The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-01-14
Sketch of Cardinal nIcCloskex.

No man of the present century has figured
more conspicuously, and yet modestly, in the
history of the Catholic Church than Cardinal
John McCloskey. He was born in Brooklyn, N.
Y, March 10, 1910. of Irish parents, who were
not rich, but were well enough to do to send
their son to college.
Piety seemed his own by right of inheritance
from the parents, whose devotion to the church
led them to cross the East river in a rowboat,
for the purpose of attending mass on Sunday
morning, in the days when there were no ferries.
As a schOolboy, he avoid the rough games of his
playmates and earnestly devoted himself to
study. In the autumn of 1921 he was sent to
Mount St. Marv's College. near Emmittsburg,
Frederick county, Maryland. During the seven
years which followed, the picty and modesty of
his nature, his gentle and sweet disposition, his
enthusiasm for his studies, and his abilities as "a
Student. won for him the esteem and admira-
ton of all who knew him. His
studies were not directed with q view
to the priesthood. He decided for that calling,
however, and after his graduation returned to
Mount st. Mary's to pursue a a theological
course. On Jan. IL, 1884 he was ordained a
priest in st. Patrick's Cathedral. New York, by
the Rt. Rev. DR.. Debois. After his ordination
he was sent to Rome, studied two years in the
Roman college, spent another year in France.
and on his return was appointed assistant priest
of st. Joseph's Church, in New York, and six
months after beef me priest of the parish. In
1S4l Bishop Hughes nominated him first presi-
dent of st. Johns College, Fordham, but in 1912
he resumed charge of st. Joseph's. At the so
lieitation of Bishop Hughes he was appointed
his coadjutor, Nov. 81, 1843, with the title of
Bishop AuXerre. and was cOnsecrated March 10,
1874. In the division of the diocese of New
York, which took place in 1S47, Bishop Nc
Closkey was nominated first bishop of Albany,
May 81. His zeal, eloquence. and popularity OBJ
taiaed him the means of building churches in
every city and town. and of creating many insti-
buttons of charity and education. He introduced
into his diocese the Sisters of the Sacred Heart,
the Sisters of Charity, the Sisters of Mercy, the
Gray Sister, Hospitalers from Montreal, the Sis
tiers of st. Joseph, and those of the Third Order
of st. Francis; also the Jesuits, Oblates- Angus
tinians, Franciscans, and Capuchins. He began
and completed the cathedral at Albany, donating
to it a large part of his own income. During his
last years in that city he purchased extensive
buildings in Troy, destined to be used fora general
theological seminary for the dioceses forming
the ecclesiastical provinces of New York, and OBJ
tanned for it from the university of Louvain a
staff OF trained professors. After the death of
Archbishop Hughes. he was appointed to the see
of New York, May 6, 1864, and took possession of
it Aug. 81. Besides a large number of spacious
churches, built in the city and elsewhere, the
Arch bishop established a founding asylum, an
asylum for female deaf mutes at Fordham,
homes for destitute children and young girls at
tached TO st. Stephens and st. AIMS churches,
homes for aged men and women, and new or
phan asylums outside of New York city. To di-
rect these institutions and to cooperate with the
secular clergy, he established Communities of
Dominicans, Franciscans, Capuchins, Little Sis
tiers of the Poor, and German Franciscan Sisters
for the German hospitals. He also labored
strennously to complete the new cathedral begun
by his predecessor, for which he gave $1,000
from his. private purse, and to procure materials
for which he visited Rome in 1874.
On March Is, 1878, Archbishop McCloskey was
made a cardinal of the order of priests, he being
the first American cardinal ever appointed. On
the death of the Pope, in February, 1878, he was
summoned to Rome to attend the conclave of
cardinals for the election of a successor of Plus
TX. Not long since a Catholic magazine said:
VAST as has been the stride of catholicity in
America during the era spanned by the life ofhis
Eminence, in no direction has it been more re-
markable than in the archdiocese of New York,
and to this advancement Cardinal McCloskey has
contributed illustriously. The completion of st.
Patrick's Cathedral-the noblest of modern
Gothic fabrics-great achievement though it is,
is but a small expression of the gratitude of
faithful children for what has come to them as
the fruits of never-ceasing endeavor in their
behalf-a monument vastly grander in their
.feryor and affection and the loyalty gotten of
them"
In appearance Cardinal McCloskey is somewhat
spare and thin, and apparently frail, but his chest
is full and the tones of his voice clear and far
reaching. His gentle disposition, his learning,
the soundness of his Judgment. and, withal. his
modeSty, even while bearing the highest honorS
and responsibilities, have won for him universal
affection and respect. His whole life work has
rested upon a strong and enduring faith and an
abiding consciousness of the continual presence
of God.