USA > New Jersey > The Catholic Church in New Jersey > Part 5
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that Mocassin, falling within the district of Paterson, was fre- quently visited by the Rev. Mr. Bulger, and it is pleasing to state that a church has been lately erected in this last-mentioned town."
The Revolutionary Period.
THE thread of our narrative brings us now to a stirring period in the history of our country and our religion, when the day-star of religious toleration begins to dawn, and the plenteous stream
ARCHBISHOP CARROLL
of blood flows from Irish hearts and from Catholic veins to sanc- tify the soil, and knit indissolubly the bonds of the children of freedom. Republics are proverbially ungrateful, and ours is no exception. The Irish, both the laity and the priesthood, from the
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beginning gave to the struggling republic their most earnest moral and physical support. Ours might have been Canada, and these children of St. Louis our allies and brothers in the conflict, had John Jay and his stripe been at least more tactful, if not politic.
When Archbishop Carroll was engaged by General Washing- ton to induce the Canadian clergy to join in the Revolutionary struggle, his mission totally failed from the lavish abuse of popery in which the old colonies-from New England to Georgia- indulged.
"Now," they said, "we believe, as you do, our religion to have been established by Jesus Christ, and that those good men and their forefathers in leaving our body made an innovation upon the unchangeable institutions of our Saviour. They complain of the King of England as guilty of tyranny for observing the treaty which secures to us our religion, and which he appears disposed to observe. If it be tyranny to permit us to follow the dictates of our consciences, and that those gentlemen wish to destroy tyranny, we must give up our religion in joining their union; we prefer, sir, to abide under the government of a king who is complained of for his justice to us, than to trust to the friendship of men who tell us that we are idolaters and slaves and dolts, and yet invite us to aid them against him whom they have abused for protecting us in our rights; neither do we forget the zeal which they manifested in hunting and shooting Father Rasle and others of our mission- aries upon their borders."
Thus was the aid of Canada lost by the abuse of popery (Eng- land, Works, iii., 223), and the mission of Franklin and Bishop Carroll a failure.
On Bishop Carroll's return from his fruitless mission to Can- ada, he passed his time pleasantly in Philadelphia with Fathers Ferdinand Farmer and Robert Molyneux. "These reverend gen- tlemen were then engaged in laborious duties among the numerous Catholics in that city, as well as several other congregations at a distance."
" Father Farmer extended his visits to New York, and organ- ized the first Catholic congregation in that city, in which there was no resident priest before 1785" ("Memoirs of Archbishop Carroll " in U. S. Catholic Magazine, April, 1844, p. 248).
Notwithstanding the bitter hostility of many, if not most, of the founders of the republic, the money, the services, and the blood of Catholics were placed on the altar of our country's lib- erty, and never did they once swerve from their allegiance in
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defeat, hunger, and cold. Of the foreign officers of our faith may be mentioned Lafayette, Du Coudray, Rochambeau, Roche de Fermoy, Kosciusko, de la Neuville, Armand, and Duportail.
From Bunker Hill to Yorktown, whether in Dillon's old brigade of the French allies, or in the Pennsylvania or Maryland line, Irish hearts throbbed to the music of the drum, and never faltered on land or sea, whether under Saucy Dick Barry, or Moylan, or Fitzgerald, to display the traditional bravery which has won for them the laurel of victory on the battlefields of every nation except their own.
Montgomery, Sullivan, Knox, Wayne, Irving, Thompson, Stewart, Moylan, Butler, all Irish by birth or by descent, whose very names awaken memories of glorious deeds, by which our liberties were achieved and the colonies made one, free, and inde- pendent. And every child knows the services rendered to the republic by Charles Carroll of Carrolton, and his illustrious cousin the first bishop of Baltimore. None was more conscious, more appreciative of these services than the Father of his Country- the immortal Washington.
"I presume that your fellow-citizens will not forget the patriotic part which you took in the accomplishment of their Revolution and the establishment of their government, or the important as- sistance which they received from a nation in which the Roman Catholic faith is professed " ("Reply of Washington to Address of Roman Catholics"). Hodnett says that next to George Wash- ington Bishop Carroll rendered the most valuable services to the colonies. It was Carroll who induced the Pope to use his influ- ence with the French King in behalf of the colonies. Franklin was in Paris, as an envoy from this country, to enlist the services and financial aid of France in the struggle which was becoming desperate. His success was meagre, and he was in despair. One day the papal nuncio roused him from his stupor: "Mr. Franklin, Mr. Franklin, I have good news for you. I have just secured the promise of the King to send over a French army and navy to aid your countrymen." Franklin, astonished and delighted, clasped the hand of the nuncio. "Oh!" said he, "convey to his Holi- ness, the Pope, my thanks in the name of the American people. We shall never, no never, forget Rome."
