The Book of Perry County, Page 30

Any sketch of Somerset or of Perry County would be incomplete, if it made no mention of St. Joseph's situated a little more than two miles south of Somerset on the road leading to New Lexington. This famous church, the first Catholic church in Ohio, owes its existence to the apostolic labors of Father Fenwick, O. P., afterwards the first Bishop of Cincinnati, who, ac- companied by his nephew, Father N. D. Young, also a Dominican, dedi- cated the first church erected at St. Joseph's---a structure of logs---on De- cember 6, 1818. A second and larger church, of brick and stone, succeeded this one; it was consecrated to the worship of God, according to a letter of Father Young's, on January 14, 1829. This in turn gave way to a new and larger church, which, together with the convent attached to it, was de- stroyed by fire on January 14, 1864.

The convent was a total loss, but the church walls, being thick and heavy, were soon bearing aloft another roof, and St. Joseph's congregation had again a place of worship. Thus came the present church into existence, a spacious Gothic edifice of brick, solid and symmetrical in its external aspect; within, enriched and embellished by tasteful fresco-painting, cathedral-glass windows, artistic mosaic flooring in the roomy chancel, and by magnifi- cently carved altars. Intimately connected with St. Jo- seph's church is the Dominican con-

vent, standing beside it and bearing the same name, which, until recently, was the House of Studies for the pro- fessed novices of St. Joseph's Domin- ican Province. The convent was canoilically established in 1818; sixteen years later it was raised to the dignity of a formal Dominican College, or House of Studies, with power to grant degrees to theological students who followed the courses prescribed. The activity of the Fathers was not limited to the training of young men in the Sacred Sciences, for in 1851 they opened a college for secular students,

which flourished with increasing suc- cess, until the outbreak of the Civil War. The conflagration of 1864 com- pelled the Fathers to use the college building as a convent, and it was so used until the erection of the present beautiful convent, which was built in the year 1880. This new convent, which flanks the present St. Joseph's Church, as has been said. was the House of Studies for professed novices up to August of 1905. Then, the fac- ulty and students of the college having been transferred to the new Immacu- late Conception College in Washing-

ton, D. C., St. Joseph's became the strict novitiate for postulants who seek admission to the Dominican Or- der. It began its formal existence as a strict novitiate on August 26, 1905, the date of the arrival of the novitiate from Kentucky. The Very Reverend Father Kennedy, for more than ten years the Prior of this convent, was succeeded by Very Reverend Father Kent, who was in charge until his death, November 26, 1908. The con- vent is now in charge of Very Rev- erend F. D. McShane, who succeeded Father Kent.

time until the present it has never failed to make its monthly appearance, presenting to an ever-increasing circle of readers the choicest things of art,

there edited by Rev. A. L. Mc- Mahon, O. P., the present Vicar of California, succeeding Rev. R. H. Goggin, O. P., as editor. But

advisers, to establish a printing plant, to be owned and controlled by the Dominican Order and with the primary object of printing and publishing the Rosary Magazine. Accordingly, the Rosary Press Company was incorpor- ated under the laws of the State of Ohio, the incorporators being: Very Rev. L. F. Kearney, O. P., Very Rev. D. J.. Kennedy. O. P., Rev. Albert Reinhart, O. P., Rev. A. L. McMahon, O. P. and Rev. F. D. McShane, O. P. The fine three-story convent building in Somerset---which had been for many years the home and mother- house of the Dominican Sisters before they established themselves in their present beautiful quarters at St. Mary's of the Springs, Columbus---was taken over by the new corporation and trans- formed into a model printing plant with a complete equipment of up-to- date machinery and all the accessories of a first-class, modern publishing house. Father Reinhart, who had been editor-in-chief of the Rosary- Magazine since 1898, was appointed general manager of the Rosary Press, and the first number of the Rosary Magazine was issued from its new and permanent home in August, 1900. The Rosary under the new regime at once took on new life, and it has continued to grow in interest and merit, till it is to-day admittedly the

The Rosary Magazine had its origin in New York City and was founded under the auspices of the Dominican Order, and under the editorship of Rev. J. L. O'Neil, O. P., nineteen years ago, in May, 1891. From that

science, travel, history, biography fiction in prose and verse. In 1897 the office of publication removed from New York to Joseph's Priory, Somerset, Ohio, for one year the Magazine

the inconvenience of editing the Magazine at St. Joseph's and print- ing it in Columbus made a change imperative; so, it was deemed ex- pedient by the Provincial, the Very Rev. L. F. Kearney, O. P., and his

