USA > New Jersey > The Catholic Church in New Jersey > Part 30
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The spark of faith was nursed and became a sacred flame,
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imparting warmth and vigor to the spiritual life, and though un- fortunately not a few were lost to the faith of their fathers through negligence or wilfulness, yet such a loss was perhaps quite com- pensated for by the earnestness of the old residenters and the devotion of their children and followers.
Nineteen years were passed by Father McCosker in Newton. His works and his good name are after him, while remembrance of his kindness and his good deeds lingers about every Catholic hearthstone in all the region round. In July, 1880, he was removed to Rahway, N. J.
Father G. W. Corrigan was the next incumbent of the par- ish. His pastorate, though short, was filled with works of apos- tolic zeal and practical deeds.
The mission chapel of St. Monica, at Deckertown, was the result of his industry and love for souls. It was said that it was owing to this Rev. Father's missionary spirit that the Hon. Judson Kilpatrick became attracted to the Catholic Church, on whose peaceful bosom he was laid to rest. This brilliant cavalry leader who distin- guished himself in the Civil War, was born near Decker- town, N. J., January 14th, 1836. He took an active part in the battles of Gettysburg, was severely wounded at Re- saca, and ably seconded Sher- GEN. JUDSON KILPATRICK. man in his " Ride to the Sea," and commanded a division of cavalry in the military division of Mississippi in 1865. He was a brave, daring, and efficient officer, in whom his superiors placed the fullest confidence, and idolized by his soldiers. He died in Valparaiso, Chili, to which govern- ment he had been appointed Minister by President Johnson and afterward by President Garfield, March, 1881. His wife was of Spanish origin, of the family of Valdivieso. It was at his sugges- tion and largely by his efforts that St. Monica's Church was built in Deckertown. He was received into the Catholic Church a short time before his death, which occurred December 4th, 1881.
By this time St. Joseph's, at Newton, became a parent church. A large number of Catholics in the vicinity of Franklin Furnace justified the erection of that mission into an independent parish, and in 1881 Rev. A. M. Kammer was appointed its first resident rector ; as outposts for exercising his ministry he had the neighboring missions of Ogdensburg and Deckertown. Ogdens- burg was yet in its primitive innocence of a church building.
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One was called for, its erection was undertaken in May, 1881, and, under the masterly supervision of the rev. rector, before the snows of that year began to fly, the Church of St. Thomas Aquinas lifted its summit in worship to Almighty God. After three and one-half years of successful labor Father Kammer was removed and gave place to the Rev. J. H. Hill. It is small praise to say of Father Hill that he was devoted to his work and self-sacrificing in its performance; he was eminently so, and therefore, among a people as appreciative as those of the Franklin parish, he secured more than ordinary success.
Among the other excellent works of Father Corrigan's pas- torship at Newton was the establishment of a parochial school in that town. But directly upon its opening, in September, 1881, he was transferred to the more important parish of Short Hills, Essex County. For the two months immediately following the removal of Father Corrigan, the parish was under the zealous care of Rev. A. M. Shaeken. A rector was appointed in November, 1881. When the Rev. M. A. McManus took charge, he was pleased to find a well-ordered parish. He had merely to continue his work on the lines laid down by wiser heads. Perhaps it may modestly be remarked that pastoral work, during the present rectorship, has not been entirely neglected, nor have the general interests of the parish been quite lost sight of. The advent of the Sisters of Charity, in September, 1886, while increasing the excellence of the school, gave certainty to its permanence.
And thus, in the flush of present great and future greater Church prosperity, there is every reason for gratitude to God.
"Paul planted, Apollo watered, but God gave the increase."
Always a humanizer and civilizer, the Catholic Church is ever making her holy influence felt; beneficent and active, vice- reproving and virtue-encouraging in high places, she is not less so in more modest spheres. In its love for justice and its apprecia- tion of honest endeavors, the world is growing better and fairer. Calumny and prejudice against such a benefactor of the human race as the Catholic Church has always shown itself to be are quite disappearing. Bugaboo stories against the priesthood and Catholicity, that flourished and frightened children of larger growth, have only a very slender circulation; and "fair play," the honorable mark of Americanism, calls for the free exercise of a religion once jeered at and for the respectful consideration of opin- ions or truths once antagonized.
All this is as it should be. In such conditions progress and prosperity may be within the grasp of every band of religionists, and smiling peace and godly charity will draw men closer to- gether in the bonds of human brotherhood and heavenly father- hood.
