Samuel Alphonsius Stritch (August 17, 1887 – May 27, 1958) was an American Cardinal

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Christian clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which means 'carry before', 'be set above or over' or 'pref ...

of the

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. He served as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago from 1940 to 1958 and as pro-prefect of the Sacred Congregation for Propagation of the Faith from March 1958 until his death two months later. He was elevated to the cardinalate by Pope Pius XII in 1946.

Early life and education

Samuel Stritch was born in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and t ...

, to Garret (Gerard) (1839–1896) and Katherine (née O'Malley) Stritch. His mother immigrated to the United States from Ireland with her parents at a young age, and settled in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana borde ...

, where the family ran a boarding house. His father was born in Ballyheigue, Kerry but came to Louisville from

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in 1879, boarded with the O'Malleys, and married Katherine in 1880. Garret later worked as the manager of Sycamore Mills, a subsidiary of DuPont, in Nashville. The second youngest of eight children, Samuel had two brothers and five sisters and they attended the Church of the Assumption. Considered something of a child prodigy, he finished grammar school at age 10 and high school at 14. In 1901, he entered

St. Gregory's Preparatory Seminary ST, St, or St. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Stanza, in poetry * Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band * Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise * Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy ...

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, from where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1903. Bishop Thomas Sebastian Byrne then sent Stritch to study at the Pontifical Urbanian Athenaeum ''De Propaganda Fide'' in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, where he resided at the

Pontifical North American College The Pontifical North American College (NAC) is a Roman Catholic educational institution in Rome, Italy, that prepares seminarians to become priests in the United States and elsewhere. The NAC also provides a residence for priests who are pur ...

. He later earned his doctorates in philosophy and in theology. While in Rome, he also befriended Eugenio Pacelli, who later became Pope Pius XII.

Priesthood

Stritch was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform var ...

to the priesthood by Cardinal Pietro Respighi on May 21, 1910, at the Lateran Basilica. At age 22, he was below the age requirement for ordination but was granted a dispensation by

Pope Pius X Pope Pius X ( it, Pio X; born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto; 2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914) was head of the Catholic Church from 4 August 1903 to his death in August 1914. Pius X is known for vigorously opposing modernist interpretations of ...

, who said, " tritchis young in years but old in intelligence. Let him be ordained." Upon returning to the

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, he did

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work in the

Diocese of Nashville The Diocese of Nashville ( la, Dioecesis Nashvillensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church that encompasses 38 counties spread over 16,302 square miles of Middle Tennessee. The Catholic population of the d ...

. He served as

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of St. Patrick's Church in Memphis from 1911 to 1913, whence he became private secretary to Bishop Byrne. Stritch was named

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in March 1917, and a

Domestic Prelate of His Holiness A Prelate of Honour of His Holiness is a Catholic prelate to whom the Pope has granted this title of honour. They are addressed as Monsignor and have certain privileges as regards clerical clothing.Bishop of Toledo, Ohio, by

Pope Benedict XV Pope Benedict XV (Ecclesiastical Latin, Latin: ''Benedictus XV''; it, Benedetto XV), born Giacomo Paolo Giovanni Battista della Chiesa, name=, group= (; 21 November 185422 January 1922), was head of the Catholic Church from 1914 until his deat ...

. He received his episcopal consecration on the following November 30 from Archbishop Henry K. Moeller, with Bishops John Baptist Morris and Thomas Edmund Molloy serving as

co-consecrators A consecrator is a bishop who ordains someone to the episcopacy. A co-consecrator is someone who assists the consecrator bishop in the act of ordaining a new bishop. The terms are used in the canon law of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Churches ...

. At age 34, he was the youngest bishop in the United States at the time. During his tenure in Toledo, Stritch established Mary Manse College in 1922 and incorporated the diocesan

Catholic Charities The Catholic Church operates numerous charitable organizations. Catholic spiritual teaching includes spreading the Gospel, while Catholic social teaching emphasises support for the sick, the poor and the afflicted through the corporal and spi ...

in 1923. He also oversaw the beginning of the construction of Holy Rosary Cathedral, whose cornerstone was laid by János Cardinal Csernoch in 1926. While in Toledo Stritch presided at the

confirmation In Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant (religion), covenant created in baptism. Those being confirmed are known as confirmands. For adults, it is an wikt:affirmation, affirma ...

