- Part 2 Correspondence
- 6 Bishop Scalabrini and Other American Bishops (1888 – 1905)
- IV Archdiocese of Cincinnati
- 1. Elder to Scalabrini Cincinnati, October 21, 1889
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- 339 -
IV
Archdiocese of
Cincinnati
1.
Elder to
Scalabrini23
Cincinnati, October 21,
1889
Most Reverend Excellency:
Some time ago already Father Francesco Zaboglio
must have sent to Your Excellency a report on his visit to our City of Cincinnati. Various
estimates were given on the number of Italians residing here, not less than
three thousand and some stated twice that number. A few receive the Sacraments
every month or every three months. The number of these increases little by
little. Some send their children to Catholic schools. But outside these few,
the rest neither go at all to Catholic doctrine classes nor frequent the
Church.
I
beg you then from the bottom of my heart to send us as soon as possible some
zealous missionary to save these souls on the way to perdition.
I will do my best to help the
missionaries and I hope they will derive abundant fruit for the glory of God.24
I
would like to say much more how this miserable condition of so many souls
touches my heart, but I find it too difficult to express myself in the
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Italian language. No doubt, Fr. Zaboglio has presented this condition
better that I could.
I
pray God to reward with the largest blessing the charity of Your Excellency
toward these poor people.
I
remain with the greatest reverence,
Your Excellency’s faithful servant and brother
in Jesus Christ,
William Henry Elder,
Archbishop of Cincinnati
23 AGS, 625/1a. Archbishop William
Henry Elder served in Cincinnati
from 1880 as Coadjutor and from 1883 as Ordinary until his death in 1904. A prudent and holy
pastor, he healed the crisis left by his predecessor because of the failure of
Father Purcell’s bank. Father Zaboglio had dutifully written to Bishop
Scalabrini on August 5, 1889: “I have already written to Your Excellency that
Archbishop Elder of Cincinnati
had invited me to see if anything could be done for the Italians of his city. I
went to see him. It is estimated that in Cincinnati
there are from three to four thousand Italians. Following the Archbishop’s
advice, I visited about twenty families together with a certain Signor Cordamo.
Most of the Italians with whom I spoke were bitter toward the late Archbishop
Purcell who, together with his brother, also a priest, had a bank which failed
and it lost some four million dollars. Many Italians had deposited their hard
earned money in their bank and were left penniless! The Archbishop and his
brother both died heartbroken. The same fate befell many of the poor Italians
who lost their savings. Your Excellency can imagine the sad spiritual
consequences of this terrible event. However, we hope that with the help of
Archbishop Elder, a very zealous and veteran pastor, something could be done
for those Italians. Archbishop Elder has perhaps written about this to Your
Excellency. I add my humble voice to his in begging Your Excellency to try to
help the Italians of this city.”
24 On December 21, 1891, Father
Zaboglio could report to Bishop Scalabrini that some progress had been
achieved: “In Cincinnati... although the money pledged by the Italians has
reached the good sum of eight thousand dollars, nevertheless they still have
not been able to buy a suitable place as our Missionaries continue to perform
their ministry in a very small chapel put at their disposal by the Sisters. . .
.” Eventually a flourishing Italian parish was developed in Cincinnati.
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