USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Catholicity in northern Ohio and in the diocese of Cleveland from 1749 to December 31, 1900, Volume I, pt1 > Part 6
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"At the French settlement [La Prairie], 9 miles from Lower
(l) Catholic Telegraph, July 31, 1841.
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A HISTORY OF CATHOLICITY
Sandusky, there was a neat little rural chapel dedicated to St. Philomena. We could not help thinking of the early missionaries, as we approached this sequestered spot in a boat, and again darted by it at our departure, stretched in a light canoe. There is another French settlement [Toussaint] on the Toussaint river, 16 miles from Lower Sandusky, which we had not time to visit. Besides these there are several other stations, such as Marblehead, Port Clinton, etc., which receive as much pastoral care as the extent of the mission will allow.
MAUMEE.
"From Lower Sandusky to Perrysburg, united by a bridge there over the Maumee river, below Fort Meigs to Maumee City, the road lies through the Black Swamp, 31 miles in length. The road is one of the best macadamized in the Union. * * There were fewer signs of temporal prosperity around Perrysburg [Maumee] since we visited there four years ago than we had an- ticipated. It is, however, too soon yet to see the beneficial results of the great public works, canals, railroads and turnpikes that terminate or intersect here. *
"The members of the congregation [at Maumee] had, as is everywhere the case, greatly increased; and one of the handsomest churches in the State, owing to the zeal of Rev. Mr. McNamee, the proverbial generosity of the Irish Catholics on the public works, and the kindness of a few citizens of other denominations, belongs to them. It was built in part for the Episcopalians, who, for some reason or other, have never occupied it. This church is frame, 65 x 35 feet, of proportionate height, surmounted by tower and
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steeple. *
* It will be dedicated to God, under the patronage of St. Joseph. We remained here four days, and though we are three in number, viz: Rev. Messrs. Machebeuf, McNamee and the Bishop, we were constantly employed. We had preaching three or four times a day. On Sunday there was no service in any of the other churches, many of whose people came to ours, as they did during the week, and several among them heard with astonishment what undeniable testimony the Scripture exhibits to sustain those peculiar tenets of our Holy Faith, with which the prejudices of their education had hitherto taught them to consider utterly incom- patible.
"The Methodist clergyman in charge invited the Bishop to preach a temperance address in his church, but he politely declined, remarking that the Catholic church was large enough, he thought, for any audience that could be collected, and he preferred to see Catholics frequent no church but their own, on any occasion.
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IN NORTHERN OHIO.
Indeed, he had stated, in detail, the previous Sunday, many per- emptory reasons why, on the subject of temperance, as well as any others, Catholics should go to hear no preacher who could not offer them a sufficient guarantee that he was not likely to rush into the wildest extremes of fanaticism and error. The church was thronged at the temperance address. *
"There were twenty-five confirmed. Three or four priests would have more than enough to do in this part of the diocese. And yet the harvest is rotting for want of laborers!
12. REPORT OF BISHOP PURCELL'S VISIT TO NORTHERN OHIO, IN 1841.1
. CANTON-ST. JOHN'S.
“* * We reached Canton at sundown, on Saturday, 6th November. Rarely have we been more consoled than we were at this visitation, seeing and hearing of the peace which reigns throughout this congregation, and of the assiduity of its members in approaching the holy sacraments, under the pastoral care of Rev. Matthias Wuerz. One hundred and twenty were confirmed, and the faithful, after sermons in English and German [in the latter language by Very Rev. Fr. Henni, who accompanied Bishop Purcell on his visitation], were exhorted to build at least one church more for the use of the German Catholics, the present being a great deal too small for either portion of the congregation.
LOUISVILLE.
The following Thursday, one hundred and forty persons received the same sacrament [confirmation ] at St. Louis' Church, Louisville, Stark county, where Rev. Mr. de Goesbriand is stationed among a flock composed chiefly of French emigrants.
