USA > New Jersey > The Catholic Church in New Jersey > Part 8
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rear. Some of the bodies were removed when the new church and its several extensions were built, but many of those old pioneer predecessors of ours still rest beneath the shadow of old St. John's. The first offshoot of this old church was St. Mary's, High Street, in 1842. Then followed St. Patrick's in 1848, which became the cathedral of the diocese in November, 1853. The other churches of the city were erected at varied intervals of a few years as the demands of necessity and opportuneness required. The growth of our faith in Newark during Father Moran's period was some- thing marvellous. He saw its first church and welcomed its first bishop. He was a man of earnest and persevering character, though by no means possessing rugged health. 'His body fainted, his heart-never !'
"The first native of Newark ordained to the priesthood was Daniel G. Durning, son of Charles Durning, and its first ladies to embrace a religious life in the sisterhood were Winifred and Anna, daughters of Patrick Hart, then superintendent of the Mount Pleasant Cemetery. Of the latter, all are still living " (Sacred Heart Union, March, 1881).
As the cost of the building exceeded the estimate by a con- siderable sum, it was judged advisable to put the pews up at auc- tion. The first pew to the right of the middle aisle brought forty- two dollars, and the other pews brought smaller but respectable sums. By this sale a handsome fund was realized, and some of the more urgent bills of the contractors were paid. But there was still a large balance of unpaid indebtedness, and general stagnation of business ensuing, the trustees found themselves unexpectedly called on for payment and the church in danger of being sold. In this emergency, good Bishop Dubois came to the rescue. Through his friend, Bishop Brutè, he secured a loan of 22,960 francs from the association of the Propagation of the Faith, with which the claims were paid, and from that time, 1829, St. John's parish pros- pered. The Rev. Gregory B. Pardow, the founder of the church, labored faithfully with the parish for three years, and through his energy, tact, and zeal insured its success. He was followed by the Rev. Matthew Herard, October 7th, 1832, and the Rev. P. Rafferty, October 13th, 1833.
On November 3d, 1833, the Rev. Patrick Moran was appointed pastor. He was eminently fitted for the place. He possessed good judgment, a refined and correct taste, and an educated mind. Under his management the affairs of St. John's advanced rapidly, despite the panic of 1837, and the sterling qualities of
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their pastor continued to win for the congregation the confidence of their non-Catholic neighbors. Father Moran soon had a library of eight hundred and fifty volumes in circulation. He organized church societies, literary, temperance, and benevolent associations. He erected a school-house and arranged for the free education during the evening of such as could not attend the day school. But his chief source of pleasure and pride was in his Sunday- school, which he raised to a high degree of excellence. Connected with the Sunday-school was a teachers' association, which was a model of its kind.
The Puritan element in those days confounded Catholicity with the nationality of St. Patrick's children, and hence to show their contempt for both, on March 17th, they were in the habit of hang- ing a stuffed "Paddy," a string of potatoes around his neck and a bottle sticking out of his pocket, from a tree or high pole; and they took great delight enjoying the wrath and discomfiture of the Paddies. This kind of amusement was very popular all over the State, and sometimes these insulting figures were hung from Cath- olic churches. The last of these effigies to appear was about the middle of the fifties. It was strung across Broad Street, near the old First Church, Newark, from a noble elm to a house on the other side of the street. That night a good number of stalwart Irishmen, some Orangemen among the number, armed with axes, marched to the offensive figure, and, plying their weapon with lusty blows, the noble tree soon crashed across the street, carry- ing with it the ignoble sign, and blocked all traffic in the roadway. The lesson was taken to heart, and insolent bigotry was silent, if not extinct.
When the late Most Rev. James Roosevelt Bayley, D.D., was appointed first bishop of Newark, one of his first acts was to ap- point the Rev. Patrick Moran his vicar-general. The Very Rev. Patrick Moran, V. G., born in Loughrea, Ireland, in 1798, edu- cated at Mount St. Mary's, and ordained November 9th, 1832, was made pastor of St. John's, Newark, in succession to the Rev. P. Rafferty, November, 1833. He enlarged the church several times, acting as his own architect, designing the façade as it now is, and making many, if not all, of the interior ornaments with his own hands. Under him St. John's was the first consecrated church in the diocese. During a long pastorate of thirty-three years he labored incessantly with his own, and endeared himself to those of other denominations. Of a bright and cheerful dispo- sition, he imparted the glow of his kindly nature to all those with
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whom he came in contact, and more than all with the children. He is buried in old St. John's cemetery, in the rear of St. Michael's Church. He died July 25th, 1866.
