KENRICK, FRANCIS PATRICK. - Archbishop of Baltimore, theologian, controversialist, b. in Dublin on 3 Dec. 1797, d. in Baltimore on 8 July 1863, during the American Civil War. A student of the College of Propaganda Fide, he was ordained a priest in 1822; in 1830 he was appointed coadjutor bishop to Bishop Cornell of Philadelphia, whom he succeeded in 1842, and he governed the diocese until 1851, when he was transferred to the see of Baltimore, with the additional office of apostolic delegate. As such, he convoked there the First National Council (1852), which played so great a part in the history of the American Church, marking among other things the end of the schism provoked by the priest Hogan.

In Philadelphia, where he founded the Seminary dedicated to St. Charles Borromeo, his episcopate was marked by two episodes: the cholera of 1842, during which, through his initiatives, the heroism of the Sisters of Charity was displayed anew with a greatly beneficial effect on the Protestants, and the anti-Catholic sedition of 1844, provoked and promoted by the "Nativist" movement, which sought to exclude Catholics from public office and from immigration. If at that time the explosion of anti-Catholic hatred produced no greater damage, it was due entirely to K.'s prudence and to his personal influence. As archbishop and metropolitan of Baltimore, in connection with the First National Council, he promoted the petitions of the American episcopate for the definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, and for the correction or revision of the famous version of the Bible called the "Douay version."

As a controversialist he fought particularly with the Episcopal and Presbyterian sects, obtaining many conversions. He was the founder of the periodical Catholic Herald (Philadelphia 1838 ff.) and wrote: Theologiae dogmaticae tractatus (ibid. 1839-40); Theologia moralis (Malines-Baltimore 1866); The Primacy of the Apostolic See and the authority of General Councils vindicated (Philadelphia-Pittsburgh 1848); Vindication of Catholic Church (Baltimore 1855). He translated into English the text of the Latin Vulgate, comparing it with the original texts, of the following books: The historical books of the Old Testament, The Pentateuch (Baltimore 1859); The Psalms, Books of Wisdom, and Canticle of Canticles, (ibid. 1861); The four Gospels (New York 1849).

Bibliography10 works

BIBL.: M. O'Connor, Archbishop K. and his work, Philadelphia 1867; anon., Catholicity in Eastern Pennsylvania, in Catholic Record, 13 (1877), pp. 129-44, 210-23; I. Spalding Martin, Sketches of the Early Catholic Missions in Kentucky 1787-1826/27, Louisville 1884, passim; B. J. Webb, Centenary of catholicism in Kentucky, ibid. 1884, passim; R. H. Clarke, Lives of deceased bishops of the Catholic Church of the United States, III, New York 1888; W. Walsh, Jubilee memoire, St. Louis 1891, passim; anon., The two archbishops K., Philadelphia 1904; R. H. Clarke, Diary and visitation record of the... F. P. K., Lancaster, Pa. 1916; E. Campana, Il Concilio Vaticano, I, Lugano-Bellinzona 1926, p. 761; I. Nola, The most rev. F. P. K., third bishop of Philadelphia, 1830-51, Philadelphia 1948.

Enrico L. Hoffmann

@incollection{ec7_kenrick_francis_patrick, author = {Hoffmann, Enrico}, title = {Kenrick, francis patrick}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VII}, pages = {674--675}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1951}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/kenrick-francis-patrick} }

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Kenrick, Francis Patrick

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