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Lives of the
bishops of the Catholic
Church in ...
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f
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LIVES
O* Ttt«-
Deceased Bishops
OF THB
i
IN THE UNITED STATES,
WITH AN APPENDIX AND AN ANALYTICAL INDEX.
Bv RICHARD H. CLARKE, LL. D.
Author's Revised, Enlarged and Corrected Edition.
VOL. II.
NEW YORK : RICHARD H. CLARKE, Nos. 49 & 51 CHAMBERS STREET.
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Entered according to Act of Congress, In the year 1889, by
R. H. CLARKE. LL.D., In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
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TO
g*tktt,
PIUS
IX,
WHO DEFINED THE DOGMA OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF THE VIRGIN MOTHIlf
WHO CONVENED THE (ECUMENICAL COUNCIL OF THE VATICAN, AND DEFINED THE DOGMA OF PAPAL INFALLIBILITY:
WHOSE PROLONGED PONTIFICATE HAS BEEN A TRIUMPHAL PROCESSION FROM CROSS TO CROSS. AND FROM CROWN TO CROWN;
WHOM HISTORY WILL CALL PIUS THE GREAT-
rilll VOLUMES ARE REVERENTLY DEDICATED BY HIS DEVOTED SON IN CHRIST,
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CONTENTS OF VOL. II.
A.D-* FAGS
1834. Right Rev. Simon Gabriel Brute*, First Bishop of Vincennes. ... 7
1835. Right Rev. William Clancy, Coadjutor Bishop of Charleston,
afterwards Bishop of Guiana 44
1835. Most Rev. Anthony Blanc, Fifth Bishop and First Archbishop of
New Orleans 58
1837. Most Rev. John Hughes, Fourth Bishop and First Archbishop of
New York 73
1837. Right Rev. Mathias Loras, First Bishop of Dubuque 126
1838. Right Rev. Richard Pius Miles, First Bishop of Nashville 147
1840. Right Rev. Francis Garcia Diego y Moreno, First Bishop of
California 157
1841. Right Rev. John Mary Joseph Chanche, First Bishop of Natchez. 166
1841. Right Rev. Peter Paul Lefevre, Coadjutor Bishop of Detroit .... 191
1842. Most Rev. John Mary Odin, First Bishop of Galveston, Sixth
Bishop and Second Archbishop of New Orleans 203
1844. Right Rev. William Quarter, First Bishop of Chicago 240
1844. Right Rev. Andrew Byrne, First Bishop of Little Rock 264
1844. Right Rev. William Tyler, First Bishop of Hartford 272
1844. Right Rev. Ignatius Aloysius Reynolds, Second Bishop of Char- leston 291
1844. Right Rev. John Bernard Fitzpatrick, Third Bishop of Boston.. . 310
1847. Right Rev. John Timon, First Bishop of Buffalo 337
1847. Right Rev. John S. Bazin, Third Bishop of Vincennes 370
1848. Right Rev. James Oliver Van de Velde, Second Bishop of Chi-
cago and Second Bishop of Natchez 372
1850. Right Rev. Bernard O'Reilley, Second Bishop of Hartford 391
1850. Right Rev. Francis Xavier Gartland, First Bishop of Savannah. . 408
• The dim given in the Table of Contents refer to the yean in which the Bishops were consecrated.
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vi
Contents*
i8£i. Right Rev. Joseph Cretin, First Bishop of St. Paul 415
1852. Right Rev. John Nepomucene Neumann, Fourth Bishop of
Philadelphia 431
1853. Right Rev. Frederic Baraga, First Bishop of Marquette and Saut
St. Mary 46a
1853. Right Rev. George Aloysius CarreU, First Bishop of Covington.. 505
1854. Right Rev. Josue Maria Young, Second Bishop of Erie 514
1857. Right Rev. Henry Damian Juncker, First Bishop of Alton 529
1857. Right Rev. Cement Smyth, Second Bishop of Dubuque 536
1857. Right Rev. John Barry, Second Bishop of Savannah 551
1858. Right Rev. John Henry Luers, First Bishop of Fort Wayne 555
1865. Right Rev. Peter Joseph Lavialle, Third Bishop of Louisville. . . 586
APPENDIX : I. Right Rev. Edward Barron, Vicar- Apostolic of Liberia 595 II. Right Rev. Charles Augustus Mary Joseph de Faubin-
Janson, Bishop of Nancy, France 601
III. Cardinal Cagetan Bedini, Archbishop of Thebes, Papal
Nuncio 605
Analytical Index 61$
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THE LIVES
Of IBS
§tttwA §M$p fit iht (B>vXM\t (gfonxfo
IN THE UNITED STATES.
RIGHT REV. SIMON GABRIEL BRUTE, D.D.,
The admirable character and invaluable services ot Bishop Brute present to us a rare history in actual life. While his virtues and sentiments flowed from the purest and sweetest fountains of heavenly inspiration, his life and actions were in the most perfect sympathy with his fellow-men. With learning the most varied and pro- found, he united the most child-like simplicity and humil- ity. In the midst of the most active and laborious duties he always could find time for study, and was never too much engaged to do an act of charity, to assist others in their laudable efforts, or to render a service to his neigh- bor. As a minister of religion, as a professor, as a friend, as a ruler in the Church, his example is a model for imi- tation. As a priest and Bishop, he tenderly loved his
• Authorities : Memoirs of Bishop Bruti, by Rt. Rev. Bishop Bayley ; Funeral Oration of Dr. Brutf, by Rev. John McCaffrey; Life of Mrs. Seton, by Rev. C. L White ; Life of Bishop Flaget, by Archbishop Spalding ; etc, etc.
First Bishop of Vincennes^ A.&. 1834. 1
8
Lives of the Catholic Bishops.
flock, and spent himself for their good ; deeming his time well applied that was devoted to the promotion of their happiness and eternal salvation, or to the assuaging of their griefs and relieving their necessities. The humblest child or beggar shared in his unbounded kindness, equally with the more favored and honored members of his flock. To all he was a true pastor and father.
Simon Gabriel Brut£ de Remur was born March 20, 1779, at Rennes, the capital of Brittany, in France. Ac- cording to the pious custom of Catholic countries, no time was lost in bringing him to the regenerating waters of baptism ; he was baptized early on the following morn- ing at the parish church of St. Germain. His parents were in affluent circumstances, his father being Super- intendent of the royal domains in Brittany, with a prom- ise of the succession to the first brevet of Farmer-Gene ral of the Revenues at Paris. The prospects of the family were, however, blasted by the untimely death of Mr. Brut€, who left his affairs in an embarrassed condition, by reason of his kindness and indulgence to others. He allowed persons to become indebted to him to more than a million of francs. Advised by friends and lawyers to renounce the succession to his estate, Madame Brut€, following her own energetic views, and preferring an hon- orable name to wealth, assumed the management of it, even at the sacrifice of her own property ; and succeeded, by close application to the task, in greatly reducing the losses, and in paying her husband's debts.
Guided by the home instructions and example of such a mother, and directed by such a spiritual father as the celebrated Abbe Carron, his heart became deeply im- bued with religious impressions from his earliest years. The vivid and grateful memory with which he cherished
Right Rev. Simon Gabriel Brute, D.D. 9
these impressions, the recollection of his first confession, his studies of Christian doctrine, his first prayer-book, which he sacredly preserved for many years, the sacred pictures he received, and especially his first communion, were evidences, throughout a long life, of the good and lasting effects of early Catholic education. In after-life, when writing his " Remembrances 99 of these early inci- dents, he closes an account of his first communion by exclaiming : " I thank thee, O my God, for the state of innocence and piety I was in the day I performed this most important act;" and again, "My heart is full when I think of that day — thanks ! thanks ! O my
At school he was, though very young, an attentive student ; earnest in his studies, conscientious in his con- duct, cheerful and generous in his nature, frank and gentlemanly in his deportment, winning the friendship of his preceptors and companions. With a memory that enabled him, through life and amidst the most engrossing cares, to relate minutely all that he had ever seen or heard ; with a lively imagination that enabled him to per- ceive and enhance the beauties of both the spiritual and the external worlds ; and with a close application that en- abled him to overcome all difficulties, he became a ripe and accomplished scholar. Commencing with the pri- mary school, and progressing through the intermediate classes up to the college of his native town, he was in each of them a thorough student. He became familiar with the Latin and Greek languages ; in the former he recited from memory whole chapters from the classics, and in the latter he pursued the study of the Fathers of the Church. He was well versed in literature, and re- cited even in his old age, and with ease, all the fables of
God!
IO
Lives of the Catholic Bishops.
Lafontaine, and entire scenes from Racine and Corneille Music and drawing were judiciously interspersed with his severer studies, and in the latter he acquired a pro- ficiency which he used in after years in delineating the scenes and incidents of the French Revolution, and in illustrating his descriptions of his early life. He also re- ceived, as a preparation for the French Polytechnic School, which he once thought of entering, a thorough course of mathematics. When the French Revolution destroyed the Catholic schools at Rennes, he followed up his studies assiduously at home.
It was at this period of his life that young Brut€ wit- nessed, in his own native city, scenes that made an indel- ible impression upon his heart, and tended, in a great measure, to form and ripen in him those splendid traits of character which were the ornaments of his life: scenes which we cannot read of at this distant day with- out sickening with horror at their atrocity. He was a spectator of the worst enactments of the French Revo lution, and, thanks to the teachings and example of a good mother, and the directions and counsels of holy priests, his young heart passed through the fiery and bloody ordeal of the " Reign of Terror " unscathed and unsullied. Twenty-five years afterwards he described the scenes he witnessed when a boy, and illustrated them with drawings from his pen, with such minuteness and accuracy, as to show how keenly alive he was to the sympathies and endearments of the occasion. He wit- nessed the defection of friends, schoolmates, neighbors, and even ecclesiastics, from the line of duty ; and he saw some, whom he had known and respected, carried away by the prevailing passion and becoming the will- ing and cruel, but, as he charitably thought, the deluded
Right Rev. Simon Gabriel Brute, D.D. n
instruments of the revolution in the persecution, banish- ment, and murder of their former friends. His gentle heart, instead of becoming callous from familiarity with human woe, sufferings, and death, became doubly sensi- tive to the impressions of sympathy, generosity, and love, and so practised in acts of human and Christian benevolence and tender charity, that these became through life his daily habit and study, and were the ornaments and charm of his noble character. His mother's house was frequently the refuge of holy priests hunted down by the demons of the revolution, when to harbor them was punished with death ; and young Ga- briel has himself described the pleasure it gave him to serve them, and the happiness he felt in their society. It was his habit to visit, relieve, and comfort them in their secret asylums and prisons ; and oh ! with what fer- vor would he kneel at their feet and make his confession, and receive absolution from those who, perhaps on the morrow, received the scarlet robes and jewelled diadems of martyrdom in heaven ! Drawn by his sympathy and protected by his youth, he was a constant attendant at the trial of saintly priests and religious before the revo- lutionary tribunals at Rennes, and on his return home could repeat every word to his mother, so deeply did the harsh words of the revolutionary judges and the gentle but courageous words of the victims sink in his heart There he saw condemned his preceptors, his relatives, and his pastors, and was the gentle messen- ger that conveyed the news of their fate to absent friends and relatives, who dared not be seen in the dread tribunals. There he saw the victims, forgetful of their own danger, fervently defending the innocence and pleading for the safety of their fellow-victims. Follow-
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Lives of the Catholic Bishops.
ing an aged priest, and the three noble sisters who had harbored him, as they passed beneath his window, amidst the cries of the mob, la guillotine!" he stood, during their trial, leaning on the back of the ven- erable martyrs chair, and almost touching his snowy locks with his hands. How touchingly he describes the scene : " During the whole time," he writes of this case in his Notes, "Mr. Raoul was engaged in prayer. Methinks I can still hear the sounds, and low, little swellings Of his prayer — some of the Psalms, it seemed like the Latin final or syllable, rising, from time to time, in a half-suppressed murmur — whilst the jailer or exe- cutioner (for he was always present) was putting on the handcuffs, and securing them so tight that I re- member the priest gave signs of uneasiness, and look- ed at the man as if entreating him not to screw them so- tight." On another occasion, while seated at his studies at home, he heard in the distance the notes of the "Libera me Domine" from the burial service of the Church, a chant which had long ceased to be heard, as of yore, in the streets of Rennes ; the sounds grew more distinct and were mingled with the rapid tramp of feet, as the soldiers hurried on their victim. " I under- stood it all," he writes, " and ran to the door to go out and follow them, agitated and partially frightened with the usual terror which rested on my heart, but at the same time animated by the song of death, for it was the priest who was thus singing his own Libera." Many were the scenes like these he witnessed. The prisoners were usually guillotined within twenty-four hours after their arrest ; and finally the soldiers, in the rural districts, used to pursue and shoot them on the spot, without trial or condemnation. He saw the sacred
Right Rev. Simon Gabriel Brute, D.D. 13
shrines at which he worshipped from his tenderest years, and where the God of love reposed, desecrated ; all Christian traditions and customs abolished ; and the Lord's day obliterated, and in its stead the heathen festivals of reason and of love substituted.
The reverses of his family's fortunes had compelled his mother to open and conduct a printing-office, a busi- ness with which she was probably well acquainted, as she was, at the time of her marriage to Mr. Brut6, the widow of Francis Vatar, who had been " Printer to the King and Parliament at Rennes." In the height of "the Terror" his mother made him work in her print- ing-office, to save him from being enrolled in a regiment of children fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen years of age, called " The Hope of the Country ; " and he say? that he thus became a pretty good compositor. The schools, such as it was proper for him to attend, were closed ; but this did not prevent him from zealously pursuing his studies at his mother's house, any more than the closing of the churches and the slaughter of the priests pre- vented him from attending to his daily exercises of de- votion in the secrecy of that chapel-home, or from the practice of every virtue in the limited and persecuted society in which he moved. Dr. McCaffrey, in his ad- mirable Funeral Oration, thus eloquently describes this portion of young Brute's life : —
"But what is most important, and especially for the young to observe, is this: that while he zealously de- voted himself to the pursuit of knowledge, he was equally and still more zealous in the pursuit of virtue ; while he prepared himself by laborious study to render service to his fellow-men, he never forgot that higher service which he owed to God. His virtuous parents,
14
Lives of the Catholic Bishops.
and especially his mother, — a woman of admirable char- acter, a parent equally enlightened and affectionate, — had inspired his heart in childhood with sentiments of tender piety. She laid all her hopes of his usefulness and happiness on the only sure foundation of religion. She had taught him in times which tried the souls of Christians, to be always ready to lay down his life for the faith, to shed his blood, if necessary, for the love of God. France was then, by her own terrific example, teaching the world a great moral and religious lesson. Her revolutionary rulers had proscribed Christianity, and made infidelity and impiety the law of the land. History has told us the horrors that ensued. While this unhappy country was deluged with the blood of her best and noblest sons ; while the cross was torn from its ele- vation and trampled in the dust; while churches were pillaged and desecrated, and the faithful obliged, as the primitive martyrs, to meet in silence and darkness, at the risk of their lives, for the celebration of the divine mys- teries; while the priests who had not been exiled or guillotined were hunted as wild beasts, shot down in the fields, hung to the lamp-posts, or reserved for the slow tortures and solemn mockeries of judicial murder; the prisons were everywhere crowded with those who were too noble-minded to conceal or abjure their faith; and these heroic sufferers were refused the consolations of religion, or could receive them only from such as were willing to stake their lives upon the charitable mission. Simon Gabriel Brut6, then but a boy of tender years, with a full knowledge of the risk he ran, and with his fond mother's hearty consent, was employed to convey the Blessed Sacrament to the prisoners in his native town of Rennes. In the disguise of a baker's boy, protected
Right Rev. Simon Gabriel Brute, D.D. 15
only by his innocence and premature discretion, or rather by his good angel, who fondly bore him company on such errands, — he supplied the victims of persecution not only with that bread which nourishes the body, but with the bread of angels, the food which gives life to the soul. He made his first communion in the parish church of St. Germain in 1791, and the scenes of hor- rible impiety and bloody persecution which he witnessed soon afterwards, but confirmed his faith and animated his piety. He saw and shared the apprehension, the alarm, the secrecy and danger, with which God was worshipped and his mysteries dispensed to the faithful: he saw, and as we have mentioned, he sympathized with heroic confessors imprisoned and exposed to death for their attachment to religion ; he saw the sanctity of the clois- ter sacrilegiously invaded, and helpless nuns, who had hoped to spend their days in retirement and prayer, cast out upon a heartless world by ferocious monsters, who professed to be the friends of liberty and humanity ; he saw the procession of venerable priests, and heard them chanting in solemn harmony the 'Miserere' and ' De Pro- fundis? as they marched, a noble band of martyrs, from the tribunal of injustice to the place of execution; he saw numbers of innocent victims of every class led as lambs to the slaughter, because of their unwavering al- legiance to the faith ' once delivered to the saints.' Thus familiar in his early years with the elevating spectacle of religion triumphant over suffering and death, his soul was nerved for heroic deeds of virtue, and he under- stood and felt in its full force the exclamation of St. Paul: 'Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation ? or distress ? or famine ? or nakedness ? or danger? or persecution? or the sword? .... In
Lives of the Catholic Bishops.
all these things we overcome, because of Him that hath loved us.' "
The benevolent leanings of Mr. Brute's nature, and his habitual desire to serve his fellow-men, directed his choice of a vocation in life. The great preponderance of religious ideas and tastes in his character and educa- tion would most certainly have led him to embrace the holy ministry, with its devotions, sacrifices, deeds of charity, and sublime ends, above all others. But that career was closed to him and others in France at that time, and he selected that profession in which it seemed to him he could most benefit humanity. With these views he entered the Medical College of Dr. Duval, an eminent surgeon of Rennes, February 10, 1796. After two years well spent with Dr. Duval, in laying the solid foundation for the noble profession he had chosen, he went to Paris in 1799. "Though trained to piety be- times," says Dr. McCaffrey, " and accustomed to regard religion as a pearl above all price ; though even in the very morning of life he had girded himself for mortal conflict, with a courage not unworthy of the martyr's crown, yet had he need of all the deep impressions graven on his soul, and of no ordinary strength of mind, and of a fortitude which heaven only could bestow, to pass with principles unshaken and piety unimpaired through the medical schools of the French capital." While the professors were violent disciples of the pre- vailing infidel philosophy, the students were steeped in licentiousness. Atheism and Materialism were pecu- liarly prevalent among the medical schools ; man was made the strict and mere material subject of science — God, his Creator, was excluded from all recognition: death was regarded as his annihilation, and neither hope
Right Rev. Simon Gabriel Brute, D.D. ij
nor fear was conceded to him beyond the grave. The pride of the human heart is but too apt to lead those engaged in the study of the physical sciences, to see only the material before them, with whose admirable structure and properties they become enamored, forget- ful of the omnipotent and omniscient hand that created and formed it. This pride is but too apt to cause such intellects to arrogate to themselves the credit of science and penetration, which they received only from God, and of which He can at any time deprive them. The ex- cited partisan zeal of the times added energy and bitter- ness to this spirit, and the professors chair at Paris became the pulpit of infidelity and of the grossest mate- rialism. Religion, the great enemy of these errors, was consequently assailed, calumniated, sneered at, and ridi- culed. Thus, while Mr. Brut6 enjoyed the advantage of listening to the skilful, scientific, and learned lectures of such professors as La Mark, Fourcroy, Esquirol, Pinel, and Bichat, he was compelled to endure the an- noyance of this unfair and dishonorable warfare upon all he cherished in life or death ; for these eminent pro- fessors, while conveying the mysteries of science, did not scruple to endeavor to insinuate the infidel poison into the minds of their pupils. In this crisis of his life, the solid religious education he received from his pious mother and good parish priest at Rennes, proved an invincible armor and shield to his soul. He took particular pains to practice his duties and profess his religion, thereby combating error with example. Not content with this, he entered into a combination with a number of his fellow-students, particularly with those from his native province, noble spirits like himself, to oppose boldly these pernicious teachings ; and the means
2
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they adopted for this purpose were to select such sub- jects in natural theology, for their theses before their class, as would enable them to advocate the truths of Christianity and avow their belief in them. The good effects of fearlessly practising and defending religion were seen in this instance ; the attention of the govern- ment was called to the matter, and the First Consul, who was then endeavoring to restore religion in France, caused an intimation to be given out, in the columns of an official journal, unfavorable to the pernicious attempts and practices of the infidel professors, and they, taking a timely hint, desisted from their wicked work. Young Brut6 graduated in medicine in 1803, with the highest honors ; out of eleven hundred students — one hundred and twenty were selected by " concursus " as the best, — and after undergoing a second examination, Mr. Brut£ won the first prize among these chosen students.* He was immediately appointed Physician to the First Dis- pensary in Paris, a position which he declined ; because now, all obstacles being removed, his natural desire to do good, and the inward grace which he received from above, led him to a more perfect vocation. He did not abandon the profession of medicine, says Dr. McCak frey, " from any feelings of disgust. He always honored it as one of the noblest to which a highly gifted and philanthropic man can devote himself. Delightful as his conversation was to all, and to men of science in par- ticular, it was peculiarly so to the student, or to the prac- titioner or professor of medicine. They often expressed their astonishment that, after a lapse of twenty or thirty
* He presented his prize to Dr. Duval, his first preceptor in medicine, "in recog- nition of his kindness."