The Freeman's Journal wrote of him, August 4th, 1866: "No notice we could write would do justice to the earnest and gentle character of Father Moran. He was sedulous in the discharge of
ST. JOHN'S CHURCH, MULBERRY STREET, NEWARK.
his duties as a pastor, watchful of what might promote religion, and fond of his library and his books. Of a highly cultivated mind, he had a most playful and exquisite wit, but it was of that rare kind that never offends charity." Archbishop McCloskey, Bishop Bacon, and many priests attended his funeral. Bishop Bayley preached amid the sobs of the congregation, the tears streaming from his own eyes. "Father Moran's systematic habits,
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the care and devotion with which he recited the divine office, the earnestness with which he prepared children for the first recep- tion of holy Communion and Confirmation-his reverence for the house of God and His sanctuary-all showed what an influence that saintly man (Bishop Brutè) made upon his disciples " (Diary of Bishop Bayley). St. John's is the oldest church in the State, and the present is the fourth structure; and it was consecrated May, 1858.
After the death of Vicar-General Moran, which occurred July 25th, 1866, the following were successively rectors of St. John's church: Rev. James Moran, nephew of the deceased rector, No- vember, 1866; Rev. Louis Schneider, November, 1867; Rev. Thomas M. Killeen, who built the new rectory adjoining the church and did much for St. John's, November, 1868; Rev. Pat- rick Leonard was rector in December, 1878; Rev. Louis Gambos- ville, who personally and with great care and labor rewrote the church's records of births and marriages from the foundation to his time, and who was the second incumbent to die (January, 1892); Rev. Thomas A. Wallace, administrator, from January, 1892, to February 27th, 1892; and February, 1892, Rev. J. P. Poels, the incumbent. The assistant rectors were Rev. Fathers Guth, 1837; Farrell, 1838; Bacon, 1838; Donahue, 1845; Hana- han, 1846; Callan, 1848; Senez, 1849; Conroy, 1852; McGuire, 1853; Tubberty, 1854; Castet, 1858; McCloskey, 1860; Byrne, 1861; Moran, 1863; Wiseman, 1867; Rolando, 1867; Nardiello, 1867; Whelan, 1878; Corrigan, 1879; White, 1882; McGahan, 1892; and John A. Fanning, D.D. Rev. Father Poels is now rector of St. John's, and his administration has already been signalized by a marked advancement of church affairs and an entire renovation of the church property.
The history of St. John's is in very fact the history of Cathol- icity in New Jersey. The "mother of all the churches" of the diocese, from her sanctuary have gone forth several zealous and exemplary missionaries to propagate the faith, and among these may be mentioned Most Rev. Michael Augustine Corrigan, D.D., Archbishop of New York; the late Very Rev. James A. Corri- gan, for several years vice-president of Seton Hall College; Rev. George W. Corrigan, of St. Joseph's, Newark; and the late Rev. Martin O'Connor, of Peoria, Ill.
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St. John's Church, Paterson.
THE first priest who placed his foot within what are at present the corporate limits of the city of Paterson was Father Philip Larriscy, an Augustinian monk who spoke Irish well and came here from New York, probably in 1822. Just what year he came here is not positively known, but it seems to be tolerably well estab- lished that he was here for some years previous to Father Lang- - ton. The name of this priest is generally misspelled. He was the Rev. Arthur Langdill, and was given faculties throughout the diocese of New York by Bishop Connolly, October 22d, 1817.
The first Mass in Paterson was celebrated in the residence of Michael Gillespie, which stood in Market Street on the site of the present Ekings building. Father Larriscy was a missionary priest who travelled between New York and Philadelphia and visited Paterson every few weeks.
Father Langdill was the second priest who celebrated Mass in Paterson. The Gillespies had removed to Belleville, and so a room for the holding of divine service was fitted up in the resi- dence of Robert McNamee on the corner of Broadway and Mul- berry Street. Here the Catholics attended Mass for several years. Father Langdill was also a missionary priest, going from New York to Paterson, to Macopin, Bottle Hill, and other places ; then returning to Paterson, which was a more important Catholic settlement than any in this part of the State. On his return to New York from Paterson Father Langdill stopped at the residence of Mr. Gillespie at Belleville, and after celebrating Mass there pro- ceeded to Newark, where there were very few Catholics, and from thence to New York. This seems to have been the route taken by the earlier Catholic clergymen, for even Father Bulger, who was not ordained until 1815, said Mass in the residence of Mr. Gillespie.
