The 1890s and the coming of the Sisters

There were events that took place back in these early years that express the happy moments and the sad moments which affected the lives of the people of St. Patrick's. And so, at random, reports from the newspaper of the day are now shared with you: On Monday morning (January 5, 1891) at an early hour the marriage of four O'Neill citizens was solemnized as follows: Mr. William Gallagher to Miss Maggie Murphy; Thomas McDonald to Miss Sarah Gallagher. Only a few friends of the contracting parties were present. Father Michael F. Cassidy performed the ceremony. The parties were all well known in O'Neill.

Mr. Gallagher has been in the employ of J. J. McCafferty for the past four years and is a trusted and efficient employee.

His bride, Miss Murphy, is a niece of Mr. John Giblin, who resides in the western part of town, and is well known in the social circles of this city. They commenced housekeeping today in the southeast part of town. Mr. McDonald is also an old resident of Holt County, having lived for several years on a farm near Parker, but for the past year he has been living in the eastern part of the state. His bride, Miss Gallagher, is a sister of William Gallagher, and is admired by all who know her. They have settled down to housekeeping on their farm near Parker. And now sharing a sad moment: The remains of Mr. & Mrs. John O'Neill arrived from Superior, Wisconsin, Sunday (March 1, 1915), and were deposited in the death chamber at St. Patrick's church where they remained until Monday at nine o'clock, when funeral services were held. The remains were accompanied from Supenor by Mrs. Belle Ryan, daughter of Mr. & Mrs. O'Neill, and her son Eugene. William Laviolette of North Bend and his son Earl of Omaha and Mr. & Mrs. S. J. Ryan of Columbus came here to attend the funeral. They both died last Friday, she at four in the afternoon and he at eight in the evening, at the home of their daughter, Mrs. Ryan. Mr. O’Neill had reached the advanced age of ninety seven, and she eighty-six. They were former residents of O'Neill, in fact, old pioneers, coming here along about 1882 and were engaged in the hotel business back in the early days, running the hotel still standing on Fourth Street and known in those days as the Commercial House and which was the popular hotel of all the upper Elkhorn Valley.

They retired from the hotel business along about 1890, but continued to reside here and at Columbus until three years ago when they went to Superior. On leaving O'Neill at that time, they expressed the wish to be brought here when the final end came.

The Passionist Fathers came to St. Patrick's in October of 1892, and held a very successful mission, which lasted eight days.

A widespread and severe drought, extending over several of the agricultural states of the Midwest, occurred in 1894, causing a total failure of crops, and inflicting much suffering generally, in many instances, even severe destitution among several of the poorer families of the parish, especially throughout the outlying mission of Boyd, on the north, that county having been but recently settled, and, at that time, little developed. The charity of the well-to-do, and was proud to acknowledge the noble generosity. Even the parish helped to relieve the more aggravated cases of impending destitution by giving them coal and potatoes and blankets and also to help in buying the seeds for the new crop of 1895.

In June of 1896, a League of the Sacred Heart was organized, and on October, 6, 1896, Bishop Scannell visited the parish and administered the sacrament of confirmation to one-hundred-and-fifty-five people. On June 8, 1897, the bishop once again visited the parish and proceeded to the mission at Spencer and administered Confirmation to fifty five people. From the first settlement of the parish to the first day of May,1898, there had been recorded 1412 Baptisms, 189 marriages, and 326 deaths, 286 of which occurred since August, 1887, and about 40 previous to that time including the pastorate of Father Smith. The Sunday schools were in satisfactory condition with an excellent state of discipline being enforced and maintained with little friction, with the average attendance at O'Neill being one hundred, at Stafford being twelve, and at Spencer being twenty five. According to the last census of the parish taken in October, 1897, there were residing within the parish 125 Irish families, 3 German families, and 4 Bohemian families, all of whom faithfully adhered to the church through storm and sunshine. The Spencer mission of Boyd County had about 34 families who were mostly Bohemians and Germans with a considerable sprinkling of Irish.

In describing his parish in May of 1898, Father Cassidy described his people as true-hearted, generous loyal friends, and upright, aggressive Catholics, always ready when called upon to help a deserving friend, or to contribute of their moderate means in a most liberal manner, equally, as well for the up-building and improvements of the property of the church as toward the support of the pastor. The parish was out of debt and had to its credit twelve-hundred dollars which was set aside for the rebuilding of St. Mary's Academy.

