A History of Catholic Elementary Education in the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey

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A HISTORY OF CATHOLIC ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN THE ARCHDIOCESE OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY

BY DANIEL C. SULLIVAN, A.B. , M.A.

DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE GRADUATE DEPARTMENT OF THE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION OF FOKDHAM UNIVERSITY

NEW YORK 1942

ProQuest N um ber: 13846659

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uest ProQuest 13846659 Published by ProQuest LLC(2019). C opyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C o d e M icroform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 4 8 1 0 6 - 1346

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TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1. 11.

PAGE

INTRODUCTION

..............................

1

HISTORICAL, ECONOMIC B A C K G R O U N D

.

8

111.

GROWTH OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN NEW JERSEY

.

26

IV.

CATHOLIC ELEMENTARY EDUCATION PRIOR TO 1853

.

62

V.

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION 1853 TO PRESENT Episcopacy of Bishop James Bayley

....

112

. . . . .

112

Episcopacy of Bishop Michael Corrigan

. . .

154

Episcopacy of Bishop Winand WIgger

...

179

• • • •

218

.

Episcopacy of Bishop John O ’Connor

Episcopacy ofBishop Thomas W a l s h ......... VI. vll.

PRESENT CONDITIONS

»

SUMMARY AND C O N C L U S I O N S .................

BIBLIOGRAPHY APPENDIX

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264 280 325 332 338

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LIST OF TABLES TABLE 1.

PAGE Catholic Population of Counties in the Archdiocese

11. 111.

IV.

........................

Population of New Jersey from 1790-1850

...

17

Population in New Jersey, 1880-1940 . . . .

24

Comparison-Total Population and Catholic

Catholic Population in Diocese, : 1906, 1916, 1926

V.

14

59

Comparison-Catholic Growth 1882 and 1937 . . .

VI.

Schools

Opened 1872-1881 . . . . .

Vll.

Schools

Opened 1881-1901.............

217

VI11.

Schools

Opened 1901-1927 .

262

IX.

Schools

Opened 1927-1940 ..............

X. XI.

..........

61

................

General Statistics of Teaching Orders

178

277

. . APPENDIX

Parochial School Enrollment in Archdiocese,

......................... APPENDIX

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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION Going therefore teach ye all teaching them to observe all soever I have commanded you, am with you all days even to mation of the world. 1

nations.,., things what­ and behold I the consum­

With these words the Master Teacher of all times sent forth his disciples to labor for the greater glory of God and the salvation of man.

That their trials and tribu­

lations were many history readily verifies, just as she presents undying monuments of their successes.

But such a

task, accomplished amid hardships and sufferings, with only a love of God and the words of Christ to support and reward them, can never be truly chronicled and still do them justice.

Those first disciples of Jesus and the countless

thousands of men and women who followed in their footsteps, preaching and teaching the true way of life, had no easy mission to fulfill.

It was not merely a matter of dissemi­

nating the words of Christ to a world eager and waiting for such enlightment; on the contrary, theirs was the duty to sow and cultivate, and numerous were the times, when their words fell upon barren soil. However, the staunch zeal and relentless endeavor of

1 Matthew, XXV111, 18,19,20. L

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these good men and women, enrolled in this holy undertaking, was not without success as this thesis will endeavor to show.

The history of Christianity, the rise of the Church

and the subsequent growth of the Catholic parochial school system attest this fact.

In speaking of the effects of

these endeavors in America, Archbishop Spalding has said: The greatest religious fact in the United States to-day is the Catholic School System, maintained without any aid except from the people who love it. These words, uttered by a clergyman and educator of renown, are jbst as applicable to-day as they were in 1S90. But such a statement is not to be wondered at because: Popular education has always been a chief object of the church's care; in fact, it is not too much to say that, the history of civilization and education is tne history of the church's work. ^ In pursuing and recording the history of Catholic edu­ cation, particularly during the first years in America, it is impossible to escape or to minimize the reality of the struggle, the hardships endured and the persecutions indulged in by those opposed to the growth of the Catholic Church and

1 Edwin Slosson, The American Spirit in Education (Hew Haven: Yale Press, 1922J, p. 181. 2 Pastoral’Letter of the Archbishops and Bishops of the United Sta.tes Third Plenary Council of Baltimore (Press of the Baltimore Publishing Co., Oct. 7, 1884), p. 14. L

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and school.

Nor is it possible to belittle or disregard the

amazing results which have been achieved.

In tracing and

recording the evolution of the Catholic elementary school^in the Archdiocese of Newark is seen a story that is merely a reflection of what took place in other American dioceses. Although the major purpose of this thesis is to record the development of parochial elementary education in the archdiocese, it is the hope of the writer that two other aims will be achieved, viz., Cl) that the material presented will substantiate the claim that the elementary school system set up by the Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of Newark is comparable to that of any in the United States, whether religious or secular; (2) to show the extent to which the diocese has complied'and is complying with the two objectives set up by the Third Plenary Council: ....to multiply schools, and to perfect them. We must multiply them until every Catholic child in the land shall have withiijpits reach the means of education." Regardless of the degree to which these aims are met in presenting the data in this thesis, one fact, however, cannot be lost sight of, namely, the people who labored and

1 All schools offering academic work below the usual first year of secondary school will be considered as elementa­ ry schools. 2 Pastoral Letter. Oct. 7, 1884, p. 16. L

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are still laboring to perform the work of teaching Christi­ anity and moulding Christian character in the Archdiocese of Nev/ark, have built a monument that will ever stand witness to their love of Christ and faith in mankind, this monument being, the Catholic school system.

And their reward, they

find, is in the work, itself, for as the proverb says: ....the merchandising of it is better than the merchandising of silvei»1and the gain thereof than fine gold. Because of the wealth of material available concerning education and the extent of the school system comprising elementary, secondary and collegiate institutions, this thesis will limit itself to the elementary part, including all types of parochial schools having grades less than the typical secondary school.' Above this limit, then, will be opportunity for further research concerning Catholic edu­ cation in the archdiocese. By*way of introduction there will be in chapter two, a brief account of the geographic, economic and social charac­ teristics of the present archdiocese, together with a brief account of the political evolution of the state as a whole. The third chapter will include a description of the histori­ cal development of the Church in the archdiocese and in the state prior to 1937 when the archdiocese was created.

The

1 Proverbs, Ch. 3, pp. 13-14.

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fourth chapter will cover the educational accomplishments before 1853 when Newark Diocese was part of New York and Philadelphia.

In this chapter the history of the schools

which were functioning prior to 1853 will be carried dov/n to the present.

This plan is utilized for the sake of

coherence and unity rather than stop the account at 1853 and then continue it in another part of the thesis.

In the

fifth chapter will be an account of the growth of the ele­ mentary schools from 1853 to 1937.

Because the Diocese of

Newark was subdivided in 1881, the material in this chapter will be considered under the various bishops who controlled the See at that time.

Furthermore, because of the great

number of parochial schools in the diocese, the limits of this thesis will not permit more than a cursory mention of many of them.

Those given more emphasis were determined by

(1) amount of data available; (2) the manner in which they reflect similar conditions in contemporary schools; (3) the length of time of their existence.

The sixth chapter will

be concerned with conditions of the present, i.e. from 1938 when Newark was made an archdiocese.

The final chapter will

present a resume and an evaluation of the findings. A further word of explanation is necessary concerning certain facts and omissions in this thesis.

Because of the

rapid growth of Catholicism after 1850 in the State of New Jersey, it was necessary to divide the original New York

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Diocese in 1853, then the Newark Diocese in 1881 and finally to redivide the latter in 1937.

This point is emphasized

to explain certain discrepancies found in the tables in the appendix, especially in the years immediately following the divisions. In collecting material for the thesis three methods of investigation were used, historical research, interview and questionnaire.

The historical data was collected from the

following sources: parish records and histories, records found in archives of religious communities, legal reports of the states and colonies of New York and New Jersey, from books found in the bibliography and finally from the records compiled in the Catholic Directory.

This last source of in­

formation was made accessible to the writer through the kind permission of Mr. Louis Kenedy, President of P.J. Kenedy & Sons of New York.

Much valuable data was obtained as a re­

sult of interviews held with many priests and teachers through out the diocese.

Invaluable material and help were derived

from interviews with the Bight Reverend Monsignor William Lawlor, Superintendent of Schools in the Archdiocese of Nev/ark, who furnished much of the material concerning the modern conditions. For assisting in collecting and verifying the material of the thesis, the writer is indebted to many priests, brothers, and sisters in the drchdiocese and any errors or

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omissions in the material are the results of the writer*s own shortcomings*

The writer, is however, particularly

grateful to Dr. John Daniel Redden, Chairman of the Depart­ ment of History and Philosophy in the School of Education of Fordham University, under whom the thesis was written, for his personal help, advice and encouragement, which at all times was greatly appreciated.

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CHAPTER 11 HISTORICAL AMD ECONOMIC BACKGROUND Since there is such a close relationship between the rise of any institution and the area in which such a rise occurs it is important, in considering the growth of the Catholic parochial school in the Archdiocese of Newark, that a brief description of the economic, geographic, social and political characteristics be given of the counties which, at various times, were part of the ddocese and Archdiocese. Such an account, supplemented by a sketch of the political growth of the state, will permit a better understanding and appreciation of factors, beyond the control of the Church, which, nevertheless, were influential in its growth. The Archdiocese of Newark, comprising the four counties of Bergen, Essex, Hudson and Union, lies in the north-east section of the State of New Jersey.

This particular area

constitutes the very heart of the state's industrial district and is favorably bounded on it© eastern limits by the Hudson River.

