Chidwick, John Patrick

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CHIDWICK, JOHN PATRICK

Chaplain, educator; b. New York City, Oct. 23, 1862; d. New York City, Jan. 13, 1935. He was ordained at Troy, N.Y., Dec. 17, 1887. Chidwick gained fame as chaplain of the U.S. battleship Maine when it was blown up in Havana harbor, Cuba, in 1898. His heroism on that occasion was praised in a dispatch from Captain Charles Sigsbee, the Maine 's commander, to John Long, Secretary of the Navy. Chidwick was interested in young people, and his youth organizations were most successful. He filled also various offices in the archdiocese of New York, serving as police chaplain, pastor, founder of a high school, and president of the College of New Rochelle in Westchester County, N.Y. From 1909 to 1922, he was rector of St. Joseph's Seminary, Dunwoodie, Yonkers, N.Y., where he exercised a lasting influence on the students confided to his care. He was appointed a papal chamberlain and served as pastor of St. Agnes parish, New York City, until his death.

[j. p. monaghan]

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