The Rosensteel Story

Not only is 1984 a year of celebration throughout the state of Maryland, but it is also a year in which we commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Ordination to the Holy Priesthood of a man, much admired, loved and respected. One of the last, if not the last, of the true pioneer priests of this area, Father Rosensteel exemplified the true relationship of brotherhood which we enjoy.

Before we recall some of the happy memories of the life and times of this pious country pastor, let us reflect for a moment on the life of Father John Carroll. Father Carroll served as the first resident pastor of Saint John the Evangelist's Church at Forest Glen and later as the first Bishop and Archbishop of the United States.

Before this young country became a Republic, young John Carroll was destined for great things, many of which left their mark at Forest Glen, known then as Rock Creek. He was born in 1735 in Upper Marlborough (Marlboro), the fourth child of Daniel and Eleanor (Darnall) Carroll. Leaving America at age twelve, he journeyed to Europe to study and did not return to his native country until he was almost forty years of age. After his ordination to the Priesthood about 1769, he taught in Jesuit schools for a number of years. Returning to America in 1774, he took up residence at his mother's plantation at Rock Creek with her and his sisters Mary and Elizabeth. It was here on the porch of his mother's home that he set up a chapel for the Catholics in the area and began what was to become Saint John's parish. Since Father Carroll was without funds, his mother soon had erected a small frame chapel which was to serve the Catholics of Montgomery County until 1850.

Saint John's was the first parish in what is now Montgomery County. Father Carroll, however, tended his flock in a much larger area, one that now includes Montgomery and Frederick counties in Maryland, Fairfax, Prince William and Stafford counties in Virginia and the entire area now in the District of Columbia. The Jesuit missions continued to serve in the southern counties of Maryland.

In 1784, some ten years after returning to America, he was appointed "Superior" with the Holy Father in Rome.

Records dated 1784-1785 reflected the approximate numbers of Catholics in Maryland at 16,000, while Pennsylvania claimed 7,000, New York 1,500 and Virginia a mere 200 or so. The majority of the Catholic population in Maryland could be found in or near the rapidly growing city of Baltimore.

It was in 1786 that Father Carroll left his beloved home and parish of Saint John's at Forest Glen and moved to Baltimore to be closer to the center of the Catholic population. In 1789 he was consecrated the First Bishop of the United States, establishing the first See, that of Baltimore, in this new country just a few years short of the 20th anniversary of the founding of the new republic. In 1808 America was honored with the appointment of its first Archbishop, John Carroll of Baltimore.

It was not until June 7, 1886, one hundred and two years after John Carroll was appointed "Prefect Apostolic" that the head of the See of Baltimore would be honored with the "red hat." It was on that date that Archbishop James Gibbons, formerly head of the Diocese of Richmond, Virginia, who had been appointed to the Archdiocese of Baltimore in October 1877 as the sixth successor to Archbishop Carroll, was elevated to be a "Prince of the Church." Thus was to begin, perhaps, one of the many incidents which would link the old with the new, the past with the present.

On December 20, 1884, at the old Cathedral in Baltimore, young Charles Oscar Rosensteel was ordained to the holy priesthood by the then Archbishop James Gibbons. This occasion marked the beginning of a friendship that would last until the Cardinal's death on March 24, 1921.

This young man, who at his own request would always remain "just a country pastor," was, nevertheless, destined to play a prominent role in the history of Archbishop John Carroll's first love, the little parish church of Saint John's at Forest Glen. Through his relationship with Cardinal Gibbons and mutual friends in the Maryland State Council, K. of C., he was instrumental in the founding of the first Council in Montgomery County at Forest Glen, which upon his death would bear with honor his name.

Our late and beloved founding Chaplain, Father Charles Oscar Rosensteel was born on a farm near Emmitsburg, Maryland on May 13, 1855, one of several children of Thomas and Mary (Singer) Rosensteel. He received his early education at Saint Francis College in Loretto, Pennsylvania. When he was about nineteen he entered Mt. St. Mary's Seminary in Emmitsburg where after seven years he moved on to complete his priestly studies at Saint Mary's (Paca Street) in Baltimore. Some three years later, having received his Diaconate on June 7, 1884, he was ordained a "Priest Forever" on December 20th of that same year, just one hundred years ago.

