BROOKLYN
800
BROOKLYN
the Reverend Joseph Schneller, until his death in
1S60, had charge there. Father Schneller was one
of the most active priests in the New York contro-
versies of the earlv years of the nineteenth centurj'.
His name, with those of the Reverend Dr. Power,
Fathers Fehx Varela and Thomas C. Levins, is to
be found in most of the bitter public contests waged
with non-Catholic assailants of the Church. He
helped to found and edited for some time the "New
York Weekly Register and Cathohc Diary", estab-
lished in 1S33. Cornelius Heeney did not limit his
generosity to the site for St. Paul's Church and the
Girls' Industrial School that adjoins it. During
his life his income was mainly devoted to charity,
and 10 May, 1S45, tliree years before liis death, he
had his estate legally incorporated as the Brooklj-n
Benevolent Society," and its officials directed to ex-
pend its yearly income for the benefit of the poor and
orphans. This amounts now to about §2.5,000
annually, and the total expended by this charity
since Mr. Heeney's death is more than a million dol-
lars.
In 1S41 another famous priest, the ^ erj- Reverend John RafTeiner, a native of the Austrian TjtoI, bought with his o\«i money property on which was erected the church of the Most Holy Trinity and began there to minister to a colony of German Catho- lics. His efforts in this direction were extended to similar congregations in New York, Boston, and New Jersey. He laboured thus for more than twenty years and" held the office of vicar-general when he "died, in 1861. St. Charles Borromeo's parish was founded in 1849 by the Reverend Dr. Charles Con- stantine Pise, also one of the strong wTiters and pub- licists of that time. Before going to Brooklj-n he had been stationed at St. Peter's, New York, and previous to that, in 1832, while officiating in Washmg- ton, lie was, on motion of Senator Henry Clay, appointed Chaplain to the Congress of the United States and served during a session, the only instance on record of such an honour being given to a Catholic. Other priests whose earnest work in its formative period contributed to the building up of the Church in Long Island were the Reverends John Walsh, James McDonough, Richard Waters, James O'Don- nell, David W. Bacon, afterwards the first Bishop of Portland, Maine, the Re\-erends Michael Curran, William Keegan, for many years Vicar-General of the diocese, and his associate in that office, the Right Reverend Mgr. Michael May, the Reverends Nicholas Balleis. O.S.B., Eugene Cassidy, Sylvester ilalone, Peter McLouglilin, John Shanahan. Edward Corcoran, Hugh McGuire, Jeremiah Crowley, James McEru-oe, Joseph Fransioli, Martin Carroll, T. O'Farrell, Anthony Arnold, John McCarthy, James O'Beirne, Joseph Brunneman. Anthony Farley. John McKenna, Patrick O'Neil, and James H. Mitchell. Father Mitchell was much interested in the work of societies for young men, and his administration as head of the national organization was specially successful.
^^'hen, in July, 1841, Father RafTeiner began the great German parish of the Most Holy Trinity on a part of the farm of the old Dutch Meserole family, this was known as the Bushwick section of the then town of Williamsburg, which was subsequently annexed to Brookl}^l. The first German Catholic Church in the city of Brooklj-n was the quaint Uttle St. Francis'-in-the-Fields, which Father RafTeiner opened in 1850, at Putnam and Bedford avenues. Its title indicates its rural environment, and Father Maurus Ramsauer. a Benedictine just arrived from Germany, was made its first pastor. In 185.5, under Father "Bonaventure Keller, the original design of Father Raffciner was carried out, and a sort of pre- paratorj- seminar}- for German ecclesiastical students was begun and lasted there for two years. When
Father RafTeiner died, in 1861, he left St. Francis',
which was still surrounded by a garden, for the benefit
of the orphans of the Ho"ly Trinity parish. The
little church was then closed, owing to changes in
the neighbourhood, and was not reopened until
1866, when the Rev. Nicholas Balleis, a Benedictine,
took charge and remained there until his death.
13 December, 1891. The old building was again
closed and remained so until the property was pur-
chased by the Sisters of the Precious Blood in 1S92.
when the" structure was torn down, and the convent of
that order built on the site.
Peter Turner (d. 31 December, 1863), who was the leader in organizing Brookh-n's pioneer parisli hved to see his son John ordained a priest, pastor ■ ■ St. James's Church and first Vicar-General of tli Diocese of Brookl}-n. In 1S95 the Brookljni Catholi Historical Society, regarding Peter Turner as tlu- t>-pical lajmian "of the pioneer period, erected a handsome " bronze portrait bust as a memorial to him in St. James's churchyard. The inscription on the pedestal says: "To the memon,' of Peter Tur- ner, who on January 1, 1822, organized his seventy fellow Catholics for"the purchase of this ground on wluch the first Cathohc Church of Long Island was erected. Thousands of Catholic children have helped to erect this monument as a grateful tribute to the man who made Catholic education the first reason for the establislunent of a church in Brookl>Ti. Cardinal McCloskey's early years were spent in Brook- IjTi, where he attended his first school, which was taught by a retired English actress. Mrs. Charlotte Melmoth" a convert, who was a popular stage favour- ite in London and New York during the last years of the eighteenth century. Cornelius Heeney was also his patron and guardian after the family mo\ed across the river to New York in 1820. Mr. Heeney's fortune was amassed as a fur-dealer, and for some time he was a partner in this business with John Jacob Astor.
Bishops of the See.— (1) The Right Reverend John Loughlin, consecrated 30 October, 1853. He was born in the County Down, Ireland, 20 December. 1817. As a boy of six he emigrated with his parents to the United States and settled in Albany, New York. His early school days were spent with the distin- guished classical scholar, Dr. Peter Bullions, at the Albany Academy, and when four- teen he was sent to the college at Chainbly, near Montreal, Cana- da, where he re- mained three years. He then entered Moimt St. Mary's Seminary at Emmitsburg. Marjdand, and af- ter the usualtheo- logical course was ordained for the Diocese of New York, 18 October,
1S40. His first assignment was on the mission at Utica and from there he was called to be an assistant to Bishop Hughes at St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York City. In 1S50 the bishop made him his vicar- general and when the new Diocese of Brookljm was formed he was consecrated its first bishop, 30 Octo- ber, 1853, the officiating prelate being Archbishop Cajetan Bedini, a pro-nuncio on his way back to
Right
John Lovghlin
