ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF THE CATHOLIC IN By CHARLES R. GELLNER There is a rather sharply defined be- requesting a German church, German ginning to the development of Catholic catechism and even a German bishop. German church life in Maryland. Be- An unfavorable reply was given him on fore 1840 not much of importance was each count. obviously preferred accomplished by the Catholics of Ger- to leave the solution of the difficulty in man extraction but in that year they Bishop Carroll's hands. Meanwhile, were committed to the charge of the Reuter returned to and with who initiated almost all his fellow-Germans established, October the constructive measures undertaken. 11, 1799, the first Catholic German Finally, since the Germans were en- church in Baltimore, at Park Avenue trusted to the Redemptorists, the growth and Saratoga Street, dedicated to St.. of the German parishes is intimately John the Evangelist.1 Unfortunately, associated with the history of that order the whole movement was schismatic.2 in Maryland, and more especially in The breach was healed, however, by Baltimore. By the time the parishes 1805 when the parish returned to the nurtured by the Redemptorists passed jurisdiction of the bishop and Father into the hands of diocesan or other Reuter was replaced by the Reverend clergy the Americanization of the Ger- F. X. Brosius.3 mans had far progressed and, when that The entire episode did not augur well occurs, we may, for the purposes of this for the felicitous blending of German study, sharply curtail the treatment of and American life. If the intentions of their recent history. Father Reuter and others of his ilk had The beginnings of the Maryland Ger- prevailed, the Catholic Germans would man Catholics were in general insignifi- have remained for a long time a sort cant and inauspicious. About a decade of self-contained ship in an alien sea after the founding of the episcopal see and the amalgamation of German and of Baltimore in 1789 a small band of American culture would have been in- Catholic Germans appeared in Balti- definitely delayed. Happily, the upshot more and was ministered to by Father was quite to the contrary. F. Caesar Reuter of St. Peter's; which The parish of St. John's under dio- was then the residence of Bishop John cesan priests—except for a short period Carroll and the headquarters of the dio- under a Jesuit—pursued an even tenor cese. Soon Father Reuter, against Bishop for the next forty years, gradually grow- Carroll's wishes, urged his compatriots ing in size. By 1840 the pastor, Rever- to erect a separate German church. The end Benedict Bayer, recognized that he bishop protested that there were too few was incapable of reaching all his par- Germans to support a pastor and that it ishioners (about 4,000) scattered over might interfere with his plans to erect the city. As a student in a cathedral. Disgruntled, Reuter carried he had learned to admire the members the matter to Rome, accusing Carroll of of the Congregation of the Most Holy trying to Americanize the Germans and Redeemer4 and he magnanimously de-

1 Peter Guilday, The Life and Times of John Carroll, II, 723-728 (New York, 1922). 2 Archdiocesan Archives, Baltimore, Reuter to Carroll, September 4, 1801; November 25, 1801; October 18, 1802. Documents 7A8, 7A9, 7A10. Profession of submission drawn up by Carroll to be signed by Reuter. Document 9G2. 3 Cf. St. Alphonsus' Church, Zur Erinnerung an die Centenar-Feier der St. Alphonsus Gemeinde (Baltimore, 1900). 4 Congregatio Sanctissimi Redemptoris. A society of priests and lay brothers, founded by St. at Scala, , 1732. The only permanent settlement the Redemptorists could make among Germans was in , whither applicants came from all over Germany for admission. The first German Redemptorists in America landed in 1832 and were stationed in the of Cin- cinnati. Cf. Editors of the "Katholische Volks-Zeitung," Zum Andenken an die Goldene Jubelfeier der Hochw. Herren Redemptoristen-Vater in Nord-Amerika (Baltimore, 1882). [37] termined to tender his resignation to the it was dedicated to the Immaculate Con- Most Reverend , the ception in honor of St. Alphonsus, the of Baltimore, with the founder of the Redemptorists, by Arch- understanding that the Redemptorists bishop Eccleston. The pure gothic should succeed him. The agreed structure, a landmark familiar to all on these terms: Baltimoreans, was a center of fervent "1. That they (the Redemptorists) German activity for many years until assume charge of the German Catholics the encroaching business section drove of our archiepiscopal city and of the the parishioners to other residential dis- whole diocese, employing for this pur- tricts. In 1917 St. Alphonsus' was pose a sufficient number of German turned over to the Lithuanians who still priests who are qualified and compe- have it.8 tent . Concerning St. Alphonsus' parish, "2. That on the same site on which the Catholic Magazine of St. John's Church now stands, they October, 1847, reported: "But what we build a larger church and a house large principally designed in this notice, was enough for the training of students or to call the attention of the public to the novices of the same society. new schoolhouse now in process of com- "3. That in the same place they build pletion, under the direction of the Re- a school for the Germans." 5 demptorists, in Saratoga Street, directly Thus at one stroke all the German opposite their beautiful church. . . . Catholics had been commended to the The school is so arranged as to accom- superintendence of one religious order. modate male and female scholars with Almost immediately the Redemptorists separate rooms, and already counts plunged into the task of rearing their large classes of German children of church, and school. While St. both sexes." John's was being razed, the congregation In other words, the first real advance had to find shelter elsewhere for its of the Catholic Germans in Baltimore liturgical functions. The Irish church was made with a strong stride, although of Old St. James' on Aisquith and Eager the road stretched far beyond the hori- Streets in Old Town (East Baltimore) zon and they had just begun to travel. was being vacated at this time for new Over in Old Town the Redemptorists quarters on Front Street (St. Vincent's) stimulated the feeble life of St. James' and Archbishop Eccleston kindly ex- parish, established a novitiate for tended the use of its facilities to the Re- newly arriving Redemptorist candidates demptorists and the flock of St. John's from Germany who were to finish their for the "perpetual use of the Ger- scholastic work in this country, and mans."6 Thus was started what was welcomed Father Joseph Helmpraecht later to prove the most flourishing and from Altoetting, Bavaria, who later be- intensely German parish in the entire came the Baltimore provincial of the archdiocese. A home was arranged at Redemptorists, and also Father John St. James' for the community and in Nepomucene Neumann, from Pitts- October of 1841 they began their min- burgh, who pronounced his final vows istry.7 at St. James', stayed there a while, and Meantime, action was seen across the later rose to be the fourth bishop of city on Park Avenue and Saratoga Philadelphia. Father Neumann is be- Street. Rev. Joseph Salzbacher, canon yond question the most distinguished of the cathedral of , laid the cor- Redemptorist ever to have offered Mass nerstone of the new church to replace in Baltimore, where he did noble work St. John's in 1842, and three years later throughout the city. His sanctity of life

