Newspaper Page Text
Centennial of St. Mary’s Catholic Church By John Clagett Proctof Old St. Mary's Church of the Mother of God, the German Catholic Church of Washington, and one of the out standing religious institutions of the Capital City, is celebrating today its cen tennial anniversary at the church edi fice on Fifth street between G and H streets. Originally devoted almost exclusively to the worship of the German Catholics of the District, it received its first im petus when Gen. John P. Van Ness gave to Rev. Father Chackert a lot at the Fifth street site measuring 40 feet front and 176 feet deep, with the condition "that within a year a church out of brick or stone 40 feet in front and not less than 60 or 65 feet deep shall be built upon it, and that divine services shall be held in it regularly.” And Gen. Van Ness further stipulated that. '‘If this condition is not fulfilled the lot shall revert to him and his heirs.” As we look back today and see things as they existed a hundred years ago, we cannot help but feel that the rev erend father took quite a long chance In accepting this gift with the conditions prescribed, for at that time there were but a comparatively few German Cath olic families residing in the District of Columbia. But the bargain, which was at first orally entered into, was soon afterward formally acepted by both parties, and Father Chackert even bought additional ground in the same square, on Fifth street, to demonstrate his faith in promoting the church project. bister Uertrude Gen. Van Ness was not Catholic, for both he and Mrs. Van Ness were com municants of St. John's Episcopal Church on Lafayette Square, but both gave freely to charities and church sites of various denominations. There was, however, some indirect connection with Mrs. Van Ness, who died in 1832, and the Catholic church, for Marcia Burnes Van Ness’ cousin, Ann Gertrude Wightt, became a nun in the convent of the Sisters of Visitation in Georgetown and was known ,*s Sister Gertrude. After the negotiations for the church site had been concluded, the Rev. Ma thias Alig was appointed by Archbishop Eccleston as pastor of St. Mary's, and he immediately came to Washington to build the church and Father Chackert was transferred elsewhere. At first a house on Eighth street be tween L and M was rented from Mrs. Eva Ruppert. acording to the church record, and the second floor was con verted into a chapel. Wooden benches were put in. a side wall taken out and an altar erected. But the house was small. It had only two floors. However, in this house or chapel the Rev. Alig held divine services from January to October, 1846, when the Fifth street church was completed. The church with tower and rectory cost close to $45,000. Back in 1931, when the writer first mentioned this church in The Star he had the pleasure of meeting the late Rqv. Charles J. Trinkaus, a most Rev. Charles L. Boehmer. present pastor of St. Mary’s Church. gracious and magnetic man, the kind that makes a stranger feel perfectly welcome and at home. From him the picture of old St. Mary's and of Father Alig were obtained, and the writer was shown some of the church relics, in cluding the trowel with which the cor nerstone of the original church was laid and which was labeled as follows: ‘‘This trowel was used by The Most Rev. Samuel Eccleston Archbishop of Baltimore at The cornerstone laying of The Old St. Mary's German Catholic Church ■ Washington, D. C. on The Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary March 25, 1846.” The same trowel was also used on July 27, 1890, in laying the cornerstone of the new St. Mary’s Church and later, on November 4, 1907, in laying the cor nerstone of St. Mary's School. Laying the Cornerstone The writer felt that the laying of the cornerstone of the first St. Mary's Church must have been a notable event, and in this thought he was not mis taken, for in the National Intelligencer of March 26, 1846. he found quite an ac count of the ceremonies which said: "The cornerstone of the new church intended for the use of the German Catholics under the pastoral care of the Rev. M. Alig of this city, was laid yes terday by the Most Rev. Archbishop Ec cleston, with appropriate solemnities in the presence of an immense body oi people, who witnessed the ceremonies A very large procession, accompanied by the German Band, moved along Penn sylvania avenue, from St. Matthew's Church, passing Shto Four-and-a-hall street