A Storm 250 Years Ago Today

The largest navy and army in the world had arrived in New York harbor from England. On Staten Island the British were in full control. The small resistance group of Patriots were defeated, women were being raped, buildings were burning. Benjamin Franklin was serving as the appointed president of Pennsylvania’s constitutional convention in Philadelphia. The British were demanding for Franklin to tear up the Declaration of Independence and surrender.

The first miracle came when the only regular army Washington had, known as the Maryland 400, held back more than 2,000 British troops at the Old Stone House on August 29, 1776. Located today at Third Street between 4th and 5th Avenues, this rebuilt Old Stone House is inside J. J. Byrne Playground, also known as Washington Park, in the Park Slope area of Brooklyn. The Maryland 400 soldiers were from Carol Maryland and were mostly Catholics, a religion that was tolerated in the Colony of Maryland at a time when Catholics were the smallest minority. More on this later.

The second miracle was that General Washington had a Maritime Force to ferry the remaining Continental Army across the East River! A force consisting of rowboats, flat-bottom barges, and Massachusetts fishermen known as the Marbleheaders. Under the command of Colonel John Glover, who knew the race against time was already lost, because the Marbleheaders would be exposed to the British when the sun came up hours before the evacuation of Brooklyn was completed. Yet in the darkness and a changing weather pattern, these fishermen who helped force the British out of Boston earlier that year and would eventually be there for Washington to cross the Delaware, continued to shuttle men, artillery, and horses across the river. This only became a successful nighttime evacuation because of the next miracle. 

1. When Emperor Constantine legalized the Universal Church of Christians in A.D. 313, the Church’s funds were used by Christians to redeem slaves. By many accounts, one former slave became Pope Callistus I in the early third century. Additionally, by that time, the Catholic Church already had three Popes, known as the African Popes.
2. Fifty-seven years prior to Christopher Columbus’ voyage, the slave trade and slavery were condemned by Pope Eugenius IV.  
3. Pope Paul III issued the Papal Bull, Sublimus Dei, stating no native Americans were to be enslaved.

On July 2, 1776, when Thomas Jefferson’s second paragraph from the original draft of the Declaration of Independence abolished slavery, Georgia and South Carolina demanded the removal of such a declaration. It then became clear that the abolition of slavery could have been accomplished at the very birth of our nation, were it not for these two profane colonies. Such opposing positions towards total emancipation fed the resentment held toward Catholics because back then, the protestant slave owners, were acutely aware that the Catholic Church was against slavery. This was probably one of several reasons why there was only one Catholic representative in the Continental Congress who signed the Declaration of Independence.
 
It is relevant to note that Catholics were only 1.5% of the population at the time of the American Revolutionary war. Yet, at Yorktown when the war was won, George Washington’s army was made up of over 70% Catholics. Most of Washington’s soldiers who belonged to the Church of England went back home to their farms in the colonies, leaving George Washington with mostly Catholics striving to win the war. George Washington’s “final” army consisted of Catholic men and women from France, Spain, the Netherlands, and the 1.5% who were already here in the colonies.
 
Additionally, prior to the battle of Yorktown, the second oldest Catholic Church in Pennsylvania, received several distinguished guests. Just a few blocks from Independence Hall stands Old Saint Mary’s Catholic Church, which held the first public religious commemoration of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1779. Then in 1781 on November 4th, members of the Continental Congress with French military officers attended a Solemn Mass of Thanksgiving at Saint Mary. Also believed to be in attendance, though still an Anglican, George Washington was there to give thanks to God for victory over the British and to all Catholics that fought by his side. Adams also attended Mass at Old Saint Mary’s, along with other members of Congress to give thanks to Catholics who were at the Old Stone House to save the nation and who were the majority of Washington’s remaining army that stayed to fight at Yorktown and secure victory. By the time the Constitution was drawn up in 1787, two Catholics now held office and signed the Constitution of these United States of America.
 
