Richard Shaw (1)

2146 Dagger John: The Unquiet Life and Times of Archbishop John Hughes of New York, by Richard Shaw (read 1 May 1988) I have read (and enjoyed) a lot of saccharine biographies of ecclesiastical figures, but this biography of John Hughes (born 24 Apr 1797 in Ulster County, Ireland, ordained priest 1826, consecrated bishop of New York c. 1829, died 3 Jan 1864) is NOT in that category. Written by a Paulist and published in 1977, it is a vivid account of an era when Catholics were in need of a champion, and John Hughes was that. But he was often wrong and this book does not gloss over his faults: autocratic in the extreme. But it is an easily-read book and wears its scholarship somewhat lightly. Hughes was the first archbishop of New York (Boston was a suffragan see!) and was succeeded by McCloskey--the first U.S. Cardinal. (The Archbishop of Baltimore urged Rome not to name Hughes a Cardinal.) The book tells of the Nativist riots, the draft riots in 1863, the Bedini visit, the Maria Monk and like attacks--vividly. It was and is quite a book.… (more)