DOUGHERTY, DENNIS

Cardinal, archbishop; b. Schuylkill County, Pa., Aug. 16, 1865; d. Philadelphia, Pa., May 31, 1951. He was the sixth of ten children of Patrick and Bridget (Henry) Dougherty, Irish immigrants who had settled in the coal mining area of Pennsylvania. He attended the public schools of Ashland and Girardville and at the age of 14 applied for admission to the diocesan seminary of Philadelphia. Although he passed the entrance examination, he was barred because of his youth. In September 1880 he entered Sainte-Marie College in Montreal, Canada. Two years later he transferred to St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, Overbrook, Pa., and in 1885 Abp. Patrick J. ryan sent him to the North American College, Rome, to continue his studies.

On May 31, 1890, he was ordained by Cardinal Lucido Parocchi in the Basilica of St. John Lateran. When he returned to Philadelphia in September he was appointed professor at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, where he taught in turn Latin, English, history, Greek, French, Hebrew, and dogmatic theology. He was also procurator of the seminary and one of the synodal examiners of the archdiocese. On April 7, 1903, Leo XIII appointed him bishop of nueva segovia in the Philippine Islands; Cardinal Francesco Satolli consecrated him in the Church of SS. John and Paul, Rome, on June 14, 1903.

Dougherty arrived in the Philippines in October 1903, with five Philadelphia priests: Edgar Cook, who died within a few years; James Carroll, who succeeded Dougherty in the Diocese of Nueva Segovia; John MacGinley, later bishop of Nueva Caceres and afterwards of Fresno, California; James McCloskey, later bishop of Zamboanga and Dougherty's successor to the See of Jaro; and Daniel Gercke, later bishop of Tucson, Arizona. It was the first great missionary effort of the diocesan priesthood of the U.S. beyond the boundaries of the country. The Nueva Segovia diocese had 997, 629 Catholics, 110 parishes, and 171 parish priests, of whom 131 were native-born.

Dougherty rebuilt the façade of the cathedral, refurnished the diocesan seminary at Vigan, where American troops had been quartered, and dealt with the schism begun by Padre Gregorio Aglipay. This native priest had apostatized and started his own church in the diocese, with a following of native priests who protested that the Holy See had refused their petition for a native bishop. They had usurped ownership of church property, but the American civil authorities, fearful of disturbing the natives, had neglected to correct these abuses. However, they advised Dougherty that, as a test case, he should take legal action against Aglipay to prove the Church's claim to the properties in question. Dougherty refused; instead, he persuaded the American authorities that Aglipay had to substantiate his claims to the ecclesiastical property. The litigation dragged on for seven years, until the courts finally decided against Aglipay and returned all the properties to the Catholic Church. In 1907, Dougherty attended the provincial council of Manila. After one year he was transferred to the larger diocese of Jaro in the province of Iloilo, where he was installed on June 21, 1908.

In 1915 he was appointed bishop of buffalo. He returned to the U.S. to be installed on June 7, 1916, by Cardinal John Farley of New York. He soon liquidated the debt on the cathedral, established 15 new parishes, and revitalized the parochial school system. Two years later, Rome appointed him to the Archdiocese of philadel phia, where he was enthroned by Cardinal James Gibbons on July 10, 1918. During Dougherty's administration, 112 new parishes, 145 parochial schools, 53 Catholic high schools, four Catholic colleges, 12 hospitals, and 11 homes for the aged were established. He consecrated 15 bishops and ordained more than 2,000 priests. Benedict XV made him a cardinal priest on March 7, 1921, with the titular church of SS. Nereus and Achilles. The French called him the "Cardinal of the Little Flower" because of his aid in her canonization. He died on the 61st anniversary of his ordination and was buried in the crypt of the archdiocesan Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul.

Bibliography: h. j. nolan, "Cardinal Dougherty: an Appreciation," Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia 62 (1951) 135–141. New York Times, June 1, 1951, 23:1.

[j. f. connelly]