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, pt2 > Part 9
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Arriving in Cleveland, he was accepted for the diocese June 28, 1888, and was commissioned as one of the assistant pastors of the Cathedral. He ministered in the Cathedral parish until the following September, when he received his appointment as assis- tant to the pastor of St. Columba's Church, Youngstown, Ohio. After nearly three years he was named for the pastorate of St. Mary's Church, Wakeman. He labored in that field from August 23, 1891, till November 12, 1893, when he was appointed assistant to the pastor of the Immaculate Conception Church, Cleveland. This was at the expressed wish of Mgr. Thorpe, the
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THE REV. JAMES J. QUINN
A HISTORY OF CATHOLICITY 363
pastor, and with the Bishop's knowledge that he, Father Quinn, desired the change. September 16, 1897, he was transferred to become pastor of St. Mary's Church, Norwalk. January 7, 1900, he was given his present charge.
The Rev. James J. Quinn is known in the Diocese of Cleve- land as a priest of great zeal and many labors. Religion commands and receives his best efforts, and the several congregations that have been blessed by his ministrations bear testimony to his con- suming desire and efforts to subserve their spiritual and temporal well-being. Fortunately his fine physique is well in keeping with his ardor for the cause of religion. Another happy feature is his generous nature, which pre-supposes outspokenness and candor. These latter are so pronounced in him as to verge on what the Poet Dryden calls "honest bluntness," which is the evidence of a nature that loves directness and sincerity and dislikes studied reserve and surface civility.
Father Quinn's directness in speech and act is not uncivil; his candor is not uncouth. He is what he is, and he does not wish to appear other than as he is. His position as a priest and as a leader of his people is well defined, and everyone concerned knows where, when, and how to find him. Such a man having such char- acteristics will wear well. He will bear acquaintance, and in the long run he will be remembered and loved as well for his honest nature as for his kindly deeds.
In the line of deeds of kindness perhaps his charity for the poor and his love for the children of his congregation are the most marked. He would have the needs of the former supplied, and it is his desire that the little ones of his flock have tidy, happy homes as aids in the development of their nature and in the forma- tion of good habits and good character. He strongly advises these requirements, and is not backward in insisting that his people make their homes the garden spots in the lives of their children. He holds to it as a truth that unless the home abounds in those. things which religion inculcates, the mission of the Catholic school, and even of the Church itself, will be shorn of mtich of its fruit. He insists that not only must the Church and the school be a unit in the work of making good citizens, but the home also must be made an ally in the good cause.
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THE REV. SILVAN REBHOLZ.
The Rev. Silvan Rebholz,* pastor of St. Mary's (German) Church, Sandusky, Ohio, was born at Kreenheinstetten, in the district of Messkirch, Baden, Germany, May 8, 1844. From his earliest childhood he manifested a desire for the ecclesiastical state, his pastor and parents piously and nobly encouraging his ambition in that direction.
After his preparatory education he began his humanities, prosecuting his studies at Freiburg, Baden; Lyons, France; Einsiedeln and Chur, Switzerland; and at Munich, Bavaria. He was ordained priest at Feldkirch; Austria, February 12, 1870, by Bishop Amberg. Having been ordained for the Diocese of Cleveland, he soon set out for the field of his future labors, arriving in Cleveland June 4, 1870.
Father Rebholz at once received his first appointment. It was to St. Peter's Church, Cleveland, where he ministered in the capacity of assistant priest until August 1, 1872. He was next given temporary charge of St. Joseph's Church, Fremont, where he remained until the first of the following December. On that date, December 1, 1872, he was transferred to the pastorate of St. Martin's Church, Liverpool, Ohio. There he labored until March 7, 1885. While pastor of St. Martin's he had charge also of the mission church at Medina from 1872 to 1876. From March 7, 1885, to March 22, 1891, he was pastor of St. Joseph's Church, Randolph, with the church at Rootstown also in his charge. His next removal made him the pastor of St. Peter's, North Ridgeville, where he remained until his advancement to his present important charge, April 2 (Easter Sunday), 1893.
One of the aims of Father Rebholz is to keep the members of his congregation as one family, touching not only the faith but also important parochial temporal and educational interests. In this respect he has met with success, as there are few parishes in the diocese better united or more prosperous. He has made it a practice to preach in English at the Mass for the children each Sunday, his object being to accustom the rising generation to
*Since this work has been in press Father Rebholz departed this life, April. 7, 1001, when he was in the fifty-seventh year of his age.
