BISHOP JOHN CARROLL AND WOMEN
Dr. Margaret Reher, Cabrini College
Archbishop Gerety Lecture at Seton Hall University, January 30, 1989
Introduction
This is the 200th anniversary of the establishment of the Catholic
Bishopric in the United States. During the year, no doubt, the memory of
John Carroll will be evoked in lectures and homilies across the United
States. It seems safe to say that more has been written about Carroll
than any other American Prelate. Four standard studies of Carroll's life
and times have appeared between 1843 and 1955.1 The publication of The
John Carroll Papers in 1976 sparked a scholarly "cottage industry,"
which has produced a spate of articles.2
It was while studying the Carroll Papers that my own current interest
was aroused, quite frankly, by accident. Several strong statements
Carroll made about women piqued my curiosity and led me to examine all
that he wrote about or to women, and they to him. I next investigated
the status of women during the time of the Enlightenment in order to
determine whether or not Carroll was a man of his times, in this matter.
During the course of my research, I decided that it would be quite
legitimate to look at America's first Bishop from the perspective of the
current pastoral on women, Partners in the Mystery of Redemption: A
Pastoral Response to Women's Concerns for Church and Society, which is
being prepared by a writing committee of the United States' bishops.
Although some of the issues being addressed today, such as women's
ordination to the priesthood, were unthinkable in Carroll's time, others
are, perennial. Since today's bishops have called for a "profound"
examination of the collective episcopal conscience, we will include our
first bishop posthumously in that exercise.3 During the course of my
talk, seven questions will be asked the audience concerning Carroll's
sensitivity to women. A positive or a negative response is required for
each. When the score is tallied, feminists can determine whether Carroll
should be declared a saint, "viva voce," or excised from the pages of
American Catholic history.
An exciting part of the process which of the three most recent pastorals
written by the American bishops has been the intense dialogue which has
accompanied them. In a sense it might be anachronistic for me to speak
of Carroll being in dialogue with women; the sheer difficulties of
communications would preclude that. He did, however, write to or about a
remarkable number of women. The index of the John Carroll Papers
includes the names of approximately 140 women. In the Archives of the
Archdiocese of Baltimore there is correspondence from more than 60
women.
Carroll's female correspondents included, not surprisingly, his sisters,
nieces and other relatives. Letters to his sisters, especially, are
often brimming with family news. Several reveal the fact that the
aristocratic gentleman was not above indulging in a bit of gossip about
women; yet, they also reflect a delicate sense of decorum. He reported
to his sisters that their "former maid Kitty, by too much pertness, has
displeased her mistress so much, that she ... has hired her out." In a
letter to his youngest sister, Elizabeth, he wryly described the
recovery of "old Mary," a servant, "as a remarkable instance in favor of
temperance," and then let the matter drop. In the same letter, Carroll
registered concern over a young niece who had her portrait painted as a
surprise gift for him. Carroll confessed, "... she is a great favorite
with me, yet I would not like to have so young a portrait in my room,
without that of any of my elder female relatives. He would "dispose of
it, where it may be placed with more propriety.4
Many of the women who wrote to Carroll knew him only by reputation. They
came from all stations of life, from that of princess to that of
pauperess. The Russian Princess Amalia Gallitzen and her daughter
exchanged letters with Carroll. Maria Rivardi wrote to Carroll from a
debtors' prison in Philadelphia, where she had been sentenced for
insolvency.5 The women's letters reflect a wide diversity of education,
from very learned to barely literate.6The issues which they addressed
range from the mundane to the profound. There is a note which
accompanied gifts of "pots of jelly" from Havana. A lay friend wrote him
a short meditation on death towards the end of the Archbishop's life.7
Women, even those who had never met him, often made numerous and varied
requests of Carroll, which, by today's standards, would be considered
odd jobs for a bishop. He was asked to act as an employment agency,
securing fit maids for ladies of means and work for those who needed
it.8 Carroll served as a kind of entertainment committee or travel agent
for visitors wanting to tour Baltimore and for female relatives who
wished to travel abroad.9
The letters indicate that women asked Carroll to be a one-man "Bureau of
Missing Persons" and locate the sister of Joanna Barry's maid. He was to
find out why John Weeks, a seminarian studying in Rome, had not written
to his mother in four months.10
Carroll was also expected to act as a coin exchange, legal intermediary,
bill collector, and delivery man, among other roles. Some years after
the Revolutionary War, one Eleanor Lister had entrusted some legal
tender for redemption to Carroll when he was in London for Episcopal
consecration. The notes were "Old Continental," and the good bishop
later had to write to inform the woman that they were of little value.11
Carroll was asked that he acquire the power of attorney for an Aggie
Walsh, in order for an estate to be settled.12 A more painful task
involved collecting money owed to two poor women from the estates of his
brother Daniel and his friend Joanna Barry.13 Mrs. Jay asked Carroll to
deliver "two letters and a parcel" to a Mrs. Ridley. Finally, a "little
friend" Anna C. de Neusville, wrote on behalf of her mother, who wanted
Carroll to be the godfather of her new baby girl. (It seems that he
complied.)14
Carroll's French correspondents were both religious sisters and lay
women. Despite the florid, extremely humble and absolutely necessary
French refinements demanded of eighteenth-century conventions, one is
struck by the bits of feminity inserted into letters to such a high
prelate. Inquiries were made about the marital status of his nieces.
