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CHAPTER 6
FIN DE SIECLE: NEW HORIZONS
Upon his death one of Vilarrasa's earliest
novices succeeded him as major superior, Fr. Vincent Vinyes. It will be recalled that Fr.
Vinyes was one of six novices coming to Monterey from Vich, Spain, in 1852. Because of his
intelligence and learning -- before entering the Order he could speak several languages,
was well versed in music, mathematics and science as well as logic, Latin, and Greek, and
already had some grounding in philosophy and theology -- he was immediately put to work
teaching, along with Vilarrasa, the young ladies of Santa Catalina, and when the friars
and sisters moved to Benicia, he continued as convent professor and was warmly appreciated
for his learning and pedagogy. Once ordained he remained at the Benicia priory as lector
of the novices and students and in various administrative capacities, but we also find him
now and again in one or other of the parishes entrusted to the Dominicans and giving
retreats or parish missions. While still a young priest Vinyes was already known and
respected not just by his Dominican brothers but by the California secular clergy at
large, so much so that he was several times nominated for bishop. In 1873 Bishop Amat of
Monterey proposed several candidates as his successor: Vinyes was second on his list. In
the same year Bishop O'Connell of Grass Valley proposed Vinyes as his successor, and in
the following year when the California bishops met for their first Provincial Council,
Vinyes was their first nominee for Grass Valley. Rome, however, chose Fr. John Prendergast, Vicar General of San
Francisco. When Prendergast refused, Vinyes was again proposed. In response to this second
strong recommendation, Propaganda Fide consulted Fr. Joseph Sanvito, the Vicar General of
the Order, who replied that "Father Vincent Vinyes is deserving of commendation under
every respect... I also judge him fit for the distinguished office for which Bishop
O'Connell of Grass Valley is singling him out. However, on the occasion of a similar
request for Father Vinyes, I pointed out the fact that his departure from his young
Province would cause considerable hardship. Father Villarosa [sic] wrote to me on February
4, 1874, 'I thank you especially for your help in preventing that Father Vinyes should be
named Bishop. In the present circumstances his loss would appear to constitute a great
calamity for the Order in California.'..." In spite of Vilarrasa's objection and the
Vicar General's implied agreement with it, the Sacred Congregation in January, 1877,
designated Fr. Vinyes as bishop-elect of Grass Valley, which appointment he declined. He
presented his reasons to the Sacred Congregation, and then summarized them for Fr.
Sanvito:
I have always shied
away from every type of responsibility where others are concerned, so that it was mainly
to avoid the responsibility involved in the care of souls that I decided to join a
religious order... When I stop to consider how many and great are the qualifications
necessary for a Bishop, I cannot honestly find a single one in me. Unfit as I am to rule
even a tiny community, how on earth could I undertake the administration of a Diocese? I
am led to say this by truth rather than by humility.
One may, then, imagine Vinyes'
consternation when in March, 1888, he was appointed by the Master General to succeed
Vilarrasa as vicar general of the California congregation -- not as bad as the episcopacy,
perhaps, but still an office heavy with responsibility for others. And how even begin to
measure up to his predecessor? But Vinyes need not have worried over his inability to be
and do as Vilarrasa, for now that the founding father was no longer there to guide and
decide, the time was ripe for the leadership of the California congregation to become more
diffuse. With some lapses, more and more it
would be the local entities, whether of institution or person, that carried the
congregation forward into the new century.
As detailed above, toward the turn of the
century, some of the small outlying missions began to grow into quasi-independent
entities. Initially, in the late '50s and in the '60s those who had the care of the small
churches of Martinez, Vallejo, Antioch, Concord, Pittsburg, etc., lived at St. Dominic's
in Benicia and, on weekends, would travel to their respective assignments. Then small
rectories, whether houses donated or built, would house a resident Dominican or two, who,
however, would have as immediate superior the prior of St. Dominic's. Finally, the church
would become a parish in its own right and the rectory a formal house with its own
superior. Thus in catalogi prior to 1914, Vallejo, Martinez, Antioch, etc. are simply
listed as under the care of Benicia. Whereas in those of 1914 forward each of these
locations has a listing of its own with the names of the friars assigned and their
designated superior (praeses, vicarius, superior) -- though they had been long
since independent in practice of the motherhouse.
