Gibbons, James

(1834–1921)

   Cardinal, Archbishop, Theologian and Church Leader.

   Gibbons was the son of Irish immigrants to the United States of America and he was born in Baltimore. He became a Roman Catholic priest and was consecrated Archbishop of Baltimore in 1877. He received his Cardinal’s hat in 1886. The American Roman Catholic Church of the late nineteenth century was largely made up of hordes on nonEnglish-speaking immigrants and the earlier Protestant settlers were intolerant of Catholicism. Gibbons was determined to show that the Catholic population could be good Americans. He dedicated himself to programmes of Americanisation and was a leading light in the foundation of the Catholic University of America and the National Catholic Welfare Conference. As the leading Catholic prelate of his day, he did much to break down prejudice and assimilate the new citizens into the ‘melting pot’ of American society.

   J.T. Ellis, The Life of James Cardinal Gibbons, 2 vols (1952).