USA > Pennsylvania > Adams County > Littlestown > History and directory of the boroughs of Gettysburg, Oxford, Littlestown, York Springs, Berwick, and East Berlin, Adams County, Pa. : with historical collections > Part 14
USA > Pennsylvania > Adams County > Gettysburg > History and directory of the boroughs of Gettysburg, Oxford, Littlestown, York Springs, Berwick, and East Berlin, Adams County, Pa. : with historical collections > Part 14
USA > Pennsylvania > Adams County > East Berlin > History and directory of the boroughs of Gettysburg, Oxford, Littlestown, York Springs, Berwick, and East Berlin, Adams County, Pa. : with historical collections > Part 14
USA > Pennsylvania > Adams County > Oxford in Adams County > History and directory of the boroughs of Gettysburg, Oxford, Littlestown, York Springs, Berwick, and East Berlin, Adams County, Pa. : with historical collections > Part 14
USA > Pennsylvania > Adams County > York Springs > History and directory of the boroughs of Gettysburg, Oxford, Littlestown, York Springs, Berwick, and East Berlin, Adams County, Pa. : with historical collections > Part 14
USA > Pennsylvania > Adams County > Berwick in Adams County > History and directory of the boroughs of Gettysburg, Oxford, Littlestown, York Springs, Berwick, and East Berlin, Adams County, Pa. : with historical collections > Part 14
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
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"What an image of peace and rest is this little church among its graves ! All is so quiet ; the troubled breast, The wounded spirit, the heart oppressed, Here may find the repose it craves." *
"You cross the threshold, and dim and small Is the space that serves for the Shepherd's fold; The narrow aisle, the bare white wall, The pews, and the pulpit quaint and tall, Whisper and say, "Alas! we are old."
Next as Superior of Conewago, came Father James Pellentz, who min- istered here as early as 1758. He was born in Germany, Jan. 19th, 1727, entered the Society in 1744, and made his profession in 1756. He filled the post of Vicar General to Bishop Carroll in 1791, and was present at the first council of Baltimore. Nothing is known of his labors at Cone- wago for a number of years until 1787, when the present stone church was erected. According to Archbishop Carroll, his congregation num- bered over 1,000 communicants in 1784. It may be that he had occa- sional assistance, but who is not known. "This Father's memory is still, and will ever be, affectionately cherished by the pastors and congregation of Conewago, as one of the most liberal, charitable and zealous of men and benefactors, and as a shepherd who laid down his life for his flock." He died Feb. 3d, 1800, and his remains rest at Conewago. The priests were few in number before the Revolution, and for the most part superan- nuated and sinking under the climate. The congregations were poor, and only those of Philadelphia and Baltimore were able to support their pas- tors. Toward the close of the ministry of Father Pellentz, he was assisted at Conewago by Father Gallitzin. In his humility* he called himself the
*"In this extraordinary man we have not only to admire his renunciation of the brightest hopes and prospects ; his indefatigable zeal - but something greater and
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Rev. Mr. Smith, but his right name was Demetrius Augustus Gallitzin. He was born at the Hague, December 22d, 1770. His father was then Russian Ambassador in Holland, and the friend and correspondent of Diderot and Voltaire, "whose perfidious praises flattered the vanity of the Russian prince." "The mother of our missionary, Amelia, Countess of Schmetteau, Princess Gallitzin, belonged to a great German family. She was daughter of Countess Ruffert, and one of Frederick the Great's favor- ites, Marshal Count Schmetteau." Father Gallitzin became a Catholic at the age of seventeen. He entered the military, and in 1792 was aid-de- camp to General Van Lilien, commander of the Austrian army in Brabant. He came to America, accompanied by a German missionary, Father Bro- sius, entered the Sulpitian Seminary at Baltimore, and was ordained March 18th, 1795. He was sent to Conewago, where his missionary field comprised Taneytown, Pipe Creek, Hagerstown, and Cumberland in Mary- land; Chambersburg, Path and Shade Valleys, Huntington and the Alle- ghany Mountains in Pennsylvania. Father Gallitzin was a learned man and author of several controversal works. He left Conewago in 1799, and founded a Catholic colony at Loretta, where he died May 6th, 1840. *
rarer-HIS WONDERFUL HUMILITY. No one could ever learn from him or his mode of life, what he exchanged for privation and poverty. To intimate to him that you were aware of his condition, would be sure to pain and displease him. He who might have reveled in the princely halls of his ancestors, was content to spend thir - ty years in a rude log cabin, almost denying himself the common comforts of life, that he might be able to clothe the poor and destitute. Few have left behind them such examples of charity and benevolence. On the head of no one have been in- voked so many blessings from the mouths of widows and orphans. It may be liter- ally said of him, 'if his heart had been made of gold, he would have disposed of it all in charity to the poor.'"-Sherman Day's Col., p. 180.
