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CHAPTER 2
Alemany and Vilarrasa: Uneasy Partnership [1]
Fr. Peter Anderson was the first to plant the seed of the Dominican
Order in the western United States. The seed was his own life and death. But its
nourishing and growth were in and through Bishop Joseph Sadoc Alemany and Fr. Francis
Sadoc Vilarrasa together with Sr. Mary Goemaere. Of these three the initiative was first
taken by Alemany, when, as provincial of St. Joseph Province, he sent Anderson to
California with the implantation of the Order there in mind, and then, as newly ordained
bishop, by asking Vilarrasa and Mary Goemaere to be associates with him in firming up
whatever beginnings Fr. Anderson had made.
The surviving records and the histories based upon them reveal Alemany
to be a holy and persistently creative churchman. One might have guessed at his future
from his beginnings. He was born in Vich in the province of Catalonia some 30 miles from
Barcelona. His father was a blacksmith and his mother the daughter of a local chocolate
maker, both devout and strict Catholics in a Spain wracked by anti-clericalism. Joseph was
the third of 12 children. Two of the boys ended up priests of the diocese of Vich, two
besides Joseph -- Manual and Juan -- became Dominican friars. Two daughters entered
convents, one of Carmel, the other Dominican. Three sons married, and two of the children
died in infancy.
When 16 years old Joseph entered the Dominican Order in the priory of
Santo Domingo in Vich of the Province of Aragon, receiving the habit there toward the
middle of September, 1830. He immediately expressed his desire to become a missionary for
the Philippines but was persuaded by his director to finish his studies in Europe before
volunteering for the missions. On September 23, 1831, he made his solemn profession and
took for his religious name "Sadoc" after the Dominican Polish martyr of the
13th century. He had his three year course in philosophy at Tremp and then was sent to the
celebrated priory "de la Anunciacion" at Gerona, one of the oldest convents in
the Order. Here he began his theological studies, but after his first year the priory
together with every other religious house in Spain was closed because of the Law of
Secularization of 1835. Joseph went to his grandmother's house in Grub, near Vich, and
spent a year there quietly studying St. Thomas under the tutelage of Fr. Lucia Costa, a
lector of the Order. The Master General of the Order, Jacinto Cipolleti, invited him and
other Spanish Dominican students to Italy for the completion of their studies. He happily
complied and was assigned to the convent of Santa Maria Dei Gradi in Viterbo. Two years
later, on March 11, 1837, though one year shy of the sacerdotal canonical age, he was
ordained a priest in San Lorenzo Cathedral in Viterbo by Archbishop (later Cardinal)
Gaspar Bernard Pianetti of that city.
Shortly after ordination he was appointed assistant master of novices
in his convent of Dei Gradi. Such a trust invested in one so young -- he was only 23 years
old -- indicates that he was recognized as a man of prayer and religious observance. It
seems he was also appreciated for his intelligence and theological acumen. We know that at
least twice he was chosen for public defense, once in philosophy and again in theology --
an honor reserved for the best of the students. At his theological defense was Henri
Lacordaire, newly arrived from France to begin his novitiate in Viterbo. The great
preacher and future restorer of the Order in France openly admired Alemany's performance.
Mutual admiration and, more deeply, love and zeal for the Lord, led to a lasting
friendship between the two Dominicans.
Before completing his theology, Alemany again expressed his desire to
go to the Philippines, but instead of Asia it was to the United States that he was
commissioned. This eventuated because the Dominican Bishop Miles of Tennessee had made
known to the Master General, Angelus Ancarni, his desperate need for priests in his vast
and extremely poor diocese, and Ancarni wanted to oblige him. Accordingly, Alemany along
with two others, Fathers Francis Cubero and Hyacinth Pozzo, was assigned to North America.
Though not exactly according to his own will, the assignment did not disappoint him. His
ready obedience was quick to find good things about the States, even anticipating better
weather there than in the Philippines (!), as he wrote to his uncle at the time:
I do not now pursue my theological studies but occupy myself according
to the orders of Father Master General to the study of Moral Theology and to the study of
the English language because this is the language of the United States. I have always
noticed that my Superior has, in a certain way, opposed my going to the Philippines. On
the other hand, in the United States, the weather is similar to our own, we have houses
there and there is as much, if not more, need than in the Philippines. I leave it all to
the Lord.
His last months in Italy he spent in Rome at the Urban College of
Propaganda Fide pursuing his English studies (which for him involved not just the study of
the language, but of the geography, history, mores of the land for which he was destined))
and finishing his theology. Upon the completion of his studies, he was awarded the degree
of Lectorate in Theology at the Minerva, one of the venerable centers of Dominican life
and culture.
It was on February 12, 1840, that Alemany with his two Dominican
companions, set sail for America. His Catalonian blood ran warm as the ship passed his
native land. Nostalgia touched his heart, but his sights as always were fixed upon the
future:
I stretched my vision to discover Montseny and at least, in this
manner, to take leave of my country. On the ship's map, this peak was pictured as rising
high but we hit rough and high waters as well and I had to bid adieu to the plains of Vich
while saying the Holy Rosary and, on God's sea, to beg for His protection.