Right Rev. Simon Gabriel Brut'e> D.D. 19
years, engrossed by pursuits of a very different order, he retained so perfect and minute a knowledge of all that he had studied in his youth under the great masters of the French capital." *
He entered the Seminary of St. Sulpice, at Paris, in November, 1803, and commenced the study of theology with ardor far surpassing that of any of his previous studies. Theology was truly to him the mistress and the mother of sciences. His mind was peculiarly fitted for it, and he resolved to explore it to its fountain source. Theology in all its branches, the ancient Fathers, the Canon Law, and Church history, he studied with the most ardent application. He seemed now to have found' his proper element, and he availed himself of every possible means of storing his mind with learning, and enriching his soul with graces. The ardent and sincere piety of his earlier years now ripened into the solid and active devotion of the true man of God. He became a model to all in the Seminary. Amongst his professors were many of the most eminent theologians of that age, and amongst his fellow-students many, like himself, afterwards became distinguished members of the Hierarchy. It was at this period of his life that he commenced collecting a library ; books were his delight — a taste which he never aban- doned. Now, as in his previous pursuits, he made copious notes and memoranda of his studies, as a means of assist- ing the memory, and of giving outward form and expres- sion to his ideas and acquirements. He was a good illustration of the remark that " the Frenchman is born
* The only occasion, on which we have heard of his attempting the practice, was at Mt. St. Mary's College, when one of the students broke his arm, and the regular physician could not be had at once ; Mr. Brute set the arm so skilfully as to leave nothing for the doctor to do when he came.
20
Lives of the Catholic Bishops.
with a pen in his hand." This industrious habit, without interfering with, but rather promoting, the labors of a long and useful life, has secured for us many interesting and valuable materials, and some of the most touching and affecting incidents of one of the most remarkable eras in the history of the world. His notes on theology are evidences of his thorough application to that noble science. It has well been said, "that the four years he spent in the Seminary of St. Sulpice were what the Scripture calls ' full years.' " He was ordained in the priesthood, in the parish church of St. Sulpice, by Mon- seigneur Andr£, the retired Bishop of Quimper, on the Saturday before Trinity Sunday, 1808.
His great learning and exemplary traits of character peculiarly fitted him to guide the studies of young candi- dates for the priesthood. His own desires led him to pre- fer this service in the Church. He accordingly refused the offers of the Bishop of Nantes, the position of assis- tant chaplain to the Emperor Napoleon, and a canonicate in the Cathedral at Rennes. He became, in preference, a member of the Sulpitian Order, was appointed pro fessor of theology in the Sulpitian Seminary at his native city of Rennes, and for two years was not only their pro- fessor, but, still more, a model of excellence to the young levites of that diocese. He had at times during his ecclesiastical studies thought of devoting himself to the foreign missions, as the most serviceable, laborious, and self-sacrificing service in the ministry. The presence of the excellent Bishop Flaget, of Kentucky, in France in 1809 and 1 8 10, probably recalled his attention to this field. To be separated from his good mother, his friends, coun- try, his library, and his young levites, to all of whom he was greatly attached, was a severe trial ; but he was equal
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Right Rev. Simon Gabriel Brute, £>.£). 21
to sacrifices for God and his neighbor. His superior, the illustrious Mr. Emery, approved his choice, and he ac- cordingly joined Bishop Flaget at Bordeaux, and sailed with him for America, arriving at Baltimore August 10, 1 8 10. We may form some appreciation of the acquisi- tion to the Church in America, gained in Mr. Brut£, from the following passages in Dr. McCaffrey's Funeral Ora- tion. " His mind was too rich in treasures of classic lore, too amply furnished from the armories of science, for him to have been a dull or careless student. Whether he conversed with a friend, or lectured to a class, or heralded the message of salvation from the pulpit, the evidence of profound knowledge, as well as of remarkable genius, incessantly flashed before you." " We have regarded him as an example for youthful students in the world : from this moment he becomes the model of those who belong to the sanctuary. If he has been pious and edi- fying in the lively and dangerous scenes through which he has passed, he is much more zealous for the sublime virtues of his holy vocation in the retirement to which God has called him. If he sought with ardor and unre- mitting toil for secular knowledge, while he destined himself to a secular profession, with still greater ardor and unremitting toil, even with a holy enthusiasm and in the true spirit of a patient, self-denying labor, does he pursue that knowledge which ought to adorn the eccle- siastical profession. It is thus only he could have ac- quired those immense stores of erudition, which for so many years caused him to be consulted by men of letters, by learned ecclesiastics, even by the highest dignitaries of the Church in the United States, as a sort of oracle or living library of sacred erudition. Besides those treasures of knowledge which he brought away from his
22
Lives of the Catholic Bishops.
earlier studies, as the children of Israel carried the spoils of Egypt into the Holy Land, he became intimately conversant (more so perhaps than any other man this country has ever seen) with the writings of the Fathers of the Church and the primitive sources of ecclesiastical history. He turned his attention to the Hebrew lan- guage, in consequence of its importance in religion to the Sacred Scriptures, which were now his constant study. Scholastic theology he acquired thoroughly, and he grew familiar with all the great defenders and ornaments of religion in every age. Hence there were few subjects indeed on which he was not able, when consulted, to throw a strong light, no matter what depth of research or extent of reading the understanding of them required."
He was, on his arrival at Baltimore, made professor of philosophy in St. Mary's, a position in which for two years he rendered invaluable services in elevating the reputation of the institution, and in training young men in learning and piety. In his vacations, when wearied nature needed relaxation, he spent his time in missionary labors where the services of priests were much needed and difficult to obtain. In 1812, while thus engaged on the mission at St. Joseph's, on the eastern shore of Mary- land, he received letters calling him to Emmittsburg, to assist Mr. Dubois in his arduous labors in that region. Here he seems to have set to work to do as much good as human efforts could accomplish, yet with such humility that he seemed unconscious of his great achievements. His learning, his piety, his charities, his ministry among the people, seemed to throw a sacred halo about his path. " He could never have hoped," says Bishop Bay- ley, " to have done as much good amongst the inhabi- tants of India or China, by the exertion of the highest
Right Rev. Simon Gabriel Brute, D.D. 23
apostolic zeal, as he was permitted to do in this country. It is no disparagement of those holy and eminent men, who have adorned the annals of the Catholic Church in this country — of a Carroll, a Cheverus, a Dubois, and a Flaget, to say that no one has ever exerted a more bene- ficial influence in favor of the Catholic religion than Bishop Brut&" At Emmittsburg, he became the spiritual attendant to the Sisters of Charity, and his counsels and assistance did much towards building up this then young and struggling institution. " In Mother Seton," writes the author of her Life,* " he found a soul who could follow him in his lofty and beautiful flights on the wings of faith, who could catch the fire of his thoughts and com- mune with him in the enjoyment of their elevating power. From him, in a great measure, did she learn how to pre- serve her soul in peace, amid the trials of her position, and, abandoning herself to the will of God in all things, to look forward with hope and joy to the term of all earthly suffering and vicissitude." He was not only confessor to the institution of the Sisters of Charity for nearly twenty years, but its untiring friend, devoting his time, talents, and labors to its development and prosperity. Having sustained her courage and animated her heart in life, he was constantly beside the death-bed of Mother Seton in her last illness, cheering the noble and depart- ing soul, "suggesting the most perfect sentiments of resignation, penance, love, confidence, and union with Jesus Christ"
In 18 1 5 he went to France to interest the clergy and people of that country in favor of the American mis- sions, and also for the purpose of bringing over his
*Life of Mrs. Seton, by Rev. C. I. White, D.D.
Digitized by
24
Lives of the Catholic Bishops.
library, which consisted of nearly five thousand volumes of valuable and choice works, which he placed at the service of St. Mary's College. Returning in November of the same year, he was appointed President of St. Mary's College, Baltimore, a position which he filled with his accustomed usefulness, ability, and energy for about two years. On the death of Rev. Mr. Duhamel he resigned the Presidency of St Mary's, and returned to Emmittsburg, where his virtues, his labors, his learn- ing, his charities, and his teachings, spread blessings on all sides. This portion of his life, up to his appoint- ment to the Episcopal office, is described in so masterly a manner by Dr. McCaffrey, that we cannot refrain from inserting it here : —
" His duties here were multiplied and various, and re- quired to discharge them no ordinary share of zeal, in- dustry, and versatility of powers. He was confessor to the Sisters of Charity, and for many years pastor of the congregation at Emmittsburg, while he frequently exer- cised in this congregation some of the most arduous functions of the holy ministry. In the Ecclesiastical Seminary he lectured on Sacred Scripture, and was Pro- fessor of Theology and Moral Philosophy. In the col- lege he taught, at different times, natural philosophy and various other branches. True greatness dignifies whatever sphere it moves in. His genius and learning were conspicuous, when they expatiated through the palace-halls of the queen of sciences, Divinity; they were not less admirable, when they descended to the humble task of teaching youth geography, or explaining the little catechism to children. As Paul planted and Apollo watered, but God gave the increase,* so having
• i Cor. iii. 6.
Right Rev. Simon Gabriel Brute, D.D. 25
the immediate direction of the ecclesiastical students and the chief care of instructing them, he nurtured with pious solicitude and zeal the growing seminary, which the venerable Mr. Dubois had devoted all his energies to plant and rear; and the labors of both were rewarded by heaven with abundant fruits. His cheerful piety, amiable manners, and lively interest in the welfare of his pupils, were sure to win their hearts ; his eminent holi- ness of life secured not only respect, but veneration. His exhortations to virtue and piety could scarcely fail of effect, because he recommended only what he prac- tised himself. No standard of Christian or priestly ex- cellence to which he pointed could appear too high, since he was himself a living instance of its attainment. If, forgetful of this earth, he always pointed and allured to heaven, he also led the way. His piety was most tender and affectionate, and he showed clearly by his example what it is to love God with one's whole heart and whole soul, and with all the powers of one's mind. In all things he was a model to those subject to his direction. His hours of sleep were few, and long before the morning's dawn he arose to converse with his God, and to give to Him the first-fruits of the day. During these early meditations his soul, absorbed in heavenly contemplation and intimate union with its Creator, was largely visited with the refreshing dues of divine grace ; and when he approached the altar and offered up the Holy Sacrifice, hfe heart, already full to overflowing, was always overpowered by mingled emotions of reverential awe and gratitude and love, and often found relief in copious tears. He descended to the discharge of his ordinary duties ; but, like Moses, he bore the marks of converse with his God, and, as words of heavenly wis-
26
Lives of the Catholic Bishops.
dom fell from his tongue, you could readily fancy that his lips, like those of Isaias, had been touched by the seraph with living coals of fire from the altar. His time was all divided between prayer and labor. He loved so well ' the beauty of the house of the Lord, and the place where his glory dwelleth,' * that he spent whole hours kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament ; and eventually he 'made it a rule, whenever it was practicable, to recite the divine office in His holy presence. Thither he would repair on returning from a long journey during the rigors of winter, and, until he had satisfied his de- votion, no persuasions could induce him to attend to his personal comfort ; at other times, unless he was en gaged in active duties, you would find him in the midst of his splendid library, surrounded by the writings of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, and whatever besides is most rare and valuable in science and liter- ature, pursuing his devoted studies with intense appli- cation and wonderful activity of mind, or committing to paper, for the benefit of others, the results of his pro- found investigations. His recreation was but variety of labor. When his wearied mind demanded its turn of relaxation, the most arduous bodily toil succeeded ; and this round of exertions, bodily and corporeal, was kept up with an elasticity of spirits and activity of mind truly surprising. After a journey of fifty miles, performed on foot in a single day, book in hand, praying and reading by turns, and scarcely stopping to take the simple refection that nature required, he would meet his friends in the evening with a freshness of spirits and gaiety of conversation which could not be surpassed.
* Pslam xxv.
Right Rev. Simon Gabriel BrutS, D.D. 27
If, as a pastor, he had made an appointment, no obstacle could hinder him from keeping it. The mountain tor- rent, swollen with wintry rains and overflowing its banks, could not stop him. If other means of crossing it were not at hand, he plunged into its freezing tide, and, amid masses of floating ice, swam to the opposite shore. No sacrifice of comfort, or necessary repose, neither hunger nor thirst, nor summer's heats nor winter's colds, could check his enthusiastic zeal, or cause him to fail in punctuality to his engagement. But his charity towards the poor was perhaps the most edifying trait in his character. It did not consist in merely pitying their miseries and exhorting others to relieve them. He was in the habit of visiting them in person, and in his own hands he bore the assistance which they needed and he was able to procure them, thus literally ' feeding the hungry and clothing the naked.' His benevolence was ingenious in obtaining means for its exercise. Many a time he stripped himself of garments necessary to his own comfort, to bestow them on some shivering victim of poverty. But he seemed to delight in suffering him- self, that he might alleviate the sufferings of others. Ingratitude on their pah but inflamed his charity the more. The bigot who drove him from his door by day, could not prevent him from bringing clothes and pro- visions to his needy family by night. However careful he might be to conceal his extraordinary good works, the general spirit and tenor of his conduct could not be hidden from the young ecclesiastics whom he taught by word and example.
"As a Professor of Theology, he excelled chiefly in two things : a vast erudition, which left nothing unexplored, and a singular power of generalizing, which enabled him
28
Lives of the Catholic Bishops.
to grasp his whole subject and handle it with ease, by bringing all its details under a few grand principles. In exhibiting and supporting these principles he put forth all his strength. After adducing the evidence which his extensive reading readily furnished, elucidating it by his luminous explanations, and applying the logical tests with cautious judgment and impartial rigor, his excur- sive mind brought in a rich and almost gorgeous profu- sion of analogies and illustrations from every part of the wide domains of human knowledge. Thus qualified for the task of directing and instructing ecclesiastics, he was able to render immense services to religion. There is scarcely a diocese in this country which is not indebted (some of them very largely indebted) to his zeal, piety, and learning, and his great success in communicating his own spirit and knowledge to those whose ecclesias- tical education he directed. If many worthy and highly useful missionaries have gone forth from Mount St. Mary's to bear the blessings of religion to those who had them not before, or were but ill provided with them, it is under God owing in a great degree to Mr. Brut£. If the bold assailants of our faith have been made to repent their temerity by its able defenders, no small pro- portion of these issued from the school, and were armed for the defence by the learned Bishop Brut£.
" In other spheres he labored with equal devotion and similar success. He was for many years the spiritual director of the Sisters of Charity at St^ Joseph's, and the main auxiliary of Mr. Dubois, under whose Superior- ship the Sisterhood arose from the humblest beginnings to a state of prosperous maturity. It was Mr. Brute's arduous and responsible task to strengthen the vocation, foster the piety, enlighten and confirm the virtue, and
Right Rev. Simon Gabriel Brute, D.D. 29
Can into a burning flame the charity both of the novices
" The pious congregation of Emmittsburg will tell how fruitful were the labors of their beloved pastor. The whole neighborhood around will attest the happy effects of his missionary toils, his instructions, his prayers, his unquenchable charity. Where is the poor man's cottage that he has not entered as a messenger of peace and mercy ? Who was sick, and he did not visit and com- fort him ? Who was in want, and he did not afford him, poor though he was himself and always wished to be, some charitable relief? What road was there so. rough, what weather so inclement, what night so dark, that he would not fly on foot and alone to minister the sweet consolations of religion ? Did scandals arise ? How his soul burned within him until the scandal was extin- guished and the evil remedied ! Were neighbors at en- mity ? He was seen cowering under the fury of a win- ter's storm, and pelted with driving sleet and snow, as he returned a considerable distance from the blessed work of reconciliation. It was the anniversary of that day on which our Saviour died to make our peace with God. But who can recount the innumerable instances of his disinterested zeal, his burning charity, his heroic self-denial ? How many of his virtuous deeds, how many acts of benevolence — now known to none but God — will be brought to light before the assembled universe on the great day when every one will receive his proper retribution ! •
" His extraordinary piety was obvious to all ; manifest- ing itself at the altar, where he offered the spotless Lamb, as in the pulpit, where he proclaimed the truths of the Gospel. Even those who could not understand him,
and professed sisters.
30
Lives of the Catholic Bishops.
because of his imperfect pronounciation of our language, often wont away deeply moved and edified; although they could not account for this effect, nor explain it other- wise than by saying that he appeared to them not as a man, but as an angel, speaking to their souls in the name and by the authority of God. But for those who did understand him well, what a rich spiritual repast was afforded by his eloquence, for he was eloquent in spite of his defects of idiom and pronunciation. How pleased were they to hang upon his accents! How did they love to follow the eagle flights of his genius ! How soon did their faith shake off its heavy slumbers, as conscience, from the deep abyss of the heart, responded to his bold appeals, and the smallest spark of charity rose into a consuming flame, and hope grew strong within them and began to fix a steady look on heaven ! And how much more eloquent in the cause of virtue than elo- quence itself, was the powerful pleading of his exam-
From his daily memoranda, which were headed with these remarkable words : " One day of a Priest — Eter- nity / " we learn that on a single day, besides Mass, preaching, and his other duties, he spoke to sixty-two different persons on religious matters; to some about their Easter duty, to others about circulating evil reports, to others about their scandals, and so on. On another occasion, learning that Rev. Mr. Hickey was to be re- called from the Mountain, he arose next morning at his usual early hour, offered up the holy sacrifice, and started on foot for Baltimore, in order to secure the re- tention of Father Hjpkey at Emmittsburg ; reached Ta- neytown in time for breakfast ; at Winchester he found he had not a cent in his pocket with which to purchase
pie!
Right Rev. Simon Gabriel Brute, D.D. 31
dinner, and had to get it on credit ; he arrived the same evening at Baltimore, a distance of fifty-two miles, hav- ing read on the way three hundred and eighty-eight pages in D'Anqufctil's History of France, fourteen pages in Cicero de Officiis, three chapters in the New Testa- ment, recited his Office, and said the Rosary three times. He started on his return the following morning, in* a raging storm, from which he was frequently compelled to take shelter, reading and praying as usual on the way. In one of his journeyings on foot, he is said to have . reached Frederick City some time after the retiring hour of the pastor ; rather than disturb the rest of any one, though the night was cold and stormy, he wrapt himself up in his cloak and slept soundly in the vestibule of the church, where he was found the next morning by the pastor as he was going into the church to say Mass. Yet this humble priest was an oracle of learning to the clergy and Bishops of the country, was consulted on the most abstruse points from all quarters, attended councils of the Prelates as theologian, and rendered invaluable services in their deliberations ; indeed, from his secluded home in the mountain, his influence was felt through- out the entire Church of America.
The . Prelates assembled in the Second Provincial Council of Baltimore, in October, 1833, by their first act requested the Holy Father to erect a new Episcopal See at Vincennes, embracing Indiana and the greater part of Illinois. They also nominated as its Bishop the Rev. Mr. Brute, concurring thus with the recommenda- tion of Bishops Flaget and Rosati, who, the previous year, while at Vincennes, agreed to^ propose his name. The Bishop-elect was giving a retreat to the Sisters of Charity at St Joseph's when the appointment arrived,
32 Lives of the Catholic Bishop*.
and he opened and read the documents on his knees. His humility was very much disturbed by an event so unexpected by him, and he immediately started for Baltimore, in order to make a spiritual retreat and seek the light of Heaven as to the course he should pursue. No one ever considered and weighed a question of duty and conscience more earnesdy and carefully than he pondered over this. He finally, with his accustomed delicacy, left it to Bishops Flaget and Chabrat, from whose jurisdiction the new See had just been separated, to decide whether he should accept or not. These Pre- lates were most earnest in recommending him to accept, and he yielded with characteristic modesty and diffidence. It required no small amount of courage to assume such a burden, for the field to which he was called was a wild, uncultivated, and laborious one.
