Destination: The Americas
Canada
Montreal, Quebec (QC)
Archivist: Nick TulliusParish of the German-speaking Catholics in Montreal, 1930
Translated by Nick Tullius
Report on the founding of the German-speaking Roman-Catholic parish of Montreal, 1930.
Kirchengemeinde der Deutschsprechenden Katholiken in Montreal,
September 1930, 17 pgs. Contributed by Rudy JobbaEven before the World War there were numerous German Catholics in Montreal. Attempts were made to set up a Catholic parish, but because of the small number of Catholics, they did not succeed. After the war, more and more Germans had to leave their homeland, and many came to Canada. In Montreal soon a larger colony of German Catholics emerged, all of whom more or less also spoke Hungarian, as they had emigrated from Hungary and from the regions separated from Hungary: from Czechoslovakia, Romania and Yugoslavia. Our people felt very unhappy; they would have liked a Holy Mass with German church songs and with a sermon in German. In 1928 Franciscan Father Jerome Hedly established the Hungarian parish, many of our fellow countrymen joined this community and were members of the same until the emergence of our German community in Saint Louis de France.
Often we visited the high-worthy Dr. Leonidas Derome, Chancellor of His Excellency the Archbishop of Montreal, who kindly accepted our cause and gladly mediated for us with His Excellency the Archbishop of Montreal, Georges Gauthier.
On the 31st of January 1930 a small meeting was held. Present were:
Anton Schlachter (Bácska, Yugoslavia)
Ehrhard Weisenberger (Deutschland)
Georg Marx (Schweiz)
Matthias Vogel (Ungarn)
Nikolaus Ginder (Bácska, Yugoslavia)
Josef Beck (Bácska, Yugoslavia)
Valentin Gilbertus (Bácska, Yugoslavia)
Michael Schneider (Bácska, Yugoslavia)
Alfred Schultes (Germany)
Johann Monn (Switzerland)The gentlemen put in a lot of effort to make the establishment of the German Catholic parish a reality.
The Lord Archbishop asked for a German priest from the General Abbot of the Cistercian Order in Rome, who then sent his secretary, Dr. P. Tiburtius Hümpfner to Montreal. He landed in Montreal on the 11th of May 1930 and was kindly received as a guest at the archbishop's palace. On the 16th of May following call was distributed to the known German Catholics of the city:
CALL
TO ALL GERMAN-SPEAKING CATHOLICS
IN MONTREALPraised be Jesus Christ!
in eternity Amen.On behalf of His Excellency the Most Reverend Archbishop of Montreal, the undersigned will read the Holy Mass and afterwards preach in German, on Sunday 18 May 1930, at 9 o’clock in the morning in the lower church of St. Louis de France (at the Roy St. and City Hall, corner Laval Avenue). All German-speaking Catholics in the city are kindly invited to participate in the divine service.
Dr. P. Tiburtius Hümpfner
Priest of the Cistercian Order
Approximately 300 people attended the first Holy Mass. Vice Consul Henry Schafhausen from the Consulates-General of the German Reich played the organ. We heard many a well known old tune again after many years. Some hot tears flowed when the Holy Gospel was read in our sweet mother tongue and also during the sermon:
"Hard is the fate of the Germans in all the lands, and that is why so many of them must leave their homeland. In the new homeland, far from our families, we will gather here in front of the altar, at the foot of the Holy Cross, to confess our Christ-Catholic faith, to praise our Lord and God in our dear mother tongue, as we did in the old homeland. Here we want to sigh and pray: God the Lord may give us better times. Our heavy cross also accompanied us here, but we want to endure under that cross. It certainly will be removed from us. If we can bear it with Christian patience, the reward will not fail to come. Your priest came to help ensure that you are not carrying it in vain. Your priest came to proclaim in the sweet mother tongue the eternal, comforting teachings of the Holy Gospel. Arrange your life after these teachings, so that your happiness will be secured for time and for eternity."
On the evening of May 20th we had a General Assembly. On this occasion, the members of the parish Board were elected. After some necessary changes, the following gentlemen are now members of the Board:
Chairman: Anton Schlachter I. Secretary: Albert Schaljo II. Secretary: Mattias Vogel I. Cashier: Karl Schöbel II. Cashier: Valentin Knöbel Auditor: Erhard Welsenberger Church Fathers for the church service:
Alfed Schultes
Franz König
Josef Beck
Johann Reiter
Nikolaus Ginder
Paul Huszár
Urban Sandtner
Nikolaus Jobba
Michael SchneiderOn the first Sundays we had the Holy Mass in the morning at 9 o’clock, soon after regularly by at 11 o’clock. The beautiful clean lower-floor church of St. Louis de France has 700 seats, and since the third or fourth Sunday of our existence, the church has always been quite full. The many people who live in the neighborhood of St. Louis de France (that's the name of our church, a French parish church, whose patron Saint is Louis of France) came with great enthusiasm, but many from far away (Verdun, Rosemont) did not hesitate to make the long journey.
At the very beginning an impressive singing choir was formed, which under the skillful leadership of Mrs. Eva Ströbl practiced diligently, and every Sunday and holiday during the High Mass, the most beautiful German hymns known from the old homeland, were sung with feeling and piety, to the glory God, and for the edification of all present.
The members of the singing choir are:
Peter Bläsius Franz Primas Mrs. Josef Beck Josef Sandtner Peter Gerlich Johann Schell Mrs. Peter Gerlich Mrs Anton:Schlachter Lorenz Grimm Franz Schlachter Mrs. Arthur Hallow Mrs. Michael Schneider Mrs. Andreas Hiel Peter Steigerwald Johann Kerstner Friedrich Sumperer Franz Kleckner Miss. Elisabeth Szabó Anton Klefasz Josef Told Karl Klein Miss Anna Weiss Johann Kogler Mrs. Walter Weisser Miss Anna Mayer Walter Weisser Josef Müller Miss Emilie Zütl Karl Pick Our church is at our disposal for a modest rent ($ 25 a month) to enjoy during the whole week. Here our new-born children are baptized, from May to late September 18 in total; here our young couples are married, from May to late September in the 15 in total; every one of us has the opportunity to perform his holy confession whenever he wants, every Saturday and before public holidays it is also offered in the afternoon from 5-6 o’clock and in the evening ˝ 8-9 o’clock. The 2 members of our congregation who died in the Lord were blessed in our church and accompanied from here on their last journey: Josef Schmidt from the Banat (Rumania) buried on 16th June, and Franz Zenger from Germany buried on 2nd August.
The private Masses for our living and our deceased relatives are also read here. Finally, we hold all our meetings on church affairs here, and every Saturday morning from 9 to 11 o’clock we hold religious instruction in German for the children. The religion classes were held during the summer months, during the school holidays. Nearly 100 children attend the religion classes.
Here it is appropriate that we remember with special gratitude our benefactors, who graciously provided everything necessary to conduct our church services:
Chalice, Mass clothing, missal, church linen, candles, organ, etc. Our parish is still quite penniless. Otherwise it has unfortunately just too many people, who, because of unemployment do not have any earnings, and therefore at present cannot do anything for the church. Our benefactors are reverend parish priests of St. Louis de France, especially the sick priest Monsignor Bélanger and Vicar Jaques Vikar, the administrator of the lower-floor church which we are using. May God reward their many efforts and great kindness.On 22 June (Sunday), the parish of St. Louis de France held its Corpus Christi procession. In front of the procession marched our German Catholics, 600 of them. In glorious weather we publicly demonstrated on the streets of the city our Catholic faith; gloriously sounded the beautiful songs from the German Churches Most Blessed Sacrament, well rehearsed and well-sung by our choir.
Our congregation is financially very weak. The members of the community should pay 25 cents per month (single persons), or 50 cents (families), but most of the members are not in a position to contribute this sum, because of the high unemployment. The collections during the Sunday Mass and the sparse incoming membership fees are barely sufficient to cover the most necessary expenses. But with God’s help we hope that the working conditions will soon improve, and then we can do more for our German parish.
Following are the names of the members of our parish. Besides those listed, many other German-speaking Catholics take part in our worship. Because they have not yet registered their names, they could not be included in the list.
[Published at DVHH.org, 02 Feb 2009]
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