Samuel Stritch

On August 10, 1921, Stritch was appointed the second Bishop of Toledo, Ohio, by Pope Benedict XV.[6] He received his episcopal consecration on the following November 30 from Archbishop Henry K. Moeller, with Bishops John Baptist Morris and Thomas Edmund Molloy serving as co-consecrators.[6] At age 34, he was the youngest bishop in the United States at the time.

During his tenure in Toledo, Stritch established Mary Manse College in 1922 and incorporated the diocesan Catholic Charities in 1923. He also oversaw the beginning of the construction of Holy Rosary Cathedral, whose cornerstone was laid by János Cardinal Csernoch in 1926.[3]

While in Toledo Stritch presided at the confirmation of Danny Thomas. Stritch would mentor Thomas throughout his life and urge him to locate St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis.[7][8]

Following the death of Sebastian Gebhard Messmer, Stritch was named the fifth archbishop of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on August 26, 1930.[6] He suffered from periods of depression early in his tenure, but joined nationwide feelings of optimism with the 1932 election of Franklin D. Roosevelt.[3] Stritch was active in providing support to the victims of the Great Depression. It was because of the Depression that he refused to restore either the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, which was heavily damaged by a fire in 1935, or St. Francis Seminary.[9]

Stritch was an advocate for Catholic Action and the Catholic Youth Organization.[9] An opponent of the controversial Rev. Charles Coughlin, he once wrote a letter to a Milwaukee rabbi in which, making an implicit reference to Coughlin, the archbishop rebuked those who "gain and hold a popular audience, degrade themselves and abuse the trust reposed in them by misquoting, half-quoting, and actually insinuating half-truths."[4] In November 1939, he was elected chairman of the National Catholic Welfare Conference, the predecessor of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. He also served as vice-chancellor of the Extension Society.[3]

Despite Stritch's protests,[3] Pope Pius XII appointed him the fourth archbishop of Chicago, Illinois, on December 27, 1939. Succeeding the late Cardinal George Mundelein, Stritch was formally installed on January 3, 1940.[6] He was the personal choice of Apostolic Delegate Amleto Giovanni Cicognani for the post, although President Roosevelt was reputed to have wanted Bishop Bernard James Sheil instead.[4]

Pius XII created him Cardinal-Priest of Sant'Agnese fuori le mura in the consistory of February 18, 1946.[1] As archbishop, Stritch oversaw the establishment of the first American chapter of the organization Opus Dei, the launching of the Christian Family Movement, and an outreach to the Puerto Rican community.[10]

On July 21, 1952, he delivered the invocation at the opening session of the 1952 Democratic National Convention, saying "Today we face a crisis as grave as that of Valley Forge." He asked for Divine protection against "the aggression of those within and without of Godless enslaving political systems and of those who wittingly or unwittingly seek to take away our freedoms by their advocacy of materialism and Godless humanism."[11]

In July 1954, he issued a pastoral letter exhorting Illinois Catholics to abstain from the assembly of the World Council of Churches at Evanston, writing, "The Catholic Church does not...enter into any organization in which the delegates of many sects sit down in council or conference as equals...She does not allow her children to engage in any activity...based on the false assumption that Roman Catholics, too, are still searching for the truth of Christ," to the dismay of several Protestant and ecumenical figures.[12] However, earlier in 1943, Stritch attended a peace program held by Protestant, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Jewish leaders.[13]

On March 1, 1958,[14] he was appointed pro-prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of Faith,[15] thus becoming the first American to head a dicastery of the Roman Curia. As pro-prefect, Stritch directed the Church's missionary efforts.

In May 1958, a blood clot required the Cardinal's right arm to be amputated above the elbow.[16] Following the operation, he suffered a stroke on May 19, and died eight days later, at age 70.[17]

After lying in state at the North American College and the Cathedral of the Holy Name in Chicago,[5] he was interred in the Bishops' Mausoleum at Mount Carmel Cemetery in Hillside, Illinois, on June 3.[18]