USA > Pennsylvania > Allegheny County > Pittsburgh > A history of the Catholic church in the dioceses of Pittsburg and Allegheny from its establishment to the present time > Part 9
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CHAPTER VII.
HISTORY OF ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL FROM 1873 TO THE PRESENT TIME.
The new episcopal residence-Death of Father M'Mahon, with sketch of his life- The Italians-The Bishop visits Rome-Division of the diocese-Statistics -Consecration of Rt. Rev. John Tuigg, with sketch of his life-State of the diocese-The Cathedral on fire-Death of Rev. Patrick Cassidy, with sketch of his life-Bishop Domenec visits Rome-Resigns his see-Returns to Spain-His death-Closing scenes of his life-Reunion of the two dioceses -Improvement of the Cathedral.
AFTER the burning of the episcopal residence in the fall of 1859, the committee of the Cathedral proposed to erect a new building at a cost of $16,000; and with the consent of the rector plans were prepared, subject to the approval of the Bishop, who was then absent. But upon his return, he deemed it too expensive for the times, and instead of a new residence contented himself with that part of the old that had been spared by the flames. In this small and uncomfortable home the Bishop and the clergy attached to the Cathedral had since resided. But the time, it was thought, had come for improving their condition ; and in the summer of 1872 plans were prepared on a grand scale, as the present edifice amply testifies, and work was commenced on the foundation. Scarcely, however, was the first stone laid when the panic came, and business was prostrated and public confidence at an end perhaps for years. Nothing daunted, and notwithstanding the debt already on the Cathedral and the orphan asylum, the work was pushed forward, and gradually the immense edifice, a real palace, commanded the admiration of all who saw it. It was completed and occupied about the middle of Decem- ber, 1875. The cost is said to have been $92,000; but it is thought to nave been considerably more, for even at the pres-
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DEATH OF VERY REV. EDWARD M' MAHON.
ent day the debt due upon it exceeds that sum. The build- ing is ninety feet front by one hundred and ten feet deep, and three stories high besides the basement and finished attic ; and it is trimmed with Massillon stone elegantly dressed. But it is much larger than the wants of the parish will ever demand.
About the year 1873 serious apprehensions were enter- tained for the safety of the Cathedral from the movement that was agitated for a time for cutting down the streets in that part of the city. But the proposition was finally abandoned, and it is not likely that it will again be mooted.
On the 7th of October of the same year, Very Rev. E. M'Mahon, who had for so many years been identified with the history of the Cathedral and the diocese, died in Philadelphia in the 74th year of his age.
VERY REV. EDWARD M'MAHON " was born in Milltown, a suburb of Dublin, in 1800. He made his studies and was ordained subdeacon in that city, but feeling himself called to labor for the salvation of souls in a foreign mission, he asked and obtained an exeat from his Ordinary, the most Rev. Dr. Murray, in 1824, with permission to become the subject of Bishop Flaget, of Bardstown, Kentucky, or of any other Bishop in the United States. He was ordained priest by Bishop Flaget July 3d, 1825. So high was the estimate formed of his piety and ability by this saintly prelate that, only a few months after his ordination, he appointed him superior of the Preparatory Seminary of St. Thomas, to which a small college was then attached." In 1830 he was appointed vice-rector of St. Mary's College. A year later he was appointed pastor of Scott County, which had several missions attached to it; and he may be said to have been the founder of all the most flourishing missions in the present Diocese of Covington. But we cannot detail his labors in Kentucky. In 1841 he visited his native land. Five years later he became president of St. Joseph's College, Ky., in which he soon restored order out of chaos. Soon after the Bishop gave the college to the Jesuits, and he came to the Diocese of Pittsburg. Here he was placed at Hollidaysburg, in the winter of 1849, for a short time, and thence transferred
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THE ITALIANS.
to St. Peter's Church, Allegheny City, which he finished. In 1850 he became pastor of St. Paul's Cathedral, and soon after Vicar-General of the diocese. We have seen his labors here in the cause of religion. On retiring to Philadelphia he was appointed pastor of St. Edward's Church, where he passed the closing years of his long and eminently useful life .*
About the time of the opening of the Catholic Institute, Rev. Jas. M'Tighe, who was president and at the same time professor in St. Michael's Seminary, made an attempt to form the Italians of the city into a congregation. Being a student of the Propaganda and master of the Italian language, he felt that he should attempt to better the spiritual condition of the Italian Catholics, of whom there are perhaps one hundred and fifty families, living principally in the vicinity of the Cathedral, all of whom are very poor. But after a few months he was appointed to a parish a considerable distance from the city, and the Italians have since been left as they were before without any spiritual guide, although there is always a priest at the Cathedral acquainted with their lan- guage.
