USA > Ohio > Women of Ohio; a record of their achievements in the history of the state, Volume II > Part 5
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The Dittoes had no sooner landed at the site, now known as Somerset, Ohio, when Jacob Dittoe began to send entreating letters back to Baltimore, Maryland to Bishop John Carroll, the first bishop of the Catholic Church in America, begging for a Catholic priest to administer to the small colony.
He painstakingly describes his place of residence, and assured the bishop that should any priest come along that way, there would be no difficulty in locating him, as he "would need only to inquire of a Mr. Boyle who lives nearby and who with his family are of the same church." He failed to tell the bishop that his "nearby" neighbor, Mr. Boyle, lived eighteen miles away.
The Dittoes were a confident pair and though their constant pleas brought only a response that they were being kept in mind and that everything possible was being done to comply with their wishes, they began to lay plans for the establishment of a permanent Catholic parish at Somerset.
They had purchased a large tract of land in 1809, and set aside one half of it, 320 acres, for church purposes. They cleared the land, which was described as "the finest kind of limestone land, with trees of hickory, oak and walnut," and they built upon this site, reserved for church purposes, a small chapel of log woods, 22 feet in length and 13 feet in width, a plain one story structure, the ground to serve as a floor, and, in addition, another log house of two rooms to serve as the residence for the priests.
It was in this chapel that Father Fenwick offered Mass and ad- ministered the sacraments, when, as a missionary priest out of Ken- tucky, he found the Dittoe family in 1809. Legend has it, that on one of Father Fenwick's sojourns along the national highway, he heard the sound of an axe, and turning his horse towards the sound, he
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followed it. Two miles away from the highway he found the Dittoe family.
It was not until May 23, 1818 that this property was deeded for Catholic Church purposes, and it was not until the following December 6, 1818, that the log chapel built upon this land was dedicated as a church.
On May 23, 1818, Catherine Dittoe, as part owner of the 320 acres, swore to an affidavit in the Perry County Court, that "this gift of land and the buildings thereon was being deeded without fear or coersion of her husband and of her own free and voluntary will."
This act of Catherine Dittoe and her husband represents the first outright gift of land and buildings for Catholic Church purposes in Ohio, and the deed indicates that there was no monetary remuneration.
This gift however was not to be the last, but was to be followed by other gifts of lands, some from non-Catholics, and other lands from the more prosperous of the early Catholic settlers, scattered about in various sections of Ohio.
From this "cradle of Catholicity in Ohio," the church grew as did the State, for Ohio with its physical advantages of fertile soil, great forests, healthful climate and great waterways to the south an:l to the north, together with the assurance its laws gave for religious tolerance and education, lured men and women of imaginative minds and with fearless courage to trek westward from the Atlantic coast, and even beckoned others from beyond the seas.
In one appeal, published in Baltimore, and composed by a group of Cincinnati Catholics, in an effort to induce other Catholics to locate in Ohio mention is made of a William Lyttle, Esq., who "is determined to give encouragement to Roman Catholics and that he appears to us disposed to give them most liberal encouragement (to purchasers of our communion) as well as on his lands above alluded to, as on his other property." And also that "we have lately succeeded in the establishment of a respectable Roman Catholic Church in this town, which unhappily has been so long deprived of that important benefit.
"Our object therefore in this, and similar addresses is to inform emigrants of these circumstances, in order that they may not by re- ligious considerations be deterred from endeavoring to better their
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fortunes by coming to the western country, either by settling on the above lands as agriculturists, or in this town as mechanics or men of business."
This notice also mentions that Mr. Lyttle "with that liberality for which he stands distinguished granted a considerable tract of land for the use and benefit of a Roman Catholic Church to be established there, in addition to which several of the settlers have contributed portions of land contiguous to the same, as to form a respectable fund for the above purpose."
This land is described as being about "thirty miles from hence, on the east branch of the Little Miami River."
It was into this friendly, yet primitive wilderness that Bishop Fenwick, the "Apostle of Ohio," came to minister to those of his religious beliefs.
In 1831 he was able to write in his diary, "My diocese in Ohio and Michigan is flourishing. It contains 24 priests, missionaries, 22 churches and several more congregations without churches, whereas fourteen years ago, there was not a church, and I, the only missionary in the State."
