Catholics in Newfoundland: history II.

Dr. Nicholson continues his history of the Catholic Church in English Canada, begun in our issue of December 1995. He reminds us of what we might easily neglect--the fact that the Irish Catholics who settled in Newfoundland in the 18th century suffered under the harsh penal laws against Catholics which prevailed throughout the British dominions--except for the territories which became Lower and Upper Canada.

What becomes apparent in any study of Catholicism in English Canada is the adversities its followers faced in their efforts to establish their faith in the new country. The problems stemmed partly from the religious disdain of the English majority towards those who refused to align themselves with the tenets of the Protestant Reformation and partly from animosity towards the ethnicity of the people who professed Catholicism. These sentiments applied particularly to the Irish, whom the English regarded generally as a pariah group. In no place was the antagonism more vividly demonstrated than in Newfoundland where, unlike in Canada, the Penal Laws applied. And yet, regardless of the influence the Irish had in most of English-speaking Canada, it is in Newfoundland that the roots of Irish Catholic ethnicity run deepest.

The fisheries and the Irish

With its harsh climate and poor soil, Newfoundland was of little value for agriculture and therefore did not attract settlers. Its rich resources of fish, however, demanded labourers to accommodate the growing industry. In the late seventeenth century, migrants from Waterford, Wexford, Kilkenny and Tipperary counties in Ireland responded and became seasonal visitors to the Island, working in the fisheries during the summer and returning home in the fall. These arrangements were inconsequential in improving the financial status of the migrant Irish workers, who were seldom paid a wage by the English merchants. Nonetheless they presented an opportunity that otherwise would not have existed. The fisheries provided an inexpensive passage to America, making more feasible the plans of many to proceed from Newfoundland to Nova Scotia and, after two or three years of work, to gain entry into the American colonies where, it was hoped, circumstances would be better. By 1765, five thousand Irish were employed in the fisheries, some of whom would remain and, over a period of time, create a permanent Catholic presence in Newfoundland.

It seems appropriate to look upon Newfoundland in this early period as a purgatory for the Irish. Within the framework of its judicial system, they stood little or no chance of either justice or mercy when accused of a crime. Irish Catholics were denied a defence counsel and had no way of knowing an indictment until it was read in court. On occasions when the crew on board the fishing vessels was too few to meet the demands, the Irish onshore in Newfoundland were seized and pressed into service. If they complained they were tied to the ship's shrouds, stripped and whipped, and they received no payment for the work done.

The Catholic Church, at that time, was an illegal institution and had great difficulty assisting the Irish in Newfoundland. Since it operated as an underground organization, its spiritual and religious role was repressed and its social activity was retarded.

Penal laws in use

Under the English penal laws, enacted from the reign of Queen Elizabeth I to that of King George III, when they were repealed in 1783, one can see the attempt to reduce `Popery' by making it impossible for a Catholic to exist, except in the lowest and most degraded state imaginable. For example, Catholics were barred from holding public office, operating schools or sitting in parliament. They could not own property or lease it--except for ridiculously short periods of time. They could not own a horse worth more than $5. The practice of their religion was proscribed.

As stated, the penal laws were applied in Newfoundland. Moreover they were augmented by local orders and practices. Catholics could not bury their dead; only an Anglican incumbent was permitted to read the service of burial and collect a fee for doing so. Aware that Catholics were practising their religion by stealth, the local authorities hunted the itinerant priests who hid, said Mass and fled. Punishment for participation in the Mass was severe. One account refers to a Michael Keating of Harbour Main who, in 1755, was fined $50 for allowing Mass to be celebrated in his fish store; his house was demolished, his goods were seized, and he was banished from the Island.

Despite the hardships, many Irish sought to remain in Newfoundland, to the dismay of local authorities. Under the guise of better "preserving the peace, preventing robberies, tumultuous assemblies and other disorders of wicked and idle people remaining in the country during winter," a set of official orders was issued on 31 October 1764:

1. That no papist servants, man or woman, shall remain at any place where they do not fish or serve during the summer proceedings;

2. that not more than two papist men shall dwell in one house during the winter except such as have a Protestant master;

3. that no papist shall keep a public house or vend liquor by retail;

4. that all idle and disorderly men and women be punished according to law and sent out of the Country.

Socially depressed, religiously deprived, linguistically variant and culturally different, the Irish were not readily accepted or assimilated in Newfoundland. Because English law provided no assistance to them, whether in Ireland or Newfoundland, they sought some form of extra-legal protection. The purpose was served through the development of Irish regional associations determined to mete out some form of justice, such as the Clear Airs from Tipperary; Whey and Yellow Bellies from Waterford; Doans or Kilkenny boys, Dadgeens from Cork; as well as Young Colts, White Boys and Black Feet. These regional identities were upheld and carried over to Newfoundland for security, often, however, exploding into faction fighting that did cause concern for the local authorities.

Irish culture and the Church

Nevertheless, the Newfoundland Irish expressed a unique culture in various dialects, crafts, and traditions particularly related to weddings and wakes, cooking, art, music and writing, all of which are still identifiable. Gaelic or the Irish language was commonly spoken among the Newfoundland Irish until the beginning of the nineteenth century. Its influence caused an Irish pattern of speech and a vocabulary that is still noticeable in current Newfoundland English, especially in the Avalon Peninsula.

No matter what political and legal arrangements governed the practice of Catholicism in Newfoundland, Rome acted on its responsibility to the Island's Catholic population. From 1535 to 1784, Newfoundland was placed under the administration of the Bishop of Rouen, then the Bishop of Quebec and, finally, the London Vicariate. A number of itinerant priests were sent to Newfoundland under great difficulty, and, at considerable risk, they traversed the rough terrain, surreptitiously said Mass, and then moved on. These men were under the constant threat of surveillance by Protestants, who felt obliged to report their activities. One example, documented in 1755, stated:

Whereas I am informed that a Roman Catholic priest is at this time at Harbour Grace, and that he publicly read mass which is contrary to the law and against the peace of our sovereign Lord, the King.

And while good and dedicated priests struggled to bring religion to the people, their efforts were occasionally undermined by the scandalous behaviour of a few vagabonds. There are accounts of one priest living in a sinful relationship with the wife of a Protestant man; of others, in drunken fits, making sport of the Catholic religion; and of another revealing openly, from one harbour to the next, the contents of what he heard in confession. Without local ecclesiastic control, it was impossible to harness the activity of these independent and restive clergy.

In 1784, "liberty of conscience" was proclaimed in Newfoundland and the first Catholic chapel was built. That same year Rome appointed an Irish Franciscan, James Louis O'Donel, Superior of the Mission of the Island of Newfoundland. O'Donel oversaw a small group of mostly Irish priests who sailed from one outport to the next. The priests were welcomed by the inhabitants of those forlorn coastal settlements which had been spiritually deprived. Thousands converted to Catholicism over the next decade because of the ministry of these priests. Moreover O'Donel's presence effected law and order among the Irish settlers, and his diocesan statutes, issued in 1801, helped to bring under control those priests who had created scandal. O'Donel was succeeded in 1806 by Patrick Lambert from Ireland, which affirmed the continuity of Irish clergy in Newfoundland. Because of this close association, contacts with the Diocese of Quebec were minimal.

By the early nineteenth century about half of Newfoundland's population was Roman Catholic, but the church was still short of priests and funds. Between 1817 and 1829, under the third Vicar Apostolic, Thomas Scallan, the number of priests available to serve the needs of the Island and Labrador ranged from seven to ten. The arrival of Scallan's replacement, Michael Anthony Fleming, another Irish Franciscan, signalled change. Fleming divided Newfoundland into regular missions and obtained more priests from Ireland to expand the work of the Church. Two orders of nuns came from Ireland, the Sisters of the Presentation in 1833 and the Sisters of Mercy in 1842; they set up boarding schools, an orphanage and a home for working girls.

Although by mid-nineteenth century the Catholic population was no longer an absolute majority, it was sufficient to warrant a formal diocesan structure. Fleming became titular Bishop of Newfoundland in 1847, with another Irish Franciscan, John Thomas Mullock, as coadjutor. One of the first projects undertaken was the construction of the cathedral at St. John's, the symbol of metropolitan development, which was not consecrated until 1855. The following year the diocese was divided; John Dalton became Bishop of Harbour Grace, with a jurisdiction that included the whole of the Labrador coast, while the Newfoundland Diocese fell under Bishop John Mullock. Mullock continued to promote institution building and charitable and educational work. He directed efforts towards the training of native Newfoundlanders for the priesthood by establishing in St. John's, in 1856, St. Bonaventure College as a diocesan seminary. The Christian Brothers arrived from Ireland in 1857 to begin their program of educating Catholic youths. It was not, however, until the twentieth century that St. Clare's Mercy Hospital was opened (closed in 1995).

Conditions for Newfoundland's Catholics, predominantly Irish, gradually improved as the laws changed. Certainly benefits were gained when Catholics received the power to vote and, finally, to sit in the assembly and on the Legislative Council. The creation of a Catholic school system aided the progress of the people. The struggle to obtain the rights of their religion was hard. And now, at the close of the twentieth century, one wonders what the faithful will have to face as the provincial government plans to dismantle the school system, the scandal of an institution gone wrong hangs over their head, and the once-rich resource of fish that sustained them is depleted.