History
Who was Peter Claver?
Peter Claver was a native of Spain. Born in 1581, he was a young Jesuit by age 20. He left his homeland after being assigned missionary work in 1610. He was assigned to Cartagena, South America (the present republic of Colombia) along the Caribbean. He was ordained there in 1615.
Cartagena, a port city, was a leading Caribbean shipping center. Slave trade had been established in the Americas for nearly 100 years, and Cartagena was a clearing-house for slaves. Purchased by slave traders in West Africa ten thousand slaves poured into the port each year after crossing the Atlantic in filthy holds of slave ships. The conditions were so foul and inhuman that an estimated one-third of the passengers died in transit.
Diamond Jubilee-75th Anniversary 1892-1967
Father Peter Claver, the Spanish Jesuit “slave of the slaves,” who spent 44 years teaching and baptizing hundreds of thousands at the Caribbean port of Cartagena in the 17th Century, was raised to sainthood in 1888. That same year, St. Paul’s Archbishop John Ireland adopted St. Peter Claver as his patron for a special “congregation of converts” who had been his friends for many years, since his return from the Civil War in which he had served the cause of freedom as a chaplain with the Union Army.
Frederick McGhee
The short but full life of Frederick McGhee gave him the broadest national impact of any member of St. Peter Claver parish. He spent only 21 of his 51 years as a member of the Catholic Church, but left an indelible mark.
Born in Mississippi as a slave on October 28, 1861, he was educated at Knoxville College in Tennessee. He received his law degree and practiced briefly in Chicago, moving to St. Paul with his wife in 1889. Parish records show that he was baptized in the mission congregation which preceded St. Peter Claver parish on February 15, 1891. One writer attributes McGhee's conversion "partly in response to the forthright stand of Archbishop Ireland on behalf of African-Americans."
Father Stephen Theobald
Like a steel instrument forged in fire, Stephen Louis Theobald was strong, direct, sharp, and at times even hard. The fire, however, did not burn out his heart, for he was also compassionate, artistic, eloquent, and deeply prayerful.
Theobald was born in British Guyana on July 5,1874. He was a lawyer, trained at Cambridge University in England, but wanted a career in journalism. Barred by his skin color from a press position in the United States, he moved to Montreal, Canada, and established himself with a leading paper there. Soon, another dream burned inside him: to be a priest.
Key Events in Claver History 1888-1932
|
YEAR |
EVENT |
|
1888 |
Archbishop John Ireland adopts St. Peter Claver as patron for a special "congregation of converts." Ireland is an active promoter of equal rights. |
|
1889 |
Founding member Colonel Samuel Hardy helps organize and is elected vice-president of first Negro Catholic Conference. |
|
1891 |
Founding member Frederick L. McGhee joins the Catholic Church. |
|
1892 |
St. Peter Claver Church built at Aurora Farrington; Father Edward Casey from Diocese of Springfield, MA, volunteers to be first full-time pastor; tradition of bazaars and picnics begins. |
|
1895 |
Fr. John Gleason of St. Joseph's church, St. Paul, becomes pastor. "Toussaint L'Ouverture Society," a literary study group, is established. |
|
Ca 1896 |
Fr. John Andrzejewski ("Fr. Andrews") becomes pastor. Parish choir is organized under director Claude Jackson organist. |
|
1897 |
Fr. Thomas Printon, newly ordained, becomes pastor. During his years the State Capitol and Cathedral are constructed nearby and parish is integrated. |
|
1902-10 |
First rectory is built and new pipe organ installed. Various organizations begin such as Sodality becoming a men's club; the court of Catholic Foresters; St. Monica's Guild organized as an altar society. |
|
1910 |
Fr. Stephen Theobald replaces Fr. Printon, and is pastor for the next 22 years. Numerous clubs and societies are begun and improvements to St. Peter Claver are completed in his pastorate. He is a determined promoter of civil rights. Conducts immensely popular novenas to St. Therese, the Little Flower (Statue from the old church is in vestibule). |
|
1925 |
St. Therese is canonized as a saint of the Catholic Church. |
|
1932 |
Fr. Theobald passes away at age 58. Fr. Joseph Lord and John Sullivan serve short terms. |