These four counties have an area of 541 square miles

as compared with the 8223 square miles in the entire state. Prom 1881 to 1937 the northwestern counties of the state, namely, Morris, Passaic and Sussex, were also part of the Newark Diocese; these latter counties having an area of 1214 square miles. - Because parts of this thesis will, of necessity,

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In the extreme

northwestern part of New Jersey the fertile hills and valleys lend themselves to dairy-farming and truck-farming.

Conse­

quently, it has become one of the leading dairy centers of the eastern seaboard, supplying many of the dairy products for the New York metropolitan area.

In addition to those

benefits the industrial advantages due to the location of Passaic County particularly, brought many factories to the cities of Passaic and Patterson, resulting in their assuming important economic status in the state.

This, of course,

effected a marked increase in the population of this area which necessitated a subsequent division of Catholic super­ vision in 1937.

The concentration of population here is

seen in the 1940 census which shows that Morris had a popu­ lation of 125,732; Passaic, 309,353 and Sussex, 29,632; a 1 total of 464,717 people. According to the 1939 edition of "the Catholic Directory, the Catholic population of these

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three counties was 128,961 which is approximately thirty

1 United States Government Census, 1940. l2 Catholic Directory. 1939, p. 476.

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percent of the total population, . During the years 1853-1881 the Diocese of Newark, in addition to the seven counties mentioned, consisted of the other fourteen counties located in the southern and western parts of the S t a t e T h e s e fourteen counties after 1881 and until 1937 comprised the Diocese of Trenton.

Although this

part of the state is by far the largest of the three divisions mentioned, with an area of 6,468 square miles, it has, by no means, any greater economic significance, having a population 2 of only 1,478,078. These figures show for this area a popu­ lation of 229 to the square mile, whereas the present arch­ diocese has a population of 4,117 per square mile.

The Catho­

lic population of these fourteen southern counties was 320,974 3

in 1939 or approximately twenty-two percent of the total. The geographic characteristics of this area are varied and consequently have resulted in many diversified modes of earning a livelihood.

Of most importance, however, has been

the fertile soil for farming, a fact which has lead New Jersey to be known as the ’Garden State1 of the nation.

Then

there are many valuable clay deposits in these counties, par­ ticularly in the vicinity of Perth Amboy and Woodbridge.

An

additional factor in the growth of the southeastern section

1 Cf. map, Frontispiece. 2 United States Government Census. 1940. 2 Catholic Directory. 1939, pp. 289, 602.

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of the state has been the unexcelled facilities along the coast for summer vacationists.

This fact has been responsi­

ble for the building and maintenance of many excellent Catholic churches catering to these summer visitors.

The

geographic location of the southern and western counties has played no small part in their economic growth.

The state is

propitiously bounded on the west by the Delaware River and Bay which have proved a valuable means of transporting and marketing agricultural and industrial products.

The Raritan

River, running through most of this area, has given it ad­ ditional means of transportation.

The shipping of goods is

further enhanced by the many railroads which cross and re­ cross the state, due undoubtedly to the favorable location of Philadelphia and New York City. The foregoing has been a brief description of those sections of the state, ?/hich at one time or another, were part of the Newark Diocese.

To-day, however, the Archdio­

cese is but a fraction of its original size, inasmuch as from 1853 to 1881 the whole state was included within the Newark' Diocese.

But in spite of this, its importance eco­

nomically, socially, politically and religiously has in­ creased rather than decreased.

The most important factor

in the development of these four counties has been their ideal location and resulting advantages.

Located in a

section containing two navigable rivers, the Passaic and

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Hackensack, in addition to having the Hudson River as its east­ ern boundary, these counties have ample facilities for trans­ portation, ra necessary factor in the growth of any industry* This is further enhanced by the relative flatness of the land, making motor haulage easy, and the miles of railroads that cross all parts of the four counties, converging eventually upon the Port of Hew York*

The easy access this area has to

Hew York has been of vital importance in its development. Because of its location and geographic characteristics the means of livelihood in the drchdiocese are many. Most important type of employment is industrial.

The

With many

nationally known industries located particularly in Elizabeth, Harrison, Jersey City, Kearny and Newark, to mention but a few, industrial workers have ample opportunity to find re­ munerative employment.

These industries in turn, necessitate

the engaging of large forces of clerical workers which give further employment to many thousands in this area.

The di­

versity of manufactured goods gives an excellent picture of the many opportunities and,wide choice of occupations for inhabitants of these counties.

Among the many articles manu­

factured are found: silk, brick, terra cotta, glass, hats, celluloid, jewelry, pottery, iron and steel in every form, refineries and their many by-products, paper, wool and worsted materials, all kinds of electrical products, leather goods, rubber goods, chemicals, shoes and many others too

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numerous to mention.

Finally there is a large group who

find convenient and profitable employment in the agricultural pursuits• This wide range in occupations has a marked effect upon the social, educational and ethnological composition of the archdiocese.

Some communities, comprising a large percentage

of business men and women and professional people, residing in suburban sections of the metropolitan area, are in a better position to support their parish schools than those who live in the more crowded areas of the archdiocese.

The

effect of this upon the type of school buildings, their edu­ cational programs and student personnel is evident and conse­ quently necessitates close supervisory work on the part of the diocesan superintendent. Ethnologically the four counties present as heterogeneous an array of nationalities as could be found in any area of its size in the United States.

Consequently, within the archdio­

cese are to be found many parishes of distinct social and racial groups.

There are Irish, German, Italian, Polish,

Lithuanian, Greek and Negro parishes in various parts of the four counties.

This condition, coupled with the varied de­

grees of social and economic standards, has added greatly to the task of teaching and establishing a diocesan system of education.

But this difficulty has served as an impetus

rather than a hindrance in the achievement of Catholic

parochial education's desired goal, the training of good citizens and the developing of good Christians.

It is only

natural that such diversity of occupations and racial groups should he situated in communities of many sizes, ranging from towns with a population of a few hundred to large cities.

In

this small area alone are to he found three cities with popu­ lations over 100,000, Newark, Jersey City and Elizabeth.

In

the remaining seventeen counties there are only three others of a similar size, Camden, Paterson and Trenton.

In the Arch­

diocese of Newark is located fifty-three percent of the popu­ lation or the state in an area covering approximately six and two-thirds percent of that of the state.

The relation between

the population of the four counties and the Catholic popula­ tion of the same is shown in the following table*

Counties Bergen Esslx Hudson Union Total

TABLE 1 1 Population 409,646 837,340 652,040 328,344 2,227,370

SL Catholics 91,931 222,689 252,845 79,221 646,686

The preceding has been a brief account of the present status of the State of New Jersey and particularly those counties comprising the Archdiocese of Newark.

In this ac­

count there was included a few statistics which, it is felt,

1 United States Government Census, 1940. 2 Chancery Office, Newark, N.J. for 1936 (figures for 1940 not available)•

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will prove important and enlightening, especially if those concerning the growth of the Church are kept in mind while reading the facts presented in chapter three. In spite of the fact that the topic of this thesis is primarily the Archdiocese of Newark, it is necessary, in comprehending the political evolution of the archdiocese, to present at the same time a similar account of the political changes occuring throughout the whole state.

In this way it

will be possible to see the effect of events in one section of the state upon those in another.

Furthermore, due to the

complexity of the ecclesiastical divisions made since the creation of the Dioceses of New York and Philadelphia in 1808, it would be impossible to give a true picture of the history of either the Church or the parochial school in the archdiocese apart from that of the rest of the state. In 1664 King Charles 11 made a grant to his brother, the Duke of York, later James 11.

This grant gave the Duke the

tract of land extending from the Delaware Bay to the Connecti­ cut River.

On June 23, 1664 the Duke leased a portion of this

grant, now known'as New Jersey, to two of the King’s friends, Lord John Berkley and Lord George Carteret.

This latter

section of the original grant was to be: ....adjacent to New England and lying and being to the Westward of Long Island and Manhattas Island and bounded on the East part by the main sea, and part by Hudson's River and hath upon the West

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Delaw&re Bay or Biver and extendoth Southward to the Main Ocean as far as Cape May....and to the Northward as far as the Northermost Branch of the said Bay....Forty one degrees and Forty minutes of latitude and crosseth over thence in a Straight Line to Hudson's Biver in Forty one degrees of Latitude which said Tract is hereafter to be call­ ed by the name of or name si of New Ceasarea or New Jersey.•.• This tract of land which was eventually to become the State of New Jersey was leased to the original landowners for the sum of 'Tenne Shillings.1

Prior to this grant the

history of New Jersey was a great deal similar to the early colonial history of other settlements in the New World, and because of its proximity to the New York Colony, New Jersey was greatly influenced by the political and social vicissi­ tudes of the former colony.

Just as New Amsterdam, following

the exploits of Henry Hudson in 1609, came by right of ex­ ploration under the rule of the Butch, New Jersey for the same reason came under the sway of the Hollanders.

When the

Dutch and Swedes arrived in the New- World they found the Jersey area occupied by a friendly tribe of, Lenni-Lenape Indians.

This fact the early settlers were cognizant of and

consequently there was relatively little Indian disorders, except for a few small scrimmages between the Butch and the Indiand and later during'the French and Indian Wars.

But the

severity of these troubles never reached the proportions of

1 Floyd W. Parsons, New Jersey, Newark (New Jersey: New Jersey State Chamber of Commerce, 1928), p. IX.

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those in other colonies. The Dutch made the first known settlement following the explorations of Hudson.

After the acquisition of Manhattan,

they proceeded to colonize the western shore of the Hudson, setting up many forts, among them one at Gloucester, Hew Jersey, they called Fort Nassau and another at Bed Bank. Late in 1617 Bergen was settled by the Dutch.

