James Roosevelt Bayley
The Most Reverend James Roosevelt Bayley | |
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James Roosevelt Bayley (August 23, 1814 – October 3, 1877) was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as the first Bishop of Newark (1853–1872) and the eighth Archbishop of Baltimore (1872–1877).
Early life and education
Bayley's paternal grandfather, Dr.
Bayley was the couple's first child, born at their home at 65 Chambers Street, New York City, on August 23, 1814, and baptized at Trinity Church on September 21. A brother Richard was born on October 25, 1816, while the family was living at 331 Pearl Street, beside Grandfather Roosevelt's place of business at 333 Pearl Street. The following year, Dr. Bayley, probably desiring more healthful surroundings for his family than the city, purchased three pieces of land in Mamaroneck in Westchester County, and the family made their new home on one of these, a fifty-acre plot known as Nelson Hill. In this home, three other children were born: Carleton in November 1818, William Augustus in May 1821, and the only daughter, Maria Eliza, on March 1, 1823.[4]
One writer asserts that Bayley's early school days were spent at Mendham Township, New Jersey.[5] Another relates that he received a fair elementary education in the "public schools" of New York and displayed great studiousness and "an extraordinary love of miscellaneous reading."[6] This may have referred to the schools in Mamaroneck or in New York City, where he may have lived with his grandfather. A later biographer infers he may have begun his earliest education in New Jersey and continued it in New York.[7]
Bayley's mother died on March 28, 1828, and by 1830 the Bayleys had left their home at Mamaroneck and had moved back to New York, or at least nearer to it. In the autumn of 1828 or 1829, Bayley left for boarding school, spending some time at the Mount Pleasant Classical Institute in Amherst, Massachusetts. A classmate there later recalled, "he then had a great fancy for the sea, and actually obtained a commission of midshipman in the navy. When he appeared before us in his uniform preparatory to leaving school, I well remember our admiration and envy of the naval hero. But upon mature deliberation he reconsidered the matter, packed his uniform away, and devoted himself to his studies more earnestly than ever." For many years after, his friends called him by the nickname "the commodore." The same classmate recalled that "I do not remember that the commodore was ever counted in when there was a quarrel, for he was everybody's friend." Bayley kept up his friendships from this school until the end of his life, and regularly sent letters to class reunions even when he could not attend in person.[8][1]
In 1831, Bayley matriculated at
Bayley returned to Hartford as a resident graduate to begin his medical studies. However, he subsequently changed his mind and began studying under the Rev. Samuel Farmar Jarvis to enter the Episcopal ministry.[12] It is not certain what was the determining factor in this change in the course of his studies. In his autobiographical sketch, Bayley stated simply: "Studied medicine one year & then Theology with the Revd. Dr. Saml. Farmar Jarvis, at Middletown."[13] He spent several happy, profitable years there studying under an eminent clergyman who was an authority on ecclesiastical history and antiquities, and allowed his students free access to his personal library of 10,000 volumes. He became acquainted with "the elegant Oxford edition of the Fathers and the more erudite French and Italian editions of the same and other important works" and "waded through the literature of the middle ages," such as the works of Peter of Blois and Vincent of Beauvais which served to remove from his mental vision the scales of prejudice against the misnamed Dark Ages.[14][15]
During these studies, Bayley began to question the claims of the Protestant Episcopal Church to be the Catholic Church founded by
Episcopalian ministry
While still studying with Dr. Jarvis, Bayley was ordained a deacon in Christ Church on October 3, 1839. Shortly afterwards, he received a letter from his cousin, Emma Craig, informing him that through the influence of his family, he was to have St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Harlem while the Rev. Abram B. Hart was absent due to illness. Bayley served there through the winter of 1839–1840, and happily spent the following summer in the discharge of ministerial duties in Zion Church at Avon. After Mr. Hart's continued illness forced him to resign the following September as rector of St. Andrew's, Harlem, an entry in the parish register recorded that on October 19, 1840, "the Rev. James Roosevelt Bayley, deacon, received and accepted a call to the rectorship." On February 14, 1841, he was ordained in St. Andrew's Church by Bishop Benjamin T. Onderdonk, and "admitted to Priest's Orders."[17]
In Harlem, Bayley had the opportunity, probably for the first time, of conversing with Catholic priests and arguing with them on such controversial questions as papal primacy and the validity of Episcopalian holy orders, which Catholic theologians denied. While acting as rector of St. Andrew's, he often received money to be distributed among the poor, and since there were no poor in his own parish, Bayley directed his ministry to the poor Irish immigrants of the city, who were overwhelmingly Catholic. It was on one of these visits that he met Father Michael Curran, the pastor of St. Paul's, Harlem, who later stated that "he had helped into the Church his neighbor, the Protestant rector of St. Andrew's, the Rev. J. R. Bayley."[18][19]