The people were loyal to their church, and its doctrines patriotic to a high degree, and industrious, frugal, and contented in their everyday vocations of life.

In the spring of 1898 the chief ambition of the parishioners was to erect a school building. The great number of children in the parish in need of Catholic education rendered the building of a school an absolute necessity. The men of the parish set to work and tore down the ruins of the first convent and school which had remained since the destructive fire of 1891. The resources of the parish were dependent entirely on the harvest of the summer of 1899 but it fell below the usual yield. The hopes of the people were somewhat dampened, and it was thought best not to begin on this new building the following spring, because the parishioners did not want "debt" ranked among their possessions.

But Divine Providence intervened and blessed the community of Saint Patrick's in a singular manner, and this is recorded in the Sisters' Chronicle of St. Mary's of O'Neill :

The country back of St. Francis Mission, in the Rosebud Agency of South Dakota, has numerous lakes which provide splendid facilities for hunting. Father Cassidy and Patrick McManus, two famous hunters of O'Neill, were accustomed to spend a week each autumn at St. Francis Mission, in order to make use of this region for their favorite pastime. It was during these visits that the Franciscans at St. Francis Mission had an opportunity of becoming well invariably begged Mother Leopoldine to permit some of the Sisters to visit O'Neill. As the result of his pleading, Mother Leopoldine, who was in Europe in 1896, wrote back to the mission that Sister Alexia with Sophie Walking Eagle, and Frances Cut Cut should come to O'Neill for a few days, meet her at the train in O'Neill on her return trip, and accompany her back to the mission. Owing to the fact that Sister had the two Indian girls with her, she did not go to the rectory but to the home of John Hunt, who with his brother Dennis had done plastering at the mission. The Hunts were hospitable and Mrs. Hunt drove to most of the homes with Sister so that she met most of the Catholics of O'Neill.

Every afternoon Sister called at the rectory, and it was chatting with Father Cassidy on his front veranda, from which point the burnt convent was in full view, that Father Cassidy said, "Sister, if your Community will come here and rebuild the Convent, I will give them the lots and everything on them." Sister did not reply but tried to turn the conversation to another topic. After a while Father came back with, "You did not give me an answer to my proposition." Sister answered, "Father, you do not want a German community in this Irish community." But Father continued, "I don't care who or what they are if they are only good teachers."

On the train going back to the Mission with Mother Leopoldine, Sister Alexia told Mother all that Father Cassidy had said. Mother Leopoldine was at once taken up with the proposal and entered heart and soul into having it accepted.

She wrote at once to Reverend Mother who had Mother Cecilia and Sister Leonarda, then the business manager, come to O'Neill, meet the school children at the rectory and then send her a report as to the advisability of taking over the project. Mother Cecilia and Sister Leonarda came from O'Neill to St. Francis Mission where the assembled community heard Sister Leonarda's report. It was that there was no thought of their undertaking to rebuild the school, that it would be impossible, and that the Sisters would starve in such a place as O'Neill. This was the report she sent to Reverend Mother, but Mother Leopaldine did not give up hopes and continued to urge Reverend Mother to take it. The Sisters of St. Francis Mission prayed to heaven to have the Sisters accept the new work offered.

Father Cassidy was so highly esteemed by Mother Leopoldine and the Sisters that they left no stone unturned to remove all obstacles and comply with his wishes. Reverend Mother's answer came to Father Cassidy: "We shall take O'Neill, for I think if our Holy Father, Saint Francis, were living, it would be just such a place as O'Neill where he would want us to work - a place where no other religions are working."

And thus the second St. Mary's began. Mother Leopoldine sent Sister Cypriana and Sister Rosalia McMullen (later she was Sister Emily) out to Park City, Utah, to Thomas Kearns, the owner of the Silver King Mine, an O'Neill boy who had gone west with only fifty cents in his pocket. This good gentleman gave the first donation for St. Mary's, one thousand dollars. Then Mother Leopoldine borrowed another thousand dollars from Doctor De Bell, who had a store at Rosebud Agency. She raised funds from various sources to get the work on the new school started. The first Saint Mary's was built in 1890 at the cost of eighteen thousand dollars and was to serve as a school and a residence of the Dominican Sisters from Sinsinawa, Wisconsin.

