The Archdiocese of Boston Bicentennial

By Father Robert M. O’Grady

Fragile Beginnings
Within twenty years of its founding in 1789, the first episcopal see in the United States at Baltimore had grown beyond expectations and exceeded the capacity for a single bishop to govern. This first bishop, John Carroll, was responsible for the pastoral care of the entire territory east of the Mississippi, excluding present-day Florida and southern Alabama.

Understanding his predicament, Bishop Carroll sought assistance from Rome in the form of a coadjutor bishop. The first of these bishop-elects, Dominic Laurence Graessl, was appointed in January of 1784 but died before his appointment documents could arrive. In 1795 Father Leonard Neale was appointed as Graessl’s replacement, but his full episcopal ordination was also delayed. Carroll had intended to send the new bishop to Philadelphia, but was again stymied in 1799 when he was forced to appoint Neale as president of the nascent Georgetown College, where he remained even after his ordination on December 7, 1800. Following the restoration of the Jesuits, the college was returned to the Society of Jesus in 1806 and this provided Carroll with full-time assistance in governing the flock scattered across the burgeoning country.

Holy Cross Cathedral

The Catholic population at the time was largest in Maryland followed by pockets in Philadelphia and New York with smaller communities in Boston and in the southern ports of Charleston and Savannah. A larger Catholic settlement had been established at New Orleans, but it had been a diocese before becoming part of the United States. There had been hints both by Bishop Carroll and by authorities in Rome that the slow growth of the Catholic communities in the new nation might accelerate. The Holy See warned Bishop Carroll earlier that the time might come when the vast territory of the diocese would need to be divided into other sees even should the incumbent object. That time came without objection from the incumbent on April 8, 1808 when Pope Pius VII, with the papal bull Ex debito pastoralis, decreed the creation of four new dioceses and the elevation of the premier see of Baltimore to metropolitan status. The first of these new sees was to be located at New York, whose territory would be the state of New York and the northern half of New Jersey. The second announced was Philadelphia which would serve all of Pennsylvania and Delaware and the southern half of New Jersey. The third would be Boston with the states of New Hampshire, Massachusetts (including present-day Maine), Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Vermont. And finally Bardstown which would serve the territory now constituting Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Tennessee, Ohio, and Wisconsin. The new archdiocese of Baltimore would be left with Maryland, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North and South Carolina, and Virginia (including present-day West Virginia).

The original Holy Cross Cathedral

Some questioned the wisdom of creating a see at Boston because of the tiny Catholic population and the dearth of priests. Not that Catholicism was entirely foreign in the territory of the new diocese. Jesuit missionaries had made notable accomplishments in Maine and New England’s proto-martyr, Father Sebastian Rale, SJ lost his life serving the area’s indigenous peoples. However fear of papists and especially of Jesuits had led to the enactment of anti-priest laws in the Bay Colony as early as 1647 and New England, especially Boston, remained inhospitable venues for Roman Catholics and priests up to and throughout the time of the American Revolution.

Holy Cross Church and Parish
Established in 1788, the first Holy Cross church served the entirety of the New England parish and was located on School Street, directly across from Boston’s Old City Hall. When the congregation outgrew this church a new one was built with ecumenical support on Franklin Street. The parishioners provided the greatest portion, while a committee of local Protestants headed by John Adams contributed a significant amount, followed by substantial donations from Catholics abroad. Architect Charles Bulfinch, designer of the federal capitol in Washington, D.C. and the new state house at Boston, provided his services to the fledgling community free of charge, emphasizing that not all non-Catholics saw the Roman Catholics as a threat. The new church was completed and on September 29, 1803 Bishop John Carroll came from Baltimore for the solemn dedication of the new Holy Cross Church. What the parishioners could not have foreseen was that their parish church, the only Catholic church in Massachusetts, would become the first cathedral in New England.