Another Catholic priest whom he met was the pastor of St. Joseph's Church, Father John McCloskey (later Archbishop of New York and the first American cardinal), who was four years Bayley's senior. Bayley time and again stopped in at St. Joseph's rectory or at St. John's College, of which Father McCloskey became president in 1841, in order to discuss the doubts which were worrying him in regard to doctrinal questions and to seek light on the validity of his orders. After many such discussions, it became apparent to McCloskey that his friend "was on the verge of becoming a Catholic but that he hesitated to take the step."[20][11] Bayley said one day, "I am convinced, but when I come to make the change, I grow cowardly." Once as they walked toward the gate, on being questioned about his hesitancy when he knew it was his duty, Mr. Bayley stopped Father McCloskey and by way of illustrating his mental state, pointed to a wide ditch that flanked the grounds and said, "My condition is this: I could, I know, jump that ditch, wide as it is; but I would not attempt it unless hard pressed. I have not the courage now."[21]
Journey to Rome and conversion
In the fall of 1841, Bayley resigned his rectorship, and his grandfather, alarmed at his evident inclination for the Catholic religion, decided to send him to Rome, hoping that what Roosevelt considered the corruption and superstition to be seen in Rome would disabuse Bayley of his attraction to Rome's religion.[22] Father McCloskey gave Bayley advice about travelling to Rome and two letters of introduction, probably addressed to the rector of the Pontifical Irish College, Paul Cullen, and the rector of the English College, Dr. Baggs.[23] On the morning of December 8, his father and two of his brothers, Carleton and William, accompanied him to the wharf where he boarded the packet ship Emerald, bound for Le Havre. The three weeks' voyage was uneventful except for severe seasickness, from which he suffered the first week. One heavy gale was encountered during which the ship was obliged "to lay under storm-sails."[24]
Bayley started immediately for
Bayley continued to
After a stormy voyage he arrived in Naples on February 2, where he met again his new friends, Gale and Robinson. Together they visited the more frequented parts of the city, which was then "all alive with the gaieties of the Carnival." His interest in the remains of ancient times was deepened by the visit he made with some other Americans to the museum of antiquities at Herculaneum. Bayley declared the church of the Certosa di San Martino "the most beautiful in Naples," writing in his diary, "those old monks had a good taste in these matters." On February 8, he and his two American friends and a young English clergyman named Clarke climbed Mount Vesuvius. Two days later, Bayley made an excursion to Salerno, and several days later he and Mr. Clarke went on a similar expedition to the "famed shores of Baiae" west of Naples, with Bayley writing in his journal, "Never have I passed a day of more true and unmingled enjoyment."[27]
But his mind was not entirely occupied with antiquities and classical lore. The Sunday before, he and the young English curate had spent the time between morning and evening services "in wandering thro' the shady part of the Terra Reale engaged in converse on Theology, Roman Catholic claims, etc." Although he was sorely tempted to join Clarke and a companion on a journey to
Bayley missed few, if any of the places of interest in Rome, visiting
Bayley and Haskins remained in Rome for more than a month. Together, they visited the rooms that had been occupied by St.
The two friends left Rome on Tuesday, June 7. On the last evening, Bayley confided to his journal that at the thought of leaving "my heart fairly misgave me, but I have duties to perform and must linger here no longer." They left in the morning for Assisi where they visited the tomb of St. Francis, and went on to Florence, where they visited the many sites of historical and cultural interest, such as the Basilica of Santa Croce and the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. Before leaving Florence, he wrote: "If I had no duties to perform in this world, and no other to prepare for, I would like to spend the remainder of my days under its bright sky and among its happy and lively people." Parting from Haskins, who went to Paris by another route, Bayley left Florence alone on June 28 for Venice, and after again having missed nothing of interest to the sightseer, left Venice on July 8 for Milan, going on to Lake Como, Lausanne, and Geneva, from which he made an excursion with several other tourists to the Chamonix valley, where Bayley considered the beauty of the sunset over Mont Blanc worthy of a voyage across the Atlantic to see. Bayley continued to Dijon and arrived back in Paris on August 2. From Paris, Bayley wrote to coadjutor bishop John Hughes informing him of his intention to study for the Catholic priesthood and asking his advice and commands.[33]
Catholic seminarian
Bayley moved into a room at the
After an eight-day retreat which began on October 11, 1842, Bayley began his theological studies at Saint-Sulpice.
