Rhode Island Catholic history

Property values in Providence alone dropped by $8 million and it would be almost a decade before they reached their 1873 level again.

15, 1875, the bishop wrote, "On Saturday the 9th of October (last week), the first number of the Weekly Visitor Sunday School Magazine was issued.

Among the issues were the legislative investigation of reported abuses by tax-exempt organizations of their preferred status and the subsequent decision, in its January 1876 session, to remove the tax-exempt status of private schools.

27, 1877, a fire started at Pine Street and Harkness Court and destroyed four business blocks in the center of Providence before it was put out.

1, 1878, when he greeted his readers at the beginning of the new year.

1, 1881, the Visitor began its seventh year of publication.

2, 1884 issue, in order to avoid a confusion of names with the Weekly Visitor, another paper intended for state-wide distribution, published in Central Falls by Edward L. Freeman.

With its March 27 issue, the paper expanded from seven columns to eight.In May 1887, the subject matter of the paper was further expanded by including regular columns on women's fashions and on science, both of which were often accompanied by drawings.

Gorman's efforts achieved a measure of success in the passage of the Bourn Amendment to the Rhode Island Constitution in 1888.

25, 1892, Bishop Harkins met with the pastors of the parishes in Providence and its vicinity about taking over the Visitor and making it "a good and creditable Catholic paper." The pastors not only voted unanimously to adopt the proposal, but also agreed to buy the stock of the company.

In March 1893, Bishop Harkins spoke with George Parsons Lathrop, who had worked on the editorial staffs of the Atlantic Monthly and Boston Courier and as a writer for Harper's Magazine, about becoming editor-in-chief, in addition to the writing he was currently doing.

By January 1897, the priest directors of the company had come to the same conclusion as had former editors Walsh and George Parsons Lathrop.

The priest, Father Cornelius C. Clifford, had been ordained for the Jesuits in 1898, but had left the order the following year.

In part, because of his new assignment, Father Kelly was made pastor of Assumption Parish in Providence at the beginning of 1899.

The flag, which was used until October 5, 1901 when the paper went back to a simpler one, included sketches of the new Providence city hall that Mayor Thomas Doyle had built, the cathedral built by Bishop Hendricken and the state seal.

5, 1903, at which they voted to accept Father Clifford's resignation.

On April 25, 1904, Archbishop Diomede Falconio sent a copy of the article to Bishop Harkins suggesting that, because the paper carried his recommendation, it could appear that Bishop Harkins approved the article in question.

In March of 1907, Conway spoke to Bishop Harkins about having the paper printed by an outside company.

Finally, in August of 1908, Bishop Harkins met with Conway and the Visitor Printing Company's directors to discuss the future of the paper.

As a means of further increasing the number of subscribers, the Visitor, beginning in May 1910, offered a free trip to the major cities of Europe and to the Passion Play at Oberammergau, Germany to seven women who gained the most votes from Visitor readers.

One example of the Visitor's aggressiveness was the paper's first special issue, a 56- page, seven-section, Anti-Socialist and Industrial edition, which appeared on May 19, 1911.

Under Father O'Brien, the Visitor published one of the largest of its special issues on April 19, 1912, to commemorate Bishop Harkins' 25th anniversary of his ordination as Bishop of Providence and the work that had been accomplished during those years.

12, 1915, to celebrate the Visitor's own 40th anniversary and, on Oct.

In 1918, his former seminary professor, Archbishop Edward J. Hanna, who was then Archbishop of San Francisco, invited him to come to California to take charge of the San Francisco Monitor.

The first issue of La Sentinella appeared at Christmas 1920.

In 1921, in an effort to see the paper succeed, Father O'Brien, whose press printed the paper, suggested to Bishop Harkins that La Sentinella be reduced in size.

On March 17, 1922, Rathom asked the Journal's cartoonist, Milton Halladay, to picture the Free State's President, Eamonn de Valera as a cobra with the legend, "Another St Patrick Needed." Rathom had the cartoon printed on the Journal's front page.

In July 1923, Bishop Hickey appointed Father James C. McCarthy to the editorial staff and sent him to Columbia University's School of Journalism to prepare him for his work on the paper.

When ill health forced Father McCarthy to take a new assignment in January 1926, Bishop Hickey appointed Father Francis J. Deery as the paper's assistant manager.The Providence Visitor was not the only journalistic enterprise with which Bishop Hickey and Father O'Brien concerned themselves.

In 1929, when Bishop Hickey returned from a visit to Rome, he recognized the work Father O'Brien had done at the Visitor by announcing Father O'Brien's appointment as a domestic prelate with the title of monsignor.

Starting February 1933 at the Cathedral, he had been making the rounds of the parishes in the diocese preaching on behalf of the Visitor.

On March 14, 1935, the Visitor began running a series on the history of the parishes in the diocese, written in many cases by their pastors, beginning once again with the Cathedral parish.

Among the more important issues printed on the new press was the Visitor's Tercentenary Issue published on April 9, 1936 as part of the celebration of the 300th anniversary of the founding of Providence.

In January 1937, with the aid of his two new assistants, Father Deery resumed his visits to the parishes with the aim of achieving the goal Bishop Hickey had set: A Catholic paper in every Catholic home.

AWARD-WINNING ARTWORK - June Burns, a student at St Mary Academy - Bayview, won third prize for her entry to the Visitor's annual Catholic Students Press Crusade poster contest in 1941. (Visitor photo)