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The Birth of Americanism: “Westward the Apocalyptic Candlestick”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 June 2011

Thomas E. Wangler
Thomas E. Wangler
Affiliation:
Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Mass. 02167
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Extract

The papal condemnation of Americanism in 1899 and the allegation that Americanism was a practical preface to Modernism has given rise to a considerable amount of literature attempting to determine just what Americanism was. This literature has been unsuccessful, however, in detecting any unity in the apparently isolated and unconnected liberal actions and opinions of the Americanists. These studies give the impression that the Americanists never defined what they were promoting, and that their only program was a series of unconnected actions and opinions which signified a certain “liberalism.” Opinions and actions relative to the Church's relation to social questions, to the problem of Catholic schools, German nationalism within American Catholicism, the founding of the Catholic University of America, and participation in the interdenominational World Parliament of Religions would appear to have little in common. In this light it has been concluded that Americanism was primarily a matter concerning a troublesome French Church.

Type
Research Article
Information
Harvard Theological Review , Volume 65 , Issue 3 , July 1972 , pp. 415 - 436
Copyright
Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 1972

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References

1 The most important works on Americanism are Houtin, Albert, L'Américanisme (Paris: Librairie Emile Nourry, 1904)Google Scholar ; Klein, Abbé Felix, L'Américanisme, Une Hérésie Fantôme (Paris: Librairie Plon, 1949)Google Scholar ; Mcavoy, Thomas T., The Great Crisis in American Catholic History 1895–1900 (Chicago: Regnery Co., 1957)Google Scholar.

2 This is the position taken by McAvoy in Americanism and Frontier Catholicism, Review of Politics V (July, 1943), 275–301.

3 Secondary sources on the lives of the Americanists are Moynihan, James H., The Life of Archbishop Ireland (New York: Harper Brothers, 1953)Google Scholar; Ahernt, Patrick H., The Life of John J. Keane, Educator and Archbishop 1830–1918 (Milwaukee: Bruce Publishing Co., 1955)Google Scholar ; Barry, Colman J., O.S.B., The Catholic niversity of America, 1903–1909, The Rectorship of Denis O'Connell (Washington: The Catholic University of America Press, 1950)Google Scholar ; Ellis, John Tracy, The Life of James Cardinal Gibbons, 2 vols. (Milwaukee: Bruce Publishing Co., 1952)Google Scholar.

4 Ireland to O'Connell, n.p., April 10, 1899, preserved among the O'Connell papers (hereafter OP) in the Archives of the Diocese of Richmond.

5 As only two examples, see Ireland to O'Connell, St. Paul, March 15, 1898, OP; and O'Connell to Ireland, n.p., July 24, 1897, preserved among the Ireland papers (hereafter IP) in the Archives of the Catholic Historical Society of St. Paul.

6 The issues have been well treated in secondary sources. See Barry, Colman J., The Catholic Church and German Americans (Milwaukee: Bruce Publishing Co., 1953)Google Scholar; Browne, Henry J., The Catholic Church and the Knights of Labor (Washington: The Catholic University of America Press, 1949)Google Scholar; Ellis, John Tracy, The Formative Years of the Catholic University (Washington: American Catholic Historical Association, 1946)Google Scholar.

7 The Church: A Divine Agency of Truth and Moral Goodness, North-Western Chronicle (St. Paul) (November 3, 1887). The Chronicle will hereafter be referred to as NWC.

8 The early thought of Ireland has been traced by the author in John Ireland and the Origins of Liberal Catholicism in the United States, Catholic Historical Review LVI (Jan., 1971), 617–29; and in John Ireland's Emergence as a Liberal Catholic and Americanist: 1875–1887, Records of the American Catholic Historical Society LXXXI (June, 1970), 67–82. The former article traces the early conservatism of the young Ireland and denies the opinion of Houtin, 81–82, that Ireland came under the influence of the thought of Lamennais while attending seminary in France. The second article outlines the intellectual and historical forces that brought Ireland to the liberal Catholicism that he propagated in later life.

9 The thought of Keane during his years at Richmond has been constructed by the author in “The Emergence of John J. Keane as a Liberal Catholic and Americanist: 1878–1887,” accepted for publication in the American Ecclesiastical Review. This article is based on the large number of discourses, pastoral letters, and articles printed in the Catholic Mirror (hereafter CM) of Baltimore between 1878 and 1888. A handwritten diary and one box of correspondence from Keane's years at Richmond are preserved in the Archives of the Diocese of Richmond.

