Cullen Collection Is the So-Called "New Collection" (4 Archival Boxes); Not Under Discussion Here
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Archival list PAPERS OF PAUL CULLEN, IRISH COLLEGE ROME - CORRESPONDENCE 1821-1879 – - SUPPLEMENTS 1824-1849 – ARCHIVES PONTIFICAL IRISH COLLEGE, ROME Papers of Paul Cullen (Rome, Armagh, Dublin) CUL/, CUL/OCO/, CUL/AME/, CUL/TBG/ Table of Contents Preface and Identity statement i CORRESPONDENCE 1821-1879 Introduction 1 List 4 SUPPLEMENTS 1824-1849 Introduction 354 Letters from Michael O'Connor, Rome and Pittsburgh (1834-1847) 357 'American letters' – correspondence from North American churches (1824- 369 1849) Trinidad and British Guiana- letters and reports (1837-1848) 390 ARCHIVES PONTIFICAL IRISH COLLEGE, ROME DOCUMENTS OF PAUL CULLEN, IRISH COLLEGE ROME (Collection 1) PREFACE The following archival list sketches the content of the primary collection of papers pertaining to Paul Cullen held at the Pontifical Irish College, Rome; Cullen was rector of the Irish College from 1832 to his call to Armagh in 1850. These documents, mostly incoming letters, precede his rectorship by over ten years, and also contain papers from his periods as Archbishop of Armagh (1850-1852) and of Dublin (1852-1879). The other, secondary collection of papers ('New Collection') is treated separately. IDENTITY STATEMENT Title: Papers of Paul Cullen, Irish College Rome (Collection 1 with 3 subseries) Covering Dates: 1821-1879 Collection Codes: PICR Archives CUL/, CUL/OCO, CUL/AME, CUL/TBG Collection Size: 10 boxes Finding Aids: descriptive list Description level: item i DOCUMENTS OF PAUL CULLEN, IRISH COLLEGE ROME - CORRESPONDENCE 1821-1879 - Introduction The following is meant to serve as a basis for approaching the papers. Within the parameters of an archival catalogue, this is built mostly on the papers themselves, not on further archival research, and the bibliography is merely meant to indicate the points of references available to the writer. Paul Cullen: biographical background Paul Cullen was born on 29 April 1803 near Prospect, County Kildare, into a prosperous farming family with clerical connections. Having studied at Carlow College since 1816, he was offered a place in Maynooth by Bishop Doyle of Kildare and Leighlin in 1820 but instead went to Rome, to enter the College of Propaganda Fide (the Collegio Urbano). He remained in Rome for the next thirty years, until he was appointed Archbishop of Armagh. A brilliant student, he took his doctorate of theology in 1828, defending it in the presence of Pope Leo XII, and was ordained the next year. After teaching Greek, Hebrew and Scripture in Propaganda Fide, and some time as rector of Propaganda College, he was appointed rector of the Irish College in 1832 by Gregory XVI. In his position as rector of the Irish College, he also fulfilled the function of the Irish hierarchy's official agent in Rome. In this position he became privy to all Irish church business in Rome while becoming acquainted with, and acquiring important friends among, the officials at the Vatican and the inner circles of the Curia. The Irish College expanded during his rectorship of seventeen years: student numbers doubled to over forty in 1835. In 1837 Gregory XVI presented him with the church of Sant'Agata dei Goti, Via Mazzarino (between Via Nazionale and the Panisperna), to house the community; up until then and since the College's refoundation in 1826 it had resided in the Umbrian College. Cullen's appointment as rector of Propaganda College by Pius IX is also significant in that regard since it occurred during the upsurgence of Italian nationalism and the serious crisis of the papacy during the 1840s –here he gave asylum to clerics under threat from the new Roman republic. His appointment to the archdiocese of Armagh in 1849 (consecration January 1850), at a time when native bishops were bitterly fighting among themselves and unable to appoint a successor to Archbishop Crolly, was due partly to Pius IX's gratitude for Cullen's stalwart services in the crisis. In May 1852 he was appointed to the See of Dublin, and elevated to cardinal in June 1866. The Irish College's papers are mostly co-extensive with his rectorship there, and Cullen's further immense influence on the Irish Catholic church find better reflection therefore in the papers of his successor, Tobias Kirby (rector 1850-1895), with whom he maintained a rich correspondence. He died on 24 October 1878, and is buried in Holy Cross College, Clonliffe. Provenance and archival history This collection holds Cullen's correspondence, that is mostly incoming mail, but also containing a few drafts for outgoing mail, dating to his periods as student at Propaganda College, as rector of Propaganda College, as rector of the Irish College, and further containing just around eighty letters to him as Archbishop of Dublin and after his elevation to cardinal in 1854, up to 1879. 