“ITE, DOCETE," Go and teach, was the command which fell from the lips of our Divine Lord, when he commissioned his disciples, who then constituted the teaching body of the Church, to "go forth and teach all nations.' That divinely constituted teaching body, into whose custody were given the words of eternal truth, has never forgotten or neglected its high and holy commission. The Catholic missionary has gone into all parts of the world to carry the glad tidings of man's redemption, and his name may be read over and over again in the long catalogue of martyrs, who have given evidence of the faith that was in them, and of the truth and holiness of their commission by sacrificing their lives in the performance of its duties.

The very mention of the word martyr carries us back to the days of the persecution of the early Christians by the Roman emperors; and we are too apt to forget that there is scarcely a country in the world that has not its own martyrologium. Nor is our country an exception, for the soil of New Mexico, Florida, Virginia, Maine, New York, Illinois, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and

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California, has been dyed with the blood of many a pious priest and devoted religious. From the martyrdom of Father Juan de Padilla, O. S. F., in New Mexico, in 1541, down to the tragic death of Father Dias, another Franciscan, at Nacogdoches, La., in 1832, the Martyrologium Americanum includes 31 Franciscans, 20 Jesuits, 2 Dominicans, Sulpitian, and 2 secular priests.* These are known to have fallen either at the stake, like Father John de Brebeuf; under the tomahawk, like the Saint Joques, in New York, or whilst ministering to his flock like Father Daniel. But who shall estimate the number of those who have fallen under the heat and burden of the day? The number of this heroic band is known only to God.

But it is not only from the fury of the "sons of the forest" that the Catholic missionary has had to suffer. The penal laws of Europe crossed the ocean with those who came to America for "conscience's sake,' and when Protestant conscience persecuted Protestant conscience, it cannot be wondered at if Catholic conscience suffered likewise. It is

*See Dunigan's American Catholic Almanac for 1859, page 38.

grown up which has borne abundant fruit.

The minutes of the proceedings of the Provincial Council of the Colony of Pennsylvania, held in Philadelphia in July, 1734, will give an idea of the difficulties and obstacles which surrounded the establishment and early career of Catholicity in this State. They are extracted from the Colonial Records of Pennsylvania, published by the State:

"The Governor then informed the board that he was under no small concern to hear that a house, lately built in Walnut Street, in this city (Philadelphia), had been set apart for the exercise of the Roman Catholic religion, and is commonly called a Popish Chapel, where several persons, he understands, resort on Sunday, to hear mass openly celebrated by a Popish Priest; that he conceives the tolerating the public exercise of that religion to be contrary to the laws of England, etc., etc.; but those of that persuasion, imagining they have a right to it from some general expressions in the Charter of Privileges, granted to the inhabitants of this government by the late honorable proprietor, William Penn, he was desirous to know the sentiments of the board on the subject."

In consequence of the different views of the law, the matter was, after much discussion, "left to the Governor, if he thinks fit to represent the matter to our superiors at home for their advice and direction in it."

nut Streets. Watson, in his Annals of Philadelphia, mentions a second chapel, built before 1736,* near the corner of Second and Chestnut Streets, which seems to have somewhat annoyed the non-Catholic people, on account of its being used as a "papal chapel in so public a place." Miss Elizabeth McGawley's chapel, on the Nicetown Road, was well known to Catholics in 1729. It was attended by the Rev. John Michael Brown, of whom we shall speak further on.

Among the earliest missionaries who labored in Pennsylvania may be mentioned the Rev. Josiah Creighton, S. J., the founder of St. Joseph's Church, who, in 1733, was formally commissioned by the proper authority in Maryland to settle in Philadelphia. By him a lot was purchased near Fourth Street and south of Walnut Street, and a small chapel erected of one story. It was dedicated to St. Joseph, and afterwards enlarged to the dimensions of 40 x 40 feet as the society increased in numbers."+ Besides Father Creighton we have Rev. William Wappelar, S.J., who founded the mission at Conewago; Rev. Theodore Schneider, S.J., the father of the mission at Goshenhoppen; the Rev. Robert Molineaux, S.J., and the Rev. James Pellentz, S.J., who, together with the Rev. Ferdinand Farmer, S.J., Rev. Luke Geisler, and the Rev. Joseph Ritter, S.J., appear to have attended all the stations comprised within the limits of the present Dioceses of Philadelphia, Harrisburg, and Newark, N. J. Father Farmer extended his excursions as far as New York.

The Rev. John Michael Brown (mentioned above) was one of the first priests of Philadelphia, and missionary to the earliest emigrants and Indians. He had a chapel, as already stated, on the Nicetown Road, about a mile and a half from the

The late Bishop O'Connor, of Pittsburg, in his † Mease's Picture of Philadelphia in 1811.

present St. Stephen's Church. William Penn and ex-Governors Logan and Dickinson claimed his lands by a grant from the Crown. This chapel, it is supposed, was built by Miss McGawley, and was "connected with her house, to enable Catholics to attend divine service under the protection which was afforded by a private residence,"* as "public masshouses" were objectionable to most Protestants then in power. Father Brown died in 1750, and was buried near his chapel, which was still standing in 1864, in which year Rev. M. W. Gibson, pastor of St. Stephen's Church, Nicetown, had the remains removed to the cemetery attached to his church. The original headstone over Father Brown's grave was broken by a band of fanatics during the memorable riots of 1844.