Leadership
With the establishment of the new diocese in Boston there was an urgent need to find the right man to be bishop. A few priests, such as French naval chaplain Father Claude Bouchard, had been active in and around the area. Bouchard made some progress but his self-styled title of Abbé, and a penchant for rich living, soon caused problems which required Bishop Carroll to remove him from pastoral care. Another Frenchman, Father Rousselete, came to replace the Abbé but he ran into troubles with a local priest named Father John Thayer. A graduate of Yale and a convert from Protestantism, Thayer had been ordained a priest in Paris before returning home to ignite conflict internally with Father Rousselete and externally with area non-Catholics. Once again Bishop Carroll had to reach from Baltimore to solve the problem, appointing French exile priest Father Francis Anthony Matignon. Upon his arrival in 1792 Matignon immediately set about the process of reconciliation within the fractured Catholic community, building kindly relations with the Bostonians and New Englanders. Four years later one of Father Matignon’s students, Father Jean Lefebvre de Cheverus, also an exile from France, arrived to assist his former teacher whom Bishop Carroll had appointed as vicar general for New England. The cordial relationships that developed under the leadership of these two priests steered the tiny Catholic community in a positive direction of growth and expansion. So well known were the accomplishments of the teacher-student team that even Saint Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton sought counsel from them.

Bishop Cheverus

Yet some difficulty remained in finding bishop candidates for each of the new sees. While New York had a larger and more stable population, there was no local priest deemed suitable for the governance of the new see. On the other hand, Boston had fewer people but several capable priests who would make fine bishops. Matignon knew that he was being considered for the new Boston see but fought at every opportunity and used all possible means to avoid the episcopal office. Highlighting his failing health seemed to convince Bishop Carroll that he was unavailable if not incapable of assuming the new responsibilities. Matignon pushed for his former student to be named to Boston and in fact the success of Father Cheverus’ ministry, his calm demeanor, his friendly relationships and ready reception among non-Catholics, and his constant availability to the far-flung flock of his huge parish, singled him out as the obvious choice.

Appointment and Ordination of Cheverus
Father Matignon continued his priestly ministry beside Father Cheverus as the two labored tirelessly for their Catholic people and grew steadily in the esteem of all the locals. Bishop Carroll wrote of John Cheverus in recommending him to be the first bishop of Boston; "[he is] in the prime of life, with health to undergo any necessary exertion, universally esteemed for his unwearied zeal and his remarkable facility and eloquence in announcing the word of God, virtuous and with charm of manner that recalled Catholics to their duties and disarmed Protestants of their prejudices." Both Carroll’s recommendations and the Holy See’s appointment of Cheverus as Boston’s first bishop affirmed Matignon’s urgings. Matignon delighted in the appointment of his one-time student as the first bishop of the new see and stayed by the bishop’s side until his own death on September 18, 1818.

The letters of appointment for Boston’s first bishop took two years to arrive in the United States, so it was not until November 1, 1810 that Archbishop John Carroll was able to ordain the bishop-elect to the fullness of the priesthood. The ordination Mass was celebrated at St. Peter Church, the tiny proto-cathedral of the new archdiocese on Saratoga Street in Baltimore. The new bishop returned to Boston after meetings with Archbishop Carroll, his coadjutor, Archbishop Leonard Neale, and Bishops Egan of Philadelphia and Flaget of Bardstown. At meetings, provincial or local, and on official documents and in correspondence, Bishop Cheverus signed himself simply as †John of Boston. The work of the early Jesuits in Maine and of Bishop Cheverus and Father Matignon were crucial in setting the Church of Boston on its path to growth both before and after its creation.

Contributions Towards Growth
Since Cheverus, Boston has had eight diocesan bishops: Benedict Joseph Fenwick, SJ; John Barnard Fitzpatrick; John Joseph Williams; William Henry O’Connell; Richard James Cushing; Humberto Sousa Medeiros; Bernard Francis Law; and the incumbent Seán Patrick O’Malley, OFM. Cap.

Benedict Joseph Fenwick, SJ
Son of a colonial Maryland family and second bishop of Boston, Benedict Joseph Fenwick entered the Society of Jesus and was ordained on June 11, 1808. Thereafter he served in New York for nine years, was twice president of Georgetown College, vicar general for Georgia and the Carolinas, and pastor in Maryland. He was ordained bishop on November 1, 1825, in Baltimore by Archbishop Ambrose Maréchal and took possession of his diocese on December 4. He found that the number of priests had fallen to three, the number of Catholics had increased to 7,000, and that he had only eight churches in addition to the cathedral to serve them.

