USA > New York > New York City > History of New York City : embracing an outline sketch of events from 1609 to 1830, and a full account of its development from 1830 to 1884 Volume II > Part 16
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53
In 1814 the Rev. John Connelly, an Irish Dominican priest, was appointed bishop of the Diocese of New York. He was consecrated at Rome in November, and reached New York early in 1816. He was an active and energetic prelate, but, worn out by overwork and anxieties, he occupied the see only about nine years, dying in 1-25. He was buried under St. Patrick's Cathedral, near the altar. During his episcopate Sisters of Charity first appeared in New York, sent thither at his request from Emmittsburg, in Maryland, to take charge of an orphan asylum established in 1817.
568
HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
The See of New York now remained vacant nearly two years, Dr. John Powers, appointed vicar-general by Bishop Connelly, administering its spiritual affairs. In October, 1826, Dr. John Dubois was consecrated bishop. There were then nearly 150.000 Roman Catholics in the diocese. over 34,000 of whom were in the city of New York, and yet there were only four or five priests in the city to administer the sacraments. He was compelled to perform the duties of parish priest, confessor, catechist, and bishop. There were but nine church edifices in all his vast diocese. Even so remote from New York as Buffalo, there were between 700 and 800 Roman Catholics in that city and its immediate vicinity. He was relieved in 1837 by the appointment of the Rev. John Hughes, pastor of St. John's Church, as coadjutor, who was con- secrated on January 8, 1838, when he immediately entered upon his duties. A fortnight after that consecration Bishop Dubois was attacked by paralysis, from which he never recovered. He lived until December, 1842. Bishop Hughes had been appointed by the Pope administrator of the diocese.
Bishop Hughes was a remarkable man. He possessed wonderful physical and mental energy, an indomitable will, and the courage to act in obedience to his convictions. He was a man of great business ability, and during his episcopate he did more for the advancement of the interests of his Church in his diocese than any man had done before. Hle promoted every means for the elevation of the intellec- tual, moral, and spiritual character of his people.
The holding of church property by trustees had been a great annoy- ance and real trouble to his predecessors in office, and, it was alleged, was the chief cause of extravagant expenditures which had burdened the churches with crushing debts. Not doubting his authority and power in the case, Bishop Hughes boldly took the church property into his own exclusive control, adopted wise measures of economy in expen- diture, and a successful plan for relieving the burdened churches through the instrumentality of a Church Debt Association. He was chiefly instrumental in establishing St. John's College and a Theolog- ical Seminary at Fordham, and the Community of the Sacred Heart for educational purposes. The latter made its permanent home at Manhattanville. *
* The community was composed of Sisters of the Sacred Heart, from France, and founded a school for girls which has since become famous. They were under the direc- tion of Madame Elizabeth Galitzen, a Russian princess.
The Academy of the Sacred Heart is now one of the oldest and best known convent schools in the country. The buildings are large and on high ground, at One Hundred
-
569
SECOND DECADE, 1840-1850.
Bishop Hughes took effectual measures against the secret societies formed for political and other purposes among his countrymen-the Irish. Desirous of assimilating the discipline and customs of the dio- cese as far as possible to the decrees of the Council of Trent, he called a synod of the Church. the first ever convened in the diocese. It met near the close of August, 1842. Twenty-three decrees were put forth. mostly propositions by the bishop in regard to the sacraments, the bap- tisi of infants in private houses, the management of church property. regulating secret societies, etc. These were all enforced by a pastoral letter, dated September Sth. Meanwhile the public mind had been vehemently excited by the discussions of the School Question, in which Bishop Hughes took a conspicuous part. This topic will be considered presently.
In 1847 the sees of Albany and Buffalo were created, and Bishop McCloskey, the coadjutor of New York, was transferred to the first- mentioned diocese. In 1850 New York was created an Archiepiscopal or Metropolitan See, with the sees of Boston, Hartford, Albany, and Buffalo as suffragans. Bishop Hughes was created archbishop. He sailed for Europe in November and received the pallium from the hands of Pope Pius IX.
Early in the same year (1850) the Jesuit Fathers began the erection of a college in New York. It was built in Fifteenth Street, between Fifth and Sixth avenues, and was completed and opened in September with the title of the College of St. Xavier. It was dedicated by the archbishop in July, 1851.
