HEUSER, HERMAN JOSEPH

Author, editor; b. Potsdam, Germany, Oct. 28, 1852;d. Overbrook, Pa., Aug. 22, 1933. Having been educated in Berlin and in Breslau, Germany, he went in 1870 to Philadelphia, Pa., where he continued his theology at St. Charles Seminary, Overbrook. He was a student teacher in the preparatory department of the seminary from 1870 to 1876. Ordained in Philadelphia on Feb. 2, 1876, he became a professor at Overbrook, teaching languages at first, and then, for most of his years, Sacred Scripture. After serving as assistant editor to Msgr. James Corcoran for the American Catholic Quarterly Review, he founded the American Ecclesiastical Review in 1899. As its editor (1899–1914, 1919–27), he influenced scholarly circles throughout the world and clerical life in the U.S. In 1897 he began to publicize the novels of Canon Patrick A. Sheehan of Doneraile, Ireland, whose My New Curate was written specifically for and appeared serially in Heuser's magazine. Heuser also organized and directed the Dolphin Press of Philadelphia, which printed many ecclesiastical books. From 1900 to 1908 he published the Dolphin, a general Catholic literary magazine that had begun as a book supplement to the American Ecclesiastical Review.

Heuser's activities were varied. In addition to clerical subjects, he was interested in art, architecture, and music. He was frequently consulted by religious orders, and helped to write the constitutions of the Sisters of Mercy of Merion, Pa., where his sister was for a time superior general, and of Mother M. Katherine Drexel's Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. He was an adviser to the Pontifical Commission on Anglican Orders in 1896, and received an honorary degree of doctor of sacred theology from (St.) Pius X. In 1907, during the controversy over Modernism, he was appointed by the apostolic delegate as general censor for all Catholic publications in the U.S. He was the author of 15 books, principally on clerical and religious subjects. In 1927 he retired from his editorial and professorial duties, and deeded the American Ecclesiastical Review to The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C.

Bibliography: Historical Collections of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia, St. Charles Seminary, Philadelphia, Pa. e. j. galbally, American Ecclesiastical Review 89 (1933) 337–360. h. t. henry, "Some Memories of the Founder of the Review, " ibid. 100 (1939) 8–21. j. g. hubbert, "For the Upbuilding of the Church": The Reverend Herman Joseph Heuser, D.D., 1851–1933, 3 vols. (Washington, D.C. 1992).

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