Father McManus was succeeded by the Rev. John Baxter, who labored in Newton from November, 1890, to June 26th, 1898. At this period the parish school was closed, as the burden was
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greater than the parish could bear. The Rev. Walter Tallon took charge of the parish June 26th, 1898, and remained until Febru- ary 14th, 1901, when he was succeeded by the Rev. James J. Mulhall. Father Mulhall was born in Morristown, and made his entire classical and theological course at Seton Hall. His first and only assignment was St. Joseph's Church, Newark, where he served as assistant until called upon by his late pastor, the pres- ent bishop, to take up the burden of the pastorate. The flock remains as devoted and as responsive to its pastor as ever.
St. Mary's Church, Pleasant Mills.
ONE of the oldest Catholic missions in our State is St. Mary's, Pleasant Mills, of which records are found in the Catholic Directory as early as 1833, when it was attended by the Rev. James Cum- miskey, from Philadelphia; and from that time until the incoming of Bishop Bayley it was attended by priests from Philadelphia, among them Fathers P. Kenny, Richard B. Harding, R. Waters, J. A. Miller, W. Loughran, B. Rolando, Hugh Lane, and others.
A writer says of it: "The old ruin still stands, though no hu- man habitation now exists within many miles. An ocean vessel, stranded on the beach, gave occasion to its erection, but the con- gregation, attracted by the more powerful inducements of the interior, gradually moved away. Most of their descendants, from necessary clerical inattendance, have lost the faith. The Bradleys, Murphys, Lees, and others of Gloucester, Burlington, and Mercer counties are instances. This church must have been built not long after the settlement of Newark in 1666.
It is now attended from Egg Harbor City.
St. John's Church, Orange.
IT is regrettable that repeated efforts to obtain from the proper sources reliable information concerning the foundation of St. John's parish have been made without success, and hence recourse must be had to the directories and register of the clergy for the little light obtainable. It appears that the Catholics in the early days were compelled to walk to Newark, generally to St. Patrick's, from which church they were attended. Father Senez secured the site on which was erected the first frame church. The name of the Rev. Terence Kieran appears in the Directory of 1854, after- ward in Paterson and died in Plainfield, and from that year until
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1858 the title of the church is St. Ignatius. In 1855 the Rev. Robert Hubbersty, a Yorkshire man, coming from the Diocese of Salford, was in charge of the parish. He had a magnificent voice, which he used with good effect in the Tenebrae services in the cathedral, but was eccentric and odd in his manner. He usually rode ahorseback, with a short cloak over his shoulders, beneath which the wind, as it would occasionally toss it aside, would reveal a glaring red shirt. In his hand a short cane, in the English fashion, he would ride over the side- walk to the door of the bish- op's house, and, without dis- mounting, ring the bell and REV. JAMES M'KAY. announce his presence. In 1856 the Rev. James Murray took charge and remained until 1861, when he was succeeded by the Rev. James McKay. Father McKay was ordained to the priest- hood in Dublin, September 13th, 1857, arrived in New York, No- vember 4th, 1857, and was appointed pastor of Newton, November 15th, 1857. His wit and eloquence won the hearts of all, not only of his own, but even of the non-Catholics. He was an ardent tem- perance advocate, and when he spoke on this live topic there was no auditorium spacious enough to accommodate his audience; even the court-house was filled long before the hour, and many had to leave disappointed because they could not obtain entrance. He did much good in this ethical field, and by his clear and eloquent statement of Catholic doctrine from the pulpit removed long-exist- ing prejudices and conciliated the bitter opposition to the Church which had long prevailed in the county seat of Sussex. During the Civil War he strongly opposed the enlistment of the Irish immigrant, and while on a visit to Ireland he wrote a series of strong articles under a pen name which gave great offence to the United States Government. Bishop Bayley accused him of the authorship, and on his admission of the charge removed him from the parish. He died a few years ago in Ireland. In 1865 the Rev. Edward M. Hickey, who had been Prefect and Vice-President
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of Seton Hall, and several years an assistant at St. Patrick's Cathedral, Newark, was promoted to the pastorate of Orange. Father Hickey was of a pleasant and winsome disposition, made many friends, and stood high in the esteem of his superiors, but was a failure as a financial manager. He built the present stone church and rectory, and involved the parish in an immense debt, under which it has ever since been staggering. In May, 1873, the Rev. W. M. Wigger, of Madison, in obedience to the wishes of Bishop
ST. JOHN'S CHURCH, ORANGE.
