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In 1818, a small group of Catholic clerics established a religious community in southeastern Missouri and opened a school, grounded in its European Vincentian roots but influenced by the isolation of its rural location. St. Mary’s of the Barrens became the first American institution of higher learning west of the Mississippi River and only the fourth Catholic seminary in the United States. Over the years, St. Mary’s emerged as a significant institution whose early leaders played an important role in the development of the Catholic Church on the American frontier. The school’s subsequent history reflected the changing status of the growing American Catholic community. In this history of “the Barrens,” Rick Janet demonstrates how its story reflects the broader sweep of the American Catholic experience. “St. Mary’s of the Barrens in Perryville, Missouri, is one of the oldest and most venerable Catholic institutions in the United States. With great insight, Rick Janet presents St. Mary’s as an institutional case study to illustrate the major themes of the history of American Catholicism, reflecting on its journey from a frontier mission church, to a rapidly growing immigrant church, to a church of wealth, confidence, surety, and strength, to a church still struggling with the onslaughts of post-modernity and the decline in religious belief and observance. Janet gives the reader the granularity of this Catholic experience in the heartland of the Midwest, and adroitly poses questions on the future of this institution, and indeed the future of American Catholicism itself.” — Rev. Edward R. Udovic, CM, PhD, DePaul University “Rick Janet’s history of the Vincentian community and seminary of St. Mary’s of the Barrens provides a valuable service in giving coherent form to a hitherto virtually unknown dimension of American Catholic history. The story of St. Mary’s illuminates significant changes in the religious (and larger national) scene of American history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.” —Philip Gleason, Professor of History Emeritus, University of Notre Dame InMissourisWildsCOVER.indd 1 9/13/17 9:58 AM American Midwest Truman State University Press Kirksville, Missouri In Missouri's Wilds.indb 3 9/18/17 10:21 AM Copyright © 2017 Richard J. Janet / Truman State University Press, Kirksville, Missouri 63501 All rights reserved tsup.truman.edu Cover art: Aerial View of the Barrens. Courtesy of DeAndrei’s-Rosati Memorial Archives, DePaul University, Chicago, IL. Cover design: Lisa Ahrens Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Names: Janet, Richard J., 1955– author. Title: In Missouri’s wilds : St. Mary’s of the Barrens and the American Catholic church, 1818 to 2016 / Richard J. Janet. Description: Kirksville, Missouri : Truman State University Press, [2017] | Series: American Midwest | Includes bibliographical references and in- dex. Identifiers: LCCN 2017000960 (print) | LCCN 2017038615 (ebook) | ISBN 9781612481999 | ISBN 9781612481982 (alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: St. Mary’s of the Barrens Seminary (Perryville, Mo.)—His- tory. | Catholic theological seminaries—Missouri—Perryville—History. | Vincentians—Missouri—Perryville—History. | Catholic Church—Missou- ri—Perryville—History. | Perryville (Mo.)—Church history. Classification: LCC BX915.P45 (ebook) | LCC BX915.P45 J36 2017 (print) | DDC 282/.778694--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017000960 No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any format by any means without written permission from the publisher. The paper in this publication meets or exceeds the minimum require- ments of the American National Standard for Information Sciences— Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48–1992. In Missouri's Wilds.indb 4 9/18/17 10:21 AM CONTENTS List of Illustrations | vii Preface and Acknowledgments | ix PART 1: BEGINNINGS TO 1818 Chapter 1: Vincentians, the Barrens, and the American Catholic Church | 3 Chapter 2: Founding of St. Mary’s of the Barrens | 19 PART 2: AN ERA OF BOUNDLESSNESS AT THE BARRENS, 1818– 1847 Chapter 3: Frontier Leadership | 35 Chapter 4: Policies and Problems | 61 PART 3: AN ERA OF FRAGMENTATION AND CONSOLIDATION, 1847– 1888 Chapter 5: Second- Generation Leadership | 81 Chapter 6: Civil War and Aftermath | 101 PART 4: THE BARRENS TRIUMPHANT, 1888– 1962 Chapter 7: Revival and Growth | 127 Chapter 8: Conforming to New Demands | 167 v In Missouri's Wilds.indb 5 9/18/17 10:21 AM vi CONTENTS PART 5: DECLINE AND FALL OF ST. MARY’S OF THE BARRENS, 1965– 2016 Chapter 9: Closure and Controversy | 215 Chapter 10: Conclusion | 244 Works Cited | 253 Index | 269 About the Author | 277 In Missouri's Wilds.indb 6 9/18/17 10:21 AM ILLUSTRATIONS 1. St. Vincent de Paul (Courtesy of DeAndrei’s-Rosati Memorial Archives, DePaul University, Chicago, IL, hereafter DRMA) | 10 2. Diorama of Saint- Lazare (Courtesy of DRMA) | 13 3. Panoramic View of Perryville, Missouri (Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division) | 