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know their religion as taught in the language of the country, and to better equip them for every-day life among their fellow citizens.
The pastor of St. Mary's is a plain speaker, an instructor rather than an orator. This means that he is a matter-of-fact man. He is as zealous as he is practical, and his works are the proof. He is deeply interested in both the religious and secular training of the children of the parish. He gives them every attention, believing them to be the stay of the Church of the future when properly trained.
The Rev. Silvan Rebholz is blessed with a gentle, kindly nature. He possesses "a sharp mind in a velvet sheath." His likes and dislikes are strong, but he is stronger, in that he never allows himself to be influenced by them in the performance of his duty. In the management of parish affairs he evinces both tact and ability. He has always succeeded in raising the necessary funds for the extensive improvements he has everywhere made in church and parish buildings. He employs kindness, persuasion and deter- mination. The humorous side of his nature often serves him in good stead on occasions when it is necessary to render palatable some unpleasant truths that must be told, and to take the sting out of rebukes that must be administered. Although sometimes misunderstood, owing to a certain impetuosity of his character, he seldom fails to gain his point and to even make those his warmest friends who at first failed to appreciate the wisdom of his course and the honesty of his intentions. If his quickness of temper offends, his humility seldom fails to reconcile. Accordingly he is often heard to say : "It does no harm to take off somebody's head, so long as you know how to put it on again." All who know him attest the fact that he is a true priest and thoroughly imbued with the spirit of the Church. He plainly and openly argues his side of all his difficulties with his superiors, and then submits to the deci- sion without murmuring or any showing of disloyalty. To this the late Bishop Gilmour testified in writing, as follows: "If all my priests had been as loyal to me as you have been, my death would be a happy one."
This loyalty of Father Rebholz to his bishop is an evidence of his faithfulness to his trusts, and of his unfailing love and friend- ship as well for his parishioners as for his hosts of personal friends. He has always been true and faithful to his superiors.
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THE REV. CASIMIR REICHLIN.
The reverend rector of St. Stephen's Church, Cleveland, Ohio, was born December 16, 1843, in the picturesque village of Steiner- berg, Switzerland. Much of his religious sentiments and also his trend of thought were inspired by the solemn grandeur and beauty of his surroundings in youth, for Steinerberg, besides cherishing the faith, overlooks Lake Lowerz in the celebrated Schwyzer Thal, and has the Mython and Mt. Rigi within easy view.
Father Reichlin's ancestors were among the most illustrious Swiss families, and to this day their descendants display their coat of arms after the custom of the most ancient of Helvetia's clans. He is the youngest of a family of four sons, one of whom, like himself, became a priest and is now the honored pastor at Steiner- berg. His mother died two years after his birth, and like the devoted women who bore Samuel, Augustin, and Pius IX, she con- secrated him before birth to the service of the Almighty. After God he owes the grace of his vocation to the pious intentions and prayers of his good mother, and to the special fostering interest taken in him by the parish priest of his native place.
He made his studies at Einsiedeln, Engelberg, and Brigg, Switzerland. At Engelberg, under the tutelage of the Benedic- tines, he held the positions of editor and cartoonist on the college paper, and was a favorite among his fellows because of his wit and humor and his cheerful and agreeable disposition. As a young man he was deeply religious withal, and when Bishop Rappe passed through Switzerland, in 1868, in quest of students for his far-away diocese in America, young Reichlin was among the first to offer himself. He was joyfully accepted by Cleveland's first bishop. After completing his humanities and part of his theology he emigrated to the United States, in 1868, when he was less than twenty-four years of age. He at once entered St. Mary's Theologi- cal Seminary, Cleveland, where he spent nearly two years prepar- ing himself for Holy Orders. April 19, 1870, he was ordained priest by Bishop Luers, of Ft. Wayne, who was more than once called, during the interregnum (1870-2) to ordain and confirm in the diocese.