Corrigan, undertook the forlorn hope of bringing order out of chaos; but in a few months, after paying off $11,000, he resigned. In March, 1874, the Rev. Hugh P. Fleming, assistant at the
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cathedral, was appointed to the very difficult position of pastor of St. John's Church, Orange, with its debt of a quarter of a million " (Register of the Clergy). With this burden Father Fleming has been struggling manfully up to the present, and yet improvements have been made-the church spire built, the installing of a new organ, and the erection of the magnificent Columbus School. Truly the Catholics of Orange deserve well of the Church, for through all their adversities they have not lost heart, but con- tinue to win the admiration of all by their faith and pluck.
The Church of St. Rose of Lima, Freehold.
FREEHOLD was first attended as a mission about the year 1854 from Princeton, N. J., by the Rev. John Scollard, and shortly after a frame church, 25 by 40 feet, was erected and blessed under the patronage of St. Rose of Lima, and hence the corporate title. In July, 1857, Father Scollard was succeeded by the Rev. Alfred Young, the pastor of St. Paul's, Princeton, who in turn was suc- ceeded by the Rev. J. J. J. O'Donnell. In July, 1867, the Rev. Thomas R. Moran took charge and attended Freehold until Janu- ary 9th, 1871, when the Rev. Frederick Kivilitz was sent to Free- hold as resident pastor. In the same year Father Kivilitz bought a parsonage, and in 1875 he opened a parochial school. In 1878 he built a brick and terra-cotta church at Jamesburg; one at Hillsdale (now Bradevelt) ; in 1879 one at Colt's Neck and one at Perrinesville. In 1882 he built a new brick and terra-cotta church at Freehold. Bradevelt and Jamesburg are now separate missions with their respective pastors. The assistant priests of this mis- sion are the Revs. Patrick McCarren, Peter J. Kelly, John A. Graham, P. H. Gardner. The Rev. A. T. Quinlan is the assistant at present.
St. Francis de Sales' Church, Lodi.
THIS mission was estab- lished by Father Senez as ST. FRANCIS DE SALES, LODI. early as 1854, and the church is probably the oldest Catholic church in Bergen County.
St. Francis de Sales' Church was attended from Paterson and
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other centres until 1897, when in the month of May the Rev. Joseph Ascheri was appointed first resident pastor. He built the rectory and put the church in proper condition. The member- ship is small, as the parish does not seem to grow. It has been thought inadvisable as yet to build a school.
Near by, at Hasbrouck Heights, is a mission opened some years ago by the Rt. Rev. Monsignor Sheppard, V.G., then pastor of Passaic, who built a church which bears the name Corpus Christi.
Our Lady of Mercy, Whippany.
THE making of paper has been carried on in Whippany for almost a century. An ever-flowing spring of the purest water imparts a quality to the paper and a depth and richness to colored papers which have made them famous and mar- ketable. In the middle of the last century Daniel Cogh- lan, of blessed memory, ac- quired possession of the old mills and moved hither from Springfield. Around this man of God clustered a good number of Catholics who were employed in the mill, and in 1854 the corner-stone of the Church of Our Lady of Mercy was laid by Bishop Bayley. Untoward circum- stances delayed its comple- tion until 1857, when it was ST. MARY'S CHURCH, WHIPPANY. dedicated to the service of God under the patronage of his blessed Mother. The leading spirit of the congregation, its mainstay, its sexton who would allow none other to prepare the altar, serve the priest, and perform the dozen and one little services around the sanctuary, was Daniel Coghlan. "Honest " Dan Coghlan was he known far and wide by his own and by the host outside of his church. Quiet, unassuming, retiring, he was rarely seen to smile, rarely heard to talk. In a word, he was a godly, God-fearing man, the perfect type of what a Christian layman should be. His wife,
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a sister of the late Bishop Byrne of Arkansas, was a worthy helpmate, cooperating with him in all works of charity and dis- pensing with him a lavish hospitality. Both have long since gone to their reward. The mission was attended from Mad- ison until 1881, when it was attached to Morristown. July 13th, 1883, Morris Plains and Whippany were separated from Mor- ristown and erected into a mission, with the Rev. James J. Brennan as pastor. Father Brennan was a child of St. Patrick's, Newark, in which parish he was reared, although born in Ireland, March Ist, 1850. His preparatory studies were made in St. Charles, Md., and completed in Seton Hall, from which he was graduated in the class of '72. He was for a brief time chaplain of St. Elizabeth's Convent, the mother house of the diocesan Sisters of Charity, and assistant in Camden, St. Joseph's, Jersey City, and St. John's, Paterson. He was promoted to the Church of the Sacred Heart, Newark, in 1892, and died there March 20th, 1897. His successor was the Rev. A. M. Egan, and after him the present rector, the Rev. James T. Brown.
