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THE BULLETIN, September 29, 1962—PAGE 3
250 American Prelates To Attend Ecumenical Council
BY MSGR. JAMES I. TUCEK
(N.C.W.C NEWS SERVICE)
VATICAN CITY - The U. S.
Bishops who attend the Second
Vatican Council will represent
for the first time in such an
assembly a Church which has
fully come of age.
Four ecumenical councils
back, the New World had not
yet been discovered—not by
Columbus, at least. And it was
only a short time after Colum
bus’ discovery that the Fifth
Lateran Council, the 18th of
the councils, was held in Rome
from 1512 to 1517.
During that council, Vasco
Nunez de Babboa was on his
way to the Pacific and the
Spanish conquistadores and
missionaires were just begin
ning to penetrate the Americas.
COUNCIL PROTECTOR -
St. Joseph, patron of the uni
versal church and personal
patron of His Holiness Pope
John XXIII has been called
upon to act as protector of
the forthcoming Second Vati
can Council. It is believed
that before the council con
venes the Holy Father will
officially proclaim the "fos
ter Father of Christ" to be
patron of the council. (NC
Photos)
By the time of the opening
of the Council of Trent in 1545,
Francisco Vasquezde Coronado
had led his expedition into what
is now the southwestern United
States, and Rodriguez de Ca-
brillo had explored the Pacific
coast of North America.
Before the closing of the
Council of Trent in 1563, the
French were colonizing the
shores of the St. Lawrence
River. Franciscan missionar
ies were fanning out into the
regions of the Southwest, the
Dominicans were in Tampa Bay
and the Jesuits were preparing
to establish their first mission
on Chesapeake Bay.
Three hundred years passed
between the closing of the Coun
cil of Trent and the opening
of the First Vatican Council
in 1869. In that time the mis
sions were founded and flour
ished. Possessions became co
lonies and colonies became a
nation. In that span of years
the United States was born.
When the First Vatican Coun
cil was called, the young nation
was just beginning .the work of
recovery after the tragedy of
the Civil War. Gen. Ulysses
S. Grant had just entered office
as the 18th president oftheU.S.
The members of the U. S.
Hierarchy at the First Vatican
Council represented what the
Holy See still considered
as mission territory, techni
cally at least, for the U. S.
was still under the jurisdic
tion of the Sacred Congrega
tion for the Propagation of the
Faith.
Thirteen of the 50 States
had not yet been admitted to
the Union: Colorado (1876),
Montana, North Dakota, South
Dakota and Washington State
(1889), Idaho and Wyoming
(1890), Utah (1896), Oklahoma
(1907), Arizona and New
Mexico (1912) Alaska (1959)
and Hawaii (1960).
The American Archbishops
were invited, by a letter of
Cardinal Alessandro Barnabo
of May 18, 1868, to select one
man to go to Rome and join
in preparing an agenda for the
First Vatican Council. He was
Father James A. Corcoran, Vi
car General of the Charleston
diocese. Father Corcoran ar
rived in Rome in November,
1868, and served as a con-
suitor of the Theological-
Dogmatic Commission, whose
president was Cardinal Luigi
Bilio.
Against the one priest who
helped prepare the agenda for
the First Vatican Council there
were five cardinals, nine arch
bishops, 12 bishops and 37
priests of the U. S. who were
invited to prepare for the Se
cond Vatican Council.
The U. S. delegation at the
First Vatican Council was made
up of five archbishops and 40
bishops. Eighteen of these were
the guests of Father Silas F.
M. Chatard, rector of the North
American College.
To make room for them,
Father Chatard moved some of
his seminarians into a dormi
tory, and gave the archbishops
and bishops the small, cell
like rooms, where they suf
fered through the incessant
rains of the winter of 1869
without heat.
A marble plaque on the wall
of the old American College on
Humility Street—now renamed
Casa Santa Maria dell’Umilta—
names the members of the
American Hierarchy who took
residence there during the
council. There were:
Archbishops Martin J. Spald
ing of Baltimore and John B.
Purcell of Cincinnati; Bishops
John B. Lamy of Santa Fe
Tobias Mullen of Erie, Fran
cis P. McFarland of Hartford,
John McGill of Richmond, Ber
nard J. McQuaid of Savannah,
John J. Williams of Boston,
James R. Bayley of Newark,
John J. Conroy of Albany, Wil
liam H. Elder of Natchez, John
Loughlin of Brooklyn, Patrick
N. Lynch of Charleston, James
F. Wood of Philadelphia, James
M. O’Gorman, O.C.S.O., Vicar
Apostolic of Nebraska, and
James Gibbons, Vicar Aposto
lic of North Carolina. The lat
ter, later 1 to become a cardinal,
was the youngest American bi
shop and the youngest bishop
in attendance at the council at
35 years of age.
The U. S. contributed two
seminarians also to corps of
stenographers during the First
Vatican Council: Theodore Met
calf of the Boston diocese and
Peter Geyer of the Cincinnati
archdiocese. A priest in
graduate studies and five semi
ceses for the summer with the
understanding that they would
be back again for the resump
tion of conciliar business on
November 11, 1870.
By the end of the week of
July 20, 1870, all the Amer
ican Bishops had left Rome.
Two months later, on Septem
ber 20, the gates of Rome
were stormed by the Italian
troops and the council was never
resumed. Pius IX issued the
bull, Postquam Dei Munere,
on October 20, suspending the
council indefinitely. It was
never formally terminated, ex
cept by canon 229 which rules
that a council is automatically
suspended with the death of the
pope who convokes it.