and thence to the site of the church of St. Mary Mater Dei, which is situated on, Fifth street, between G anc H streets. The procession formed at the German Chapel on Eighth street anc marched thence to St. Matthew’: Church. When the procession arrivec at St. Matthew’s there was a consider able increase of its numbers. As 1 passed along Pennsylvania avenue we noticed— "1. The German Band. “'2. The German Beneficial Society, two and two, wearing white rosettes and bearing a handsome banner with a rep resentation of the Merciful Samaritan. “3. The German Male and Female Sodality; the males wearing red sashes, the females dressed in white with wreaths of flowers on their heads, pre ceded by their pastor. Rev. M. Alig. “4. The Washington Benevolent So ciety, two and two, bearing their hand some green silk banner, and each mem ber wearing a green badge. "5. The Rev. Messrs. Flannegan and Ray of Georgetown and Rev. Messrs. Donelan of Washington and several of the Baltimore clergy in their clerical robes. "6. A numerous body of Germans and citizens walking two and two. "When the procession reached the site of the intended church a lane was formed from a house on Fifth street to the corner stone, where the Most Rev. Archbishop Eccleston, in pontificals, with his attendants, passed along it. followed by the clergy, the Mayor and other gentlemen. The cornerstone was then laid by the archbishop, after which a sermon was delivered in English by the Rev. J. P. Donelan and another sermon in German by the Rev. Mr. Haslinger of Baltimore. The services and ceremonies continued for more than two hours. We understand that the archbishop and the clergy dined at Mr. Miller’s, on the corner of Ninth and F streets." The First Pastor Rev. Mathias Alig. who was pastor of this church for 36 years, was naturally very popular in his parish and generally beloved throughout the city. The Star of June 10, 1882. in speaking of his death, said: “Rev. Mathias Alig, pastor of St. Mary's (German > Catholic. Church, whose death occurred yesterday at 2:15 p.m., will be buried Monday morning in the new' Metropolis (German Cath olic i Cemetery. The funeral ceremonies •will take place Monday morning in St. Mary's Church at 9:30 o'clock when solemn requiem mass will be celebrated by Rev. Father J. A. Walter of St. Pat rick’s Church, assisted by Rev. Dr. Ryan of Immaculate Conception as deacon and Rev. Father Sullivan of St. Peter s subdeacon. A funeral sermon will be preached by Rev. Father Slencher of St. Joseph's. “Father Alig had been confined to his home for several months by indis position. He was in his 79th year, and his long life had been very active in service to the church. He came here nearly 40 years ago, soon after arriving in this country from Germany, and his early struggle to establish St. Mary's parish seemed to promise nothing but failure; but he devoted his time and a comfortable inheritance, which came to him at an opportune moment, to the task, and lived to see it one of the most prosperous parishes in this diocese. He was greatly beloved by his parishioners. “In his will be leaves the church and ihe remainder of his property to St. Mary's congregation, with a provisio that the sermons shall always be delivered in German. At St. Mary's Church, the adjoining school buildings, and some of the residences of Father Alig's parish ioners in the neighborhood of the church were draped in mourning today." Funeral Services At the funeial Schmid's "Requiem Mass” was sung. St. Mary's choir, in cluding Mr. Neff, director, and Mrs. Schwakpff. organist, being assisted by the following members of St Patrick's choir, Misses Kate Burrows, A. Geir, Kate Neff, Tillie Bauer. L. Smith and C. Degen, sopranos; Misses Lulu Boone and Kate Bishop, altos; Messrs. Fennel, Bause, Ruppert. Jordan and Schwakoff, tenors, knd Messrs. Boswell. Neff, Treanor, A. Neff and A. Schwakoff, basses. The active pallbearers were N. Happ, Mr. Menke. Bernard Geier, R. Eichorn, Philip May and George Bergling. The interment was in St. Mary's Ger man Catholic Cemetery, near Glenwood Cemetery, ar.d which formerly had been located at O street between North Cap itol and Third streets N.W. An idea as to the enthusiasm of the / The present St. Mary's Church. German Catholics of the District eight years before St. Mary’s was erected, and of the limited number then residing here, one can well judge by a reliable state ment that at that time there were only about 