FR. AUGUSTINE MC CLORY When Fr. Augustine McClory signed the document conveying the half block parcel between 25th and 26th Streets on the south side of K Street on December 31, 1894 he took a significant step in creating a new Franciscan presence in California — Saint Francis of Assisi Parish. Franciscans were among the earliest European settlers of California beginning with Fr. Junipero Serra’s founding the first of twenty-one Franciscan Missions at San Diego on July 16, 1769.

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FR. JUNIPERO SERRA AND THE SPANISH FRANCISCANS IN CALIFORNIA Born in Majorca, Spain on November 24, 1713, Junipero Serra entered the Franciscan Order in 1730. Assigned to Spanish Mexico in 1749, he ministered with distinguished zeal to the native peoples. In 1767, Fr. Serra was appointed Superior of a band of fifteen Franciscans for the Indian Missions of Lower California. In 1768 King Carlos III expelled all Jesuits from “New Spain.” They were replaced by Franciscans, Dominicans and other Orders. Serra Map – Majorca, Mexico City, San Diego, Carmel Early in 1769 Fr. Serra accompanied one of Governor Gaspar de Portola’s two land expeditions from Mexico City to Alta California. Upon his arrival he founded Mission San Diego on July 16, the first of twenty-one Missions. Fr. Serra remained in Alta California founding four more missions – San Carlos Borremeo de Carmelo in 1770, San Antonio de Padua in 1771, San Luis Obispo de Tolosa in 1772, and San Buenaventura in 1782, -- before his death at Mission Carmel at Monterey on August 28, 1784. Mission San Diego Almost forty years after Fr. Serra’s death, the last Franciscan Mission, San Francisco de Solano was founded in Sonoma on July 4, 1823. Sonoma, some 76 miles southwest of Sacramento, would be the closest Franciscan presence to Sacramento until Fr. Augustine McClory arrived in 1894 – he, however, came from the Sacred Heart Province of St. Louis, Missouri and from a German Franciscan tradition.   Mission Carmel

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SACRAMENTO'S GERMAN CATHOLICS [St. Rose of Lima (1586 – 1617) Patron saint of Latin America and the Philippines: at the age of 20 she became a Dominican nun and imposed a severe ritual of penance – constantly wearing a metal spiked crown concealed by roses, and an iron chain about her waist; she prayed constantly for the conversion of sinners and for the souls in Purgatory. Many miracles followed her death; in 1671 she became the first American to be canonized.] Sacramento’s German Catholics had been endeavoring to have their own church for some years. As early as March 1871, Anthony Coolot conveyed a parcel of land – Lot # 3 in the city block bounded by K and L Streets and 12th and 13th Streets -- to Archbishop Joseph Sadoc Alemany of San Francisco for the construction of a new Catholic Church. The stress between Sacramento’s German Catholics and the Irish Catholic hierarchy seemed to peak in 1871, when the St. Patrick’s Day celebration paid homage to the recent defeat of the French in the Franco-Prussian War. This was a direct affront to German Catholics celebrating Prussia’s victory over France. In response to these concerns St. Rose of Lima’s pastor, Fr. Patrick Scanlan, promised to: Tone down future displays of Irish nationalism, and Install a German-speaking priest at St. Rose. When, however, the German-speaking priest later left, Anthony Coolot and others renewed their efforts to establish a German Catholic church. Anthony Coolot (1821-1900) was a prosperous Austrian Catholic merchant – the Coolot Company Building at 812 J Street was on the National Register of Historic Places. Anthony Coolot took up residence in Sacramento in late 1854; born in Austria, he received his education in various European cities, following which he resided in Algeria for a number of years – doing business with French colonials. He soon fulfilled his dream of coming to America, arriving in San Francisco in 1854, by way of New York City and New Orleans. He tried his hand at mining for a few months, but soon settled in Sacramento where he