Francis Cardinal Spellman

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Francis Joseph Cardinal Spellman (4 May 18892 December 1967) was an American prelate, the ninth bishop and sixth archbishop of the Roman Catholic diocese of New York.

He was born in Whitman, Massachusetts to William and Ellen (née Conway) Spellman, graduated from Pontifical Urbanian Athenaeum in Rome, and was ordained a priest on 14 May 1916. He became Chancellor of the Boston Diocese in 1922, and was made a Monsignor and appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Boston, Massachusetts in July of 1932 and ordained on 8 September with the titular see of Sila.

He was appointed Archbishop of New York on 15 April 1939, and on 11 December, appointed Archbishop for the Military Services. Spellman was elevated to cardinal (with the title of Ss. Giovanni e Paolo) on 18 February 1946, and served as archbishop until his death.

For his service to soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines, Cardinal Spellman was awarded the prestigious Sylvanus Thayer Award by the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1967.

He led the archdiocese through an extensive period of building the Catholic infrastructure, particularly the parochial schools. He is interred in the crypt under the altar of St. Patrick's Cathedral.

He was Grand Prior of USA of the Sovereign Order of Malta and Grand Prior of America of the Military and Hospitaller Order of St. Lazarus.

He is to date the longest-serving Archbishop of New York; he served in that position for over 28 years.

[edit] Quotes

"Spellman held his tongue in Rome, where it would be unwise to be indiscreet about the new pope (Pope John XXIII). But when he returned home, the Cardinal announced his disdain. 'He's no Pope,' Spellman scoffed to his aides. 'He should be selling bananas.'" [1]

[edit] See also

Preceded by
Patrick Joseph Cardinal Hayes
Archbishop of New York
1939–1967
Succeeded by
Terence James Cardinal Cooke
Preceded by
John Francis O'Hara
Archbishop for the Military Services
1939–1967
Preceded by
Carl Vinson
Sylvanus Thayer Award recipient
1967
Succeeded by
Bob Hope

[edit] References

  1. ^ Cooney, John (1984). The American Pope: The Life and Times of Francis Cardinal Spellman. New York: New York Times Books, p.333. ISBN 0-440-10194-8.


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