The Associate Mission was established in Faribault, in the year 1857, by Rev. Dr. Breck, Rev. Dr. Manny and Rev. E. S. Peake. Its objects were direction Missionary work in the region surrounding Faribault, and Christian Education, with special reference to the preparation of young men for the Ministry of the Church. Schools were immediately opened, which were filled with pupils, and conducted by earnest and competent Teachers, and Missionary services were held, and Sunday Schools established in a circuit of twelve miles or more, around Faribault.
In 1860, the first Bishop of Minnesota came to reside in Faribault, and the Mission was incorporated under the name of the Bishop Seabury Mission, of which the Bishop was the Head and Director. Since that time the Mission has steadily progressed in its work, sustained by the offerings of christian people from many portions of the Church. Tracts of land have been secured for the purposes of the Mission, on which substantial buildings have been erected: Seabury Hall for the Divinity School, the Shattuck School, and the fire-proof Phelps Library building, erected from the proceeds of the legacy of Mrs. Phelps, of Connecticut, for the preservation of the valuable library of the Mission, which has been gathered by the purchase of a valuable library by the Bishop, with donations secured by him, and by donations of books from Europe and from this country.
The Cathedral of our Merciful Saviour has been built and consecrated, and, from the day of its opening, the services of morning and evening prayer have been conducted in it without interruption. Efforts have been made to secure endowments for Scholarships and Professorships.
The Shattuck School has been put in most successful operation; and, for five years successive classes have gone forth from the Divinity School to the work of the Ministry. Seventeen Clergymen in all have gone forth from Seabury Hall, and of these, thirteen are graduates of the Institution, having completed there their course of instruction and training.
[2] Three Churches have been built at the stations of the Mission, outside of Faribault, and a fourth is in process of construction. Sunday Schools and services are regularly held at the stations of the Mission, and large numbers have been brought into the communion of the Church and attendance upon its services by the labors of the Clergy and students of the Mission.
We are still, to the largest extent, dependent upon the offerings sent to us by the daily mail, for the continuance of our work and increase of its efficiency, but for the maintenance of our educational work we hope to secure permanent endowments, in Scholarships and Professorships, from those who sympathize with us in our work, and desire to see it established on lasting foundations.
The Bishop has opened, in his own residence, a school for girls, which bears the name of St. Mary's Hall.
We hope, if GOD opens the way, to establish here a Church College. There is every reason to believe that the Church can take the lead in the higher education of the State. We must do so, or we shall be gleaners where we ought to gather the harvest.
In humble faith in GOD we are seeking to build up institutions to last when we are sleeping with the dead. We earnestly ask the alms and prayers of our brethren.
The following extract from the Annual Address of the Bishop to the last Diocesan Council, presents his view of the Mission and of the importance of its work:
* * * * * * * * "There is a great work to be done in the diocese, in planting Christian Schools. When I came to Minnesota, the Rev. Dr. Manny, and the Rev. E. S. Peake had organized an Associate Mission. Faribault was the only place in the State which offered me a home. They pledged me $1,100, towards a home or towards house rent. If it could be made a diocesan centre the diocese could be divided at an early day, for it would leave the wealth of our largest cities to create new diocesan institutions. The Bishop Seabury Mission was duly incorporated. It has now its Divinity School--Seabury Hall; a fire proof Library--the gift of the late Mrs. Phelps--and a valuable library; it has Shattuck Hall--named after its patron and founder, and it owns this beautiful Cathedral. The girl's school--St. Mary's Hall--was built in part with my own means, and in part with money secured by a loan to myself.
"St. Mary's Hall and Shattuck School have more than fulfilled my expectations, and I can confidently commend them as in every way worthy of the confidence of all who desire to give their children Christian culture and a thorough education.
"Our Divinity School has elected to the vacant Professorship of Ecclesiastical History, the Rev. Thomas Richey, D.D., who is a most valuable addition to our able corps of Professors, and I [2/3] am sure that our School of the Prophets is second to none in the land, in thoroughness of Christian scholarship and fitness for earnest work. If our Church is to maintain its high character for Christian Education, we must establish a Church College. We should commence a College building. We must have an endowment of $15,000 each, for three divinity professorships, and the same for five College professorships. We must build houses for these professors and for the head master of the Grammar School. These may seem day dreams, but, brethren, this work must be done if we are to have any influence in moulding the higher education of the State. This work is absolutely necessary, and whosoever will do it from love to CHRIST whose work on earth may soon be over, who could do all this and not impoverish their households. If we give GOD the will, he will find us the way--but, brethren, it must not be left alone on your Bishop's shoulders."
