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 II, pt1 > Part 8
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THE RT. REV. MGR. FELIX M. BOFF, V. G.
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THE RT. REV. MGR. FELIX M. BOFF, V. G.
"Eyes that grow dim to earth and its glory Have a sweet recompense earth cannot know; Ears that grow dull to the world and its story Drink in the songs that from Paradise flow. Growing old graciously Purer than snow."
These words of a Catholic poet are peculiarly applicable to the physical, moral, and spiritual condition of the distinguished ecclesiastic who is selected as the inviting subject of this biography. From his childhood both his eyes, his ears, and the door of his heart have been closed to the allurements of the world and opened wide to higher and holier things.
In his youth, the profession of medicine was selected for Felix M. Boff, but he could not content himself with the prospect of being a healer of mere physical ills. He had a higher ambition, a nobler calling in view. It was vouchsafed to him from On High that his was to be the vocation of a physician of the soul rather than of the body. The "Follow Me," which is its sign, was written in light in the horizon of his youthful sky. That sign has been more constant to him in its guidance and inspiration than was the Star of Bethlehem to the Magi. It never hid itself from him in his youth, nor later when as spiritual physician he was called to enter the palace of the rich or the hovel of the poor. Its efful- gence ever illumined his way and filled his soul with a radiance the reflection of which is the recognized spiritual beauty in his countenance.
"He that has light within his own clear breast May sit i' th' centre and enjoy bright day."
The Rt. Rev. Felix M. Boff, Vicar-General of the Diocese of Cleveland, was born in Alsace, France, January 25, 1831. He was educated in Saverne College near his native place. When he had entered on his seventeenth year, he was well advanced in his classics. In that year, 1847, he emigrated to the United States and was accepted as an aspirant for the priesthood in the then newly-erected Diocese of Cleveland. He was one of the first students to enter what was the beginning of the present St. Mary's
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Theological Seminary. He patiently bore his share of the many hardships and trials connected with its early history, and the hope and strength that were in his heart and life had a helpful and inspiring effect on his companions.
He was ready for ordination long before the ripeness of his years was abreast of his knowledge and virtue. However, Sep- tember 5, 1852, deaconship was conferred on him, and thus his talents and zeal were utilized by Bishop Rappe who sent him to preach, baptize, and catechize in Holy Angels' parish, Sandusky, Ohio. He labored in that field until the middle of May of the following year, when he was called to Cleveland and was the first priest ordained in the new St. John's Cathedral by Bishop Rappe, May 26, 1853.
His first appointment as a priest was to the scenes of his previous labors as a deacon -- St. Mary's Church, Sandusky. Hc ministered there in the capacity of pastor for about three months when, in August. 1853, he was advanced to the pastorate of St. Peter's Church. Canton. He there exercised the functions of his holy office till January, 1856, when he was again sent to Sandusky for a short stay-a sort of preparation for his being called to Cleveland, March. 1557, to fill a professorial chair in the diocesan seminary. He taught in that institution till April, 1859, when the needs of the Church in Toledo, St. Francis de Sales', constrained Bishop Rappe to appoint him to that charge. From that date until October, 1872, a period of over thirteen years, he labored with great zeal in that field doing much good. He built the present St. Francis de Sales' Church, the finest at that time in Toledo. He not only renewed and strengthened the faith of his own people, but by his life and labors, as far as observed by them, he constrained the non-Catholic portion of the citizens to. respect and reverence the Catholic Church to a greater degree than they had done before.
October, 1872, he bade good-bye to his loving congregation in Toledo and returned to Cleveland to assume the pastorship of St. John's Cathedral, to which Bishop Gilmour, recently con- secrated, had appointed him. In the following May, 1873, he was made Vicar-General of the diocese. He continued to discharge most acceptably the onerous duties of both offices till July, 1876.
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and also that of Administrator of the diocese from 1874 till 1876. Again as Administrator he governed the diocese, in the absence of Bishop Gilmour, from July, 1882, to February, 1883, from May to October, 1885, and between 1891 and 1892. He was five times Administrator.
