Page 7 - GC-Jan-Feb-2025

The dancer who brought The German Citizen • January - February 2025 • 7

down the King of Bavaria St. Michael Church’s deep German roots

By Martin Ederer
By Martin Ederer t. Michael Parish in Down-
he story of Lola Montez is town Buffalo has decided to
the story of an Irish lass, ad- Slaunch an appeal to the Vatican
Tventures in India, men, wild against current diocesan plans to
escapades, men, serial marriages, suppress the parish and sell the
men, a career in acting, men, King church.
Ludwig I of Bavaria, the Revolu- The parish, with a strong Ger-
tion of 1848, men, and emigration man history, was established as part
to America. of the story of St. Louis Parish,
Lola Montez was born Eliza which refused to turn the deed of
Rosanna Gilbert in 1821 in County their property over to diocesan lead-
Sligo, Ireland into an Anglo-Irish ership through the 1840s and 1850s.
family. Her father was a military Since St. Louis parish was estab-
man who took his young family to lished before any diocesan jurisdic-
India when she was two. He died tions had been solidified in the area,
of cholera shortly after arriving its parishioners had to establish their
there. Her mother, then 19, quickly own legal ownership and control of
married Lieutenant Patrick Craigie the property, which annoyed (Irish)
of Scotland in 1824. Eliza’s parents Lola Montez photographed by An- bishops later trying to finally impose
decided that she should attend their administrative control. Al-
school in Britain, but by the time she toine Samuel Adam-Salomon ca. though St. Louis’ original founders
was ten, she had already proven to 1860. Source: https://www.meister- were French, a German demo-
be quite the unruly exhibitionist. drucke.us/fine-art-prints/Antoine- graphic became dominant at the
Let’s not elaborate further. Samuel-Adam-Salomon/148433/Lola- parish by the 1840s. That’s the
At age16 Eliza eloped with Lieu- Montez,-c.1860-.html backstory.
tenant Thomas James in 1837. Five Jesuit activities in the Great
years later they separated in Cal- and liberal reforms, was the main Lakes region, meanwhile, dated to
cutta. The following year, at the age reason…this despite the fact that French missionary efforts in the
of 22, she appeared in London as she did support liberal reforms that 1600s among the Haudenosaunee,
Lola Montez, the Spanish Dancer. had fueled so many revolts else- but the more immediate 19 -century
th
The London public recognized her where that year. reason for a Jesuit presence in West-
as James’ wife, which killed her ca- Lola Montez fled Munich in the ern New York was an invitation
reer in England. She moved on to hopes that Ludwig would join her. from Bishop John Timon, Buffalo’s
the continent. He did not; she returned to London first bishop, in 1848. Originally
Her stage debut in Paris flopped and married George Trafford Heald, based at SS. Peter and Paul in
in 1844, but she did get busy meet- an army officer with an inheritance. Williamsville, the Jesuits got called
ing all the right people. She had an The rather restrictive terms of her di- to Buffalo because of the ongoing
affair with composer Franz Liszt; vorce from her first husband, how- conflict between Timon and the St. Michael Church, 2018.
she also made the acquaintance of ever, meant that she was now legally trustees of St. Louis Church over Durthaller S.J. made a last effort to tural inspection after the fire re-
Alexandre Dumas with whom she a bigamist. The couple fled to Spain financial and legal control of the get the St. Louis trustees to accept the vealed that the walls remained
allegedly also slept. Then she and France. After this turbulent parish property. ministry of the Jesuits from St. sound.
moved on to Jean-Baptiste Rose- marriage failed, she headed to the As his relationship with St. Louis Michael and to get the trustees to rec- The rebuilt church gained a
mond de Beauvallon, a famous United States in 1851. Heald deteriorated, Timon had to consider oncile the families “loyal to the modern interior. New windows
drama critic, who helped restore her drowned a few years later. placing the parish under interdict. bishop” who had left St. Louis during were ordered from the same Mu-
career chances…until she offended In the United States Montez per- He invited Rev. Lucas Caveng S.J. the interdict. He failed. Subsequent nich firm – F.X. Zettler – that had
Alexandre Dujarrier at a party. A formed as dancer and actress on the to become pastor there after the re- bishops after Timon were not as upset made the first set. Surviving origi-
duel ensued between the two men East Coast before she went to San maining French left to form St. by St. Louis’s irregular arrangements, nal windows were salvaged for re-
and Dujarrier was shot dead. Francisco, where she married a Pierre French Church, taking St. so the issue did subside on its own. use elsewhere. One ended up in
Lola Montez then went off to newspaperman. This marriage also Louis’ previous pastor with them. St. Louis Parish did not finally relin- Micronesia. A few small original
Munich in 1846. When she first met quickly failed. Caveng’s task was to bring St. Louis’ quish ownership of their property to windows remain in the rebuilt
