USA > New Jersey > The Catholic Church in New Jersey > Part 16
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On January 11th, 1865, the Forty Hours' devotion was for the first time established in the church, according to the general order of the Bishop, who assigned a different Sunday for each church in his diocese. Father Gaudentius, of Hoboken, preached on two evenings. This devotion produced excellent fruits; eight or nine hundred persons received Holy Communion.
On the 5th of February, 1865, a mission was given in the church by Father Smarius and Father Converse, Jesuits of Chi- cago. The church was always crowded. Seventeen hundred and fifty persons received Holy Communion during the mission.
In August, 1865, they began to build the hospital and asylum for the Sisters of the Poor on five lots purchased from the Ho- boken Land Company on Willow Street, corner of Fourth Street. The deed was given to Bishop Bayley on the 16th of November, and recorded on the 23d of November. Mr. Keely, of Brooklyn, was the architect, Mr. Timothy Foley the mason, and Mr. Read, of Boston, the carpenter. It will be under the exclusive control of the Bishop and the Sisters of the Poor. For building this hos- pital and asylum the people of Hoboken contributed $4,600, and the fair, which was held in Odd Fellows' Hall in October, 1865, gave a net profit of $5,500.
On the 5th of October, 1865, was organized a Temperance Benevolent Society in Hoboken after the plan of the Society of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Newark, recommended by Bishop Bay- ley in a circular to the clergy, on the 22d of September, 1865. This is also a religious society, since they have a chaplain, who is the pastor of the church, for supervisor, and the members must receive the Holy Communion three times a year. In 1843 there were but 71 houses in Hoboken and 59 rum-shops.
In September, 1857, Rev. A. Cauvin took the census of the Catholics of Hoboken, when he found that there were in the city of Hoboken 1,600 Catholics, as follows: 568 married persons; 34I single persons, 638 children, 83 unknown, principally Germans. Total, 1,600. These married and single persons formed 304 families. Out of the 341 single persons 204 were girls living out, and the remainder, 137 men and women single. Out of the 638 children, 179 were under six years of age, 254 between six and fif-
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teen years of age, 205 above fifteen years of age. One family had II children and another 10; I had 9, another 5; 5 had 7 children each, and 12 had 6 children; 13 had 5 children, and 27 had 4 chil- dren. The other 215 families had 1 or 2 children, or none. This census was taken for the purpose of knowing all the children and their residence, in order to bring them to the catechism.
The population of Hoboken was in 1861, 9,662; that of Jersey City, 29,226; that of Hudson City, 7,229; of Newark, 71,941; of Paterson, 19,586; Trenton, 17,221; Camden, 14,358; Elizabeth, II, 568; New Brunswick, 11,255; Orange, 8,977; Rahway, 7,138; Morristown, 5,986; and Hackensack, 5,488. The population in 1865 was: In Hoboken, 12,973; in Jersey City, 36,370; and in Hudson City, 10,509.
The population of Hudson County in 1850 was 21,819; in 1860 it was 65,923; and in 1865 it was 81,900. The population of the State of New Jersey in 1850 was 468,319, and in 1860 it was 659,998.
The principal presents made to Rev. Cauvin for the church, or which Rev. Cauvin gave to the church, were: (1) A silver chalice given by the old Countess of Cavour (Turin) in 1852, which chalice was stolen from the church in 1863 in the month of No- vember. (2) Another chalice, also in silver, given in 1854 by a Marchioness of Genoa, a friend of Mrs. Serafina Archini, the sis- ter of Rev. A. Cauvin, and which he gave to the church of West Hoboken. (3) The great painting of Our Lady of Grace in the church of Hoboken, given by the Duke of Genoa in 1853. (4) The painting of Our Lady of Mercy in the church of West Ho- boken, sent by His Eminence Cardinal Brignole. (5) A chalice engraved with the name and imperial arms of Emperor Napoleon III. (6) A large sanctuary lamp with the imperial arms given by the same emperor. This lamp was the same that was bought for the chapel of the Tuileries at the time of the consecration of Charles X. (7) A silver ostensorium, by Victor Emmanuel, King of Sardinia. This present was made to Rev. Cauvin in recompense of the services rendered by him for so many years to the Italians of New York, especially to the Genoese, whom he attended in their sickness, instructed, and many of whom continued to come to him for confession. (8) Some vestments from the family of Cavour, of Turin, and other acquaintances of Rev. A. Cauvin.
