| The Most Reverend Joseph Sadoc Alemany |
|
|---|---|
| Archbishop of San Francisco | |
| See | San Francisco |
| Enthroned | July 29, 1853 |
| Reign ended | December 28, 1884 |
| Predecessor | None |
| Successor | Patrick William Riordan |
| Other posts | Bishop of Monterey (1850-1853) |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | March 11, 1837 |
| Consecration | June 30, 1850 |
| Personal details | |
| Born | July 3, 1814 Vic, Spain |
| Died | April 14, 1888 (aged 73) Valencia, Spain |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic Church |
| Styles of Joseph Sadoc Alemany |
|
|---|---|
| Reference style | The Most Reverend |
| Spoken style | Your Excellency |
| Religious style | Monsignor |
| Posthumous style | none |
Joseph Sadoc Alemany y Conill, O.P. (3 July 1814 - 14 April 1888) was a Catalan American Roman Catholic archbishop and missionary. He served as the first Bishop of Monterey from 1850 until 1853, and as the first Archbishop of San Francisco from 1853 until 1884.
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Born in Vic, 60 km north of Barcelona, Spain (present-day autonomous region of Catalonia), Alemany entered the Dominican Order in 1830 and made his solemn profession in September 1831, the same year that Alemany's protege, Patrick Manogue was born in Ireland.
Alemany was ordained a priest on 11 March 1837. During studies in Rome, he had an audience with Pope Gregory XVI. The Dominicans sent him to the United States in 1840. For the next eight years, he engaged in missionary activity in the Eastern and Southern United States, eventually becoming a naturalized United States citizen.
In 1848, he was appointed prior-provincial of the Dominican province of St. Joseph the Worker. On a trip to Rome, Alemany was consecrated as Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Monterey in California on 30 June 1850; thus, becoming the first American bishop in California.[1] When the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco was erected in 1853, Alemany was appointed by Pope Pius IX as its first archbishop.
As Archbishop of San Francisco, Alemany presided over what became a multinational diocese, owing to the influx of people during the California Gold Rush, and parishes were established for San Francisco's Italian, Irish, French, German and Mexican communities.[2] Catholic religious orders were also active during his tenure, with the Society of Jesus establishing Santa Clara University and the University of San Francisco, the De La Salle Christian Brothers taking over the diocesan Saint Mary's College, and the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur establishing the College of Notre Dame, and the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary establishing in Oakland the Holy Names University. He and fellow Dominican priest, Fr. Francis Sadoc Vilarrasa also founded the Dominican Province of the Most Holy Name in 1851, and the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael and Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose were established in the archdiocese in 1851 and 1876, respectively.
One of Alemany's first acts as Archbishop was to file a petition with the Public Land Commission on February 19, 1853 for the return of all former mission lands in California. Ownership of 1,051.44 acres (for all practical intents being the exact area of land occupied by the original mission buildings, cemeteries, and gardens) was subsequently conveyed to the Church, along with the Cañada de los Pinos (or College Rancho) in Santa Barbara County comprising 35,499.73 acres (143.6623 km2), and La Laguna in San Luis Obispo County, consisting of 4,157.02 acres (16.8229 km2).[3] The scope of his authority was large, as the Diocese of Monterey originally encompassed the entire area of the former Mexican province of Alta California, while the Archdiocese of San Francisco encompassed all of the state of California north of Monterey Bay as well as territories that would become Nevada and Utah. However, Alemany wished to return to missionary work and requested a coadjutor bishop. In 1883, Bishop Patrick William Riordan was appointed by Pope Leo XIII coadjutor, and would succeed Alemany upon the latter's resignation as archbishop in 1884.
After his resignation, Alemany returned to Catalonia and was appointed titular archbishop of Pelusium. He died in Valencia, on 14 April 1888, and was buried in the Church of Sant Domènec in his native Vic. In 1965, his body was brought back to San Francisco and buried in the Archbishops' mausoleum in Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma, California.
He was an author, publishing his The Life of St. Dominick.
Alemany Boulevard and the Alemany Maze in San Francisco, Bishop Alemany High School in Mission Hills, California and the Archbishop Alemany Library at Dominican University of California in San Rafael are all named in his honor.
| Catholic Church titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Francisco Garcia Diego y Moreno, O.F.M. (as Bishop of Both Californias) |
Bishop of Monterey 1850–1853 |
Succeeded by Thaddeus Amat y Brusi, C.M. |
| Preceded by None (erected) |
Archbishop of San Francisco 1853–1884 |
Succeeded by Patrick William Riordan |