The life of the Most Rev. M. J. Spalding, D. D., archbishop of Baltimre

Front matter

OF THE

MOST REV. M. J. SPALDING, D.D.

J.

Preface

Even to have failed is, possibly, not wholly without honor.

Success in biographical writing, under the most favorable circumstances, is rare.

The difficulty is increased when the subject of biography is but recently dead.

Time, the approver, which destroys false and fac¬ titious reputations, is alone able to bring out in all their worth and loveliness those which are founded in merit.

Then, the surroundings of a man’s life are like the frame to the picture and the light in which it is seen.

Only time can give this setting and mellow down the light.

No life with which we are perfectly familiar can be wholly beautiful.

Omne ignotum pro magnifico est, is the phrase of the Roman historian.

It is this unknown that is wanting in biography which deals with the lives of men whom we have seen face to face and touched with our hands.

The life of a priest, too, in ordinary times, is necessarily uneventful.

There are no ‘‘battles, sieges, fortunes”; “disas-

Preface .

v trous chances, moving accidents by flood and field, hair-breadth scapes i’ th’ imminent, deadly breach,” to be told of; and though

“ The drying up a single tear has more Of honest fame than shedding seas of gore,”

men now, as in ages past, will make heroes of the successful butchers of the race, whilst its benefactors are forgotten.

“The inventor of a spinning-jenny,” says Carlyle, “ is pretty sure of his reward in his own day ; but the writer of a true poem, like the apostle of a true reli¬ gion, is nearly as sure of the contrary.”

On the other hand, there are persons who will find matter for wholesome thought in the history of a man whose record is without stain, whose purposes were benevolent, and all of whose aims were to strengthen faith in those doctrines without which human nature has but a material and animal value, and life no sacredness. The sympathy which I could not but feel with the subject of my work I cannot look upon as an obstacle to its right performance. As sympathy is one of the chief agencies in developing the nobler and better qualities of human nature, it also gives the truest insight into character.

VI

Preface .

What my partiality may have caused me to see in a light too favorable will receive a more correct color¬ ing from the calmer judgment of my readers — At mihi nunc narraturo vitam defuncti hominis, venia opus fuit .

Chapter I. Ancestry. — Parentage. — Birth. — Early Education

HE ancestors of Martin John Spalding belonged to the band of Catholic Pilgrims who, fleeing from religious persecution in England, founded the Maryland Colony in 1634, fourteen years after the landing of the Puritans at Plymouth.

If the Spaldings were not among the two hundred families who came over with Lord Baltimore in 1634, they certainly arrived in Maryland very soon after the first settlement had been made. In a letter on this subject, written in 1871, Archbishop Spalding says :

“ It is certain that the Spaldings of Maryland were fully established in St. Mary’s County before the year 1650; for deeds and other papers of that date in their name are still found in Leonardtown ; though, if I mistake not, an acci¬ dent of fire destroyed some of the documents. I incline to think that they came some years before this date, proba¬ bly in the early commencement of the colony, very shortly after the arrival of the first ship of emigrants. ... I believe that the headquarters of the family in England was Lincolnshire, where one of them at a very early period founded and gave his name to the great Abbey of Spalding, one of the thirteen great abbeys of. England spared by Henry VIII., but confiscated under his son, Edward VI. I

Life of Archbishop Spalding.

think, from my researches, and from whatever knowledge I may have in such matters, that the town of Spalding grew up around and under the fostering influence of this abbey.”* Archbishop Spalding’s ancestors were not all of English origin ; for through his great-grandmother, Ellen O’Brian, he received a tinge of Celtic blood, to which he was very fond of alluding.

Ellen O’Brian was a woman of strong character and of more than ordinary intelligence. She married Samuel

* The town of Spalding existed already in the reign of Ethelbald, a.d. 71:6—757 ; for in Ethelbald’s foundation-charter for the Monastery of Crowland, its lands are said to extend in one direction “ tisque ccdifcid Spaldeling.” The name is most probably of Anglo-Saxon origin.

