James J. Hennesey

1618 The First Council of the Vatican: The American Experience, by James Hennesey, S.J. (read 15 Feb 1981) This is a 1963 book telling about American bishops at the First Vatican Council. It was an excellent review of that Council, and is really well-done. The opposition American bishops were really very able, and I had never realized that Archbishop Kenrick of St Louis apparently had the toughest time accepting the dogma of the infallibility of the Pope. Though Bishop Fitzgerald voted against in the final public session he really played a minor role at the Council. Bishop Verot talked the most, and Bishop McQuaid of Rochester was very bitter privately. Archbishop Purcell of Cincinnati was also very much against, and Bishop Amat of Monterey-Los Angeles was also an able opponent. Archbishop Spalding of Baltimore wobbled. Meige, Vicar Apostolic of Kansas, was very pro-infallibility, as were Elder of Natchez and Archbishop Blanchet of Oregon City. John Hennessy of Dubuque was in opposition, but played no prominent role at the Council. This is a very good book and heightened my interest in American bishops. [The book was later described by Gerald Fogarty, S.J., of the University of Virginia thusly: "remains the most comprehensive study of the role of American bishops at that council and a model of the integration of church history with theology."]
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