Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/812

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792 KENRICK KERICK. I. Frantis Patrick, an American Roman Catholic prelate, born in Dublin, Dec. 3, 1797, died in Baltimore, July 8, 1863. Ho received a classical education in the schools of his native city, and at the age of 18 was sent to Rome to study. He spent two years in the house of the Lazarists and four at the college of the Propaganda, where he was ordained priest. In 1821 he came to the United States, having been chosen on the recommendation of the Propaganda to conduct an ecclesiastical seminary just established at Bardstown, Ky. In the duties of this office he passed nine years, visiting also from time to time the scattered missions of the diocese. He published in 1828 " Letters of Omicron to Omega," in reply to the Rev. Dr. Blackburn, who had attacked, under the signature of Omega, the Roman Catholic doctrine of the eucharist. On June 6, 1830, he was consecrated at Bardstown bishop of Arath in partibus infidelium, and coadjutor to the Rt. Rev. Dr. Conwell, bishop of Philadelphia, with powers of administrator. On Dr. Conwell's death in 1842 Bishop Ken- rick became his successor. During the anti- Catholic riots in 1844, he caused an address to be posted up throughout the city calling upon the Catholics to preserve peace and charity, and made every exertion to calm the agitation of both parties. He founded the theological seminary of St. Charles Borromeo in Phila- delphia, and in 1849 introduced into his dio- cese the sisters of the Good Shepherd, who de- vote themselves to the care of Magdalen asy- lums. In 1851 Bishop Kenrick was appointed archbishop of Baltimore, in place of Arch- bishop Eccleston, deceased. The pope named him " apostolic delegate " to preside over the first plenary council of the United States, con- vened at Baltimore in May, 1852, and in 1859 conferred upon him and his successors the "primacy of honor," which gives them prece- dence over all other Roman Catholic prelates in this country. At the beginning of the civil war Archbishop Kenrick labored earnestly to inculcate peace and submission to the laws and the constituted authorities. Until his death he read publicly in his cathedral the prayer for the president of the United States. His theo- logical works are regarded as classical in Ame- rica, and used as text books in several semi- naries. In Europe they are also held in great esteem, and referred to as standard authorities in all religious questions that are purely Ame- rican. At the time of his death he was en- gaged on a revised English translation of the Bible, with copious notes, and had published the whole of the New Testament and the greater part of the Old. His principal works are : Theologia Dogmatica (4 vols. 8vo, Phila- delphia, 1839-'40 ; 2d ed., 3 vols. 8vo, Mechlin, 1858, with valuable additions); Theologia Mo- ralist (3 vols., Philadelphia, 1841-'3; 2d ed., Mechlin, 1859); "The Primacy of the Apos- tolic See Vindicated" (4th ed., Baltimore, 1865); "The Catholic Doctrine on Justifica- tion explained and vindicated " (Philadelphia, 1841); "Treatise on Baptism" (New York, 1843) ; " Vindication of the Catholic Church " (Baltimore, 1855); " The New Testament " (2 vols., New York, 1849-'51); "The Psalms, Book of Wisdom, and Canticle of Canticles" (Balti- more, 1857); "Job and the Prophets" (Balti- more, 1859); and "The Pentateuch" (Balti- more, 1860). He also wrote the article on the " Roman Catholic Church " in the " New Amer- ican Cyclopedia." II. Peter Richard, arch- bishop of St. Louis, brother of the preceding, born in Dublin in 1806. He was educated at Maynooth, and, having been ordained priest in Ireland, ho came to Philadelphia, where his brother was already coadjutor. Mr. Kenrick was there employed in pastoral and literary labor ; the " Catholic Herald," at the period of its highest reputation, was under his charge, and he wrote a number of translations and original works. He was also promoted to the rank of vicar general, and was consecrated bishop of Drasa in partibus infidelium, and co- adjutor of St. Louis with right of succession, Nov. 30, 1841. By the death of Bishop Rosati two years after (1843), Dr. Kenrick became bishop of St. Louis; and in 1847 he became the first archbishop of that city. At the com- mencement of his administration Bishop Ken- rick found the finances of his diocese in a de- plorable condition ; but by skilful measures he gradually extricated the diocese from this situa- tion, and finally rendered it one of the most flourishing in the United States in a financial point of view. The archbishop also received in 1858 a large bequest, which has enabled him to accomplish many beneficial enterprises. The hospital under the care of the sisters of chari- ty, by his munificence, has been made free, and dispenses its benefits alike to all, without distinction of faith, creed, or color. The or- phanage of St. Philomena, the convents of the Visitation and the Good Shepherd, and numerous other institutions either of charity or education, attest the prosperity of the church under his government. He has adorned the environs of St. Louis with a cemetery which in beauty and extent of the grounds is one of the finest in the world. Archbishop Kenrick was present at the Vatican council, and was one of the foremost of the American prelates in maintaining the inopportuneness of defi- ning the doctrine of papal infallibility. The speech which he had prepared was published in Naples in 1870, and in New York in 1872. He however acquiesced in the definition, and promulgated it, together with the other de- crees of the council, in his diocese. Besides a number of translations, and editions of devo- tional works, he has published "The Holy House of Loreto, or an Examination of the Historical Evidence of its Miraculous Transla- tion" (12mo), and "Anglican Ordinations" (8vo). The latter work elicited several rejoin- ders; by Roman Catholics it is generally re- garded as conclusive in the controversy.