Nicholas Chrysostom Matz

Nicholas Chrysostom Matz (April 6, 1850 – August 9, 1917) was a French-born prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as bishop of Denver in Colorado from 1889 until his death in 1917.

Biography

Early life Nicholas Matz was born in Munster, Moselle (Lorraine) in France to Antoine and Marie-Anne (Boul) Matz. He began his classical course at the minor seminary of Fénétrange in 1865.

In 1868, he and his family came to the United States, where they settled at Cincinnati, Ohio. While in Cincinnati, Matz in 1869 met Bishop Joseph Projectus Machebeuf, stopping there on his way to the East Coast. Machebeuf recruited Matz to finish his preparation for the priesthood in Denver, Colorado, in the newly erected Apostolic Vicariate of Colorado. He then served as a curate at the cathedral of Denver until 1877, when he became pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Georgetown, Colorado, a booming mining town in the Rocky Mountains

In 1907, Matz became embroiled in a protracted dispute with Reverend Joseph Carrigan, the popular pastor of St. Patrick's Parish in Denver. Carrigan started constructing a new St. Patrick's Church without permission from the diocese. Matz ordered him to stop, but Carrigan continued it anyway. To compound the dispute, Carrigan in July 1907 issued a pamphlet titled "Answer to Bishop Matz". In the pamphlet, Carrigan accused Matz of theft, lying, simony among other crimes. These personal attacks reportedly dismayed many Carrigan sympathizers.

When Carrigan refused the transfer, Matz in June 1909 suspended him from public ministry in the diocese. Carrigan sued Matz in civil court, but the case was dismissed. Matz in November 1909 excommunicated Carrigan. The national press coverage of this feud prompted the apostolic delegate to the United States, Archbishop Diomede Falconio, to travel to Denver to investigate It. In a compromise, Carrigan agreed to a transfer to St. Stephen's Parish in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, and Matz rescinded the excommunication and suspension decrees.

Tensions remained high between Matz and the Irish clergy. When Matz was in Rome, a Reverend Culkin from the diocese physically confronted him. Another Denver priest, a Reverend Cushing threatened to shoot Matz. As both men were suffering from alcohol abuse and other disorders, the diocese eventually placed them in church homes for treatment.

In 1913, while sailing to Europe to visit the pope, Matz broke his kneecap onboard the ship. He spent his time in Italy hospitalized. After the outbreak of World War I in July 1914, he returned to the United States with his leg in a cast. His leg never fully recovered from the trauma. During 1915, he suffered a series of strokes. Then in October 1915 he reinjured his knee during a church service. After entering a depression, Matz's doctors persuade him to enter St. Elizabeth Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, to recuperate. During his absence, Matz entrusted the administration of the diocese to his vicar general. Still in frail health, Matz in August 2016 requested that the Vatican appointed a coadjutor bishop to assist him.

Death After suddenly becoming seriously ill, Matz died on August 9, 1917, at St. Anthony's Hospital in Denver at age 67. During his last hours he told a visitor, "Tell the priests that I am the enemy of none."