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American Catholic Expansionism: 1886–1894

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 June 2011

Thomas E. Wangler
Thomas E. Wangler
Affiliation:
Boston College
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Extract

It was demonstrated elsewhere that after a visit to Rome in 1886–87 a small group of American Catholic bishops, later known as Americanists, came to hold a number of religious convictions which accounted for the reformatory activity of these men between that visit and the papal condemnation of Americanism in 1899. Briefly, a faith or myth was born alongside the standard Catholic orthodoxy of the period, one which affirmed God as rearranging the world, determining the decline of Europe and the emergence of the United States of America as a “New World,” destined, as in the puritan dream, to shed its influence around the world. The unique features of this American Catholic reinterpretation of the puritan myth were that it was housed within an international religious institution, and its object was not exactly the spread of political liberty or a purified Christianity, but a modernized or Americanized Catholicism.

Type
Research Article
Information
Harvard Theological Review , Volume 75 , Issue 3 , July 1982 , pp. 369 - 393
Copyright
Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 1982

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References

1 See the author's “The Birth of Americanism: ‘Westward the Apocalyptic Candlestick,’” HTR 65 (1972) 415–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

2 On this matter see Barbier, Emmanuel, Histoire du catholicisme libéral et du Catholicism social en France du Concile du Vatican à 1'avènement de S.S. Benoit XV (1870–1914) (Bordeaux: Cadoret, 1924) 2. 119Google Scholar; Lecanuet, R. P., Les Premières années de Pontificat de Léon XIII 1878–1894 (Paris: Félix Alcan, 1931) 286–92.Google Scholar

3 Soderini, Eduardo, Leo XIII: Italy and France (trans. Carter, Barbara B.; London: Burns Oates and Washbourne, 1935) 36.Google Scholar

4 Barbier, Histoire, 2.123.

5 The quoted words are those of Archbishop Ireland; see his The Church and Modern Society (St. Paul: Pioneer, 1904) 2. 183.Google Scholar

6 Ibid.

7 An extremely interesting account by Benigni himself of the relationship of these papers to their respective popes is published in the Catholic Encyclopedia, 11. 683–85.

8 Grenier, Joseph A., “To Reach the People: La Croix 1883–1890” (Ph.D. diss., Fordham University, 1976) 61.Google Scholar

9 Barbier, Histoire, 2. 119.

10 Stead, William T., The Pope and the New Era (London: Cassel, 1890) 237–38.Google Scholar

11 On this matter see Houx, M. Des, Souvenirs d'un journaliste français à Rome (Paris: Ollendorff, 1886) and Lecanuet, Premières années, 286.Google Scholar

12 “Correspondence,” (14 April 1888) 605–6.

13 “A Voice from Rome on Home Rule,” (7 August 1887).

14 “Les Chevaliers du Travail,” La Croix (15 April 1887) 1.

15 Catholic Review (21 April 1888) 245–46.

16 It appears that on this continent only the Petit Séminaire de Quebec has retained copies of the Moniteur de Rome. It is holding the weekly edition of the Moniteur for the period 6 May 1883 to 26 July 1885. It possesses the daily Moniteur for the period 27 July 1885 to the end of the Nouveau Moniteur de Rome, its successor, on 21 October 1894. While individual issues are missing, the set is surprisingly complete. European holdings of the paper, as well as publication information are available in Molinari, Olga M., La Stampa periodica Romana dell'Ottocento (Rome: Instituto di studi Romani, 1963)Google Scholar and in Malgeri, Francesco, La Stampa Cattolica a Roma dal 1870 al 1915 (Brescia: Morcelliana, 1965).Google Scholar

17 Barbier, Histoire, 2. 397–98.

18 Dabry, Pierre, Les Catholiques Républicains: Histoire et Souvenirs, 1890–1903 (Paris: Chevalier et Rivière, 1905) 596–97.Google Scholar

19 Ibid., 595.

20 The author has identified the location of about thirty of the Innominato articles in the Sun. They appeared biweekly.

21 Barbier, Histoire, 63.

22 Mayeur, Jean-Marie, Un Prêtre démocrate, 1'abbé Lemire, 1853–1928 (Paris: Casterman, 1968) 253.Google Scholar

23 Keane to Gibbons (Rome, 4 December 1886), preserved among the Gibbons papers in the Archives of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, 82-G-4.

24 The full story surrounding this matter is best told by Browne, Henry J., The Catholic Church and the Knights of Labor (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America, 1949).Google Scholar

25 Keane to Henry Cardinal Manning (Rome, 19 March 1887)Google Scholar, presumably among the Manning papers. A microfilm copy of this letter, as well as several others sent by American prelates to Manning, are preserved in the Archives of the Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. (hereafter ACUA).