As a patronymic, the name has existed from an early period in English history, as the following citations will show :

“ Henry de Walpol sold lands by deed, sans date, to John de Spalding (Burgess of Lenn), in Tyrington, and sealed, as by his deed appears, with a Fesse between two Chevrons, about 51 Henry III.” (a.d. 1267). — Collins' Peerage , vol. v. p. 32.

“West Hall Manor, Denver, Norfolk. In ninth of Edward II. (a.d. 1316), Peter de Spalding was Lord, and presented to the Meediety of St. Michael’s of Denver as Lord of this Manor.” — Blom field's History of the County of Norfolk, England, vol. vii. p. 316.

Blomfield also says : “ Peter Spalding sold his part or Manor (having enfranchised several villeins) to Sir John Howard, the elder,” vol. ix. p. 87.

In 1318, Sir Pierce Spalding commanded Berwick Castle, and delivered it up to the Earl of Murray. In Blomfield’s History of the County of Norfolk , town of Brockdish, there is a description of the church: “In 1518, Henry Bakenham was buried in this church, as were many of the Spaldings, Withes, Howards, Grices, Tendrings, and Lawrences, families of distinction in this town.” The Maryland Spaldings were related to at least one branch of the Fenwicks, an old English Catholic family which came over with Lord Baltimore, and has given to the church in this country two bishops and several zealous priests. Mother Catherine Spalding, first mother of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, Ky., and foundress of the orphan asylum in Louisville, and Mother Hardey, Assistant General ot the Order of the Sacred Heart, whose mother was a Spalding, both belong to the Maryland branch of the famil}\

A ncestry .

Abell, a Protestant, who was high-sheriff of St. Mary’s County at a time when a Catholic could not hold office without taking the test oath, which was equivalent to renouncing his faith. He allowed his wife to bring up her daughters in her own faith, but strongly protested against any attempt to make Catholics of his sons. The Assembly had, in 1704, passed a new law, entitled “ An act to prevent the increase of Popery in the province,’7 which forbade bishops and priests to say Mass or exercise any of the functions of their ministry, and thus suppressed all public Catholic wrorship. Samuel Abell, therefore, had little opportunity to know whether or not his sons held the faith of their mother. He, of course, took it for granted that they would be too wise to unite themselves with a church which was persecuted and despised. When his oldest son, Philip, had grown to manhood, lie took him to Leonardtown, to Have him sworn in as deputy sheriff. What was his surprise when Philip refused downright to take the oath, saying publicly before the whole court that it would choke him. However, there was no remedy. The blood of Ellen O’Brian was strong in the boy, and the father, finding that neither threats nor persuasion would move him from his set purpose, finally consented to let him have his way ; and he himself gradually lost his preju¬ dices, and on his death-bed sent for a priest, and died in communion with the church.

Robert, another son of Samuel Abell, moved to Kentucky in 1788, and was a delegate to the convention which framed the State constitution, and the only Catholic in that body. As in those days log-cabins were the best hotels the com¬ monwealth could provide, Robert Abell, during the ses¬ sions of the convention, occupied the same room with Fe¬ lix Grundy, a well-known lawyer of Kentucky, and another delegate who had been a Presbyterian preacher.

Each member had the right to present to the conven¬ tion a draught of the constitution which he wished to see adopted, and those provisions which should meet with the approval of a majority of the members were to become a part of the law of the land. One day, the ex-preacher read to his two companions a clause which he had inserted in his draught, which ran as follows : “ And be it further pro¬ vided, that no Papist or Roman Catholic shall hold any office of profit or trust in this commonwealth.” Felix Grundy at once took his pen, and placed the following clause in the draught which he proposed to present to the conven¬ tion : “ And be it also provided, that no broken-down

Presbyterian preacher shall be eligible to any office in this commonwealth.” The preacher was converted, and the constitution of Kentucky placed no restriction upon reli¬ gious liberty.*

Alethia Abell, the sister of Robert, and the daughter of Ellen O’Brian, was the grandmother of Martin Spalding.

