El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1897-11-13
THE SUuPICIAN FATHERS.
Their Early Struggles In America and
Their First Seminary.

Their Early Struggles In America anu
Their First Seminary.
The introduction of the Sulplclan
fathers into the United States, their
tireless efforts to establish an institu-
ton, their misfortunes and final tri-
umphs are analogous to the history OF
almost all the Catholic organizations
founded in the infancy of our republic.
During the terrible period of the
French revolution four Sulpician IA
theirs, at the direction of their superior
general, who feared the violent exter-
mination of their order, sailed from the
port of ST. Malo, together with a num-
Der of seminarians, and their four
months voyage to America is described
by no less a writer than Chateaubriand,
a fellow passenger. The great French
romanticist, who invested our southern
Indian with peculiar and never end
ing charm, and whose rich descriptions
of our country formed SO much part
of his glory, leaves us tiny sketch Of
the little community of religious as
they neared the coast of the strange,
new land. A calm had lasted for many
days, and although the coast OF Mary
land was yelled by mist and dashing
waters the smell of pines, fresh. invig-
Grating, came upon the tired voyagers
One evening when the bell rang for
prayers and the red globe of the sun,
Just about to plunge into the sea, pierced
through the cordage in boundless space
and lit up the faces on the vessels deck
with brilliant, unearthly glow, the
Able Nagot, tall, thin, emaciated from
his long attack of illness, stood by the
wheel, book in hand, his pale French
face glimmering against the massive,
rugged features of the brawny sailors,
as some vision of martyr in dream,
around him the group of priests with
bowed heads, the young English convert
with attitude and face expressive of the
ardor of a man newly won to faith, the
silence-the furled sails-Chateaub
and himself burning with passion for
the new world that was to bring him
"Atala."
When the morning came-"America,
family traced by the tops of some maple
trees emerging, as it were, from the
sea-"
eve weighed anchor in order to
make the roads and harbor of Balti-
more,'' writes Chateaubriand. GAS we
drew near the channel narrowed, the
water became smooth and still, and to
all appearance we are sailing up slug
gish stream bordered with rows of trees
Baltimore came in view as if at the ex-
trenity of lake. Opposite the city was
a woody hill, at the bottom of which
buildings began to spring up. We made
fast to the quay in the harbor. "
The seminarians secured lodgings in
Market street and a few days afterward
rented house known as the Zone Mile
TAVERN a curious, oblong building,
with dormer windows, sloping roof and
quantity fashioned entrance, then some
distance from the city, surrounded by
broad acres. The Sulpicians bought the
property later, and st. Mary's Seminary
of St. Sulpice was established. The city
closed in rapidly about the old build
ing, and the beautiful grounds were
bricked up with a ten foot wall.
Chateaubriand describes Baltimore to
have been in that year, 1871, "a pretty
little Catholic town, clean and lively,
resembling Europe in manners and So
ciety.''
The seminary, the first in the United
States, after more than century's ex-
istence, after vicissitudes most trying,
stands today in it's full vigor. The
words of Plus VII, delivered in Paris
at the time of the coronation of Napo-
leon to the superior general Of the Sui
picians, who had decided to recall the
fathers in Baltimore to France, my
son, let it stand-yes, let that seminary
stand-for it will bear fruit in its own
time" have been realized, and with
CT, re TO
in this present year it goes on quietly
doing the good work No trace of the
Zone Mile tavern" is left A massive
red brick building, with solid granite
basement and mansard roof, stands, iso-
lated, in the heart of Baltimore, its
gloomy stone trimmings half concealed
by many trees, its pretty little chapel
hidden by the great glass topped wall
which extends all around the seminary.
Washington Post.