USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations at the end of the century : a history, Volume 2 > Part 20
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The Diocese of Hartford .- During 1844 the Diocese of Hartford, consisting of the States of Rhode Island and Connecticut, was formed, with the Rt. Rev. William Tyler, D. D., as its first bishop. At this date there were said to be five thousand one hundred and eighty Roman Catholics in Rhode Island, three priests and four church edifices. Bishop Tyler chose Providence as his see city, making the church of SS. Peter and Paul his cathedral. His labors and burdens were very heavy, having only six priests to assist him in both States. He died in 1849. At this time adherents of the church in Providence alone attained the number of five thousand. It was at about this period that work was established more securely at several points out- side of that city.
Warren and Bristol .- The Rev. Michael McCallion was appointed, in 1854, pastor of Warren and Bristol by Bishop O'Reilly of Hart- ford. In Warren a small church had been built some time previously, and supplied by a succession of priests, who had also ministered occa- sionally at Bristol, although without any settled congregation. Father McCallion selected Warren as his residence, the church there being the better established of the two. In 1855 a plain church was built at Bristol, under the title of St. Mary's, since enlarged and beautified at a considerable expense. The Rev. Father C. J. Rogers succeeded his uncle, Father MeCallion, in charge of this parish, taking up his residence in the town. In 1874 the Bristol parish became independent of Warren, the latter town now possessing two churches, one of them being devoted exclusively to the French Canadians.
South Kingstown .- In South Kingstown there were very few ad- herents of the Roman Catholic Church before 1852, when a priest,
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Father Tucker, assembled as many as there were at a private house in Peacedale, to be present at the first mass ever celebrated in the town. Subsequently regular visits were made there by Father Lanahan of East Greenwich. There was, however, no fixed place of worship in the village until 1854, when a small church was built. In 1860 a disused Baptist meeting-house near by was purchased and refitted for use by the Roman Catholics, under the direction of Father Sherry, who came from Westerly to visit this congregation.
East Greenwich .- In East Greenwich the Church of Our Lady of Mercy was built about 1853 during the pastorate of Father Patrick Lanahan, the same site being occupied at a later date by the present much larger and handsomer edifice.
Phenix .- Services were begun at Phenix, in the town of Warwick, in the same year as at East Greenwich, in a small building called Rock Chapel, built by the Episcopalians. A half dozen years later a larger and more commodious structure was bought of the Baptists. At the present date there are at least six churches in the town of Warwick.
Additional Churches in Providence .- But even more rapid was the growth of the church between 1850 and 1860 in Providence than in the country. St. Mary's, Broadway, was opened for worship in 1853, with the Rev. John Quinn as pastor. It should be noted, in passing, that the noble new stone church, with its lofty tower, was occupied by this parish in 1869. By 1886 it had grown to be the largest parish in the city, the congregation numbering eight thousand. The edifice of St. Mary's was consecrated by Bishop Harkins, Trinity Sunday, June 2,1901.
Another important new parish of this period was St. Joseph's, Hopc Strcet, organized in 1851 by the Rev. James K. O'Reilly. The fine stone church was consecrated in 1853. This church was in 1877 placed by Bishop Hendricken in charge of the Jesuits. In 1886 its congregation was fifty-five hundred. The Parish of the Immaculate Conception was founded in 1857 and that of St. Michael's, Prairie Avenue, in 1859.
The Diocese of Providence .- A great change was wrought in the status of the Church in Rhode Island, when, in 1872, it was erected into a Diocese by itself under the name of the Diocese of Providence, with the Rt. Rev. Thomas F. Hendricken as its bishop, his charge embracing twenty churches and thirty-five priests. Bishop Hendricken was a native of Ireland, having been born there in 1827. He had already served as a curate at St. Joseph's and in the cathedral and was, there-
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fore, well acquainted with the requirements and capabilities of the field. In his short episcopate of fourteen years, with his untiring energy and great devotion to his work, he gave an excellent account of himself. In six years after his consecration he had established thir- teen new parishes in the little Diocese. During his whole bishopric he more than doubled the number of clergy and formed thirty-five new parishes., At about the time of the close of his career, in 1886, he estimated that in Providence alone, in place of the little handful of seven Roman Catholics in 1820, there had grown to be fifty thou- sand, with thirteen churches, twenty-seven priests, five parochial schools, six academics and seven chapels, while in the State there were sixty-five churches and one hundred priests.
