Series of firsts dot Cardinal's life

Cardinal John McCloskey's life was marked by a series of "firsts." He was the first native of New York State to become a diocesan priest, the first bishop of the Albany Diocese and the first cardinal in the United States.

Born to Irish immigrants in Brooklyn, he was educated at schools in New York City. When he was ten years old, his father died and a family friend arranged for him to be sent to Mt. St. Mary's College in Emmitsburg, Maryland at age 11.

Counting the days

After graduating from Mt. St. Mary's at 17, he couldn't decide on a career. Through family connections, a position in a counting house (the 19th-century term for an accounting firm) was secured. Before he even started that job, he was badly injured in a serious accident. He had tried to prod oxen left unattended in the middle of the road. The animals were spooked and overturned a wagon filled with logs. The logs crushed the young man. After regaining consciousness, it was discovered that the young McCloskey was blind.

After recuperating, he regained his sight and decided to return to Mt. St. Mary's to become a priest. His accident's lasting effect was that he had to learn to pace himself because he did not have the energy or endurance for extended physical efforts.

Ordination

He was ordained on January 12, 1834 in old St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York. Upon his ordination, he was appointed vice president of philosophy at a new seminary being built in Nyack, New York. After fire destroyed the seminary, he went to Rome to study further.

When he returned to New York in 1837, he was assigned to St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City, and then as pastor of St. Joseph's in Greenwich Village. At that time, Greenwich Village was a summer resort an hour's drive away from the city by horse car.

In 1841, he became the first president of St. John's College, which later became Fordham University. Three years later, he was installed coadjutor bishop of New York -- the first native of New York to hold this position.

Another first

When he was 37 years old, he was installed as the first bishop of the diocese of Albany. His installation was held on September 18, 1847. At that time, the Albany diocese was larger than the states of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Vermont combined.

Under his leadership, the first diocesan churches were organized. Prior to this, churches had been established through grassroots efforts of the laity. With a bishop in residence, the Church in upstate New York was organized from the top down.

A growing Church

During the 17 years of his leadership in Albany, the Church grew. There was a threefold growth of churches and priests and a rise in the number of Catholic schools from 2 to 19. Much of Bishop McCloskey's time was spent mediating pastor/trustee problems.

Trusteeism was a part of American law at the time; in fact, New York was the first state to enact a law supported trusteeism. The law allowed the male adults of a parish of any denomination to elect trustees who thereby became a parochial corporation with administrative powers.

Trustees often rejected the pastors assigned to their parish. The Putnam Bill, passed by the legislature in 1855, prohibited Catholic bishops from holding property in their own names, which was the normal procedure in the Church for passing a church from pastor to pastor.

Bishop McCloskey worked behind the scenes with state officials to effect changes and in 1863 the bill was repealed. That year, state law modified trusteeism to include the bishop, vicar-general, pastor and two lay trustees.

Weathering the storm

Trusteeism and the Putnam Bill were symbols of the anti-Catholicism that was rampant during McCloskey's life. The "Know-Nothings," a quasi-secret society based on hate and fear of immigrants that supported an isolationist position, grew during the time Bishop McCloskey was in Albany. Despite the popularity of the movement, the bishop weathered the time unscathed and was well-respected by state officials.

Bishop McCloskey was responsible for the establishment of St. Joseph Seminary in Troy and construction of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Albany. At the time of its construction, the Cathedral was located in an isolated part of the city approachable only by footpaths. Ten thousand people gathered to witness the cornerstone being laid for the Cathedral, the first designated Roman Catholic cathedral in the U.S. in the Gothic Revival style.

Bishop McCloskey was also responsible for bringing several religious communities to the diocese to educate children, help the poor, tend to orphans, and care for the sick.

Witnessing

In 1864, he was named archbishop of New York. Prior to leaving Albany, he was invited by 36 prominent Protestant leaders in Albany to a testimonial dinner.

The reason for the dinner, the leaders wrote, was to "bear witness to the results of your episcopal labors, the reflected light of which we see in the elevated condition of your people. It is for us to recognize the successful mission of one, who has united in his person the character of a learned prelate and a Christian gentleman, whose influence in society had been exerted to soothe and tranquilize, to elevate and instruct."

The new archbishop of New York resumed construction of the Cathedral, which was begun in 1858 but suspended during the Civil War. He was the youngest archbishop at the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore, where he gave the opening sermon.

At Vatican Council I, Archbishop McCloskey was a member of the commission on discipline. He successfully admonished New York's Catholics from participation in the Fenian movement.

Final step

He was named a cardinal in 1875 by Pope Pius IX. This honor was acclaimed throughout the country in gratification that an American had gained this highest honor from the Holy See.

In 1878 he assisted at the coronation of Pope Leo XIII in Rome.

Cardinal McCloskey died in 1885 and is buried under the high alter at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York.

(Additional information on Cardinal McCloskey and the early days of the Albany Diocese can be found in "Canals and Crossroads," the history of the Diocese written for the sesquicentennial by Sally Light. The book is scheduled for release in the fall.)

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