St. Vincent Ferrer's in Vallejo is a fine
example of such evolution and expansion. It was in 1855, the year following the transfer
of their novitiate and studium to Benicia, that the Dominicans began to minister on a
regular basis in Vallejo. Like other small northern California settlements in the forties,
Vallejo, named after its founder, General Mariano Vallejo, grew in population and size
with the gold rush and the establishment in 1852 of the naval base on Mare Island. By the
time the Dominicans arrived in Benicia it had become a fair-sized town requiring the
Church's attention. Accordingly, each weekend one or other of the friars would either walk
or ride horse from St. Dominic's to Vallejo some eight miles distant. An old time resident
of Benicia, James Bolton, recalled seeing Fr. Vilarrasa making the trek from Benicia to
Vallejo and back again on foot "until the neighbors bought and presented to him a
donkey. He rode the donkey all about on his ministerial work." Bolton might also have seen along the same route,
and on donkey, horse, or on foot, Frs. Langlois, Aerden, Vinyes. Each in his turn would be
heading for the small white church built in 1855 on land donated by General Vallejo. This,
the first St. Vincent church, was located on Marin Street, between Capitol and Virginia
Streets. It was reportedly a handsome structure: a low, white frame hall with five tall
windows on each of its long side walls and surmounted by an open belfry holding the bell
from the old Sonoma mission, a gift from General John B. Frisbie, son-in-law of General
Vallejo. The seating capacity was about 200. It was on August 19, 1855, that Archbishop
Alemany came from San Francisco to formally dedicate the church and celebrate the event
with the local citizenry. On this same day Alemany performed the first Catholic marriage
ceremony in Vallejo, uniting Simon Marion of Austria and Anna McCormick of Maryland,
U.S.A. Within a year of the dedication, General Vallejo and General Frisbie, with their
wives, Francisca Benicia Vallejo and Epiphania Vallejo Frisbie, stood proudly near the
baptismal font while Fr. Vilarrasa baptized their infant daughters -- Maria Aloysia
Vallejo and Epiphania Anatalia Frisbie.
It was not until ten years later that St.
Dominic's in Benicia was able to supply St. Vincent's with its first resident pastor, John
Louis Daniel, O.P. Previously, he, together with other of the fathers who came to Vallejo
on weekends, was given over-night hospitality by Patrick Haggerty, who lived just a few
doors away from the church. But now a small house was added to the church and in 1865 Fr.
Daniel took up his residence in it.
In the meantime Vallejo's population had
grown considerably. A much larger church was needed, and also a school. On August 21,
1864, Fr. Louis called a general meeting of the parish to discuss expansion plans. Various
properties were considered, especially two areas offered gratis by General John Frisbie,
now, by appointment of Governor Leland Stanford, commander in chief of the state militia.
On September 4, 1864, the matter was voted upon by the whole parish, and the "hill
site" at Florida and Sacramento Streets was chosen. Since Archbishop Alemany was
adamant against parishes incurring debts, it was agreed to postpone construction of the
church until the money was in hand. Several benefactors, besides General Frisbie,
immediately stepped forward: Patrick Dillon, who offered to provide stone from his quarry,
Thomas Toomey, and a most generous Peter Fagan who told Fr. Louis to "begin your
church, Father, and if you run short of money, come to me and I will give you what you
need." In little over a year, Daniel had the necessary funds in hand, and, on August
18, 1867, the corner stone was laid. In 1868, shortly after the new church was begun, the
first St. Vincent's Church was moved to the top of the hill where, in 1870, when the new
church was completed, it was converted into a school for girls staffed by the Dominican
Sisters from St. Catherine's in Benicia.
As the church was being constructed so
also was the rectory -- both buildings of stone quarried locally, and brick made of the
adobe soil plentiful in the area. The new rectory was built with a view to the future
growth of the parish, but also of the Dominican presence. Fr. Louis Daniel, of like mind
with Vilarrasa, was apparently looking to the time when St. Vincent's would be a priory,
requiring at least six solemnly professed friars, as well as a parish. The rectory's
ground floor contained two parlors, two rooms for housekeepers, a dining room, and a
bedroom. On the second floor were five bedrooms, a recreation room, and a chapel. Both
church and rectory were built well for they survived the two major earthquakes of 1898 and
1906 and the rectory continued to house the parish priests until 1934 when it was replaced
by the one presently in use.
Though eventually six, and even eight,
fathers were assigned to the house, St. Vincent's never reached priorial status. When Fr.