Carroll made similar inquiries of his correspondent's relatives. A lay
friend, Miss Marsan, formerly of Baltimore, confessed that the earth
tremors near her residence in Charleston, South Carolina, frightened
her. The letters placed great emphasis on health, both Carroll's and her
own. Marsan's esteem for Carroll prompted her to send him "a small box
of cigars and a little purse..."15
These excerpts from Carroll's correspondence suggest to me that women
were not in awe of either Carroll's ecclesiastical position or the
societal status of his family. They found him quite accessible.
John Carroll has been convincingly portrayed as a man fully acquainted
with, and imbued by, the spirit of the Enlightenment. Joseph Chinnici
has demonstrated the significance of this in Carroll's spiritual life.
Carroll's theological anthropology emphasized the convergence, not the
rupture, between the life of grace and human aspirations.16 This
positive anthropology, it seems, allowed women to be treated in a more
egalitarian way than certain strains of the later Romantic movement
permitted.
As a native of Maryland, Carroll was heir to a tradition, brought from
England, in which the laity were used to seeing priests irregularly and
under secret conditions. Thus, lay people were largely responsible for
maintaining their own Catholicity. In his study of The English Catholic
Community: 1570-1850, James Bossy suggests that these conditions allowed
women to enjoy a special status in the Catholic community. At least
among the gentry, they sustained the practices of Catholic life by
observing the fast days and feasts. When English Catholics were debating
the possibility of laymen being entitled to a voice in the selection of
bishops, one anonymous writer looked forward (hypothetically) to 1790
when bishops' elections would be dependent on women's votes. The
expressed hope was that these bishops would issue more sensible and
practical regulations concerning abstinence and fasts.17
Jay Dolan has assured us that it is safe to assume that women in
Maryland during the 17th and 18th centuries enjoyed a special status and
played roles similar to those of their English cousins in sustaining the
rhythms of Catholicity. Widows were the object of solicitude. They were
often left a larger share of their husband's estate than required by
law.18
The piety of the day also fostered a spirit of what can be called, for
lack of a better term, moderate egalitarianism.19 Richard Challoner's
popular book, The Garden of the Soul: or, A Manual of Spiritual
Exercises was an invitation to the reader.
"In the midst of your work Make a closet in your Heart for Jesus Christ,
invite him in and there entertain him Set yourself with Magdalen at his
feet and make frequent aspirations of love. . "
This practice was intended for members of both sexes. His devotions for
confession are also instructive. Duties towards parents and children do
not distinguish between father and mother. 'Abuse of the marriage bed"
is described in non-sexist language.20
Perhaps the most telling prayer of the period is "The Prayer of
Compact," found in The Pious Guide to Prayer and Devotion. Given the
fact that the devotion required the "confederates" to spend "eight or
ten minutes every day in consideration of the passion and sufferings of
Jesus Christ" before they said the prayer, it seems ideally suited for
married couples, and family devotion.21
John Carroll's sermons, particularly those on matrimony and on the
duties of parents, reflect this same kind of sexual
non-differentiation.22
Women and the Gospel
With these preliminary remarks in mind, let us now turn to the Pastoral,
Partners in the Mystery of Redemption. It opens by reminding the reader
of the testimony of the Samaritan Woman who was "empowered by Jesus to
proclaim his name...."23 In 1788, John Carroll revealed to Robert
Plowden, his English ex-Jesuit confidant, that "Female Missioners are
not much to my taste!" Plowden had told Carroll of the work of Donna
Maria Antonia de San Jose de la Paz who had been spreading interest in
the "Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola." Despite his
negative reaction, Carroll informed Plowden that he "wanted to hear more
of the wonderful woman..." and hoped that he would "not be blind to the
wonderful works of God, if he chuses [sic] to make use of such
instruments for the salvation of the world." In a subsequent letter,
Carroll thanked Plowden for the "edifying accounts of Donna Maria
Antonia." The works of God", he continued, "are wonderful indeed.. " The
last reference to Donna Maria in the Carroll-Plowden correspondence
appeared in 1792. The Bishop informed his English friend that he had
received a French pamphlet from "one of the Neales," entitled l'etendart
de la femme forte de nos jours. Carroll confessed that the pamphlet
interested him, because it carried "the history of the extraordinary
American Female Missioner, Donna Antonia, farther than I knew of
before."24
1. Based on Carroll's comments about Donna Maria, how would you rate his
appreciation for women as bearers of the gospel message?
Women as the Problem
At the beginning of Partners, the bishops acknowledge that women asked
that the Pastoral not be written "as if women were the problem ...."25
If one is asked to look for the area in Catholic thought where the
attitude of "cherchez la femme" has been most prevalent, it is probably
in reference to priestly celibacy. In this context, Bossy points out
that there were "indications of anti-feminism" found among the
eighteenth century English gentry. He concludes that such should not be
surprising "in a body whose strongest instincts have been ... for a
celibate priesthood."26
Carroll had to deal with a number of problematic priests, "a medley of
clerical characters."27 Some were involved with women. His letters to
Plowden reveal his reactions.
Shortly after he had been appointed Superior of the Missions in 1784,
Carroll suffered a public embarrassment. Charles Wharton, a close
relative and friend and a native Maryland ex-Jesuit, had become an
Anglican in England before he set sail for America. He announced his
decision publicly, and it was printed abroad and at home. Carroll
responded. In the conclusion of his lengthy treatise, he reminded
Wharton of his vow of celibacy and that he was "married to a heavenly
spouse If he should violate his contract, he would commit adultery,
"though he should a thousand times call it marriage."28
Two years later, Carroll informed Plowden that:
My unfortunate friend [Wharton] ... is lately married. Had he not taken
that step of marrying, I should have entertained hopes for him, but now
I fear, he has placed an insuperable bar to his return.29
In 1791, Carroll returned to the matter of Wharton. He reported to
Plowden that he was "unpopular amongst his neighbors, and defeated in
two or three attempts to get a living in the Protestant Episcopal ...