* * It would be impossible, we think, to witness more solemnity and decorum than we here observed in the reception of the sacra- ments, or in the assistance at the Divine Sacrifice. *
RANDOLPH.
"On Friday morning we attended at St. Martin's [St. -
Joseph's], near Randolph [Centre], where a beautiful frame church was consumed [?] three years ago, with its furniture, by some base incendiary, whom the spirit of the first schismatic is suspected, we fear but too truly, to have instigated to the sacri- legious deed. Very Rev. Mr. Henni preached a most affecting sermon on the occasion, and all the congregation, with only one or
(1) Catholic Telegraph, December 11, 1841.
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A HISTORY OF CATHOLICITY
at most two exceptions, knelt down with abundance of tears to ask pardon from God and the grace of repentance for the perpetrators of so deadly a crime. From this place Rev. Mr. Henni went to Hanover, Columbiana county, at the request of the German [?] congregation of St. Paul's [then near Dungannon].
AKRON.
The Bishop proceeded [alone] to Akron, where he said Mass in the house of a German, Mr. Meyer, and with some Irish Catholics and other friends endeavored to provide for the erection of a church for the Catholics of this rapidly growing town, and Cuyahoga Falls, three miles north.
CHIPPEWA [DOYLESTOWN].
We were at St. Francis Xavier's Church (Rev. Mr. Schorb's) on the following Sunday [November 14th]. The church was then dedicated and thirty-eight persons were con- firmed. We know not if a larger assembly was ever before con- gregated in so small a space. The building should have been three or four times as large to afford room for all who crowded to the ceremony, and yet the most perfect order was observed during the holy sacrifice and the instruction.
WOOSTER.
"On Tuesday evening, [Nov. 16], the Bishop preached to a crowded audience in the court house at Wooster, standing, as it were, according to his own observation, on the grave of his venerated predecessor, whose heroic sacrifices and sublime devo- tion in the work of an apostle would, he hoped, obtain more than human efficacy for his feeble words. Next morning, after church at Mr. Christian Juncker's, he preached, again by request, in the court house, on the Catholic doctrine of Transubstantiation. We noticed four preachers of different sects taking notes of his sermon.
"We heard with exceeding regret of several in this neighbor- hood who had joined 'other religions,' because there was none of their own to go to. * * It is confidently hoped that with the generously promised aid of a few Catholics we shall soon have a church in Wooster, where nearly all the sects have anticipated us in the erection of 'meeting houses.' After arrangements to this effect the Bishop left in a little carriage, placed, for a week, at his disposal by its proprietor, Mr. John Carroll, a sound-hearted Irish Catholic, and arrived same day at Mt. Eaton.
ST. MARY'S CHURCH (INTERIOR), MASSILLON.
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IN NORTHERN OHIO.
CANAL FULTON ; CANTON ; MASSILLON ; NAVARRE.
16* * Next morning [Nov. 19] we reached the church near Fulton [between Canal Fulton and Lawrence] before the congre- gation was assembled. Here the Bishop preached. * At * early candle-light, same evening, the Bishop preached in the Methodist meeting-house at [Canal] Fulton, and again, in the same place, the following day, after Mass, at which there were many communicants-at Mr. Jesse Patton's. In the evening [November 21] he preached to a very crowded assembly in the court house at Canton, and proceeded same night to Massillon, where he held service at Mr. Finnegan's, and preached in a large public hall to a respectable and very attentive audience. There should be a church in this place, and we trust there soon will be one worthy of our faith and of the prosperity of this very thriving town.
"The church of St. Clement at Bethlehem [Navarre] was our next point of labor and rest. * * We shall not exhaust the patience of our readers, already, perhaps, too heavily taxed by this lengthy communication, by giving utterance to the numerous reflections on the rapid growth, the present urgent necessities and future prospects of the Church in this diocese, which the present visitation has suggested. One thing is certain, it would require the constant attention of two bishops and a hundred priests, as humble, disinterested, patient, healthy, prudent, painstaking, pious and learned as men can be in this world of trial, to preserve the faith- ful, convert the erring, reclaim the sinful, found schools and build churches necessary over such an extensive spiritual territory. From the depths of our own sense of our insufficiency for the arduous task, we can only implore the Almighty God to send laborers into His vineyard !