Father Reichlin's present charge was his first appointment,
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the date having been May 1, 1870. At this writing (1900) he is in the thirtieth year of his pastorate in St. Stephen's. He built the present beautiful Church of St. Stephen, the parish school, and also the rectory, which improvements represent a large outlay of money, and attest the remarkable success that has attended his labors in the temporal order, just as the spiritual and educational standing of his large congregation evidences his priestly zeal and ability. He was appointed rector in January, 1889, a distinction he has well earned, and which is most becoming to him. There are few priests in the Diocese of Cleveland whose ecclesiastical char- acter shines brighter, whose labors are performed with more assiduity and zeal, and whose gentleness and earnestness in good works have been requited by better results both spiritually and temporally.
The qualities most prominent in the character of Father Reichlin are tolerance, mildness of manner, gentleness, and cour- teousness. Paradoxically opposed to these is his enquiring and analytical mind. That mind weighs all matters, whether temporal or spiritual, in the most exact way, and apparently inclines him to the strictest rulings, but with all severity left out when he comes to announce or carry out his decisions. "It is because of this seeming contrariety that some find it difficult to fully appreciate the com- bination of qualities which render him admirable and remarkable, and at the same time unique. A brother priest, who knows him intimately, thus describes him :
"Father Reichlin is one of God's noblemen. In temperament he is a true Swiss, always cheerful and in good humor. He is fond of an innocent joke, and will readily lend a helping hand to play it. His fund of funny anecdotes is as inexhaustible as is the knack and good judgment with which he tells them. In repartee he is as ready-witted as the proverbial Irishman. Tall in figure, ascetical in look, venerable in appearance, he commands respect by his very presence, which is intensely priestly."
Hard work has never had any terrors for the rector of St. Stephen's. During all the years of his ministry he has been as noted for work as was the late Bishop Rappe. He takes a special delight in visiting the sick and instructing the children. He has never entrusted the instruction of his first communion classes to any other priest, and even today he would not feel that he had
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performed his duty were he to delegate the work to another. He is a most excellent catechist and instructor, and the result of his capacity and efforts in these respects is a well-instructed and thor- oughly Catholic young people.
Father Reichlin is in no sense showy or demonstrative. He would not be a mere orator or an autocrat if he could. He dislikes anything not openly straightforward and directly aiming for the accomplishment of an end. The trend of his logical mind is to see that end and to devise and adopt means for its attainment if a good one. His every act is for a purpose in the line of his calling, and the aim of his life is to do good and to merit the reward prom- ised to a faithful servant.
THE REV. CHARLES REICHLIN.
The Rev. Charles Reichlin, pastor of St. Joseph's Church, Lorain, Ohio, was born at Steinerberg, Canton of Schwyz, Switzerland, December 10, 1863. His parents were Zeno and Catherine (Abegg) Reichlin, both of whom died in their native country in 1894. After his preparatory training his parents, with the kind and indispensable help. of his uncle, the Rev. Casimir Reichlin, of Cleveland, procured for him the advantages of a thorough classical education, including the French and German languages, in the colleges at Engelberg and Feldkirch. Having finished his course, in 1881, he devoted one year to philosophy, and then emigrated to the United States. On application he was received into the Diocese of Cleveland. Entering the Seminary, he devoted another year to the study of philosophy, and three to theology. At the expiration of that time he was ready for ordina- tion, which great event in his life took place December 18, 1886. The late Bishop Gilmour conferred the Sacrament.
From January 22, 1887, until January 1, 1896, he was pastor of St. Michael's Church, Kelley's Island, Ohio, with the mission Church of Mater Dolorosa, at Put-in-Bay Island, also in his charge. He was appointed to organize St. Joseph's parish, Lorain, January 1, 1896, where he has continued to labor successfully as its pastor for the past five years. He built the present chapel-school struc- ture at a cost of $20,000, showing by his excellent management that he possesses good business talent and executive ability. The
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THE REV. CHARLES REICHLIN
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building is commodious, architecturally presentable, and econo- mical, and shows much practicability.
The encouraging condition of his comparatively new parish, both religiously, educationally and financially, is to a degree an evidence of his energy, earnestness and character. He is zealous for religion and for the best interests of his parishioners. Labor and he are not unacquainted. His efforts are rendered most effec- tive through purpose and system. He succeeds as a director and leader because he asks his people to comply with no requirements that he himself does not cheerfully submit to. He counsels har- mony, but he first makes harmony possible, attainable and lasting through reasonable regulations and the recognition of the fact that he is dealing with rational beings-men who have accepted, and whom he labors to keep in touch with, sound Christian principles.