Church... " Seven years later he informed Plowden that his information
that Wharton had considered returning to the church was
totally unfounded. Far from having taken the step ... he is, to all
appearance alienated from us forever. Some months ago he lost his
pretended wife. Tho I have good reason for believing, that his life was
very unhappy with her (independently of the insanity, with which she was
afflicted in her last years) yet he published a mighty sentimental elegy
to deplore her loss ... 30
Despite Carroll's gloomy assessment, Wharton served his adopted church
with distinction. He became rector of St. Mary's Church in Burlington,
New Jersey, and died there in 1833. He held John Carroll in warm regard
until the end of his life.31
Another ex-Jesuit, a former student of Carroll's, also caused him worry.
Carroll reported to Plowden that he had not seen John Lucas since the
latter came to America, but heard that Lucas had "greatly involved
himself, and leads a cat and dog life with the sweet partner of his bed.
It is reported that he is become very sottish. .. " Carroll put some of
the blame for "all these unfortunate young men" such as Lucas, not on
women, but the Pope. Clement XIV had suppressed the Jesuits, and thus
set the young ones adrift "into the wide world" where they had "fallen
into all its prodigality and criminal excess" Carroll lamented, "What a
number of these unfortunate men will the unhappy Ganganelli have to
answer for?"32
After having lived almost twenty years with the rich widow whom he had
married shortly after he arrived in Maryland, Lucas, in Carroll's words,
"quitted his woman who on her side is become very penitent." Before
Lucas was restored to the ministry, one of the stipulations laid down by
Carroll was that Lucas would not "frequent the house of the Mrs. Lucas's
future residence."33
In the context of clerical celibacy, it is instructive to look at the
comments Carroll made to Plowden about the medieval star-crossed lovers,
Abelard and Eloise. In 1787, Joseph Berington, an English apologist,
whose work Carroll had greatly admired, published a history of Abelard
and Eloise.34 "With what view or to whose edification I cannot
conceive," Carroll noted tartly to Plowden. Carroll was sorry to see "a
man who manages his pen so well" run after "fleeting and dishonourable
applause." The American expressed the hope that Berington had "treated
with delicacy, a very indelicate subject." Carroll continued:
If you have a mind to know how indelicate, look into Natalis Alexander's
Ecclesiastical history, where are I remember, extracts from her original
letters; & from wch [sic] I infer that she was not only an unfortunate,
but most impudent woman in the former part of her life. In her later
years, I hope she made reparation."35
Carroll passed over in silence the fact that Abelard, the gifted
philosopher and famous teacher at Paris, was twice the age of his
beautiful protegee and a cleric in minor orders when their celebrated
affair began. The romantics have it they spoke more of love than
philosophy. History reports that the philosopher was castrated by the
girl's family in revenge for the dishonor he had brought to Eloise.36
It is true that there are bits of Eloise's letters in Alexander's
Historia Ecclesiastica. In his commentary on them, Alexander wrote that
Eloise's letters reflected "imprudence and feminine levity." In her
second letter to Abelard, in which she recalled her former insane love
for him, she assured him that, "although the name wife is more holy ...
to me the name friend, or if you will not take offense, concubine, will
always be the sweetest."
Perhaps that was indiscreet. The preceding information given by
Alexander, however, makes it clear that Abelard was the initial
aggressor. It was he who persuaded the "noble virgin's" guardian,
Fulbert, to place his young ward under Abelard's tutelage, a move
Abelard calculated, according to Alexander, "quotidiana conversations
familliarem efficeret."37
Why would Carroll hold such a jaundiced view of Eloise? She died as
abbess of the Benedictine Abbey of the Paraclete. Natalis Alexander was
certainly not much of a help. I think, however, that Carroll's vision
was clouded by his annoyance with Berington, who had linked Carroll's
name to his own in a campaign against clerical celibacy.
2. In the light of Carroll's comments on Wharton, Lucas, Abelard and
Eloise, did Carroll view women as a problem?
The Dignity of Motherhood
In Chapter II of Partners, entitled "Partners in Relationships," the
family as the basic unit of society is addressed, and the dignity of
motherhood is affirmed.38
John Carroll would have no difficulty resonating with this section. He
had a warm and tender relationship with his mother, Eleanor Darnall
(1706-1796), daughter of an old Maryland family, closely allied with the
Baltimores. In 1748, when the future bishop was scarcely a teenager he
left home to attend school at St. Omer, the emigre English college in
French Flanders. He remained abroad and became a Jesuit priest. After
the suppression of the order in 1773, Carroll returned to Maryland to
live with his widowed mother in Rock Creek, "a retired part of the
country." He and his mother must have gotten along very well, for he
told his friend Plowden that he enjoyed "great domestick [sic]
felicity." Carroll's feelings for his mother were often expressed in his
letters to Plowden. The mothers of the two men were "early and
inseparable" friends, probably schoolmates.39
It was not until Carroll was appointed Superior of the Mission in 1784
that he was obliged to leave his mother because her residence was not
"convenient to... [his] business."40 In 1790, prior to his departure for
Episcopal consecration in England, Carroll spent "a few days of leisure"
with his "good mother." Plowden wrote to congratulate Carroll's "aged
mother who will receive y[ou]r first episcopal blessing, with uncommon
comfort and devotion. . . "41
When the devoted son feared that his mother was close to death, Carroll
wrote:
What a comfort it is on such an occasion to reflect that her whole life
has been one continued series of virtuous actions, and even of such
perfection, as is practiced by few religious."
