William Henry O'Connell | |
|---|---|
| Cardinal,Archbishop of Boston | |
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| See | Boston |
| Appointed | February 7, 1906 (Coadjutor) |
| Installed | August 30, 1907 |
| Term ended | April 22, 1944 |
| Predecessor | John Joseph Williams |
| Successor | Richard Cushing |
| Other post | Cardinal-Priest ofS. Clemente |
| Previous posts |
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| Orders | |
| Ordination | June 8, 1884 by Lucido Parocchi |
| Consecration | May 19, 1901 by Francesco Satolli |
| Created cardinal | November 27, 1911 byPius X |
| Rank | Cardinal-Priest |
| Personal details | |
| Born | William Henry O'Connell (1859-12-08)December 8, 1859 |
| Died | April 22, 1944(1944-04-22) (aged 84) |
| Motto | Vigor in arduis (Strength in difficult times) |
| Signature |  |
Ordination history of William Henry O'Connell | |||||||||||||||
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| Styles of William Henry O'Connell | |
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| Reference style | |
| Spoken style | Your Eminence |
| Religious style | Cardinal |
| Informal style | Cardinal |
| See | Chicago |
William Henry O'Connell (December 8, 1859 – April 22, 1944) was an Americancardinal of theCatholic Church. He served asarchbishop of Boston in Massachusetts from 1907 until his death in 1944, and was made acardinal in 1911. He previously served as bishop of the Diocese of Portland in Maine from 1901 to 1906.
William O'Connell was born on December 8, 1859, inLowell,Massachusetts, to John and Bridget (née Farrelly) O'Connell, who wereIrishimmigrants. The youngest of eleven children, he had six brothers and four sisters. His father worked at atextile mill and died when William was four years old.[1] During hishigh school career, he excelled at music, particularly thepiano andorgan.[1]
O'Connell enteredSt. Charles College inEllicott City,Maryland, in 1876. At St. Charles, he was a pupil of the poetJohn Banister Tabb. He returned to Massachusetts two years later and enteredBoston College. He graduated there in 1881 with gold medals inphilosophy, physics, andchemistry. He then furthered his studies at thePontifical North American College inRome.
O'Connell wasordained to the priesthood by CardinalLucido Parocchi on June 8, 1884.[2]Apneumonia andbronchial congestion cut short his pursuit of adoctorate in divinity at thePontifical Urban Athenaeum, forcing him to return to the United States in 1885.[1]
The archdiocese first assigned O'Connell ascurate of St. Joseph Parish inMedford, Massachusett. In 1886, he was transferred to St. Joseph Church in theWest End of Boston.[1] Returning to Rome, O'Connell was namedrector of the North American College in 1895. The Vatican elevated him to the rank ofdomestic prelate in 1897.
On February 8, 1901, O'Connell was appointed the third bishop of Portland byPope Leo XIII. He chose for his episcopal motto "Vigor In Arduis" meaning "Strength in Adversity". He received hisepiscopal consecration on May 19, 1901, from CardinalFrancesco Satolli, with ArchbishopsEdmund Stonor andRafael Merry del Val, in Rome at theBasilica of St. John Lateran. Upon his arrival in Maine, he was given an official reception by GovernorJohn F. Hill.[1] He was presented with areliquary of theTrue Cross byPope Pius X after the latter'selection in 1903.[1]
In 1905, in addition to his duties as adiocesan bishop, O'Connell was namedpapal envoy toEmperor Meiji ofJapan; he was also decorated with theGrand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure and made anassistant at the pontifical throne in 1905. He was viewed as having actively campaigned to become archbishop of Boston, donating to numerousVatican causes and publicly expressing his loyalty to thepope.[3]
O'Connell was namedcoadjutor archbishop of Boston with right of succession andtitular archbishop ofConstantina byPope Pius X on February 21, 1906. As coadjutor, he served as the designated successor ofArchbishop John Williams, then in declining health. He succeeded Williams as archbishop after his death on August 30, 1907.[2]
On November 27, 1911, O'Connell became Boston's first archbishop to become cardinal, and was given the title of cardinal-priest of S. Clemente.[4] He arrived late to twopapal conclaves in a row, in1914 and1922, due to having to cross theAtlantic Ocean by ship. He complained about it toPope Pius XI, who then lengthened the time period between the death of the pope and the start of the conclave. O'Connell was able to participate in the1939 conclave.
O'Connell favored a highly centralized diocesan organization, encompassing schools, hospitals, and asylums in addition to parishes. He wielded immense political and social power in Massachusetts, earning him the nickname "Number One".[3] For instance, he was responsible for defeating a bill to establish astate lottery in 1935, and for defeating areferendum liberalizing statebirth control laws in 1942.[3] The only politician who had anywhere near O'Connell's political clout was Massachusetts Governor (and future U.S. President)Calvin Coolidge, but even Coolidge picked his battles carefully, preferring to ignore the O'Connell whenever possible. In the years leading up to theSecond World War O'Connell became a powerful force for theneutralists in trying to keep the United States out of war in the pre-Pearl Harbor era.
