 Fr. Sadoc Francis Vilarrasa, OP
Fr. Francis Sadoc Vilarrasa y Costa was born August 9, 1814 in La Pobla de Lillet,
Catalonia, Spain to Pablo Vilarrasa y Cop and Teresa Costa. He had one brother and
three sisters: Eduardo Maria, Maria Teresa, Paula, Maria Juana. He received the
habit at the age of 15 at St. Catherine, Barcelona. He was solemnly professed
September 25, 1830. He studied at St. Catherine, Barcelona until 1835 when the
Convent was burned in a riot, July 25, 1835. After that he studied at Santa Maria
della Quercia, Viterbo, from 1835 or 1836 to 1839. He was ordained May 16, 1837
probably by Archbishop (later Cardinal) Gaspar Bernard Pianetti, of Viterbo who signed the
document of his first Mass.
His first assignment was assistant to the
Novice Master. Fr. Henri Dominique Lacordaire received the habit at the Convent of
Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome on April 9, 1839, and arrived at La Quercia a few days
later, and Fr. Alexandre Vincent Jandel, who was to be the Master General, received the
habit on May 15, 1841 at La Quercia, both while Fr. Vilarrasa was assistant. From
1841 to 1844 he was also Professor of Theology there.
People have described him as a dark, rather short, man who wore
glasses in his later years. A story comes to us that he had to use a bench to read
and preach from the lectern. When he was reading the Gospel and Jesus said: "A
little while and you will no longer see Me; and again a little while, and you will see
Me," he fell off the bench.
He volunteered for the American Mission at the time that Fr. George
Augustine Joseph Wilson, Provincial of St. Joseph’s Province, was in Europe in
1844. Pius Miles, O.P. of Nashville made a strong plea for Vilarrasa's services in
America. By 1845 he was assigned to St. Joseph’s Province in America.
On January 3, 1845 he arrived in New York from LaHavre after a 48 day
journey. He had traveled with Fathers Januarius Mannes D’Arco and James
Aloysius Orengo, who had volunteered for St. Joseph’s Province, and Fathers Langdon
Thomas Grace and Nicholas Raymond Young, who had finished their course of studies in
Italy. His first position in this new province was Master of Novices at St.
Joseph’s Priory, Somerset, Ohio. That same year he was elected Prior of the
same house and appointed professor of philosophy. At the end of that year, an
intermediate Chapter convened at St. Joseph’s, with Vilarrasa as secretary, and it
was dominated by those who wished to establish strict observance. He kept strict
observance at St. Joseph's while he was Prior. Fr. Joseph Alemany was with him in
the fledgling Province. Fr. Alemany had a different opinion of Dominican life
favoring activity over strict observance. On October 16, 1847, at the first elective
Chapter of St. Joseph’s Province Vilarrasa was a vocal as Prior, but they could not
agree to a Provincial because of the difference in opinion concerning Dominican
life. Fr. Joseph Sadoc Alemany was appointed Provincial.
Yet, on May 31, 1850 Fr. Alemany was named Bishop of Monterey and
consecrated June 30, 1850 in Rome. That same year, Fr. Vilarrasa went to Rome as
Diffinitor of the General Chapter. While together in Rome, Fr. Alemany invited Fr.
Vilarrasa to accompany him to California. Fr. Vilarrasa said: “I freely gave my
consent to this invitation, with, however, this express condition, that I should not go
there for any other reason than this I might provide for the spread of the Order
there.” In July 18, 1850 the Province of the Holy Name of God, of both
Californias, was established by Fr. Girolamo Gigli, Vicar General, with Bishop Alemany as
first Provincial and Fr. Vilarrasa was assigned to the missions of both Californias.
On December 6, 1850 they arrived in the San Francisco Harbor.
Columbus, the big steamer, docked very late at 11 PM and so they waited until morning to
disembark. They came with Sr. Mary Goemare who would begin the mission of the
Dominican sisters. Vilarrasa and the others found their way to St. Francis Church
were they celebrated the Eucharist and found Pastor Augustine Langlois.
About December 16, 1850 Vilarrasa went to Stockton by
steamboat. He stayed with some German Catholics, and an Irishman gave him a house.
Not wasting time the house was furnished as a chapel, and the first Mass was
celebrated there on Christmas Day. Thereafter, he preached in English and Spanish on
alternate Sundays. Vilarrasa was able to stay four weeks, and it was believed that
this transformed house became the location of the first chapel and first Mass in
Stockton. During this historic visit to Stockton, he went to Mariposa to hear the
confession of a man sentenced to death.
Vilarrasa writes that there is only one
Church in San Francisco (St. Francis) with High Mass every Sunday, sermons in Spanish,
French and English, Benediction in the afternoon, and Vespers. He doubtlessly
participated. Also established at that time were two Catholic schools, one for boys
and one for girls. At that time, he also went to Sacramento and visited the gold
mines.