"Mr. Franklin," replied the nuncio, "you must thank Father Carroll, for he it was who induced the Pope to send me here in the interest of the American people."
Of Bishop Carroll, Washington said: "Of all men whose influ-
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ence was most potent in securing the success of the Revolution, Bishop Carroll, of Baitimore, was the man." So, too, thought King George of England, who called Bishop Carroll "Washing- ton's Richelieu, who got the Pope of Rome to use his influence with the French court for the Americans." When William Pitt asked the King to sign the Emancipation Bill in favor of Ireland, the King replied: "I will sign no bill granting Catholic Emanci- pation, after the action taken by the bishop of Baltimore. He detached America from my dominion by aid of the French army and navy, and the force of Irish Catholics. No, no, Mr. Pitt, you need not stop to argue the question with me; my mind is made up on that point." So innocent, helpless, prostrate Ireland was punished for Bishop Carroll's patriotism and her children's devo- tion to the cause of freedom, and had to bear the yoke of slavery for twenty years longer.
Meanwhile, John Wesley, the founder of Methodism-the sect which claims to possess the only true brand of patriotism-was denouncing the colonists for their treason; and the Presbyterians anathematized our Constitution! In the light of future events, it is well to keep these facts to the forefront. The stream of emi- gration began again to set toward America from Ireland, France, and the West Indian islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique.
The Maryland Journal, published in Baltimore, August 20th, 1773, has the following :
"New York, August 12th .- Within this fortnight 3,500 pas- sengers have arrived at Philadelphia from Ireland."
"Philadelphia, August 11th .- Since our last arrived here, the ship Alexander, Captain Hunter, with 500 passengers; and the ship Hannah, Captain Mitchell, with 550, both from Londonderry. The ship Walworth, Captain McCausland, sailed from London- derry for South Carolina about June Ist, with 300 passengers and servants, who were obliged to leave their native country, not for their misbehavior, but on account of the great distress among the middle and lower classes."
It would seem that Ireland even at that time was sending more than her quota of emigrants to people America. Philadel- phia then could not have had more than 20,000 of a population, and this addition of 3,500 was equal to one-sixth of its population (Cath. Family Alm., 1877, p. 77).
The unhappy Acadians, torn from their homes most cruelly, in 1756, were scattered along the coast from Maine to Carolina, but in a few years almost every trace of them was lost. But the emi-
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gration of the French took place at various periods, mainly at the negro insurrection in San Domingo and at the outbreak of the French Revolution. A great number settled in different sections of New Jersey, and later on will be seen their influence on relig- ion in these respective localities. "We affirm," says Shea, "that the French Catholic familes, driven from the West Indies by the frightful consequences of the Revolution, and who came to seek peace and liberty in the United States, far exceeded the Protest- ant immigration of the seventeenth century. Without counting. Martinique and Guadeloupe, the French part of San Domingo con- tained in 1793 forty thousand whites. All emigrated to escape being massacred by the blacks; many mulattoes followed them, and of this mass of emigrants a great part settled in the United States " (Hist. of Cath. Church, p. 74). Of all these strangers coming to our shores at this period, it may be said that it was the initial impulse of that tide of sturdy, sterling, adventurous spirits -sufficiently daring to hazard the perils of the deep, the horrors and uncertainty of a long voyage, stout-hearted enough to cut away from the dearest ties that hold a man to his native land and kindred, possessed of those virtues which promote the best results in the sphere of civics, commerce, and religion, and destined eventually, like bread cast upon the waters, to leaven the older world with the fruit of these triple blessings. In the dark and trying days of our struggle many instances might be cited to illustrate the devotion of the impulsive Celt, too ready to resent a wrong, but always willing to forgive it. When, in July, 1778, the Americans met in Wyoming with a crushing defeat, among the captured was an old man named Fitzgerald. He was placed on a flax-brake, and told he must renounce his rebel principles and declare for the King, or die. "Well," said the patriotic old fellow, "I am old, and I have little time to live anyhow, and I had rather die now a friend of my country, than live ever so long and die a Tory." The British were magnanimous enough to let him go (Miner's Hist. of Wyoming, p. 200). But our own little State was the theatre on which is written in ineffaceable lines the hero- ism of our ancestors, not only men, but women. The son of an Irish emigrant, James E. Kelly, the sculptor, a genius whose name is little known in our day, but is destined to be ranked among the masters when future generations will think less of pelf and more of art, has carved in eternal bronze, on the battle- field of Monmouth, the heroism of the Irish lass-Molly Pitcher, or, before her marriage, plain Mary McCauley. Of her Lossing