Indiana was first visited by Catholic missionaries dur- ing the period that the French were exploring and colo- nizing the valley of the Mississippi. Vincennes received its name from a gallant French officer, who was mur- dered by the Indians in 1 736, in the same massacre and side by side with the martyred Father Senat. Bishop Brut£ believed that the celebrated dialogue on religion, in which Father Mermet, in 171 2, confounded the medi- cine man of the Mascoutens, took place at or near the present site of Vincennes. The church records of Vin- cennes commenced in 1749; the Jesuits then had the mission, and it appears that Father Meurin was not only their pastor, but also discharged the functions of the civil court. There are two other stations in the ter- ritory of Indiana which were also attended by Jesuit' Fathers. The Jesuits were finally suppressed, and the mission closed. In 1770 M. Gibault, Vicar-General of
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Right Rev. Simon Gabriel Brute, D.D. 33
the Bishop of Quebec, visited Vincennes, and continued his missionary visits for several years, performing great labors, and keeping alive the faith in that remote region. In 1778 he spent two weeks at Vincennes ; by his influ- ence he induced the French inhabitants to declare in favor of the United States against Great Britain, and the oath of allegiance to the American Government was administered by him in the church with great solemnity. In 1779 Vincennes was captured by the British; and when Col. George Rogers Clark assembled his troops to recapture the town, Father Gibault made a patriotic address to them, and bestowed his blessing upon " the heroic . little band." His exertions are said to have greatly facilitated our conquest of the great North-west- ern Territory now teeming with States and Catholic dio- ceses. In 1785 he became resident pastor at Vincennes, and was accompanied by another priest On his recall, in 1789, he appointed a layman, Pierre Mallet, " guar- dian of the church;" a guardianship which continued until the Abb6 Flaget arrived there in 1 792. The mission was continued by Bishop Carroll, and afterwards by Bishop Flaget, with their limited resources ; and when the new Bishop went to take possession, such was the scattered condition of the flock, with scarcely priests or churches, that he exclaimed: "Poor diocese of Vin- cennes ! " But, immediately rallying his noble courage, he continued, " Let us, however, put trust in God, and what a change can a few years, through His blessing and the perseverance of zealous souls, effect ! "
Bishop Bruti made immediate preparations for his journey to Vincennes. His poverty was so great that he received from the Sisters of Charity a present of two hundred dollars to enable him to establish himself in his
34
Lives of the Catholic Bishops.
See. He was received by those zealous Prelates of the West, Bishops Flaget, Rosati, and Purcell, with the most affectionate attention. At Bardstown he made a second spiritual retreat, as a preparation for his conse- cration; on October 26, 1834, he assisted at the conse- cration of the Cathedral at St. Louis by those venerable Prelates ; and on the 28th he received his episcopal consecration in the same temple, at the hands of Bishop Flaget, assisted by Bishops Rosati and Purcell. On November 5th he. approached his episcopal city, was met on the way by the Rev. Mr. Lalumifcre, accom- panied by a number of citizens, Catholic and Protestant, who escorted him into the city ; and on the same after- noon he was installed by Bishop Flaget, assisted by Bishops Rosati and Purcell, and Rev. Messrs. Lalumifere, Hitzelberger, and Abell, and Father Petit. His whole diocese possessed but three priests, and one of those belonged to the diocese of St. Louis, but was permitted to assist him for one year. His Cathedral consisted of four brick walls and a roof, unplastered and unwhite- washed, without sanctuary, or place for sacred vessels and vestments. The altar was of plain wood, but was surmounted with a neatly gilded tabernacle, a cross and six handsome candlesticks, a present from France, which strangely contrasted with all else around. His episcopal palace consisted of a single small room and closet twenty-five by twelve feet, without cellar below or garret above. The pew-rents of the Cathedral amounted for the year to one hundred dollars, and the support of th<: pastor was a subscription list of two hundred and fifty dollars. There was neither seminary, college, religious establishment, nor school. There had been a school at Vincennes, kept by four Sisters of Charity from Naza-
Right Rev. Simon Gabriel Brute, D.D. 35
reth, in Kentucky; but even these had been withdrawn. His first care was to secure their return to Vincennes, and the reopening of the school. His next step was the visitation of his extensive diocese, in order to ascertain its condition and wants. Before setting out on this arduous journey, he began his ministry at Vincennes by preaching, confessions, confirmation, and first com- munion. He then visited the congregations within thirty miles of Vincennes, awakening all to a sense of their past neglect, their necessity of conversion and re- pentance, and recalling all to the Catholic traditions and practices of their ancestors. He found the people, who were mostly French, forgetful and negligent of their re- ligion, and given to many bad practices ; but they were amiable and impressible, and welcomed their Bishop ivith sincere joy. He addressed to his flock a Pastoral Letter, full of love, charity, zeal, and apostolical instruc- tion and winning appeals; addressing therein also the Protestants in affectionate terms, and endeavoring by his sweet and gentle words to attract all to the Church of God.
It would extend this memoir beyond our limits, inter- esting and edifying as are the details, to follow this saintly and laborious apostle through his visitation of the diocese. He traveled without comfort or convenience from village to village, and even from family to family, instructing the ignorant, reproving the negligent and wicked ; summoning all to God and their duty ; baptiz- ing, confessing, and confirming ; he broke the bread of life to many who had not received it for years, and re- ceived converts into the Church ; he started the people in various localities to building temples for the worship of God, and schools for the education of their children ; the
3<5
Lives of the Catholic Bishops.
Indian and European shared equally his paternal solici- tude; his sleep was short, his labors long, his meals scant, and his bed was a bench and a little straw, with his cloak for a covering, or the naked floor ; he traveled on horseback, and though over fifty years of age, he seemed incapable of fatigue or discouragement. He saw much to console and comfort him in the good dispositions of the people, but still more to sadden his heart at the necessitous and impoverished condition of his diocese. So patient, so cheerful was he under his fatigues and hardships, that no word of complaint, impatience, or even allusions to them ever escaped his lips or pen. To labor and to endure for others was, on the contrary, his highest delight and happiness.
He was chiefly struck during his journey with the great want of clergymen throughout his diocese, and with the want of means for the erection of churches and houses of education. He resolved to do all in his power to supply these wants, and turned his attention to his own loved France, as the place from which he hoped to secure both priests and money for his diocese. He crossed the ocean for this purpose, and was received with every demonstration of kindness and veneration by all classes of people in various countries. King and people, prince and peasant, showed him every mark of respect and honor, and aided him generously in his noble cause. His simplicity of character and humility of soul were somewhat disturbed by his contact with courts, princes, and nobles ; but he bore this, as he bore every- thing, with cheerfulness, for the love of God and his Church. He did not return without visiting the shrines of the Apostles, and obtaining the blessing of the Holy Father upon himself and his diocese.
Right Rev. Simon Gabriel Brute, D.D. 37
His return to his diocese was hailed with joy by all, Catholics and Protestants, for all had witnessed his deeds and admired his virtues. He resumed at once the arduous duties of his office, though then for the first time experiencing the decline of his strength with his increasing years ; but he labored on with the unceasing vigor and the unsparing application of a young man, till the frail body, unequal to the undying zeal and love of the soul, yielded to inevitable dissolution. He expended the means collected in his European tour with the judi- cious effort of making it accomplish the greatest possible amount of good, in establishing a Diocesan Seminary at Vincennes, an Orphan Asylum, and a Free school. He had a surplus left for the completion of his Cathe- dral, and the erection of small churches in localities where they were most needed. He brought with him from France twenty priests and seminarians, whom he distributed through his diocese with great foresight and judgment ; and yet, with this increase in his colaborers, his own labors seemed only to increase. While not en- gaged in the arduous work of visiting his diocese, he was, while at Vincennes, both Bishop and pastor, attend- ing to confessions, sick calls, and every detail ; and at the same time he was professor of theology for his Semi- nary, and teacher in one of his academies. While on his visitations, which were frequent, there was no office of ministry, religion, or charity that he did npt perform ; and the immensity of these may be judged from the fact that great numbers of Catholic immigrants were then working on the public improvements of Indiana and Illi- nois, who, besides the usual labor it costs the priesthood to attend such missions, were then suffering severely from cholera and malarious fevers. For them he celebrated
38
Lives of the Catholic Bishops.
the Holy Sacrifice in their miserable cabins, heard their confessions, administered the other sacraments, and smoothed the way for the sick and dying to their long home. In the midst of all his labors, he wrote for the Catholic press, and kept up the most excellent custom of writing twice a month to each of his priests on the in- terests of their respective missions, and for the guidance of their labors and stimulation of their zeal. It has al- ready been related that, when he entered his diocese, he had but three priests, and one of these was a loan from Bishop Rosati ; when, after his brief episcopate, he left it forever, he bequeathed to the Church of Indiana twenty- four priests, twenty-three churches, besides six church buildings and twenty-eight stations occasionally visited, two religious communities, one theological seminary, one college for young men, one female academy, and two free schools. With such achievements the reader will be surprised to learn that he was opposed to going in debt, and never would sign a mortgage on church property. " Difficulties that would have disheartened almost any one else only served to increase his zeal and charity. Having commenced a journey of four hundred miles in such a state of bodily suffering that he could not sit up- right on his horse, he nevertheless completed it without the intermission of a single day. Shortly before his death he left Vincennes to visit a distant • mission, which he had already visited thrice within the year; and though so weak that he could scarcely support his tottering frame, in the absence of the pastor, he attended to three distant sick calls on the same day, and, almost dying, administered the consolations of religion to those who appeared no nearer dissolution than himself."* His
* Dr. McCaffrey's Funeral Oration.
Right Rev. Simon Gabriel Brute, D,D. £9
benignity, kindness to all, and angelic charity, even when himself the greatest of sufferers, were the crowning vir tues of his character. He loved poverty for himself, while his delight was to bestow upon others. The only value he could see in money and worldly goods was in the good they could accomplish for religion and the poor. Father Hickey said of him, that " if he had five dollars in his pocket, it went to the first person who asked for it" His food and clothes were of the plainest kind, for he gave away frequently all except what he wore upon his person, and even these were not safe, for he was known frequently to take off his linen and underclothes to bestow them upon the poor negroes whom he visited and solaced. He crossed the ocean nine times, a voyager of the Church and of Heaven ; and his conduct on these occasions was admirable, indeed inspiring. His atten- tions to the sick on ship-board, his tenderness to the timid and distressed, his noble calmness when storm and danger made all others fear, and his careful and affec- tionate nursing even of the poor deck-passengers, made him appear more like an angel than a man ; and amidst all these attentions to others he found time for prayer, meditation, and labor. He was as unruffled on the ocean as in his own loved library ; and on one of his voyages, which experienced thirty days of storm, he performed the above works of mercy for his fellow-passengers, ac- complished a great amount of writing, prepared immense materials for his European correspondence, and delighted and instructed all by his cheerful and learned conversa- tions on every subject.
In 1837 he caught a severe cold while riding on the outside of a coach in Ohio, on his way to the Council at Baltimore; this grew into confirmed consumption, and
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Lives of the Catholic Bishops.
hastened the dissolution of a noble frame already spent with labors and services of the most exalted kind. Let the eloquent words of one who kneiw and loved him well, and who received the details from an eye-witness, narrate the last and most impressive scenes in the drama of this truly Christian life: "Death, which could be no unwelcome visitor to one whose thoughts, hopes, and affections all centred in a better world, found him full- handed of good works, and longing only to be dissolved, and to be with Christ. Invincibly patient and resigned under the severest suffering ; full of tender piety ; calm, collected, and brightly exhibiting his characteristic vir- tues to the last, he set a beautiful example of the man- ner in which a Christian should prepare himself to run his final race, and to win the crown of a glorious immor- tality. As his strength diminished, his devotion in- creased. He sought no alleviation of his sufferings ; on the contrary, he was eager still to labor and endure, in the twofold view of doing good to others and resem- bling more his crucified Saviour. When unable to walk or stand, he would at least sit up and write to any one whom he could hope to benefit by his correspondence ; and to those around him he would speak on pious sub- jects, such as the love of God, conformity to His holy will, or devotion to the Blessed Virgin, with the unction of a Saint and the ardor of a Seraph. But six hours before his death he wrote with his own hand, and not without much difficulty and pain, several moving letters to persons who had unfortunately abandoned the prac- tice of their faith, and to whom he wished to make this dying appeal in behalf of their souls, while the portals of eternity were closing upon him. These last precious days of his life were taken up in works of charity, in in-
Digitized by
Right Rev. Simon Gabriel Bruti, D.D. 41
strutting, edifying, and consoling those who were with him, and in intimate and affectionate communion with his God, whom he hoped soon to see face to face, and to love and enjoy forever. He preferred often to be left alone, that he might the more freely indulge his pious feelings; and for this end he would allow no one to watch by him at night until his mortal agony had begun. When his friends affectionately sought to know what they could do to relieve his sufferings, he would answer them by pointing out some passage of Sacred Scripture, or chapter of the following of Christ, which he desired them to read to him, or by asking them to say some prayers for his happy death. No agonies of pain could extort from him a single expression of distress. 'The will of God be done/ was the constant language of his lips, as it was the abiding sentiment of his heart. When preparing to receive the holy Viaticum, he wrote to us in the true spirit of saintly humility, requesting the prayers of our Seminary and of the Sisterhood, and begging pardon for whatever offences or bad example he had ever given to any one at either institution. A few days before his dissolution, the strength of his natu- rally vigorous constitution rallied for a time, and his physician promised him at least a temporary recovery ; he told the physician he was mistaken, and whether he knew it supernaturally or otherwise, he named the exact time of his approaching departure. He gave himself the orders for preparing his grave, and as calmly directed the modes of sepulture, and proper rites to be observed, as if he was discharging an ordinary duty. On the morning of the day before his death he remarked to the clergyman who attended him with unwearied solicitude and affection : ' My dear child, I have the whole day yet
42
Lives of the Catholic Bishops.
to stay with you, to-morrow with God ! ' To another pious friend he used these simple but expressive words : ' I am going home/ Heaven was indeed his home : he had always so regarded it ; there was his treasure ; his heart was there ; he had ever longed to be with God, and 'see Him as He is;' and now the door of the Fath- er's house was opening to him, and angels were on the wing to receive his departing spirit, and conduct it to its place of rest. He was happy, therefore, amid the pangs and terrors of death; for he trusted that he was but going home. After having received the last Sacrament he directed the departing prayers to be recited, which he answered devoutly and fervently until the last, and then on the morning of the 26th of June (1839), at half- past one o'clock, he calmly and sweetly surrendered his soul into the hands of his Creator.
" His death was deplored as a general calamity. He was especially lamented by the poor, the widow, and orphan. The people of Vincennes felt that they had lost a public benefactor, and his own flock, both clergy and laity, bewailed, as well they might, the death of such a pastor. All, with one accord, mourned for the scholar, the philanthropist, and saint. Crowds of persons, of every rank and of all denominations, visited his corpse, and assisted at the ceremonies of his burial. The Mayor and civil authorities, and learned societies of Vincennes, passed resolutions to attend his funeral. The whole population poured forth to accompany, in solemn si- lence, his honored remains to their last resting-place on
His remains were interred under his Cathedral sane
earth.
* Funeral Oration by Rev. Dr. McCaffrey.
Right Rev. Simon Gabriel Brute, D.D. 43
tuaiy; his name is engraved upon many a heart; his memory and virtues are the common heritage of the Catholic Church, than which no other could have pro- duced such a man, priest, Prelate, Christian.
RIGHT REV. WILLIAM CLANCY, D.D.,
Coadjutor Bishop of Charleston, A.D. 1835.*
The Right Rev. William Clancy was a native of Cork, Ireland. At an early age he embraced the eccle- siastical state, and at the College of Carlow enjoyed the benefit of Dr. England's instruction in theology, as well as his friendship and esteem. He was afterwards, and for six years, curate of Carlow College. In 1829 he was offered, and accepted, the chair of theology in the same institution, and discharged the duties of this position with distinguished ability for the six years pre- ceding his elevation to the Episcopal dignity. He was greatly respected and esteemed by the illustrious Bishop Doyle, and by the venerable Dr. Fitzgerald, his prede- cessor as President of Carlow. He also performed mis- sionary duties, in the mean time, in his native city and county of Cork. Dr. Clancy was noted for his charity and kindness of heart, no less than for his learning and ability.
In 1835, when it was decided to appoint a Coadjutor Bishop to assist Bishop England of Charleston, whose labors extended over a vast diocese, and who was occa- sionally absent on the duties of a legation with which he was charged by the Holy See, Dr. Clancy was selected for the position, under the title of Bishop of Oriense. He was consecrated in the Cathedral of Carlow, on Sunday, February 1, 1835, by the Right Rev. Dr. Nolan, assisted
• Authorities: The Catholic Diary* vols. 3, 4, and 5; Freeman9* Journal% 1842; Catholic Magaiine, 1847, &c, &c
Right Rev. William Clancy, D.D.
45
by the Most Rev. Dr. Slattery, of Cashel and Emly, and the Right Rev. Dr. Kinsella, of Kilkenny, in the presence of a large number of Prelates and clergy, amongst whom were the Very Rev. Dr. Fitzgerald, Rev. Dr. Cullen, and other distinguished ecclesiastics. The three conse- crating Prelates were all former professors of divinity and philosophy in the same College of Carlow in which Dr. Clancy had been a professor. The latter wore the mitre in which Bishop Doyle was consecrated in 1819, a present from the successor of that honored Prelate. The consecration sermon was preached by Rev. Mr. O'Sullivan, of Bantry, the first pupil who was ordained priest out of Dr. Clancy's class of moral theology.
After his consecration he was afflicted with a severe illness, which prostrated his health and greatly impeded his preparations for departure. On recovering, he visit- ed his friends and family at Cork. In the mean time he exerted himself successfully in securing ecclesiastical students for the diocese of Charleston, some of whom sailed before him and others followed. In October, 1835, between sixty and seventy of the clergy of Cork and Cloyne united in extending to Dr. Clancy an invi- tation to attend a complimentary and farewell banquet. He returned to Carlow College to pay his friends there a last visit, when the students gave him a most affec- tionate welcome and presented an address. On both of these occasions he delivered responses characterized by fervid eloquence and generous friendship and gratitude. He shortly afterwards sailed for New York, where he arrived November 2 ; and after a short visit to Philadel- phia, sailed from New York and arrived at Charleston on Sunday morning, November 21, 1835. He was re- ceived by Bishop England and the assembled clergy of
46
Lives of the Catholic Bishops.
the Diocese at the Seminary, with a most hearty wel- come. Shortly afterwards the clergy and lay delegates of the Diocese of Charleston presented an address to Bishop Clancy, which was responded to by him in his usual happy and eloquent style. For two years he per- formed the functions of Coadjutor Bishop, and assisted Bishop England in his arduous duties, spread over an immense diocese, as they were, and extended to a wide- ly scattered flock. He also sat among the Fathers of the Provincial Council of Baltimore, which assembled in that city in May, 1837. In the summer of 1837 he was translated to the See of Demarara, in British Guiana, and although the climate to which he was thus sent was almost certain death to any European, he seems to have cheerfully obeyed the voice of the Sovereign Pontiff, and lost no time in preparing to join his new flock.
A circumstance occurred about the time of his transla- tion, which is well worthy of recording. Bishop Clancy had his attention called, by a lady of South Carolina, to one of the works of Washington Irving containing the narrative of a supposed historical occurrence, which was calculated to draw reproach and disgrace upon the Catholic Church. The culpably careless, sometimes ma- licious manner, in which Protestant writers, not content- ed with expressing their individual opinions, profess to give historical facts and quote historical monuments and documents falsely or erroneously to the prejudice of the Church, has always been a grievance with Catholics. English literature teems with such instances, and the works of Sir Walter Scott have well been said to have proved powerful auxiliaries for creating and cherishing prejudice against the Church. In the case to which al- lusion is now made, the fact that so just a man and
Right Rev. William Clancy, D.D. 47
unprejudiced a Protestant as Washington Irving should have fallen into so gross an error, should warn Protes- tant writers against the too common habit of their class, in launching against Catholics every weapon with which ignorance, bigotry, or malice may supply them, without considering whether such weapons are to be tolerated in honorable warfare ; and should warn the public, since the very hideousness and absurdity of such attacks are not sufficient, against believing stories too obviously un- true for the credulity even of a child. It is due, how- ever, to the memory of Mr. Irving, to state that when his attention was called to the matter he promptly aided the investigation into the truth, and promised to correct in future editions the misrepresentation complained of, and avowed his entire freedom from all prejudice against the Catholic Church. The correspondence between Bishop Clancy and Mr. Irving is very interesting, and is transcribed herein both as a curious literary incident, and as an example to encourage Catholics to defend themselves and their Church against similar attacks, so common in our literature.
The Right Rev. Dr. Clancy to Washington Irving,
Esq.
" Dear Sir — Number 2 of the Crayon Miscellany, containing 'Abbotsford ' and ' Newstead Abbey/ printed in 1835 by Carey and Lea, of Philadelphia, was put into my hands by a respectable and pure-minded Carolinian lady, who blushingly told me that even Washington
No. 1.
Charleston, December 28, 1836.
48
Lives of the Catholic Bishops.
Irving recorded a disgraceful historical fact against Catholicity, regarding an indulgence said to be granted to the Augustinian friars in the reign of one of the English kings.
