St. Nazianz, 1854-1954

100 Pages·1954·19.559 MB·English

by  St. Nazianz Centennial Committee

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MANITCMIOCWl 64220
MTWC 977.567 ST
St. Nazianz Centennial
St. Na=ianz, 1854 - 1954 I
Manitowoc Public Library
33128003'394597
.
' p LIBRARY
USE ONLY
A drawing of
tho village
around 1860.
1854 St. Nazianz 1954
An ooriol
view of the
va11,. ....

MTWC 977. 567 ST
St. Nazianz Centennial
St. Nazianz, 1854 - 1954 I
Manitowoc Public Library
33128003994597
l
D edication
T
HUS ended the first day in our new fatherland pansion, so beneficial not only to the community itself,
and our new home, concluclecl with the ~ecita­ but also to other parishes, Mary's intercession before God
tion of the rosary . . At the close of every busy has brought manifold blessings, spiritual and material,
clay, in perfect unity, we gathered around a large lire, upon her devotees.
and prayed the rosary . . . . " These facts are recorded Nor can it be called simply coincidence, as so many
-
in the Chronicle of St. N11zi1111z, by Anton Stoll, who people would label it, that the centennial of ·the proc·
likewise concludes every year's entry in the Chronicle lamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception
with the words: Celobt sei Jesus 111id Maria (Praised be and the centennial of St. Nazianz are celebrated in the
Jesus and Mary). Examples can be swiftly multiplied same year. Before God chance does not exist; attributing
of the devotion paid to Mary, the Mother of Goel, by the events to chance is a blasphemy in His sight, for nothing
citizens of St. Nazianz from its founding, the erection of ever happens on the face of the earth and in the whole
its first shrine, one to our Lady of Loretto, in 1855, clown of His creation without His knowledge and power. The
to the present clay with its hequent Marian devotions, preparation of the declaration oF l\ifary's absolute sinless
the dedication of the parish and its work for God's glory ness and the preparation ol: the foundation of St. Nazianz
under the guidance of the Holy Family, and the weekly were equally the work of God's Providence in 1854, as
novena to our Lady of Perpetual Help, so regularly and is the rejoicing in 1954 over the one hundredth anniver
well attended by the whole parish - not to mention, sary of these simultaneous events.
daily family recitation of the rosary. Rightly then, with reasons that extend through the
Throughout the history of the community the Blessed century, in this Marian year St. Gregory's community
Mother has not failed to heed the homage and petitions dedicates its centennial book to the sinless Virgin Mary
to her. From the poor, struggling beginnings of St. Greg of Nazareth, our Lady of Loretto, our Lady of Perpetual
ory's parish until the recent building and educational ex- Help, Cod's mother and ours.
5

Tribute To Our Saint
WHEN people leave the place of their birch and the greatest gift of earth, a father and a mother who were
long residence for a distant and new home, most concerned first of all for his spiritual well-being and the
probably never to return, they usually take with proper development of his mental powers, he was edu
them at least one or several things to bind them to the cated in the most celebrated Catholic schools of his time,
home they are leaving. Thus, as Father Oschwald and at Neo·Cae.5aria and Alexandria. When he grew to man
his Association planned their immigration to the United hood, his life set a regular pattern of retirement in soli
States, they made one inseparable link with their home· tude to pray and study alternating with periods of teach
land: as a popular tradition has it, From the parish church ing and instructing others in the fruits of his prayer and
whence a majority of the immigrants came and where study, especially in eloquence at the University of Ath
Father Oschwald was pastor, they took their patron, St. ens.
Gregory of Nazianz, and made him the patron of their Ordained to the priesthood in 361 and consecrated
Association, and determined to call their settlement in the bishop a few years later, he ruled first the diocese of Sas·
new land St. Nazianz in his honor, and to dedicate their ima and then the diocese of Nazianz. After the death of
church in America to him. his father and mother, he resigned from his bishopric to
Through these 100 years St. Gregory of Nazianz has go again into solitude. But his zeal for Catholic truth soon
watched over his community and church. In the work of brought him from retirement. The heresy of Arianism,
the early pioneers and in the achievements of their suc the false teaching that Jesus Christ was not God become
cessors in the present day, he has had a definite, subtle man, but only the most perfect of Cod's human creatures,
influence, perhaps unknown to the parishioners them again burst forth in new strength after being condemned
selves. by the first General Council of the Church in 325, the
For what the first settlers did in furthering Catholic Council of Nicea.
life and Catholic education in the whole territory sur Gregory yielded to the pleas of Catholics who begged
rounding St. Nazianz, what religious societies with their him to come and defend them against the Arians. So
origins in St. Nazianz have done throughout the nation powerfully did the learned bishop attack the false
for that same purpose, and what the present parishioners teachers that in a relatively short time he tdumphed over
of St. Nazianz are accomplishing toward the same end for all. The Catholics of the capital, Constantinople, de
themselves and other parishes of the county - all this manded Gregory as their bishop, but be refused and re
is most clear to the heart of their patron, St. Gregory of turned to Nazianz. After administering to the church
Nazianz. there for two years, he again sought the quiet of prayer
For St. Gregory is a Doctor of the Church, a title given and study. He died six years later, in 389.
to not even three dozen of the saints of Goel, but reserved God's purpose in man's creation is that be may use the
for those who not only led heroically holy lives but also abundant divine gifts showered upon him to gain peace
arc emjnent in Catholic learning and education. His and happiness which will never end- God's supernatural
special title as a Doctor of the Church is the same as that gifts to grow in the life of grace, God's mental gifts which
given to the Apostle-Evangelist, St. John-"The Divine." raise man far above all material creation to grow in the
St. Gregory of Nazianz was born in southwestern Asia life of true wisdom, God's physical gifts to be used in fur
Minor (now Turkey) in the fourth century. Blessed with thering the supernatural life of grace and the natural
life of the mind. Perfectly St. Gregory of Nazianz l'ul-
61lecl God's purposes in himself. By his guidance he has
urged tlie same constantly upon the parish and village of
St. Gregory of Nozionz, copied from on oil paint
ing on a banner of the Sick Benevolent Society, which he is the patron, St. Nazianz. May the people
founded by the settlers in St. Nazianz in 1871. continue always to follow that guidance.
7