The Rosensteel family roots go back many years in colonial American history. As early as 1733 they were seated in York, then a much debated section of the colony of Maryland, later ceded to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as a result of the establishment of the Mason and Dixon line. The family name then as for many ears after and even now, is synonymous with Catholicism. An elder brother, a nephew, and a cousin were priests; another cousin was Sister Emma of the Franciscan community. Another close relative, Mrs. Rose White (nee Landry) was the second Superior of the Daughters of Charity at Emmitsburg and revered second only to Elizabeth Seton, its foundress. One may wonder what influence these relationships may have had on Charles Rosensteel as a young man. Also, what part, if any, his friendship with James Roosevelt Bayley, a nephew of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, and a predecessor of Cardinal Gibbons as Archbishop of Baltimore, played in these early years of his life. Certainly Archbishop Bayley knew of the area in the Forest Glen Parish because of his Episcopal visit there in 1873.

In any event young Father Rosensteel seemed to be a man of destiny, although he would never admit to such, and would remain all his life a humble parish priest. Over the years he refused many opportunities of a pastorate at churches in both Washington and Baltimore. For almost 52 years he labored alone without a full time assistant or a real vacation, and with few moments of personal leisure. Chances are if you found him in one of these rare moments, he would be surrounded by children.

Serving as a curate at Saint Anne's in Baltimore for the nine months following his ordination, he was then transferred to Southern Maryland where he served as Pastor of Saint Mary's, Newport, and attended its mission of the Church of the Holy Ghost at Issue, both in Charles County. While serving these parishes he made extensive repairs to the old church at Newport as well as to the one at Issue. He also established a parochial school at Newport but was compelled to discontinue it after two years for lack of funds. When he left his parishes in Charles County in November of 1889 he did so, as he stated in his report to the Chancery Office, "without debt."

For those of us in Rosensteel Council it will be of interest to note that Rev. Msgr. Louis W. Albert, our former Chaplain and a former pastor of Saint John's, followed Father Rosensteel some sixty years later as Pastor of the Church of the Holy Ghost at Issue. When he arrived Father Albert, like Father Rosensteel, found the parish deeply in debt, and when he left some years later, he also left the parish "without debt."

Following his labors in Charles County, Father Rosensteel was appointed the nineteenth resident pastor at Saint Mary's in Rockville on November 5, 1889. November 13th of that year marked the opening of the Catholic University of America, which was, at that time, within the limits of his parish. During the nine years of his pastorate at Saint mary's, the parish extended from the Patuxent to the Potomac Rivers, and from the area around Germantown into the very heart of the District. this embraced not only the mission at Forest Glen and others in lower Montgomery County but also those areas which in later years would witness the erection of the early parish boundaries of Saint Anthony's, Nativity, Sacred Heart, and Saint Gabriel's to name but a few in the northern sections of the city of Washington, D.C.

During his years at Saint Mary's he made extensive repairs to the church, both inside and out. He also started a parochial school, paying the teachers out of his own meager funds. However, after two years the program had to be abandoned.

Imagine, if you will, travel by horseback in those days, over roads often impassable from the depth of the mud in spring or the height of snow in winter, notwithstanding the heat of summer and freezing cold of winter. He found his parishioners were few, extremely poor and widely scattered. The total population in Montgomery County in 1890 was recorded at about 27,200 and only 30,450 in 1900. The county's Catholic population at this time numbered less than a thousand. Accurate figures were not kept and most often one would attend Mass once or perhaps twice a month depending on weather and living conditions, and never be entered on the parish or mission records.

In March, 1893 Father Rosensteel determined that the mission chapel at Forest Glen, the second Saint John's erected in 1850, was no longer safe to use for services and laid plans for the erection of a new edifice. This one was to be of a more enduring quality, and to be constructed of stone, instead of wood as had the previous two. The cornerstone of this beautiful brown Seneca stone church was laid on May 11, 1893 by Cardinal Gibbons. Speaking on this occasion, the Very Reverend Thomas O'Gorman, D.C. of Catholic University commented on the growth of the Catholic Church in America. Referring to Archbishop John Carroll, he said that "Saint John's, Forest Glen, was the Bethlehem of the Church in America and Baltimore was the Jerusalem. From this spot had sprung the Catholic hierarchy of this country; on this spot was planted the mustard seed from which had grown a great tree; and Saint John's Chapel founded here by Father Carroll, has impregnated the entire continent with Catholicism -- Father Carroll, in this country, was the father of religious civilization as George Washington was of temporal civilization..." Less than one year later, on April 29, 1894, Cardinal Gibbons again journeyed to Forest Glen to dedicate the third church of Saint John the Evangelist.

