Hughes

theological lore. They were printed under the
title, Controversy between Rev, Messrs. Hughes
and Breckinridge on the Subject, "Is the Prot-
estant Religion the Religion of Christ?" (1834?;
1864). Hardly was this controversy finished
when Hughes published A Reznew of the Charge
of Bishop Onderdonk on the Rule of Christ
(1833). Soon Breckinridge returned to the
fight, and the champions debated before the
Philadelphia Union Literary Institute the double
question: "Is the Roman Catholic Religion in
Any or in All its Principles or Doctrines Inim-
ical to Civil and Religious Liberty?" and "Is the
Presbyterian Religion . . . Inimical, etc.," pub-
lished in 1836.

A nominee for the See of Cincinnati (1833),
Hughes was actually published as coadjutor-
bishop of Philadelphia in 1836 when Kenrick
was transferred to the proposed new see of Pitts-
burgh ; but the division of the diocese was post-
poned. Not long afterward, however, on the
nomination of the Council at Baltimore, Rome
named him coadjutor-bishop of New York with
the right of succession, and on Jan. 7, 1838, he
was consecrated titular bishop of Basileopolis.
While he did not succeed to formal command
until Dec. 20, 1842, Hughes immediately seized
control of the diocese, for so forceful a character
could hardly qualify as a subservient assistant.
He found an apologetic people who were grop-
ing toward active citizenship and improved so-
cial and economic position, and he left a militant
people who insisted on the rights to which their
growing numerical strength entitled them. Large
numbers of Irish and German immigrants were
becoming citizens, and Hughes was an active
supporter of emigrant associations as an Amer-
icanizing force. The growth of Catholic churches
and institutions during the bishop's regime was
enormous. Much of this development can be as-
cribed to his skillful management and business
acumen, as well as to the general respect, if not
love, which he won both from Catholics and from
others. Hughes was a fighter, and as such chal-
lenged the Irish of the whole land, who soon
came to regard him as their spokesman.

His first fight was against trusteeism. He
appealed to the congregation of St. Patrick's
Church over the heads of usurping trustees, and
it accepted his episcopal authority. Mismanaged
by the trustees, St. Peter's was in bankruptcy
and Hughes was able to buy the property at the
auctioneer's block. He discharged a debt of
$140,000, for which he was morally but not legal-
ly bound. The troublesome congregation of St
Louis in Buffalo was forced into ecclesiastical
obedience. With the assistance of Bishop John

Hughes

McCloskey [9.1*.], his nominee to the See of Al-
bany, he obtained a modification of the state law
so that church properties could be held in the
name of the bishop and his appointees* In time,
this arrangement became general throughout the
country, and trusteeism disappeared. He labored
incessantly to place his diocese on a sound fi-
nancial basis, although his Church Debt Asso-
ciation (1841) was of little assistance He made
frequent journeys to Europe in quest of volun-
teer priests and nuns; and of material support
from the various missionary societies of Vienna,
Paris, and Munich. He thus came into close
contact with religious and political leaders
abroad and, incidentally, attained a strategic po-
sition at Rome as an authority on American
affairs. As a result of these missions, he intro-
duced into the diocese the Ladies of the Sacred
Heart under Princess Elizabeth Gallitzin, a
cousin of Demetrius Augustine Gallitzin [g.«\],
who established the Sacred Heart Academy in
Manhattanville (1841); the Sisters of Mercy
(1846); the Sisters of Charity of St Vincent de
Paul, who were organized as a diocesan com-
munity with a mother-house and academy at
Mount St. Vincent on the Hudson (1846) ; and
a band of Christian Brothers for the parochial
schools (1853), who later founded Manhattan
College. In 1839, he purchased the Rose Hill
estate near Fordham, to which he removed the
diocesan seminary from Lafargeville (1840)
and where he founded St. John's College (1841),
which was later assigned to the Jesuits (1846).
Hughes was also a co-founder of the provincial
seminary at Troy and a leader in the establish-
ment of the North American College in Rome.
The bishop became widely known for his fight
against the Public School Society, a private cor-
poration, Protestant In sympathies, which domi-
nated the local school system and distributed the
funds provided by the municipality. The Catho-
lics had a few starved parochial schools in
church-basements, which he insisted should have
a share of the school funds, both as a matter of
justice and also as a compromise which would
enable each denomination to maintain schools of
a high character and yet teach its own tenets.
Through Dr* Power's Catholic Association he
appealed for a share in the funds to the city
council, and then to the state assembly, which
postponed action, though he had won over such
powerful politicians as Governor Seward and
Thurlow Weed. Thereupon he entered the po-
litical lists, Four days before the fall efcctioa
(Oct 29, 1841), he called a laeeting at Carroll
Hall to which he addressed a powerful appeal for
support of his political slate. This was composed

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