When, after a rough and long voyage, Alemany arrived in America at the
beginning of April, 1840, he found that Bishop Miles no longer had immediate need of help,
having already procured several priests for his diocese. The bishop advised Alemany to go
to St. Joseph's convent in Somerset, Ohio, and continue his studies in English in
preparation for his missionary work in a new and strange world. This he did, and was soon
putting his English to good use in parochial and missionary activity in and around
Somerset and Zanesville. His Spanish continued to be of use also, as when the provincial,
Fr. Charles Pius Montgomery, sent him to Cuba to solicit funds for church building and
repairs. Due to an attack of Yellow Fever, which laid him low for a time, and the
anticlericalism that had spread from Spain to its territories, Alemany had little success.
He returned, however, with some amusing anecdotes, such as his encounter with a Captain
General who took him for a spy of Don Carlos, pretender to the throne of Spain. The
General, recalled Alemany years after the event, "wishing to ascertain my true
character catechized me about the number of sacraments. He corrected me when I placed the
Holy Eucharist before Penance -- but having heard from me that St. Thomas argues that
Penance is better placed after the Holy Eucharist because Penance is medicine and the
Eucharist is food -- and a child needs food before medicine -- he seemed satisfied, but I
was not. I asked him for some donation and he ordered his secretary to give me an ounce of
gold."
For some two years Alemany continued his labors in Ohio, but now Bishop
Miles had need of him. Thus began his three year residence at the Cathedral of the Holy
Rosary in Nashville, from 1842 to 1845. Besides his parochial duties at the cathedral he
also headed briefly the very modest diocesan seminary located in the bishop's own house.
In 1845 he resumed his missionary activities, with St. Peter's Church in Memphis,
Tennessee, as his house of residence.
In 1847 the province held its chapter at St. Rose Priory in
Springfield, Kentucky. It was here that the lives of Frs. Alemany and Vilarrasa began to
converge. They knew each other before their encounter at the chapter -- within the Eastern
Province, certainly, but also in Spain and Italy as students and young priests, and
perhaps even before their entrance into the Order: letters between Vilarrasa and his
parents suggest that the Vilarrasa and Alemany families were at least acquainted.
Vilarrasa's background was much the same as that of Alemany. His town
of birth was La Pobla de Lillet, a few miles from Alemany's Vich. He entered the Dominican
Order at the Convent of St. Catherine in Barcelona -- of the same province, Aragon, as was
Alemany -- when he was only 15 years old and, like Alemany, chose "Sadoc" for
his religious name. One year later, September 23, 1830, he took his solemn vows. After his
profession he evidently remained at St. Catherine's where he completed the philosophical
curriculum and began the study of theology.
His theological studies, however, were harshly interrupted. By the
summer of 1834 religious persecution had begun in Spain. In July of that year the
Dominican convent in Madrid was attacked and several religious killed while praying the
divine office in choir. By spring of the following year the persecution was widespread in
the provinces, and on July 25, 1835, several religious houses in Barcelona, the convent of
St. Catherine among them, were attacked by mobs and burned. Eighteen religious were killed
during these riots. Faced with this situation, Vilarrasa, together with other members of
the Aragon Province -- Brother Joseph Alemany included, as we have seen -- accepted the
invitation of the Master General to come to Italy. The year 1836 found Vilarrasa at the
convent of La Quercia near Viterbo, not far from S. Maria Dei Gradi, where Brother Sadoc
Alemany was currently assigned. Here he entered once again into his theological studies.
"The little dark man is said to have just attained the height required by canon law
for admittance into the priesthood,"[2] but he
unquestionably qualified in every other respect. And so in May of 1837 he was ordained a
priest. The ordaining prelate was Archbishop Pianetti of Viterbo who, just two months
before, had also raised Alemany to the priesthood.
During his next two years at La Quercia Vilarrasa exercised the office
of assistant to the master of novices, as did Alemany in the neighboring convent. In 1839
he was sent to Santa Maria Sopra Minerva in Rome where in 1841 he took the degree of
lector in Sacred Theology. He then returned to La Quercia where he again filled the office
of assistant to the master of novices. Like Alemany also, the young Vilarrasa's grasp of
and ability in theological science was recognized: although fresh from his formal studies,
he was appointed to teach theology to the Dominican students at the La Quercia house of
studies. As described in the records of La Quercia, "while small of body, he was
great of mind, an industrious student, an observant religious, and of a character that won
the hearts of all."[3] In addition to Henri
Lacordaire, among his novices/students was Alexandre Vincent Jandel, who was to become in
1850 Vicar General and five years later Master General of the Order, and was to appoint
his former master/teacher the first major superior of the western Dominicans.
