CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
HISTORY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
Chapter I
Chapter II
Chapter III
Chapter IV
Chapter V
Chapter VI
Chapter VII
Chapter VIII
THE CELEBRATION
HISTORICAL DISCOURSE
HISTORY
OF THE
CATHOLIC CHURCH
IN
PATERSON, N. J.
WITH AN
Account of the Celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary
OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF
ST. JOHN'S CHURCH
"Press" Print.
HISTORY
OF THE
CATHOLIC CHURCH
IN
PATERSON, N. J.
WITH
AN ACCOUNT OF THE CELEBRATION OF THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE
ESTABLISHMENT OF ST. JOHN'S CHURCH.
BY CHARLES A. SHRINER.
"Sanctuarium tuum, Domine, quod firmaverunt manus tuæ; Dominus regnabit
in æternum et ultra."--EXOD. xv.
PATERSON, N. J.
PRESS PRINTING AND PUBLISHING COMPANY, 269 MAIN STREET.
1883.
INTRODUCTION.
The records of the early Catholic Churches in this part of the country
are very meagre and to the historian most of them are almost useless.
There are, however, still living in this and other cities a number of
old people of intelligence and good memory and to these the author is
indebted for most of the facts narrated in this sketch of the growth of
the Catholic Church in Paterson. In many instances it was found that the
memories of these old people were at fault and it was only after
repeated comparisons of the numerous dates and diligent search among
such records as could be found that the author was placed in a position
to give to the public at least a tolerably accurate account of the
remarkably rapid growth of Catholicism in Paterson and its vicinity.
Whenever any doubt existed as to the authenticity of records or the
accuracy of memory the reasons of the author for adopting what he
believed to be the true version are given.
THE AUTHOR.
PATERSON, N. J., November 15, 1883.
[Illustration]
HISTORY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.
CHAPTER I.
EARLY PERSECUTIONS ON MANHATTAN ISLAND.--MISSIONARIES FROM NEW
YORK.--THE FREEDOM OF THE COUNTRY AND OF THE CHURCH
ESTABLISHED.--THE FIRST MISSIONARIES IN NEW JERSEY.
"History repeats itself" is an old adage and one which has stood the
test ever since the sage first uttered it. The first chapter of the
history of the Catholic Church, take it as a whole, or in whatever
country or nation you like, is written in blood, the precious blood of
the martyrs who died for their God and their faith. The second chapter
is one of adversity, of persecutions; one in which the property and
worldly comfort of the devout are frequently sacrificed to the bigotry
of the infidel or the heretic. Thus it goes on from chapter to chapter,
from generation to generation, but the hand of God is with his followers
and it raises them from the depths of tribulation from which they looked
imploringly but confidingly to the God who had created them, to the God
who had made himself known to them through the Holy Catholic Church.
The first Catholic missionary who came to Manhattan Island and who
traveled through the adjacent country was the Rev. Isaac Jogues, a
Jesuit. In 1642 he was taken prisoner by the Indians, who tore off his
finger-nails and cut off the thumb of his right hand; in 1646 he was
killed by the Indians. To-day there is scarcely a hill in that part of
the country from which the cross of a Catholic Church cannot be seen.
In 1658 a French Catholic was fined twelve guilders in a place now
within the city limits of New York because he refused to contribute to
the support of a Protestant clergyman, and even in 1778 Father De La
Mote, an Augustinian friar, was locked up in prison because he
celebrated mass in New York. To-day the triumph of Catholicism in New
York is marked by hundreds of churches and scores of converts.
It is a peculiar coincidence that the freedom of this country was
established in the same year with the freedom of the Catholic Church,
and that consequently this, the semi-centennial of the establishment of
St. John's Church in Paterson, is also the centennial of the
enfranchisement of the Catholic Church in this country. By the New York
State Constitution of 1777 Catholics coming from foreign countries were
excluded from citizenship, but Congress overruled the action of the New
York Convention. "With this attempt," says the late Archbishop Bayley in
his History of the Catholic Church in the Island of New York, "to keep
up the intolerance of the English colonial government, all legislation
opposed to the free exercise of the Catholic religion ceased; and such
Catholics as were in the City of New York at the time of its evacuation
by the British troops, in 1783, began to assemble for the open
celebration of the officers of religion."
In 1786 St. Peter's Church--the first Catholic Church in the Diocese of
New York--was erected on the corner of Barclay and Church streets. In
1809 the corner stone was laid for St. Patrick's Cathedral and at the
consecration in 1815 by Right Rev. Bishop Cheverus, of Boston, the Mayor
and Aldermen of New York City and a number of the State officials
attended divine service in the new cathedral.