worked in a glass and crockery store before starting his own business in 1856 in what was described as “a shanty” on J Street. In 1861 he constructed his building at 812 J Street – with 20 feet of frontage on J Street, 60 feet deep and two stories high. In 1872, he added a three story building on the back of the lot. From his initial 1200 square foot store he went on to become one of the wealthiest men in Sacramento. A. Coolot Ad – Sacramento City Directory, 1874 Anthony Coolot is most often listed rincipally as seller of tobacco – but as this advertisement demonstrates he sold a far wider range of dry goods – ammunition, twine, pocket knifes, playing cards, paper, needles, fish hooks, school books, etc. But what may be even more remarkable is that from his small store on J Street, Anthony Coolot listed “offices” in: San Francisco, New York City, Birmingham, England, Marseilles and Paris, France. In July 1861, Anthony Coolot married Margaretha Sommer, a native of Bavaria. The couple had three children – two daughters, Mary Antoinetta, who died in infancy and Clara Louise, and a son, Augustin E., who was born in 1867. Anthony’s family made their home above the mercantile establishment, where discussions about building the transcontinental railroad took place in the early 1860s. Anthony Coolot chose not to join the “Big Four” because “they were Masons.” Cathedral, Last Supper Windows Anthony made his peace with Sacramento’s Irish-Catholic hierarchy. He remained a St. Rose of Lima parishioner and following the dedication of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacramento in 1889, a parishioner there. Moreover, for the new Cathedral, he donated the Last Supper windows; that then and now are among the most valuable stained glass windows in Sacramento. At his death in 1900, his fortune was estimated at between $2 and $3 million; he owned more than 80 parcels of land in Sacramento and San Francisco, and was one of the original subscribers to the Central Pacific Railroad -- at the time of his death he held a substantial number of railroad shares. On July 18, 1888, Anthony Coolot’s daughter, Clara Louise married Melchior Diepenbrock (1858 – 1928) in St. Rose of Lima Church. Bishop Manogue celebrated the nuptial Mass, assisted by Fr. Thomas Grace. After the services Sacramento’s Mayor Eugene Gregory served as toastmaster at the wedding breakfast. Melchior and Clara left on the afternoon train for San Francisco, thence took a steamer to Oregon, and proceeded by train to Yellowstone Park, Minneapolis and New York City. From New York they took passage to Hamburg, Germany to visit Mr. Diepenbrock’s relatives in Westphalia. Coolot/Diepenbrock Wedding Photo Returning to Sacramento, Melchoir and Clara Louise became the parents of ten children – three daughters and seven sons. Melchior was an early supporter of St. Francis of Assisi parish, and with its founding in 1894, became a steadfast parishioner. In addition to being a pioneer St. Francis of Assisi parishioner Melchior is remembered for a number of firsts. He founded the first German language Catholic newspaper in San Francisco, Der Californische Volksfrend. Melchior and his brother, Franz Joseph, along with Karl August Doeing, served as editors during the paper’s lifetime, 1885 -1906. He operated a 600 acre dairy farm between Clarksburg and Sacramento on the Sacramento River and built Pier Diepenbrock which remained in use for many years. He had the first tuberculosis tested dairy herd in California. He also built a theatre/opera house on 12th and J, which opened on March 18, 1891; managed by one of his sons, Joseph. Theater Diepenbrock In 1906 as the patriarch of an extended family; Melchior purchased a large Victorian at 2315 Capitol Avenue still known as the “Diepenbrock Mansion.” Between 1928 and 1930 the family traded their home on Capitol Avenue for a residence at 1321 40th Street. The 40th Street residence briefly became Melchior’s home – he died in 1928 -- and thereafter the home of his widow. Melchior’s grandson, James Diepenbrock (1929 – 2002), the son of A. I. Diepenbrock (1893 – 1972), was a devoted Catholic and for many years a St. Francis of Assisi parishioner. He was a Knight of Malta and at the time of his death was planning his third pilgrimage to Lourdes. His widow, Tita Crilly Diepenbrock remains an active parishioner at this writing. Melchior, Clara and Family, 1917, M Street Home