His grandfather, Benedict Spalding, brought out a colony of Catholics from St. Mary’s County in Maryland, in 1790, and settled in Central Kentucky, in the valley of a small river called the Rolling Fork. No Catholics are known to have emigrated to Kentucky before 1775. In that year, William Coomes, with his family and Dr. Hart, both Catho¬ lics, settled in Harrod’s Station, which was then, with the exception of one or two small forts, the only place in the “ Dark and Bloody Ground ” where a white man could call his scalp his own. The first Catholic colony which came out to Kentucky was that which accompanied the Haydons and Lancasters in 1785. This colony settled in and around Bardstown, which then became and for many years re¬ mained the centre of Catholicity in the State. The chief

* This incident was related to a son of Robert Abell by Felix Grundy himself.

Pai'entage.

*5 causes which determined the Catholics of Maryland to seek what was then the “ far West” were the hope of finding a more healthy climate and a soil which would better remu¬ nerate them for their toil. The report made by the pioneer colony awakened a greater desire in those who remained behind to emigrate, and other colonies came out in 1786, 1 787, and 1788. The Archbishop’s grandfather, as I have stated, removed to Kentucky in 1790. He had married Alethia Abell in Maryland. God blessed them with six sons and six daughters, all of whom grew up to be men and women, married, and, with a single exception, lived to be quite old. Their descendants constitute to-day one of the most numerous families in Kentucky.

Richard Spalding, the eldest son of Benedict, was the father of the Archbishop. He was born in St. Mary’s County, Maryland, and came to Kentucky with his father. He was thrice married, and by these unions became the father of twenty-one children. He was a man of fine sense, of great industry and perseverance, and, in spite of his nu¬ merous family, to which he gave the best education it was possible to obtain in Kentucky in that day, he became wealthy.

The Archbishop’s mother was Henrietta Hamilton, who was also born in Maryland, having come out to Kentucky with her father, Leonard Hamilton, in 1791, when still a mere child.

When Father Badin arrived, in 1794, he estimated the Catholic population of the State at three hundred families. Among the first stations which he attended for the purpose of saying Mass and administering the sacrament was the one on the Rolling Fork, near where Archbishop Spalding’s grandfather and father were then living. A little later, in 1797, Father Fournier, another French priest, who had come to the assistance of Father Badin, bought a hundred

1 6

Life of Archbishop Spalding .

acres of ground in this neighborhood, and built there a log-cabin, of which he took possession in 1798. Holy Mary’s Convent of Lorettine Nuns now stands on this spot.

Kentucky was in that day covered with dense forests and tangled woods. There was scarcely a place in its whole territory that might be dignified with the name of village, and the only roads were the almost untrodden paths of the forest, on either side of which lines of blazed trees showed the traveller the route from point to point.

The forests were filled with a luxuriant undergrowth, thickly interspersed with cane and briers, which the inter¬ twining wild pea-vine wove into an almost impenetrable net-work ; so that, in certain parts, the only way of getting from place to place was to follow the paths worn by the migrating buffalo and other wild beasts., The Indian still hunted on the “ Dark and Bloody Ground,” or prowled about the new settlements, ready to attack them whenever an opportunity was offered. It has been stated on good authority that, from 1783 to 1790, fifteen hundred persons were killed or made captive by the Indians in Kentucky, or in migrating thither.*

I11 1794, the Indians appeared on the Rolling Fork, and killed a Catholic by the name of Buckman. This produced a panic in the little settlement which caused many Catholics to move for a time to Bardstown, where the population was more dense. But Benedict Spalding remained at home, and the Indians disappeared without committing further outrage.

The early emigrants to Kentucky had to endure all the hardships incident to pioneer life. Even the ordinary com¬ forts were not to be had in the wilderness in which they had taken up their abode, and they not unfrequently ' suf¬ fered the want of the most indispensable necessaries. To

* Judge Jones, of Kentucky, states this in a letter written to Secretary Knox, July 7, 1790.