The settle­

ment at Fort Nassau was begun in 1623 and in 1651 the fort itself was demolished.

Pavonia or Paulus Hook was first

mentioned in 1630, Hackensack in 1641, Fort Elisingburg 1643. These early Jersey settlements are mentioned on a imp of New Netherlands according to the charter granted by the State General, October 11, 1614 and June 3, 1621.

Other settle­

ments referred to were at Egg Harbor (Eyer Haven), Sandy Hook (Sand Hoeck), and Barnegat (Ravende-gat).

While the

Dutch were establishing a foothold in the New World, particu­ larly in the vicinity of New York, the Swedes were setting up settlements along the Delaware Biver.

In 1638 under the

same Peter Minuit who had earlier colonized New Netherlands for Holland in 1625, New Sweden was established in the weetern part of Jersey.

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However, because of the agressiveness of

the Dutch and later the English, the Swedes were finally

1 John R. Brodhead, History of the State of New York (New York: Harper Brothers, 1859), frontispiece. 2 The Swedes and Finns in New Jersey, Federal Writers’ Pro­ ject of the Works Progress Administration in N.J., 1939, Bulletin «-2, p. 1. _j

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forced out of their holdings in Jersey.

By September 1655

Sweden had surrendered all her holdings on the Delaware to the Dutch.

The influence of the Swedes upon religion,

language and customs is felt in this section of the state to this very day.

But as a national group they had no further

part in shaping the political destiny of the people who lived along the shores of the Delaware Bay."^" Gradually those who remained became absorbed and conformed to the prevailing social and economic standards of the Dutch and English.

The

Dutch, however, were more perservering and after having settled themselves under authority on Manhattan in 1641, they set about consolidating their claims to New World prominence, particularly during the rule of Peter Stuyvesant.

So well

had the Dutch established themselves at the places mentioned above that with the advent of the more efficient English about 1664, the latter found not only a government set up but, in addition, the Dutch had established churches and schools in the settlements. Charles 11, eying wishfully these rich and prospering Dutch colonies, granted to his brother the lands between the Connecticut River and the Hudson River as well as land between the Connecticut River and east of the Delaware Bay.^ This wastthe

1 Ibid., p. 6. 2 C f ., p . 14.

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total grant, a part of which was included in the famous grant of New Jersey in 1664.

In August of that year an expedition

was sent against the Dutch in the New World.

This unjustified

aggression resulted in the capitulation of Stuyvesant and the acquisition by England of all of the New Netherlands.

It was

while this expedition was on the high seas that the Duke of York issued his grant to Berkley and Carteret. In April 1665, Philip Carteret, a brother of the original lessee, arrived at a point in New Jersey which he called Elizabethtown and set himself up as the first governor.

About

this time, through the new governor’s influence, settlers came from England and other colonies in the New World, giving Jersey a rather large colony spreading over many small settle­ ments such as Bergen, Elizabethtown, Woodbridge, Novesink, etc. In 1674 under the leadership of John Fenwicke, the west­ ern part of the state was purchased in behalf of the Society of Friends for the sum of one thousand pounds and a Quaker 1 settlement begun. The dividing line between Carteret’s East Jersey and the new West Jersey colony went from Little Egg Harbor in the Atlantic, from south of what is now Long Beach, to the northern part of the Delaware River, forty degrees and forty minutes of latitude. for this line of division.

William Penn was responsible

In spite of the short.time that

1 John R. Broadhead, History of the State of New York, Vol. 11, p. 266. L

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England had control of the colony, its political evolution was a confused and stormy one.

This is shown more succinctly

in the following reference to the leasing of a part of the original grant to Penn and the Society of Friends in 1676, following the dismissal of Fenwicke from the settlement. This famous instrument (Penn’s lease of 1676) was based wholly on the King’s effete patent to the Duke of York in March, 1664. It did not allude to the dutch reconquest in 1673; nor to the Dutch’s reconveyance of New Netherlands to Charles the Second, by the Treaty of Westminister,, In February, 1674; nor to Charles' second patent to his brother in the next June; nor to the Duke of York's release of a part of New Jersey to Sir George Carteret, individually, in the following July. In these re­ spects the 'Quintipartite' New Jersey deed of 1676 is perhaps the most faulty English*secondary parchment in American Annals. It

was for the settlements of the western section of the

state that, in 1676, the documents

permitting religious freedom

were promulgated in England under Penn's authorship.

Among

these articles is found the first and only real evidence of religious tolerance in the New Jersey colony until 1884. That no men, nor number of men on earth hath power or authority to rule over men's consciences in re­ ligious matters therefore it is con­ sented, agreed and ordained, that no person whatsoever within the said province,••••shall be in any ways

1 Ibid., Vol. 11, p. 304. L

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i called in question....for the sake of his opinion, judgment, faith or worship towards God in matters of religion.1 These famous articles, coming as they did a century be­

fore the American Constitution, gave the Jersey settlements in the West, at least on paper, a great deal of religious freedom not found in any other English colony.

These laws

together with the favorable location of the West Jersey settlement, made it possible for this section to grow rapidly and prosperously.

East Jersey, on the other hand, prospered

economically, at even a better rate in spite of ofintolerance due to her closeness

her spirit

to the hewYork

colony.

However, the bickering between the two sections, accentuated by the crown governor of New York's desire to;regain these rich settlements for the King, became so acrimonious that in 1702 the Jersey colony, both East and West, relinquished its autonomy and was thereafter ruled by a crown appointed gover­ nor. With the coming of the first English governor in 1702, conditions, both religiously and politically, became worse. The increased religious intolerance is seen in Queen Anne's instructions issued on the sixteenth day of November 1702, to her new governor, Cornbury, that: ....no man's life, member, freehold or

1 Floyd W. Parsons, New Jersey, Newark-* p. XI. L

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~\ goods be taken away... .without due process of law, that liberty of conscience be allowed to every one, "except Papists."1 This and similar sections of the instructions were not

amendable to political unity among the settlements.

It was

further stated that for the organization of the Jersey prov­ inces 1council all members were to swear to the ’Test1 oath for the prevention of dangers which may happen from Popish recusants.

p

These instructions, although not in any sense

organic law, were an unmistakable exposition of the attitude of the crown toward the Catholic church in America. Inasmuch as the governor and his council had to enforce laws, usually of English origin, their position was never an envious one.

Furthermore the governing councils, comprised

of wealthy merchants of East Jersey and landed gentry of West Jersey, were none too tolerant of religious opinions or economic conditions prevalent in the settlements.

These

factors together with England’s attitude that colonies were for the purpose of supplying materials for the mother country, in addition to serving a much needed market for English manufactured goods, did not point to a tranquil future for the colonists.

It is a matter of history that it

was not long before these intolerable political and economic

1 Queen A nne’s Commission to Governor Cornbury. (Archives of New Jersey, First Series, 11. Newark: Daily Advertiser Publisher House, 1881), 500. 2 Ibid., p. 489. L

-J

conditions precipitated the colonies into the war for inde­ pendence. After having played a most conspicuous role in the war, the Jersey province, which was formerly the land granted to Berkley and Carteret,^became one of the original thirteen states, being known henceforth as New Jersey,

As in the past,

the new state’s closeness to New York was a potent factor in its growth.

Thousands of immigrants, who left Europe because

of religious persecution and economic hardships, found New Jersey's farming areas and rising industrial system a welcome relief.

Many of these new settlers, arriving during the first

half of the nineteenth century, came from the southern part of Ireland.

These new-comers, mostly Catholics, gave an added

impetus to the evolution of the Catholic Church in America, and more especially in New Jersey.

The flow of immigrants to

Jersey may be deduced from the following table which, of ne­ cessity, includes the birth rate. TABLE 11 Year 1790 1800 1810 1820 1830 1840 1850

Population^ 184,139 211,149''. 245,562 277,575 320,823 373,306 489,555

Increase —

15 16 13 16 16 31

% % % % % %

1 Cf. Ch. 11, pp. 15,16. 2 Statistical Abstract of United States, 1936, pp. 4,5. _i

While the state as a whole was taking an added importance, due mainly to increasing industrial and commercial advantages it offered, there was a similar growth in the Church's im­ portance throughput New Jersey.

This latter fact is more re­

markable when the adverse conditions Catholicism had to contend with during these formative years of the new nation are kept in mind.

In spite of previous hardships encountered, the facts

deduced from a comparison of the above table with the data in Table 111 indicate unusual progress. TABLE 111 Year

State Population

1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940

1

2

Catholic Population

1,131,116 1,444,933 1,883,669 2,537,167 3,155,900 4,041,334 4,160,164

175,000q 861§844w 344,490 496,000 747,364 1,010,497 1,101,047

Whereas the average increase in the staters population from 1850 to 1940 was approximately eight fold, that of the Church during the years 1856 to 1940 was approximately twenty-eight fold.

This is tangible evidence that the Catho­

lic Church, especially since 1850, played a major role in the growth of New Jersey and its rise to a place of eminence among the other states of the union.

This expansion of the

1 Ibid. 2

Catholic Directories, pp. 353,420.

3 This is for 1892 as no statistics are available for the Lstate in 1889-1891.

Church necessitated a similar expansion in Catholic insti­ tutions and Catholic supervision of all kinds.

Of greatest

importance was the growth of educational institutions, a topic to be considered in subsequent chapters. Briefly then, the rise of hew Jersey as a state, rank­ ing high industrially, socially and culturally among the leading states of the Union, was seen to have been greatly influenced by its propitious location and geographic charac­ teristics.

