USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Woonsocket > History of the Catholic church in Woonsocket and vicinity, from the celebration of the first mass in 1828, to the present time, with a condensed account of the early history of the church in the United States > Part 3
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Of the five first Bishops one was an American, two French and two Irish.
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HISTORY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.
At the time of the consecration of these Bishops there were about seventy-five priests and eighty churches in the United States, and a Catholic population numbering about 150,000.
At the ripe old age of almost 81 years, the venerated and venerable first Bishop, as well as first Archbishop, of Baltimore, the father and founder of the American Church, died on December 3, 1815. after serving God in Holy Orders fifty-six years, twenty-five of which he was a Bishop.
His life was one of arduous and incessant toil and his death as peaceful as an infant's sleep. His soul ascended from its prison-house of earth to a blessed, eternal reward of Peace, Happiness and Glory in Heaven.
Archdiocese of Boston.
CHAPTER III.
THE diocese of Boston, of which Woonsocket became a mission in 1828, was erected as a see on April 8, 1808, by Pope Pius VII, Vicar of Jesus Christ, and two hundred and fifty-sixth in the direct line of pontiffs in succession from St. Peter.
Right Rev. John Lefebvre de Cheverus D. D., LL. D., the first Bishop of the new diocese, was born at Mayenne, France, on Jan. 28, 1768, and ordained a priest on Dec. 18, 1790. During the revolution, having refused to sub- scribe to the oath of the Civil Constitution, he was im- prisoned ; escaped September 11, 1792, and made his way to England, where he created a parish by consent of the Arch- bishop of London, and built a church of which he remained pastor until 1795, when in response to a letter from Rev. Francis Anthony Matignon, D. D., he concluded to come to Boston. He sailed the following year and arrived at Boston on October 3, 1796. He was consecrated by Arch- bishop Carroll first Bishop of Boston Nov. 1, 1810. In 1823, after twenty-seven years of incessant labor, during which he won the esteem, confidence and respect of all classes, he returned to France, in response to a peremptory command, and was made Bishop of Montauban. From there he was transferred to Bordeaux, of which he was cre- ated Archbishop, and was honored with a Cardinal's hat. He died July 19, 1836, at the age of 68.
Right Rev. Benedict J. Fenwick, who sent the first missionary priest to Woonsocket, was second Bishop of Boston, and was consecrated as such on Nov. 1, 1825. That right reverend gentleman died Aug. 11, 1846.
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HISTORY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.
Right Rev. John Bernard Fitzpatrick, the third Bishop of Boston, was consecrated on March 24, 1844, as Co- adjutor Bishop of Boston and titular Bishop of Gallipoli. He assumed the full title of Bishop of Boston on the death of Right Rev. Bishop Fenwick in 1846. He died Feb. 13, 1866.
Most Rev. John Joseph Williams, D. D., fourth Bishop and present Archbishop of Boston, was consecrated on March 11, 1866, and was created the first Archbishop of Boston on Feb. 12, 1875. This Archdiocese comprises the counties of Essex, Middlesex, Suffolk, Norfolk and Ply- mouth in the State of Massachusetts, with the exceptions of the towns of Mattapoisett, Marion and Wareham. The area of the archdiocese is 2,465 square miles.
The diocese of Boston, in 1830, and for many years afterward, included the whole of New England, and in that vast territory of 64,200 square miles there were in those early days only seventeen small churches. There are now the Archdiocese of Boston and the dioceses of Hartford, Burlington, Manchester, Portland, Springfield and Provi- dence. The seventeen small churches of 1830 have in- creased-including six Cathedrals-to 867, which are at- tended by 1,320 priests. There are also one Archbishop and eight Bishops.