13. REPORT OF BISHOP PURCELL'S EPISCOPAL VISIT TO NORTHERN OHIO, IN 1846.
SANDUSKY : FREMONT, ETC.1
"Confirmation .- This sacrament was administered by the Rt. Rev. Bishop of the diocese to 55 persons in the church of the Holy Angels, Sandusky City, [Trinity Sunday, June 7]. Amongst the number were several converts whose entrance into the true fold created quite a sensation in the denominations they had left. The church was blessed on the occasion by the Bishop, assisted by Rev. Messrs. Machebeuf and Byrne. In the chapel of St. Philo- mena, on the Sandusky river [La Prairie], there were 36 persons
(1) Catholic Telegraph, June 18, 1846.
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A HISTORY OF CATHOLICITY
confirmed on Monday, 8th of June, and 45 at Lower Sandusky [St. Ann's, Fremont] where a new church was dedicated [June 8th].
CLEVELAND ; TOLEDO ; PERU; NORWALK; NEW RIEGEL ; TIFFIN, ETC.1
"On the feast of Pentecost [May 31] 102 persons were con- firmed in St. Mary's church, Cleveland, and 16 in the church of St. John of the Cross, near Laporte, on the following Tuesday. Forty- one persons were confirmed in the church of St. Francis, at Toledo, on the 14th of June * * and 41 in the church of St. Alphonso [Peru] near Norwalk, on the festival of Corpus Christi [June 11th]. There was a very large and edifying procession in the majestic woods near this church in the forenoon, and in the after- noon the large and beautiful church of St. Peter's, Norwalk, was dedicated.
"Sixty-five persons were confirmed at St. Boniface's, Wolf's Creek [New Riegel], where there was also a solemn procession on the Sunday within the octave [of Corpus Christi]. The 'old [log] church,' so called, though built but a few years ago, has to be taken down, and a new one, larger and to meet the wants of the fast increasing congregation, to be erected in its place.
"There were 60 persons confirmed [June 21] in St. Mary's church, Tiffin, to which an addition [frame] twice the size of the original [brick] building, and in better style of finish, has been recently made.
"The Roman Catholic Germans have also built at Tiffin a new, large and beautiful church of brick, which was dedicated to God on the same day [June 21], in honor of St. Joseph. These two congregations walked in procession through the town to assist at the dedication. The High Mass was sung by the Rev. Matthias Kreusch, [C. PP. S.], and the sermon in German was preached by the Rev. Francis de Sales Brunner, [Provincial of the Sanguinists ]. * The church of St. Bernard, New Washing- ton, is under roof.
DUNGANNON, ETC.2
"Episcopal Visitation. * * Tuesday, [July 7th], the Bishop [Purcell] confirmed forty-six at St. Paul's, Columbiana county. The corner-stone of a new church [St. Philip Neri's, Dungannon], one mile from the old one, which is now too small, will be laid on the 15th of August, and also of another [at Summit-
(1) Catholic Telegraph, July 2, 1846.
(2) Catholic Telegraph, July 16, 1846.
C
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IN NORTHERN OHIO.
ville?], so much have the Catholics in that vicinity increased under the pastoral care of the Rev. [James] Conlan.
WOOSTER.1
"The corner-stone of a new Catholic church was laid on last Friday [August 20], in Wooster, Wayne county, Ohio, by the Rt. Rev. Bishop Purcell, assisted by the pastor, Rev. Philip Foley, and Rev. Messrs. J. H. Luhr and C. Daly. The church * 1S to be sixty-five by thirty-eight feet. It will be built of brick, with a solid stone foundation, and situated on a lot of two and one-half acres on the edge of town. A portion of the ground is to be used as a cemetery.