Leaving the seminary on the evening of August 17, Bayley traveled through
After a five weeks' voyage, they neared the coast of New Jersey in the midst of a storm and took on a pilot on Saturday morning, November 11. Two hours after making the Navesink lighthouses, the ship struck so heavily on the shoals that there was no way of getting her off. The passengers and crew prepared themselves, observed Bayley, "for what men call the worst and awaited the end." Fortunately, the ship continued afloat until one o'clock Sunday morning when a steamer from Staten Island came to their rescue, and the passengers reached New York City soon after dawn on Sunday, November 12, 1843, nearly two years after Bayley's departure. After spending a couple of weeks visiting his relations and friends, he resumed his studies at St. John's. During the ember days of Lent, 1844, he received the tonsure and minor orders, the subdiaconate on February 28, and the diaconate on Friday, March 1. He was ordained a priest on March 2, 1844, by Bishop Hughes in St. Patrick's Old Cathedral. A week later, he was present in the cathedral on March 10 for the consecration of his old friend, John McCloskey, as the Coadjutor Bishop of New York.[38][39]
Catholic priesthood
In his
As John J. Conroy had been appointed to St. Joseph's Church in Albany, Bishop Hughes appointed Bayley to replace him as vice-president of St. John's College, where he also served as professor of rhetoric and belles-lettres.[42] He began his duties on April 1, and at the same time assumed responsibility for missionary stations in New Rochelle and Port Chester, each of which he visited once a month. In the following school year, he took on the additional duties of acting as prefect of discipline for the seminarians and of lecturing on Holy Scripture.[43]
Early in 1845, Bayley had the opportunity of visiting Mount Saint Mary's and St. Joseph's in Emmitsburg, where Mother Xavier introduced him to the assembled community, and he spoke to them about his affectionate devotion to the memory of his revered aunt, Mother Seton. The next day, Sister Sally Thompson, one of the seven women who had first come there with Mother Seton in 1809, showed him around the premises and pointed out every interesting spot, such as the room where Mother Seton died and her grave in the cemetery. "The memory of her virtues is as fresh as if she had left them but yesterday," Bayley wrote, "and all spoke of them in that simple unaffected manner that showed they had left an impression on their hearts never to be effaced—'the memory of the good is as a sweet odour.'"[44]
The next two years were busy ones. The president of St. John's,
Upon Father Harley's death on December 8, 1846, however, Hughes summoned Bayley to replace him as his private secretary.[30] Shortly after Bayley assumed his duties as episcopal secretary, he was charged with an added responsibility, that of being "a sort of overseeing editor of the Freeman's Journal," which Bishop Hughes had taken over in 1842. In 1846, Hughes took over the direct management—appointing Bayley to take charge of it—in order to establish it on a solid financial basis. Bayley did some little writing and attended to the business affairs of the paper, but the main work was done by James McMaster, who made an excellent editor. The bishop's object having been accomplished through Bayley's efforts, the paper was sold to McMaster in 1848.[46]
In May 1852, Bayley accompanied Hughes to the First Plenary Council of Baltimore, where the American bishops decided to erect a number of new dioceses. On July 29, 1853, Pope Pius IX established the Diocese of Newark, and named Bayley as its bishop. The diocese was to embrace the whole state of New Jersey, which had previously been divided between the Diocese of Philadelphia and the Archdiocese of New York. On October 11, Bayley wrote to Cardinal Fransoni acknowledging the reception of the bulls and accepting the nomination.[47]
Two other newly erected sees, the
First Bishop of Newark
Bayley was installed as bishop at St. Patrick's Church, which had been designated as the cathedral of the new diocese, at a ceremony organized by the newly appointed cathedral rector Bernard J. McQuaid on November 1, 1853. The solemn high Mass was celebrated by J. W. Cummings, Bayley's friend since the spring of 1842 in Rome, after which Father McQuaid provided a banquet for the bishop and more than fifty clergy who had attended the ceremonies.[49]
Bayley's work of organizing the diocese was not easy. The
Bayley's mission for the fledgling Diocese was to establish Catholic education. He had written just prior to leaving New York, "In our present position, the school-house has become second in importance to the House of God itself",[54] and in a letter to one of his clergy in May 1854, he expressed the hope that soon he would have "every Catholic child in the State in Catholic schools."[55] Bayley realized that in order to be effective in his mission he needed the help of a Diocesan community; as he put it, "no one can fill that most important office so effectually as religious women." In 1857 a group of Benedictine Sisters arrived from Pennsylvania and in the following year, Bayley sent five women to train with the Sisters of Charity. Many other communities of religious men and women joined the Diocese in the next decades.