This growth resulted in many necessary changes

throughout the state.

The most important change, in the

light of this thesis, was in the hierarchy of the Catholic Church.

Consequently, by 1938 it was necessary to create

the Archdiocese of Newark with a population of 2,227,370,"*" 2 including 645,000 Catholics. The vicissitudes that occurred in the Church during the growth of the state, the difficul­ ties and successes that accompanied these changes will be the consideration of the next chapter.

1 United States Census. 1940. 2 Catholic Directory, 1939, p. 126.

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i

CHAPTER 111 GROWTH OF, THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN -HEW JERSEY In considering the evolution of Catholicism in the Arch­ diocese of Newark, it will be necessary to take into account the political and religious tenor of the times in various parts of the state as well as in adjacent sections of Hew York, which greatly influenced the thought and actions of inhabitants on the west side of the Hudson.

From facts pre­

sented in this chapter, it will be possible to deduee causes for the slow growth of the parochial school during the years prior to 1853 and at the same time see why it was expedient that parochial schools be built to disseminate the teachings of the Church in a colony so intolerant of anything 'popish . 1 As early as 1642 the presence of Catholics on Manhattan Island was noted.

When Father Joques, the Jesuit apostle of

the Indians, escaped from the Iroquois, he found, "a Portu­ guese woman and a young Irishman on the Island of Manhattan, whose confession he heard.11"^ Due, \andoubtedly, to the ill-treatment accorded Catho­ lics in both Hew York and Jersey settlements their numbers were very small.

Those who did practice their faith were

reluctant to advertise it for fear of consequences which, at

1 James R. Bayley, The Catholic Church on the Island of Manhattan.. (New York: The Catholic Publication Society, 1870), p. 26. -

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1

times amounted to d e a t h . A s a result the two colonies were for a long time deliberately avoided by Catholics.

Bishop

Bayley, writing about the slow growth of the Church in this area, stated: ....we find no records of the existence of any considerable number of Catholics on the Island of New York until the time of Governor Bonegan in 1683. However the continued persecution of Catholics in Ireland by the English, together with the economic misery of others throughout the Old World, forced many of them to seek their 3 fortunes and religious freedom in the Hew World. What, for a time, seemed an act favoring Catholic growth in the two colonies was the appointment in 1683 of Colonel Thomas Donegan, a Catholic and later Earl of Limerick, as governor 4 of New York. His was a governorship that gave a decided impe­ tus to Catholic settlers in this area.

Under his benevolent

rule, which was the very antithesis of his predecessors, a provincial assembly was organized and met October 17, 1683. This assembly was responsible for the Charter of Liberties, passed October 30, 1683 and read as follows:

1 Jsoaies B. Lyon, The Colonial Laws of New York (Albany: State Printer, 1894), 1, p. 429. 2 James Bayley, The Catholic Church on the Island of Manhattan, p. 17.

3 Reverend I.T. Hecker, The Catholic Church in the United States(New York: The Catholic Publication Society, 1879), p. 5. 4 James Bayley, The Catholic Church bn the Island of fcnhattan. p. 17.

J

That Hoe person or persons which professe ffaith in God by Jesus Christ Shall, at any time, he any wayes molested,punished, disauited, or called in Question for any difference of opinion, or Matter of re­ ligious concernment,....and every such person or p ’sons may, from time to time, and at all times, freely and fully enjoy his or their judgments or consciencyes in matter of Religions throughout all the province,.... Donegan arrived in Hew York accompanied hy an English Jesuit, Father Harvey, who remained seven years.

He was

later joined hy Father Henry Harrison, S.J., Father Charles Gage, S.J. and two lay brothers.

2

An attempt was made by these

Jesuit missionaries to establish a classical school on King's 3 Farm, near or on the site of present Trinity Church. This institution was originally an Episcopalian school about the year 1684 but did not prosper and closed.

One of the Jesuits

who arrived in Hew York in 1683 or 1684, probably Father Harrison, reopened this school at the governor's instance. The classics were taught, and doubtless the elementary branches 4 as well. The few Catholics on both sides of the Hudson, at this time, welcomed the opportunity for a Catholic school. So long as Governor Donegan remained the school prospered.

1

James Lyon, The Colonial Laws of Hew York, p. 115.

2 John G. Shea. The Catholic Church in Colonial Days (Hew York: McBride, 1886), Vll, p. 91. 3 Ibid. 4 James A . Burns, The Catholic School System iii the United States^Hew York: Benziger, 1908), p. 104.

Father Harvey and Father Gage had a tremendous task to perform, for it is- noted that they ministered to the faith­ ful of Woodbridge and Elizabethtown, the capital of East Jersey.

Woodbridge, even at this early date, was a thriving

settlement, due, no doubt, to the excellent clay deposits in 1

that area.

As early as 1672 mass was said there.

While Donegan remained governor of New York and New Jersey, religious freedom was for the first time enjoyed by Catholics.

Unfortunately as a result of the English Revo­

lution of 1688, he was removed from office in 1691 and con­ ditions quickly reverted to those in effect prior to 1683• The new assembly of New York revoked all laws passed by the preceding one.

This resulted in the first anti-Catholie

law passed in the colony.

This infamous law, passed August

7, 1700 and confirmed by the Queen, May titled:

2

, 1708, was en­

’An Act against Jesuits & popish priests,*and read

as follows: That all and every Jesuit Seminary Preist Missionary or other Spiritual power.... made or Ordained by any Authority power or Jurisdiction derived....from the people or See of Ptome.... shall person shall be called or known who shall Continue abide r e m i n e or come into this province or any ;part there of after ye first day of No­ vember aforesaid shall be deemed and ac­ counted an incendiary and disturber of the publick peace and Safety and an Enemy of the true Christian Religion....

1 Catholic Encyclopedia. X, p. 779. 2 James Lyon, The Colonial Laws of New York, p. 429.

J

30 r

-i

The law further stated that if the aforesaid individual escaped and was later apprehended the penalty would be death* In addition anyone harboring a priest or Jesuit would have to; ....forfeit the Sum of two hundred pounds currant money of this Province one half to ^ his Maty.... the other half to the Informer. " With this kind of treatment it is no wonder that Catho­ lics in the province were few and far between; and priests, even if there were some, would not want to make their presence conspicuous under those circumstances.

To leave no doubt

concerning England’s attitude toward Catholics in the province, a further decree, passed September 16, 1701, stated that; ....papish and popish recusants are pro­ hibited from voting for members of A s ­ sembly or any office whatsoever, from thenceforth and forever. Here was bitter evidence of the obstacles the Church had to overcome in the province - in spite of the fact that those who proposed these laws had, themselves and their forebearers, come to America originally to establish homes and to escape intolerant political and religious conditions abroad.

In

Jersey, William Douglass was excluded from the first General Assembly held at Elizabethtown in 1680 because he was a Catholic.3

1 Ibid., p. 429. 2 Ibid. 3 William Whitehead, editor, Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of Hew Jersey(Daily Journal Establishment, printer, 1880), 1, 1631-1687, p. 312.

Further echoes of conditions in New York reverberated in Jersey as a consequence of the drastic laws enacted at the time

ofthe accession of William and Mary.

The law

of 1698,

declaring what are the rights and principles of his Majesty's subjects in East Jersey, directed; ....that no person or persons that profess faith in God by Jesus Christ, his only Son, shall at any time be molested, punished, disturbed, or be called in religious opinion, ....provided this shall not extend to any of the Romish religion the right to exercise their manner of worship contrary to the laws and statutes of His Majesty’s Realm of England. In spite of these enactments Catholicism must have been making some headway in the colonies, otherwise how can the numerous anti-Catholic decrees be explained if not for the purpose of crushing something which was in existence.

By

1753 affairs of this nature must have been very disturbing to the English because it was in this year that George 11 pro­ claimed the following ordinance which was as intolerant as any up to this time. Oath prescribed for all civil and military officers• I, A.B., do swear, that I from my heart abhor, detest and abjure, as impious and heretical, that Damnable Doctrine and Po­ sition, that Princes excommunicated or deprived by the Pope or any authority of the See of Rome, may be deprived or murder­ ed by their subjects or any other whatsoever,

1 The Grants. Concessions, and Original C onstitutions of the Province of New JersevCPrinted by W. Bradford of Philadelphia, 1758), p. 372.

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32

i

I, A.B., do solemnly swear and sincerely in the presence of God, Profess, Testify, and Declare, that 1 do solemnly believe that in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper there is not any Transubstantiation of the Elements of Bread and Wine into tne Body and Blood of Christ, at or after the Conse­ cration thereof by any person whatsoever. And that the Invocation or Adoration of the Virgin Mary, or any other Saint, and the Sacrifice of the Mass as they are now used in the Church of Borne are superstitious and Idolatrous . . . • 1 This was to be the type of consideration accorded the Catholic Church so long as Jersey remained a part of the British domain, and for that matter for many years to follow. But adversity has always been a great factor in the rise of Catholicism.

To continue listing the many hardships they had

to endure would require more space than this chapter permits. Suffice it to say that enough evidence of intolerance has been presented to warrant reason for .the slow growth of the Church and parochial school in these settlements.

Of the

3,172,000 white people in the colonies in 1790, only 35,000 2 were Catholics. During the war for independence many Catho­ lics came with the army to the Jersey colony and after its conclusion remained to settle here permanently.

That many

of the men in the Continental army were Catholics is a matter

1 The Grants. Concessions. and Original Constitutions of the Province of New Jersey, printed by W. Bradford,' p. 92. 2 Gerald Shaughnessy, Has the Immigrant Kent the Faith? (New Yorks MacMillan Co., 1925), p. 211.