All of this progress was the result of constant and continuous service, in which Bishop Fenwick never spared himself, with the result that while on one of his visits to his parish groups throughout Michigan and Ohio, in September, 1832, he was stricken with cholera. His weak condition was noted when he stopped off at Canton, Ohio, where Miss Powell, who taught in the first Catholic school in Cincinnati, was now engaged as a teacher. Much against his wishes, she insisted upou accompanying him back to Cincinnati, making the journey by stage and by way of Wooster, Ohio. At Wooster, Ohio, his condition became very grave, and it was necessary to remain there at a hotel, and to call in two doctors. Miss Powell remained with him to nurse him in the illness from which he was not to recover and the only account of his last moments upon earth is in a letter written by Miss Powell to Father Rese who was one of the first to come to Ohio from France at Bishop Fenwick's request in 1823. In her letter, Miss Powell tells that the doctors, because of their fear of the disease had retired and she was left alone, although she did state that while there in attendance they
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were attentive to the utmost. She had sent word to Canton to the pastor there, Father Henni, to bring the Last Sacraments of the Church to Bishop Fenwick, but word did not reach Father Henni in time. So Bishop Fenwick, who had brought the consolation of religion to so many in life, and as they passed into eternity, was denied the consolation of the Sacraments of the Church for himself. He died in Wooster on September 27, 1832.
John Baptist Purcell, Irish born priest, was president of Mount Saint Mary's College at Emmitsburg, Maryland, when a story ap- peared in the Catholic Telegraph on May 11, 1833, to this effect :
"Authentic information received during the week that the Court of Rome has accorded to us a bishop in confirming the nomination by our hierarchy of the Reverend John B. Purcell, the talented, amiable, learned, and pious president of Mount Saint Mary's College, Emmits- burg, Maryland, to see of Cincinnati."
That it was a well authenticated rumor is evident by the fact, that two months later, on August 2, 1883, Father Purcell was officially notified of his appointment as the second Bishop of Ohio.
One can easily imagine the anguish of the editor, as he was asked, "well, when is the new Bishop coming to Cincinnati?" And again his great joy, when, two months later he was able to publish, "as reported in these columns, May 11, 1833, the Reverend John Baptist Purcell, has been officially appointed Bishop of the diocese of Ohio to succeed our late lamented Bishop Fenwick." When official information of his appointment reached Bishop Purcell, he penned these words : "Humbly do I hope that Almighty God has not permitted this appointment in his wrath; but rather in mercy and in the furtherance of the decrees of His Divine Providence, wisdom, and love in favor of the growing Church in the United States."
Father Purcell was consecrated Bishop, Oct. 13, in the Baltimore Cathedral and the following Nov. 7, he set out for his new field of labors-Ohio and Michigan, with headquarters in Cincinnati. He ar- rived in Cincinnati on Nov. 14, accompanied by Reverend N. D. Young, a Dominican priest, who was a nephew of Bishop Fenwick and three seminarians, by the names of O'Mealy, O'Laughlin and McCallion, also a Miss Marr who was to be the housekeeper at the Bishop's residence.
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Another chapter in the history of the Catholic Church in Ohio, was begun on November 14, 1833, with the installation as Bishop of Ohio, of Bishop Purcell. Bishop Purcell, as did his predecessor, Bishop Fenwick, toured the diocese on horseback, through unbroken forests, fording streams, and in some instances, traveling on railroad hand cars propelled by devoted Irish railroad workmen.
These efforts were rewarded by growth in the church and in 1837, he was able to report 24 churches in Ohio; 16 stations or missions ; three years later, there were 40 churches; two years later 45 churches, and in another two years in 1844, 70 churches.
He, like his predecessor, found the need for more helpers, and, again like Bishop Fenwick, he went to Europe, making seven trips in all during his bishopric, seeking financial help as well as the help of priests and nuns.
The first visit to Europe extended until Aug. 22, 1839, when he arrived home. He was accompanied by seven priests, one of whom, Father Lamy, was to play as the leading character in the great drama of the Southwest and which is so beautifully depicted by Willa Cather, in "Death Comes for the Archbishop." Others in this group were Fathers Gacon, Machebeuf, Navaroon, Olivette and Huber, the latter, a Franciscan priest.