In 1796 Eleanor Darnall Carroll died at the age of ninety-two. Since his
episcopal consecration in 1790, he never missed spending part of a
summer with her. Weeks passed before he could bring himself to inform
his friend Plowden that "My good and venerable mother closed her long
and may I add her holy life .... "42
Perhaps it was the early separation from his own family for such a long
period of time that made Carroll admire a closely-knit family. One such
family for whom Carroll had deep affection was the fancily of James and
Joanna Barry, wealthy Catholic Irish immigrants and generous church
benefactors. Their correspondence, which extends over a period of some
fourteen years, reveals a depth of feeling mutually shared.
Tragedy struck the Barry family in 1803 and dogged them relentlessly.
The father and the younger daughter became seriously ill; the mother
suffered a serious accident. Carroll wrote to give both comfort and
advice to "a family which is so much entitled to my love and respect
.... "43
By the end of 1805, Joanna's "darling Mary" was dead. In what can only
be described as a heart-rending letter, which also provides a glimpse of
the family's piety, Joanna recited the melancholy events to the bishop.
Unaware that the end was so near, Mary, before retiring for the evening,
knelt to her prayers as usual then sat down to hear the chapter of the
day in Challoner, which I read, and repeated the usual prayers ... at
half after one she woke with a pain she sat up in bed took the crucifix
in her hand, kissed it- and to about half the Litany [sic] when she
expired like a lamb...."
"Our sorrow, My Dear Friend," Joanna continued:
is sorrow for removed virtue and innocence ... I know you will pardon me
for intruding those particulars on you - you loved my children, they
most tenderly and gratefully loved you ... If [James] Barry and my
invaluable Ann are spared I am blessed far beyond my merits.44
Soon the father was dead. In 1808, the widow took her surviving but ill
daughter, Ann, to Madeira in a desperate effort to restore the girl's
health. Carroll's high regard for Ann is made clear in the gentle rebuke
he sent to a close mutual friend, Elizabeth Seton. She had written
Carroll that she thought Ann's illness was psychosomatic. Carroll
countered that he was
indeed fully sensible of her anguish for the loss of poor Mary, and then
of her Papa; but being equally persuaded of her resignation to the will
of heaven and that no one knows better how to apply to her heart the
motives of resignation, I do not apprehend such an effect from her
sensibility, as that, to which you seem to allude ...."1
In a letter dated May 3, 1809, Joanna poured her heart out to Carroll.
Ann was dead and the mother was filled with remorse for having taken her
to Madeira, for they both regretted "being so far removed from the
worthy Bishop Carroll. . . " All of the suffering had taken its toll.
Joanna confessed:
... I am not even as religious as I was, nor as resigned as I ought -
this last cruel trial has undermined the little piety I had - health,
strength, and spirit, indeed, I think my memory is failing..."
One month later, Joanna thanked Carroll for his:
long, kind, and interesting letter ... May Heaven reward your goodness
in taking such pains to comfort a heart broken, unhappy Woman, I do what
I can for relief, and yet my sorrows last..."
On the eighteenth of October, 1810, Carroll lost the last of that
beloved family. In an obituary the Archbishop wrote:
She [Joanna] died, not merely the victim of disease, 'tho she underwent
a [torn] painful one, but likewise of her exquisite sensibility ... The
loss in particular of her oldest and last surviving daughter ...
inflicted a wound on the Mother's heart, which death alone could heal.
The perpetual struggle between a virtuous submission to the appointment
of providence, and maternal tenderness gradually undermined her
constitution: yet under all her afflictions, her more than female
fortitude exerted itself to the last in the performance of the offices
of friendship towards those, for whom she cherished that sentiment;
still more, if possible, in discovering and relieving ... the victims of
wretchedness and disease. No one, not even those, who were most intimate
with her, knew half the extent of her charities; so careful was she to
conceal them ... Excelling thus in this first of Xtian virtues, it is
unnecessary to add, it was accompanied by all the other exercises of a
holy and truly Christian life...47
This is the final tribute from the man who called Joanna Barry that
great "example and model of... [the female] sex."48
There were other mothers, too, whom Carroll held in esteem. The Russian
princess Amalia Gallitzin had put her young son, Demitrius, under
Carroll's protection. She confessed to him that she knew her son's
faults: "laziness and vanity are the enemies of his salvation." Carroll
wrote to assure her that the prince would be kept busy at St. Mary's
Seminary in Baltimore and that he would personally "see to it that he be
occupied in such manner as to leave him not a moment for indifference or
laziness."49 Carroll kept his promise. Gallitzin became a priest and
distinguished himself as the omnipresent missionary of western
Pennsylvania. So much for his laziness and a mother's intuition. The
cost of parting with her dear son, however, was not overlooked by
Carroll. He wrote:
The sacrifice which you make ... of an only son, cherished by you, and
who deserves to be so, is the most worthy testimony of how much zeal for
the glory of God, and charity are superior to the sentiments inspired by
flesh and blood.50
3. Overall, how do you rate Carroll's respect for motherhood?
Education and Collaboration
Part III of the pastoral, "Partners in Society," gives high grades to
the "Church's support of education for women through the Catholic school
system and the work religious congregations have done ...51 When Carroll
toured Europe in the early 1770s, he was very much impressed with the
free educational system he saw operating in Protestant Baden-Dourlach
where both boys and girls were educated "in things appropriate for their
sex '" Later, as Bishop, he tried to persuade the trustees of the
congregation in Baltimore to begin a subscription drive for building
"useful edifices, especially a Free School for the gratuitous education
of poor Catholic children. . " I do not doubt that he had both males and
females in mind.52
When Carroll learned that the ex-Jesuit Charles Neale in Antwerp was
eager to bring a group of "Theresians" [Carmelites] to America, Carroll
was not entirely enthusiastic. He told Charles Plowden, "I rather wish
for Ursulines Carroll wanted a convent school for girls as a companion
to the boys' school at Georgetown; therefore, he needed teachers for
girls. Three of the four Carmelites who came to America were native
Marylanders. The fourth was English. All were well educated, and could
fill the need for girls' teachers. Without the nuns' knowledge, Carroll
wrote for and received a dispensation from Pius VI which would allow the
women to open a school. In his letter of March 1, 1793, Carroll assured
the Prioress, Ann Matthews, in religion, Mother Bernadine Teresa of St.
Joseph, that:
it gave him [the Pope] incredible joy to find that you were come hither
to diffuse the knowledge and practice of religious perfection, and adds,
that considering the great scarcity of labourers, and the defect of
education in these states, you might sacrifice that part of your
institution to the promotion of a greater good."53
This issue involves more than education, but touches upon the "working
with women collaboratively," called for in Partners.54 James Hennesey,
S. J., a self-confessed Carroll enthusiast, has found this episode in
his life disappointing. Hennesey has faulted the first and, at that
time, the only bishop in the United States for his failure to discuss
his plans with the first and, at the time, the only religious superior
in the nation. Rather, Carroll presented Mother Bernadine Matthews with
a fait accompli.55
The Carmelites had been in Port Tobacco for three years before Carroll
received the dispensation. He could have discussed the possibility of
the women entering the teaching ministry with those directly involved.
The episode does admit another interpretation, however. Recently, the
current archivist of the first American Carmel has spoken of the
"collaborative model" of governance which existed between Carroll and
Carmel. Sister Constance Fitzgerald, O.C.D., has pointed to the fact
that the nuns said, "No, thank you" to the dispensation. Carroll never
again mentioned it to them, and their exchanges continued to be
eminently cordial.56
There is no doubt that Carroll was deeply disappointed by the nuns'
refusal. Seven years later he complained to Charles Plowden that the
Carmelites would not "undertake the business of female education, thó
the late Pope, soon after their arrival, recommended it earnestly to
them. . " Carroll thought, rightly or wrongly, that the chief opposition
to his plan came from Charles Neale.57 At least, Carroll never held that
against Neale or the nuns. Despite the drastic shortage of priests,
Carroll never assigned Charles Neale to any other duty than that of
chaplain and confessor to the Carmelites. When the Jesuits were
re-established in 1805, however, Robert Molyneux, the superior, had
other plans. The nuns, believing that they were to lose Neale, their
friend and protector, asked Carroll to intercede. Carroll replied:
[Neale] is not at my disposal; his regular Superior may require his
removal without consulting me, . . . and it seems that he intends to
exercise that prerogative ... without advising me ... Remonstrance and
intreaty are all that is left to me: and these I have used in an address
[written to Molyneux] yesterday.
Carroll even entered into collaboration almost bordering on collusion
with the Prioress, Mother Claire Joseph Dickinson, in order to help his
friend. He suggested that she do as follows:
... use some very persuasive argument to draw him [Molyneux] to your
house, where you might explain to him fully the disadvantages, which
would inevitably ensue from Mr. Neale's [sic] departure.58
Neale was never removed.
The story of John Carroll's friendship with the convert Elizabeth Seton,
pioneer foundress of Catholic parochial education and the first American
Sisterhood, is well-known. In 1809, as Seton took her first steps toward
founding a religious order, she and her recruits moved from Baltimore
and Carroll's patronage and guidance. He surrendered "as much as a
bishop can surrender" with such grace that "Seton was never reproached
by his disappointment," according to his biographer, Annabelle Melville.
She claimed that Carroll always favored Seton's side of the question in
any difficulties she encountered with her male Sulpician superiors in
Emmitsburg.59 In 1811, Carroll gave final sanction to the rule of
conduct and plan of government of the Daughters of St. Joseph, later
known as Sisters of Charity. He was pleased to note that the only
connection between the Sisters and the Sulpicians in the future would be
one of charity.60
In letters to others, Carroll commented on various plans to bring
Sisters to America. His questions are always the same: do the women
speak English? This would enable them to teach. If they did not, he
discouraged their coming. How could they earn a livelihood?61
The preceding section raised two issues on which to grade Carroll:
5. his support for female education
6. his collaborative style with women
Women Religious
The life of women religious is described as a public sign "of the
universal call to holiness," in Part IV, "Partners in the Church,"62
Carroll appreciated Elizabeth Seton not only for her work in female
education, but also for the quality of her spiritual life. In a letter
to Robert Molyneux, S. J., Carroll declared unequivocally that Seton was
"a Saint" a designation Carroll used exceedingly sparingly.63
Although the Carmelites at Port Tobacco would not teach, Carroll valued
their presence. In a report to the Roman Congregation written in 1792,
Carroll acknowledged that "Their example, a novelty in this country, has
aroused many to serious thought on divine things."64 He thanked the nuns
personally for their "very great charity ... by giving me so valuable a
share in your religious exercises. . " He was "exceedingly pleased at
the increase of your most religious family. Every addition to it," he
wrote, "I look upon as a new safeguard for the preservation of the
diocese."65
Carroll also had high praise for the religious women of Europe, "often
of the first nobility." They dedicated their lives to "the unfortunate
victims of poverty and disease ... to this loathsome exercise of
humanity without expecting any rewards on this side of the grave."66
Carroll expressed some reservations, however, when it came to assigning
Simon Brute, a talented priest, to St. Mary's Seminary. The prelate was
afraid that the Sisters nearby would
insensibly ... multiply their prayers and entreaties to confer with him
on their spiritual concerns ... and perhaps confess to him. If the Abp,
[sic] or other superiors deny the indulgence, discontent will ensue.
