St Francis Xavier Academy - Xavier Yearbook (Providence, RI)

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Rliocle Island and ears o The history of Catholic Rhode Island begins properly with the history of the Cathedral. It is true that Catholics visited this section, but they were, strictly speaking, transients. Owing to the troublous times in Great Britain, and a like spirit which seemed to come into the country with the immigrants, it is probable that Catholics may never have declared their faith. Certainly the spirit of adventure, the love of freedom, and the tenacity for the old faith, characteristics so dominant in the Irish, must have prompted many Irishmen to be in the lead among the emigrants from Europe. But there is little data until New England became a diocese. When Father Corry, a young Boston priest, came to Providence in the closing days of 1810. the Catholic congregation owned not a foot of land. In March, 1812, he succeeded in buying the section of land on which now stands our present Saints Peter and Paul's Cathedral, but it was not until December. 1817. the second Sunday of Advent, that the first Mass was cele- brated by Father Corry. It was the triumph of a long and arduous work, the realization of hopes long deferred and often blighted. Before this, every Sun- day in 1816 and 1817, Mass had been said in the Old Town House, where stands the present Court House. The year 1817 had been one of panic, espe- cially in Providence, and Bishop Fenwick had to make himself personally responsible for the indebtedness and completion of the new Church, for an appeal to the poverty-stricken people was useless. In the State, at this time, there were three wooden churches, at Pawtucket, Newport, and Providence, respectively. Two priests cared for the faithful throughout the State. When Father Corry was leaving Newport, in 1817. he praised the toleration shown by the citizens of that community to Catholicism. Irish Catholics play a prominent part in the history of the last century of Catholicity in Rhode Island. During the Dorr Revolution, from 1841 to 1845, Catholics were prominent, but the Church itself did not enter into the conflict. In the forties, the priests who officiated in Rhode Island were nearly all natives and most of them converts. Bishop Tyler was consecrated to the Hartford Diocese in 1 844. He took up his residence in Providence and served as pastor of the Cathedral. When he died in 1849. there were but fifteen priests in Rhode Island and Con necticut. Father Wiley, of Saint Patrick’s Church, was the first to celebrate a Pontifical Mass and inaugurate Holy Week services. After Bishop Tyler’s death, the diocese was without an overseer for more than a year: then it was announced that Rev. Bernard O’Reilly would succeed. He remained in Provi- dence only a little over five years, but in that time he had organized the diocese very thoroughly and trebled the number of priests. Everywhere churches were being erected. During the early fifties, the flood of Irish immigration increased greatly. In the basement of the Church, the children attended school under a lay mistress. In the rear of Saint Patrick’s Church a night school was begun. Bishop Tyler had been most anxious for the Sisters of Charity to come, but Bishop O’Reilly chose the Sisters of Mercy. Mother Xavier Warde and her small band of Mercy Nuns arrived from Pittsburg in 1851. THHOB 103© ■