USA > New Jersey > The Catholic Church in New Jersey > Part 55
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On June 20th, 1870, Mr. Philip Corrigan and his brother, Dr. Joseph Corrigan, founded a burse for the seminary, which is known as the Corrigan Burse. The Rev. Dr. Corrigan was very popular with the students; no detail in the management of the college escaped his attention, and his cultivated taste was every- where apparent in and about Seton Hall. During the absence of Bishop Bayley at the Vatican Council of 1870 Dr. Corrigan occu-
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pied the office of administrator. He dedicated the college chapel on February 6th, 1870, Monsignor Doane delivering the sermon and Monsignor Seton celebrating the Solemn Mass on that occa- sion.
On June 3d, 1871, Rev. William P. Salt, who subsequently be- came so thoroughly identified with Seton Hall, and who, from the time he entered the institution, was revered and loved by all who knew him, was ordained a priest in the college chapel by Bishop Bayley. Father Salt's history reads more like a romance than a page from real life.
William Salt was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., September 19th, 1837, the eldest of nine children. In 1847 his parents removed to Bath, a small village in western New York, where he received his primary education. At an early age he was taken from school and placed in his father's shop to learn the trade of a carpenter. It was a hard trial to the lad, who had an insatiable thirst for knowledge, to be deprived of the advantages of school, and he therefore spent his evenings and every leisure moment reading and studying. In this way he completed the usual academic course and also became acquainted with several modern languages, which he studied under a private tutor. Of these years he wrote later when encouraging others to persevere in the face of difficulties: " A great deal of what little I know was gained after a hard day's work, when tired Nature would soon compel me to lay aside the extra task I was imposing on her and go to bed wondering if I ever would learn anything."
After reaching his majority he began to read law in the office of Judge Rumsey, of Bath; supporting himself by doing odd jobs at his trade and during the winter teaching a country school. His parents were Baptists, but Mr. Salt was not attracted by that form of worship, and in 1859 joined the Protestant Episcopal Church. About this time he became dissatisfied with the profession of law, and, at the advice of friends, decided to enter the ministry. He received an offer in 1860, which then seemed a favorable oppor- tunity, to teach in a parish school and at the same time have lei- sure to study. He started on his long journey, full of hope for the future, for Van Buren, Ark., where the school was located. He was rewarded by being appointed a reader by Bishop Lay in the spring of 1861, and while conducting the bishop's school in Fort Smith also pursued his studies for the ministry.
At the outbreak of the Civil War, before he could procure means to return north, the closing of the lines shut him within
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the Confederacy and his school was broken up. By the advice of the bishop, in the fall of 1861 he entered the Theological Semi- nary at Camden, S. C.
A year afterward he wrote that "the perils of the pestilence and sword were making him prematurely gray." Later, with other students of the seminary, he was drafted into the Confederate army, where he served for nearly three years in the Marion Artil- lery, stationed as a defence for Charleston, being the greater part of the time on John's Island. In Mr. Salt's company there were three other theological students, who added to their regular duties those of volunteer chaplain, attending to the sick and dying in camp and field. During this time he contin- ued his studies, making pro- gress slowly but surely, and whenever opportunity offered he sent a letter home, but it was near the close of the war before a letter reached him. Failing at Charleston to pro- cure the transportation north for which he had applied, or to receive the necessary funds for the journey which had been sent him from home, he and a friend, a German REV. WILLIAM P. SALT. Fifth Vicar-General and Rector of Seton Hall Seminary. soldier, resolved to make the journey on foot. Unused to forced marches, they soon became footsore, and his companion being quite disabled, Mr. Salt made efforts to procure work at different plantations in order that his friend's feet might become healed and they could pursue their journey. They were unsuc- cessful, however, until they met with a German farmer, who, pleased with their ability to speak his native tongue, took them in and gave them employment. He at first doubted their abilities for the harvest field, but at the end of a week's stay offered them special inducements to remain.
Mr. Salt, however, declined, as his companion was able to travel; they resumed their tramp and pursued their way to the nearest railway station. On the 4th of July, 1865, he was at Hilton Head, "a waif of the war thrown upon a sandy beach, with the past a
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pain and the future a blank." From this place they were trans- ported to New York.