*About 1799, a Lutheran of German origin, named Livingston, removed with his family from Pennsylvania to Jefferson county, Va., located near a place still called "Wizard's Clip," His house was haunted by a strange visitant that burnt his barns, killed his cattle, broke his furniture and cut his clothing in a curious manner. Every effort was made to get rid of this annoyance, but all were unsucessful. In a dream he saw a Catholic church, and a voice told him that a priest could relieve him. "His wife then persuaded him to send for Rev. Mr. Cahill, who seemed rather unwilling to go, but at last yielded, and sprinkled the house with holy water, upon which the noise and annoyance ceased." Rev. Cahill also said Mass in his house. "The Rev. Mr. Cahill, Prince Gallitzin and his tutor, the Rev. Mr. Brozius, Father Pellentz, and Bishop Carroll, all investigated these occurences, which were renewed during seventeen years, accompained even by apparitions, and all considered them really supernatural, generally ascribing them to a suffering soul in purgatory."-See WIZ- ARD CLIP.
In a letter dated "Loretto, Cambria co., April 11th, 1839," to a friend in Virginia, Father Gallitzin says. "Yes, my dearest child, in 1797, I think in September, I be- came acquainted with your dear parents, and remained in that part of the country, spending all my time either at their home or at Livingston's, from September until near Christmas, when I had to return to Conewago, then the place of my residence.
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On the death of Father Pellentz, his place as Superior of Conewago was filled either by Father Charles Sewell or Father Sylvester Boarman, who had been his co-laborers for several years preceding his decease. These two priests were among the first to join the Society after permission had been given for its reestablishment. Father Brozius, who had been tutor to Father Gallitzin, was the next Superior of Conewago, where for a number of years he taught a school. His assistants were Fathers Nicho- las Cerfoumont, Manly and Sockley. At this time churches had already been founded at Carlisle, Littlestown, and through various parts of Mary- land-all served by the Conewago Fathers. Father Cerfoumont was in attendance at the Diocesan Synod of Baltimore in 1791, as was also Fath- er's Pellentz and Frambach. As Superior of Conewago now came Rev. Adolphus Louis de Barth," who was appointed to the mission of Lancaster about 1802. Born at Munster in 1774, he studied at Bellay, and entered the Seminary at Strasburg. After his ordination the Revolution drove him from France and he embarked for that "Happie Marieland." At the death of Bishop Egan in 1814, Father de Barth was appointed adminis-
My view in coming to Virginia was to investigate those extraordinary facts at Liv- ingston's, of which I had heard so much at Conewago, and which I could not pre- vail upon myself to believe; but I was soen converted to a full belief of them. No lawyer in a court of justice did ever examine or cross-examine witnesses more strictly than I did all that I could procure. I spent several days in penning down the whole account, which, on my return to Conewago, was read with great interest, and handed about from one to the another, till at last (when I wanted it back) it could not be found. In short, it was lost."-WIZARD CLIP, p. 89.
We can but repeat the hopes of the author of this work, Father Finotti: "Who knows but the long lost manuscript of Prince Gallitzin may yet be unearthed. Fiat, Fiat !"
