Everything about Richard Cushing totally explained
Richard Cardinal Cushing (
August 24 1895 —
November 2 1970) was an
American prelate of the
Roman Catholic Church. He served as
Archbishop of Boston from
1944 to
1970, and was elevated to the
cardinalate in
1958.
Biography
Richard James Cushing was born in
South Boston to Patrick Cushing, a blacksmith, and Mary (née Dahill) Cushing,
Irish emigrants. Graduating from
Boston College in
1917, he attended
St. John's Seminary in
Brighton and was later
ordained to the
priesthood by
William Cardinal O'Connell on
May 26 1921. Cushing then did
pastoral work in
Boston until
1939. During that time, he also served as assistant director (
1922-
1929) and then director (1929-
1944) of the
Society for the Propagation of the Faith, and was raised to the rank of
Monsignor on
May 14 1939.
On
June 10 1939, he was appointed
Auxiliary Bishop of
Boston and
Titular Bishop of
Mela. Cushing received his
episcopal consecration on the following
June 29 from Cardinal O'Connell, with Bishops
John Peterson and
Thomas Emmet,
SJ, serving as
co-consecrators. He took as his episcopal
motto:
Ut Cognoscant Te ("That they may know thee").
Cushing was named the third
Archbishop of Boston on
September 25 1944, following Cardinal O'Connell's death. Cushing was persistent in his efforts to persuade the U.S. government to engage in trade with the Fascist
Spanish government of
Francisco Franco. During his tenure, Boston would also see the
excommunication of
Fr. Leonard Feeney, SJ for his stringent interpretation of the Catholic doctrine that
there is no salvation outside the Church. Feeney refused to back down from his position, although it has been reported that he was ultimately reconciled with the church before his death. After the death of Pius XII, Cushing published a moving tribute to him. In 1959, Cushing published a biography of the late
Pope Pius XII (1939-1958), depicting the late pope as "Pope of Peace".
He was essentially tasked with making the
Roman Catholic Church acceptable to the general American population in preparation for then-Senator
John F. Kennedy's run for the
White House. Part of this would include reaching out to the non-Catholics of Boston battered and scarred by the long sectarian reign of Cardinal O'Connell, who had made Boston into his own
Hibernian and Catholic fiefdom (as per
Militant and Triumphant: William Henry O'Connell and the Catholic Church in Boston, 1895-1944).
Cushing was created
Cardinal Priest of
S. Susanna by
Pope John XXIII in the
consistory of
December 15 1958. He was also one of the
cardinal electors in the
1963 papal conclave, which selected
Pope Paul VI.
The Cardinal was a close friend of the
Kennedy family. He officiated at the
marriage of John F. Kennedy and
Jacqueline Lee Bouvier in
1953, at which he also read a special prayer from
Pope Pius XII, and baptized many of the Kennedy children. Cushing gave the prayer invocation at Kennedy's inauguration in 1961. The Cardinal also celebrated
President Kennedy's funeral Mass in
1963 at St. Matthew's Cathedral in
Washington, D.C.
The day before the funeral, he gave a
televised eulogy for the assassinated President. Cushing later publicly defended Jacqueline Kennedy after her marriage to
Aristotle Onassis in
1968. He subsequently received a large amount of
hate mail and was contradicted by the
Vatican.