On this first visit of Bishop Purcell to Europe, he visited a number of European convents for the purpose of having Sisters come to Ohio to help in the work of the Church. Several desirable sites had been given to his predecessor, Bishop Fenwick, for use of the Church, and Bishop Purcell was offering these sites as gifts, and as a special in- ducement to the European Sisters to establish American foundations of their religious orders in Ohio.
Among the Communities contacted at this time were the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur and Madames of the Sacred Heart. When the Madames informed him that they could not comply with his request for at least two years, he importuned the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur to come. The Superior of this order agreed to come with this provision : "That the Sisters be given a suitable house with a garden for the Sisters, help (financial help, no doubt) for construction of suitable buildings for the establishment of their work, and transfer
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of the title to the property." This was emphasized later in a letter to Bishop Purcell from the convent chaplain, Father Varin, who requested Bishop Purcell to make a formal demand for the sisters, and to incorporate into his letter, promise of the compliance with the Sisters' demands, which now included a house with necessary furni- ture, and a garden; assurance of assistance, providing the Sisters could not obtain support from the pension of scholars and what was more important than all else to the Sisters, an opportunity to conduct classes for poor children. This last was part of the rule of the Re- ligious community.
The Bishop had three desirable sites to offer, one at Chillicothe, another at Cincinnati, and the third, by far the most desirable, at Fayetteville. There were three parochial schools, which would enable them to fulfill their obligation to teach poor children-but he found himself at a loss to provide a suitable house with a garden. He must have managed somehow as in the early records of the Sisters, con- cerning their work in Ohio, the historian writes that "attached to their house is a garden, no larger than an apron."
There were eight Sisters who started from Namur Sept. 3, sailed from Antwerp, Sept. 10, 1840, and arrived in New York, Oct. 19, 1840. They arrived in Cincinnati, on November 1, in a strange garb, to which they had changed from their religious habits, so as not to attract attention ; that was their motive, but as a matter of fact their costumes were so odd that they defeated their own purpose. By the year 1840, in the East, at least, and enroute from New York to Ohio, the people had become more or less accustomed to nuns and their sombre garb.
The Brown County property at Fayetteville was the first offer made to the Sisters, but this the Superior, SISTER LOUIS DE GONZAGA, declined to accept, because its great distance in the country would not permit the Sisters to receive poor children gratis for in- struction.
The Sisters were then invited to live with the Sisters of Charity, vho settled in Cincinnati in 1829 and by this time (1840) had become vell established. Following six weeks lodgings with the Sisters of Charity, they took possession of the same convent once occupied by his order, located at Sycamore Street, opposite the Cathedral. This
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was but a temporary arrangement, however, and before another month had passed, they had closed a deal for the purchase of the Spencer Mansion on Sixth Street, between Sycamore and Broadway, and on January 18, 1841, opened "The Young Ladies Institute and Boarding School."
As with the other two communities, Sisters of Charity and Sisters of St. Dominic, so too with the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, their work became known, and the school grew, so that in 1844 they were enabled to construct their first building.
In the year that Bishop Purcell had been appointed Bishop of Cincinnati, a group of women organized a religious community in Loewenberg, Switzerland. Their leader was Mrs. Brunner, mother of the Reverend Francis de Sales Brunner, of the Order of the Most Precious Blood, who was the founder of an American branch of the Fathers of the Most Precious Blood. The religious order of women was known as the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood. Father Brunner with seven other priests of his order and some students had come to Norwalk, Ohio in 1843 to establish an American foundation of his order and there came in contact with a former nun, a member of the Divine Providence, who had fled France to America at the time of the French Revolution. Living a life of seclusion, she contented her- self with being of service to the small Catholic community, tending the sick and performing other duties. She learned of the religious order in Switzerland from Father Brunner, and she immediately sought the assistance of Bishop Purcell who invited the Sisters to establish a branch in his diocese. On July 24, 1844, SISTER MARIA ANN AL- BRECHT, with her daughter ROSA, also a Sister, and a novice, MARTINA CATHERINE DISCH, arrived at Norwalk, Ohio. They built a log house near the home of the French woman, but this small house before long became far too small for them. A convent was built at New Reigel, in Seneca County, and at this place they opened a school for girls and an orphanage in 1845. Five years later, in 1850 the original motherhouse was sold in Switzerland, and the foundation which began in Ohio in 1844 has since become the central headquarters for the entire community.