Carroll feared that Brute's talents would be diverted in order to "fill
the office of a Director of some devout women." He assured Brute's
superior that he was not disparaging or devaluing that ministry, but any
holy, prayerful priest, "acquainted with sound principles of divinity,
is competent to that employment.. '" Should Brute go to teach at the
seminary, Carroll urged "that he never be employed at the Sisterhood
without necessity."67
6. Based on the above information, how do you want to rate Carroll
regarding women religious?
Devotion to the Blessed Virgin
In the concluding pages of Partners, we read that "Mary stands as a
model for all Christians of what it means to be a partner with God in
the work of salvation."68 Devotion to Mary played an important role in
Carroll's own life. As a young priest, he served as Prefect of the
Marian Sodality at Bruges. The Jesuits promoted this devotion as an aid
to fostering personal piety, cultural development, and apostolic zeal
among their students.69 In America, Carroll defended devotion to Mary
against attacks from both Protestants and a few Catholics. In response
to an anti-Catholic article, which had been published in the Columbian
magazine in 1787, Carroll, as the Superior of the Missions, informed the
editors that sheer prejudice or ignorance would cause Protestants to
accuse Catholics of "reverence[ing] as Deities, Mary, Peter, Paul ...
that these are the substitutes of the Heathenists' Jupiter and Juno. .
." Carroll set about defending the intercessionary power of the Blessed
Virgin and the Saints, which, he made clear, was not the "turpetude of
idolatry.:70
Almost a decade later, a work by Joseph Berrington, "An Examination of
Events termed Miraculous, as Reported in Letters from Italy," drew a
comment from Carroll. The English apologist's essay was an attack on the
cult of miraculous Madonnas, a notable instance being one at Anconda,
Italy in 1796, where the Madonna was reported to have opened and closed
her eyes. Carroll told Charles Plowden that " ..the assertions in this
last work," if they were accurately cited by Berington's opponents, "are
subversive of the credibility of Gospel miracles and consequently of
Christianity."71
Carroll was ready to accept Marian miracles, but not myths. Catholic
piety had led to the creation of the notion that Maryland was named in
honor of Our Lady, and Charles Plowden believed it. Carroll did not let
devotion cloud historical facts. He simply reported to Plowden that such
was not the case. Maryland had been named for Henrietta Maria, Queen of
Charles the lst."
Although the colony had not been named for the Blessed Virgin, Carroll
placed his diocese under her protection, and dedicated his pro-cathedral
to her Assumption. At the conclusion of the sermon he preached on the
occasion of possessing the pro-Cathedral, December 12, 1790, the Bishop
noted that piety decays wherever devotion to the Blessed Lady decays.72
Emblazoned upon Carroll's episcopal coat of Arms is the Virgin and
Child, surrounded by thirteen stars.
The following year, during the first Diocesan Synod, Carroll exhorted
his
Venerable Brethren to venerate with great devotion the Most Blessed
Virgin, and to commend the same devotion often and earnestly to their
flocks, so that they might realize that by her partronage a shining
citadel has been set up in their midst."73
In his report to the Roman Congregation in 1792, Carroll asked the Holy
Father to grant additional indulgences beyond the "plenary indulgence
long granted to the faithful of this diocese, from the Sunday preceding
the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and throughout
the octave." He explained that he was most anxious to induce his flock
"to adopt so great a patroness, and to implore her unfailing care for
the Christian people of this diocese."74
Carroll was not alone in fostering devotion to Mary. In A Manual of
Catholic Prayers, compiled by the ex-Jesuit Robert Molyneux and
published by Robert Bell in Philadelphia in 1774, Marian devotions are
common. A "Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Mary" assured the reader that
approaching the heart of Jesus through the heart of Mary
is the doctrine and the very spirit of God's church ... This
consideration has engaged the sovereign Pontiffs and head Pastors of the
Church, to give the self-same sanction to the pious practices instituted
in honor of the sacred Heart of Mary, as they give to the adorable heart
of Jesus ... 75
A contemporary audience might view this as Mariolatry. Carroll, however,
was more moderate. In his exchange with the editor of the Columbian, he
counters the suggestion that Catholics believe that Mary can "command
her son; impera filio..." to do her bidding. If any Catholic had ever
made this claim, it was due to excessive zeal, which Carroll did not
condone. "Mistake me not," he wrote, I intend not to justify such a
prayer, which is ... in a literal sense, even impious." Carroll claimed,
perhaps not quite accurately, that all Roman Catholic prayers to the
Blessed Virgin Mary, "evidently denote her immense inferiority to, and
entire dependence on the divinity. . "76
That Carroll should have devotion to Our Lady is not unusual. Why he
chose Mary under the title of the Assumption as patroness, however, is
not entirely clear. It is true that his episcopal consecration took
place on the fifteenth of August, but that does not resolve the question
completely. The reason that this problem intrigues me so is that Mary,
under the title of the Immaculate Conception, came to dominate American
Catholic piety. James Hennesey, S. J., has shown that the theological
anthropology surrounding the declaration of the dogma of the Immaculate
Conception was one that emphasized the rupture of nature and grace.77
This was typical of some Romantic thinking, and greatly at variance with
Carroll's position. I believe that the position of women suffered under
the Romantic movement, and it is tempting to speculate about how
different images of Mary may have affected women's status in society and
vice versa. Since, however, Carroll has not left any explanation for his
choice, it remains a vexing question.