L

_i

33 of record. In spite of the fact that the Convention at Philadelphia in 1787 adopted the following as the sixth article of the Constitution that: "no religious Test shall ever he required as a qualification to any Office or public Trust under the 2

United States," the state of Hew Jersey had a far different notion as to the matter of religious freedom.

Article

eighteen of the Constitution of Hew Jersey, passed July

2

,

1776 at Burlington, said: That no person shall ever within this colony be deprived of the inestimable privilege of worshipping Almighty God in a manner agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience.... But this article was unfortunately followed by another in an entirely different vein.

Article nineteen stated:

That there shall be no establishment of any one religious sect in this Province in preference to another; and that no protestant inhabitant of this colony shall be denied the enjoyment of any civil right merely on account of his religious principles; but that all persons, profess­ ing a belief in the faith of any protes­ tant sect, who shall demean themselves peaceably under the government as hereby established shall be capable of being

Martin Griffin, Catholics and the American Revolution ( Philadelphia: Published by the author, 1911), V 1,2,3. 1

The Constitution of the United States of America. Art. , Sec• 84• 8

6

1;

3 Minutes of the Provincial Congress and the Council of Safety of the State of Hew Jersey (Trenton: Haar, Day and Haar, 1739), 11, p. 557.

elected to any office of profit or of the Legislature, and shall fully and j/:,..■ freely enjoy every privilege and im­ munity enjoyed hy others their fellow subjects .1 Such a clause requires no comment.

And in spite of the

fact that the Constitution of the Union did in a sense nullify this article, it was not until 1844 that it was removed from the state’s constitution.

In the new constitution, agreed

upon in 1844, article eighteen?of the original code remained practically the same but article nineteen had no counterpart in the new document.

The Constitution of hew Jersey is now,

as it should be, in complete accord with the sixth article of the Constitution of the United States.

Article four says

in part: ....no religious tests shall be required as a qualification for any office or public trust 5 and no person shall be denied the enjoyment of any civil right on account of religious principles.3 From this can be seen that between 1776 and 1844 the State of New Jersey, by the very nature of its laws, made it impossible for Catholics to participate freely in the politi­ cal affairs of their communities - this in spite of the

1 Ibid. 2 A Constitution Agreed upon by the Delegates of the People of New Jersey In Convention begun at Trenton on 14th day of May and continued to the 29th day of June 1844 (Trenton F.S. Mills), Article IV, pp. 4,5. 3 Ibid.

growing Catholic population which was eventually to command a conspicuous place in social, cultural and economic affairs of the state. Two causes stand out for the slow growth of Catholicism in New Jersey; (1) the bigotry and intolerance which eventu­ ally came into the open in the state’s constitution of 1776, made it unfeasible for Catholics to settle in the state; (2 ) the marked scarcity of priests to minister to the spiritual ¥/elfare of the few Catholics who were trying, despite vigor­ ous opposition to practice their faith.

Some of the laws

enacted to prevent the settling of Catholics in Jersey have been presented.

The scarcity of priests is evident from the

fact that as late as 1854 there were only thirty-three in the State of New Jersey.'*' Nevertheless concrete evidence of Catholics settling in New Jersey before 1700 is found in old documents which mention that Woodbridge had some Catho­ lics as early as 1672.

Most reports concerning these

settlers are preserved in records left by a few itinerant 2 priests who labored in the Jersey settlements. Lack of sufficient priests left many small sections without spiritual leadership for considerable intervals and it was a rare treat when one of these travelling apostles of

1 Bishop Bayley’s Letter to the Association of the Propa­ gation of the Faith, of Lyons, France, June, 1854. _

2 Joseph M. Flynn, The Catholic Church in New Jersey (New York: Publishers* Press Co., 1904), Appendix.

36 r

1

God came to visit them.

Their coming was usually unheralded

because the fact that they were priests was enough to cause their death, or at least, result in their being banished from the colony if their true identity were revealed to co­ lonial authorities.

Settlements close to Philadelphia were

more fortunate as were those near hew York because Catholics were able to avail themselves of the spiritual guidance offer­ ed by St. Joseph’s in Philadelphia and St. Peterfs in hew 1

York.

Catholics too far removed from these two centers were

cared for by missionary priests, who, using these two places, as the beginning and end of their travels, journeyed about the state. The first missionary priest in New Jersey, concerning whom facts are known, was Father Theodore Schneider, a Jesuit who came to this country in 1741.

It was his primary concern

to care for the spiritual needs of many German Catholics who settled in the vicinity of Philadelphia.

While he remained

there he assisted Father Harding, builder of St. Mary’s church in that city.

During his missionary treks, he particu­

larly confined himself to settlements in the vicinity of Salem, New Jersey, where there had settled a number of Germans who gained their livelihood from the mines and glass works. Father Schneider’s medical skill permitted him to travel about

1 John Shea, The Catholic Church in Colonial Days. IV, p. 501. L

37 r as a physician, being thus enabled to avoid suspicion and

i

danger, which was usually associated with priestly endeavors.^" In 1743 he visited poor iron-workers who had met in the Giger home to attend mass.

This house, situated on the out­

skirts of Salem, is one of the earliest associated with Catho­ licism in New Jersey .2 The priest most frequently associated with the early struggles and growth of Catholicism in the state was Rev. Ferdinand Farmer, whose family name was Steinmeyer.

A

member of the Society of Jesus, as most of these early missionaries were, he labored in many parts of Jersey from 1758 to 1786.*^ In this work he was a valuable assistant to Father Schneider and upon the letter's death took over most of the work himself.

Travelling sometimes on foot and other

times by horse, along dirt roads, over old Indian paths and often through dense v/oods to escape detection, Father Farmer was a/ble to visit Jersey settlements from the Delaware to the Hudson.

His annual trip took him to such widely sepa­

rated places as Mount Hope, Maeopin, Basking Ridge, Salem and New York .4

1 Ibid., p. 394. 2 Ibid. 3 Rev. Lambert Sehrott, Pioneer German Catholics in the American Colonies (New York: United States Catholic Historical Society, 1933), pp. 57-72. 4 Ibid. L

38 r

1

Records show these two Jesuits visited many sections of the Jersey province.

In the records they left at St. Joseph1s

in Philadelphia, is to be found a list of the baptisms they performed from 1759 to 1781.

The records from 1732 to 1758

were unfortunately lost about sixty years ago.

In the former

list reference is made to visits at Gloucester, Salem, Spring­ field, Sussex County, Warren County, Burlington, Basking Ridge, Greenwood Lake, Ringwood and Mount Hope.

1

These communities

in the northern section of the state contained many German and Irish Catholics, drawn from workers in the mines and furnaces which supplied nearly all the iron produced for the colonies during these early years.

For a long time priests

from Paterson and New York travelled to these settlements to say mass.

In speaking of the service performed by Father

Farmer in keeping alive the Catholic faith of these simple folks, Shea writes: This apostolic priest year after year made his mission tour through New Jersey, every spring and autumn, his last entry, relating to the state, being at Ringwood, July 30, 1 7 8 6 . He returned to Phila­ delphia, to die a holy death a few weeks later on the 17th of August. During the years prior to 1765 there is no record of

1 Joseph Flynn, The Catholic Church in Hew Jersey, A p ­ pendix, pp. 643-654.

2 John Shea, The Catholic Church in Colonial Davs, IV, p • 499• L

_i

39 1

r

any Catholic church having been erected in the colony.

In

Samuel Smith’s History of the Colony of Nova Caesarea or New Jersey published in 1765 there is a list of all churches in existence in the province and no mention is made of any Catholic c h u r c h e s . T h i s may prove nothing except to emphasize the disdain with which the Catholics were held. Following the evacuation of New York by the British after the American Revolution, Catholics were in a better position to profess their faith openly.

This necessitated a

larger meeting place, ’’and in 1786 the church of St. Peter’s, p the first’Catholic church in New York, was erected” under the spiritual leadership of Father Whalen and Father Farmer.

For

many years thereafter this church was used by Catholics of East Jersey as their only place of worship, many of them having to come from parts of Bergen, crossing the Hudson in small boats, in all kinds of weather. During the years 1759 to 1800 the Church was steadily 3 A growing. Marbois, in a letter to Vergennes, written from Philadelphia, March 27, 1785 writes: The number of Catholics in the United

1 Francis B. Lee, Lew Jersey as a Colony and a StatedNew York: Publishing Society of New Jersey, 1903; , 1, p. 343. 2 James Bayley, The Catholic Church on the Island of Manhattan, pp. -53-54.

3 Francis Marbois was sent from France in 1779 as secre­ tary of the French Legation. L 4 Charles Vergennes was minister of French Foreign Affairs and supported American colonies during the Revolution.

40 r

1

States merits, in fact, the attention the holy see gives it. There are in New England 600; New York and New Jersey, 1700; Pennasylvania and Dela­ ware , 7 7 00: Maryland....20,000; in the states South, 2500; at Illinois .... 12,000; total 44,500. It is reasonable to believe from records, that most of 2 the 1700 mentioned were in New Jersey. The figures give further evidence of difficulties encountered by Catholics residing in New York and New Jersey colonies. It was about this time that the growth of the Church in America necessitated the creation of the Diocese of Balti­ more in 1790.

This gave the newly elected bishop, Most Rev­

erend John Carroll, the faculties necessary for the spiritual welfare of American Catholics.

To assist him in his new See

were perhaps thirty-five priests who had thirty churches and a number of outlying missions which were visited periodically. By 1815, at the time of Bishop Carroll's death, the Catholic population numbered 90,000.

