The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1913-01-06

hook, n. Y, I have been told that the
first mass celebrated there was wit
messed by only six persons As the
| town increased more Catholics came
and they had a desire for a. church.
One of my ancestors -caTle<1 on Martin
| Van Beuren, the eighth chats going
back some) in the line of our Presf-
dents, and made known to him the
desires of the people, asking his NOR
al support in the work. President Van
Beuren told him that the best support
he could give would be to put his
name on the list as one of the sub
scribers to the building fund, which
he did with substantial sum. With
the Presidents name heading the list
he soon had a sufficient sum to erect
the first Catholic chuEch in the town.
The priest came occasionally. some
times only once in five or six weeks
and the congregation came from as far
as thirty miles distant. At the pres
ent time this little church is used in
the social work of the parish there
having been erected a beautiful stone
edifice, one Of the finest in any viii
lage in the State of New York
with the material prosperity of the
church the parishioners also prosper
ed;-so much SO that there have been
number of noted men who sprang
from this little struggling congrega-
ton. Among the humble worshippers
here was Michael Purcell. His son
afterwards became a railway mag
nate One of his roads was a stretch
of many miles which he ran entirely
by a water-power, an unusual thing
Mr.. Flynn, who came from an outIy-
| ing district. Lebanon, has sons who
have met with the honors of the world
One of them went a poor boy to New
York, but in a few years sailed abroad
with letter of Introduction from the
President of the United States to the
President of France, being escorted
down the bay by special steamer
One of the grandsons attends Yale at
know of his football fame, as he was
a member of the Yale 1912 team.
However, the teachings of the little
church of his grandparents have, con-
tinued to bear fruit In the distrac-
tions of college life he has not forgot
ten his religion, for it was only a, few
weeks ago that. he applied for mem
bership in one of the New Haven
councils of the Knights of Column bus
Other men who prospered nateria lily
along with the spiritual growth of the
| time were the McCabes. At the pres
ent time they are owners of immense
ice houses on the Hudson, and are the
only big ice dealers not under the con-
troll of the American Ice Company. I
will mention only one more name that
Games to me- Martin GIynn, who walk
ed to mass long distances in these
days. His first son was a Congress-
man at the age Of twenty-six, and
chosen for the eulogy to Vice Presi-
dent Hobart, out of the whole mem
bership. He is one of the most bril-
the first day of this year Martin
GIynn was inaugurated Lieutenant
N k
''Now the wonderful advanceIn ent
of these men and their families is due
in a great measure to the advice and
kindly interest of the priests who la
bored among them. Catholic people
have in all ages lived close to their
priests, and in the older coun tries, in
times of pil1age and slaughter, shell
tered and protected them. We may
say that there are saints uncanOnized
who have died in defense of the priest
hood.
TT would be perhaps untimeIy to-
night to draw a. similar comparison
of the expansion of church and peo-
pie in the city of Bridgeport so
will mention no names. We marvel
at the strength our church has attain
ed, and we rejoice at the material
progress of our brother members of
this church
Now, we have met tonight to do
honor to the priesthood and to OUT
own good Father Murphy. He was
ordained and came TO this parish tlir-
ty-five years ago, and his presence in
our church, in our homes. and in our
city has been a benediction Father
Murphy is no respecter of person. To
the man of broken health and broken
purse he is more the friend than to
his most prosperous parishioner.
about two thousand years ago the
Wise Men of the East saw with proph-
etic vision the great kingdom that was
to come into the world and they went
to visit the newborn King, bringing
Hynr1+ir,11a6 ~