The names and titles of the Bishops of New England are as follows : Most Rev. John J. Williams, D. D., cre- ated first Archbishop of Boston, Feb. 12, 1875 ; Right Rev. John Brady, D. D., auxiliary Bishop of Boston and titular Bishop of Alabanda ; Right Rev. Louis De Goesbriand, D. D., first Bishop of Burlington, consecrated October 30, 1853 ; Right Rev. John Stephen Michaud, D. D., Coadjutor Bishop of Burlington, titular Bishop of Modra, consecrated June 29, 1892 ; Right Rev. Michael Tierney, D. D., conse- crated sixth Bishop of Hartford, Feb. 22, 1894; Right
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ARCHDIOCESE OF BOSTON.
Rev. Dennis M. Bradley, D. D., consecrated first Bishop of Manchester, June 11, 1884; Right Rev. James Augus- tine Healy, D. D., consecrated second Bishop of Portland, June 2, 1875; Right Rev. Matthew Harkins, D. D., con- secrated second Bishop of Providence, April 14, 1887; Right Rev. Thomas D. Beaven, D. D., consecrated second Bishop of Springfield, October 8, 1892.
Recapitulation : The establishment of sees in New England-exclusive of the Archdiocese of Boston and dio- ceses of Providence and Hartford-together with names of Bishops and extent of territory, is as follows : Burlington, established 1853, comprises the State of Vermont, the ex- tent in square miles being 9,135, Right Rev. Louis De Goesbriand, D. D., first Bishop, Right Rev. John Stephen Michaud, D. D., Coadjutor Bishop; Manchester, estab- lished 1884, comprises the State of New Hampshire, the extent of territory being 9,305 square miles, Right Rev. Dennis Bradley, D. D., first and present Bishop ; Portland, established in 1855, comprises the State of Maine, extent of territory, 29,895 square miles, Right Rev. David W. Bacon, D. D., first Bishop, consecrated April 22, 1855, died Nov. 4, 1874, Right Rev. James Augustine Healy, D. D., second and present Bishop, consecrated June 2, 1875 ; Springfield, established 1870, comprises the counties of Berkshire, Franklin, Hampshire, Hampden and Worces- ter, in the State of Massachusetts, the extent of territory being 4,378 square miles, Right Rev. Patrick Thomas O'Reilly, D. D., first Bishop, consecrated Sept. 25, 1870, died May 28, 1892, Right Rev. Thomas D. Beaven, D. D., second and present Bishop, consecrated October 18, 1882.
[Since the above statement was written concerning the establishment of dioceses throughout New England of which Boston was the first, a first Bishop of one of the
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HISTORY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.
dioceses, namely, Right Rev. Louis De Goesbriand of Bur- lington, Vt., died. He was not only one of the first Bishops appointed to a newly created see in New England, but also one of the oldest ecclesiastical pioneers of the Church in America, being at his death, on November 3, 1899, at the age of 83, the oldest Bishop in the United States, having been consecrated in 1853, after being a priest for thirteen years. For several years he had been in failing health and in 1892, at his urgent request, Right Rev. John Stephen Michaud, D. D., was appointed Coadjutor Bishop to him. This Right Rev. Bishop succeeded him as Bishop of Bur- lington.
Right Rev. Bishop De Goesbriand died from the infirm- ities of old age. His first great missionary work was per- formed on the western frontier of Ohio, in building up and extending the Faith where financial aid was scarce and arduous work incessant. His great life-labor is attested in its fullest fruition in the churches, schools, convents and other educational as well as charitable institutions which enrich the diocese. ]
Bishop De Goesbriand was born in St. Urbain in the diocese of Quimper, in the Catholic province of Brittany, France, on August 4, 1816. After pursuing a classical course at Quimper and Pont Croix-Finistere, he entered the seminary at Quimper, and there and at St. Sulpice, Paris, went through a thorough theological course. He was ordained to the priesthood in Paris, July 13, 1840, by Right Rev. Joseph Rosati, Bishop of St. Louis, and devoting himself to the American mission came to the diocese of Cin- cinnati, where he exercised the ministry from September, 1840, to October, 1847, chiefly as pastor of St. Louis' Church, near Canton, O., and St. Genevieve's in Holmes county, and at Toledo, whence he attended Manhattan, Providence, Napoleon and Decatur.