" Though a Presbyterian by birth, she said she could never believe that a number of the Christian priesthood of any country or age were so notoriously depraved as this portion of your book represents them to have been. She asked me whether as a Catholic Bishop I knew of its ' truth from ecclesiastical history, or whether I be- lieved the circumstance as stated. After reading pages 98 and 181 of 'Newstead Abbey/ which run thus:— ' This order (Augustinian) was originally simple and ab- stemious in its mode of living, and exemplary in its con- duct; but it would seem that it gradually lapsed into those abuses which disgraced too many of the wealthy monastic establishments, for there are documents amongst its archives, which intimate the prevalence of gross misrule and dissolute sensuality among its mem- bers. One of the parchment scrolls (found in the eagle of molten brass) throws rather an awkward light upon the kind of life led by the friars of Newstead. It is an indulgence granted to them for a certain number of months, in which plenary pardon is assured in advance for all kinds of crime, among which several of the most gross and sensual are specifically mentioned/ I did not hesitate to assure her on the faith of a Christian Bishop, that the statement appeared to me not only false but im- possible, and wholly irreconcilable with the principles or practice of Roman Catholic theology, which I had taught in one of the first colleges in Europe, and which I learned in my youth under some of the most eminent French and Irish professors.
Right Rev. William Clancy, D.D. 49
" The reading of your ' Sketch Book 9 impressed my mind favorably towards you, not only as a polished scholar, but as a fair writer, as far as a fair exercise of the imaginative faculties, which poets, novelists arid painters so freely, and sometimes so usefully adopt, is compatible with historical details. But on this occasion you have left the region of amusing fiction, and called your book an historical notice ; consequently, I have a right to ask, as a man of honor, whether you have seen the documents, and satisfied yourself as to their authen- ticity, integrity, and veracity, according to the laws of sound criticism and the rules of written testimony. If this abominable story issued from the press of the cleri- cal pandemonium of New York, which disgraces the dignity of a few individual American ministers, whose death-warrant has been already signed and sealed by Col. Stone and other enlightened Protestant citizens, I would not dwell upon the loathsome fable for a moment ; but the mental gems of ' Geoffrey Crayon/
find homes and hearts ready to enshrine them in the schools of youthful innocence, and on the shelves of philosophers and Christians of all denominations and countries. It is, therefore, not only as a guardian of public morals, but as a fearless friend to historical truth, that I raise my voice and am so sensibly slow in the belief of this infamous extract. May I hope for your fame that it was an unintentional error of fact, or a hasty view of some forged parchment, like the famed letter of Pope Gregory XVI. by that foolish fanatic McGhee, was palmed upon an aristocratic audience at Exeter Hall, and believed for a few days in London and elsewhere. You
'Like orient pearls at random strung,'
4
50
Lives of the Catholic Bishops.
know, from history, how easy the execution of such a record could have been at former periods of British history. May I then, respectfully, but firmly, as a Brit- ish subject, and a Roman Catholic Bishop, ask an expla- nation for what I conceive to be a libel on the faith and morality of millions, and a slander upon one of the an- cient religious institutions of a portion of my country ? " Yours faithfully in Christ,
" Hh William Clancy, Bishop, &c
" Washington Irving, Esq."
No. 2. Mr. Irving s Answer.
"Greenburg, April 29, 1837. " Dear Sir — I must apologize to you for not having replied to your letter at an earlier date ; but it was re- ceived in a hurried moment, during a hasty visit to town, and mislaid among my papers, so that it has but just been found. I feel sincere and deep regret that any- thing in my writings should have given you the concern you express, and I am made conscious by it, that in the matter in question I have written without sufficient circum- spection. As to the passages cited by you from ' New- stead Abbey/ they were taken from a memorandum noted down after inspecting the document to which they relate. That document was found in the way I have stated, among the deeds and grants of the Abbey, and was con- sidered genuine. I did not examine it particularly ; the part to which I have alluded was pointed out to me by Colonel Wildman. As it is very possible there might have been some error or misapprehension in this matter, I will write to Colonel Wildman on the subject, and if I find I labor under a mistake, will make a point of ac- knowledging and correcting it in a future edition
Digitized by
Right Rev. William Clancy, D.D. 51
" I can only add that I have not been influenced in this matter by any feeling of hostility to the Roman Catholic Church, being perfectly free from anything of the kind, and regarding with sincere indignation and dis- gust the assaults made upon that church by various bigots of the Protestant sects in this country. I have the honoi to remain, very respectfully, your much obliged servant,
Washington Irving.
"Right Ret. Wit Clancy,
" Bishop of Oricnsc, Coadjutor of Charleston Diocese."
No. 3.
Bishop Clancy to Washington Irving, Esq.
"Charleston, May 26, 1837. " Dear Sir — On my return from the Provincial Coun- cil of Baltimore, I found your letter, dated Greenburg, April 29, 1837, on my table. I regret that circumstances prevented you from answering my inquiries at an earlier period, as it would be grateful to the assembled hierar- chy and clergy of the United States, even by a private communication, to learn that so enlightened and influen- tial a writer 'regards with sincerest indignation and dis- gust the assaults made upon the Catholic Church by various bigots of the Protestant sects in this country.' The object of my letter is partially obtained by your candid and honorable declaration that you ' did not exam- ine the document particularly/ and the promise of a cor- rection in another edition if you have misstated the meaning of the original. You will, in all probability, get no additional evidence from Colonel Wildman, if he be the same individual who directed your attention to it As it is, I presume, a Latin parchment scroll, in the peculiar style and lettering of the supposed age of Leo
Digitized by
52
Lives of the Catholic Bishops.
X. (clarum et venerabile nomeri), I shall1 write to Dr. Lingard, the celebrated English historian, and also to Counsellor D'Alton, of Dublin, not less celebrated as an antiquarian, and ask either or both of these gentle- men to investigate its authenticity and its exact meaning. So anxious am I to satisfy myself fully on the matter, that I should not hesitate, if my professional avocations should ever call me to Europe, to visit that part of Eng- land specifically for the purpose of ocular inspection. It would be a strange contradiction, if the same Pope who so sternly and justly refused a dispensation to the Eighth Henry, who has been strongly but truly called a royal monster, would grant an indulgence in advance, for all kinds of crime, to a religious order who were bound by vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience. As this word indulgence is strangely misunderstood by Protestants, you will not refuse to learn what the Catholic Church understands by it. It is merely a remission or mitigation of those temporal punishments which the sinner still owes to the Eternal Justice, even after the forgiveness of the guilt of his offences ; just like the act of St. Paul to the incestuous Corinthian, whom he excommunicated (i Cor. v.) ; and in the second chapter of his second epistle, having been informed of the sorrow and repentance of the criminal, he tells the Corinthians, ' to whom ye for- give anything, I forgive also ; for if I forgave anything, to whom I forgave it for your sakes forgave I it, in the person of Christ.' In like manner, in the early ages, the Bishops granted, at the request of the martyrs, a remission of the canonical penance to those individuals whose repentance was marked by peculiar fervor ; this relaxation was exactly our indulgence ; so that it was not an encouragement or permission to sin ; on the con-
Right Rev. William Clancy, D.D. .53
trary, it implies and presupposes a sincere conversion from sin ; a real detestation of iniquity, and a fixed de- termination to avoid it for the time to come. Again, the only doctrine which the Council of Trent proposes as an article of faith regarding them i% ' That Jesus Christ has imparted to his Church the power of granting in- dulgences, and that the use of them is beneficial.' I am very far from denying that indulgences have been abused by individuals — so has every spiritual and material gift of God to man.
" You will find a similarly true explanation in any of our standard works on this or any other of the misun- derstood or misrepresented tenets of Catholicity. (See Bossuet, Doyle, Milner, O'Leary, etc., etc.) After this short sermon on the occasion of the supposed reforma- tion, permit me to ask of you an indulgence in the pro- per sense of the term, namely, to publish your letter. It may tend to give the public mind a proper direction and feeling, not merely on this particular subject, but on the general interests of fair and full religious investiga- tions. It may, perhaps, excite a love for charity and truth, which are and ever will be the great foundations of practical Christianity.
" Yours faithfully in Christ,
" 4« William Clancy.
" Washington Irving, Esq."
No. 4. The same to the same.
"New York, July 20, 1837. " Dear Sir — I have been unexpectedly translated to Demarara, and am on my way through England to my new destination. I should feel obliged by a letter of in-
Digitized by
54 Lives of the Catholic Bishops.
troduction to Colonel Wildman, as I consider a persona* inspection of the documents at Newstead Abbey a mat- ter of curiosity and importance.
" Yours faithfully in Christ,
« + William Clancy.
" Washington Irving, Esq.*
No. 5.
Washington Irving, Esq., to Bishop Clancy.
" Greenburg, August 2, 1837. " Dear Sir — Enclosed I send you the required letter of introduction to Colonel Wildman, which you would have received sooner had I not been from home. I can only repeat my sincere disposition to correct any erro- neous statement I may have made through misappre- hension of the purport of the Newstead documents, and my deep regret at having by any ill-judged exercise of my pen caused you so much chagrin. Very respect- fully, dear sir, your most obedient servant,
"Washington Irving.
44 The Right Rev. Wm. Clancy,
" Bishop of Demar&ra."
No. 6.
Washington Irving, Esq., to Colonel Wildman. "Greenburg, Banks of the Hudson, ) "August 2, 1837. J "My Dear Sir — At the request of the Right Rev* Wm. Clancy, Catholic Bishop of Demarara, I give him this letter of introduction to procure for him the inspec- tion of the ancient documents of the Abbey, found in the brazen eagle at Newstead; particularly an indul- gence, the tenor of which he affirms I must have greatly misstated, provided it be a genuine document. If I have,
Digitized by
Right Rev. William Clancy, D.D. 55
by any misapprehension of the document in question, been led into error, I shall be most happy to have the error corrected; and I am sure you will take a pleasure in submitting the ancient archives of the Abbey to the inspection of the Bishop. With kindest remembrances to Mrs. Wildman, I remain ever, my dear sir, yours most faithfully,
* "Washington Irving.
"Colonel Thomas Wildman."
" I went from Nottingham on Wednesday, the 24th of October, accompanied by the Rev. William Wilson, the Catholic pastor of the district, to Newstead Abbey, after sending the letter of Washington Irving to Colonel Wildman. This truly respectable English gentleman promptly showed the original, and afforded every facility for deciphering it As we were not able to take a per- fect copy on that day, the Colonel most hospitably in- vited me and my rev. companion to spend the following Friday at the Abbey. In the meantime I procured a work called Court Hand Restored, in order to take a full and fair copy. The following is the result of my re- searches : The most inexperienced person will perceive that so far from its being an indulgence to friars from a Pope, Bishop, or any ecclesiastical authority, that it is a pardon for civil offences, which an English King thought proper to impart to real or imaginary offenders against the forest laws in Sherwood, County of Nottingham. As I am about to sail in a few days for the distant and unhealthy shores of British Guiana, I deemed it expe- dient, in order to set the matter at rest, to consign th
No. 7. Note by Bishop Clancy.
56
Lives of the Catholic Bishops.
publication of these papers to the Rev. W. Wilson, to be transmitted by him to the editors of the Catholic Magazine, and orthodox journals in London. After their publication, I wish to have a copy of them trans- mitted to Washington Irving, Esq., in order that he may fulfil his promise of 'correcting in a future edition/ an error which, if true, would exhibit Catholicity in the most vicious, degraded, and daftinable aspect, in which her worst enemies in England and the United States ever depicted the 'milk white hind' of eighteen centuries." " 4* William Clancy, Bishop of Orierse,
"Vicar Apostolic of British Guiana."
We are not able to ascertain whether the foregoing note of Bishop Clancy, giving the result of his inspec- tion of the documents at Newstead Abbey, ever reached the eye of Washington Irving : the foregoing corre- spondence, accompanied by the Bishop's note, was pub- lished at length in the London Catholic Magazine and in the New York Freeman s Journal, in 1842. It is to be presumed that he never saw them, and yet it would seem strange, after the expression he gave to the just sentiments he addressed to Bishop Clancy, that he would have permitted another edition of Newstead Abbey to be issued without fully investigating the subject, to which his attention had thus been so earnestly called. However this may be, it is strangely true that, after the publication of Dr. Clancy's researches at the Abbey, and the result of them, editions of Newstead Abbey, revised by the author, were published, with the obnoxious pas- sages retained, and they are still retained in every edition of Irving s Works to the present time. Hence the ne- cessity for reproducing the refutation of them.
Right Rev. William Clancy \ D.D.
57
Bishop Clancy discharged the duties of Vicar Apos- tolic in British Guiana for about ten years. Among the conversions to the faith effected in that country through his instrumentality, was that of Mr. Justice Firebrace, a Judge of the Colony, at Georgetown, in Demarara. The Judge's brother soon followed his example. He returned, however, to his native country in 1847, in bad health, and with a constitution completely shattered by his labors and the poisoning influences of that unhealthy climate. He died in Ireland in the summer of 1847, greatly lamented by numerous friends both among the clergy and laity.
MOST REV. ANTHONY BLANC, D.D.,
Fifth Bishop and First Archbishop of New Orleans, A.D. 1835.*
Archbishop Blanc was born at Sury, a town neai Lyons, in France, October 11, 1792. The condition of religion in his native country, during his tender years, was not favorable to the moral training of youth ; but in the bosom of a pious family he imbibed early lessons in religion and acquired a good education. After the resto- ration of the Church in France, he was among the first to embrace the ecclesiastical state, and received ordina- tion in the holy priesthood about the year 18 16. He was ordained by dispensation one or two years before the canonical age,, which saved him from military con- scription. The banner of the cross was his standard, and under it he enlisted for life. He came to the United States shortly after his ordination, and was one of that noble band of young missionaries who volunteered un- der Bishop Dubourg, of New Orleans, and left his native country in company with that distinguished Prelate for the arduous mission of the Southwestern States, then attached to the diocese of New Orleans.
He embarked from Bordeaux July 1, 181 7, and landed at Annapolis, Maryland, in September, having made the voyage in a sailing-vessel. While Bishop Dubourg pro- ceeded to Baltimore with a portion of his colony, Father Blanc remained at Annapolis at the head of the others,
• Authorities: New Orleans Delta, June 23, i860; Life of Bishop Fidget, by Most Rev. Dr. Spalding ; Life of Bishop Timon, by Deuther ; Life of Father De Andreis ; Catholic Almanac, 1861 ; Catholic1 Magazines, and Metropolitans; Freeman's Journal^ and other periodical publications ; etc., etc.
Most Rev. Anthony Blanc, D.D.
59
who consisted chiefly of young candidates for the min- istry. They were received with characteristic hospitality and entertained at the mansion of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, where they remained until the end of Octo- ber. Then Father Blanc joined the Bishop at Baltimore, and the whole company started on their westward jour- ney in two divisions, the Bishop and Father Blanc being with the last division. For two days they traveled in a stage, but this was so frequently upset on the way, and proved so dangerous, that Father Blanc made the rest of the journey to Pittsburgh on foot with the Bishop, which took them five days more. From Pittsburgh to Louisville they traveled on a flat-boat, arrived at Louis- ville November 30, and at St Thomas', Bardstown, on the 2d of December.
From this time he spent nearly fifteen years of arduous missionary life in the wide field then presented to his zeal, commencing with the mission at Vincennes, to which he was appointed April 25, 1818, together with Father Jeanjean, the former to take charge of the mis- sion, the latter to found a college. A misunderstanding with a faction of the people defeated the plans of Father Jeanjean, who was soon recalled, and Father Blanc was left alone in that vast and scattered mission for several months. He was then joined by Father Ferrari, a Laza- risL During his stay at Vincennes, Father Blanc suc- ceeded in building two log chapels, rude but pioneer shrines of the West; one in Davis County, seven miles from Liverpool, now Washington ; and the other on the Illinois side of the Wabash, twelve miles from Vincennes, in a French settlement His zealous and active attention to the mission in that region relieved the mind of Bishop Flaget very much, to whose diocese his services were
6o
Lives of the Catholic Bishops.
generously given for the time by Bishop Dubourg, and enabled the former to give his care to other suffering portions of his flock. In February, 1820, Father Blanc was recalled, and stationed at New Orleans. Subse- quently to this he was stationed successively at Natchez, Point Coup€, and Baton Rouge, in all of which places he labored with devotion and zeal for the good of souls.
Bishop De Neckere called him to New Orleans, and appointed him Associate Vicar-General with the aged Father Richard in December, 1831. That saintly Prelate was desirous of resigning the Episcopal office, and with- out consulting Father Blanc, procured from Rome his appointment as Coadjutor of New Orleans, and had, in fact, applied for his appointment as his successor. Father Blanc received the Bulls appointing him coadjutor in . 1832, but he was only willing to accept the appointment on condition that Bishop De Neckere would abandon his intention of resigning ;* but as the latter would not consent to do this, he returned the Bulls to Rome. On the death of Bishop De Neckere, in 1833, and the re- fusal of Father Jeanjean to accept the succession, Father Blanc was appointed Administrator of the diocese of New Orleans, and in October, 1835, ^e received the Bulls from Rome appointing him Bishop of New Or- leans. On his acceptance the clergy and people of the diocese openly expressed their joy at receiving "a Bishop of such estimable virtues."
Bishop Blanc was consecrated at the Cathedral of New Orleans, on Sunday, November 22, 1835, by Bishop Rosati, assisted by Bishops Purcell and Portier, the latter of whom preached the consecration sermon both in Eng- lish and French. The consecration was described as "one of the most august ceremonies ever witnessed in
Most Rev. Anthony Blanc, D.D. 61
the Cathedral of New Orleans," accustomed as it was to be the scene of the most solemn pageants of the Church.
The diocese of New Orleans presented a laborious field to the new Bishop. The Catholic population, com- posed probably to the extent of one-half of French Cre- oles, and the remainder of Catholics from other States and from foreign countries, was numerous, and needed the active exertions of Bishop and priests. The Epis- copal visitations formed a prominent feature in the ad- ministration of Bishop Blanc. The numbers of persons who received confirmation at his hands were very great, embracing many converts. Spiritual retreats were fre- quently given to the people at New Orleans and other places, and some idea may be formed of the increase of faith and devotion amongst them, from the fact that in 1820 there were scarcely twenty pascal communions in the city of New Orleans, and by the exertions of Bishops Dubourg and Blanc, and their zealous clergy, the num- ber was increased in 1838 to ten thousand in that city. The diocese of New Orleans embraced the States of Louisiana and Mississippi. In 1838 Texas was added to the jurisdiction of Bishop Blanc, and his promptness in taking measures to remedy the evils under which the Church was laboring there deserves all praise. He se- cured the services of the Lazarists at the Barrens, in Missouri, despatched thither Fathers Timon and Odin, and subsequently promoted the erection of that country into a Vicariate Apostolic, and still later into an Episco- pal See, with Dr. Odin as its ecclesiastical ruler. It was also under his administration that Mississippi was erected into a separate diocese from Louisiana, with its Episcopal See at Natchez.
62
Lives of the Catholic Bishops.
To provide his large diocese with faithful clergymen was one of Bishop Blanc's earliest and most earnest efforts. His clergy were greatly recruited from abroad for some time, and the zealous priests, whom he cordial- ly received from foreign countries, were especially com- mended by him to the respect and support of his peo- ple ; because, as he so jusdy remarked in one of his pastorals, the Church knows neither clime nor national- ity, and recognizes no party in her ministry, and that the term foreign could not be applied to Catholic clergymen coming from abroad to Louisiana to labor for the salva tion of souls. At the same time he recognized the im portance of rearing up, from among the youths of the South, a body of native clergy, to co-operate in the great work of extending the Church and her institutions. Thus, in 1838, the Diocesan Seminary was established under his auspices in the parish of Assumption, and confided to the Lazarist Fathers, whom he extensively 1 Introduced into his diocese, and who, on their part, achieved important results for the cause of religion. After the destruction of the Seminary, February 28, 1855, another was erected by the Lazarists at Jefferson City, and, in 1858, the present Ecclesiastical Seminary was erected in the city of New Orleans. In 1842, he welcomed at New Orleans nineteen Lazarists, a colony composed of priests, students, and brothers, brought over from Europe by Father Timon for the missions of the Southwest. The Bishop distributed them amongst the different houses of the city, to enable them to study English, and prepare for the missions.
The Society of Jesus was another powerful and inval- uable means of encouraging the cause of education and religion, which Bishop Blanc promoted in his diocese
Most Rev. Anthony Blanc, D.D.
63
At the time of his death, the Jesuit Fathers had charge of the College of St. Charles at Grand Coteau, of the College of the Immaculate Conception in the city of New Orleans, and of several parishes in the diocese.
It was also during Bishop Blanc's administration that the invaluable services of the Redemptorists were pro- cured. Not only in the District of Lafayette, which was specially confided to them, but also in New Orleans, where their principal convent was established before the Prelate's death, have they worked with apostolic zeal and accomplished most gratifying results in the work of salvation.
