1871-1959


	[Saint George] [History] [1871-1959]


	Updated August 19, 2004

(from the 1959 Dedication of St. George Church, October 10, 1959 by Rev. James A. McEnerney, S,J,)

The St. George Story (continued)

From 1871 to 1924, over a period of 52 years, St. Nicolas and St. George were under the care of the same pastor. Previous to 1871, St. Nicolas was guided directly from St. Inigoes. After 1924, it began to rise in strength on its own.

Similarly, there is a unity between St. George and Holy Face at Great Mills. Originally begun as a “Congregation at Factory” in 1885, Holy Face was cared for until 1933 - for more than 48 years - by the same pastor as St. George. The great development in education that has blossomed at Great Mills could never have been foreseen by Very Rev. Robert Fulton, the Maryland Provincial at the time; nor by Father David Walker, the Superior at St. Inigoes, who made the foundation of the present Holy Face parish in late 1884.

In the history of any Parish, there are events that reflect the problems of the age and the times. As one looks at the names of the pastors, one sees from 1855 to 1875, there were a number of “furriners” who held the pastorate. One of them was Father Basil Pacciarini, born in Umbria, Italy, on Feb. 10, 1816, near Mt. Alvernia, where the gentle St. Francis Assisi received the impression of the wounds of Christ. When 18 years old, he entered the Society of Jesus, and in 1845 he began his study of Theology. Because of the disturbed conditions of his native land, he came to America by order of his superiors to finish his Theology studies at Georgetown.

Father Pacciarini was ordained in 1848. He spent the next year at Frederick, and then two years in Charles County. From there, he was sent in 1851 to Maine, to the Mission centered at Ellsworth. His companion on the mission was Father John Bapst. Father Pacciarini was in Maine when the secret society called Know Nothings, an anti-Catholic group, dragged Father Bapst from the church, robbed him, tarred and feathered him, and hauled him around the village on a rail.

Tis society was called by its peculiar name because its members answered “I know nothing” when questioned about their activities. It denounced foreigners who were Catholics as enemies of the Republic. It was bitterly opposed to the immigration to America of Irish and Italian Catholics. Indeed, its opposition from 1851 to 1858 was so great that the Provincial of the Maryland Province, Father Stonestreet, changed the names of many priests to avoid problems that arouse from foreign names, Thus, the Irish Father Benard O-Toole became Father Toale.

Father Pacciarini was transferred in 1855 from Maine to St. Mary’s County, where he began a very fruitful ministry at St. Inigoes. It is a tribute to the hospitality of Southern Maryland that priests of foreign nationalities were accepted with open arms.

During the Civil War, the labors of the Fathers increased tenfold. There were 10,000 Confederate prisoners of war at Point Lookout. Many were Catholics, and there was a need of the services or priests as chaplains. The Sisters of Charity were in charge of the hospital.

Father Pacciarini was never able to master the English language, and it was difficult to understand him clearly when he preached. Father Toale had a thick brogue. Coming from an old Irish family in the County Tyrone at the age of 22, O’Toole, as he was then known, entered the Jesuit Novitiate at Frederick. While the course of studies in the Society tends to smooth out peculiarities of any man, it does not remove the origins. Father Toale was well known fro his sense of humor and his unaffected piety. He was a general favorite in the Jesuit community and highly esteemed as a confessor by the parishioners. His sermons were especially appreciated - even with the brogue.

Fathers Toale and Pacciarini had as their companion Father Meurer, who was born in the independent Duchy of Nassau. His father died when he was a child, and when he grew up he tries the military service in his native land. The loose lives of his comrades disgusted him, and he left the service. After his mother’s death, he came to America and entered St. Charles Seminary, Overbrook, Pa. Then, in 1855, he entered the Society of Jesus. He was ordained in 1861, At the outbreak of the war, and began his priestly work at St. George. For more than 52 years, he was a tireless worker in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Delaware, and proved to be a worthy successor to hardy pioneers who labored in colonial days. It was his labor to reap the harvest that the earlier Fathers had planted.

(More to follow)