"At the close of the ceremony the Bishop addressed an atten- tive audience in English, and Rev. Mr. Luhr in German. The pastor and flock are entitled to much credit for their generous exertions to build their church in the thriving town of Wooster. where the number of Catholics is still small, but with the best prospects of increase, both from immigration, conversion, or reversion of many who have forgotten their baptism in the Church, or their having sprung from Catholic parentage.
AKRON, ST. VINCENT'S; MASSILLON, ETC.2
"We are pleased to learn that Rev. Mr. Daly has built a con- siderable addition to the church of St. Vincent de Paul, of Akron, and that the spirited Catholics of Doylestown, Wayne county, and its vicinity, have resolved to build a new and beautiful church at the last mentioned place, one mile from the site of the church of St. Xavier [at Chippewa], now too small for the congregation.
"Massillon .- The new church at Massillon [St. Mary's]. a solid stone building, 78 x 40 feet, was dedicated on the 22d of August.
"Canal Fulton, August, 1847 .- The church of Canal Fulton, a handsome frame, 64 x 37, was dedicated to Almighty God, in honor of the holy Apostles, Philip and James, on the 24th of the same month [August]. These two churches are under the pastoral care of Rev. Mr. Foley. We are indebted to Judge Gris- wold, of Canton, agent for the proprietor in New York, for the gift of three lots in [Canal] Fulton, on which the church is eligibly situated.
(1) Catholic Telegraph, August 26, 1847.
(2) Catholic Telegraph, September 9, 1847.
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A HISTORY OF CATHOLICITY
"Canton .- St. Peter's Church, Canton, was dedicated on the 29th of August. It is of brick, 98 x 45, a cheap, solid and beautiful building. * *
"New Berlin .- The church of New Berlin * and that * of Harrisburgh * * are under roof. There have been nine churches built in as many years, within a radius of fourteen miles from Canton.
"Youngstown .- On the 1st of September [1847] church was held in the house of Mr. James Moore, in Youngstown, Mahoning county. * * We were gratified at the large increase of Catholics near Youngstown, and the size and site, the best in town, given us for a church by the Hon. David Tod.
"Akron .- Mr. James V. Conlan, a student of the diocesan seminary, received tonsure and minor orders in St. Vincent's Church, Akron, on the 2d of September, sub-deaconship on the 3d, the holy order of Deacon on the 4th, and on Sunday, the 5th. he will be ordained priest."
1
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IN NORTHERN OHIO.
CHAPTER IV REMINISCENCES OF MISSIONARY LIFE IN NORTHERN OHIO.
1. REMINISCENCES OF THE REV. PROJECTUS J. MACHEBEUF. -FATHER MACHEBEUF ARRIVES IN THE UNITED STATES IN 1839-SENT TO TIFFIN-ATTENDS MISSIONS IN NORTHWESTERN OHIO-AT TOLEDO AND ALONG THE MAUMEE RIVER-STATIONED AT SANDUSKY-FATHERS RAPPE, LAMY, DE GOESBRIAND AND PEUDEPRAT.
2. REMINISCENCES OF THE REV. LOUIS DE GOESBRIAND.
-FATHER RAPPE ARRIVES FROM FRANCE IN 1840-HIS MISSIONARY LABORS ALONG THE MAUMEE (MIAMI) CANAL-AT TOLEDO-FATHER DE GOESBRI- AND AT TOLEDO-ATTENDS MISSIONS IN NORTHWESTERN OHIO-FATHER RAPPE'S SUCCESS AS A MISSIONARY PRIEST-APPOINTED BISHOP OF CLEVELAND-BISHOP RAPPE COMMENCED CATHEDRAL IN 1848-DEDICATED IN 1852-ESTABLISHES DIOCESAN SEMINARY AND TWO ORPHAN ASYLUMS.