During the summer of 1874 the splendid stained-glass window over the entrance of the Cathedral was put in, at a cost of about $2000 ; and in 1876 that in the transept facing on Fifth Avenue was put in, at a cost of about $2500. In 1874 the Capuchin Fathers entered the diocese. Three churches only were built or enlarged in 1873, and five in the following year.
On the 5th of November, 1875, the Bishop set out on a visit to Rome, leaving Father Hickey Administrator. The object of his visit was not known ; and hence when, in January, 1876, it was announced that the diocese had been divided and a new one formed, with Allegheny City as its see, people were taken by surprise and found it difficult to credit the report. But further intelligence confirmed it. The Diocese of Pittsburg was divided, and Bishop Domenec was transferred to the new See of Allegheny, the bulls for both the division and the
* Compiled principally from " A Sermon by Very Rev. James O'Connor, D.D., preached at the Month's Mind."
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DIVISION OF THE DIOCESE.
transfer being dated January 11th, 1876. Many persons had expected that a division would take place in time, but that the panic would have the effect of deferring it for a few years. But in the event of it transpiring, Altoona, it was thought, would be the new see. By bulls dated January 16th, Very Rev. John Tuigg, of Altoona, was elevated to the vacant See of Pittsburg. The dividing line between the sees of Pitts- burg and Allegheny started at the southern boundary of the State between Bedford and Somerset counties, and passed north till it reached Cambria, and thence west to Westmore- land. Passing along the eastern, southern, and western boundary of this county, it struck the Allegheny River, and passed down that stream and the Ohio to the western limits of Allegheny City. From that point it struck due north through Allegheny County to the southern boundary of Butler, and continued west and north to the line dividing Lawrence and Mercer counties. It then followed that line to the western boundary of the State. Thus the new diocese had eight counties, with about one fourth of Allegheny, or an area of about 6530 square miles ; leaving the parent diocese six counties and about three fourths of Allegheny, with an area of about 4784 square miles.
The following were the principal statistics of the diocese at the time of the division, as given in the Catholic Directory for 1876. (During the year 1875 eleven churches had been built or enlarged.) Priests, secular and religious, 160; churches, 115 ; chapels, 15; male religious orders, 7; female religious orders, 12; parish schools, 70; educational institutions, 10; academies, 10; diocesan seminary ; Sisters of Mercy, 178; of Charity, 22 ; of St. Joseph, 17; Benedictine Nuns, 40; Ursu- lines, 17; Sisters of Notre Dame, 25; number of children attending parochial schools, about 17,000; asylums, 4 ; hospi- tals, 2; and a Catholic population of about 200,000. Many are of opinion, however, that the population of the diocese was estimated at too high a figure, and this opinion is strengthened by a comparison of the percentage of increase in the Catholic and in the general population of that part of the State em- braced within the limits of the diocese during the previous fifteen years. It is further confirmed from the fact that
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CONSECRATION OF RT. REV. J. TUIGG.
although in the division of the diocese the population appeared to be about equally divided between the two sees, yet when the newly consecrated Bishop Tuigg had the census of his diocese taken in May, 1876, it reached only 56,800. Although this was most probably an underestimate, yet it could not have fallen more than 10,000, if indeed so much, below the actual number. I am of opinion that it would have been a very fair estimate of the numerical strength of the Catholics in the diocese to have placed it at about 135,000. And al- though this statement may appear to savor of temerity in the presence of figures published, yet it is certain that the popu- lation of a large number of the congregations was only approxi- mated for that report. I may further state that in every instance, with perhaps no more than three or four exceptions, I have found the population of congregations far less than it was generally supposed to be, and sometimes not half so much. Since the division of the diocese the population, al- though not increasing as rapidly as before the panic, has yet been adding slowly to its numbers, and it will reach at the present time, I am of opinion, about 140,000.