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says: "She was a sturdy young camp-follower, only twenty-two years of age, and in devotion to her husband, who was a cannoneer, she illustrated the character of her countrywomen of the Emerald Isle. In the battle of Monmouth, while her husband was man- aging one of the field-pieces, she constantly brought him water from a spring near by. (The day was intensely hot.) A shot from the enemy killed him at his post; and the officer in com- mand, having no one competent to fill the place, ordered the piece to be withdrawn. Molly saw her husband fall as she came from the spring, and also heard the order. She dropped her bucket, seized the rammer, and vowed she would fill the place of her hus- band at the gun and avenge his death. She performed the duty with a skill and courage which attracted the attention of all who saw her. On the following morning, covered with dirt and blood, General Greene presented her to General Washington, who, admiring her bravery, conferred upon her the com- mission of sergeant " (Field Book of the Revolution).
MOLLY PITCHER AT THE BATTLE OF MONMOUTH. (Tablet on Princeton Monument by J. E Kelly.)
She is described as "a stout, red-haired, freckled- faced young Irish woman, with a handsome, piercing eye."
On this same battlefield, a son of an Irish Catholic father and mother distinguished himself, and the story deserves to be told.
Somewhere in 1750 a young couple who belonged to rival families were the actors in a runaway match, and immediately em- barked for Philadelphia.
The young man, whose name was John Mullowney, invested his money in a few ships, and carried on a lively and lucrative trade between Philadelphia and various foreign ports. Six chil- dren were born to the Mullowneys, all of whom died in their infancy. The seventh child, a son, was robust, and filled his father's heart, who gave him his own name, with great hopes. The Revolution broke out when the boy was eight years old, and his father at once espoused the cause of the patriots.
At this time, their pastor, a Catholic priest, visited the family, and urged that young John be dedicated to the priesthood, and
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that his preliminary studies begin at once. In the privacy of their chamber the proposition of the priest was earnestly discussed by the anxious father and mother, and the boy, who slept in an adjoining room, overheard all that was said with bated breath. In the early dawn of the next day he put into execution a sudden im- pulse to flee beyond the power of priest and parents. Dressing himself hastily, he stole away from his luxurious home, and through difficulties which might have chilled the enthusiasm of a strong man (for Philadelphia was then in possession of the Brit- ish), reached Washington's army, near Germantown.
He arrived, it is said, at his destination, with bleeding feet and ragged clothes, thoroughly beaten out with exhaustion and hunger. He stoutly maintained that he wanted to share a soldier's life, adding that he knew how to "drum." So a drummer boy he be- came, not as John Mullowney, but, with a wisdom beyond his years, under an assumed name. In the following summer came the battle of Monmouth. At a certain point in this hotly con- tested battle, a squad of infantry was ordered to hold a vital point upon which the enemy was marching. The redcoats charged furiously and the Americans gave way, whereupon John seized his drumsticks and pounded out "Yankee Doodle " with so much spirit and force that the retreating Continentals took heart, returned to the charge, drove off the British, and held the stategi- cal position to the end of the battle. A few weeks after the tire- less search of the father for the truant was rewarded. John was recognized by a birthmark on the right shoulder, but his plead- ings, united with those of the officers, prevailed, and the parental consent was reluctantly given. John remained with the army until peace was declared. He then entered the navy, and ren- dered efficient services in the war of 1812 and in the capture of slavers. Not only did he rescue the poor Africans, but placed them in good homes in Philadelphia and adjacent cities. On his retirement from the navy, Captain Mullowney was made consul to Tangier by President Monroe, a difficult post, in which he maintained the honor and dignity of our country for seven years. Many years afterward his daughter visited a grizzled veteran, . more than ninety years of age, and asking him if he remembered John Mullowney, he exclaimed: "Remember John Mullowney ! That I do; he was just a slip of a lad when he used to beat that old drum." At the battle of Princeton scores of the Pennsylvania line shed their blood, defending Princeton Seminary, the strong- hold of Presbyterianism in New Jersey.
