Rt. Rev. Thomas Foley, fifth Bishop (Coadjutor Bishop and Administrator) of the Diocese of Chicago (1870-1879). A native of Baltimore in Maryland, he was the first Bishop of Chicago born in America. His episcopate was marked by the great Fire of 1871 and the critical period consequent thereon, through which he conducted the Church in Chicago with the utmost charity and resourcefulness, laying anew the foundations on which was to be reared the splendid fabric of Catholicism in that city today. His death in the full tide of pastoral achievement occurred on February 19, 1879.
On March 10, 1870, Bishop Thomas Foley was installed in the church of the Holy Name, the pro-Cathedral, as successor to Bishop Duggan in the see of Chicago, amid very cordial manifestations of good-will and satisfaction on the part of the clergy and laity of the city. Bishop Foley was a native of Baltimore, where he was born of immigrant Irish parents, March 6, 1822. A graduate with the degree of A. B. from St. Mary's College, Baltimore, at the early age of eighteen, a priest at twenty-four, pastor for twenty-one years at the Baltimore Cathedral, and in turn Chancellor, Vicar-General and Administrator of the diocese of Baltimore, he had discharged with satisfaction the various important duties committed to him and with a very distinguished record of clear judgment, scholarship and experience in church affairs thus to his credit, gave promise of filling still higher ecclesiastical positions with eminent success. So it was that the Holy See turned to him as one who could be trusted to take up and wield with delicacy and tact to the edification of all the reins of administration that had fallen from the hands of Bishop Duggan. Having in November, 1869, been appointed Bishop of Pergamus in partibus infidelium, Coadjutor-Bishop and Administrator of the Diocese of Chicago cum jure sucessionis, he was consecrated February 27, 1870, in the Cathedral of Baltimore, by Bishop McCloskey of Louisville.
''Peace be to you'' was the text of the sermon which Bishop Foley addressed to the congregation that gathered in the pro-Cathedral of the Holy Name on the occasion of his installation; and a notable sermon it was, all aglow with exquisite charity and priestly zeal and revealing beyond mistake in its eloquent sentences the great heart and superior mind of the man who had come to direct the destinies of the Catholic church in Chicago.
"Now I wish again to repeat the words of our Lord and Savior, may his grace abide with you. I hope that in the power of God this diocese which already holds so high a place, which has so vast a population and is destined if not to he the first at least to be the second in the country; this diocese which has such vast material wealth and such a number of souls within its limits, shall grow in grace and power. This shall claim my careful attention and while I live and am with you, whatever I can do shall be freely, entirely and cheerfully given to Chicago."
The pre-eminent fitness of Bishop Foley for the position to which he had been called was amply demonstrated as his episcopate ran its course. New parishes were organized and churches built, new institutions of charity and benevolence sprang up on every side, while an atmosphere of Christian kindliness and forbearance spread out from the great-hearted prelate and settled over the entire diocese.
~ from "The Catholic Church in Chicago, 1673-1871" by Gilbert Joseph Garraghan (1921)
On March 10, 1870, Bishop Thomas Foley was installed in the church of the Holy Name, the pro-Cathedral, as successor to Bishop Duggan in the see of Chicago, amid very cordial manifestations of good-will and satisfaction on the part of the clergy and laity of the city. Bishop Foley was a native of Baltimore, where he was born of immigrant Irish parents, March 6, 1822. A graduate with the degree of A. B. from St. Mary's College, Baltimore, at the early age of eighteen, a priest at twenty-four, pastor for twenty-one years at the Baltimore Cathedral, and in turn Chancellor, Vicar-General and Administrator of the diocese of Baltimore, he had discharged with satisfaction the various important duties committed to him and with a very distinguished record of clear judgment, scholarship and experience in church affairs thus to his credit, gave promise of filling still higher ecclesiastical positions with eminent success. So it was that the Holy See turned to him as one who could be trusted to take up and wield with delicacy and tact to the edification of all the reins of administration that had fallen from the hands of Bishop Duggan. Having in November, 1869, been appointed Bishop of Pergamus in partibus infidelium, Coadjutor-Bishop and Administrator of the Diocese of Chicago cum jure sucessionis, he was consecrated February 27, 1870, in the Cathedral of Baltimore, by Bishop McCloskey of Louisville.
''Peace be to you'' was the text of the sermon which Bishop Foley addressed to the congregation that gathered in the pro-Cathedral of the Holy Name on the occasion of his installation; and a notable sermon it was, all aglow with exquisite charity and priestly zeal and revealing beyond mistake in its eloquent sentences the great heart and superior mind of the man who had come to direct the destinies of the Catholic church in Chicago.
"Now I wish again to repeat the words of our Lord and Savior, may his grace abide with you. I hope that in the power of God this diocese which already holds so high a place, which has so vast a population and is destined if not to he the first at least to be the second in the country; this diocese which has such vast material wealth and such a number of souls within its limits, shall grow in grace and power. This shall claim my careful attention and while I live and am with you, whatever I can do shall be freely, entirely and cheerfully given to Chicago."
The pre-eminent fitness of Bishop Foley for the position to which he had been called was amply demonstrated as his episcopate ran its course. New parishes were organized and churches built, new institutions of charity and benevolence sprang up on every side, while an atmosphere of Christian kindliness and forbearance spread out from the great-hearted prelate and settled over the entire diocese.
