Sunday, April 26, 2009

The first American Cardinal


John Cardinal McCloskey (1810 - 1885) was the fifth bishop (and second archbishop) of New York.

He was elevated to the cardinalate by Blessed Pope Pius IX in the consistory of March 15, 1875, becoming the first American cardinal.

He dedicated the newly-constructed St. Patrick's Cathedral on May 25, 1879.


In this colored lithograph archbishop McCloskey receives the cardinal's biretta from the hands of archbishop James Roosevelt Bayley of Baltimore.

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