Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 12.djvu/765

 REDEMPTORISTS

685

REDEMPTORISTS

the faith and generosity of the people, they were re- buih..

The many successful missions which the Re- demptorists had given in the Diocese of St. Louis induced Archbishop Kenrick to ask for a foundation of the congregation in his episcopal citj*, and in 1866 a mission house was opened at St. Louis. In the same year (1866) another mission house was established in New York, near the little church of St. Alphonsus, which had been erected in lS-1.5 for the convenience of the Germans in that section of the city ; it had been served by Fathers of the Third Street community. Though now a mission church, St. Alphonsus's con- tinued to be a parish church for the Germans. Sub- sequently, two more foundations were made in New York, one for Bohemian Catholics, and the other for the German Catholics in the northern part of the city. In 1871 an important mission house was opened at Roxbury, Boston. It was dedicated to Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Its first rector, the Rev. William H. Gross, was succeeded by the Rev. Leopold Petsch, when the former became Bishop of Savannah in 1873. In 1883, when a new parish was formed in that dis- trict, the Fathers of the mission church took charge of it. As early as 1874 the Redemptorists of the Amer- ican province were called to St. Patrick's Church, Quebec, Canada, the only parish church in that city for English-speaking Catholics. Four years later the American Fathers became the custodians of the miraculous shrine of Ste-Anne de Beaupre, near Quebec; it was eventually transferred to the Fathers of the Belgian province. The same Fathers assumed charge of St. Anne's, Montreal, a large parish in a very poor district of the city. The Baltimore prov- ince in the meantime established two other founda- tions in Canada: St. Patrick's, Toronto, in 1881, and St. Peter's, St. John, N. B., in 1884. In 1876 the congregation was invited to take a second church in Philadelphia, that of St. Boniface. Besides these houses the province of Baltimore founded in 1881 a separate house for its juvenate, or junior house of studies, at Northeast, Pennsylvania. Another house, to be used as a primary juvenate, was purchased in 1886 at Saratoga, New York; this is at present a mission house. In 1893 a new house was opened at Brooklyn, New York.

In 1875 the original American province was divided, the eastern under the name of the province of Balti- more, and the western as the province of St. Louis. This latter province embraced the houses of St. Louis, New Orleans, Chicago, and Chatawa. This last-named place was selected for the novitiate and house of studies for the province of St. Louis, but was subsequently abandoned. Since 187.5 several new foundations have been established. In 1878 Kansas City, Missouri, was selected for an educational in- stitution. The old house of St. Mary's at Detroit was abandoned in 1872, but in 1880 another house was established in the suburbs of the same city; this is now a flourishing mission and parish church. Two years later the Redemptorists began a second foun- dation at Chicago. In 1887 a juvenate was erected at Kirkwood, near St. Louis, and in 1888 the Fathers settled at Grand Rapids, Michigan. In 1891 a foundation was made at Seattle, Washington, in 1897 a new house of studies was erected at De Soto, Missouri. In 1894 the Fathers went to Denver, Colorado, and took charge of St. Joseph's Church; in 1906 to Portland, Oregon; in 1908 to Davenport, Iowa, and to Fresno, California. In 1910 a new house was founded at Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, which will be the future house of studies of the prov- ince of St. Ixjuis.

De.sijite the manifold labours and the limited num- ber of Fathers, the preaching of missions, the special work of the sons of St. Alphonsus, was never neglected. In 1850, however, it received a powerful impetus

under the first provincial. Father Bernard. Shortly after his arrival in America he organized and trained what may be called the first band of regular mis- sionaries, among whom were the eminent converts, Fathers Hecker, Hewit, and Walworth; these dis- tinguished missionaries afterwards estabhshed the Congregation of the Paulists. Since then the work of the missions has increased rapidly from year to year ; thus a double activity, parish work and mission work, has become a special feature of the congregation in North America. Some idea of the work of the Baltimore province during the ten years from 1890 to 1899 is conveyed by the following figures: mis- sions and renewals, 1889; retreats, 1071; other ex- ercises, 75; confessions, 2,418,758; converts, 1252. Parish work: baptisms, 54,608; communions, 6,827,000; first communions, 19,077; marriages, 8311; average number of school children, 13,000; converts, 1922.

The administration of Father Mauron was rendered memorable by sev'eral important events. In 1866 Pius IX caused the miraculous picture of Our Lady of Perpetual Help to be placed in the Redemptorist Church at Rome. The devotion to the Blessed Virgin under this attractive title has since then spread far and wide. In 1871 the pope, moved by the urgent and repeated petitions of bishops and heads of reli- gious orders, bestowed the title of Doctor of the Universal Church upon St. Alphonsus, known the world over by his theological and devotional writings. Father Hofbauer, the Apostle of Vienna, was beatified in 1889, and Brother Gerard Majella, the thaunmlur- gus of the congregation, in 1893. The latter was canonized by Pius X, 11 Dec, 1904. The eventful administration of Father Mauron ended in 1893. In 1882 he was stricken with apoplexy, and, though he rallied from the shock, a slow decline set in, and he died 13 July, 1893. On 1 March, 1894, Very Rev. Mathias Raus was elected superior general. He was born 9 Aug., 1829, in the Duchy of Luxemburg; made his profession 1 Nov., 1853, and was ordained priest 8 Aug., 1858. After filling various important offices in the order, he was called to Rome by his predecessor to be one of the general consultors. Father Raus's administration is remarkable for the number of Re- demptorist causes of beatification introduced, or about to be introduced, in Rome, thirteen in all. Among them are: Ven. John Nepomucene Neumann, superior of the American Province, who died as Bishop of Philadelphia, 5 Jan., 1860; Father Francis X. Seelos, of the American province, who died a victim of yellow fever at New Orleans, 4 Oct., 1867; and Father Peter Donders, the Apostle of the Lepers in Surinam, who died in the leper colony at Batavia, in Dutch Guiana, 14 Jan., 1887. To these may be added Father Alfred Pampelon, who died at Ste-.\nne de BeauprS in Canada, 30 Sept., 1896. Father Raus's administration was closed by the happy issue of the cause of Blessed Clement M. Hofbauer's can- onization, which took place on 20 May, 1909. In that year the venerable superior, having attained his eighty-second year, deemed it wise to resign his re- sponsible office, and in the general chapter opened on 26 April, 1909, the Very Rev. Father Patrick Murray, superior of the Irish province, was elected superior general of the congregation. He was born 24 Nov., 1865, made his profession 23 Oct., 1889, and was or- dained priest 10 Sept., 1890.

During the pa.st twelve years the development of the congregation has been very marked. The Roman province was particularly honoured by Leo XIII, when he confided to the Fathers the magnificent new church of St. Joachim in Rome. The Freiu;!! prov- ince was divided into three provinces and two vice- provinces in 1900. Spain became a province, having eight houses, to which recently two more communitieg were added. The French province proper was