BROOKLYN
801
BROOKLYN
Rome from a diplomatic mission to Brazil. There
were then but twelve churches on all Long Island
and about 15,000 Catholics. During the thirty-
eight years Bishop Loughlin ruled the see he built
125 churches and chapels, 93 schools, 2 colleges,
19 select schools and academies, 10 orphan asylums,
5 hospitals, 2 homes for the aged, a home for destitute
boys, and the diocesan seminary. In the same time
the Catholic population increased to nearly 400,000.
Bishop Loughlin led a hfe of unostentatious routine,
entirely devoted to his ecclesiastical duties. The
only time he is recorded as having identified himself
\\'ith any civic movement was in April, 1861, when
he WTote a letter of sympathy and approval to the
great mass-meeting of citizens that committed
Brooklyn to the cause of the LTnion. In October,
1890, the golden jubilee of his ordination was cele-
brated by a three days' festival in which the whole
city joined. He assisted at each of the Plenary
Councils of Baltimore and visited Rome four times,
once to be present at the (Ecumenical Council of the
Vatican. He was then made an assistant at the
Papal throne. He died at his residence in Brooklyn,
29 December, 1891. That one man should have
founded a diocese and in the course of his adminis-
tration brought it to a position of such pronounced
influence and efficiency, is one of the most remark-
able facts in the history of the Church's progress in
the L'nited States.
The Sisters of Charity were the fu-sf religious to establish themselves in Brooklyn (1834), and they were followed by the Christian Brothers in 1S51 and the Sisters of St. Dominic in 1852. To these Bishop Loughlin added the Sisters of the Visitation and the Sisters of Mercy in 18.55; the Sisters of St. Joseph, 18.56; the Franciscan Brothers, 1858; the Sisters of the Poor of St. Francis, 1866; the Congregation of the Mission, and the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, 1868; the Little Sisters of the Poor — their first foundation in the L'nited States — 1869; the Fathers of Mercy, 1871; the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Mary, 1877; the Fathers of the Pious Society of Missions, 1884; and the Sisters of the Precious Blood, 1889.
Bishop Loughlin began the construction of a new ca- thedral of large dimensions in 1868, the work on which he carried on up to the first story and then stopped to give his attention to the promotion of the charit- able institutions of the diocese. The chapel of St. John, at one end of the proposed Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, was all that was ever fin- ished and used; the extensive foundation walls of the main building remain in their incomplete state. The Catholic Benevolent Legion, a fraternal insur- ance association, was organized during Bishop Lough- lin's life, September, 1881, and he was its first spir- itual director. The St. Vincent de Paul Society received from him special encouragement (1855), and the formation of the tliird Particular Council in the United States was a result.
(2) The Right Reverend Charles Edward McDon- nell, consecrated 25 April, 1892. Born in New York City, 1 February, 1854, his early education was re- ceived in the parochial schools and the De La Salle Academy. In 1868 he entered St. Francis Xavier's College, where he remained until he left, in 1872, to study for the priesthood at the American College, Rome. He was ordained in Rome, 19 May, 1878, and subsequently received the degree of Doctor of Di\nnity. Returning to New York, he was, after five years spent in parish work, made Secretary to Cardinal McCloskey. After the cardinal's death, Archbishop Corrigan left him in this position and appointed him chancellor as well. He was also made a private chamberlain by the pope, and was serving in these offices when Bishop Loughlin died. Named by the pope to succeed him, Mgr. McDonnell was consecrated the second Bishop of Brooklyn in St.
Patrick's Cathedral, New York, 25 April, 1892, and
took possession of his see on the 2d of May. The
new bishop, finding the material interests of the
diocese so well administered by his predecessor,
continued the good work thus begun and developed
it also along its spiritual lines. The increase in
population and the changes in the country districts
necessitated the starting of many new parishes and
the inception of new means and methods of meeting
the polyglot needs of the representatives of the
various nationalities that had settled in the diocese.
For this Bishop McDonnell adopted the policy of
securing members of some order for each of the
races and languages in his jurisdiction. At his
invitation foundations were made by the Redemp-
torists in 1892; the Benedictines, 1896; the Fran-
ciscans (Minor Conventuals), 1896; the Capuchins,
1897; the Fathers of the Congregation of Mary,
1903; the Franciscans (Italian), 1906; the Jesu-
its, 1907; the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth,
1892; the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart,
1892; the Daughters of Wisdom, 1904; the Sisters
of the Infant Jesus (nursing Sisters of the Sick Poor),
1906. Up to 1907 Bishop McDonnell had started
and dedicated fifty new parislies and churches.
He presided over the Third Diocesan Synod in Decem-
ber, 1894, at which the full number of canonical
diocesan officials were for the first time selected;
and over the Fourth Synod, held in 1898. A unique
spiritual event was a simultaneous mission under his
inspiration held throughout the diocese to mark the
close of the nineteenth century. He led three dio-
cesan pilgrimages to Rome, the first for the General
Jubilee of 1900; the second for the Silver Jubilee of
Pope Leo XIII in 1902; and the third for the Jubilee
of the Immaculate Conception in 1904. To the
institutions of the diocese Bishop McDonnell added
two hospitals and largely increased the capacity
of one of those already established; the Ozanam
Home for Friendless Women; the new St. Vincent's
Home for Friendless Boys; two seaside recreation
places for children and a trade school farm for
orphans.
Notable Benep.\ctors and Workers. — Some of those distinguished for their zeal for religion and generosity to the Church in addition to those already mentioned have been: Judge Alexander McCue, Charles A. Hoyt, E. Louis Lowe (formerly Governor of Maryland), Hugh McLaughlin, Patrick C. Keeley (architect of many Catholic churciies in various parts of the country, who began his career here), James A. McMaster, for many years editor of "The Freeman's Journal", Patrick Vincent Hickey, editor of the "Catholic Review", Laurence Kehoe, Manager of the Catholic Publication Society, John George Gotts- berger, John Campbell, Andrew Dougherty, Kieran Egan, John O'Mahony, John D. Kieley, Jr., Jacob Zimmer. William W. Swayne, James Rorke, Edward Rorke, William H. Murtha, Anton Shimmel, Thomas Carroll, Joseph W. Carroll, Jolm Loughran, Dr. Dominick G. Bodkin, John Good, Peter McGoldrick, M. F. McGoldrick, Thomas W. Hynes, William R. Grace. WiUiam Bourke Coekran, Morgan J. O'Brien, Mrs. Grace Masury, Mrs. A. E. Walsh, Charles O'Conor Sloane, James McMahon, Bernard Earl, Michael Hennessy, Joseph Eppig, Edward Feeney, and Dr. John Byrne.
St.\tistics. — Diocesan priests 308; priests of re- ligious orders 54; total 362. Churches with resident priests 162, missions 10, stations 11, chapels 13; seminary 1, with 60 students; colleges 3, with 570 students; academies and select schools for young women 15, with 1017 pupils; parishes with schools 68, pupils enrolled 41,750; orphan asylums 11, in- mates 3691 ; infant asylums 4, inmates 455; industrial school 1, pupils 143; young people under Catholic care 40,040; hospitals 6, treating more tlian 18,000
