Another of the distinguished prelates of the second half of the 19th century was Archbishop Martin John Spalding (1810-72), a descendant of a family that had been in this country for many generations. He became bishop of Louis ville in 1850 and archbishop of Baltimore in.
1864. The growth of the Church, and above all the number of conversions had attracted public attention more than ever to Catholicity and the patriotism of Catholics during the Civil War had moderated much of the intolerance felt toward the Church, and Americans were now more willing to listen to expositions of Catholic doctrine. Archbishop Spalding re sponded to a deeply felt want by his lectures in many parts of the country and by the breadth of his scholarly erudition succeeded in placing the Church's position properly before the minds of fair-minded Americans. He was the first to suggest the establishment of a Catholic Univer sity and to insist that intensive development of the intellectual life would add greatly to the Church's position. He came to be held in high esteem by prominent men of all classes and sects in the United States. When the Second Plenary Council of the Church in the United States met at Baltimore in 1866 under the pri macy of Archbishop Spalding the Catholic pop ulation had doubled to nearly 4,000,000, and though the increase was very largely due to Irish and German immigration, the feeling was grow ing throughout the country that our new citi zens were being trained to genuine Americanism under the influence of the Church whose hier archy was deeply patriotic in its policies.
Two distinguished prelates who have been called "Fathers of the American Church" were the Kenricks— Irish by birth but thoroughly American in their influence on the Church. Francis Patrick Kenrick was for a time bishop of Philadelphia (1830), and was transferred to the archbishopric of Baltimore in 1851. He was honored by his fellow citizens of Phila delphia for his courageous zeal during an awful epidemic of cholera and for his tact during the native American riots when 40 persons were killed in the city. His brother, Peter Richard Kenrick, became archbishop of Saint Louis in 1847 and lived to celebrate the golden jubilee of his consecration. His firm stand with regard to the Drake Test Law led to a decision by the United States Supreme Court which prevented threatened infringement of the constitutional guarantee of religious liberty.
In 1884 when the Third Plenary Council was held, under the primacy of Archbishop (now Cardinal) Gibbons, the Catholic population had actually doubled once more to 8,000,000. The new primate, Cardinal Gibbons, was destined to occupy a place of particular affection in the hearts of the American people and to be looked upon as a typical representative of all that was conservative in American life. His published opinions came to be looked upon as almost national messages, always read with attention and considered with reverence. The Church continued to grow rapidly under the favoring influence of religious liberty and doubled once more in numbers by the beginning of the new century.
Religious education came very early to be recognized as an extremely important factor for the Church's growth in the United States and for the conservation of the spirit of Chris tianity. The Catholic hierarchy was firmly per suaded, to use Herbert Spencer's word; that "it works grave mischief whenever intellectualiza tion precedes moralization." The first Catholic college. that of Georgetown, was established in 1789, the very year of the organization of the Union. Other colleges followed until now there are 22 universities, more than a dozen of them with over 1,000 students in attendance, some 200 colleges for boys with over 50,000 students in attendance, not including 102 ecclesiastical seminaries with some 7,000 students. Catholic higher education for women began with the establishment of the Visitation Academy, Georgetown, D. C., in 1799. Mrs. Seton's organization of the Sisters of Charity and the foundation of Saint Joseph's Academy, Em mittsburg, followed in 1809. The first institu tion for giving anything more than education in the ordinary branches to girls in New Eng land was the Ursuline Academy in Charlestown, Mass., opened in 1834 and though mainly at tended by the children of Protestant parents, burned down that year by a mob from Bostorkat the risk of the lives of some of the pupils. There are now some 700 Sisters' academies with over 100,000 pupils in attendance. In keeping with the times these have developed 39 colleges for women, some of them offering graduate as well as undergraduate instruction. The Sisters teach in the parochial schools, over 50,000 of them being devoted to this work, teaching more than 1,500,000 pupils.