In the spring of 1849 some gentlemen of Jersey City, Hoboken, and Five Corners formed a company for the purpose of buying
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ground for a cemetery for the benefit of the Catholics of Hudson County, as these had no other place to bury their dead than in Calvary Cemetery of New York. On the 21st of April, 1864, they organized themselves into a corporation, according to the general law of the State of New Jersey, the certificate of which was recorded on the 22d of April, and elected nine trustees, James R. Bayley being chairman and Anthony Cauvin secretary. On the 28th of April, 1864, the board of trustees elected the follow- ing officers: Bishop Bayley, president ; Rev. J. Kelly, vice-presi- dent; Rev. Anthony Cauvin, treasurer; and Rev. D. Senez, sec- retary. The corporation took the name of the Hudson County Catholic Cemetery.
On May 6th, 1866, Bishop Bayley administered Confirmation to one hundred and eighty-six children and grown persons. An- drew Thorman, a convert at the age of ninety years, was con- firmed on this day.
On this day at 4 P.M. Bishop Bayley blessed the new St. Mary's Hospital, which the Sisters of the Poor occupied the week previous. He went in procession from the church, accompanied by the children, who had received first Communion and Confirma- tion in the morning, by eight clergymen, the temperance societies of Hoboken and Jersey City, and the cadets of both cities, with a band of music. He preached in the chapel of the hospital, and gave in it the benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. A great concourse of people attended the ceremony. The societies paraded through the streets of Hoboken after the ceremony.
In the evening the Bishop lectured in St. Mary's Church for the benefit of the hospital.
On the 28th of September, 1868, Bishop Bayley blessed sol- emnly the upper part of the Hudson County Cemetery, from the middle cross and the vault to the meadows. Two blocks had been previously blessed by Rev. Cauvin in 1866. The Bishop was ac- companied by all the pastors of the Hudson County churches. He preached a beautiful sermon to the people who came to wit- ness the ceremony, which began at 9:30 o'clock and ended at noon.
On April 28th, 1869, Rev. Daniel J. Fisher, assistant pastor of Hoboken, died in St. Mary's Hospital, after ten days of sickness, in great sentiments of piety, patience, and faith. His funeral took place on the 30th of April, in presence of the Vicar-General and twenty-six priests of the diocese.
On the 3d of August, 1869, the clergy of the diocese presented
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an address to Bishop Bayley with $5,000; and on the following day he started for Rome to the Ecumenical Council (Vatican).
In September, 1871, the Bishop appointed Rev. Cauvin to take care of the Germans of Hoboken. October 8th the Rev. Cauvin called the Germans to a meeting for the 15th, when about forty German families were present. And on October 22d the Rev. Angelus Kempen (a secularized Carmelite) began to say Mass in a hall kindly put at his disposal by Peter Kerrigan in Grand, corner of Newark Street.
The Rev. Kempen having failed to form a German congrega- tion in the meadows, where his temporary chapel was filled with other people than Germans, the Bishop ordered him to look for a more decent place, and forbade him to preach in English and to have anything to do with the Irish, as his mission was for the Ger- mans only. On the 5th and 12th of May, 1872, he opened a tem- porary chapel in a hall on Meadow Street, between Fifth and Sixth, and it was filled with Germans. There are in Hoboken between three and four thousand German Catholics. There is no place in the United States where there are more elements for a German congregation than in Hoboken. They need only a church for themselves. But having again disobeyed his orders, and preached in English, and coaxed the Irish in his chapel, and thus failed again, the Bishop invited Father Durthaller, a Jesuit of New York, to take charge of the Germans, and dismissed the Rev. Kempen. After Bishop Bayley went to Baltimore as Arch- bishop, Dr. Corrigan, the administrator, invited Father Durthaller to keep his engagement; but this he refused to do unless he had also the power of administering all the sacraments to all the Catholics of Hoboken, whether Germans or Irish. Dr. Corrigan was obliged to comply with his demand as a condition sine qua non, and December 3d, 1872, he came to Hoboken, and read Mass and preached in his chapel for two Sundays.
Rev. Cauvin disapproved of this arrangement as against the constitution of the Church as defined by the Council of Trent, the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore, and the synod of the diocese, which condemn nominatim the jurisdiction of two pastors ex æquo over the same flock; and then Rev. Durthaller left Ho- boken. Mass was then read occasionally in the German chapel on Sundays, till Dr. Corrigan appointed the Rev. Father Martens to take care exclusively of the Germans. He came to Hoboken March 3d, 1873.
