CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION
HISTORY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
Chapter I
Chapter II
Chapter III
Chapter IV
Chapter V
Chapter VI
Chapter VII
Chapter VIII
THE CELEBRATION
HISTORICAL DISCOURSE

HISTORY
OF THE
CATHOLIC CHURCH
IN
PATERSON, N. J.

WITH AN

Account of the Celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary

OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF

ST. JOHN'S CHURCH

"Press" Print.

HISTORY
OF THE
CATHOLIC CHURCH
IN
PATERSON, N. J.

WITH

An Account of the Celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the
Establishment of St. John's Church.

By CHARLES A. SHRINER.

"Sanctuarium tuum, Domine, quod firmaverunt manus tuæ; Dominus regnabit
in æternum et ultra."—Exod. xv.


PATERSON, N. J.
Press Printing and Publishing Company, 269 Main Street.
1883.

INTRODUCTION.

HE records of the early Catholic Churches in this part of the country are very meagre and to the historian most of them are almost useless. There are, however, still living in this and other cities a number of old people of intelligence and good memory and to these the author is indebted for most of the facts narrated in this sketch of the growth of the Catholic Church in Paterson. In many instances it was found that the memories of these old people were at fault and it was only after repeated comparisons of the numerous dates and diligent search among such records as could be found that the author was placed in a position to give to the public at least a tolerably accurate account of the remarkably rapid growth of Catholicism in Paterson and its vicinity. Whenever any doubt existed as to the authenticity of records or the accuracy of memory the reasons of the author for adopting what he believed to be the true version are given.

THE AUTHOR.

Paterson, N. J., November 15, 1883.

History of the Catholic Church.

CHAPTER I.

Early Persecutions on Manhattan Island.—Missionaries from New York.—The Freedom of the Country and of the Church Established.—The First Missionaries in New Jersey.

"History repeats itself" is an old adage and one which has stood the test ever since the sage first uttered it. The first chapter of the history of the Catholic Church, take it as a whole, or in whatever country or nation you like, is written in blood, the precious blood of the martyrs who died for their God and their faith. The second chapter is one of adversity, of persecutions; one in which the property and worldly comfort of the devout are frequently sacrificed to the bigotry of the infidel or the heretic. Thus it goes on from chapter to chapter, from generation to generation, but the hand of God is with his followers and it raises them from the depths of tribulation from which they looked imploringly but confidingly to the God who had created them, to the God who had made himself known to them through the Holy Catholic Church.

The first Catholic missionary who came to Manhattan Island and who traveled through the adjacent country was the Rev. Isaac Jogues, a Jesuit. In 1642 he was taken prisoner by the Indians, who tore off his finger-nails and cut off the thumb of his right hand; in 1646 he was killed by the Indians. To-day there is scarcely a hill in that part of the country from which the cross of a Catholic Church cannot be seen.

In 1658 a French Catholic was fined twelve guilders in a place now within the city limits of New York because he refused to contribute to the support of a Protestant clergyman, and even in 1778 Father De La Mote, an Augustinian friar, was locked up in prison because he celebrated mass in New York. To-day the triumph of Catholicism in New York is marked by hundreds of churches and scores of converts.

It is a peculiar coincidence that the freedom of this country was established in the same year with the freedom