Bayley saw need for a Catholic college, and on September 1, 1856, the need was filled by the opening of Chegary Academy (Old
In a letter Bayley wrote on April 10, 1865, reviewing the condition of the diocese after his first ten years there he says:
I find that while the Catholic population has increased a third, the churches and priests have doubled in number. In 1854 there was no religious community. Now we have a monastery of Benedictines, another of Passionists, a mother-house of Sisters of Charity, conducting seventeen different establishments; two convents of Benedictine nuns, two others of German Sisters of Notre Dame and two others of the Sisters of the Poor of St. Francis. In 1854 there was no institution of learning; to-day we have a flourishing college and a diocesan seminary, an academy for young ladies, a boarding school for boys, and parish schools attached to almost all the parishes.
In addition to these he introduced the Jesuits and the Sisters of St. Joseph and of St. Dominic into the diocese.
Bayley was one of the strongest upholders of the temperance movement of the seventies. He made several journeys to Rome and the Holy Land, attending the canonization of the Japanese martyrs at Rome in 1862; the centenary of the Apostles in 1867; and the ecumenical Council in 1869.
Bishop Bayley served the developing Diocese for 19 years until he was appointed Archbishop of Baltimore on July 30, 1872.
Archbishop of Baltimore
At the death of Archbishop Spalding of Baltimore, Bayley was promoted, on July 30, 1872, to succeed that prelate. He left Newark with much reluctance. In 1875 as Apostolic Delegate he imposed the cardinal's biretta on Archbishop John McCloskey of New York. In May, 1876, he consecrated the Baltimore cathedral, having freed it from debt.
Convening the Eighth Provincial Synod of the clergy in August 1875, Bayley enacted many salutary regulations, particularly with regard to clerical dress, mixed marriages, and church music. Illness obliged him to ask for a coadjutor and Bishop James Gibbons of Richmond was appointed to that position on May 29, 1877. The archbishop then went abroad to seek for relief but in vain. He returned to his former home in Newark in August 1877 and after lingering for two months died in his old room, where he had labored for so long, on October 3, 1877.[39]
Shortly before Bayley died he spoke of himself by saying, "I am Archbishop; I have been Bishop; but I like Father Bayley best of all." At his own request he was buried beside his aunt, Mother Seton, at the convent at Emmitsburg, Maryland.
In conversation, Bayley once told the
Writings
History of the Catholic Church on the Island of New York
Bibliography and history had attracted him from his student days. Early in his priestly career, he had realized the need of gathering and preserving historical and bibliographical data for the time when the history of the Church in the United States would be written. His friend
Memoirs of Simon Gabriel Bruté
In addition to the volume on the Church on New York he edited the Memoirs of Simon Gabriel Brute, First Bishop of Vincennes (New York, 1860), about Simon Bruté. In 1847, Bruté's successor, Bishop Celestine de la Hailandière, was driven by difficulties of administration to resign his see and return to his native France. While waiting in New York to sail, Bishop Hailandière prevailed on Bishop Hughes to prepare a biography of his predecessor, and provided him with a number of manuscripts which had belonged to Bruté.[59]
Among these, Bayley found a small manuscript volume of notes and reminiscences of the
References
- ^ a b c "James Roosevelt Bayley". Catholic Encyclopedia.
- ^ Yeager 1947, pp. 1–6
- ^ a b McNamara, Pat (June 20, 2011). "The Setons, the Bayleys, and the Roosevelts". Patheos. Archived from the original on October 13, 2012. Retrieved August 3, 2011.