15 4. Louis William Valentine DuBourg (Courtesy of St. Louis University Archives) | 23 5. Felix De Andreis (Courtesy of DRMA) | 26 6. Joseph Rosati (Courtesy of DRMA) | 37 7. John Timon (courtesy of Archives of the Diocese of Buffalo) | 38 8. Rosati Cabin (Courtesy of DRMA) | 57 9. First Seminary Building (Courtesy of DRMA) | 59 10. Stephen Vincent Ryan (Courtesy of DRMA) | 86 11. Abram Ryan (Courtesy of Father Abram J. Ryan Archive, Belmont Abbey College) | 87 12. Barrens Campus Pre- 1913 (Courtesy of DRMA) | 94 13. Thomas J. Smith (Courtesy of DRMA) | 132 14. Barrens Campus Pre- 1913 (Courtesy of DRMA) | 135 15. Church Façade (Courtesy of DRMA) | 141 16. Barrens Campus Post- 1913 (Courtesy of DRMA) | 166 17. Cyril LeFevre (Courtesy of DRMA) | 168 18. James A. Fischer (Courtesy of DRMA) | 180 19. Farm Buildings (Courtesy of DRMA) | 181 20. Novitiate Building (Courtesy of DRMA) | 183 21. Academic Building (photo by author) | 188 22. Aerial View of the Barrens (Courtesy of DRMA) | 220 23. Church of the Assumption Today (Courtesy of DRMA) | 245 24. Apostle of Charity Residence (photo by author) | 249 vii In Missouri's Wilds.indb 7 9/18/17 10:21 AM PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS St. Mary’s of the Barrens holds both professional interest and per- sonal meaning for me. As a historian, I am drawn to the historical significance of “the Barrens.” The history of the old seminary rep- resents a fascinating story worthy of retelling as well as a compel- ling case study for the analysis of broader trends in the American Catholic experience. Personally, my life has intersected with the Barrens at various points. I was born in the shadow of the Barrens, raised and educated in nearby Vincentian parishes, and served on the faculty of the college seminary in the 1980s. The place loomed so large in my mind that I was driven initially to understand the seminary’s closing and resulting controversy, which led to an arti- cle on the “decline and fall” of the Barrens. That study, generously supported by the Vincentian Studies Institute, inspired the present project on the broader historical sweep of the Barrens, again with VSI support. As I researched and reflected on the history of St. Mary’s of the Barrens, it became clear to me that its story could only be under- stood in the fuller context of the American Catholic story over the past two centuries. As a result, an “institutional history” broad- ened into an extended essay on the reciprocal relationship between an isolated southern Missouri seminary and the “bigger” story of American Catholicism. What follows is a kind of hybrid history combining the story of the Barrens, fascinating and important in its own right, with general trends in the history of the American Catholic Church. ix In Missouri's Wilds.indb 9 9/18/17 10:21 AM x PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I could have written a different book. The Barrens deserves a detailed chronicle of its history, highlighting its lesser- known char- acters, seemingly minor events, and quirks of historical develop- ment. Some of those details have been explored in articles and informal studies by Vincentians and others over the past decades. I have enjoyed reading those stories, and hope more of them follow. I tried to include some of those elements, but often sacrificed the details of the Barrens story in order to identify broader points of correlation with the American Catholic experience. If I distorted or undervalued the details of the Barrens story along the way, I am truly sorry. For one reason or another, this project took much longer to complete than I originally anticipated. The longer it took, the more debts I assumed to people and institutions who contributed to my work. I am deeply thankful to the following friends, and for the many others who assisted me that I might fail to acknowledge. First and foremost, I am grateful for the long support of the midwestern Vincentian community and the many individual Vin- centian priests and brothers who have befriended and encouraged me over many years. The Vincentian Studies Institute at DePaul University offered grant support, hospitality, and research assis- tance during my trips to the archives at the Richardson Library on DePaul’s Lincoln Park campus. Father Edward Udovic, CM, senior executive for University Mission at DePaul; Father John Rybolt, CM, Vincentian scholar- in- residence and authority on all things Vin- centian; and Nathaniel Michaud, director of publications for the VSI, proved unfailingly helpful and patient over the course of my work. The staff of the De Andreis–Rosati Memorial Archives in the special collections department of the Richardson Library, especially Morgen MacIntosh Hodgetts and Andrew Rhea, went above and beyond the call of duty to field my requests and answer my ques- tions. Special thanks, as well, go to my friend Father Bill Harten- bach, CM, who opened the files at the Midwest Provincial Offices of the Congregation to me during his tenure as provincial superior.