CORRIGAN, PATRICK

Controversialist; b. Longford, Ireland, Jan. 1, 1835;d. Hoboken, N.J., Jan. 9, 1894. He arrived at Jersey City, N.J., at the age of 13. After preparatory studies at St. Mary's College, Wilmington, Delaware, he studied theology at All Hallows College, Dublin, Ireland, and at St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, Maryland, where he was ordained on June 28, 1860. Corrigan filled several parochial assignments in the Diocese of Newark, New Jersey, concluding with the pastorate of Our Lady of Grace, Hoboken, New Jersey, which began in 1876. In 1883 he published a pamphlet, Episcopal Nominations, suggesting that another plenary council be convened and that experienced priests be given a voice in naming U.S. bishops. As a friend of Abp. John Ireland and an advocate of harmonizing the Church with the spirit of the United States, Corrigan was an outspoken foe of cahenslyism. He denounced Bp. Winand M. wigger's connection with the sixth German Catholic Congress of 1892 so violently that he was subjected to an ecclesiastical trial and required to make an apology to Wigger. Claiming to have been the first priest in the United States publicly to advocate appointment of an apostolic delegate, Corrigan fêted Abp. Francesco Satolli at a banquet in his parish in May 1893. That same year, Corrigan was one of the sponsors of a bill to make New Jersey parochial schools part of the public school system with a share in state school funds. When the bill failed, he sought permission to rent his school to the public authorities. Bishop Wigger refused, and Corrigan closed the large school he had built, claiming straitened financial circumstances.

Bibliography: c. j. barry, The Catholic Church and German Americans (Milwaukee 1953).

[c. d. hinrichsen]