Such, in brief outline, is the history of the Roman Catholic Church in the city of New York from its first implantation to the close of the second decade, in 1849." In 1883 there were fifty-seven Roman Cath- olic churches in the city.
and Twenty-fifth Street, near Eighth Avenue. They are constructed of light-colored stone, and stand in the midst of a large and beautifully wooded park. The language of the school is French. The number of scholars is usually about two hundred.
* John Hughes, a distinguished prelate of the Roman Catholic Church in America, was the third son of Patrick Hughes, a well-to-do and highly respected farmer of Tyrone County, Ireland. His mother, Margaret Mckenna, was a devout, sweet-tempered woman, and these qualities were inherited by this son, who was born near Clogher in 1797, and died in New York January 3, 1864. Evineing a passion for learning, he was sent, for a time, to a Latin school. In 1816 his father came to America, and in 1519 the whole family settled near Chambersburg. Pa. John obtained admission to the College of Mount St. Mary, at Emmittsburg, Md. There he superintended the garden as a compen- sation for his expenses, until he might become a teacher. at the same time prosecuting his studies under a private tutor. Toward the close of 1825 he was ordained priest and placed in charge of a small mission at Bedford, Pa. A few weeks afterward he was trans-
570
HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
ferred to the pastorate of St. Joseph's Church, Philadelphia, and soon became distin- guished as a pulpit orator and a skilful man of affairs. His bold utterances in behalf of bis faith brought from the Rev. Dr. Breckenridge, a distinguished Presbyterian clergy- man, a challenge to discuss, through the press, the question, " Is the Protestant religion the religion of Christ ?" The challenge was accepted, and the discussion, able on both sides, took place in 1830. The next year Mr. Hughes built St. John's Church in Phila- delphia, of which he was rector until he was appointed coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of New York, in 1837. Meanwhile he had accepted (1834) a second challenge from Dr. Breckenridge to an oral discussion of the question, " Is the Roman Catholic Church hostile to liberty ?" This discussion created wide interest, but led to no satisfactory conclusion.
Mr. Hughes was consecrated coadjutor of the bishop on January 7, 1838, and became administrator of the diocese in 1839, which then comprised the entire State of New York and a part of New Jersey, with a Roman Catholic population of about 200,000, with only forty clergymen. Then he set about reform, as we have observed in the text ; also the founding of a college and a theological seminary. In furtherance of these objects and for obtaining aid for religious communities in his diocese, he visited Europe in 1839. During his absence the Roman Catholics of New York began an organized opposition to the public-school system of that city, of which he took the lead on his return. This movement is noticed in the text.
After the death of Bishop Dubois in 1842, Bishop Hughes succeeded him as titular bishop of the Diocese of New York, and in August of that year he convened the first diocesan synod. In March, 1844, he consecrated the Rev. John McCloskey, D.D., his coadjutor. During that spring and summer he calmed the violence of an anti-Roman Catholic spirit in New York by a judicious letter addressed to Mayor Harper. He made a second visit to Europe on behalf of the Roman Catholic cause in his diocese in 1845, and on his return President Polk desired him to go on a peace mission to Mexico, but he declined. At the request of both houses of Congress in 1847 he delivered an address in : the hall of the Representatives on " Christianity, the only Source of Moral, Social, and Political Regeneration." In 1850 the See of New York was raised to a metropolitan rank, and Bishop Hughes was created an archbishop. He presided over the first provincial council of New York in 1854. In that year he had a famous controversy with Hon. Erastus Brooks. The next year he laid the corner-stone of the new cathedral on Fifth Avenue.