In February of 1851, Vilarrasa was appointed Commissary in Region of
California by Jandel who was the Master General at the time. On March 5, 1851, about
7 p.m. he left by steamship with Bishop Alemany and Mother Mary Goemare and arrived in
about twelve hours in Monterey, 7 a.m., March 6. On March 7, 1851, the feast of St.
Thomas Aquinas, the Bishop sang his first High Mass in his cathedral of San Carlos
Borromeo and Fr. Vilarrasa undoubtedly assisted.
In a house first loaned and then sold to the Sisters by William
Hartnell, Bishop Alemany erected the first Sisters’ Convent, in Monterey, on March
13, 1851, Santa Catalina de Siena. This became the first convent in California.
Fr. Vilarrasa was the Chaplain for the Convent and gave the habit to two novices,
one of them Sister Mary Dominica (Concepcion Arguello) on April 11, 1851. Vilarrasa
and Alemany taught in the school. Perhaps, Fr. Vilarrasa lived at the Convent, since
he was the Chaplain. He apparently did not live with the Bishop.
On May 2, 1851, Fr. Vilarrasa was named the Pastor of San Carlos
Borromeo Church and Mission in Carmel. He celebrated Mass there and preached every
two weeks. He continued these ministries until the Fathers moved to Benicia.
According to a notice at San Carlos in Carmel, Father Vilarrasa took all the movable
Church property to Monterey after his last Mass. In February 4, 1852, Vilarrasa
established the Convent of St. Dominic in Monterey and gave the habit to six Novices from
Spain, who had arrived in Monterey on December 26, 1851, having left LaHavre July 12,
1851. He attended the First Synod in California on March 19-23, 1852. For the
year of 1853 he also was made pastor of the church in Monterey, alongside his other duties
of Novice-Master and teacher at the two Catholic schools. In Monterey, Fr. Vilarrasa
and the novices wore the habit through the city without astonishing anyone. The
Convent of Novices kept the rule exactly, with perpetual abstinence from meat and with the
full Office, Matins being at 3 a.m. The reality was harsher. The Convent was
two small houses 200 yards apart, one of which was a church and sleeping quarters while
the other one was a refectory and kitchen.
On March 17, 1854 Fr. Vilarrasa celebrated his first Mass in Benicia.
The city had a church built, but it had a debt of two thousand dollars and was not
consecrated. The Dominicans moved to Benicia March 31, 1854. In 1855, they
built the convent and enlarged it the next year. They incurred a debt of seventeen
thousand dollars and paid it off over a period of fourteen years. Finally in 1857,
Fr. Vilarrasa had the joy of seeing two of his novices ordained to the priesthood.
By 1863, Fr. Vilarrasa had bought a lot in the rapidly growing city
of San Francisco. The Dominicans and the Bishop reached an agreement that the lot
would house a parish church and a house for the Dominicans. The church was named St.
Brigid's and the house was named Holy Rosary. The Bishop's agreement allowed them to
purchase another lot for their convent, which would not be a parish church. That
same year he went to Europe to discuss his situation in California, and he brought with
him the newly professed student, Pius Miles to study in Europe. He made an agreement
with the English Province to educated and form Novices and Students of the California
Province. During this time away, he also visited his family living in Spain.
Fr. Vilarrasa returned from Europe in 1865 with Fr. Antoninus
Migliorini who only stayed here for three years. During those years he was part of
the first Biennial Congregation and the Superior of St. Dominic's in Benicia. After
the two houses of St. Dominic's in Benicia and Holy Rosary in San Francisco, the Bishop
gave them St. Francis Church in San Francisco which was the second church in the city
after the Mission. We served this parish from 1865 to 1872. In this year, Fr.
Vilarrasa was president of the first Biennial Congregation of California held in
Benicia. This was a meeting of friars for legislation of the Province.
In the next year, 1866, Fr. Vilarrasa went to the Second Plenary
Council of Baltimore. He was on the committee for the Sacraments. In 1867, he
was president of the second Biennial Congregation of California. During this whole
time he did not hold the Prior or Pastor position at St. Dominic's in Benicia, he always
instituted others. In 1869, the house of Holy Rosary and the community at St.
Francis parish became separated from the convent in Benicia. In 1873, the convent
and parish of St. Dominic's in San Francisco was built and dedicated. In 1885, Fr.
Vilarrasa had an attack which left him a little paralyzed and prevented him from going to
the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore. Fr. Vilarrasa died on March 17, 1888, thirty
four years to the day of his first Mass in Benicia, fifty years a priest, fifty-seven
years in religious life, and seventy-three years of age.
Fr. Vilarrasa was a different kind of missionary. He realized
the importance of friars to be grounded in prayer. As Prior, Superior, or
Provincial, he established houses of strict observance. He was a lone friar in a
foreign land when he landed with Bishop Alemany and Sr. Mary Goemare. He persevered
through many hardships, but saw to it that Dominicans would be in West to praise, to
bless, and to preach.
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