26 Ibid. (10 February 1887, ACUA).

27 The someone is most likely Keane, as he described the process of arranging Vatican approval for the Moniteur publication: Keane to Manning (Rome, 23 April 1887, ACUA). Browne (Catholic Church, 266) incorrectly lists 28 March as the date of the Moniteur publication of the Gibbons document.

28 Browne (Catholic Church, 267) cites the Western Watchman of St. Louis and the Connecticut Catholic, both on 23 April, as claiming to reproduce copies printed by the Propaganda Press, although the only copy of the pamphlet found by him does not refer to a publication source. The Congregation of the Propaganda of the Faith, and especially its secretary, Domenico Jacobini, figured prominently in the affairs of the Moniteur and in the Americanist activities relative to the international flow of Catholic news. Barbier (Histoire, 2. 122–23; 3. 62) claimed that Jacobini put up the money from Propaganda sources to fund the founding of the Moniteur. Besides the edited English version of the Knights document, the Propaganda Press also published, as noted below, a controversial sermon by Keane, in French, some two years later. It was Jacobini who authorized the publication of the edited Knights document in the Moniteur (Keane to Manning, Rome, 23 April 1887, ACUA), and who functioned as news source for the Associated Press agent appointed in Rome in late 1890, as will be demonstrated below. Boeglin was the agent.

29 Keane to Manning (Rome, 19 March 1887, ACUA).

30 Ibid. (Rome, Easter Tuesday [12 April] 1887, ACUA).

31 Since the 1 April issue of the Moniteur is missing from the Quebec collection, I have accepted the reference of the New York Times (22 April 1887, p. 4, col. 5) as to a 1 April publication date.

32 9 April 1887.

33 1 April 1887, p. 4, col. 2.

34 Keane to Manning (Rome, Easter Tuesday [12 April] 1887, ACUA).

35 Vogue, M. Eugene-Melchior de, “Affairs de Rome,” Revue des Deux Mondes 81 (15 June 1887) 845.Google Scholar

36 Hoog, Georges, Histoire du Catholicisme Social en France 1871–1931 (Paris: Editions Domat Montchrestien, 1946) 42.Google Scholar

37 15 April 1887.

38 This review of international opinion appeared in the Catholic Mirror (Baltimore, 21 May 1887).Google Scholar The Moniteur carried reviews of international reaction to the Gibbons and Manning documents on 6, 9, 13, and 20 April, all on p, 1.

39 Keane to Manning (Rome, 23 April 1887, ACUA).

40 Catholic Visitor (Richmond, Virginia, 18 June 1887).Google Scholar

41 Ibid. (21 May 1887). The letter is dated 21 April 1887.

42 Keane to Manning (Rome, 23 April 1887, ACUA).

43 ACUA.

44 Ireland to O'Connell (St. Paul, 14 April 1888)Google Scholar, preserved among the O'Connell papers in the archives of the Diocese of Richmond, Virginia.

45 O'Connell to Keane (Rome, 25 March 1888, ACUA).Google Scholar

46 O'Connell to Ireland (Rome, 31 October 1888)Google Scholar, preserved among the Ireland paper in the archives pf the Catholic Historical Society of St Paul.

47 O'Connell to Keane (Rome, 25 March 1888, ACUA).Google Scholar

48 Hecker, Isaac, in the article “The Mission of Leo XIII,” Catholic Mirror (29 September 1888)Google Scholar, praised the Keane pamphlet in its French form and noted the place of publication.

49 Keane's side of this incident is described by him in a handwritten document, “Chronicles of the Catholic University of America from 1885,” 35–39 (ACUA).

50 Ibid., 38.

51 The address is available in Ireland's The Church and Modern Society (Chicago: McBridge, 1896) 1.49–83.Google Scholar

52 “Le centenaire de l'érection de la hiérarchie catholique aux États-Unis,” (19 October 1889) 1.

53 “Le centenaire catholique aux États-Unis,” (11, 12 November 1889) 1.