Up to 1876 he had already been twenty-three years in active spiritual and temporal work of the most trying and engrossing character. His arduous labors began to tell on his physical constitution. He was forced to resign and seek rest and recupera- tion. After a few months he undertook a journey to the scenes of his childhood, to Rome, and to Palestine, returning, in 1878. sufficiently recovered to undertake light work. This was provided for him in the chaplaincy of the Ursuline Convent, at Villa Angela, in the suburbs of Cleveland, the duties of which he continues to discharge.
The saintly Bishop Rappe was grateful to Mgr. Boff, as was also Bishop Gilmour, for his many labors and great faithfulness. Even Pope Leo XIII exhibited his appreciation of his loyalty and · devotion by conferring on him, in 1885, the rank and title of Prelate of the Papal Household. Bishop Gilmour invested him in St. John's Cathedral, November 8, 1885.
Mgr. Boff is the possessor of a kindly and exceedingly emotional nature. His heart is as tender as a child's. He is an intense lover of music, and from his violin, like Cardinal Newman. he loosens prayer-sounds that are soothing to his soul. That soul he pours forth in chanting the sublime preface in the Mass, the music of which he links with that of the hymn which Christ and His Apostles sang at the first Mass, which was the Last Supper.
Since this work has been in press he has entered on the seventy-second year of his age and the fiftieth of his priesthood. and with the trodden road of his long and laborious life stretching far behind him, he can be thus approvingly and admiringly addressed :
"Rich in experience that angels might covet. Rich in a faith that has grown with the years; Rich in a love that grew from and above it, Soothing thy sorrows, hushing thy fears. Growing old wealthily Loving and dear."
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CAPTAIN PATRICK BOYLAN.
Captain Patrick Boylan, of Cleveland, Ohio, is made the sub- ject of this biographical sketch, not alone in recognition of his stanch Catholicity, but also because of his honorable record, and the prominence in Ireland of the family which he represents.
The Boylans trace their history in Ireland for five hundred years. They were originally from the northern part of France. and joined William the Conqueror in his invasion of England in 1066. After aiding in the conquest of England and participating in the battle of Hastings they joined the enemies of Ireland, took the Pale, and settled in that country. They soon "became more Irish than the Irish themselves." Accordingly four of the Boylan brothers, great-grandfathers of Captain Patrick Boylan, bore arms with James II in defense of Ireland, and took part in the battle of the Boyne. Thomas was severely wounded in the first day's fight, and was borne to his castle, at Hilltown, in the county Meath; but the others continued even to the siege of Limerick. Their prominence in the struggle, together with the fact that one of them slew the Duke de Schomberg, occasioned the confiscation of their estates by the English king. The sword that killed the Duke is yet a relic in the family in Ireland, while the only other relics of the battle of the Boyne, taken by the government from Boylan castle, three flags and three flint guns, are now in the British Museum.
The father of the only representative of the family in Ireland was the richest man and the most extensive land owner in that country. When O'Connell was arrested in Dublin and Thomas Boylan was sent for to bail him out, he found on his arrival at the capital that the great Agitator had already secured bail. Boylan thereupon appeared on the balcony of the Queen's hotel and in a speech to the vast crowds assembled said: "I am worth four million pounds sterling in gold ($20,000,000), besides my estates not measured in acres, but in miles. All I possess and also myself in person are at the disposal of Daniel O'Connell for the freedom of my country."
Thomas Boylan, of Hilltown, in the county Meath, is yet one of the richest men and largest land owners in Ireland. There
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are but four members of the family living, and one of them is Captain Boylan, of Cleveland, Ohio, between whom and this great wealth there is but one heir. He has already registered his ancient lineage and immediate descent from the Boylan family who owned estates, not only in Meath, but also in every other county in Ireland, except three.