5Document in the Redemptorist archives, Esopus, New York. Quoted by John F. Byrne, The Redemptorist Centenaries, 93-94 (Philadelphia, 1932). 6 Relations of Father Bayer. Quoted by Byrne, 95. 7 St. James' Church, Centenary, 1834-1934, 9-11 (Baltimore, 1934). 8 St. Alphonsus' Church, Zur Erinnerung an die Centenar-Feier der St. Alphonsus Gemeinde (Baltimore, 1900).

[38] became legendary among the Germans tions and at the same time suggested and at present his cause for beatification the training of a juvenile choir. is in process at Rome.8 Through the last testament of Mrs. The St. James' priests, house was, in Catherine Eberhart, a prominent mem- 1847, handed over to the school sisters ber of St. James' parish, three two-story of Notre Dame for a convent. There- houses on North Caroline Street near after, St. James' was administered from Madison Street were donated in 1864 St. Alphonsus' until 1860. "The Ger- to the Redemptorists for the care of the man Catholics on the west side of Jones' sick and infirm. The of the third Falls, which was the line of demarca- order of St. Francis, from Philadel- tion, went to worship at St. Alphonsus' phia, took up the work. By 1867 the Church and those on the east or in 'Old institution had expanded so much the Town' remained at St. James'."10 The sisters were forced to purchase four administrator of St. James', Father acres of land at Caroline and Hoffman Thaddeus Anwander, a Bavarian, in ad- Streets, the price of which, $24,000, was dition to his parochial duties, extended furnished by the various congregations some German kindliness to the colored in charge of the Redemptorists. The Oblate Sisters of Providence by taking joint effort of the three Redemptorist them under his supervision. Due to his parishes—namely, St. James', St. Al- solicitude the scholars patronizing the phonsus', and another of which we have sisters in a short time grew from 18 to not yet spoken, St. Michael's—in guid- over 200." Possibly the crowning ing the hospital's destiny may be seen achievement of his ministry was the in that the pastors and two laymen from founding at St. James' of a branch each parish were constituted the board of that widespread Catholic German in- of trustees.13 In the following year the stitution, the Archconfraternity of the property of "Brown Lane Woods" was Holy Family, which has produced such added to the hospital site. In 1872 St. beneficent spiritual results in all Ger- Joseph's German Catholic hospital offi- man parishes in Baltimore. cially opened its doors. In gratitude to By virtue of voluntary contributions, the Redemptorists for their part in the fairs and other activities the parish had hospital's foundation the sisters dedi- collected enough funds to begin con- cated the four principal wards to the pa- tracting for a new church. The former tron saints of their churches. The chap- church was torn down and by October, lains of the institution have always been 1865, the cornerstone of the rising the clergy of St. James'. 14 structure was blessed before 25,000 peo- It may be interesting to note that at ple in an elaborate ceremony that in- one time there was a bona fide college cluded both English and German ser- maintained by the Germans of East Bal- mons. "The style of the architecture timore. The Redemptorist preparatory of the church is Lombardic, or early college, established to give advanced Roman, the design being highly orna- 12 liberal and theological training for as- mental." With the erection of the pirants to the Redemptorist order, was much larger edifice the church activities first attached to St. Alphonsus', but in went forward at an ever-increasing 1869, because of the growing number pace. During the New Year's celebra- of students and the need for larger tion of 1868 the pastor proposed that quarters, it was transferred to St. James' volunteer musicians congregate as a parish orchestra to play at various func- hall, where it opened under the title,