Louis took up residence, with him, as assistant, was Fr. J.P. Callaghan, O.P. These two
increased to three in 1904, to four in 1912-13, and from then on the number fluctuates,
from three again in 1914, 1922-24, 1932, 1935, to four in 1915-17, to five in 1918, 1926,
1937, 1939, 1941, to six in 1936, 1938, 1940,
1943-46, and even to eight in 1947. In 1914, however, the house was raised from simply a
parochial religious house to a domus formata or vicariate, even though at the
time there were only three priests in residence. This meant that the friars had to be
complete and exact in their religious observance. And in times of visitation they would be
reminded of their communal as well as personal obligations. There might be extenuating
circumstances diminishing the requirements of a given formal house, but the circumstances
rather than the requirements were to be changed. Thus on the occasion of his visitation of
St. Vincent's, January 29, 1916, the then provincial, Fr. Arthur L. McMahon, noting
"the ill health of some of the Fathers" and "the many ministerial duties of
all," granted that "the recitation of the divine office in common does not seem
to be possible." Accordingly, "For the present this will not be required of
them." The brethren were to continue their two periods of communal meditation each
day, were to have specified communal grace before and after meals, and were to wear the
habit when in the house, especially "at meals and when called to the parlor."
But they were dispensed from communal Mass and Office. In the following year, however, in
a letter dated June 15, 1917, the whole battery of religious observances is not only
recommended but demanded of the community. After quoting from his 1916 visitation letter,
requiring communal meditation and dispensing from choral office, Fr. McMahon continues:
The fidelity with which
the Fathers have observed the ordination
regarding common meditation has undoubtedly brought upon the community and the parish many
blessings. Greater blessings may be expected
through the community Mass and the recitation of the Divine Office in common. At last the
time has come when it is possible for the Fathers to discharge these community
obligations. It is needless to say that of the religious exercises of a community the most
important are the Conventual Mass and the choral recitation of the Divine Office.
McMahon goes on to remind the fathers how
important and serious this obligation is, noting in scrupulous detail what is expected of
them by both Church and Order.
To what extent the fathers fulfilled their
communal obligations, or in what spirit, it is impossible to judge. But that they knew the
seriousness of them and their provincial's seriousness about them, is evident. The
ministry of St. Vincent's that was meant to grow out of such communal living under its
first pastors -- Frs. Louis Daniel, Mannes Doogan, T. Ceslaus Clancy, C.V. Lamb, J.D.
O'Brien -- stretching from 1865 to 1921, we can only observe in general and surmise the
rest. These years saw dramatic growth in Vallejo's general and in its specifically
Catholic population. The fathers ministered to the people in and from St. Vincent's as
also its mission church, St. Louis Bertrand, in southern Vallejo. They also had the care
of the naval station of Mare Island. The parish school under the management and care of
the Dominican sisters, now centered in San Rafael, experienced tremendous growth in these
years. A "free school," meaning no or very little tuition, it began with five
sisters from St. Catherine's in Benicia and fifty young
women. In 1883 it became necessary to add two classrooms and two more teachers. By 1893
the student population had outgrown the present building and so a new, much larger edifice
-- two stories with basement -- was erected on the corner next to the sisters' convent.
With the opening of the new school male students were welcomed along with the young
ladies, resulting in an overall population of some 700 students. In 1903 a classroom was
set aside for the smaller children in preparation for advancement into "St. Vincent's
High." Thus began St. Vincent's grade school. The 1912 History of Solano and Napa
Counties, after praising the school generally, adds that at St. Vincent's "The
music department has been made very attractive and is presided over by very efficient
vocal and instrumental teachers, all of which with the finely appointed library, tends to
make this one of the most thoroughly equipped educational institutions of Solano and Napa
counties. At present writing (1911) there are four hundred and thirty pupils in the
school, under the direction of a corps of fourteen teachers. The teachers of the
instruction have always been women of unusual qualifications and decided ability..."[4]
The school served other purposes, too. In 1915, under the pastorship of Fr. J.D. O'Brien,
the newly constructed high school was given over to the care of the many victims of
influenza. The sisters and priests together with many of the laity of the parish cared for
the sick and dying both military and civilian -- shades of the next World War, 1939-46,
when the school and parish, under the leadership of Fr. Joachim Walsh, once again served
the government by housing the headquarters of the 211 Coast Artillery Anti-Aircraft
Division, with its guns set high atop the school roof, and by tending the sick and wounded
at the Mare Island naval hospital.
The ministerial power of St. Vincent's
early friars and sisters was amply evidenced at the funeral of its first pastor in June of
1896. Fr. Daniel was an energetic and prudent pastor with financial know-how, but even
more he was a loving and loveable priest for his people, a devoted and pious religious,
who served as confessor and spiritual director for priests and religious as well as laity.
