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Patterns of Ecclesiastical Authority: The Problem of Chicago Succession, 1865–1881

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

James P. Gaffey
James P. Gaffey
Affiliation:
professor of history in the College of Notre Dame, Belmont, California.
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Extract

The inevitable tension between freedom and order within the Roman Catholic Church has ever been an attractive and rich subject of comment. Perhaps nowhere can this issue be studied with more seriousness and clarity than in the fragile equilibrium between American bishops and priests. The balance within clerical ranks in the United States has long represented a singular combination of authority and obedience which has sought to reconcile itself in a society historically egalitarian and devoid of feudal relationships.

Type
Research Article
Information
Church History , Volume 42 , Issue 2 , June 1973 , pp. 257 - 270
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1973

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References

1. Dunne, and Butler's, Appointments were recorded in the Catholic Almanac… 1860 (Baltimore, n.d.), p. 185Google Scholar; and McMullen's, in the Catholic Almanac … 1861 (Baltimore, n.d.), p. 163.Google Scholar

2. Colbert, E., Chicago: Historical and Statistical Sketch of the Garden City… (Chicago, 1868), p. 114Google Scholar; quoted in Pierce, Bessie Louise, A History of Chicago (New York, 1957), 3, p. 363.Google Scholar

3. McGovern, James J., The Life and Writings of the Right Reverend John McMullen D.D., First Bishop of Davenport, Iowa (Chicago and Milwaukee, 1888), p. 144Google Scholar; here after cited as McMullen. For an extensive account of St. Mary's early days, the writer consulted Koenig, Harry C., “University and Seminary of St. Mary of the Lake,” an unpublished manuscript, n.d., n.p., pp. 27–41Google Scholar. Monsignor Koenig generously made his manuscript available to the writer.

4. Spalding, John Lancaster, “Introduction,” in McGovern, McMullen, pp. xxii–xxiii.Google Scholar

5. [McGovern, James J.], Souvenir of the Silver Jubilee in the Episcopacy of His Grace the Most Rev. Patrick Augustine Feehan, Archbishop of Chicago [Chicago], (1890), p. 201.Google Scholar

6. Idem. Only Fischer's appointment is recorded in Sadliers' Catholic Directory … 1868 (New York, 1868), p. 135Google Scholar. Halligan's appointment was temporary, dependent upon the return of the bishop.

7. Archives of the Archdiocese of Baltimore (hereafter cited as AAB), 39A-U-1, Report of Joseph P. Roles to Martin J. Spalding [Chicago], October 14, 1868, p. 1; hereafter cited as Roles' Report.

8. Archives of the American College of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, University of Louvain, Riordan to De Nève [Chicago], January or February 9, 1867.

9. AAB, 39A-U-1, Roles' Report, pp. 1–2; see also McGovern, , MoMullen, p. 176Google Scholar. Duggan's restless wanderings from Carlsbad to Moscow, from Berlin to Rome to the Holy Land, Roles explained, suggested that the traveler had found no relief from his ailment.

10. Archives of the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide (hereafter cited as APF), Soritture originali riferite nelle Congregazoni Generali (hereafter cited as Cong. Gen.), volume 996 (1869), foglii 1443 recto-1444 recto, Dunne, McMullen, Roles and McGovern to Barnabό, Chicago, March 2, 1868. Later, during Duggan's detention in Rome, the situation was to become more desperate according to the accusers. When Duggan learned of Halligan's behavior, he curtailed Halligan's powers by forbidding him to underwrite any mortgages contracted in the diocese. This action, claimed the four, was an intolerable blow to many priests planning to build or to expand their churches, as well as to the creditors who held diocesan debts.

11. Ibid., fog. 1504 recto/verso-1505rv, Kenrick to Barnabò, St.Louis, October 22, 1867; and fog. 1387r, Ponenza of Di Pietro, Cardinal Camillo, “Sui provvedimenti da prendersi nelle attauli esipenze Diocesi di Chicago negli Stati Uniti di America,” September, 1869Google Scholar, con secreto pontificio (hereafter cited as Di Pietro, Ponenza). A Ponenza is a report on a specific issue assembled by one of the cardinals on the Propaganda's executive council.

12. APF, Lettere e Decreti della sagra Congregasione e Biglietti di Monsignore Segretario (hereafter cited as Lettere), vol 359 (1869)Google Scholar, fog. 329rv-330rv, Barnabò to Kenriek, Rome, March 31, 1868; all the Lettere are copies.

