Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/110

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McCLOSKEY
McCLOSKEY

during which he officiated as chaplain in the French war and for the New Hampshire troops in 1775. He was present at the battle of Bunker Hill, and figures prominently in Trumbull's picture of that event as the clergyman in bands. His sermons were characterized by soundness of thought and purity of style. He was given the degree of M. A. by Harvard in 1761, and received that of D. D. from Yale in 1791. He published " A Sermon on the Justice of God in the Mortality of Man " {1759) ; " The Artifices of Deceivers Detected " '(1770); " Herodias, or Cruelty and Revenge the Effects of Unlawful Pleasure" (1772) ; "An Epis- tolary Correspondence with Rev. John C. Ogden " on apostolic succession (1791); "The Choice." a sermon (1798); and "An Oration Commemorative of Washington " (1800).


McCLOSKEY, John, cardinal, b. in Brook- lyn, X. Y., 20 March, 1810, of Irish parentage ; d. in New York city, 10 Oct., 1885. When a boy he had a delicate constitution, and an accident, in which a log rolled over him, weakened his lungs, so that he was never robust. He was sent to Mount St. Mary's college, Em- mettsburg, Md., and after a seven years' preparatory and col- legiate course, en- tered the theological department of the institution to pre- pare for the priest- hood. After com- pleting a seminary course of five years he was ordained a

priest by Bishop

Dubois, "12 Jan., eighteenth priest that was ordained in the diocese. He was sent to Rome to continue his studies, with the design of placing him at the head of a proposed college and seminary. Early in 1835 he entered the Gregorian college, where he spent two years, and on his return he visited the various countries of Europe. He was appointed, 1 Nov., 1837, pastor of St. Joseph's church. New York city. On 34 June, 1841, Bishop Hughes opened St. John's college, Fordham, and appointed him president ; but he held the post only a year, and then returned to his parish work. On 10 March, 1844, he was con- secrated bishop ot Axier en in parti bus, and made coadjutor of the diocese of New York, with the right of succession. In 1847 the new sees of Albany and Buffalo were created, and he was transferred to the former, 21 May. 1847. During the seventeen years of his administration the growth of the church in the new diocese was very rapid. He introduced various religious organiza- tions, including Ladies of the Sacred Heart, Sisters of Charity, Sisters of Mercy, Sisters of St. Joseph, those of the third order of St. Francis, and Hospital- ers, Jesuits, Oblates, Augustinians. Franciscans, and Capuchins, and he built the cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and founded the theologi- cal seminary at Troy. In 1850, while on his way to attend a provincial council in New York, he was injured in a railroad collision near Tarrytown, his right foot being badly crushed. In 1851" he visited Rome, where he was received with favor. On the death of Archbishop Hughes he was made arch- bishop of New York, 6 May, 1864, and installed on 21 Aug. of that year. The province then included New England, New York, and New Jersey. Dur- ing his administration communities of various re- ligious orders were introduced, many fine churches were built, and the Foundling asylum, the Institute for deaf-mutes at Fordham, homes for destitute boys and girls in connection with St. Stephen's and St. Ann's churches, homes for aged men and women, and orphan asylums without the city were established. He was especially active in the erec- tion of the Catholic protectory in Westchester, and in the building of the new cathedral, the corner- stone of which Archbishop Hughes had laid on 15 Aug., 1858. He attended the Vatican council in 1869, and served on the committee on discipline, also visiting Rome in 1874. On 15 March, 1875, the pope appointed him a cardinal priest, with the title of Sancta Maria supra Minervam, and on 27 April of the same year the ceremony of investiture took place in the old cathedral. In 1878 he was summoned to Rome to take part in the conclave that was called to elect a successor to Pius IX. On 25 May, 1879, he dedicated the new cathedral. On 12 Jan., 1884, there was a celebration of the golden jubilee of his ordination as a priest, and the address presented to him by the clergy said: " Fifty years ago there were in tliis city" but six churches ; now there are sixty. There were then but twenty priests in the diocese ; now there are 380. At tiiat time there were in the whole United States only nine bishops ; now there are fifty-nine. Then there was but one archbishop ; now there are eleven, one of whom has been raised to the great senate of the universal church." During the last ten years of his life his strength failed gradually, and as early as 1 Oct., 1880, Archbishop Corrigan was made coadjutor at his request. Cardinal McClos- key was tall and slender, but of erect and elastic bearing. His forehead was broad and his features pleasant, his eyes being bright blue and deeply set, and his mouth mobile. His manner was quiet, but impressive. He was a profound scholar and an effective preacher. It has been said that the his- tory of his life is the history of the progress of the Roman Catholic church in New York, but it would be a mistake to attribute that progress alto- gether to him, or even to him more than to any other man. He was fortunate in succeeding Arch- bishop Hughes, for he was enabled to enter into the results of that prelate's controversies without inheriting any of the animosities that they engen- dered, and his episcopate was like a calm after a storm. His remains were deposited, 15 Oct., 1885, in the vault under the sanctuary of St. Patrick's cathedral. New York.


McCLOSKEY, John, clergyman, b. in Carlow, Ireland, in 1817; d. in Emmettsburg, Md., 24 Dec, 1880. He came to this country at an early age, and entering St. Mary's college, Emmettsburg. Md., in 1830, was graduated there and at the seminary. He was ordained by Bishop Hughes, of New York, in 1840, who, at the solicitation of the college authorities, allowed him to attach himself to the faculty of St. Mary's. He was elected vice-president and treasurer in 1844, and became president in 1871. He resigned in 1877, but was again called to the presidency in 1879, which office he held until his death. He was unflagging in his zeal for the welfare of the college, and devoted himself to its interests throughout his life. — His brother, William George, R. C bishop, b. in Brooklyn, N. Y., 10 Nov., 1823, also pursued his classical and theological studies at St. Mary's, and was ordained by Archbishop Hughes in New York