Father Richard Bulger was educated at Kilkenny College, Ire- land, and was ordained a priest in 1815 by Bishop Connolly. He was for some time the assistant pastor of the Cathedral in New York, but spent most of his nine years of priesthood in adminis- tering spiritual consolation to the Catholics in Paterson and vicinity. It was he who in 1820 erected the first building used exclusively for divine service by Catholics in Paterson, and he was the first parish priest in this city. Previous to this time he followed in the footsteps of his predecessors in journeying from
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place to place, preaching the word of God by the way and saying Mass and administering the rites of the Church whenever oppor-
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ST. JOHN'S CHURCH, MAIN AND GRAND STREETS, PATERSON.
tunity afforded. In 1821 Mr. Roswell L. Colt, in behalf of the Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures, offered to all the
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various denominations in Paterson ground on which to erect houses of worship. This generous offer was accepted by the Cath- olics, and in this way they came into possession of a piece of prop- erty situated on the southwest corner of Congress (now Market) and Mill streets. The deed was given to the Catholics "for the purpose of erecting, maintaining, and keeping a building or house for the public worship of God," a clause in the deed providing for reversion of the property to the donor as soon as the property was used for any other purpose than that of divine worship. There were at that time only thirteen Catholic families in Pater -- son, but the prejudice against the Catholic Church which charac- terized its earlier history in this country had subsided, and the Catholics received aid from persons of other denominations. This, added to their own generous gifts of money and labor, pro- duced a building 25 x 30 feet in size and one story high. The room was furnished with a plain altar and a number of wooden benches without backs, which served as pews, and the attendance on Sundays did not exceed fifty, unless there was an influx of Catholics from some village not supplied with a church. Mass was celebrated every Sunday morning and vespers in the after- noon. The church was named for St. John the Baptist, and the building still stands where it was erected in 1821, although it has been considerably altered. Father Bulger was taken sick in 1824, while assistant pastor at the Cathedral in New York, where he died in November of that year. He was buried in front of St. Patrick's Cathedral.
Although Father Bulger's years as a priest were few, they were devoted to the cause of the Lord with an energy and faith- fulness which made him so prominent a figure in the early his- tory of the Church in Paterson.
The Rev. John Shanahan, the successor of Father Bulger, was appointed missionary of the State of New Jersey-so much of it as was included in the diocese of New York-from Jersey City to the neighborhood of Trenton-with Paterson as a centre. He had been educated at Mount St. Mary's, and ordained in 1823 by Bishop Connolly. On leaving Paterson he was associated with Father Moran in St. John's, Newark, 1846, to May 9th, 1848; thence he went to Utica, and afterward to California. He re- turned to New York and found a home in St. Peter's, where, although deprived of his sight, he led a cheerful life, edifying his priestly penitents by his resignation and serenity. After hear- ing their confession, the penance he usually gave them was; "For
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your penance you will now sit down and read this book for me for fifteen minutes." He died August 8th, 1870, aged seventy-eight years.
Father Charles Brennan-or Brannin, as it is printed in con- temporaneous newspapers-came next. He had been educated in Kilkenny College, Ireland, and had been ordained by Bishop Con- nolly in 1822. He conceived the idea of erecting a new church, as the Catholics were rapidly increasing in numbers, and proceeded to carry his design into execution. He made a number of tours through the surrounding country soliciting subscriptions, and it was while thus engaged that he was taken sick. He went to New York, where he died in March, 1826, and his remains were in- terred by the side of Father Bulger.
While Father Brennan was lying sick in New York, Father John Conroy-uncle of the late Bishop John J. Conroy of Albany -was sent to Paterson to look after the welfare of St. John's con- gregation. Father Conroy was educated in Mount St. Mary's College and was ordained by Bishop Connolly in 1825. He was subsequently assistant at the Cathedral in New York and assist- ant at St. Lawrence's Church in Eighty-fourth Street, New York. He died chaplain of Calvary Cemetery.
