USA > New Jersey > The Catholic Church in New Jersey > Part 25
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As has been said, he entered Trinity College, Hartford, Conn., to prepare himself for the Episcopal ministry, and took up the study of theology under the Rev. Samuel F. Jarvis, at Middle- town, Conn., and on its conclusion he was appointed rector of St. Peter's Church, Harlem, N. Y. Visiting one day the home of a poor Irish laborer, on a mission of charity, he became acquainted with Father Michael Curran, the uncle of Father Michael Cur- ran, late of St. Andrew's Church, New York City, with whom he formed a friendship which continued throughout life.
In the fall of 1841 he resigned his parish and journeyed to Rome. The result of his studies and investigation was that he was received into the Catholic Church by the Jesuit Father Esmond, conditionally baptized, and confirmed the same day, April 28th, 1842, by Cardinal Franzoni, in St. Ignatius's room. He then entered St. Sulpice, Paris, and entered upon his theolog- ical studies. In returning to New York he narrowly escaped shipwreck, the details of which in after life he often told in his inimitably graphic and humorous way. He was ordained priest by Archbishop Hughes, March 2d, 1842, and discharged succes- sively the duties of President at Fordham College and pastor of Quarantine, Staten Island. Here he labored with loving, inde- fatigable zeal among the immigrants, and the love he always bore the Irish became intensified and ever after was a singular trait of his beautiful character. He was next appointed secretary of the bishop, for which his love of order and administrative ability admirably fitted him. This office he held when he was designated Bishop of Newark. He was consecrated in St. Patrick's Cathe- dral, New York, together with Bishop Loughlin, of Brooklyn, and Bishop de Goesbriand, of Burlington, Vt., by the Most Rev. Caje- tan Bedini, Archbishop of Thebes and Apostolic Nuncio.
On the resignation of Father Senez as pastor of St. Patrick's, Newark, the bishop-elect appointed Father McQuaid, of Madison, with whom he had been on the most intimate terms of friendship, and on the new pastor devolved the responsibility of properly receiving the newly consecrated bishop. Father McQuaid deter- mined to make this a memorable event.
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The older clergy were timid and looked on with alarm and dread at the display the young priest contemplated making. They protested and objected, but failed to turn him aside from his plans. Even Bishop Bayley was called upon to check a move- ment which was bound to stir up rancor and bigotry, but even he failed with the intrepid young pastor. "You are not bishop yet, and if trouble ensues, then suspend me after you have taken pos- session of your cathedral," said Father McQuaid. The day came at last, the Feast of All Saints, November Ist, 1853. Nature seemed to contribute to the joy of the Catholics, for the weather was balmy, the skies were cloudless, and altogether there was a remarkable blending of golden sunshine softened with the deli -. cate tints of our rare Indian summer.
Thousands upon thousands assembled at the Centre Street depot, the nearest to St. Patrick's, as a measure of precaution conceded by Father McQuaid, awaiting the arrival of the 9:45 A.M. train. On its arrival the procession, which had been formed along Smith Street and Park Place, under Grand Marshal McLear, with his assistants the Messrs. Starr, Brannan, and Rowe, took up its line of march in the following order :
A Cross-Bearer. The female children of St. Mary's, St. Patrick's, and St. John's Sunday- schools.
A Cross-Bearer.
The male children of the same Sunday-schools. In all about 1,200.
The Newark Brass Band.
The Hibernia Provident Society; the Shamrock Provident Society, with banners and regalia. The Jefferson Band.
St. Joseph's Society ; Erin Benevolent Society ; the Laborers' Union.
A New York Brass Band.
The Catholic Total Abstinence Society, followed by carriages containing the Bishops and the Clergy.
The streets were lined with spectators, among whom were the Irish and German Catholics not in the procession, which was over a mile in length. Not the slightest trace of disorder was manifest, not a discordant note jarred the occasion. On arriving at Washington Place the children remained in the park, and the societies formed in open order to allow the clergy to pass to the priest's house on Central Avenue, opposite the sacristy of the church. In the house the clergy vested, and, preceded by a
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cross-bearer, the priests and bishops marched to the main door of the cathedral, where Bishop Bayley was received by the venerable Father Moran, the senior priest of the diocese.
