Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 3.djvu/437

 CARROLL

383

CARROLL

the pioneer of the Maryland Historical Society, and President of the trustees of Baltimore College (1803). He represented to Congress the need of a constitu- tional provision for the protection and maintenance of religious liberty, and doubtless to him, in part, is due the provision in Article Sixth, Section :i. of the Constitution, which declares that "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trusl under the United States", and also the first amendment, passed this same year by the

first Congress, that "Congress shall make no law re- specting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof (for a more cautious view sec Shea. op. cit .. 348).

Church troubles, Trusteeism in New York, and Nationalism in Philadelphia, at this time decided the priests oi Maryland (March, 1788) to petition Rome for a bishop for the United States. Cardinal Anto- nelli replied, allowing the priests on the mission to select tin' city and. for this case only, to name the candidate for presentation to the pope. Twenty-four of the twenty-five other priests in the meeting voted for lather Carroll. Accordingly on 6 November, 1789, Pope Pius VI appointed him bishop. His con- sec-ration took place in .Mr. Weld's chapel at Lulworth Castle, England, 15 August, 1790, al the hands of the Rt. Rev. Charles Walmesley, Senior Vicar Apostolic of England. Bishop Carrol) returned to Baltimore in triumph, 7 December, when he preached an appropri- ate and touching sermon in St. Peter's church. Troubles in Boston required him soon to go thither, where he removed much prejudice.

In common with their fellow-citizens, the Catholics of the United States hailed with joy the election of bJngton as first president under the new titution. Before the inauguration Bishop Car- roll, on behalf "f the Catholic clergy, united with the representatives of the Catholic laity (Charles Carroll <il < arrollton, and Daniel Carroll of Maryland, Domi- nick Lynch of Xew York, and Thomas Fitz Simons of Pennsylvania) in an address of congratulation, ad- mirable for its sentiments of exalted patriotism [ "An Address from the Roman Catholics of America to Washington, Esq., President of the United ", London, 1790, fol.: reprint Xew York, I860, facsimile and notes; see Shea. op. cit., 349-50, and ibid., the memorable and cordial reply of Washington (12 March. 1790) "To the Roman Catholics of the United States", in which he says: "I presume that your fellow-citizens will not forget the patriotic pari which you took in the accomplishment of their Revo- lution, and the establishment of your Government, or the important assistance which they received from a nation in which the Roman Catholic faith is pro- The original of this reply is preserved in the Archives of the Archbishop of Baltimore]. It may not lie out of place to quote here the noble words of Bishop Carroll himself, addressed 1 III June. I7N0 to a maligner of Catholics: "Theirblood flowed as freely (in proportion to their numbers) to cement (he fabric of independence as that of any of their fellow-citizens. They concurred with perhaps greater unanimity than any other body of men in recommending and promot- ing thai government from whose influence America anticipates all the blessings of justice, ]>eace, plenty, good order, and civil and religious liberty" (Brent. h low : Shea. ■

1 in 7 Nov.. 1791, he held the First Synod of Balti- more, attended by twenty-two priests of five nation- alities. To train priest for hi - diocese of three million

! tishop 1 "arroll had asked the Fathers of the Couii 'any oi Saint Sulpice to come to Baltimore, where they arrived in 17'Jl and started the nucleus of St. Mary- Collegl and Seminary. Bishop Carroll is- sued his fir.-t . he ordained to the priesthood Prince Demetrius Gallitzin who was to add 6,000 converts fo his flock. In 1 7! is. Bishop Carroll won an interesting and important lawsuit, the famous Fromm Case (Shea. op. cit., 448-5), in which Judge Addison, President of the Court of Common Pleas of the Fifth Circuit of Pennsylvania, decided that "The Bishop of Baltimore has the sole episcopal authority over the Catholic Church of the United Stales. Every Catholic congregation within the United States is subject to his inspection; and with out authority from him no Catholic priest can exer- cise any pastoral function over any congregation within the United States." In 1 792, says Shea (op. cit.. 486-7) he interceded with Washington in regard to missions among the Indians; eventually the presi- dent recommended to Congress a civilizing and Chris- tianizing policy for the Indians, one result of which was the acceptance of the services of a Catholic priest, to whom a small yearly salary was allowed. After the death of Washington. Bishop Carroll "issued a circular to his clergy (29 Dec, 1799) in regard to the celebration of the 22d of February as a day of mourn- ing, giving directions for such action as would be in conformity with the spirit of the Church, while attest- ing to the country the sorrow and regret experienced by Catholics at the great national loss" (Shea. op. cit.. 495). Having been invited by the unanimous resolution of Congress, in common with the clergy of all denominations and congregations of Christians throughout the United States, he preached a pane- gyric of the president in St. Peter's church in Balti- more, 22 February. 18(10, which was regarded by all who heard it, or read it in print (Baltimore, 1800), says Shea (op. cit., 495), as one of the most masterly which were uttered on that day. Episcopal orders were conferred for the first time in the United States by Bishop Carroll on Bishop Neale, his coadjutor, with right of succession to the See of Baltimore. Plans for building his cathedral now occupied Bishop Carroll's mind, and on 7 July. 1806, he laid the corner-stone on ground bought for Sl!0.iiii, and the seventh design of the architect. B. II. Latrobe, was accepted.

In 1S08, Bishop Carroll became Archbishop, with suffragan sees at Xew York, Philadelphia. Boston, ami

Bardstown. At a meeting held in Baltimore in 1810,

Archbishop Carroll, with Bishop Neale and three of his suffragans, drew up some important regulations for the welfare and direction of their clergy and people iSee Baltimore, Provdsciai, Councils of). Owing to ill-health Arch hi shop Carroll had to decline the prof- fered honour of laying the corner-stone of Washington's Monument in Baltimore, in the autumn of 1815. His end was now approaching. To a Protestant minister who said to the 1 lying prelate that his hopes were mnv directed to another world, Archbishop Carroll replied: "Sir. my hopes have been always fixed on the ( loss of Christ ". A short while after he said, "< If those things that give me most consolation at tin present mo ment, one is that 1 have always been attached to the practice of devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary; that

I have established it among the people under my care. and placed my diocese under her protection." (in 22 November he received tin- last sacraments, after

which he made a touching discourse to the priests

present. "The whole population of Baltimore", said a letter from a relative, were "constantly calling to inquire about, ami to urge permission to see him." The funeral Mass .• in St. Peter's pro-

Cathedra I and tie- body temporarily laid in the chapel of St. Mary's Seminary till 1824, when the cathedral crypt was ready for the deposit it still guards.

"Archbishop Carroll, though of low stature, had a commanding and dignified appearance", wrote the