Upon arriving at Bath he found the old homestead sold and his father struggling to support a large family. He began at once to work for his father at his trade, but offered himself a candidate for orders and resumed his studies. He soon accepted a place to teach in the academy at Bath and renounced finally the carpenter's bench, but never failed to praise the advantages offered by a trade, and always declared that "the saw and the hammer had done him good service." Late in the following winter, 1865, he was or- dained a deacon by Bishop Coxe and in the spring assigned to the churches at Sodus Point, where he remained for some time, com- mended for "faithfulness, zeal, and usefulness." Arrangements had been made for him to pursue his studies at Geneva, N. Y., and take temporary charge of Grace Church, but he had for some time doubted the tenets of the Episcopal Church and he entered into an investigation. "When convinced of the authority of the Catholic Church to teach," he said, "then all doubt vanished; my duty was clearly defined." He left Geneva for New York City, where on October 12th, 1867, he was baptized by Rt. Rev. Mon- signor Preston at St. Ann's Church. That this step was not a hasty one is shown by letters written the year previous and by remembered conversations with friends to whom he had expressed his doubts and perplexities. When confronted with the fact that from his mother he inherited the blood of Welsh Dissenter and French Huguenot and from his father that of English Quaker, Scotch-Irish Presbyterian, and Holland Puritan, as an argument against his sanity because he became "one of the despised papists," he simply replied, "Go back far enough and you will find that my ancestors were all Catholics." Very soon after his baptism Mr. Salt entered the seminary at Seton Hall. While expressing his sorrow at crossing his father's wishes in studying for the priest- hood, he wrote home: "I should not be content anywhere else. I feel that the past has produced no fruit, and it is time for my life-work to begin."
After a brief course of study of philosophy at Seton Hall, Mr. Salt was sent by Bishop Bayley to the American College at Rome to make his theological studies. He was in the Eternal City dur- ing the turbulent times when Garibaldi attacked the city and despoiled the Church of its temporal power and imprisoned the aged Pontiff, Pius IX. Mr. Salt on this occasion displayed the fire that was in his nature by proposing to volunteer in the Papal
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Zouaves. In after years he must have had that experience in mind when he wrote the following in a sermon on the virtue of hope :
On one of the plains of Italy lies a young soldier, with his life- blood slowly ebbing away, while the only sound which comes to his ears above the roar of the battle is the bugle sounding a retreat to his comrades. That morning he had gone out to battle with a conscience free from sin, and with his life, his all, offered to God and his Church in defence of Christ's Vicar on earth, and now though that sound, the most painful to the soldier, is ringing in his ears-the call to retreat-yet a light of joy is in his counte- nance, for his last sigh is an act of contrition and he knows that he is going home to his reward.
Mr. Salt's health failed him in Rome and he was obliged to return to America before completing his theological studies. He returned to Seton Hall, continued his course, and was ordained a priest June 3d, 1871.
Soon after ordination he was appointed professor of logic at Seton Hall. He afterward filled various chairs, including eccle- siastical history, political economy, civil polity, Christian evidences, mathematics, physics, and chemistry. He was director of the seminary and treasurer for many years during the presidency of Dr. Corrigan and Rev. J. H. Corrigan, and was made Vicar-Gen- eral of the Diocese of Newark by Bishop Wigger.
On account of failing health, in September, 1881, he resigned the office of treasurer, and the Rev. William F. Marshall was appointed his successor.
Father Salt continued to teach and direct the affairs of the seminary until within two years of his death, which occurred on October 7th, 1891. He received the holy viaticum at Mass that morning from the hand of Rev. Dennis McCartie, in the private chapel, and came down to the dining-room for breakfast. When seated at the table he gave signs of suffering, and begging the rev. father to excuse him, he left, and while walking along the corridor on the second floor was seized with a hemorrhage of the lungs and was falling to the floor from weakness when the Rev. John J. O'Connor saw him and hastened to his assistance. Father O'Connor quickly perceived that Father Salt was dying and ad- ministered to him the Sacrament of Extreme Unction. In a few moments the holy man expired.
He was buried from Seton Hall Chapel and the ceremonies were most impressive.
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His aged father and mother were present, and a few other members of his family, and about seventy priests of the dioceses of Newark and Trenton.
