Arizona weekly citizen., 1885-11-07
THE LOST ATLANTIS.
Some Interesting Topics Read Before tl
 Catholic Historical Society.

Some Interesting Topics Read Before thu
 Catholic Historical Society.
 The United States Catholic Historica
 Club held last evening its second publlt
 meeting at the University Club Theatre
 Iwenty-sixth street and Madison avenue
 The chair was occupied by NIT. O'Dair
 In his opening statement the Chairman congratulated the society on its progress and present prosperous condition. With, in the last twelve months it had acquired many new and distinguished members, and, best test of all, it was at present h. nsncislly sound, the Treasurer having on hand, after all expenses paid, bal ance of over S13,OC0. The Secretary then read & paper by 5. Culinary Shea, IL. D., entitled "The Centenary of 1t. Peter's Church. With St. Peters Church in Barclay street the history of Cath olIcIsm in New York Is intimately bound up, be ssId. Before it was erected Cath ollcism could hardly be saId to have had nthis ciIy, where it Is now so powerful, SO much as local habi:atlOn or & name. With the exception Of Trinity Church St. Peter's Is the oldest church of any kind ID New York, its incorporation da- unR ss far back ss June, l1S2. While New York was stIll in its colonial seTvI- tude, the city was closed against Catho- lic clergy men, except during the proprie- torshIp of James. Duck of York, after wards King of England. Then few Jesuit fathers opened Latin school ID the fort facIDg Bowling Green, but on the accession of William III, Catholic priests were forbidden 10 enter the col Ony under pain of imprisonment for life. Within 20 ears afterwards, however. not withstsnding this prohibition, Father Ferdinand Steinmerer, known ID the the history of America as Father Farmer, penetrated into New York and assem- Uled the Catholics of the city round his alter at place then a suburban village, now near the site of the present Episcopal Theological Seminary. After the Reve- luton, when freedom of worship was es- tablished, he handed over his flock to the Rev. TT, Whelsn, and proceeded on his mission sOuthward. St. Peters was erected on ground obtained from Trinity Church, and was dedicated in October, l7S6 by Cspuchin Fr. and W. Nugent. It was the first church erected since the establishment tOfIndependence of
 In the year 1854 the old church was pulled down and the present edItice, opened in 1888, was erected m its place.
 A paper was then read by Rev. Joshua F. BOdfish on "The Discovery of Amer ica by tLe Northmen." What Is called the New World sad the reverend gen tleman. "Is in reality the Old World. Geology informs us of this. In the clas- sical days of Greece, Plato and Aristotle and others spoke of land far west. be- yond the pillars of Hercules, which they called Atlantis" In later times the people of Western Europe were drawn as if by some magnetic force to go stIll further west. The ancient Irish were. like their ancestors, the PhOenicisns, great nsvIgstors, and It Is said that an IrIshm6n, St. Brendar, discovered America as early as the sixth century. The same feat Is also attributed to St. Columbia. It IS not, however, untA near the end of the tenth century that We have any trustworthy account of a trans atlantic voyage. In Greenland we have the first traces of Europeans on the American continent. The first whom we know to have arrived there was not NOrthmen, but Irish members of a religious body known as Culdees.
  nies of Nortbmen existed m Greenland for 300 years, and there IS httle doubt but that they visited New England, and even came as far as New York. These facts are conclusively proved by the sa- gas, or historical records of the North men. The name of Vinelsnd they gave to what IS now the State of Maine, be- cause they found grapes there, and other places according to their actual features or productions. There are relics of the Northmen along the rocks on the coast of Massachusetts in the form of ofinscriptlons, besides tum- lli and Notifications such as may be seen Tn Scandinavia. Remains of pot iery and other articles, of which the h. iisns were entirely ignorant, have also been found n New England. On the whole, there IS sufficient to convince us hat the NOrthmen not only knew of but continued long to have intercourse with America before its discovery" by Co., umbus.