9 Cf. John N. Berger, Life of the Right Rev. John N. Neumann, Fourth Bishop of Philadelphia (New York, 1884). 10 St. James' Church, op. cit., 19. 11 Cf. Grace H. Sherwood, The Oblates' Hundred and One Years (New York, 1931). 12 St. James' Church, op. cit., 29. 13 J. F. Byrne, op. cit., 103. 14 Cf. Sister Mary Barnaba, A Diamond Crown for Christ the King, a story of the first Franciscan foundation in our country, 1855-1930, 104 ff. (Glen Riddle, Pa., 1930). [39] "St. James' College." Later the school have already mentioned that the novi- moved to North East, .15 tiate and studentate of the Redemptor- Plans were cast by the parish for the ists was for a while stationed at St. establishment of a cemetery on Belair James' under the title "St. James' Col- Road which was solemnly blessed by lege." In 1847 the Redemptorists of St. Father Dauenhauer in 1880 "amid a James' sold their house to the Notre vast concourse of people and priests." Dame sisters who had just come to the On the feast of the Most Holy Redeemer, United States from Germany under the 1883, a new statue of the Most Holy leadership of Mother Teresa. From this Redeemer was placed in a niche over convent the Notre Dame nuns branched the entrance and to this day the burial out in all directions, taking charge of ground has been known as the Most 16 schools one after another. The first of Holy Redeemer Cemetery. these was St. James'. The sisters in the As with most Germans those of St. basement school had the care of the James' were much addicted to joining girls, while the boys were still entrusted and maintaining societies of every sort, to lay professors. A new convent for devotional, social, sick-benefit, and so the sisters on Aisquith Street was fin- on. Possibly the most colorful of those ished in 1863 and they moved into it, at St. James' was the Knights of St. using the old convent house to shelter James', organized with the approval of the 562 students. the pastor, Father Dauenhauer, in 1883. The cornerstone of a new academy Trim in their military uniforms, the on Somerset Street was laid in May, knights were intended to enhance spe- 1864. About a year later the Brothers cial gala occasions whether within the of Mary were invited to St. James' to church or in public parades. Frequently take over the boys' section of the school a prize drill was performed in conjunc- and a lot was purchased for them on tion with the parish picnic and Muth's Somerset Street whereon they might park on North Gay Street often re- echoed with applause and marching erect a residence. The German language feet. Of recent years the smartly clad was, of course, a prominent part of the knights have gradually died off, but St. curriculum for many years. A high- James' parishioners will always pause light of 1879 was a public examination and remember their gay buttons and of all the pupils in the parish hall, an their service to the parish. Most promi- examination marked by the extraordi- nent among the benefit societies was a nary enthusiasm and interest on the part branch of the Catholic Benevolent Le- of the children's parents and friends gion which was organized on a state- who attended. wide scale, mostly in German parishes.17 Since the completion of the new Of equal if not of more importance school on Somerset Street the number than any other work of the Catholic Ger- of pupils grew rapidly. By the end of mans in Baltimore has been their con- 1878, the list contained the names of tribution to education. Everywhere the 500 boys and 400 girls—900 in all. To Germans went they established as an relieve the pressure on the small school integral part of their parochial system a new hall was built, completed by 1879 a school to instill principles of right and the old hall furnished additional living as well as to supply useful secu- classrooms for the expanding school lar or vocational information. St. population. By 1885, 1,020 students James' was no exception. As early as were attending St. James' school. As 1843, according to tradition, the nucleus proof that the quantity of pupils had of the parochial school was formed in not impaired the quality of their in- the basement of Old St. James' Church struction an examination conducted by in charge of several lay teachers. We the diocesan school commission in 1891

15 St. James' Church, St. James' School, Souvenir Album (Baltimore, 1925), 12. 16 St. James' Church, op. tit., 37. 17 St. James' Church, 75th Anniversary and History of St. James' Church and Silver Jubilee of the Knights of St. James (Baltimore, 1908).

[40] won for them all much praise for their their homes near the school rather than intelligence and progress.18 some place else because of the educa- tional advantages it afforded their chil- Needless to say, at the time of the 20 World War the young men of St. dren. James' were not shirkers. Only a cen- In answer to the petition of 172 Ger- tury and a quarter before, the Reverend man Catholics, Father Gabriel Rumpler, Caesar Reuter had resisted all attempts then pastor of St. Alphonsus, undertook to weaken the heritage of the Baltimore to build a church in connection with the German Catholics. Now in 1917 the school and by 1852 the new church was Germans of America were at war with blessed by the Rev. Bernard Hafken- the Germans of Europe. It is illustra- scheid, provincial of Baltimore. The tive of the degree to which the pristine growth of the new-born parish of St. German culture had blended into the Michael's school rose from about 300 new American culture. On April 4, in 1852 to a little less than 500 at the 1918, a service flag was presented by beginning of the Civil War.21 the Catholic Benevolent Legion to the The following description of a cer- school on which were 130 stars, repre- tain piece of land appears under the senting the number of those who were date, April 10, 1796, in an inventory of serving their country. After the armis- Catholic property in Baltimore: "That tice a solemn military Mass was cele- square of ground bounded on the north brated in thanksgiving for peace. The by Dulany (Baltimore Street), on the church had never been filled with so south by Smith (Lombard Street), on much khaki before. In 1919 a memo- the west by Wolfe Street, was given by rial tablet was unveiled in the vestibule Mr. William Fell to the Catholics of of the church which tells of the 274 Baltimore City for a burying ground."22 young men from St. James' who served That "burying ground" was old St. their country and of the seven who died Patrick's cemetery. Only five years after across the sea.19 the dedication of St. Michael's church, By 1845 the priests of St. James' room for the parishioners was so scant realized that it was a too great hardship that old St. Patrick's was purchased, the for the German children living in the bodies were removed, and a new St. vicinity of Fell's Point to come all the Michael's church was erected. Previous way to St. James' to attend school. Con- to this, St. Michael's had been minis- sequently, through the efforts of Father tered to by the priests dwelling at St. Albert Schaeffler, the cornerstone of a Alphonsus' or St. James', but hereafter school was laid at Pratt and Regester the parish was to have its own pastor. Streets in that same year. The bricks A new school was built at the same for the school had traveled all the way time.23 from Bremen, Germany, as ballast in The turn of the century saw such a the hold of a ship. crying need for a hall to accommodate The two-story, four-room structure, the bustling parish societies that work which had been named in honor of St. was started and Cardinal Gibbons Michael, was attended after 1847 by the blessed the new hall in 1901. The school Notre Dame sisters who for seventeen was quite fortunate in 1870 to gain the years traveled daily from the convent talents of the , who took on Aisquith Street and generally made over various boys' classes. The heights the way on foot. The school was the of attendance was attained in 1897 when focal point of an ever-increasing num- the rolls included over 1,600 pupils. St. ber of German immigrants who made Michael's, at one time, was the largest

