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Enoch Fenwick

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The Reverend
Enoch Fenwick
SJ
12thPresident of Georgetown College
In office
1820–1825
Preceded byAnthony Kohlmann
Succeeded byBenedict Joseph Fenwick
Personal details
Born(1780-05-15)May 15, 1780
St. Mary's County, Maryland,U.S.
DiedNovember 25, 1827(1827-11-25)(aged 47)
Georgetown,D.C.,[a]U.S.
Resting placeJesuit Community Cemetery
RelationsBenedict Fenwick(brother)
Alma mater
Orders
OrdinationMarch 12, 1808
byLeonard Neale

Enoch FenwickSJ(May 15, 1780 – November 25, 1827) was an AmericanCatholicpriest andJesuitwho ministered throughoutMarylandand became the twelfthpresident of Georgetown College.Descending from one of the original Catholic settlers of theProvince of Maryland,he studied atGeorgetown Collegein what is nowWashington, D.C.Like his brother and future bishop,Benedict Joseph Fenwick,he entered the priesthood, studying atSt. Mary's Seminarybefore entering theSociety of Jesus,which wassuppressedat the time. He was maderectorofSt. Peter's Pro-CathedralinBaltimoreby ArchbishopJohn Carroll,and remained in the position for ten years. Near the end of his pastorate, he was also madevicar generalof theArchdiocese of Baltimore,which involved traveling to sayMassin remote parishes throughout rural Maryland.

In 1820, Fenwick reluctantly accepted his appointment as president of Georgetown College. While he made some improvements to the curriculum, contemporaries generally considered his presidency unsuccessful due to declining enrollment and mounting debt. In August 1825, he abandoned the presidency following a disagreement with theprovincial superior.Two years later, he died at Georgetown.

Early life[edit]

Enoch Fenwick was born on May 15, 1780, inSt. Mary's County, Maryland.He was one of four brothers, three of whom would become priests.[2]He descended from one of the originalCatholic settlersof theMaryland Province,[3]Cuthbert Fenwick.[4]One of his brothers wasBenedict Joseph Fenwick,[5]who became theBishop of Bostonand apresident of Georgetown College.[6]Another brother, George Fenwick, also entered the priesthood, while another brother did not enter religious life.[7]

Fenwick enrolled atGeorgetown Collegein 1793, which he attended until 1797.[8]The president,Louis William Valentine DuBourg,identified him as the best student in the college, and appointed him in 1797 to teach rudiments to the young students in the lower school.[3]He then enteredSt. Mary's SeminaryinBaltimorein 1805. The following year, he entered theSociety of Jesuson October 10,[9]becoming a member of the first class in the Jesuitnovitiateat Georgetown,[3]and one of four[b]who were the first Jesuits ordainedpriestsin the United States.[6]

As the Jesuit order had been officiallysuppressedbyPope Clement XIV,[11]Fenwick was admitted to the Corporation of Catholic Clergymen,[12]the civil corporation that sought to preserve the Society and its property until its restoration byPope Pius VIIin 1815.[11]He wasordaineda priest on March 12, 1808, inGeorgetown,[13]by BishopLeonard Neale.[14]

Ministry in Baltimore[edit]

Following his ordination, he was made the assistant to theArchbishop of Baltimore,John Carroll.[15]Upon the death of Francis Beeston in 1809,[10]Fenwick was appointed by Carroll asrectorofSt. Peter's Pro-Cathedralin Baltimore, where he raised money for the construction of a new St. Peter's church building.[16]He oversaw work that began in 1806 and continued until 1812,[17]before being halted by theWar of 1812.[15]Construction resumed in 1815, and was completed in 1821.[17]Fenwick held the position of rector until 1820, when he was succeeded byJames Whitfield.[18]From 1809 to 1815, he also served on theboard of directors of Georgetown College.[19]

Simultaneous with his rectorship, he becamevicar generalfor the Archdiocese of Baltimore in 1819.[15]In this position he served as chaplain inPort Tobacco, Maryland,where he saidMassevery other Sunday. He was also required to travel to three other parishes throughoutCharles County(in Lower Zacchia, Upper Zacchia, andPomfret) every other Sunday, because they had been abandoned by a priest who returned to England.[20]

He was considered on several occasions for being raised to theepiscopate,specifically asBishop of Louisiana and the Two FloridasorBishop of Detroit.[21]He was also considered by BishopEdward Fenwickfor being made thecoadjutor bishopof theDiocese of Cincinnati.[22]

Georgetown College[edit]

The Jesuitvisitorto the United States,Peter Kenney,recommended to ArchbishopAmbrose Maréchalof Baltimore that Fenwick be appointed president of Georgetown College in the summer of 1820.[5]This recommendation heeded, he was informed that he would be named to the office in August of that year,[3]and his term officially began on September 16, 1820.[23]He assumed the office very reluctantly fromAnthony Kohlmann,who quit the presidency to establish theWashington Seminary.[24]Resenting his transfer from the cathedral in Baltimore to Georgetown, Fenwick viewed the college as having "one foot in the grave of disgrace" and little prospect for recovery.[3]

Georgetown University campus in 1828
The campus of Georgetown College shortly after the end of Enoch Fenwick's presidency