The clergy then marched to the sanctuary, and on arriving within the chancel Bishop Bayley knelt in prayer. Father Moran sang the prayer appointed in the ritual for the reception of a bishop, and at its conclusion Bishop Bayley gave his blessing and was led to the throne. Father Moran, on behalf of the priests, made a brief address of welcome, and introduced the clergy to their new bishop. Bishop Bayley arose and returned his thanks for the sentiments expressed in the address. He trusted that their best wishes would be fulfilled and that God would send down upon them His richest blessings. He had hoped and ex- pected Archbishop Hughes to have introduced him, but ill health prevented his coming. He had come among them with the sanc- tion of the highest authority by which any one can be appointed to places of government on earth. He had been consecrated to the See of Newark, and had come to take possession of his See at the bidding of that Supreme Authority which is day after day sending bishops into all parts of the earth.
The Catholics had become sufficiently numerous in New Jer- sey to require a bishop, and this beautiful and prosperous city had been erected into an episcopal See. When Archbishop Hughes was appointed to the See of New York, there were only fifty priests in the whole diocese, including a part of New Jersey. To-day there are three hundred zealous priests and five episcopal Sees. Experience has shown that new life has been infused among Catholics by the appointment of a bishop, whenever their num- bers justified it, and he hoped that the same blessing would attend the erection of this new See of Newark. In regard to himself, he could only say that according to his abilities he should endeavor faithfully to discharge his duty in this part of the Lord's vine- yard. In conclusion, he asked this single favor of both priests and people, that they would pray God to send down upon him, His unworthy son, the grace of wisdom and prudence, fortitude and courage, to establish their faith, overcome obstacles, and dis- charge the duty imposed upon him for their salvation and the sal- vation of his own soul.
The bishop then received the obedience of his clergy, who on arriving at the throne knelt and kissed his ring. A Solemn High Mass was then sung, the Rev. Dr. Cummings celebrant, the Rev. Michael A. Madden deacon, and the Rev. Father O'Cal-
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laghan subdeacon. "There were really three congregations in the church," states Bishop McQuaid; "one on the floor of the church, one standing on the seats, and others standing on the backs of the pews. There were no tickets of admission, and all who could get in were welcomed." Neither before nor since did the cathedral contain such a throng. There were present in the sanctuary Bishops McCloskey (afterward Cardinal) of Albany, Fitzpatrick of Boston, and Loughlin of Brooklyn, and upward of fifty priests in cassock and surplice in front of the chancel. Father Moran was the assistant priest, and the Masters of Ceremonies Fathers D'Andrasse and McQuaid. The music, which was under the direction of Mr. Pirsson, the organist, was very fine, and the Mass was Mazzinghi's in F.
After the Mass the clergy were entertained at a banquet, pro- vided at the personal expense of Father McQuaid, who, to give this last touch to the glory of a beautiful and successful ceremony unblemished by a single mishap, sold his horse and carriage, and even with that was compelled to borrow money to meet the expense.
To increase his difficulties the landlord raised the rent on the Central Avenue property, and Father McQuaid was forced to buy the present rectory, which was then a very small house and ill fitted as an episcopal residence. However, he raised the funds to build an addition, and the bishop retired into voluntary exile until the improvements were completed and the house in a condition for him to occupy it without incurring any risk from the stand- point of health.
Bishop Bayley, as he entered upon the difficult work of organ- izing the new diocese, and surveyed the vast field entrusted to him, with practically only twenty-five priests on whom he could count as permanent helpers in the ministry, not a single diocesan institution, no funds, and a flock despised and penniless, saw little to encourage and sustain him. His experience in New York confirmed him as to the necessity of Christian education, since the schools, supported by the public funds, were openly antago- nistic to Catholic faith, and endangered and in many instances actually robbed of their faith the Catholic children who fre- quented them. Hence he laid it down as a principle from the beginning that his priests' first care must be the children, and if a choice between the erection of a school or a church had to be made, the preference in every case should be given to the school. For the school once established, the children later on would build
18
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the church. He considered no parish worthy of the name that did not have its parochial school.