18 Cf. St. James' Church, St. James' School (Baltimore, 1925). 19 Ibid. 20 St. Michael's Church, Diamond Jubilee, 1852-1927 (Baltimore, 1927), 13, ff. 21 Cf. Byrne, of. cit., 100-101. 22 The in the United States, III, 49. St. Michael's Church, op. cit., 23. 23 Ibid., 24, ff

[41] Redemptorist parish in the United were about 70 students.28 The original States.24 convent-school soon became too small During the years from 1835 to 1840 for the demands made upon it and, since when the tide of German immigration the sisters had to vacate the premises was at its flood, the Redemptorists and anyway to make way for the new St. other priests returning to Germany from James' church, they decided to build America besought German nuns to come close by and on September 8, 1862, the to the new nation to instruct the young foundation was laid.29 Criticisms came German children in American schools. fast and furious for their rashness in One of these groups of sisters, the Notre building during the war period, but in Dame nuns of Bavaria, at the behest of several months the school was ready for King Louis I of Bavaria, determined to occupancy. Only 26 girls appeared for make the long journey. The king con- classes in September, 1863, but they tributed to their expenses and told them, must have been well trained, for, when "I shall not forget you in America. I the chapel was dedicated in December shall not forsake you."25 of the same year, Mozart's Twelfth On July 31, 1847, one novice and five Mass, with piano and harp accompani- sisters, including Mother Teresa (Caro- ment, was sung by the students.30 The line Gerhardinger), the superioress, and first public commencement was held on Sister Mary Caroline (Josephine July 24, 1864, From this period dates Friess), who later was to do such her- the signal interest shown by Archbishop culean work in the United States, ar- Spalding as a friend of the institute. rived in America and proceeded to St. The arrival of Sister Clarissa in 1864 Mary's, Pennsylvania, whither they had and her subsequent appointment as been invited by certain Redemptorists superioress in 1873 marked the begin- of that locality. But conditions there 26 ning of a rapid expansion of the did not prove promising, and Mother academy. "Sister Clarissa was the soul, Teresa with two other sisters came to the dynamic power of the establishment Baltimore where she found a mother- 27 from this day to that of her death. . . . house very near to St. James' Church. Ever alert to progressive movements, in In a short time the three sisters had as- educational matters, she was well able sumed charge of St. James', St. Alphon- to judge between worth while advances sus' and St. Michael's schools. and mere fads; appreciative of classical This is not the place to trace the excellence, she did not fail to minister spread of the Notre Dame sisters all to practical trends."31 Consequently, over the continent but we may say some- the institute, long before many other thing of both the Institute of Notre schools, introduced a very practical Dame and Notre Dame College of Mary- commercial course; music and art were land, the two outstanding schools this always exceptionally well cultivated. German community established in Balti- Extensions in 1894 included a chapel, more. an auditorium, more class rooms, music The exact beginning of the Institute and art studios. At the time of Sister of Notre Dame on Aisquith Street can- Clarissa's death in 1924 there were not be ascertained. However, it is usu- ally placed in 1849. By 1857 there about 250 pupils. In 1926 a final build-

