by Fabian Parmisano, OP

CHAPTER 3 : Testing the Waters: Monterey

Continued

As commissary general, Fr. Vilarrasa proceeded to establish the convent, with church attached, and Fr. Ramirez de Arellano signed the document of foundation as secretary. In his Chronicle, Vilarrasa notes the events of the day:

On February 4, 1852, by a letter dated at Monterey, I erected in that same city a convent with a novitiate under the title of our holy Father, Dominic. On this same day, I clothed six young men from Spain with the habit of the clerics of the Order. Among them were Brothers Vincent Vinyes and Dominic Costa.  The same day, in the evening, we all gathered in choir, where certain regulations made by me for the orderly administration of the convent and for the regular observance were made public by Father Ignatius Ramirez de Arellano of the Mexican Province. All of these regulations the Most Reverend Vicar General of the Order [Jandel] later confirmed, adding certain corrections. Then Compline was sung with the Salve and O Lumen. Bishop Alemany was present at all these ceremonies as one who always, when he is in the city, assiduously assists at all the activities of the community.

During the clothing ceremony the novices received their religious names and so became Brothers Vincent Vinyes, Thomas Fossas, Dominic Costa, Raymond Cervera, Louis Berenguer, and Hyacinth Soler.

Prior to these events, in a letter to Fr. Jandel dated January 15, 1852, Vilarrasa explained that Bishop Alemany had written twice to the Pope for permission to establish the house, but no answer had as yet been received; so he was going ahead with its foundation, as canonists were of the opinion that such a permission was not needed. On February 29, 1852, a document granting the requested permission (with retroactive force) was issued by the Congregation of the Propagation of the Faith, under whose jurisdiction the whole of the United States, as missionary territory, lay. Vilarrasa had also written in his letter of January 15 that the six candidates had not brought testimonial letters from their respective diocese, since they had not known they were required. He requested a dispensation for them to receive the habit privately, and, as postulants, to live the Dominican life required for novices. He asked that when the necessary papers arrived the brothers might then receive the habit solemnly and complete their novitiate and, at the completion of the year thus spent, make their profession. All requests were granted by the Sacred Congregation of Religious on May 7, 1852, and so, on August 15 of this year, half way through their novitiate, Fr. Vilarrasa solemnly invested the novices with the habit of the Order.

But strict religious observance had begun with the private clothing on February 4. In a letter to his family dated May 2, 1852, Vilarrasa described the new Dominican life in and about the convent:

Thus a little more than a year after our arrival in this city with Bishop Alemany, there had been established a convent for nuns and another for friars, both Dominican, giving public instruction to men and women, a most urgent need today when it is necessary to check the Protestants who do not neglect to propagate their errors. The convent has five sisters, and the monastery for men has eight religious. When we have sufficient means (I do not know when that will be), we shall build a new monastery and church, because the house that serves for a monastery is very narrow... Nevertheless the place is most delightful. From a height overlooking the city, near a grove of pines, we have a view of the whole bay without leaving the convent. That is to say, it is as if we were in the city, yet remaining in solitude. We go through the city wearing our habit without astonishing anyone. The bells are rung at three in the morning, and no one complains. We celebrate according to the rite of our Order and, in fine, do all that a missionary can and ought to do. We do not have to give an account to anyone but our General who is in Rome.

In our convent, through observance, we do not know the taste of meat, but we have good fish and eggs. Everyday at three in the morning we say Matins; at six we have meditation, Prime, Conventual Mass, and at seven we take coffee and then have recreation for half hour. At eleven thirty we say the Rosary, then Terce and Sext. If it is a fast day we say None. Dinner follows. At two in the afternoon we have Vespers, and at six fifteen Compline, Salve, meditation, spiritual reading, supper and recreation. This is the life we lead from the first of January until the feast of Saint Sylvester. The intervening hours are devoted to the schools, studies, etc. Today I am the only Dominican priest in this Province. This climate agrees with all the religious, men and women, and all are very happy. Since I left, I have not been ill one day, thank God!

In addition to the routine mentioned in this letter, Vilarrasa, in his more formal letter to Jandel, January 15, 1852, notes, among other conventual regulations, the closing exercises of the day: "night prayers and silence at eight fifteen." In a letter dated May 18, 1852, Jandel approved the regulations and schedule sent him, adding simply that spiritual reading for fifteen minutes should be in private, except, perhaps, for the novices and students. One wonders what Vilarrasa's reaction was to such a petty amendment, especially since he was the only non-novice and student around, and likely to be for some time to come!