Captain Patrick Boylan, of Cleveland, Ohio, the noted sailor, was born at Baltray, county of Louth, Ireland, about the year 1833. His father and grandfather, Christopher, and Nicholas, were the first branch pilots of the port and harbor of Drogheda on the river Boyne. They owned a pilot boat called the Gazelle, of sixty-five tons, the only one at that port. As a boy our hero first went to sea with his father in the ship Gazelle, in 1845, remaining with the vessel until 1847. From the Gazelle he went to serve his apprenticeship in the full rigged brig Lady Florence. Later he spent part of his time on the schooner Lord Byron. From the Byron he was sent on board the bark Jeanette, in 1848, loading railroad iron at Cardiff, Wales, for Boston, Massa- chusetts. From there he went to St. Andrews and loaded lumber for Drogheda, Ireland. He then returned to the brig Lady Florence, and remained on her until 1850. He next shipped on the brigantine Isabella, loading railroad iron at Newport, Wales, for New York, and arrived there in June, 1850. At Brooklyn, New York, he helped load a cargo of Indian corn for Belfast, Ireland, and arrived in Belfast, October 10, 1850. He then went back to the brig Lady Florence where he finished his apprentice- ship in 1851. He became mate of the vessel, which position he held until January 3, 1852. after which he was made mate of the schooner Monkey. He shipped at Liverpool, March 15, 1852, in the full-rigged ship Joseph Walker, for New York, the vessel carrying six hundred and fifty passengers to America.
Leaving the Walker at New York, he went to Oswego, where he shipped before the mast in the schooner Oregon. Then he went to the schooner Mary Francis, and to the brig Halifax, both in the same year. In 1853 he became mate of the schooner Elizabeth. In 1854 he sailed as mate of the brig Arabian, leav- ing her in July to become master of the schooner Elizabeth. This vessel was lost December 5th of that year through springing a
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leak off Long Point. Lake Erie. In those years he was the only Irishman in Cleveland who owned and sailed his own vessels.
Captain Boylan sailed the schooner Albian in 1855, and the brig Arabian in 1836. The Albian was in the service of the British as a gunboat against Commodore Perry on the Lakes. He pur- chased the Arabian three years later and sailed her for eight years. He then sold her and bought the schooner E. P. Ryerse, spending the next eight years on board that vessel. The Ryerse, in Septem- ber, 1874, collided with the schooner Bahama, off Dunkirk, and was lost. Captain Boylan libeled the Bahama for the loss of his vessel and won the suit, receiving the Bahama in return. He sailed the Bahama until the fall of 1879, when she went ashore in a storm at Sand Beach, Lake Huron, with a cargo of coal for Racine. He abandoned her to the underwriters as a total loss, received the insurance of $7,500, and, in 1882, he purchased a half interest in the schooner Orontes. Disposing of his interest in her that fall, he purchased the schooner Arcturus, the follow- ing year. He sailed the Arcturus until 18SS, when he sold her, and retired. And thus on the ocean, and on the Great Lakes, he was sailor, ship-owner, and master for forty-three years.
Captain Boylan was married, January 29, 1855, to Miss Julia Curran, of Cleveland. Their children are: Margaret J., wife of Joseph Meehan; Annie, wife of Manly Tello; Nicholas J. and Thomas E., coal merchants; Mary Francis; and Christopher, who is an oil merchant in Cincinnati, Ohio. Mrs. Boylan died in 1866, and in 1884 Captain Boylan married Miss Mary Prendergast, a native of Cleveland, Ohio.
The Captain is a large man physically. He stands six feet, and is well preserved. His heart is generous and patriotic, and he is true to Church, to country and to friends. He is the type of gentleman of the old school. His memory for dates, places, and names is remarkable. His education consists more in an acquaintance with facts obtained through observation, travel, and tradition than through books. Although nearly seventy years old, his intellect is as bright and his memory as reliable as when he was less than fifty. He has never been sick, and an accompany- ing spiritual blessing, which he has always enjoyed, is the habit of soul which never fosters secret or open displeasure at the welfare or prosperity of his neighbors.
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CAPTAIN GEORGE F. BRADY
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CAPTAIN GEORGE F. BRADY.
The city of Norwalk, Ohio, can boast of no better citizen than Captain George F. Brady, and the Diocese of Cleveland has few better Catholics than is he. To know him is to respect him.
He was born at Eyrcourt in the county of Galway, Ireland, January 19, 1831. His father, Mr. Martin Brady, married the daughter of a wealthy English family. Her maiden name was Miss Jane Banbury. She was disinherited and disowned by her family and friends because of her matrimonial alliance with "a mere Irish Catholic." In consequence, when their son George, the subject of this sketch, was in his seventh year, they emigrated to the United States, taking up their abode in Cecil county, Mary- land, where they remained two years, and where the elder Brady passed away.