24 Byrne, op. cit., 101. 25 A School Sister of Notre Dame (Sister Dympna), Mother Caroline and the School Sisters of Notre Dame in North America, I, 26 (St. Louis, 1928). 26 Frederick Friess, Life of Reverend Mother Mary Teresa of Gerhardinger, 169-170 (Balti- more, 1942). 27 Father John Nepomucene Neumann was responsible for Archbishop Eccleston's invitation to the Notre Dame nuns to reside in the archdiocese of Baltimore. See Archdiocesan Archives, Baltimore, 27 A U3. 28 House Chronicle of the . 29 Ibid. 30 Sister Dolorette of the Institute of Notre Dame to the author. 31 Ibid. [42] ing was erected that brought the entire Street) and donated the buildings as the group to Ashland Avenue.32 first Catholic school on Federal Hill. It On North Charles Street at Homeland opened in September, 1855, to over 60 Avenue a lot was purchased in 1871 by children under the tutelage of two un- the Notre Dame sisters to which were married ladies. The children and parish- added contiguous tracts, Villa Montrose ioners still attended St. Alphonsus' for and Sheridan's Discovery, in 1873. church services. In March, 1857, From the surrounding countryside the ground was broken for the erection of mansard roof of the new building could a larger school building, although local Know-Nothing opposition at the time be seen "resting as it were, on the tree 36 tops." And "above this was a graceful rendered the whole undertaking risky. tower—"the highest building within The Katholische Volks-Zeitung (Jan- many miles of Baltimore, a pre-emi- uary 31, 1865) says: "This congrega- nence it still holds." The school opened tion, in spite of war and depression, in 1873 and President U. S. Grant be- makes constant progress and that nignly crowned with laurel the first silently and without pomp. The school graduates in June, 1876. Notre Dame that at its founding numbered scarcely of Maryland was the first Catholic 70 children now numbers 300, so that women's college in the United States.33 it was necessary to enlarge the building, Another venture successfully at- a gallery was erected in the church and tempted by the Notre Dame nuns was a new organ installed." St. Anthony's orphanage. It is recorded Although founded and organized by that in 1847 the Notre Dame sisters of the Redemptorists, the parish on De- St. James' parish had taken in two or- cember 19, 1869, was turned over to phans of German parentage. By 1854 Father Ludwig Vogtman, a secular the Redemptorists had purchased a plot priest who was brought directly from of ground on Central Avenue and Eden Westphalia. It was he who engaged the Street and had erected thereon an or- Sisters of Christian Charity to conduct phan asylum for German children. A the school. These sisters, founded by corporation, composed of the two Ger- Pauline von Mallinckrodt at Paderborn, man pastors in Baltimore at that date in 1849, took charge of about 350 chil- and two laymen from each parish, was dren at Holy Cross in 1886. When invested with the property, but the Father Charles Damer was installed as actual charge of the homeless children pastor in 1890, he put into execution a was committed to the Notre Dame 34 plan for a cemetery on Annapolis Road. order. He also erected a new school, modern In the early fifties a certain Society in every respect, complete from kinder- of St. Paul, the members of which lived garten to high school, a social center- in the vicinity of Federal Hill, sent a hall, bowling alleys, conference and delegation to the Reverend Francis club rooms. Seelos of St. Alphonsus', beseeching Of unusual interest is the existence of him to establish a church in their neigh- a society at Holy Cross which is a borhood.35 Rev. Seelos first suggested branch of the famous "Gesellenvereine" that they seek a site for a school, a task founded by Adolf Kolping in 1849 at which presented them little trouble, for the Cathedral of Cologne in Germany. Mr. Joseph Kaufman, at his own ex- It spread over Germany, Austria-Hun- pense, remodeled numbers 51 and 53 gary, Holland, and France, Brown Street (now 7 and 9 Cross having for its purpose the religious and

32 House Chronicle of the Institute of Notre Dame. 33 A School Sister of Notre Dame, op. cit., I, 229, ff. 34 St. James' Church, op. cit., 21-23. 35 Next to Father Neumann, Rev. Francis Seelos possessed the greatest reputation for sanctity among the Redemptorists. Coming from his home in Bavaria, he was ordained in Baltimore and then sent to . Later pastor at St. Alphonsus in Baltimore and then stationed in Annapolis, he died of yellow fever in New Orleans in 1867. 36 Holy Cross Church, Diamond Jubilee, 1860-1935, 13-14 (Baltimore, 1935).

