USA > New Jersey > The Catholic Church in New Jersey > Part 11
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The seventh church was built on the Andrew Kerrigan estate
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at West Hoboken. The land was granted to the late Archbishop Hughes for the purpose of a college or university. But the Archbishop had about completed his arrangements for the build- ing of St. John's College, Fordham, and eventually this grant was turned over to the Passionist Fathers.
The eighth church was erected at the corner of Erie and Second streets, popularly known as St. Mary's, although the title is, I believe, that of the Immaculate Conception. The Rev. Louis D. Senez was the zealous pastor who built up all that the Catholics in this parish have to show as a testimony of their zeal and faith.
The ninth church was built by Father Venuta, on the corner of Communipaw Avenue and Bergen Point Plank Road, which eventually fell to the care of the Rev. Patrick Hennessy. It was named in honor of Ireland's patron saint, St. Patrick.
The tenth church was erected for the Germans, and named for their apostle St. Boniface. The Rev. Dominic Kraus, under the auspices of Father Kelly, started this mission in the frame building in York Street, between Grove and Barrow streets. The Germans were growing in numbers, and up to this time had no pastor who spoke or understood their language. Great credit belongs to the Messrs. Francis Stoecklin, John Miller, Adam Dittmar, and Herman Heintze.
The eleventh church was the modest frame structure on the corner of Montgomery and Brunswick streets, built by Father Patrick Corrigan, and named for the virgin saint of Erin, St. Bridget.
St. Michael's, on Ninth Street, is the twelfth church, built by the intrepid and learned Father J. de Concilio.
The thirteenth is St. Lucy's, long used as a parish school attached to St. Mary's, and instead of the old frame building now rises the beautiful brick structure built by Father Boylan.
The fourteenth is St. John the Baptist's Church on the Boulevard. Its humble beginning was on the corner of Nelson and Van Winkle avenues, and the credit of its erection belongs to the Rev. Bernard H. TerWoert.
St. Paul of the Cross, on South Street and Hancock Avenue, is the fifteenth scion of that noble stock planted with so many tears on Grand Street. Started by the Passionists, it is now in charge of the Rev. Thomas Quinn.
St. Joseph's, Guttenberg, is the sixteenth; St. Augustine's, Union Hill, the seventeenth, and St. Pius', Harrison, the eigh-
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teenth church. Nor is the roll ended. The Germans bought a tract of land from the General Erwin estate, and built the present St. Nicholas' Church, making the nineteenth offshoot from the original St. Peter's.
[The author of this interesting history is John McGuigan, born September 17th, 1826, the first child born of Catholic parents in Jersey City, and carried in a rowboat to New York, and baptized in St. Peter's Church, Barclay Street. He died in Plainfield a few years ago.]
To the number of churches on Mr. McGuigan's list must be added twenty others, so that in the field covered originally by Father Kelly there are now forty temples of the living God, where priests and sisters are laboring with their respective flocks for the advancement of God's glory, and all these are the precious jewels in the diadem of the venerable cradle of Catholic faith-St. Peter's Church.
St. Luke's, Macopin. (Now St. Joseph's, Echo Lake.)
THE light of faith among the hills of Macopin, although the little band of German Catholics was often deprived of the consol- ing presence of the minister of God, was never once dimmed.
The rude plank church, erected in the early part of the cen- tury, was improved and enlarged by the Rev. Francis Donaghoe, and on November 13th, 1829, it received its first blessing. This date does not, indeed, coincide with that given by Shea in his third and fourth volumes; but, when Archbishop Corrigan made his last visitation as Ordinary of Newark, he found the original attestation of the blessing by Father Ffrench, and hence this date is presumably correct. The Rev. Charles Dominic Ffrench, O. P., was a convert to the faith, and a member of the order of St. Dominic. He was granted faculties by Bishop Connolly, January 22d, 1818. He afterward became the first resident pastor of Portland, Me., and received into the Church a young printer, Joshua M. Young, who studied for the priesthood, and later was consecrated Bishop of Erie, April 23d, 1854 (died 1863). Father Donaghoe died in Lynchburg, Va., in 1845.