At the breaking out of the Civil War in 1861 Archbishop Hughes hastened to Washing- ton to proffer to the government the aid of his priests, Sisters of Charity, and Sisters of Mercy. Late in that year he was sent by President Lincoln on a peace mission to Europe, as we shall observe hereafter. The archbishop had contracted Bright's disease of the kidneys, which gradually undermined his constitution. His last public address was made in July, 1863, to quell the draft riot in New York City. His strength now rapidly failed until his death, a few months afterward. His remains were buried under the high altar in St. Patrick's Cathedral in Mott Street, where they lay undisturbed for nineteen years. At the close of January, 1883, they were placed in a new coffin made of polished red cedar and borne to the new Cathedral, where the sister of the archbishop (Mrs. Rodrigue) and his niece (Mrs. Eugene Kelly) were waiting to receive them. The cotlin was placed on a catafalque erected in front of the high altar. On the following day (January 31st) funeral services were conducted in the Cathedral, with impressive cere- monies, in the presence of about four thousand people, among thein a large number of clergymen. These services were elosed by the solein ceremony of absolution by Cardi- nal MeCloskey, when the coffin was placed in a vault under the high altar, with no other ceremony than the singing of the chant for the repose of the soul of the dead.
*
CHAPTER VII.
T HE establishment of a church of UNIVERSALISTS in New York City was done in a peculiar manner. A few discourses in advocacy of the doctrine of universal salvation had been preached in the city by the Rev. John Murray (who had been a Methodist class-leader) for several years, but nothing permanent in the form of a church organization had been effected. At length. in the spring of 1796, Abraham E. Brouwer. Richard Snow, John Degrauw, William Palmer, Jacob Clinch .* Edward Mitchell, and two or three others, who were prominent and earnest members of the John Street Methodist Church, having adopted a belief in the final salvation and happiness of all men, withdrew from the church. They organized an association entitled the Society of United Christian Friends in the City of New York, consisting of four- teen persons. Their constitution provided for the annual election of an elder, who was to perform the functions of a pastor in the administra- tion of the Lord's Supper and other matters.
In this simple way the society worshipped for several years. They gradually increased in numbers, and in 1803 they ordained Mr. Mitchell (who possessed peculiar gifts) for the ministry, and made him their regular pastor. After worshipping in different places they built a church edifice of brick in Augusta Street, now City Hall Place, in ISIs. Unhappily, dissensions arose among them concerning matters of disci- pline and faith. A rigid rule was adopted and enforced, requiring every member to abstain from worshipping elsewhere whenever there were services in their own church. This abridgment of persons! liberty caused members to fall away. A portion of the congregation were Trinitarians, and another portion were Unitarians. This state of things bore the fruit of contentions and alienations, and the society
* Mr. Clinch became in after years the father-in-law of the great merchant, A. T. Stew- art. When the latter came to New York from Ireland he brought letters of introduction to Mr. Mitchell, one of the founders of the First Universalist Church in New York, and was then its pastor. It used to be said Stewart was "consigned to Mitchell." He attended his church in City Hall Place, and there he first became acquainted with Miss Clinch, whom he afterward married.
572
HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
gradually dwindled. They rented their place of worship and retired to a hall in Forsyth Street. Mr. Mitchell being a Trinitarian, the majority of the First Universalist Church were of that faith, and when, in 1845, they ceased to hold meetings, they joined the Episcopalians.
There were more bitter prejudices against the Universalists than against the Roman Catholics among " orthodox" Christians of that day. The Universalists were regarded as the most hopeless heretics, and suffered social ostracism. "When I went to school I was hooted at by the other boys, and treated as if I were an Indian," says the now venerable John W. Degrauw, " because my father was a Univer- salist," and one of the seceders from the John Street Church. There were also as blind prejudices among the Universalists of that day. When the Rev. William E. Channing first visited New York, there was no Unitarian church there, and a request was made for the use of Mr. Mitchell's church for him to preach in. It was refused, on the ground of Mr. Channing's heterodoxy, and he preached in the Acad- emy of Physicians in Barclay Street. There were as strong preju- dices against the Methodists. A Calvinistic minister would not sit beside a Methodist even at a funeral ! Happily, those days of dark- ness are overpast, with the exception of some lingering shadows, and we are sitting in the warm morning sunlight of a brighter era, in which " pure and undefiled religion," defined by St. James as this, " To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world," is regarded as true orthodoxy.
In 1824 a second Universalist church was organized. They built a house of worship on the corner of Prince and Marion streets. Their second minister was the notorious Abner Kneeland, whose impious utterances soon scattered the congregation, and the church was sold to the Union Presbyterians in 1830. At about the same time the Rev. Thomas J. Sawyer gathered a congregation in Grand Street. They purchased a house of worship in Orchard Street, and there a large and flourishing congregation was permanently established. Mr. Sawyer left the charge in 1545.
