CHICAGO
654
CHICAGO
1844. On his arrival in Chicago, the 5th of May fol-
lowing, he found there less than twenty priests. Of
these only two were in Chicago, and they were of the
number loaned to the mission by Bishop Brute.
Hardly a month after Bishop Quarter's arrival they
were recalled to Vincennes. But one church, St.
Mary's, was in the city limits at the time. The new
building commenced by Father St. Palais was unfin-
ished, and the parish moreover was encumbered with
a debt of nearly five thousand dollars. This, owing
to their poverty, the parishioners were unable to
liquidate. It is eloquent of the unselfish zeal of the
bishop and his brother that out of their private means
they paid off all the indebtedness of the parish. The
demand for the services of more priests was in large
measure soon met. Only two years after his arrival
Bishop Quarter was able to summon to a diocesan
synod thirty-two clergymen. To the credit of his
administration it must be noted that he established
the first theological conferences held in America.
Thirty days after his arrival in Chicago, Bishop Quarter opened a college. Two professors, Rev. Jeremiah Kinsella and Rev. B. R. McGorsk, consti- tuted the teaching corps of this institution in the be- ginning, while six young men made up its student body. Not content with a college, however, the bishop projected a university. In December, 1844, a charter was granted for the University of St. Mary's of the Lake, and on the 4th of July, 1846, the new in- stitution, the first of its kind to appear in the city of Chicago, was ready to receive students. To provide for the religious instruction of young ladies, Bishop Quarter secured the services of five Sisters of Mercy. These, with Sister Mary Francis Ward, arrived in Chicago from Pittsburg, 23 September, 1846. The work of this religious community, begun in the first days of the Chicago diocese, has kept pace with the city's development. It was due principally to Bishop Quarter that the legislature of the State of Illinois passed in 1S45 the bill according to which the Bishop of Chicago was incorporated as a "corporation sole", with power to "hold real and other property in trust for religious purposes ". Bishop Quarter died 10 April, 1848. The four years of his episcopacy were years of foresight, zeal, and energy, fraught with lasting blessings for the Diocese of Chicago.
Second Bishop. — The successor of Bishop Quarter was a Jesuit, James Oliver Van de Velde, born 3 April. 1795, near Tearmonde in Belgium. His early education was obtained from a French priest, who had escaped to Belgium during the time of the French Revolution. Young Van de Velde had a marked talent for languages and, while a professor of languages in Hi- Seminary of Mechlin, hearing the apostolic Father Nerinckx appeal for priests for the American missions, he decided to go to the New World, where he entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus at Georgetown. In 1827 he was ordained priest in the Cathedral of Baltimore. After some years of mis- sionary work in Maryland, Father Van de Velde was made professor of rhetoric and mathematics in the Jesuit ( 'ollege at St. Louis. He was rector of this in- stitution in 1820, and a year later was sent to repre- sent the Missouri province a! a general congregation of the order held in Pome. Consecrated Bishop of Chicago in St. Francis Xavier's Church, St. Louis. 11 February, 184!), he was installed in his see 1 April following. At this time there were in the diocese forty pnests and fifty-six churches. In the city of
< IhicagO itself there were four churches: the cathedral of St. Mary; St. Patrick's, founded in 1846 by I\Yv.
Walter ,1. Quarter; St. Peter's (German), started by I.Vv John Jung; and St. Joseph's (German), the lust
pastor of which was the Father Jung above men- tioned. Bishop Van de Velde in 1849 erected, on Wabash \ venue between Jackson and Van Buren Streets, an orphan asylum, to shelter the little ones
bereft of their parents through the cholera that
visited the city that year. His name is to be asso-
ciated too with the General Hospital of the Lake,
founded at this tune by the faculty of Rush Medical
College, but in which, with the permission of the
bishop, the Sisters of Mercy took care of the sick.
Bishop Van de Velde found the climate of Chicago
detrimental to his health, and tendered his resigna-
tion to the Holy See. This was at first refused;
finally, however, he was transferred to the diocese of
Natchez, where, after two years, he died a victim of
yellow fever.
Third Bishop. — The third Bishop of Chicago was the Right Rev. Anthony O'Regan, b. at Lavalleyroe, County Mayo, Ireland, in 1809. After completing his studies at Maynooth College he was ordained priest November, 1833, and for ten years was professor of Scripture, Hebrew, and dogmatic theology at St. Jarlath's College, Tuam, of which institution he later became president. He then accepted the invitation of Archbishop Kendrick to become the head of the theological seminary of St. Louis, U. S. A. It was from this post that he was summoned to occupy the See of Chicago. Consecrated in St. Louis, 25 July, 1 854, he was installed in St. Mary's Cathedral the third of September following. Bishop O'Regan invited the Jesuits to establish themselves in his diocese. One of those sent in response to this call was the Rev. Arnold Damen, who arrived in Chicago in May, 1857, and though offered the pastorate of the Church of the Holy Name, preferred instead to found a parish out upon (what then appeared) an uninhabitable prairie. Undaunted by obstacles, he persevered until a monu- ment to his zeal appeared in the capacious edifice of the church of the Holy Family. But Father Damen's work was not circumscribed by the limits of a single parish. No quarter of the diocese but could testify to his zeal as a missionary. Gifted with a power of rugged eloquence, Father Damen was particularly effective as a preacher to the masses. Adjoining the Holy Family Church is St. Ignatius' College, begun in 1869. For years it was the only Catholic institution of its kind in the city of Chicago, and its alumni are counted in large numbers not only among the priests of the archdiocese but among the repres?ntatives of all the higher walks of civic life. In 1857 Bishop O'Regan was relieved of a portion of his responsibility by the erection of the new See of Alton. However, he w r as anxious to resign the high office which in the beginning he had sought to escape. His administra- tion had met with severe complaint on the part of some of his clergy. And so, after two years and a half in the administration of his diocese, he set out for Rome to resign his charge. His resignation (3 May. 1858) was accepted, and he was appointed titular Bishop of Dora 25 June, 1S5S. He died in London, 13 November, 1866, having never returned to America.
Fourth Bishop. — The Right Rev. James Duggan, who had acted as administrator of the diocese. was then appointed its bishop. He was born at May- nooth, County Kildare, Ireland, 22 May, 1S25, and emigrated, in ls)2, to St. Louis, 1". S. A., where he was ordained priest 29 May, 1847. In 1S57 he was appointed auxiliary to Archbishop Kendrick, and consecrated titular Bishop of Antigone. Two years later he was transferred to the vacant see of Chicago. From this is dated a new era in the life of Catholic
Chicago. Tin' parochial school system was organ- ized, and charitable institutions sprang up on all sides. Iii I m'.II the EtedemptOristS, and in the following year the Benedictines, established foundations among the
Germans of the North Side. The Religious o
Sacred Heart opened the institution that has since rendered high service in the cause of Catholic educa- tion. Bishop Duggan chose as his vicar-general the Rev. Dennis Dunne, pastor of St. Patrick's, a priest