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ARCHDIOCESE OF BOSTON.
On the erection of the diocese of Cleveland, Bishop Rappe made Rev. Father De Goesbriand his Vicar-General and rector of his Cathedral, which positions he discharged zealously until 1853, when he was consecrated bishop in New York by Cardinal Bedini. He was immediately made Bishop of the newly erected see of Burlington, Vermont. Catholicity had made slow progress in that State, although a French fort and chapel were built on Isle La Motte as early as 1666. Rev. Francis Anthony Matignon visited the Vermont Catholics in 1815, followed by Rev. Fathers Napoleon Mignault, Paul McQuade, James Fitton and Right Rev. Bishop Fenwick.
About 1830, for the first time, the Catholics in Ver- mont had a resident pastor, Rev. Jeremiah O'Callahan. Their numbers increased in spite of opposition, and con- verts began to come into the Church. When Bishop De Goesbriand took possession of his see on Nov. 6, 1853, there were in the whole State only eight churches and five priests, but not a school nor an institution of any kind.
With his experience in the west, Bishop De Goesbriand began the work of building up a diocese with all the zeal of a chivalric French priest of early times. He appealed to France for priests, and from that country and elsewhere gradually gathered a set of devoted clergymen. Very soon after he assumed the administration he introduced Sisters of Providence, who opened a day school, took charge of orphans and visited the sick.
Bishop De Goesbriand was already making progress to meet the wants of the 25,000 Catholics in his diocese. By 1860, though the number of the faithful had not increased rapidly, there were twenty-nine churches and thirteen priests. The next decade showed an increase of Catholic population to 34,000, with thirty-eight churches and twenty- eight priests. The Sisters of Providence extended their
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HISTORY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.
houses to Winooski and there were Catholic schools at Bur- lington, Rutland and Winooski. Burlington had a fine Gothic Cathedral built of stone quarried at Isle La Motte, the cradle of Catholicity in Vermont. In the next fifteen years the population had increased steadily, the Catholic baptisms in 1883 being 2,037 out of 7,350 births in the State. In that year the churches had nearly doubled, num- bering seventy-one in 1884, with thirty-seven priests and fifteen parochial schools with 2,846 pupils. The Sisters of Providence were aided by the Sisters of Mercy, Sisters of St. Joseph and Sisters of the Congregation of Our Lady.
On July 17, 1890, the fiftieth anniversary of his ordi- nation to the priesthood. was celebrated in Rutland. At that time prominent people of all faiths gathered to do honor to the man who had by his sacrifices and loving dis- position built up the Church in Vermont and won the sym- pathy, respect and love of all who came in contact with him. At that time he received a message from the Pope at Rome, blessing the ceremonies, and from others he received large and valuable gifts.
In 1858 Bishop De Goesbriand was in attendance at the session of the Vatican Council in Rome when a number of important questions in the Catholic faith came under consideration. His next visit to the Pope was made in June, 1893, when he had a conference with Pope Leo XIII and was honored in a manner that has never fallen to any other Bishop in America. He was on his way to Jerusalem and while in audience with the Pope was promised one of the links of the true chain of St. Peter, which is one of the most sacred of all the possessions of the Pope. Upon his return from Jerusalem the link was presented him and by him brought to Burlington, where it is now kept a sacred possession.
St. Peter's Chains, the feast of which is celebrated
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ARCHDIOCESE OF BOSTON.
August 1, were those by which the Prince of the Apostles was fastened to the ground in a dungeon, by order of Herod Agrippa at Jerusalem in the year A. D. 44. The chains were by a miracle removed and the saint made his escape.