On July Ist, 1873, Rev. Cauvin wrote to Bishop Corrigan, that
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after twenty-six years of uninterrupted labor in this country, twenty-two in Hoboken, with only three months' vacation, seven- teen years ago, he felt the need of rest, and therefore he had de- termined to resign his place and go to Nice, France, his native country. On August 3d, Sunday, Rev. Cauvin announced to the congregation his resignation for the sake of his health and need of rest, and August 9th he left Hoboken for France.
The Rev. Anthony Cauvin, born August 23d, 1810, at Sclos, a little hamlet near Nice, was the youngest of ten children. The child of exemplary parents he was the third to enter the priest- hood. His preliminary studies were made in his native town, and his theological studies, until closed by the Revolution of 1830, in the seminary of Avignon. He afterward went to Turin and Rome, where he was ordained priest by Cardinal Brignole-Sale, October 12th, 1834. The register of the clergy of the Newark diocese states that he had been a member of the Order of Mercy. For some years he taught in a college near Genoa, but his health forced him to abandon that kind of work, and for a short time he was a tutor in the family of Count Cavour, the father of the famous minister. In 1847 he determined to go to America, and, on landing, asso- ciated himself to Father Lafont, then pastor of the French Catho- lic Church on Canal Street, New York. He remained three years in this position, and in 1850 he was assigned by Archbishop Hughes to the mission of Cold Spring and West Point on the Hudson. After spending a year in this assignment, Father Cau- vin was sent to establish a parish in the territory between the Hudson and Hackensack rivers, the history of which he has so carefully and so charmingly written. There is no doubt that his health was shaken by his constant and laborious pastorate. But there were other motives which prompted him to bid adieu to ties which had so long bound him to the Catholics of Hoboken-the necessity for a larger church, the departure for Baltimore of his old friend, Archbishop Bayley, to whom he was more than devoted, and the friction between those in charge of the hospital and him- self with regard to the disposition of the proceeds of the fair, held for the benefit of the hospital, and which amounted to $8,000.
Sisters Paula and Afra complained to the administrator, the Very Rev. Dr. Corrigan, that these moneys had been diverted from their legitimate uses by Father Cauvin. This led to quite some correspondence between the head of the diocese and
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the pastor of St. Mary's, until, finally, on November 20th, 1869, Dr. Corrigan wrote to Father Cauvin, "forbidding him posi- tively from alienating the fair money from its legitimate channels, and asking him to announce to the congregation on the following Sunday that the hospital debt would be paid off to the extent of $8,000." Some weeks later he complied with the demand of his ecclesiastical superior. Father Cauvin spent the remaining years of his life in Nice. In 1881 he built at Sclos a chapel in memory of his brother Don Sixte Cauvin, who died the year before; and in the cemetery of the same hamlet he erect- ed his own monument with the following inscription :
"The priest, Anthony Cauvin, born August 23d, 1810. The founder and for twenty-three years rector of the Church of Our Lady of Grace, of the City of Hobo- ken, in the United States of America. In his own life- time he erected for himself this stone, in the year of God, 1884." He died at Nice, May 26th, 1902, in the ninety- third year of his age, and in the sixty-eighth year of his sacred ministry.
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CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF GRACE, HOBOKEN.
On Sunday, September 28th, 1873, his successor, the Rev. Major Charles Duggan, was installed pastor, and the solemn high Mass was sung by the new incumbent, assisted by the Rev. Fathers Bergmann and Bettoni, deacon and sub-deacon respective- ly. Father Duggan, born June, 1831, made his theological studies in St. Bonaventure's College, Alleghany, N. Y., and was received into the diocese of Newark on the exeat granted by Bishop Corn- thwaite, of Beverly, England, dated October 23d, 1865. He found a field for his activity in New Brunswick, N. J., where, as assistant to the Venerable Father Rogers, he built the convent, bought the rectory and hospital property, and built the church in Metuchen.
May 18th, 1874, work on the proposed new church was begun
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by driving piles for the foundation; and on Sunday, June 7th, the foundation stone was laid in presence of a vast concourse of people, and the various parish and other societies; and on Sunday, July 4th, 1875, the corner-stone was laid by Bishop Corrigan, the Rev. Dr. Lancaster Spalding preaching on the occasion.
In November, 1875, Father Duggan returned to England, and became affiliated to the diocese of Southwark.