The Mass was celebrated by the Rev. J. J. O'Connor, the ser- mon preached by Monsignor Doane, and Bishop Wigger pro- nounced the absolution.
He bequeathed to Seton Hall his large and well-selected library.
Father Salt's remains were laid at rest, as he had requested, in the Cemetery of the Holy Sepulchre in Newark. The grave is surmounted by a neat marble monument which was erected by Bishop Wigger.
The perfume of Father Salt's memory is as sweet and fresh to-day as it was on the day he passed over the bridgeless river to the longed-for valley of rest. The recollection of his gentle life is as grateful as the breath of a melody, as wholesome as the hand of benediction. Father Salt's memory would live, though he had prayed that it might die. It is enshrined in many hearts, and shall be reverently cherished until those hearts are pulseless and still. To know him was to love him, and remembrance is the flower of love-a flower that blossoms with perennial bloom.
He was a mirror of true manhood and a model for imitation. His was a pure life, a pattern and exemplar for the army of sol- diers he trained for God's sanctuary in the seminary he graced and elevated by his guidance.
If silence is greatness, as Carlyle thinks it is, on this count also was he a great man.
As a teacher he was careful, exact, conscientious, practical. He had a strong logical turn, a power of keen analysis, and great faculty for condensation. Superfluous issues he avoided with in- fallible instinct ; he struck straight at the heart of the subject, and never wearied his pupils with irrelevant discussions. He inspired a certain fear, but it was reverential, and was tempered with respect and confidence.
His learning was solid and accurate and varied, but he did not parade it. A certain bishop once remarked, "I lived several years in the house with him before I knew he was acquainted with my native tongue." His pupils loved him and bore frequent tes- timony of their affection.
The Rev. Sebastian Gebhard Messmer came to Seton Hall, November 17th, 1871, from the Jesuit College at Innsbruck to fill the chair of Scripture and canon law. To the old graduates of
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Seton Hall no name brings up happier recollections than that of Sebastian Gebhard Messmer. Eighteen years of his busy life found a sphere of usefulness in and about the college. A thor- ough scholar and an humble man, he was equally at home in the lecture hall of the seminary or on the lawn of St. Mary's Orphan Asylum near by, where he was almost a daily visitor, and, if his disciples were delighted to be under the guidance of such a mas- ter, the orphans were no less enthusiastic over the good priest who found his joy in whatever might add to theirs.
Father Messmer during his long residence filled at different times the chairs of sacred Scripture, canon law, and dogmatic and moral theology.
He succeeded Father Schandel as chaplain of St. Mary's Orphan Asylum and continued his good offices there until 1885, when he was placed in charge of St. Peter's Church, Newark. He had previously been rector of St. Leo's Church, Irvington ; and from February, 1889, until August of the same year he was rector of St. Venantius's Church, Orange, when he was called to become professor of canon law in the Catholic University at Washington.
After receiving the appointment of professor of canon law in the Catholic University at Washington, Dr. Messmer left Seton Hall, August 7th, 1889, and sailed for Europe. Eight months of his absence were spent in Rome, perfecting his already thorough knowledge of canon law. During this time he had the pleasure of hearing Professor Giustini at the Apollinari College lecture on Roman civil (Justinian) law. In June, 1890, he received the de- gree of Doctor of Canon Law, and in September of the same year began his lectures at the Catholic University. He here showed himself to be not only thoroughly familiar with canon law, but also to have a perfect knowledge of the civil law of the United States, and to possess a comprehensive understanding of the pecu- liar circumstances which environ the Catholic Church in America.
On December 14th, 1891, Dr. Messmer was appointed Bishop of Green Bay, Wis., to succeed Bishop Katzer, who had been made Archbishop of Milwaukee, and in the fall of 1903 was pro- moted by his Holiness, Pius X., Archbishop of Milwaukee.
Bishop Bayley, on September 2d, 1872, received the apostolic letters appointing him Archbishop of Baltimore. Six weeks later, October 13th, 1872, he was installed in the Baltimore Cathedral. Dr. M. A. Corrigan, President of Seton Hall, was made adminis- trator of the Diocese of Newark pending the appointment of a new bishop.