Fenwick undertook several reforms of the curriculum. He divided the year into two semesters, and definitively prescribed the course of study as including one class of rudiments, three in grammar, one inhumanities,and one inrhetoric.Each professor also taughtAncient Greek,French,Latin,and English in their classes.[25]The first college journal, calledThe Minerva,was also circulated. Printing presses were not available to the school, so it was written inmanuscriptform, and lasted for only a few issues.[26]Thecollege's librarysaw substantial growth during his tenure, and he personally donated a number of books.[27]

Despite these reforms, Fenwick's administration of the college was evaluated byStephen Larigaurdelle Dubuisson,a subsequent president of Georgetown, as "wretched".[28]The size of the student body declined, due to the opening ofColumbian Collegeand the Washington Seminary nearby, and the college's debts grew, as he viewed pursuing parents for overdue tuition and board distasteful during the economicrecession.The reputation of the school suffered due to this.[29]Fenwick attempted to offset this decline by publishing a newprospectusand placing advertisements in newspapers.[23]His administration was markedly hands-off, as he allowed theprefectof studies, Roger Baxter, to manage most of the affairs of the school. Baxter was known for his liberal attitude toward student discipline and in his own consumption of alcohol and alleged unaccompanied visitation of women in theCity of Washington;[29]Baxter was later deported to Europe by theprovincial superior,Francis Dzierozynski.[30]

On March 10, 1824, Ann Carbery Mattingly, the sister of MayorThomas Carberyof Washington, D.C., was apparently cured of terminalbreast cancerafter being delivered aEucharistby Dubuisson, then a priest atSt. Patrick's Church,in conjunction with the prayers of PrinceAlexander of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürstin Germany. News of the event spread quickly throughout the city and the cure was promoted as amiracleby Dubuisson and Kohlmann.[31]Meanwhile, an anonymous letter was published in theNational Intelligencerin April denouncing the legitimacy of the miracle and sharply criticizing Kohlmann. It was immediately suspected that the author of the letter was Thomas Levins, an Irish Jesuit professor at Georgetown. Dzierozynski demanded an explanation from Levins and Levins's superior, Fenwick, but both refused to answer. In October 1824, a series of even harsher letters was published, and Levins was expelled from the Society of Jesus by theJesuit Superior General,Luigi Fortis,in January 1825.[30]

After being confronted by Dzierozynski, Fenwick left the college in August 1825 forSt. Thomas Manorin Maryland and – although he had not officially resigned the presidency – refused to return to Georgetown.[32]This effectively left Dzierozynski, who spoke little English and was unfamiliar with American ways, in charge of the school.[28]Fenwick was officially replaced by his brother, Benedict, on September 15, 1825,[32]who resumed the office in anactingcapacity.[33]Fenwick died on November 25, 1827, at Georgetown College, and was buried in theJesuit Community Cemetery.[4]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^Georgetown was a separately chartered city within theDistrict of Columbiauntil the consolidation of the district's governments into a single entity, Washington, D.C., with theOrganic Act of 1871.[1]
  2. ^The other three ordained alongside Fenwick were Benedict Fenwick, Leonard Edelen, and James Spink.[10]

References[edit]

Citations[edit]

  1. ^Dodd 1909,p. 40
  2. ^Buckley 2013,p. 100
  3. ^abcdeCurran 1993,p. 92
  4. ^abHistorical Records and Studies1909,p. 385
  5. ^abCurran 1993,p. 90
  6. ^abDevitt 1909,p. 31
  7. ^McLaughlin 1899,p. 141
  8. ^Curran 1993,p. 40
  9. ^Catalogue of the Maryland Mission1886,p. 189
  10. ^abRecords of the American Catholic Historical Society1911,p. 252
  11. ^abCurran 2012,pp. 14–16
  12. ^Hughes 2009,p. 872
  13. ^Ryan 1903,p. 197
  14. ^Shea 1891,p. 61
  15. ^abcRyan 1903,p. 203
  16. ^Easby-Smith 1907,p. 58
  17. ^abHistorical Records and Studies1909,p. 386
  18. ^The Catholic Church in the United States of America1914,p. 59
  19. ^Curran 1993,p. 402
  20. ^Hughes 2009,p. 956
  21. ^O'Daniel 1920,p. 275
  22. ^O'Daniel 1920,p. 304
  23. ^abShea 1891,p. 58
  24. ^Buckley 2013,p. 94
  25. ^Easby-Smith 1907,p. 97
  26. ^Shea 1891,p. 59
  27. ^"History of the Georgetown University Library".Georgetown University Library.Archivedfrom the original on July 4, 2018.RetrievedJuly 7,2019.
  28. ^abBuckley 2013,p. 110
  29. ^abCurran 1993,p. 93
  30. ^abCurran 1993,p. 97
  31. ^Curran 1993,p. 96
  32. ^abCurran 1993,p. 98
  33. ^Curran 1993,p. 404

Sources[edit]

External links[edit]

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by
Francis Beeston
 3rd Rector ofSt. Peter's Pro-Cathedral
1809–1820 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
–
 Vicar Generalof theArchdiocese of Baltimore
1819–1820 		Succeeded by
–
Academic offices
Preceded by 12thPresident of Georgetown College
1820–1825 		Succeeded byas Acting President
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