1. REMINISCENCES OF THE REV. PROJECTUS J. MACHEBEUF. A S the late Bishop Machebeuf, of Denver, Col., had been a priest on the mission in Northern Ohio for over ten years, from September, 1839, the writer asked him, in the summer of 1888, to kindly send his reminiscences of those years of toil in the now flourishing Diocese of Cleveland. The good bishop graciously consented, and a few months later furnished the manu- script. With slight changes as to language and some necessary omissions, his reminiscences were published in two installments, in the Catholic Universe, October 18, 1888, and January 31, 1889. As they form an authentic and interesting account of priestly pioneer life in Northern Ohio, as witnessed by Father Machebeuf himself, they are given in the following pages:
"In the fall of 1838 the young Bishop of Cincinnati, the Rt. Rev. J. B. Purcell, made his first visit to Rome, and from Paris wrote to the Very Rev. Father Comfe, his former professor of theology at St. Sulpice, and at this time superior of the seminary of Mont-Ferrand, Diocese of Clermont, to procure for him some missionaries for his new diocese. Rev. J. B. Lamy and myself hav- ing several times expressed our intention of going to the foreign
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missions, were notified to be ready to go in the spring with Bishop Purcell to Cincinnati. In the meantime we succeeded in finding three more priests disposed to offer their services to the zealous bishop. They were the Rev. Father Gaçon, who spent his mission- ary life at St. Martin, Brown county, and died there as chaplain of the Ursuline convent; the Rev. William Cheymol, who succeeded him as chaplain ; and the Rev. Father Navarron, who established a mission in Clermont county, and died as pastor of the parish he had organized.
"In company with Bishop Purcell, Bishop Flaget, of Bards- town, Ky., Rev. John McGill, afterwards Bishop of Richmond, three priests from some other diocese, and two Sisters, in all fifteen persons, we set sail from Havre May 9, 1839. After a tedious voyage of forty-four days, we landed safely in New York. Traveling by canal and stage coaches, we arrived in Cincinnati August 22d following. Of all my compagnons de voyage I am the only one left in this world; all the others have gone to their reward.
"After a few days' rest we all received our appointments : Father Lamy, as pastor of Danville, in Knox county, a large settlement of Catholic Americans who had come from Maryland. and a few good German families. I was sent to Tiffin, Seneca county, as assistant to Rev. Joseph McNamee, a very pious Irish priest, but very sickly. After the Redemptorist Fathers of Peru, near Norwalk, had been called away from Ohio (April, 1839), only one Father, the Rev. F. X. Tschenhens, had been left to attend all the missions of the northwest. During the three months I spent in Tiffin, from August to December. I visited the different missions, saying Mass and commencing to speak some broken English, and even to hear confessions. Father McNamee, unable to undertake distant missions, took pastoral charge of Tiffin and vicinity. In the beginning of November, 1839, I visited for the first time the Irish laborers working on the National or macadam- ized road, then being built through the 'Black Swamp,' from Fremont (at that time known as Lower Sandusky) to Perrysburg, on the Maumee river. I first visited Lower Sandusky, where I received the kind hospitality of Mrs. Dickinson and of Mrs. Rawson. very respectable French ladies, married to Protestant gentlemen. In Lower Sandusky I learned that nine or ten miles down the river a good number of Canadian farmers had settled on Mud Creek (in French, Riviere au Nasc). I went there imme- diately and found over thirty families, mostly from Detroit and Monroe, Mich. In the few days I spent with them I had the greatest consolation. All of them received the sacraments and showed the best disposition. I appointed some pious ladies to
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ST. MICHAEL'S CHURCH (INTERIOR). CLEVELAND.