This statement of facts more than hints at the methods of a young priest who knows human nature well, who measures the influence of kindness, and who correctly estimates the great power not only of active charity but also of that higher charity which enables men to love one another for God's sake. In such a priest the true ecclesiastical spirit abides, and it is the hope and prayer of all who wish well for the future of the Church in the United States that the number of such be multiplied.
The pastor of St. Joseph's is well informed for his years. His linguistic talents and his energy are appreciated by his people, while his ability as a pulpit orator is one of the sources of his suc- cess both in spiritual as well as in temporal things. A large number of admirers among all classes in Lorain delight to ascribe to him the characteristics of the true priest, while his own admir- ing parishioners, who come in contact with him in his daily walks and labors, declare him to be of such mental and moral make-up as to bestir, both by example and teaching, the best there is in them to greatest activity in the line of Christian duty. Hence in the words of another they might appropriately address him thus :
"God did anoint thee with His odorous oil. To wrestle, not to reign; and He assigns All thy tears over, like pure crystallines. For younger fellow-workers of the soil To wear for amulets."
VOL. II
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A HISTORY OF CATHOLICITY
THE REV. BENEDICT ROSINSKI.
The pastor of St. Stanislas' (Polish) Church, Cleveland, Ohio, is the Rev. Benedict Rosinski, who is now in his physical prime at forty years of age. He was born at Mogilno, Province of Posen, Poland, March 20, 1860. His father, Silvester Rosinski, is yet a well preserved man of about sixty-five years, but his mother, a most estimable woman, whose maiden name was Caroline Lewandowska, has been called to her reward.
Father Rosinski attained his majority before leaving his native country. His primary education was acquired in the local schools and at his mother's knee. He later took private instruc- tions in Latin from one of the local priests and, when properly prepared, he entered the gymnasium. After a nine years' course in classics he graduated with high honors from the Royal Colleges at Gnesen and Kulm. In 1882, persisting in his ecclesiastical aspirations, he emigrated to the United States, went direct to Cleveland, and was received into the diocese by Bishop Gilmour. After a five and one-half years' course in philosophy and theology in St. Mary's Seminary he was ordained priest December 17, 1887.
Of the fifteen years of his priestly career thus far (1902), he spent two years and nine months at St. Mary's (German) Church, Sandusky ; two years at St. Adalbert's (Polish) Church, Berea; and since June S, 1892, he has been pastor of St. Stanislas' (Polish) Church; Cleveland, which church is among the largest and most important in the diocese. Gifted by nature with a large amount of self-possession, coolness, and energy, and manifesting on all occasions the zeal and devotion of the true priest, it is neither unbe- coming nor unduly flattering to here recognize his usefulness and intellectual worth. Because of his linguistic talent and opportuni- ties he has cultivated an acquaintance not only with the Polish language, which is native to him, but also with the English, Bohemian, German, French, and Latin tongues. He preaches in three of these, reads and converses in all of them, and therefore enjoys superior advantages not alone in dealing with the people but also and especially in the cultivation of literature and the exercise of his marked oratorical ability.
To one not conversant with the language in which Father
THE REV. BENEDICT ROSINSKI
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Rosinski may be called on to speak, it is, of course, difficult, as was our case on hearing him, to exactly define the quality or peculiar character of his oratory. It is certain, however, that he is both fluent, earnest, and commanding, and quite happy in poise and gesture. But what withal is of far greater merit, and possibly of very much more influence for good among Father Rosinski's people, is his unassuming manner, his marked modesty, and his plainness of garb and speech. To possess great ability and not appear in a boastful sense to know it is said to be a very happy thing. It at least makes for harmony and peace, since it disarms envy and jealousy and at the same time presents a picture the mind delights to dwell upon.