Bishop John Bernard Fitzpatrick
Fenwick had ordained his successor, Boston-born John Bernard Fitzpatrick, on March 24, 1844, in the chapel of the Visitation nuns at Georgetown. During his two years as coadjutor of Boston, Fitzpatrick made visitations to Maine and Vermont and administered confirmation in all parts of the diocese, where his charity made him a beloved figure known to all as Bishop John. Gifted and urbane, he also won entry into the society of the Cabots and the Lodges. In 1853 he proposed the separation of the northern states into the two dioceses of Burlington and Portland, though he opposed as premature the proposal that Boston be raised to an archdiocese.

Archbishop John Joseph Williams
The fourth bishop of Boston and its first archbishop had served as pastor of St. James in Boston and vicar general before his nomination as coadjutor cum iure succesionis on January 8, 1866. During the 40 years following his episcopal ordination on March 11, churches and schools multiplied beyond expectation and diocesan synods were held in 1868, 1872, 1879, and 1886. He endorsed Archbishop Martin J. Spalding’s proposal for a compromise solution on the debate of infallibility at Vatican Council I, and at his suggestion the Diocese of Springfield was created June 14, 1870, embracing five counties of central and western Massachusetts.

Archdiocese of Boston Coat of Arms

Two years later, when Rhode Island was separated from the Diocese of Hartford as the Diocese of Providence, Williams gave up four counties in southeastern Massachusetts and three towns in Plymouth County to assure sufficient population for the new diocese. The rapid growth of the Church in New England was recognized on February 12, 1875, when the New England states were constituted a province, with Boston as the archdiocesan see. Williams received the pallium from Cardinal John McCloskey on May 2, 1875. Following the dedication of the new Cathedral of the Holy Cross on December 8, 1875, the archbishop built St. John’s Seminary, Brighton, blessing the first building on September 18, 1884 and staffing it with Sulpicians headed by the Abbé John Baptist Hogan. A second building was opened in 1890 and the chapel was completed in 1899. In response to the constant growth of his flock, which now included immigrants from Portugal, Poland, Lithuania, Germany, Italy, and the Near East, Williams set up a matrimonial tribunal in 1893 and named a superintendent for archdiocesan schools in 1897. By 1904 Boston led the entire world in contributions to the missions through its branches of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith.

William Henry O’Connell
Boston’s fifth ordinary and second archbishop brought to his task not only experience as an ordinary in Portland, but Roman training and a worldwide comprehension of the Church. During his 37-year rule he undertook the reorganization of the archdiocese, an intensification of apostolic activities, and an adjustment of relations with the community. The centenary of the diocese was observed in 1908, the fifth synod was held February 11, 1909, the duties of the chancellor were broadened, 32 new parishes were set up in four years, and annual retreats for the clergy ordered. "The Pilot" was purchased as a diocesan journal, Boston College moved from its original location in the South End to a new campus in suburban Newton, and the seminary was transferred from Sulpician to archdiocesan management. Father James Anthony Walsh was released to found Maryknoll, the American foreign mission society while Passionists and the Religious of the Cenacle came to Boston to direct retreats. On November 27, 1911, O’Connell was created cardinal priest, with the title church of St. Clement, and took part in the election of Pius XII in 1939.

Richard James Cardinal Cushing
At O’Connell’s death, his auxiliary, Richard James Cushing, was named administrator and became archbishop of Boston September 25, 1944. Born in Boston August 24, 1896, he attended Boston College and St. John’s Seminary, was ordained May 26, 1921, and ordained bishop June 10, 1929. He was raised to the College of Cardinals December 15, 1958, as cardinal priest with the title church of Santa Susanna. Under his direction the number of colleges in the archdiocese doubled from three to six and, by 1963, 13 new central secondary schools had increased the total to 100, educating 24,259 students, and elementary schools, both parochial and private, had increased to 241 with 118,000 students. Social works were inaugurated to meet the needs of the aged, the handicapped, and the homeless. The vast building program reached every corner of the archdiocese from seminary and chancery to hospitals, schools, catechetical centers, churches, convents, and rectories.

