Francis Cardinal Spellman
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Francis Joseph Cardinal Spellman (4 May 1889–2 December 1967) was an American prelate, the ninth bishop and sixth archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York.
He was born in Whitman, Massachusetts to William and Ellen (née Conway) Spellman, graduated from Pontifical Urbanian Athenaeum in Rome, and was ordained a priest on 14 May 1916. He became Chancellor of the Boston Diocese in 1922, and was made a Monsignor and appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Boston, Massachusetts in July of 1932 and consecrated on 8 September with the titular see of Sila.
He was appointed Archbishop of New York on 15 April 1939, and on 11 December, appointed Archbishop for the Military Services. Spellman was elevated to cardinal (with the title of Ss. Giovanni e Paolo) on 18 February 1946, and continued as archbishop until his death.
Later in 1946, Spellman received The Hundred Year Association of New York's Gold Medal Award "in recognition of outstanding contributions to the City of New York." For his service to soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines, Cardinal Spellman was awarded the prestigious Sylvanus Thayer Award by the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1967.
He led the archdiocese through an extensive period of building the Catholic infrastructure, particularly the parochial schools. He is interred in the crypt under the altar of St. Patrick's Cathedral.
He was Grand Prior of USA of the Sovereign Order of Malta and Grand Prior of America of the Military and Hospitaller Order of St. Lazarus.
He is to date the longest-serving Archbishop of New York; he served in that position for over 28 years.
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[edit] Trivia
- Spellman was instrumental in getting William Brennan appointed to the Supreme Court in 1956. Spellman would later regret the decision.
- According to Peter Bander in The Prophecies of Malachy (TAN Books and Publisher, 1969) during the conclave which was to elect John XXIII in 1958, Cardinal Spellman of New York, evidently having taken Malachy's forecast that the next pope would be "pastor and mariner" literally, rented a boat, filled it with sheep and sailed up and down the Tiber.
[edit] Quotes
"Spellman held his tongue in Rome, where it would be unwise to be indiscreet about the new pope (Pope John XXIII). But when he returned home, the Cardinal announced his disdain. 'He's no Pope,' Spellman scoffed to his aides. 'He should be selling bananas.'" [1]
[edit] See also
- List of Roman Catholic Bishops and Archbishops of New York
- List of notable cardinals
- Cardinal Spellman High School
| Preceded by Patrick Joseph Cardinal Hayes |
Archbishop of New York 1939–1967 |
Succeeded by Terence James Cardinal Cooke 1967–1983 |
| Preceded by John Francis O'Hara |
Archbishop for the Military Services 1939–1967 |
[edit] References
- ^ Cooney, John (1984). The American Pope: The Life and Times of Francis Cardinal Spellman. New York: New York Times Books, p.333. ISBN 0-440-10194-8.
- Nicholas Von Hoffman, Citizen Cohn
- Catholic Hierarchy: Francis Joseph Cardinal Spellman
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