Pioneer Bishops of New York

This blog will discuss bishops that served in New York up to 1900.  For more information about New York, see my blog of February 24, 2019.

Giovanni da Verrazano sailed into New York harbor in 1524 and became the first European to come to what is now New York.  Henry Hudson and Samuel de Champlain explored the Hudson River valley in 1609, the same year that the Dutch established the territory as a colony.  The English gained control of the colony in 1664 and King Charles II gave control of the colony to his brother James, the Duke of York.  James ruled England as King James II from 1685-1688.  The Dutch and the English colonists were concentrated in the southern portion of the colony, near what is now New York City.  Upstate New York was the territory of the Iroquois tribes, known as the Confederation of the Five Nations (the Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, and Seneca, and later joined by the Tuscarora).   

The Dutch colonists did not tolerate Catholicism but did allow French Jesuits to attempt to convert Native Americans to the Faith.  The Jesuits had limited success and some Jesuits, such as St. Isaac Jogues, were martyred.  There were some converts, most notably, Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, who was baptized in 1676.  With the exception of the time that James ruled the English colony, first as Duke of York and later as King (James was Catholic), Catholics were not welcome in New York, and by the end of the 17th Century, there were fewer than ten in the Colony.

It was not until 1786—two years before New York became the 11th State—that St. Peter’s Catholic Church would open in lower Manhattan, the first permanent Catholic church in New York.  Work on the Erie Canal in the 1820s brought many Irish and German Catholics to New York.  The State’s population rose from 340,000 in 1790 to almost two million by 1830.  In 1808, Pope Pius VII created the Diocese of New York, which included all of New York State and part of New Jersey.  Then as now, New York City was the nation’s largest city.

By 1830, the Catholic population had risen to about 200,000 and there were churches in at least 12 cities, including New York, Albany, Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse.  Pope Pius IX created the Dioceses of Albany and Buffalo in 1847 (Albany was then the nation’s 9th largest city) and raised New York to an Archdiocese in 1850.  (The Provinces of Cincinnati, New Orleans, and New York, were created on the same day, making them the fourth, fifth, and sixth provinces in the United States).  Brooklyn, which was the nation’s third largest city for most of the late 19th Century, became a diocese in 1853.  As New York’s population grew—there were over five million people in the State by 1880—dioceses were created in Rochester (1868), Ogdensburg (1872), and Syracuse (1886).  Pope Pius XII established the Diocese of Rockville Centre in 1957.

Richard L. Concanen was born in Ireland in 1747 and ordained a Dominican priest in Rome in 1770.  Concanen spent most of his priesthood in Rome, during which time he became fluent in Italian, Latin, French, German, as well as English and Gaelic.  He was always very interested in the American Church and became a representative in Rome for Archbishop John Carroll of Baltimore.  He was instrumental in establishing the Dominicans in the United States.  Concanen was appointed the first Bishop of New York in 1808 and was consecrated in Rome.  After his consecration as Bishop, he traveled to Livorno, Italy, to take a ship to New York.  However, because England and France were at war, Concanen was unable to find such a ship.  After four months of trying, he returned to Rome.  He tried again in 1810, traveling to Naples, where he died unexpectedly.  He never set foot in his Diocese.  From 1808 to 1814, Anthony Kohlmann, a Jesuit priest from Maryland, served as administrator for the Diocese.  Kohlmann built what is now known as Old St. Patrick’s as the City’s second Catholic church and also won a court case protecting the seal of the confessional, which set a precedent in the U.S. legal system.