The following is from a letter in WIZARD CLIP, written by Father Enders, present Superior of Conewago Chapel: "They (the Livingstons) never lived at Conewago any length of time ; they only visited this place soon after their conversion, a visit that may have been more than a flying one. Some of the clipped clothes had been kept in this house for a long while, at least till 1830 odd, when Father Lekeu had them burnt." A few of the old citizens of Conewago remember having seen these old clipped clothes, which were destroyed on account of the curiosity they excited, aud the throngs of people constantly asking permission to see them.
Rev. John McCaffrey, President of Mt. St. Mary's, says in his letter published in WIZARD CLIP : "Mr. Gallitzin took from Wizard Clip to Conewago, a trunk full of articles clipped by the ghost, a book among the rest described correctly by Mr. Hun- tington, and a new shawl, and some other clothes with the print of a hand burned through it by the spirit. Father Mulledy, when a scholastic at Conewago, saw and handled these articles."
*While Superior at Conewago, Father de Barth occasionally said Mass at Hanover, in an old house or shop then standing on the alley in the rear of the late Mr. Harth- horn's property, on Baltimore street. We note this in correction of a statement made in a recent sketch of St. Joseph's Church, Hanover, that Father Domperio said the first Mass in that place, in 1863.
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trator of the diocese of Philadelphia, and continued such until 1820, when he came to Conewago. "The ability with which the Rev. Mr. de Barth administered the diocese," says Shea, "next pointed him out for the episco- pacy ; but such an honor disconcerted his modesty ; he twice successfully refused the See, and once sent back to Rome the Bull of investiture." Father de B. became rector of St. Johns, in Baltimore, in 1828, and ten years afterwards his infirmities compelled him to retire to Georgetown College, where he died piously, in Oct., 1844. An Alsacian by birth, he was the second son of Count Joseph de Barth, of a noble family for many generations Catholic. His brother, the late General E. Walbach, was John de Barth Baron de Walbach, and when expatriated from France, retained the name of Walbach. Father de Barth is well remembered by many of the older members of Conewago congregation. He was stern in manner and mien, yet affable and kind in a remarkable degree to all who endeavored to perform their duties. He was a good judge of human na- ture, and could "see through a man" at first sight. One of his mass-ser- vers at Conewago, now a greyheaded man, relates that being vested for mass one morning, word was brought that some one wished to see him immediately. He requested that the visitor wait till after mass. An in- stant interview was still requested, and Father de Barth asked that he be shown into the sacristy. The stranger was a "big Irishman," and of very polished appearance, who asked the Father whether he would do him a favor. Father de Barth said he certainly would were it anything in his power. The stranger said he would like to have a marriage ceremony performed. Father de Barth eyed him for some time, then arose, got down his crucifix, and requested the stranger to answer before his crucified Saviour that he had not already a wife. The Irishman admitted that he had been twice divorced, when the Father reprimanded him severely, and bade him go, reform his ways.
Father de Barth's assistants in 1822, were Father F. Britt, Byrne, Lar- hue and Divin. The two former were priests from White Marsh, Russia, and both died and are buried at Conewago. While saying mass one morning, Father Britt turned to the people to say the last Dominus Vobis- cum, when he was seen to sink, and soon fell from the altar. He was taken to his room, and died a few weeks afterwards, and was followed the same fall by Father Byrne, both aged priests. In 1826, Father Nicho- las Mertz came to Conewago, and remained three years, when he was sent to Buffalo and Eden, "where he labored with the most untiring zeal from the year 1829 till his death, on the 10th of August, 1844, when he expired at the age of eighty-one." He was a native of Germany, where he was ordained in 1791, and was recived in the Diocese of Baltimore by Bishop Carroll (1811), "by whom he was always much respected and esteemed."
