"* . , -J VH -a>- •v.i ' t i^.«» W<.' ^/ Y /£^/:> i -/^^ Yj'a h^ f/93 FIRST BISHOP OF PHIIvADELPHI A. Born 1761 ; Consecrated i8ro ; Died 1814. HISTORY OF Rt. Rev. Michael Egan, D.D FIRST BISHOP OF PHIIvADELPHIA. BY MARTIN I. J. GRIKKIN. PHILADELPHIA : 1893. % > •if -3 HISTORY OF % RT. REV. MICHAEL EGAN D. D., FIRST BISHOP OF PHILADELPHIA. BY Martin I. J. GRirriN. DIVISION L PHILADELPHIA AND THE COADJCTTORSHIP TO BISHOP CARROLL. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SEE OF PHILADELPHIA. The commanding importance of the Church in Philadelphia suggests an inquiry into the formation of the See. Passing by the narration of Bishop Carroll's jurisdiction over the territory out of which the diocese of Phila- delphia was constituted, and but a portion of which is now comprised in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and its suffragan Sees, inquiry may be made into the subdivision of the original jurisdiction of the first Bishop of Balti- more and the erection of the Diocese of Philadelphia. In May, 1793. Bishop Carroll petitioned Rome to have as coadjutor, with the right of succession, the Rev. Lawrence Graessl of Philadelphia. On December 8th, 1793, His Holiness granted the petition. (Documents in "American Catholic Historical Researches," October, 1888.) Father Graessl was then in ill health. On June 19th, he wrote to his parents and relatives in Germany, "Nothing could make me more disquit- ted than this news. But God has heard my prayer. He will take this bur- den from me, unworthy as I am, and give it to one more worthy." Whilst my name, that of my biithplace, is on the way to Rome to re- ceive the Pope's approval, I shall leave the world to rest forever from the sufferings of my short, earthly pilgrimage. My business now is to suffer patiently and to die happily." (U. S. Cath. His Mag. Vol. 1, p 7.) So it proved for Father Graessl fell a victim of the yellow fever and died in October, 1793. Though in ill health he, in September, attended his New Jersey mission where,as he wrote, "I contracted my sickness on my last mission through the sandy roads on a hot Summer's day." On September 19th, at Charlottenburg, h« married John Philip Secholzer and Mary Vin- yard. This was his last record. In January 1794 the Propaganda sent notification to Father Graessl of his appointment, but we have seen, he was then dead. The propaganda in- formed him "that the Supreme Pontiff reserved full liberty, should the wel- fare of souls at any time demand it, of dividing the diocese of Baltimore in- to other Episcopal Sees even during the lifetime of Bishop Carroll, even though he should, unreasonably, be opposed to such division. (Documents in Am. Cath. His. Kesearches, Oct. 1888.] Bishop Carroll was required "to bind his coadjutor never to put himself in opposition to the erection of new Sees." He had asked for the division of his See, but it was not granted, as Propaganda regarded the appointment of a coadjutor sufficient. On September 21st, 1793, Bishop Carroll represented to Rome "that large numbers of sectarians will be present at the consecration" of his coad- jutor "to hear and misinterpret whatever they can." So he petitioned that the words "I will to the utmost of my power seek out and oppose heretics, schismatics and the enemies of our Sovereign Lord and his successors" should be stricken out of the oath. On August 2d 1794, permission was given "to omit the aforesaid words in the oath and use in their stead the form which has been granted to the Bishops of Ireland and to the Arch- bishop of Mohilow," (in Little Russia). On July 3d 1794 Bishop Carroll notified Propaganda of the death of Father Graessl "of the plague contracted while assisting others stricken with the same disease." , On October 15th, 1794, Bishop Carroll informed Rome "that after con- ferring with the larger and more respectable portion of his clergy he has chosen and recommends to the Holy See the Rev. Leonard Neale, now a parish priest of St. Mary's Church in Philadelphia, as being the worthiest for prudence, ability and spotless life to be his coadjutor with the right of succession. He is about 44 years of age." The Pope ratified, on April 17th, 1795, the decree of Propaganda ac- cording to the recommendation, and naming Father Neale as coadjutor. Bishop-elect Neale remained in Philadelphia until March 1799, when, as the Bulls of Installation had not yet been received from Rome, he went to Georgetown College to enter upon its Presidency. Here he remained un- til his consecration, December 7th 1800, when, at Baltimore, he was corpfe- crated coadjutor to Bishop Carroll. Philadelphia continued to be ecclesiastically governed from Baltimore until, on April 8th, 1808, Pius VII., decreeded the subdivision of the Dio- cese of Baltimore and its erection into an Archdiocese with four suffragan Sees at Philadelphia, New York. Boston and Bardstown, for whose govern- ment he appointed Rev. Michuel Egan of St. Mary's Church, Philadelphia, to be Bishop of Philadelphia, Rev. Richard Luke Concanen, O. S. D., to be Bishop of New York, Rev. John Cheverus to be Bishop of Boston, and Rev. Benedict Joseph Flaget to be Bishop of Bardstown. Bishop Carroll had as early as December 1806, petitioned the Holy See for the division of the Diocese of Baltimore, and had, prior to the decree of division being granted, recommended Rev. Michael Egan for Philadelphia. DIVISION II, REV. MICHAEL EGaN IN IRELAND AND AT ROME — HIS RELATIVES IN THIS COUNTRY. Rev. Michael Egan, the first Bishop of Philadelphia, was born in Ire- land in 1701. In what part of Ireland his birth took place, long continued investiga- tion has not been able to discover. It has been stated that he was born in Galway but whether city or county was not indicated. Investigation shows "There is no family of Egan at present in the town of Galway who can claim connection with the Bishop of Philadelphia. There is no family or individual of any other name who can trace connection. One of the oldest Catholic inhabitants remembers a family of Egan in this town, (Galway), and from circumstances in connection with that family, it is possible that there might have been some connection ; but there is no evi- dence, and the last member (age 90), died some months ago (1887). Egan was never a common name in the town of Galway, where tribal and English names prevailed. It is more common in the eastern divisions of the county, and there was an Archbishop of Tuam of that name— Boetus Egan, A. D., 1787-1798. "There is little hope of finding any traditions of the Bishop in this county, as since his time, emigration, famine, cholera, political and social changes have been disturbing every tradition and even sweeping away whole vilages.'' Where he studied is also unknown though search has been made at Rome and in Ireland. "Neither does his name appear in the archives of any of the Irish Colleges of Belgium which have escaped the disturbances of the Revolutions and invasions of 1791-95—Louvain, Antwerp, Tournay, Lillie have no record of him, and at Brussels is a list of over 200 Irish graduates of Louvain, and his name is not among them." [Custodian of Archives, Galvvat.] From the records of St. Isidore's College at Rome, it appears that on March 1st 1787, letters patent appointing him guardian for the province of Momonia, (Muuster), were sent by Mgr. Somaglia, Secretary of the Sacred Congregation of Bishops and Regulars and Apostolic Visitor of the Congre- gation of St. Isidore. On May 24th 1787, he was constituted Guardian of St. Isidore's College and held this position until May 1790, when he was appointed Guardian of Ennis, On September 3d 1793, he left Rome with one or two others for the mission of Ireland as Guardian of Roscrea. After that his name does not ap- pear on the records of the College, but Very Rev. J. H. Jackman, Provin- cial O. S. F., Dublin, notes Father Egan as Guardian of Ennis in 1794, as he had been in 1787 of Inlayghton (V). [Lettter to F. X. Reuss,June 5th, 1885.1 Ou his way to Ireland he stopped at Louvain to visit his brethren of the Franciscan Order [Letter to Bishop Carroll Jan. 26th 1809.] Though it is said (Shea's Life & Times Ahp. Carroll^ p, 500), that Father Egan labored ''for seven years on the mission in Ireland," and was then in- vited over by the Lancaster (Pa.) congregation ; it is possible that Rev. Michael Egan was in this country before 1798. A letter of Bishop Car- roll's to Father Gallitzin dated Washington, March 1st, 1799, says : "Before I received yours my intention was to advise you of the notice lately given me by Mr.Egan that he would return to Ireland in the Spring or Summer". By this letter it would seem that "Emmittsburg and the Mountain" (now Mount St. Mary's), were the congregations attended by Father Egan and which Bishop Carroll "meant to have offered to Father Gallitzin" before he received Father Gallitzin 's letter sending the petition of Catholics of Clearfield, Frankstown and Sinking Valley that he "might be the pastor chosen for them." [Life Gallitzin^ p. 111]. Besides Rev. Jules C. Foin in a paper on "Rev. Louis Barth" read before the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia, says **there J is an old tradition around Mt. St. Mary's that Father Egan, afterwards Bishop of Philadelphia, did attend that mission before the old Mountain Church was built." [Becerds A.