Very soon after Bishop De Goesbriand assumed the administration of the diocese he purchased the old Pearl street house and founded there an Orphan Asylum, which has since merged into the present magnificent edifice known as St. Joseph's Orphan Asylum on North avenue, where several hundred orphans are supported by charity, and where for many months he has made his home, surrounded by loving Sisters, who ministered to his every want and who knelt beside his bed as his soul went out to meet his Maker.
His funeral took place at St. Mary's Cathedral, Rut- land, on Tuesday, Nov. 7, and was attended by about 5,000 people, only about one-half of whom could gain admission to the edifice. Right Rev. John Stephen Michaud was the celebrant of a Pontifical High Mass of requiem and Right Rev. Dennis M. Bradley of the diocese of Manchester, New Hampshire, preached the sermon.
Right Rev. Joseph Rosati, who ordained Right Rev. Bishop De Goesbriand to the priesthood in Paris on July 13, 1840, and who assisted at the dedication of the first Catholic Church in Rhode Island, namely, St. Mary's at Pawtucket, in 1829, was born at Sora, Italy, January 30, 1789. He joined the Order of Lazarist Fathers early in life and studied philosophy and theology in the seminary of the Order at Monte Citorio, Rome. By invitation of Right Rev. William Louis Dubourg of the diocese of New Orleans, he came to the United States, landing in Baltimore July 23, 1816. About the first work done by him after arrival was the establishment, in 1817, of a house of the Lazarist Order at Barrens, Perry county, Missouri. All
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HISTORY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.
the work on the building was done by Lazarist Fathers with their own hands. This institution was ready to receive pupils in 1819. In 1820 Father Rosati was made Superior of the Lazarist Order in the United States. In 1823 he built the seminary on a larger scale. In 1824 he was con- secrated Coadjutor Bishop to Right Rev. Bishop Dubourg of New Orleans. In 1827 he was appointed Bishop of St. Louis and was for a time administrator of the diocese of New Orleans. He attended the first four Provincial Coun- cils of Baltimore. He left for Europe in 1840 and on his arrival in Rome was appointed Apostolic Delegate of Hayti. On returning from that island to Paris he fell sick and by advice of his physicians he went to Rome, where he died September 15, 1843.
Right Rev. William Louis Dubourg, through whose in- vitation Bishop Rosati came to the United States, was born in Cape Francois, Santa Domingo, in 1766, and died at Besancon, France, in 1833. He was the founder of the Sisters of Charity in America. He was consecrated Bishop of New Orleans during a visit to Rome in 1815.
CHAPTER IV.
EARLY STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH IN NEW ENGLAND-FIRST CHURCH-FIRST SERVICE-FIRST PRIESTS IN BOSTON-REV. JOHN THAYER, THE BOSTON CONVERT-FIRST EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION FOR LADIES-FOUNDING OF THE URSULINE CON- VENT AND ITS DESTRUCTION-FIRST LADY EDUCATORS-FIRST NEW ENGLAND NUN-EARLY CONVERTS.
THE early struggles of the faithful in the diocese of Boston present many heroic sacrifices and is full of interest from the beginning up to and including the present time. As to who celebrated the first Mass in Boston is a matter of speculation.
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ARCHDIOCESE OF BOSTON.
The first resident priest claimed for himself the follow- ing high-sounding title : Rev. Claudius Florent Bouchard de la Poterie, D. D., Prothonotary of the Holy Church and of the Holy See of Rome, Apostolic Vice-Prefect and Mis- sionary Curate of the Catholic Church of the Holy Cross at Boston in North America. The name he gave the first Church is still perpetuated in the Boston Cathedral.
This reverend gentleman was born in France and is supposed to have arrived in Boston in 1788, landing from one of the ships of the fleet commanded by the Marquis de Joinville, which visited Boston harbor in August of that year. He was appointed pastor at Boston by Right Rev. Bishop Carroll at Christmas in 1788, Bishop Carroll being at the time Prefect Apostolic of the Church in America. The use of the old French Protestant Chapel on School street, in which the Huguenots worshipped, had already been secured by the small congregation. The lot on which the Chapel stood was bought by the Huguenots in 1705, who erected a small brick edifice upon it. The small con- gregation worshipping there became almost extinct in 1748 and in that year the Eleventh Congregational Society ob- tained possession. This congregation was dissolved in 1785. Before the Catholics obtained possession of this chapel in 1788 services were held in the home of a Mr. Baury, located in what is known as the West End district.