Parentage .

obtain salt, they had to go to the Licks , travelling often many miles through a country infested by savages. Theydwelt in rudely constructed log-cabins, the windows of which were without glass, whilst the floors were of dirt, or, in the better sort of dwellings, of rough-hewn boards.. After the clothing which they had brought from Virginia and Maryland became unfit for use, the men, for the most part, wore buckskin and the women homespun gowns. Thefurniture of the cabins was of an equally simple kind.. Stools did the office of chairs, the tables were made of rough boards, whilst wooden vessels served instead of plates and china-ware. A tin cup was an article of luxury. The chase supplied abundance of food. All kinds of game abounded, and, when the hunter had his rifle and a goodly supply of ammunition, he was rich as a prince. This was the school in which was trained the Kentucky rifleman, whose aim on the battle-field was certain death. The gamewas plainly dressed and served up on wooden platters, and, with corn-bread and hominy, it made a feast which the keen appetite of honest labor and free-heartedness thought*, good enough for kings.

“ Such was the simple manner of life,” said Archbishop* Spalding, “ of our ‘ Pilgrim Fathers.’ They had fewer luxuries, but were, withal, perhaps happier than their morefastidious descendants. Hospitality was not then an empty name. Every log-cabin was freely thrown open to all who. chose to share in the best cheer its inmates could afford..^ The early settlers of Kentucky were bound together by the strong ties of common hardships and dangers, to say nothing of other bonds of union, and they clung together with great tenacity. On the slightest alarm of Indian in¬ vasion, they made common cause, and flew to the rescue. There was less selfishness and more generous chivalry, less bickering and more cordial charity, then than now, not¬ withstanding all our boasted refinement.”*

Old men love to praise the bygone age, when they were boys, by a sweet reversion to childhood, forgetting the evil and remembering only the good of the morning of life : and all find a certain pleasure in carping at the present by contrasting it with the seeming more perfect past.- But making allowance for this proneness of our nature, there was doubtless in the society of those early days in Ken¬ tucky rare beauty and goodness. The men were brave and honest, the women were pure and gentle; and these virtues sat so naturally upon them that they seemed unconscious of them, as not contemplating a contrary state. They* sometimes lent money without note or witness, and this implicit trust to what is best in human nature was rarely •ever betrayed. They were truly hospitable, they were kind-hearted, and they loved liberty in the highest sense of the word.

This state of primitive republican society had not yet disappeared at the time of the birth of Martin John Spald¬ ing, which took place on the 23d of May, 1810. He was born on the Rolling Fork, in sight of the farm on which his grandfather had settled upon his arrival in Kentucky twenty years before this date. He was baptized by Fa¬ ther Nerincks, of whose apostolical life and labors he was destined to become the historian. He was a frail, delicate child, and so subject to frequent attacks of sickness that it was not thought he could long survive. His mother, who

* Sketches of Kentucky , p. 33.

Birth .

was noted for the purity and gentleness of her character, and whom he very much resembled, both in feature and disposition, manifested, probably on account of his weak and suffering condition, greater tenderness for him than for her other children. She always called him her little bishop. He had the great misfortune to lose her when but five or six years old. After her death, he was confided to the care of his oldest sister, who was still a mere girl. She was assisted in the performance of her responsible duties by the wise counsel of her grandmother, Alethia Spalding, the daughter of Samuel Abell and Ellen O’Brian.

Alethia Spalding was remarkable both for great beauty and for great holiness. Even Protestants thought her a saint; and Father Badin, who knew her well, used to say, after her death, that she was certainly in heaven.

In those days, when Mass was said at the different stations only once a month, or at most once in two weeks, she was in the habit, whenever the priest was absent from Holy Mary’s, of going on horseback a distance of six or eight miles to Lebanon, to assist at the holy sacrifice there. On these occasions, she always took one of her grandchildren, frequently Martin, behind her on her little gray mare ; and she never failed to sanctify the journey by reciting the rosary with her little travelling companion.

Of the seven children of Richard Spalding who had the example of her virtues so constantly before their eyes, two became priests, and two took the veil in the Convent of Loretto.

Bishop Carroll wrote of the early Catholic colonists of Kentucky that they were in general good, and that some of them were eminent in virtue.