7. You, on the other hand, have enough evidence to evaluate Carroll's
Marian devotion and tally your entire score.
Conclusion
Overall, the audience rated John Carroll an average "5.5" out of a
possible "7" as highest score. Although this is a good showing, it is
not high enough to delcare him the patron saint of feminists.78 Carroll
was a man of his times, yet in many ways he was an advanced thinker. He
appreciated and respected women. He earnestly wanted them to have the
advantages of education. Though overburdened by a crushing load of
official correspondence, he took the time, for example, to lighten the
burden of a griefstriken woman and to keep mothers informed about their
absent children.79 To his credit, there is much to be admired and
episcopal lessons still to be learned from the life of our venerable
first bishop and archbishop.
Notes
John Carroll Brent, Biographical Sketches of the Most Reverend John
Carroll (Baltimore, 1843); John Gilmary Shea, The Life and Times of the
Most Reverend John Carroll, Bishop and First Archbishop of Baltimore
(New York, 1888); Peter Guilday, The Life and Times of John Carroll,
Archbishop of Baltimore, 1735-1815 (New York, 1922); Annabelle Melville,
John Carroll of Baltimore, Father of the American Hierarchy (New York,
1955).
Thomas O'Brien Hanley, ed. The John Carroll Papers (3 vols., Notre
Dame/London, 1976) [Henceforth JCP]; cf. John J. Tierney, "Another View
of the John Carroll Papers;" Catholic Historical Review, 64 no. 4
(October 1978):660; James Hennesey, S.J. "An Eighteenth Century Bishop:
John Carroll of Baltimore," Archivum Historiae Pontificae 76
(1978):171-204; id., "The Vision of John Carroll;" Thought 54 no. 214
(September 1979):322- 333; Philip Gleason, "The Main Street Anchor: John
Carroll and Catholic Higher Education," Review of Politics, 38 (1976):
576-613; Joseph M. McShane, S.J., "John Carroll and the Appeal to
Evidence: A Pragmatic Defense of Principle;" Church History 57 no. 3
(September 1988):298-309.
(First Draft, Washington, D.C. 1988), 1. [Henceforth Partners]
JCP 3:83-84, 91-93.
Archives of the Archdiocese of Baltimore [Henceforth AAB] 8B-N7,
[undated] [Amalia Princess Gallitzin] to Carroll; AAB 8A-Nl, Same to
same, Amsterdam, July 31,1804; AAB 8A-Q5, Same to same, 1809[?]; AAB,
8A-Q4, Princess Marianne Gallitzin to Carroll, April 8, 1807, AAB, 3V
10, Same to same, Saint Petersburg, August 8, 1808; AAB 3V 11, Same to
same, April 30, 1810. For Carroll's response see JCP 11:71-74, 105-106,
453-55; AAB. 7D9, Marie Rivardi to Carroll, Debtors Apartment,
Philadelphia, March 10, 1815.
AAB, 5B 1, Elizabeth Lusby to Carroll, Annapolis, May 8, 1801 wrote a
touching letter about her poverty and asked "father" Carroll to get a
"Catekisrn" for her, perhaps illegitimate, son. James Hennesey, S.J.
American Catholics (New York/Oxford, 1981), 81, has identified Amalia
von Schmettau (Princess Gallitzin) as one of the "Munster Circle" of
Catholic intellectuals.
AAB, 8,A-Sl, Catherine Lachaise to Carroll, Havana May 18,1809; AAB 3C3,
Helen [Deumey] Sully to Carroll, Augusta, Georgia, June 11, 1814.
JCP 2:176; 2:163.
JCP 3:110-111; 3:342.
JCP 2:404; 2:540.
AAB, 5A4, Lister to Carroll [n.d. ]; JCP 2:69.
JCP 1:235
AAB, 7T 3, Mary Spalding to Carroll, Montgomery County Rock Creek near
Georgetown, April 20, 1810; AAB, 2 T 2, Fanny Conlin to Carroll, New
York, July 16, 1813.
JCP 1:510; AAB, 5S3, same to same, Boston, March 13, 1804; AAB, 5A3,
Anna C. Linzey to Carroll, West Cambridge, October 13, 1810 sends
greetings from "your little God Daughter..."
AAB, 10 1-4, same to same, Charleston, February 28, 1811; AAB 10 1-2,
same to same, Charleston, January 16,1812; AAB, 5G3, same to same,
Charleston, August 23,1812; AAB, 5G2, same to same, Charleston, February
8, 1812, talks of "une petite Boite de Cigares, et ... une petite
Bourse. . ."