The Cathedral .- But remarkable as was this record of the result of the unceasing toils of Bishop Hendricken, there can be no doubt that the crowning achievement of his episcopate was the building of the present cathedral. From the very beginning he must have felt the need of a larger and more adequate edifice, such as the increased numbers and ability of his people warranted, and early he shaped his plans in that direction. It was not until Thanksgiving Day, 1878, when the old cathedral had stood for forty years, that the corner-stone of the substitute was laid. Its front, on Cathedral Square, is one hundred and twenty feet in breadth and its length on Fenner street one hun- dred and ninety-eight fect, there being in it twenty-five hundred seats. The two massive square towers are one hundred and fifty-six feet in height, the lofty site of the building rendering them visible over a large part of the State. The cathedral is built of brown stone and had cost three hundred and sixteen thousand dollars up to New Year's Day before Bishop Hendricken's death. There seemed an almost tragic pathos in the time of this event, inasmuch as it occurred on June 11, 1886, within a fortnight of the date when he hoped to reap the fruit of so much effort by secing the splendid structure conse- crated to the worship of Almighty God.
Later Churches in Providence .- The churches which were formed after 1859, in Providence, are St. Edward's, Wanskuck; St. John the Evangelist's, Atwell's avenue; Church of the Assumption, Elmwood ; St. Charles Borromeo's, for the French, Harrison street : Holy Name, Jenkins street ; St. Theresa's, Olneyville ; Our Lady of the Rosary, for the Portuguese, Wickenden street ; St. Augustine's, for colored people; St. Boniface's for the Germans; and the Church of the Blessed Sacrament, Academy Avenue. Among the institutions connect- cd with the church, are the Sisters of the Order of Mercy, introduced in
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1851; the Asylum of St. Aloysius for Orphans; St. Xavier's Academy, and St. Mary's Seminary ; The Little Sisters of the Poor, Woodlawn, with a building given by the late Joseph Bannigan at a cost of eighty thousand dollars; the Academy of the Sacred Heart, Elmhurst; Order of the Sisters of Charity; the St. Vincent de Paul Society; St. Mary's Academy, Broadway ; and St. Joseph's Hospital.
The office of the Roman Catholic Church in Rhode Island has been, almost totally, to minister to the vast foreign population and their descendants. Its influence in making them the industrious and orderly citizens they have so largely become entitles it to the high appreciation and respect of the State.
At the opening of the twentieth century, the number of Roman Catholic churches in Rhode Island may be given at eighty, of clergy at about one hundred and twenty-four and of members of congregations at 200,000. Bishop Harkins thinks that very nearly half (49 per cent.) of the population of Rhode Island is Roman Catholic.
THE LATER FOUNDED AND SMALLER DENOMINATIONS.
In addition to the four early introduced Christian bodies, the Bap- tists and their branches, the Friends, the Congregationalists, both Orthodox and Unitarian, and the Episcopalians and to the much later founded but extensive ones, the Methodists and Roman Catholics, already treated at length, there are several smaller and more recently organized Denominations, for whose extended history there is not suffi- cient space remaining, but which still demand a respectful notice. To these attention will now be given.
THE CHRISTIANS.
The origin of this body is somewhat involved in uncertainty. The Rev. Dr. Benedict, in his History of the Baptists, writ- ing apparently about 1812, remarks: "In Virginia and the South- ern States, there had been a great schism in the Methodist Church. A large party has come off which denominate themselves Christians, and a great number of these Christian people have lately been buried in baptism". This statement indicates that one of the grounds of the schism must have been a difference of conviction upon the suject of Immersion. A little later in his book, in enumerating the religious organizations then existing in Rhode Island, Dr. Bene- dict speaks of "A few churches of those who call themselves Chris- tians".