The following letter is republished here, written by an able and earnest layman of the Church from Chicago, who was with us at the interesting services on the 24th of June, the nativity of St. John the Baptist:
ST. JOHN'S DAY AT FARIBAULT. A field day, in Minnesota, for the cause of Christian religion and culture, was St. John's day, at Faribault. And if my loving layman's heart wells up with gratitude to GOD for giving to the Church in that young Diocese so noble and sagacious a leader as it has in Bishop Whipple, the tender and sympathetic hearts of other Churchmen must pardon me for giving vent to feelings wholly irrepressible as I look around and see the inexpressibly valuable work done for the good of mankind here. When you see a man who in early life was occupied in a lucrative secular calling, and who from conviction and because "he loved his fellow-man," gave up that calling for that of the ministry, and who, when he entered that new vocation, gave himself to the laborious work of going in and out among the poor, your eyes rest on a man who, when asked to go up higher in the ministry, is fitted for the greater and more responsible position of Bishop. Such a man is Bishop Whipple. That he is such a man is no merit of his. He has, as well as we, for him, reason only to be thankful to GOD that he was so endowed by nature, and that the grace of GOD has enabled him to cultivate and follow out this endowment. I say this right here, because a man doing as much good as Bishop Whipple is constantly accomplishing, must call for the plaudits of men to an extent dangerous to the singleness of purpose of even the best of men. His life in Chicago was given to the exemplification of the loving tendency of the true Churchman toward the poor and broken-hearted, to heal whom CHRIST, [3/4] the HEAD of the Church, had come on earth. The first intimation he had of his call to the Episcopate was the announcement in the newspapers of the choice of the new Diocese of Minnesota. Those of us who had gathered around him, and were glad to give our lay help to him in his work here, where he had so singularly endeared himself to the railroad and other secular officials, saw in his call and acceptance a strange providence that took him from us. To-day I see why the larger field and sphere were the more fitting for his special skill.
Faribault--a beautifully located town on the direct route to St. Paul--was chosen by the Bishop as his residence. The Seabury Mission, then the mere "cloud as large as a man's hand," of a theological school, promised to be the nucleus of his work of Diocesan education. A single decade brings a display of work here which can never stop. Eternity itself will not see the end of its influence. It has already sent out its men who are doing for CHRIST and Mankind that good compared with which our money is paltry stuff, and seeing this, I would be false to myself and to those who love such things were I to be quiet; hence I write.
Two years since I entrusted my daughter to the Bishop's care, and she became an inmate of St. Mary's Hall, Faribault. I know of what I speak, and I do it advisedly, when I say, that in the ability to furnish all the elegant, real, Christian, and womanly accomplishments, St. Mary's Hall has met even y requirements fully.
The Bishop, in the outset, secured, by the aid of good and wise friends, a very fine, square, home-like building for himself. To this he added large rooms for study, halls, dormitories, dining-room, romping parlors, and other purposes. His wife, in manner the gentle Mary, is likewise the Martha of the household. The young ladies at all times have free and full access to her ear and her parlors. She presides in the dining-room, watches over them in sickness, knows all their wants as the mother of the household, but has nothing to do with the discipline or the school, or the regulations of its studies. An accomplished lady teacher and disciplinarian, under the general supervision of the Bishop, aided by a very efficient corps of instructresses, has the charge of this department. The Bishop's family, with the instructresses, and the young ladies, make one household, sit in the same dining-room, and kneel at the same morning and evening services. With all the beautiful accomplishments of female training, there seems to be an entire absence of the trivial, too common in girls' schools. Very ample play-grounds, lately very largely increased, and well ornamented, for the purpose of exercise, surround the hall.
The Seabury Mission has grown into a thoroughly complete theological school. The foresight of the Bishop has secured 120 broad acres, finely elevated above the town, and overlooking it, [4/5] across the Straight River, but connected intimately with it by a very substantial bridge. How many have gone out from its very elegant and very firmly-laid stone walls as ministers of CHRIST, I cannot tell, but enough to show the reality of its young life, and to-day I saw four of its graduates admitted to the Holy Order of the Priesthood. This is the work now begun and daily going on. That accomplished teachers should have been gathered together for educational purposes, or that a loving father should have thought of his daughters, and forgotten the growing sons of his flock, would have been very strange.
Hence, Shattuck Hall, a very substantial stone structure, three stories and basement, now rears its fine architectural proportions on the commanding bluff opposite the town. This building was erected mainly, if not entirely, by the munificence of a faithful son of the Church, whom GOD has blessed with means and who used those means for His glory. Bishop Whipple has very appropriately called the structure after the donor, and it stands now, bearing his name, and is a very real and lasting witness of his generosity. The examinations at the close of the present term showed a very thorough training in the classics and general course of study. And having a son in this excellent school, I gladly bear my full and cordial testimony to its complete efficiency in its Christian training of cultivated young scholars. Why is it that men do not oftener dispense their own means during life, and see the fruits? Of course it is the most judicious plan, and most surely secures the accomplishment of one's purposes and wishes. Let the rich man find the proper dispenser of his wealth, and give to that man the means at once, so that while living he can see the work done as he desires it done, and much more economically than when devisees come to handle suddenly acquired large sums. A very natural question on the part of the donors is, "Into whose hands do these means go?" The Seabury Mission I s incorporated under the general law of Minnesota, but, in addition, a special enactment makes this corporation the proper and responsible recipient of such gifts, and authorizes it to hold real estate and trust funds for all religious, educational and eleemosynary purposes throughout the Diocese. The Bishop of Minnesota is the president of the board, but has no special power, as he is not at all corporator sole. Shattuck Hall, the outgrowth--slow, real and substantial--of the original Parish School, shows, to-day, how judiciously the funds have been used by the board, under the guidance and advice of the Bishop. Its teachers are, for the most part, first-class graduates of Eastern institutions. It now needs a College building to receive the preparatory students about to finish the Grammar School course.