John Connolly was born to a poor Irish family in 1750 and was ordained a Dominican priest in Rome in 1774, where among other duties, he acted as representative for Irish bishops in Rome.  Pope Pius VII was a prisoner of Napoleon from 1809 to 1815 and therefore it was not until 1814 that the Vatican was able to appoint Connolly as the second Bishop of New York.  Connolly’s Diocese consisted of the State of New York and northern New Jersey and had 15,000 Catholics, mostly Irish, served by four priests in three churches.  He was indefatigable, opening parishes in Albany, Brooklyn, Buffalo, Paterson, Rochester, Syracuse, and Utica, among others; tending the sick during a yellow fever epidemic in 1822-23; opening schools; and starting a Catholic newspaper.  He also opened a home for orphans and brought the Sisters of Charity to the Diocese.  Connolly contended with a lack of resources and often hostile parish trustees.  Some Catholic churches in the early 19th Century were owned by the parishioners and run by lay trustees who often came in conflict with local bishops over appointment of pastors and clerical salaries—the larger issue was the authority of bishops versus the rights of the laity.  Connolly remained popular and 30,000 people attended his funeral in 1825.

John Dubois was born in France in 1764 and was ordained a priest in 1787.  He served as a priest in Paris until 1791 when he was forced to flee the French Revolution.  His escape was aided by a college friend—Maximilien Robespierre.  Dubois arrived in Norfolk, Virginia, bearing letters of recommendation from the Marquis de Lafayette to James Monroe, Patrick Henry (who helped Dubois learn English), and members of other leading Virginia families including the Lees and the Randolphs.  Dubois opened a school in Richmond.  In 1794, Bishop John Carroll sent Father Dubois to Frederick, Maryland, then the gateway to the west.  Dubois established St. John the Evangelist parish and served as its pastor.  Dubois became a Sulpician priest in 1806 and moved to Emmitsburg, Maryland, where he established Mount St. Mary’s College and became its first president.  He also supported the efforts of Elizabeth Seton, who settled in Emmitsburg, to educate girls.

Dubois was appointed Bishop of New York in 1826.  He faced four major problems as bishop.  First, his Diocese was geographically large and growing in population (150,000 Catholics) and yet he had few resources (only 18 priests) to manage the Diocese.  Second, he faced continued problems with trustees at some of his churches.  Third, Protestant resentment at growing numbers of Catholic immigrants led to a surge in anti-Catholicism in New York and elsewhere.  Fourth, he was a Frenchman in a city where most Catholics were Irish.  (It did not help that for almost two years, the Diocese had been administered by a popular Irish priest, John Power.)  Bishop Dubois was only somewhat successful in dealing with these problems.  He tripled the number of priests (despite having built a seminary that burned to the ground a year after completion) and quadrupled the number of parishes.  Armed parishioners protected Catholic churches from attack and priests such as John Power and John Hughes often spoke out against Protestant bigots.  Ill health forced Dubois to turn over administration of the Diocese to his coadjutor bishop, John Hughes, in 1839.  Bishop Dubois died in 1842.

John Hughes was one of the most important Catholic bishops of the 19th Century.  He was known as “Dagger John” because he signed his name with a cross (which can look like a dagger) and because of his assertive personality.  He was born in Ireland in 1797 to a family of tenant farmers who moved to Pennsylvania in 1816.  (John joined them a year later.)  He applied for admission to Mount St. Mary’s College in Emmitsburg, Maryland, but was denied more than once.  He was hired by the college president, John Dubois, as a gardener.  Hughes befriended Elizabeth Seton who convinced Dubois to admit him as a student.  Hughes was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Philadelphia in 1826.  He served as a priest mostly in Philadelphia, but also in Bedford.  Hughes helped end the revolt of the trustees of St. Mary’s Cathedral against the bishop and he also engaged in a series of debates with John Breckinridge, a Presbyterian minister, as to whether Catholicism was compatible with American democracy.  Hughes won much admiration on both sides with his ability to vigorously debate Breckinridge, the son of Jefferson’s attorney general.

Hughes was appointed coadjutor bishop of New York in 1837, apostolic administrator of New York in 1839 due to Bishop Dubois’ poor health, Bishop of New York in 1842 upon Dubois’s death, and first Archbishop of New York in 1850.  The Diocese of New York in 1842 served 200,000 Catholics in New York State and northern New Jersey with 40 priests.

