Hughes, John

Hughes, John (1797–1864), Catholic prelate.Born in Ireland, John Hughes immigrated to Emmitsburg, Maryland, where he first worked as a gardener at Mount St. Mary's Seminary. He then remained at Mt. St. Mary's to study for the priesthood. Ordained in Philadelphia in 1826, he soon emerged as an able defender of Catholic rights against nativism. Appointed coadjutor bishop of New York in 1837, he was consecrated the following year. In 1842, he became bishop of New York and in 1850 the first archbishop. In New York, he came to symbolize the Irish immigrants’ arrival on the American scene. In 1842, he gained the support of Governor William Seward in his battle with the Public School Society, a private organization that distributed state funds for education and assured its Protestant character. Despite state legislation requiring funds to be distributed through locally elected school supervisors, Hughes, like other bishops, opened parochial schools to educate Catholic children. In 1844, he defended his churches with armed men against a threatened nativist attack. In 1858, he laid the cornerstone for St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. A powerful orator, Hughes rallied Irish Americans in particular to support the Mexican War. In the Civil War, he endorsed President Abraham Lincoln's call to defend the Union, but rejected emancipation as one of the war's purposes. He also undertook a mission to Rome for Lincoln to prevent Pope Pius IX from recognizing the Confederacy. His last public appearance was to help quell the New York City draft riots in July 1863.
See also Anti‐Catholic Movement; Draft Riots, Civil War; Nativist Movement; Roman Catholicism.

Bibliography

Richard Shaw , Dagger John: The Unquiet Life and Times of Archbishop John Hughes of New York, 1977.

Gerald P. Fogarty, S.J.