Now comes the entrance into Ohio of a religious order which had given rise to the writing of more prose and poetry, than has been done
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for any other religious community. It is the Ursuline Order of Nuns, a religious group that has more than four centuries of service to its credit.
It was on the first European visit of Bishop Purcell that he came in contact with the Ursuline Nuns at their convent in Boulogne-sur- mer, France. In travelling from England to France he had occasion to meet two young women who were on their way to the Ursuline convent school in France. Bishop Purcell accompanied them to their convent and there he met the chaplain, Father Amadeus Rappe, who was later to become the first bishop of the diocese of Cleveland, Ohio. Bishop Rappe and the Nuns at Boulogne-sur-mer were impressed with the story of the missionary needs in the Ohio diocese, and Bishop Rappe became so interested that he applied for admission into the diocese, a request which Bishop Purcell was only too happy to grant. Bishop Rappe came to Ohio in 1840 as an escort to the eight Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur and to volunteer for service in Ohio. Bishop Purcell assigned him to serve in Toledo, Ohio. The lake port towns were attracting many workmen and their families, many of whom were of the Catholic Faith, and as quickly as these colonies were discovered, just as quickly did Bishop Purcell make every effort to administer to their spiritual needs.
In 1844, when Father Machebeuf, who came to Ohio in 1839 from France with the first group of priests whom Bishop Purcell had ob- tained, found it necessary to attend to business matters in France, he was commissioned by Bishop Purcell to call on the Ursulines at Boulogne-sur-mer, for the purpose of obtaining a company of Sisters to work in Ohio.
The 300 acres of land in Brown County which had been donated to Bishop Fenwick, while not begging for an occupant (a small sem- inary for boys had been established there) was in fact begging for some group to develop it to the position of usefulness which the donor nad in mind when it was given.
Another group of Ursulines at Saint Halyre, near Clermont in France, were at this time being harassed and persecuted by civic officials. Word came to them that Ohio was seeking recruits from the convent at Boulogne-sur-mer. It was explained that, should the Bou-
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logne convent not be willing to respond, or not able to accept, consider- ation would be given to the Saint Halyre group. The Saint Halyre group of 14 Nuns, was chosen and also two from the Boulogne convent who could speak English. All preparations had been made for their departure on March 1, 1845, when suddenly the city officials of Saint Halyre began to realize what the departure of the nuns would mean to the community, so the sub-prefect of the department, the mayor and the members of the municipal council appeared at the convent, to entreat them to remain and to pledge any assistance necessary.
Some of the families of the nuns also intervened, with the result that several of the fourteen who had volunteered withdrew their promise. The departure was delayed until May 4, when eleven Sisters, eight from the Saint Halyre group and three from Boulogne, among whom was SISTER JULIA CHATFIELD, an English woman; SIS- TER HYACINTH EIFFE, a novice, and MISS MATILDA DUNN, a postulant, set out. The group arrived in New York, June 2, 1845, and in Cincinnati, June 19. Father Machebeuf accompanied the Sisters from France.
One can well imagine the test to which the hospitality of MRS. DAVID CORR of Cincinnati, was put in finding accommodations for these eleven women, who were to be her guests for a month or until such time as the Sisters could make a decision on two sites made to them, one at Chillicothe and the other in Brown County. A committee of two Sisters was appointed for each of the two sites, to visit and to bring back a report. The Sisters were unable to make a decision and so left it to Bishop Purcell. He decided in favor of the Brown County site, and on July 21, to the cries of the seminarians who were lodged at Brown County, "The French are Coming," the seminarians repaired to Cincinnati and the Ursulines took possession of Brown County.
On this site was a seminary which became the convent and Saint Martin's Church became the convent chapel. There was a residence also for the priests of Saint Martin, Fathers Gacon and Cheymol. These buildings with 300 acres of land, became the property of the Ursuline nuns.