Hughes worked with government leaders to establish a non-sectarian public school system—most public schools at that time taught Protestant theology—but failing to win state support went on to establish a separate Catholic school system.  He successfully destroyed the trustee system of church ownership—even of his own cathedral—by appealing directly to the laity with an 1841 referendum.  In 1844, when Nativist American mobs burned Catholic churches in other cities, Hughes placed armed parishioners around Catholic property in New York City and warned the Mayor of what would happen if a Catholic church was attacked—none were.

Always a friend to the immigrant Catholic population—he encouraged the opening of a bank for Irish immigrants—Hughes was also seen as the most prominent Catholic of his time.  He was consulted by presidents and other national leaders and was invited in 1847 to address Congress.  He established a provincial seminary and started construction on the current St. Patrick’s Cathedral in 1858.  He established several colleges, including Fordham University.  At a time when many non-Catholics questioned the loyalty of immigrant Catholics, Hughes promoted the idea that loyalty to the Catholic Church and loyalty to the United States were consistent virtues.  Hughes died in 1864 of Bright’s disease.

John McCloskey was born in Brooklyn in 1810.  In 1827, he was driving a team of oxen pulling a wagon full of logs.  The wagon overturned and McCloskey was buried under the logs for several hours.  The accident left him temporarily blind and permanently in poor health.  It also led to his decision to become a priest and he was ordained in 1834 for the Diocese of New York.  He was the first native New Yorker to be ordained to the priesthood.  He served as a hospital chaplain, seminary professor, pastor, and first president of what is now Fordham University before being name coadjutor bishop of New York in 1843.  He was named first Bishop of Albany, New York, in 1847.  During his time in Albany, Catholic immigrants from many European countries settled in the Diocese—increasing the number of Catholics from 60,000 to 290,000.  McCloskey responded by building many new churches—including the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception—and ordaining many new priests.  He brought religious orders, including the Jesuits, the Franciscans, the Daughters of Charity, and the Sisters of Mercy, to the Diocese to administer parishes and to establish schools, hospitals, and orphanages.  McCloskey also helped establish a provincial seminary and lobbied against anti-Catholic bills in the State Legislature.  He traveled throughout his Diocese—which then covered much of the State of New York and held the first Diocesan synod.

McCloskey was appointed the second Archbishop of New York in 1864.  As Archbishop, he attended the First Vatican Council (1869-1870), completed construction of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, rebuilt old St. Patrick’s after a fire, and established several churches, schools, and charitable organizations including the Mission of the Immaculate Virgin for homeless children and the New York Foundling Hospital (run by the Sisters of Charity and the first hospital of its kind in the United States).  Most of the new parishes were outside the City of New York.  He encouraged the work of religious orders and he also established the first parish for African Americans in the Archdiocese.  Pope Pius IX named him the first U.S. Cardinal in 1875.  Cardinal McCloskey died in 1885 from Parkinson’s disease.

Michael A. Corrigan was born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1839.  He was the fifth of nine children of Irish immigrant parents.  His father was a successful owner of a grocery and liquor business.   Corrigan received a good education and was a member of the first class at the North American College in Rome.  He was ordained to the priesthood in 1863 for the Diocese of Newark.  Corrigan served as a professor of theology and history at Seton Hall College and also served as a pastor.  He was named president of Seton Hall in 1869 and also became vicar general for the Diocese.

Corrigan was appointed Bishop of Newark in 1873 and was named coadjutor archbishop of New York in 1880.  He became Archbishop of New York in 1885 upon the death of Cardinal McCloskey.  Archbishop Corrigan built many new buildings to keep up with the large number of immigrants (especially from Germany, Eastern Europe, and Italy) coming to the Archdiocese, including 99 new parishes and St. Joseph’s Seminary in Dunwoodie.  (He was, however, rebuked by the Vatican for his poor treatment of Italian immigrants.)  Corrigan also completed the towers and Lady Chapel at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.  Corrigan was an able administrator and improved the Catholic school system.  He gained national stature by condemning the opinions of one of his priests—Father Edward McGlynn.  McGlynn was a popular priest who had socioeconomic ideas that Corrigan and others in the Church considered contrary to the Faith.  McGlynn was excommunicated in 1887, but was reconciled five years later.  This controversy was part of a larger dispute within the American church, concerning the degree to which the Church should be American as opposed to Roman.  Corrigan opposed Americanism and the Vatican eventually sided with him.  He died in 1902 of pneumonia.

