HUGHES, JOHN JOSEPH

First archbishop of New York; b. County Tyrone, Ireland, June 24, 1797; d. New York, N.Y., Jan. 3, 1864. John was the third of seven children of Patrick and Margaret (McKenna) Hughes, small farmers who avoided involvement in Ireland's political disturbances. John attended the local schools, and soon showed an interest in the priesthood. In 1816 the father and an older son immigrated to the U. S., sending for John the following year, and for the rest of the family in 1818. They settled in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, where John worked in the quarries, at mending roads, and as a gardener. He made several applications for admission to Mt. St. Mary's Seminary, Emmitsburg, Md., only to learn that there was no room. When, however, Rev. John dubois offered to take him as a gardener until a vacancy occurred, Hughes went to Mt. St. Mary's on Nov. 10, 1819, and a year later was received in the seminary. He was accepted by Bp. Henry conwell for the Diocese of phila delphia, Pa., and ordained in St. Joseph's Church, Philadelphia, on Oct. 15, 1826; arrangements were made for him to continue his studies under Michael Hurley, OSA, who was assigned to St. Augustine's parish in that city.

Career in Philadelphia. When Hughes arrived, the trustees of St. Mary's Cathedral were in open conflict with Conwell as a result of the Hogan schism, which dated from 1821. After about a year at St. Augustine's, where he had a chance to watch developments at St. Mary's, Hughes spent a few weeks as pastor of Bedford, Pa.; he was then recalled to Philadelphia to become, successively, pastor at St. Joseph's (January 1827) and at St. Mary's (April 1827). When the trustees of St. Mary's refused to pay his salary, he returned in July to St. Joseph's, where he remained until St. John's Church was built and dedicated in April 1832. The new church had no lay incorporators and Hughes administered his parish with a firm hand.

Although highly successful in his pastoral activities, he attracted more attention by his controversial writings and speeches. His first published sermon, which enhanced his reputation as a preacher, was on Catholic emancipation, then recently granted in Ireland, and was dedicated to Daniel O'Connell, whom he greatly admired. Anti-Catholicism, then strong in Philadelphia, was expressed freely in sermons, lectures, and the bitterly polemical Protestant weeklies. There was no Catholic paper, since many Catholics, including Bp. Francis Kenrick, who had been appointed coadjutor with full jurisdiction in 1830, thought the best policy was to suffer in silence. Hughes, on the contrary, believed in a vigorous defense. He founded the Catholic Herald, a newspaper that he later turned over to the diocese. Earlier he had established a Catholic Tract Society to distribute free pamphlets. In 1830, using the pseudonym "Cranmer," he wrote letters to the Protestant, a New York weekly specializing in anti-Catholic propaganda. When, however, his wildly improbable accounts of Catholic plots and progress failed to strain the credulity of the editors and readers, he exposed the hoax. His best known controversy in Philadelphia was with Dr. John Breckinridge, a Presbyterian clergyman, with whom he debated in writing (1833) and orally (1835) on the Rule of Faith, and Catholicism as an obstacle to civil and religious liberty.

Hughes did not overestimate the value of controversy, but used it to make the enemies of the Church more cautious and to raise the morale of the sorely tried Catholic masses. His talents and his achievements attracted attention, and his promotion to the episcopate was generally expected. He had been recommended as coadjutor of Philadelphia by Conwell in 1829, and for Cincinnati in 1833. In 1836 the Holy See designated Hughes as coadjutor of Philadelphia and Kenrick as bishop of a new see to be erected at Pittsburgh, but Gregory XVI delayed formal approval. In 1837 when the Third Provincial Council of Baltimore asked that the division of Philadelphia be postponed, Hughes was preconized titular bishop of Basileopolis and coadjutor, with the right of succession, of New York. He was consecrated there on Jan. 7, 1838, in old St. Patrick's Cathedral.

New York. The diocese then consisted of all of New York State and about one-half of New Jersey, an area of about 55,000 square miles. Hughes found 22 churches, 10 of which had been erected in 1837, and 40 priests, to serve the needs of 200,000 Catholics, in a total population of about 2,700,000. The Emmitsburg Sisters of Charity were the only religious community in the diocese. Seven parochial schools, all in New York City, and four orphan asylums, two of which were in the city, made up the total of Catholic charitable and educational institutions. The population of the U.S. was increasing rapidly; in New York City the increase was five times the national rate. Moreover, the churches of the city were burdened with a heavy debt, $300,000. When, in January 1838, Dubois suffered a stroke, responsibilty for the diocese devolved upon Hughes, who was named apostolic administrator in August 1839 and succeeded to the see on Dec. 20, 1842. He became archbishop of New York on July 19, 1850, when it was made an archdiocese.