Father Francis O'Donoghue was the next priest. He took · up the work left unfinished by Father Shanahan and collected money for the new church. The construction of the Morris Canal at this time brought to Paterson a large number of Cath- olic Irishmen, and it was found that the congregation of St. John's received such numerous accessions that it was necessary to con- struct a gallery in the church building on Congress and Mill streets. Mr. Colt, in behalf of the Society for Establishing Use- ful Manufactures, showed a disposition not to extend to the Cath- olic Church any favors he had not shown to congregations of other denominations, and at first refused to give the church any more property or permit the sale of the real estate on which the church was situated. Rt. Rev. Bishop Du Bois then came to Paterson, and he and Father O'Donoghue called to see Mr. Colt. After a conference Mr. Colt was induced to withdraw his objections to the sale of the Mill Street property, and the congregation obtained from him the tract of land on Oliver Street on which stands the church in which St. John's congregation worshipped nearly a third of a century.
The consideration mentioned in the deed from the Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures to the trustees of St. John's
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Chapel is $2,000, but this amount is charged to Roswell L. Colt on the society's journal, folio 153, so that the Oliver Street prop- erty was a gift from Mr. Colt himself. There is a clause in the will of Mr. Colt by which his executors are directed to donate to charities one-tenth of his estate unless it shall appear that he during his lifetime had already disposed of one-tenth of his estate in this manner.
Father O'Donoghue was greatly assisted in his work by a young man named Ambrose Manahan, who boarded at Mr. Hugh Brady's house and who re- ceived his instructions for the priesthood from Father O'Donoghue. Mr. Manahan was a young man of brilliant genius ; he subsequently went to the Propaganda at Rome, where he was ordained priest on August 29th, 1841, by Cardinal Franzoni and made a doctor of divinity ; he sub- sequently returned to this country, where he became president of St. John's Col- lege and pastor of St. Jo- seph's Church in New York. His remains lie buried in New York.
RIGHT REV. JOHN DU BOIS, D.D., Third Bishop (1826) of New York. Born Aug. 24th, 1764. Died Dec. 20th, 1842.
The arrangements for the building of a new church in Oliver Street were made in 1828, the year in which the trustees of St. John's Church obtained the grant of the land from Mr. Colt. Rt. Rev. Bishop Du Bois, who had so generously interested himself in the welfare of the congregation, solicited subscriptions, and among others obtained one of $2,000 from a Southern gentleman. Father Duffy and the trustees of the church were indefatigable in their efforts and in 1829 the foundation of the new church was laid. It was intended to erect a church fifty-five feet front and one hundred feet deep, and the work progressed favorably until the foundation wall had been erected and the lower window frames fixed in their places. Unfortunate dissensions among the mem- bers of the congregation then arose, and to this was added the debate of the question whether Church property in the State
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should be held by trustees, as had hitherto been the case, or whether the title to the Church property should be vested in the name of the bishop of the diocese. The result was that the work on the new church was stopped for the time being and the con- gregation continued worshipping in the old church, on Market and Mill streets, which had been somewhat improved. In 1832 the trustees of the church were Charles O'Neill, John P. Brown, Joseph Warren, Andrew Lynch, James D. Kiley, and Andrew Griffith. There was no question that the church on Market and Mill streets was too small and that something had to be done to accommodate the constantly and rapidly increasing congregation. So in the early part of 1833 the trustees above mentioned, together with a number of other gentlemen prominent in the church, held a meeting in the yard of the old church on Market and Mill streets and deliberated what to do. It was soon apparent that there were two factions. The one faction favored doubling the size of the church on Market and Mill streets and abandoning the Oliver Street enterprise. The other faction, of which Mr. O'Neill was the leader, insisted that a new church be erected on Oliver Street, and Mr. O'Neill argued strongly in favor of this project. The meeting finally adjourned without having come to any conclusion. The friends of the Oliver Street church then visited their oppo- nents at their residences, and by dint of argument and persuasion finally induced them to give their consent to the new project, so that at a meeting held two weeks after the first meeting it was resolved to go on with the work on Oliver Street. It was then discovered that some of the trustees and a portion of the congre- gation favored constructing the church on the foundations as originally built in 1829; the larger and more conservative ele- ment considered the limited resources of the church and finally prevailed. Changes were made in the plans, a portion of the foundation was taken down, so as to bring the windows nearer to the ground, and the second Catholic church in Paterson was erected. The church on Mill and Market streets had been sold for $1,625. Subscriptions came in better than had been antici- pated and the church was compelled to borrow but little; that little was raised on the individual notes of prominent Catholics, and when the church was completed there was very little debt.
