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 ChurchShriner, Charles A. (Charles Anthony)
History
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
Shriner, Charles A. (Charles Anthony)
Catholic Church -- New Jersey -- Paterson; Paterson (N.J.) -- Church history; St. John's Church (Paterson, N.J.)
builders, with untiring zeal and unremitting effort, after an
expenditure of $200,000, you at length beheld your church ready for
dedication to God. The Archbishop of Philadelphia in the absence of your
own ordinary, did you the honor to come from his archiepiscopal city to
consecrate this magnificent edifice to the worship of the Most High.
This was indeed a proud day not merely for yourself and your devoted
people, but also for the entire population of Paterson, all rejoicing
that they had in their midst a pastor capable of conceiving and
executing so grand a work.
"Had you rested here you had done enough to enshrine your name and
perpetuate your memory in the grateful hearts of the people of Paterson.
But happily this was only the first of your great achievements in their
behalf. Having completed the new church of St. John, you next turned
your attention to the wants of the orphan, and the need of a suitable
cemetery for the burial of the Catholic dead. In 1868, you purchased the
beautiful site two miles from the city on the banks of the swift flowing
Passaic. Here you erected St. Joseph's Orphan Asylum, and laid out the
cemetery of the Holy Sepulchre. In that asylum, under the direction of
the Sisters of Charity, ever ready to care for the fatherless, you have
every year maintained nearly a hundred orphans, while the cemetery of
the Holy Sepulchre, so charmingly situated, and so elegantly laid out
bids fair to become one of the most admired repositories of the dead in
this State. Finding in 1870, that notwithstanding the immense
proportions of St. John's Church, the entire Catholic population could
not be accommodated within its spacious precincts, you purchased a very
desirable property on Broadway, whereon you erected St. Joseph's Church,
which you attended for seven years, and which when ready to be erected
into a regular parish, you found to have a value of $30,000. The good
work which you began there was successfully carried on by the lamented
Father Molloy, and is now being continued with no less success by the
present distinguished pastor, the zealous and learned Dr. Smith.
"A few years afterwards, perceiving that the Catholic population on the
left bank of the Passaic had increased very considerably, you purchased
a suitable plot of ground at Totowa, and erected thereon a commodious
brick edifice, making the lower story answer for religious, and the
upper for educational purposes. At the same time you introduced, and
provided a residence for the Sisters of St. Dominic, to take charge of
the schools there. Three years ago, after accumulating a property of
$20,000, for the new foundation, you recommended the Right Rev. Bishop
to erect this second daughter of St. John's into a regular parish
church, and had the satisfaction of seeing appointed to its first
rectorship Rev. Father Curran, the courageous founder and indefatigable
editor of the 'Paterson Times.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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