Father Rappe who had been stationed at Toledo had hoped to have the Sisters establish a convent there, but it was to be some years
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later, before Ursuline Nuns were to establish a convent in Toledo, and then it was to be a branch from the foundation established in Cleveland. This was one of the first to come to Cleveland, which city had been established as a diocese in 1847. Father Rappe was named the first Bishop.
The Ursulines opened their first boarding school in Brown County, Oct. 4, 1845. In the meantime they taught school to the children in the neighborhood. A new convent was built in Sept., 1847.
SISTERS OF ST. DOMINIC
The Sisters of St. Dominic were the first of Catholic women's orders to establish a novitiate in Ohio. They established also the first "Female Literary Institute"-this was in 1830. They arrived in Somerset, Ohio, February 5, took possession of a small house which had been purchased for them in advance of their coming, and on April 5 opened a school with an enrollment of forty pupils. Before the end of the year the school had been legally incorporated under the name of "St. Mary's Female Literary Society."
SISTER ROSE LYNCH of Zanesville, Ohio, who was later to become Mother Superior of the order (from 1862 to 1873) was the first postulant.
The influence of this order of Nuns spread quickly and many young women affiliated themselves in order to dedicate their lives to religion. In 1850 two of their number responded to the appeal of Bishop Joseph Alemany, who had just been appointed Bishop at Monterey, California, to establish a reli- gious foundation in his new diocese. This foundation has since developed into the Congregation of the Holy Name and has its Mother-House at San Rafael, California. Bishop Alemany had come to Ohio from Italy in 1840 to assist in the mission work here, and it was but natural that he should seek as his helpers those whose work he had come to know during his mission work in Ohio.
The following year, three more Sisters from Somerset went to establish St. Agnes Convent in Memphis, Tennessee ; in 1854, four members established a convent in Benton, Wisconsin; in 1860, four others founded the Community of St. Cecelia in Nashville, Tennessee; in 1873, two of their members estab- lished the Congregation of the Sacred Heart, whose motherhouse is now located in Houston, Texas.
From each of these foundations, other convents were established, as the needs became known; so it is that from this small beginning in Somerset, Ohio there has spread an influence that has spanned extensive areas and has reached into the lives of innumerable people.
The foundress of the Sisters of St. Dominic in Somerset, Ohio, was SISTER BENVIN STANSBURY, who with her own sister, ANGELA STANSBURY,
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and two cousins of the same name, were among the nine young women to establish the first order of Dominican nuns in the United States in Springfield, Kentucky. This was in 1822. Although Kentucky was the birthplace for the order, the Ohio foundation is given credit for having exerted a greater influ- ence on Catholic education throughout the country.
Father Burns, a member of the Holy Cross order, in his "Principles and Origin and Establishment of the Catholic School System," says: "The fact must be borne in mind in estimating the influence which the Kentucky estab- lishment of 1822 has had upon Catholic education in the United States. There the number of Sisters has never been, comparatively speaking, very large. The colonies it has sent out have been few. Yet, its direct influence has been considerable. For instance, the school at Somerset, of which it is the parent, and which has developed into an independent community not only became an important center of educational work in Ohio, but gave birth to other establishments, which in turn became independent centers of educational activities over wide fields-the Ohio Institution, has in fact, exerted a much wider direct educational influence than the original motherhouse in Ken- tucky."
A disastrous fire completely destroyed the Somerset Convent in 1868, at which time the Sisters moved to Columbus, their present location, opened an academy and continued the work so well begun at Old St. Mary's at Somerset.
The offer of a site of land in Columbus with financial assistance from Theodore Leonard of Columbus, if the Sisters would locate there, perhaps motivated the Sisters to remove their convent to what is now known as "St. Mary's of the Springs," so named because of the number of crystal-clear springs found on the grounds of their new location.
Bishop Purcell following a visit made to the Somerset School in 1834, wrote to the Sisters in charge: "Much of the happy influence exerted here must be referred to the Boarding and Day School conducted by the pious association of the Sisters of St. Dominic. The system of education is judi- ciously concerted and far more extensive than even flattering reports had taught us to expect. The Catholics and the Protestants of the neighborhood, as well as Cincinnati, Wheeling, and other distant towns, appear to begin to appreciate it as it merits. We know of few institutions which more success- fully aspire to public patronage."
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