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Peter Spellman Biography & Facts

Francis Joseph Spellman (May 4, 1889 – December 2, 1967) was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. From 1939 to his death, he served as the sixth archbishop of the Archdiocese of New York. Spellman previously served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Boston in Massachusetts from 1932 to 1939. He was created a cardinal in 1946. Early life and education Francis Spellman was born in Whitman, Massachusetts, to William Spellman and Ellen (née Conway) Spellman. William Spellman was a grocer whose own parents had emigrated to the United States from Clonmel and Leighlinbridge, Ireland. The eldest of five children, Spellman had two brothers, Martin and John, and two sisters, Marian and Helene. Spellman attended Whitman High School because there was no Catholic school in Whitman. He enjoyed photography and baseball; he played first base during his freshman year of high school until suffering a hand injury. Spellman later managed the team. After his high school graduation, Spellman in 1907 entered Fordham University in New York City . He graduated in 1911 and decided to study for the priesthood. He was then sent by Archbishop William O'Connell to study at the Pontifical North American College in Rome. Spellman suffered so badly from pneumonia that the college administrators wanted to send him home to recover. He nevertheless remained at the college and managed to complete his theological studies.During his years in Rome, Spellman befriended future Cardinals Gaetano Bisleti, Francesco Borgongini Duca, and Domenico Tardini. Priesthood Spellman was ordained a priest by Patriarch Giuseppe Ceppetelli on May 14, 1916. Upon his return to the United States, he did pastoral work in the Archdiocese of Boston. Cardinal William O'Connell, who had earlier sent Spellman to Rome, took an apparent dislike to the young priest, referred to him as a "little popinjay," and later said, "Francis epitomizes what happens to a bookkeeper when you teach him how to read." Spellman served a series of relatively insignificant assignments. After the United States entered World War I in 1917, Spellman applied to become a military chaplain in the US Army but did not meet the height requirement. Spellman's comparable application to the US Navy was personally rejected, twice, by the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Franklin D. Roosevelt. Finally, O'Connell assigned him to promote subscriptions for the archdiocesan newspaper, The Pilot, instead. He was named assistant chancellor in 1918 and in 1924 archivist of the archdiocese. After translating into English two books written by his friend Borgongini Duca, Spellman was made the first American attaché of the Vatican Secretariat of State in 1925. He also worked with the Knights of Columbus in running children's playgrounds in Rome, and was raised to the rank of Privy Chamberlain on October 4, 1926, by Pope Pius XI. During a trip to Germany in 1927, Spellman established a lifelong friendship with Archbishop Eugenio Pacelli, who was serving as Apostolic Nuncio. He translated Pius XI's first broadcast over Vatican Radio in 1931. Later that year, Spellman was charged with smuggling Non abbiamo bisogno, the papal encyclical condemning Italian Dictator Benito Mussolini, out of Rome to Paris, where he then delivered it to the press; he was subsequently attacked by Italian newspapers. He also served as secretary to Cardinal Lorenzo Lauri at the 1932 International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin, and helped reform the Vatican's press office, introducing mimeograph machines and issuing press releases. Episcopal career Auxiliary Bishop of Boston On July 30, 1932, Spellman was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Boston and Titular Bishop of Sila by Pope Pius XI. Spellman had originally been considered for the Dioceses of Portland, Maine, and Manchester, New Hampshire. He received his consecration on the following September 8 from Pacelli (wearing the vestments Pacelli wore when he was consecrated by Benedict XV), with Archbishops Giuseppe Pizzardo and Francesco Borgongini Duca serving as co-consecrators, at St. Peter's Basilica. His was the first consecration of an American bishop ever held at St. Peter's. Borgongini-Duca designed for him a coat of arms incorporating Columbus's ship the Santa Maria. Pope Pius XI gave him the motto Sequere Deum ("follow God"). After his return to the United States, Spellman resided at St. John's Seminary in Brighton, Massachusetts. He was later made pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Newton Centre; there he erased the church's $43,000 debt through different fundraising activities. When his mother died in 1935, her funeral was attended by Massachusetts Governor James Curley, Lieutenant Governor Joseph Hurley, and many members of the clergy, with the exception of O'Connell. In the autumn of 1936, Cardinal Pacelli came to the United States and visited New York City, Washington, D.C., Boston, Saint Paul, and Chicago. The ostensible purpose of the trip was personal; he was to be the guest of Genevieve Brady, the wealthy widow of Nicholas Brady. However, during the trip Pacelli met with Roosevelt to discuss diplomatic recognition of the sovereignty of Vatican City. Spellman was present at the meeting, which he arranged to take place at the president's boyhood home at Hyde Park, New York, on November 5, 1936, two days after his reelection to a second term. Pacelli also looked into the "Radio Priest", Father Charles Coughlin of Detroit. Though an early supporter of Roosevelt, Coughlin became increasingly disenchanted with him and made increasingly sharp national radio attacks on Roosevelt and the New Deal. He also expressed sympathy for the governments of Hitler and Mussolini as opponents of communism. The Catholic hierarchy, for its part, did not like Coughlin. The Vatican and the Apostolic Legation in Washington wanted him silenced. Spellman worked with Joseph P. Kennedy and Pacelli to stop Coughlin. However, only Coughlin's superior, Bishop Michael Gallagher of Detroit, had the canonical authority to curb him, and Gallagher supported Coughlin. Coughlin was in Boston at the same time as Pacelli, but they did not meet. In 1939, Coughlin was finally forced off the air under rules adopted by the Code Committee of the National Association of Broadcasters. Archbishop of New York After the death of Pope Pius XI, Pacelli was elected as Pope Pius XII, and one of his first acts was to appoint Spellman the sixth Archbishop of New York on April 15, 1939. Spellman succeeded the late Cardinal Patrick Joseph Hayes and was formally installed as Archbishop on the following May 23. He was painted twice in 1940 and again in 1941 by the prominent Swiss-born American Catholic artist Adolfo Müller-Ury. The first regularly-scheduled masses in Spanish in New York began when Spellman gave authorization to the Redemptorists at St. Cecilia's Parish in East Harlem. In addition to his duties as diocesan bishop, he was named Apostolic Vicar for the U.S. Arme.... Discover the Peter Spellman popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Peter Spellman books.