Gratifying and encouraging as was the progress of the faith in his diocese, Bishop Blanc's administration was not free from those evils which, in his own as well as in other dioceses, flowed inevitably from the vicious system of lay trusteeships as a mode for the tenure of church property. His manner of dealing with this hy- dra-headed monster of that day in the American church did equal honor to his well-known mildness, to the charity of his character, and to his firmness and vigor in vindicating the laws of the Church and the prerogatives of his own office. On the death of the Rev. Aloysius Moni, rector of the Cathedral or Church of St Louis at New Orleans, Bishop Blanc appointed the worthy Father Etienne Rousselon to succeed him as rector of that church. The lay trustees refused to allow the duly appointed pastor to officiate in the temple consecrated to the service of God, and at a meeting of their body passed resolutions declaring the appointment by the Bishop null and void, forbidding the priests attached to the Cathedral to obey Father Rousselon's directions under pain of forfeiture of salary and dismissal, and for-
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feiting the salary and place of any of said priests who should decline to perform any function under the usurped authority of the lay trustees. It seems incredi- ble that persons claiming to be Catholics could have entered into such proceedings, or used such language, repugnant as they are to the very idea of a church of God, and to the name of Catholic. Bishop Blanc mild- ly addressed them on the subject, and they published an insulting reply. His charity still restrained him from proceeding to extremities, without first consulting his clergy. He accordingly summoned together the several pastors of the city, and in accordance with their unani- mous advice he issued a pastoral address, in which he ably vindicated his right to nominate to the vacant office, proved that he, and not the Trustees, was re- sponsible to God for the spiritual welfare of the flock, over which the Holy Ghost had appointed him Bishop, and finally, that he acted in accordance with the express declarations of the Council of Trent. He then pro- ceeded to forbid any clergyman, but the one appointed by him, to officiate in the Cathedral, and warned the laity against the evil of schism, to which the conduct of the Trustees, if persevered in, would inevitably lead. All his mild measures having failed, he resorted to sterner means, and interdicted the church. An election of Trustees was held, at which the well-disposed mem- bers of the congregation determined to contest the mat- ter with the refractory Trustees. But as the constitu- tion of the church allowed, or was construed to allow, all who chose to attend the church the right to vote, without regard to their religious views, it was easy for the malcontents to muster their one thousand and fifty votes, given by persons of every form of religious be-
Most Rev. Anthony Blanc, D.D. 65
Kef and unbelief, while the true Catholic vote of the congregation was cast against the Trustees by five hun- dred and fifty legitimate voters. A controversy of over a year's duration ensued. On one occasion, as the priest appointed by the Bishop was about to ascend the sacred desk, he was stopped by two young men of the congregation and prevented from preaching. Litigation in the courts, between the Trustees and the Bishop, and appeals to the Legislature, ensued, all of which were decided ultimately in favor of Bishop Blanc. Through- out this controversy, which now forms a part of the history of the Church, and is here recorded not in the spirit of uncharitableness, but rather as the instructive lesson of the past, the Bishop did not claim to destroy the legal and vested title of the Trustees to hold the temporalities under their charter : his object was to limit them to that title and restrain them from encroachments on the spirit- ual and ecclesiastical authority. His conduct through those trying times was ever marked by the mildness so characteristic of his nature, which, blended as it was with firmness, assisted gready in promoting an amicable result The controversy was happily adjusted by Bishop Blanc, with the co-operation and counsel of Bishop Portier, of Mobile, in the latter part of the year 1844, and the Abb£ Maenhaut was appointed by the Bishop rector of St. Louis, an event which, to the credit of the Trustees and the congregation, has been followed by peace and harmony to the present day.
In a few years after his consecration Bishop Blanc had doubled the number of the churches of New Orleans, and it was he that built the chapel of St. Mary, adjoin- ing the episcopal residence, and to supply the place of old St. Mary's of the Ursulines, the corner-stone of
5
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which he laid February 16, 1845. I* has continued ever since to be the private chapel of the Bishop, while affording parochial accommodations at the same time to a Catholic congregation in the neighborhood.
The Seventh Council of Baltimore, which assembled May 6, 1849, recommended the increase of metropolitan sees in the United States, and accordingly, by apostolic briefs, dated July 19, 1850, New Orleans was erected into an Archdiocese, with the dioceses of Mobile, Nat- chez, Little Rock, and Galveston as suffragans, and Bishop Blanc was raised to the dignity of Archbishop. His wisdom, learning, and all-prevailing mildness, blended with great force of character, had made him an influential and useful member of the Catholic Hier- archy in the United States. He attended the First Pro- vincial Council of Baltimore, in 1829, as theologian to Bishop Fenwick, of Boston. He also attended as a Prelate the Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Provincial Councils of Baltimore, and the First Plenary Council in 1852. He also summoned together, and presided over, as metropolitan, the First Provincial Council of New Orleans, held in the Cathedral, and commencing January 20, 1856; an event most auspi- cious for the church in the Southwest The Council was attended by the Archbishop, four suffragan Bishops, with their theologians, and five superiors of religious congregations. The pastoral letter of the Archbishop and his suffragans, addressed to the Catholics of the dioceses of that province, was spoken of by cotempo- rory publications as " replete with paternal admonitions and salutary counsels to Catholics, especially at this period of our country's history." In 1855, Archbishop Blanc, on the invitation of our Holy Father Pius IX.,
Most Rev. Anthony Blanc, D.D. 67
repaired to Rome to attend that august assembly of Cardinals, Archbishops, and Bishops, who, on the ever- memorable 8th of December, received from the lips of the Vicar of Christ and Infallible Teacher of the Church, the solemn definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Devoted client of the Immaculate Mother as he was, Archbishop Blanc fervently rejoiced in this glorious and auspicious event, in which he was a zealous actor ; and no one of the venerable Prelates assembled in the basilica of St Peter on that happy occasion more cordially sympa- thized with the event than Archbishop Blanc, or more truly realized in his heart the beauty and truth of those exquisite lines of the late Rev. Dr. Faber : —
M O purest of creatures ! sweet mother ! sweet maid I The one spotless womb wherein Jesus was laid ! Dark night hath come down on us, Mother ! and we Look out for thy shining, sweet Star of the Sea 1
" Deep night hath come down on this rough-spoken world, And the banners of darkness are boldly unfurled ; And the tempest-tost church — all her eyes are on thee, They look to thy shining, sweet Star of the Sea 1
44 The Church doth what God hath first taught her to do ; He looked o'er the world to find hearts that were true ; Through the ages He looked, and He found none but thee, And He loved thy clear shining, sweet Star of the Sea 1 "
His elevation to the Archiepiscopal dignity, while it in- creased the influence for good which Archbishop Blanc had always exerted in the Church, also added to his labors and solicitudes. Yet he continued as before to give minute and detailed interest and attention to every part of his varied and increasing duties. He had the
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consolation of consecrating Bishop Quinlan, of Mobile, in the Cathedral of New Orleans, on Sunday, December 4, 1859. The ceremony was a most imposing one, and was attended by the following Prelates besides Arch- bishop Blanc: — Archbishop Purcell, Bishops Elder, Wood, Odin, Juncker, and Lynch. Archbishops Blanc and Purcell, and Bishop Wood, accompanied the newly consecrated Bishop to his see and assisted at his solemn installation on the following Sunday.
His visitations never lost in their extent or their good results. It was during one of these missions for the Church, or for her suffering children, during a season afflicted with yellow-fever, that he incautiously met with a serious accident, which proved painful during life, and was perhaps to some extent connected with his death. On landing from a steamer on the dock at New Orleans, his foot descended into a hole in the dock, by which he was thrown, and both bones of the leg above the ankle were broken. His labors for his flock continued as energetic as ever ; neither the infirmities of health, nor the feebleness of advancing years, checked the energy and zeal of his efforts. New churches and institutions sprang up in various parts of his diocese, and he was deeply interested in every step thus taken in providing the means of education and salvation for his people. Thus he was frequently engaged in laying the corner- stones of new churches or institutions, and in dedicating and inaugurating them, and in bringing back into the Church large numbers of careless Catholics, and many converts. Mention has already been made of the intro- duction and success of the three great religious orders, Lazarists, Redemptorists, and Jesuits. Besides these may be mentioned the Christian Brothers, with their
Most Rev. Anthony Blanc, D.D.
69
numerous schools; the Sisters of Charity, with their numerous asylums and other noble works ; the Sisters of Notre Dame, having charge of the female schools of St Alphonsus' Church ; the Sisters of the Good Shep- herd ; the Congregation of our Lady of Mount Carmel ; the Congregation of the Holy Cross. That the number of Catholic churches was increased from twenty-six to seventy-three in the diocese during his administration, not including the increase in Texas and Mississippi, before their separation ; the number of the clergy from twenty-seven to ninety-two ; the number of colleges established were two, besides the Ecclesiastical Semi- nary; eight academies for young ladies; nine free schools ; thirteen orphan asylums, and three convents, are facts which will attest his zeal and labors. The follow- ing article, published in the New Orleans Picayune, shortly before his death in i860, gives an account of the progress of Catholicity during his administration : —
"In our notices of religious movements in this city, we should overlook an important feature did we neglect to allude, to the active agencies used by the Catholic Church. It is now that it does not, as in the early his- tory of New Orleans (before the influx of the non- Catholic elements), exert a predominating influence throughout the entire city. But the contact with Pro- testant churches has aroused the Catholic Church to vigilance and activity. It is not now content with keep- ing open the Cathedral and a few chapels for worship ; but in the suburbs, and wherever the field is contested, it piles up large masses of brick and mortar, dedicates the edifices reared without parade or appeals to public contributions, to the service of God, and lights the fire upon the altar which is never permitted to go out. It
Lives of the Catholic Bishops.
manages to increase its number of orphan asylums and houses of industry as the wants of the helpless demand succor. It multiplies its schools as the public schools grow in public favor. It institutes popular lectures to teach the Catholic faith to those who through curiosity may be induced to visit the lecture-room, but would not be found in the Church. Its female missionaries — the Sisters of Charity — are made nurses in our public hospi- tals, and have even a private hospital of their own. To counteract the teaching of Protestant tracts, it now is- sues in a cheap and attractive form tracts on the history, growth, progress, and claims of the Catholic Church, which are distributed without cost to all who will read.
" In family ministrations, by visiting the family fireside, counseling youth in the highways, and instilling the principles of its faith into the minds of the young stu- dents in its schools, its priests* equal the most active of their Protestant neighbors.
" Many of the most striking buildings of our city are institutions, charitable or religious, of the Catholic Church. In Jefferson City it has founded a theological school, which promises to become one of considerable importance. At present the institution is a large four- story edifice, but a whole square is in the future to be occupied by the buildings appertaining to the accommo- dation of the young acolytes.
" It cannot be denied that in many cases the families of the Catholic population, especially the females, are more constant and devout in their attendance upon re- ligious services than those who profess Protestantism- Mass is performed every morning, and the houses of worship are always well thronged. A constant success sion of worshippers, from early dawn to ten o'clock, ire
Most Ret. Anthony Blanc, D.D. 71
to be seen entering or leaving the Catholic churches. In this they set an example woithy of imitation.
"Abstracting the mind from the secular concerns, and . looking at the religious movements of this city, it seems to be a great battle-field between Catholicity and Protest- antism. There is action everywhere. All the agencies for operating upon the human mind, invented in this ac- tive age, are employed by both of the opposing forces. Perhaps in system and persistence of effort the Catholics have the advantage. Each is aided by immigration; the one by immigrants from the Old World, the other by additions to our population of native-born American citizens.
"It is doubtful whether the Catholic clergy in any city, by their mode of action, or by their personal in- fluence, are less subject to the criticism of their oppo- nents than in this ; and nowhere are their energy and devotion more calculated to infuse vitality, zeal, and lib- erality in the hearts of their opponents."
Archbishop Blanc after a life of many years of useful- ness, labor, charity, and benediction to his flock, died suddenly at his residence in New Orleans, on Wednes- day, June 20, i860, aged about sixty-eight years. For some years past his health had not been as good as usual, but there was nothing to cause alarm or even un- easiness, and he continued as before to discharge with activity the arduous duties of his office. On the Sunday before his death he confirmed one hundred and twelve persons at Thibodeauxville, and returned to New Or- leans on Monday in his usual good health, except that he complained of weakness in the leg that had been broken about two years before. He had an appointment to administer confirmation at the Chapel of St. Ma-y.
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adjoining his residence, on the following Thursday, the day which followed that of his death. On Wednesday he arose as usual, said Mass, breakfasted with his priests, and addressed himself to his work for the day. A half-hour before his death a clergyman, who was in his room on business, left him in his usual health and spirits. Fifteen minutes later he accompanied some friends, who called on him, from his room to the head of the stairs. Returning to his room, he was engaged in opening his letters, which had just been brought from the post-office, when suddenly feeling himself struck with regurgitation of blood to the heart, he called aloud, rang his bell, and threw himself on the bed. A servant, who immediately answered the bell, found him lying on the bed, and evidently in a dying condition. Father Rousselon, his long and faithful friend and Vicar-Gen- eral, was called, and found him speechless and probably unconscious; he had barely time to administer to his dying friend and Archbishop extreme unction and the last absolution, when he expired; it was about one o'clock in the day. He was solemnly interred on the 24th. Thus passed to his long and just reward the good and eminent Archbishop Blanc, " whose venerated memory is embalmed in the hearts of both priests and people/'
MOST REV. JOHN HUGHES, D.D,
•f
Fourth Bishop and First Archbishop of New York, A.D. 1837.*
Archbishop Hughes occupied a pre-eminent position in the Hierarchy of the Catholic Church in the United States. His life is a study worthy of the most careful consideration of Prelate, priest, and layman. His strug- gles in early life to overcome the impediments which fortune threw in his way, and to attain admission into the holy ministry, and the success with which, ap- parently by his own efforts and perseverance, he emerged from the life of manual labor to the field of the highest and most brilliant intellectual and moral usefulness and triumphs, present an example worthy of emulation. His varied and gigantic services to religion, and his bold, able, and successful championship of the faith in the United States, at a time when such ser- vices were most needed, seem to mark him out as a man raised by Providence for great purposes, as the man for the times and country in which his lot was cast, and as one whose influence is destined long to survive him.
John Hughes was born at Annaloghan, in the County Tyrone, Ireland, June 24, 1797. His parents were Patrick Hughes and Margaret McKenna, who were plain but comfortably well off, and respected for their virtues. Their sons aided the father in cultivating the farm of which he was tenant, and the daughters assisted the mother in her household duties. The father was better educated than most men of his class, and was a
* Hassard's Life of Archbishop Hughes ; Works of Archbishop Hughes ; Catholu Magasim: ; Biographical Notices; Eulogies, Sermons, etc., etc.
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peaceable and prudent citizen amidst the factious and often lawless proceedings and excitements of his day. The mother was remarkable for a refinement of character be- yond her opportunities and position. They were both truly pious and conscientious parents, whose chief study was to bring up their children in the fear of God, in truth- fulness, in virtue, and in devotion to the faith and Church of their forefathers. John discovered from his earliest years a leaning towards the sanctuary, which greatly pleased his good parents. He went first to a day-school at Augher, with his elder brothers, and afterwards to a grammar-school at Auchnacloy. He was always a good student, a favorite with his teachers, and popular with his companions. His well-balanced character was even then manifested ; for he was at the same time a leader in the class-room and a joyous and merry companion in recreation. He was well grounded in the English branches; but had not the advantage of the classics. Had his father's fortune continued prosperous, John no doubt would have been educated for the priesthood ; but adversity compelled his father to withdraw him from school and set him at work with his brothers, on one of the farms, of which he conducted two. But he was not required to lay aside his books entirely, for the family as well as himself still cherished the hope of some day seeing him at the altar. In the midst of his labors he meditated earnestly on his true vocation, and he said to a friend in after-years : " Many a time have I thrown down my rake in the meadow, and, kneeling behind a hay-rick, begged of God and the Blessed Virgin to let me become a priest." Though he discharged his duties faithfully, it was evident that John's vocation was not to be a farmer. He was subsequently placed with a horticulturist, where
Most Rev. John Hughes, D.D.
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he had opportunities of study, which he increased by reviewing at night all that he had learned at school. The persecutions under which Catholics then suffered in Ireland were keenly felt by Mr. Hughes and his family, and by none more than by John, who was open in his expressions of disgust and indignation. So no one more warmly seconded his father's inclination to emigrate and settle in America than did John ; for he saw in the new and developing prospect before him in the New World a hope of accomplishing the darling project of his heart. He was nineteen years old when his father came on a visit (5F inquiry and observation to the United States, in 1816, at which time he returned to the farm and united with his brothers in its cultivation. His father settled at Chambersburg, and John came out and joined him there in 181 7, leaving his mother, with one son and two daugh- ters still in Ireland. After a short visit to his father at Chambersburg, he returned to Baltimore, and obtained a situation with a gardener or nurseryman on the east- ern shore of Maryland. Just as he was laying his plans for resuming his studies in the intervals of labor, he lost his situation and returned to his father, where his mother and the rest of the family joined them in August, 181 8. John worked for a year or more with his father, working in stone quarries, mending roads, and applying himself to any honest labor that presented itself. But it was not long before he became aware of his providential prox- imity to the College and Theological Seminary of Mount St Mary, at Emmittsburg, Maryland ; nor was he long in applying, though unknown and unintroduced, for ad- mission to its classes, upon the condition, usual in such cases, of his rendering a return by teaching the young- est scholars, and by such other services as he could per-
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form. But there was no vacancy at the time. Disap pointment did not discourage him ; but he went from time to time to the College to seek admission, and was told each time there was no vacancy. Far from becom- ing disheartened, he became only the more vigilant in watching his opportunity ; and for this purpose he re- moved to Emmittsburg, and obtained work there, in order to be at hand when the long-sought vacancy should occur. He worked as a day-laborer on a little stone bridge over a small stream on the road from Emmittsburg to Taneytown. His deportment and asso- ciations gained for him a consideration not usually ac- corded to laborers. Here he made the acquaintance of Rev. Mr. Cooper, the benefactor of Mother Seton, who was then pastor at Emmittsburg. So anxious was he to enter the sacred enclosure of the Mountain, that he begged Mr. Dubois, the President, to receive him in any capacity until a vacancy occurred. He was not embarrassed when told that the only situation vacant was one in the garden. He joyously accepted this position as one step towards the priesthood. In return for his superintendence of the garden he was to receive board, lodging, and private instruction. There seems to have been a chain of providential circumstances leading the way to Mount St Mary's. His duties were faithfully discharged in the garden, and his hours for study were availed of to the best advantage. His Latin Grammar was frequently his vade mecum in the garden, and the observation of this fact by the President led to his being relieved mostly of the garden, and introduced as a regu- lar student in the College in 1820.
He was now twenty-three years of age. His applica- tion was untiring ; and though he exercised some inspec-
Most Rev. John Hughes, D.D.
don over the garden, and occasionally left his class to give directions to the workmen, or to adjust the sashes of the hot-beds, his chief occupation was study. In time he passed through the routine of being teacher of Latin and mathematics, and of bein£ prefect over the students. He bore the many annoyances of this well- known ordeal with great prudence, good temper, and judgment He acquired Latin, Greek, and mathematics as the means to an end, and though he became profi- cient in them, they were not his favorite studies. It was only when he became a theological student, and entered the congenial realm of dogma, logic, and phi- losophy, that his soul seemed to expand to his work. The close application to study which now characterized him, and which he practised in order to repair the time lost at out-door labor, would have impaired a less robust frame ; but those labors in the field and quarries had well fitted the frame to sustain the studies and endure the in- tellectual exertions that were to follow. During this period his future character began to develop ; his pres- ence of mind and coolness on several trying occasions, and his first controversy in answering a Fourth of July oration, in which the Catholic Church was reflected upon, were indications of his future greatness and capacity. In his theological studies he enjoyed the inestimable privilege and advantage of being under the guidance and instruction of the saintly and learned Brut£, between whom and himself the warmest friendship ever afterwards subsisted. He occasionally preached, and sometimes gave wings to his muse to beguile a moment of relaxa- tion. His first sermon, however, gave much brighter promise of a future divine, than his maiden verses gave of a future poet In 1825, having already received eccle-
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siastical tonsure and subdeaconship, he was made a dea- con. He resolved to attach himself to the diocese of Philadelphia, and Rev. Michael Hurley, a distinguished Augustinian, of Philadelphia, was selected as his director for some time after he should have left the Seminary. This gendeman, in his correspondence with Mr. Hughes, gave him much wholesome and practical advice, and confirmed his taste for scholastic divinity by recommend- ing him to make himself master of The End of Contro- versy. Bishop Conwell, while on a visitation of his dio- cese, met Mr. Hughes at Chambersburg ; he requested the young Levite to preach, a duty which he performed so well upon a short notice, that the venerable prelate insisted upon his performing the whole visitation with him. In 1826 he answered, with remarkable ability, a tract entitled Protestantism and Popery, though his answer did not appear before 1827, when it was pub- lished in the United States Catholic Miscellany, of Charleston, and afterwards in pamphlet form at Cham- bersburg. His theological studies being finished, he was ordained a priest by Bishop Conwell, at St Joseph's Church, Philadelphia, October 15, 1826.
The first few weeks of his priesthood were spent with his preceptor, the Rev. Dr. Hurley, at St Augustine's, during which time he took his share in the confessions, sermons, and other parochial duties. His brief period of practical lessons in the holy ministry under this emi- nent divine, who taught him how to apply the precepts he had learned from the books, and from the Rev. Messrs. Dubois and Brut£, was of great service to the young priest. At this early period of his career, Dr. Hurley predicted for him a distinguished future. He was sent td Bedford by Bishop Conwell, who had sum-
f
Most Rev. John Hughes, D.D.
