Dagger John: Archbishop John Hughes and the Making of Irish America by John Loughery (review)

Four decades have elapsed since a serious study of New York's fourth bishop and first archbishop appeared (Dagger John: The Unquiet Life and Times of Archbishop John Hughes of New York, by Richard Shaw [New York: Paulist Press, 1977]). John Loughery, an already accomplished author, has revisited the major events comprising Archbishop Hughes' career, and sees in those events not only the ecclesial rise of one man, but a similar circumstance for his largely Irish flock. The political, social, and religious controversy that always followed him, or that he himself created in his bully pulpit, made the already formidable Irish presence in America all the more a force to be reckoned with.

Such events as the New York City School Controversy, the City's Draft Riots during the Civil War, the ongoing anti–Catholic antagonism of American culture, the diplomatic mission to France, and so many others are given fresh, scholarly light. Loughery has convincingly painted a portrait of both Catholic New York, as well as the larger American culture of the mid-nineteenth century, while also weaving into his tapestry, the strengths and weaknesses, triumphs and failures of the prelate who led the archdiocese for over two decades. One easily perceives the importance of Hughes in the American Church, something his adversaries were as quick to realize as his supporters.

Of particular interest is the author's concentration on the Hughes–Seward friendship, which had its origins when the comparatively new bishop made the acquaintance of New York's Whig governor, who, as a man truly principled and of high integrity came to the defense of the bishop in his fight for financial aid for his city's and diocese's parochial schools. As a politician who early on entered the newly formed Republican Party, one which, as with his former affiliation, had been significantly hostile to Catholic interests, Seward contributed, at least to a degree, in breaking the stranglehold the Democrat party had on the nation's newly arriving immigrants. Hughes had hoped for two decades, we are told, that his friend would one day enter the White House, and he equally believed the peculiar institution of slavery would die a natural death without the "melancholy strife" that ultimately became a reality. The archbishop was extremely careful not to make political recommendations on voting to his flock, and was just as insistent that his clergy follow suit; nonetheless, the author contends that the prelate was very cautious about the election of Lincoln over the proven record of his New York ally. Fort Sumpter changed all this. Hughes became an ardent patriot, strongly encouraged Catholic men to enlist in the Union Army, flew the Stars and Stripes over Saint Patrick's Old Cathedral much to the chagrin of some of his coreligionists who were of Southern sympathy, and carried on a significant correspondence with Seward on his thoughts—political and military—during the course of the conflict, a correspondence which Seward gladly shared with Abraham Lincoln. Though Hughes had significant differences with his Southern hierarchical colleagues over the compact versus states' rights theory of government, this study, as do so many others, underscores the unity of Catholic faith, which was never for one moment broken in the four years.

It is the freshness of approach more than the discovery of new information that characterizes this work. Eminently fair to the subject of his study, the author has also underscored the contributions of one ethnic group whose leader was a County Tyrone product. Dagger John is a considerable contribution to United States Catholic history, the role of the Irish in it, and the character of one who never shied from controversy.