John J. Conroy was born in Ireland in 1819 and came to the United States at the age of 12.  He studied in Montreal, Maryland, and New York before being ordained a priest in 1842 for the Diocese of New York.  He served as president of St. John’s College before being named pastor of a church in Albany in 1844.  He became a priest of the Diocese of Albany upon its creation in 1847.  Conroy was appointed vicar general of the Diocese in 1857 and second Bishop of Albany in 1865.

Bishop Conroy invited religious orders, including the Little Sisters of the Poor, to establish a wide range of Catholic social services within the Diocese, including homes for the aged, orphanages, industrial schools, and St. Peter’s Hospital.  Conroy also created 59 parishes and built schools to educated Catholic children.  He also convened Albany’s second Diocesan Synod to better govern the Diocese and attended the First Vatican Council in Rome.  Bishop Conroy resigned in 1877 due to poor health and died in 1895.

Francis McNeirny was born in New York City in 1828 and was educated in Montreal.  He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of New York in 1842.  He was assigned to St. Patrick’s Cathedral and soon became Bishop Hughes’ private secretary and master of ceremonies.  He was named chancellor of the Archdiocese in 1857.  McNeirny was appointed coadjutor bishop of Albany in 1871 and became Bishop of Albany in 1877 after administering the Diocese since 1872.  Bishop McNeirny established proper administrative and organizational processes for the Diocese—including annual reports from each parish.  He also set up a schedule to visit every parish once in three years and he met regularly with his priests.  He completed building the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (and gave it a world-class choir) and increased the number of churches, schools, and priests.  Bishop McNeirny died from pneumonia in 1894.

Thomas M. Burke was born in Ireland in 1840 and came with his physician father to Utica, New York, in 1850.  He was educated in Canada and Maryland and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Albany in 1864.  Burke was named pastor of St. Joseph’s Church in Albany in 1865 and remained in that position until he was appointed Bishop of Albany in 1894.  Bishop Burke was the long-time pastor of St. Joseph’s Church in Albany.  Burke dedicated the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and provided, sometime with his own money, many of the decorative items in the Cathedral including several stained-glass windows, the Stations of the Cross, and the pulpit.  Burke also paid off the construction debt for the Cathedral and enlarged an orphanage.  Bishop Burke died in 1915.

John Timon was born in Pennsylvania in 1797 to Irish immigrant parents.  He and his family moved to Baltimore in 1800 where they established a dry goods business and Timon attended college.  The family moved to Louisville in 1818 and to St. Louis in 1819.  After his family’s business failed, Timon decided to become a priest and entered St. Mary of the Barrens Seminary in Missouri in 1823.  He was ordained a Vincentian priest in 1826.  Timon worked as a missionary in many states bordering the Mississippi River and even as far as Texas.  While serving in St. Louis, he helped establish the St. Vincent de Paul Society in the United States.  He was named the superior of the Vincentian Order in the Unites States in 1835 and was appointed coadjutor bishop of St. Louis in 1839, but he declined the appointment.

Timon declined six efforts to make him a bishop before he accepted the appointment as the first Bishop of Buffalo, New York, in 1847.  Timon’s new Diocese consisted of 20 counties in western New York.  He could not afford the cost to travel to Buffalo nor did he have any warm clothes, but fortunately he had friends who provided money and clothing.  Assisted by 16 priests, he began building churches and schools to serve the Catholics in the Diocese, many of whom were immigrants from Europe working on projects such as the Erie Canal or settlers from the East.  Timon spoke several languages, including Gaelic, which helped him minister to immigrants.  His preaching abilities brought many to the Faith and brought some back to the Faith.  Timon helped win the right of bishops to inherit ecclesiastical property by standing up to the trustees of St. Louis Church in Buffalo.  He invited at least 15 religious orders to the Diocese, attended to the needs of the poor and disadvantaged, and advocated greater care for the slaves freed after the Civil War.  Timon built St. Joseph’s Cathedral and encouraged the Franciscans to establish St. Bonaventure University.  Bishop Timon died in 1867.