Hennesey, S.J., "Eighteenth Century Bishop;" Joseph Chinnici, Living
Stones (New York/London, 1988) 12.
James Bossy, The English Catholic Community: 1570-1850 (London, 1976)
112-115, 333.
Jay Dolan, The American Catholic Experience (New York, 1985) 83.
It should be noted that John Carroll was not egalitarian in reference to
slavery. He did not condemn the institution for either men or women. See
JCP 1:343; Carmelite Monastery, Baltimore [Henceforth CMB] 9, Carroll to
[Mother Bernadine Matthews] Jan. 28, 1797, speaks of the gift of a
"negro or mulatto' woman from "a person in this town." The stipulation
is that she is never "to be free."
(7th ed., corrected. Philadelphia, 1774), 184; 223-231.
Pious Guide, 110-111.
JCP 3:424-433; 447-450.
Partners, 1.
JCP 1:312, 351; 2:53. To this point, I have not been able to locate the
pamphlet.
Partners, 3.
Bossy, English Catholic Community, 152.
JCP 1:389.
For Carroll's response to Wharton's Letter to the Roman Catholics of
Worcester see JCP 1:82-144, quote on 140. Thomas W Spalding, "John
Carroll: Corrigenda and Addenda," The Catholic Historical Review 71 no.
4 (October 1985):514, has identified Wharton as Carroll's "first cousin
once removed."
JCP 1:222.
JCP 1:541; 2:251.
Spalding, "Carroll: Corrigenda," 514; Joseph Agonito, "Ecumenical
Stirrings: Catholic-Protestant Relations during the Episcopacy of John
Carroll;' Church History 45 (Spring, 1976):369-70.
JCP 1:56-7.
JCP 1:251, 547.
Joseph Berington, The History of the Lives of Abelard and Eloise,
comprising a period of eighty-four years, from 1079 to 1163. (London,
1787); JCP 1:253-54, 274.
JCP 1:253-54, 274.
Elizabeth Hamilton, Heloise (Garden City, NY, 1967) 30; Abelard told his
story in Historia Calamitatum; see J. I Muckle, Medieval Studies 12
(Toronto, 1950).
Natalis Alexander, Historia Ecciesiastica, Manci (14) ln8, Saeculum XI
et XII "De varia Petri Abelard, Fortuna, Erroribus, Damnatione et
Poenitentia," 44-65; on 51, Alexander wrote, "Inprudenter ac muliebri
levirate. . and quotes Eloise, amorum insaniam in memoriam revocat ...
Et si uxoris nomen sanctius ... dulcius mihi semper exstitit amicae
vocabulum: aut si non indignaris, concubinae. . " quotes on 51 and 45.
Partners, 18-19.
JCP 1:32, 58, 70.
JCP 1:167.
JCP 1:490; AAB, 6M 12, same to same, September 25, 1790.
JCP 2:40; Melville. Carroll, 161, gives the quote.
JCP 2:456.
AAB, lM2, same to same, New York, December 11, 1805@
JCP 3:51.
AAB lN2, same to same, London.
JCP 3:124-125, emphasis mine.
JCP 3:30.
AAB 8B. M7, same to same [n.d.1; JCP 2:71-72.
JCP 2:453-4, emphasis mine.
Partners, 45.
JCP 1:16; 2:466. See also JCP 3:463-64.
JCP 1:312; CMB 3, same to same.
Partners, 77.
James Hennesey, S.J., "To Share and to Learn: A Keynote Address," in
Religious Life in the U.S. Church: The New Dialogue (ed. Robert J. Daly,
S.J., et al.; New York, 1984), 58.
Sister Constance Fitzgerald, O.C.D., panelist in "Me Church of Baltimore
Celebrates its Bicentennial" series at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen.
Hers was one of three presentations on November 16, 1988, in a session
entitled, "Religious Communities from the era of John Carroll: the
Jesuits, the Carmelite Sisters and the Sulpicians.' Telephone interviews
January 11, 18, 20, February 19, 1989.
JCP 2:319.
CMB, 15, Carroll to M. Dickinson, Baltimore, June 29, 1806.
Melville, Carroll, 184; see JCP 3:51-52, 113-15, 119-120, 267-68, 369
for Carroll's letter to Seton; see Ellen Kelly and Annabelle Melville,
eds., Elizabeth Seton: Selected Writings (New York, 1987), 261-274 for
Seton's correspondence with Carroll.
JCP 2:155-57
JCP 1:312; 2:88; 117; 319.
Partners, 73.
JCP 3:65.
JCP 2:32.
CMB 7, Carroll to Matthews, Baltimore, February 20, 1795;
CMB 8, Carroll to Matthews, Baltimore, November 9, 1795.
JCP 1:88.
JCP 3:199-200.
Partners, 80.
Joseph de Gilbert, S.J., The Jesuits: Their Spiritual Doctrine and
Practice (Saint Louis, MO, 1972), 297-98.
JCP 1:260-61.
JCP 2:216-17 & n.2. cf. JCP 2:264-5 where Carroll denounced a priest who
"harangued against devotion to the Blessed Virgin."
JCP 1:475; 478.
JCP 1:532.
JCP 2:30.
Manual, 76.
JCP 1:260-61
James Hennesey, S.J., "A Prelude to Vatican 1: American Bishops and the
Definition of the Immaculate Conception," Theological Studies 25
(September, 1964):409-419.
21% of the audience rated Carroll a "7"; 26% a "6"; 29% a "5"; 13% a
"4"; and 11% a "3". No one rated him lower than "3".