The division was not well received, particularly by those of the parent diocese; and more especially as the diocesan in- stitutions were left heavily in debt, while their resources were greatly diminished. All the churches, with one or two excep- tions, that were involved in debt were on the same side, while the educational institutions were in the new diocese, with the exception of the diocesan seminary, an institution that could not long survive the division, and the Ursuline Academy.
The 19th of March, Feast of St. Joseph, which that year fell on Sunday, was the day fixed for the solemn ceremony of the consecration of the Bishop-elect. All the ceremonies were in keeping with the solemnity of the occasion. Archbishop Wood, of Philadelphia, was the consecrating prelate ; Rt. Rev. J. F. Shanahan, of Harrisburg, preached the sermon ; and Very Rev. J. Hickey read the papal bulls. There were pres- ent, besides these, Bishops Mullen, of Erie; O'Hara, of Scran- ton ; Domenec, of Allegheny ; and Abbot Wimmer, of St. Vincent's, with Very Rev. F. M. Boff, Administrator of Cleveland, and about one hundred of the inferior clergy. In
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IOI
THE CATHEDRAL ON FIRE.
the evening many of those present at the ceremonies of the morning went to St. Peter's pro-Cathedral, Allegheny, to witness the installation of Bishop Domenec. The installation was attended with all the ceremonies prescribed by the ritual; and a new Bishop and a new see were added to the Church in America.
It is proper before proceeding further to say a few words regarding the new Bishop of Pittsburg. Any lengthy remarks would be out of place. Rt. Rev. John Tuigg, D.D., is a native of county Cork, Ireland, where he was born in the year 1820. Having pursued his studies for some time in All-Hallows Missionary College, he came to this country and entered St. Michael's Seminary, Pittsburg. Upon the completion of his course of Theology he was ordained by Bishop O'Connor on the 14th of May, 1850, and placed at the Cathedral as an assist- ant. Here he remained, sharing with the other priests in the arduous duties of that large congregation and acting as secretary to the Bishop. About the beginning of 1853 he was assigned the duty of organizing St. Bridget's congregation and building the church, although remaining at the same time at the Bishop's residence. When the church was well under way he was assigned the more important mission of Altoona, in July of the same year. His labors there in the cause of religion, the success that attended them, and the monuments that he has left to bear witness to his energy and zeal, will be seen at length in their proper place.
Immediately after his consecration he set vigorously about the affairs of his exalted position, and after expending much time and toil became fully acquainted with the difficulties by which he was surrounded.
On the morning of June 2d, 1877, the Cathedral accidentally took fire, and had it not been for the heavy wall of the tran- sept, between the body of the church and the sacristy, where the fire originated, it would probably have been destroyed. As it was the damage amounted to about $3000.
In the latter part of the summer of the same year Rev. Patrick Cassidy, a priest of the diocese, died in Ireland, in the 27th year of his age.
REV. PATRICK CASSIDY was a native of county Derry,
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DEATH OF REV. P. CASSIDY.
Ireland. At an early age he felt an attraction for the sanc- tuary, and began those studies that should fit him for enter- ing the ranks of the sacred ministry. He came to America early in the summer of 1866, and soon after entered the seminary at Pittsburg. Having finished his studies, he was ordained on the 20th of December, 1873, and placed at the Cathedral. But in the following January he was appointed chaplain of St. Paul's Orphan Asylum, where he remained until the autumn of the same year, when declining health forced him to retire from the city and seek the purer country air. He took charge of the little congregation at Cameron Bottom, where he remained a year. But his health was being slowly undermined by consumption, and he returned to the cathedral, where he performed such duties as his health per- mitted, or reposed from labor. Seeing that there was no hope of his recovery in this country, he determined to cross over to his native land, and accordingly set sail on the 20th of July. But scarcely had he reached the home of his childhood when his brief career in the sacred ministry was run, and God called him to his reward.
When the Bishop of Allegheny withdrew his students from the diocesan seminary it was found impossible to con- tinue it, and it was closed at the end of December, 1876. During this year but two churches were dedicated in the Diocese of Pittsburg, both of which had been purchased from the Protestants; and one in that of Allegheny.