On October 11, 1962, ananti-
cipated 250 members of the
American Hierarchy—cardi
nals, archbishops, bishops and
abbots—will take their places
together with the Fathers of the
Second Vatican Council. They
will represent 43 million Ca
tholics of a matured and vigor
ous Church in the United
States.
They will be assisted in their
work by a newly created Rome
office of the National Catholic
Welfare Conference, which will
supply them with the means
FIRST COUNCIL HELD IN ST. PETER’S BASILICA - The First Vatican Council held
in 1869070 was the largest of the 20 ecumenical councils in the number of bishops taking
part. It was also the first ecumenical council attended by an American bishop. The
council is best remembered for its definition of the doctrine of papal infallibility. This
photographic portrait was done by Altobelli during the council’s closing session in 1870.
(NC Photos)
narians will be members of the
corps of stenographers from the
U. S. in the coming council.
While the First Vatican Coun
cil was in progress, the Ameri
can Bishops met once or twice
a week in an assembly hall of
the North American College.
Later the conciliar authorities
instructed that the hierarchies
of nations of the same ling
uistic groups should meet
together to reach a common
agreement on the disciplinary
matters which they wished to be
considered.
Accordingly the chosen dele
gates of England, Ireland, Cana
da, Australia, British India,
the British colonies and the
United States held periodic
meetings at the North American
College.
This turn of events brought
under the same roof two out
standing figures in the debate
over the definition of papal
infallibility: Archbishop Henry
Edward Manning of Westmins
ter, England, one of the most
vigorous proponents of infalli
bility, and Bishop Edward Fitz
gerald of Little Rock, Ark.,
who cast one of the two dis
senting votes on the final ballot
on infallibility.
The solemn public session of
July 18, 1870, in which the vote
was taken on the constitution
defining papal infallibility, was
also the last session of the First
Vatican Council. On the day
following, all the Fathers of
the Council were given per
mission to return to their dio
Council Opening
Via Telstar
Hoped For
NEW YORK - The U. S. tele
vision networks hope to trans
mit by the Telstar satellite
the opening of the Second Va
tican Council on October 11.
Canada may also have a broad
cast by Telstar.
A spokesman for NBC-TV
said here that technical prob
lems facing the joint effort by
his network and ABC-TV and
CBS-TV are still to be com
pletely worked out.
He said the time of broad
cast and whether it will be
'‘live" or recorded from Rome
are not yet known. Eastern
Daylight Time is five hours
behind Rome time.
In the meantime, in Toronto,
the Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation said it plans same-
day coverage of the council.
necessary to make a substan
tial contribution to the work
of the council. The Rome of
fice, an extension of the
N.C.W.C. Headquarters in
Washington, D.C., will be under
the general direction of the
N.C.W.C. General Secretary,
Msgr. Paul Tanner, and under
the Rome direction of Msgr.
Paul Marcinkus, a priest of
the Chicago archdiocese em
ployed in the Vatican Secre
tariat of State.
Msgr. Marcinkus will be as
sisted by Msgr. Joseph Em-
menegger of the Milwaukee
archdiocese as liaison officer,
and by Father Robert Triscoe
of the Chicago archdiocese as
research director.
The N.C.W.C. Rome office
will put a number of consul
tants in specialized fields at
the service of the American
Bishops. These will be chiefly
Americans with a knowledge
of American problems, men
from the universities and con
gregations in Rome. There will
also be a secretarial pool and
a number of linguists to serve
the Bishops.
With the exception of that
of Italy, the United States dele
gation will probably be the lar
gest of any single nation at the
Second Vatican Council.
ONLY AMERICAN - Arch
bishop Martin J. O’Connor,
rector of the North Ameri
can College in Rome, was
the only American to head
one of the Preparatory bo
dies of the coming ecumen
ical council. Archbishop
O'Connor, a native of Phila
delphia, headed the secre
tariat for communications
media in preparation for the
council. He was the only non-
Cardinal to head one of the
preparatory bodies. (NC Pho
tos)
The College of
Mount St. Joseph
on the Ohio
Greater Cincinnati's Suburban College
LOCATED SEVEN MILES FROM DOWNTOWN
CINCINNATI, IN BEAUTIFUL DELHI HILLS
NEW CAMPUS OPENING SEPTEMBER. 7962
KEY TO BUILDINGS:
Liberal Arts College For Women
CONDUCTED BY SISTERS OF CHARITY
OF CINCINNATI, OHIO
1 Music and Speech; 2 Theatre; 3 Administration;
4 Library; 5 Chaplains' Residence; 6 Chapel; 7
Offices; 8 Coffee Shop; 9 Faculty Residence; 10
Student Residence Hall; 11 Fine Arts; 12 Gymna
sium; 13 Swimming Pool; 14 Science; 15 Class
and Lecture Rooms.
Degrees Offered:
BACHELOR OF ARTS : BACHELOR OF SCIENCE : BACHELOR OF MUSIC EDUCATION
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN NURSING : BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN ELEMENTARY EDUCATION
ACCREDITED BY ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS WRITE FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary
Schools
Rank in Upper Half of Graduating Class
Pass Scholastic Aptitude Test
The Dean
The State of Ohio Department of Education (approved
for preparation of elementary and high school teachers)
Fifteen Units of High School Work
Some Prescribed, Some Elective
College of Mount St. Joseph on the Ohio
The Ohio College Association
The National Nursing Accrediting Service
APPLICATION FOR ADMISSION SHOULD BE MADE DURING
FIRST SEMESTER OF SENIOR YEAR IN HIGH SCHOOL.
Mount St. Joseph, Ohio