Stephen V. Ryan was born in Canada in 1826 to Irish immigrant parents.  He was the fifth of nine children and his family moved to Pennsylvania when Ryan was three years old.  He went to seminary in Philadelphia before transferring to the Vincentian seminary in Missouri.  He was ordained a Vincentian priest in 1849.  He taught for a time at a Vincentian college in Missouri before being named head of the Vincentians in the United States in 1857.  He moved Vincentian headquarters from St. Louis to Philadelphia in 1867 and the following year was appointed Bishop of Buffalo.  Bishop Ryan served as Bishop for 28 years, longer than any other Buffalo bishop to date.  Ryan started the Diocesan newspaper and organized Catholic schools into a system supervised by a Diocesan commission.  He invited more religious orders to work in the Diocese.  Bishop Ryan was noted for his piety, zeal, and learning.  He died in 1896.

James E. Quigley was born in Canada in 1854, but moved to Lima, New York, and then to Buffalo, as a child.  He lived for a time with his uncle, who was a priest, and also worked on the docks in Buffalo.  He was admitted to West Point but decided to attend seminary.  After schooling in New York, Austria, and Rome, he was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Buffalo in 1879.  He served at several parishes in Buffalo and served as the president of the diocesan school board.  He spoke English, Italian, German, French, and Polish.  Quigley was named Bishop of Buffalo in 1896.

Bishop Quigley favored greater rights for workers and successfully mediated a resolution to a dock workers strike in Buffalo in 1899.  At the same time, he preached and wrote about his concerns of a socialistic element in the workers’ movement that threatened the Faith of Catholic members.  As a result, labor unions rejected socialism.  Quigley was named Archbishop of Chicago in 1903 and died in 1915.

John Loughlin was born in Ireland in 1817 and came with his parents to Albany when he was six years old.  After being educated in New York and Quebec, Loughlin was ordained a priest for the Diocese of New York in 1840.  He served briefly In Utica before transferring to St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York in 1841.  Loughlin was named vicar general for the Archdiocese of New York in 1850.  He was appointed the first Bishop of Brooklyn in 1853. 

Bishop Loughlin saw the number of Catholics on Long Island—the original diocese included all of Long Island—increased from 50,000 to over 300,000, and as a result he built over 200 churches and schools, as well as other Catholic institutions, such as hospitals, orphanages, and a seminary.  He also helped establish St. John’s University in 1870.  Loughlin encouraged religious orders to work in the Diocese and promoted the work of the St. Vincent de Paul Society.  He started construction on a new Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in 1868 (at Clermont and Greene), but discontinued work in favor of charitable causes.  His brother bishops frequently proposed his nomination as Archbishop of New York, but he always declined.  Bishop Loughlin attended the First Vatican Council in 1870 and he died in 1891.

Charles E. McDonnell was born in Manhattan in 1854—his father was a printer.  He attended seminary in New York and Rome before being ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of New York in 1878.  McDonnell served two parishes in New York before being assigned to St. Patrick’s Cathedral in 1879.  He served there as master of ceremonies, private secretary to the archbishop, and eventually chancellor.  He was appointed the second Bishop of Brooklyn in 1892 and his first act as bishop was to confirm 600 people.

Bishop McDonnell opened several new parishes and brought in several religious orders to minister to the increasing number of ethnic and racial groups coming to the Diocese (such as Italians, Eastern Europeans, Hispanics, and African Americans).  He also established several hospitals, orphan homes, and other institutions for the needy, and he established a diocesan newspaper.  He also established Diocesan offices for education and for charitable activities.  He died in 1921 of kidney failure at which time there were 900,000 Catholics in the Diocese.