One of those whom he long directed was Sister Mary Louis O'Donnell, O.P., who during his
tenure as pastor was teacher and principal of St. Vincent's school. She had had Frs.
Vilarrasa and Vinyes as her spiritual advisors, and now she turned to Fr. Daniel. He was
of special help to her when in 1887 she was elected Mother Provincial with the task of
relocating the center of her congregation from Benicia to San Rafael. In this and in other
tasks, almost impossible because of the financial indebtedness of her congregation, she
relied upon Fr. Daniel for advice and help. His letters to her reveal his practicality but
also his deep faith and simple piety. The material demands upon Mother Louis were real and
had to be faced prudently and realistically, Fr. Daniel acknowledged, but the spiritual
dimension was most critical and must never be neglected. So he wrote in February of 1894,
after the sisters had moved to the new convent and school in San Rafael:
You must not impose
upon yourself all the responsibility of the debt of Saint Catherine's. Some religious, I
should say many, have no idea where money is to come from to meet their many needs. They
have no sympathy with those charged with the temporal affairs of the community... I would
suggest, also, that you commence a novena to Saint Joseph in March, and he will come to
your relief. Have seven candles burning steadily during the novena. Purchase the candles and send me the bill. To this I will add one hundred dollars as an
earnest of my concern."
And in April of the same year, when things
began to look better for the sisters, he wrote:
I am glad to find, by
your letter just received, that you are in a more hopeful frame of mind... You have a
great load to carry, but it will help to lighten it by seeking the assistance of our dear
Lord, His Holy Mother, and Saint Joseph. Frequently you must remind them of your own
weakness and inability, openly declare to them, that when you unhesitatingly obeyed their
divine call to enter their holy service, in the religious state and in a mendicant Order,
it was entirely unknown to you that after long years of faithful service, you should be
held almost exclusively responsible for so enormous a debt. You must humbly but earnestly
remind them that your present indebtedness is not personal, reminding them gently how
little it would cost them to help you in your present difficulty, to pay off a portion of
your obligations.
It was such childlike faith and trust
coupled with a realistic sense of the worth and demands of the temporal that endeared Fr.
Daniel to all who were blessed to know him while he was alive and to honor him in his
death. The reporting of his funeral is lavish. The whole of the city -- Catholic,
Protestant, Jew, atheist, civic leaders, rich, poor, and plain ordinary folk -- joined in
paying tribute to the man who loved and served all of whatever race, color, or creed. The
bell tolled at the City Hall, flags were at half mast, ministers of other churches
attended the services, over 500 representatives of different societies were present, and
over 200 carriages with other mourners on foot formed the funeral cortege all the way to
the cemetery in Benicia. This was a personal tribute to Fr. Louis Daniel, of course, but
also to the other Dominicans, male and female, who labored with him with the same mind and
heart.
A similar evolution appears in other of
the early churches missioned out of Benicia directly or indirectly through one or other of
its original missions. Some began small and remained so: St. Catherine's in Martinez,
Queen of All Saints in Concord, and the churches of Pacheco, Sommersville, Nortonville,
Brentwood, Port Costa, Crockett, Bay Point (Port Chicago), Oakley -- and by the early
1920s were no longer in the care of the Dominicans. But Holy Rosary in Antioch and St.
Peter Martyr in Pittsburg experienced growth, though slow and modest.
Holy Rosary, as we have seen, began when
in 1864 Fr. Vinyes was called from Benicia to attend an injured miner at the Empire Mine
just south of the small town of Antioch. Every other weekend initially, but soon every
weekend, one or other of the fathers from Benicia would serve the incipient parish. It was
Fr. Thomas O'Neill, Irish-born but with the California Dominicans from the novitiate
forward, who supervised the building of the church. It was begun in early April of 1864
and completed in the following September, as witnessed by Alemany's Journal of
Correspondence for September 18, 1864 : "Blessed the church at Antioch under the
title of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary. Confirmed about six."
For the next ten years Holy Rosary
continued to be served from Benicia as a kind of extension of St. Catherine's in Martinez.
Its records for baptisms, marriages, funerals show a variety of names of officiating
priests, all assigned to St. Dominic's in Benicia at the time: Frs. Vincent Vinyes,
Patrick Callaghan, Louis Daniel, Henry Aerden, Jordan Caldwell, Hyacinth Derham, Mannes
Doogan, and, most prominently in those earliest years, Thomas O'Neill. It seems one father
would work the missions of Martinez, Holy Rosary, and Sommersville for three months steady
and then be relieved by another, who in turn would have his three month term. But it is
O'Neill who is most featured as pastor of the several missions. So we read in the Monitor
of May 10, 1873: "Fr. O'Neill, pastor of Antioch, Nortonville and Somersville, seeing
the increase of population and the need of a cemetery, worked for six months to procure
one... Blessing of the new cemetery took place on May 1... At 11:00 o'clock one thousand
people from the area assembled for the occasion, a procession headed by Fr. Vincent and
McGovern of Vallejo, Fr. Horgan of San Francisco together with our own pastor, Fr.
