VOLUME XVI NO. 3
SPRING 1997
Published by the New Jersey Catholic Historical Records Commission, Seton Hall University, South Orange, New Jersey 07079-2687
Most Reverend Dominic A. Marconi, D.D., Chairman; Reverend Monsignor Joseph C. Shenrock, Vice-Chairman; JoAnn Cotz; Reverend Augustine Curley, O.S.B.; Reverend Monsignor William N. Field; Reverend Monsignor Charles J. Giglio; Reverend Michael G. Krull; Reverend Raymond J. Kupke; Joseph F. Mahoney; Sister Margherita Marchione, M.P.F.; Reverend Monsignor Robert Moneta; Sister Irene Marie Richards, O.P.; Sister Thomas Mary Salerno, S.C.; Bernhard W. Scholz; Reverend Monsignor Francis R. Seymour; Reverend Joseph D. Wallace; Peter J. Wosh. Joseph F. Mahoney, Newsletter editor.
MEET THE COMMISSION
Welcoming the newest member of the Commission is in reality welcoming back an old friend--well, a friend of many years.
Peter J. Wosh is a native New Jerseyan who completed his bachelor's degree at Rutgers University with highest distinction, then took his master's degree at New York University, adding a certificate in Archival Management, Historical Society Administration and Historical Editing to his training in history.
While earning this degree he undertook an internship in the archives at Seton Hall University, eventually became archivist of the University, and worked actively with the Commission on a number of projects. He served, for example, as one of the editors of the Diocesan Journal of Michael Augustine Corrigan, published by the Commission in 1987.
In 1984 Wosh became archivist of the American Bible Society in New York City, while he continued work on his doctorate in history, which he received in 1988. Soon thereafter he became Director of Archives and Library Services for the American Bible Society, a position he held until 1994, when he joined the history department of New York University and became director of the Archives Program there. In the meantime he has continued to publish on aspects of American economic and religious history, and has served the Society of American Archivists, as well as other professional organizations, in numerous capacities. In the case of the Commission, he has served on the Publications Committee and will continue to do so as a member of the Commission. The Commission is very pleased to welcome him back, and looks forward to his contributions to our work.
GRANT RECEIVED FROM NEW JERSEY HISTORICAL COMMISSION
In April the New Jersey Historical Commission awarded a grant to the Catholic Historical Records Commission for the publication of New Jersey Catholicism: An Annotated Bibliography. Although much has been written about Catholics in New Jersey, finding that material is sometimes difficult because no adequate bibliography has been published. Several years ago Father Augustine Curley O.S.B. set out to remedy this lack. He has compiled an extensive bibliography, mostly from his own researches, but with help from librarians and bibliographers around the state, from fellow-members of the Commission, and from the public. The final stage before printing--the preparation of an index--will begin soon and is expected to be completed shortly after Labor Day. Further details will appear in a subsequent issue.
PROFESSOR GEORGE L. A. REILLY DIES
A founding member of the Commission, George L.A. Reilly, passed away on April 27, 1997. A graduate of Seton Hall College, he completed an M.A. in history at Harvard University before joining the United Statesa Army in World War II. He landed in Normandy on D+3 as an artillery forward observer and fought through the European campaign, ending up as a battery commander. After the war he earned his doctorate in history at Columbia University and taught briefly at Rutgers University and Caldwell College before returning to his alma mater. He specialized in British and Irish history, served as chairman of the history department and taught for over forty years before his retirement in 1992. Professor Reilly wrote the history of a number of north Jersey parishes and was a resource frequently called upon by his colleagues for help and guidance. The Commission will miss his readiness to assist on all occasions, his quiet wisdom, and his ready wit. Requiescat in pace.
SAINT MICHAEL'S CATHEDRAL, PASSAIC, NEW JERSEY
Cathedrals are usually imposing buildings. And the very word "cathedral" carries comnnotations of majesty and grandeur. We often forget, however, that cathedrals often did not start wuith these advantages, and it is good that we recall at times how they did begin.
Industrial development arrived early in the area which became Passaic County. Alexander Hamilton's Society for Useful Manufactures established Paterson at the Great Falls of the Passaic River, one of the prime water-power sites on the Atlantic coast, and thus gave that city an early lead. Until after the Civil War no other area in Passaic county showed a notable growth of industrial activity. But the development of the Dundee canal in 1860 and then the arrival of the railroad began to put the city of Passaic on the industrial map. Textiles were the chief product, and it was to textile factories like the Waterhouse Mill that natives and immigrants began in the late 1870's to flock.
Perhaps "flock" is too strong a word to characterize the early population growth. As late as 1890 the population of the city was only 13,028, but in the next decade it more than doubled, to 27,777. Prominent among the newcomers, beginning in the late 1870's, were growing numbers of Slavic peoples from the Austro-Hungarian empire and from the parts of old Poland absorbed by Prussia and Russia. And a substantial number of these were Catholics of the Ruthenian/Byzantine Rite.