Danny Thomas Danny Thomas (born Amos Muzyad Yaqoob Kairouz; January 6, 1912 – February 6, 1991) was an American actor, singer, nightclub comedian, producer, and philanthropist. He created and starred in one of the most successful and long-running si ...

. Stritch would mentor Thomas throughout his life and urge him to locate

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is a pediatric treatment and research facility located in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1962, it is a 501(c)(3) designated nonprofit medical corporation which focuses on children's catastrophic diseases, pa ...

in Memphis.

Archbishop of Milwaukee

Following the death of Sebastian Gebhard Messmer, Stritch was named the fifth

archbishop of Milwaukee The Archdiocese of Milwaukee ( la, Archidiœcesis Milvauchiensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the United States. It encompasses the City of Milwauk ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, on August 26, 1930. He suffered from periods of depression early in his tenure, but joined nationwide feelings of optimism with the 1932 election of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Stritch was active in providing support to the victims of the Great Depression. It was because of the Depression that he refused to restore either the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, which was heavily damaged by a fire in 1935, or St. Francis Seminary. Stritch was an advocate for

Catholic Action Catholic Action is the name of groups of lay Catholics who advocate for increased Catholic influence on society. They were especially active in the nineteenth century in historically Catholic countries under anti-clerical regimes such as Spain, I ...

and the Catholic Youth Organization. An opponent of the controversial Rev. Charles Coughlin, he once wrote a letter to a Milwaukee

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

in which, making an implicit reference to Coughlin, the archbishop rebuked those who "gain and hold a popular audience, degrade themselves and abuse the trust reposed in them by misquoting, half-quoting, and actually insinuating half-truths." In November 1939, he was elected chairman of the National Catholic Welfare Conference, the predecessor of the

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is the episcopal conference of the Catholic Church in the United States. Founded in 1966 as the joint National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) and United States Catholic Conference (US ...

. He also served as vice-chancellor of the Extension Society.

Archbishop of Chicago

Despite Stritch's protests, Pope Pius XII appointed him the fourth

archbishop of Chicago The Archdiocese of Chicago ( la, Archidiœcesis Chicagiensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese of the Catholic Church located in Northeastern Illinois, in the United States. It was established as a diocese in 1843 and ...

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, on December 27, 1939. Succeeding the late Cardinal

George Mundelein George William Mundelein (July 2, 1872 – October 2, 1939) was an American cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Chicago from 1915 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1924. Early life and ministr ...

, Stritch was formally installed on January 3, 1940. He was the personal choice of

Apostolic Delegate An apostolic nuncio ( la, nuntius apostolicus; also known as a papal nuncio or simply as a nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a state or to an international org ...

Amleto Giovanni Cicognani Amleto Giovanni Cicognani (24 February 1883 – 17 December 1973) was an Italian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Vatican Secretary of State from 1961 to 1969, and Dean of the College of Cardinals from 1972 until his death. C ...

for the post, although President Roosevelt was reputed to have wanted Bishop Bernard James Sheil instead. Pius XII created him

Cardinal-Priest A cardinal ( la, Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae cardinalis, literally 'cardinal of the Holy Roman Church') is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church. Cardinals are created by the ruling pope and typically hold the title for life. Col ...

of ''

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'' in the consistory of February 18, 1946. As archbishop, Stritch oversaw the establishment of the first American chapter of the organization

Opus Dei Opus Dei, formally known as the Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei ( la, Praelatura Sanctae Crucis et Operis Dei), is an institution of the Catholic Church whose members seek personal Christian holiness and strive to imbue their work a ...

