ROCHESTER
103
ROCHESTER
Italian, Lithuanian, and Ruthenian Catholics, taxed
the resources at the disposal of Bishop McQuaid,
who was anxious throughout his entire episcopate to
supply the people with churches and priests of their
own nationality and language, whenever they were
willing and able to support them. The parishes were
not allowed to become unwieldy, but were increased
in number to meet the needs and convenience of the
faithful. The problem of spiritual ministration to
Catholics dwelling at watering-places in the diocese
in the summer found a good solution in the erection
of neat summer chapels.
Catholic Education. — Elementary. — The common schools in the Diocese of Rochester at the time of its creation professed to be non-sectarian. Bishop McQuaid felt that they were very dangerous to the Catholic (ihild which really finds its church in the school. He sought a remedy in a vigorous agitation for the rights of Catholic i)arents, contributing to the support of the public school system by their taxes, to receive public money for the maintenance of schools, in which their children could be educated with that "amount and description of religious in- struction" which conscience tells them is good, expedient, necessary. The failure of the State to remedy the injustice was met with the firm command of the bishop which was put into execution as soon as possil)l(' throughout the diocese: "Build school- houses 1 hen for the religious education of your children as the best i)rotest against a system of education from which religion has been excluded by law." At Rochester in 1868, there were 2056 children in the parochial schools of the five CJerman churches, and 441 children in the schools attached to the Churches of St. Patri(;k and St. Mary. Both of these had a select or pay school and a free, parish, or poor school, admitting invidious distinctions very distasteful to the new bishop.
Outside of Rochester schools were attached to a few churches of the diocese, but with a very small attendance. These were the humble beginnings of the admirable parochial school S3'st(>m, which em- braces to-day practically all the Catholic children of the school age in the diocese. Not all the Catholic schools were brought to their present high degree of efficiency at once; it took many years and persistent effort to accomplish this work. The brot hei-s gradually yielded their places to the sisters, who now teach all the children in the Catholic .schools, both boys and girls. Bishoj) McQuaid spared no pains in de- veloping good teach(>rs in his own order of the Sisters of St. Joseph, for whom a normal training school was established. Occasional "teachers' institutes" or- ganized for the benefit of these sisterhoods in Roches- ter prepared the way for the annual conference held by the parochial teachers in the ei)iscopal city since 1904, at which the various orders meet to discuss educational problems and to perfect in every possible way the parochial school system.
As early as 1855 the Ladies of the Sacred Heart transferred their convent in Buffalo to Rochester as a more central point for their academy. About the same time the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canandaigua opened St. Mary's academy for young ladies, now Nazareth Academy attached to the new mother- house of the order in Rochester. Advanced courses were also introduced in 1903 into the Cathedral school under the (lircft ion of Bishoj) Hickey, who, in 190G, converted the old Cathedral Hall into a high school, classical and commercial, open to both girls and boys.
Ecclesiastical. — (a) Preparatory. — Believing that it was hard for a boy to become a worthy priest without first leading the normal life of the family in the world. Bishop McQuaid planned his prepara- tory ecclesiastical seminary as a free day-school and not a boarding-school, the students living at home
under the care of their parents, or in a boarding-
house approved by the superiors. Within two years
after the erection of the diocese, this plan was
realized. On his return from the Vatican Coun(;il
in 1870, St. Andrew's Preparatory Seminary was
opened in a small building to the rear of the episcopal
residence. It has already given nearly 175 priests
to the diocese of Rochester. The rule has been
made to adopt no one in this diocese who has not
spent at least two years in St. Andrew's Seminary.
Through the generosity of Mgr. H. De Regge and
some others, Bishop McQuaid was enabled to erect
a new building in 1880 and to enlarge it in 1889;
and in 1904 the younger priests of the diocese fur-
nished him with funds to erect a fire-proof structure
with fitting accommodations for the work of the
school.
(b) Theological. — For many years the ecclesiastical students of the Diocese of Rochester were sent mainly to the provincial seminary at Troy or to Rome and Innsbruck in Europe for their theological education. In 1879 Bishop McQuaid put aside a small legacy be- queathed him as a nucleus of a fund for the erection of suitable buildings for a diocesan seminary. Al- though the fund grew slowly, the bishop would not lay the first stone until nearly all the money needed for the work was in hand, nor would he open the semi- nary for students unt il the buildings were completed and paid for, and at least four professorships endowed. In April, 1887, ho was able to purchase a site on the bank of the Genesee River gorge, only three miles from the cathedral. Four years later he began the erection of the buildings. In two years they were corni)leted, and in Se])tember, 1893, the .seminary was opened with 39 students. Applications for admission soon came from various parts of the United States and Canada. Four years after its establish- ment, it became evident that more room was neces- sary. A fund for an additional building was begun, and in 1900 the Hall of Philosophy and Science was erected with accommodations for class-rooms, library, and living rooms. In the following year Bishop McQuaid received a recognition for these labours from Leo XIII in a Brief granting to himself and his successors the power of conf(>rring degrcH's in Philoso- phy and Theology. The Hall of Tlu^ology was begun in 1907 and solemnly dedicatcnl 20 August, 1908. Th(! priests of the dioces(! founded the ninth endowed professorship in honour of their bishop's jubilee. An infirmary for sic^k students was in pro- cess of construction when Bishop McQuaid died.
Charities.— Though Catholic education was the primary concern of Bishop McQuaid in his diocese, ample provision for its charities was not lacking.
(1) As early a.s 1845 the R. C. A. Society of Rochester, already in existence some years, was incorporated, having for its object the support of the orphan girls in St. Patrick's Female Orphan Asylum at Rochester and the support of the orphan boys sent to the Boys' Asylum, either at Lancaster, New York, or at Lime Stone Hill near Buffalo. In 1SG4 St. Mary's Boys' Orphan Asylum was also established in Rochester under the care of the Sisters of St. Joseph, to whom also the Girls' Orphan Asylum was confided in 1870 on the resignation of the Sisters of Charity hitherto in charge. When the Auburn Orphan Asylum, in- cori)orated in 1853, was transferred to Rochester in 1910, all this work was then centralized in the epis- copal city. Here also special jirovision had been made for the German Catholic orphans since 1866, when St. Joseph's Orphan Asvlum was erected and placed under the care of the Sisters of Notre-Dame.
(2) In 1873 a short-lived attempt was made to sup- plement the work of St. Mary's Orphan Asylum by giving the boys of suitable age an opportunity of ac(iuu-ing a practical knowledge of farming or of a useful trade. A similar institution for girls flourished
