Thursday, October 23
From Longevity and Historical Sketches of the American Hierarchy
by the Most Rev. Francis P. Leipzig, DD, former bishop of Baker, Oregon, 1971 (first version printed 1961):
First Suffragan Bishop: New York, Richard L. Concanen, O.P., cons. April 24, 1808
(Footnote: Bishop Concanen was detained in Italy by French military authorities as a British subject, 1808-1810. He died in Naples June 19, 1810, without ever having reached America.)
First American Prelate to take part in a Papal election: James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, in 1903, Election of Pius X.
First American Bishop of Colored Blood [sic; remember this was printed in 1971, based on earlier texts prepared in the 1960s; though I do not know if this means he was black, biracial or multiracial, something more common in the past than often supposed]: James Augustine Healy, second Bishop of Portland (Maine), 1875-1900. Born near Macon, Ga. One of ten children, five of whom entered religious life. [There has got to be a good story here.]
First Motor Car Blessed: Dennis Dougherty, Nueva Segovia, Phillippines (later Dennis Cardinal Doughtery of Philadelphia) in the spring of 1913, on the grounds of St. Francis Xavier, Chicago. This white steamer [!] motor car was the first to be used in the missions of the United States in Texas. Donated by the Catholic Church Extension Society.
First Televised Mass of the Sacrament of Matrimony: By Richard Cushing, Archbishop of Boston, Aug. 24, 1952, in WBX studios in Boston on his birthday. [There has also got to be a good, if rather weird, story here, too. I guess Catholic Reality Television has a longer history than often supposed, as well.]
More to come.
First Suffragan Bishop: New York, Richard L. Concanen, O.P., cons. April 24, 1808
(Footnote: Bishop Concanen was detained in Italy by French military authorities as a British subject, 1808-1810. He died in Naples June 19, 1810, without ever having reached America.)
First American Prelate to take part in a Papal election: James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, in 1903, Election of Pius X.
First American Bishop of Colored Blood [sic; remember this was printed in 1971, based on earlier texts prepared in the 1960s; though I do not know if this means he was black, biracial or multiracial, something more common in the past than often supposed]: James Augustine Healy, second Bishop of Portland (Maine), 1875-1900. Born near Macon, Ga. One of ten children, five of whom entered religious life. [There has got to be a good story here.]
First Motor Car Blessed: Dennis Dougherty, Nueva Segovia, Phillippines (later Dennis Cardinal Doughtery of Philadelphia) in the spring of 1913, on the grounds of St. Francis Xavier, Chicago. This white steamer [!] motor car was the first to be used in the missions of the United States in Texas. Donated by the Catholic Church Extension Society.
First Televised Mass of the Sacrament of Matrimony: By Richard Cushing, Archbishop of Boston, Aug. 24, 1952, in WBX studios in Boston on his birthday. [There has also got to be a good, if rather weird, story here, too. I guess Catholic Reality Television has a longer history than often supposed, as well.]
More to come.
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