Through the influence of the French Consul at Boston altar service and vestments were procured for Rev. Father de la Poterie from Archbishop Juignez of Paris, who made the service and vestments a gift to the small struggling con- gregation. This silver service and vestments are still intact and are religiously preserved at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston, where is also preserved a portrait of the Archbishop Juignez, which accompanied his gift. Rev. Father Poterie, on account of getting into trouble in Bos-
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HISTORY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.
ton, an account of which was furnished Right Rev. Bishop Carroll at Baltimore, he left for Quebec on July 8, 1789. He was succeeded by Rev. Louis Rousselet, who remained in charge of the little congregation until the arrival from Europe of Rev. John Thayer, a native of Boston and a convert.
This typical New Englander was a highly educated Congregational minister and as such was chaplain to the patriot and statesman, Gov. John Hancock, the first to sign the Declaration of Independence and in 1780 elected the first Governor of Massachusetts under the Constitution which he assisted in framing.
Rev. John Thayer, the native convert priest, after the close of the Revolution, when aged 26, crossed the Atlantic and traveled through Europe, visiting France, England and Italy. Becoming very much impressed with the solemn grandeur and inspiring sanctity of religious ceremonies, as carried on in Catholic countries, he determined to enter the Church and put his resolution in practice by being bap- tized at the shrine of Benedict Joseph Labre in Rome on May 25, 1783. Returning to Paris he entered the College of St. Sulpice, where he studied theology and where he was ordained a priest in 1787. He then went to England and assisted as a priest for two years at a church in Southwark, a borough assimilated with the city of London. He left there in the latter part of 1789 and arrived in Boston in January, 1790. On the Sunday after his arrival he held service in the Chapel of the Holy Cross on School street, which he subsequently leased for a period of ten years.
He returned to England in 1803, and went from there to Limerick, Ireland, where he died in 1815, at the home of Mr. James Ryan, at the age of 60 years. He was tenderly cared for during. his illness and was so impressed with the religious devotion of the family that he requested
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two daughters of his kind host, Misses Mary and Catherine Ryan, to cross the Atlantic to Boston and found an institu- tion there for the higher education of young ladies. These ladies promised to do so and fulfilled their promise. He furnished them with a letter of introduction to Rev. Francis Anthony Matignon, D. D., a priest who was obliged to fly from France to England during the Revolution and who came from England to Baltimore, where he remained two months and then came to Boston, arriving there August 20, 1792. He also furnished these ladies with a sum of money, amounting to $10,000, which he had steadily accumulated with the object in view of establishing such an institution as he requested these ladies to found. These two ladies were pupils at the Ursuline Convent at Thurles, County Tipperary, and determined to establish a similar institution in Boston. They arrived in America in 1817, and an academy was opened by them in 1820. In a few months afterwards they were joined by two other ladies from Ire- land, also named Ryan, who took the vows of their Order on the festival of St. Ursula, Oct. 21, 1820.
These Irish ladies were the founders of the Ursuline Convent at Charlestown which was ruthlessly destroyed by a bigoted and lawless mob on the night of August 11, 1834. These wild and murderous human fiends imitated the savage, barbarous and murderous Huns, who in 453 destroyed, plun- dered and robbed the house founded by St. Ursula on the banks of the Rhine, near Cologne. The saint, who is re- garded as the patroness of young people and the model of teachers, was murdered and all her companions shared the same fate.
