GUILDAY, PETER K.

Educator, church historian; b. Chester, Pa., March 25, 1884; d. Washington D.C., July 31, 1947. Guilday was the second of 12 children of Irish-born Peter Wilfred Guilday and Ellen (Keenan) Guilday of Eddyston, Pa. Guilday attended Catholic schools in Chester and Philadelphia. In 1902, he enrolled at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, Overbrook, Philadelphia, as a candidate for the priesthood of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Guilday was awarded a scholarship in 1907 and went to the American College at Louvain, Belgium, for the last two years of theology.

Following his ordination on July 11, 1909, Guilday did graduate work in history at the Catholic University of Louvain. He spent a year of research in the archives of France, Belgium, Spain, and Italy, and another year of study in London. Upon the publication of his dissertation The English Colleges and Convents in the Catholic Low Countries, 1558–1795 in 1914, Guilday was awarded the doctorate by Louvain. The outbreak of World War I interrupted his labors on a second volume, which was never completed. In 1914, the rector of the Catholic University of America, Thomas J. Shahan, asked for his services. Shortly thereafter, Guilday arrived at the institution with which he was to be associated until his death 33 years later.

In April 1915, the Catholic Historical Review was launched, at his instigation. This was a quarterly journal to which Shahan lent the prestige of his name as editor-in-chief; five of the University professors served as editors. Of these, Guilday had the most active role. He continued as the principal editor until 1941, when failing health compelled his practical retirement. During the last six years of his life, Guilday had the title of editor-in-chief, although the editorial work had largely devolved upon the other editors. The american catholic historical association (ACHA), which he founded in Cleveland, Ohio, in December 1919, was designed to further interest in Catholic history through annual meetings of scholars and teachers and the encouragement of research and writing. As the useful character of the ACHA was realized, its membership gradually increased. By the time of its founder's death, the original band of 50 had grown to about 800 members.

Aware of the neglect that had overtaken the history of Catholicism in the U.S. since the death of John Gilmary shea, Guilday inaugurated a program of courses in that field leading to the master's and doctor's degrees at the Catholic University of America. For many years, the program he began was unique in American Catholic higher educational circles. Guilday gave tremendous impetus to the revival of American Catholic history through his own writings. Six years before his death, a bibliographical article appeared in the Catholic Library World that had an accompanying list of Guilday titles that filled more than two closely printed pages. There was a steady stream of scholarly publications from his pen, beginning with The Life and Times of John Carroll, First Archbishop of Baltimore, 1735–1815 (1922). His publications also included An Introduction to Church History (1925), a manual of historical method for beginners; a two-volume biography of John England, first bishop of Charleston (1927), which was perhaps his best work; and the useful general account, A History of the Councils of Baltimore, 1791–1884 (1932). Besides these, Guilday edited the joint pastorals of the American hierarchy in 1923 and, later, three volumes containing the papers read at annual meetings of the ACHA. He also wrote a monograph on the lay trustee troubles of the Church in Virginia (1924) and the only real biography of John Gilmary Shea (1926). Moreover, Guilday had gathered a good deal of material and had completed some rough drafts of chapters for a life of John Hughes, first Archbishop of New York. However, he was forced to abandon this project because of ill health.

In 1925, the University of Notre Dame was the first of eight institutions to confer an honorary degree on him; the last of these institutions was Fordham University, which conferred an honorary degree to him in the year of its centennial, 1940. In 1926, Guilday was decorated by the king of the Belgians for efforts on behalf of the restoration of the University of Louvain library. In 1935, Guilday was made a domestic prelate by pius xi. Death came to Guilday after a long period of suffering. According to his wishes, his funeral took place from the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, and he was buried in the University lot in Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Washington.

Bibliography: j. t. ellis, "Peter Guilday: March 25, 1884–July 31, 1947," American Catholic Historical Review 33 (1947) 257–268. j. j. kortendick, "Contemporary Catholic Authors: Monsignor Peter K. Guilday, Historian of the American Catholic Church," Catholic Library World 12 (May 1941) 263–269, 282.

[j. t. ellis]