The successor of Father de Barth as Superior of Conewago, was Father Matthew Lekeu, who was also an assistant of his predecessor. He was a
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native of Belgium, born 1788, entered the Society in 1816, and became priest about 1823, when he was sent to Conewago, where he remained until 1845, when he was stationed at Newtown, Md., after which he re- turned to his native country, and died some years ago. During this Father's pastorate at Conewago, the two school houses were built in front of the church, the iron fence put up, before which there was a clapboard fence on one side of the churchyard and a post-fence on the other. Pews were also placed in the church instead of benches, the organ obtained, and also the bell .* The galleries formerly extending along the aisles of the church, were also most likely put in by this Father, but were removed some years later by Father Domperio. While Father Lekeu was Super- ior of Conewago, there were many clergymen laboring at various times at the mission here. Father Michael Dougherty was among the first, who is buried at Conewago. C. Paul Kohlman and Ferdinand Helias followed, and then Father Nicholas Steinbacher,* who was afterwards pastor of St. Mary's church, Erie, Pa. In 1836, Rev. Virgil Barber was a minister at Conewago. He was born, May 9th, 1782, and was the son of Rev.
*This bell whose sound is so dear to every inhabitant of the valley, has for many years rung life's great changes : "Peals of joy, and tones of sorrow-sad to-day and gay to-morrow." It bears the inscription : "Andreas Vanden Cheyn-me fudit Lo- vanii Anno 1816;" also, "Ad. Majorem Dei Gloriam, Dei Paroque Virginis Mariae." For many years this old servant has faithfully fulfilled its mission, and unborn peo- ple may yet answer to its call. When the old steeple was taken down in 1871, the bell was also removed, and after the completion of the new spire, was placed in its new position, the pupils then in attendance at Father Denecker's school drawing it up on the outside, where
"From the belfries lofty station, With a constant, sweet vibration, Floats the sound from door to door,
Calling to the sad and weary, And, through by-paths lone and dreary, To the wretched and the poor ; All earth's toil-worn children hear it ;- hear and bless it evermore."
This bell was among a cargo of confiscated convent bells brought to this country forty years ago, many of which found their way into Protestant possessions. Such is the bell of Christ's Lutheran Church, Gettysburg, which bears the inscription : "Maria de la concepcion per tvam, immacvlatam Dei Genetrix, virgo defende nos ab poste maligno," 1788.
ยก In 1833, Bishop Kenrick wrote: "At Conewago, in the part of Pennsylvania which borders Maryland, the Fathers of the Society of Jesus have one establish- ment amid a considerable Catholic population. The zeal of these Fathers extends to the neighboring population, and they have three churches besides that where they reside, and which was built in 1787. Nearly twelve hundred. (children) were con- firmed in these three churches at my last visit."
* While Father Steinbacher was pastor at Conewago, he also attended the congre- gation at Paradise, where there were occurrences similar to those in the Livingston family, and which were, attributed to a suffering soul in purgatory. This Father fasted strictly on bread and water, and performed much other penance in behalf of the suffering soul. This would furnish abundant material for another Finotti.
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Daniel Barber, Congregationalist minister in New England, who also be- came a Catholic. The Barbers, indeed, were a religious family. The father and two sons were Protestant ministers, and afterwards became Catholic priests. Rev. Vigil Barber was married and had five children- four daughters and one son, who became a Jesuit, while three of the daughters were Ursuline Nuns, and the fourth a Visitandine Sister, in which Order their mother had already been received. Father Barber be- came Professor of Hebrew in Georgetown College, where he died March 27th, 1847, aged sixty-five years. Father Kendler was pastor at Cone- wago about this time, as also Rev. Milesius Gibbons, Fathers Pester, Zachi, Hatting, Cotting, and others. In 1843, Father Pester was stationed at Paradise, where a tract of land had been donated to the Society, on con- dition that Mass be said there at stated times. He died at Paradise, and was buried at Conewago Chapel. The Paradise church was built soon after, services having been held heretofore in the brick house, in which there was a private chapel. In 1850, Father Hatting built the Catholic church at York, while Father Cotting was attending the Gettysburg and Mountain churches. . Father George Villiger was also minister at Cone- wago prior to 1850, when he labored elsewhere, but has now returned, an aged man, and at present is the successor of Father Denecker, at Littles- town.