Of these few then existing we can now identify only one with
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certainty, that at Rice City, in Coventry. It is related that in the year 1813 an itinerant of the Christians, Douglas Farnum by name, visited Coventry and was invited to preaeh in the gambling-house of a ecrtain "Sam Rice". From this occasion a great revival resulted, Riee himself being among the eonverts. As a consequence of this movement there was organized the Rice City Church, which still con- tinues in existence, the event forming the introduction of the Christian Denomination into Rhode Island. The society at Riee City continued for many years a large one, there being several hundred members. In 1900, however, it reported a membership of only seventy-five and was without a pastor.
It is probable that several other Christian organizations were formed in the vicinity of Coventry at about the same period, as, for example, perhaps those at Foster Centre and Moosup Valley in Foster and that at Rockland in Scituate. The Foster Center Chureh re- ported sixty-nine members in 1900, and was without a pastor, and that at Moosup Valley fifty-two, it also being without a pastor. The Rockland Church reported in that year a membership of ninety-eight, with no pastor. It is likewise probable that soeieties were early gath- ered between 1813 and 1825 through the ministrations of Elder Mark Fernald, a pioneer of the Christian body, in Tiverton and Little Comp- ton, where churches of the Denomination are known to have existed but have now disappeared.
The earliest Christian church of whose establishment we possess definite information after that at Riee City, was the one organized at Middletown, October 14, 1828, with the Rev. Harvey Sullings as its first pastor. This society possessed a neat house of worship about three miles from Newport, but appears now to have beeome invisible, as it makes no reports to the Rhode Island and Massachusetts Confer- enee. There was also, at one time, a second ehureh of this order in Middletown, its site being upon the East Road, about three miles from Newport, this since having disappeared.
In 1833 there was organized at Bristol what was ealled the South Christian Church, with a membership of fourteen and the Rev. Mr. Sullings as its first pastor. After oeeupying the court-house for its services during the first year, the parish built a respectable and eomn- modious house of worship in 1834 on High street, and appeared for a period to flourish. But about twenty-five or thirty years sinee, the society decided to disband, its edifice being sold for a lodge room.
The Broad Street Christian Church, in Providenee, was formed in 1834. In 1850 there were two ehurehes of the Denomination in the
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city, and it is believed that the one which has disappeared dated back in its origin to a period before the beginning of the present one, but definite information is lacking. The Broad Street Church began with twenty members and had the Rev. Elijah Barrows for its first pastor. It has had a series of excellent pastors, who have met with good success in their work. Its house of worship is a neat structure of wood, built in 1841, and is valued with the lot at twenty-five thousand dollars. In 1900 the church reported one hundred and seventy-one members.
The Portsmouth Church was organized on October 16, 1834, the Rev. Salmon Tobey being its first pastor. It occupies as its house of worship a building originally erected in 1821 as a Union meeting- house, about six miles from Newport on the East Road. The society still continues prosperous with a regular pastor, and reported in 1900 one hundred and two members.
The Westerly Church was established in 1842 or 1843 and has the largest Christian constituency in the State, reporting in 1900 two hundred and seventy-seven members, with a settled pastor and a house valued at fifteen thousand dollars.
A church was organized in 1869 at Summit, in the town of Coven- try, where the denomination had its rise, with Elder Caleb Tillinghast for its first pastor and a house of worship erected at an earlier date. It did not report in 1900 to the Conference.
The Christian body is a flourishing one in Massachusetts, especially in New Bedford, where there are four churches, and in New York State, Ohio and Indiana.
THE UNIVERSALISTS.
Universalism began to attract attention in America about one hun- dred and fifty years since. After the arrival from England in 1770 of the Rev. John Murray, known as the "Father of Universalism in America", the system spread with great rapidity. As Mr. Murray is known to have preached in some parts of New England and as, in the spring of 1775, he held the office of chaplain of the three Rhode Island regiments at Boston, it may be taken for granted that he proclaimed his belief in this State at an early period.
There is evidence, also, of the preaching of the Universalist doctrine in some parts of Rhode Island in the first quarter of the nineteenth century by Hosea Ballou, David Pickering, Thomas Whittemore and others. But it was not until 1821 that the system was promulgated here in an organized form. In the early part of that year was found- ed the pioneer organization of the order, the First Universalist Society
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in Providence, the parish very soon entering upon the work of build- ing a house for public worship. This edifice, known as the Univer- salist Chapel, stood upon a most desirable site at the corner of West- minster and Union streets, where the "Boston Store" now stands. After about three years of existence, the chapel was burned, on May 24, 1825, but was replaced before the end of the year by a second, and for the time very handsome structure. At that period the Rev. David Pickering was the pastor of the society. From that time until the present the First Universalist parish has maintained a vigorous and beneficent existence.