10 On Ireland see The Catholic Church and Civil Society, in his The Church and Modern Society, vol. I (Chicago: D. H. McBride Co., 1896), 46–47Google Scholar; on Keane see Address at Yorktown, CM (October 22, 1881). The word “America” is used in this article to designate “the United States of America.”

11 America and the Image of Europe (New York: Meridian Books, 1960), 19Google ScholarPubMed.

12 The thought of Denis O'Conneix is not able to be reconstructed as a whole due to the fact that he published only one article during his lifetime. The correspondence among the Americanists after 1886 gives some idea of O'Conneix's opinions on a number of issues, but the theological framework within which such opinions existed is lost to history.

13 Keane revealed this in a handwritten document, Chronicles of the Catholic University of America from 1885, preserved in the Archives of the Catholic University of America. This archives will hereafter be referred to as ACUA.

14 Browne, 372–73. A copy of the French printed text submitted to the Propaganda is preserved in the IP.

15 Manning to (Keane), Westminster, March ii, 1887, as published in the Tablet (London), April 23, 1887, p. 672.

16 Manning to Gibbons, Westminster, March 31, 1890, preserved in the Archives of the Archidocese of Baltimore, 87-G-8; cf. Leslie, Shane, Henry Edward Manning: His Life and Labors, 2nd ed. Revised (London: Burns Oates and Washbourne, 1921), 365–66Google Scholar.

17 M. Eugene-Melchior de Vogue, Affaires de Rome, Revue des Deux Mondes LXXXI (June 15, 1887), 845.

18 Address upon Return from Rome, NWC (May 19, 1887).

19 Leo XIII and the Catholic University of America, CM (October 15,1887).

20 The Church: A Divine Agency of Truth and Moral Goodness, NWC (November 3, 1887).

21 The Providential Mission of Leo XIII (Baltimore: John Murphy Co., 1888)Google Scholar, 4; cf. Bishop Keane's Lecture, December 18, 1887, typewritten copy, IP; Pope Leo XIII, NWC (December 30, 1887).

22 The Church: Divine Agency; cf. Address upon Return from Rome; Priest, Model, The Pilot (Boston) (June 9, 1888)Google Scholar.

23 Providential Mission of Leo, 24; cf. Bishop Keane's Lecture.

24 The Church and the Age, October 18, 1893, in The Church and Modern Society, I, 89; cf. The Church: Divine Agency; Pastoral Letter on Leo's Golden Jubilee, NWC (December 23, 1887) ; Leo XIII: A Golden Jubilee, NWC (January 6, 1888).

25 Providential Mission of Leo, 14; cf. Bishop Keane's Lecture; Pope Leo XIII.

26 Sermon at the Golden Jubilee of Father Edward Sorin, delivered June 9, 1888 and printed in NWC (August 24, 1888) ; cf. The Church: Divine Agency.

27 Chronicles of the Catholic University, p. 19; cf. Leo and the Catholic University.

28 The Church and the Age, 109–10; cf. Leo: A Golden Jubilee.

29 The Church in America, April 17, 1901, in The Church and Modern Society, II (St. Paul: Pioneer Press, 1904), 233Google Scholar.

30 The following are the more important examples: for Ireland, NWC, February 24, 1888; October 16, 1891; June 2, 1893; September 22, 1893; February 21, 1896; April 24, 1896; January 15, 1897. On Keane see CM, October 15, 1887; Providential Mission of Leo, 12; The Pilot (Boston) (March 5, 1892; December 2,1893).

31 Leslie, 347, 464; and Purcell, Edmund S., Life of Cardinal Manning, 2 vols. (New York: Macmillan Co., 1896), II, 580Google Scholar.

32 Leslie, 263; Purcell, II, 631, 637.

33 Tablet (London) (April 30, 1887), 684. Manning wrote, “Neither slavery nor serfdom exists any longer in the English-speaking peoples of the world —that is in the New World which seems to be moulding our future.”

34 Leslie, 467; Tablet (London) (April 30, 1887), 684.

35 Leslie, 263, 349, 464; Purcell, II, 580, 612, 629, 742.

36 Leslie, 464, 467; Purcell, II, 631, 742.

37 Leslie, 467; Tablet (London) (July 10, 1886), 60.

38 Leslie, 347–81; Purcell, II, 638–71.

39 Leslie, 263, 349, 464; Purcell, II, 612, 629, 635, 637.

40 Purcell, II, 743 ; cf. Leslie, 137, 177, 466, 467.

41 Leslie, 268, 464, 465, 467, 468.

42 Purcell, II, 622ff. and 731ff.

43 Leslie, 343.

44 Leslie, 429; Purcell, II, 625–26.

45 Leslie, 464–65; Purcell, II, 743.

46 Leslie, 464.

47 Ibid., 295–96.

48 Ibid., 464.

48 Keane to Manning, Rome, Easter Tuesday (1887). A microfilm copy of this letter, as well as several others sent by American prelates to Manning, is preserved in ACUA.