George Washington soon knew that he had to come to terms with his own Anglican religion led by a Christian King that allowed slavery. Washington knew firsthand all the atrocities his church allowed and committed during the war. However, since resentment still existed against Catholics, Washington always moved cautiously with his support of the Catholic Church. Two examples that are documented is that when Washington returned home to Virginia, he donated to the Catholic Basilica of St. Mary in Alexandria and contributed to the construction of a Catholic Church in Baltimore. At this time if George Washington was contemplating leaving his religion, he would have been chastised and ridiculed. But despite that possible ridicule and having specific bigotry aimed at him, Washington held his highly admirable morals. The strongest example of this are these two facts:
 

1. When Washington first joined the Virginia militia, he had to take an oath swearing there was no such existence of Transubstantiation. (Today we know of several theories in Physics that support Transubstantiation.) Additionally, please note that at the time of Washington, the Virgina colony had a law whereas any Catholic entering Virginia, had 5 days to leave. Yet, Washington would receive the Holy Eucharist from a Catholic priest before he died.
2. Then in 1775, Washington prohibited his Continental army from celebrating the annual event of burning effigies of the pope on Guy Fawkes Day. All these various actions taken by Washington caused him to keep discreet connections with the Catholic Church. Some of which became unordinary…

In her book, Spiritual Journey of George Washington, Janice Connell, who is a well-known lawyer and author, writes about Washington’s relationship with America’s first Catholic Archbishop Carroll a relative to Representative Carroll who signed our Declaration of Independence.
 
A side note: All those who signed the Declaration gave up everything simply because they signed. They lost family, fortune, land, homes, freedom, and life. Not one was untouched by the vengeful hand of the British army.
 
By 1792, Archbishop Carroll knew about what happened twice to George Washington at Valley Forge. Review of the evidence and data presents substance to what personally occurred to Washington twice. Once in December of 1777 and around February of 1778. Archbishop Carroll also knew that when George was growing up, he was counseled by a Catholic Jesuit priest, Father Andrew White, S.J. who told him about a Catholic book written by a French Jesuit in the 1590s called Bienseance de la Conversation entre les Hommes. A few years later as a teenager, George hand-copied 110 rules into his school’s notebook from the English version entitled, Rules of Civility and Decent Behaviour in Company and Conversation. George studied and lived by those rules.
 
Many times, Washington sought input from Archbishop Carroll, who knew the details to what Washington experienced at Valley Forge during the darkest days of the war. This is confirmed by John Marshall, the 4thChief Justice and Thomas Jefferson the first Secretary of State who both questioned and spoke about how religious George Washington was through his life. 
 
What occurred twice at Valley Forge, at night on frozen ground covered in snow, while twice Washington was on one knee praying, is confirmed by Anthony Sherman who witnessed the second event. Sherman arrived at Valley Forge in late winter of 1777 / 78 and was not witness to the first event. Evidence shows he could have only witnessed the second time Washington experienced this divine encounter. Twice, the very humbled and disciplined Washington, while praying in the snow during his darkest hours had a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The few who learned of these events and Wesley Brashaw who finally published Washington’s encounters in the National Tribune, Volume 4, Number twelve on December 1880, tell what Sherman witnessed:
 
Washington on bent knee did not move in the snow as he stared into the mist forming in front of him. Washington saw a beautiful woman before him and heard her say several times, “Son of the Republic, look and learn.” What Washington saw ranged from his moral behavior to the future of America from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Mary then asked of Washington one thing: To consecrate the United States of America in her name as mother to us all.
 
So, over the years, George Washington had to walk, speak, and act delicately with Catholics due to the many prejudices against Catholics. That cautious methodology ended for him on the day before he died.
 
Confirmed by historians, such as Martin Griffin, we know that a slave was sent from Washington’s home across the Potomac to bring back a Catholic priest who was a Maryland Jesuit. The priest was most probably Father Leonard Neale who returned with the slave and spent over three hours with Washington. What reason would have Washington asking for a Catholic priest? Upon leaving, Father Neale told Martha that her husband’s soul has been secured. George Washington passed over the next day.
 
The priest secured and sealed a letter about his visit with George Washington, with instructions that the contents would not be made public until all those concerned passed over. This included Father Neale and probably Martha Washington. This was done for protection, because retribution could cause all social and business connections at Mount Vernon to be terminated for Martha. This is also the reason why Washington’s secretary, Thomas Lear, intentionally omitted in his write up that a Catholic priest visited Mount Vernon and the last words Martha had with her husband. Any details of these events at that time would have caused Martha to be ostracized. 
 
Years later, when Father’s letter was presented to be made public, the letter ceased to exist. Add up the details you just read and conclude why that letter disappeared. We can easily surmise that those in power who had prejudices against Catholics could not accept or make public that George Washington became a Catholic.