The successor of Father Steinbacher as Superior of Conewago in 1847, was Rev. Joseph Enders, the present beloved incumbent. who has offici- ated ever since, with the exception of a short interval, during which he was Superior at Leonardtown, St. Mary's County, Md., while his place here was supplied by Fathers J. B. Catani, Tuffer, Domperio, B. Villiger, J. J. Bellwalder, and others. Father Catani died at Conewago, where rest his remains. In 1850-50, Father Enders greatly enlarged the church, by making the cruciform addition, and otherwise beautified the building .. The interior is adorned with numerous handsome paintings, representing the Last Supper, Sacred Heart of Jesus, His Blessed Mother, The Passion, Crucifixion, &c., which were executed by Francis Stecher, a German artist, who died soon after their completion, in his native land, whither he had gone to visit his parents, expecting soon to return to America and prosecute his laudable profession. In 1873, Father Enders had the present beautiful spire erected, some eighty feet in height above the comb of the roof. From the upper platform of the steeple, one of the prettiest scenes of rural beauty is to be obtained. The eye takes in a wide circle bounded by the South Mountain and the outlying spurs of Parr's Ridge, and within the range of vision are the "Round Tops" of Gettysburg, the Macha (Pigeon) Hills of the Indians, the blue line of the mountains bounding the Cumberland Valley in Pennsylvania, and running off on the south far into Maryland. In 1877, this same indefatigable Father had erected in Conewago Chapel, a magnificent marble altar, at a cost of nearly $2,000. The altar is of the Romanesque order, corresponding with
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the architecture of the church, and is composed of Italian, German, Span- ish and Portugese marbles. The tabernacle is of Carrara marble, with columns copied from those found at the ruins of Palmyra. He has also made many other improvements in the church building and on the prem- ises. The pews have been repainted, a new roof put on the entire church, statues of SS. Aloysius, Ignatius, Francis Xavier, and Blessed Peter Claver, have been placed in the niches, vacant since the building of the church. Were we to recount all that this faithful servant has achieved for the spiritual and temporal interests of those under his charge, we would exceed our ability and besides incur the displeasure of this humble Father, who is a member of the Bishop's Council.
Father Enders has been assisted for a number of years by the Rev. Fathers, Peter Manns, and F. X, Denecker, who could not be surpassed in their untiring zeal for the salvation of souls. Father Denecker died at Littlestown, Feb. 8th, 1879, where he had gone in the discharge of his duties. He was born in Belgium, Feb. 3d, 1810, came to this country about forty-two years ago, was sent to Conewago in 1848, where he re- mained almost uninterruptedly to his death. He was widely known and universally respected, and was gifted with talents of a very fine order, cul- tivated by life-long study ; and as a pulpit orator he had few equals. His remains were interred at Conewago Chapel, Friday morning, Feb. 11th, 1879, in the presence of a large concourse of people, assembled to pay the last tribute of respect and affection to the memory of him who had labored for them without ceasing, through so many silent years-unto the last mo- ment of his life, for he died at the very post of his duty. During his old age, burdened with many cares, he taught a school at Conewago for young boys who might be supposed to have a vocation for the ministry. Of all his scholars, only two or three are now Seminarians, which, how- ever, far exceeds his most sanguine expectations, for he was wont to say, that if he was instrumental in bringing one youth to the priesthood, all his labors would be rewarded a hundred fold.
While Father B. Villiger was Superior of Conewago, after the death of Father Catani, he established three of four parochial schools, now under the special care of Rev. Father Manns and number nearly five hundred pupils.
The Fathers at Conewago at present are, Rev. Joseph Enders, Supe- rior ; Rev. Peter Manns, who has charge of the schools, and ministers at Conewago; Rev. Peter Flanigan, who is laboring hard to correct abuses that exist at Conewago, entirely of discipline, and by his efforts to main- tain good order and decorum in and about the church, commends himself for some more important duty in the future ; Father Archambault, pastor of Oxford and Paradise; and Father Villiger, pastor of Littlestown. Of late years, there were other priests at Conewago during a short period, as Fathers I. L. Jamison, Emig, B. F. Casey, and others. There is also at Conewago a superannuated priest, Father Finigan, as was for some years ago Father Di Maria.