[43] vocational improvement of traveling spiritual care of the inmates of Bay journeymen. Although it met with rapid View Asylum. This guardianship the success among German Catholic youth Redemptorists exercised with extraordi- in the "old country," owing to different nary zeal for many years. Father Urben social conditions, it has not developed also completed a parish hall in 1888 so well in the United States. Neverthe- and founded a parish cemetery, plots less, in 1873 various members of Holy for which were purchased between the Cross parish, including John Snyder years 1888-1892. The cemetery is situ- and Werner Rieve, formed a branch of ated on German Hill Road. the movement and entitled it "Father At the urgent request of Cardinal Kolping Casino of South Baltimore." Gibbons a new church and rectory were, Active ever since, the Casino possesses begun in 1908. The church was com- a spacious clubhouse on William Street. pleted in 1921.38 For many years the nearest place of Seeing the necessity of a church and worship for the German Catholics of school for the German Catholics of Canton (as Highlandtown was then West Baltimore, Father Joseph Wissel, called) was at St. Michael's Church. pastor of St. Alphonsus', in 1869 invited As their number expanded, the Rev. all German-speaking Catholic men liv- Joseph Müller of St. Michael's was com- ing west of Pearl Street to a meeting to missioned in 1870 to begin collecting discuss the possibilities. Results were funds for the foundation of a new par- quickly apparent. By May, 1870, ex- ish. Two years later the Redemptorists cavation was begun on a lot on Mount were able to purchase a lot on Snake Street between Lombard and Pratt Hill, former site of Fort Marshall of the Streets for a church and school. Arch- Civil War days and present location of bishop Martin Spalding of Baltimore Sacred Heart Church near the corner of dedicated the church in January, 1871, Eastern Avenue and Conkling Street. in honor of the Fourteen Holy Martyrs. By 1873 both school and church services The replaced the Redemp- were started in the basement of what torists as ministers of the parish in was to be the first church. 1874. In 1880 the Benedictine nuns Replacing those lay people who had from took charge of the school taught in the school from the beginning, but were later replaced by the Notre the Sisters of Notre Dame took over the Dame nuns. The cornerstone of a new church was laid in 1902 by Cardinal classes in April, 1876, moving into a 39 new convent erected for their conveni- Gibbons. ence. Even though the Sacred Heart Closely connected by origin with parishioners had their own church, con- Baltimore is the "Central Verein of vent and school, they still had to rely North America," a union of all kinds on St. Michael's for their priests, be- of German societies. Spreading from cause they were unable to support a Rochester and Buffalo, where various pastor of their own.37 The coming of German Catholic beneficial societies had the first permanent pastor in 1878 united into one master organization marked a determined rise in the for- called the "Central Verein," the move- tunes of the parish. Under the second ment was formally organized in Balti- pastor, Father Francis Eberhardt, a new more during the year 1855 in St. priests' house and school additions were Alphonsus' Hall. The organization built. Father Henry Urben, a new which was intended to be nation-wide pastor who arrived in 1887, was ap- has been described as "the oldest Cath- pointed especially because of his inter- olic organization in the United States est in a new duty entrusted to the devoted primarily, if not exclusively, to Redemptorists of Sacred Heart by Arch- the study and solution of moral and bishop Gibbons of Baltimore, the social problems. Its official organ, Cen-

37 Archdiocesan Archives, Baltimore, Helmpraecht to Bayley, November 9, 1875. Document 40 H1. 38 Sacred Heart Church, Golden Jubilee, 1873-1923, 16 ff. (Baltimore, 1923). Also see Byrne, op. cit., 104-106. 39 Wilfrid Frins, History of Fourteen Holy Martyrs' Church, passim, 39 (Baltimore, 1903).

[44] tral Blatt and , was the The editor was John Schmidt; it was first Catholic journal in this country published by Kreuzer Brothers, who to undertake the cause of Catholic also published many other Catholic reconstruction...."40 Books, pamphlets, catechisms, etc. The For a time the "Central Verein" gave first number was issued on Saturday, aid to German immigrants and ap- May 8, 1860.48 pointed special agents to look after their Die Katholische Kirchenzeitung was interests in Baltimore and other cities.41 edited by a convert Lutheran minister, Although founded in Baltimore, the John James Max Oertel, who started Maryland branch of the "Central it in Baltimore, in 1846 but moved it Verein" seems, for some reason or to New York in 1851. "It was long the other, to have lapsed for a while. Then, leading Catholic weekly of the United through the efforts of Reverend William States." 44 Kessel, a Redemptorist, at a certain The period of decline in the use of meeting in Holy Cross parish, "the date German was from about 1900 to 1914, of which cannot be ascertained," 42 the when the advent of the world war ad- societies of St. James', St. Michael's, ministered the coup de grace, so to Holy Cross and Sacred Heart banded speak. For example, Die Katholische together to form the Deutscher Roem- Volks-Zeitung was discontinued in isch-Katholischer Verband von Balti- 1914.45 The German language has so more und Umgegend, which in 1910 much fallen out of use today in the affiliated with the "Central Verein of Catholic German parishes that in gen- North America." eral it is used in only one church service A question that is of utmost im- a week and occasionally in the confes- portance in connection with the Catholic sional for the few who desire it. Germans of Maryland is that of their Outside of Baltimore the only other Americanization. Possibly the most re- important settlement of Catholic Ger- liable index of this process of Ameri- mans was in Cumberland. Annapolis, canization is the use of the German as we shall see, although there was language. It is safe to say that down posted in that city a very important to the end of the nineteenth century community of German Redemptorists, German was in general use in all the contained few German Catholics. Vari- German parishes. It was taught in the ous small towns and villages in Western grammar schools together with English Maryland contained small groups of and was widely used in the churches Catholic Germans which were consid- for sermons and so on. It was always ered as missions by the German priests, customary to memorize the catechism but none were of great significance. in German. At least two publications in The Catholics of Cumberland first the German language were started by came tinder the care of the Redemptor- the Catholics of Baltimore in the nine- ists in 1841 when the latter began the teenth century that were eminently suc- routine of traveling every three months cessful, Die Katholische Volks-Zeitung by wagon from Baltimore to Cumber- and Die Katholische Kirchenzeitung. land in order to furnish the large colony Die Katholische Volks-Zeitung was de- of German, as well as other, Catholics scribed in 1874 as "the most successful with religious service in a church on Roman Catholic paper published in the the site of the present St. Patrick's. At United States," having a weekly circu- last the Cumberland Germans dis- lation of over 24,000 numbers "in all patched Mr. Michael Wiesel to Arch- parts of the United States and ." bishop Eccleston to beseech him for a