The parish was unable to raise the funds to build another convent and school, so Father Cassidy pleaded long and earnestly to have the Franciscan Sisters undertake the rebuilding at their expense, and Reverend Mother Ludmilla finally gave her consent to the erection of a Convent to serve as a parish school and boarding school, the latter to be used especially for children of the surrounding country in order to prepare them for their First Holy Communion.

The site, including eight lots and the ruins of the old convent were presented as a free gift to the Sisters and the Sisters would in return erect a new building which would be commodious and in every way suitable to the needs of the parish and would conduct a school that would give the children an education based on Catholic foundation, and at the same time embrace the regular high school course of study.

In the autumn of 1899 further agreements were made and it was decided that a few Sisters should come to O'Neill at the beginning of next year, live in a rented house, and support themselves by the teaching of music and fancy work: on April 19, 1900, Sister Mathilda, Sister Catherine, and Mother Kostka bade farewell to Holy Rosary Mission and arrived in O'Neill the following day. A delegation of parishioners met them at the depot and conducted them to their new home for the present, a modest cottage on the hill west of the burnt convent.

On the way to the cottage, the Sisters stopped at St. Patrick's church and kneeling at the Communion rail offered themselves to God reminding him that he called them and they were in O'Neill to do his bidding. On arriving at the cottage, a hearty greeting was given to the Sisters by Brother Stander, S. J., an architect from St. Francis Mission, who, in answer to a petition from the Sisters, had been permitted by his superior provincial in Buffalo, New York, to take charge of the building, the work, and the laborers needed for its .erection. Brother Stander took up his residence at the rectory and had the free hospitality of Father Cassidy. The temporary home of the Sisters consisted of several small rooms with a smaller kitchen, and the furniture boasted of having three old beds, several wash tubs, a supply of bed clothing, a generous supply of baking soda and ten dollars worth of groceries on a table, all supplied by kind-hearted parishioners. Everything spoke of extreme poverty and the first cupboards, small tables, and prie-dieux were made by the Sisters out of dry-goods boxes.

In the meantime, the plans for a new Convent and the foundation itself in 1900 received approval of the highest authorities of the Franciscans' Congregation in Europe and in Buffalo, New York. On May 4, 1900, a parish meeting was secretly called and it was to honor Father Cassidy. The parishioners found out that Father was going to Europe. A committee called upon Father and presented him with a well-filled purse containing 'over four hundred dollars, and the following address: "Beloved pastor: Having learned of your proposed trip to Europe, we take this opportunity of paying you our respect.ts before your departure. For fourteen years you have been the parish priest .of this congregation and during that time you have endeared yourself to all who have come in contact with you; and to us you have been a spiritual advisor and faithful friend. You have been a devout and untiring laborer in the vineyard of the Lord, and while we all very much regret that we are to be separated from you for the next few months, still we are more than compensated by a knowledge of the fact that it will be to you a season of needed rest and recreation. It is our sincere wish that your entire trip will be one of pleasure and that you will return to us in the autumn with improved health and renewed vigor for the work before you. We know how badly you need a vacation, and we sincerely trust you will be able to put aside all cares and fully enjoy your tour in Europe, and particularly the visit you have in view to the land of your birth. We hope to receive word from you from time to time, and you may rest assured that although we may not be present with you in body, our best wishes and thoughts will follow you in your sojourn abroad. As an evidence that your work has been appreciated and that the seed sown in your labors among us has not all been cast on sandy ground, and as a token of personal esteem, we present you a purse, the contents of which we trust will help defray the expenses of your trip, the recollection of which, we hope, may be a pleasant memory during your absence. Signed in behalf of the congregation,

F. Biglin, Chairman of the Committee." Father Cassidy had a loving place in the hearts of his people and this was deeply exemplified on Sunday when he bid adieu for a time and there were tear-stained faces in the congregation as he told them of his departure. On Monday, May 7, 1900 Father Cassidy left by train waving goodbye to a large crowd assembled at the depot to bid him a safe trip and God-speed. He visited Rome, Germany, France, and the famous passion play at Oberammergau. On his return, he spent a month in Ireland and returned on September the first. The building of the foundation of the school continued.