13. Ibid., fog. 456r, Barnabò to Dunne, Rome, March 2, 1868.

14. APF, Scritture riferite nei Congressi, America Centrale (hereafter cited as Congressi, A. C., vol. 22 (1868-1869)Google Scholar, fog. 290r, Halligan to Barnabò, Chicago, June 24, 1868. Cong. Gen vol. 996 (1869)Google Scholar, fog. 1445rv-1446rv, Dunne to Barnabò Chicago, July 1, 1868.

15. APF, Cong. Gen., vol. 996 (1869)Google Scholar, fog. 1492rv-1497r, Kenrick to Barnabò, Chicago, August 10, 1868. Although the four did not appear in person in their defense, McMullen and Roles presented themselves before Kenrick, and written statements were submitted to Rome. McGovern was reportedly away on vacation and Dunne was himself mortally ill (AAB, Roles' Report, pp. 5–6).

16. Lettere, vol. 360. (1868)Google Scholar, fog. 1021v-1022rv, Barnabò to Kenrick Rome, September 9, 1868.

17. APF, Di Pietro, Ponenza, fog. 1287r.

18. Congressi, A.C., vol. 22 (1868-1869)Google Scholar, fog. 384rv-385rv, Dunne, McMullen and Roles to Barnabò, n.p., August 10, 1868.

19. The final article of the oath administered to the students of the Urban College provided that once they had reached their assignment, they were obliged to submit to Propaganda a report on their work and on the state of their mission. This was to be an annual report if the alumnus was stationed in Europe, a biennial report if stationed elsewhere. See the pertinent passage from the “ Prospectus” of the College reprinted in Trisco, Robert Frederick, The Holy See and the Nascent Church in the Middle Western United States, 1826-1850 (Rome, 1962), p. 216, n 197.Google Scholar

20. Purcell's letter was particularly strong in its recommendation and, as it stood literally, gave the impremion that the archbishop disapproved of Duggan (Congressi, A.C., vol 22 [1826-1869]Google Scholar, fog, 479r, Purcell to Barnbò, Cincinnati, September 22, 1868).

21. AAB, 35-H-10, McMullen to Spalding, Louisville, September 23, 1868. This letter suggests that at its writing McMullen was visiting the archbishop's nephew, John Lancaster Spalding, a priest of the Diocese of Louisville, who might have overestimated Baltimore's sympathiea toward the four priests.

22. McMullen to McGovern, Rome, November 19, 1868, reprinted in McGovern, McMullen, pp. 177–78.

23. Cong. Gen., vol. 996 (1869), fog. 1468a r, clipping.Google Scholar

24. New York Tribune, 10 23, 1868, p. 2Google Scholar. The unidentified author is known only as “an occasional correspondent”, but one New York priest very close to McMullen who had written or inspired the article was Edward McGlynn. Both had been contemporaries at the Urban College; it would be McGlynn who would preach at Mcmullen's consecration; and it would be McMullen who would recommend his New York friend in 1882 for the vacant See of Charleston.

25. AAB, 35-F-15, McCloskey to Spalding, New York, October 24, 1868.

26. University of Notre Dame, Manuscript Collection (hereafter cited as UND, MC), Purcell Papers, II-5-d, Spalding to Purcell, Baltimore, October 15, 1868.

27. Cong. Gen., vol. 996 (1869)Google Scholar, fog. 1461rv-1463r, Laitner to Barnabò, Dixon, Illinois [January, 1869]. Evidently, McGovern personally witnessed this scene and was able to add a number of details for Propaganda's benefit. It was McGovern and Roles who counseled Dunne, who had been “expelled from the Diocese and died in an alien house like a missionary priest,” to send for Duggan and arrange a reconciliation. Seven times the bishop demanded a retraction and left very displeased. “Many other particulars,” noted McGovern, “I omit because it would appear incredible to Your Eminence, but I have narrated them for Father McMullen” (Congressi, A.C., vol. 22 [1868-1869]Google Scholar, fog. 644rv-645v. McGovern to Barnabò, Chicago, December 30, 1868).

28. Letters, vol. 361 (1869)Google Scholar, fog. 82rv-83v, Barnabò to Duggan, Rome, January 22, 1869; Ibid., fog. 390rv-393r, same to same, Rome, April 6 1869.

29. AAB, 36A.L-9, Kenrick to Spalding, St. Louis, April 18, 1869.

30. UND, MC, Purcell Papers, II-5.d, McCloskey to Purcell, Louisville, May 12, 1869.

31. AAB, 36A-L-7, Kenrick to Spalding, St. Louis, May 13, 1869.

32. Ibid., 36A.-L-8, same to same, St. Louis, April 15, 1869.

33. APF, Congressi, A.C., vol 22 (1868–1869)Google Scholar, fog, 961rv–962rv, McMullen to Barnabò, Chicago, May 15, 1869.

