Brother Visitor's Message, July 2002

PIONEER BROTHERS LEAVE NEW YORK CITY FOR SAN FRANCISCO
JULY 16, 1868

by Mrs. Andrea Miller
Director, District of San Francisco Archives
July 16, 2002

When Joseph Sadoc Alemany was named Archbishop of the sprawling frontier Archdiocese of San Francisco in 1853, he immediately began to strengthen the fledgling system of Catholic education that existed at the time. Among his goals was the establishment of a college for young men that would not only nourish their faith but would also provide vocations, fostering a "home-grown" clergy he felt was necessary for the survival of the Church in the frontier state. Long before the cornerstone was laid for his new college of Saint Mary's, Alemany began a campaign to bring the Brothers of the Christian Schools, renowned educators, to San Francisco to take on the management of this project. It would take more than ten years and a pilgrimage to Rome before the determined prelate realized his goal.

At the time of the Archbishop's first plea in 1856, the Christian Brothers had been established in the United States for only eleven years and numbered about 200. The United States Province was having difficulty enough meeting demands of its burgeoning schools on the East Coast, so the thought of shipping precious staff across the continent seemed impossible. However, Archbishop Alemany was persistent. After several polite refusals from both the North American Provincial and the Superior General of the Institute in Rome, he made the difficult journey to the Vatican in 1867 and put his request directly to the Pope. This effort finally succeeded. Brother Patrick, Visitor of the United States District, was directed to provide the requested personnel. Selecting eight Brothers, he placed them under the direction of Brother Justin McMahon (photo below) who, at the age of thirty-four, would become the first Visitor of the District of San Francisco. Apart from $800 provided by the San Francisco Archdiocese for their passage, the group received no other financial backing, leaving to Brother Justin the challenge of managing the growth and survival of the venture.

On July 16, 1868, the Brothers boarded the Ocean Queen in New York. Of the group, only one was a native-born American; the others were immigrants from Ireland, Germany, and Switzerland. An article in the New York Tablet for that date records the event:

 
 

"Brother Justin, the Director of the group, has been highly esteemed wherever he has been stationed because of his earnest discharge of the duties entrusted to him and by his warm attachment to friends and pupils. Brothers Cianan and Gustavus, who accompanied him, are also widely and favorably known and will soon make their influence felt on the western coast. The departure of these eight Brothers, while a gain for the West, is certainly a loss to the East. As a tribute of appreciation to those who were leaving them, the Brothers of Manhattan College prepared a surprise for the travelers at the time of their departure. On the eve of sailing, Brother Jasper, Prefect of the college, got in readiness the college boats. Next morning, he issued a hasty call to some special friends, including Father Breen and the Professors of the college. At nine o'clock, the little yacht slipped her moorings and sailed down the Hudson to the foot of Canal Street where the Ocean Queen lay at anchor.

The stirring notes of the college band soon attracted the passengers on the steamship, but it was some time before the Brothers made their appearance, as they scarcely felt in any mood to listen to the merry music of some excursion barge, which they most likely deemed the college yacht to be. The stalwart figure of Brother Jasper, attired in the religious garb of the Brotherhood, soon caught Brother Justin's, eye, upon which all the Brothers on board quickly went to the ship's side. Though it was difficult to distinguish the expressions of surprise and gratification they uttered, there was no mistaking their emotions when the sweet, sad notes of "Home, Sweet Home" reached their ears. The cheers and waving of hands and handkerchiefs on board the college boats fully attested the cordial love the escorting party entertained for the departing Brothers, and this enthusiasm for their friends affected them so deeply that not a few had to withdraw from the public to give vent to their feelings in secret. At one o'clock the Ocean Queen steamed majestically from the wharf and was accompanied by the yacht to the Narrows. The trip down the bay was enlivened by the strains of the band as it played the popular airs of the day.

The powerful engines of the larger vessel soon widened the distance between her and her tiny convoys. And a final adieu was waved to Brother Justin and his companions who waved back again and again, no doubt with widely mingled emotions."

 
Saint Mary's College, San Francisco, 1868

The first leg of the voyage on the Ocean Queen lasted eight days, delivering the group at Aspinwall (now Colon) on the morning of June 26. The following afternoon, the Brothers used train and wagon to cross the Isthmus. A later account by Brother Jasper Fitzsimmons reported that, "The voyage was uneventful, save for the scenery en route crossing the Isthmus of Panama. The monkeys cavorting in the trees amused the passengers." On July 28, they boarded the Montana, a wooden, side-wheeler steamship. Along with 618 other passengers, 176 bags of mail, 27 sheep and one calf, they began the thirteen-day voyage up the coast. Late in the evening of August 10, 1868, the Montana sailed into San Francisco Bay, thus beginning the long chapter of the Christian Brothers' works on the West Coast of the United States.

Next installment - August 2002.