In his Chronicle Vilarrasa laments that because of the lack of funds and insufficiency of alms and other offerings a real convent could not be built. The structures they had been given had to make do till better times. These he thus describes:

Two small and very humble houses about 200 yards apart had been obtained. In the better house a rectangular room was selected for a church and choir, another room for study and recreation, another for a common dormitory, and a fourth for a parlor for seculars; in the other house the refectory and kitchen were found. When saying "grace" after dinner in procession as is customary in the Order it was necessary to pass out into the open.

In his report to the Propagation of the Faith in Paris, December 6, 1852, Vilarrasa further delineates the physical limitations of the convent and the need for something better if the work begun was to continue:

We have at present six novices of which one is professed and the other five will make profession in the beginning of next year, and we could have many more if we should have the means to pay the expenses of their voyage, because we have no hopes to have any of the country for the present time.

We are in great need of a Church, a larger house to be able to receive more, and a school. Our house or convent, which we divide with our Bishop, is hardly sufficient for the number that we have at present; the school cannot contain more than 25 boys and our church is only 26 feet long, 12 wide and 8 high.

It was the intention of our Rt. Rev. Bishop to give us a garden near the church of Carmelo about four miles from here; but an American took possession of it without more right than force. The people of this place are neither able nor used to contribute for such things. Hence the only recourse that remains for us is to apply to the generosity of your Association...

Bishop Alemany adds to the letter, in his own hand, corroboration of Vilarrasa's statements and his own petition for help.

In the meantime, the sisters were faring much better in their housing than the friars. As early as December of 1851, writes Vilarrasa, "the Dominican nuns had bought the best house in the city. The building was worth eighteen thousand dollars, but the owner, realizing the praiseworthy object for which it would be used, gave it for five thousand dollars payable in five years." And Vilarrasa adds what was certainly one of the reasons prompting the benefactor to such generosity: "The Sisters continue teaching with the greatest success both interns and externs [boarders and day students]."

Both Vilarrasa and Alemany persisted in petitioning for clergy and religious. Alemany, naturally, wanted good clergy, secular or regular, for the diocese at large, and sisters for teaching and hospital ministry, and long into his administration he continued to write his needs to bishops and seminaries throughout Europe. Vilarrasa's petitions were for Dominicans. On August 15, 1852, he wrote to Jandel pleading that he send him two or three good priests, especially someone who could hear confessions and preach in English, and one who was lector to teach the novices when they made profession and began their studies. He was alone, he said, and there was none to take his place if he became ill or were away. "When Bishop Alemany is away from Monterey the sisters do not have Mass." Nothing came of his request. Again on July 25, 1853, he asked Jandel for English or French-speaking priests and for Fr. Claudio Ibarz, a classmate and former provincial of Sardinia. In his answer of September 30, Jandel said he would ask Fr. Ibarz, but had no one else to send. Ibarz did not accept the invitation.

During the novitiate year 1852-53 two brothers left: Br. Thomas Fossas and Br. Hyacinth Soler. The others -- Brothers Vincent Vinyes, Raymond Cervera, Dominic Costa, and Louis Berenguer -- made their solemn profession on March 7, 1853, about 9 a.m. The novitiate, however, was not left barren for long, for in the afternoon of August 28, 1853, Father Antoine Langlois, age forty-five, received the habit. He was given the religious name of Augustine, whose feast it was that day. It was Fr. Langlois who, as vicar general for Northern California, had welcomed the three pioneer Dominicans to San Francisco in December of 1850. He was born in the village of St. Pierre de la Riviere du Sud, Montmagny County, Province of Quebec, Canada, on March 9, 1812, of Jean-Baptiste Langlois and Marie-Francois Dallaire. He was ordained priest in the Basilica Cathedral of Notre Dame in Quebec on May 1, 1838. In 1841, he went to the Oregon Territory for missionary work. His contact there with the Jesuits tempted him to return to Quebec and enter the Society of Jesus, but on a visit to San Francisco, Fr. Jean-Baptiste Broullet, with whom Langlois had worked in Oregon, persuaded him to stay on in San Francisco to work among the Forty-niners populating and over-populating the city and its environs. With Fr. Broullet he founded St. Francis church, which soon became Bishop Alemany's pro-cathedral. Now it was the Dominicans -- perhaps mainly Fr. Peter Anderson at whose side Langlois was when that pioneer Dominican died -- who inspired Langlois, and so he gave himself whole-heartedly to them.