Having presided over the marriage ofJoseph P. Kennedy Sr., andRose Fitzgerald in 1914,[5] he asked actressGloria Swanson to end her affair with Kennedy.[6]
He opposed theChild Labor Amendment and calledHollywood "the scandal of the nation".
He denounced thetheories of Albert Einstein as "authenticatheism, even if camouflaged as cosmicpantheism".[7]
He opposedeuthanasia, calling suffering "the discipline of humanity".
He told his priests that they might refusecommunion to women wearinglipstick.[7]
In 1932, O'Connell condemnedcrooning, a singer style that was popular in the 1930s: "No true American man would practice this base art. Of course, they aren't men. ... If you will listen closely [to crooners' songs] you will discern the basest appeal to sex emotion in the young."[8]
He had a cool relationship with hisauxiliary bishopFrancis Spellman, who later was theArchbishop of New York. O'Connell once said, "Francis epitomizes what happens to a bookkeeper when you teach him how to read."[9]
He was also decidedly non-ecumenical. In 1908 he said, "The Puritan has passed. The Catholic remains."[10]
He was very influential with the growth of the Catholic Church. He was called by politicians "Number One" and enjoyed them frequently requesting his approval on issues. He was called a "battleship in full array".
O'Connell was the first American to be given honorary life membership in the Supreme Council of theKnights of Columbus.[11]
O'Connell's nephew James P. O'Connell, who served as chancellor of the archdiocese, had secretly married in 1913. Some of O'Connell's clerical enemies discovered this and reported it to Vatican authorities. The younger O'Connell was removed from office and from his priestly duties in 1920. His marriage lasted until his death in 1948. Little else is known of the relationship between uncle and nephew.[12][13]
In 1915, O'Connell published a collection of letters which, the publication claimed, he wrote between 1876 and 1901.[14] In 1987, James M. O'Toole discovered that O'Connell had written the letters expressly for the 1915 publication.[15] Other scholars who discussed the subject of the letters in 1975 had found the dates on the letters "suspect".
In the early 1940s whenFrances Sweeney, editor of theBoston City Reporter, criticized O'Connell for his passivity in the face of rampant antisemitism in Boston, O'Connell summoned Sweeney to his office and threatened her with excommunication.[16][17][18]
William O'Connell died from pneumonia inBrighton, aged 84. He was buried in the crypt of a small chapel (Immaculate Conception) he had built on the grounds ofSt. John's Seminary. In 2004 the Archdiocese sold the property to Boston College and in 2007 announced plans to relocate his remains toSaint Sebastian's School, which O'Connell founded in 1941.[19] After a protracted lawsuit, O'Connell's relatives, who had opposed any disinterment, agreed that his remains would be removed to a courtyard of the Seminary. The reinterment took place on July 20, 2011.[20]
His 36-year-long tenure was the longest in the history of the Archdiocese of Boston. He was the second-to-last surviving cardinal created byPope Pius X behindGennaro Granito Pignatelli di Belmonte and is the third-longest serving American cardinal behindJames Gibbons andWilliam Wakefield Baum.[citation needed] During O'Connell's tenure as Archbishop of Boston, the number of women in religious life increased from 1567 to 5459; the number of parishes increased from 194 to 322; the number of churches increased from 248 to 375; the number of diocesan priests increased from 488 to 947; the archdiocese was operating 3 Catholic hospitals. According to one historian, "It was under O'Connell's influence too, that the Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of Boston assumed a conceptual solidarity and impressive visibility that it had never seen before and would never see again."[21]
One of O'Connell's grandnephews,Paul G. Kirk, served briefly asU.S. Senator in 2009.[22]
InHenry Morton Robinson's best-selling 1950 historical novel,The Cardinal, the Archbishop of Boston in the exact time frame as O'Connell's term in office is named "Lawrence Cardinal Glennon". Robinson's physical descriptions of Glennon, his massive building program, his arriving late for two papal conclaves and arriving in time for a third, his popular description as "Number One" and many other details of the Glennon character correspond with O'Connell's career and personality. The "Cardinal" of the title, however, is a young priest who serves as Glennon's secretary and himself becomes a cardinal in the course of the novel.[citation needed]
In addition to his published volumes of letters, sermons and addresses, O'Connell's legacy includes a collection of hymns under the titleHoly Cross Hymnal published by McLaughlin and Reilly, Boston, in 1915.[1], including:
The Pope will create a large number of Cardinals at the consistory to be held on Nov. 27. The Most Rev. John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York, and the Most Rev. William H. O'Connell, Archbishop of Boston, are among those who will receive the Red Hat. Mgr. Diomede Falconio, Apostolic Delegate at Washington, will also be elevated, according to the announcement made to-day.
| Catholic Church titles | ||
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| Preceded by | Archbishop of Boston 1907–1944 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Bishop of Portland, Maine 1901–1906 | Succeeded by |
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| Preceded by | Rector of the Pontifical North American College 1895–1901 | Succeeded by |
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