809; resided one year at Florissant, then moved to Monk's Mound, on Cahokia Creek, and when this station was abandoned joined the Jesuits at Georgetown, D. C., Nov. 5, 1813, and removed to Missouri in 1823. Subsequently he spent some time in Maryland, but returned to Missouri, and died at St. Stanislaus Novitiate, June 21, 1857.

Of all the little band of missionaries the most illustrious per- haps, and certainly the best known, was Peter J. de Smet, emi- nent alike as a missionary of undaunted energy and zeal, and as a scholar of varied learning and many accomplishments. He was born at Dendermonde, in Belgium, on the 31st of January, 1801, and was educated with the view of devoting himself to the priesthood. In July, 1821, in company with a number of other novices, under the charge of Father De Nerinckx, he left his native land for the United States. By agrcement they all met at Amsterdam, and having eluded the vigilance of the au- thorities, who had given strict orders for their arrest, they left Amsterdam in a small boat, and succeeded in reaching Texel, where they procured lodging in the house of a Catholic who had been notified of their coming. At last, on the 15th of August, they got on board the brig "Columbia," having gained the open sea in a small pilot-boat, which had passed out of the harbor without being observed by the police. After a voyage of forty days, De Smet and his companions arrived at Phila- delphia, whence they procecded to Baltimore and then to White Marsh, Maryland, where they began their novitiate. As previously stated, he formed one of the party of mission- aries, led by Van Quickenborne, who in 1823 established the colony of Florissant, and immediately after their arrival at St. Louis, De Smet entered actively upon a career of missionary labors which, with brief intervals, were destined to extend over nearly half a century. After toiling at Florissant, and subse- quently assisting in the founding of the St. Louis University, he was compelled in 1832 to return to Belgium for the benefit of his health. While in Europe he procurcd a number of valuable instruments for the department of physics in the St. Louis Uni- versity, together with many volumes for the library, and a col- lection of minerals, which he presented to the college. His health having been restored he returned in 1837 to St. Louis, which he made his home for the remainder of his life. In 1838, Father De Smet began his wonderful career as a missionary among the Northwestern Indians. He first established a mis- sion among the Pottawatomies, who then dwelt in the ncigh- borhood of Council Bluffs, Iowa, opposite the city of Omaha. Two years later (1840) he made his first journey to the Rocky Mountains and through Oregon, preparing the way for the mis- sionaries who were to take up his work in later years. Among both the Pottawatomies and the Sioux De Smet was received with kindness, but his journeys through the wilderness were marvels

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History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 142

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898 Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts Number of Pages: 1358

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1358