His priests responded to the views of their bishop, and strove to organize the Catholic school as best they could with the limited means at their disposal. The work taken up by the sisters in the orphanage broadened, but the supply was unequal to the demand. There was but one thing to do, and that was to imitate the example of Archbishop Hughes, and install in the diocese its own sisterhood. Two sisters from Mount St. Vincent's were
THE OLD WARD MANSION,
First Mother House of Sisters of Charity in the Diocese of Newark. September 30, 1859. Razed in 1873.
permitted to transfer their obedience to Bishop Bayley, open a novitiate, and launch the little community which has grown to such wonderful proportions. The old Ward mansion, on the cor- ner of Bleecker and Washington streets, was purchased, and this became the first advance post of that host of devoted women who from that day to this has accomplished so much of good not only in Newark, but in other dioceses. The two volunteers for this noble work were Sister Mary Xavier Mehegan and Sister Mary Catherine Nevins, of whom only one-Mother Xavier-survives, the witness of the triumphant success achieved through many tears and privations, and a lasting monument of God's condescen- sion and of the zeal and piety of her colaborers. Previous to this
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foundation, however, five young women resolved to consecrate their lives to God in the service of the poor and the young, the Misses Margaret O'Neill, of Paterson, Mary Linah, Bridget Daley, Mary A. Duffy, and Margaret Plunkett, all of Newark, and they were sent under the tutelage of Father McQuaid to the novitiate of the Sisters of Charity in Cincinnati, Ohio. The mother supe- rior of that house had been an intimate friend of Bishop Bayley's saintly aunt, Mother Seton, and out of regard for her she con- sented to train this little company of volunteers from New Jersey.
Hampered by lack of money to further his enterprises, Bishop Bayley determined to appeal to the Association of the Propagation of the Faith, of Lyons, France. This society, the work of two humble sewing-girls, has accomplished wonders in the missionary field of the Catholic Church, and no people are under graver ob- ligations of gratitude to it than the Catholics of the United States, and in no small degree the Catholics of New Jersey. The letters of Bishop Bayley written from time to time reveal the actual con- dition of the diocese and its progress. His first appeal was made in June, 1854. In his letter Bishop Bayley says:
The emigrants who in the beginning came into this State in search of work strayed all over its boundaries, and, deprived of the help of religion, have abandoned their faith or at least allowed their children to be brought up in heresy. Thus the names of many Protestant families, some of whom are distinguished to-day for their wealth and their influence, point clearly to the religion to which they should belong and to which they are utterly lost. For some years past many industries have been started in this State, and thereby attract many Catholics, who now number from fifty to sixty thousand, for the most part Irish and Germans. But the number of priests is not in proportion to the faith- ful; the diocese can count only on thirty-three clergymen to meet all its wants and demands. And what is most regrettable is that the State of New Jersey, having been regarded up to the present as an accessory rather than an integral and permanent part of the dioceses of New York and Philadelphia, does not possess a single institution of learning or religion, so necessary to the establish- ment and progress of religion. It is in view of these considera- tions that the Diocese of Newark awaits to-day the attention and benevolence of the charitable associations in favor of foreign missions; it believes it has a right to their assistance, since these dioceses, long since established, have kept all their col- leges, their seminaries, and religious houses, although their wants and their extension have diminished by the erection within their bosom of new dioceses. Helped in the beginning, the Diocese of Newark will soon be able to take care of itself, and to give back
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the kindness which will have been meted out to it, by coming to the assistance of other missions which may need its help.
Again in January, 1855, in acknowledging the receipt of $3,000, Bishop Bayley gives a gloomy picture of the condition of his flock :
When I took possession of the diocese, I found many church- es loaded down with debts, and in such straits that they needed large sums of money to prevent their being sold under the hammer. At the same time the occasion presented itself of buying at a reasonable figure a property most suitable for a college and a seminary, and I felt constrained to avail myself of it. These out- lays and many others indispensable in a new diocese have placed me in urgent need of funds, and the news of the allowance of your society of 4,100 francs is welcome indeed. I have not as yet been able to obtain an exact and detailed report of the different missions of the diocese, but as soon as possible I will fill out the blank you have sent me. The last Provincial Council held in New York pressed upon the bishops their cooperation with the Propagation of the Faith, with the resolution of establishing it in all the dio- ceses. I would have taken immediate steps to carry out this resolution, but the commercial crisis, which just now is making itself felt throughout the country, and which has closed, for a time at least, a great number of factories and thrown our poor people out of employment, has left them not only incapable of giving an alms, but rather made them an object of charity. I hope soon for better things and that prosperity will return. I expect to have a retreat for the clergy and a diocesan synod in the course of next summer, and I will then establish the work of the Propagation and urge it warmly on the priests of the diocese.
