William (Henry) O'Connell - Sources

Catholic prelate, born in Lowell, Massachusetts, USA. Ordained in 1884, he was rector of the North American College in Rome (from 1895), Bishop of Portland, ME (1901–5), and a Vatican diplomat before becoming Archbishop of Boston (1907). He was made a cardinal in 1911. Known for his extensive building programme, he was a prominent presence and force in Greater Boston religious life throughout his long term as archbishop.

William Henry Cardinal O'Connell (December 8, 1859 – April 22, 1944) was a Cardinal Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church.

One of 11 children born to Irish emigrants, O'Connell was an 1881 graduate of the Jesuit Boston College. O'Connell was moved to join the priesthood in 1882 after hearing a sermon by His Excellency John Joseph Williams, then Archbishop of Boston.

After serving in various pastoral roles as a priest, O'Connell was eventually appointed the Bishop of Portland, Maine on April 22, 1901.

Due to Archbishop Williams's declining health, Rome appointed O'Connell as coadjutor of the Boston Archdiocese on February 21, 1906.

O'Connell succeeded Williams on August 30, 1907. O'Connell participated in the 1939 conclave.)

O'Connell favored a highly centralized diocesan organization, encompassing schools, hospitals, and asylums in addition to parishes.

"In 1908 during ceremonies commemorating the 100th anniversary of the establishment of a Roman Catholic diocese in the Puritans' Boston, Archbishop William Henry O'Connell ... See the below partial excerpt from Militant and Triumphant: William Henry O'Connell and the Catholic Church in Boston, 1895-1944:

From 1907 to 1944, William Henry O'Connell was Archbishop of Boston. Some have called this the golden age of American Catholicism.

Nowhere was this more seemingly true than in Boston under O'Connell's leadership. One contemporary described him as a "battleship in full array."

The only politician who had anywhere near O'Connell's political clout in the state was the Governor (and future U.S. President), Calvin Coolidge;

His tenure as archbishop, as O'Toole's book details, was marred by a scandal involving his nephew, a priest made chancellor of the archdiocese at a young age but later found to have been secretly married and living a second life with his wife in New York.

William Henry Cardinal O'Connell died on April 22, 1944, aged 84.

Preceded by: Archbishop John Joseph Williams

Archbishop of Boston 1907 – 1944

Succeeded by: Richard James Cardinal Cushing

Sources

O'Connor, Thomas H.