- REV. SYLVESTER J. DOWLING. In material things the degree
of success attained is measured
- by the concentration required to attain it, but who can estimate
the success that comes from a life consecrated to the uplifting
of mankind? All personal aims and ambitions laid aside, every
energy of body and mind directed in one all-absorbing passion
- the development and consequent elevation of the spiritual life
in his fellow men! That is the life of a priest, a man called
by the Master Himself, and of such is Rev. Father DOWLING, of
Argyle, whose patience, devotion, and sincerity have endeared
him not alone to the members of his own parish, but to all who
know him.
- Rev. Sylvester J. DOWLING is a native of the State of Wisconsin,
and was born at Racine Sept.
- 6, 1872, a son of Sylvester DOWLING, long since deceased,
and his wife, Maria HUGHES, the daughter of a pioneer of Racine,
who built the second house in that city. Our subject was one
of a family of eight children, seven of whom are yet living:
John C., a resident of Chicago; Edward F., an architect of Chicago;
Anna, who makes her home with our subject; Agnes, an artist of
exceptional ability, with a studio in Milwaukee; and Clara and
Alice, at home. Father DOWLING obtained his early education in
the public schools at home, and in September, 1887, entered St.
Francis Seminary, near Milwaukee, where he remained nine years.
His ordination took place June 21, 1896, the service being conducted
by Archbishop KATZER. During the time he was at the Seminary
his mother moved to Milwaukee, and there he celebrated his first
mass a few days after the impressive ceremony that had made him
a priest in the Roman Catholic Church. His first appointment
was at Whitewater, Wis., where he acted as assistant to Rev.
Father FITZGIBBON, and on the death of that esteemed pastor,
in January, 1897, he was appointed his successor. In August,
1897, he was transferred to St. Patrick's Church, Milwaukee,
as assistant to Rev. Father FAIRBANKS, and in August, 1898, received
the appointment at Argyle.
- At the time Father DOWLING received the appointment to Argyle
there was no church there; the
- large number of Catholic families in the vicinity had been
attending St. Francis Church, in Adams, Green Co., Wis., a little
town about five miles east. Upon Father DOWLING's arrival, in
1898, he immediately began making preparations for the erection
of a church building, and so promptly did the people respond
to his solicitations, and so energetically did he work, that
in October, 1899, the present beautiful and commodious edifice
was dedicated, the services being conducted by Rev. Dean Eugene
McGINNITY, of Janesville, Wis. The original cost of the building
was $4,000, and it is tastefully decorated and furnished. Since
then a modern equipped home for the priest has been purchased,
and the grounds of all finely improved, the whole amount expended
being about $10,000. When St. Joseph's Church was erected, at
Argyle, the church at Adams, in Green county, formerly attended
by the Argyle parishioners, was attached to Argyle as a mission.
Father DOWLING is now engaged in the erection of a new church
at Adams, which, when completed, will cost $5,000, but they money
is on hand, and the people will not be burdened with debt of
any description. The financial condition of his Argyle parish
is good, the parish being entirely free from debt.
- Among the societies of the church are the "Altar Society,"
the "Children of St. Mary," and the
- "Choir Society." In the last named there are twenty-one
voices, all trained by the Father himself, who has made a specialty
of music, and who possess a remarkably sweet toned voice. Father
DOWLING is a devoted and earnest temperance worker, and has organized
societies in this line in both Argyle and Adams, the Society
of Total abstainers at Argyle numbering fifty-one members, and
at Adams, eighty-three members. His work in temperance is strictly
non-sectarian, and many of the members are Protestants.
- Father DOWLING is broad-minded, charitable and public-spirited,
and, while ardently attached
- to the Church of Rome, his nobility of character has won
him the esteem of all sects, and the respect of all men.
-
- Taken from "Commemorative Biographical Record of
the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin,"
(c)1901 Union Publishing; pp. 749-750.
-
- Courtesy of Carol.
|