15 or 20 families in Washington. But they longed for a church of their own, where they could hear sermons in their own languarge, and so, on a Sunday afternoon in the summer of 1838. there were gathered at the house of John George Eichhorn, the father of Rudolph Eichhorn, a half dozen men, the heads of German Catholic families, who had met to devise means for having religious services of their own. And here it was decided, if possible, to have a Redemp torist father from Baltimore come over and celebrate mass and preach to the German Catholics, with a view eventual ly to organize a church. Accordingly, a committee went to Baltimore and secured a promise from Rev. Father Peters, a priest of that order, that he would come over to Washington once a month for an indefinite period, and for about two years following mass was said and a sermon preached in German on the fourth Sunday of each month in St. Peter's Church of ■ this city. However, the use of the German language in St. Mary's Church was discontinued a number of years*ago. In connection with'the laying of the cornerstone of the present church, which took place on July 27, 1890, according to Tire Evening Star, Bishop A. A. Curtis officiated and preached the English sermon, wnne tne sermon in German was preached by Rev. R. Preiss, and The Star further states that: "With imposing ceremonies and iiT’the presence of a great concourse of people, the cornerstone of the new' church edifice of St. Mary s parish was laid yes terday afternoon. The location of the new church building, on Fifth street, between G and H streets N.W., was the central point about which the people began to gather long before the hour assigned for the ceremony. A covered platform was erected over the founda tion in the front portion of the building, and this was occupied by the clergy and laity who had been invited to witness the ceremonies. At 3 o’clock a procession was formed at Scott Circle of the Catholic Societies of the city. "Under the direction of the chief marshal, J. H. Buscher, and to the music of the brass bands, the line of the parade moved over the route in the order which has been printed in The Evening Star. The fine appearance of the marching columns, which comprised some 1.200 or 1.500 men. was commented upon by the spectators who assembled along the route to witness the display. "When the procession drew near the churchsite the clergy, attended by acolytes, came out from the adjoining residence of the pastor. Father Glaab, and proceeded to the platform. The clergy*present were as follows: The Very Rev. P. Cooney, the Rev. James O'Brien, the Rev. P. Choevanice. the Rev. F Bishop, the Rev. S. T. Ryan, the Rev O'Connell: the following, assistants to (Continued on Page C-7.) Church of St. Mary’s, Mother of God, which once occupied the site of the pupsent church on Fifth street between G and H. Those Were the Happy Days —By Dick Mansfield ' QrgfSL. (V* I SeAA^W*^ /jfc# f m 9 <soeft£A, I \ * J-» I p0UGHER"V((6uRM^-l | L I CO/.GMAM,a1/-£N . f | | 1 I JfARrie/,bp«^'k|||^4 ■ He'AL£y,^oAweRI’ V(|H^"i M anEA,Me'^r SSvVlf lT"g [‘‘oi’85® MM* " ^°qz -^OiuiT^W. **,l!lC-«* ' $£ttsf' i K“ c««- o^*M l«*?s ii isz&r I i‘ r phu-^vkG' bf* itsr»&. I F0^.'^ s°*Si£? I NEXT weeK: COLUMBIA THEATER, BRO WM HARVARD* r< M£ U.5 NAVAL AOAOE/Ay 'EAE\/(rN WA5 PERMiTr £D FOR The FlRST Time ' TO PA Ay OFF Tvi ElR OWN GRoUNOSiTMey EN6AGEC I APlCKEOTEAN\ I REPRESENT<M<3 // | 1 V/A5 H IN (STO/M, ’ \ ;|; \ AT CAPITOL ^ I 1 \ park-new /a JEIL^ y,i \ OERSEV AVE.&- f ^ | 4 e-N-wIfe': W 9W Foot 1 if vof- ^ike He 4 S*w I I #>' ^AN fight jL *’ I «rf I l/i^ fpSr 'o&b&fk A.C.fAME#1 J1 UtHKiH I WHOSl? VeamW _ JJ. )jthe l^e^e/vreo \> ■»# * <5amc J flKe^sJ '"i ““ J K w 5?. ^<7i2£T I 27** 1890 J§pL ^*1? f I T HE Si<3 Sunday _I <3 ames VIE V/ENT" All out rod., Vl6 HANTS VMOHAwy/' fl Mff?cu«y vs AfACR UNION/.EASOE Pa«<. 'S 15*2 & H ST ,/M.e- -'/< . II kjl 11 VIhat Do you REMEAxeec? LpBuij ANSWER to ZAST \H£E\<f (S,u£SriOA4 ! •s hocomposeo the POPULAR SOA4G/Arr£R The (3 a a z. " ? 