202 



CIVIL HISTORY OF VERMONT. 



Part II 



ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 



FANATICAL SECTS. 



the arrival of the first Catholic missionary, 

 the Rev. Jeremiah O'Callaghan, in the 

 year 1830. So great and rapid has been 

 the tide of immigration since that period 

 from Ireland and from the Canadas, that 

 numerous congregations have already 

 sprung up in several places, and although 

 two additional missionaries, the Rev. John 

 B. Daly and the Rev. William Ivers, are 

 now employed in the state, they are hard- 

 ly adequate to the wants of the popula- 

 tion. 



The largest congregation in the state 

 has grown up in Burlington, where the 

 first Catholic church was erected in 1833. 

 This church was destroyed by fire on the 

 2d of May, 1838, but another more com- 

 modious edifice has been erected in a 

 central part of the village during tlie pres- 

 ent year,(1841) and was consecrated by the 

 Rt, Rev. Benedict Fenwick, Bishop of tlie 

 Diocese, on the 3d of October, 1841, by 

 the name of St. Mary's Church." It is 

 of the Grecian order of architecture, is 

 built of brick, 68 feet long, 48 wide and 

 30 high, with galleries on both sides and 

 at the west end. The funds for its erec- 

 tion were contributed by the congrega- 

 tion, aided by tlie liberal donations of the 

 native Americans, and by collections ob- 

 tained in the neighboring cities. The free 

 principle is here observed in the full sense 

 of the word ; respect of persons and the 

 worldly terms, mine and thine, being ex- 

 cluded. The seats being common to all, 

 the first comers select such as they choose. 

 The Clergyman, having no salary or sti- 

 pend, depends solely on the free will of- 

 ferings made in the church three times a 

 year — at Christmas, Easter and Summer, 

 when four or five persons only offer $2 

 each, 60 or 70, $1 each, 15 fifty cents each, 

 and the great body of the congregation 

 give nothing excepting a few cents tliey 

 may deposit in the collection box. To this 

 may be added casual donations at mar- 

 riages and christenings, which are op- 

 tional to the donors. 



Mr. O'Callaghan's congregation at Bur- 

 lington is made up of the Catholics of this 



part of our work. It consists of an interesting 

 sketch of the history of the individual Episcopal 

 churches in the slate, and will be found under the 

 names of the towns in which they are situated ; ot 

 which the following is a list, viz: JJurlington, 

 Shelburne, Vergennes, Middlebury, Brandon, Rut- 

 land, Poultney, Wells, Tinmouth, Manchester, Ar- 

 lington, Bennington, Guilford, Brattleboro, Bellows- 

 Falls. Springfiald, Windsor, Woodstock, Royalton, 

 Bethel, Randolph, Montpelier, Derby, Montgomery, 

 Berkshire, Enosburgh, Fairfield, Fairfax, Sheldon, 

 Highgate, Alburgh and St. Albans. 



* Another Roman Catholic church is now in the 

 progress of erection on the site of the one destroyed 

 by fire in 1833. It is designed for the accommoda- 

 tion of the French population, as St. Mary's is for 

 the Irish. 



and of five or six surrounding towns. He 

 has also other flocks under his care — 200 

 persons between Montpelier, Northfield 

 and Moretown — 200 in Underbill — and 

 about 150 in Vergennes. 



The Rev. Mr. Daly ministers to all the 

 Catholics spread over the southern parts 

 of the state. He has a flock of about 150 

 persons at Castleton, where a valuable lot 

 was purchased in 1836, on which is a 

 frame house, 30 by 18 feet, which is con- 

 verted into a temporary chapel ; a flock 

 of 500 in Middlebury, where a handsome 

 brick church, 64 by 44 feet, with a gallery 

 atone end, was built in 1840 ; one of about 

 400 between Brandon, Pittsford, Rutland, 

 Shrewsbury and Wallingford ; one of 400 

 scattered through VVoodslock, Plymouth, 

 Windsor and Rockingham, and one of 

 about 150 in Bennington. 



The Rev. Mr. Ivers resides in St. Al- 

 bans, with a flock of about one thousand, 

 which congregate from that and tiie neigh- 

 borinor towns. It is in contemplation to 

 erect a church, during the year 1842, in 

 some central spot, for the accommodation 

 of this congregation. He also has a flock 

 of about 100 persons in Berkshire and vi- 

 cinity ; 100 in Troy, and one of about 80 

 in St. Johnsbury, Peacham and Danville. 



This persuasion, with the exception of 

 a few native converts, owes its astonish- 

 ing increase to the annual swarms that 

 cross the Atlantic from the mother hive. 

 When they first arrive they are exposed 

 to that prejudice and obloquy, whicji in- 

 variably attends a stranger in a foreign 

 land ; but the good sense and discrimina- 

 tion of the Americans soon discover them 

 to be a sober, industrious and hard labor- 

 ing people, who, having passed through 

 the ordeal of persecution at home, come 

 prepared to appreciate and sustain the free 

 laws and institutions of our republic. The 

 greater part of them have embarked upon 

 the current of Temperance, and are most 

 faithful observers of their pledge. Many 

 of them have purchased farms indifferent 

 parts of the state where they are doing 

 well — are accumulating property — are be- 

 coming identified in manners, habits and 

 interests with our native citizens, mak- 

 ing an important addition to the popula- 

 tion and strength of the country. 



Section XI. 



Fanatical Sects. 



Dorriiites. — These were a sect of fana- 

 tics, which sprung up and flourished in 

 Leyden, Massachusetts, in the years 1797 

 and 1798, and their society embraced some 

 members who resided in the southern part 