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GERMAN FRANCISCANS IN CALIFORNIA AND SACRAMENTO Paderborn, Hamburg, Cincinnati, Teutopolis, 1858 The German Catholic Church hat Anthony Coolot envisioned in 1871 came into being some twenty years later. In March 1893, Franciscan Fathers Michael Richardt and Clementin Deymann visited Bishop Manogue to discuss the creation of a new parish. These two men were, respectively, the Provincial and the Definitor of the Franciscan Province of the Sacred Heart in St. Louis, Missouri which marked its origins with the arrival of nine Friars from the Franciscan Province of the Holy Cross, Paderborn, Westphalia, Germany to Teutopolis, Illinois in September 1858. Teutopolis was incorporated in 1838 on 10,000 acres of land purchased by the German Land Company of Cincinnati, Ohio for the settlement of German speakers from Westphalia, Saxony and other northern German regions. The parish church St. Peter, was established in 1839; the original town name was to have been St. Peter, but its new residents chose instead to name it “The City of Teutons.” The Friars arrived at 10:30 p.m. on Thursday September 23, 1858. At 4 a. m., the next morning when they rang the church bells to celebrate Mass, the residents of Teutopolis, thought they were hearing fire bell warnings. The Friars formally took charge of Teutopolis parish church in October 1858, renaming it St. Francis of Assisi Parish. During the following years the German Catholic population of Teutopolis continued to grow greatly increasing due to Kaiser Wilhelm’s Kulterkampf in the 1870s. In 1879 the Franciscan Province of the Sacred Heart was canonically established at Teutopolis, and the provincial headquarters moved to St. Louis, Missouri. Mission Santa Barbara In May, 1885, by Vatican decree Mission Santa Barbara, the only mission still in the possession of the Friars – was incorporated into the Franciscan Province of the Sacred Heart. In 1915, the friaries of Sacred Heart Province on the West Coast and in Arizona were canonically established as the Province of Santa Barbara, California. Thus in the latter years of the nineteenth and the early years of the twentieth century, two Franciscan traditions were joined – the Spanish from Mexico (wearing the grey habit) and the German from Westphalia by way of St. Louis (wearing the brown habit). Map – St. Louis to Santa Barbara

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THE RISE AND SECULARIZATION OF THE SPANISH FRANCISCAN MISSIONS But the fact that in 1885, Old Mission Santa Barbara was “the only mission still in the possession of the Friars” raises the question - What happened to the twenty other missions founded by Fr. Junipero Serra and the Franciscans? Let us look at Mission San Gabriel Arcangel as an example of the rise and fall of the Franciscan Missions. San Gabriel was founded in 1771 by Frs. Pedro Cambon and Angel de la Somera. It became one of the most prosperous – the largest crop ever raised by any mission was raised at Mission San Gabriel in 1821 when 29,400 bushels of grain were harvested. In 1830 the mission owned 25,725 cattle, 2,225 horses and mules and 14,650 sheep. At the time of secularization in 1834, there were 163,579 vines in four vineyards, and 2,333 fruit trees on Mission San Gabriel lands. These large herds of cattle provided not only meat and hides to be tanned, but resources for tallow-rendering and soap-making. San Gabriel neophytes were also highly skilled weavers and wine makers. From the time the mission was founded in 1771 to December 1831, the year of the last report, Mission San Gabriel celebrated 7,709 baptisms, 1,877 marriages, and 494 burials. Mission San Gabriel When Jedediah Smith arrived atMission San Gabriel in November 1826 after crossing the Mojave Desert he marveled