In conjunction with this growth

from 1790 to 1815, educational facilities for Catholic 4 children were slow m making their appearance. The steady growth of Catholicism in the states, together

1 George Bancroft, History of the Formation of the C onsti­ tution of the United S t a t e s lNew York: Appleton, 1882), Vl, p.421.

2 American Catholic Historical Researches. April 1888. 3 J.A. Burns and B.J. Kolhbrenner, A History of Catholic Education in the United States (New York: Benziger, 1937), p. 60. 4 Ibid.. p. 115.

41 r with the vastness of the territory included in the Balti­

i

more Diocese, resulted in the second division of the Church in America.

On April

8

, 1808, Pope Pius Vll raised Balti­

more to an ahchdiocese and created four new Sees, vizf, Bardstown, Boston, New York and Philadelphia.

The New York

Diocese was to include the state of New York and the eastern part of New Jersey; Philadelphia was to embrace Pennsylvania, Delaware and the western part of New Jersey.

This division

of New Jersey followed the old line of 1664, from Easton, Pennsylvania to Little Egg Harbor.

In this way Burlington,

Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, Hunterdon, Salem and Warren counties became part of the Philadelphia See and Bergen, Essex, Middlesex, Morris, Somerset, Sussex and Union part of the New York See.

Up to 1853, then the ecclesiastical

affairs of New Jersey were conducted under two different dio­ ceses . In 1822 the number of churches in the Diocese of New York did not exceed seven and including the first bishop, Most Reverend R. Luke Concanen, the number of priests did not exceed nine.

But many new changes were occurring m

the

new nation and with the development of farming and industry in New Jersey the population of the state was gradually rising.

With these increasing numbers the Catholic Church

1 John F.- Maguire, The Irish in America^London: Longmans, Green Co., 1868), p. 375. L

42 r

1

grew accordingly.

Additional churches were required for the

growing settlements too far removed from New York and Phila­ delphia.

In the central part of the state, in the vicinity

of Trenton, a church had been erected

as early as1799.

Shea

writes that in October 1799, Reverend

D. Boury, a Catholic

priest from Philadelphia, said mass in Trenton."*" This is the first known record of mass being said in that city,

in 1803

it is recorded that Bishop Carroll visited there to straighten out certain troubles that had arisen in the cor^regation.

In

1814 a small brick church was erected on the corner of Market and Lamberton Streets and dedicated by Bishop Eagen.

It was

called St. Francis.

This was the first regular Catholic 2 parish in the state of New Jersey. Before 1844 this small edifice was sufficient for the needs of the Catholics in the area.

But in 1844 the congregation increased to such a de­

gree that a more commodious structurewas needed. year Father Mackin purchased property

In that

onBroad Street, the' site

of the present Sacred Heart Church, and erected a large brick church which was dedicated to St. John the Baptist.

In 1883

the church was destroyed by fire and within six years a still more imposing place of worship was dedicated on June 30, 1889.

1 John Shea, The Catholic Church in Colonial Bays, p . 60.

L

2

Joseph Flynn, The Catholic Church in New Jersey.p. 60.

3

Ibid.. p. 61.

The new church was called the Sacred Heart.

During these

years the growth of Catholicism in the central part of the state warranted the creation of the Trenton Diocese in 1881. Early in the nineteenth century French refugees from Santo Domingo who had settled in Elizabethtown and Madison were regularly visited by Father Pierre Vianney, Father Jean Tissorant and Father Pierre Malow.

The French settlement at

Madison, formerly Bottle Hill, had mass celebrated there in 1804. Rev. Paul McQuaid, ordained in Canada in 1805, offered the holy sacrifice of the mass in Newark for the first time about 1818.

One tradition has it that mass was said in a

house at the corner of High and Orange Streets; another that the first mass was celebrated in the Turf house at the corner of Durand and Mulberry Streets.

1

Newark during these early

years was served by missionary priests who travelled through these sections of the state while going from Hew York to Paterson.

Just as in other Jersey communities, mass was

celebrated in various priva,te homes.

The old Turf house and

the home of Christopher Roucke, on the corner of High and Orange Streets, were utilized in Newark for this holy purpose.

2

During early years a dozen persons in attendance at mass was

Paul Flynn, History_of St. John1s Church. Newark (Newark Press of the New Jersey Trade Review, 1908), p. 32. 1

2 Joseph Atkenson, The History of Newark. New Jersey (Newark: W.B. Guild, 1878), p. 195.

44 r

1

considered a large congregation.

About this time (1824) the

parish of St. John’s was formally organized, with a third of the congregation residents of Belleville. Begun in 1827, the first church of St. John’s in Newark was dedicated to divine service in 1828.

The present church,

the fourth to be built, was consecrated in May 1858, the first to be so honored in the whole stated The offspring of St. John’s was St. Mary’s on High Street in 1842, then followed St. Patrick's in 1848.

This parent church in Newark was

originally erected on a very small scale and in a very primi­ tive style.

Built on the site of the present structure on

Mulberry Street, this first church of Newark was no larger •than a good sized sitting room with boards arranged on stone supports for seats.

Father Hernandez, a Spanish priest, is

remembered as among the first to officiate.

Legend has it

that because he could not speak English, it was necessary for him to employ one of the members as an interpreter whenever he had anything to say to the congregation.

2

The first regularly installed pastor of the church and the parish organizer appears to have been Rev. George Pardou (or Pardow) who first administered baptism on October 11, 1829. Father Pardow was succeeded in 1832 by Father Herard wrho, in turn, was followed by the venerable Father Moran, the first

1

Paul Flynn, History of St. John’s Church. Newark, p.47.

2

Ibid., p . 196.

45 r

1

resident pastor of the church.

It was the latter priest who

was personally responsible for the erection of St. Patrick's Cathedral and the purchase of the property between Bleecker and Market Streets (near Central Avenue) facing Washington Street.

Father Moran was succeeded by Father Schneider as

pastor of St. John's. During the early years of its history, St. John's became a very prosperous parish due to the building of the Morris Canal and increased industrial and commercial importance of the city.

Gradually however, as this section of Newark,

bordering on the Passaic River, became unsuitable for dwellings, the parishioners began moving to other parts of the city and state.

Consequently, St. John's became a typical city church,

still carrying on its original mission, but to a handful of parishioners and many out-of-town Catholics.

The first native

of Newark to be ordained to the priesthood was Daniel Duraing and its first ladies to embrace a religious life in the sisterhood were W i m f r e a and Anna Hart.

1

The growth of the Church in Newark and its environs was not, however, devoid ox the persecutions attending similar growth in other parts of the state.

Opposition to the spread

of Catholicism intensified in Newark and culminated in the riots of 1854 and 1855.

During these outbursts of intolerance

and bigotry, St.Mary's Benedictine Church was desecrated and

1 Sacred Heart Union, March 1881. L

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one Catholic killed.^ Fortunately at this time, George Doane, son of the Episcopal Bishop of Newark, joined the Church and 2 was ordained to the priesthood September 13, 1857.~ Curing his active career in the city he was instrumental in bringing about a better understanding of the Church in Newark and its vicinity.

The esteem in which he was held by both Catholics

and Protestants is attested by the beautiful monumant erected to his memory on Broad Street near Central Avenue. Due to its ideal location, which gave an impetus to the development of industry, Paterson became one of the thriving centers of the state and with the influx of workers an im­ posing Catholic population was soon in evidence.

The first

mass was celebrated in the home of Michael Gillespie on Market Street.

Father Larrisy, who said the mass,, was one of

the itinerant priests who travelled from New York to adminis­ ter the spiritual needs of the New Jersey Catholics, particu3 larly in the vicinity of Newark, P&terson and Belleville. The first visit of Father Larissey to Paterson is not known, but it seems to have been prior to 1820.

About this time 4 Paterson had a Catholic population of approximately 100.

1

New Catholic Directory (New Yorks Van Bees Press, 1920)

p. 673. 2 Joseph Flynn, The Catholic Church in New Jersey, p. 209 3 Charles Shriner, History of the Catholic Church in' Paters on, New Jersey (Patersons Press Printing and Publishing Co., 1883), p. 8 . - ^

500.

4 John Shea, The Catholic Church in Colonial Days. IV. n.

Father Richard Bulger built the first structure used ex­ clusively for divine services in Paterson in 1820.^ In 1821 St. John the Baptist Church was erected on the corner of Congress (Market) and Mill Streets and amply accommodated the fifty or so Catholics who attended on Sunday. The construction of the Morris Canal brought many more Catholics to Paterson and neighboring towns. tated the erection of a larger church.

This necessi*

In 1829 the foun­

dation for the second St. John's was laid on Oliver Street, the first location being too small to permit a larger church' being built.

In 1846 this second church in Paterson was en­

larged to accommodate a still greater increase in the Catho­ lic population. capacity of 1300.

This new addition gave the church a seating By 1863 it was again deemed necessary to

build a larger edifice, so that in 1865 the foundation of the present St. John's was laid.

It took fourteen years to

complete the church, located on the corner of Main and Grand Streets.

Since then the Catholic Church in Paterson has

grown step by step with the Church in other sections of the state.

Because of this remarkable progress, Pope Pius XI

created the Diocese of Paterson on December 16, 1937. The growth of Catholicism in and around Jersey City was somewhat similar to that of other sections of the state.

In

1829 the first mass was said in what was known as Paulus Hook

1 Charles Shriner, History- of the Catholic Church in Paterson, p. 9.

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(Jersey City) on the first Sunday in Advent.^ This memorable mass was said in an unoccupied back room of a house at 52 Sussex Street, the home of Bishop McQuaid's father.

The

first church in Jersey City, St. Peter's, had mass celebrated in it for the first time on Christmas Day 1835.