January Ist, 1876, the Rev. Louis D. Senez, pastor of St. Mary's, Jersey City, was sent to Hoboken, as the third pastor of Our Lady of Grace. But as he was already advanced in years, the burden was beyond his strength, and he was constrained to crave Bishop Corrigan's permission to return to his old charge, to the congregation he had built up in Jersey City. The Rev. Patrick Corrigan had succeeded him as pastor of St. Mary's, and was not at all inclined to yield to the old pastor's prayers. However, he finally consented to exchange places, and in September, 1876, he assumed pastoral charge of the Hoboken congregation. The Rev. Patrick Corrigan, born in Longford, January Ist, 1835, made his theological studies in All Hallows, Ireland, and St. Mary's, Baltimore, where he was ordained priest June 28th, 1860. His first mission was St. Peter's, Jersey City, and continued until 1863, when he was given charge of the Church of the Madonna, Fort Lee. On the death of Father Kelly, 1866, he was appointed pastor of St. Peter's, Jersey City, May 10th. Circumstances made his appointment not altogether popular, and in spite of his energy, cheerfulness, and activity, he realized that the barriers were irremovable. On May 20th, 1870, Father Corrigan called on Dr. Corrigan, the administrator, to arrange for the dedication of St. Bridget's Church, and stated "that he was anxious, as soon as he paid off the debt-$28,000-on St. Peter's, to be allowed to retire to St. Bridget's, and work there alone; that difficulties would always exist to mar his efficiency at St. Peter's," etc. (diary of Bishop Corrigan).
There was a rapidly growing congregation in the southern sec- tion of Jersey City, far from the influence of any parish, one which urgently demanded the presence of the priest. Father Corrigan had secured a valuable site, on which he had erected a small frame church.
The transfer of St. Peter's to the Jesuit Fathers took place April 16th, 1871. Thereupon Father Corrigan went abroad, and remained in Europe six months. During his absence the Rev. Peter L. Connolly attended to the spiritual wants of St. Bridget's.
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Hoboken needed just such a vigorous, determined, dauntless priest to carry through to completion the stately church begun by Father Duggan. Under Father Corrigan's pastorate were built the rec- tory and parish school. Altogether the group of buildings is
INTERIOR OF OUR LADY OF GRACE CHURCH, HOBOKEN.
among the finest to be found in our country, and reflects the high- est credit on the generous Catholics of Hoboken, who have reared this magnificent monument of their faith. The Rev. Charles J. Kelly, on the death of Father Corrigan, January 9th, 1894, was appointed rector.
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The Rev. Charles J. Kelly, born in Plainfield, N. J., February 2d, 1857, after making his preliminary studies at St. Charles' Col- lege, Ellicott City, Md., was graduated from Seton Hall College, and, entering the seminary, was ordained in St. Patrick's Cathe- dral, June 7th, 1881. His first mission was St. Aloysius', New- ark, whence he was transferred to St. Mary's, Jersey City, in 1884. On him mainly devolved the burden of erecting the Catholic Club building on Jersey Avenue, for the young men of Jersey City, among whom he had labored with great fruit. The faithful of Our Lady of Grace have responded to the touch of their fourth pastor, who reopened the schools, built a home for the orphans, and decorated the church.
Sunday, November 8th, 1903, was celebrated the silver jubilee of the dedication of the church. The Rt. Rev. John J. O'Connor, D.D., Bishop of the diocese, celebrated pontifical Mass, at which more than thirty priests were present, and a congregation which thronged the spacious edifice. A feature of the celebration was the singing of the children's and chancel choirs-their silvery, guileless voices floating through the arches like the strains of a celestial melody.
St. Mary's Church, Bordentown.
THE Catholic church in Bordentown had a very small begin- ning. We find no mention of divine service being held for the few scattered faithful previous to the year 1837. Before that time the Catholics were too few to have a permanent place of worship, and too poor to support a resident pastor. Besides this the priests in those days were scarce. The missions or stations were many but the laborers were few, and not unfrequently did it happen that the shepherd was obliged to travel upward of fifty miles to attend to the spiritual wants of a dying member of his fold. Under such circumstances how could the few scattered Catholics of Bordentown obtain a resident pastor, even though means were not wanting? We find them, then, betaking them- selves to Trenton, whenever divine service was to be held, and worshipping in the little unassuming building which may still be seen on the corner of Market and Lamberton streets. This was the cradle of Catholicity in Trenton. The faithful who worshipped around its rude altar were numbered by tens; to-day they are counted by thousands. This was the parent church of the flour- ishing congregation of St. John's, while the magnificent structure
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of St. Mary's may be looked upon as the offspring of the latter, and St. Francis and our Lady of Lourdes may be properly styled the children of both. It may, with propriety, too, be called the mother church of St. Mary's, of Bordentown, for there our Catho- lic neighbors worshipped with their co-religionists of Trenton, were instructed and strengthened in their faith, and fed with the spiritual food of their souls.