( His Holiness Pope Pius XII now gloriously reigning
The Popes of the Century
In its inception and in its history St. Nazianz has dedicated unswervingly to His 1rue Church on earth,
been undividedly Catholic, the life of the whole com in obedience and love of Christ's vicar on earth, six of
munity centered around the parish church of St. Gregory whom have occupied the Chair of Peter in Rome dur
of Nazianz. Their spiritual loyalc)' under Cod has been ing the past century.
PIUS IX ( 1846-1878) "Remem1Jer, the Catholic Chmch is
·immortal."
The turbulent affairs of nineteenth-century Europe which
brought the first settlers to St. Nazianz crushed their full weight
upon the Vicar of Christ. Despite generous efforts to meet the
demands of a changing world, Pius IX was robbed of the Papal
States by the Italian nationalists and became a voluntary prison
er in the Vatican Palace, an example followed by his successors
until 1929. The Kullurkampf in Germany, state restriction and
suppression of the Church, saddened the later days of his
pontiiicate.
On December 8, 1854, he solemnly defined that the Blessed
Virgin Mary was, in the first instant of her conception, preserved
free from all stain of original sin. His Syllabus of 1864 con
demned errors of thought and religion which have reached their
greatest power in ow· day. In the twentieth General Council
(1869-70) Pius IX gathered the bishops of the world to discuss
matters of Catholic faith and discipline. This, the Vatican Coun
cil, proclaimed that in defining a doctrine regarding faith or
morals to be held by the Universal Church, the Roman Pontiff
cannot err.
LEO XIII ( 1878-1903) "I love you all, b11t I am. tired, and
glad to go."
Through the courage, principle, and tact of Leo XIII the
German persecution of the Church was brought to an end, and
the same qualities won a lessening of opposition to the Church
in England, F1·ance, and Russia. In Italy, however, the strain be
tween Church and State continued.
Leo XIII was especially aware of the growth of the Church in
the United States of America. With his urging and blessing the
Catholic University of America was founded in Washington, D.C.
An outstanding event of his pontificate and of all times was
Leo XIII's encyclical, Rerum Novarum, in 1891. This document
condemned the injustices that the growing industrial powers of
the world were forcing upon the laboring man. Long before their
time, for even today the full tenor of the Pope's teaching has
not been effected, his social doctrines demanded a living wage,
the right to form labor unions, and state legislation for the pro
tection of the workingman.
Dw·ing his reign Father Francis Jordan founded the Society of
the Divine Savior (1881) and received fo·st Papal recognition for
the Salvatorian Fathers.
ST. PIUS X (1903-1914) "I wns born poor; 1 have lived
poor and l wis/1 to die poor."
Though he remained more aloof in his dealings with temporal
rulers, by his cautious and friendly attitude Pius X began to
bring about the eventual reconciliation between the Vatican and
Italy. With a firm hand he dealt with atheistic socialists in
France. Spain, and Portugal who were usurping the rights and
property of the Church.
Pius X is especially remembered and loved as the Pope of
little children, for not only did he Jove to receive them in audi
ence but he decreed that they should be allowed to receive Jesus
in the Blessed Sacrament when they were old enough to know
the doctrine of His presence in the Eucharist. He is also remem
bered as the Ponti[f to restore the practice of the early Church
of frequent, even daily reception of Holy Communion. He also
brought about changes in the training of candidates for the
priesthood, in liturgical ceremonies, and in Church music.
The Pope saw the rising clouds of the first World War long
before others. All his efforts to avert the crisis failed, and he died
on the very day that the German army entered Brussels, the
capital of Belgium. Physicians wrote bronchitis as the cause of
his death; but his friends knew it was heart-break.
Pius X was beatified in the jubilee year of 1950, and declared
a saint in this centennial, Marian year, May 30, 1954.
BENEDICT XV (1 914-1922) "We offer our life to God on
behalf of tlze i;eace of the world."
The First World War Pope drove the straight and narrow road
of peacemaker dw-ing those four bloody years, but was still criti
cized by extremists on both sides because of his impartiality.
Early i.n the war he organized relief agencies, and through his
efforts millions of dollars were contributed to save multitudes in
Eastern and Central Europe from starvation. The Vatican ar
ranged the exchange of vast numbers of prisoners of war, better
hospitalization for the wounded, and an information service to
bl'ing to the families of all belligerents news of their sons and
husbands.
Benedict continually called upon the nations to bring the
bloody holocaust to an end. In 1917 the Pontiff outlined a peace
plan that was not heeded; in fact, Italy extracted from her allies
the promise that the Pope would be excluded from all negotia
tions on the settlement of the war. Oddly, only a non-Christian
nation appreciated Benedict's labor for mankind; Mohammedan
Turkey erected a statue to honor him during his lifetime.
Even with the armistice the unhappy Pope had to see the
continuation of strife down to his death, with civil struggles
raging in Russia, Poland, Greece, Ireland, Syda, and Hungary.
PIUS XI ( 1922-1939) "Peace ... , the peace of Je.ms.''
The new Pope saw the rise and growth of the age of the mod
ern totalitarian dictator. Though to safeguard the Church he
signed concordats with both Facist Italy and Nazi Germany, his
seventeen-year reign was devoted to restraining and struggling
against the greed and injustice of both Facism and Communism.
In the Lateran Treaty of 1929 Italy gave the papacy a small in
dependent state within the limits of Rome. Hit.ler's anti-Semitism,
Mussolini's aggression against Ethiopia, the Spanish Civil War
after the Communists had seized the government- these were but
the major catastrophes in the long series of evil and sorrow that
the dictators were bringing upon the world.
Despite these political worries Pius XI devoted himsell strenu
ously to the revivilication of the spiritual life of Christ's Church.
In all he issued thirty-seven encyclicals on a variety of subjects.
He encow·aged Catholic Action, lay associations for religious
activities under the direction of the hierarchy; he repeated and
expanded the social teachings of Leo XIII; his encyclicals on
Christian marriage, Catholic education, and the priesthood will
never lose their immediacy for right living.
Even as he lay in death, the Second World War. which he
had long foreseen, had already begun.
His Exccllcncy1 the Most Reverend
Stonislous V. Bono, Bishop of Green Boy