at its abundance – cattle by the thousands, horses, and sheep. In his journal he wrote, “there came an old Ind. to us that speaks pretty good Spanish, and took us with him to his mansion, which consisted of 2 Rows of large and lengthy Buildings, after the Spanish mode, they remind us of the British Barracks – so soon as we enc. [sic – ‘entered’?] there was plenty prepared to eat, a fine young cow killed, and plenty of corn meal given us.” He had nothing but praise and affection for Fr. Jose Bernardo Sanchez, the Missions’s head Friar from 1821 to 1827: “old Father Sanchus has been the greatest friend that I ever met with in all my travels …” Smith was a devout Bible totin’ pilgrim of the Methodist persuasion, but he so admired Fr. Sanchez that he named the entire Sierra Nevada for him -- “Mount Joseph.” In 1834, when the Mexican government secularized San Gabriel, both the Friars and the Native Americans were dispossessed of their wealth and livelihoods. Between 1834 and 1836 a similar fate befell the other missions, with the exception of Mission Santa Barbara. Established by Fr. Fermin Francisco de Lausen, in 1786, Mission Santa Barbara was the tenth of the California Missions. Over time three adobe churches were constructed on the grounds, the fourth and present stone church was built in 1820. In converting the local Chumash Indians to Catholicism the Friars employed them as laborers in vast, large-scale commercial enterprises. In 1803 there were 11,221 head of sheep on Santa Barbara Mission lands; in 1809 there were 5,200 head of cattle in addition to large numbers of goats, pigs, mules and horses. Native American converts also labored as tanners, potters, tile makers, and cobblers. In the early nineteenth century there were more than 1,700 neophyte laborers housed in 250 dwellings next to the Mission. Mission San Gabriel In 1807, under Franciscan supervision, Chumash laborers built a dam in the hills some two miles above the Mission; they then constructed an aqueduct to bring the water to the Mission and a large reservoir. There was a separate holding area with a filtration system for drinking water. In 1808 Chumash labor built the fountain in front of the church and a lavendaria just down slope from it. Portions of the original Mission water system were used in the City of Santa Barbara water system up until about 1915. The present stone church was dedicated in 1820 with one tower. In 1833, a second tower was added designating the church’s status as a cathedral; it is the only mission church with two towers. In 1833, one year before secularization, Father President Naciso Duran transferred the Franciscan mission headquarters from Mission San Jose to Mission Santa Barbara. Thus Mission Santa Barbara became the repository for more than 3000 original documents scattered throughout the California missions. In addition, Santa Barbara also has the oldest unbroken tradition of choral singing among any California institution. The Mission archives contain one of the richest collections of colonial Franciscan music known today. Under secularization all Mission lands were to revert to Native Americans. The Friars could keep only the church, priest’s quarters and garden- but even these were to be transferred to the regular clergy; and the church was to become a parish church. Mission Santa Barbara remained an Indian mission until 1853 when it became a hospice. Between 1842 and 1846 it was the residence of the first bishop of California, Francisco Garcia Diego y Moreno, a Franciscan. In 1845 it was constituted the Apostolic College of our Lady of Sorrows, to train missionaries. In March 1865, President Abraham Lincoln restored the California Missions to the Catholic Church – ultimately the deed of gift for Mission Santa Barbara was given to the Franciscans in 1925. From 1869 to 1877 the priests of the Apostolic College also conducted a school for boys called the Collegio Franciscano. Between 1872 and 1874, they took over the administration of the parish and orphan asylum at Watsonville, renaming it the hospice of the Immaculate Heart in the Pajaro Valley.

