Faithful Hearts

CELEBRATING 150 YEARS

ST. JOSEPH PARISH

St. Joseph Church, Fullerton, Maryland

Contents

Chapter 1 - A New Home for Faith
Chapter 2 - The Church on The Hill
Chapter 3 - 20th Century Church
Chapter 4 - A New Modern Edifice

Chapter 5 - The Sesquicentennial Celebration

In Memorium

A New Home for Faith

The farmers, who emigrated from Bavaria and Hesse-Darmstadt, bought land on the outskirts of the city in an area known as Neckar. They cleared the land, erected homes (many of them log houses), planted vegetables, raised cows for milk and butter, chickens for eggs and meat, a few pigs for food and market, and a mule or a horse for tilling the ground. Some of the produce they hauled away to sell to their city customers. Once the land was cleared and inhabited, the countryside became dotted with farms. The only recreation for these early pioneers, and indeed, their foremost interest, was their family life.

According to family legend, when Joseph Krastel came to this country from Germany, about the year 1838, he met a girl on the voyage whom he married at old St. John’s Church (now St. Alphonsus). In a deed dated October 4,1841, he purchased land from Henrietta Hoffman, Phillip Rogers Hoffman and George Brice Hoffman near what is known today as White Marsh Road (Old Church Road prior to 1940) and started farming. There were few settlements in the area of the Krastel home, and most of the land was still a wooded paradise, untouched and untilled. He marketed the fruits of his labors in Baltimore City and, on his way back, he would pick up a Redemptorist priest and bring him back to his farmhouse. Fr. Joseph Muller and Fr. John Neumann were two of those priests in the 1850s who made the trip and celebrated Mass in the old farmhouse.

No one is really sure how the name St. Joseph was selected for the small congregation of German Catholic farmers and their families that first gathered in the parlor of Joseph and Anna Krastel. Perhaps this small congregation in the Neckar area of Baltimore County chose the name St. Joseph because he was a carpenter and there would be much building to do.

By the year 1850, Baltimore County had a population of about 42,000. Of this number, 3,500 were presumed to be slaves. There were no post offices, nor means of transportation to serve the residents with a newspaper. Their meager income and their remote location are two of the primary reasons we have difficulty in finding documented information about the early life of the parish.

The Redemptorists at St. Joseph

In 1840 the work of caring for these German Catholics had been given to the Fathers of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, (Congregation Sanctissimi Redemptoris), by the Most Reverend Samuel Eccleston, S.S., D.D., then Archbishop of Baltimore. Their motto in Latin, Copiosa apud eum redemptio, translates to, “With Him is plentiful redemption.” The Redemptorists, as they were popularly called, were placed in charge of all German Catholics throughout the entire archdiocese. The Redemptorists’ presence affected a remarkable change in the German Catholic Community.

St. James on January 16, 1842. He is the first Redemptorist professed in the New World, and may be considered the founder of the congregation at St. Joseph. This is further documented in a journal of “Chronological Notes on St. Joseph Parish” in the church archives as quoted by Fr. Francis A.B. Wűnnenberg, which states, “I was told by the Rev. Jos. Wissel, C.Ss.R. that Bishop Neumann of Philadelphia was the first priest who attended St. Joseph’s from Baltimore. He may therefore, be considered the founder of the congregation.

St. James Parish, located at Aisquith and Eager Streets in Baltimore City, was originally a mission church of St. John. During the demolition and reconstruction of St. John, the Redemptorists adopted St. Joseph to serve as their national headquarters, novitiate, and seminary, with ultimate supervision from Europe. On May 1, 1842, German societies with bands and banners paraded from St. James to Saratoga Street for the laying of the cornerstone of the church that would later be called St. Alphonsus. It was the first public display in which the German Catholics of Baltimore could take pride. The European Redemptorists visited in 1847 and instructed St. James to close down all activities beyond the church, and to move the Redemptorist headquarters to St. Alphonsus.

Pastors and Administrators of St. Joseph Church

From the annals of the Redemptorists at St. Alphonsus, the first mention of St. Joseph, Neckar is on January 1,1852, at which time the first administrator was assigned. For this reason, could it be considered that St. Joseph did not officially become a parish until that year? The records of St. Alphonsus clearly indicate that St. Joseph began as a mission of St. Alphonsus Church; therefore, the official pastor of St. Joseph was the pastor of St. Alphonsus. Due to the responsibilities at St. Alphonsus Parish, the pastor did not have

the time or energy to care personally for the missions. He delegated this responsibility to other Redemptorists at St. Alphonsus. These Redemptorists were designated as administrators, who functioned almost totally as if they were the pastor. In addition, there was probably a lot of covering and substituting of priests as these missionaries were also traveling and conducting retreats and missions on New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Louisiana, Missouri, and even Texas.

The pastors or rectors of St. Alphonsus and St. James respectively were as follows:

St. Alphonsus Church

1849—1851 Gabriel Rumpler

1851—1852 John N. Neumann

1852—1854 George Ruland

1854—1857 Francis X. Seelos

1857—1860 Maximus Leimgruber

1860—1862 George Ruland

1862—1863 Leopold Petsch

1862—1866 Robert Kleineidam

1866—1868 Michael Műller

1868—1871 Joseph Wissel

St. James Church

1867—1869 Lawrence Holzer

1869—1871 Thaddeus Anwander

1871—1877 John Hespelein

Although Mass was celebrated in private homes, no Redemptorist rector or administrator was assigned to be in charge of St. Joseph during the years 1850 and 1851. The first administrator documented for assignment to St. Joseph was recorded on January 1,1852. On March 19, 1877, the church was attended by the first secular priest, Fr. Francis Joseph Miller, from the Diocese of Savannah. As of November 1, 1877, Rev. Miller was charged with exclusive responsibility for St. Joseph Church on the Belair Road, relieving the Redemptorists from any further duties at St. Joseph. The full complement of administrators and pastors to serve St. Joseph Church before and after Rev. Miller follow:

Administrators:

1852 - 1852 John Van Rijkevorsel, C.Ss.R., who arrived from Europe on November 14, 1851

1853 - 1854 Francis Krutil, C.Ss.R.

1855 No one listed administrator of St. Joseph

1856 - 1856 Joseph Wissel, C.Ss.R.

1856 - 1857 Henry Giesen, C.Ss.R.

1857 - 1858 Fridolin Luette/Luethe, C.Ss.R.

1858 - 1859 Dominic Kraus, C.Ss.R.

1860 - 1866 Peter G. Cronenberg, C.Ss.R.

1867 - 1868 Francis A. Eberhardt, C.Ss.R.

1869 - 1871 Thaddeus Anwander, C.Ss.R.

1871 - 1876 Francis A. Eberhardt, C.Ss.R.

1876 – 1877 William Wingerter, C.Ss.R.

1877—1877 Bernard Arant, C.Ss.R.

Pastors:

1877 – 1883 Francis Joseph Miller

1883—1890 Charles Damer

1890 – 1892 J. Alphonse Frederick

1892 – 1892 Michael F. Foley

1892 – 1897 Charles Warren Currier

1897 – 1900 George Herman Tragesser

1900 – 1905 Francis A. B. Wűnnenberg

1905 - 1922 Charles L. Trinkaus

1922 – 1934 Leo J. Otterbein

1934 – 1942 Walter J. Hayes

1942 – 1967 J. Ambrose Quinn

1967 – 1981 Raymond W. Gribbin

1982 – 1991 F. Dennis Tinder

1991 – 1995 Richard E. Cramblitt

1995 – 2003 George Moeller

2004 - current Kevin Schenning