40Catholic Historical Review, VI (1926), 557. 41 See "Central Verein," . 42 Holy Cross Church, op. cit., 59. 43 J. Thomas Scharf, Chronicles of Baltimore, 107 (Baltimore, 1874). 44 Historical Records and Studies, U. S. Catholic Historical Society, XXVIII, 239. 45 Apollinaris W. Baumgartner, Catholic Journalism: A Study of its Development in the United States, 1789-1930, 17 (New York, 1931). [45] German priest and a separate German born in Germany, agitation was begun parish. Archbishop Eccleston wrote to in 1857 by and some Father Obermayer, then pastor of the others for an English-speaking convent. English-speaking Catholics of Cumber- Father Hecker's parents had come from land, June 18, 1847, "It is my wish to Prussia but he himself was American- place all the German Congregation of born and it seemed to him that Ameri- my Diocese under the charge of the Re- can priests should forsake the foreign demptorists. There may be some little training that so many were receiving inconvenience in the employment of even after they had landed on American Regulars, but situated as the Germans soil. The dispute was carried to his are, a Religious Order offers to them Redemptorist superiors in Rome who and to me advantages that cannot be expelled him from the order. Pope expected from other sources...." Mr. Pius IX dispensed him from his Re- Wiesel also received a copy of the same demptorist vows and he returned to document. New York where he organized the Zealously in the spring of 1848 the .46 German people began work on a church The Redemptorists, desiring a college on lots at the corner of Plumb Alley and novitiate much nearer to Baltimore, and Fayette Street, thoroughfares on abandoned Cumberland in 1866. The Academy Hill (formerly Fort Hill). Carmelite Fathers from Straubing, Ba- When the church was dedicated to Sts. varia, led by Father Cyril Knoll, suc- Peter and Paul by the Rev. Bernard J. ceeded them. During the next several Hafkenscheid, Provincial of the Re- years bricklayers went to work on a demptorists, on September 23, 1849, new school and sisters' house for the two priests and two brothers were al- convenience of the Ursuline Nuns who ready stationed in the parish. arrived in 1870. An academic exhibi- By 1850 the Germans had purchased tion of the following year "met such a a large tract for a cemetery on Fayette hearty approval that upon request its Street next to the Episcopal Rose Hill performance was repeated. Three days Cemetery. Michael Wiesel was un- were devoted to the examination of doubtedly the most distinguished mem- children." ber of the parish. As organist, he served Another shift in pastors occurred in the church for many years; he was quite 1875 when the Capuchin Fathers re- accomplished also on the piano, violin placed the . Driven from and flute. After emigrating from his Westphalia by the oppressive May Laws native Bavaria to Baltimore he organ- of 1875, they sought refuge in Cumber- ized and directed an orchestra and brass land where they wanted to use as a band there. He had the honor of com- novitiate the college abandoned by the posing the funeral march at the death Redemptorists. The first mention of a of President Harrison. His son, Henry, dramatic entertainment occurs in 1876. conducted the choir from 1860 to 1864 Annually thereafter there are repeated in which latter year "he entered the notices of parish plays, most of which college at Baltimore." were performed at four favorite times— At the close of 1849 the in at Christmastide, on Shrove Tuesday, at charge of the school had fifty-six pupils. Easter time and in June. Three years later an old public school On three noteworthy occasions the house nearby was purchased and turned Catholic Germans of Cumberland al- into a parochial school. In 1855 the lowed their charity to be extended out- Redemptorists at Sts. Peter and Paul's side of the parish. A sum of money was opened a college for the young members sent to yellow fever sufferers in New of the order. and Orleans in 1878. Five years later finan- were the principal courses of study. cial aid was extended to flood victims Although most of the students had been in Germany, and in 1886 "a consider-

46For complete information on Isaac Hecker see The Catholic World, vols. LI-LIV (1890-1891); Walter Elliott, Life of Isaac Thomas Hecker (New York, 1894); Katherine Burton, Celestial Home- spun, The Life of Isaac Th. Hecker (London-New York, 1943).