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1
teach catechism on Sundays, and two or three times during the week, to a large number of children. A good widow lady gave a beautiful site on the bank of the river for a church, or rather a chapel. *
* Before leaving these good and pious people I promised to visit them every month, and in order to facilitate my visits I bought on credit a Canadian pony, borrowed a saddle, and after resting another day at Lower Sandusky, commenced the tedious and long journey through the Black Swamp to the Maumee river, traveling only a few miles a day. The National road was graded and partly macadamized, but very rough. I had gone only five or six miles to the river when some good Irishmen, breaking the stone for the road, recognized me as a priest. They called me to a large log cabin to attend a sick man; but there was no sick man! It was a pious fraud to keep me for the next day. which was Sunday. Whilst I was warming myself my pony was taken to a stable, and the women were preparing another cabin for me, making a good fire; it was in November, and the weather was wet and cold. Well. I cheerfully resigned myself to spend the Sunday with these good people. Early the next day I put up an altar and prepared everything for Mass. * * I then said Mass and ventured to address them a few words of broken English. After Mass I had four or five children to baptize, and the generous men were so thankful for having a chance to hear Mass in that wild country and to have their children baptized that they gave me almost enough money to pay for my pony. Promising to visit them again on my return, I started the next day for Perrysburg.
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"At that time Perrysburg was a poor, little village, on the east side of the Maumee river. There I found only one family, . poor Canadians, in a little cabin. How glad I was then that I had been called on Saturday for that sick (?) man.
"After Mass in the cabin of the Canadian I crossed the bridgeless river with great difficulty and went to Maumee 'City' on the opposite side, where I found two or three Catholics, said Mass for them, and then set foot for Toledo.
"Toledo, today a beautiful large city, with eleven parishes. Catholic schools, educational and charitable institutions, was then [1839] a real mud holc. on the banks of the Maumee river. It comprised a few frame houses, some log cabins, swamps, ponds of muddy water, and worse yet, a number of persons sick with the Maumee fever. There were a very few Catholic families and five or six single men. I said Mass for eight or ten persons in the frame shanty of a poor Canadian. As they knew of a few families along the river and in the country, I remained at Toledo a few days to give them a chance to hear Mass and go to confession. But there being no suitable house I spent some time looking for a room
.
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A HISTORY OF CATHOLICITY
large enough. This I found over a little drug-store. As Toledo was the town which had the best prospects for future growth and permanency we rented that room, called a 'hall,' and made up some kind of an altar with dry goods boxes. A few yards of colored calico served as an antependium. In many later visits I found a few benches and two brass candlesticks. It was the first 'church' of good Father Rappe, when in 1841 he was sent there from Chillicothe, where he had spent some time to learn English in the house of Major Anderson, a pious convert who could speak French. It was in Mr. Anderson's house I met Father Rappe for the first time.
"After spending a few days in Toledo I went back to Maumee and kept visiting the little towns along the banks of the Maumee river, e. g., Providence and Napoleon. The most of the Catholics in this section were Irishmen working on the canal, chiefly near Napoleon. As they all lived in miserable tents, crowded and filthy, I could not find any corner for me. I engaged what was called the 'parlor,' at the village tavern, and on my return at night from saying Mass in the mess-room, and visiting a few sick, was glad to find a quiet room and a good fire.
"But I must relate a little anecdote which I mentioned in a meeting of the Catholic circles in Paris. It interested them very much, and gave them an idea of the adventures of missionary life in America. One evening, when I returned as usual to my room, after visiting the camps above and below the town, I found a large number of wagons and horses hitched to the fence, the house and hallway being crowded. I had to go in by the back door, and was told by the landlord, that Napoleon being the county seat, and his house the largest in the town, and my room the most convenient place for holding court, his honor, the judge, was occupying my chair, and the lawyers and jurymen some rough benches and soap boxes -- in fact, that court was being held in my room. I had therefore to go to an old log cabin which answered for a dining and sitting room, where I said my office and took supper. But as I was tired, and the court still in session, I passed through the crowd of men into my room. I found my bed occupied by three men sitting crossways. I whispered to them that having engaged that room, and slept a few nights in that bed, I had a right to it. They rather hesitated, but as I insisted they got out ; and as, fortunately, it had curtains, I closed them care- fully and, to the amusement of those who were near by, I un- dressed, went to bed and slept a few hours till court was over, when the men, with their big boots and loud voices, aroused me from my sleep. The man who was tried, and who had watched me, came to my bed and asked me how I got along. I told him 'very well,'
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