~ from "The Catholic Church in Chicago, 1673-1871" by Gilbert Joseph Garraghan (1921)
Rt. Rev. Thomas Foley, fifth Bishop (Coadjutor Bishop and Administrator) of the Diocese of Chicago (1870-1879). A native of Baltimore in Maryland, he was the first Bishop of Chicago born in America. His episcopate was marked by the great Fire of 1871 and the critical period consequent thereon, through which he conducted the Church in Chicago with the utmost charity and resourcefulness, laying anew the foundations on which was to be reared the splendid fabric of Catholicism in that city today. His death in the full tide of pastoral achievement occurred on February 19, 1879.
On March 10, 1870, Bishop Thomas Foley was installed in the church of the Holy Name, the pro-Cathedral, as successor to Bishop Duggan in the see of Chicago, amid very cordial manifestations of good-will and satisfaction on the part of the clergy and laity of the city. Bishop Foley was a native of Baltimore, where he was born of immigrant Irish parents, March 6, 1822. A graduate with the degree of A. B. from St. Mary's College, Baltimore, at the early age of eighteen, a priest at twenty-four, pastor for twenty-one years at the Baltimore Cathedral, and in turn Chancellor, Vicar-General and Administrator of the diocese of Baltimore, he had discharged with satisfaction the various important duties committed to him and with a very distinguished record of clear judgment, scholarship and experience in church affairs thus to his credit, gave promise of filling still higher ecclesiastical positions with eminent success. So it was that the Holy See turned to him as one who could be trusted to take up and wield with delicacy and tact to the edification of all the reins of administration that had fallen from the hands of Bishop Duggan. Having in November, 1869, been appointed Bishop of Pergamus in partibus infidelium, Coadjutor-Bishop and Administrator of the Diocese of Chicago cum jure sucessionis, he was consecrated February 27, 1870, in the Cathedral of Baltimore, by Bishop McCloskey of Louisville.
''Peace be to you'' was the text of the sermon which Bishop Foley addressed to the congregation that gathered in the pro-Cathedral of the Holy Name on the occasion of his installation; and a notable sermon it was, all aglow with exquisite charity and priestly zeal and revealing beyond mistake in its eloquent sentences the great heart and superior mind of the man who had come to direct the destinies of the Catholic church in Chicago.
"Now I wish again to repeat the words of our Lord and Savior, may his grace abide with you. I hope that in the power of God this diocese which already holds so high a place, which has so vast a population and is destined if not to he the first at least to be the second in the country; this diocese which has such vast material wealth and such a number of souls within its limits, shall grow in grace and power. This shall claim my careful attention and while I live and am with you, whatever I can do shall be freely, entirely and cheerfully given to Chicago."
The pre-eminent fitness of Bishop Foley for the position to which he had been called was amply demonstrated as his episcopate ran its course. New parishes were organized and churches built, new institutions of charity and benevolence sprang up on every side, while an atmosphere of Christian kindliness and forbearance spread out from the great-hearted prelate and settled over the entire diocese.
~ from "The Catholic Church in Chicago, 1673-1871" by Gilbert Joseph Garraghan (1921)
On March 10, 1870, Bishop Thomas Foley was installed in the church of the Holy Name, the pro-Cathedral, as successor to Bishop Duggan in the see of Chicago, amid very cordial manifestations of good-will and satisfaction on the part of the clergy and laity of the city. Bishop Foley was a native of Baltimore, where he was born of immigrant Irish parents, March 6, 1822. A graduate with the degree of A. B. from St. Mary's College, Baltimore, at the early age of eighteen, a priest at twenty-four, pastor for twenty-one years at the Baltimore Cathedral, and in turn Chancellor, Vicar-General and Administrator of the diocese of Baltimore, he had discharged with satisfaction the various important duties committed to him and with a very distinguished record of clear judgment, scholarship and experience in church affairs thus to his credit, gave promise of filling still higher ecclesiastical positions with eminent success. So it was that the Holy See turned to him as one who could be trusted to take up and wield with delicacy and tact to the edification of all the reins of administration that had fallen from the hands of Bishop Duggan. Having in November, 1869, been appointed Bishop of Pergamus in partibus infidelium, Coadjutor-Bishop and Administrator of the Diocese of Chicago cum jure sucessionis, he was consecrated February 27, 1870, in the Cathedral of Baltimore, by Bishop McCloskey of Louisville.
''Peace be to you'' was the text of the sermon which Bishop Foley addressed to the congregation that gathered in the pro-Cathedral of the Holy Name on the occasion of his installation; and a notable sermon it was, all aglow with exquisite charity and priestly zeal and revealing beyond mistake in its eloquent sentences the great heart and superior mind of the man who had come to direct the destinies of the Catholic church in Chicago.
"Now I wish again to repeat the words of our Lord and Savior, may his grace abide with you. I hope that in the power of God this diocese which already holds so high a place, which has so vast a population and is destined if not to he the first at least to be the second in the country; this diocese which has such vast material wealth and such a number of souls within its limits, shall grow in grace and power. This shall claim my careful attention and while I live and am with you, whatever I can do shall be freely, entirely and cheerfully given to Chicago."
The pre-eminent fitness of Bishop Foley for the position to which he had been called was amply demonstrated as his episcopate ran its course. New parishes were organized and churches built, new institutions of charity and benevolence sprang up on every side, while an atmosphere of Christian kindliness and forbearance spread out from the great-hearted prelate and settled over the entire diocese.
~ from "The Catholic Church in Chicago, 1673-1871" by Gilbert Joseph Garraghan (1921)
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