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Any sketch of Somerset or of Perry County would be incomplete, if it made no mention of St. Joseph's situated a little more than two miles south of Somerset on the road leading to New Lexington. This famous church, the first Catholic church in Ohio, owes its existence to the apostolic labors of Father Fenwick, O. P., afterwards the first Bishop of Cincinnati, who, ac- companied by his nephew, Father N. D. Young, also a Dominican, dedi- cated the first church erected at St. Joseph's---a structure of logs---on De- cember 6, 1818. A second and larger church, of brick and stone, succeeded this one; it was consecrated to the worship of God, according to a letter of Father Young's, on January 14, 1829. This in turn gave way to a new and larger church, which, together with the convent attached to it, was de- stroyed by fire on January 14, 1864.
The convent was a total loss, but the church walls, being thick and heavy, were soon bearing aloft another roof, and St. Joseph's congregation had again a place of worship. Thus came the present church into existence, a spacious Gothic edifice of brick, solid and symmetrical in its external aspect; within, enriched and embellished by tasteful fresco-painting, cathedral-glass windows, artistic mosaic flooring in the roomy chancel, and by magnifi- cently carved altars. Intimately connected with St. Jo- seph's church is the Dominican con-	vent, standing beside it and bearing the same name, which, until recently, was the House of Studies for the pro- fessed novices of St. Joseph's Domin- ican Province. The convent was canoilically established in 1818; sixteen years later it was raised to the dignity of a formal Dominican College, or House of Studies, with power to grant degrees to theological students who followed the courses prescribed. The activity of the Fathers was not limited to the training of young men in the Sacred Sciences, for in 1851 they opened a college for secular students,	which flourished with increasing suc- cess, until the outbreak of the Civil War. The conflagration of 1864 com- pelled the Fathers to use the college building as a convent, and it was so used until the erection of the present beautiful convent, which was built in the year 1880. This new convent, which flanks the present St. Joseph's Church, as has been said. was the House of Studies for professed novices up to August of 1905. Then, the fac- ulty and students of the college having been transferred to the new Immacu- late Conception College in Washing-	ton, D. C., St. Joseph's became the strict novitiate for postulants who seek admission to the Dominican Or- der. It began its formal existence as a strict novitiate on August 26, 1905, the date of the arrival of the novitiate from Kentucky. The Very Reverend Father Kennedy, for more than ten years the Prior of this convent, was succeeded by Very Reverend Father Kent, who was in charge until his death, November 26, 1908. The con- vent is now in charge of Very Rev- erend F. D. McShane, who succeeded Father Kent.
	time until the present it has never failed to make its monthly appearance, presenting to an ever-increasing circle of readers the choicest things of art,	there edited by Rev. A. L. Mc- Mahon, O. P., the present Vicar of California, succeeding Rev. R. H. Goggin, O. P., as editor. But	advisers, to establish a printing plant, to be owned and controlled by the Dominican Order and with the primary object of printing and publishing the Rosary Magazine. Accordingly, the Rosary Press Company was incorpor- ated under the laws of the State of Ohio, the incorporators being: Very Rev. L. F. Kearney, O. P., Very Rev. D. J.. Kennedy. O. P., Rev. Albert Reinhart, O. P., Rev. A. L. McMahon, O. P. and Rev. F. D. McShane, O. P. The fine three-story convent building in Somerset---which had been for many years the home and mother- house of the Dominican Sisters before they established themselves in their present beautiful quarters at St. Mary's of the Springs, Columbus---was taken over by the new corporation and trans- formed into a model printing plant with a complete equipment of up-to- date machinery and all the accessories of a first-class, modern publishing house. Father Reinhart, who had been editor-in-chief of the Rosary- Magazine since 1898, was appointed general manager of the Rosary Press, and the first number of the Rosary Magazine was issued from its new and permanent home in August, 1900. The Rosary under the new regime at once took on new life, and it has continued to grow in interest and merit, till it is to-day admittedly the

The Rosary Magazine had its origin in New York City and was founded under the auspices of the Dominican Order, and under the editorship of Rev. J. L. O'Neil, O. P., nineteen years ago, in May, 1891. From that	science, travel, history, biography fiction in prose and verse. In 1897 the office of publication removed from New York to Joseph's Priory, Somerset, Ohio, for one year the Magazine	the inconvenience of editing the Magazine at St. Joseph's and print- ing it in Columbus made a change imperative; so, it was deemed ex- pedient by the Provincial, the Very Rev. L. F. Kearney, O. P., and his