Humberto Sousa Cardinal Medeiros
In 1970, after a period of declining health, Cardinal Cushing resigned, and was succeeded by Humberto S. Medeiros, Bishop of Brownsville, Texas. Born in 1915 in the Portuguese Azores, Medeiros and his family moved to America in 1931 and settled in the town of Fall River, some 50 miles south of Boston. Medeiros studied at the Catholic University of America where he earned an M.A. degree in 1942 and a Licentiate in Sacred Theology in 1946, before being ordained on June 15, 1946. In 1949, after serving as a curate in Fall River for five years, he was sent to pursue studies in Washington and then in Rome, where he earned a Doctorate in Sacred Theology in 1951 from Gregorian University. Returning to Fall River, Medeiros held increasingly responsible positions until he was made a monsignor in 1958 and became pastor of St. Michael Parish in 1960. On April 14, 1966, Pope Paul VI named Monsignor Medeiros the second bishop of Brownsville, Texas, where he became a national figure for trying to balance the interests of the landowners of the region with the rights of local farm workers. When Cardinal Cushing reached his final days, the Holy See designated Humberto Medeiros to replace him, and he was installed as Archbishop of Boston on October 7, 1970. Three years later, on February 2, 1973, Pope Paul VI named Medeiros to the College of Cardinals.

Cardinal Sean Patrick O'Malley, Archbishop of Boston

Bernard Francis Cardinal Law
On January 24, 1984, the Holy See announced that the Most Reverend Bernard F. Law, bishop of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, would succeed Humberto Medeiros as the eighth bishop and the fourth archbishop of Boston. Born in Torreon, Mexico, November 4, 1931, Bernard F. Law was the son of a U.S. Air Force pilot and traveled extensively. He graduated from Harvard College in 1953, enrolled at St. Joseph Seminary in St. Benedict, Louisiana, and then attended Pontifical College Josephinum at Worthington, Ohio. After his ordination on May 21, 1961, Father Law served as editor of the diocesan newspaper in Jackson, Mississippi, after which he went to Washington, DC for three years as executive director of the Bishop’s Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs. In 1973, he was appointed bishop of the diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and in 1984 was named archbishop of Boston. Only a year later, he was elevated to the College of Cardinals.

Seán Patrick Cardinal O’Malley, OFM Cap.
Born in Lakewood, Ohio, June 29, 1944, Patrick O’Malley was professed as a Capuchin on July 14, 1965 and given the religious name Seán. On August 29, 1970, Bishop John B. McDowell, auxiliary of Pittsburgh, ordained him a priest of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin. Pope John Paul II appointed him as coadjutor bishop of the diocese of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands on June 2, 1984, before being ordained a bishop on August 2, and becoming the diocesan bishop of the Caribbean on October 16, 1985. Bishop O’Malley was then appointed as the sixth bishop of Fall River on June 16, 1992, and installed at the Cathedral of St. Mary on August 11. On September 3, 2002 he was appointed as the fourth bishop of the Diocese of Palm Beach and installed at the Cathedral of St. Ignatius Loyola on October 19.

Cardinal O’Malley is an active member of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and in November 2000 he was elected to serve as chairman of their Committee on Consecrated Life. Throughout his years as bishop, he has served on numerous other committees, including Missions, the Administrative Board, Priestly Formation, Hispanic Affairs, Migration, and the Church in Latin America as well as on the board of directors for Catholic Relief Services and the Association for the Development of the Catholic University of Portugal. On July 1, 2003 Pope John Paul II named him the ninth bishop and sixth metropolitan archbishop of Boston and he was installed in the metropolitan cathedral of the Holy Cross on July 30, 2003. Pope Benedict XVI named Archbishop O’Malley to the College of Cardinals on March 24, 2006 and at the same time entrusted to him the titular church of Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome.