Bishop Benedict J. Fenwick was born on September 3, 1782 in Maryland. He was ordained a priest of the Society of Jesus in 1808. His first pastoral assignment was in New York City and he was appointed president of Georgetown College, Washington, D.C. in June of 1817. On April 24, 1825 Benedict Joseph Fenwick was consecrated Bishop of Boston.
Today we are a very mobile society and it is relatively easy for us to travel great distances. In the summer of 1827 Bishop Fenwick was undertaking one of his many trips to Maine in an effort to visit all sections of a diocese that included all six New England states. His journal gives us an account of how attentive he is to the Passamaquddy Indians and reminds us that there was a large Haitian and West Indian population in the city of Boston immediately after the American Revolution. His visit to the Passamaquoddy Indians included celebrating Mass, the official duties of meeting with the village council but also taking part in the social events of the tribe.
From Generation to Generation: Stories in Catholic History From the Archives of the Archdiocese of Boston, by James M. O'Toole, Preface by Humberto Cardinal Medeiros. pages 48-51 © Daughters of Saint Paul, Boston, MA
To Become Acquainted with Them
In the summer of 1827, Bishop Benedict J. Fenwick undertook one of his many trips to Maine in an effort to visit all sections of his large diocese. The jurisdiction of the Boston See included all six New England states at that time, and Fenwick did his best to devote equal attention to places throughout the region. The account of this journey which Fenwick left in his "Memoirs to Serve for the Future Ecclesiastical History of the Diocese of Boston," now preserved in the Archives, is especially noteworthy because of the description he provided of a frequently-overlooked portion of the nineteenth-century Catholic people—the Passamaquoddy Indians.
The Catholic Church in twentieth-century America is so much a product of European immigration that we often forget what it is like in its early years. The flood of Irish, Italian, French, Polish, and other immigrants was so great that much evidence of the nature of the Catholic population "before the flood" has been obscured.
The records of the first Catholic parish in Boston (established 1789), for example, contain many indications of a large Haitian and West Indian population in the city immediately after the American Revolution. Fenwick's Memoirs provide documentation on another portion of that forgotten Catholic community: the Passamaquoddy Indian tribe in Maine.
Fenwick left Boston on July 10, 1827, aboard the steamer Legislator and arrived in Portland the next morning. After brief stops there and at Belfast and Castine, he proceeded on to Lubec and Eastport. There he met an Indian named Socco-Bason, who took him by canoe the six miles across Cobscook Bay to the Indian village of Pleasant Point. It was on his trip that Fenwick, a native of Maryland, began his observations on Indian customs.
"We had scarcely put off from shore," he wrote, "when each of the Indians struck fire and lighted his pipe, a matter, it would seem, quite indispensable with them; for so great is their attachment to the Pipe, they would sooner on some occasions, as they acknowledged to me, go without their dinner."
On arriving at the village, the Bishop was greeted by all the Indians, some of whom fired their "carabines" into the air by way of salute. Fenwick was greeted by the chief or "Governor" as he called him, "a venerable old man…. He addressed me in tolerably good French, which he must have learnt in Canada, and expressed the liveliest joy at seeing once more a Bishop before he died."
Fenwick explained that he had "visited them expressly in order to become acquainted with them, and see with my own eyes their present condition, with a view to better it, if in my power." He proceeded to hear confessions and to examine the children and others who had been prepared for confirmation by the missionary priest who occasionally visited the village.
In addition to saying Mass and providing the sacraments to the Indians, Fenwick also offered practical advice. He met with the village council and 'inquired into the state of their affairs, examined their papers, their treaties with the Government, and other transactions of public nature. "The Indians, converted to Catholicism long since but without the regular services of a priest, pleaded for a resident clergyman, and Fenwick told them he would send one as soon as he could. They complained about the activities of local Protestant missionaries. Later he visited every cabin, "informing myself of their health and respective situation."
These official duties done, the Bishop next received an extended introduction to Indian life and he recorded it in great detail. He watched as the young men played a game he identified as "Hurley—probably hurling or lacrosse. "This exercise lasted about two hours, "Fenwick said, and the men demonstrated "surprising strength and ability…. All who took an active part in this diversion were full grown men; the married men on one side, and the young unmarried, in equal number on the other. The day was carried by the former as I anticipated. These being older and more vigorous, had acquired from long habit great skill and dexterity in the management of the play,"
Next, Fenwick was invited to attend a native dance. "I accepted the invitation the more readily as I was curious to learn as much of their manners and customs as possible." The participants formed a large circle and were led by a singer who beat time with a rattle while intoning a chant. "When he became animated, he jumped and sprang forward, crying with a loud voice, which all who followed in the dance imitated… The step of the men was generally long and slow; that of the women short and quick; but all was done in time according to measure. The whole was conducted with the greatest decency and decorum." This performance was unlike anything the Bishop had seen before and he stood watching it for half an hour, carefully making mental notes which he later transcribed. Unlike many later accounts of Indian ceremonies, Fenwick wrote in a straightforward manner, without any condescension.
In all, Fenwick spent six weeks traveling in Maine, returning to Boston in late August. During the trip he had not only met many of his scattered flock, he had also observed the details of the way they lived. In the process he created a record of time when the Catholics of New England embraced many diverse and ancient traditions which have today been largely forgotten.