' F ’ H I STORY O ST . PAT RI CKS CHU RCH , C A R Ll S L E , P E N N S Y LVA N I A . R GA N BY E V . H . G . SS . I N R D T I N T O U C O . “ ” Go tea ch a l l n a ti ons The divine commission , , has been one to which the Catholic Ch u r c h has ever been true and faithful one woven like a tissue of gold in her nineteen centuried history ; one inseparably connected with the h er t h e divinity of organization and existence . After pentecostal outpouring of the Holy S pirit, she entered upon her stupendous mission with marks and prerogatives in which the whole human family from the uncultured Lombard and Goth to the erudite Greek and Roman , dis cerned the presence of gifts which belong to th e super natural order and of graces which connect her by an almost visible bond with the unseen world . These gifts and r graces , as histo y records , have been her inheritance , not only in apostolic ages , but are poured out as lavishly in our own generation as in any that preceded it . It is by h t is token , and not by numerical success , that we recog n ize the apostolic commission . 4 ’ S t . Paul s mission was the same when pursued and m ob stoned by the at Lystra , as when his disciples ’ ‘ embraced and kissed him s or r o wz ng t/z a z zk ey sh ou l d see ’ ” bzs a ce no mor e f . o f The Church never changes , is the complaint her adversaries . They might with the same truthfulness say that her apostles and missionaries likewise never change , t to from S t . S tephen and S . Paul the sainted successors e whose careers may be touched upon in th se pages . The missionary spirit is the outgrowth o f Christianity e f the missionary the lin al descendant o the apostle . In rea ding profane history we n ever encounter that yearning e e n ot desire , unsw rving z al , tireless energy , to mention the spirit of total self- abandonment and absorption of t o of every personal motive, to bring men a higher sphere m o r T o o ne orality spirituality . save soul the missionary T h e cheerfully makes the sacrifice . ancient philosophers , n o matter h ow enthusiastic in the advocacy of their l a of or doctrines , never left the p easant h unts Academus a of d o f the alluring ple sures Athens , under the gui ance a e humane , sublime impulse to instruct the ignorant, consol e the sorrowing , ameliorate the wr tchedness of the th e of oppressed , lift up downtrodden , or sow the seeds peace and tranquility among hostile nations . This has been the divinely ap pointed mission o f the —a Church mission in which she has been always faithful , n or has ever faltered . Her ambassadors paled before no 5 no obstacle , shrank from no danger, were disheartened by f . s ailure Neither oceans nor tempests , neither the ice ” h eat o f z of the pole nor the the trop ics can damp their eal , h i s says Chateaubriand . They live with the Esquimaux in seal - skin cabin : t hey . subsist on train - oil with the Green lander : they traverse the solitude with th e Tartar or the Iroquois : they mount the dromedary of the Arab or afir accompany the wandering C in his burning deserts , Not an island , not a rock in the ocean , has ‘ as of escaped their zeal ; and old , the kingdoms of the earth were inadequate to the ambition of Alexander, so ” th e globe is too contracted for their charity . With t h e first settlement of this newly disc overed country , actuated by the dream of wealth or the excite i n ment of adventure , in search of social advancement or pursuit of political ambition , fleeing from religious perse u ti on c or fugitives from political tyranny , naturally a heterogeneous element crowded our sh or esfir Cut from th e h secure moorings of godly omes , untouched by o fl religi us in uences , unhampered by legal restraints, d a midst environments calculated —to sound the manhood a n search the faith of the strongest many souls were swer v h ate a u b r i an en i u s o Ch r i sti a n i t Bo o I V . C d G f y , k , p 557 ' 1' T yr a n ny a n d i nj u sti c e peopl ed A mer i ca wi t h m en n u r t u r ed i n s u ffer i n g a n d " i t T h e h i st o r o f u r o i z ati o n i s th i s to r o fth e c r i es o f u r o e . a dve r s y . y o c lon e h y m E p f ’ Ba n cr o t VI I 1 . T h r o u ou t t h i s P a er th e ost on 1 8 edi ti on o f Ban cr o t s f , , 4 ( gh p B ( 79) a s n u s e W or k ) h bee d . 6 t a ing in their loyal y , wandering in a st te of religious i ndiffer despondency, infected with the incipient stages of enti sm , that would finally culminate in unbelief and a . apost sy Nor is this to be wondered at , taking in view the well-nigh insurmountable obstacles that awaited the “ ” papist, the barriers both legal and social that handi capped his material prosperity , and the blandishments and inducements held out by worldly considerations that tried his soul . To the ministers of the true Faith , this sight aroused anxiety and caused alarm . They turned their eyes to the th e on of distant shores , saw soul in peril account the lack r of spi itual sustenance , saw many unable to cope with the ou t o f temptations held on the verge apostasy , saw others with their dying lips pray for the sweet consolations of T h e Holy Church which came not . missionary spirit at once grasped the situation ; its agents were true t o their holy vocations and apostolic traditions . .They came fired with burning zeal . Though they had to encounter cruel and superstitious peoples ; had to enter into the midst of barbarism and savagery ; had t o run counter to the p r ej u dices of jealous nationality and fierce bigotry ; though they had to penetrate trackless forests , wade through mephitic swamps , cross foaming torrents , ford treacherous rivers , climb inaccessi—ble mountains , face griping hunger and parching thirst, benumbing cold and exhausting heat , they came full of sweetness and charity . In face of all , we find them ever dauntless , hopeful , patient and perse ver i n — h g, with the crucifix in their ands , and the image f s o the Cr u c i fied in their heart . In the annals of early American history , surely the missionary will be awarded a high niche . His conquests though unseen were none the less factors in the develop ment , peace and prosperity of the country . Or is not he whose life is spent in the recesses of the forest , who per of forms works the loftiest heroism without applause , dies a painful death without a spectator, is consigned to his grave without a tear, and lies buried without an epitaph — , his name even not in the ken of mankind , all to procure v — eternal happiness to some unknown sa age, does not such a one point out to us the loftiest type of humanity which we are able to conceive ! “ The salvation of one soul is worth more th an th e con o f quest an empire , says the heroic Champlain . It was s i the keynote of mis ionary to l , prayers and martyrdom , and though undertaken by foreign priests having fr e quently but a most imperfect idea of the language and d customs of the people whose hardships they share , and m u nfitted from a hu an standpoint of calculation , totally for the work before them , in the Providence of God they th e brought about most brilliant achievements , and laid n the foundation deep and stro g , of that spiritual edifice i which now challenges the admirat on of the nation . Alone and u naided they had to scale an almost immovable of s breastwork oppo ition under a galling fire of invective, calumny and persecution . How they fulfilled their mis s ion , how they accomplished their task , and the abiding a nd permanent result of some of their labors , can be gleaned from the few fragmentary a nd discursive pages that follow . T CHAP ER I . F I N I A — S TATUS O CATHOLICS COL ON L TIMES . DISABILITIES OF EARLY CATHOLIC SETTLERS . One of the most perplexing problems that confronts the c ursory reader of Catholic history in colonial times , is the d oubt, uncertainty and mystery that shrouds the original of s ettlers its creed in this country . The scant data that have been preserved and rescued , at times make the per l exi t p y all the more impenetrable, and when the meagre traditions a r e stripped of the glamor of romance and the a ccretions of years , they are found at times lamentably d ff efective in historic truthfulness , and a ord but the faint est clue to historical research .