Bernard J. McQuaid was born in New York City in 1823 and grew up in Jersey City.  His parents died when he was young, and he was sent to an orphanage.  He was nevertheless able to attend college in Quebec and seminary in New York and he was ordained a priest for the Diocese of New York in 1848.  He was serving at a parish in New Jersey when the Diocese of Newark was created in 1853, and Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley appointed McQuaid as cathedral rector.  During the Civil War, McQuaid served as a military chaplain and for a time was a prisoner-of-war.  After the Civil War, Bayley appointed McQuaid vicar general of the Diocese and first president of what is now Seton Hall University.

McQuaid was appointed the first Bishop of Rochester, New York, in 1868.  As Bishop, he was noted as a good administrator, establishing parishes and two seminaries and even started a winery—one of the first in the Finger Lakes region—to provide pure altar wine.  The number of Catholics grew from 55,000 (in 35 parishes) to 121,000 (in 93 parishes) during his time as Bishop, and most of this increase was due to new immigrants coming to the Diocese from many nations, including Ireland, Germany, Canada, Poland, and Italy.  McQuaid preferred to gradually, rather than quickly, bring the immigrants into the mainstream of American culture.  He established a parochial school system—there were 53 parish schools in 1909—to protect Catholic children from the Protestant influences of public schools, although he promoted the establishment of state-supported Christian schools.  He secured freedom of worship and other constitutional rights for inmates in state institutions.  He also served as a mentor to Katherine Conway, who was a noted female Catholic writer at a time when there were few.  He was one of 19 U.S. bishops to serve 40 or more years as bishop of a single diocese.  Bishop McQuaid died in 1909 at the age of 85.

Edgar P. Wadhams was born in 1817 in Lewis, New York.  He attended Middlebury College in Vermont at which time he joined the Episcopal Church.  After graduation, he enrolled in an Episcopal seminary in New York City and was ordained a deacon in 1842.  Wadhams began a conversion to the Catholic Church and was baptized a Catholic in 1846.  He attended St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Albany in 1850.  Wadhams was soon named assistant rector of the cathedral in Albany and later became rector.  He eventually was appointed vicar general for the Diocese.  Wadhams was appointed the first Bishop of Ogdensburg in 1872.

Wadhams doubled the number of parishes and missions in the Diocese and also doubled the number of priests by recruiting in Europe and Canada.  He brought in religious orders of nuns to staff the new schools he built.  He also built a hospital and homes for orphans and the aged.  He attended the New York Provincial Council of 1883 and the Plenary Council of Baltimore of 1884 and held three diocesan synods.  He also dealt with tensions between French and Irish Catholics.  Bishop Wadhams died in 1891.

Henry Gabriels was born in Belgium in 1838.  He attended seminary there and was ordained a priest in 1861.  He was recruited by Archbishop McCloskey to teach at St. Joseph’s Seminary in New York and Gabriels came to the United States in 1864.  He taught dogma and church history while also starting a parish in Sand Lake, New York.  Gabriels served as general secretary of the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore in 1884.  He was appointed president of the seminary in 1871, a position he held until his appointment as Bishop of Ogdensburg in 1891.  Bishop Gabriels established new health care facilities for the Diocese and worked to improved Catholic schools.  He also built churches and schools to serve an influx of immigrants from eastern and southern Europe and he dealt with the tragedy of the murder of one of his priests by an anarchist in 1908.  Bishop Gabriels died in 1921 at age 82.

Patrick A. Ludden was born in Ireland in 1836 and came to Montreal in 1861 to attend seminary.  He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Albany in 1865.  He took on increasing responsibilities in the Diocese from pastor to secretary to Bishop McCloskey, chancellor, cathedral rector, and vicar general.  Ludden was appointed the first Bishop of Syracuse in 1886, a position he initially declined and then accepted two months later.  The number of Catholics more than doubled in the Diocese while Ludden was Bishop, and he increased the number of parishes from 46 to 75 and increased the number of schools, hospitals, and other institutions.  He also used his own funds to build the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.  He died in 1912.