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Another of our faith deserves mention in this connection :
Patrick Colvin was the only Catholic living in Trenton at the time of the Revolution. He sheltered Father Farmer and often ferried him across the Delaware on his semi-annual visitation of his scattered Catholic flock in New Jersey.
Colvin, a Catholic, and McConkey, an Irish Presbyterian, furnished the boats which transported Washington and his army across the Delaware on that bitter cold Christmas night, 1776, and thus enabled him to win the battle of Trenton on the 26th. When the Father of his Country journeyed to New York to be inaugurated President of the republic he had fought to make, it was Patrick Colvin who took charge of the presidential party and personally ferried them across the river.
The Trenton Monument Association selected a site but a few paces from Father Farmer's headquarters when visiting that city.
As New Jersey was the battle ground of the great conflict of the Revolution, the number of Catholics at various times in the State must have run into the thousands. With the troops priests have doubtless traversed the State. We read of the presence of one, the Rev. Seraphin Bandol, who was sent from Philadelphia to Morristown in April, 1780, to administer the last sacraments to a distinguished Spanish nobleman, then a guest of Washington. Don Juan de Miralles, a Spanish agent, arrived in camp, April 19th, 1780, accompanied by the Chevalier de la Luzerne, Minister of France, and was almost immediately stricken down with pul- monary trouble, which ended fatally on the 28th. The chaplain of the French Ambassador, the Rev. Seraphin Bandol, hurried on from Philadelphia and administered the last sacraments to the dying Spaniard in the Ford house, now Washington's head- quarters.
It was by Father Bandol, very probably, that the holy Sacrifice of the Mass was first offered in Morristown, and most likely in headquarters, where Washington then lived.
The journal of Dr. James Thatcher, surgeon to the Revolu- tionary army, contains a very graphic account of this the first pub- lic Catholic funeral in Morristown :
" 29th April, 1780 .- I accompanied Dr. Schuyler to headquar- ters to attend the funeral of M. de Miralles. The deceased was a gentleman of high rank in Spain, and had been about one year resident with our congress from the Spanish court. The corpse was dressed in a rich state and exposed to public view, as is custo- mary in Europe. The coffin was most splendid and stately, lined
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throughout with fine cambric, and covered on the outside with rich black velvet and ornamented in a superb manner. The top of the coffin was removed to display the pomp and grandeur with which the body was decorated. It was in a splendid full dress, consisting of a scarlet suit, embroidered with rich gold lace, a three-cornered gold-laced hat, and a genteel cued wig, white silk stockings, large diamond shoe and knee buckles; a profusion of diamond rings decorated the fingers, and from a superb gold watch, set with diamonds, several rich seals were suspended. His Excellency, General Washington, with several other general offi- - cers and members of Congress, attended the funeral solemnities and walked as chief mourners. The other officers of the army, and numerous respectable citizens, formed a splendid procession, extending about a mile. The pall-bearers were six field-officers, and the coffin was borne on the shoulders of four officers of artil- lery in full uniform. Minute guns were fired during the proces- sion, which greatly increased the solemnity of the occasion. A Spanish priest performed service at the grave in the Roman Cath- olic form. The coffin was enclosed in a box of plank, and all the profusion of pomp and grandeur were deposited in the silent grave in the common burying-ground, near the church at Morristown. A guard is placed at the grave lest our soldiers should be tempted to dig for hidden treasure. It is understood that the corpse is to be removed to Philadelphia. This gentleman is said to have been possessed of an immense fortune, and has left to his three daughters one hundred thousand pounds sterling each. Here we behold the end of all earthly riches, pomp, and dignity. The ashes of Don de Miralles mingle with the remains of those who are clothed in humble shrouds, and whose career in life was marked with sordid poverty and wretchedness " (p. 193).
The body of this distinguished nobleman was exhumed and sent to Spain, but in what year the most careful investigation has failed to ascertain.
In Morristown, also, was the first official recognition of St. Patrick's day, as will appear from the following order, copied from the order book still preserved at Washington's headquarters :
MORRISTOWN, N. J., March 16th, 1780.
The adjutants are desired not to detail for duty to-morrow any of the Sons of St. Patrick. On the 17th the parole is "Saints," the countersign "Patrick " and " Sheelah."