Fathers Malou, Kohlman, S.J., Powers, and others attended this mission from New York and Paterson until 1845, when the Rev. John Stephen Raffeiner took it under his care. The tradi- tion is that he built a sacristy and lived in it, his boy occupying
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the loft, to which, as there were no stairs, he was forced to ascend by means of a ladder. This, after having climbed into his eyrie, he would pull up after him, and in the morning let it down again to resume his duties. Father Raffeiner, born at Walls in the Tyrol, December 20th, 1785, at first adopted the medical profes- sion, but abandoned it to enter the priesthood. He was ordained in May, 1825, and received by Bishop Dubois, January, 1833. He was a zealous and holy priest, whose field of labor extended far into the State of New York, and even Massachusetts. He was appointed Vicar-General of the Germans, and died in Brooklyn in 1861. The Redemptorist Fathers from New York succeeded Father Raffeiner in 1848, and continued in charge until 1855, when the mission was attended from Paterson. In 1860 the Rev. John Schandel was placed in charge of the Germans in Paterson and also assigned to look after the spiritual interests of Macopin. From 1860 to 1870 it was attended from Boonton, and again at- tached to St. Boniface's Church, Paterson. When the Francis- cans took possession of the Carmelite Church and Convent on Stony Road they were charged likewise with this mission, and from that time to the present they have been assiduous in their care. Many descendants of the old confessors still live there, and are just as loyal and as fervent as were their forefathers in the faith.
St. Peter's Church, Belleville.
CATHOLICS, among whom we find the names of the Elliotts, Barretts, Doyles, Gormans, and Keoghs, settled at a very early date in Belleville. Long before there was a church in Newark, members of these families were in the habit of walking to New York, with their children in their arms, to have them baptized, to make their Easter duty, or to assist at Mass. Their first resident priest was the Rev. Francis Ferrall, born in Longford, in 1812, and made his studies in Mt. St. Mary's, where he was raised to the priesthood by Bishop England, in 1837. His health compelled him to seek a northern climate, and on application to Bishop Dubois he was sent to Belleville. Previous to his coming good Father Moran had given the Catholics what attention he could, helped them to raise money, and gave them the plans for the present church. Father Ferrall devoted himself to the task set for him, and on December 2d, 1838, the church was dedicated by Bishop Dubois. In 1839 he was transferred temporarily to St. John's, Newark, and while there baptized Archbishop Corrigan,
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September 15th, 1839. Father Ferrall died in Utica, N. Y., De- cember 5th, 1840. His successor in Belleville was the Rev. Ber- nard McArdle, born 1790, in county Monaghan, who had done apostolic work in New Brunswick, Amboy, and near by. He died in Belleville, August 30th, 1840. The Rev. David William Bacon, afterward Bishop of Portland, Me., exercised his ministry here from January 25th, 1841, to June 6th of the same year; and from August, 1845, to September, 1851, the Rev. Peter Gillick, or- dained 1827, discharged all the duties of priest and pastor. He died in 1860.
Previous to the erection of the church Mass was said in pri- vate houses, one of which still stands at the southwest corner of
ST. PETER'S CHURCH, BELLEVILLE.
William and Bridge streets, the property of William Connolly. Peter Keogh, the father of John F. Keogh, of Newark, gave the stone for the foundation of the church. In 1853 the Rev. John
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Hogan, born 1815, in St. John's, Newfoundland, and educated in Stonyhurst, England, and ordained in Canada, was assigned to the pastorate. Before the creation of the diocese he had labored at the Cathedral. Bishop Bay- ley's eulogy of him is, "He was a good and faithful priest, well-educated and gen- tlemanly."
