Joseph Sadoc Alemany

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FirstArchbishop ofSan Francisco,California,U.S.A. b. atVich inSpain, 3 July, 1814; d. at Valencia inSpain, 14 April, 1888. He entered at an early age theOrder of St. Dominic, wasordainedpriest atViterbo inItaly, 27 March, 1837;consecratedBishop of Monterey inCalifornia (atRome) 30 June, 1850, and was transferred 29 July, 1853, to theSee of San Francisco as its firstarchbishop. He resigned in November, 1884, was appointed titularArchbishop ofPelusium.

California having but recently passed fromMexican to American rule and still containing a large Spanish population with Spanish customs and traditions, the appointment of Archbishop Alemany as the firstbishop under the changed conditions was a providential measure. Ten years of missionary activity inOhio,Kentucky, andTennessee had enabled him to master the English language, which he spoke and wrote correctly and fluently, familiarized him with the customs and spirit of the Republic; and imbued him with alove for theUnited States which he carried with him to the grave. His episcopal labours were to begin among a population composed of almost all nationalities. Born inSpain,educated inRome, and long resident in America, his experience and his command of several languages put him in touch and in sympathy with all the elements of hisdiocese. Hishumility and simplicity of manner, though by nature retiring, drew to him the hearts of all classes.

Naturally his first thought was to secure a body ofpriests andnuns as co-labourers in his new field; for this he made partial provision before reaching San Francisco. TheFranciscan Missions (whose memory and whose remains in the second century if their existence are still treasured not byCalifornia alone, but by the whole country) having been lately confiscated in the name of "secularization", the missionaries driven away and their flocks largely dispersed, it was evident that his work was simply to create all that a new order of things called for, an order as unique as abishop ever had to encounter. The discovery of gold inCalifornia a few years before his appointment had attracted to it a population from every quarter of the world, most of whom thought little of making it their permanent home. Many, however, brought the old Faith with them and even in the mad rush of all for gold were ready to respond generously to apersonality such as that of the youngbishop.

When he began his work, there were but twenty-one adobe mission-churches scattered up and down the State, and not more than a dozenpriests in allCalifornia. He lived to see the State divided into threedioceses with about three hundred thousandCatholic population, manychurches of modern architecture and some of respectable dimensions, a body of devotedclergy,secular andregular, charitable andeducational institutions conducted by the teaching orders of both men andwomen, such as to meet, as far as possible under the circumstances, the wants of a constantly growing population. He was ever intent, as the first object of his work, upon the spiritual welfare of his people, but in the early years of his ministry inCalifornia much arduous labour was expended in protecting thechurch property from "Squatters", and in prosecuting the claims of the "Pious Fund" against Mexico. Through the State Department of theUnited States Government he compelled Mexico to respect her self-made agreement with theChurch inCalifornia to pay at least the interest up to thedate of the decision upon the moneys derived from the enforced sale of the Missionproperty at the time of the "secularization" and which had been turned into the Mexican Treasury. Under his successor, in the year 1902, a final adjudication of the "Pious Fund" in favour of theChurch inCalifornia was reached by an International Board of Arbitration atThe Hague.

The episcopal office which he had accepted only under obedience was, in a human sense, never congenial to Archbishop Alemany; his whole temperament inclined him to be simply a missionarypriest; in a large sense, he continued to be such up to the day of his resignation. His characteristic devotion to therights of theChurch, hislove of a common sense freedom of the individual, and particularly his admiration of the free institutions of the American Union, were manifested by an occurrence on the occasion of a visit made to his native land after many years' absence. Before aninfidel spirit had poisoned the minds of many in power, even inCatholic countries, it had been the custom inSpain, as in otherCatholic lands, forpriests to wear theirsacerdotal dress in the streets. This new spirit indeed had driven him fromSpain when a student, desiring as he did to become a member of one of the proscribed Orders, and when he returned on the occasion in question it was a novelty to see him in the streets dressed as aDominican Friar. When his would-be custodian warned him to put off his cassock for outdoor use he produced his passport as an American citizen, stating that in his adopted country, whereCatholics were greatly in the minority, he was permitted to wear any sort of coat he preferred and that surely this privilege would not be denied him inCatholicSpain, the land of his birth. It was not denied him; at least, for that once. So wedded was he to theOrder of St. Dominic that when becomingBishop of Monterey, and ever after till his death, he wore the white cassock of the Order and in letter and spirit adhered to the Rule ofSt. Dominic as far as it is possible outside of community life.

The exalted office ofarchbishop did not grow more agreeable to him with years, and with a view of resigning and becoming again a missionarypriest he besoughtRome to grant him a coadjutor,cum jure successionis, long before one was given him. When, however, hisprayer was heard, which was not until he had reached the scriptural age of three score years and ten, he lovingly transferred to his successor the burden which he had borne long and faithfully for hisMaster's sake. Whilst he had ever the greatest consideration for the comfort of others his own life was one of austerity. No one but himself ever entered his living apartments, which were so connected with the church that he could make his visits to theBlessed Sacrament and keep his long vigils at a little latticed window looking in upon the Tabernacle. No one ever saw him manifestanger; he was ever gentle, but firm whenduty called for this. So considerate was he for the feelings of others that he certainly never intentionally orunjustly wounded them.

Most thoughtful and courteous in all he did, he journeyed a thousand miles to Ogden,Utah, in November, 1883, to meet for the first time, to accompany thence and to welcome to San Francisco his coadjutor and successor, the Most Rev. P.W. Riordan. From the first meeting and until his death the closest and tenderest friendship existed between them. Having acquainted his successor fully withdiocesan affairs and transferred to him as a "corporation sole" alldiocesanproperty (according to a law which he had had passed through theCalifornia legislature for the better security ofchurch property), theArchbishop resigned in 1884, returned to his native land, and died there.

His intenselove for the missionary life and hiszeal forsouls did not end with his resignation, his seventy years unfitted him for active work of that nature, but he returned toSpain with a dream of founding a missionary college to supplypriests for the American missions. For this purpose he left behind him in San Francisco the amount of a testimonial given him by thepriests and people of thediocese as some little recognition of his long services and the example of his saintly life among them. He stipulated that, should he not use it for that purpose, it should be expended by his successor for religious and charitable purposes inSan Francisco. He received generous support from thediocese, but found the proposed missionary college impracticable. So, on his retirement from thirty years of apostolic labours inCalifornia, he left as a legacy to the diocese the example of atrue apostle, and died as an apostle should, possessing nothing but the merits of his "works which had gone before him".

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