''The Pilot'' is the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston and claims the title of "America's Oldest Catholic Newspaper", having been in continuous publication since its first issue on September 5, 1829. Although the first Catholic newspaper in the United States, '' The United States Catholic Miscellany'' of

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

, was founded seven years earlier in 1822, it ceased publication in 1861. The paper was founded by Bishop

Benedict Joseph Fenwick Benedict Joseph Fenwick (September 3, 1782 – August 11, 1846) was an American Catholic prelate, Jesuit, and educator who served as the Bishop of Boston from 1825 until his death in 1846. In 1843, he founded the College of the Holy Cross in ...

, the second bishop of Boston, at a time of increased Irish immigration to the United States and rising anti-Catholic animus to the newcomers' church. In its first edition, Bishop Fenwick wrote that the newspaper's purpose was to defend against the "crying calumnies and gross misrepresentations which in this section of the country have been so long, so unsparingly, so cruelly heaped upon the Church."A Brief History of the ''Boston Pilot''
''Information Wanted,'' Database of Irish immigrants, Boston College, accessed 16 April 2011 In 1834, Fenwick sold the publication to two laymen—Henry Devereux, the publisher, and

Patrick Donahoe Patrick Donahoe (born Munnery, County Cavan, Ireland, 17 March 1811; died Boston, U.S.A., 18 March 1901) was a publisher who founded influential magazines for the Irish Catholic community in his adopted country. Early life Patrick Donahoe was bor ...

, an employee who quickly became the newspaper's sole proprietor. In 1838, Donahoe became editor, and he maintained control of the newspaper until his death in 1891. During much of the 19th century, ''The Pilot'' acquired a reputation of being an Irish-American cultural newspaper. The great majority of Boston's Catholics were originally immigrants from Ireland, with tens of thousands arriving during and after the Great Famine. Notable editors linked to the movement for Irish independence include

John Boyle O'Reilly John Boyle O'Reilly (28 June 1844 – 10 August 1890) was an Irish poet, journalist, author and activist. As a youth in Ireland, he was a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, or Fenians, for which he was transported to Western Australi ...

James Jeffrey Roche James Jeffrey Roche (May 31, 1847April 3, 1908) was an Irish-American poet, journalist and diplomat. Roche emigrated as a young child, and grew up in Prince Edward Island, Canada. He came to Boston in 1866, and joined the staff of the Irish new ...

and

Thomas D'Arcy McGee Thomas D'Arcy McGee (13 April 18257 April 1868) was an Irish-Canadian politician, Catholic spokesman, journalist, poet, and a Father of Canadian Confederation. The young McGee was an Irish Catholic who opposed British rule in Ireland, and w ...

. Archbishop

William Henry O'Connell William Henry O'Connell (December 8, 1859 – April 22, 1944) was an American cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Boston from 1907 until his death in 1944, and was made a cardinal in 1911. Early life William O'Connell wa ...

purchased the paper in 1908 and turned it into the official voice of Boston's

archdiocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

. He closely monitored its editorial policies and sought to promote its readership among local Catholic families. In 1979, ''The Pilot'' celebrated its 150th anniversary and featured special information about the newspaper's history. As of 2004, its circulation was of 23,039 printed copies. In 2006, the newspaper launched its online edition, TheBostonPilot.com, which offers expanded content and multimedia features.

Titles

Beginning as ''The Jesuit or Catholic Sentinel'', the newspaper's name was changed several times in its first seven years. Titles included ''The Jesuit'', ''The United States Catholic Intelligencer'', and ''The Literary and Catholic Sentinel''. By 1836, Patrick Donahoe changed the name of the newspaper to ''The Boston Pilot'', partly in tribute to the ''

Dublin Pilot Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 cen ...

''. In 1858, the newspaper's Old English nameplate ''The Pilot'' appeared for the first time, under the editorship of Father Joseph M. Finotti, along with the motto, "Be just and fear not, let all the ends thou aim'st at be thy God's, thy Country's and Truth's". Despite the fact that the name ''The Pilot'' and its logo have remained essentially unchanged for over 150 years, it is not uncommon for the newspaper to be referred to as ''The Boston Pilot'' to this day.

References

External links

Official website''The Pilot''
Archdiocese of Boston Official Website
"Information Wanted"
A Database of Advertisements for Irish Immigrants Published in the ''Boston Pilot'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Pilot Catholic newspapers published in the United States Publications established in 1829 Irish-American culture in Boston 1829 establishments in Massachusetts Irish-American press

Titles

References

Further reading

External links