The Episcopacy of Nicholas Gallagher, Bishop of Galveston, 1882–1918 by Sr. Madeleine Grace (review)

Nicholas Aloysius Gallagher is likely not a name known to most Americans, or indeed to most Texans. Yet this lesser-known Catholic bishop was responsible for guiding Catholic Texans through one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history, the 1900 Galveston hurricane. Sister Madeleine Grace, CVI, shines light on this early Catholic leader. She offers historians of Catholicism and Texas alike a detailed chronicling of Gallagher's leadership during a tumultuous moment in Texas history, from the formal end of Reconstruction through World War I.

Born to a devout Irish American family in 1846, Gallagher spent his formative years in Ohio. From an early age he expressed a vocation for the priesthood. At the age of twenty-two, he received his ordination and served in Ohio for the next fourteen years. In 1882, he became the first American-born bishop of Galveston, Texas. At the time of his elevation, the Galveston Diocese was one of only two dioceses in Texas. Perhaps even more tellingly, he was also the first northern bishop to serve in post-Reconstruction era Texas. Many of the Catholics in his diocese, including several priests, initially bristled at the idea of a northern bishop. Not all of Gallagher's difficulties stemmed from the fact that he was a northerner in the South. The bishop possessed a quiet stubbornness that at times brought him into conflict with others in the diocese. A standoff with the Ursuline Sisters early in his tenure created tension between Gallagher and many of the Catholic faithful in Galveston. By the time of his death, however, the bishop had become a beloved and respected community leader.

Perhaps Gallagher's two greatest accomplishments during his more than thirty years in Texas were the expansive building projects he undertook and his mission work among Black Catholics. It is in this first area that the book shines. Sister Madeleine Grace has dug deep into the bowels of the Galveston-Houston Archdiocesan Archives. She carefully documents Gallagher's many negotiations as he attempted to expand the infrastructure of the Catholic Church in Southeast Texas, often on a shoestring budget. Those seeking to understand the nuances of Catholic diocesan administration will especially appreciate her extensive reference to chancery and other administrative documents throughout the book.

Despite Sister Madeline Grace's attentiveness to Gallagher's bureaucratic activities, one cannot help but want to know more about Gallagher's racial politics. As the author notes, Gallagher's overtures to the African American community were not particularly well received by many of his White parishioners. He nonetheless insisted that the Catholic Church had a moral obligation to offer Mass and other services to Black Catholics. Similarly, by 1910, thousands of Mexicans, many of them Catholic, had migrated to the Houston area, and their presence at the various German and Polish Catholic churches was generally unwelcome. Recognizing the need to accommodate Mexican Catholics, Gallagher contracted the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate to provide for their spiritual care. Did Gallagher face similar difficulties in securing support for Mexican Catholics?

Thematically and chronologically organized, the book's narrative is at times a bit meandering and repetitive. The author, for example, makes mention of the 1900 Galveston hurricane in nearly every chapter. The reader might have been better served with the single concentrated account of the hurricane in chapter 7. Readers might also wonder where Gallagher sat in the larger landscape of American Catholicism given the rapid changes the U.S. Catholic Church underwent from the 1880s through the early 1920s. But these are minor criticisms. What Sister Madeleine Grace has provided is a nuanced account of Gallagher's administration of the Catholic Church in Southeast Texas, which historians of Texas Catholicism will find useful.