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

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Episcopacy of Nicholas Gallagher, Bishop of Galveston, 1882–1918 by Sr. Madeleine Grace, CVI Thomas W. Jodziewicz The Episcopacy of Nicholas Gallagher, Bishop of Galveston, 1882–1918. By Sr. Madeleine Grace, CVI College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2020. 197 pp. $35.00. In American history, the period between 1882 and 1918 was marked by significant events and challenges as the republic moved beyond the horrors of Civil War and an incomplete Reconstruction into the ranks of a world industrial and political power. Populism and Progressivism identified areas of American life—political, economic, social—where reform seemed to be demanded if a self-engaged sense of American exceptionalism was to be reborn. Massive immigration from the 1880s into the first two decades of the next century assured Americans of the nation's attractiveness for those seeking freedom and opportunity. Entry into the Great War in 1917, "to make the world safe for democracy," would seem for many simply the recognition of a traditional but now maturing American burden. During those same 36 years, the Catholic Diocese of Galveston, under the leadership of its third bishop, Nicholas Gallagher (1846–1918), would be an active participant in this pursuit of freedom and opportunity in the effort to establish a vital Catholic presence in Texas. Originally encompassing the entire state of Texas (1847), the Diocese of Galveston was reduced to northeastern Texas after the creation of the new dioceses of San Antonio (1874) and Dallas (1890). Much of this study is focused on the building of a diocese, from churches to infirmaries or hospitals, to schools, and a seminary. An institutional infrastructure is a costly undertaking, and the entrepreneurial efforts of Gallagher and his clergy, and the religious orders, male and female, that he encouraged to come to his diocese, are recounted through an extended examination of various available archives. Personalities do emerge even from such "dry" data, and coupled with a variety of anecdotal material regarding the interactions of Gallagher with religious superiors, pastors, and parishes, Sr. Madeleine Grace does conclude that "It cannot be denied that Bishop Gallagher was not the most prudent in dealing with people. His [End Page 88] aloofness and uncommunicative style won him no support, yet he learned how to compensate for these seeming pitfalls" (149). The compensation came in terms of institutional growth: during Gallagher's reign the number of Catholics in the diocese increased from 30,000 to 70,000; the clergy from c. 40 to 105; the number of churches and missions from 50 to 120; hospitals from one to seven. Gallagher's sensitivity to his authority and position did occasion several tense situations, as with German and Polish parishes and parish trustees demanding certain German or Polish pastors, a situation found elsewhere in the developing U.S. Catholic Church during this period. As a native of Ohio, Gallagher had initially faced certain sectional animosities in the former Confederate state. His Irish ancestry, the same as the majority of American prelates at this time, also contributed to at least an initial unease with his administration, another circumstance playing out in the church at this time. In sum, though, the successes of Bishop Gallagher, and his diocese, were in keeping with an American moment of freedom and opportunity for his church, even in the face of a renewal of a traditional American anti-Catholicism. His heroic efforts after the horrific hurricane of September 8, 1900, that claimed the lives of 6,000 of Galveston Island's 38,000 residents; his opening of several schools and churches for Black Catholics, if not apparently challenging the racist status quo; his good relations with the Jewish community; the larger public's reaction to his death . . . all of this suggests a significant moment in the emerging of a U.S. Catholic Church entering more confidently into an American mainstream. This is, of course, a narrative that is told and re-told in American Catholic historiography, but a story that can now include the early years of what is now the fifth-largest Catholic diocese in the United States. Thomas W. Jodziewicz University of Dallas Copyright © 2021 American Catholic Historical Society