[46] able sum was contributed for the relief" time the Rev. Roger Dietz, S.J., con- of the citizens of Charleston, S. C., at tinued his pastorate of the small church the time of the earthquake there. on Gloucester Street, but soon turned it The year 1889 marked the celebration over to the newcomers. of the centennial of Washington's elec- The citizenry of Annapolis, Protest- tion as first President which was com- ant almost to a man, in general looked memorated with a Solemn Mass and with interest and, indeed, respect upon other elaborate ceremonies. The fact the Catholic "Monks" in spite of the that only a year later Solemn Mass was Know-Nothingism firing America at the also sung for Ludwig Windthorst, the time. But there is one incident that Catholic champion in Germany, reveals points to the presence of at least one how closely the Germans kept in touch bigot.48 In June or July of 1853, Jef- with both their native and adopted ferson Davis, Secretary of War, re- lands. More and more, however, the ceived a note from Annapolis written links with the old country were given with a burnt match. The note claimed up. Although German had been used to have been written by a man impris- in both the school and church, by the oned in the cellar of the Redemptorist time of the World War its use had been convent, where he was going to be mur- abandoned.47 dered as others already had been. The The city of Annapolis is not by any writer implored the Secretary to ex- means conspicuous for the number of amine into the iniquitous proceedings its German residents, Catholic or other- of the Redemptorists, who kept him wise. But the German order of the Re- confined with the design to murder him. demptorists did establish a community It was pretended the letter had been and parish there that was of some im- thrown out of the cellar window with portance in the history of the Maryland instructions that the finder forward it Germans. Through the kindness of the to Washington. The Secretary, though Marchioness of Wellesley, daughter of skeptical, instructed the Commandant of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, a small the Naval Academy to make a routine chapel on Gloucester Street had been investigation. He and Mr. Humphrey, put at the disposal of the handful of the President of St. John's College, Catholics before the Redemptorists called on Father Gabriel Rumpler, pro- appeared. testing their doubts of the whole story Not long after the Redemptorists had and their mere blind obedience to been well established in Baltimore the orders. Father Rumpler took them all Rev. Bernard Hafkensheid, Provincial over the house except through the of the Redemptorists, perceived the cellar. He did not show them that be- necessity of a new novitiate for the in- cause there was none. Thereafter creasing number of applicants for ad- friendly relations between the Redemp- mission into the order. Meantime, the torists and the people of Annapolis old Carroll Mansion in Annapolis on were more strongly cemented than ever. the banks of the Spa River, fallen into The superiorate of Father Michael decay and smothered with weeds, had Mueller, 1857-1862, was one of the come into the hands of a Miss Emily most important eras of the Annapolis McTavish who offered it to the Redemp- house. It was he who erected the prin- torists of Baltimore. cipal buildings of the Redemptorist By the middle of 1853 a community settlement in the Maryland capital. The of over twenty Redemptorists—fathers, Provincial had reluctantly given Father brothers, students and novices—had re- Mueller permission to build a church furnished the old mansion, cleared if he could raise an initial sum of away the weeds on the lawns, and had $2,000. His appeal from the pulpit was taken full possession. For a very short the object of much skepticism because

47 Details from Fifty Years of S.S. Peter and Paul's Church (Cumberland, 1898). 48 Cf. Henry Borgmann, History of the Redemptorists at Annapolis, Md., 22 ff. (Ilchester, Md., 1904).

[47] of the paucity of Catholics. But soon oners. Sometimes the Fathers were after he set forth on a begging expedi- called to their assistance several times tion among the citizens of Annapolis. a day. Mass was often said in camp, "And behold! In an hour he had col- and also in the Naval School Hospital. lected one thousand dollars!" Hundreds of the dying received the Last It was not long before sufficient funds Sacraments, and hundreds of others had were on hand, mostly through the gen- recourse to the sacred tribunal of pen- erosity of Protestants, to start work. ance. Many of the Fathers often spent Stone was transported from Port De- whole days ministering to the soldiers." posit and the brothers and novices The popularity of one Father Jacobs helped dig the foundation and lay the at this time led the most prominent bricks themselves. By October, 1859, citizens of Annapolis to invite him to the work was complete and the An- make the customary Fourth of July napolis Gazette could write: speech in the State House in 1861. His "A grand concert will be given in the clever and tasteful acquittal of his task new St. Mary's Church. . . . The best at so delicate a time won him universal talents of Baltimore, including some of applause. the members of the Baltimore Cathedral In 1862 it was decided to move the Choir, have kindly volunteered their novices to Cumberland and to convert services for the occasion. Mr. Cour- the Annapolis convent strictly into a laender, pianist to the King of Den- house of studies. After the necessary mark, will preside at the piano." changes had been made, the community Even before the church was dedi- numbered 93, the majority of whom cated, it was decided to construct a were devoted solely to study, "from the convent much larger than the crowded lower grades of humanities up to the Carroll Mansion. Since excavation was highest of philosophy and theology." to begin in July, Father Mueller was In 1863 twenty Redemptorists were or- unable to find laborers willing to work dained to the priesthood. At the time in the sun. Consequently the brothers it was the largest group of Redemptorist and novices themselves went to it with ordinandi in America, the first ordina- pick and shovel, digging up and haul- tion in the capital of Maryland and the ing away 40,000 cubic feet of earth. last ordination by Archbishop Kenrick They also unloaded and counted of Baltimore. 500,000 bricks. This example of self- Such a brief account as this, it goes sacrifice was extremely edifying to the without saying, cannot give an adequate Annapolitans. picture of what the Catholic Germans With the Civil War came the trans- have accomplished in Maryland. Per- formation of the Naval Academy into a haps the physical monuments of their military hospital, while an army parole endeavors — churches, schools, halls, camp was set up nearby. The ministry etc. — although superficially the most of the German Fathers among the sol- impressive, have been the least of their diers may be instanced from the follow- contribution. Far greater are the "im- ing in the chronicle of the institution ponderables," as another famous Ger- for 1864: man would call them, namely, their "Burnside's corps was here for some religiousness, their passion for organi- time and, after they left, the hospital zation, their zeal for education, and began to be filled with sick and wounded their facility in adapting their German soldiers, and later with paroled pris- qualities to "the American way of life."

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