Monsignor Peter Keenan Guilday (March 25, 1884 - July 31, 1947) US Catholic priest and historian.

John Tracy Ellis John Tracy Ellis (July 30, 1905 – October 16, 1992) was a Catholic Church historian and priest, born and raised in Seneca, Illinois, USA. Ellis was ordained a priest and received a doctorate in history from Catholic University of America in Wash ...

, "Monsignore Peter Guilday" in ''

The Catholic Historical Review ''The Catholic Historical Review'' (CHR) is the official organ of the American Catholic Historical Association. It was established at The Catholic University of America in 1915 by Thomas Joseph Shahan and Peter Guilday and is published quarterly b ...

'' 43:3 (Oct. 1947), 257-268.

Life

Guilday was born in

Chester, Pennsylvania Chester is a city in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. Located within the Philadelphia Metropolitan Area, it is the only city in Delaware County and had a population of 32,605 as of the 2020 census. Incorporated in 1682, Chester is ...

of Irish parents.Raymond W. Albright, "In Memoriam Peter Guilday", ''

Church History __NOTOC__ Church history or ecclesiastical history as an academic discipline studies the history of Christianity and the way the Christian Church has developed since its inception. Henry Melvill Gwatkin defined church history as "the spiritual ...

'' 16:4 (1947), p. 248. Graduated from

Roman Catholic High School , motto_translation = Faith and Knowledge , accreditation = MSA , nickname = The Cahillites , conference = Philadelphia Catholic League , colors = Purple & Gold , yearbook ...

in Philadelphia in 1901. He studied for the priesthood at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, Overbrook PA. In 1907 he gained a scholarship to the American College of Louvain. He was ordained to the priesthood there on July 11, 1909, by

Henry Gabriels Henry Gabriels (October 6 1838 – April 23 1921) was a Belgian-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as bishop of the Diocese of Ogdensburg in Northern New York from 1892 until his death in 1921. Biography Early life Henry Gab ...

. After ordination Guilday briefly studied at the

University of Bonn The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine U ...

, but returned to Louvain University to work on his doctorate, which he obtained there in 1914. His doctoral dissertation was supervised by Alfred Cauchie. While working on his doctorate, Guilday visited archives in France, Belgium, Spain, and Italy and spent a year in London, working as a priest at St Mary of the Angels, Bayswater, while attending lectures in history at the University of London. His doctoral dissertation was published in London in 1914 by

Longmans, Green and Company Longman, also known as Pearson Longman, is a publishing company founded in London, England, in 1724 and is owned by Pearson PLC. Since 1968, Longman has been used primarily as an imprint by Pearson's Schools business. The Longman brand is also ...

under the title ''The English Catholic Refugees on the Continent, 1558–1795'', volume 1. Guilday intended to follow this up with a second volume on the

Irish College Irish Colleges is the collective name used for approximately 34 centres of education for Irish Catholic clergy and lay people opened on continental Europe in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. History The Colleges were set up to educate Roma ...

s on the Continent, but research for this was made impossible by the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Instead, in 1914, Guilday began teaching at

Catholic University of America The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private Roman Catholic research university in Washington, D.C. It is a pontifical university of the Catholic Church in the United States and the only institution of higher education founded by U.S. ...

, Rector Thomas J. Shahan having asked

Edmond Francis Prendergast Edmond Francis Prendergast (May 3, 1843 – February 26, 1918) was an Irish-born prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as the third Archbishop of Philadelphia from 1911 until his death in 1918. Biography Edmond Prendergast was born in Clonm ...

Archbishop of Philadelphia The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Philadelphia is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in southeastern Pennsylvania, in the United States. It covers the City and County of Philadelphia as well a ...

, to release him from diocesan duties so that he could join the faculty. During the war, Guilday also served as secretary to the National Catholic War Council's committee on historical records and as assistant district educational director in the Students Army Training Corps. As an academic, Guilday worked as principal editor of the ''

Catholic Historical Review ''The Catholic Historical Review'' (CHR) is the official organ of the American Catholic Historical Association. It was established at The Catholic University of America in 1915 by Thomas Joseph Shahan and Peter Guilday and is published quarterly by ...

'' from 1915 to 1941, and in 1919 was cofounder of the

American Catholic Historical Association The American Catholic Historical Association (ACHA) was founded by Peter Guilday in Cleveland, Ohio, in December 1919 as a national society to bring together scholars interested in the history of the Roman Catholic Church or in Catholic aspects o ...

. His writings established him as the period's leading scholar in Catholic

, with appointment as full professor in 1923. He was relieved of teaching duties in 1941, and intended to use his time to produce a study of John Hughes,

Archbishop of New York The Archbishop of New York is the head of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, who is responsible for looking after its spiritual and administrative needs. As the archdiocese is the metropolitan bishop, metropolitan see of the ecclesiastic ...

, but was prevented by poor health. He died in 1947.

Honours

* In 1924 Guilday was elected a

fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

of the

Royal Historical Society The Royal Historical Society, founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history. Origins The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the Histori ...

. * In 1926 he was decorated by

Albert I of Belgium Albert I (8 April 1875 – 17 February 1934) was King of the Belgians from 23 December 1909 until his death in 1934. Born in Brussels as the fifth child and second son of Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders and Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-S ...

for his contributions to the restoration of Louvain University Library. * In 1935 he was made a domestic prelate by

Pope Pius XI Pope Pius XI ( it, Pio XI), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti (; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939), was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 to his death in February 1939. He was the first sovereign of Vatican City fro ...

Works

* ''The English Catholic Refugees on the Continent, 1558–1795,'' 1914 * ''The Life and Times of John Carroll, Archbishop of Baltimore (1735-1815),'' 1922 * ''The Life and Times of John England, First Bishop of Charleston (1786-1842),'' 1927

References

External Links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Guilday, Peter 1884 births 1947 deaths American people of Irish descent Catholic University of America faculty 20th-century American Roman Catholic priests Catholic University of Leuven (1834–1968) alumni