John Hughes (archbishop of New York)

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John Hughes (archbishop of New York) : biography

June 24, 1797 – January 3, 1864

Episcopacy

The episcopal coat of arms of Archbishop John J. Hughes

Coadjutor bishop

Hughes was chosen by Pope Gregory XVI as the coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of New York on August 7, 1837. He was consecrated bishop at St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral on January 7, 1838 with the title of the titular see of Basileopolis, by the Bishop of New York, John Dubois, S.S., his former Rector.

Trusteeism

One challenge Hughes took on upon arriving in New York was the dispute between the trustees of various parishes in the city, who held the control of these institutions. Known as trusteeism, the bishop challenged both the practicality and the legitimacy of this practice. Hughes drew upon his experience with this situation in Philadelphia and was able to get a referendum passed by the Catholics of the city in 1841 supporting the authority of the bishop.

Education

Hughes also campaigned actively on behalf of Irish immigrants, and attempted to secure state support for parochial schools. He protested against the standard use of the King James Bible in public schools by the Public School Society, a private organization which operated the schools of New York City. He claimed that it was an attack on Catholic constitutional rights of double taxation, because Catholics would need to pay taxes for public school and also pay for the private school to send their children, to avoid having their children indoctrinated with the Protestant translation of the Bible. When he failed to secure state support, he founded an independent Catholic school system which became an integral part of the Catholic Church’s structure at the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore (1884), which mandated that all parishes have a school and that all Catholic children be sent to those schools.

Bishop of New York

Hughes was appointed as the Apostolic Administrator of the diocese the following year, due to Dubois’ failing health, and succeeded him upon his death on December 20, 1842. He took over a diocese which covered the entire State of New York and northern New Jersey, having about 40 clergy to serve a Catholic population estimated to be about 200,000 at the time.

Influenced by the reactionary stance of that pope, Hughes was a staunch opponent of Abolitionism and the Free Soil movement, whose proponents often expressed anti-Catholic attitudes. Hughes founded the Ultramontane newspaper the New York Freeman to express his ideas. In 1850 he delivered an address entitled "The Decline of Protestantism and Its Causes," in which he announced as the ambition of Roman Catholicism "to convert all Pagan nations, and all Protestant nations . . . Our mission [is] to convert the world—including the inhabitants of the United States—the people of the cities, and the people of the country . . . the Legislatures, the Senate, the Cabinet, the President, and all!"James M. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (New York: Bantam Books, 1989), p. 132.

Archbishop

Hughes became an archbishop on July 19, 1850, when the diocese was elevated to the status of archdiocese by Pope Pius IX. As archbishop, Hughes led the Catholic bishops who served the entire Northeastern United States. He convened the first meeting of the Ecclesiastical Province of New York in September 1854. After this he traveled to Rome, where he was present at the proclamation of the Immaculate Conception as a dogma of the Catholic Church by Pope Pius.

Death

Archbishop Hughes, prepared for burial Hughes served as archbishop until his death. He was originally buried in old St. Patrick’s Cathedral, but his remains were exhumed in 1882 and reinterred in the crypt under the altar of the new cathedral he had begun.

Legacy

In New York, Hughes founded St. John’s College (now Fordham University) and, under his administration, invited in various religious congregations, among them the Society of Jesus, to whom he entrusted the care of his college, and which established Fordham Prep, the Brothers of the Christian Schools who founded Manhattan College and established as an autonomous congregation the Sisters of Charity of New York, who founded the Academy of Mount St. Vincent (now College of Mount Saint Vincent).

To the dismay of the people of the city, Hughes foresaw the expansion of the city and began construction of the current St. Patrick’s Cathedral, laying its cornerstone on August 15, 1858. It was not completed until after his death. Due to its remote location in a still-rural location, the new cathedral was called locally "Hughes’ Folly" for many years.