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Conewago Chapel-the Church of the Sacred Heart-occupies a com- manding position on a hill near the confluence of Conewago and Plum creeks, and is a prominent object from all points for many miles around. The church and the parsonage adjoining are built of an excellent quality of dressed brown stone, from the quarries near East Berlin. The land is laid out in three fine farms-the one on the Hanover road having new buildings put up during the last year. A new brick house was also erected on the farm occupied by Mr. James Devine, on which formerly stood an old stone building, built perhaps by Father Pellentz.
Near the church stands a large mission-cross, erected in 1857 by the great missionary,-Father F. X. Weniger. On Corpus Christi, Conewago witnesses grand processions of the Blessed Sacrament, which were first held here some twenty years ago by Rev. Father Denecker-the first altar being that of Miss Sallie Lilly, which is still provided every year near the residence of that estimable lady.
An old graveyard is always an attraction for the thoughtfully curious, and the "God's Acre" that surrounds the Church of the Sacred Heart at Conewago, has the recommendation of being undoubtedly old as we count things in this new country, on the gray sand-stone tablets and blue lime-rocks scattered among the newer and whiter memorials of a later generation, are found many inscriptions dating far back in the last cen- tury, and commemorating the virtues of those who lived and died more than "a hundred years ago." An interesting memorial of this kind is an old brown-stone cross in the burial lot of the Lilly family, erected to the memory of the elder Lilly, who was among the first settlers of this vicin- ity, and whose descendants still reside here. It records that Samuel Lilly died June 8th, 1858, aged fifty-nine years, which brings the date of his birth to 1699, when King William III. was on the throne of England. This old graveyard has been greatly enlarged at various times, and is partly enclosed by a stone wall. The addition made to the church in 1850, covers the old graveyard, where many of the first settlers were buried, and when digging the foundation for the altar in 1877, no less than six skeletons were found. The remains of the Fathers who died at Con- ewago, were placed in the vault prepared for that purpose, before the altar. The tombstone of one of those buried under the new part of the church, is laid in the floor in the left transept, and bears this inscription : "In memory of Frederick Ben. De Beelen Bertholf, who departed this life the 5th day of April, 1805, aged 76 years." He was the Belgium embassador at Washington, but how he came to be buried at Conewago is not known. He was married to a Jenkins, and some of the Fathers at Conewago at that time may have been of his nationality. His wife, Joanna Maria Theresa, died in 1804, and is also buried here. This old grave yard is indeed a "City of the Dead," for they who rest here in their graves are counted by thousands.
"O why should the spirit of mortal be proud ? Like a swift, fleeting meteor, a fast sailing cloud,
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A flash of the lightning, a break of the wave, Man passes from life to his rest in the grave."
What a comparison between the Conewago of to-day, and that of one hundred and forty or fifty years ago? Then the humble log church, and a few dozen members, scattered over what is now York and Adams coun- ties, and a part of Maryland ; since congregations have been organized and churches built in York, Carlisle, Gettysburg, Chambersburg, the Path, Cove, and Cumberland Valleys, Littlestown, Bonneauville, Hanover, Para- dise, and other places, and still after all the separations from the mother church, Conewago has a membership of over three thousand, and a very costly and spacious church edifice, with fine farms that return a handsome revenue, which goes to a general fund, applied to the founding of other Missions. Many were the difficulties Conewago encountered as an infant Mission ; the laborers were few and dependent on charity, for the faithful were generally in humble circumstances. In a report of the state of the Missions in Maryland and Pennsylvania by Rev. George Hunter, Superior of the Jesuits in this country, forwarded to England in 1765, to the Provin- cial, Rev. J. Dennett, the following reference is made to Conewago: Mis- sion of St. Francis Regis, Conewago,-one Missionary Plantation, annual income, twenty pounds, aid from London, twenty pounds. But Conewago Settlement grew rapidly in numbers and in wealth ; the land was produc- tive, and the Father's frequently defrayed the expenses to Conewago of poor emigrants who landed at Baltimore, and when homes could not be provided immediately, they erected tents in the churchyard, which served as dwellings until their situation could be bettered.
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