Their religious character was certainly earnest and pro¬ found. They were not puritanical, which Catholics, I be¬ lieve, never are ; but their faith was strong and healthful,

Life of Archbishop Spalding.

and their attachment to Catholic truth unwavering. As an instance of this, I may state that, towards the close of the last century, when it seemed impossible to get priests to remain in Kentucky, many of the Catholic colonists deter¬ mined to remove to Missouri, induced by the offer of the Spanish governor to secure them the opportunity of comply¬ ing with their religious obligations. A committee had been appointed, and had gone to St. Louis to confer with the governor, when Bishop Carroll finally succeeded in sending a priest to Kentucky, which led to the abandonment of the project of removing the colony to Missouri. Their solici¬ tude to preserve the faith of their children was equally great, evidences of which may be seen in the Catholic schools and colleges which they founded and supported, and in the care with which they avoided mixed marriages. Of the twelve children of Benedict Spalding, all of whom married, not one, in the first instance, married a Protestant.

Their opposition to intermarrying with Protestant fami¬ lies led them not unfrequently to approve of the marriage of blood relations, as the lesser of two evils. Their objec¬ tion to mixed marriages did not proceed from any unfriendly feeling towards Protestants, which did not exist, but from the conviction that difference of faith in the father and mother could not but have a bad effect upon the religious character of the children.

Martin Spalding was sent to school, when about eight years old, to a Mr. Merry wether, whose college was a log-cabin in the backwoods near the Rolling Fork.

His earliest intellectual feat was learning the multiplica¬ tion-table in a single day when but eight years old. He was even then as remarkable for the sweetness of his dispo¬ sition as for the quickness of his mind. He made his first communion when only ten years old, which is worthy of remark when we consider that he had never been to a

Early Education .

Catholic school, and had but on rare occasions received in¬ struction from a priest.

The year in which he made his first communion, 1820, was the one in which the first Catholic college was founded in Kentucky. This was St. Joseph’s College, at Bardstown.

The year following, the Rev. William Byrne opened St. Mary’s College, near Lebanon, and among the very first students who entered that institution were Martin Spalding and his two older brothers. The founding of St. Mary’s College is an instance of what energy and zeal may enable God’s priest to accomplish. When the project first pre¬ sented itself to Father Byrne’s mind, he had neither men nor money, and without these it was not thought possible to establish a college. But he was a man to whom nothing that was right seemed impossible. “ Viam aut inveniam aut faciam,” was his motto, and his faith in God and in the power of labor gave him strength to triumph over difficul¬ ties which would have appalled weaker and less believ¬ ing men. He bought a farm, on which stood an old stone distillery. To pay for this, he asked contributions from the Catholics of the country, and since they had but little money, he took produce or whatever they were able to give, which, with great dela/ and difficulty, he converted into cash.

The next step was to transform the old distillery into an academy of learning. He himself put his hand to the work, and became carpenter or mason as circumstances demanded. When everything was in readiness, he offered to furnish education in return for wheat, corn, and bacon. This plan, which was perfectly adapted to the wants of the commu¬ nity, could not fail of success. When at length, in the early spring of 1821, the anxiously expected day for the opening of St. Mary’s Seminary arrived, it was filled to overflowing.

Life of Archbishop Spalding.

Father Byrne was president, disciplinarian, prefect, trea¬ surer, and professor.

The seminary soon became known for its strict discipline and the moral and literary advancement of its pupils, and, in consequence, it grew in public favor.

Father Byrne had paid his debts, and had nearly com¬ pleted another building for the accommodation of a greater number of students, when, during his absence in Louisville, the college was consumed by fire.

“ We well remember,” says Archbishop Spalding, in his Sketches of Kentucky , “ the sadness which sat upon his brow when the next day he rode into the enclosure and beheld the smouldering ruins of what had cost him years of anxious toil. Yet the suddenness of the shock did not unnerve him — it gave him new energy. In a few short months, St. Mary’s Seminary rose from its ashes fresher and more beautiful than before.”

A second time St. Mary’s was burned to the ground, and again Father Byrne rebuilt it, and finally succeeded in plac¬ ing it on a firm and enduring foundation. In his difficul¬ ties, Father Byrne found a warm friend in Richard Spalding, the father of the Archbishop, who was very desirous of pro¬ curing for his children a good education. He offered to give Father Byrne one hundred acres of ground, and other¬ wise to assist him, if he would remove the college to Holy Mary’s ; but Bishop Flaget did not think it advisable to change the location.