It was during the year 1853 that Vilarrasa began contemplating a change of locale for his little community. Monterey was beautiful and serene, but uncooperative with regard to religion and religious support. Besides, the population and the energy and prospects for future development were in the north, in and around San Francisco. Since the First Plenary Council of the American Hierarchy met at Baltimore on May 9, 1852 when the matter was discussed at length, it was in the air that the California diocese would soon be divided into that of Monterey, probably stretching south to the Mexican border and east to the Colorado River, and San Francisco embracing all north of the "Pueblo of San Jose" to the Oregon border and east to the northern waters of the Colorado. Alemany was sure to become Archbishop and Ordinary of the northern diocese. Such rumor together with his mounting discontent with Monterey was no doubt in Vilarrasa's mind as he wrote to Jandel on April 1 of 1853:

It seems to me that if we wish to propagate the order in California it is absolutely indispensable to transfer this convent to another city in northern California where there is more wealth and energy, where almost all the immigrants who come from other cities settle, and where the Catholics are without parallel in their interest in those things which pertain to religion. There is no doubt that in time Monterey will be one of the principal cities in California, but it is certain that eight or ten years will pass before Monterey begins to seize a little of the good.

Already more than a year has passed since we have established ourselves here and we have not advanced one pace nor do we have any hope of being further advanced in another year. The little that we receive is sufficient for the more necessary expenses. Hence it is impossible to think of building a church or a convent or to invite other young men of the many who desire to receive the habit, since for some years there is no hope for growth for the town. Now is the time in which we must endeavor to establish ourselves well, since afterwards it will be more difficult to do so. At present we can easily find good locations where we can settle, but this will not be so easy in a few years when the principal spots will be already occupied.

In view of all this I petition Your Paternity to grant me the faculty of transferring the convent of St. Dominic of Monterey, to another city of California, together with the affiliation of the four novices who made their profession for Monterey. The Monsignor [Bishop Alemany] will leave in a few days for a visit of the diocese, and this will give him an opportunity to see which is the place best suited for a good novitiate, and we will be prepared to inform you immediately upon receipt of your answer.

Mindful of his prior enthusiasm for Monterey which he had manifested to Jandel, and which the Vicar General might now recall, he added to the above the following paragraph:

It was not possible to foresee all this last year. Then we hoped to obtain the church of San Carlos in Carmel with its possessions, which would have been more than sufficient for all the necessities. But these were usurped by an American and there is no means to bring about a just settlement.

Fr. Jandel was late in answering the letter, as he was in Sicily for six months. But in a letter dated July 10, 1853, he accorded Fr. Vilarrasa "all the necessary authorizations to transfer your convent from Monterey to any other part of California that, with the agreement of Bishop Alemany, you judge the most favorable for the development of our Order."

Just nine days later, on July 19, 1853, a decree issued by the Sacred Congregation of the Propagation of the Faith, signed by its prefect, Cardinal Franzoni, and, on June 26, approved by Pope Pius IX, made the anticipated division of the diocese of California a fact. Bishop Alemany was now archbishop of the metropolitan see of San Francisco and Fr. Thaddeus Amat, a Vincentian who had been in charge of the Philadelphia diocesan seminary, became bishop of the diocese of Monterey.

Until early January, 1854, Fr. Vilarrasa was still in a quandary as to where to move the novitiate, for we find Archbishop Alemany writing to him on the thirteenth of the month:

I have not learned yet whether you prefer going to Martinez and Benicia or to settle at Oakland. In either case it would be well, I think, if you would send five hundred dollars to which I would add another five hundred and by these means we could have a home for you to commence at once.

In this same letter, the archbishop said that he had

...received just now a letter from Lacordaire, offering us with the authority of Fr. Jandel, a French professed novice of twenty-seven years of age with a little English and some moral theology... The reasonings of the scholastic studies do not suit him, and the life of the missionary country would it is supposed be beneficial to him, and make him beneficial to others.

The brother, however, never arrived.

Vilarrasa finally made up his mind. Benicia was his choice, and so Alemany gave the Dominicans the parishes of Benicia and Martinez with their churches. The small community moved to Benicia on March 16, 1854, and, with Fr. Vilarrasa as celebrant, offered its first Mass the next day, St. Patrick's Day, in the modest, still incomplete and unfurnished church on the corner of the future 4th and J Streets. Archbishop Alemany issued the document of transfer on March 30, which Vilarrasa formally accepted the following day.

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