GERMAN FRANCISCAN MISSIONARY WORK, 1885-1896 St. Francis Orphanage at Pajaro In May 1885, Fr. Ferdinand Bergmeyer, the new guardian, Fr. Victor Aertker, who would become pastor at St. Francis of Assisi Parish, from 1904 to 1906, and three Brothers all from the Province of Sacred Heart joined the friars in residence at Santa Barbara. The German Franciscans invigorated Mission Santa Barbara. The 1885 incorporation included the hospice of the Immaculate Heart in the Pajaro Valley-- in 1892 they expanded these facilities with a large institutional building. St. Boniface, Sutter and Trinity Streets With energy and devotion, they created new parishes, first in Northern California, but their enterprising spirit also carried them to Arizona. In 1887, the Santa Barbara friars accepted an invitation by the Archbishop of San Francisco, Patrick J. Riordan, to take over the St. Boniface Parish complex. A small chapel at Sutter and Trinity Streets, the original St. Boniface was dedicated as a German speaking church in April, 1860. It was the center of the German Catholic community. [St. Boniface (672 – 754) is the patron saint of Germany. Born in England, he was a missionary in the Frankish Empire during the 8th century. St. Boniface churches abound in German speaking regions – for example, St. Boniface Catholic Church Nicolaus, California.] St. Boniface, 1908 Shortly before 1870 a new property was purchased on Golden Gate Avenue near Market Street. In May 1870 the new two story parish building consisting of a school, meeting rooms, rectory below and church above was dedicated. In 1876 a convent was built for the Sisters of St. Dominic who taught at the school. From these early years St. Boniface was known for the beauty of its liturgical music. With the 1887 incorporation, however, more space was needed. Brother Adrian Wewer arrived to serve as architect. Under his supervision the church was extended to the back, a steeple was added and the rectory was remodeled. The church was blessed in October 1887. Graphic: Lake County, California; Map Also in 1887, Archbishop Riordan entrusted the mission territory of Lake and Mendocino Counties to the Santa Barbara friars. As early as can be determined, Mass was first celebrated in Lake County in 1862 or 1863 in the presence of four or five families. The first resident priest, Fr. Luciano Osuna, ministered there from about 1870 to 1879. He was frequently seen wearing sandals and religious clothing unfamiliar to the locally citizenry, who filed a complaint. Fr. Osuna was arrested as non compos mentis. When the judge asked him “Are you crazy?” The priest replied “That is for your honor to decide.” Whereupon the judge smilingly released Fr. Osuna, who subsequently purchased a parcel of land on Clear Lake and established Turibius Indian Mission some three miles north of Kelseyville. [St. Turibius (1538 – 1606), the patron saint of Native Rights, arrived in Peru from Spain in 1581. Ministering to the Native peoples he fought for their rights in the face of gross abuses by Spanish colonials. He built roads, schoolhouses, chapels, hospitals and convents, and at Lima in 1591 founded the first seminary in the Western Hemisphere. He baptized and confirmed nearly 500,000 souls, among them St. Rose of Lima and St. Martin de Porres.] Frs. Stanislaus Riemann and Victor Aertker arrived at the mission in August, 1887. Fr. Victor soon traveled on to Mendocino County – forty-two miles distant by horse and buggy over tortuous mountain roads – where he built a small church seven miles south of Ukiah (north of Hopland). In 1889, Fr. Zephyrin Engelhardt opened a day school there. At Hopland a small chapel also served as a day school. Late in 1889, another small chapel was erected at a rancheria about a mile north of Ukiah. After January 1890 Friars serving the Mendocino missions resided at San Francisco from where they had more direct access by railroad. The Mendocino County missions were transferred to the San Francisco Archdiocese in 1893. It was while ministering to the Mendocino County Indians that Fr. Zephyrin began compiling a vocabulary of the Pomo language. Father Engelhardt would become known as the “Father of Mission History,” writing histories of the Franciscans in California, the Franciscans in Arizona, and multi-volume histories of the missions and missionaries of California. “The Old Franciscan Missions in California” When the Franciscans arrived in Lake County in 1887, other than Turibius Mission -- they found St. Peter’s Church at Kelseyville, built in 1870, Immaculate Conception Church at Lakeport, dedicated in 1872, and St. Joseph Church on Lower Lake, built in 1881. A new church was built at St. Turibius Mission by Fr. James Nolte, and