#- F 3/6 t( V-H Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2018 with funding from This project is made possible by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries https://archive.org/details/pennsylvaniacoun71unse Tabors of the most noted Jesuits__ ; country, and there the first mass in the State was celebrated. The church dates i--tdelphi _ cally by Jesuit missionaries from" Mai-y- i-Jand. then the headquarters of Catholicism (in tms country.The arrival of a large num¬ ber of emigrants from Ireland gave a great impetus to Catholicism in this city,and the membership increased so rapidly that an l/dl, the -ecclesiastical authorities of Maryland sent Rev. Joseph Greaton, S J-, to Philadelphia to establish a church rather Greaton.when he came to this city had a letter of introduction to a vervactive Catholic who resided on Walnut’ Street above Third,and that fact led to the estab¬ lishment of St. Joseph’s Church in its present -locality. That the popular feeling in Philadel¬ phia was opposed to Catholicism at that The Venerable Edifice Was time ,s shown by the fact that when Founded a Century and & * x a Half Ago. iSlfX 5i?Ap«1g' ; primitive looking church hnitdTf11 and srtsaj*i' bbV™« IT MET WITH OPPOSITION. frame chapel,and in February3 ^7JV1 e"®f0 State oTp was celebrated 7n the Eminent Jesuits and Other Eeelesi- thaf asties Who Have Labored in i. 32* *»Xdgite SSLf “tv the Parish — Charities to Which the Church Ci * r.nS'.siTs;. njte; thousand communicants. From the M Has Given Birth. HE oldest, most !”aasfiSKra?tf£S historic Ro¬ man (Satholic Church in the State of Penn¬ sylvania i 3 * 11 was enlarged to 40x40 feet “Old St. Jos¬ eph.” This ‘tX, % Jrp?’' “urch remarkable home of the •PW. of great iSSSM Eff J ‘ Jesuits is bur¬ ied, so to speak, amid a «»da“Council o, J Jtl Pro' cluster o f Gordon informed the Council that hJ ?0? P r etenti ons business edi¬ fices within a stone’s throw Sflra^MS there h4 „ p Wat ,Kass was celebrated of Fourth and Walnut of.th? .corner H a stranger in Philadelnhinln^th-S °lty' visit “Old St JosenW-lfT . desires to !!he is at the cornerS FovrT'^ If Streets he must walk r^°Urtw and ^alnut to Willing’s Alley go eas["„n°Vh i !Veet 17d8, after the death of Governor Pm-L j acofSyhaUrDddt Penn famflSP0nd/nTCe passed between^be of a. I...S SUE sejftence-ld"It K as as £^*cssa& s-pSiSssS you must pass fhe mortals fnppearaiK:e. and tion of the scandal of the mass ” b beautiful interior whh ;+= to, ga??.,uPon wealth of stained gYass *ndPien,fhd altar-its different kinds and „*i.Works of art of iifSfSsss features. and other attractive . St. Joseph’s has been the scene of the a call purchased a large tract of land in IKBSS? 3)l-r~1^T^TTnnpwM[ii^ INTERIOR OF ST. JOSEPH’S AS IT IS TO-DAY. Berks County, and Father Greaton pur-; as up to this time many Thousands ot Irish chased a large tract for £51, and these two had arrived, it would seem that but a tracts became the residence and headquar¬ small proportion of them could have been ters of the Jesuits, and from there St. Jo¬ Roman Catholics, hut then a very large seph’s Church received many earnest: number of these immigrants went to the workers. interior of the State and settled there. A Swedish traveler named Kalin visited j It may be mentioned here as a little scrap of history that, although progress was Philadelphia in 1748, and, alluding to St. quite slow at St. Joseph’s Church about the > Joseph’s Church, he wrote: “The Boinan year 1755 and Roman Catholics did not Catholics have in the southwest Dart of the multiply very rapidly, still the few there town a great house, which is well adorned were created some alarm among the Protes¬ and has an organ.” St. Joseph’s Church tants and quiet Quakers. At that period continued to prosper slowly, despite the war existed between France and England; 1 existing prejudice against Catholicism, and and the Dews of Braddock’s defeat had : in April, 1757, Father Harding made a created considerable alarm. It was feared return to tne provincial authorities of the that the Protestants would be massacred number of Catholics under his charge. It is on record that the number of those under by the Catholics. A census had been the age of 12 who were full members of the ordered by Lord Louden, who was the com-j the church had received the sacrament were rr.ander of the British forces in America, seventy-two men and seventy-eight women. and the result showed that in and about It was further stated that the great ma¬ Philadelphia, in April, 1757, there was al jority of the communicants were Irish, but total of 403 Catholics above 12 years of age who received the sacraments, and that[) ST. JOSEPH’S ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO. The large building to the right still stands, and adjoins the present church, and Is used as a Jesuit residence and college. The small building in the center is the first St. Joseph’s Church, and where the first Mass was celebrated. The building on the extreme left is the original parish 1253_ of these were Germans, and that the [victory at Yorktown, and that Congress, entire number in Pennsylvania was 1633. Washington and Lafayette were present. It was shown that besides the Catholics In commemoration of this supposed event who worshiped at St. Joseph’s Church in a Thanksgiving service took place at the Philadelphia there were others in Lancas I church on October 23, 1881, when the Rev. ter, Berks, Chester, Cumberland and York W. F. Clarke delivered an address. An in- Counties. So great was the fear of a Catho¬ ! vestigation shows, however, that Lafayette lic uprising that a law was passed prohib¬ was in Boston or on his way back to iting Soman Catholics from being mem¬ | France at that date. Mr. Martin L bers of militia companies, and they were I Griffin, the historian of old St. Joseph’s, prohibited from having in their possession made deep researches to establish the fact jany arms, military accoutrements, gun¬ that Washington at some time paid a visit powder or ammunition. I to St. Joseph’s, but was unable to do so. There are now records of the Board of l Health of this city that show the following In 17S3 Father Molyneaux opened a number of burials at St. Joseph’s Church, [school at St.Joseph’s, and the following and which give evidence of the progress of year Rev. John Carroll, afterward the I membership in the church: In 1749 there first American bishop,came to Philadelphia I were 18 burials; 1753, 21; 1756, 47; 1762, and administered confirmation at St. 50; and during a period of nine years there Joseph’s for the first time in this country. were 300 burials. From the building of The yellow fever raged with great violence i St. Joseph’s Church to the purchase of the in Philadelphia in 1797 and the pastors of iburial ground of St. Mary’s Roman Catholic St. Joseph’s were kept very busy affording Church there were about 700 deaths among the victims bodily relief and spiritual 'the Roman Catholics of Philadelphia. The consolation. A charity was organized by ground upon which the present St. Mary’s the St. Joseph’s congregation to take care Church is built was purchased by Father of all orphans. This became a permanent Harding, of St. Joseph’s, and the1 large charity under a plan of annual subscrip¬ graveyard in the rear of St. Mary’s formerly tions, and an act of incorporation was belonged to St. Joseph’s, and this explains passed in 1807. From this sprang the what is often a matter of wonder—that St. well-known St. Joseph’s Orphan Asylum, Joseph’s and St. Mary’s are erected so near , now located at the corner of Seventh and each other. The present St. Mary’s Church, Spruce Streets. on Fourth Street above Spruce, was built A running sketch of old St. Joseph’s from in 1763 by Father Harding with money left I the above date to the present time is as by Father Greaton, of St. Joseph’s, 'follows: In 1820 the Very Rev. Henry While old St. Joseph’s has its remin¬ Conwell, of Armagh, Ireland, was conse¬ iscences connectejlwith the Revolutionary crated bishop, and in 1821 he arrived at St. Joseph’s, and during the same year the War, there are no records to show thaCtlm church was ever visited by either Wash¬ church was enlarged. A notable event oc¬ ington, Lafayette or Franklin at the time curred at the church on February 13, 1824, they were in Philadelphia, although there when Bishop Conwell baptized Joseph is a sort of tradition that on November 4 Lucien Charles Napoleon Bonaparte, son 1781, a mass of Thanksgiving was cele¬ of Charles Lucien Bonaparte and his wife brated at the church in gratitude for the [Princess Zeniade Charlotte Julia, daughter of The King of Spain” The godmother “ eieties,anci at its conclusion an eloquent ad¬ was Letitia, mother of the Emperor Na¬ dress Was delivered by the celebrated Dr. poleon. In 1824 a still further enlargement Moriarty at the Chinese Museum, corner of of the church took place, and it was an¬ Ninth and Sansom, the present site of the nounced that “the chapel of St.