79
tnoned the Rev. Mr. Heyden of that place to Philadel- phia. The labors and hardships of a country mission were well suited to his vigorous health and active tem- perament. His occupations here were incessant, and he was never so well pleased as when he had abundance of work. By his short residence at Bedford he made many friends, and left behind him many admirers. In January, 1S27, Bishop Conwell recalled him to Philadel- phia, at the request of Mr. Heyden, and stationed him at St Joseph's, heretofore a part of St Mary's parish, but now erected by the Bishop into a separate parish. The unhappy differences between the trustees of St. Mary's and Bishop Conwell were then at their height, and it re- quired all the good judgment and prudent foresight of Mr. Hughes to steer his course safely through such em- barrassing complications. That he succeeded in doing so is owing to his own clear and discriminating judg- ment and firmness, and to the prudent counsel of his friends, Messrs. Heyden, Hurley, Brut£, and Egan — the last of whom had succeeded Bishop Dubois in the Presi- dency of Mt. St. Mary's College. Seeing as he did, from the earliest period of his ministry, the evil effects of trusteeism, he became ever afterwards its . bitter oppo- nent It was in this school that he learned those lessons which enabled him to deal so effectually and success- fully with the trustee system in New York. He took no part in controversies, the result of which he could not control, and by keeping aloof he did not impair his usefulness amongst his people. He devoted himself most earnestly to his priestly duties, such as confessions, visiting the sick, preaching, and instructing the children. His sermons were carefully written and studied, and his efforts in the pulpit were so successful that he ranked
8o
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among the eminent preachers, of whom there were seve ral in Philadelphia. The pulpits of the eloquent orators. Dr. Hurley and Father Harold, were deserted by hun - dreds, who went to hear Mr. Hughes. Bishop Conwell was delighted with him, and would frequently say, " We'll make him a bishop some day." After the sus- pension of Rev. Mr. Harold, then pastor of St. Mary's, in April, 1827, Mr. Hughes was appointed pastor of the refractory congregation of St. Mary's, a position which he only accepted on the positive command of his supe- rior. His position here was extremely embarrassing; though the trustees made no special opposition to his appointment, they refused to pay him any salary. His prudent course seemed even to have lulled their passions for a brief season. He and his assistant, however, be- fore very long withdrew from the church, with the ap- proval of the Bishop, leaving it to the trustees without a pastor. He returned to St. Joseph's and resumed his former active parochial duties there, abstaining wholly from the stormy proceedings through which the church of Philadelphia afterwards passed. He was during this period a close student, principally of controversial and doctrinal works. He had a brief controversy, in 1827, with Rev. Dr. Bedell, rector of St. Andrew's Protestant Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, in which he wrote under the nom de plume of " Friend of Truth and Jus- tice." He also projected a Catholic Tract Society, as a means of combating current prejudices and constant at- tacks against Catholics ; he wrote the first book for the Society, entitled Andrew Dunn, a controversy skilfully interwoven with the career of a hero. Andrew Dunn was quite a success, but it was the first and last publica- tion of the Society. His sermons at St. Joseph's were
Most Rev. John Hughes, D.D. 81
well attended by Protestants, and he was thus instrumen tal in working the conversion of a large number of intel- ligent and devout Protestants. He was a constant cor- respondent of the learned and devout Mr. Brute, to whom he submitted his controversial sermons, and whom he consulted on all occasions. His wise and good Mentor took the deepest interest in his young friend, to whom he was ever ready to impart his frank, earnest, and sincere advice. Fearing lest the eminence to which the young priest had attained, and the adulations of his ad- mirers might engender and nurse sentiments of pride in his heart, he warned him repeatedly of these dangers, and advised him " to make in all things positive good> simple, obscure duty his principal joy and crown."
In 1829, Mr. Hughes, observing the destitute condi- tion of a number of orphan children, for whom there was no admission into St. Joseph's Asylum, which was already full, established St, John's Orphan Asylum, into which they and others were received. For some time there seemed to be a rivalry between the two asylums, which he did all in his power to remove by accommoda- tion ; but for some time there was no arrangement, until all the parties realizing the spirit of those divine words, "Charity envieth not," so accommodated their differ- ences as to assign all the boys to St. John's, all the girls to St Joseph's, and St Vincent's was abolished.
The passage of the Irish Emancipation Act, April 13, 1829, was hailed by the friends of Ireland in this coun- try with great exultation and joy, and by no one more so than by Mr. Hughes, who was through life devotedly attached to his native country, whose wrongs he saw and felt in his youth ; and he was an enthusiastic admirer of Daniel O'Connell. On the 3 1st of May a solemn thanks-
6
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giving Mass was celebrated at St. Augustine's Church, by Dr. Hurley, and Mr. Hughes preached the thanks- giving sermon, a production of great eloquence and power, which was afterwards issued in pamphlet form. The Church Register, the Protestant Episcopal organ, could not allow this exultation of patriots in the deliver- ance of a down-trodden country to pass without publish- ing a violent article on the subject, in which " the trum- peries and delusions of popery " were discussed with the usual want of fairness and Christian charity. This was the occasion of a public controversy between Mr. Hughes, whose articles appeared in the United States Gazette, and the Rev. Dr. Delancey, whose organ was the Church Register. This controversy, which lasted several months, resulted in teaching Protestants that the time was past when they could abuse and vilify the Catholic Church with impunity, and that in Mr. Hughes that Church had a champion always ready and able to meet their assaults. In October of the same year Mr. Hughes attended the First Provincial Council of Baltimore, as theologian to the Very Rev. William Matthews, administrator of the Diocese of Philadelphia. Bishop Conwell returned about this time from Rome, where he had proposed the name of Mr. Hughes as the coadjutor Bishop of that see. The choice of the Council fell upon Bishop Ken- rick, and Mr. Hughes was reserved for another field more suited to his ability and character. In June, 1830, Bishop Kenrick became Coadjutor-bishop and Adminis- trator of Philadelphia, and Mr. Hughes hailed his arrival in that city as that of a worthy spirit to manage the schis- matics of St. Mary's, and a man after his own heart. He sustained with his characteristic energy the measures of the new Bishop to heal the wounds of the Church.
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Most Rev. John Hughes, D.D.
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In 1830 Mr. Hughes attended Bishop Kenrick on a \ isitation of the diocese, preaching, and aiding in his arduous duties that excellent Prelate, who was then in feeble health. He was now appointed the Bishop's secretary, was also agent for Mt. St. Mary's College, and performed many services not within his parochial duties. He delivered a series of lectures on the Evi- dences of the Christian Religion, which were attended by large numbers of Protestants, and found time also to continue his theological and controversial studies, and occasionally to exercise his pen in the interests of the Church. One of his measures in aid of the Bishop's efforts to put down trusteeism in Philadelphia was the erection of a new church without lay corporators, and rendering its altar and pulpit so attractive as to draw off all the desirable Catholics from St. Mary's. The corner- stone of this new temple was laid by Bishop Kenrick in May, 1 83 1 ; Mr. Hughes canvassed most untiringly and successfully for contributions ; a legacy of five thousand dollars, given to him for any religious or charitable ob- ject he might think proper, was applied to this purpose ; and such was his success that the new church, then per- haps the finest in the country, though not so imposing as the Cathedral at Baltimore, was dedicated on the first Sunday of April, 1832. He succeeded not only in rais- ing a beautiful temple to the honor and service of God, apparently without resources, and in spite of opposition from the schismatical trustees of St. Mary's, but also in giving essential aid to the death-blow of that long pro- tracted scandal.
At the Diocesan Synod assembled at Philadelphia in May, 1832, he preached the opening sermon on the con- stitution of the Church and the order of church-govern
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ment ; was appointed promoter of the Synod, and desig- nated as one of three divines to deliberate concerning the establishment of a Diocesan Seminary, a subject on which he made a most earnest and eloquent appeal to the Synod, and, at its close, was chosen to make a com- plimentary address to Bishop Kenrick in the name of his brother clergymen.
In 1832, the Rev. John Breckinridge, the ablest champion of the Presbyterian Church in this country, commenced through the columns of The Christian Ad- vocate a series of attacks against the Catholic Church and Catholics, and sent forth a challenge to Catholics, whether priests or Bishops, to meet him " on the whole field of controversy between Roman Catholics and Pro- testants." For some time the Presbyterians were exult- ing over the non-appearance of any champion of the Catholic cause to accept the challenge, and Catholics were sometimes tauntingly asked, " Why, if these things are untrue, does not your great Mr. Hughes reply to them." One of Mr. Hughes' congregation, when thus pressed, promised that the gauntlet should be taken up, and that too by his own pastor, to whom he went imme- diately with a copy of Mr. Breckinridge's letter in The Christian Advocate^ and related to him what had occur red. Mr. Hughes' reply was, " Since you rely upon me I will not fail you." The celebrated Hughes and Breck- inridge controversy, both the written and the oral dis- cussions, grew out of this circumstance. The Catholic Herald was established by Mr. Hughes in order to sup- ply the necessity for an organ to publish the Catholic side of the first or written controversy, and he was its editor at first, and a long time afterwards one of its con- tributors. Both sides of this oral discussion have been
Most Rev. John Hughes, D.D. 85
•
published together, forming a complete collection of what can be said for and against Catholicity and Protes- tantism, and especially on the subjects connected with the question as to whether either, and which of these, is opposed in its principles or doctrines to civil and religi- ous liberty. These two public controversies established the fame of Mr. Hughes as the foremost among the champions of the Catholic Church in America. In every subsequent effort of his life he sustained his pre-eminent reputation. But in this, as in all his other controversies, he was acting on the defensive, and was drawn into these contests by the unprovoked attacks it was too much the custom of the anti-Catholic bigots of that day to make against the Church. (When once embarked in the dis- cussion, however, he did not remain on the defensive, but, like a good general, availed himself of every weak- ness of his adversaries, and of every advantage he gained over them, to carry the war into the enemy's country. That, these unchristian and wicked assaults upon Catholicity have, in a great measure, ceased in our day, is chiefly owing to the resistance, and the triumphs, of those two illustrious defenders of the faith, Bishops England and Hughes.
Though engaged in these hard-fought contests with Protestants, no Catholic clergyman visited more in, or was received more cordially by, the best and most culti- vated Protestant society than Mr. Hughes. He consid- ered this as one of the means of removing prejudice, and of smoothing down asperities. As an evidence of this it may be stated, that after the Breckinridge discus- sion he was elected a member of the Wistar Club of Philadelphia, an association mosdy of Protestant gende- men for social purposes, into which none but persons of
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distinction were admitted, and to whose circles he con tributed much by his varied attainments and fine social qualities. He was at the same time a model of the con- scientious and hard-working priest. Though engaged in such heavy and exacting controversies, he never neg- lected his confessional, his sick, his children, and his inquirers for truth, and his converts. He commenced the collection of a theological and general library, which before his death grew into a valuable collection. The debts of St. John's Church now became so onerous, and all his efforts to arouse the people to make extraordinary efforts to liquidate them had so failed, that he resolved to visit Mexico to collect money for this purpose. After six months' application he thoroughly acquired the Span- ish language. He announced his intended expedition and its object to his congregation one Sunday, where- upon the pewholders, aroused by the stirring appeal made to them by the Rev. Mr. Gartland, his assistant at St. John's, generously came forward and relieved him from the necessity of going to Mexico.
In 1836 it was proposed to divide the diocese of Philadelphia into two dioceses, Pittsburg to be the new see. Dr. Kenrick was spoken of either as coadjutor to Bishop Dubois of New York, or for translation to the new see of Pittsburg. Mr. Hughes was nominated for both Philadelphia and Pittsburg. All these arrangements were, however, abandoned for the time. On the ap- pointment of a successor to Bishop Fenwick, of Cincin- nati, Mr. Hughes was nominated on the same list with Dr. Purcell for that position, and so equal were the claims of those two eminent divines, that the Sacred Congregation were at a loss to whom to send the ap- pointment. Bishop England was at Rome while these
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nominations were under consideration, and was asked by the Cardinal Prefect of the Propaganda if he could mention any particular, however trifling, to turn the scales in favor of one or the other nominee. Bishop England, after a moment's hesitation, replied : " There's one point, your Eminence, which may deserve to be considered. Mr. Hughes is emphatically a self-made man, and perhaps he would be on that account more ac- ceptable to the people of a western diocese than Mr. Purcell." " Ah ! " said the Cardinal, " I think that will do." The next day he met Bishop England again, and said, with an air of satisfaction, " Well, Bishop, the question is settled. As soon as I told the Cardinals what you said about Mr. PurcelF s being a self-made man they agreed upon him unanimously, and the nomi nation will be at once presented to his Holiness for approval." Bishop England afterwards said to a friend in this country, " I was about to explain the mistake, but I reflected that it was no doubt the work of the Spirit of God, and was silent." The plans of Providence were not long after this made manifest and accomplished. The Council that met at Baltimore, April 16, 1837, nominated Mr. Hughes on the list with two other priests for the po- sition of Coadjutor Bishop to Bishop Dubois, of New York. The choice fell upon Mr. Hughes, and the notifi- cation thereof arrived in the following November. He was consecrated with the title of Bishop of Basileopolis in j>artibus tnftdelium, on Sunday, November 26, at the Cathedral of St. Patrick, by Bishop Dubois, assisted by Bishops Kenrick and Fenwick. " I remember," said Archbishop McCloskey, " how all eyes were fixed, how all eyes were strained to get a glimpse at their newly consecrated Bishop ; and as they saw that dip/iified and
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manly countenance, as they beheld those features beam- ing with the light of intellect, bearing upon them the impress of that force of character which peculiarly marked him throughout his life, that firmness of reso- lution, that unalterable and unbending will, and yet blending at the same time that great benignity and suavity of expression — when they marked the quiet composure and self-possession of every look and every gesture of his whole gait and demeanor — all hearts were drawn and warmed towards him. Every pulse within that vast assembly, both of clergy and laity, was quick- ened with a higher sense of courage and of hope. Every breast was filled with joy, and, as it were, with a new and younger might." *
About two weeks after the consecration of Bishop Hughes, Bishop Dubois was stricken with paralysis, and though he partially recovered, he never afterwards took a very active part in the affairs of the diocese. Bishop Hughes commenced immediately the arduous work im- posed upon him. He visited the churches in and about New York, studied the condition of the diocese, and the qualifications of the clergy, preached frequendy, and con- tinued his daily missionary duties of the confessional and other works, and joined in the recitation of the daily office with Bishop Dubois and his clergy, as was their regu- lar custom. Education was among the earliest subjects that engaged his attention, and the college at Lafarge- ville was founded by him to meet this great necessity.!
It was not long after his arrival in New York that an opportunity presented itself for Bishop Hughes to show of what material he was made, and how admirably he was suited to the position to which he had just been
* Funeral Discourse, 1864. f See Life if Bishop Dubois, Ante.
Most Rev. John Hughes, D.D. 89
raised. The old dispute between the lay trustees of St. Patrick's and Bishop Dubois was now at its height, and the trustees had gone so far as to eject from the Sunday- school a teacher sent there by the Bishop, and to em- ploy a constable to attend at the school to enforce their wishes. He adopted the bold plan of appealing from the trustees to the congregation. The pastoral letter Bishop Hughes addressed to the assembled congrega- tions, supported by the name and signature of Bishop Dubois, completely won over the congregation to his side, and among the resolutions passed at one of the meetings of the congregation was the following :
" Resolved, That we know no difference between the authority of the Holy Church and that authority with which she has invested the Bishops for carrying on her mission for our spiritual good ; and that we hold it as un- worthy of our profession as Roman Catholics to oppose ourselves, or to suffer any one in our names, to oppose any let, obstacle, or hindrance — no matter how legal such act may be — which would hinder or prevent our Bishop from the full, free, and entire exercise of the rights, powers, and duties which God has appointed as inherent in his office, and the Church has authorized him to preserve, exercise, and fulfil/'
The trustees were requested to enter the resolutions on the records of the Cathedral, and to adopt them as the fundamental rule of action for themselves and their successors ; and those who were unwilling to do this were requested to resign. Some resigned, others ad- hered to the Bishop, and the regular election, which soon followed, resulted in the election of trustees who accepted the above views and supported the authority of the Church. The Bishop was unanimously requested
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to deliver a course of lectures in the Cathedral on the evils and dangers to religion of lay-trusteeism, a task which he performed with marked ability and with great research and ecclesiastical learning, and at the same time in the spirit of Christian charity.
This was an essential reorganization of the trustee system in the diocese of New York ; for although the trustees who then held the title of church property, con- tinued to do so, their subordination to the Bishop be- came a fixed principle, and they became in fact only the legal holders of the title. On Bishop Hughes* consecra- tion as Coadjutor to Bishop Dubois, the temporalities of the diocese were at once placed in his charge, and although he could scarcely be regarded as a financier, his great energy and enlightened enterprise enabled him to accomplish much for the churches of the city of New York in particular, most of which were greatly em- barrassed with debt In 1841 the Bishop made an effort to relieve the oppressive burden of the indebtedness of the churches, by the formation of a" Church Debt As- sociation." The whole indebtedness of the churches of the city amounted to about $300,000, and it required about $20,000 each year to pay the interest. His plan proposed a union of all the congregations in the raising of funds for equal annual distribution in payment of the debts of all, until every church should be out of debt. During the first year the sum of $17,000 was realized, and great unanimity prevailed on the subject. Time, however, and the occasional absences of the Bishop, and his inability to accomplish all by his own individual ex- ertions, gradually led to a discontinuance of the " Asso- ciation." In the same year he convoked the first Dio- cesan Synod of the diocese, in which, after suitable re-
Most Rev. John Hughes, D.D.
9*
gulations were adopted in relation to the administration of the sacraments, marriage, and secret societies, the most stringent rules were adopted in relation to the tem- poralities of the churches and the boards of lay trustees. By these regulations all the employes of the church were placed under the control of the pastor ; all moneys ne- cessary for the support of the pastor and the maintenance of divine worship were to be supplied, and should never be withdrawn ; the churches were never to be used for any meeting of a lay or even ecclesiastical purpose without the consent of the pastor ; the pastor and Bishop were to have a voice in all church expenditures ; and no pastor was to be given to any church, the trustees of which refused to abide by these regulations. He issued a pas- toral letter embodying these regulations in detail, and reviewing the whole trustee system. There was a gen- eral acquiescence on the part of congregations and trus- tees ; but St. Louis' Church, at Buffalo, was in the hands of a board of trustees who refused compliance, and carried their opposition to the extent of seeing their church deprived of a pastor, and of making an effort to appeal to Rome ; but they were finally glad to yield to the Bishop, and to publish a card acknowledging and retracting their errors. The Bishop's next effort to re- lieve the temporalities of his churches consisted in his plan of raising a church loan abroad, for which purpose he visited Belgium in 1843, anc* proposed to the capital- ists of that country his " Emprunt Catholique de New York" But it did not meet with much encouragement. He succeeded, however, in securing the services of seve- ral missionaries for his diocese. In 1852 he again made an energetic effort to release the church debts, by con- solidating the various congregations in one great move-
Lives of the Catholic Bishops.
ment for this end. His project for the erection of a new Cathedral was postponed in favor of this measure, and for the erection of several smaller churches in different parts of the city to accommodate the increasing Catho- lic population. - For these purposes he organized the a Auxiliary Church Building Association," which was well received by the people, but was as short-lived as its predecessor, the " Church Debt Association." His efforts, however, and those of the pastors of the several churches separately, brought the affairs of those churches into a much better condition. St. Peters Church was the one that caused him the greatest trouble and labor ; its indebtedness at one time amounted to $140,000; the trustees were bankrupt and made an assignment, and after the case was for five years litigated in courts, and agitated between the lay trustees and the Bishop, the church was sold under the Sheriff's hammer, and thus passed into the hands of the Bishop. He dis- charged its liabilities, however, though not by law obliged to do so, and December 26, 1852, a solemn thanksgiving service was held in the church in commemo- ration of its extrication from such great and protracted difficulties ; the Bishop preached on this joyous occasion, and the Te Deum was sung to express the thanks of the pastors and the people to the Almighty. So in other cases the trustees either resigned or passed the churches and church property into the hands of as- signees, who sold or conveyed to the Bishop, he satis- fying most scrupulously the claims of creditors, though not bound to do so by the law. St. Patrick's Cathedral and the Church of St. Nicholas were the only churches then remaining in the hands of lay trustees.
This system of trusteeism had grown up under the
Most Rev. John Hughes, D.D.
