1910's Religion | Cardinal Gibbons' Letter to the U.S. Archbishops

Letter

By: James Cardinal Gibbons

Date: May 1, 1919

Source: Gibbons, James Cardinal. Letter to the U.S. Archbishops, May 1, 1919. Reprinted in Ellis, John Tracy, ed. Documents of American Catholic History. 2nd ed. Milwaukee, Wis.: Bruce, 1962, 604–607.

About the Author: James Gibbons (1834–1921) was born in Baltimore, Maryland. The son of Irish immigrants, Gibbons was ordained a Catholic priest in 1861. A bright and energetic clergyman, he was ordained bishop in 1868 and became archbishop of Baltimore in 1877. In 1886, he was made cardinal by Pope Leo XIII. A man of great charm and intelligence, Gibbons supported the rights of labor and encouraged immigrant Catholics to fit into American society.

Introduction

James Gibbons was born on July 23, 1834, in Baltimore, the eldest son of Thomas and Bridget Gibbons. Initially, Gibbons did well in the field of...