His first work was to en- large the church and to erect the bell-tower. He also pur- chased the McCabe property adjoining the church, and built the present rectory. The parish limits at this time included the township of Belleville and also Bloomfield, Montclair, Nutley, Lynd- hurst, and the part of Newark formerly known as Wood- side. Father Hogan built St. Mary's Church at West Bloomfield. It was dedicated by the Rt. Rev. J. Roosevelt REV. JOHN HOGAN. Died October 25, 1867. Bayley, D.D., on November 29th, 1857, and remained under Father Hogan's care until Feb- ruary 7th, 1864, when he resigned it in favor of the Rev. Titus Joslin. Death claimed Father Hogan on October 25th, 1867, after a pastorate of fourteen years. He is interred in St. Peter's Cemetery, Belleville, where a handsome monument has been erected by his former parishioners.
The parish had been incorporated under the old State law until April 18th, 1868. On that date, under the pastorate of the Rev. Hubert DeBurgh a new corporation was formed, with Messrs. Patrick Smith and Timothy Barrett as lay trustees. Father DeBurgh remained as pastor for ten years. He pur- chased the site of the present school and built St. Mary's Church, Avondale. He was succeeded by the Rev. J. J. F. O'Connor, August 26th, 1877.
On July 28th, 1879, the Rev. William H. Dornin was ap- pointed pastor. In 1887 Father Dornin enlarged the church. He placed the school under the care of the Sisters of Charity
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from Convent Station, N. J., and in 1890 he built the present brick school building. In connection with the school, mention should be made of Mr. Patrick Smith. For a period of twenty years be- fore the coming of the Sisters of Charity he had charge of St. Peter's School. Mr. Smith died November 4th, 1877.
On August 16th, 1893, Father Dornin was transferred to St. Bridget's Church, Jersey City, N. J., and was succeeded in Belle- ville by the Rev. John J. Murphy, who after an illness of nearly two years, died on June 6th, 1895. The successor of Father Murphy, the Rev. Eugene Farrell, was also in continual ill health. He had, however, greatly reduced the church debt before death called him on September 14th, 1898. On October 4th, 1898, he was succeeded by the Rev. James P. Smith, who with Rev. Rich- ard A. Mahoney, is now in charge of St. Peter's parish.
The following were in charge of St. Peter's Church from 1838 to the appointment of the first resident pastor: Rev. Francis Ferrall, 1838-39; Rev. Bernard McArdle, 1839-40; Rev. James Dougherty, 1840; Rev. David W. Bacon, first Bishop of Portland, Me., 1841; Rev. Patrick Doneher, 1841; Rev. Daniel McManus, 1841-42; Rev. Bernard McCabe, 1842-44; Rev. Francis Coyle, 1844-45; Rev. Philip Gillick, 1845-51; Rev. John Curoe, 1851-53; Rev. John Hogan, 1853-67.
THE CATHOLICS OF BELLEVILLE, N. J. Interesting Correspondence.
We have been furnished for publication with a copy of the following interesting correspondence between the Catholics of Belleville and the Rt. Rev. Dr. Bayley, Bishop of Newark. We desire to call particular attention to the letter from the people of Belleville, for in it is breathed the real and only feeling which should actuate Catholics under all circumstances-implicit obedi- ence to the doctrine and practices of the Church, and respect and love for the pastors under whose spiritual control they are placed.
[Taken From the American Celt, November 26th, 1853.]
THE CATHOLIC TRUSTEES OF ST. PETER'S CHURCH, BELLE- VILLE, N. J., TO THEIR PASTOR, THE REV. JOHN HOGAN.
REV. AND DEAR SIR: We, the undersigned, trustees of St. Peter's Church, Belleville, N. J., hope it will not be out of place if, for ourselves and the rest of the congregation, we respectfully
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solicit you to express to our Rt. Rev. Bishop the joy we feel at his elevation to the episcopal dignity over us and the entire state of New Jersey. We are also full of gratitude to the Sovereign Pontiff for having made us the spiritual children of one whom we and our families already regard with veneration and love; and whose admonition for the greater glory of God, and the welfare of our souls, we will ever obey with simplicity and alacrity.