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law of 1 813,* which authorized the male members of full age of any congregation, other than Episcopal and Reformed Protestant Dutch congregations, to elect from three to nine trustees, to hold the title and manage the church property. This law did not prohibit ecclesiastics owning, as individuals, property used for divine service. But during the ascendency of Know-Nothingism, a law was passed by the Legislature of New York, by which it was provided that all property held by any person in any ecclesiastical office or orders should, on his death, vest in the occupants or congregation using it, if they were incorporated or would incorporate, and in default, in the people of the State ; and no deed of property to be used for divine worship was allowed to have any legal force or validity unless made to a corporation.f The Catholics of New York are indebted chiefly to Archbishop Hughes and to his Most Rev. successor, then Bishop of Albany, for the more just and reasonable provisions of the present law, which, in providing for the incorporation of Catholic churches, constitutes the Bishop, Vicar-General, pastor, and two laymen selected by them, as the trustees of the church property.!
In 1839 the Holy See, in consequence of the increased infirmities of Bishop Dubois, relieved him of the admin- istration of the diocese and appointed Bishop Hughes Administrator. In August of that year, while the latter was absent on the visitation of the diocese, Archbishop Eccleston arrived in New York with instructions to carry , this arrangement into effect. Bishop Hughes' visitation, which was particularly productive of conversions and other happy fruits, being ended, he hurried back to New
* 3. Revised Statutes of New York, 606. f 3. Ibid. 19. \ 4. IbkL 507.
\
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York, to assume the heavy weight of care, labor, and responsibility now devolved upon him. During his pre- vious career as priest and Bishop, he always found in the pious and learned Bishop Brut£ a counselor and friend, whose profound wisdom, great learning, and ten- der suggestions had ever proved of invaluable service. But his good friend and adviser had now passed from the scenes of labor to those of reward, and the young Prelate had now to rely upon his own resources, guided by light and grace from the Holy Ghost One of his first steps was the establishment of St. John's College, near Fordham, for which purpose he purchased the beautiful estate called Rose Hill, remarkable for its na- tural and cultivated beauties, and venerable in its histori- cal associations with the War of Independence. The estate cost $30,000, and the expense of fitting up the buildings for the reception of students was $10,000. These amounts were raised by voluntary contributions, by collections in Europe, and by the lo^n of small sums at five per cent, interest. On the 14th of October, 1839, he addressed a pastoral letter to his diocese, recom- mending earnestly the new institution to the liberality of the people, and on the 16th of the same month he sailed for Europe, with the purpose of obtaining the aid of men and money for his diocese. This was his first visit to Europe ; he was received by Pope, king, and people, in the various countries he visited, with every mark of respect and kindness. He was delighted with Rome, where he spent three months, and received valuable presents from the Holy Father. He also went to Vien- na, to solicit aid from the Leopoldine Society, from which he obtained a liberal donation in aid of his Col- lege and Seminary. From Vienna he went to Munich,
Most Rev. John Hughes, f).D.
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and thence to Paris, and in the latter city secured the • services of a community of the Ladies of the Sacred Heart, to found a school in New York City. He visited his native country, where he formed the acquaintance of Daniel O'Connell, whom he greatly admired. In his native island he saw again and sympathized with his oppressed countrymen and the friends of his boy- hood. He spoke publicly on several occasions while abroad, chiefly in the interest of the American Church, and after a successful mission, teeming with fruits, he returned to his episcopal city in July, 1840.
It was during the absence of Bishop Hughes in Eu rope, and without any correspondence with him, that the controversy on the public school question was com- menced. In the early part of the present century, and for nearly twenty years, the public school funds in the State of New York were raised chiefly by taxation ; and while in the State generally the schools were managed and the expenditures regulated by commissioners, in- spectors, and trustees, and conformity to the school sys- tem left somewhat optional with the counties; in the city, on the contrary, the system was enforced, the taxes higher, and the school funds were distributed among certain schools and societies named by the Legislature, and such incorporated religious societies as then sup- ported or might thereafter establish charity schools. This system was essentially defective in the inequality of the distribution, the absence of inspection and ac- countability, and the consequent liability to abuse. Gross abuses and frauds were brought to light, and prominent among them was the case of the Bethel Bap- tist Church. In 1824 the Legislature changed the law so as to provide for the naming, once in every three years,
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by the Common Council, of such schools and institutions as should be entitled to receive the school moneys, the corporation being responsible to the State for the faith- ful application of the funds. The disbursement of the greater part of the funds was entrusted to the Public School Society, incorporated for the purpose; it re- ceived the public moneys and added to them by a con- tribution of ten dollars from each life member and other contributions ; and its annual expenditures amounted to about $130,000. Up to 1840 the Public School Society had established about one hundred schools, in which, ac- cording to* theory, if not practice, a purely secular educa- tion was imparted, or at least only such general principles of religion and morality as were supposed to be common to all Christian denominations. Although it was a dis- puted point between the Society and the Catholics as to whether the law cut off all allowances to congregational or religious schools, still several Catholic schools or in- stitutions had received portions of the school funds from time to time. The sums thus received were very incon- siderable, compared with their numbers and their pro- portion of the taxes paid; and the Catholics,. while re- garding education as a solemn duty and a prime neces- sity, yet, entertaining conscientious objections to schools for their children in which religion was ignored or taught in form or substance un-Catholic, if not anti-Ca- tholic, were practically cut off from participation in the benefits of a public fund which they contributed their full share to raise. Their earnestness in these convictions is clearly demonstrated by the fact, that while they un- complainingly paid all their taxes, they voluntarily taxed themselves again to establish and support their own separate schools. The opinion that the education of
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children, like other moral duties, pertains to the sphere of the family and not that of the State, was and is entertained as the only correct view by Catholics, and also by many persons out of the Catholic Church ; and many enlightened persons of every shade of religious conviction have maintained, that if the State will inter- vene in this matter and impose taxes for educational purposes, the schools should be provided and the funds distributed in such a manner, as to secure to each de- nomination an education conformable to its creed and reconcilable with conscience. Thus the State could en- force the education of children as a public duty without violating the rights of conscience, or infringing upon the personal rights and equality of the citizens. The school controversy has never been fairly understood by the friends of the State system ; the question involved is not one of opposition to education or to schools, for Catho- lics yield to none in their , advocacy of both ; the real question is as to the best and most just mode of promot- ing or managing this great interest ; it is a question of means, not of purpose. And it may be stated that long after Catholics discovered in New York that the Public School Society, untrue to their professions and prom- ises, actually introduced, or allowed the introduction of, sectarianism into the common schools, continued still to pay their taxes and to support their own schools be- sides. Their right to oppose this, as well as any other public measure, by appeals to reason, the sense of fair play, to the ballot-box, and by every other legal means of resistance or reform, cannot be questioned ; and yet whenever they have done this, their opponents, ignoring the institutions of the country, and the universal right of citizens to be heard, raised the anti-popery hue and
7
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cry, and drowned the appeals to the right of the matter by clamors of conspiracy and other anti-Catholic battle- cries. The fact that Catholics only demand for them- selves what they propose to concede to every other denomination, has never satisfied these mistaken oppo- nents of a fair school system.
As a matter of history, however, the school contro- versy in New York did not originate with Catholics, but with fair-minded and enlightened Protestants, who were willing to view the question upon its merits, and, in viewing it, to elevate themselves above all partisan and sectarian prejudices and passions. Dr. Nott, the Presi- dent of Union College, was open in the expression of his advocacy of the denominational school system, by which each denomination would share, in due proportion to its subjects or pupils in schools, in the common school fund. He even advocated the providing of schools for children of different nationalities. The denominational system is followed in several European countries of dif- ferent religions, and possesses the great merit of bring ing education to the very homes and altars of the peo- ple, leaving no one an excuse for not embracing its advan- tages ; whereas our present school system drives fully one-third of the population, from conscientious motives, from the public schools. Dr. Nott had been the tutor, and was the life-long friend and adviser of Gov. Seward, and frequently expressed his views on the school ques- tion to that statesman during his occupancy of the gubernatorial chair of the State of New York. Gov. Seward, on one occasion, requested Dr. Nott to reduce his views to writing, promising to embody them in his message to the Legislature, and recommend their adop- tion. This he did in 1839, and the Governor, in his
Most Rev. John Hughes, D.D. 99
message to the Legislature on the 1st of January, 1840, presented the subject in the following remarkable pas- sages : —
" Although our system of public education is well en- dowed, and has been eminently successful, there is yet occasion for the benevolent and enlightened action of the Legislature. The advantages of education ought to be secured to many, especially in our large cities, whom orphanage, the depravity of parents, or some form of accidert or misfortune seems to have doomed to hope- less poverty and ignorance. Their intellects are as sus- ceptible of expansion, of improvement, of refinement, of elevation, and of direction, as those minds which, through the favor of Providence, are permitted to de- velop themselves under the influence of better fortunes ; they inherit the common lot to struggle against tempta- tions, necessities, and vices; they are to assume the same domestic, social, and political relations ; and they are born to the same ultimate destiny.
" The children of foreigners, found in great numbers in our populous cities and towns, and in the vicinity of our public works, are too often deprived of the advanta- ges of our system of public education, in consequence of prejudices arising from difference of language or religion. It ought never to be forgotten that the public welfare is as deeply concerned in their education as in that of our own children. I do not hesitate, therefore, to recommend the establishment of schools, in which they may be instructed by teachers speaking the same language with themselves, and professing the same faith. There would be no ine- quality in such a measure, since it happens from the force of circumstances, if not from choice, that the responsibilities of education are in most instances confided by us to na
ioo Lives of the Catholic Bishops.
tive citizens, and occasions seldom offer a trial of our magnanimity by committing that trust to persons differing from ourselves in language or religion. Since we have opened our country and all its fulness to the oppressed of every nation, we should evince wisdom equal to such generosity, by qualifying their children for the high re- sponsibilities of citizenship." *
Although these enlightened and statesmanlike views do not present the strictly Catholic view of the school question, yet they are sufficiendy broad to cover much of what Catholics contend for ; for, although our claim is based upon the rights of conscience and the equal rights of citizens, yet the same schools that would be provided for Catholics in the case alluded to by Gover- nor Seward, would be equally open to all Catholics, and the provision of such schools would probably be made equal to the demand or necessity for them.
Father Schneller, then pastor at Albany, who was ac- quainted with Governor Seward, and with several mem- bers of the Legislature, had conversations with those officials in reference to the recommendations of the Governor, and he wrote to the Very Rev. Dr. Power, then administering the concerns of the diocese in the absence of Bishop Hughes, expressing the opinions en- tertained at Albany, that if petitions were presented, praying for the participation of Catholic schools in the school fund, the measure could be carried. Dr. Power called a meeting of the trustees of the several Catholic churches and laid the subject before them ; by their ad- vice he visited Albany in person, and learned, from per- sonal interviews and observation, the probability of
* Asstmbfy Document*, 1840 ; vol. i. p. 5.
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success. On his return to New York, a Catholic Asso- ciation was formed, in order to secure uniformity and concert of action, weekly meetings were held, and a petition for a share of the school fund was presented to the Board of Assistant Aldermen. The Catholics were not alone in the movement, for their petition was followed by those of other religious denominations. These peti- tions were denied by the Board, but the meetings and the agitation continued. Had unanimity, moderation, and order prevailed throughout these meetings, some- thing might have been accomplished. But this was not the case. The Truth - Teller, a Catholic newspaper, open- ly charged some of the leaders with political designs. This proved not only a firebrand thrown into the already excited meetings, but a powerful weapon in the hands of the opposition.
Such was the condition of the school question on the return of Bishop Hughes from Europe, in July, 1840. He saw that designing politicians had attempted to use the movement for their own selfish purposes, and that the interests of those most concerned in the movement were lost sight of. He at once began to attend and ad- dress the meetings, in order to bring them back to their legitimate object ; and, as he said, " the first thing he did was to take measures that all politics should be ex- cluded." From this time he assumed the control, at- tended all the meetings, and addressed them in the most forcible and stirring strains of eloquence and argument. The agitation had commenced, the appeal to public justice had been made, the cause was just, and what more appropriate or able leader could the Catholics have had than their own chief pastor ? He prepared a peti- tion to the Board of Aldermen, whose presentation was
i02 Lives of the Catholic Bishops.
followed by remonstrances from the Public School Socie- ty, and the pastors of the Methodist Episcopal Churches of New York City, The latter adopted the mistaken course of foregoing a participation in the school fund themselves, rather than allow Catholics to participate therein, or rather, they preferred for their children schools of a general or non-religious character to those in which they could be taught their own creed. They preferred that Methodist children should attend schools in which Methodism was not taught, rather than have Catholic children attend schools in which Catholicity was taught.
Arrangements were made for a hearing of both sides before the Boards of Aldermen and Assistant Aldermen ; the Bishop was the champion on these occasions of his Church and people, and was opposed by the Counsel for the Public School Society ; by Rev. Drs. Bond, Bangs, and Reese, for the Methodists ; by the Rev. Dr. Spring, for the Presbyterians ; and by the Rev. Dr. Knox, for the Dutch Reformed Church. The Bishop's efforts be- fore the Boards were among his ablest productions.* Pending the decision, negotiations for a compromise were interchanged, in which the Catholics offered to ap- point no teachers, except such as the Public School So- ciety, upon an examination, should find fully qualified; to afford every facility of visitation and inspection to the duly appointed agents of the State ; to guard against abuses, and render their schools in every respect free from objection : but no arrangement was effected. The Bishop did not expect success before the City Councils ; he regarded the appeal to them as a step in his progress to the Legislature. The petition was rejected January i it
• See the Works of Archbishop Hughgs.
Digitized by
Most Rev. John Hughes, D.D. 103
1 84 1, and the Catholics, headed by their Bishop, appealed by memorial to the Legislature. The memorial was re- ferred by the Senate to the Hon. John C. Spencer, Secre- tary of State, and ex-officio Superintendent of Public Schools. The report of this official proposed an entire change in the system, by which a Commissioner of Public Schools was to be elected in each ward in the city ; to these Commissioners the functions of the Public School Society were to be transferred, and the general school laws of the State were to be extended to the city. The Com- missioners were to receive and supply the public moneys to the support of the public schools, which were now to be placed under their management. Seeing that it was impossible to carry their measure for a participation in the public school fund, the Catholics advocated Mr. Spen- cer s measure, on the ground that it was the least objec- tionable system they could get, and at least possessed the merit of excluding sectarianism from the schools. That such a measure should have elicited opposition from Protestants, would seem strange, were it not for the in- consistent course they pursued throughout the whole agitation. The Catholics favored the measure, there- fore the Protestants should oppose it. The fact that it gave Protestants all they could desire for themselves was not enough ; the system proposed to abstain from inter- fering with the religion of Catholic children attending the spools, and this, with the additional fact that Ca- tholics favored it as the best measure they could get, was sufficient to elicit the most violent and unfair oppo- sition. Not content with opposing the measure on its intrinsic merits, the controversy turned into the usual channel of abuse of Catholics. All the prejudices of the sects against the Catholic Church were appealed to, ar.cl
Digitized by
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Lives of the Catholic Bishops.
Bishop Hughes, as the great Catholic champion of the occasion, had his hands full of controversies, which he conducted with matchless argument, bold defiance, and unruffled courage. Some idea may now be formed of this excited controversy from the fact that such a re- spectable paper as the Journal of Commerce aspired to be esteemed, published in its columns an article teeming with the threadbare and exploded calumnies against Catholics, a sample of which was the disgraceful " bull of excommunication" from Tristram Shandy. This dishonorable appeal to the prejudices and ignorance of sectarianism appeared the day before the debate was ap- pointed to take place on Mr. Spencer's School Bill in the Legislature. On the day itself on which the ques- tion was expected to be taken up, the agent of the Pub- lic School Society in Albany placed on the desk of each senator a copy of this paper, thus clearly exposing the unmanly mode of warfare adopted. The Catholic side of this question was conducted with acknowledged fair- ness, candor, and dignity, and won the sympathy of many enlightened and just Protestants, including men of eminence and intellect.
The question was postponed by the Senate from May, 1 84 1, to January, 1842, in order that the intervening election might determine the controversy by an appeal to the people. In that election the opposing parties were the Whigs and " Locofocos," both of whom were equally hostile to the school reform. The Bishop and his friends could not support either of these parties, since to do so would have been to vote against their convic- tions, their interests, and their rights. They could not stand aloof, because the school question was one of the issues involved in the election. Under these circum-
Most Rev. John Hughes, D.D.
105
stances they availed themselves of the common privi- leges of citizens in a Republic where the ballot-box is the legitimate mode of testing all popular questions, and presented candidates of their own, upon whom they be- stowed their votes. It is not unlikely, had the whole election turned upon the school question, without refer- ence to any of the old party issues, and the candidates had been nominated with reference to this question only, that the measure would have been carried; but while large numbers of the " Locofocos " were, as Catholics, fa vorable to the school reform, the candidate for Governor on the Whig ticket was Mr. Seward, the avowed advo- cate of that measure ; and the legislative candidates on both sides, in order not to embarrass their election, kept aloof from the school question. The election took place in the first week of November, 1841, and the candidates nominated by the friends of a free and equal school sys- tem received two thousand two hundred votes, enough to convince the two leading parties of their power to withhold their votes, and, in case of emergency, to hold, perhaps, the balance of power. Governor Seward, with whom Bishop Hughes became acquainted in one of his visitations of his diocese, was a firm friend of fair play on the school question, and from this common bond of sympathy sprang up a mutual regard and friendship. The Governor was almost as much abused for his advo- cacy of Catholic rights as Bishop Hughes himself, and - narrowly escaped defeat in the election of 1841 on this account Having promised the Bishop not to lose sight of the school question in the approaching Legis lature, the Governor, in his Message of January 4, 1842, again presented the subject of the schools and school fund to the consideration of the Legislature, in
io6
Lives of the Catholic Bishops.
the following paragraphs, which are well worthy of per- petuation : —
" It was among my earliest duties to bring to the notice of the Legislature the neglected condition of many thousand children, including a very large proportion of those of immigrant parentage, in our great commercial city ; a misfortune then supposed to result from ground- less prejudices and omissions of parental duty. Espe- cially desirous at the same time not to disturb in any manner the public schools, which seemed to be efficient- ly conducted, although so many for whom they were established were unwilling to receive their instructions, I suggested, as I thought, in a spirit not inharmonious with our civil and religious institutions, that if necessary it might be expedient to bring those so excluded from such privileges into schools rendered especially attrac tive by the sympathies of those to whom the task of instruction should be confided. It has since been dis- covered that the magnitude of the evil was not fully known, and that its causes were very imperfectly under- stood. It will be shown in the proper report that twenty thousand children in the city of New York, of suitable age, are not at all instructed in any of the public schools, while the whole number of the residue of the State, not taught in common schools, does not exceed nine thou- sand. What had been regarded as individual, occasion- al, and accidental prejudices, have proved to be opinions pervading a large mass, including at least one religious communion equally with all others entitled to civil tolerance — opinions cherished through a period of sixteen years, and ripened into a permanent conscientious distrust of the impartiality of the education given in the public schools. This distrust has been rendered still deeper
Most Rev. John Hughes, D.D. 107
and more alienating by a subversion of precious civil rights of those whose consciences are thus offended.
" Happily, in this, as in other instances, the evil is dis- covered to have had its origin no deeper than in a de- parture from the equality of general laws." The mes- sage then proceeded to review the school system as then existing, and recommended the abolition of the Public School Society, and the creation of a board of commissioners to be elected by the people, whose duty it should be " to apportion the school moneys among all the schools, including those now existing, which shall be organized and conducted in conformity to its general regulations and the laws of the State, in the proportion of the number of pupils instructed.
"This proposition to gather the young from the streets and wharves into the nurseries which the State, solicitous for her security against ignorance, has pre- pared for them, has sometimes been treated as a device to appropriate .the school fund to the endowment of seminaries for teaching languages and faiths, and thus to perpetuate the prejudices it seeks to remove ; some- times as a scheme for dividing that precious fund among a thousand jarring sects, and thus increasing the reli- gious animosities it strives to heal ; sometimes as a plan to subvert the prevailing religion and introduce one re- pugnant to the consciences of our fellow-citizens ; while in truth it simply proposes, by enlightening equally the minds of all, to enable them to detect error wherever it may exist, and to reduce uncongenial masses into one intelligent, virtuous, harmonious, and happy people. Being now relieved from all such misconceptions, it pre- sents the questions whether it is wise and more humane tc educate the offspring of the poor than to leave them
io8 Lives of the Catholic Bishops.
to grow up in ignorance and vice ; whether juvenile vice is more easily eradicated by the Court of Sessions than by common schools ; whether parents have a right to be heard concerning the instruction and instructors of their children, and tax-payers in relation to the expenditure of public funds ; whether, in a republican government, it is necessary to interpose an independent corporation be- tween the people and the schoolmaster ; and whether it is wise and just to disfranchise an entire community of all control over public education, rather than suffer a part to be represented in proportion to its numbers and contributions. Since such considerations are now in- volved, what has hitherto been discussed as a question of benevolence and of universal education, has become one of equal civil rights, religious tolerance, and liberty of conscience. We could bear with us, in our retire- ment from public service, no recollection more worthy of being cherished through life than that of having met such a question in the generous and confiding spirit of our institutions, and decided it upon the immutable prin- ciples on which they are based." *
This noble appeal in behalf of the rights of con- science and equality of the laws fell upon indifferent ears. But the agitation of the school question led to this good result : the abolition of the Public School So- ciety, and the introduction of the present school system by the Legislature of 1842, by which changes sectarian- ism was at least legally abolished, though no guarantee was provided against its reintroduction practically into the schools. Bishop Hughes advocated this bill as one rendering the public school system not quite so objection-
* Assembly Documents, 1842, i. 9, 10, 11, 12, 13.