The work on the church was done under the superintendence of the trustees and Father Patrick Duffy, the pastor of the church. Father Duffy had no clergyman to assist him, but his energy and untiring zeal were equal to all occasions; and when he left Pater-
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son in 1836 it was with the sincerest regrets of all the members of the congregation, and the most hearty wishes for his future welfare followed him to the new scenes of his labors, Newburg, Cold Spring, and Poughkeepsie, N. Y. Catholicity had not as yet taken deep root in that vicinity and Father Duffy had a large field but a small flock. With the increase in the number of the Catholics more priests were needed, and Father Duffy confined his labors to the city of Newburg, where he died, June 20th, 1853.
Father Duffy was succeeded by Father Philip O'Reilly, who still lives in the pleasant recollections of hundreds of citizens of Paterson. He continued until 1845 as the sole shepherd of St. John's congregation. He was a large and powerfully built man, of commanding presence and very social qualities. "Mad Phil " he was called by his brother priests, and was often seen walking through the streets with a string of game, gun over his shoulder, followed by his hounds, in true hunting dress. He mixed a great deal with persons of other faiths, and by his sociability, brilliancy, and powerful arguments succeeded in destroying a great deal of prejudice which had previously existed against the Catholic religion.
A plate was always set for him at Colonel Colt's table, who was to the end a most ardent admirer of the bluff, honest, yet withal devoted priest. It is related of him that summoned, as well as the leading priests of the diocese, to the archbishop's resi- dence in Mott Street, and displeased with the nature of the busi- ness they were called to discuss, he arose to take his departure. Bishop Hughes attempted to stop him. "Stand aside, sir; this is no place for me, when my people are dying of the cholera," and off he went.
Father O'Reilly belonged to one of the oldest and most respectable families in Ireland. He was born in the town of Scraba, County Cavan, a county which was once called O'Reilly's county. He traced his ancestry back to beyond the time of James I., and at the time of his labors in Paterson some of his kinsmen were still in possession of the estates which had belonged to the family for centuries. He was educated in Spain, being a member of the order of St. Dominic, and trav- elled through Italy, France, and England. For some years he was chaplain to the Duke of Norfolk, a position of ease and honor. The duties there were, however, not enough for the restless and untiring spirit of Father O'Reilly, and so when less than thirty years of age he left Europe to seek for sterner 6
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duties in this country. He was first stationed at Poughkeepsie and then came to Paterson. From this city he went to Cold Spring, N. Y., where he built the first Catholic church. He was then removed to West Troy, and afterward placed in charge of St. Bridget's Church in New York. As pastor of this church he died in the sixty-second year of his life on the 7th of December, 1854. His remains were interred on the 9th of the same month in St. Patrick's Cathedral, the funeral being attended by a large concourse of admiring and sorrowful friends, both of the clergy and laity.
In the latter part of the pastorate of Father O'Reilly the congregation of St. John's had so increased in numbers that it was found necessary to enlarge the church. Steps were accord- ingly taken in this direction, but the project was not carried into execution until some time after the advent of Father James Quin, who came to Paterson in 1845. There was considerable discussion concerning the plans of the addition, and the work was not begun until 1846. Instead of erecting the church to the size of the old foundation walls-which had been entirely torn down and used in the construction of the first part of the church in 1833-the build- ing was made thirteen feet longer, so that the present size of the church is one hundred and thirteen feet deep and fifty-five front. The original plot of land obtained from Mr. Colt would not have permitted the erection of a building of that size, and so an arrangement was entered into with the county-which at that time was contemplating the erection of the present county jail- by which the congregation deeded to the county a gore of land in return for another gore of similar size. The addition to the church was built by Col. Andrew Derrom, and resulted in a vexa- tious lawsuit which was decided in favor of the congregation. Shortly after the completion of the addition the seating capacity of the church was considerably enlarged by the erection of a gal- lery on the sides of the church. The seating capacity of the church was about thirteen hundred. As was the case with the first half of the church building, the moneys needed for the construction came in in a very satisfactory manner, so that the church had very little debt when the structure was accepted from the contractors.
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