C16 AUXILIARY BISHOP Christian special edition
Catholic san francisco | May 24, 2018
pioneers: Dominican priests and sisters of Northern California FROM PAGE C14
after its writing, thus permitting the bishop in good faith to take some initial steps in the establishment of the western Dominicans, both men and women. Although Fr. Vilarrasa under the title of “commissary general” became the founder in legal fact of the province, it is to Alemany that the idea and inspiration of the province originally belong. Even before he was consecrated bishop, as the newly appointed provincial of the Eastern Province he had begun the process. A young Dominican, Fr. Peter Augustine Anderson, had come to him asking to be missioned in California. Alemany immediately granted the request, hoping that Fr. Anderson would restore the Dominican missions in Baja California and thereby lay the ground for another Dominican province. And, when made bishop, one of his first acts was to enlist Fr. Vilarrasa as companion to help in the new foundation. A further indication of his initiative and seriousness in this regard was his invitation, dutifully accepted, to some Dominican sisters to participate in the work. It was St. Dominic over again: as the Dominican Order in its very inception was composed of both women and men, so it would be with the Order in its newest and newly challenging terrain.
Alemany’s ‘tireless begging pen’
One of Alemany’s chief activities as archbishop was to staff his archdiocese with priests and religious, both sisters and brothers. This was his
The town soon became ‘the City,’ percentage-wise as cosmopolitan as we find it today. So a wide-eyed seminarian wrote on September 18, 1851: ‘What a port! What a town! What a population!’ first concern when consecrated bishop in 1850. He immediately set to work pleading for help, from the Propagation of the Faith by letter and personal visits, but also from individual dioceses and religious orders directly. He wrote to his brother Dominican, Henri Lacordaire, asking for Dominicans, and to John Henry Newman requesting the aid of the Oratorians; and many other similar requests issued from the tireless begging pen of Alemany all through his tenure as bishop. The episcopacy of Patrick Riordan, Alemany’s successor, has been called “the Age of the Builder,” for it was under Riordan that Catholic schools and hospitals and other Catholic centers multiplied. But Riordan could build buildings only because he had the personnel to staff them, and these came largely through the efforts of his predecessor. We have seen how Alemany insured that at the very start of his work as Bishop in California there would be sisters to educate the young. Other invitations quickly followed, some rejected, at least for a
time, others accepted. In March of 1851 Alemany welcomed to San Francisco the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur and in the following July they opened the doors of their convent in San Jose to its first pupils. Here was the beginning of the college which would, in 1923, be moved to Belmont and function there to the present day.
Daughters answer Alemany’s appeal
In August of 1850 Alemany had visited the superior of the Vincentian Fathers and the Daughters of Charity with the request for help. This resulted in the arrival in California in June, 1851, of five Daughters of Charity. Seven had set out from Emmittsburg, Maryland, but two succumbed to Yellow Fever along the Isthmus of Panama. Their initial losses, and other trials, weighed heavy upon this pioneer group, as the following letter, dated “March, 1853,” of Sr. Francis McEnnis to her U.S. superior betrays: … I had not the heart to write to anyone, our prospects were so bad. I was truly disappointed and not only myself, but everyone is so, when they come here. It is so different from what we expected but God had dealt with us for the best. It was His Holy Will that we should suffer, and we ought to obey Him under all circumstances … Our prospects are brighter now; it seems to me as if the sun was under a cloud since we have been here. The last time the Bishop was in the city I went to see him. I was much pleased and I find he will do anything he
see pioneers, page C17
Prayers and Blessings,
Bishop Christian
as You Shepherd the People of God
Emile J. Maionchi, Jr., Proprietor The Wine Merchant of Showplace Square 2 Henry Adams Mezz. #M74, San Francisco, CA 94103 (415) 864-8466 | (415) 864-VINO
Warmest blessings and congratulations to
Bishop Christian
The Most Rev. Robert Francis Christian, OP from
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on his appointment as Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of San Francisco.
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