, the launching of the Christian Family Movement, and an outreach to the Puerto Rican community. On July 21, 1952, he delivered the

invocation An invocation (from the Latin verb ''invocare'' "to call on, invoke, to give") may take the form of: *Supplication, prayer or spell. *A form of possession. * Command or conjuration. * Self-identification with certain spirits. These forms a ...

at the opening session of the 1952 Democratic National Convention, saying "Today we face a crisis as grave as that of

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." He asked for Divine protection against "the aggression of those within and without of Godless enslaving political systems and of those who wittingly or unwittingly seek to take away our freedoms by their advocacy of materialism and Godless humanism." In July 1954, he issued a pastoral letter exhorting Illinois Catholics to abstain from the assembly of the

World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most ju ...

at Evanston, writing, "The Catholic Church does not...enter into any organization in which the delegates of many sects sit down in council or conference as equals...She does not allow her children to engage in any activity...based on the false assumption that Roman Catholics, too, are still searching for the truth of Christ," to the dismay of several Protestant and

ecumenical Ecumenism (), also spelled oecumenism, is the concept and principle that Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The wo ...

figures. However, earlier in 1943, Stritch attended a peace program held by Protestant, Catholic,

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or " canoni ...

, and Jewish leaders.

Pro-Prefect of the Congregation for the Propagation of Faith

On March 1, 1958, he was appointed pro-

prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect's ...

of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of Faith, thus becoming the first American to head a

dicastery A dicastery (from gr, δικαστήριον, dikastērion, law-court, from δικαστής, 'judge, juror') is the name of some departments of the Roman Curia. ''Pastor bonus'' ''Pastor bonus'' (1988), includes this definition: ''Praed ...

of the Roman Curia. As pro-prefect, Stritch directed the Church's missionary efforts. In May that same year, a blood clot required the Cardinal's right arm to be amputated above the elbow. Following the operation, he suffered a stroke on May 19, and died eight days later, at age 70. After lying in state at the North American College and the Cathedral of the Holy Name in Chicago, he was interred in the Bishops'

Mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be con ...

at Mount Carmel Cemetery in

Hillside, Illinois Hillside is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 8,320. Geography Hillside is located at (41.874797, −87.900372). According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Hillside has a total ar ...

, on June 3.

Family

Entertainer

Elaine Stritch Elaine Stritch (February 2, 1925 – July 17, 2014) was an American actress, best known for her work on Broadway and later, television. She made her professional stage debut in 1944 and appeared in numerous stage plays, musicals, feature films ...

was his first cousin once removed.

Legacy

Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee is named for him, as are Cardinal Stritch High School in

Oregon, Ohio Oregon is a city in Lucas County, Ohio. It is a lakefront suburb of Toledo, located on Lake Erie, just east of the city. Oregon is known for its scenic lakefront, bike trails, and Maumee Bay State Park. The population was 19,950 at the 20 ...

, a former junior and senior high school in

Keokuk, Iowa Keokuk is a city in and a county seat of Lee County, Iowa, United States, along with Fort Madison. It is Iowa's southernmost city. The population was 9,900 at the time of the 2020 census. The city is named after the Sauk chief Keokuk, who is ...

, the Stritch School of Medicine at

Loyola University Chicago Loyola University Chicago (Loyola or LUC) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1870 by the Society of Jesus, Loyola is one of the largest Catholic Church, Catholic univers ...

, and Knights of Columbus 4th Degree Assembly
Samuel Cardinal Stritch Assembly #205

References

External links

Official site of the Holy See
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stritch, Samuel 1887 births 1958 deaths 21st-century American cardinals American Roman Catholic clergy of Irish descent Roman Catholic archbishops of Chicago Roman Catholic archbishops of Milwaukee Burials at the Bishop's Mausoleum, Mount Carmel Cemetery (Hillside) Cardinals created by Pope Pius XII Catholics from Tennessee Members of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith People from Chicago People from Nashville, Tennessee Pontifical Urban University alumni Religious leaders from Wisconsin Roman Catholic bishops of Toledo Religious leaders from Tennessee