Bernard A. Maguire

SJ
Maguire in 1866 by the Brady–Handy studio
25th & 27th President of Georgetown University
In office 1866–1870
Preceded by	John Early
Succeeded by	John Early
In office 1853–1858
Preceded by	Charles H. Stonestreet
Succeeded by	John Early
Personal details
Born	(1818-02-11)February 11, 1818 Jesuit Community Cemetery
Alma mater	Saint John's College Georgetown University
Orders
Ordination	September 27, 1851 by John McGill

Bernard A. Maguire

In 1846, Maguire began his theological education for the priesthood. He took leave of his studies during the academic year of 1849–1850 to catechize the students at Georgetown.^[4] During that time, there was an uprising among the students, stemming from a dispute between the Philodemic Society and the first prefect over when the club were permitted to hold meetings.^[5] As tensions escalated, the first prefect, Burchard Villiger,^[6] expelled three students, prompting an uproar among the student body.^[5] Believing the expulsion applied to all the students involved in the dispute, 40 students left the university and took up residence in hotels in Washington. They wrote the prefect demanding that they be allowed to return without punishment and that the first prefect be replaced by someone new.^[7]

After word of this standoff reached the local newspapers, Maguire met with the students to persuade them to peacefully return. Eventually, the students agreed to unconditionally return and issued an apology.^[7] At the same time, Villiger resigned as first prefect, and Maguire was selected to replace him.^[6] On September 27, 1851, he was ordained a priest by John McGill, the Bishop of Richmond.^[4]

First presidency of Georgetown University

During his

Maguire promoted dramatic and literary societies among the students.[10] In April 1853, the university was visited by the Catholic intellectual Orestes Brownson,^[11] and the commencement of 1854 was attended by Franklin Pierce, the president of the United States.^[12] A fire broke out on December 6, 1854, destroying the shed where the tailor and shoemaker worked. The university's vice president noticed the fire during the night and awoke others who prevented it from spreading to the other buildings.^[13]

Despite the construction of new buildings, a significant increase in the number of students left Georgetown pressed for physical accommodations. Therefore, Maguire sought to erect another building, but these plans were rendered untenable by the Panic of 1857.^[10] The economic crisis also made it difficult for the university to hire a sufficient number of faculty.^[14] Historian Robert Emmett Curran regards Maguire's tenure as being overall successful.^[10] On October 5, 1858, his term came to an end and he was succeeded by John Early.^[15]

Preparatory division

Several improvements were made to the university's facilities during Maguire's presidency. The preparatory division (which later became

Construction on a separate building for the preparatory division began in June 1854. The five-story building connected the two buildings to its east and west, and contained a playroom, public hall, classrooms, study hall, and dormitory space.[16] More modest than was originally envisioned several years before, the Preparatory Building cost $20,000 and was complete by the commencement of 1855. It was outfitted with new gas lamps, rather than oil lamps. The Preparatory Building was later renamed Maguire Hall.^[10]

Pastoral work

After his first presidency at Georgetown, Maguire was sent to be the pastor at St. Joseph's Church in Baltimore in 1858. His first time engaging in pastoral work, Maguire garnered a reputation as a skilled orator. In 1859, he was transferred to St. Aloysius Church in Washington, D.C., where his renown as a preacher grew, and his sermons caused many Protestants to convert to Catholicism.^[15] Maguire left St. Aloysius at the end of 1864 for Frederick, Maryland, from where he traveled as a missionary throughout Maryland and Virginia. This missionary work also produced conversions to Catholicism.^[17]

Return to Georgetown

Maguire became the president of Georgetown University for a second time on January 1, 1866.^[18] Replacing John Early,^[19] he took office in the aftermath of the American Civil War. Enrollment at the university had declined precipitously during the war, and few students remained by the time Maguire took office.^[17] From 1859 to 1861, the number of students dropped from 313 to 17.^[20] As a result of the decreased enrollment, the university was left in a precarious financial state. By the end of Maguire's term, the number of students had begun to rebound.^[21] Georgetown's physical campus also suffered during the war, which Maguire described as being "nearly ruined."^[20] Upon the end of the 1866 academic year in July, he immediately began to repair and expand the buildings that were damaged from being used as barracks and a military hospital by the Union Army.^[20] Within three months, the work was complete.^[22] To symbolize post-war national unity, Maguire adopted the respective colors of the Union and Confederate Armies, blue and gray, as the school's official colors.^[20]

Discussions about creating a law school began during Early's presidency but were suspended due to the war. At the suggestion of a future university president, Patrick F. Healy,^[23] these discussions resumed and became more concrete by 1869. Eventually, the university's board of directors approved the establishment of Georgetown Law School in March 1870. Maguire desired the law school to be more integrated with the rest of the university than the medical school, which operated largely autonomously. He selected the first six faculty members and announced the creation of the new school at the university commencement in June 1870.^[24] The law school's first classes began in October.^[25]

President Ulysses S. Grant attended the commencement of 1869 and conferred the degrees.^[26] That year, the Jesuit scholasticate, which trained Jesuits in their religious formation, was moved from Georgetown to Woodstock, Maryland, becoming the independent Woodstock College.^[27] Maguire's health had begun to deteriorate by 1869, and the new provincial superior, Joseph Keller, began considering potential successors, in consultation with the Jesuit superiors in Rome.^[28] Maguire's tenure came to an end in July 1870,^[17] and John Early was again named as his successor.^[29]

Later years

Following his second presidency of the university, Maguire returned to St. Aloysius Church as the pastor. He preached regularly until retiring from the position in May 1875.^[17] He returned to missionary work, preaching in Canada and San Francisco.^[30] He resigned these duties when health prevented him from continuing in 1884.^[17]

In April 1886, Maguire led a

Sources

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bernard A. Maguire.

• Bernardus A Maguire at Find a Grave
• Works by or about Bernard A. Maguire at Internet Archive