1 Chapter 6: St. Francis of Assisi Parish in the 1920S. St. Francis of Assisi Parish Sacramento: the Diocese Sacramento: City
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Chapter 6: St. Francis of Assisi Parish in the 1920s. St. Francis of Assisi Parish Sacramento: the Diocese Sacramento: City and County Anti-Catholicism in Sacramento: The Ku Klux Klan, Tom Connelly and “The Catholic Herald,” Prohibition October 24, 1929 & the coming of the Great Depression St. Francis of Assisi Parish – 1930 St. Francis of Assisi Parish During the 1920s St. Francis of Assisi Parish enjoyed the services of five pastors; Fr. Humilis Wiese, Fr. Felix Raab, Fr. Ildephonse Moser, Fr. Solanus Crowley, and Fr. Clement Berberich. Born in 1881, Fr. Humilis Weiss served as pastor of St. Francis for five years, from 1917-1922. Fr. Humillis took his Franciscan vows in 1902 and was ordained in 1907. He died in 1960 and is buried in the mausoleum at Mission Santa Barbara.1 Fr. Felix Raab served two terms as pastor of St. Francis, the first from 1912 to 1914, the second from 1922 to 1923. Fr. Felix was born in Germany in 1871 and immigrated to the United States at the age of fourteen. He professed his Franciscan vows in 1891 at Teutopolis, Illinois as a member of the Sacred Heart Province and was ordained in 1897. He died in residence at St. Elizabeth’s, in Oakland, California on Holy Thursday 1963. He is buried at St. Mary’s Cemetery, Oakland. 1 On Sunday morning, January 29, 1922 St. Francis of Assisi parishioners awoke to a light snow storm. As they approached the church for Sunday Mass they walked through the still falling snow to see the church dusted in a mantle of white. Fr. Ildephonse Moser served as pastor of St. Francis from 1923–1924, where, among other duties, he supervised the construction of the school. The new St. Francis School at 25th and K Streets was dedicated in 1924. Of thoroughly modern design the building cost $121,000. Fr. Ildephonse was born in 1876. He professed his Franciscan vows in 1896 and was ordained in 1902. He died at St. Joseph’s Hospital, San Francisco in 1951 and is buried at St. Mary’s Cemetery, Oakland. Fr. Solanus Crowley served as pastor of St. Francis parish from 1924 to 1928. Under his supervision the new friary (1925), school gymnasium and auditorium were completed (1926). Born in 1887, Fr. Solanus professed his Franciscan vows in 1909 and was ordained in 1918. Fr. Solanus died unexpectedly on November 28, 1944 at the St. Francis friary he had helped build. He was fifty- seven years old and the previous evening he had been a principal speaker at the banquet celebrating the parish’s Golden Jubilee.2 2 On Thursday Christmas Eve 1925 St. Francis of Assisi parish celebrated a Midnight Solemn High Mass with the choir signing “Holy Night,” “Kyrie Eleison,” “Gloria in Excelsis Deo,” “Agnus Dei,” and “Adeste Fideles,” among other pieces. The music for the Christmas Day 8:30 AM Low Mass was provided by the Children’s Choir who sang Christmas hymns.3 In January 1927 St. Francis of Assisi Parish recorded a census of 3,003 individuals and 1,114 families, which included 1,433 males and 1,570 females. The school enrolled four hundred and fifty- two students – two hundred and thirty-four boys, and two hundred and eighteen girls. By all measures it was a thriving parish.4 Fr. Clement Berberich served as St. Francis of Assisi pastor from 1928 to 1931. Fr. Clement was born in San Francisco in 1881; he professed his Franciscan vows at Santa Barbara in 1904, and was ordained in 1909. He died at St. Joseph Hospital in San Francisco in 1953 at the age of seventy-one. He is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery, San Francisco. During Fr. Clement’s pastorate Anton Dorndorf was hired in 1929 as musical director of both St. Francis of Assisi Parish church and school. Mr. Dorndorf also served as director of the Turner Harmonie for over forty years ending only with his death in 1970.5 Anton Dorndorf became Sacramento’s Music Meister. At St. Francis he taught humanities and music classes in the school, conducted music for regular weekly masses and the annual Christmas and Palm Sunday masses featuring full orchestra and choruses. In addition, he served as choral instructor at St. Joseph’s Academy and Christian Brothers High School, music director at Bishop Armstrong and Loretto High Schools, and founder and director of the Elks Lodge 3 mixed choir. During the 1950s and 1960s he conducted large mixed choirs at Christ the King and Mary’s Hour Rallies. The new Turn Verein hall at 3349 J Street was dedicated in 1926. Thus, when Anton Dorndorf was hired in 1929, he traveled less than eight blocks from St. Francis of Assisi church to his