1 In all there are two collections of papers pertaining to Rector Paul Cullen at the Irish College. These two collections are the fruit of various acts of separation of what must have been – up until the early 20th century – the large volume of Cullen's correspondence. 1. The collection which corresponds to this catalogue is the core and most extensive one- containing 2,258 items. Act of separation have resulted in it being divided into four series. The first series contains the core Cullen correspondence from 1821 to 1879 (the bulk of the material lies between 1830 and 1850). The remaining three series have been classed as 'supplements'. These supplements were separated at a point unknown; the separation followed thematic lines and the collections are named ""Letters from Michael O'Connor- Rome and Pittsburgh" (1834-1847), "American Letters" (1824-1849), and " Trinidad and British Guiana: letters and reports" (1837-1848), comprising 233 items. Since digitisation was already underway when they were discovered, but also to honour the intentions of those carrying out the separation, it was deemed if not impractical then certainly undesirable to reunite all the papers; they are treated below (p 354-409). 2. The second Cullen collection is the so-called "New Collection" (4 archival boxes); not under discussion here. The New Collection, also called the"Manly Collection"; was separated from the core collection and brought to Australia by Cardinal Moran of Sydney whose intention was to write a biography of his uncle Paul Cullen. It was returned from Manly College in the mid-20th century. The New Collection comprises 935 items pertaining to Cullen’s rectorship – there are also 99 items predating Cullen, but its bulk is taken up with the papers of Rector Tobias Kirby. Following Cullen’s return to Ireland he continued an extensive and lifelong correspondence with his successor Dr Kirby. Researchers interested in letters from Archbishop Cullen to Kirby should consult the Kirby Collection and the Kirby section of the New Collection. When consulting this collection, it should be always done in tandem with the Cullen segment of the New Collection, the Kirby collection and the Kirby segment of the New Collection. Scope and content As other rectors' collections, much in Cullen's papers is of a more administrational nature. As the agent of the Irish bishops in Rome, Cullen saw to any necessary congregational or curial business; as rector of the College, some correspondence concerns student admissions and progress. This runs parallel with any other news, trivial or not, from diocese, mission, or family home, and indeed with commissions of other types, like those of (mostly sculptural) artwork for Irish church buildings after the Catholic Emancipation. In terms of church and politics, Cullen's correspondence covers for instance the period of great dissent in the Irish church over the education question: Archbishops Murray of Dublin and McHale of Tuam were the main protagonists in this, both expressing their views openly in their letters to Cullen. When both sides made appeals to Rome, Cullen counselled that the National Schools were no threat to the faith in Ireland and a salomonic decision was made in 1841 giving each bishop the right to deal with the matter. When the quarrel broke out again over the government's so-called "Queen's Colleges" Cullen and most bishops opposed this scheme, and in 1848 Pope Pius IX condemned them as a danger to the faith. Cullen was a friend to two Popes, Gregory XVI and Pius IX, and his further lifelong support for the papacy is manifest most particularly in his recruiting the Irish brigade against Garibaldi in 1860, and in the collection of £80,000 in 1860, having staged a national appeal to defend Pius IX's temporal power in Italy against France and Piedmont-Sardinia. His allegiance to Rome was "uncompromising", according to Emmet Larkin. With all this confidence placed in him, the papers bear evidence to Cullen's secure position for furthering 2 Irish interests, whether in Ireland, in North America, the antipodes or other parts of the British Commonwealth. He was also acquainted with Daniel O'Connell; the only autograph letter by O'Connell in this collection (9 May 1842) is a confidential 14-page document giving his opinions on Cardinal Acton, the beneficial effects of the temperance campaign, and submitting 16 reasons for the repeal of the Union, asking for Gregory XVI's blessing. O'Connell's private chaplain, Fr.Miley, wrote a series of letters to Cullen during their journey towards Rome in 1847, describing O'Connell's last illness, death, and bequest of his heart to Rome. There are reflections of many other issues of the time, evidence of Cullen's "ultramontanist" views and formidable leadership. For instance, his papers have been researched to study the question of politically involved clergy and changes in popular devotion, but they also bear remarkable insights into the famine years, with some insights on the measures taken by friends of Ireland in Italy.