In the year 1871 its very valuable lot on Westminster street was sold for business purposes and the building of the present large and handsome edifice, on the corner of Greene and Washington streets, was begun, it being completed, at a cost with the land of one hundred and thirty thousand dollars, before the close of 1872. Upon the occa- sion of the dedication of the structure, on November 17th, the sermon was preached by the Rev. E. H. Capen, D. D., then the pastor, but now president of Tuffts College in Massachusetts. The organization of the church, as distinguished from the society, took place in 1823.
At the close of the nineteenth century the First Universalist Society in Providence included two hundred and twenty-three families, two hundred and twenty-five church members and a Sunday School of two hundred and fifteen members. The Rev. H. I. Cushman, D. D., is the pastor.
The High Street Universalist Society at Pawtucket, now known as the Church of Our Father, is the second in order of the existing organ- izations of this Denomination in Rhode Island. There was occasional preaching in that town by ministers of the order during the first fourth of the nineteenth century, in the "Old Red School House", the "Old Free Baptist Meeting-House", and the "Catholic Baptist Church", but the First Universalist Society was not founded until 1827, when a house of worship was erected by it on High street. The first pastor, in 1827 and 1828, was the Rev. Stephen Cutler. During the pastorate of Mr. Cutler's successor, the Rev. Jacob Frieze, in 1829, financial disasters overtook many of the members, the building erected only two years before was sold to the Baptists and the society, for a time, disbanded.
In 1840, however, under the ministrations of the Rev. J. N. Parker, the movement again showed life and in the following year a new house of worship was raised on Exchange street.
It was during the pastorate of the late devout, upright, pure-hearted
FIRST UNIVERSALIST CHURCH, PROVIDENCE.
FROM A PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN IN 1866. THIS EDIFICE FORMERLY OCCUPIED THE LOT AT THE CORNER OF WESTMINSTER AND UNION STREETS, NOW OCCUPIED BY THE "BOSTON STORE." IT WAS DEMOLISHED IN 1872.
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and learned Rev. Massena Goodrich, that the present church on High street was built and dedicated on January 30, 1868.
At the close of the nineteenth century the parish numbers two hundred and ninety families with two hundred and thirty-five church members and three hundred and cighteen teachers and scholars in its Sunday School. The present pastor, who has been with the society since 1895, is the Rev. E. L. Houghton.
The Universalist Church at Woonsocket, which dates from a time previous to 1840, appears to be the third among existing parishes and is the largest one belonging to the denomination in the State. At the close of the nineteenth century it embraces three hundred and seven families, three hundred and fourteen church members and a Sunday School of four hundred and three teachers and scholars. The Rev. Charles J. White, D. D., is the pastor.
The Second Universalist Society of Providence is the fourth in the order of formation, it having been organized in 1840, with the Rev. J. N. Parker as pastor or stated supply. The society maintained services in the old "Town House" and in "Mechanic's Hall" for several years. In 1845 it appears to have been reorganized with a view to representing an advanced movement towards larger liberty of thought. A little later the Rev. James S. Cook, a young man and a very gifted preacher, became pastor, the society flourishing greatly under his leadership.
In 1848 it was determined to build a house of worship at the corner of Broad and Eddy streets, the neat brick structure, still standing and used in part by the Union for Christian Work, being the result. This edifice was dedicated April 6, 1849, and continued to be used for about twenty years for public worship.
In 1868, under the vigorous pastorate of the Rev. Henry W. Rugg, D. D., the building of a new church was begun on Cranston street, the parish having changed its name to the Church of the Mediator. The new edifice, which is the large and handsome one still used by the parish, was dedicated December 22, 1869, the principle being carried out that there should be no individual proprictorship, the pews being the property of the whole society.
