Rectifying the Fatal Contrast: Archbishop John Purcell and the Slavery Controversy Among Catholics in Civil War Cincinnati

Rectifying the Fatal Contrast: Archbishop John Purcell and the Slavery Controversy among Catholics in Civil War Cincinnati David J. Endres Historians who have documented the American teenth century was in the midst of a great struggle, Catholic response to the Civil War and slavery have weakened by sectional conflict and torn over the largely focused on the thinking of a few prominent practical and moral repercussions of slavery. For northern ecclesiastical and intellectual leaders. Men many, slavery was not simply a question of human such as Archbishop John Joseph Hughes of New York, dignity or personal liberty, but rather fit within the theologian Bishop Francis Patrick Kenrick, and ongoing debate over the concept of states' rights and Catholic newspaper editor James McMaster dominate the appropriate relationship of labor and economic the landscape of historical inquiry.1 These northern gain. Americans of every locality and viewpoint Catholic intellectuals adopted a consistently conser- entered into the debate, which soon grew to encom- vative approach to the difficult questions of the day. pass the status of the country and its future. Many, They supported reconciliation between North and especially in the South, wished to preserve the nation South, criticized abolitionism, tired of emancipation as it was, with local autonomy and the ability to quickly, and supported the Constitution. Though maintain or even expand the institution of slavery. such sentiments dominated the thinking of the For abolitionists in the North, however, slavery sym- Catholic leadership of the time, other voices did bolized all that prevented the country from achieving emerge throughout the war that would challenge the political, social, and moral purity. approach of these leading thinkers. Religious belief was central to the debate and, Archbishop John Baptist Purcell of Cincinnati with its language common to the North and South, was one of these minority voices, the first American often meshed with political and ethnic ideologies to Catholic bishop to offer public support for immediate lend strength to the slavery controversy. Religion emancipation of slaves. Through his teaching and the was used as a means of affirming the practices of both influence of his diocesan newspaper, the Catholic the slaveholder and the abolitionist. As President Telegraph, Purcell attempted to convince his readers Abraham Lincoln stated of the North and South in his of the inconsistency of slavery's existence in a free second inaugural address, "Both read the same Bible, nation while striking at the racial, religious, and and pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid political discord that shaped the loyalties of Catholics against the other."3 Consequently, religious schism in antebellum America. Historians have largely often preceded political separation as religious groups ignored Purcell's contribution to the intellectual and became polarized over slavery. The Presbyterians and moral conversation of the period, mentioning him Baptists attempted to preserve institutional unity only in passing as an example of a divergent opinion. until the outbreak of the war while the Methodist Yet his presence in Cincinnati was critical in shaping Church split into two factions in 1845, a separation the ideological climate of the Ohio Valley during the caused by some members' refusal to agree to a slave Civil War era.2 holder's becoming bishop. Even when attempts to The United States in the middle of the nine- preserve unity appeared successful, internal division Fall 2002 Rectifying the Fatal Contrast often existed. In 1837 when the Presbyterian Church 1833 and appoint- had divided into New and Old Schools, the former ed leader of the became increasingly antislavery and found its great- Catholic Church est strength among New Englanders while the latter in the diocese of was composed of conservative members, mainly Cincinnati, a posi- southerners.4 In the midst of this sectional conflict tion he held for and religious disunion, the Roman Catholic Church fifty years.6 As the in America attempted to bridge these divisions in number of order to be true to its model as one, holy, catholic Catholics in Ohio Church. Unlike the religious denominations that increased, his role failed to preserve unity, the Catholic Church official- as spokesman for ly identified with neither the abolitionists nor the the Church in the slave holders, both of whom it considered radicals. West intensified. Marked by its conservatism, the Catholic Church In 1837, as a Archbishop John Baptist Purcell during this period spoke in favor of moderation and young bishop, he compromise, not rash action. Most American took part in a Catholic bishops rallied for unity and reconciliation, week-long public debate on the nature of the Catholic hoping to act as witnesses to peace and calm in a religion with Alexander Campbell, a Baptist revivalist troubled nation.5 minister and founder of the Disciples of Christ. In One episcopal voice that pierced the silence of reporting the