John Hughes

John Hughes (born June 24, 1797, Annaloghan, County Tyrone, Ire.—died Jan. 3, 1864, New York City) was the first Roman Catholic archbishop of New York, who became one of the foremost American Roman Catholic prelates of his time. Hughes immigrated in 1816 to the United States, studied at Mount St. Mary’s College, Emmitsburg, Md., and was ordained priest in 1826. After serving several parishes in Philadelphia, where he founded the Catholic Herald newspaper, he was consecrated (1838) coadjutor to Bishop John Dubois of New York. He succeeded Dubois in 1842. In 1850 he became archbishop of New York.

Hughes’ arguments for state support of parochial schools led to the creation of the U.S. parochial school system. He publicly defended Catholicism against the anti-Catholic Know-Nothing movement and fought the radical Irish press established in New York by political exiles. During the Civil War (1861–65), he helped end the critical draft riots in the city (1863) and visited Europe as Pres. Abraham Lincoln’s personal agent in a successful effort to counteract pro-Southern feeling in France, Rome, and Ireland. He founded St. John’s College (now Fordham University) and was a leader in the establishment of St. Joseph’s Provincial Seminary, Troy, N.Y., and the North American College in Rome. John R.G. Hassard’s Life of the Most Reverend John Hughes appeared in 1866.