By 1853

Jersey City had a population of 20,000, one-fifth of whom 2 were Catholics. Growth since that time has been phenomenal so that to-day Jersey City is one of the largest Catholic cities in the state. Although it was situated in one of the most sparsely settled areas of the state, Macopin, now Echo Lake, had what was perhaps one of the earliest Catholic settlements in Hew 3 Jersey. The wooden church constructed mainly of planks was formally blessed in 1829 by Rev. Francis Donaghoe, according 4 to records of Rev. Charles Ffrench, O.P. Several priests attended the mission from Hew York and Paterson until 1845, when Father Stephen Raffeiner took charge.

Tradition has it

that this zealous priest built a sacristy and lived in it 5 while his boy attendant occupied the loft. He was presently appointed to another post and the Redemptorist Fathers from

1 Ibid., p. 101. 2 John Shea, The Catholic Church in Colonial Lays, 11, p. 502. 3 Truthteller, 111, p . 342. ■ L

4

Joseph Flynn, TheCatholic Church in New Jersey, p. 108.

5 Ibid.,

p. 109.

49 r

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New York served St. Luke’s until 1855 when the priests from Paterson assumed charge.

Later, 1860 - 1870, it was served

from Boonton and again transferred to Paterson.

However

when the Franciscan Fathers took control of the Carmelite church in Paterson, they likewise included the mission of St. Luke’s which they have since attended. About 1848 many Irish Catholics came to Hew Jersey.

In

the same year Most Reverend Bernard McQuaid, who was to do more in his lifetime for parochial education in the diocese than any other person, began his missionary work in the state, primarily the northern part.

He became pastor at

Madison in 1848 and had missions at Morristown, Dover, Mendham, Basking Ridge and Springfield.

His first parish in

Hew Jersey extended from Madison to the Delaware.

He opened

the first Catholic school in Hew Jersey at Madison, i.e. the first which is still functioning, built the church of the Assumption in Morristown in 1848; St. Joseph’s at Mendam and St. Rose's at Springfield, now removed to Short Hills.

In

cooperation with Bishop Bayley, he was instrumental in the creation of Seton Hall College at Madison, Hew Jersey in 1865.

He also served as its first president.

Hot satisfied

with this imposing list of contributions to Catholicism in north Jersey, he was likewise responsible for the Sisters of. Charity’s coming to the Newark Diocese. The increase in the number of churches throughout the

L

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state prior to 1853 must not be interpreted as evidence of a gradual decline of anti-Catholic sentiment.

The difficulties

mentioned in connection with the Church’s growth in Newark were but typical of other sections of the diocese.

The best

example of the struggle against religious intolerance is that of Elizabeth.

Although it is the oldest settlement of.any

consequence in New Jersey, the progress of the Church there, was, until the second half of the nineteenth century, very slow.

Prior to 1800 it is probably true that there were no

Catholics living in Elizabeth.

A letter written about that

time says,"As to Homan Catholics, we have none in this Pro1

vince.M

From another source it is seen that: In 1829 three Catholics were known to reside in the town, who, when their religious principles were discovered, were obliged to leave, as no employ­ ment would be given them.

The building of the Central railroad, however, brought many Catholics to this area.

This lead to Elizabeth's as­

suming a position of industrial importance, which influenced still further, the coming of more Catholic workers, who were now openly welcomed*

During this time Father Moran, the only

priest in Newark, ministered to Catholics in the neighborhood. In 1842 Father Ildephonsus Mendrano occassionally journeyed

1 S.J. Ahern, Elizabeth, a Glance at the Past and Future of the City. 1879, p. 1 1 . 2

L

Joseph Flynn, The Catholic Church in New Jersey, p. 142. _l

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from Staten Island, but had to suffer the most degrading insults to his person and his religion.

The only place

available for the saying of the holy mass was in a tavern i on the outskirts of the community. In 1843 Bishop Hughes, in response to a request, sent Father Isaac Howell to minis­ ter to the spiritual needs of the Catholics of Elizabeth. Thereafter Catholicism took a firmer hold upon the community 2 and m 1845 St. Mary’s of the Assumption church was built. The building of St. Mary’s, although it did represent the first Catholic edifice in the town, also had the effect of increasing the populace’s fear of the Catholics.

Elizabeth,

like other centers, was to feel the wrath of the infamous ’Know ITothing’ disturbances of 1853-1855.

But by the timely

strategy of Father Howell, the church was saved from de­ struction and needless bloodshed prevented.

Father Howell

had the women protect tne church when it was threatened by the mob and their presence soon had a calming effect upon those more violently overwrought.

Since then the Church in

Elizabeth has kept pace with the growth of the Catholic Church in other parts of Hew Jersey. Prior to 1853 churches in the northern counties, other than those mentioned, were built at St. Peter’s, Belleville 5 Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, Boonton; St. .Mary's Dover; St.

1 City of Elizabeth. Illustrated^Elizabeth: Journal Print­ ing House, 1889), p. 97. L

2

John S1?ea> jQl§ Catholic Church in Colonial Days, p.

5, 02

.

Patrick’s, Newark; St. Ignatius, Orange; Our Lady ox Mercy, West Hoboken.

Outlying missions were frequently served by

priests from these churches.^ Considering the adverse conditions encountered during the years preceding 18-53, the above list is nothing short of amazing.

Being neither influential nor rich, Catholics of

these many parishes had a difficult time raising money neces­ sary for the building of their churches.

Toward the end of

the first half of the nineteenth century, obstacles that would have spelled defeat for any other endeavor merely urged the Catholics to greater deeds in the name of Christ.

The

’Know-Nothing 1 movements of 1854-1855 troubled the peace of Catholics and filled the hearts of foreign born American citizens with sorrow and indignation.

As a consequence they

were made victims of rampant bigotry and furious political 2 partisanship. Nevertheless by 1853 progress was in evidence. Irish, German, Italian, Polish and many other Catholics of various nationalities had been pouring into the state by the thousands and the approximate lOOOCatholics in New Jersey in 1785 had risen to 40,000 in 1853.

One reason for part

of this increase was the famine in Ireland from 1846 to 1847. The number of immigrants from Ireland who arrived at the Port of New York during the thirty years ending 1876 was

1 Catholic Directory. 1854. 2 John Maguire, The Irish in America, p. 444

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2,001,727.

Many of them settled In hew Jersey.

This growth again called for closer episcopal super­ vision.

So, in 1853 Pope Pius created the See of Newark.

The new bishop, Most Reverend James Roosevele t Bayley, was to have the entire state of New Jersey for his See.

For

the first time the twenty-one counties were united under a single ecclesiastical rule.

At the time of its elevation

to a diocese, New Jersey had between fifty and sixty thousand Catholics, twenty-five priests, no institutions except orphanages and the Catholic laity as a whole'were poor and uninfluential.

Furthermore there were only three

churches in the episcopal city and thirty in the rest of the state. Through the Association of the Propagation of the Faith at Lyons, France and with additional financial help from the 2

Leopoldine Society of Vienna, Bishop Bayley set about his task of building the diocese both spiritually and education­ ally.

Perhaps Bishop Bayley*s greatest contributions were

1 Rev. I.T. Keeker, The Catholic Church in the United States, p. 6 . 2 The Leopoldine Foundation was officially established on May 13, 1829. Its name, was adopted to perpetuate the memory of the daughter of Emperor Francis 1 of Austria. Among it aims were these twos (1) to spread the Catholic faith in Asia and North America; (2 ) to support missionaries in this work. Rev. Theodore Roemer, O.M. Cap., The Leopoldine Foundation and the uhurch in the United States (New Yorks The United States Catholic Historical Society, 1933), pp. 151152. L

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n

the formation of

the Madison congregation of the Sisters of

Charity who were

the builders of St. Elizabeth's College and

the establishment of

Seton Hall College at South Orange. In

August 1856 the First Synod in the new diocese was field at Seton Hall, attended by twenty-eight priests, eight’ others being unable to attend.

The decrees, ritual and ceremonial,

A board of counselors

of the Baltimore Councils were adopted. and a chancery were established.

The necessity for parochial 1 schools and their proper management were also included. Progress under so untiring a leader was by no means slow,

for by 1863 it is found that there were now sixty-seven priests and sixty-three churches in the state.

In addition a Bene-

d.ictine monastery and a Passionist monastery had been establish­ ed.

The Sisters of Charity had eighty-seven members and were

in charge of seventeen establishments.

Other teaching orders

of women included two convents of Benedictine nuns, two of German Sisters of Notre Dame, two of Sisters of Poor of St. Francis.

Furthermore the new diocese could boast of a college,

an academy, boarding schools for boys and girls and parochial o Ci schools attached to most parishes.

1 James Roosevelt Bayley, Statuta Hovar censis Dioeceseos ( Neo Eboraci: Novaree, lypis societatis Pro Libris, Catholics Evulganais), 1869. 8 Catholic Directory. 1854, p. 370.

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After this good start growth was phenomenal.

On July

30, 1872 Bishop Bayley was promoted to the Archbishopric of Baltimore and Bev. Michael A, Corrigan was consecrated the second bishop of Newark on May 4, 1873.

Under his benevolent

care the House of Good Shepard for girls was founded in Newark on May 24, 1875 and the Protectory for boys at Denville.

In 1880 Dominican Nuns of the Perpetual Adoration

were brought to Newark.

During these years, 1853-1881, the

number of churches in the seven northern counties had in­ creased measurably, the fouteen built prior to 1853 were now 1 augumented by fifty-one additional parishes, attended by resident pastors. By 1881 the Catholic population of the state was again large enough to warrant further ecclesiastical division of the diocese. formed.