The earliest immigrants of the Byzantine rite worshipped and received the sacraments in the Roman rite churches which were all that had thus far been established; in Passaic this meant at the church of Saint Nicholas. But like the various ethnic groups within the Roman rite, they longed for their traditional ways of worship, the familiar rites and the well-remembered hymns of the Church as they had learned them in their native land. This yearning began to be satisfied in the 1880's when the Reverend Alexander Dzubay started visiting the Ruthenian Catholics in the Passaic area. By 1890 the increase in the number of Greek Catholics in Passaic led Bishop Winand Wigger of Newark, who supervised and supported Dzubay's activities in the absence of a Byzantine Rite bishop in the United States, to approve the group's desire to establish their own parish, and in November of that year Saint Michael's Parish was incorporated under the laws of New Jersey. Communicants of the parish lived not only in Passaic, but in Dover, Hibernia, Clifton, Garfield, Lodi and elsewhere in New Jersey; some even came from over the New York border. But the parish still lacked its own place of worship.
In 1891 Father Nicephor Chanath was appointed the first resident pastor of Saint Michael's and in that same year the parish bought the Dundee Chapel, a mission chapel erected by the Presbyterians in 1880 at First and Bergen Streets in Passaic. After some internal modifications, this building served the growing congregation for a dozen years. What perhaps did not increase as rapidly as the number of communicants was the income. Father Chanath had to struggle mightily, according to the Passaic Daily News of May 3, 1905, to keep the parish solvent in these early years. He won that battle, for the parish expanded the church and built a rectory in 1893, and in 1897 invited Bishop Wigger to consecrate the cemetery.
Still, there were other problems, not all of them clear in the records that still exist. In January, 1894 Chanath wrote to Bishop Wigger, obviously in response to some complaint sent to the chancery. The pastor explained that the limited income of the parish kept the salary of the cantor low. The cantor was also the choirmaster and organist, and on weekdays served as the sacristan; he was, in fact, the best cantor around. When the parish income increased, Chanath promised, he would receive $20.00 per month. The agitation of this question, the pastor continued, was part of a conflict over the position of cantor. The implication obviously was that the matter was of little moment.
Things did not entirely quiet down for Father Chanath at Passaic. Later in the year he apparently asked Wigger for permission to go to Scranton, Pennsylvania for three months, and on December 7 the bishop assented and noted that he expected him back.
Wigger also wrote to Father Eugene Szatala to assume the charge of Saint Michael's for the three months of Chanath's absence. Chanath, however, arranged to remain in Scranton and Szatala continued as the rector of Saint Michael's until 1902, when Father Nicholas Molscanyi became the third resident pastor.
By this time it was evident that the remodeled Dundee Chapel building was inadequate to the parish needs and in 1903 the old building was torn down and a new one built at the same site. Troubles here were of various kinds. One was opposition from some non-Catholics to the building of the church. According to one old newspaper clipping, steady thefts of materials from the construction site hampered progress. "One rather unscrupulous gentleman," a parish history records, "amassed such a collection of stolen building materials in his garage that discovery of them by the police was inevitable. When this occurred, the man casually dismissed the incident and attempted to explain that it was his seven-year-old daughter, not he, who was responsible for the theft."
Another problem surfaced when one of the twin towers of the new building crashed to the ground during a severe windstorm. Although the architect's plans for the building had been approved by the city building inspector and met all the requirements of the local code, construction possibly did not follow the plans. Moreover, some of the bracing had been removed from the interior of the tower when the bells were hung, and not yet been replaced. The building inspector required extensive strengthening of both towers before construction could continue. Nonetheless, the parish completed and dedicated the building in the autumn, 1904.
When Saint Michael's parishioners celebrated in May, 1905 the fifteenth anniversary of the establishment of the parish, they could look back on a decade and a half of struggle and difficulty through which they had come with success. Father Molscanyi recalled in his sermon at the anniversary Mass the difficulties with which the parish had had to contend and urged the people to remain steadfast in their faith and adherence to the Church.
The congregation of 1905 had no way to know that they had built a cathedral; they just built their parish church. But when, in 1963, a new diocese was established to meet the needs of the increasing number of Byzantine Catholics in the eastern United States, Passaic was designated as the see city and Saint Michael's as the cathedral. Since then it has been the central church of a diocese that extends from Maine to Florida. This stage of the story would undoubtedly both surprise and gratify those who began the tale back in the 1880's.
Captions:
Rev. Augustine Curley, O.S.B.
Peter J. Wosh.
Saint Michael's Cathedral, Passaic.
Original church building as enlarged in 1893 and first rectory. Father Nicholas Molscanyi, pastor, 1902-1906.
Church interior circa 1950.
Church interior today.
Updated: 06/13/02