50 Leslie, 263; Purcell, II, 580.

51 Keane to Manning, Rome, February 10, 1887, microfilm, ACUA.

52 Browne, 366, 376, 377, 378; Barry, 296, 311, 312.

53 Keane to Manning, Rome, February 10, 1887; March 14, 1887; Easter Tuesday (1887) ; all microfilm, ACUA. See also Keane to Manning, Rome, February 28, 1887, in Leslie, 361. The question of consulting the bishops was also a frequent theme in the correspondence between Manning and Gibbons. See Gibbons to Manning, Baltimore, March 23, 1888, microfilm, ACUA, and in Leslie, 365; Gibbons to Manning, Baltimore, May 23, 1889, in Leslie, 365.

54 Keane to Manning, Rome, February 28, 1887, in Leslie, 361. The mentioning of the Holy Office refers to a meeting held on the morning of February 28 between Gibbons and that office relative to the Knights.

55 Keane to Manning, Rome, April 23, 1887, microfilm, ACUA, and in Leslie, 262–63.

56 Manning to (Keane), Westminster, March 11, 1887, as published in the Tablet (London) (April 23, 1887). Keane requested permission from Manning to publish this letter, Keane to Manning, Rome, Easter Tuesday (1887), microfilm, ACUA.

57 Corrigan to Manning, New York, January 4, 1886, microfilm, ACUA.

58 Ireland to Manning, St. Paul, September 23, 1887, microfilm, ACUA.

59 Manning to Ireland, Westminster, October 30, 1887, IP.

60 O'Connell to Gibbons, Rome, November 24, 1890, Archives of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, 88-D-6. O'Connell was told of Manning's reaction by a third party. Ireland's address is in The Church and Modern Society, I, 49–83.

61 Manning to Ireland, Westminster, June 9, 1890, IP. Archbishop Francesco Satolli attended the Centenary celebration of Catholicism in the United States in Baltimore in November, 1889. In late November Satolli visited Manning on his return to Rome.

62 Ireland to O'Connell, The Ocean (July 24, 1899), OP. Ireland compared his relationship to O'Connell to the Manning-Talbot relationship.

63 O'Connell to Ireland, Rome, March 10, 1891, IP; cf. same to same, January 12, 1891, IP.

64 For Ireland see NWC (May 19, 1887; December 23, 1887; January 6, 1888). For Keane see CM (October 15, 1887), and Providential Mission of Leo, 14.

65 NWC (September 22, 1893).

66 Providential Mission of Leo, 14.

67 NWC (January 6, 1888); cf. NWC (November 3, 1887).

68 Address upon Return from Rome, NWC (May 19, 1887).

69 Leo XIII and the Catholic University of America, CM (October 15, 1887).

70 On Leo XIII, NWC (April 15, 1892).

71 Leo and the Catholic University; Gibbons made similar remarks regarding the Easter Tuesday assemblage, in Impressions of a European Trip, CM (June 18, 1887).

72 Tribute on the Death of Leo XIII, typewritten copy, IP.

73 Providential Mission of Leo, 24.

74 Leo XIII, 1903, in The Church and Modern Society, II, 186.

75 The Pilot (Boston) (October 23, 1897).

76 Upon his return from Europe Corrigan, wrote Episcopal Nominations (New York: Sullivan and Schaefer, 1883)Google Scholar. See especially pp. 7, 8, 10.

77 Providential Mission of Leo, 32; cf. Leo and the Catholic University.

78 Ireland to O'Connell, St. Paul, July 11, 1888, OP.

79 O'Connell to Ireland, Grottaferrata, July 23, 1889, IP.

80 O'Connell to Ireland, Grottaferrata, July 31, 1889, IP.

81 O'Connell to Ireland, Grottaferrata, August 18, 1890, IP.

82 Ibid.

83 O'Connell to Keane, Grottaferrata, September 7, 1890, ACUA ; cf. O'Connell to Ireland, Grottaferrata, August 18, 1890, IP.