The family then removed to Wilmington, Delaware, where later young George was indentured to learn the business of a tobacconist. In 1847, when in his seventeenth year, he enlisted in Company A, 11th U. S. I., and served bravely during the Mexican war. In 1849 he re-enlisted in the U. S. Dragoons and remained in the regular army until 1854. Returning to civil life, he located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he was married to Miss Ellen L. McNamee by the Rev. Father Cantwell in St. Philip Neri's Church, August 4, 1854. He was then well acquainted with the present Rt. Rev. Bishop of Cleveland, who, at the time, was a youth attending the local schools.
Mr. Brady remained in that city until 1858, when he removed his family to the town of Elyria, Lorain county, Ohio. On the breaking out of the War of the Rebellion, in 1861, he enlisted as first lieutenant in the 42nd O. V. T., the late President Garfield's regiment. He served with his regiment until 1862, when he was transferred by Governor David Tod to become captain of Com- pany H, 103rd O. V. I. He remained actively at the front until June 9, 1863, when disabilities received in the line of duty forced him to resign his command.
Returning to Elyria to recruit his shattered health, he remained there for some time. He then visited Philadelphia, and finally decided to make the city of Norwalk, Ohio, his home. He
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removed there in 1875, and has since been identified with the place. In 1889 he was elected as a Democrat to the State Senate and served with distinction in the 69th General Assembly. He is now a member of the Norwalk board of equalization and revision, and, although in his seventieth year, is most active and energetic.
Mrs. Captain Brady died in Norwalk, August 29, 1897. The three children born to Captain and Mrs. Brady are: Anna, who is Mrs. Thomas Dowd, of Oakland, California; Martin B., residing at Oakland, California ; and George F., Jr., who is engaged in busi- ness in Norwalk. Captain Brady's ancestors for seven hundred years suffered persecutions for faith and country in Ireland. His grandfather, Bartholomew Brady, was engaged in the rebellion of 1798, and was brutally treated after he was taken prisoner by the British at the battle of Ballinahinch. The Captain is full of their patriotism, fire, and love of liberty. He is both a soldier and a statesman, and on every occasion has exhibited the courage of his convictions. He esteems physical fear as the "virtue of slaves,' while an unjustifiable right-about-face he regards as cowardice both physical and moral. He is most decided in character, is tender of heart, and loyal to faith, to country, and to friends. In all respects he is a manly man who may always be found in the open, fighting under the flag across whose folds are inscribed his principles and his convictions, which, in political life, are those of Andrew Jackson: "Equal rights to all and special privileges to none."
In matters religious, and touching Church discipline, Captain Brady is a soldier in his faithfulness, obedience, and bravery. He is devoted to the cause, is prompt in fulfilling commands and in carrying out instructions, while in the battle against vice and in behalf of virtue he almost anticipates the orders of his General. His humility is not inconsistent with his bravery, nor is his readiness to obey at all in conflict with his intelligence. He is a faithful, prac- tical Catholic, is generous in support of religion and education. and at all times gladdens the heart of his pastor by his exhibition of good will, and his soldierly zeal for God's honor, the spread of religion, and the salvation of souls.
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THE REV. CHARLES JOS. A. BRASCHLER
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THE REV. CHARLES JOS. A. BRASCHLER.
The Rev. Charles Jos. A. Braschler, pastor of Holy Trinity Church, Bucyrus, Crawford county, Ohio, was born at Lachen, on the Lake of Tarich, Switzerland, October 30, 1842. He is the only survivor of an interesting family of eleven born to Jacob and Eliza- beth (Baechtiger) Braschler. When twelve years of age he was sent to work in a large cotton mill, where he continued four years. By applying himself during his spare hours he had, when sixteen years old, acquired the rudiments of an excellent education. He subsequently attended a normal school for a year, studied Latin. and otherwise prepared himself for college. At the age of seven- teen he was admitted to Maria College, at Einsiedeln, conducted by members of the Order of St. Benedict, where he studied four years. Later he attended the college at Fribourg one year, and during the following two years he studied philosophy and physics at Monza, Italy. He accompanied Bishop Rappe, in 1867, to America, having been accepted by that prelate for his diocese, and at once entered St. Mary's Seminary, Cleveland, where he studied theology three years. July 17, 1870, he was ordained priest by Bishop Mullen of Erie, Pennsylvania, who officiated in the absence of the Rt. Rev. Ordinary.