We also take this opportunity of declaring to you, our reverend pastor, and through you also, to our Rt. Rev. Bishop, that from motives of conscience, and in order to stand in complete conform- ity with the laws and discipline of the Catholic Church, as lately explained to certain trustees in Buffalo, by the Nuncio of his Holiness, we divest ourselves of all supervision over the local ecclesiastical revenues of our Church, feeling, as the Nuncio has said, that "nothing can be more exclusively subject to the eccle- siastical ministry than such kind of revenue"; and that "the offerings at Mass and contributions for pews being made only for the carrying on of divine service, such revenues are but the direct result of the sacred ministry, and consequently must be subject to the free administration of ecclesiastical authority."
Too well we know as Catholics the ruin and desolation that have fallen upon our Church properties in the apostate Protestant countries of Europe, since Henry VIII, Calvin, and the others of them sacrilegiously wrested their revenues from Catholic ecclesi- astical management, and subjected them to lay control. If ever Protestant laws should accord us any sinful privilege of this sort, God forbid we should "avail ourselves of it to oppose our Bishop and clergy in the free discharge of their duty." On the contrary, if, from some civil cause or other, obliged to use such privilege, we would, in the words of the Nuncio of the Vicar of Christ on earth, "make it a duty to consult the principles of our faith, to ascertain when and how we ought to use it; and would ever feel bound, in such a crisis, to make our action harmonize 'with our duty as Catholics." Indeed, we are fully convinced that to act otherwise would not only be to deviate from what we owe to the highest authority of the Catholic Church, but from being as we now are her faithful children, devoted to the Right Reverend Prelate, whom the Vicar of Christ has sent to govern us, and of whom, through you, reverend and dear sir, our immediate pastor,
We remain
Humble servants in Christ, GEORGE MCCLOSKEY, JOHN GRAHAM, JOHN CONLIN, MICHAEL BARRETT, JOHN FINN, PATRICK SMITH, Secretary,
Trustees.
Signed the Feast of the Patronage of the
Immaculate Mother of God, Belleville, N. J., November 13th, 1853.
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BISHOP BAYLEY'S REPLY.
In answer to this address the Rt. Rev. Bishop sent the follow- ing letter to the Rev. Mr. Hogan :
BISHOP'S HOUSE, NEWARK, November 16th, 1853.
REV. AND DEAR SIR: I have received, and read with pleasure, the letter addressed to you by the trustees of St. Peter's Church, Belleville, and which you transmitted to me for my perusal.
I, of course, regard their resignation of office rather as a mat- ter of form than anything else, for men entertaining such senti- ments are not likely to abuse the trust committed to them, and under some other name you will no doubt find them useful aux- iliaries in the management of the temporal affairs of your parish.
Still, I could not but be pleased with the sound and correct views which their letter exhibits, in regard to the important mat- ter of the administration of Church revenues, and the reasons which they give for the resignation of an office which, I regret to say, has, on account of the abuse made of it, become an odious one.
My late position as secretary of the Most Reverend Arch- bishop of New York has given me opportunity of becoming fully acquainted with the bad effects of the old trustee system as for- merly carried out, and of the advantages to religion which have resulted from the adoption of those true Catholic principles of administration which he substituted in its place. ·
There can be but one opinion among Catholics, whether clergy or laity, in regard to the position taken by the trustees of St. Louis' Church, Buffalo. If carried out it would make them, and not the Bishop, the real governing power in the Church. It is evident that if they had been good Catholics all grounds of dis- pute between them and their holy, zealous Bishop would have been long since removed, or, rather, would never have existed.
I regard the prevalence of sound and correct views upon this subject amongst the laity of the diocese of Newark as a favorable augury for the peacefulness and prosperity of my future adminis- tration. We all alike, Bishop, priests, and people, can have but one interest in the matter-the honor and glory and prosperity of God's Church, which should be dearer to us than all else beside- and my trust and prayer is, that whatever we may have it in our power to do for the extension and more firm establishment of our holy religion in this State, may be done in the true spirit of Chris- tianity and charity.
I beg you to convey to the late trustees of St. Peter's Church the expression of my kind regard.