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Dr. Corrigan, on February IIth, 1873, received a telegram an- nouncing that he had been appointed, by Pope Pius IX., Bishop of Newark. There was joy at Seton Hall over the honor done their president, but it was not unmingled with sorrow at the thought of parting with one who had always held a warm place in the hearts of the students and had gained well-deserved popu- larity in both college and seminary while filling the various offices of professor, vice-president, and president.
During his last illness it was the one pleasure Archbishop Bayley enjoyed to drive out to Seton Hall. His last visits were made September 25th and 26th, 1877, accompanied by Archbishop Corrigan. It was on one of these drives that Archbishop Bayley, looking back on the past, told the Bishop of Newark of his desire after his conversion to become a Jesuit, and before his consecra- tion to become a Redemptorist, but that on both occasions his director had dissuaded him from taking this step, insisting that he could do more good in the world.
On May 6th, 1877, at Seton Hall Seminary was witnessed the ordination of Mr. W. N. Hoyt, formerly an Episcopal clergyman, then sixty-five years of age, stationed in Burlington, Vt., who be- came a Catholic about 1852. On the death of his wife in the early seventies he applied to Cardinal McCloskey for permission to study for the priesthood, and, being of the very best character, the cardi- nal favored the idea and requested Bishop Corrigan to admit Mr. Hoyt to Seton Hall. He studied there for two years, performing all the exercises of the seminary with the most exemplary regular- ity, joining the youngest students in their walks, conversation, etc. Of his eleven children two are religious and all are converts. Father Hoyt after his ordination was assigned assistant to Father Donnelly, St. Michael's Church, New York, and appointed super- intendent of the immense parish schools.
In 1884 Archbishop Corrigan was summoned to Rome and represented the New York Archdiocese in the Ecumenical Council called by the Holy Father Leo XIII. The death of Cardinal McCloskey, on October 10th, 1885, made Archbishop Corrigan Metropolitan of the Archdiocese of New York; he was the young- est archbishop as he had been the youngest bishop in the Catholic hierarchy of America, and primate of a see which, in point of im- portance and size, outranks any other in the United States.
Archbishop Corrigan's successor in the See of Newark was the Rev. Winand M Wigger, D.D., pastor of St. Vincent's Church, Madison, N. J.
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At the seventeenth annual commencement of Seton Hall the degree of Master of Arts, Honoris Causa, was conferred on Rev. W. P. Salt. Among the graduates of that year are two names that have since become prominent in the history of the Catholic Church of New Jersey-those of James Augustine McFaul, the Bishop of Trenton, N. J., and John Joseph O'Connor, the honor man of the class of 1873, who, September, 1892, succeeded Father Salt as Vicar-General of the Diocese of Newark, and who at differ- ent times filled the chairs of metaphysics, and dogmatic and moral theology in his alma mater, and is now fourth Bishop of Newark.
After graduating in 1873 he went abroad, where he pursued his studies at Rome, in the American College, for three years, and in Louvain, Belgium, one year, where, December 22d, 1877, he was ordained a priest.
After his return to America, Father O'Connor was appointed professor in Seton Hall. In October, 1892, he was appointed rector of the seminary.
June 19th, 1876, Bishop Corrigan resigned the office of presi- dent, and the trustees elected his brother, Rev. James H. Corri- gan, who had been a professor in the institution and director of the seminary since 1868, and was made vice-president in 1872, when Dr. M. A. Corrigan succeeded Bishop McQuaid as president.
James H. Corrigan was born in Newark, N. J., June 29th, 1844, the son of Thomas and Mary English Corrigan, natives of Leinster, Ireland. His father determined to give his sons a liberal education, a decision which was doubtless prompted and without doubt fostered by his mother, who was a woman of fine intellect and rare energy and strength of character. Upon com- pleting his preparatory course, he was sent to Mount St. Mary's College, Emmettsburg, afterward going to the American College at Rome, where he made his theological studies; returning to America, he was ordained at Seton Hall College, October 20th, 1867. He celebrated his first Mass at St. John's Church, New- ark, where he and his brothers had been baptized.
About 1879 Father James Corrigan began to take steps to organize an alumni association for Seton Hall. His efforts met with a success that was both flattering and encouraging, and no higher testimonial could have been paid to the college than the responses that came from numerous clergymen, lawyers, physi- cians, and merchants, all of whom had proved themselves worthy sons of their alma mater.