On June 11, 1900, the plans for the new Saint Mary's were shown and it was to contain four school rooms on the first floor, four school rooms on the second floor, with a dormitory in the roof which would be sufficient to accommodate one hundred pupils with sleeping apartments. The basement had a ten-foot ceiling, eight feet above the ground; the ceiling of the first floor was twelve feet, and on the second floor, eleven feet. The intention was to have it completed by September 1, 1900, with the estimated cost of thirty thousand dollars, and the front of the building being built of pressed brick. On June 16, 1900, the Feast of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, the corner stone to the new school was laid by Father Opava, the temporal pastor, in the absence of Father Cassidy. Work on the new building progressed rapidly, and on October 7, 1900, the Feast of the Most Holy Rosary, a statue of Our Lady of Perpetual Help (the official title of the new convent) a gift of Doctor Corrigan of O'Neill, was solemnly unveiled and dedicated, and on the following day was erected in the niche above the main entrance to the convent. Not a single accident occurred during the entire time of work on the construction of the building. During the summer months though, several Sisters arrived as an increase to the community which then numbered ten. On September 10, 1900, following a High Mass in honor of the Holy Spirit, the first school year in Saint Patrick's Parish was begun. One hundred and six pupils were enrolled the first day. With the permission of the Bishop, two classes occupied the church, the Blessed Sacrament having been placed in the sacristy. A third class took up its abode in the City Hall (skating rink), a favor of the city Mayor Edward F. Gallagher. As the small house in which the Sisters lived temporarily did not provide sufficient room for all, several Sisters slept in an unoccupied house near the new Convent. It had been offered generously for their use, gratis, by kind neighbors.

By the end of October, one wing of the new building was sufficiently completed to permit the Sisters, in case of necessity, to dwell in it, although there were as yet no bannisters on the stairways, no plastered walls, no finished floors, etc. On October 29, after spiritual exercises were ended, the statues and pictures belonging to the Sisters were carried to the convent and after seven o'clock that morning, generous and kind-hearted people appeared with horses and wagons and transported all the belongings of the Sisters from the cottage to the new Convent. The Sisters were delighted to be united again under their own roof.

But Father Cassidy saw other improvements were necessary and one of these was the beautifying of the cemetery.

He solicited contributions for this purpose and to which the people responded very generously and in a short time the sum of six-hundred dollars was collected. This was expended in putting in the cemetery a system of water works (consisting of a windmill and pipes running all over the cemetery grounds), of buying trees, of making walk-ways, and also of paying a man to care for the cemetery in general during the summer months. This work was done in the spring of 1900. Then a new fence was needed for the cemetery and toward this fund Senator Thomas Kearns of Utah contributed five hundred dollars and it was necessary to expend about seven hundred dollars for a good fence, and it was purchased and placed in the cemetery.

Mrs. John E. Kearns presented the church a very beautiful ostensorium (monstrance) which cost seventy-five dollars as a Christmas gift in 1901. The ladies of the parish presented three sets of vestments (white, purple, and red) including cope and veil. These vestments were imported from France and cost two hundred and twenty dollars.

In May of 1899 two Jesuit Fathers conducted an eight day mission and it was at this time that the young men presented the large Mission Cross (which cost forty-five dollars and is still in the back of the present church) and the young ladies presented the six brass candlesticks which adorned the main altar and cost fifty dollars.

The school continued toward its building completion.

After a lapse of several weeks, the new classrooms were gradually finished and ready for occupancy. On December 12, 1900, on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the convent and school were solemnly dedicated by Father Cassidy. A solemn High Mass was celebrated and Father Cleary, a renowned speaker from Minnesota, delivered a most eloquent sermon on the occasion. He outlined the benefits of a Catholic education and reminded the people of O'Neill that they were deeply indebted to the Sisters for providing these benefits for them. The rather large chapel did not furnish sufficient room for all who attended the services. The O'Neill Public School gave a free day to permit teachers and pupils to attend the solemnities. Many people wept through joy and gratitude at seeing their desires finally fulfilled. The Sisters and the people had given up many of the things that make life easy to see the school completed.

The Stations of the Cross in the Sisters Chapel and the "Ave Maria" (the bell in the tower) were gifts of Mrs. James Gallagher -Ella Dailey Gallagher. The following inscription was upon the bell: "Ave Maria, Auxilium Christianorum, Protect All the Inmates, Bless the Benefactors, Pray For O'Neill, Assist Us In Death." On Christmas Eve,1900, the Angelus was rung for the first time from the convent tower and Mother Kostka, Sister Alcantara, Sister Crescentia, Sister Laurentia, Sister Catherine, Sister Mathildae, Sister Sophie, Sister Geralda, Sister Norberta, Sister Eberharda, Sister Antoinette and Sister Arsenia were the Franciscan Sisters of O'Neill.