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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Biography of Michael A. Corrigan
Scope and Content of the Collection
Detailed Description of the Collection
Michael A. Corrigan papers
Collection Summary |
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| Creator: | Corrigan, Michael Augustine, 1839-1902. |
| Title: | Michael A. Corrigan papers |
| Dates: | 1869-1873 |
| Quantity: | 4 linear inches (26 folders) |
| Identification: | SHU 3.3 |
| Repository: | The Monsignor William Noé Field Archives & Special Collections Center |
| Abstract: | Records of the third President of Seton Hall College (now Seton Hall University). |
Biography of Michael A. Corrigan
Michael A. Corrigan was the third President of Seton Hall College (now Seton Hall University). A native of Newark NJ, the future Bishop was born on August 13, 1839, the fifth child in Thomas and Mary (English) Corrigan's household of nine. His parents emigrated from Ireland in the 1820s, and his father's grocer business and real estate investments enabled them to provide for Michael's education. Corrigan attended St. Mary's College in Wilmington, Delaware from 1853-1855 and upon graduating, entered Mount St. Mary's College in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Despite spending a year in Europe with his sister, Michael received his degree with first honors in 1859. Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley, learning of Corrigan's intention to study for the priesthood, assigned him to the first class of the newly established American College at Rome. Cardinal Patrizi conferred ordination on the seminarian on September 19, 1863, and a Doctor of Divinity degree followed one year later.
Shortly after returning to Newark in August 1864, Corrigan was appointed director of Seton Hall's Seminary of the Immaculate Conception and Professor of Dogmatic Theology and Sacred Scripture. In 1865, he became vice President of Seton Hall College, subsequently succeeding Bernard J. McQuaid as College President and Vicar General of the Diocese in 1868.
Pius IX appointed Corrigan Bishop of Newark in 1873, with the consecration taking place in St. Patrick's Cathedral on May 4th of that year. He served there until October 1, 1880, when Cardinal McCloskey, Archbishop of New York, and his suffragen Bishops agreed upon the Newark prelate as coadjutor with right of succession. Upon McCloskey's death in 1885, Corrigan automatically became Archbishop of New York.
For the next seventeen years, the Archbishop became embroiled in virtually every major controversy touching the American Church. A strict canonist, stalwart advocate of parochial schooling and unyielding opponent of secret societies, Corrigan gained wide renown as a principal spokesman for the Church's conservative wing. Widely publicized conflicts with Rev. Edward McGlynn and Archbishop John Ireland added to his reputation.
While conducting a visitation in the Bahamas, Corrigan contracted a severe cold and died on May 5, 1902.
More detailed biographical information might be obtained by consulting Carl Derivaux Hinrichsen's Ph.D. dissertation The History of the Diocese of Newark 1873 - 1901, Catholic University, October 1962; the same author's chapter on Bishop Corrigan in the New Jersey Catholic Historical Records Commission's The Bishops of Newark, 1979; and James A. Mooney, Memorial to M. A. Corrigan, 1902. Also Robert Emmett Curran's Michael Augustine Corrigan and the Shaping of Conservative Catholicism in America, 1878-1902, Arno Press 1978.
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Scope and Content of the Collection
The collection contains correspondence and financial documents from the third President of Seton Hall University. Included is correspondence with both Board of Trustee members as well as students. Financial records in the form of bills forms the remainder of the items.
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Arrangement of the Papers
The papers are arranged into 2 series:
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Restrictions
Restrictions on Access
Collection is open to researchers at the Msgr. William Noé Field Archives & Special Collections Center. Advance appointments are required for the use of archival materials.
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Related Material
Michael A. Corrigan records, Archdiocese of Newark records, record group 2.
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Index Terms
Persons:
Organizations:
Document Types:
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Administrative Information
Preferred Citation:
Michael A. Corrigan papers, The Monsignor Noé Field Archives & Special Collections Center, Walsh Library, Seton Hall University.
Processing Information
Re-processed and finding aid reformatted, M. Kenny, March 2007
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Detailed Description of the Collection
| Series I: Correspondence, 1871-1873 | |||||||||||
| Box | Folder | Description | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | Board of Trustees, 1871-1873 | |||||||||
| 1 | 8 | Faculty and clergy, 1871-1873 | |||||||||
| 1 | 9 | Students, A-Bl, 1871-1873 | |||||||||
| 1 | 10 | Students, Br-C, 1871-1873 | |||||||||
| 1 | 11 | Students, D-Fab, 1871-1873 | |||||||||
| 1 | 12 | Students, Fal-Fe, 1871-1873 | |||||||||
| 1 | 13 | Students, Fl-Gl, 1871-1873 | |||||||||
| 1 | 14 | Students, Gr-Ha, 1871-1873 | |||||||||
| 1 | 15 | Students, He-K, 1871-1873 | |||||||||
| 1 | 16 | Students, L-Mc, 1871-1873 | |||||||||
| 1 | 17 | Students, Mo, 1871-1873 | |||||||||
| 1 | 18 | Students, Mu-Pre, 1871-1873 | |||||||||
| 1 | 19 | Students, Pri-Quinl, 1871-1873 | |||||||||
| 1 | 20 | Students, Quint-R, 1871-1873 | |||||||||
| 1 | 21 | Students, S-T, 1871-1873 | |||||||||
| 1 | 22 | Students, W-Z; requests for circulars, 1871-1873 | |||||||||
| 1 | 23 | Job applicants, A-O, 1871-1873 | |||||||||
| 1 | 24 | Job applicants, P-Z, 1871-1873 | |||||||||
| 1 | 25 | General, January 1871 - March 1872 | |||||||||
| 1 | 26 | General, April - September 1872 | |||||||||
| 1 | 27 | General, October 1872 - March 1873 and undated | |||||||||
| Series II: Bills, 1869-1873 | |||||||||||
| Box | Folder | Description | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 28 | A-C, 1871-1873 | |||||||||
| 1 | 29 | D-M, 1871-1873 | |||||||||
| 1 | 30 | N-Q, 1871-1873 | |||||||||
| 1 | 31 | R-Z, 1871-1873 | |||||||||
| 1 | 32 | Note payable, May 22, 1869 | |||||||||