O'Neill... Fr. Vincent spoke..."
The upgrading of Holy Rosary from mission
church to an independent parish occurred sometime in 1875. Fr. Patrick Callaghan, like
O'Neill a native of Ireland but an affiliate of the western Dominicans, was named its
first resident pastor. When he took up actual residence in Antioch is unknown. At the time
of his appointment he was finishing out his term as prior of St. Dominic's in Benicia.
Where he first resided in Antioch is also not known. There was no rectory at Holy Rosary
until 1880, and even this date is doubtful. The first known mention of a rectory at Holy
Rosary is in the minutes of a council meeting of St. Dominic's, April 9, 1886, when
approval was given "to build a house in the town of Antioch for the Father who has
the care of the church of that town." Up until this time Fr. Callaghan may still have
resided at Benicia; or he may have been a boarder in one of the parish's private homes.
This last surmise may be born out by the fact that in St. Dominic's council book an entry
dated December 22, 1876, agreed to pay to "Mr. Griffin of Antioch one hundred dollars
and to Mr. Swartz of Martinez fifty dollars for offices rendered to the fathers who have
the care of the churches of Antioch and Martinez." Such payment may well have been
for the fathers' room and board, including that of Antioch's first resident pastor, before
a rectory was erected.
In the October 15, 1870 issue of the
Antioch Ledger the Catholic population of Antioch was numbered at about one hundred,
seventy-five more, it is noted, than when Fr. O'Neill officiated at the first church in
1864. Parishioners were mainly Irish, who had formerly worked the neighboring coal mines
but, with local production steadily diminishing, joined -- some of them -- the incoming
Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese ranchers in farming the rich soil of the area. The
Southern Pacific Railroad also helped the population to grow. On September 9, 1878 for the
first time a train puffed through Antioch and soon a station was established to
accommodate the farmers. The Catholics were still mainly of Irish stock, but in the late
'80s and early '90s we begin to find more and more Italian, German and Portuguese names
recorded in Holy Rosary's baptismal registry. Some of these new-comers, however, were
probably in residence in the neighboring fishing and coal-mining towns of Pittsburg,
Somersville, and Nortonville, now missions of
Antioch.
By the turn of the century the Catholic
population of Antioch had grown sufficiently to warrant a larger church. For some years
pastor and people dreamed and made plans, both for a church and school, but it was not
until March of 1905 that ground for the church was finally broken on 8th St. between G and
H Sts. Dedication of the new church was scheduled for April 22, 1906, but the earthquake
forced a delay of about six weeks. It was on Pentecost Sunday, June 3, 1906, that the
dedication took place with the new pastor, Fr. Peter A. Riley, and his assistant,
Frederick B. Clyne, as resident priests. The parish school was to remain a dream until
some sixty-five years later when in September of 1955 Holy Rosary School opened its doors
to its initial first-to-third graders. Yet all along, from the beginning of the mission to
the building of the school under Fr. William Lewis, both the young and old of Antioch had
their religious instruction from the fathers, from the Holy Family Sisters, and from the
Dominican Sisters both of Mission San Jose and San Rafael, the San Rafael Dominicans
becoming resident faculty and staff once the school got under way.
The parish, however,
never reached a size sufficient to warrant more than two or at most three resident
priests. This, together with the frequency of the change in personnel, suggests that the
common religious life could scarcely be lived by the fathers stationed at Antioch. From
1874 to 1903 only one priest was in residence. Then from 1904 forward there is rapid
fluctuation between two and three priests, with only one priest again from 1925 to 1928
and once again in 1935. The longest terms as pastor were held by Fr. Patrick Callaghan:
from 1874 to 1888, and again from 1893 to 1902. The shortest term, scarcely six months,
was that of the missionary to the Indians, Fr. William Dempflin, from June 26, 1892, to
Feb, 11, 1893. It would seem he took over the pastorate simply to mind the house until the
proper guardian could be found and he would be allowed to return to the work he loved.
Partial Endnotes
click endnote number to resume reading
[4]. Tom Gregory, etc., History of Solano and Napa Counties,
Calif.... pp. 827-28.
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