0NSWEK : lHARAES KCHARft»5 next weeKjr: i Name The First *2©ca*. AMATEUR FOOT SAitTEAM. V , './Dec S'? T j 18S9,c uJ The y Cadet* WOM 2*4-0. * We’re the Flatbush of Football Now! By Lewis F. Atchison. There was a time, not so long ago, when Griffith Stadium of an autumn afternoon would be partially filled with a few thousand dyed-in-wool football fans indolently watching two inexpert and usually out of condition se^fiiprc football teams shove one another up and down^the field. Life was pleasant and good. Repub licans hurled taunts at Democrats, fans heckled the officials—who heckled back: Rob Roy Mackey, a local character who had acquired fame wrestling a moth eaten, toothless brown bear in the gaslit days of the mat game, billowed up and down the sideline in his great coat with fur collar, greeting most of the spectators by their first names, ex plaining what ailed his team and pre dicting a dire fate for the opposition. In the box office the two ticket sellers scratched their balding pates and won dered if the "gate" would add up to $500 to $1,500. Ticket sales were apa thetic. One always could buy a seat for the grandstand never filled and many spectators preferred to sit in circus bleachers that lined one side of the field, moving along the 100-yard stretch of pock-marked turf following the game play by play. The only "music” was the raucas cry of hot-dog venders peddling cold wares. There was no entertainment and ladies were conspicuous by their absence. The Scene Shifts Move the calendar forward a few years and shift the scene to Boston, where a big, broad-shouldered guy with a keen sense of showmanship and flair for the unusual found himself struggling witn a losing football team. This starch - shirted citadel of American scholarship, faced with the choice of taking or leav ing pro football, stoically left it—quite alone. The big guy, who more than once had charged bravely onto the stage of old Poli’s Theater armed with a quivering spear and wearing the garb of a Roman soldier, found himself brawling with Boston sports writers. The atmosphere was thick with epithets, written and spoken. George Preston Marshall made his decision in the W'aning stages of the 1936 National Football League cham pionship race. He would bring his Boston Redskins to Washington, set up the wigwam at Griffith Stadium and hope for a change in circumstances. Time took it on the lam again. Japan chewed off a hunk of Manchuria it later found indigestible. Hitler and Mussolini clanked sabers and gave the world a new version of the balcony scene. Cable wires crackled with diplomatic messages. Ambassadors bustled to and fro in fever ish haste. Labor and capital were re matched in another of their endless series of bouts. Franklin Delano Roose velt was returned to the White House a third time in a history-making elec tion and prosperity, after a couple of false starts, turned the corner. The Going Gets Good In Washington, diplomatic nerve center of a jittery world, on an autumn Sunday afternoon turnstiles clattered merrily as crowds surged into Griffith Stadium. The circus seats had given w’ay to portable bleachers. A couple of ticket sellers fn the boxoffice monoto nously repeated. "All sold out—all sold out," and scratched their bald pates. Every vestige of normalcy in this almost pastoral political setting seemingly had vanished. Instead of Republicans and Democrats the lines were drawn between ticket holders and those less fortunate. Washington had become a Bagdad-on the-Potomac. the Flatbush of Football. Week days and nights the big guy marshalled (no pun intended) his forces for a continued assault on the city's Sabbath lethargy. With pencil and paper he carefully drafted his plans. He began with a winning football team, world's champions its first ye».r in the city, molded around the tall, wiry frame of Slingin’ Sammy Baugh. He found a dairy company band willing to supply martial music for the games and arrayed its members in dull, brown Indian cos tumes with a single feather for a head dress. Then he discovered it wasn't enough. And Swing Bands Too In a teepee perched atop the temporary seats he installed Barnee and his swing band. Between halves he imported such top-flight entertainers as Hal Leroy and * Carmen Cavalero to entertain the fans. Cavalero probably was the first pianist to tickle a grand’s ivory ribs on the 50-yard line of a football field. Marshall's coruscations of enthusiasm set the time ablaze. Collaborating with Barnee, his wife, Corinne Griffith Mar shall, wrote "Hail to the Redskins,” a catchy marching tune that leads the hit parade in Washington every autumn. High-ranking Government officials and lowly clerks, department store sales women, doctors, bakers and the lady next door flocked to the games. »The town sports hastily retreated before the onrush of family groups that included grandma Everybody had to see the