In 1832 a fourth Universalist church was organized, and in 1836 erected a substantial meeting-house on the corner of Bleecker and Downing streets. It, too, soon became a large and flourishing congre- gation. Two other churches were organized, one worshipping in Eliza- beth Street and the other in Houston Street. The latter built a neat church edifice in Fourth Street, near Avenue C, in 1843. At the close of this decade there were six Universalist churches in New York ; in 1883 there are only four.
3
Figure & Sachfor
573
SECOND DECADE, 1840-1850.
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.
The first Congregational church in New York City was organisslan 1504 by the Rev. John Townley, a Congregational minister, ยป !.. labored in an old frame building, where he gathered about him fity one hundred members. He was assisted occasionally by the Rev. Archibald Maclay, who was then a Congregationalist. This society erected a house of worship in Elizabeth Street, between Walker and Houston streets, which they first occupied in 1809. Pecuniary embar- rassments followed, and their house was sold four or five years after- ward to the Asbury (colored) Methodists.
In 1816 J. S. C. F. Frey, a converted Jew and an Independent or Congregational minister, came from England to New York. He began preaching in a school-house in Mulberry Street in 1817. where a Congregational church was organized. Mr. Frey was installed pastor of the church in 1818 by the Westchester and Morris County Presby- tery. In October, 1821, the form of government was changed to Presbyterian. About 1817 another Congregational church was formed. and worship was regularly held in a building on Broadway, near Anthony Street, but it was soon scattered. Another church was formed in 1819, which built a house of worship on Thompson Street. near Broome Street. This church was in existence at the close of this decade. Another, known as the Broome Street Congregational Church, was organized about 1820, but it lived only two or three years. A Welsh Congregational church was founded about 1825, and first worshipped in a building in Mulberry Street. In 1833 they changed their form of government to Presbyterian. They were Welsh Calvinists.
The Rev. Mr. Finney. the famous Presbyterian "revivalist." left the Chatham Street Chapel in 1836, and with a large portion of his congregation formed a free Congregational church at the Broadway Tabernacle. Those who remained at the chapel adopted the Congre. gational form of government. They finally erected a brick edifice in Chrystie Street, and were worshipping there at the close of this decade, with nearly three hundred communicants.
During the second decade several Congregational churches were organized and experienced vicissitudes. Of these the most eminent and enduring was the Church of the Puritans, of which the Rev. George B. Cheever was the founder and pastor. On Sunday evening. March 15, 1846, he began preaching in the chapel of the New Yor.
574
HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
University, and in April he had gathered a sufficient congregation to warrant a church organization, which at first consisted of about sixty members. In May Mr. Cheever was installed as their pastor, and ground was purchased on the corner of Fifteenth Street and Union Square, on the west, on which an elegant structure was soon erected. At the close of this decade there were eight living Congregational churches in the city. Nine others had become extinct. In 1853 there were only five.
NEW JERUSALEM CHURCH.
Emanuel Swedenborg was the founder of a new church. His followers in New York City, known as Swedenborgians, organized a congregation there in 1808. They met for religious purposes in a school-house in James Street for some years. About 1816 they adopted a constitution, styling themselves the Association of the City of New York for the Dissemination of the Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem. They bought a house of worship in 1821 in Pearl Street. between Chatham and Cross streets. The society decreasing, the building was sold, but the organization survived, and in 1840 they chose the Rev. B. F. Barrett to be their pastor. He filled that station until a few years ago. The society now (1883) has a house of worship in Thirty-fifth Street.
A second New Jerusalem church was organized in 1841, composed of thirteen members. They assembled in the chapel of the New York University.
UNITARIAN CHURCH.
