NEW YORK
23
NEW YORK
Dr. Connolly was not wanting in firmness, but the
pressing needs of the times, forcing an apparent con-
cession to the established order of tilings, subjected
him to much difficulty and many humiliations. He
was a missionary priest rather than a bishop, as he
wrote Cardinal Litta, Prefect of Propaganda, in Feb-
ruary, ISIS, but he discharged all his laborious duties
with humility and earnest zeal. His diary further
notes that he told the cardinal: "I found here about
13,000 Catholics. . . . At present there are about 16,-
000 mostly Irish; at least 10,000 Irish Cathohcs ar-
rived at New York only within these last three years.
They spread through all the other states of this con-
federacy, and make their religion known everywhere.
Bishops ought to be granted to whatever here is will-
ing to erect a Cathedral, and petition for a bishop.
. . . The present dioceses are quite too extensive.
Our Cathedral owes $53,000 borrowed to build it. . . .
This burden hinders us from supporting a sufficient
number of priests, or from thinking to erect a semi-
nary. The American youth have an invincible re-
pugnance to the ecclesiastical state."
He made a \nsitation of the diocese, no mean accom- plishment at that time; provided churches for the peo pie in Brooklyn, Buffalo, Albany, Utiea md Pater- son; introduced the Sisters of Charit\ st utr 1 the orphan asylum, and encouraged the openmg it p iii h schools. He died at liis residence, 512 Bioi 1\\ i\ > Feb., 1825, worn out by his labours and iii\i( tn Notable men of this period were Fxthers Muhi 1 O'Gorman and Richard Bulger — the lattir tin fii t priest ordained in Xew York (1820) — Chxiks IJ Ffrench, John Power, John Farnan, Ihonns C L( \ ins, Philip Larisey and John Shannahan There v. i r several distinguished converts, including Molh i Seton, founder of tiic American branch of tli ^i t i of Charity; tlic Hiv. \irgil Barber and his wil il Rev. John Richards, the Rev. George K(«l \ tli Rev. George E. Ironside. Keating Lawson md othcis Two years elapsed before the next bishop v, is \p- pointed, and the Rev. Dr. John Power during tint period governed the diocese as adinini trit n Brook lyn's first church was organized durin^ tin timr It was during Bishop Connnlly's administration also, that New York's first Catholic paper "The Truth Teller" was started, on 2 April, 1825.
C. — The choice of the Holy See for the third bishop was the Rev. Dr. John Dubois, president of Mount St. Mary's College, Emmitsburg (see Dubois, John), and he was consecrated at Baltimore, 29 October, 1826. The Rev. William Taylor, a convert who had come from Cork, Ireland, in June, 1818, at the sugges- tion of Bishop England of Charleston, endeavoured to be himself made bishop, going to Rome in Jan- uary, 1820, for that purpose. This visit to Rome being fruitless, Taylor went to Boston, where he remained several years with Bishop Cheverus, re- turning to New York when that prelate was trans- ferred to France. He was exceedingly popular with non-Catholics because of his liberality. He preached the sermon at the consecration of Bishop Dubois and used the occasion to expatiate on what he called "dis- astrous experiences which resulted to religion from injudicious appointments", hinting at coming trouble for the bishop in New York. He left New York simul- taneously with the arrival of the bishop there, and sailed for France, where his old friend Mgr Cheverus, then Archbishop of Bordeaux, received him. He died suddenly, while preaching in the Irish college, Paris, in 1828.
None of the predicted disturbances happened when Bishop Dubois took possession of his see, though the abuse of trusteeism, grown more and more insolent and unmanageable by toleration, hampered his efforts from the very start. Fanaticism w.as aroused among the Protestant sects, alarmed at the numerical in- crease of the Church through the immigration at-
tracted by the commercial growth of the State. But in
spite of all, he went on bravely visiting all parts of
the State, building and encouraging the building of
churches wherever they were needed, obtaining aid
from Rome and from the charitable in Europe. He
found but two churches in the city when he came; to
these he added six others and multiplied for his flock
the facilities for practising their religion, his constant
endeavour being to give his people priests, churches,
and schools. With the trustees in New York City
and in Buffalo he had many sad experiences, but he
unflinchingly upheld his constituted authority. In
1834 he organized, with the Rev. John Raffeiner as
pastor, the first German Catholic congregation in New
York in a small disused Baptist church at Pitt and
De Lancey Streets, which became the church of St.
Nicholas. It was about this time, too, that a public
controversy over Catholic doctrine raged between the
Calvinist ministers. Rev. John Breckenridge and Rev.
WUUam Brownlee, and the \iciv-'_'i'!i>M-il, H>'v. Dr.
Fifth .wenue aad Fiftietli Street. Ne
preaent Cathedr;
Power, assisted by Fathers Varela, Levins, and Schnel- ler. It was followed by the fanatical attack on Cat ho- hc reUgious communities known as "The Awful Dis- closures of Maria Monk". Dr. Dubois "had then reached the age of seventy and, though still a vigorous combatant when necessary, was disinclined to religious controversy. Perhaps he did not understand the country and the people as well as the younger men who had grown up in America; perhaps he was de- terred by his memories of the French Revolution" (Herbermann, "Hist. Records and Studies", I, Pt. 2, 333).
At length the many burdens and anxieties of his charge told on the bishop, and he asked for a coadju- tor, naming the Right Rev. P. F. Kenrick, Coadjutor of Philadelphia, as his first choice, and the Rev. Thomas F. Mulledy, S.J.. and the Rev. John Hughes, of Philadelphia, as alternates. Father Hughes, of Philadelphia, who had been his pupil at Emmitsburg, was selected and consecratcil titular Bishop of Basileo, 7 January, 18:38. His youth and vigour soon put. new life into the affairs of the Church in New York, and were especially efficient in meeting the aggn'ssions of the lay trustees. Bishop Hughes had fully realized the dangers of the system as shown in IMiiladrlphia, and he lost no time in meeting and crushing it in New York. Bishop Dubois, through ill health, had to re- linquish the details of his charge more and more to his youthful assistant, v/Uohv. activity he warmly wel- comed. Several attacks of paralysis warned him to give up the management ot-the diocese. His remain-