Redskins play. Jesse Jones, then head of the powerful Reconstruction Finance Corp., was drafted to throw out the first ball each season. J. Edgar Hoover, chief of the Federal Bureau of Investigation was another regular. Congressmen were a dime a dozen and to list them all would require the Congressional Directory. Truman a Redskin Fan Since Taft began the custom of tossing out the first ball inaugurating the base ball season, Washington has seen sev eral Presidents who were diamond fans of varying enthusiasm. But when Foot ball Commissioner Elmer Layden and Marshall called on President Truman and presented him with a season pass he confessed he had been a Redskin fan from his earliest days in the Senate. Truman eventually may be listed as the first White House tenant to follow pro football regularly. For all its big business atmosphere the Redskins’ office still operates pretty much like a cross-roads general store with General Manager Sid Carroll in the middle. He started as assistant publicity man. Chief ticket seller, John Thompson, played a cornet in the band before going behind the counter. He Carried the Drum John's brother Herb, a jolly 300 pounder, began going to Redskin games on the front end of a bass drum. His musical ability w>as limited to whistling a few offkey chords but he had to see the Redskins play and so climbed down off a milk wagon and took a good, firm hold on the drum. Now he is band president, assistant ticket seller, prop boy for the halftime show, leading char acter in certain skits and still an in curable fan. The Sunday preceding the last presi dential election Herb portrayed the character of •‘Wintergreen” in a satri cal political parade. A model pork barrel politico, supported by a squad of “ward-heelers," he paraded around the field in high silk hat, swallowtail coat, pin-striped trousers, spats and carna tion. “Party workers" carried banners pro claiming such campaign slogans as “Free Beer," “No Taxes, No Love, No Nothin'." At Christmas Herb puts on the whisk ers, red flannels and black boots of his Santa Claus rigging and visits the homes of all Redskin families where youngsters are awaiting St. Nick's tra ditional visit; This is his own idea, not part of the Redskin script, but he gets a bang out of it. The Redskin Band There was a time when the United States Marine Band was the big noise in Washington band circles, but the Redskins’ 110-piece outfit, colorfully garbed in glittering Hollywood Indian suits, now seems to be No. 1. John De Andelet, a leathery old Marine, took the remnant of the original dairy band and • built it into a first-rate marching out fit. The Redskin Band is as much of an attraction at home as the football team, and its reputation is increasing in double time on the road. Another reason for the band’s success could be Marshall’s presence at all re hearsals. He’ll tramp up and down the field by the hour working out a new formation, and sportswriters kid him about being coach of the band as well as chairman of the coaching board of strategy. He has danced on the field to get over an idea for Barnee’s and will moo into the mike for the same reason. It’s Big League Marshall demands perfection in everything from the execution of an off-tackle plunge by a halfback to the left face of a marching piccolo player and this insistence has paid off. You’ll hear complaints about the Washington baseball club from time to time, and some justified, but in the Redskins the customers feel they have a real big league attraction. And don't any one tell you “the boss” doesn't know anything about football. Maybe he didn’t when Turk Edwards brought the first load of material to Boston in a rickety old bus from Chi cago to begin operations, but Marshall lives, eats and sleeps football and knows his stuff. Probably the only phase of operation that hasn't grown up with the club is the clubhouse staff of Frankie Baxter, brother Fred Baxter—currently in the Navy—Maurice Enright and Harry Mil ler. Miller now handles the work of looking after Redskin equipment, but all have had a hand in it and all started with the baseball team. Green Bay may boast that it is strictly a community team and Barnum and Bailey may have advertised “the greatest show on earth,'’ but Redskin fans believe their muscular favorites have them both topped. Time for the big show between halves of a Redskin football game at Griffith Stadium with Eddie Sachs twirling two batons on the finger