John Moore: Catholic Pastoral Leadership During Florida's First Boom, 1877–1901 by Michael J. McNally (review)

Brave is the author who writes the biography of a relatively obscure man! Michael J. McNally, a priest in the Diocese of Palm Beach, has done such a work for Bishop John Moore, the second bishop of the Catholic Diocese of St. Augustine who served from 1877 until his death in 1901. Using only snippets of materials, he describes Moore's youth in Ireland, his 1848 emigration to Charleston, South Carolina, and then his life as a seminarian in France and Rome. Official documents shed light on Moore's career as a priest and bishop. McNally poses the question, "But why bother to know [Moore] at all? . . . he is a virtually unknown prelate in the historiography of Catholic America's late nineteenth century. . . Yet he is arguably one of the most important Florida bishops and leaders, since it was he that [sic] guided ecclesiastical affairs during what might be called Florida's First Great Boom from 1877–1901" (3).

Moore was a dutiful, hard-working shepherd and financier for his flock in the Diocese of St. Augustine, dedicated to the Catholic Church no matter how difficult his circumstances. He faced the Civil War, the destruction of his cathedral with the resulting need for incessant fundraising, and a major yellow fever epidemic in Jacksonville, Florida. Amid all of that, he also seemed to encounter frequent personnel issues, not just with his priests and women religious, but also with his superiors.

One of McNally's sections discusses Moore's dealings with the women religious in his diocese. McNally's books, Catholic Parish Life on Florida's West Coast, 1860–1968 and Catholicism in South Florida, 1868–1968, provide valuable contextual information concerning the Benedictines and the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. Of particular interest to me, was his interpretation of the events concerning Mother Lazarus L'hostel, the Provincial General of the Sisters of St. Joseph of St. Augustine. Moore accused her of violating an 1890 papal decree, Quemadmodum, which forbad religious superiors from questioning the consciences of their subordinates, something that was to be left to confessors. It also required that the decree be read to each community annually, on no specific date. Failure to comply with the decree would lead to the superior's excommunication until the offender made a formal confession to her or his confessor.

Mother Lazarus had, indeed, forgotten to present the decree one year, but gained Bishop Moore's permission to read it before the sisters on a date other than the original one he had provided; he said that the important thing was that the decree be read once a year. Mother Lazarus had continued to read it on the alternate date, at the sisters' annual retreat. For twenty-one years, Mother Lazarus enjoyed a warm, supportive, fatherly relationship with Moore.

On September 6, 1899, Bishop Moore was on a begging trip to Pennsylvania when he suffered a heart attack and stroke. On November 14, 1899, without any warning, Moore ordered Mother Lazarus to call together the sisters at the Motherhouse in St. Augustine. He, accompanied by an assistant, arrived and deposed her as the Provincial Superior because of her disobedience in not having the decree read each year, advising her that she was under papal excommunication. Furthermore, a few days later, he exiled her to the community in Tampa as a teaching sister, never to hold office in the community again. Most historians have seen this shocking event as a major anomaly for Bishop Moore, and attribute it to the effects of his stroke. McNally agrees, but then speculates at length that perhaps Mother Lazarus had flaunted the decree and its requirements. I see this as a stretch; my research reveals Mother Lazarus's gentle character and devotion to her vow of obedience.

Given the lack of personal letters or writings, McNally put much effort, beginning in 2003...