King Ludwig I of Bavaria, she gave Lola Montez then went to Aus- trustees to some sort of understand- the diocese until…1979. But St. church, the two angel windows in
him an eyeful after he asked her an tralia in 1855. After initial suc- ing with the diocese, and in this he Michael Church was also in Buffalo the vestibule, and a few others hid-
impertinent question about her ap- cesses the critics panned her for rais- mainly failed. He left St. Louis in to stay and became a thriving parish. den behind new interior walls. The
pearance (long story about some- ing her dress too high and under- 1851, taking 19 German families Work began on the current St. most notable exterior change was
thing that would now get him sued). mining public morality. Box office with him. Michael Church in 1864. Designed a simpler, shorter tower. St.
He made her his mistress, a Bavarian receipts dropped. She also attacked In the basement of St. Pierre, by architect Patrick Keeley of New Michael reopened in September
subject, the Countess of Landsfeld, the editor of a newspaper that had Caveng celebrated Mass for his York, who had also designed St. 1963 and final touches were com-
Baroness of Rosenthal and put her published a bad review with a whip. small German congregation-in-ex- Joseph’s Cathedral, it was dedicated pleted by 1965.
on the royal payroll. All of this She returned to the United States in ile, which he placed under the pa- in 1867. The original Canisius High St. Michael lost much of its
made her controversial and well- 1856. On the return voyage her tronage of St. Michael the School and College eventually grew German neighborhood by the
hated. manager was lost after going over- Archangel. Caveng’s congregation up around the new church ably staffed 1960s as downtown and other ur-
It didn’t help, either, that she had board. Hmmm… Attempts at a was to be temporary, but as the by a growing number of Jesuit ban renewal projects encroached.
actively become the power directing U.S. comeback failed. trusteeship struggle wore on at St. refugees from Otto von Bismarck’s But it managed to transition nicely
the throne and its policies. Her ma- By 1857 she was touring in Louis, Timon decided to make the Kulturkampf in Germany. Among into downtown service parish. Be-
nipulations got the Minister of State Britain and America, giving lectures small German congregation more Canisius’ early alumni was Nelson cause of its convenient confession
dismissed. He had opposed the on morality (!). She spent her final permanent—and in the process he Baker, a name that became well- and Mass schedules and daily Eu-
King’s granting her citizenship and years doing rescue work among created a rival parish to weaken the known in Western New York. charistic Adoration, St. Mike’s re-
all her titles and perks. She also reg- troubled women. Effects of syphilis resolve of St. Louis’ trustees. St. St. Michael Church burned after mained a very active church until
ularly antagonized the Catholic got the best of her in 1861. She died, Michael Church ultimately was es- lightning struck it during a violent the Jesuits gave it up in 2023. The
Church in Bavaria. Then when uni- age 39, in New York. tablished to “break” St. Louis. 1962 thunderstorm. By the time the church is now staffed by priests of
versity students started protesting Lola Montez had a wild and ul- The Jesuits finally decided to fire was put out, little remained but the downtown family of parishes,
Ludwig’s patently corrupt govern- timately tragic life still best remem- build a church for the new congre- the thick stone walls. The exquisite which includes one Jesuit priest.
ment, she insisted that he close the bered for her affair with Ludwig I gation on the Washington Street lot interior had been destroyed. Struc- It now offers fewer masses and
university. Ludwig obliged. Fi- that made her part of the story of the diocese offered them—land Ti- confession opportunities.
nally, when revolutions erupted in Bavaria’s monarchy. She was hon- mon had originally bought for build-
every major city in Europe in 1848 ored for her beauty in Ludwig’s ing his own cathedral. In August
demanding liberal reforms and con- Gallery of Beauties at Nymphenburg 1851, the small congregation laid
stitutions, Ludwig was forced to ab- Palace in Munich. One must won- the cornerstone for St. Michael
dicate. His affair with Lola Montez, der if Ludwig was biased in that se- Church, which was dedicated in Jan-
probably more than constitutions lection.
uary 1852. St. Michael Church im-
mediately became popular in the
summer of 1852 when a cholera epi-
demic broke out in Buffalo. Almost
none of St. Michael’s parishioners
fell victim, a fact many attributed to
the “St. Ignatius Water” available
there. The parish grew.
In 1854, the Jesuits conducted
their first mission at St. Michael, a
mission so successful that many
neighborhood non-Catholics con-
verted. The intransigent Catholics
of St. Louis were another story. The
bishop lifted the interdict on St.
Louis in 1855 so that the Jesuits
could preach the mission there. At-
tendance decreased at St. Michael.
Although the interdict was gone
and St. Louis reopened, factional
strife persisted there. Rev. Joseph