Marbois, the charge at Philadelphia, writing to Vergennes,
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March 25th, 1785, gives the number of Catholics in New York and New Jersey as 1,700 (Bancroft's Hist. Form. of Constit., i., 420). If this estimate be approximately correct, it is more than likely that the greater part was in New Jersey (Am. Cath. Hist. Researches," April, 1888).
Be this as it may, no attempt was made at that time by the Catholics to build a church; but we find the Catholics of New York City obtaining an act of incorporation from the legislature of the State in 1785. Much earlier, however, 1763, 1765, 1767, 1768, and as late as 1786, Father Farmer had gathered together the little flock and offered for them the consolations of religion. It is true he entered the city by stealth and in disguise, for the odious proscriptive law of 1700 was still not repealed. It is known that he offered the holy Sacrifice in the house of Don Thomas Stoughton, the Spanish consul, and also in that of Don Diego de Gardequi, the Spanish ambassador. A Capucin Father, the Rev. Charles Whelan, a chaplain in De Grasse's fleet, resigned in order to devote himself to the little band of Catholics in New York City and near by. Of him Archbishop Bayley writes : " Father Whelan was the first regularly settled priest in the diocese of New York. He found only twenty communicants in the city, but "plenty of growlers." During his pastorate the trustees pur- chased from the trustees of Trinity Church the site of the present St. Peter's, and erected a church. There were then about two hundred Catholics in New York. Father Whelan was more at home in French than he was in English, and gave little satisfac- tion as a pulpit orator; so, when a rival appeared, more gifted with eloquence and intrigue, the Rev. Andrew Nugent, O. M. Cap., good Father Whelan had to retire, and died in Maryland, 1809.
On the 4th day of November, 1786, the first Catholic church, and the thirteenth of any denomination, was opened for divine service, and Mass was publicly celebrated in presence of a large congregation of persons of different religious belief. A second charter was obtained in 1787. Among the first Catholics of the future great Catholic city are found the names of Sieur de St. Jean de Crevecœux, consul of France; Don Diego de Gardequi, plenipotentiary of Spain; Jose Roiz Silva; Thomas Stoughton, consul of Spain; Dominick Lynch, James Stewart, Henry Duffin, Andrew Morris, Gibbon Burke, Charles Naylor, William Bryson, William Mooney, George Barnwell, John Sullivan.
In 1788 the Rev. William O'Brien succeeded Father Nugent as pastor, and continued until May 14th, 1816, when God called
.
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him to his reward. His remains are interred beneath the church.
An examination of the structure, April 8th, 1836, revealed its unsafe condition, and, June 5th, it was determined by the pastor and trustees to rebuild it. Mass was celebrated for the last time in the old church August 28th, 1836. The corner-stone of the new church was laid by Bishop Dubois, October 26th, 1836, as- sisted by the Very Rev. John Power, who delivered an excellent address on the occasion. On the first Sunday of September, 1837, mass was celebrated in the basement; and February 25th, 1838, it was solemnly dedicated by Bishop Hughes. The Very Rev. Father Power preached a most eloquent sermon to an audience of more than four thousand persons, who thronged the sacred edifice from pew to organ-loft.
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The French refugees from the revolution and the insur- rections in Martinique, Guad- eloupe, and San Domingo set- tled in considerable numbers in Elizabeth and along the highway from that town to Bottle Hill, now Madison. Thither came the Van Schalk- VERY REV. JOHN POWER, D.D., Pastor of St. Peter's Church, Barclay Street, New York. (1819-1849.) wick Beauplands, the Boisau- bins, Cornet de St. Cyr, Blan- chets, Lavielle Duberceau, and Thebauds. The Beauplands were descended partly from the Dutch Van Schalkwick, who, expelled from Holland for harboring Catholics, was excluded from Mar- tinique because, coming from an heretical country, he was not regarded as orthodox in faith, and was obliged to proceed further and settle in the more hospitable island of Guadeloupe. He was accompanied in his wanderings by a French relative, a married woman, who, although only thirty years of age, was at that time the mother of thirty-one children. This matron would certainly de- serve an honorable mention from our present distinguished chief executive. The Rev. Peter Vianney, an assistant in St. Peter's, 1804-09, it is said, celebrated the first Mass in Madison in the home of Mr. Lavielle Duberceau, whose house was for a long time
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