debate, Cincinnati's secular press agreed the Catholic hierarchy was that of Archbishop John that Purcell had helped to encourage Catholic tolera- Baptist Purcell of Cincinnati. By publicly supporting tion and to correct various falsehoods held about the the immediate abolition of slavery, Purcell faced con- faith. Newspapers throughout the country closely siderable opposition from numerous fronts. Clergy and followed the debate and caused Purcell to become laymen throughout the country, his fellow American better known to the nation's Catholics and non- bishops, as well as religious and secular publications Catholics.7 discouraged his meddling in what many considered a Early in his episcopacy, Purcell pronounced his political matter, unrelated to religion. Even when own moral distaste for slavery yet seemed unwilling opposition was not overt, Purcell found it necessary to to assert these views to the Catholics of America or contend with an ambivalent immigrant Church, large- to become associated with the abolitionist move- ly disinterested in the slavery question from the stand- ment. At a speech given in 1838 in his hometown of point of morality yet aware of the potential for slav- Mallow, County Cork, Ireland, Purcell spoke of the ery's demise to affect the economic balance of com- inconsistency between the Declaration of munity life in both the North and South. Independence and the existence of slavery. He later Beginning with mild protestations against slav- termed this inconsistency "the fatal contrast," ery, Purcell eventually became an outspoken propo- acknowledging his belief that America could not tol- nent of the war and emancipation. Purcell worked to erate the institution of slavery if it were to be faithful temper anti-war sentiment, to help purge Catholics of to its ideals. At the time of his 1838 speech, howev- their racist tendencies, and to convince his flock of the er, Purcell blamed the "virus" of slavery less on the moral and practical necessity of emancipation. Americans as much as the English, who had estab- Though largely unsuccessful, Purcell helped ease ten- lished it during the colonial period. Clearly, Purcell sions, curb discrimination, and bring attention to the found it safer to be anti-English than to level charges moral and social ramifications of the slavery question. against his fellow countrymen. The Catholic Acting as one of the few who bonded their Catholic Telegraph, the official newspaper of the diocese of faith with abolitionist views, Purcell heralded emanci- Cincinnati, reported Purcell's speech but quickly pation as a position consistent with the example of added that the Bishop understood that there were "a Christ and integral to the Church's mission of bringing great many political improvements, however desir- unity, hope, and salvation to all people. able, that a government could not from prudential 8 Irish by birth, Purcell was ordained a bishop in motives, introduce as soon as it wished." During the Ohio Valley History years leading up to the Civil War, the Catholic three to be detestable assaults upon their way of life.13 Telegraph remained silent on the subject except for an Abolitionists were often nativists and the union of occasional condemnation of abolitionism.9 Purcell, these ideals was not incidental. The Know-Nothing too, refrained from taking a vocal stand in the decades literature of the era asserted that the Roman Catholic before the war. Church and slavery were both "founded and support- The climate and makeup of his diocese and the ed on the basis of ignorance and tyranny" and that the position of Catholic bishops throughout the country two were natural co-workers in their opposition to contributed to PurcelPs lack of outspoken opposition "freedom and republican institutions."14 Following to slavery. The diocese of Cincinnati, which had the demise of the Know-Nothing party, the included only sixteen churches and fewer than seven Republican party received many former Know- thousand Catholics when Purcell arrived in 1833, Nothings into its ranks and this close association of swelled with German and Irish immigrants during abolitionism and nativism resulted in solid support the next three decades. In recognition of its increased for the Democratic party among the Catholic immi- population, Cincinnati became an archdiocese in grant population.15 1850 and Purcell was elevated to the role of archbish- Chief among the immigrants' fears was the abo- op. Ten years later, in i860, the archdiocese of litionist goal of emancipating the slaves. Cincinnati, spanning approximately the southern Emancipation, they believed, would result in the for- two-thirds of Ohio, claimed 150,000 Catholics. mer slaves' mass exodus from the South to claim Nearly 55,000 of the Catholics in the archdiocese immigrants' jobs in Cincinnati. As early as 1841, ten- lived in Cincinnati, accounting for thirty-five percent sion between immigrants and free persons of color of the city's population.10 resulted in three days of mob violence in which both In the decades leading up to the Civil War, Irishmen and African Americans were killed.

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