the mission home was enlarged into a two story friary of about ten rooms. The church was dedicated in December 1893. The Franciscans served the Lake County Missions until 1914, when the United States government resettled the Indians on federal lands. In July 1892, the first Mass for German Catholics was celebrated in Oakland at St. Mary’s Hall. Fr. Gregory Knepper of San Francisco’s St. Boniface became the first pastor of the new parish. In June 1893 property was purchased on what is today 34th Avenue for a new church. Brother Adrian Wewer drew the plans and supervised the construction of a two story frame building – the upper story served as a church, the lower as a school; rooms on both levels served as the friars’ quarters. St. Elizabeth’s Friary and Parish was dedicated in October, 1893. St. Turibius Mission The German Franciscan friars of Mission Santa Barbara continued to extend their ministry, with St. Joseph’s Friary and Parish in Los Angeles in 1893, St. Anthony’s Friary and Parish in south San Francisco in 1893, St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Sacramento in 1894, and St. Mary’s Friary and Parish in Phoenix, Arizona in 1896. St. Elizabeth, Oakland   St. Elizabeth's Church and Convent, Fruitvale (Oakland)   Bishop Patrick Manogue

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ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI PARISH WITHIN THE FRANCISCAN TRADITION The arrival of Fr. Augustine McClory in Sacramento on October 16, 1894 marked a significant step in the creation of St. Francis of Assisi Parish. On October 17, Fr. Clementine Deymann, Definitor of Sacred Heart Parish, St. Louis, and Sacramento’s Bishop Patrick Manogue signed papers officially recognizing the establishment of the new parish. Ten days later, on October 27, Bishop Manogue defined the parish boundaries as: Western boundary, 18th Street Eastern boundary, 30th Street, with permission to attend four or five miles beyond this limit, until such times as the Rt. Rev. Bishop or Ordinary may deem it advisable to enlarge such limits Northern boundary, the river or the city limits Southern boundary, three miles North of Freeport, until such times as, in case of the creation of a new church in that neighborhood, it may be necessary to change the limit.” (In early twenty-first century Sacramento this line would run between the northern edge of Bing Mahoney Golf Course and the southern limits of Executive Airport.) On December 31, 1894, Fr. Augustine McClory signed the deed to the half block parcel at 26th and K Streets. Realizing his vision of 1871, Anthony Coolot was a co-signer. For its parishioners then and now, this event was the fruition of an historical process that played out over centuries and continents with: the birth of Giovanni di Bernardone in Assisi, Italy, in 1181/2; (he would become St. Francis of Assisi in 1228) the founding of the Order of Friars Minor in Rome in 1209 – the Franciscans the birth of Junipero Serra in Palma de Majorca in 1713 Fr. Serra’s founding of the first Franciscan mission in California at San Diego in 1769 the founding of the tenth mission, Santa Barbara, by Fr. Fermin Lausen in 1786 the arrival of German Franciscans from Saxony to Teutopolis, Illinois in 1858 the incorporation of Mission Santa Barbara into the Province of the Sacred Heart, St. Louis, in 1885 Assisi, Italy; Palma de Majorca, Spain; Mexico City; San Diego; Santa Barbara; Paderborn, Germany; St. Louis MO; Santa Barbara   St. Francis   St. Francis/Stigmata   St. Francis

GERMAN FRANCISCANS IN THE FAR WEST, 1885-1915 Justifiably proud as we may be of our St. Francis of Assisi Parish, we must note that it was only one of nine parishes – eight in California, one in Arizona – founded by the German Franciscans following their arrival at Mission Santa Barbara in 1885. In 1896 the head of Sacred Heart Province, Father Michael Richardt proposed creating a new province for the Franciscans in California and Arizona. Rome initially viewed this proposal as premature. In 1915, however, the Province of Santa Barbara was established, including the states of California, Oregon, Washington, and Arizona with St. Boniface Friary, San Francisco, as its headquarters. Between 1896 and 1915 German Franciscans established or restored eleven new parishes or missions: four in Oregon, three in California and two each in Arizona and Washington. Thus, by the early years of the twentieth century the spiritual energy and dedication of German Franciscans had not only revitalized Old Mission Santa Barbara, but led to the establishment of at least twenty new parishes or missions throughout the Far Western region of the United States.

©  St. Francis of Assisi Parish, Sacramento, CA