The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1874-09-15

Extract from d Sermon deliusrsd at
Charleston, wa, on September oh,
by Req. Fdther Stenger. as"S i..o.2
NV personal acquaintance with him
commenced in 1850, after his translation
from the diocese Of Richmond 10 the
newly created Sec Of Wheelipg-a period
of nearly twenty. five years, during which
successfully served his mass as an altar
boy, was member Of his household as a
semlnarist, and Aforementioned in
his diocese as missionary priest.
TO the altar boy, he was the ideal
OF what Is most aniSble aud venerable /;
to the seminarlst, he was an indulgent
superior, tho dread oil whose severity
could never oveTpower the confidence
inspired by his habitual kindness ITO the
priest, 1t is only honest 10 say that he was
occasionally the subject ofcriticism and
perhaps too OF unklndly feeling, yet with.
al ever tho acknowledged fatherly and
trustworthy old bishop whose smile and
pleasAnt word had power to dissipate
every shadow and disarm all hoatllityroa
remember the situation Of, Catholic
affairs in West Virginia in 1850 j have
been q witness oil their gradual develop
ment under the Bishops magic energy,
and now with the contrast between the
past and present before my view, can
only marvel at the prodigiousness Of his
talent and boundlessness Of his zeal.
When he arrived at Wheeling, the
town possessed a population Of some
fourteen thousand, Of whom probably not
six hundred were Catholics. A few years
previous, during the making Of Henry
Ulay's famous national road, some Cath
ole l4borers had contributed 70 the cree.
ton Of q small brick church and psrson;
age. There are persons for whom II
would be a pleasure, pleasure slightly
tinged with sadness, II they could hear
me revert to that little brick church, the
cradle Of Cathollclty in Wheeling; TO them,
as TO me, It Z was a dear and
familiar trysting place where friendships
that are still fresh were formed, and
hours not less happy than holy, were
passed. The very hollyhocks that grew
Under It's windows come up before the
Imagination with . brightness peculiar
10 them alone. Alphabetically this LITTLE
church was unpretending; the Gothic
and Roman styles were 1umbled rather
than blended in manner more monstrous
than elegant; but to have uttered such
criticism in those days would have been
regarded by those who waited that chapel
as little short OF blasphemy, To them Il
was the most loved spot on earth, AND
their hearts proved the words OF the
PsAlmiSt written In golden lettera upon p
blue ground on an arch above the altar:
~ have loved, o Lord, the beauty Of Thy
house" .a ..... .....
When the bishop appeared In It's empty
sanctuary brighter day seemed to have
risen upon the place, the eliminating
charm seemed added to the beauty O.
Gods house, and q more hopeful life was
breathed into the little congregation
Buff for them his arrival was the sun
rise Of q brighter day, for him, on th'
contrary, II was the commencement OF
long and tollsome administration. Every
thing was wanting-ohurches, clergy
men and people. In the Eplscopa
city there was the small ohurcl
already spoken o., OF which he himsel
was obliged to assume the pastora
charge; outside OF the city, on the who'll
vast area from the Pan Handle TO Nortl
Carolina and from the Blue Ridge 10 tn
Big Sandy, there was one other small
church; and solitary priest who, like
Bedouin In the desert, roamed over i'm
mense tracts ministering 10 the scatiereC
families Of Catholics on the tops oil noun
tains and up the hbllows Of creeks, Wit