For a short while a Catholic school was taught, but the num- ber of children in the mission did not warrant the outlay. There is a cemetery, in which repose the remains of the founder of the parish and its best benefactor.
St. Nicholas's, Church, Passaic, N. J.
PREVIOUS to 1855 the Catholics of Passaic, Lodi, and the sur- rounding country were obliged to go to Paterson to hear Mass. In that year Father Senez, of St. John's, Paterson, built a frame church in Lodi, a village two miles and a half from Passaic, and this church the Passaic Catholics attend- ed until they became able to erect a church of their own. This happy event took place in 1868, when the Rev. John Schandel was FIRST CHURCH OF PASSAIC. appointed rector. Father Schandel erected a frame building on Prospect Street where now stands the Passaic Club. Father Schandel remained pastor until the fall of 1873, when he was succeeded by the Rev. Louis
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Schneider. Father Schneider was a native of Alsace-a French- man, he insisted on calling himself-and was born November 2d, 1823. He entered the Society of Jesus, was a member of the staff of Fordham College in 1859, and afterward taught phil-
ST. NICHOLAS' CHURCH AND RECTORY, PASSAIC.
osophy in St. Francis Xavier's College, New York, and was of the three Fathers who are regarded as the founders of the Xavier Alumni Sodality. He left the society in 1866, and was temporarily in charge of St. John's Church, Newark. He was afterward appointed to the chair of dogmatic and moral theol- ogy in the diocesan Seminary, for which his studies and rare talent of imparting knowledge so admirably fitted him.
In connection with his professorial work he attended, as has been seen, to the Milburn mission.
With the intellectual treasures of a well-stored mind he com- bined a wide experience of men, gleaned from his labors as a Jesuit. A great teacher, a profound thinker, a wise guide, he was also a charming companion, a firm friend, and a generous host.
Father Schneider, in November of the same year, opened the parochial school, which was entrusted to the Sisters of Charity. In 1874 he purchased the present site of the church and rectory.
In December, 1875, the church was destroyed by fire-the work of incendiaries it was thought; and an effort to dispose of the property, in order to build on the new site, failed for lack of a purchaser. Passaic, then, was little more than a village, with a
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few thousand inhabitants. The wildest dreamer could not have presaged its rapid growth and present prosperity. Perforce, the Catholics were obliged to rebuild the old church, which was a strange combination of church, rectory, and school.
In April, 1876, the Spencer Academy property on Howe Ave- nue was purchased, and the school, which had outgrown the ac- commodations furnished in the church building, was removed thither.
In August, 1884, Father Schneider died and the Rev. John A. Sheppard was appointed his successor. With characteristic energy Father Sheppard set to work to build a house of worship worthy of the growing importance of the town and congregation. In the face of great difficulties and discouragements he succeeded in erecting a church and rectory which together cost in the neigh- borhood of $80,000. In 1886 he purchased a residence for the sisters for $6,000, and in 1892 he purchased a plot of ground at the corner of Hamilton Avenue and Washington Place and erected thereon a school building at a total cost of $20,000. In 1896 he opened a hospital in the rear of the school, and in 1897 he built the present admirable St. Mary's Hospital. On April 6th, 1898, Father Sheppard was transferred to St. Michael's parish, Jersey City, and Rev. Thomas J. Kernan, of St Cecilia's Church, Kearney, was appointed his successor. Father Kernan was born at Hamil- ton, Scotland, January 6th, 1858, and made his preparatory studies in Villanova College, Pa., and his theological studies in Seton Hall Seminary, where he was ordained May 19th, 1883. His ministry was exercised in St. Michael's, the Cathedral, and St. James's, Newark, and on September Ist, 1893, he was appointed to the new parish of Kearney. He built the church of St. Cecilia, and left the parish in a prosperous condition.
