William George McCloskey (10 November 1823 – 17 September 1909) was an American Catholic priest, who became the fourth

Bishop of Louisville The Archdiocese of Louisville is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church that consists of twenty-four counties in the central United States, American state of Kentucky, covering . As of 2018, the archdiocese ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

Life

Early life

William George McCloskey was born in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

on November 10, 1823, the youngest of five sons of George and Ellen McCloskey. Two of his older brothers also became priests. His brother John became president of Mount St. Mary's College, Emmitsburg. He was sent to

Mount St. Mary's College Mount Saint Mary's University, Los Angeles (known as Mount St. Mary's College until January 2015) is a private, Catholic university primarily for women, in Los Angeles, California. Women make up ninety percent of the student body. It was found ...

Emmitsburg Emmitsburg is a town in Frederick County, Maryland, United States, south of the Mason-Dixon line separating Maryland from Pennsylvania. Founded in 1785, Emmitsburg is the home of Mount St. Mary's University. The town has two Catholic pilgrima ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

in 1835 and graduated in 1840. In May 1850, he was ordained subdeacon at that seminary by

Samuel Eccleston Samuel Eccleston, P.S.S. (June 27, 1801 – April 22, 1851) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as the fifth Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, Maryland from 1834 until his death in 1851. Biography Earl ...

Archbishop of Baltimore The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Baltimore ( la, link=no, Archidiœcesis Baltimorensis) is the premier (or first) see of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church in the United States. The archdiocese comprises the City of Baltimore and nine of Mar ...

, and on October 6, 1852, was ordained priest by Bishop John Hughes in St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York. He said his first Mass in the basement of the

Church of the Nativity The Church of the Nativity, or Basilica of the Nativity,; ar, كَنِيسَةُ ٱلْمَهْد; el, Βασιλική της Γεννήσεως; hy, Սուրբ Ծննդեան տաճար; la, Basilica Nativitatis is a basilica located in B ...

, where his brother George was then pastor, and remained there ten months as assistant. Then, from a desire to live in the seminary cloister, he returned with the consent of his superiors to Mount St. Mary's, where he taught English and later Latin.Brann, Henry. "William George McCloskey." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 14 January 2019. In 1857, he succeeded

William Henry Elder William Henry Elder (March 22, 1819 – October 31, 1904) was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Natchez in Mississippi from 1857 to 1880 and as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati in Ohio b ...

as director of St. Mary's Seminary, where he taught moral theology and sacred scripture. On December 1, 1859

Pope Pius IX Pope Pius IX ( it, Pio IX, ''Pio Nono''; born Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878, the longest verified papal reign. He was notable for convoking the First Vatican ...

appointed McCloskey the first rector of the American College at Rome, being the unanimous choice of the American bishops. He reached Rome in March 1860.

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

had shortly before conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. Dr. McCloskey's administration of the American College included the period of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. There were serious divisions in the student body.

Bishop of Louisville

He was rector until his promotion to the See of Louisville in May 1868, being consecrated bishop in the chapel of the college on May 24 of that year by Cardinal von Reisach, Archbishop of Munich, Bavaria, assisted by Mons.

Xavier de Mérode Xavier de Mérode (Frédéric François Xavier Ghislain; Brussels, 1820 – Rome, 1874) was a Belgian prelate, archbishop and statesman of the Papal states. Biography Xavier de Mérode was the son of Count Félix de Mérode-Westerloo, who ...

, minister of

, and by Monsignor Salvatore Nobili Vitelleschi, Archbishop of Osimo and Cingoli. He arrived in

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

, as its bishop, towards the end of summer 1868. He found sixty-four churches and left in his diocese at his death one hundred and sixty-five. He introduced many religious orders into the diocese: the

Passionists The Passionists, officially named Congregation of the Passion of Jesus Christ (), abbreviated CP, is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men, founded by Paul of the Cross in 1720 with a special emphasis on and de ...

, the

Benedictines , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

, the Fathers of the Resurrection, the

Little Sisters of the Poor The Little Sisters of the Poor (french: Petites Sœurs des pauvres) is a Catholic religious institute for women. It was founded by Jeanne Jugan. Having felt the need to care for the many impoverished elderly who lined the streets of French towns ...

, the Franciscan Sisters, and the Brothers of Mary. In 1869, his older brother Rev. George McCloskey, resigned as pastor of the Church of the Nativity in Manhattan, a position he had held for over twenty-years, to go to Louisville and serve as vicar general for his brother. In that same year, Bishop McCloskey was instrumental in bringing the

Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute of Catholic women founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. As of 2019, the institute had about 6200 sisters worldwide, organized into a number of independent congregations. They a ...

to Louisville in October 1869, where they took over operation of the U.S. Marine Hospital, located in the

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

section. The growth of the parochial schools was chiefly the product of his zeal. In 1869 he established the diocesan seminary known as Preston Park Seminary. He wrote a life of

Mary Magdalen Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to his crucifixion and resurre ...

(Louisville, 1900). Bishop McCloskey was present at the

First Vatican Council The First Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the First Vatican Council or Vatican I was convoked by Pope Pius IX on 29 June 1868, after a period of planning and preparation that began on 6 December 1864. This, the twentieth ecu ...

in 1870. He also attended the

Second Plenary Council of Baltimore The Plenary Councils of Baltimore were three national meetings of Catholic bishops in the United States in 1852, 1866 and 1884 in Baltimore, Maryland. During the early history of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States all of the diocese ...

in 1866, and the

Third Plenary Council of Baltimore The Plenary Councils of Baltimore were three national meetings of Catholic bishops in the United States in 1852, 1866 and 1884 in Baltimore, Maryland. During the early history of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States all of the dioces ...

, in 1884, strongly advocating in the former the cause of the American College at Rome.

Death

McCloskey died on September 17, 1909, at Preston Park Seminary near Louisville. He was buried in a cemetery in

Nazareth, Kentucky Nazareth is an unincorporated community and a historic site in Nelson County, Kentucky, United States, located about three miles north of Bardstown. The zipcode is: 40048. History In 1822, Nazareth became the new home of the Sisters of Charity o ...

in Nelson County.

References

Sources

*''The Record'', the diocesan organ of Louisville, files; *Brann, ''History of the American College at Rome'' (New York, 1910)

Episcopal succession

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCloskey, William George 1823 births 1909 deaths 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in the United States Religious leaders from Louisville, Kentucky Pontifical North American College rectors Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville Georgetown University alumni Mount St. Mary's University alumni Catholics from Kentucky 19th-century Roman Catholic bishops in the United States