In January, 1877, Revs. J. Holland and F. Kittell were despatched to Rome in the interest of the Diocese of Pitts- burg ; and in April Bishop Domenec also crossed over, leav- ing Very Rev. R. Phelan Administrator during his absence. But he never returned to America. Having devoted almost seventeen years of incessant labor to the welfare of religion in the most exalted, as it is the most onerous, position that man can occupy in this world, and having everywhere left monuments of his zeal and devotedness to the flock over which he had been called by the voice of Christ's vicar to preside, he resigned the See of Allegheny on the 29th of July, 1877, and retired soon after to his native land. It was his intention, it appears, to return to America, and various reports
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DEATH OF BISHOP DOMENEC.
were circulated regarding exalted positions in the Church in this country which had been offered to him ; but upon this point we have no certain information. While his friends in America were daily expecting to hear of his return, they were suddenly cast into deepest sorrow by the news of his death from pneumonia putrida, on the 7th of January, 1878. Nothing could have been more unexpected ; for although in the sixty-second year of his age, he yet appeared in the prime of life, and was remarkable for his extraordinary power of endurance. He seemed a stranger to fatigue, and never ap- peared in his proper element except when laboring to pro- mote the interests of religion. In every part of the diocese he has left imperishable monuments of his zeal in the cause of religion; and if we were disposed to pass an opinion we should say that he was too kind-hearted, and shrank from doing or saying anything that might cause another pain. In reply to a letter of inquiry from the Pittsburg Evening Leader the Hon. Frederick H. Schenck, American consul at Barce- lona, in Spain, wrote as follows regarding the closing scenes in the life of Bishop Domenec :
"The late Mr. Domenec came to Barcelona in the early part of the fall, and remained for several months, preaching in the different Catholic churches twice every week and many times oftener ; and, being considered by the public in general a very fine speaker, and beloved by all who knew him per- sonally, the churches were on all occasions overcrowded. He left Barcelona for his native city, Reus, about five miles from Tarragona, to once more visit the places of his youth before returning to the United States, on the 30th of December last ; but on his arrival in Tarragona he took very suddenly sick, and was taken to the House of the Beneficence against the wishes of the Archbishop of Tarragona, who offered him his own residence. Failing very rapidly, the Bishop received the last sacraments ; and the last words he said were in answer to renewed entreaties of the Archbishop to allow himself to be transferred to his (the Archbishop's) house: 'A thousand thanks, sir. You know my mission is not to incommode anybody.' He then did not recover his senses, and died quietly January 7th, at a quarter before I o'clock P.M."
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OBSEQUIES OF THE BISHOP.
A fuller account of his obsequies is found in the official journal of the Archbishop of Tarragona, a copy of which was sent to Pittsburg. We give it entire, both for the information it contains and in order to preserve it. Says the journal :
" Right Rev. Bishop Domenec, after having received the holy viaticum, on the evening of the 6th inst., from the hands of the Most Rev. Archbishop, who was accompanied by the chapter and clergy of the Cathedral, by the students of the seminary and many of the faithful, expired at a little after noon on the following day.
" After the recitation of the solemn office of the dead, the Archbishop, the chapter and clergy of the Cathedral, went in procession to the Church of Our Lady of Mercy to chant the customary responses over the corpse, which, clothed in pon- tifical habiliments, reclined on a grand catafalque in the cen- tre of the church.
"On the following morning (the 8th inst.), after the con- ventual Mass, and according to a notice inserted in the daily papers, the illustrious deceased was buried in the cloister of the Cathedral, in the rear of the Chapel of Our Lady de la Guia. The corpse was carried to its last resting-place with the same pomp and solemnity that are observed in the fune- ral obsequies of the Most Rev. Archbishops. The streets through which the funeral procession passed on its way to the Cathedral were crowded with people of all classes assem- bled to take a last look at a prelate who in the United States had gained so many souls to Christ, erected and consecrated so many churches to the worship of the true God, and estab- lished so many schools for the Christian instruction of youth. The presence of the civil and military officers of the province, of a committee of the councils headed by the mayor, of the government employés, and many other important personages; the long line of the clergy, and the music furnished by the military bands of the garrison-all contributed more and more to the solemnity of the funeral ceremony. The Archbishop presided at the solemn functions, which, after a pontifical Mass of requiem, terminated at midday in the midst of an extraordinary concourse of people.
" During his illness, which lasted but a few days, Bishop
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REUNION OF THE TWO DIOCESES.