tips of either hand while Bandmaster John D’Andelet, arms upraised, readies his musicians for the downbeat. In the upper right-hand cor ner is the tepee and Barnee's Redskin Swing Band, all blending into the colorful performance that has helped make Washington football’s Flatbush. With the Bridge Players By Frank B. Lord The Federal Bridge League got into full swing for the first time this season in its team-of-four series at Wardman Park Hotel Tuesday evening, with all of its registered foursomes participating in four sections. The Jeeps and Vic tory teams tied, making a pickup of four and one-half boards, each win ning 17 out of 24 boards and thereby forging close to the Smith-Keen four some, who remain leaders by a narrow margin. The Jeeps at the end of the session were only one-half a board be hind them and the Victory team only one board. In the second section the Coasters won 14'i out of 24 boards. This is the strong Hamlin-Athey combination. In the third section the Eight Spots, playing for the first time as an or ganization. captured 16 out of 24 boards while, in the fourth section, the Suc cess team, another new foursome, won 131 i out of 20 boards. For the six months ending Septem ber 27, the cumulative average of the Thursday night bridge players at the Capital City Chess Club shows Mrs. W. S. Athey in the lead with a percentage ond with .5607. For the William S. Sullivan Me morial awards at the end of the third quarter of 1945, Arthur E. Lane’s score is .5307, while W. R. Garrett is second with .5291. The Saturday night point awards for the third quarter ending September 29 gave James G. Stone 71 points and Miller Roberts 6114. The Women's Auxiliary of the Wash ington Bridge League recently received a report from Mrs. Dora Schwartz show ing that 50 new decks of cards and a book on bridge were purchased and sent to boys in military service in the Far East. They were received by Dr. A. Richwine, a former Washington player, who entertained his comrades by read ing the volume to them. Another re port showed the auxiliary contributed $25 to the War Community Fund. After the business session there was a 10-table bridge game in which Mrs. Breckinridge Long and Mrs. Harold Young tied with Mrs. Jack Bennett, auxiliary president, and Mrs. Rose Rob 41 ins for 3, North and South, while Mrs . Stephan and Mrs. Lu celle Sloburne were first. East and West. The Eastern Pennsylvania Contract Bridge Tournament is concluding its 11th annual meet this afternoon at Reading. It is the first regional bridge event to be held in Pennsylvania since the close of the war. Several Washing ton players are in attendance. One who signs herself “Edythe,” de clining to use her full name lest some of her friends should laugh at her ignor ance, writes: "I am a bridge beginner, otherwise I would not be asking this question. What is the rule of eleven? Please give an example of its use,” The rule of eleven is a mathematical calculation employed exclusively in bridge to determine the location of cer tain high cards. It is based upon the assumption that the opening lead is the fourth highest of the leader’s best suit. This is the way to work it: When your partner opens a spot card, subtract its denomination from 11. If he is lead ing his fourth best, the remainder will be the number of cards higher than hie 1 DO H thof ora ha'iH in iho tViroa nfViae hands—the dummy, yours and the de clarer's. If you can see all of them in dummy and your own hand, you will know that the declarer cannot win the trick with a card of the same suit. If one is missing, you will know that the declarer holds it and you should play a card sufficiently high to force him to use it if he is to win the trick. Here is an example. The contract is no-trump and your partner leads the six of hearts. The dummy holds queen, ten and five of the suit and you have the king, nine and seven. Subtract 8 from 11; this gives the number of cards of the suit outside the dealer's hand. You can see two of them in dummy and you have the three others. Therefore your partner has three higher than the six and your seven will hold the trick for the declarer has none higher. Your partner has shown that he has led from the ace, jack, eight and six, the six being his fourth best. The rule is especially valuable in no trump where the leader is on the spot. It was originated by R. P. Poster who was also one of the first players to ad vocate contract in place of auction bridge. a