54 Charbonnel, Victor, “La Fin de l'Américanisme,” Revue Chrétienne (1899) 344.Google Scholar

55 O'Connell to Gibbons (Rome, 29 November 1890)Google Scholar, as reproduced in Rellly, Daniel F., The School Controversy, 1891–1893 (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America, 1943) 52.Google Scholar

56 O'Connell to Ireland (Rome, 12 January 1891, Ireland papers).Google Scholar

57 Documents et Renseignements sur les Questions Actuelles, IX (20 May 1891).Google Scholar

58 Stead's New Era is a collection of these letters.

59 Ireland to O'Connell (St. Paul, 8 March 1891, O'Connell papers).Google Scholar In Italy, Ireland had a similar popularity, although it appears to have developed later. Rossini, Giuseppe (Aspetti della cultura cattelica nell'età di Leone XIII [Rome: Edizieni 5 Lune, 1961] 357)Google Scholar notes the prestige enjoyed by Ireland in Italy and expressed the opinion that this was the result of the Archbishop's popularity in France. The important Italian journal Rassegna Nazionale developed a strong interest in Ireland and Americanism, but a check of its index indicates that this came about only after 1896. On the “Americanism” of the Rassegna see Confessore, Ornella, Conservatorismo politico e riformismo religioso. La “Rassegna Nazionale” dal 1898 al 1908 (Bologna: Società editrice Mulino, 1971) 69–114.Google Scholar See the remarks below on the negative image of Ireland in Germany.

60 Ireland to Gibbons (St. Paul, 11 February 1891, Archives of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, 88-J-4).

61 O'Connell to Ireland (Rome, 31 December 1891, Ireland papers).

62 Ibid. (10 March 1891).

63 On this matter see Stone, Melville E., Fifty Years a Journalist (New York: Greenwood, 1968)Google Scholar; Gramling, Oliver, AP, The Story of News (New York: Farrar and Rinehart, 1940)Google Scholar; Cooper, Kent, Kent Cooper and the Associated Press (New York: Random House, 1959).Google Scholar

64 This report-like summary of the worldwide cable system in 1886 was published in the Moniteur de Rome (16 December 1886, p. 3) under the title “Les câbles télégraphiques du monde.”

65 The full story of this incident is told in Barry, Coleman J., The Catholic Church and German Americans (Milwaukee: Bruce, 1953).Google Scholar

66 O'Connell to Ireland (Rome, 11 June 1891, Ireland papers).

67 See Barry, Catholic Church, 138.

68 Ireland to O'Connell (St. Paul, 21 May 1891, O'Connell papers).

69 Ibid. (2 July 1891).

70 O'Connell to Ireland (Rome, 7 January 1897, Ireland papers).

71 In his “Michael Augustine Corrigan and the Shaping of Conservative Catholicism in America, 1878–1895” (Ph.D. diss., Yale University, 1974)Google Scholar, Robert Emmett Curran demonstrated that at least by late 1890 Corrigan was aware of the liberals' planting of articles in French and Roman journals, and their control of the wires. See pp. 321, 347, 357, 358, 364, 398, 399, 403, 404, 406, 414–16, 417, 425. It was not long before Corrigan was himself engaged in such ventures. The Curran book has recently been published by Arno Press.

72 O'Connell to Ireland (Rome, 1 October 1890, Ireland papers).

73 Ibid. (25 January 1893).

74 Ireland to O'Connell (St. Paul, 23 October 1893, O'Connell papers).

75 Ibid. (2 November 1893). The address is available in Ireland's The Church and Modern Society, vol. 1.

76 Ibid. (14 November 1893).

77 Keane to O'Connell (Washington, 16 November 1893, O'Connell papers).

78 Ibid. (5 January 1894).

79 Ireland to 0'Connell (St. Paul, 16 February 1894, 0'Connell papers).

80 “Notre Condemnation,” Nouveau Moniteur de Rome (18 March 1894) 1.

81 “L'expulsion de ‘Romanus,’” Nouveau Moniteur de Rome (3 October 1894) 2.

82 “L'expulsion de Mgr. Boeglin,” Univers (Paris, 24 October 1894) 1.

83 O'Connell to Ireland (Rome, 25 and 29 September 1893, Ireland papers). In both of these letters O'Connell claimed that the papal Secretary of State, Mariano Cardinal Rampola, wanted him to arrange to have articles appear in the Roman papers relative to a series of events in Chicago involving Catholic participation in the Columbian celebration. Thus O'Connell urged Ireland in the first of these letters to “lend frequent correspondence to the Roman press.” Ireland replied on 23 October 1893 from St. Paul: “I shall attend correspondence for the Roman papers” (O'Connell papers). It appears that Roman authorities knew of, and at times even encouraged, the media involvement of the Americanists.

84 O'Connell to Ireland (Rome, 7 and 28 January 1897, Ireland papers). The Holy Cross priest, the Rev. John Zahm, was put forward as the proposed agent.

85 A. Rees of B. Herder Publishing Co., Fribourg, to O'Connell (15 September 1897; 21 October 1897; 20 November 1897; O'Connell papers). The careful Rees patiently rewrote the instructions he had received from O'Connell and indicated his compliance with them.