John Ireland and the American Catholic Church

O’Connell presents an excellent biography of the first archbishop of St. Paul, Minnesota, who rose from poverty to become an internationally known clerical figure and friend of presidents. He argues that although Ireland (1838-1918) is best remembered for his building projects and as author of The Church in Modern Society , his major influence came from his personal support of the causes of his daysupport that earned him the nickname “Consecrated Blizzard.” Ireland’s profound influence on the immigrant Catholics of his era ultimately led to the emergence of a truly American Catholicism. Well written and well researched, this biography brings to life an important figure in American religious history. Recommended. C. Robert Nixon, M.L.S., Lafayette, Ind.
From Library Journal  Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

“This long-needed biography is gracefully written and meticulously researched in Roman archives untapped by previous biographers.” — Western Historical Quarterly

It is the purview of our historical societies to publish substantial pieces of scholarship, especially those that treat in some way the societies’ spheres of influences. Rarely does a society, however, do as Minnesota Historical has done here. In John Ireland we have been given not only substantial scholarship, but luminous and engaging prose. In this purely secular biography-Ireland (18531918) was the politically adroit and dramatic first Archbishop of St. Paul-we have also been given one of the clearest and most accessible recent presentations of the Americanist movement of the last century and of Roman Catholicism in American politics. Professor O’Connell’s enviable skill as a writer has joined with his evident facility as a teacher to produce a gripping, exquisitely documented, impeccably paced and thoroughly moving record of events that span a century and move from the Irish potato famines through Ireland’s active involvement in the international politics of the McKinley, Taft, and Roosevelt administrations. While the faithful will find nodiing here of the spiritual life and little of the interior one, students of history and/or institutional religion will find much to ponder. Indeed, any Americanists or any acquisitions librarians of American collections who do not add this brilliant new volume to their respective shelves are missing a rich opportunity for expanding aesthetic pleasure as well as intellectual comprehension in both themselves and their constituencies. — From Independent Publisher

Details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Minnesota Historical Society Press; First Edition (September 15, 1988)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 624 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0873512308
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0873512305
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.52 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 1.7 x 9.25 inches