After the Alumni Association had been established on a solid
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basis, it was Father Corrigan who proposed to them the erection of Alumni Hall, and to his untiring efforts must be accorded the success of the enterprise that inspired the old graduates to unite and present to the college a building worthy of the alumni and worthy of the institution and the other edifices that grace the beautiful grounds of Setonia. It was several years before Father Corrigan could mature his plans, and the corner-stone was not laid until October 25th, 1883. Many of the old graduates and their friends were present.
Alumni Hall is built of undressed stone, presenting a solid but not ungraceful aspect. It is 70 feet long, 40 feet wide, and 60 feet from the ground to the ridge of the roof. On the lower floor are two billiard parlors, one for the younger and one for the older col- legians, a reading-room and a library, and a recreation-room for the theological students. In the vestibule are two staircases lead- ing to the floor above, which furnishes a spacious hall provided with a stage for literary and musical entertainments. The hall is also designed to serve for the general meetings of the Setonian Alumni Association, for an indoor gymnasium, and for cadet drills.
At the commencement, June 16th, 1880, the degree of D.D. was conferred on the Very Rev. Thomas S. Preston, V.G., of New York City, and the degree of LL.D. on Frederick R. Coudert.
The Rev. William F. Marshall was appointed treasurer of the college, September, 1881, the Rev. William P. Salt retiring on account of ill health
Gen. Ellakim Parker Scammon, who died in New York City, was for a number of years professor of mathematics at Seton Hall. His name will recall many pleasant recollections to those who were here in his time and were associated with him either as professors or as students. He was born December 27th, 1816, at Whitefield, Me., graduating from West Point in 1837, fifth in a class of fifty-two, and was afterward appointed tutor of mathe- matics in that institution, having as his pupils Generals Grant, Rosecrans, and Newton, and was a room-mate of General Bragg. He took an active part in the Seminole War and served on astro- nomical work at Oswego, in 1840, and also in the States of Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Dakota. In 1846-47 he was aide to General Scott in the Mexican War, and was recommended for promotion at the battle of Vera Cruz. He had the happiness of making his first communion, August 9th, 1846, in St. Peter's Church, New York. From 1847 to 1854 he was engaged in a survey of the upper Lakes, and in 1856 resigned from the army
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and for a time lived in Virginia. He subsequently became pro- fessor of mathematics at St. Mary's College, Cincinnati, Ohio, and later director and professor of the Polytechnic College of that city.
In 1875 he accepted the chair of mathematics in Seton Hall, which he held until 1882.
He led an active life until 1893, when he was stricken with the fatal disease which caused his death, December 7th, 1894.
On March 9th, 1886, while the students and professors were all assembled at dinner, the college was again aroused by the dreaded cry of "Fire, fire!" This time the flames were seen issuing from the college building, the fire, as was afterward dis- covered, having originated in one of the dormitories on the third floor. The fire was discovered by Henry Feindt, the college shoe- maker. All hands at once set to work to extinguish the flames, but very little was saved and the building was almost a total loss.
Rev. James Corrigan sent out a circular, as Bishop McQuaid had done on a previous occasion. It reads as follows :
SETON HALL COLLEGE, SOUTH ORANGE, N. J., March 23d, 1886.
After the generous response to the soliciting of subscriptions for the erection of our Alumni Hall, it would seem a trespass on the goodness of friends to ask for new aid for our institution, but owing to the fire which on March 9th destroyed the college brick structure from roof to foundation, I have been urged to have recourse again to well-wishers of Seton Hall.
Happily the buildings left uninjured are sufficiently extensive to afford temporary accommodations for the collegiate as well as the theological department, and studies were resumed last week for the seminarians and will be resumed this week for the col- legians. Our loss by the late fire was $35,000. This was partially covered by an insurance-$14,000 on the burned building and $4,000 on the furniture.
Already some have either given or promised help. The list begins with $ 1,000 from each of two friends ; then follow contribu- tions down to $50.
The aid thus volunteered is most encouraging to start with, and strengthens the assurance that an appeal now will not go un- answered. I look, therefore, with great confidence for assistance from the friends of our institution and from my own personal friends. The sooner the aid comes the better it will be.
It is needless to say that many Masses and earnest prayers will be offered for our benefactors.
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