In the Catholic Almanac for 1822 was published the following list of the
clergy in the diocese:
Rev. Dr. John Connolly, St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York.
Rev. Michael O'Gorman, " "
Rev. Charles French, St. Peter's, "
Rev. John Power, " "
Rev. Mr. Bulger, Paterson.
Rev. Michael Carroll, Albany and vicinity.
Rev. John Faruan, Utica and vicinity.
Rev. Patrick Kelly, Auburn, Rochester, and other districts in the
western part of the State.
Rev. Phillip Larissy, attends regularly at Staten Island, and
different other congregations along the Hudson River.
Such is the brief outline of the early history of the Catholic Church in
this part of the country and it will thus be seen that shortly after the
Catholics were first permitted to worship God in their own way
Catholicism took root in New Jersey.
The following concerning the first Catholic missionaries who visited New
Jersey is taken from an article which appeared in the Catholic World in
1875:
"About this period (1757) there were a few Jesuit priests in Maryland
and Pennsylvania; and the earliest account that we have of Catholics in
New Jersey is in 1744, when we read that Father Theodore Schneider, a
distinguished German Jesuit who had professed philosophy and theology in
Europe, and been rector of a university, coming to the American
provinces, visited New Jersey and held church at Iron Furnaces there.
This good missionary was a native of Bavaria. He founded the mission at
Goshenhoppen, now in Berks County, Pennsylvania, about forty-five miles
from Philadelphia, and ministered to German Catholics, their descendants
and others. Having some skill in medicine, he used to cure the body as
well as the soul; and travelling about on foot or on horseback under the
name of Doctor Schneider (leaving to the _Sinelfunguses_ to discover
whether he were of medicine or of divinity), he had access to places
where he would not otherwise have gone without personal danger; but
sometimes his real character was found out, and he was several times
raced and shot at in New Jersey. He used to carry about with him on his
missionary excursions into this province a manuscript copy of the _Roman
Missal_, carefully written out in his own handwriting and bound by
himself. His poverty or the difficulty of procuring printed Catholic
liturgical books from Europe, or, we are inclined to think, the danger
of discovery should such an one with its unmistakable marks of 'Popery'
about it (which he probably dispensed with in his manuscript), fall into
the hands of heretics, must have led him to this labor of patience and
zeal. Father Schneider, who may be reckoned the first missionary in New
Jersey, died on the eleventh of July, 1764. Another Jesuit used to visit
the province occasionally after 1762, owing to the growing infirmities
of Father Schneider, and there still exist records of baptisms performed
by him here. This was the Rev. Robert Harding, a native of England, who
arrived in America in 1732. He died at Philadelphia on the 1st of
September, 1772. But the priest principally connected with the early
missions in New Jersey is the Rev. Ferdinand Farmer. He was born in
South Germany in 1720, and, having entered the Society of Jesus, was
sent to Maryland in 1752. His real name was Steenmeyer, but on coming to
this country he changed it into one more easily pronounced by
English-speaking people. He was learned and zealous, and for many years
performed priestly duties in New Jersey at several places in the
northern part, and seems to have been the first to visit this colony
regularly. In his baptismal register the following among other places
are named, together with the dates of his ministrations: a station
called Geiger's, in 1759; Charlottenburgh, in 1769; Morris County, Long
Pond, and Mount Hope, in 1776; Sussex County, Ringwood and Hunterdon
County, in 1785. The chief congregation at this period was at a place
called Macoupin (now in Passaic County), about fifteen miles from the
present City of Paterson. It was settled in the middle of the last
century by Germans, who were brought over to labor in the iron mines and
works in this part of the provinces."
* * * * *
"After the evacuation of New York by the British in 1783, there was a
prospect of collecting the few scattered Catholics on Manhattan Island
into a congregation, and the venerable Father Farmer used to go twice a
year to visit the faithful there, across the northern part of this
State, stopping on his way to officiate at Macoupin. On the 22nd of
September, 1785, the Rev. John Carroll, who had been appointed by the
Pope Superior of the Church in the United States and empowered to give
confirmation, set out on a tour to administer this sacrament at
Philadelphia, New York and (as he writes to a friend) 'in the upper
counties of the Jerseys and Pennsylvania, where our worthy German
brethren had formed congregations.' In this year Rev. Mr. Carroll
computed the number of Catholics under his charge at sixteen thousand in
Maryland, seven thousand in Pennsylvania and two thousand scattered
about the other States. The number of priests was nineteen in Maryland
and five in Pennsylvania."