On July 15, 1881 the Diocese of Trenton was

This new division took a considerable portion of

the original Newark See.

The fourteen counties Atlantic,

Burlington,. Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, Hunter­ don, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean, Salem, Somerset and Warren, in the southern part of the state came under the episcopalship of the first Trenton bishop, the Most Reverend J. O ’Farrell, D.D.

1 Catholic Directory, 1881.

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On October 1, i860 Bishop Corrigan was elevated to the position of co-adjutator to the Archbishop of Hew York and the Titular Archbishop of Petro.

And on October 18, 1881

Reverend Winand Michael Wigger was consecrated third bishop of Newark, his diocese being the remaining seven counties of the state, Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Morris, Passaic, Sussex, and Union.

It was during his bishopric that the most notable

Catholic council yet held in America convened at Baltimore in 1884.

During its'momentous session, the Third Plenary Council

passed many decrees which were to have a marked effect upon parochial education in the United States.

That New Jersey

complied with the requests of the decrees will be seen in the increased growth of parish schools after that time. Perhaps the most outstanding edifice to be erected as a monument to Catholic growth in the Newark Diocese is the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, situated in the Branch Brook section of Newark.

The cornerstone was laid June 11, 1899

by Bishop Wigger as part of a most colorful ceremony, attend­ ed by many.civil and religious dignitaries from all over the . state.

With these noteworthy accomplishments performed during

his rule, Bishop Wigger died January 5, 1901 and “the record of his administration shows a character entirely disinterested and unselfishly united to a poverty truly apostolic.11^ During

1 Catholic Encyclopedia, p. 780. L

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his bishopric the diocese expanded in many directions.

In

1881 there were 145,000 Catholics in the northern part of the 1 state. This number had increased to 290,000 by 1901. In addition there were 34,800Cchildren in 100 Catholic schools and institutions.

The number of priests totalled 265 and

there were 220 churches and chapels throughout the state.

2

According to the Catholic Directory of 1901 there were in Newark Diocese the following religious communities: Men: Jesuits, Passionists, Salesians, Carmelites, Dominicans, Franciscans, Benedictines, Pious Society of the Mission, Christian Brothers, Alexian Brothers, Xaverian Brothers. Women: Sisters of Charity (Newark), Sisters of St. Benedict, Sisters of Christian Charity, Sisters of St. Francis, Sisters of Charity (Gray Huns), Dominican Sisters of the Perpetual Rosary, Sisters of St. Dominic, Sisters of St. Francis, Sisters of Good Shepard, Sisters of St. Joseph, German Sisters of Notre Dame, Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, Little Sisters of the Poor, Felician Sisters of Sorrowful Mother, Pallatine Sisters of Charity, Missionary Sisters of Sacred Heart, Daughters of Our Lady of Help, Francis­ can Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, Baptistine Sisters.0 Upon the death of Bishop Wigger, the Rev., John Joseph O ’Connor was consecrated fourth bishop of Newark, July 25, 1901.

Nov/ that the period of growth was gradually reaching

1 Catholic Directory. 1381',Op. 390. ^ Catholic Directory. 1901, p. 423. 3 Ibid., pp. 422-423.

a peak, a new period was to set in.

No longer was it neces­

sary to confine most of the attention to the cries of bigots and fears of the faithful. an era of more supervision.

This was to be the beginning of It allowed the Church an oppor­

tunity to consolidate within the diocese through the super­ vision of schools, inspection of teacher personnel and various other educational improvements.

The result of this is evident

from figures in the Catholic Directory of 1910.

Among other

items it is found that the diocese now had: 7 students in Europe, seminaries of religious S, students 31, colleges and academies for boys 6, for girls 12, parish schools 116, pupils 52,600, orphanages 12, inmates 4,200',' industrial , and reform schools 4, inmates 450, pro­ tectory 1, inmates 180, hospitals 10.-*After performing his duty notably and faithfully, Bishop O ’Connor died May 20, 1927.

During the interim while the See

of Newark was vacant the diocese was administered by Right Reverend Monsignor John Duffy, D.D., who had been VicarGeneral under the former bishop and who was to remain in the same capacity under the new bishop.

On March 2, 1928 the

Most Reverend Thomas J. Walsh was transferred from Trenton to the bishopric of Newark Diocese. For the next ten years (1927-1937) the Catholic Church in the Diocese of Newark assumed a position of great importance In the spiritual, civil and social affairs of the state.

L

1 Catholic Directory. 1910, p. 511. ”

Under the guidance of Bishop Walsh many new schools and in­ stitutions were added to the already imposing group.

And

once more, due to the complexity of ecclesiastical superv vision, the diocese was to have its final division.

The

steady increase in the Catholic population in the seven north­ ern counties that was to produce this latest realignment is evident from the following table which shows the size of the Catholic population for the decades 1906-1926. TABLE IV1 Counties

1906

1926

$916

Bergen Essex Hudson Morris Passaic Sussex Union

11,496 99,680 138,546 11,469 44,924 480 23,945

33,319 156,824 260,003 14,328 87,702 1,700 50,115

72,400 211,981 281,913 18,936 97,272 2,220 76,014

Total

330,540

603,991

760,736

State

441,432

790,764

1,055,998

Consequently on December 10, 1937 Pope Pius XI appointed Bishop Walsh, archbishop of Newark.

On April 27, 1938 in one

of the most colorful and ewe-inspiring ceremonies ever held in the state of New Jersey, he was installed in his newly created Archespiscopal See at the Sacred Heart Cathedral. On May 1, 1938 the Most Reverend William A. Griffin, D.D., was

1 Dnited States Religious Census. 2 Catholic Directory. 1906, 1916, 1926.

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consecrated auxiliary to the archbishop of Newark.

Upon

Bishop Griffin’s appointment to the Trenton See in 1940, the Eight Reverend Thomas A. Boland was installed as auxiliary to the archbishop of Newark on July 25, 1940.

On December

16, 1937 Paterson was made a diocese comprising the northern counties of Morris, Passaic and Sussex and on April 28, 1938, Most Reverend Thomas McLaughlin was installed as the first bishop of the Paterson Diocese.^" On May 4, 1938 Rev. Bartholo­ mew J. Eustace was installed first bishop of Camden.

This

latter diocese took from the original Trenton See the southermost counties of the state, viz., Atlantic, Camden, Cape May, p Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem." As a result of this division the present Archdiocese of Newark contains only four of the original twenty-one counties, Bergen, Essex, Hudson and Union, having an area of 541 square miles and a Catholic population of 645,000 distributed among 185 churches and ministered to by 666pprie&fs.^ The need for the creation of an archdiocese is evident from a perusal of the follov/ing table which depicts the growth of the Newark Diocese from 1881 to 1937, the years in which it contained the Paterson Diocese.

1 Ibid. 2 Cf., map, frontispiece. 3 Catholic Directory. 1939, p. 126. L

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TABLE V 1

1SB2 Catholic Population Priests Churches Parochial Schools Pupils

145,000 131 83 54 18,396

1937

2

751,000 760 241 166 75,230

In this chapter there has been presented some of the high lights in the growth of Catholicism in the state of New Jersey together with an account of the evolution of the Archdiocese of Newark.

It has not been intended that this

presentation be complete but merely to show that the Catho­ lic Church and school system were slow in developing during the years prior to 1881, and since then experienced a period of rapid growth down to the present.

Chapter four will trace

the educational accomplishments of the Church in New Jersey prior to 1853 when the state became the Diocese of Nev/ark*

1 Catholic Directory. 1882, p. 390. 2 Catholic Directory, 1937, p . 435. L

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CHAPTER IV CATHOLIC ELEMENTARY EDUCATION PRIOR TO 1863 In the previous chapter explanations were presented to account for the slow growth of the Church in New Jersey prior to its becoming a diocese.

The difficulties encounter­

ed during the English control of the colony were by no means alleviated during the formative years following the War for Independence and article nineteen of the Jersey constitution was not amicable to Catholic participation in affairs of the state.

Consequently, the Catholic parochial school, like the

Church itself, was given little encouragement from any but its own members.

However, just as the Church through the

labors of her early missionaries in the Jersey colony became an institution to be reckoned with, so too, the parochial school, a little slower to be sure, nevertheless, found a foothold.

As the years progressed and the attitude of the

public became less intolerant, these early endeavors took firmer root so that

today the fruits of these labors are

to be seen in. every community in the diocese.

How this

remarkable growth took place is the subject of this chapter. Just when the first group of Catholic children were called together for elementary instruction in Hev/ Jersey is impossible to determine.

The lack of information concerning

this first beginning is due, not so much to the fact that such

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early records may have been lost or remained uncovered, but more likely because there were no such records written per­ taining to Catholic elementary education during the early part of the nineteenth century.

Consider, for a moment, the

attitude toward Catholics during this period.

If a person

professed that he conducted a school for Catholic children he was liable to severe punishment, just as were the parents of the children.

1

Under such conditions it is reasonable to

assume that no priest or parent would deliberately put him­ self in jeopardy by leaving records concerning places and numbers of children who received instruction in religion and elementary subjects.

In 1704 a law was passed to the effect

that: ....if any person professing to be of the Church of Rome should keep school, or take upon themselves the education, government, or boarding of youth, at any place in the province, upon conviction such offenders should be transported to England to undergo the penalties provided there by Statutes 11 and 13, William 111, 1for further preventing of the growth of Popery.f2 Anticipating what actually did happen, that Catholics would evade the law prohibiting their establishing schools or employing tutors of their own faith, the government tried to constrain them by another law.

By this latter act of

1 James Burns, The Catholic School System in the United States. p. 107. [pOO.

^