.ll.28• MANITCMIOCWl 64220 MTWC 977.567 ST St. Nazianz Centennial St . Na=ianz, 1854 - 1954 I Manitowoc Public Library 33128003'394597 ' p . LIBRARY USE ONLY A drawing of tho village around 1860. 1854 St. Nazianz 1954 An ooriol view of the va11,. .... MTWC 977. 567 ST St . Nazianz Centennial St . Nazianz, 1854 - 1954 I Manitowoc Public Library 33128003994597 l D ed ication HUS ended the fi rst day in our new fatherland pansion, so beneficial not only to the community itself, Tand our new home, concl uclecl with the ~ecita ­ but also to other parishes, Mary's intercession before God tion of the rosary . At the close of every busy has brought manifold blessings, spiritual and material, clay, in perfect unity, we gathered around a large lire, upon her devotees. and prayed the rosary . " These facts are recorded Nor can it be called simply coincidence, as so many in the Chronicle of St. N11zi1111z, by Anton Stoll, who people would label it, that the centennial of ·the proc· likewise concludes every year's entry in the Chronicle lamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception 111id - with the words: Celobt sei Jesus Maria ( Praised be and the centennial of St. Nazianz are celebrated in the Jesus and Mary). Examples can be swiftly multiplied same year. Before God chance does not exist; attributing of the devotion paid to Mary, the Mother of Goel, by the events to chance is a blasphemy in His sight, for nothing citizens of St. Nazianz from its founding, the erection of ever happens on the face of the earth and in the whole its first shrine, one to our Lady of Loretto, in 1855, clown of His creation without His knowledge and power. The to the present clay with its h equent Marian devotions, preparation of the decl ara tion oF l\ifary's absolute sinless­ the dedication of the parish and its work for God's glory ness and the preparation ol: the foundation of St. Nazianz under the guidance of the Holy Family, and the weekly were equally the work of God's Providence in 1854, as novena to our Lady of Perpetual Help, so regularly and is the rejoicing in 1954 over the one hundredth anniver­ well attended by the whole parish - not to mention, sary of these simultaneous events. daily family recitation of the rosary. Rightly then, with reasons that extend through the Throughout the history of the community the Blessed century, in this Marian year St. Gregory's community Mother has not failed to heed the homage and petitions dedicates its centennial book to the sinless Virgin Mary to her. From the poor, struggling beginnings of St. Greg­ of Nazareth, our Lady of Loretto, our Lady of Perpetual ory's parish until the recent building and educational ex- Help, Cod's mother and ours. 5 Tribute To Our Saint HEN people leave the place of their birch and the greatest gift of earth, a father and a mother who were long residence for a distant and new home, most concerned first of all for his spiritual well-being and the W probably never to return, they usually take with proper development of his mental powers, he was edu­ them at least one or several things to bind them to the cated in the most celebrated Catholic schools of his time, home they are leaving. Thus, as Father Oschwald and at Neo·Cae.5aria and Alexandria. W hen he grew to man­ his Association planned their immigration to the United hood, his life set a regular pattern of retirement in soli­ States, they made one inseparable link with their home· tude to pray and study alternating with periods of teach­ land : as a popular tradition has it, From the parish church ing and instructing others in the fruits of his prayer and whence a majority of the immigrants came and where study, especially in eloquence at the University of Ath­ Father Oschwald was pastor, they took their patron, St. ens. G regory of Nazianz, and made him the patron of their Ordained to the priesthood in 36 1 and consecrated Association, and determined to call their settlement in the bishop a few years later, he ruled first the diocese of Sas· new land St. Nazianz in his honor, and to dedicate their ima and then the diocese of Nazianz. After the death of church in America to him. his father and mother, he resigned from his bishopric to Through these 100 years St. Gregory of Nazianz has go again into solitude. But his zeal for Catholic truth soon watched over his community and church. In the work of brought him from retirement. The heresy of Arianism, the early pioneers and in the achievements of their suc­ the false teaching that Jesus