In August, 1855, he again writes to the director of the same association :
I beg to acknowledge the receipt of the allowance made by the Council, which came most opportunely, for otherwise the Dio- cese of Newark would have been in great straits. With the money received I have been able to save two churches, on the point of being sold and lost to religion, and besides helped other churches which were very much embarrassed. I hope that a like necessity will not again exist, and all the funds sent by the society will be used no more to repair mistakes, but to build houses of education and charity of which we are so much in need. The report you ask for would have been completed but for the fact that I have not been able to obtain satisfactory statistics such as I would wish to send you. In one of my letters I gave you a general idea of the state of the diocese as I found it in the fall of 1853. The panic which came immediately after has fallen hard on my poor diocesans, who, almost all, are employed in factories and conse- quently out of work. . .. The only point I wish to modify in that
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report regards the number of Catholics scattered throughout the diocese, which I believe has been greatly exaggerated. Never- theless, our Catholics are so spread out, so floating, that it is ex- tremely difficult to find out just how numerous they are. I have taken means to find out the number of baptisms and interments during a given period, and I hope by this means to ascertain a closer proximate of the number of Catholics in my diocese than heretofore. As I had the honor of informing you in my first let- ter, there was no educational institution under the care of relig- ious in the whole State when I took possession of the diocese. Since I was named bishop I have obtained from the mother-house in New York some Sisters of Charity to take care of two orphan- ages, one in Newark and the other in Paterson. There is also in Jersey City a community of sisters who teach in the parish school. In this country, more than in any other, the prosperity of the Church depends above all on the education given to the children. The evil influences to be met on every side are so destructive that the Catholic religion will disappear as quickly as it has spread unless we transplant it in a good soil, in training up with all pos- sible care the children in the faith of their fathers. Therefore I have opened schools wherever there is a church and a resident priest. It is a great burden for our poor people, who are obliged not only to support Catholic schools, but also to pay taxes for the maintenance of free schools, which are carried on at an immense outlay and which present every attraction to catch our children.
.. Again, to consolidate religious education, I have bought a . property where I hope to open a college, in which the young men of the diocese who give signs of a vocation to the priesthood will be trained. At present I am of the opinion that there are 40,000 Catholics in the State of New Jersey. The majority of the adults are Irish immigrants, many thousands of Germans, some Ameri- cans, English, French, and Canadians. To take care of their spiritual interests we have thirty-five missionary priests, of whom eight, including myself, were born in this country, seventeen born in Ireland, five Germans, five French or Italians. There are forty-one churches or chapels in the diocese, and twelve stations, where Mass is occasionally celebrated, sometimes in the open air or in dwelling-houses. When I will have gathered all the details I will send you a more exact account on all these points. I intend to establish the Propagation of the Faith in the synod which I hope to convoke shortly. I must look, however, to the society to help me to lay well the foundations of religion in my new diocese, and I hope hereafter, with the help of God, we will be able to carry on this work ourselves, and also to lend a helping hand to others.
Impressed with the necessity of providing priests for his dio- cese, and in accordance with the ordinances of the Council of Trent, he determined to open a college, which might afford him a supply of aspirants to the priesthood, who would receive their
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ecclesiastical training in the seminary connected with the college. This wise legislation is summed up in chapter xviii. of the XXIIId. Session in the following words: "The Holy Synod de- crees that every cathedral church, in proportion to its means and the needs of the diocese, is held to place a certain number of the youth, belonging to the cathedral city and the diocese, or, if these fail, to the province, in a college near the churches, or in another place as the bishop deems expedient, for instructing and training in the ecclesiastical state. . .. It desires chiefly that the children
MADAME CHEGARRY'S ACADEMY, Old Seton Hall, Convent Station.
of the poor be given the preference, although the sons of the rich are not to be excluded provided they pay their own way. For its administration the Council prescribes that four deputies be elected in synod, of whom two will supervise the internal dis- cipline and two others look after the finances. Where the canon- ical dignity does not exist, as in the United States, the Holy See in an instruction to the American bishops has laid down the rule that, for diocesan seminaries at least, two deputies be chosen by the bishop with the advice of his council, one for spiritual and the other for temporal matters. Their advice the bishop is obliged to seek, although he may not follow it."