One may often have wondered when the love affair between Father Rosensteel and Saint John's first began. Was it during his early days in the seminary as a student of church history? Or was it while at Rockville when he would travel first by horseback and later by buggy, that he began to retrace the paths of his much admired predecessor? Was it prayer, divine direction, the pressing needs of time, recognition of deeds accomplished, or perhaps all of the above, that prompted Cardinal Gibbons' decision to make Saint John's a separate parish and to name Father Rosensteel as Pastor?

On November 2, 1898 Father Rosensteel became the second resident pastor at Forest Glen. He was 43 years old when he assumed his new duties, but John Carroll was almost forty when he returned to America as a young priest to found his little church at Rock Creek. When Father Carroll left for Baltimore in 1786 he left his beloved Saint John's without a resident pastor. From that time until 1813 when Saint Mary's was established by the Jesuits from Georgetown College, now Georgetown University, Saint John's was just a mission chapel. Jesuit missionaries from Georgetown College, Holy Trinity in Georgetown (established 1788), Southern Maryland missions, and the mission of White Marsh in present Prince Georges County, would journey to Forest Glen, whenever possible, to care for the spiritual needs of the Catholics in the area, which by 1813 would number between 130 and 150 souls.

As the resident pastor at Saint John's, Father Rosensteel still had responsibility for the mission churches at Brightwood, D.C. and Hollins (Hawlins) River or Mt. Zion, now Saint Peter's, Olney. On November 9, 1898 just one week after his appointment to Saint John's, Father Rosensteel laid the cornerstone for the new Saint Peter's. Having determined the old church at Hollins River was no longer safe to use, he sold the property, buying the necessary land at Olney from a "Quaker lady." Here the church was erected. On November 26, 1899 Cardinal Gibbons dedicated the new church where Mass was offered one Sunday a month. When Father Rosensteel had paid off all the debts, Saint Peter's was transferred back to Rockville as a mission. While in those days most priests would travel by horse and buggy, Father Rosensteel, ever one to keep abreast of the times, would ride his bicycle to and from Rockville, Olney, Forest Glen, or even into Brightwood in the performance of his duties.

At the request of Cardinal Gibbons, Father Rosensteel started construction of a church in Brightwood in 1900. He was also delegated by His Eminence to bless the new church of the Nativity, which he did on February 1, 1901. Some years later, Father Rosensteel asked the Cardinal to assign another priest to take charge of this new parish. When Father Francis X. Bischoff, later Rt. Rev. Msgr., was appointed to this rapidly growing parish, on September 21, 1907, Father Rosensteel advised that the parish was out of debt and had $1,379.88 in the bank.

Ever aware of the needs of his parishioners and with a desire to make a parish a convenience to the various communities he served, Father Rosensteel built yet another church, this one at Kensington, Maryland. Construction was started in January, 1911, and he said the first Mass there on August 20, 1911. Again Cardinal Gibbons came to walk the paths of his predecessor, Archbishop John Carroll, and to formally dedicate the new church of the Holy Redeemer on October 29 of the same year.

True to his interest in and love for the history of Saint John's, Father Rosensteel deserves much credit for his care and preservation of the original altar used in the first mission chapel of Saint John's at Rock Creek, or Forest Glen. He was a gifted man with an inventive genius for mechanics and his hands were equally adept with a painter's brush or a sculptor's chisel. He constructed an exact replica of the original Carroll chapel following a description given him by an aged lady who had worshiped there as a small child over 70 years before. In 1934 the Council built a life size replica of this first church of Saint John's containing the original altar used by Father Carroll.

In 1899 he completed construction of a new rectory at Forest Glen and began buying property in various parts of the parish for possible development and erection of additional churches in the future. As more and more Catholic families were moving into the area, his foresight and keen observation of the trends developing in the early part of the 20th century were to bear fruit in the decades ahead.

Perhaps his being known as one of the last, if not the last, of the pioneer priests of the area, can lead one to develop several meanings from that accolade. When other priests were traveling by horse and buggy, he had graduated to riding a bicycle, at least in good weather. He was also the first priest in the Archdiocese to own and operate a motorcycle which permitted him to visit his flock with somewhat greater speed and perhaps with some degree of comfort or ease. He slipped one, however, because he became only the second to own and drive an automobile in the discharge of his ministry. It is believed that he never got over the fact that one of the priests, Father John T. Coolahan, who succeeded him as the 25th resident pastor at Saint Mary's in Rockville (1912-'29) was the first one to own and drive an automobile.

However, when it came down to the really important matters, the spiritual welfare and church related temporal needs of his parishioners, no one could ever take him out of the driver's seat. A December 1921 report to the Chancery Office in Baltimore is filled with appropriate comments as to his record in building new churches, renovating old ones, establishing missions and/or new parishes, offering Mass, instructing the young and old, administering the Sacraments, getting parishes out of debt and similar duties expected of a spiritual leader.