Father Braschler began his pastoral labors at Edgerton, Wil- liams county, Ohio, where for three years he had charge of six missions, extending over three counties. He was appointed, in 1873, to Upper Sandusky as pastor of St. Peter's Church. He erected there a splendid brick church. 60 x 140 feet in dimensions, and also a commodious parsonage. In the autumn of 18SS he was transferred to Ft. Jennings. Putnam county, as pastor of St. Joseph's Church, where he faithfully exercised the functions of his holy office until May, 1899, when his fourth field of labor became his present charge-Holy Trinity Church, Bucyrus, Ohio.
Father Braschler possesses a strong, harmonious character. He is firm, but considerate and kind. While serious, as his sacred calling requires him to be, he is not averse to that which now and then is relished by the best of men-a little nonsense. In fact his phrenological organ of mirthfulness is well developed, while his large faculty of comparison, after doing service as an aid in
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practical instruction, is also of use as a mirth-provoker by compass- ing those contrasts that show the droll and the ludicrous sides.
The congregations over which he has presided as a priest, and the thousands who have been cheered and bettered by his minis- trations and example are a unit in testifying to his devotion to duty, his fatherly care for those placed in his charge, especially the children, who soon learn to run to him rather than from him, and whose characters develop under the mild influence which he knows well how to exercise, just as the tender plant grows in the warmth and brightness of the sunlight. Not only the older people but even these children know how to distinguish as to his character. They know there is nothing of weakness connected with it, but everything that means strength. They know that where he leads they are safe to follow, and when he commands theirs is the duty of obedience. Hence the confidence, respect, and reverence thus begotten are to a degree the measure of the character of the Rev. Father Braschler.
These considerations, independent of his character, would . indicate a spiritual wisdom and constancy in this good priest. They imply that, while at times mirthful and enjoying the lighter things, his life is serious, and the powers of his soul are rapt to higher flights than worldlings can conceive of. His life and record would indicate his adoption of the thought in the lines of the Catholic poet, Christina G. Rossetti, that,
"The wise do send their hearts before them to Dear blessed Heaven, despite the veil between; The foolish nurse their hearts within the screen Of this familiar world, where all we do Or have is old, for there is nothing new; Yet older far that world we have not seen; God's presence antedates what else hath been; Many the foolish seem. the wise seem few."
THE REV. JOHN OTTO BREDEICK
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THE REV. JOHN OTTO BREDEICK.
The late Father Bredeick was the founder and pastor of St. John's congregation, Delphos, Ohio. He ministered there from 1844 till his death, which took place August 10, 1858. In 1848 he established also the parish at Ottoville, in Putnam county, and attended it from Delphos during the last ten years of his life. That little settlement was dear to him since he called it after one of his own Christian names. His great labors at Delphos for fourteen years, and at Ottoville during ten years, are evidenced by the developments made on the foundations which he laid. Much of the prosperity of the city of Delphos itself, and of St. John's con- gregation in particular, is due to him.
Full of the wisdom of the Church he anticipated the future in everything he did. On his arrival in northern Ohio, he purchased a large tract of land, in what was known as "Section Ten," from the government. A part of this land is now the site of the flourish- ing city which he called Delphos. St. John's Church and school property, which he donated to the people, is the most extensive in the Diocese of Cleveland. The church property at Ottoville he also presented to the few who, at the beginning, comprised that congregation. With his own private means he bought and paid for these lands, thereby saving to the present generation a large amount of money, and much of the worry and labor con- nected with the raising of money even in the present prosperous times. In truth, what he saved. to the people of Delphos of today is duly appreciated by them.
He built St. John's first Church and also the pastoral residence at Delphos at his own expense. He never accepted his salary, to which he was entitled, from either of the congregations where he labored. On the contrary he spent his private funds, and also him- self, for religion's sake and in the interests of the people. He shared the hardships and privations of pioneer life with his associates and fellow citizens. When these complained or became disheartened he spoke glowingly to them of the future both in time and eternity, and encouraged them to persevere and to labor. He established an order of Sisters to teach in the schools, and he paid all the expenses out of his own purse. When death called him, in
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1858, he had the happiness of seeing well developed and in daily increase the things which he had undertaken for God's sake. He saw the triumph even with his own eyes, and he heard his name gratefully spoken on every hand as a household word.
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