I remain with sincere respect,
Very truly yours, etc., * JAMES, Bishop of Newark.
REV. JOHN HOGAN,
Pastor of St. Peter's Church, Belleville.
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St. Vincent's Church, Madison.
MADISON, although very early settled by Catholics, was at- tended from the time of the Rev. Peter Vianney at irregular in- tervals by priests from St. Peter's Church, Barclay Street, New York, and at a later day, by the priests from St. John's, Newark.
In 1834, the Rev. Matthew Hérard, attached to St. John's, Newark, October 7th, 1832, to October 6th, 1833, is mentioned as located at Bottle Hill. Very little can be ascertained of him. When Archbishop Carroll, in 18II, was invested by the Holy See with the burden of looking after the spiritual interests of the Danish West Indies, he appointed to this portion of his vineyard two vicars, one of whom was the Rev. Mr. Hérard. It is not certain if this vicar and the pastor of Madison are one and the same person. In 1837 the Rev. Stephen Chartier, born in Canada, and, owing to political em- barrassments, obliged to fly from his native land, was in ST. VINCENT'S CHURCH, MADISON temporary charge, and he was succeeded by the Rev. Francis Guth in 1838. In 1839 came the Rev. Richard Newell, who had a tempestuous and checkered career. Born in England of non-Catholic parentage, he was brought up in the faith by a Catholic aunt, and by her trained for the ecclesiastical state. He was a highly gifted and cultivated scholar, of charming and attractive manners, and shortly after his ordination placed in charge of a college near London. Owing to some friction with his superiors he came to New York with letters to Bishop Dubois, who accepted him, and placed him in charge of St. Vincent's, Madison. It was under his pastoral care that the church was dedicated by Bishop Dubois. A tablet in the tympanum of the present church bears the following in- scription : St. Vincent's Church. Founded Anno Domini, 1839.
He endeared himself to his own flock, and made many friends
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among the non-Catholics, who crowded the church to hear his sermons, and welcomed him to their homes. October 16th, 1842, he severed his connection with the parish, and sailed for South America as underwriter of the vessel. He then went to New Orleans and Cincinnati, and taught in Colonel Johnston's Military Academy, Blue Lick, Ky., where he became acquainted with a young professor, James Gillespie Blaine, who remained his friend to the end of his life. He died only a few years ago in Polk Settlement, Tenn., almost a centenarian.
He was succeeded by the Rev. Ambrose Manahan, who re- mained until May, 1844. The Rev. Dr. Manahan in his youth devoted his services to the Rev. Francis Donaghoe, in Paterson, and by him was taught the classics. He was eventually sent to the Propaganda in Rome, where he was ordained priest by Cardinal Franzoni, August 29th, 1841. He was subsequently ap- pointed president of St. John's College, Fordham, N. Y., pastor of St. Joseph's Church, and died in Utica, N. Y., December 7th, 1867. The Rev. Patrick Kenny succeeded Dr. Manahan, but owing to his feeble state of health his pastorate was very brief, and God called him to his reward in Charleston, S. C., March 21st, 1845.
The Rev. Père Joseph ministered to the wants of the parish until the coming of the Rev. Louis Dominic Senez, whose memory is in benediction in whatever field he labored. Father Senez, born at Beauvais, France, June, 1815, made his preparatory stud- ies in the historic colleges of Cambrai and Douay, and his theo- logical studies in St. Sulpice, Paris, where he was ordained to holy priesthood, December 19th, 1840. When in the seminary he formed an intimate friendship with a converted Jew, afterward the zealous and saintly Father Marie Alphonse Ratisbonne, whose thirst for souls deeply impressed Father Senez with the mission- ary spirit, and inspired him to devote his life to the interests of religion in distant America. Father Senez was sent to Madison in 1846 by Archbishop Hughes. He was tireless and unwearying in searching out the faithful scattered throughout Morris and Sussex and even Warren counties. Despite his unfamiliarity with the English tongue he attended "Vendues " and gatherings of every description where our people might be expected to attend, and peering into their faces addressed those who he thought were Catholics. In one of his journeys he discovered a Catholic family in Montagu, near the Delaware River, and baptized their infant son, now the Rt. Rev. Monsignor O'Grady of New Brunswick.