- ^ Yeager 1947, pp. 6–8
- ^ Flynn, Joseph M. (1904). The Catholic Church in New Jersey. Morristown, NJ. p. 267.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Clarke 1888, p. 44
- ^ Yeager 1947, pp. 10–11
- ^ Yeager 1947, pp. 9, 12–15
- ^ a b Yeager 1947, pp. 15–19
- ^ Tomes, Robert (1880). My College Days. New York: Harper & Brothers. p. 41.
- ^ a b "Most Rev. James Roosevelt Bayley". Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore. Archived from the original on December 12, 2010. Retrieved August 3, 2011.
- ^ Shea, John Gilmary (1886). The Hierarchy of the Catholic Church in the United States. New York: Catholic Publications.
- ^ Yeager 1947, p. 19
- ^ Yeager 1947, pp. 20–21
- ^ Clarke 1888, p. 45
- ^ Yeager 1947, pp. 24–26
- ^ Yeager 1947, pp. 21–23
- ^ Yeager 1947, p. 27
- ^ Flynn, Joseph M. (1904). The Catholic Church in New Jersey. Morristown, NJ. p. 270.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Yeager 1947, pp. 27–28
- ^ Farley, John (1918). The Life of John Cardinal McCloskey. New York: Longmans, Green and Co. p. 140.
- ^ Yeager 1947, p. 28
- ^ Yeager 1947, pp. 29–30, 37–38
- ^ Yeager 1947, p. 30
- ^ Yeager 1947, pp. 30–33
- ^ Yeager 1947, pp. 33–34
- ^ Yeager 1947, pp. 34–36
- ^ Yeager 1947, pp. 36–37
- ^ Yeager 1947, pp. 37–42
- ^ a b "Shepherds of the Seminary". Seton Hall University.
- ^ Clarke 1888, p. 48
- ^ Yeager 1947, pp. 44–46
- ^ Yeager 1947, pp. 47–51
- ^ Yeager 1947, pp. 51–56
- ^ Yeager 1947, pp. 57–70
- ^ "Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley, D.D." Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark.
- ^ Yeager 1947, pp. 71–75
- ^ Yeager 1947, pp. 75–77
- ^ a b c "Shepherds of the Seminary", Seton Hall University
- ^ Yeager 1947, pp. 90–92
- ^ "James Roosevelt Bayley, 1849", Newspapers
- ^ Clarke 1888, pp. 52–3
- ^ Yeager 1947, pp. 77–78
- ^ Yeager 1947, p. 79
- ^ Yeager 1947, pp. 80–83
- ^ Yeager 1947, pp. 84–86
- ^ Yeager 1947, pp. 94–95
- ^ Yeager 1947, pp. 95–96
- ^ Yeager 1947, pp. 103–105
- ^ De Bow, J. D. B. (1853). The Seventh Census of the United States: 1850 (PDF). Washington, D. C.: Robert Armstrong. p. 151.
- ^ The Metropolitan Catholic Almanac and Laity's Directory for the Year of our Lord 1854. Baltimore: Fielding Lucas, Jr. 1854. pp. 223–225.
- ^ Yeager 1947, pp. 115–116
- ^ Yeager 1947, p. 121
- ^ Bayley, James Roosevelt (1853). A Brief Sketch of the Early History of the Catholic Church on the Island of New York. New York: Edward Dunigan & Brother. p. 132.
- ^ Yeager 1947, p. 123
- ^ Kupke, Raymond. "James Roosevelt Bayley", The Encyclopedia of American Catholic History
- ^ Yeager 1947, pp. 276–277
- ^ Yeager 1947, pp. 277–281
- ^ a b "Notes and Comment". The American Catholic Historical Review. III (4): 493–494. January 1918.
- ^ Yeager 1947, pp. 283–285
- ^ Yeager 1947, p. 282
Sources
- Clarke, Richard H. (1888). Lives of the Deceased Bishops of the Catholic Church in the United States. Vol. III. New York: Richard H. Clarke. pp. 43–67. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- Yeager, M. Hildegarde (1947). The Life of James Roosevelt Bayley, First Bishop of Newark and Eighth Archbishop of Baltimore, 1814–1877. Washington, D. C.: The Catholic University of America Press. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.