James Duggan
| The Right Reverend James Duggan |
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|---|---|
| Bishop-Emeritus of Chicago | |
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| Church | Roman Catholic Church |
| See | Chicago |
| In office | January 21, 1859 – April 14, 1869 (resigned officially September 10, 1880) |
| Predecessor | Anthony O'Regan |
| Successor | Patrick Feehan |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | May 28, 1847 |
| Consecration | January 21, 1859 |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
May 22, 1825 Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland |
| Died | March 27, 1899 (aged 73) Saint Louis, Missouri |
| Previous post | Auxiliary Bishop of Saint Louis |
James Duggan (May 22, 1825 – March 27, 1899) was an Irish-American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the fourth bishop of the Diocese of Chicago from 1859 to 1869, officially resigning in 1880.
James Duggan was born on May 22, 1825 in Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland, a clothier’s son. At the invitation of St. Louis Archbishop Peter Kenrick, recruiting young men to fill the need for priests in the United States, he emigrated in 1842 to complete studies for the priesthood at St. Vincent’s Seminary in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. He was ordained a priest on May 29, 1847.
In 1854 Archbishop Kenrick appointed Duggan vicar general of St. Louis and then, after only five years of priesthood, appointed him temporary administrator of the Diocese of Chicago after Bishop James Oliver Van de Velde, the second bishop of Chicago, resigned in 1853.
On May 1, 1857, Kenrick consecrated Duggan titular bishop of Gabala and coadjutor bishop of St. Louis. Again he became administrator of the Diocese of Chicago when Bishop Anthony O'Regan, the third bishop of Chicago, resigned on June 25, 1858. On January 21, 1859 Bishop Duggan was appointed the fourth bishop of Chicago, aged only 34.
As bishop, Duggan faced challenges in Chicago: the legacy of the decade-long lack of leadership in the diocese (his two immediate predecessors having resigned suddenly), the effects of the financial panic of 1857, and of the Civil War. German Catholics were hostile to an Irish bishop. Irish-born priests were hostile to his stand against the Fenian Brotherhood: he denied the sacraments to anyone tied to this secret society. Some clergy felt Bishop Duggan did not do enough to support the University of St. Mary of the Lake with its seminary, the first chartered university in Illinois, at a time of crisis in enrollment and its finances.
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