The first religious service in New York City by a Unitarian preacher was held by the Rev. William Ellery Channing in a private house in April, 1819. On May 10th he preached in the Academy of Physicians or Medical College in Barclay Street. The first Unitarian Congrega- tional church was founded on the 24th of that month, and was incor- porated in November of that year. In the following spring a hand- some church edifice was begun in Chambers Street, west of Broadway. and was dedicated in January, 1821. The sermon on that occasion was delivered by the Rev. Edward Everett (the statesman) of Boston. then twenty-seven years of age. The Rev. William Ware was its first pastor. Hle resigned in 1836, after which the church was destitute of a pastor for two or three years. The late Rev. Henry W. Bellows. D.D., was ordained its pastor in January, 1839. He was then only twenty-five years of age. So rapidly did the congregation thereare
i
575
SECOND DECADE, 1840-1850.
that a few years afterward a new, spacious, and elegant structure was erected on Broadway, between Spring and Prince streets, at a cost of $90,000. It was capable of seating 1300 persons. It was dedicated in October, 1845, under the name of the Church of the Divine Unity, and was in a flourishing condition at the close of the second decade. A new church edifice was afterward built on the corner of Fourth Avenue and Twentieth Street, and dedicated with the name of All Souls' Church. In that church Dr. Bellows labored until his death, early in 1882.
Soon after the church edifice in Chambers Street was erected. it became so crowded that members living " up town" concluded to form a second congregation. A house of worship was built in Prince Street. west of Broadway, and opened for service in December. 1826, under the name of the Church of the Messiah. The sermon on that occasion was preached by the Rev. Dr. Channing. The first pastor was the Rev. W. Lunt, who was ordained in June, 1828. Ile resigned in 1533. and within a few years afterward the late Rev. Orville Dewey filled the position. He was installed its pastor in 1835. The church edifice was destroyed by fire in November, 1837. The site of the building was sold, and a large and substantial place of worship was built of rough granite on the east side of Broadway, near Washington Square, and dedicated in 1839, under the old name of the Church of the Messiah. It now (1883) has a spacious church edifice on the corner of Thirty-fourth Street and Park Avenue, with the Rev. Dr. Collyer as pastor. In 1883 there were three Unitarian churches in the city.
THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.
An organization bearing the simple title of the Christian Church was formed in New York in the year 1829. under the preaching of the Rev. Simon Clough. They built a house of worship on the corner of Broome and Norfolk streets. The church was soon involved in pecuniary embarrassment, their house of worship was sold, and the organization was dissolved. A few active members formed a new church in 1841. In 1544 they began the erection of a new church edifice in Suffolk Street. It was opened in 1844.
This sect hold to baptism by immersion, and reject infant baptist and the doctrine of the Trinity. They discard all written creeds and confessions of faith, taking the Bible simply as the rule of faith and church government. making Christian character only the test of fellow- ship.
576
HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
Such is the brief history and such the condition of the churches in New York City at the close of the second decade, in 1849. More than sixty once formed were then extinct .*
Allusion has been made to excitements in New York caused by the discussions of the School Question at the beginning of the second decade. This question had been a cause of much controversy for fifteen years, because it involved antagonisms of religious faiths and ecclesiastical organizations. Various religious denominations had par- ticipated in or had been refused participation in the benefits of the public money placed under the control, first of the Free School Society and then of the Public School Society. The latter used these moneys in accordance with a system different from that which prevailed in other parts of the State.
The Public School Society was a close corporation, and had supreme control of money intrusted to it. The subject had been before the Legislature for decision as to the distribution of the school fund in the city of New York. That body finally passed an act transferring the whole subject of the local distribution of the school fund to the common council of the city of New York, with full power to make such an assignment as they might deem just and proper. This led to important debates in that body, and the appearance of some of the best talent in the city in arguments before the city legislators.
Early in 1840 the trustees of the Roman Catholic free schools applied to the common council for a proportionate share in the distribution of the school fund. The number of their schools, the certainty of their rapid increase, and the powerful influence of the applicants made the matter one of serious consideration. The Public School Society sub- mitted a remonstrance against the application, and the common council chamber became the arena for the display of the most remarkable talent on both sides. As indicated by the personal recollections of the writer, the utterances of the public press, the pulpit, and at public meetings of citizens called to consider and to act upon what was felt to be a question of the first importance, the public excitement in the city was almost universal and most intense. Lawyers like Hiram Ketcham, employed by the Public School Society, and clergymen like Dr. Spring, who volunteered their services in support of the Protestant view of the case, appeared in arguments before the common council, and were met
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.