Christ was not God become cessors in the present day, he has had a definite, subtle man, but only the most perfect of Cod's human creatures, influence, perhaps unknown to the parishioners them­ again burst forth in new strength after being condemned selves. by the first General Council of the Church in 325, the For what the first settlers did in furthering Catholic Council of Nicea. li fe and Catholic education in the whole territory sur­ Gregory yielded to the pleas of Catholics who begged rounding St. Nazianz, what religious societies with their him to come and defend them against the Arians. So origins in St. Nazianz have done throughout the nation powerfull y did the learned bishop attack the false for that same purpose, and what the present parishioners teachers that in a relatively short time he tdumphed over of St. Nazianz are accomplishing toward the same end for all. The Cathol ics of the capital, Constantinople, de­ themselves and other parishes of the county - all this manded Gregory as their bishop, but be refused and re­ is most clear to the heart of their patron, St. Gregory of turned to N azianz. After administering to the church Nazianz. there for two years, he again sought the quiet of prayer For St. Gregory is a Doctor of the C hurch, a title given and study. He died six years later, in 389. to not even three dozen of the sa ints of Goel, but reserved God's purpose in man's creation is that be may use the for those who not only led heroicall y holy lives but also abundant divine gifts showered upon him to gain peace arc emjnent in Catholic learning and education. His and happiness which will never end- God's supernatural special title as a Doctor of the Church is the same as that gifts to grow in the li fe of grace, God's mental gifts which given to the Apostle-Evangelist, St. John-"The Divine." ra ise man far above all material creation to grow in the St. Gregory of Nazianz was born in southwestern Asia life of true wisdom, God's physical gifts to be used in fur­ Minor ( now Turkey) in the fourth century. Blessed with thering the supernatural life of grace and the natural life of the mind. Perfectly St. Gregory of Nazianz l'u l- 61lecl God's purposes in himself. By his guidance he has St. Gregory of Nozionz, copied from on oil paint­ urged tlie same constantly upon the parish and village of ing on a banner of the Sick Benevolent Society, which he is the patron, St. Nazianz. May the people founded by the settlers in St. Nazianz in 1871. continue always to follow that guidance. 7 ( His Holiness Pope Pius XII now gloriously reigning The Popes of the Century In its inception and in its history St. Nazianz has dedicated unswervingly to His 1rue Church on earth, been undividedly Catholic, the life of the whole com­ in obedience and love of Christ's vicar on earth, six of munity centered around the parish church of St. Gregory whom have occupied the Chair of Peter in Rome dur­ of Nazianz. Their spi ritual loyalc )' under Cod has been ing th e past century. PIUS IX ( 1846-1878) " Reme m1Jer, the Catholic Chmch is ·immortal." The turbulent affairs of nineteenth-century Europe which brought the first settlers to St. Nazianz crushed their full weight upon the Vicar of Christ. Despite generous efforts to meet the demands of a changing world, Pius IX was robbed of the Papal States by the Italian nationalists and became a voluntary prison­ er in the Vatica n P alace, an example followed by h is successors until 1929. The Kullurkampf in Germany, state restriction and suppression of the Church, saddened the later days of his pontiiicate. On December 8, 1854, he solemnly defined that the Blessed Virgin Mary was, in the first instant of her conception, preserved free from all stain of original sin. His Syllabus of 1864 con­ demned errors of thought and religion which have reached their greatest power in ow· day. In the twentieth General Council (1869-70) Pius IX gathered the bishops of the world to discuss matters of Catholic faith and discipline. This, the Vatican Coun­ cil, proclaimed that in defining a doctrine regarding faith or morals to be held by the Universal Church, the Roman Pontiff cannot err. LEO XIII ( 1878-1903) "I love you all, b11t I am. tired, and glad to go." Through the courage, principle, and tact of Leo XIII the German persecution of the Church was brought to an end, and the same qualities won a lessening of opposition to the Church in England, F1·ance, and Russia. In Italy, however, the strain be­ tween Church and State continued.