HARTFORD
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HARTFORD
theme in various European literatures still exist, but it
is in Middle English dramatic literature that we find the
fullest and most dramatic development of the subject.
The earliest specimen extant of the English religious
drama is upon the Harrowing of Hell, and the four
great cycles of English mystery plays each devote to it
a separate scene. It is found also in the ancient
Cornish plays. These medieval versions of the story,
while ultimately based upon the New Testament and
the Fathers, have yet, in their details, been found to
proceed from the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus,
the literary form of a part of which is said to date back
to the second or third century. In its Latin form
this "gospel" was known in England from a very
early time; Bede and other Old English writers are
said to show intimate acquaintance with it. English
translations were made of it in the Middle Ages, and in
the long Middle English poem known as "Cursor
Mundi " a paraphrase of it is found.
Early English Text .Society. The Middle English Harrow- ing of Hell and Gospel of Nieodemus, ed. Hulme (Lomion, 1908), in which will be found a full bibliography of the whole subject.
K. M. Waeeen.
Hartford, Diocese of, established by Gregory XVI, 18 Sept., 1843. When erected it embraced the States of Connecticut and Rhode Island. As Provi- dence was the most considerable city, the Bishop of Hartford resided there until 1872, when a new see was erected (see Providence, Diocese of). As now constituted, the Diocese of Hartford is coextensive with the State of Connecticut. It has an area of aliout five thousand square miles and a Catholic popu- lation of 37.5,000, or one-third of the total population of Connecticut.
Eakly Histoey. — The vestiges of Catholic trav- ellers and sojourners in the territory now embraced by the Diocese of Hartford are numerous. Irish immi- grants were scattered throughout the colony, and they rendered notable service during the Pequot war of 1637. Their movements are chronicled in the gov- ernorship of Theophilus Eaton (1639-.57). Their numbers became considerably augmented during the century which followed. In the War of Independence they took an important part, but they were deprived of the consolations of their religion. Throughout the Colonial period Spanish, Portuguese, and French sail- ors and adventurers landed at New London and the other ports of the State, and some remained to spend their lives and lose their faith among those by whom the Catholic Church was hated or feared. In the year 1756 four hundred Acadians were scattered through- out the State, but, bereft of priests, and plunged into a hostile atmosphere, they and their descendants made shipwreck of the faith so much cherished by their ancestors. Now and again priests visited Connecti- cut, coming either as emis.saries or chaplains to the French troops, but they took no part in the upbuilding of the future diocese. The attitude of the white set- tlers was decidedly hostile to the Catholic Church, and the few confessors who persevered are lost in oblivion. Bishop Cheverus, of Boston (1810-23), and Bishop Fenwick, his successor, made occasional missionary journeys to Connecticut. At the request of the latter, the Rev. R. D. Woodley, of Providence, visited and ministered to the Catholics of the section during the earlier months of 1828. In August of that year the Rev. Bernard O'Cavanaugh was appointed first resi- dent priest of the present Diocese of Hartford. His parish comprised the State of Connecticut, and he made Hartford his home. July, 1829, was a memo- rable month for the Catholics of the future diocese. On the 10th of that month Bishop Fenwick came to Hartford; on the 11th the first number of the "Catholic Press" appeared; on the evening of that day the visiting prelate preached to a fine concourse of people, and before departing answered an attack made upon the Catholics by the " Episcopalian Watch-
man". He also gave directions for the purchase of
the old Episcopalian church which was subsequently
moved to Talcott Street. Bishop Fenwick was
plea.sed with the visit and wrote in his journal:
"Splendid prospects for religion in Hartford ". Father
O'Cavanaugh laboured alone in Hartford until 1 July,
1830, when he was joined by the Rev. James Fitton. Father Fitton continued to serve in Connecticut, sometimes alone and sometimes with one or two as- sistants, for SLX years. On the erection of the diocese in 1843, there were but three resident priests in Con- necticut. Hartford and New Haven had pastors, but Bridgeport was attended from the latter place. Father Fitton ministered to the Catholics in New London, going to them from Worcester, where he was then stationed.
Bishops of Hartford. — (1) Willi.ui Tyler was born at Derby, Vt., .5 June, 1806. He was from a family of converts. His parents, with their seven children, like the family of his maternal cousin, the Rev. Virgil Barber, renounced Protestantism for the Catholic Church, the future bishop embracing the Faith in his sixteenth year. Having completed his classical course at Mr. Barber's academy at Claremont, N. H., young Tyler became a member of the household of Bishop Fenwick in 1826. He was ordained three years later, and immediately distinguished himself for zeal on the missions of Massachu.setts and Maine. He held the office of Vicar-General of Boston until his promotion to the Bishopric of Hartford. He was con.secrated 17 March, 1844, and installed at Holy Trinity Church 14 April. At his advent the entire diocese contained 9937 Catholics, of whom only 4817 resided in Connecticut. At that time Hartford was a city of 13,000 inhabitants, and of these only 600 were adult Catholics. Providence, however, could boast of 23,000 inhabitants, 2000 of wb^m were adherents of the Catholic Faith. The bishop accordingly peti- tioned Rome to move his see from Hartford to Provi- dence, where he took up his residence in June, 1844. So poor was the Diocese of Hartford at its inception that Bishop Kendrick of Philadelphia, in writing to the rector of the Irish College at Rome, was con- strained to make the following complaint: "The unfortunate haste with which Little Rock and Hart- ford were made sees in a former council should make us pause when a new see is to be erected". The chief anxiety of the new bishop was to provide priests and care for the instruction of the young. His episcopal residence was a mere shanty, "which could be easily drawn by oxen from one end of Providence to the other". Bishop Tyler appealed successfully for priests to All Hallows College, Dublin; he likewise received substantial aid from the Society for the Prop- agation of the Faith, Lyons, France, and from The Leopold Society, Vienna. He attended the Seventh Provincial Council of Baltimore which convened 5 May, 1849. Never robust, his health was broken by consumption, and he petitioned the Fathers of the council to accept his resignation. They refused to accede to his wishes, but requested the Holy See to grant him a coadjutor in the person of the Very Rev. Bernard O'Reilly, Vicar-General of the Diocese of Buffalo. But it was a successor and not a coadjutor that the good bishop needed, for he was called to his reward 18 July, 1849. His episcopate covered five years. Bishop Fitzpatrick characterized him as "a man of saintly life consumed with true sacerdotal zeal".
(2) Bernard O'Reilly was a native of Columkille, County Longford, Ireland, where he was born in 1803. He made his classical studies before coming to Amer- ica, and completed his course of theology at ,St. Mary's, Baltimore. He was ordained in New York, 13 Oct.,
1831. He began his priestly life in the metropolis, the city of Brooklyn being his out-mi.ssion. The future l)ishop distinguished him-iolf by devoted heroism