Among the oldest churches (missions) in that portion of the State now under consideration, we may mention St. Joseph's Church, Philadelphia, which was founded in 1733, forty-three years before the reading of the Declaration of Independence. The Church of the Sacred Heart at Conewago was founded in 1741, as was also the Church of the Blessed Sacrament at Goshenhoppen. This latter mission seems to have been a sort of mother-house for the country missions. It was founded by the Rev. Theodore Schneider, S.J., in 1741, and, four years later, he built the original chapel. Father Schneider was succeeded in 1764 by the Rev. Joseph Ritter, S.J., and he by Father Krakowski, a Livonian Jesuit, who was succeeded in 1836 by the present incumbent, the Rev. Augustine Bally, S.J., who is its fourth pastor, and has for over forty years ministered to the wants of the Catholics of that region. Goshenhoppen (now Churchville) appears to have been considered of more importance than all the others by those who had charge of the Pennsylvania

B. U. Campbell's Life and Times of Archbishop

Carroll.

missions in the infancy of the colony.

From data at hand it appears that Philadelphia was attended by a clergyman from that place during several years. Within a few miles of Goshen hoppen there once stood, and perhaps still stands, a house, which was pointed out by the people of the neighborhood, where their ancestors told them that the first priests had resided.

Old St. Mary's Church, Lancaster,* was founded in 1745, and was attended by Rev. Father Wappeler, Father Geisler, and the Rev. Ferdinand Farmer, of holy memory.

In 1763 St. Mary's Church, Philadelphia, was built on Fourth Street, above Spruce (then out of the builtup part of the city). It was worth about $50,000. The lot on which the church was built was granted to Rev. Robert Harding in 1760. It was given on condition that a church be erected there. The church was transferred by will from Father Harding to the Rev. John Lewis, by him to the Rev. Father Molineaux, and again by him to the Rev. Francis Neale. A body of trustees was recognized as a body politic by an act of the Pennsylvania Legislature, dated September 13th, 1788. These trustees were incorporated, to administer the finances of the church, and were the source of endless vexations, and sent the first two Bishops of Philadelphia prematurely to the grave. St. Mary's was enlarged in 1810.

In 1788 the number of German Catholics was sufficiently large to warrant their building a church for themselves. Accordingly Holy Trinity Church, corner of Sixth and Spruce Streets, Philadelphia, was erected in that year. It was quaint in shape, being what might be called half-hexagon. It was built of old-fashioned brick, and the roof was trussed and girded. Its original dimensions

There is a small church, about seven miles from

Elizabethtown, Lancaster County, which the tradition of the neighborhood describes as the very oldest in the State.-Bishop O'Connor's Seminary Report for 1840.

was 100 x 61 feet, and was without galleries. It was considerably damaged by fire in June, 1860, but has since been very handsomely remodelled inside.

St. Peter's Church, Reading, was founded in 1791. Prior to this the Catholics of Reading worshipped in a little frame structure, erected by the early missionaries. In this year a brick building was erected near where the Reading Railroad now passes, and this was attended occasionally from Goshenhoppen, Lancaster, and Philadelphia. In 1844 a new brick church was erected by the Jesuit Fathers who then attended the mission. Rev. Terrence J. O'Donoghoe, founder of St. Michael's Church, Philadelphia, was also instrumental in the erection of this church.

In 1793 a small brick church known as Christ's Church, was built at.West Chester, at the western end of Gay Street, near the brow of what was long known as "Chapel Hill." In 1853 it was replaced by a much larger and handsomer church dedicated to St. Agnes. In its early days, this mission like the one at Reading and others, looked to Goshenhoppen, Philadelphia, and later to Wilmington, Delaware, for its spiritual ministrations. The old baptismal registers bear the names of Rev. P. R. Kenrick (now Archbishop of St. Louis), Rev. Goerge A. Carrell, S.J. (late Bishop of Covington, Ky.), Rev. Peter Kenny, and Rev. Patrick Reiley, now the venerable and honored Vicar-General of the Diocese of Wilmington, Del.

In the year 1800 St. Augustine's Church was solemnly dedicated to the service of Almighty God. It was built by the Rev. Dr. Matthew Carr, a hermit of St. Augustine, who arrived in Philadelphia with a band of Augustinian Fathers in 1790. The erection of St. Augustine's Church was followed by the enlargement of St. Mary's in 1810, and by the addition of twenty-seven feet to the length of St. Joseph's in 1824. In 1828 St.

John's was built in a style of splendor and magnificence that surpassed that of every other church then in Philadelphia. This was followed by the erection in rapid succession of St. Michael's (1831), St. Francis's, the present St. Joseph's, St. Philip's (1840), and St. Patrick's (1841), the last two being spacious and commodious, and built on the free-seat plan.

In the Picture of Philadelphia for 1811, it is stated that there were supported at St. Joseph's Orphan Asylum (incorporated 1807) fifteen orphans. In 1842 there were supported at the asylums of St. Joseph's and St. John's more than one hundred and sixty orphans. We might men tion in this connection that the Sisters of Charity arrived in Philadelphia September 29th, 1814; this was the first colony sent out by Mother Seton from her budding community at Emmettsburg, Md. It consisted of Mother Rose White and three Sisters. They immediately took possession of an asylum which harbored thirteen ragged little children, and which was burdened with a debt of $4000. This asylum had been organized in 1797 by a charitable association, for the purpose of sheltering those poor little unfortunates whose parents had been carried off by the yellow fever. They were for a time domiciled in a house near the Church of the Holy Trinity. This institution eked out a precarious existence, and would have failed entirely more than once had it not been for the persevering efforts of Rev. Michael Henley, pastor of St. Augustine's (in 1807), and by the generous aid of Mr. Cornelius Thiers. The advent of the Sisters was most providential. In less than three years their many trials and privations were rewarded by seeing their asylum relieved from debt, and by having means at their disposal to extend their aid to many more poor children. The asylum still exists at the corner of Seventh and Spruce Streets, and is under the maternal care of that