At the time of which we write the Rt. Rev. Dr. Conwell was Bishop of the See, and the Rt. Rev. Dr. Kenrick, coadjutor and
ST. FRANCIS CHURCH. First Catholic Church erected in Trenton.
administrator. Under the jurisdiction of the latter, divine service was held in Bordentown for the first time. This was in the month of October, 1837. The clergyman who came was no stranger to the people, for frequently did they listen to his words and receive the sacraments from the hands of the good Father McGorien, in the little modest chapel at Trenton. Once a month did he visit his people at Bordentown and White Hill, officiating in private houses, as his congregation was then too poor to think of a per- manent place of worship. He continued to administer to their
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wants till the year 1840, when his superiors called him to another field of labor.
His successor was Father Gilligan. It was during his admin- istration that the thought was first broached of purchasing a plot of ground, and erecting a small church upon it. Both priest and people saw the necessity for this, as the congregation had some- what increased, and private houses were no longer large enough to contain the worshipping faithful. Moreover, there was every prospect of the mission growing larger from day to day. The population of the State was on the increase, and the many advan- tages arising from the public works would, no doubt, attract settlers and induce them to make Bordentown their home. A lot was therefore purchased on the hilltop, at the southeastern corner of Second and Bank streets, and a small frame structure erect- ed for divine service. This was in 1842. The little church was then thought suf- ficiently large for many years to come, but we may judge of the rapid growth of the mission when the immediate successor of Father Gilligan REV. DANIEL M'GORIEN, Pastor of St. John's Church, Trenton, in 1837. was obliged to enlarge the building to accommodate his increasing congregation. Father Gilligan labored here for years, holding service but once a month, as the many other missions under his charge prevented his officiating more frequently.
After his departure, in 1844, he was succeeded by the Rev. Father Mackin. Immediately after assuming charge the new pastor found it necessary to increase the seating capacity of the church. Some might absent themselves from divine service under the plea that there was no room ; others again might excuse themselves, as they did not wish to stand while their neighbors were accommodated with seats. Whether this was the real mo- tive or not we cannot say, but certain it is that Father Mackin saw the absolute necessity of adding to the little church, and con- sequently a transept was erected to the eastern end of the build-
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ing, thus shaping it as the letter T. The original building and transept are still standing, plainly discernible, although a subse- quent addition was made. After administering to the wants of his people for nearly five years, he was obliged to relinquish his Bor- dentown people, as the rapid growth of Catholicity in Trenton, Lambertville, Flemington, and the other missions attended by him demanded his constant attention.
His immediate successor was Father Hugh Lane. He re- ceived his appointment in 1849. During his term as pastor the second addition was made to the church, and divine service was held every two weeks. Father Lane was the last of the Philadel- phia priests who were commissioned to officiate at St. Mary's.
Father Lane ceased to officiate in St. Mary's in 1854, and Father Bowles was immediately appointed its first resident pastor. No additions were made during his term, as Father Lane had made ample provisions for his congregation.
In 1857 Father Bowles took up his residence in Burlington, and Father Biggio became second resident pastor. Under his administration the parochial house was built. After laboring as pastor for nine years, he died in Bordentown in 1866. Father Mackin, who left in 1849, was reappointed pastor, and acted as such for three years, leaving in 1869.
The parish at this time was a very important one, the number of souls exceeding sixteen hundred. The wealth of the parish increased with its growth, and it was the unanimous wish of the congregation to do away with the old unsightly building, and erect a grander edifice, more becoming divine worship. The ecclesias- tical authorities, knowing the importance of the place, and the amount of work to be done, resolved to send a man equal to the task, and their choice fell upon Father Leonard, the young ener- getic pastor of New Hampton Junction. He left his old home, universally regretted by his flock, and assumed charge of St. Mary's, July 18th, 1869. His first thoughts, after becoming ac- quainted with the people, were to procure a more fitting site for the new church. A lot was accordingly purchased the following 15th of October, on Crosswicks Street, east of Second. The new church was commenced the year following, the generosity of the congregation thus enabling the pastor to begin without delay. The corner-stone was laid October 30th, 1870, and two years later we find the grand cathedral-like church dedicated to the service of God, by the Rt. Rev. Dr. O'Hara, Bishop of Scranton, Pa. It is beyond comparison, although the church of the poor, the grandest
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