work with the Turner Harmonie. Sacramento: The Diocese In December 1920, Patrick J. Keane was appointed co- adujutor to Bishop Thomas Grace. Following Bishop Grace’s death on December 27, 1921, Patrick J. Keane was appointed Sacramento’s third bishop in March 1922. Under Bishop Keane Immaculate Conception parish in Oak Park, established in 1909, expanded its facilities, and two new parishes were established: St. Joseph’s in 1924 in North Sacramento and Sacred Heart (St. Stephens) in 1926 in East Sacramento. Grace Day Home, which had been dedicated by Bishop Grace in December 1920, became the first licensed day-care center in California in 1922. In 1923 when St. Stephens at 3rd and O Streets closed the students and teachers were transferred to Grace Day Home. Holy Guardian Angels school opened in 1923 at 730 S Street – in 1930 it enrolled three hundred and forty students. In 1924 the new Christian Brothers high school opened at 21st and Y Streets. In 1926 St. Joseph’s Academy dedicated their new elementary school. 12) Mercy Hospital – Diocese of Sacramento Archives Mater Misericordiae Hospital opened at 40th and J Streets in 1925. It had a capacity for one hundred and fifty-five beds and thirty-five bassinets. It also housed the nursing school. In 1934 the name was formally changed to Mercy Hospital.6 4 In 1926 a gym was added to Christian Brothers High School at 21st and Y Streets. Also in 1926, an elementary school was dedicated at St. Joseph’s Academy. In 1930 St. Joseph’s Academy enrolled five hundred and twelve girls. By 1926 Sacramento had seven parishes – The Cathedral, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Mary’s, Immaculate Conception, St. Elizabeth’s, St. Joseph’s and Sacred Heart. Sacred Heart was established in 1926 as St. Stephens, but renamed “Sacred Heart of Jesus” in 1929. In 1929 the diocese opened St. Mary’s Cemetery at 65th Street and 21st Avenue to augment the old St. Joseph Cemetery on 21st Street, just south of Broadway. The St. Mary’s mausoleum opened in 1934. Sacramento’s third bishop, the Rev. Patrick Keane died on September 1, 1928. On March 4, 1929 Robert Armstrong was appointed Sacramento’s fourth bishop. He would serve almost twenty-eight years until his death in January 1957. In 1930 the Diocese of Sacramento comprised the same area it had in 1920: 53,400 square miles in California, and 38,162 square miles in Nevada, for a total of 91,562 square miles. In 1930 the diocese had ninety-two priests - an increase of twenty-two since 1920. In 1930 the diocese had one hundred and thirty-three churches - an increase of twenty-six since 1920. There were 2,737 Catholic students in the diocese, and the total number of youth under Catholic care stood at 3,044 - an increase of four hundred and thirty-eight since 1920, comprising a seventeen per cent increase. The total Catholic population of the diocese stood at 60,315, an increase of nine and a half per cent since 1920.7 Growth in the Diocese of Sacramento, in the number of churches, priests, schools, parishioners and students, reflected the general growth and prosperity of Sacramento City and County in the 1920s. Sacramento: City and County Standing on the front steps of the church in 1930 the St. Francis of Assisi parishioner would see significant cultural and architectural additions to the 5 neighborhood. The Eastern Star Temple at 2719 K Streets was dedicated in 1928. Behind Sutter’s Fort rose the six-story Sutter Hospital facing L Street on the corner of 28th Street, which opened in 1923. The hospital was organized by a consortium of Sacramento physicians, whose experience in the 1918–1919 influenza epidemic convinced them that the city needed more hospital beds. About 4,500 cases of flu were reported; four hundred and seventy-nine Sacramentans lost their lives. At the height of the epidemic the City Library served as a hospital, and prostitutes “were gratefully accepted to do volunteer nursing.”8 The Masonic Auditorium stood at the southwest corner of 28th and L Streets and next to it the Tuesday Club at 2722 L Street. The Pioneer Congregational Church at 2700 L Street was dedicated in 1926. In 1930 the city’s population stood at 93,750 - an addition of 27,842 over 1920 and a forty-two percent increase. City residents comprised sixty-six per cent of the county’s population. In 1930 the county’s population stood at 48,249 - an addition of 23,128 over 1920 and a ninety-two percent increase. County resident’s comprised thirty- four percent of the county population, but they were growing at a far faster rate than city residents. The total Sacramento city/county population in 1930 was 141,999 - an addition of 50,790 over 1920 and a thirty-six per cent increase.