Of course, a Bishop's home, a Theological Seminary, a Boy's Preparatory School (rapidly coming to the standard of collegiate honors,) a Young Ladies' Seminary in full operation, all gathered [5/6] here, where the Church had been early planted, makes so grand a cluster that the Bishop's Cathedral became a necessity. Its foundations were laid seven years since, broad and deep, and now in the very heart of Faribault, there stands, "The Cathedral Church of our Merciful SAVIOUR."
But how shall I tell of its beautiful proportions, its solid stone work, its windows of exquisite design and coloring, its deep chancel, its stalls, its surmounting stone emblem of the Christian faith, and all its charms? Every one of which is the gift of love, freely bestowed, in order that Bishop Whipple, the unfaltering friend of free seats in GOD's temple, should be able, as he did on St. John's day, to open wide the portals of this glorious pile, where rich and poor, high and low, can now daily, morning and evening, join their voices in GOD's praise and in their prayers to Him. The Cathedral doors are always open. The weary soul can at all times go to its altar at its will.
In this connection, an important fact relative to the Diocese of Minnesota is, that out of forty Churches in its limits thirty-six are free. Do you wonder, then, my fellow-christian, that, seeing all these things as I have seen them for a few days past, I should want you to know of them? I wish you could have stood with me on St. John's day, as I did, at the side porch of that Cathedral, and have seen the procession come from the door of St. Mary's Hall. Four Bishops robed, thirty-four surpliced clergy, eighteen unsurpliced choristers made up the procession. They came down the quiet street of that beautiful town, the thin, fleecy clouds kindly screening their uncovered heads from the sun, who, however, would not withdraw wholly his prophetic brightness. First entered the venerable Kemper, lovely in his four-score ripeness, firm for his years in his step, but so strong in faith that he seems able to bear up even under the great load of good works beneath which he goes tottering to his grave. And how apt and fit the selection, by Bishop Whipple, of this venerable pioneer as the consecrator of this first Cathedral of the Church in the United States. Thirty-five years--an ordinary life-time of labor in GOD's service--brings this first Missionary Bishop of the North-west, here to a distant part of his original sphere, and enable him to give to the worship of his MASTER, by his words of consecration, spoken by him in behalf of his younger brother Whipple, a magnificent stone temple meet for His service, and free to all. Bishop Kemper's assistant, Bishop Armitage, illustrating the unity of the Church, by his filial love and loving care of his patriarchal chief, came at his side, and read for him the paper of consecration and dedication. Bishops Whipple and Whitehouse made up the Episcopal suite. To say that under this administration the whole ceremony was grand, and the lucid, learned, and chaste exposition of the Cathedral system, as especially adaptable and necessary to the proper development [6/7] of the Church in the United States, was worthy of the Bishop of Illinois, would be entirely superfluous. I may here say that the music in the Cathedral was congregational, led by choirs made up mainly from the two schools. The full antiphonal service was thus sung, and the congregational feature was not at all lost.
If any one thing more than another, in this connection, touched my heart, it was to see Emmegahbowh (the one who leads his people,) the dusky son of the forest, surpliced, and in the row of priests. He stood there a representative man of those for whom Bishop Whipple has labored so successfully. But when after the consecration of the Cathedral, there came forward to the Holy Communion men and women of those children of the tepee and wigwam, it filled my very inmost heart, and made me wish that the authorities at Washington could know what this (unpaid in money) Indian agent is doing for this robbed and injured people.
Again, when, yesterday afternoon, three chiefs sat in Bishop Whipple's parlor, and through Emmegahbowh (now known as the Indian Deacon Johnson,) asked for school preachers and teachers at their homes 400 miles from here, and when, through the same medium, Bishops Kemper, Whitehouse and Armitage added their words of comfort to those of Bishop Whipple, and sent their chiefs away with promises of aid, it made me feel that religion alone can make civilization of any use to this people, and that this duty is especially incumbent upon the Church.
The railroad directly from Chicago to Faribault makes a trip to that place very easy, and a summer's jaunt there will pay the tourist well.
Parents looking to the proper training of their sons and daughters will do themselves a favor to visit the schools and investigate for themselves. A hearty welcome awaits them, and a treat of a kind they do not expect will be given them in the sight of the noble work going on there at Faribault.--S.H.K. in the Chicago Times.
The Officers of the Bishop Seabury Mission are, as follows:
RIGHT REV. H. B. WHIPPLE, D.D., President;
REV. E. G. GEAR, D.D., Minneapolis;
REV. D. B. KNICKERBACKER; Red Wing;
REV. S.Y. MCMASTERS, D.D. St. Paul;
REV. SAMUEL BUEL, D.D.;
REV. JAMES DOBBIN;
HON. E. T. WILDER, Red Wing;
H. T. WELLES, ESQ. ;
LUTHER DEARBORN, ESQ.;
LORENZO ALLIS, ESQ., St. Paul.