Domenec manifested a holy resignation in his sufferings, and a readiness to pass to eternity, there to receive the reward merited by his labors on earth. He ceased not to ask the mercy of God, and was profuse in his gratitude to the Arch- bishop, who frequently visited him, and to the Sisters of Charity, who ministered to his wants." Such was the death of a good Bishop whose name is indelibly written on the memory of his former spiritual children.
After mature deliberation the Holy See entrusted the ad- ministration of the vacant See of Allegheny to the Bishop of Pittsburg by official documents bearing date August 3d, 1877. Referring to it in an official letter of September 18th to the clergy and laity of the two dioceses, the Bishop says : "We have been notified that the Holy Father, by the advice of the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide, had en- trusted to us, though unworthy, the administration of the Diocese of Allegheny, in spirituals and temporals, promis- cuously-'promiscuæ'-to be governed and administered as if both sees formed but one, 'ac si una esset dicecesis.'"
In this manner the dioceses are still governed, and no doubt will continue to be for many years to come.
During the year 1878 the interior of the Cathedral was freed from the dust that had so long been accumulating, and was appropriately painted, which adds no little to its appear- ance. Two new Gothic side altars of beautiful design also replaced the old ones. But the diocese being now well sup- plied with churches, there were but three dedicated in 1877, and one each in the two following years. The Cathedral con- gregation will number perhaps twelve thousand souls, and it will probably undergo but little change for many years.
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CHAPTER VIII.
CONGREGATIONS FORMED FROM ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL.
St. Patrick's Church-Death and Sketch of Rev. Jas. Byrnes-St. Mary's Church -Church of the Sacred Heart-St. John the Baptist's Church-St. Peter's pro-Cathedral, Allegheny City.
ST. PATRICK'S CHURCH, PITTSBURG.
THE history of this church has in part been already laid before the reader. We have seen that it was built by Father O'Brien, most probably in the year 1810; that it was enlarged by Father M'Guire about the year 1825, and that upon the completion of St. Paul's, in the summer of 1834, it became the first German as it had been the first English church of the city. Having been occupied by the Germans until 1839 or '40, it was restored to the English, when the former purchased the property upon which St. Philomena's now stands. Father .O'Reilly, then pastor of St. Paul's, mistaking the future pros- pects of Catholicity in the city, was in favor of selling St. Patrick's; but his assistant, Rev. E. F. Garland, was of a dif- ferent opinion. A meeting of the congregation was called to discuss the affair, when it was found that the pastor and his assistant were the ablest advocates of the conflicting views. Fortunately for the cause of religion in the city, the opinion in favor of retaining the property prevailed, and some time later, in October, 1840, Father Garland was appointed pastor of St. Patrick's, with the care of organizing and presiding over the second English congregation in the city. This he did with but slight interruption, as we shall see, for thirty- eight years. The growth of Catholicity in the city was such that it soon became necessary to increase the accommodations of the church, and additional galleries were built in as large a
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BURNING OF ST. PATRICK'S CHURCH.
part of it as possible. In the course of time an assistant also became necessary. In the spring of 1853 St. Bridget's con- gregation was organized, the greater part of which was taken from St. Patrick's. A little later in the same year St. Mary's Church, Laurenceville, was built, which drew away another portion. A school was also opened, but the date has not been ascertained.
But the venerable church was doomed to destruction. A fire broke out in a machine-shop near it on the morning of August 10th, 1854, and the flames being communicated to the church it was entirely consumed. Nothing remained but to replace it. But the city had extended up the Allegheny River a considerable distance, and it was deemed advisable to set the new church somewhat further in the same direction. The Bishop obtained a release from the fulfilment of the con- ditions upon which the original lot had been donated, and this done he sold it to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. Lots were then purchased at the head of Fourteenth Street-the old church had stood at the head of Eleventh-and the new build- ing was immediately undertaken. In September, 1856, Father Garland exchanged places with Rev. Thomas M'Cullagh, of Summitville, Cambria County. The latter finished the church and remained with the congregation until its dedication by the Bishop, August 15th, 1858, when he returned to the moun- tain and the former pastor of St. Patrick's resumed his city charge. The church was of brick, and was perhaps 90 feet in length by 45 in width, and standing with the front to the hill had a basement under a considerable part of the rear, which was used as a school. The building was without a tower, and made little pretensions to architectural style and finish.
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