In the exercise of his daily duties in the midst of his flock Father Rosinski is always the same sort of man. He is attentive and perseveres, but is never demonstrative. He is a follower of St. Paul in zeal and of St. Luke in the gentleness of his ministra- tions. And even in the performance of the unpleasant duty of caring for temporalities, which unfortunately most priests in this country are called upon to accomplish, he is not without the. merit of laboring with good results looking to the payment of large parochial obligations incurred by another. Of the $100,000 of indebtedness which as pastor he inherited in St. Stanislas' parish, he has succeeded in paying off half of it. At Berea, too, where he found $1,500 of a debt, he not only paid it off in less than twenty- two months, but also purchased and paid for $1,500 worth of vest- ments. Besides these evidences of his ability in handling tempor- alities, he built a fine school that cost $16,000, all of which, except $4,000, he paid in the less than two years of his ministry there, and all this with only 200 families in the congregation. He is, therefore, a man of intellectual and business parts who devotes his life and talents to doing the work of the Master. Like St. Paul he labors in season and out of season. Nothing deters. Hard work or opposition has no terrors for him. To him
"The glory is not in the task, but in The doing it for God."
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A HISTORY OF CATHOLICITY
MR. GEORGE RUDGE.
From evidence of family records and tradition it is learned that the Rudges settled in England in the eleventh century, and that they had estates in Worcestershire and Herefordshire. Mr. George Rudge, of Youngstown, Ohio, the subject of this sketch, is a member of that ancient family. He was born February 6, 1824, on one of his grandfather's farms, in the parish of Linton, Here- fordshire. He is the oldest of twelve children.
His father intended him to follow the calling of a physician, as he had a cousin in that profession with more than a local reputa- tion, and a good practice in the town of Ross on Wye, the home of John Kyrle, Pope's "Man of Ross." For some reason George formed a dislike for the cousin, and objected to being articled for five years, as was the general custom, before entering one of the London or Edinburgh hospitals. It was then decided that he should be placed with a linen and woolen draper, in the town of Ross, with whom he remained for several years and then went to London. The business, however, was not to his liking. He was continually longing for the green fields and the happy freedom of country life. A brother had gone to America ; he thought seriously of following him.
March 4, 1852, George Rudge was married to Miss Jane Stock. of Berrow, Worcestershire. Mrs. Rudge was born June 8, 1831, on a farm occupied by her ancestors for several genera- tions, and situated in what was known in early days as Malvern Chase, the scene of many severe conflicts during the Wars of the Roses. Immediately after their marriage, Mr. Rudge and his bride departed for the United States, where they joined Mr. James Rudge, in Ohio, the April following. Together the brothers purchased a farm in Boardman, Mahoning county, where they resided for about fifteen years.
Having been brought up in the Church of England, "Evan- gelicals," Mr. and Mrs. Rudge joined the Episcopal Church at Boardman Centre. Later, during the absence of a minister, Mr. Rudge was licensed by Bishop McIlvaine as lay reader, with the proviso that he was never to read controversial sermons. They had made the acquaintance of a family of rather high-church ten-
William. Rev. Eugene, S. J.
MR. AND MRS. GEORGE RUDGE.
J. Edgar. Mrs. Wm. A. Maline.
J. Frederick.
George.
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dencies from whom they frequently borrowed books which Mr. Rudge read to his wife during the long winter evenings. As forbidden fruit is always sweetest, he read to her all the contro- versial works he could obtain, and also the writings of some of . the leaders of the Oxford Movement, 1833. These readings gradually turned their minds into a new train of thought. For a time the ideas of a via media, and a branch of the Catholic Church, as advocated by some of the authors, appeared plausible, but, after praying for the grace of light to discern the truth, they felt that no church, holding such contradictory and questionable fundamental teachings, and taught by persons equal in authority, could be the True Church. Mr. Rudge's meditations led him to conclude that the Catholic Church must be the True Church. If the Episcopal was a branch of the Catholic Church, it had long since been cut off from the parent stem, and was consequently a dead branch.
Through the kindness of a Catholic man, working for them, they obtained a few books, the first Catholic works they had ever read, which impressed them very favorably. In the autumn of 1863 Mr. Rudge was in Youngstown and obtained an introduction to the late Rev. E. M. O'Callaghan, with whom he had a very enjoyable visit. It was agreed that at an appointed time he should return and bring Mrs. Rudge with him. After several more visits to their dear friend and instructor, the baptism of Mr. and Mrs. Rudge, with their six children, all up to that time born to them, was arranged for. Accordingly, before High Mass on Sunday, June 24, 1864, in St. Columba's Church, it being the first Mass celebrated in the then new church, the entire Rudge family were received into the true fold.
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