Most Rev. John Hughes, D.D. 109
able as before, and as, perhaps, the beginning of a more thorough reform, though false in principle and affording no immunity to Catholics from double taxation for the education of their children. Quite recently the public schools have been confided to the jurisdiction of a De- partment of Education. The system is virtually the same. During this struggle the Bishop was kept con- stantly engaged in conducting the discussion by ser- mons, speeches, letters, and controversies, and his pro- ductions on this subject constitute a valuable and im- portant portion of his published works. He now devoted his energies to the establishment of Catholic schools for Catholic children, endeavored to secure the assistance of the Brothers of the Christian Schools for this pur- pose ; facts which prove that no redress had yet been accorded to Catholics for the grievances complained of. In 1852 he assembled together the clergy of New York and Brooklyn, and read to them an address on this all- important subject, urging them to renewed efforts in the erection of parish schools. The Catholics of New York have ever since continued to pay their proportion of taxes to support schools, in which they cannot conscientiously educate their children, and at the same time to provide and support other schools for the education of their offspring. While their contributions have been used in erecting palatial school-houses in the various wards of this city, their own children are sent to school in the humble par. ish school-houses, and in some cases in the basements of their churches, where they are compelled frequently to study by gas-light, and are deprived of most of the modern appliances and improvements in education. It is hoped the day will yet arrive when American institu- tions will be relieved of this gross inequality and injustice
1 10 Lives of the Catholic Bishops.
by the adoption in all the States of a fair and equal sys
In the fall of 1840 the Seminary was removed from Lafargeville to Fordham, and placed under the patron- age of St. Joseph, and the College was opened in June, 1 84 1, and placed under the patronage of St John the Baptist. Bishop Hughes was untiring in his labors and solicitation of aid for this institution. A large portion of his own salary went to its relief and support. In April, 1 846, the College was chartered by the Legislature, and raised to the rank of a University, and in July of the same year the Bishop transferred its management and ownership to the Jesuit Fathers. In 1841, the Ladies of the Sacred Heart, whose services he had engaged during his visit to Europe, arrived in the diocese and founded their first school, the foundation of the pres- ent splendid institutions of that excellent Order. Five years afterwards the Bishop introduced the Sisters of Mercy, whose institution, from small beginnings, has ex- panded into one of the greatest ornaments and blessings to the country.
The devastating spirit of Know-Nothingism, which had perpetrated such outrages and sacrileges in Phila- delphia, was disposed to break forth also in New York, and but for the undaunted courage and bold spirit ex- hibited by Bishop Hughes, scenes still more disgraceful and fatal would probably have been enacted in the lat- ter city. The New York leaders of this church-burn- ing faction invited their brethren from Philadelphia, more experienced in their favorite occupation, to visit the metropolis of New York. These willing patriots read- ily accepted the invitation, and a delegation, bringing with them the identical national flag which, it was al-
tern of public schools.
Most Rev. John Hughe*, D.D.
in
leged, had been trampled upon by the Irish Catholics during the riot in Kensington, were expected in New York in May, 1844, and a public meeting of their friends and a grand procession were arranged in their honor. Bishop Hughes saw at once that the secret ob- ject of this movement was to re-enact the horrid out- rages of Philadelphia, and he resolved to defend with his flock the churches to the last extremity. But in the interests of peace he called upon the Irish Catholics of the city to avoid all public assemblies, especially the con- templated meeting of Know-Nothings, and to shun the occasion of outbreak. He called also upon the Mayor, Robert H. Morris, and advised him to prevent the pro- posed demonstration. "Are you afraid," asked the Mayor, conscious of the real tendency and object of the movement, "that some of your churches may be burned? " — " No, sir," replied the Bishop ; " but I am afraid that some of yours will be burned. We can protect our own. I come to warn you for your own good." — " Do you think, Bishop, that your people would attack the procession ? " — " I do not ; but the Native Americans want to pro- voke a Catholic riot, and if they can do it in no other way, I believe they would not scruple to attack the pro- cession themselves, for the sake of making it appear that the Catholics had assailed them."—" What, then," inquired the Mayor, "would you have me do?" — "I did not come to tell you what to do," said the Bishop, "lama churchman, not the Mayor of New York ; but if I were the Mayor, I would examine the laws of the State, and see if there were not attached to the police force a battery of artillery, and a company or so of in- fantry, and a squadron of horse, and I think I should find that there were ; and if so, I should call them out
112
Lives of the Catholic Bishops.
Moreover, I should send to Mr. Harper, the mayor- elect, who has been chosen by the votes of this party. I should remind him that these men are his supporters ; I should warn him that if they carry out their design there will be a riot ; and I should urge him to use his influence in preventing this public reception of the de- legates."
It is sufficient to say that no demonstration was made by the Know-Nothings. New York was saved from a fearful riot, and the credit was justly accorded to Bishop Hughes' prompt and decisive intervention. The appre- hended outbreak spent itself in threats of assassination against the Bishop, and in a fierce paper warfare, in which the instigators of Know-Nothing violence against Catholics found in him a champion able to defend his own camp, and capable of carrying the war into the enemy's country.
In February, 1844, the present Most Rev. Archbishop of New York was consecrated coadjutor to Bishop Hughes, and in 1845 ^e latter visited Europe, in the in- terests of his diocese, and chiefly to obtain suitable teachers for the Catholic schools of his diocese. He re- turned in April, 1846, and in May of the same year at- tended the Sixth Council of Baltimore, whose delibera- tions resulted, by the subsequent concurrence of the Holy See, in dividing the Diocese of New York, by the erection of the new See of Buffalo, to which the Rev. John Timon was appointed ; and of the new See of Al- bany, to which the Right Rev. Coadjutor of New York was translated. While attending the Council, Bishop Hughes was summoned to Washington by Mr. Bu- chanan, then Secretary of State under President Polk, to confer with the Administration in reference to the ap-
Most Rev. John Hughes, D.D. 113
pointment of Catholic chaplains to the army then invad- ing Mexico, a result which was accomplished in the appointment of Fathers McElroy and Rey to those positions. The project of sending Bishop Hughes to Mexico, on a mission of peace in behalf of the Govern- ment, was also discussed on this occasion, and in several private interviews between the President and the Bishop ; but it is supposed that the latter finally declined the pro- posed mission.
In 1846 and 1847 the Sisters of Charity in the dio- cese of New York were organized into a separate insti- tution from the parent house at Emmittsburg. This event had its origin, as was stated at the time, in the withdrawal of the Sisters from the Male Orphan Asy- lums then under their charge, the unwillingness of the Bishop to see these institutions abandoned, and his opinion that the authority of the parent house at Em- mittsburg was too remote. He would not consent, how- ever, that any of the Sisters should remain in New York in violation of their obedience to their own Superiors ; for he was unwilling that his separate organization should have its origin in disobedience. Permission having been granted by their Superiors to such as wished to remain, they were formed into an independent Sister- • hood under the jurisdiction and authority of the Ordinary of the diocese.
Bishop Hughes' love of his native country was mani- fested by the profound interest he took in all that con- cerned the welfare of its people. In 1847, when the famine was raging in Ireland, he sent the collections just taken up for his Theological Seminary, amounting to fourteen thousand dollars, to relieve his starving coun- trymen. He was a warm admirer of Daniel O'Connell,
8
114
Lives of the Catholic Bishops.
and friend of emancipation, and was gready disappointed and mortified by the failure of the movement of 1 848. To elevate the moral, social, and intellectual condition of his countrymen in America was one of his most earnest and constant efforts. In this generous effort he accomplished more than any other individual in this country. One of his means of attaining this end was to render their re- ligion understood and respected, and for this purpose he entered frequently the arena of public controversy, and was regarded as foremost among the expounders and defenders of Catholic faith, practices, and morals. He allowed no attack upon the Church, or upon the Catholic body, which came under his notice and appeared to need or deserve refutation, to pass unanswered. His letters on "The Importance of being in Communion with Christ's one, holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church," published in answer to the attacks of the Rev. Nicholas Murray, over the nom de plume of " Kirwan; " his reply to Senator Cass on the Madiai case, and his controversy with Senator Brooks on the Church property question, are well-known instances of his warfare for the princi- ples and welfare of the Catholic Church in this country. Jn 1847 he preached, by invitation from such distin- guished public men as John Quincy Adams, John C. Calhoun, Thomas H. Benton, and others, before Con- gress, in the Capitol at Washington, selecting for his subject " Christianity, the only Source of Moral, Social, and Political Regeneration." He delivered at various times and in various cities courses of lectures on Catho- lic doctrine, in vindication of Catholic interests, in refu- tation of historical calumnies, and in advocacy of the claims of the Catholic Church to the respect, confidence, and spiritual obedience of mankind. His sermons at
Most Rev. John Hughes, D.D.
the dedication or consecration of new churches were marked by eloquence, vigor, depth of argument, and remarkable appropriateness for the places and occasions that called them forth. He also published several essays on important and grave questions of current Catholic interest, such as the "Catholic Press in this Country" "The Catholic Chapter in American His- tory" Toleration, Immaculate Conception, and other religious topics. His works have been published since his death, and present a valuable collection of polemical, historical, moral, theological, political, educational, and ecclesiastical writings. His life was one of activity, not of study or composition ; his efforts were sermons, speeches, lectures, and essays, addressed to, and de- signed to influence the conduct of the living ; not stud- ied compositions for future perusal, but the soul-stirring appeals and acts of a leading spirit in that actual con- tact, and often unavoidable conflict of the moral and religious interests and duties of mankind, with the world and the passions of men. The Church was to him the embodiment of moral good, heavenly truth, and human i regeneration ; it was his highest ambition to be one of " her champions, eulogists, and defenders, and it was by general accord that he was looked to by Catholics to meet the many attacks made upon them and their Church. His published works are a noble monument of his zeal, courage, and industry, and are destined to exert an influence long after the voice of the author has j been hushed in the grave.
In May, 1849, the Seventh Council of Baltimore was j convened, and amongst its proceedings was a recom- j mendation that the Sees of New York, New Orleans, ! and Cincinnati should be erected into Archbishoprics.
n6
Lives of the Catholic Bishops.
On the 3d of October, 1850, Bishop Hughes received from Rome the papal brief advancing him to the archie- piscopal dignity, with the Bishops of Boston, Hartford, Albany, and Buffalo as his suffragans. He determined to go to Rome to be invested with the pallium by the Holy Father himself, and before leaving paid a parting visit to his friends in Philadelphia and Washington. In the latter city he dined with President Fillmore. He announced his intention of going to Rome from the altar of St. Patrick's, in New York, and on the same occasion alluded to the intended erection of a new Cathe- dral. On the 10th of October, 1850, he delivered a lecture in the Cathedral, on " The Decline of Protest- antism, and its Causes," for the benefit of the Sisters of Mercy, which elicited replies from " Kir wan " and other Protestant ministers, and which, after his arrival at Rome, was translated into Italian, and published in the principal journals. While at Rome he took part in the celebration in honor of St. Thomas & Becket, at the English College, and in January, 1857, he delivered a course of controversial sermons, in English, to large congregations of English, Irish, and American residents of Rome, in the Church of St. Andrea delle Frate. He was also chosen to pronounce the panegyric of St. Agatha, on her festival, which was celebrated at Rome with great magnificence. It was customary for the Car- dinal-Vicar of Rome to bestow the pallium, the emblem of the archiepiscopal dignity, upon newly created Arch- bishops; but in the case of Archbishop Hughes the Holy Father himself performed the ceremony, which took place April 3, 1851. This was a distinction which the Archbishop alluded to with pleasure and gratitude. He received from the Holy Father every mark of atten-
Most Rev. John Hughes, D.D+ 117
tion and admiration, and his apartments became the re- sort of cardinals, prelates, priests, and noblemen. He visited Vienna, where, on the morning of his departure, he celebrated Mass in the ancient subterranean chapel of Santa Croce in Gierusalemme. From Germany he crossed over to England, and at Liverpool was enter- tained at a banquet, given by the Catholics in his honor. He arrived in New York June 22, and on July 1 he preached in the Cathedral, giving an interesting account of his visit to Rome. On July 21, the Catholics gave a grand entertainment at the Astor House in his honor. The visit of Kossuth to this country gave occasion to the Archbishop to come out openly in opposition to re- volutions, .and to the mission of the Magyar to this country. The Catholics of the United States did not take part in ovations accorded to this then prominent political agitator.
In 1853, Monsignore Bedini,* the Papal Nuncio to the Court of Brazil, arrived in the United States, and was received with every honor by Archbishop Hughes, whose guest he was while in New York City. The Archbishop and Nuncio made an extensive tour through the north-western cities and Canada. The Archbishop was anxious to have established a permanent nunciature in this country, and sounded the Administration on the subject ; but, while willing to receive a diplomatic repre- sentative from the Papal States, in the same manner as ministers were received from other countries, the Ad- ministration did not seem to favor a regular nunciature, lest it might involve some embarrassment in consequence of the ecclesiastical character of such a relation.
* See Appendix III.
u8
Lives of the Catholic Bishops.
In 1854. Archbishop Hughes was one of the Ameri- can Prelates who accepted the invitation of Pope Pius IX. to attend the assembly of Bishops from the whole Catholic world, gathered together to take part in the consultations and ceremonies attendant on the definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He was an earnest and devout member of that august assembly, and was greatly at- tached to the dogma and devotion of the Immaculate Conception. On his return he gave an interesting ac- count of the whole proceeding in a sermon he preached at the Cathedral of New York. He immediately com- menced the erection of a church in honor of the Im- maculate Conception, which he solemnly consecrated on the 15th of May, 1858. This was the ninety-ninth church erected and dedicated under his personal guidance and responsibility.
Such had been the active and laborious life of Arch- bishop Hughes, and such the exciting scenes and con- tests through which he had passed, that his health, nat urally very robust, began to fail in 1848, when he was about fifty years old. Many years of his life, during which he made some of his most brilliant efforts and performed great labors, were years of suffering and re- laxed physical and mental energy. His natural vigor and activity of character resisted the encroachments of disease. After the year 1855, he made but few efforts like those of his former career. In September, he visited St. John's, Newfoundland, to preach the conse- cration sermon at the new Cathedral, and traveled con- siderably through the province, preaching, laying the corner-stone of a new church, and witnessing the gene- ral growth of the Church. He was received through-
Most Rev. John Hughes, D.D.
119
out with extraordinary honor and respect, and his jour- ney was one series of ovations, banquets, and celebra- tions. In his sermon at St. Patrick's, after his return, he spoke with admiration of the faith, piety, and hero- ism of the people whom he had just visited. In Janu- ary, 1856, he delivered at Baltimore, before the Young Catholic's Friend Society, his fine lecture on "The Present Condition and Prospects of the Catholic Church in the United States," and at Pittsburgh, before St. Paul's Institute, that on "The Relation between the Civil and Religious Duties of the Catholic Citizen/' In December of the same year he published in The Metro- politan, of Baltimore, his striking article entititled, " Re- flections and Suggestions in regard to what is called the Catholic Press in the United States." In 1858 he made a detailed and masterly report of his administration to Rome, which was greatly admired there by the ecclesias- tical functionaries for its comprehensiveness, admirable or- der, luminous descriptions, and for the penetrating grasp of mind which it displayed. In the same year rumors were occasionally current of a competition for ecclesias- tical honors between the Archiepiscopal Sees of Balti- more and New York ; rumors, however, as unfounded themselves as the Prelates presiding over those sees were incapable of commencing such an issue, or toler- ating it even on the part of others. Archbishop Hughes lost no time in writing to Rome to recommend that Baltimore rather than New York should be erected into a primatial see; but the Holy See con- tented itself with conferring upon the Archbishops of Baltimore a "prerogative of place," entitling them tc precedence in the councils or assemblies of the American Hierarchy.
lio Lives of the Catholic Bishops.
In 1857 and 1858 Archbishop Hughes, weighed down by his labors and cares, and enfeebled in health, not only thought of resigning, but communicated his views on this subject to Rome. The Holy See would not listen to his resigning, but expressed a willingness to allow him a Coadjutor. He next thought of selecting a Coadjutor, but as this plan seemed to necessitate the withdrawal of one of his suffragans from a see, for which it would be difficult to find a suitable successor at that time, it was, after consultation and correspondence, abandoned. It was about this time that the Holy Father purchased at Rome the ancient convent of the Umilta for an Ameri- can College, and appealed to the American Bishops to furnish it and provide for the current expenses. Arch- bishop Hughes entered into this noble work with the energy and courage of his former days of health and strength, and advanced five thousand dollars for the col- lege in anticipation of the collections to be taken up for this purpose. He communicated his intention of provid- ing a fund, the investment of which would support in the American College seven ecclesiastics, whether he had that number there or not. All this was done on the eve of the great undertaking, which the Archbishop had contemplated, in the commencement of the new and magnificent Cathedral for his own metropolitan city. The corner-stone of this grand structure was laid Au- gust 15, 1858, in the presence of seven Bishops, one hundred and thirty priests, one hundred and twenty cassocked and surpliced youths well trained to chant the psalms alternately with the clergy, and at least one hun- dred thousand people. Everything passed off in the most perfect order, without an accident, and amidst the praises and admiration of all, including many Protes-
Most Rev. John Hughes, D.D.
121
tants, as was cordially testified by the accounts given of the occasion by the secular press. Some idea of the Archbishop s still wonderful energy, and of his influence with his flock, may be formed from the single fact that he paid visits to the most wealthy Catholics to solicit contributions to the new Cathedral, and in one hundred of these visits, which did not take him over twenty hours • to make, he found one hundred who gave him a thousand dollars each. Before his death the walls were advanced twelve or fourteen feet high, and the noble structure is now rapidly advancing towards completion, under the vigorous exertions of the present Most Rev. Archbishop of New York. The success of Archbishop Hughes in this and in all the great undertakings of his administration was in great measure owing to the personal force of charac- ter of the Archbishop, his indomitable energy, and the magnetic influence he exerted upon the minds and hearts of men. The good and generous rallied to his support, and while many of his best friends and support- ers among the laity are still living to enjoy the fruits and blessings of their generous co-operation, many have passed like him to their great reward. Among the lat- ter the names of Daniel Devlin and Terence Donnelly should be particularly mentioned as among the foremost and most generous promoters of the noble and magnani- mous works of Archbishop Hughes.
In the same year he was invited to take part in the cele- bration of the laying of the ocean telegraphic cable, and was requested to write one of the addresses on the occa- sion. He was designated to ride in the same carriage, at the celebration, with Lord Napier, the British Minister ; Edward Everett, and the venerable Rev. Dr. Nott, then eighty-six years of age, and for fifty-four years President
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Lives of the Catholic Bishops.
of Union College ;* and was invited to the grand banquet given in honor of the event. In 1859 he made an excep- tion to his rule then for some time past adopted of not preaching or lecturing out of his own diocese, and ac- cepted the invitation of the Jesuit Fathers at Washington to preach the sermon at the blessing of the new Church of St. Aloysius in that city. He was invited to be the guest of President Buchanan on this occasion, but de- clined in favor of the pastor of St. Patrick's Church, where it was his habit to stop in his visits to the capital. In 1859 he took an active part in manifesting sympathy for the Holy Father in his trials ; issued an inspiring Pastoral on the subject, which was so gratefully received by the Pope, that he ordered it to be printed at the Pro- paganda in English and Italian, a distinction never con- ferred upon any other pastoral at Rome. He subse- quendy proposed calling public meetings of sympathy, but abandoned this plan in favor of a collection in aid of the Holy Fathers depleted treasury. The collection amounted to fifty-three thousand dollars. On receiving this present, and the letter of sympathy which accom- panied it, the Holy Father was moved to tears, and, as a mark of his grateful appreciation, he sent to the Arch- bishop " a first-class medal, for his zeal for religion, and singular and devoted attachment to the chair of Peter."
In 1 86 1 Archbishop Hughes, at the request and by appointment of the Administration at Washington, visited Europe on business connected with the then disturbed and distracted condition of the country. The precise nature of his duties in this mission were not made pub- lic, but his own words, in a letter addressed to Cardinal
* The same individual who advocated the denominational system of public schools.
Most Rev. John Hughes, D.D.
123
Barnabo, show that he regarded it as a mission of peace, and as one not inconsistent with the character of a follower of the Prince of Peace : — " My mission was, and is, a mission of peace between France and England on the one side, and the United States on the other. . . . The time was so brief between my visit to Washington and my departure from New York, that I had no opportunity of writing to your Eminence on the subject, or of consulting any of the other bishops in regard to it. I made known to the President that if I should come to Europe it would not be as a partisan of the North more than of the South ; that I should represent the interests of the