In contrast with the Charlestown outrage many Ameri- cans became devout Catholic converts, and deplored and condemned the action of the mob. Among the early con- verts was Miss Fanny Allen, daughter of Ethan Allen, who
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HISTORY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCHI.
in 1807, at the age of 21, was baptized in the Faith. This lady entered a house of a religious order at Quebec, where she subsequently took the vows of the order and is known historically as the first New England nun.
This Ethan Allen, the father of this first New England nun, was a famous soldier of Revolutionary fame. He was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, on January 10, 1737, and died at Bennington, Vermont, on February 13, 1789. He was Colonel of the famous regiment known as "The Green Mountain Boys," and with this regiment he captured Ticon- deroga and Crown Point. In doing so he called upon the British forces to surrender "In the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress," a saying which has become historically famous.
DIOCESE OF PROVIDENCE.
CHAPTER V.
EARLY HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN RHODE ISLAND-VISIT OF THE FRENCH UNDER ROCHAMBEAU DURING THE REVOLUTION- PRESENT CONDITION OF THE DIOCESE-BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF BISHOPS.
IN order to form a conception of the great labors self- sacrificing priests were called upon through religious zeal to perform in the early days of the Church in Rhode Island, I submit the following facts, furnished me twenty-one years ago by Rev. James Fitton :
As early as 1813 a small colony of Catholics at Providence, who were attended by Rev. Francis Anthony Matignon, D. D., and Right Rev. Bishop Cheverus, from Boston, heard Mass in a small wooden building, then standing on the north side of Sheldon street, about one hundred feet east of Benefit street. This building, which had been used for school purposes, was blown down in the great gale of 1815.
The names of the principal members, or those who then had families, as we learn from the record of children baptized as found on the baptismal register of the Church at Boston, were Francis McGill, Charles Delahanty, Luke Higgins, William Jordan, William Rumford and John Condon.
The gale referred to in the quoted language of Rev. . Father Fitton occurred on Sept. 23, 1815. At that time Providence contained only 12,000 inhabitants. The storm commenced on Sept. 22, the wind blowing pretty fresh from the northeast, but on the morning of Sept. 23 it veered round to the southeast, the air becoming uncomfortably hot. The gale increased in such fury that the water in Providence river was driven in, rising about eleven feet above the usual height. Between thirty and forty sail, including four ships,
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HISTORY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.
nine brigs, seven schooners and fifteen sloops, were driven ashore.
In 1828 Rev. Father Woodley, the priest who cele- brated the first Mass in Woonsocket, was commissioned by Right Rev. Bishop Fenwick of Boston to look after the immediate spiritual wants of the Catholics of Rhode Island and Connecticut. Just think of the duties that one priest was called upon to perform, with these two States as a parish, the aggregate of square miles being 5,930. Father Woodley, in his missionary work at that time, baptized eighty-two, including children and adults, at Providence, eleven at Pawtucket, three at Woonsocket, sixty-eight at Newport, twenty-five at Hartford, two at New Haven and two at New London.
Knowing the need of spiritual consolation and en- couragement for the faithful Catholics of Rhode Island and of the more frequet service of priests in Providence, Right Rev. Bishop Fenwick, D. D., of Boston, visited that then town Sunday, April 14, 1828, and celebrated Mass and preached a sermon in Mechanics Hall. He also admin- istered the Sacrament of Confirmation to five persons. On the day following he visited Mr. David Wilkinson, brother- in-law of Samuel Slater of cotton manufacturing fame, at Pawtucket and assured him of his profound esteem, because of presenting the Catholics of that place with sufficient land on which to build a church. The size of the lot presented was 125 by 125 feet, making an aggregate of 15,625 square feet. On this lot was built St. Mary's Church. This edi- fice, which was the first Catholic Church erected in Rhode Island, was completed the following year-the year 1829- memorable because of its being the year the Act of Eman- cipation was passed by the British Parliament, an act which restored rights to Irish Catholics, denied them by the Eng- lish Penal laws. It was the year, too, in which Daniel
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