At the
Second Vatican Council (
1962-
1965) Cushing played a vital role in drafting
Nostra Aetate, the document that officially absolved the Jews of
deicide charge. His emotional comments during debates over the drafts were echoed in the final version:
» 1. We must cast the Declaration on the Jews in a much more positive form, one not so timid, but much more loving ... For the sake of our common heritage we, the children of Abraham according to the spirit, must foster a special reverence and love for the children of Abraham according to the flesh. As children of Adam, they're our kin, as children of Abraham they're Christ's blood relatives. 2. So far as the guilt of Jews in the death of our Saviour is concerned, the rejection of the Messiah by His own, is according to Scripture, a mystery—a mystery given us for our instruction, not for our self-exhaltation ... We can't sit in judgement on the onetime leaders of Israel—God alone is their judge. Much less can we burden later generations of Jews with any burden of guilt for the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus, for the death of the Saviour of the world, except that universal guilt in which we all have a part ... In clear and unmistakable language, we must deny, therefore, that the Jews are guilty of our Saviour's death. We must condemn especially those who seek to justify, as Christian deeds, discriminaion, hated and even persecution of Jews ... 3. I ask myself, Venerable Brothers, whether we shouldn't humbly acknowledge before the whole world that, toward their Jewish brethren, Christians have all too often not shown themselves as true Christians, as faithful followers of Christ. How many [Jews] have suffered in our own time? How many died because Christians were indifferent and kept silent? ... If in recent years, not many Christian voices were raised against those injustices, at least let ours now be heard in humility.
He was deeply committed to implementing the Council's reforms and promoting
renewal in the Church. In an unprecedented gesture of
ecumenism, he even encouraged Catholics to attend
Billy Graham's crusades. Cushing
strongly condemned
Communism, particularly the regime of
Josip Broz Tito.
Cushing resigned as Boston's archbishop on
September 8 1970, after twenty-five years of service. Less than two months later, he died from
cancer in Boston at the age of 75, and was buried in
Hanover, Massachusetts at the chapel of St. Colette's School for Exceptional Children. .
Biography of Pope Pius XII
In 1959, Richard Cardinal Cushing published his only book, a biography of the late
Pope Pius XII (1939-1958). It is an almost hagiographic biography, written shortly after the death of the Pontiff. Cushing depicted him as the
“Pope of Peace”, who, armed only with the spiritual weapons of his office triumphed over insidious attacks, that seemed about to destroy the center of Christendom. Nations, paid him respect and the faithful, throughout the world, were inspired to resist the disintegration forces, that were working for the collapse of wordly empires. As a person,
Pius XII was a simple but true priest, a pastor, selflessly dedicated to the highest interests of the Church and the greater glory of God.
- Armed only with the spiritual weapons of his office and fortified by the promise of Christ that the gates of hell wouldn't prevail against the Church. he triumphed over insidious attacks of the secularists and coarser invectives of the atheists. His name became a rallying point for all men of good will who seek the blessings of peace with justice.
During five years of bloody warfare, that international diplomacy was unable to avert, the Pope of Peace, skilfully, patiently and prayerfully warded off the attacks that seemed about to destroy the center of Christendom. With unshakable courage, he remained within the narrow limits in which he possessed diplomatic immunity. From the contending nations, he commanded respect for the cause of Christ. Within the souls of the faithful, throughout the world, he inspired determination to resist the disintegration forces, that were working for the collapse of worldly empires.
What was uppermost in my mind is that he was to the very end a true priest, He edified those who knew him most intimately by the austerity and fervor of his personal life. He was truly universal in his outlook … More than anything he was a pastor, a Good Shepard of souls, selflessly dedicated to the highest interests of the Church and the greater glory of God.
After this publication, Cushing abstained from publishing any further books. The book continues to have value, however, because it contains a large appendix with detailed explanations of all Vatican offices and Curia congregations, and legal entities of the Vatican, many of which don't exist anymore. Others have new names. Therefore the Cushing book provides an encyclopedic introduction into the Vatican, as it existed before Vatican II. This is relevant, because many papal documents before 1958 refer to these entities and congregations.
Miscellaneous
He was a member of the NAACP.
Cushing founded the Missionary Society of St. James the Apostle in 1958 to "serve the needs of the poorest of the poor in South America".
He wrote the foreword for the Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition of the Bible, and gave his imprimatur to the Oxford Annotated Bible.
Legacy
The now-closed Cardinal Cushing College, a women's college in Brookline, Massachusetts, was named after him.Further Information
Get more info on 'Richard Cushing'.
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