34. Ibid., fog. 709r–720r, Laitner, Riordan, McGovern and Thomas Burke [pastor of St. Columbkill's] to Barnabò [Chicago], n. d.; the entire letter is in Riordan's script. Ibid. fog. 984r–985v; this list too is in Riordan's script.

35. Di Pietro, Ponenza, fog. 1391rv.

36. Lettere, vol. 362 (1869)Google Scholar, fog. 679rv.680r, Barnabò to Spalding, Rome, June 16, 1869.

37. AAB. 38-E-4, Kenrick to Spalding, St. Louis, July 7, 1869. Congressi, A.C., vol. 22 (1868-1869)Google Scholar, fog. 1082r. Spalding to Barnabò, Baltimore, July 11, 1869.

38. AAB Letterbook, p. 436, Spalding to McCloskey, Baltimore, February 8, 1869, copy.

39. APF, Acta Sacrae Congregationis (hereafter cited as Acta), voL 235 (1869)Google Scholar, fog. 721rv-723r, Spalding to Barnabò, Chicago, July 22, 1869, printed copy. An incomplete draft of the report and a Latin transcript of the interviews may be found in AAB, 38-E-8 and-g.

40. Lettere, vol. 362 (1869), 892v–893vGoogle Scholar, Barnabò to Spalding, Rome, August 21, 1869. Cong. Gen., vol. 996 (1869)., fog. 1393rGoogle Scholar. The appointment was determined by Propaganda on September 27 and was formally confirmed by Pius IX on October 3.

41. McGovern, , McMullen, p. 224.Google Scholar

42. A terna is a list of three candidates recommended for the episcopacy. The only Chicago priests nominated at St. Louis were Michael Hurley and Daniel Riordan, Patrick's younger brother. Hurley had declined the appointment to Peoria in 1875 and had in the same year received second place on a list for the Vicariate Apostolic of Nebraska. (Cong. Gen. vol. 1004 [1875], fog. 5r, 8rGoogle Scholar). In 1879 Riordan was named at Spalding's insistence for Council Bluffs, Iowa, a newly proposed and ill-conceived see to be seperated from Dubuque (Acta, vol. 248 [1880]Google Scholar, fog. 269rv, Kenrick et al., to Giovanni Simeoni, St. Louis, April 16, 1879, copy).

43. Ibid., fog. 269rv, Kenrick et al. to Simeoni, St. Louis, April 16, 1879, printed copy. The original documents on the appointment of Feehan in 1880 are missing in the Propaganda archives; only the printed Acta are available.

44. Acta, voL 248 (1880), fog. 265rv-266r.Google Scholar

45. Cong. Gen., vol. 1013 (1881)Google Scholar, fog. 824rv-825v, Kenrick et al. to Simeoni, St. Louis, October 6, 1880; Ibid., fog. 826rv-827rv, Kenrick, “Notalae …

46. Ibid., fog. 812v. Teodolfo Cardinal Mertel, Ristretto oon summario, articolo primo, “Circa i candidati proposti per la Sede di Nashville. …

47. Ibid., fog. 820r, “Consulta del giorno 28 April 1881.” In the course of the balloting, fifteen consultors of Propaganda voted for McMullen. One voted for Richard Scannell, the interim administrator of Nashville, but gave his vote to McMullen “conditionally if his opposition to Monsignor Duggan had not been culpable.”

48. This appointment was confirmed by Leo XIII on May 8, 1881 (Cong. Gen., vol. 1031 [1881]Google Scholar, fog. 817rv, report of the general congregation of May 2, 1881). The decree of erection is dated May 25, 1881 (Lettere, vol. 377 [1881], fog. 298rv.Google Scholar). McMullen was consecrated at the Cathedral of the Holy Name, Chicago, on July 25, 1881. In the spirit of an epilogue Daniel Riordan best described the sentiments of his supporters regarding this promotion. “In the East particularly,” recalled Riordan, there was and perhaps is a strong feeling against these priests with whom Bishop Duggan quarrelled. But no men were activated by higher motives in their actions than were these priests in their efforts to have Bishop Duggan removed. Bishop Foley was not long in recognizing this fact. His first important appointment was that of Dr. McMullen to the Cathedral. Dr. McMullen was the head of the opposition. Subsequently the Bishop made him Vicar General and on his death bed appointed him Administrator. The Holy See coincided with the Bishop and appointed him the first Bishop of Davenport. (UND, MC, Clarke Papers, 1-2-N, Riordan to Clarke, Chicago, March 11, 1885).