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Father McQuaid, when in Madison, often entertained Father Bayley, who would run out to Morris County to revisit the scenes of his boyhood, and to forget in his rambles through the hills and forests and the famed peach orchards the cares of office and the wear and tear of his responsibilities.
The charms of these precious hours of idyllic pleasure were not utterly lost, and neither had forgotten the situation of the Seminary for Young Ladies, conducted by Madame Chegarry, a few miles from the village of Madison. As it was in the market, both Bishop Bayley and Father McQuaid were of one mind in regard to its desirability for a college site.
Located on high ground and commanding a broad sweep of beautiful country, and unsurpassed for healthfulness, Seton Hall College was opened in September, 1856, with the Rev. B. J. McQuaid as its first president. An entry in Bishop Bayley's diurnal, August 26th, 1856, reads: "Father McQuaid very busy preparing to open the college. The difficulties and obstacles from unexpected quarters have been great, but Father McQuaid hopes to have from thirty to forty students to begin with." Five stu- dents answered to the first roll-call, but before the end of the month twenty additional names were registered.
Meanwhile the diocese was responding to the touch of its new bishop. In August, 1854, three young men, Messrs. Cor- nelius Cannon, John A. Kelly, and Philip McMahon, and in December Mr. John Murray, were ordained to the priesthood and added to the diocesan body. On September 3d, 1854, the corner- stone of the new church of Our Lady of Grace was laid in Ho- boken; and November 21st, 1855, Bishop Bayley dedicated a new church in the northern limits of Jersey City, under the patronage of the Mother of God. Mass was celebrated by Father Moran of Newark, and the Rev. Dr. Heyden, V.G., of Philadelphia, preached on the occasion. The same day Bishop Bayley administered con- firmation in St. Peter's, Jersey City. Bishop Bayley had visited Rome and taken part in the promulgation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God. In December, 1855, he published a pastoral letter to the clergy and laity of his diocese concerning a jubilee in honor of the Immaculate Concep- tion of the Mother of God, to take place during the month of December. The prelate inculcates in the strongest terms "a ten- der devotion to the Queen of Heaven. Nothing is more remark- able as connected with the revival of piety in our day than the increased devotion of all good Christians toward the blessed
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Mother of God. The definition of her Immaculate Conception has already added new fervor to this filial love, and will no doubt tend to draw down additional blessings from God upon us and upon his Church. You will therefore, dearly beloved brethren, join your devotions to those with which the Universal Church has received the dogmatic decision of this important truth:"
He acknowledges, in February, 1856, the receipt of $1,290 from the Leopoldine Society of Vienna. This organization owed its origin largely to the representations of Father, afterward Bishop, Rese, who while on a visit to Vienna awakened interest among the Austrian Catholics by his description of the poverty and need of the Catholics in the United States, especially in the territories. The object of the society, as stated in its rules, "was to promote the greater activity of Catholic missions in America," and its name was to be a memorial of Leopoldina, deceased Em- press of Brazil, born Archduchess of Austria. The Archbishop of Vienna was its immediate superior.
MONSIGNOR: It is with great pleasure that I acknowledge the receipt of your letter enclosing a bill of exchange on London for £258, allotted by the Leopoldine Society of Vienna, to succor the wants of the poor missions of the Diocese of Newark. I will take special care to see that the money is expended in accordance with the wishes of the society. A part will be given to the mis- sion of Trenton, and the remainder will be distributed to the dif- ferent German missions of my diocese to help them to build par- ish schools, with the exception of a portion which I will reserve to aid me in carrying on a work which I consider of the highest importance for the upholding and furthering of our holy religion in our diocese-the establishment of a diocesan college for the Christian education of our youth.
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