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He offered the holy Sacrifice under the broad arms of a wide-spreading oak tree.
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He would gather the Catholics, hear their confessions, and offer for them the holy Sacrifice under the broad arms of some wide- spreading chestnut or oak tree. The highway was his home, a bite in some lowly cabin his refreshment, and his carriage, himself wrapped up in horse-blankets, his bed. Father "Dominic" he was affectionately called, and to the last the old folks never failed to speak of him, who so unselfishly and devotedly attended to their wants and interests. On January 21st, 1848, he was given an assistant, a young man of delicate and frail health, the Rev. Bernard J. McQuaid. But the weak body enshrined an indomit- able will, a reserve of energy, an unquenchable hunger for souls, which have made him successively the model pastor, the valued adviser of his Bishop in his counsels, the consistent advocate of Catholic education, and the wise up-builder of a new See, whose venerable head he is to-day, loved and venerated by his priests, and strong in the esteem of his non-Catholic fellow-citizens. Father Senez, retiring in April, 1848, to return to his native land, was succeeded in the pastorate by the Rev. James McMahon. But it was not in this field he would reap his laurels, for in two months he was transferred to St. Mary's Church, New York, and began to accumulate the wealth which later on he bestowed on the Catholic University, Washington, and whose benefactions will be remembered by future generations in his monument- - McMahon Hall. On his retirement Father McQuaid was called upon to take up the work begun by Father Senez, and how well he discharged the trust imposed in him the congregations of Morristown, Dover, Boonton, and Springfield are the witnesses. At a glance he saw the dangers which threatened, not the adult emigrants, but their children, whom every effort of Protestantism was bent in proselyting.
Called once to attend a sick woman near Monroe, whose hus- band had died of ship fever at sea, and herself a victim of the fell disease, he strove to reconcile her to resignation. But one thought tortured her and embittered her last moments-what would become of her little son and daughter? The young priest pledged himself to care for them, and thus assured, and kindly provided for by the charitable French ladies of Madison, a lonely exile in a strange land gave up her soul into the hands of her Maker. Learning of her death, Father McQuaid hastened to the house to secure the children, but some Protestants had been be- fore him and kidnapped the girl, who later in life accosted him, a bitter enemy of her mother's faith. The boy he placed in an
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orphanage, where he soon joined his mother. Catholic education he was convinced was necessary to save the faith of the child and the future of the Church in these United States. Catholic edu- cation then and Catholic education to-day is his motto and his watchword. To prove his devotion to his convictions, without neglecting his important parish obligations in the vast field en- trusted to him, he taught the scholars for nearly a year in Mad- ison. And when he had completed the church in Morristown, his first care was to provide a Catholic school. From that day to the present these schools have been continu- ously kept up, and in no par- ishes in the diocese, or, for that matter, in the Union, is the faith more vigorous, more abounding in those blessed fruits which are the harvest of a healthy, sturdy, deep- rooted religious conviction. But this sphere was too limited for his activities. The qualities displayed in his ministry at Madison and adjacent missions attracted the attention of his ecclesi- astical superiors, and in 1853 he was transferred by Bishop- elect Bayley to St. Patrick's, REV. MICHAEL A. MADDEN Born 1826. Died May 19th, 1868. Newark, which he was about to make his cathedral church. His successor was the Rev. Michael A. Madden. Father Madden, born in New York City in 1826, made his preparatory studies at Chambly, Canada, and his theological studies in St. John's, Fordham, where he was ordained by Archbishop Hughes, May 25th, 1850. He was for a short time assistant in St. Peter's, New York, and in 1851 was placed in charge of Middletown Point, which later on was to be- come South Amboy. While in charge of this parish he attended the Catholics as far down the coast as Point Pleasant, and gathered the nucleus of the present prosperous congregation at Red Bank.
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