460 AUTHENTIC HISTORY 



defect in the flues of the heater, damaged the church considerably, and owing to the 

 defective framing of the roof, it became necessary to remodel the entire church which 

 was re-dedicated on Sunday, May 3d, 1868. The archives of St. Mary's Church, ex- 

 hibit the names of the following Clergymen, who served as Pastors: Fathers Molineaux, 

 Farmer, Schnider, Pellentz, Ailing, Brosius, Hellron, Rosseller, Stafford, Geisler, Homm, 

 Mongrand, Fitzsimmons, Lewermond, Janin and Entzcn, from 1740 to 1802; in the 

 latter year, the Rev. Dr. Egan, and the Very Reverend Louis De Earth were stationed 

 at Lancaster. The former was transferred to St. ^Mary's Church, Philadelphia, in 1806; 

 and in 1808, the Diocese of Philadelphia was formed, which then comprised the States 

 of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. The Rev. Dr. Egan was appointed the 

 first Bishop of Philadelphia. He died the 22d of July, 1814. His former associate in 

 Lancaster, the Very Reverend De Barth, was appointed Administrator of the Diocese, 

 after the Bishop's decease. 



Their successors in the Pastorate of St. Mary's Church, Lancaster, were the Rev. I. 

 Beschter, S. J., Rev. Mr. Byrn, the Rev. Schenfelder, Rev. J. J. Holland, succeeded by 

 the Rev. B. Keenan, who still survives, and although time has made its marks, he still 

 possesses considerable elasticity of spirits, and regularly officiates at the Altar. He is 

 the oldest priest in the Diocese, and ministered to the spiritual wants of the Catholics 

 of Lancaster for nearly half a century, having assumed the duties of liis charge in 1823. 

 Tlie Pastors of Lancaster attended, in former times, to the Missions of Milton, Sun- 

 bury, Harrisburg, Lebanon, Colebrook, Elizabethtown and Columbia. The old stone 

 church, built in 1762, is still in excellent preservation, though wearing the unmistaka- 

 ble mark of old Father Time. It was used for divine service in 1867, after the fire had 

 occurred, until the repairs on the new church were finished. 



It is interesting to look back over the early history of the Catholic Church in Lan- 

 caster, to recall the zeal and devotion of its forefathers in tlie cause of Religion. It is 

 recorded that during the building of the old stone church, the women of the congrega- 

 tion came daily to mix the mortar, while the men gathered the stone from the adjoin- 

 ing farmers, and carried them to the site of the building, where they assisted in the 

 erection of the edifice, considered, at that period, a very fine and commodious church. 



The Catholic churches in the County, exclusive of those in the City, are St. Peter's 

 and Holy Trinity, of Columbia; St. Peter's, of Elizabethtown, and St. Catherine's, of 

 Drumore township. 



NEW JERUSALEM CHURCH.i 



Universally styled, by the members thereof, the ^'■Nero Church," as contradistin- 

 guished from all other christian denoini nations, which they collectively regard as the 

 '■'Old Chvxrch;" but by the world in general better knowai perhaps as Swedenborgians. 

 There has not been a period since the year 1765 when there has not resided within the 

 limits of Lancaster city and county one or more receivers of the doctrines of this church, 

 as revealed through the writings of Swedenborg; yet owing to their paucity of num- 

 bers, during the long interval between the above date and the present time, and the 

 absence of all attempts at prosel}i;ism, their very existence has almost been unknoAvn 

 to the mass of the jjopulation. 



Baron Henry Von Buelow, a German nobleman, and a native of Pi-ussia, who in his 

 early years had adopted the military profession, visited America in 1765, and sj)ent 

 some time in Lancaster. He had some time previously embraced the peculiar views of 

 Emanuel Swedenborg, and with a view to the dissemination of those doctrines, had 

 brought with him from Euro^je a number of works, containing them, for gratuitous dis- 

 tribution and for sale. 



About the same period, William Reichenbach, a native of Saxony, and a man of 



1 Contributed by Mr. S. S. Rathvon. 