Father Kernan added to the church property a plot of ground on Jefferson Street, 150 by 150 feet, at a cost of $9,500. On this ground, in 1902, he erected a convent ($25,000) for the sisters who teach in the parochial school. In 1900 he purchased eigh- teen acres in Lodi Borough for $ 14,000, to be used as a cemetery. This land adjoins the old St. Nicholas Cemetery and is admirably suited for the purpose. The following are the priests who have been assistants at St. Nicholas's: the Revs. C. Mundorf, M. J. Hickey, John McHale, Joseph Ali, William J. O'Gorman, James H. Brady, Henry Connery, Daniel S. Clancy, William F. Grady, James F. Mackinson, Thomas E. O'Shea, and at present Michael J. McGuirk and William V. Dunn.
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St. Peter's Church, Newark.
THE Rev. Martin Hasslinger left the congregation of the Re- demptorists and was received in the Diocese of Newark in the summer of 1854, taking up his residence temporarily in St. Peter's, Jersey City. He was called to Newark, February 10th, 1855, and appointed vicar-general of the Germans. The little church, be- gun on Belmont Avenue in 1854, was blessed by Father Hasslinger and placed under the patronage of St. Peter, February 2d, 1855. On Oc- tober 20th, 1854, the Rev. Godfried Prieth, born at Graun, in the Tyrol, arrived in the diocese. He had made his studies at Brixen, and ex- ercised his ministry three years in Schwartz. Heacted as assistant to Father Hass- linger from March 7th, 1855, until his appointment to the rectorship of St. Peter's, May 11th, 1855. The whole slope which marks the west- ern section of Newark was fifty years ago an unbroken wood-land. Through this the Springfield road, a continua- tion of Market Street, ex- tended into the farm lands and pastures of the interior. A wide clearing to the right of this road on the hilltop was known then as "Stump- town," and here Father Hass- ST. PETER'S CHURCH, NEWARK. linger started the little mission. Here Father Prieth gave to the Catholics twenty-six years of unselfish energy, not only upbuild- ing religion, but contributing to the material prosperity of his flock by encouragement to thrift and insistence on their building and owning their homes. With his ceaseless care and zeal the
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congregation grew rapidly, so rapidly that a new church became necessary.
On November 11th, 1861, the vicar-general of the diocese, Father McQuaid, laid the corner-stone of the present church, which was dedicated October 27th, 1862. Father Prieth opened the first school in the basement of the old church, and taught the little ones of his flock until the resources of the congregation justified his employing lay teachers. In 1864 the Sisters of Notre Dame were introduced in the parish and took charge of the kindergarten, school, and orphanage. In 1876 Father Prieth celebrated the silver jubilee of his priesthood, all classes and denominations joining in the festivities. On June 8th, 1885, he depart- REV. GODFRIED PRIETH. ed this life, regretted and mourned by his flock and fellow-citizens. Few clergymen in the diocese have been more identified with the progress of German Catholicity than Father Prieth. The Rev. Sebastian Messmer, now Archbishop of Mil- waukee, a fellow- countryman, who journeyed every Sunday from Seton Hall afoot to help his venerable friend, succeeded him in the pastorate. On August 15th, 1886, the Rev. Alois Stecker was assigned to the pastorate on the resignation of Father Mess- mer. Father Stecker in 1887 erected the present fine school building, and in July, 1897, the commodious building for the orphans, on Lyons Avenue.
St. Nicholas' Church, Atlantic City.
IT is nearly fifty years since the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was celebrated for the first time in Atlantic City by Rev. Michael Gallagher, O.S.A., who was then attached to the community of St. Augustine's, Philadelphia. This was in July, 1855, soon after the railroad was built. There were only a few Catholics at the
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time, but during the months of July and August the number was sufficiently large to warrant the attendance of the priest. In the year 1856, at a cost of $16,000, a beautiful little Gothic chapel was dedicated under the patronage of St. Nicholas of Tolentino. This chapel was built near the corner of Atlantic and Tennessee avenues. Father Gallagher continued to administer to the wants of his little congregation during the summer months and occa- sionally during the other months until 1862, when he was trans- ferred to another field of labor. Subsequently he founded the parish of St. Augustine's, Andover, Mass., and remained in charge of that parish until his lamented death, which occurred in 1869.
After his departure to St. Augustine's the chapel was attended as an outpost by the priests of that community for many years.
ST. NICHOLAS' CHURCH, ATLANTIC CITY.
The names of Father Mark Crane, Dr. Stanton, Father Peter Crane, and Father Coleman are still lovingly remembered by the Catholics of Atlantic City.
About a year before a resident pastor was appointed, Father Coleman, at the request of the congregation, consented to cele-
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