Hughes's authority was challenged in February 1839, when the cathedral trustees had a catechist appointed by Dubois ejected from the Sunday school by the police. A pastoral, written by Hughes and signed by Dubois, threatened the parishoners with an interdict unless they repudiated the trustees. This was done promptly, at a meeting summoned, addressed, and presided over, by Hughes. Except for the parish of St. Louis in Buffalo, where the trustees held out for years, New York had no further difficulty with trusteeism.

After a preliminary visitation of the diocese, Hughes went to Europe in October 1839, seeking aid in Paris, Rome, Munich, Vienna, and Dublin. On his return in 1840, he engaged in his greatest contest over the question of religion and the public schools. The Public School Society, a private organization, practically monopolized public funds for education in New York City from 1825 to 1840. Professedly nonsectarian, it provided religious training that was offensive to Catholics, who wanted state aid for denominational schools and a proportionate share of public funds. Governor William Seward agreed with the Catholics, but the city aldermen and the state legislature were hostile. The resultant controversy, which destroyed the Public School Society, led to two quite unexpected developments—the total secularization of U.S. public education on all levels, and the creation of the parochial school system in the U. S.

The growth of political nativism had led, in 1844, to the burning of Catholic churches and widespread riots in Philadelphia. Hughes's success in arousing his people to defend the churches against mob violence, while exhorting them to give no provocation, prevented similar disorders in New York. His firm stand on this and on the school question made him known throughout the country. Although attacked and misrepresented in the press, he was, nevertheless, highly respected in both Catholic and non-Catholic circles.

His achievements in the diocese included the erection of four new sees; the beginning of the new St. Patrick's Cathedral; the founding of a seminary, and of a college at Fordham, New York City, which he later transferred to the Jesuits; the introduction of many religions communities; and the development of charitable and educational works. He was instrumental in separating a group of Sisters of Charity from Emmitsburg, Md., thus founding the independent Mt. St. Vincent community in New York City.

National and International Affairs. Hughes was a vigorous defender of the temporal power of the pope, and sponsored more than one special collection to help Pius IX. He took a leading part in the founding of the North American College at Rome in 1859. Thoroughly unsym-pathetic to the abolitionist movement in the U. S., he believed that sudden emancipation would injure the slaves. He opposed plans to settle Irish immigrants on farm lands in the West, fearing they would be lost to the Church because of the shortage of priests. Although he endorsed Irish nationalism, he disapproved of risings that he thought could not succeed, and condemned Irish antislavery sentiment as an intrusion into U. S. politics. Because he was convinced of the basic harmony between American political institutions and Catholicism, he urged Catholic support of the U. S. Constitution and was friendly with officials of the national government. When President James Polk tried to send him to Mexico in 1847, he refused the mission because of its unofficial character. A visit to Europe in support of the Union, 1861–62, was undertaken at the request of President Lincoln and Secretary Seward. He was recommended to Rome for the red hat by Lincoln's government; when no action was taken, some believed the time was not ripe for an American cardinal, while others thought Hughes was not the best choice. His last public appearance was made in July 1863, at the request of New York Gov. Horatio Seymour, who was attempting to stop the draft riots that were then occurring in the City of New York.

Character and Personality. Archbishop Hughes was a born leader and fighter. Prompt and vigorous in action, and unyielding in conflict, he believed he had the duty and the ability to lead and defend his people, and to prove that American Catholics were not second-class citizens. If he was autocratic and at times fought harder than was necessary, he merely displayed the defects of his virtues.

Although Hughes became increasingly intolerant of disagreement, he nevertheless rendered valuable service to both Church and country. As his successor, Abp. John McCloskey, said: "… if ever there was a man who in the whole history and character of his life impressed upon us the sense and conviction that he had been raised up by God, was chosen as His instrument to do an appointed work … that man was Archbishop Hughes." Hughes died of Bright's disease, after a long illness, and was buried in the old cathedral. His remains were translated to the new St. Patrick's Cathedral in 1883.

Bibliography: Complete Works, comp. and ed. l. kehoe, 2v. (New York 1865). j. r. hassard, Life of the Most Reverend John Hughes, D.D., First Archbishop of New York (New York 1866). h.a. brann, Most Reverend John Hughes: First Archbishop of New York (2d ed. New York 1912). e. m. connors, Church-State Relationships in Education in the State of New York (Washington 1951). f. d. cohalan, A Popular History of the Archdiocese of New York (Yonkers, N.Y. 1983). r. shaw, Dagger John: The Unquiet Life and Times of Archbishop John Hughes of New York (New York 1977).

[f. d. cohalan]