One incident, strange and perhaps unexplainable, yet true, gives testimony to the spiritual side of this wonderful man and his unending and priestly love for the members of his congregation. One night he was aroused from a sound sleep to hear a voice in the dark outside the window of the rectory asking him to go on a sick call. Out he went into the winds of a terrible snowstorm and administered the last rites of the church to a dying woman. In thanking him for coming, the husband said, "Well Father, it's God's mercy that you should have come, but how did you know there was anyone sick in our house?" The woman died before Father started back through the storm to the rectory, and the mystery of the voice in the night was never solved. All during the years of his ministry Father Rosensteel drew to himself the admiration and respect of his fellow priests. His was a simple faith inherited from his ancestors. He was, as has been said, a priest's priest, a builder not only of churches but of men. A tribute to his humility perhaps was that he had dug his own grave in the church cemetery, many years before he would ever have need of it. Finally, when the time came for his burial in 1940, it was found he had not made it wide enough. Apparently he had considered the dimensions of the typical "body casket" in use in those earlier days and not the type in which he was finally laid to rest.

In 1934 Father Rosensteel celebrated the golden jubilee of his ordination. Two years later at age 81 and after 52 years of caring for the spiritual needs of his parishioners, he found that while the spirit was willing, the performance of his duties as pastor full time without help had taken its toll. It was then that he received his first "full time" assistant.

Father, later Monsignor, Joseph T. Kennedy was appointed "co-pastor" to assist Father Rosensteel during his declining years and succeeded him as the third resident pastor when Father Rosensteel went into retirement in April 1939 because of failing health. He left his beloved Saint John's at Forest Glen to live with his sister, Stella Rosensteel, at 349 Locust Street in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. On June 13, 1940 he passed to his eternal reward in the 86th year of his life and the 56th year of his priesthood. Following a Solemn High Mass of Requiem on June 17, 1940 at Saint John's in Forest Glen, he was laid to rest in the church cemetery.

Thus may we commit to memory a just man of pioneer spirit, humble in faith, but gifted with a Christian love for all. He lived as he was ordained, a "priest forever," a man of God, honored, loved and respected by all who knew him, Catholic and non-Catholic alike.

As Knights of Columbus, and particularly as members of the Council, which with honor bears his name, let us not lose sight of the pioneer spirit which has been a part of our Council since its founding in 1920. Due to the insight of Father Rosensteel and a small group of his parishioners and friends, our Council received its Charter on December 2nd of that year, holding its first official election and meeting on the fifteenth of the same month. While the Council was originally known as Forest Glen Council, its name was changed to Father Charles Oscar Rosensteel Council on January 21, 1941. In keeping with the spirit of our charter members and founding Chaplain, the Council was the first or pioneer council established in this area of the state of Maryland. Over the years our Council has played a part, directly or indirectly, in the chartering of over twenty Councils in Montgomery and its neighboring counties.

While it is not intended at this time to relate many details of the history of our Council, perhaps a few incidents more closely related to Father Rosensteel and his churches are worthy of mention. When it was first organized in 1920, the Council held its meetings, degrees and social affairs in the old Saint John's parish hall. During the late thirties and early forties the parish hall was the scene of its annual Communion breakfasts. In 1926 the Council moved to a home at the corner of Georgia and Wayne Avenues in Silver Spring where it remained until in 1931 the Archdiocese secured the property and established Saint Michael's church in the council hall. It was then that the Council returned "home" to Forest Glen and to its original place of meeting in the old parish hall. Here it continued to meet until 1936 when it moved to its new home across the street from Saint John's Church on property donated by Father Rosensteel. While its quarters have been enlarged and improved many times, starting with an extensive fund drive in 1950, the Council remains close to the heart, the ideals, and the spirit of its founders and near the final resting place of many of its charter members.

It might also be worthy of mention at this time that the old parish hall at Saint John's, the meeting place for our Council for many years, also received a worthy resting place. During the height of World War II, Monsignor Kennedy, Father Rosensteel's successor at Saint John's determined that the increased needs of the parish would justify establishment of another church in the Four Corners area. Thus in 1944 when the mission church of Saint Bernadette's was erected, building materials were in short supply and the timbers, all still solid and sound, from the old parish hall at Saint John's were used in its construction. This serves as a tribute, in many ways, to the man who saw to its original construction almost fifty years before, Father Charles O. Rosensteel.