The church, being the body constituted by the communicants, was not organized until October, 1849, nearly ten years after the formation of the society, and celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in October, 1899, under inspiring circumstances. The Church of the Mediator closes the nineteenth century with one hundred and seventy-five familics, two hundred and seventy-two members and a Sunday School of one
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hundred and seventy-five teachers and scholars. The Rev. Willard C. Selleck is the present pastor.
Several other Universalist societies, organized about the middle of the nineteenth century, survived but a short period. The Year Book of 1854 mentions, in addition to the four well established parishes just enumerated, eight such ephemeral organizations without pastors and, except in a single instance, without any church property. Since that period there appears to have been a more healthy growth with perma- nent results, there being now ten societies, all possessing houses of worship and resident pastors of their own, save that one of the latter serves at two points. The newest of these enterprises is the interest- ing young "Ballou Church", on Capitol Hill, Providence, possessing a tasteful little edifice of brick, completed in 1898. While no new work looking to the establishment of parishes has been undertaken for several years, yet commendable efforts for the extension of mission Sunday schools and occasional preaching have been made by the Rev. Dr. White, in the vicinity of Woonsocket, and the Rev. Mr. Eaton, in Burrillville.
At the close of the nineteenth century, the Universalist Denomina- tion in Rhode Island embraces in its ten parishes thirteen hundred and forty-three families, twelve hundred and twenty-nine members, thirteen hundred and sixty-seven teachers and scholars in eight Sun- day Schools and $317,000 in church property.
The General Universalist Organizations .- The Rhode Island Uni- versalist Convention was organized in 1838. The Young People's Christian Union is a beneficent instrumentality for enlisting the en- thusiasm and vitality of the youthful adherents of the Universalist Church in Christian work. Although the Denomination possesses no educational institution within the State, it is yet proper to point to the excellent Dean Academy, just over the border of Massachusetts, in Franklin, with its noble endowment in land, buildings and money, of three hundred and thirty thousand dollars, as occupying a large place in the hearts of the Rhode Island Universalists and depending con- siderably upon their patronage.
The general foreign missionary work of the church in Japan has always secured a liberal share in the interest of the Denomination in this State, a single parish, at the outset of the enterprise, making a free-will offering of $1,500 towards the mission.
In addition to the honored names of Universalist clergymen now passed away, already mentioned, such as Cook and Goodrich, remem- brance should be had of the venerable Hon. Latimer W. Ballou, a most
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devoted layman, who lately died at Woonsocket at the age of eighty- nine years. The Universalist Church in Rhode Island, although a small body, strives to help all who come within its influence to realize in faith and practice the best type of Christian life. As it faces the new century it studies to have its full share in the enlarged work on which the Church of Jesus Christ is now hopefully entering.
THE PRESBYTERIANS.
The Presbyterian Denomination, as distinct from the Congrega- tional, with which it used often to be confounded, at least in name, has never been extensively represented in Rhode Island. There are, however, three or four societies belonging to this body in the State.
The First Presbyterian Church of Providence was organized in 1872 and built a house of worship on Clifford street in 1875 and 1876. The first pastor was the Rev. John Dixon and the membership has reached three hundred or more.
There is, also, a Presbyterian Church in Newport.
The Presbyterian Church at Narragansett Pier was erected in 1875, the first pastor being the Rev. C. H. Morrill. The attendance is large- ly made up of summer visitors at the Pier.
There is, also, a United Presbyterian Church in Providence, under- stood to be attended by Scottish people or those of Scottish descent. This society occupies a house of worship built in 1848 near the foot of Broadway, at the corner of Hicks street. The church contains two hundred and fifty or more members.
THE ADVENTISTS.
The Adventists embrace from fifteen to twenty societies in Rhode Island, chiefly small and in the country. They are divided into Evan- gelical Adventists, Christian, and Seventh Day. The principal society is the Church of the Yahveh in Providence. It was organized in 1850 with the Rev. N. Hervey as first pastor, and had a place of worship on Broad street, now Weybosset. Its present edifice was dedicated in 1878. This church has attained a membership of nearly, if not quite, four hundred. There are other societies at Bristol, Scituate, War- wick (two), West Greenwich, North Kingstown, Hopkinton, South Kingstown (two) and Charlestown. The Advent Christians have churches in Providence, Exeter and South Kingstown and the Seventh Day Adventists in South Kingstown and Westerly.
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