This week in Christian history: First Chinese Methodist convert, Swiss Reformation leader born

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, July 14, 2024

John Hughes becomes first archbishop of New York – July 19, 1850

John Joseph Hughes (1797-1864), a Catholic Church leader who became the first head of the Archdiocese of New York. | Public Domain

This week marks the anniversary of when John Joseph Hughes, a native of Ulster, Ireland, became the first archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York.

Hughes had been serving as bishop of Catholic Diocese of New York since 1842, when the pope decided to elevate the regional body to the status of an archdiocese, making Hughes an archbishop.

“Among the various causes championed by Hughes, his influence is felt especially in the realm of higher education. He founded Manhattan College, St. John's College (now Fordham University), Fordham Prep, the Academy of Mount St. Vincent (not the College of Mount Saint Vincent), and Marymount College,” noted Old New York Tours.

“Archbishop Hughes died on January 3, 1864, and was buried at The Basilica of Saint Patrick's Old Cathedral, (also known as Old St. Patrick's) on Mulberry Street below Houston Street. His remains were then exhumed in 1883, and interred in the crypt under the alter of the new cathedral."