Chapter II

PROFESSOR AT ST. MARY’S COLLEGE— ENTERS THE SEMI¬ NARY AT BARDSTOWN — IS SENT TO ROME.

ARTIN SPALDING was Father Byrne’s favorite pupil. When the college was destroyed by fire, Martin did not return home with his brothers, but continued his studies with Father Byrne, and, upon the reopening of the school, he was made profes¬ sor of mathematics, though he was but fourteen years old. He was at this time a slender, delicate boy, soft and gentle as a girl, and to a remarkably bright and quick mind added a disposition so sweet that no one could help loving him. He soon became quite famous as professor of mathematics, and Father Byrne was persuaded that no problem could be proposed to him which he would not be able to solve. He made this boast to the county surveyor, who, in reply, said that he thought he could give Martin a question in survey¬ ing which would puzzle him. Father Byrne desired that the proficiency of his youthful professor should be put to the test, and the problem was accordingly proposed. Mar¬ tin asked for time to consider it, and in a short while re¬ turned with the answer.

A certain Mr. Dougherty, who was at this time professor of mathematics in St. Joseph’s College, had great contempt for the reputation of the boy-professor of St. Mary’s, and he boasted that he would put him to shame. With this view, he went to the next examination at St. Mary’s, and proposed questions to the class of mathematics which he was confident not even the professor would be able to

Life of A rchbishop Spalding.

solve. But Martin each time came to the rescue of his stu¬ dents, and triumphantly explained every difficulty.

Father Byrne had unbounded admiration for Martin’s talents, and, whenever he spoke of him, he grew eloquent in extolling his high endowments. The great highway be¬ tween Louisville and Nashville in those days passed within two or three miles of St. Mary’s College, and such was, as I have heard from the lips of the oldest living priest in Kentucky, the reputation which Martin had gained, that travellers sometimes went out of their way to see this won¬ derful boy-professor.

His friends feared lest the flattery and attention which he received might spoil him ; and that he came out of this ordeal unscathed is perhaps one of the greatest proofs of the thorough worth and genuine strength of his character. Success and applause could not destroy in him that child¬ like simplicity which continued through life to be one of his greatest charms.

When he left Kentucky, at the age of twenty, to go to Rome, there was probably no one in the State who was superior to him in the knowledge of mathematics ; and, though he never after paid any attention to this science, he never ceased to be ready at accounts, and quick to under¬ stand problems in which mathematical calculations were involved. As a student at St. Mary’s, he was noted for his application and his eager desire to learn. He never allowed others to assist him in solving the difficulties which presented themselves, but wished to be indebted to his own industry alone for his triumph over them. He was also, as I have said, distinguished for his gentle and loving disposi¬ tion. In a game of foot-ball, Martin had unintentionally done something which provoked a boy much larger than himself to insult him and to threaten to strike him. One of his cousins who happened to be standing near interfered,

Enters the Seminary at Bardsiown.

and was on the point of punishing the boy, when Martin at once stopped him, saying that he was able to take care of himself, and that he could not upon any account consent to be the occasion of angry words or blows. The person who related this little incident to me added that the noble and Christian bearing of Martin Spalding at that time had made an impression upon him which the lapse of many years had not effaced.

He remained five years at St. Mary’s, and graduated with great honor in 1826. Though but sixteen years old, he had already resolved to consecrate his life to the service of God in the priesthood.

He spent the summer vacations at home, and at their close he entered the seminary at Bardstown as a student of theology.

The year in which he began the study of theology is one which is still associated with the happiest memories in the minds of some of the older Catholics of Kentucky. It was the year of grace, the year of the great Jubilee, which, pro¬ mulgated by Leo XII. in 1825, was preached in Kentucky only in 1826. The entire Catholic population of Kentucky seems to have been awakened to new life and fervor during this holy season. The priests who were engaged in preach¬ ing this Jubilee drew up a full account of the fruits of their labors, which they transmitted to the Association of the Propagation of the Faith, in France.