Dr. Fr. John Vidmar, OP from
Providence College presented the early history of the Dominicans in the U.S,
not the Spanish or French Dominicans of 16th and 17th
century, but the Irish and English friars who were not officially sponsored by
their respective countries, but who went as missionaries. Even in 1776 the 13 English colonies on the
east coast of the U.S. were divided north from south. North of Maryland the colonies were against
slavery, from Maryland south slavery was accepted as fundamental to economic
security. At the time of the war of
independence the only thing uniting the 13 colonies was their mutual hatred of
the Catholic faith. Catholics could not
vote, could not own property, could not attend school or enter any
profession. They were treated as
non-persons. Catholic priests were
exiled if discovered and there was a bounty of 100 pounds for information
leading to their apprehension. Maryland was an exception because Lord Baltimore
converted to Catholicism and received permission to found a colony based on religious
tolerance. Anglicans sought to achieve
the status of state religion in Virginia. In the north Congregationalists held
sway. The National Cathedral built in
Washington, DC was intended by the Anglicans originally to be the seat of the
national Anglican Church in America.
Eventually the colonies became more tolerant as Catholics fought
alongside protestants to achieve independence from England. The first Dominican
churches were in northern Massachusetts, southern New Hampshire and Maine. The first diocese was in St. Mary’s City,
later named Baltimore in Maryland.
Edward Dominic Fenwick received permission to establish a new province
and a Catholic university in America, money and a library of books to establish
the Catholic faith in America. When
Fenwick arrived, the U.S. bishop, John Carroll sent him to Kentucky because
there was already a university in the east, Georgetown. Fenwick walked from Maryland to Kentucky
along Daniel Boone’s trail. Between 1800
and 1810 an estimated 300,000 people followed that same trail to Kentucky. Fenwick founded St. Rose Academy in Kentucky
and a convent for nuns in Somerset, Ohio. Eventually some of his followers tired of the
rural life in Kentucky and Ohio and returned to urban areas in the east taking
over existing parishes in Washington and New York, and founded a new House of
Studies in Rhode Island that is now Providence College.