Vilarrasa continued on at La Quercia until the Fall of 1844. Fr. George
Augustine Joseph Wilson, provincial of St. Joseph's Province, was in Europe at the time
and it was probably due to conversations with him that Vilarrasa volunteered for the
American mission. He embarked at Le Havre on November 17, 1844, having as his traveling
companions Frs. Januarius Mannes D'Arco and James Aloysius Orengo, two Italian Dominicans
who had also volunteered for America, and Frs. Langdon Thomas Grace and Nicholas Raymond
Young, members of St. Joseph's Province who had been sent to Italy to complete their
studies and had just been granted their theological degrees. Fr. Vilarrasa himself gives
some account of the voyage in a letter written to his family once arrived at St. Joseph's
Priory in Somerset. The letter is dated January 12, 1845. Happily, he recalls that aboard
ship his party was
... served four meals a day and any prince could have eaten at the
table. The captain, although a Protestant, had fish prepared for us every Friday and
Saturday, and treated us during the entire voyage as a true friend. He took his meals with
us and used to show us on the map just where we were, and was almost continually in our
company. On taking leave of us he told us how pleased he would be if we went to his home.
A young lawyer of New York and two American ladies with their two little children
came over with us (in the first class section). They asked many questions about our
religion and were very much disposed toward becoming Catholics. They had never seen a
Catholic priest. The young man also was of the same mind and when he took leave of us he
had tears in his eyes. The captain's first mate likewise seemed well disposed. There
is no doubt that (except for faith) many Protestants live better than many Catholics: such
were our captain and those who were in our company.
... After forty-eight days of sailing and without having encountered
any danger, we landed in New York, thank God. We disembarked on January 3, at midday. On
the ninth in the afternoon we arrived at Somerset, half an hour's ride from this convent,
which is, one might say, built in the middle of the woods.
He gives further details of the trip, noting that they left New York at
four o'clock in the afternoon of the day of their arrival and went by train to
Philadelphia, where they remained till the sixth and then traveled to Baltimore, staying
there only over night. From there they traveled about 300 miles by rail to a city
"the name of which I do not remember." The rest of the journey to Somerset was
made by stagecoach, and "after two days and nights of continual running and
bumping" they arrived at Somerset.
In his next letter home, April 5, 1845, we find a brief but telling
description of the parochial, religious, and missionary life of St. Joseph's:
... the convent is two miles from Somerset, a little city surrounded by
forests with a few scattered homes. The people are for the most part Irish and German,
almost all Catholics. The Protestants do not like to live here for fear, they say, of
being perverted. In Somerset the people are mostly Protestants. We have a convent of nuns
in this city. The sisters are very exemplary and are dedicated to the education of girls,
among whom are some Protestants. They observe our constitutions to the letter and
wear the habit, but they have no enclosure... and this prudent and wise exception prevents
the Protestants from calumniating. Nevertheless they hardly ever leave the convent
and much less can any one enter it. Fr. Cubero of Aragon is their chaplain and at the same
time attends the Catholics in Somerset. The Protestants in the past have given us their
church for preaching, but since our Provincial preached there, they have not wished to
allow us to have it again...
This our convent of St. Joseph is not yet finished. The church is also
new and consists of the principal walls and vault with only one altar inside, because we
have not the means to finish it. The altar is in the form of a cross and was brought from
the Island of Cuba by Fr. Alemany...On feast days the faithful come great distances to
hear Mass and Vespers in spite of the snows, bad weather, and poor roads. Mass is said at
eight o'clock and after the Mass the catechism is taught in the German language. At ten
o'clock the Rosary is recited and the catechism explained in English, and Mass is sung,
always concluded with a sermon in English... The hardships of the priests on the missions
are very great. They can never count on sleeping in the convent. Many times it happens
that one arrives tired out and thinking he can rest, when he must leave at once on
horseback and go where he is called without stopping through the rain and snow.
Nevertheless all are well and happy. The regulations of this convent
are not very different from those of Quercia [Italy]. >>>
Partial Endnotes
Click Endnote Number to Resume Reading
[1] Sources for the present chapter are, for
Alemany: mainly McGloin, but also O'Daniel, Coffey, WDA XIII:3; and Francis Weber for
Alemany's diary. For Vilarrasa, cf. Coffey and O'Daniel; and WDA XIII:4, especially for
his letters and Chronicle. Translations of Vilarrasa's letters home are, substantially,
those which appeared in the Catholic Review's Contemporary History of the
Sufferings and Triumphs of the Church of Jesus Christ, January, 1851, also found in
V's file. Brief biographies of members of St. Joseph's Province appearing in this and in
subsequent chapters are in Coffey's Pictorial History... The bare bones of
biographies of members of the Western Province may be found in their respective files,
Roman numeral XII, beginning with Vinyes, WDA XII:1. More substantial biographies of many
westerners appear in their obituaries in the catalogi (or, in the early years, the Acta of
the biennial congregations) the year of or immediately following their death. For Sr. Mary
Goemaere and the other pioneering sisters cf. The Dominicans of San Rafael... and
Sr. M. H. Kilgannon, O.P., The History of St. Catherine's Academy...
[2] O'Daniel, p. 173.
[3] ibid.
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