The Catholic Church in the Southern States has long felt the need of
priests. The Bishops of these States have made successive appeals for
zealous workers, but all to no purpose. St. Joseph’s Seminary and the
Epiphany Apostolic College have been founded to supply this want.
Although both institutions are new, sixty-five young men have offered
themselves for the arduous mission. If Providence favors this Seminary
and College a number of missionaries will depart yearly for the South, to
work wholly in the spiritual interests of the Negro. “On sending in our
application,” writes the Rev. Rector of St. Joseph’s Seminary, “it may be
well to review the work of the scholastic year, 1891-92, at St. Joseph’s
Seminary and the Epiphany Apostolic College. The most important event,
the placing of our work on an independent basis, is already known to you.
We are seven priests to initiate the new movement. We have just finished
a retreat in common in which we threw ourselves into shape under the
name of St. Joseph’s Society of the Sacred Heart. The seven represented
the two institutions for the training of missionaries, the missions
of Richmond, Va., Wilmington, Del., and St. Peter Claver’s mission of
Baltimore. In regard to this step, very many Bishops and Priests, by word
and letter, have endorsed it. The second event of importance was the
ordination of our colored priest, in December, 1891. At the close of the
year there were ten seminarians at St. Joseph’s Seminary and fifty-two
students at the Epiphany Apostolic College. Of our seminarians, one is
a deacon, one is in minor orders, and three are tonsured. With God’s
blessing and our Lady’s help, next year will see fifteen seminarians
in St. Joseph’s Seminary, of whom six will have been graduates of the
Epiphany Apostolic College. We expect to have at least sixty students in
the latter institution. Your Eminence will bear in mind that the five
thousand dollars the venerable Commission has agreed to allow us, are but
one fifth of our expenses. And it is but just to add that we must raise
the other four-fifths. Moreover, we must build a new seminary this year.
At present, the neighboring house, one hundred and thirty feet distant,
must be used, and we fear to the detriment of discipline. Plans are drawn
for a building to hold sixty seminarians. Because of this building may
we ask a special donation in addition to the regular allotment? The new
seminary will cost sixty thousand dollars, which, as I must stand at my
post, I know not how to raise.”
The following letter is from the Rev. Paul Griffith, of St. Augustine’s
Church, Washington, D. C.
“I most respectfully apply for assistance from the fund for the Indian
and Negro Missions. We need all the help possible to cope with the Public
Schools of Washington. In fact our school facilities are poor, and unless
we can do something to invite children to our Catholic school, many of
them will lose their faith. Five hundred dollars are absolutely necessary
to pay the teachers, but one thousand would be a veritable Godsend.”
Sister Rose Noylam, who has charge of St. Euphemia’s School, Emmitsburg,
Md., writes as follows, in a letter addressed to His Eminence, Cardinal
Gibbons: “I make a new appeal for our poor colored children. At the
same time I wish to thank Your Eminence for last year’s appropriation;
although it was one hundred dollars less than that of the year before,
still we are most grateful for it. There are from forty to fifty colored
children enrolled in our school, and it is both consoling and edifying
to witness the docility of these little ones, and their eagerness to
make all manner of sacrifices to avail themselves of the advantages of
an education. Some of these children have to walk three miles to school
and three more in returning to their homes. They come to school in
all varieties of weather, through snow and ice, to say nothing of the
other discomforts to be met with on the rugged roads of the surrounding
district.”
The Rev. C. G. Giesen, pastor of St. Francis Xavier’s Colored Church,
City of Baltimore, had many difficulties to contend against in the
running of his large parochial school. “Four hundred colored children
receive tuition free. I shall give the amount of expenses and receipts
for 1891.”
Teachers’ Salaries $1,220.00
Ground Rent and Taxes 102.80
Light and Fuel 35.00
Repairs 196.33
Interest on debt 35.84
Books 203.53
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$1,793.50
Receipts and Donations 574.28
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Deficit $1,219.22
The Rev. A. B. Leeson, of St. Monica’s Colored Church, writes as follows:
“Next year we shall have to exert all the influence in our power to hold
our school. Within two doors of our school a large public school building
is being erected.” This new public school building will draw pupils away
from the Catholic school unless the latter be made equally efficient in
its work. This means an increase of expenditure.